As they made their way towards the ninja village, the three sisters had been very busy. They took the most secluded pathway through the woods to get to the village without being stared at. (Blaze had blamed this all on Zahira's dumb features and Ricky had to stand between them throughout the journey.) Creatures that varied from miniature bugs to gigantic beasts constantly attacked them. But none we on the same level as the trio.
Ricky had proved her strength by battling most of the unarmed creatures to a hand-to-hand battle and soon ripping apart their muscles or bones from their sockets. Zahira's bunny skills were rivaling any wild rouge beasts with her amazing speed, unrivaled senses, and fantastic agility in the wilderness. But nothing could compare to Blaze.
Blaze made the two younger sisters' look completely unrelated. Her flames spread throughout the enemies by her command of just a twitch of her hands. She danced around their attacks like a ballerina and lit them all up before watching their ashes get blown by the wind.
As this battle commenced, Zoe had time to gather her thoughts. Many things were still not in place of her mind frame jigsaw. She sat down behind a boulder to avoid the fight and thought of everything that had happened to her throughout the time she stayed in this world.
'Firstly, there's the Flame Sisters. Surely there's five like how stated in the files. Blaze is considered the second and the first was… banished? That just doesn't seem natural. Based on the mirror of Eclipse, the first daughter had been cursed and could destroy the entire kingdom. The government higher-ups have voted on the banishment despite the fact the Queen clearly declined.
Secondly, the evil King Vector. It seems like he's the brother to the late King James. He wants the throne based on hierarchy but why is he thoroughly hated? There must be something behind the scenes that the kingdom is keeping from me. I will ask Queen Arlina once I arrive back home.
Then, there's the werewolf that followed us. He seems to have ceased his following task. I wonder why his human chose that and who that person is? Why is his human so obsessed with saving the Flame Sisters and me? Does his human know us?
Finally, there's the whole point of SMS. They are really attached to Blaze for some reason. In all of the battle reports, Blazes' were fill with SMS mentioned everywhere. They caused the most problems but they also attack the others. Who are they exactly and why are they so pulled towards Blaze?'
When Zoe lifted her head from the boulder, she saw the youngsters sitting by her with wide eyes. She glanced at them both with a frown. "What's going on? Why are you guys here instead of fighting with Blaze?"
"Does she look like she needs backup?" Zahira scoffed while pointing her thumb in her elder sister's direction. "In my opinion, it's better we stay away for now. She looks like she'll kill us in any second if we get close��"
"For once, I'll agree with you, Zahira." Ricky sighed. "Sometimes Blaze seems scary when she activates her powers. Even I fear her on these kinds of moments…"
Zoe looked at the direction and gasped. Her heart raced in fear and she gulped. Her throat had dried in a second and her pupils shrunk at the sight displayed in front of her. The enemies were dropped onto their knees and they stared at Blaze completely frozen in fear. Zoe was sure they would've been sweating nervously if they could but the heat was preventing them. Their sweat glands were completely dried out and Blaze towered them, looking completely different.
The Blaze Zoe knew was a friendly town heroine. She was kind to all and fought for justice and never killed (as stated in her files). Zoe believed this girl was anything but a merciless killer. Instead, the truth would make anyone wet themselves.
The Blaze that stood above them with her shadow enveloping them like a cloak had a crazy smirk carved across her face. Her red eyes were gleaming with the flames that surrounded her like a coffin and her coat laid somewhere behind her. She only wore her tank top, revealing every inch of muscle she had built up over the years of fighting. Her right hand held a sharp thin blade of flames and two fiery wings sprouted from her shoulder blades. The mad look in her eyes made a shiver of fear run down their spines and Zahira popped into her animal form to flee under Zoe's arms.
Blaze slowly approached her enemies like she was a hawk awaiting any suspicious moves towards their prey. Her eyes examined each of her victims with a hungry look in them and she tapped her foot slowly. 'She's waiting for a coward. She'll start her full-on attack once she kills the first fleeing boy…' Zoe thought while slowly hiding her face from her line of sight.
Eventually, a creature with the features of a bear scrambled up to his feet and began hurrying down the path he came from. But Blaze was cruel and fast. She aimed her weapon at that man and the length of the flames grew rapidly until it plummeted itself through its' guts. With that, the reactions of fear erupted throughout the victims.
