Zarco stood tied in chains to a stone wall in a dark, cold room, but despite his situation, he was clearly bored while he looked at Morietur, who quietly analyzed several blades and knives on top of a wooden table.
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Morietur spoke while fiddling with his blades.
-This can end now you know? Before anything bad starts, you just have to explain to me how your crystal works.
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Zarco remains silent while keeping the same tired expression he had before.
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Morietur
-Look, I don't want to do this as much as you, just tell me what I want to know and we can get out of here, what do you say?
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Zarco
-Will you let me go if I talk?
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Morietur
-Unfortunately no, you will be taken to the mainland and they will decide your fate there, but we can give you a decent room and treatment if you cooperate.
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Zarco spits in Morietur face.
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Morietur stares at him in disgust.
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Morietur sighs, and then speaks while wiping himself with a cloth
-Okay, it will be like that then…
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Zarco
-Yep, Morie.
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Morietur
-Don't call me that, only she can call me that.
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Zarco
-Anyway, Morie...
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Morietur interrupts him, while trying to hide his clear anger.
-Your teasing won't reach me.
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Zarco
-Oh, maybe, but we still have a whole torture session for me to try.
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Morietur speaks as he picks up a small knife.
-You seem too excited to be tortured.
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Zarco
-No, no, you didn't get it? The one who will be tortured here is you, by me, through words.
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Morietur
-Do you know the secret of torture?
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Zarco
-No and I don't even ca...
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Morietur makes a quick, small cut across Zarco's face and then places the knife close to his eye.
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Zarco gets scared by the sudden movement and pain, which makes him shut up.
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Morietur speaks as he balances a small drop of blood on the knife.
-Causing as much pain as possible with as little damage as possible.
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Morietur
-For example, I could pierce your eye right now, which would hurt a lot, but you could end up dying from bleeding and infections before you could tell me what I need.
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Zarco tries to think of something to say, but he couldn't think of anything.
-Ah… er… uh…
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Morietur speaks with a smile as he cleans the knife.
-So, how do you use the crystal?
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Zarco just looks at him for a moment, though he was remaining silent like before, Morietur knew it was different now, because there was fear in Zarco's eyes.
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<--------------// ~ // ------------->
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With his head down, Zarco is pulled by the guards back into the cell, though this time he made no noise nor resisted.
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Caelum kept sitting on the cell's floor as she saw Zarco being thrown.
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Caelum
-Oh, you came out of a torture session intact, quite a feat.
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Zarco with his face against the ground, coldly says
-Shut up.
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Caelum
-Huh, so what did you tell him?
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Zarco
-Everything…
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After hearing that, Caelum had nothing more to say, she just stared at Zarco who remained motionless on the ground, though he was trying to hide it, she could notice his expression was one of pure frustration.
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The guard looked across the cell and spoke to her.
-Get up, you're next.
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Caelum stares at him coldly.
-Are you talking to me?
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Guard
-Yeah, get up scum.
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With no other choice, Caelum got up and walked calmly towards the cell's entrance.
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Zarco stared at her as she passed.
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The guard started to open the cell's door, while another guard standing at his side put his hand on his sword's handle.
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The door opened, Caelum stopped in front of them and stared at them for a moment, she then clasped her wrists together to let herself be chained.
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The guard then ties a rope around Caelum's hands, and next, he wraps it around her neck and begins pulling her.
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When Caelum was about to start walking, she was forced to stop by a hand that gripped the rope tied to her.
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Caelum is then pulled against the cell bars, the rope pressing against her neck, hanging her, Caelum's eyes widen in surprise at the sudden blow.
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The guards react quickly, already drawing their weapons.
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Zarco makes a huge devilish smile from corner to corner of his mouth as he pulls the rope.
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Guard
-What the…
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Zarco
-Hey, she is important to you right?!
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One of the guards breaks nervously into a smile.
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While one laughs in the background, the other guard speaks.
-Don't be an idiot, she...
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Zarco tugs on the rope, squeezing it even tighter against Caelum's neck, as she tries to bring her hands up to her neck, struggling desperately for air.
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Zarco
-Don't try to deceive me! I will kill her!
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The guards fall silent, not sure how to act.
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Zarco
-Drop your weapons!
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They exchange glances, then calmly drop their weapons, a spear and a short sword.
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Zarco
-Kick them away you idiots!
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The guards act as ordered.
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Zarco
-Good, now throw the keys!
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The guard throws his keys in Zarco's direction, but it hits the cell's grate.
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Zarco gets surprised by it and starts trying to reach them with his foot.
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The other guard sees an opening and tries to approach.
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Zarco notices his movement and yells
-Don't come any closer!
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Zarco gets distracted by the guards' movement, which gives Caelum an opportunity, she pushes her body forward, betting that Zarco wouldn't be strong enough to keep holding the rope.
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He can barely hold her, and now, he was the one being pressed against the bars.
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The guard who threw the keys quickly reacts to this development by sprinting forward, and runs his hand through the grate, then closes his hand and lands a punch against Zarco's rib, the punch causes Zarco to lose his remaining strength and he ends up releasing the rope, Caelum falls to the ground, desperately breathing.
