Tear leaps swiftly and summons a scythe from thin air. He shakes his head and kicks Sally away from him. He then jolts up and swings his weapon toward her arm, like a streak spreading through the air.
Asahi pulls Phthonus away from Tear's path and commands him.
"Phthonus, go behind Sally and merge your ember with her's! Just trust me, no one knows what they are doing, including me. It's worth the shot."
Phthonus swings his hand into the air and casts a flaming ember hovering over his thumb.
"Got it! This will take some time, though."
As Phthonus slowly summons a small hovering flame over his palms, Tear leaps up and raises his voice.
"You are all fools!"
Tear hoists his arm into the air and charges face-first towards Aletha, sprawling his dark spikes through the mist. She forms her luminescent white shield from the air and blocks the attack.
Sparks spew out from the glowing surface of the protection; she feels a heavy pain tingling within her skin every time she blocks; it's as if the memories of her past use of the shield flood back into the depths of her mind.
She whispers to herself while trying to shield the heavy swings from Tear.
"I… can take it. I-I can take it…"
Asahi tilts his head to Aletha and worryingly asks.
"Sis, are you alright?!"
She wipes off the dirt from her shield and kicks Tear away from her. Aletha returns a smile to her brother and replies.
"Yes, Asahi, don't worry about me! Worry about what literally is behind you!"
"Huh?!"
Tear hurryingly kicks Sally and charges towards Asahi with his gears spinning and grinding out of control. Just before Tear's hyperactive steel fingers can reach Asahi, a massive lethal ball of water surges through his robotic body. However, Tear seems to not have been affected by it and instead acts quite ferocious toward her too.
"Ugh, your putrid hydro powers will do nothing to me."
He brutally swings his foot toward Sally's shoulders and knocks her with a few bruises blistering underneath the crystal's light. She shrieks in pain while Drimi pauses and stands there.
"S-Sally, NO!"
Not even the wanderers ever heard Drimi's voice reach such a high pitch. She finds Sally's crimson blood dripping over the ground. Her voice trembles while Tear evilly chuckles in the distance.
"S-Stop..."
Tear hastily pushes Drimi, then scrapes his metal nails through the first layer of Sally's skin. He imbues a small bulging violet bruise shimmering through her face. Sally's hot pink eyes blend into a dark azure, clear tears slowly slide down her face, and she helplessly mutters.
"H-Help..."
Drimi tries to release her pain from her, with the wanderers trying their absolute best to protect her and Sally. Tear psychotically swings his scythe repeatedly at Aletha's shield, straining at his best effort to slaughter Sally where she stands. Aletha screams while feeling pain pushing her down; Asahi grabs her hand and tries to hold her up.
"Come on… sis… please, don't give up."
"Big Brother… it… it hurts…"
She falls down to her knees after the last powerful strike from Tear. He kicks Aletha down to the ground and mocks her cries.
"Oh, it hurts me SOOO much. Please, anyone… help me from my foolishness!"
He kicks her in the face and resumes in an aggressive tone in his voice.
.
"It's your fault, now face the consequence. My tears don't belong to you… nor anyone in this world. Most of the time… people don't know the reason for their tears, nor do I… Oh, what's this?"
Unfortunately, Aletha's bruised face rests unconscious on his steel foot.
"This pathetic… girl… kissing my foot is the greatest example of beggars. Worthless individuals who cry until they can't. Individuals who lost everything they held, cherished, or love, now give out their worthless pleads without ever hearing forgiveness. You white-haired creatures know nothing of what happened in the past."
Asahi grits his teeth and clenches his fists. He can't describe the amount of rage surging through his mind. He tries to scream at Tear with water sliding down his eyes.
"No… y-you're wrong. Pleaders.... are not--"
Tear interrupts him by pushing Asahi away and scraping his spilling dust onto the crystals.
"Oh, quiet, little one. You were simply boasting about your stolen powers. You are no 'god' with that face. Speaking of, my master is about to arrive soon. She will handle the rest... you have probably met her before me. She is… awfully prettier than… that disgrace who calls herself a goddess..."