Ricky quickly turned around and clapped her palms over her ears while squeezing her eyes shut. Her hand scrambled to grab anything and Zoe offered hers while observing Blaze. She, unlike Ricky, wanted to see Blazes' full capacity. No matter how gruesome she knew the outcome would be, Zoe wanted to see Blaze in battle until the end.
It was, as expected, the most horrific event to watch openly. It doesn't even seem like a battle. It was completely one-sided and torturous for both victims and side audience. Zoe held back the urge to hurl her lunch at the bloody sight. Blaze held no hesitation in slicing them up like tofu. She swung her weapon like it was a part of her body and her smile actually grew as blood splattered over her face.
After so long, she finally slowed down as the last of her victims was cut down. She let the flames retreat into her arms and sighed softly as the flare in her orbs glimmered away. After a moment of silence, Blaze began to look around for her sisters. She spotted Zoe and hurried over.
"Sorry. I was busy. Did something happen?" she asked while taking in the look of fear over Zoe's face. Zoe kept her eyes on her and backed up slowly. Blaze realized the situation and frowned. "They were going to kill you, Zoe."
"How can you…. How can you live with yourself?" Zoe spluttered, completely terrified of her. "Are you really okay with killing?"
Blaze considered her answer after seeing Ricky trembling by Zoes' side and Zahira hiding under her legs. "In order to survive, we must kill if the situation turns up."
"B-But… You never killed, right?" Ricky stuttered while lifting her face from her hands. "You… This is your first time, right?"
Blaze looked at Ricky as if she was infected by the Coronavirus and gritted her teeth in anger while wisps of flames appeared over her body. In a blink of an eye, she had held Ricky by her collar and glowered at her. Zoe had collapsed onto her knees in shock and Ricky choked.
"Do…Do you really think I've never killed before, Ricky?" she whispered softly. "Ever since I was pulled away from the kingdom, assassins went after me. I've been killing since I was ten with only Silver as a company. Don't you dare try to convince yourself my hands aren't stained? It's been stained since long ago…"
Ricky whimpered in fear and tears welled up as she held back the urge to sob in front of her eldest sister. Blaze slowly released her and exhaled a deep breath before ruffling Ricky's blonde hair. When Zoe looked back up, she was astonished o see Blaze looking like her normal self. She had a solemn look in her gaze and her mouth muttered apologies over and over again to reassure her baby sister she was fine. She was back to normal. She was trying to tell Ricky she had nothing to worry about. But Zoe knew something was up with Blaze.
'This confirms one of my suspicions. Blaze has faced something worse than the others that aren't in the reports. Maybe it's something only she knows. Whatever it is, it's something that changed her into a gruesome killing machine when facing enemies. She sees the act of spilling blood as something easy.' Zoe slowly rose to her feet and nodded at Blaze. Whatever she was hiding, Zoe would await Blaze's explanation. But for now, they have to finish their task.
Zoe slowly leaned over to cradle the shivering bunny and Blaze grabbed Ricky's hand gently to pull her up. Once they were on their feet, Ricky and Zahira stayed at the front, keeping limited eye contact with their eldest sister. Zoe stayed at the rear end to ask Blaze a few questions of her own.
"So…" She began awkwardly. "Can I ask you something regarding SMS?" Zoe decided to start soft and avoid anything that would connect with the previous situation.
Blaze smiled at Zoe's change of subject and slowly took a deep breath. She felt glad Zoe didn't press her on her odd behavior. "SMS? What's there to as about them?" She asked while loosening her stiff shoulders.
"Well, as you know, they seemed very wary of you. The amount of reports you have is the total of reports for the other sisters. Meaning they have a special attraction towards you. What I'm wondering is what exactly?"
Ricky and Zahira had slowed down, apparently glad that Blaze was back to normal and interested in the topic of their conversation. Blaze's smile grew at their actions and jumped onto their shoulders with her usual demeanor while chuckling her short answer. "There's nothing I can do if they want to be complete masochists with me!"
Her answer had made the atmosphere among the sisters lighten greatly and Zoe smiled slowly. She was relieved that they were back to normal. If they kept that stiff situation throughout the entire journey, Zoe would have to smack some sense into them. Her eyes returned towards the path and her smile grew. She was feeling confident in this task so far.