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Zarco tries to move away from the bars, but the guard manages to grab one of his legs.
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The other guard then picks up the spear from the ground and advances with the clear intention of piercing Zarco with it.
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But just as he was about to attack, the spear's shaft is hit by a vertical cut of the sword that digs into the wood, almost cutting it.
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The guard looks in the direction of the attack, only to be surprised when he sees Caelum wielding the sword.
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Zarco opens a malevolent smile while watching the scene.
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He stretches out his arms grabbing the head of the one holding his leg, and then pulls it against the cell's grate, hitting the guard's head repeatedly against it.
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The guard stopped by Caelum's attack finishes breaking the spear's shaft and attacks her with it.
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Caelum then moves the sword, trying to use it to defend herself, but not only did she had the ropes restraining her movements, she was also poorly positioned, and because of that, the double-bladed sword she wielded was pushed against her body. But luckily, she managed to keep her arm strong enough to not cut herself with her own weapon.
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Caelum then proceeded with a sword blow that the guard easily dodges with a backward leap and ends up causing only a scratch on his armor, she then executed a desperate sequence of attacks that showed her clear ineptitude with the weapon.
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The guard then dodges with skill and a certain ease.
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The guard laughs and says.
-Pathetic!
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Zarco continually beats the already fainted guard's head against the jail, all while he watched Caelum's fight.
-Good! Keep it up! Your sword skills are deplorable, but eventually, you may hit him!
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Caelum screams at both of them.
-SHUT UP!
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Caelum then gives up on using that weapon and hurls her sword at the guard as he lunges at him.
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The guard simply blocks the sword by hitting it sideways with his bracer.
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Caelum then jumps up, clearly about to punch the guard in the head, he gets into a defensive position raising his arms together with what remained of his spear.
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But, contrary to what he expected, Caelum chose to kick the stone wall giving her enough impulse to jump over him, and when she was on top of the guard in the middle of the air, she spun, hitting a kick with her heel against the back of the guard's head.
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Due to that single hit, the guard dropped unconscious on the ground.
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Caelum then had a rough landing, almost falling, but she managed to balance herself so as not to fall face down.
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Zarco, having already dropped the guard unconscious body, spoke as he calmly approached her.
-Finally! I knew you could hit at least one blow.
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Caelum quickly turns and stares at Zarco with pure hatred in her eyes.
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Zarco
-Hey, what's up with the scary face?
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Caelum
-You almost killed me!
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Zarco
-What? That was just an act! I was merely playing a character with the sole purpose of deceiving our captors! On a related note, I was going for a desperate sociopath, what did you think of it?
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Caelum frees herself from the rope and approaches with her fist closed
-I couldn't breathe...
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Zarco
-You also hit me a lot, you idiot! At least my act of violence served to get us out of that cell!
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Caelum screams at him.
-I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!
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Zarco quickly dismisses her by saying.
-Meh, everyone will die one day.
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Caelum gets completely baffled upon hearing that, not knowing how to even process what he had just said.
-What the?! That doesn't justify what-
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Zarco interrupts her mid-sentence.
-Come on, you would do the same to me if our roles were reversed.
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Caelum
-Oh, now I definitely would! I would do something even worse!
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Zarco
-Wow, you're mean.
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Caelum
-I am mean?! Do you want to-
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Zarco ignores her and walks straight past her as he speaks.
-Enough of this blah, blah, blah, we're in the middle of a prison break, no time to waste!
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Caelum stares at him walking, barely believing what her eyes were seeing.
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Zarco
-Let's go, I have a revenge to execute and a pebble to recover.
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Caelum raises her fist, ready to land a punch on his smug face, the first of many. Since it would take a lot for her anger to pass.
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Without looking back Zarco says.
-And you have that Sapere fellow to save, right?
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Caelum gets slightly surprised by that, she breathes deeply and slowly lowers her clenched fist. As soon as she regains her composure she says.
-I know, I don't need an idiot like you to remind me.
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Zarco
-Ok then.
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Caelum
-But this matter is not over, you will pay for this!
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Zarco turns back and motions his arms for Caelum to take the lead as he smiles and says.
-Of course, of course, so... ladies first?
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Caelum passes by him and says.
-I hate you.
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Zarco answers while keeping his smile.
-The feeling is mutual and reciprocal.
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Caelum takes the lead, while Zarco waits for a little while, to see if she would react more before following her.
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When he noticed that she chose to ignore him, he prepared to follow her, but he stopped when he heard a voice saying.
-Hey.
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Zarco then looked back curiously at the voice's direction, and when he saw who had spoken he just smiled.
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<--------------// ~ // ------------->
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Outside of the prison, the night sky above the colony port city was clean, with no clouds on sight, just a huge moon, countless stars, and several armored angels flying across the sky.
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The angel army soared above, being led by the four knights of salvation and Basilius.
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Basilius wielded a huge scythe in one hand while he raised the other, upon seeing the signal, the angel archers started to prepare, each of them with bows in hand and special arrows with a cloth wrapped around the end while another angel lit the oil-soaked cloth with a torch. Basilius then lowered his hand, and during a fiery rain of arrows, his voice echoed.
-ATTACK!
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END OF THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER.