Ryu's POV
"Why did she call us?" I asked
I stood in another floating city in front of a palace looking place.
"Apparently her majesty wants to see you." said Lydia
"I've only seen her once." I said
"Well you saved her life so she wanted to thank you, personally." said Kishimoto
I looked over at Lydia but she seemed a bit mad about it. Of course she would be mad after all she still likes me, well the other Ryus.
Two guards wearing full knight armors and their helmets were covering their faces guarding the door opened up the two giant doors and my jaw dropped open in awe. This castle looked so much better than Demon's castle in hell.
We entered the castle with four knights surrounding us as we were lead with two different looking knights with some kind of cape attached to their back.
We were led to two other doors with two other knights guarding it, once they saw us they opened up the doors to a big room with so many decorated walls, windows and other things. There was a long carpet with two lines of people standing on each side of the carpet and there was the queen sitting on a throne.
The queen didn't have any burn scars in her which made me question if that was really her.
"I thought she had burn scars." I said
"She's a healer, she probably healed herself." said Kishimoto, "Plus she's immortal."
"So she's a dictator?" I asked
"Well no not really she hasn't committed any kind of treason of ruling." said Kishimoto
I looked around and I saw the same judges who were at my trial stand there looking at me, I couldn't tell if they were mad or not.
Once we got near her Lydia and Kishimoto took a knee and bowed down to her. I looked down at them confused until Kishimoto pulled my cloak and I just awkwardly took a knee.
"Your highness." said Kishimoto
She nodded towards the people on line and they all left leaving us three kneeling on the carpet in front of her.
"I believe I only requested for Ryu Kim." said the queen
I looked at Kishimoto and he shrugged, Lydia just looked even more pissed.
"If you'll excuse us then." said Kishimoto
He quickly got up but Lydia seemed hesitant so Kishimoto grabbed her and dragged her out leaving me.
I looked at the ground and started sweating a bit as I heard the queen's heels clank as she walked down the steps from her throne.
"Rise Ryu Kim." she said
I built up all of my courage to stand up and there she was standing in front of me smiling. I had to admit she was beautiful, her purple hair looked great and when I looked down I saw that her breasts were bigger than Demon's.
'Does being immortal give you that?'
"I wanted to personally thank you for saving my life." she said
"I uhh well it's my uhhh duty." I stuttered
She smiled and nodded.
"But uhh what about my trial?" I asked
"I can cancel your trial and drop all charges." she said
"Oh that'll be great." I said while smiling
"But for a price." she said
"What price?" I asked
She leaned in and grabbed my cheeks and kissed me. My eyes widened as I watched her eyes shut and she kissed me a bit more aggressively. I wanted to break out but I thought that maybe it might be a bit rude to do that. But wait I love Demon, not her so what am I supposed to do? Demon is now an enemy so there's a high chance that either one of us is going to die so should I just let her continue?
She pulled away and smiled and I felt my cheeks turn red as I blushed and avoided eye contact but she kissed my cheek and hugged me.
"This is the price." she whispered
'Will Demon know?'
"Well I uh don't know how to say this but I have feelings for another woman." I said
"Demon?" she asked
"Huh well uhh yes." I mumbled
"She's the enemy now, why do you still choose to love her?" she asked
"That's a good question, I've been asking myself that same question." I said
She smiled and grabbed my hand and walked towards the two doors.
"I'll be waiting for you then." she said
"I'll think about it." I replied
She nodded and she led me to the two doors and watched me walk through the hallways until I left the castle as I kept touching my lips in shock and disbelief.
'Why are there girls on me now.'
I left the castle and outside Kishimoto was trying to calm Lydia down as she changed her ponytail into a bun.
"What's going on?" I asked
"Hey Ryu what the hell did she do to you?" snapped Lydia
I backed up a bit in fear and I started sweating a bit.
"Well uhh she wanted to thank me and she said she'll drop my charges." I said
She glared into my eyes and I looked away for a second.
"You're either lying or there's more." she said
"Well I'm not lying but she said that it comes with a price..." I trailed off
"And what's the price?" she asked
"Huh the price, uhh it was a uhhh kiss..." I whispered
Kishimoto looked scared and I understood why.
"Oh that bitch I'm going to kill her!" she yelled
"Oi oi calm down." said Kishimoto
"How can I calm down?!" snapped Lydia
"I mean we're not even dating." I said
Lydia's anger was replaced with sadness and she walked away.
"Let's go..." sighed Lydia in sadness
I felt bad but I still don't have any feelings for her but I didn't have time to think about it since I saw multiple knights come out of the castle and ran straight towards us.
"Ma'am we have reports that Demon is present on earth prime." said their leader
"For what?" I asked
"It's reported that our troops near a secret barrier is under attack." replied their leader
"What barrier? What are you hiding?" I asked
"The Phoenix." he replied
I remembered reading about the Phoenix and the Thunderbird back in hell, it'll be over for us if Demon lays her hand on it.
"Let's go." said Kishimoto
We all entered hyper space and less than 2 seconds later we landed right in front of a cave with dead knights littering the entrance.