(You can't mean…)
Asahi freezes still, paralyzed in every nerve on his body. He can't move, and indeed he can't try with the massive gaping holes tearing through his skin. It's as if all his will drained away the second Aletha was touched and showed that helpless face.
An invisible force that matches like a thousand weights pushes Asahi down to the ground. He hears the loud steps that sound like high heels resounding over the darkest corner of the cavern. His vision blurs up while feeling dizziness pound inside every corner of his mind. Dust scatters over the floor, with Sally and Drimi holding their hands tighter than ever. He slowly crawls over to Aletha and asks while his breath whistles down to his last.
"Sis… A...Are you alright?"
A tall feminine silhouette slowly appears, with her glistening amethyst eyes peering at the wanderers, then Drimi and Sally. She slowly licks her lips, with the luminance shining over her attire blending to a dark crimson. Phthonus cowers in the corner, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
He thinks that though the wanderers were complete strangers to him, he knows that they are also trapped here... whatever that means.
If they ever lose their lives, there will be no hope left in this world. But that is just a valid assumption of mine. I'm not sure that anyone else would match the power… Being a spectator for an eternity
Though he thought he was a weak mortal, he let the anger and frustration from the nameless adventurer abandon everyone, shuffled through his fury, and tampered with his strings. His orange eyes glow within the darkness, waiting for any malicious movement.
As a chilling silence sounds out from the cavern, a deep feminine voice resounds over the walls.
"At last, I found them. After all this time of searching, I found the cowardly daughter of Astait, the lost, obsessed, jealous 'lover' from Zomrack, a filthy betrayer from the glorious nation of Wraileza, and two otherworldly outlanders. The Queen will be proud, but I don't think Pladtioa's ports are not working."
Tear clenches his metal fist and lifts his face up to the woman. Long dark hair tied up with a purple ribbon and a slim figure. He kneels down in front of her and 'politely' asks.
"So… Now what, master Lyssa?"
"Your curse will run out eventually, Tear. Until later, perhaps you will be more useful with that curse surging through your veins. I hope this curse lasts forever, and perhaps, maybe…"
She slowly slides her fingers down his shoulder and whispers to Tear with a seductive voice.
"... I will belong to you. But for now, until this 'curse' vanishes and your armor has finally detached from that curse… I will stay separated from you. I know what you look like under your armor..."
She lifts her voice and stomps her foot against the solid ground. She pushes Tear away and raises her voice, commanding him.
"Now, escort all of them to the forest near Dreamtoe cliff. They will take care of them there. Make sure ALL of them are unconscious."
"Yes, master...."
Tear lifts his arm into the air and emits a sizable lavender pulse that forces everyone but him and Lyssa to fall unconscious. Phthonus falls down to the floor with his eyes shut. He knew he didn't have enough time after he heard his own struggling cries resound over the cavern.
* * * * * * * *
Asahi, Aletha, and everyone affected by Tear's slumber pulse had been escorted towards an unknown region far away from Deepenpond. Asahi and Aletha were doomed to watch their cursors in their mind map slowly move away from Milmoor towards the areas shrouded in dense fog; Fog that covers the sight of the lands which hadn't been explored.
It was the only thing they could do; since they were forced into slumber, it was the only thing they could do. Not even dreams could reach them. Drimi and Sally were still severely injured, lying against the closed wooden carriage, groaning and whimpering on the dark hardwood floor.
The carriage traveled up through the steepest hills and through moss-covered craters. The sun was blocked by the fleet of drifting clouds in the north.
Tear was… somewhere else. Lyssa told him to get out of there despite the resistance not to.
Asahi had strong disbelief of their inevitable defeat. Though he yelled as confidently as he could and tried everything in his best to protect his sister and the rest of his allies, the drastic lack of power wouldn't allow such to happen.
He and Aletha still question why and who stole all their godly powers that defined them as 'gods.'