I ran inside as fast as I could, running past dead bodies, destroyed barriers and traps. I got to this giant metal door where most of the bodies were littered, there was a hole in the door which looked like Demon made the hole.
I walked through the door and there were a bunch of broken chains laying across the floor. I picked on up and it was still hot as I examined it.
"Where's the Phoenix?" asked Kishimoto
"She has it." I whispered
"How was she able to find it? It was off the grid and there was no way you could have seen it through the force field." said the knight leader
"If she was able to find it she can find the Thunderbird." I said
"The Thunderbird? But he never showed up, it was like as if he's actually a legend." said their leader
"What do you mean?" I asked
"The Thunderbird and Phoenix are brothers even though they come from different religious backgrounds. But their bond is a very dangerous one, they always fought with each other but one day the Thunderbird was defeated and we never heard from him." said the knight leader
"So no one has ever heard from the Thunderbird after that?" I asked
"Yes but there is a theory that he transferred himself into a human's body." said the knight leader
"Looks like we're going to have to find the human then." said Lydia
I nodded but then I heard a soft laughter causing me to suddenly turn around to see nothing.
"Did you hear that?" I asked
Everyone nodded and they began to draw their weapons. But then I heard a snap and all the knights behind us collapsed, I couldn't tell if they were dead but then something hit Kishimoto and Lydia and they blasted out of the door and the dirt and other things collapsed blocking the entrance.
"So you have another girlfriend?"
I quickly turned around and Demon pinned me against the wall.
"Well it doesn't matter." she said
I tried pulling myself out but the blockade exploded and Kishimoto summoned the ground underneath Demon to shoot out and she blew through the ceiling of the cave.
"Let's get out of here." I said Lydia
"Are the knights dead?" I asked
"No, we'll send them back to the capital." said Lydia
But then I tried moving but I was frozen in place, Lydia and Kishimoto also looked like they were experiencing the same thing as they were making struggling facial expressions.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I saw Demon appear from behind Kishimoto and she circled around him and came towards me.
"How can I not move?" groaned Lydia
I tried augmenting but I gasped as Demon began to place her hand on my chest and I felt like something was being extracted from me.
"As I expected, the Thunderbird is in you." she said
It felt painful that I screamed in pain but I couldn't move, my heart was aching and beating like it was running away.
"Stop it! Stop it!" I yelled
Then I screamed and it let out a shockwave that blew Demon away, but the cave started collapsing onto us. We were finally able to move so Kishimoto forced all the rocks and stones above us to move out of the way, creating an opening for us to jump out of but I grabbed the knights before we escaped to the capital.
"Ryu you're the one with the Thunderbird." said Lydia
"How the hell did she know before I knew?" I asked
"I don't know." relied Lydia
We reached the floating city and we placed the unconscious knights into the floor where there were several other knights there.
"Let's get to Kurt." said Kishimoto
"No her majesty has to know, she is immortal so she probably knows the story behind this." I said
"Not her..." groaned Lydia
"We really don't have a choice." I replied
Lydia sighed and nodded so we headed towards the castle but instead of the knights stopping us they opened the gates for us. We quickly climbed up the stairs, through the doors, hallways and another pair of doors to where the queen was just sitting and reading a book.
"Ryu are you back already to give me an answer or are you back because of Demon?" she asked
"Well neither but I have a question about the Phoenix and the Thunderbird." I said
"Oh no, was she able to take away the Phoenix?" she asked
I nodded and she sighed and led us out of the throne room and into a hallway that looked different from the previous hallway we walked through.
"The Phoenix resembles great power, not only will the Phoenix give you enhancement on augmentation, it can give you its unlimited power. It can be reborn from its own ashes, it's tears can heal wounds and it can raise the dead back to life." said the queen, "But if Demon possesses its powers then she can be reborn after dying but not as a child but just resurrected. She can heal any wound which she was always able to and now she possesses the powers of u limited augmentation."
"Well Demon already has all of those kinds of powers, what's the point of having the Phoenix?" I asked
"That's what I fear the most." she said
"What about the Thunderbird?" I asked
"The Thunderbird and the Phoenix have a long history. Even though they are from different religious backgrounds they always clashed with each other." she said
"Is it true that the Thunderbird sealed itself into a human?" I asked
She nodded and I sighed.
"I'm the one with the Thunderbird. Demon knew it was in me and she tried to take it out of me." I said
The queen stopped walking and stared at me.
"Is that true?" she asked
I nodded in response.
"Have you ever experienced any kind of emotional change? Weird dreams? Or any kind of talking that comes from your head?" asked the queen
"No none of those." I replied
"So he's sleeping in there." she said
"But the Thunderbird was nearly extracted out of him. Shouldn't the Thunderbird have awaken because of that?" asked Kishimoto
"I did." said a voice
I looked around but no one around me was talking.
"What do you mean by it?" I asked
Everyone looks at me confused.
"We didn't say anything." said Lydia
"I swear I heard one of you saying it did." I said
"It was me, you fool." said the same voice