"What are you talking about Goshi? Where is my father" Mai said plainly I looked into her worried eyes and did the unthinkable. I told her father was missing. I told her that when I found Eqihr he told me that he lost sight of him and the others.
I didn't want to do that, Mai trusts me, and she's only known me for a few weeks now, it was like owning a new dog just for it to stab you in the back. I couldn't let her know that I was lying to them. I shut the portal and walked to a bedroom fleeing the miserable scene.
I shut the door behind me to get some privacy and sat against the door with my head between my knees. I thought to myself and thought deeply, why I did what I did. Mai is going to be crushed if she finds out her father is dead. And I'm one of few people who are responsible for lying to her.
I tried to just let it pass and hope she wouldn't find out, she would hate me. I took a minute to think back from when I was sleeping. When my brother Nagi told me that someone was responsible for this war he said that their name began with M and O. That was confusing, I don't know of anyone with those letters at the beginning of their name. Maybe he or she is tied with Nazo and the scaled swords or maybe someone here knows.
I slowly raised my hand and looked at my bare palms and said, "I wonder if I could heal the dead." I stood up and realized that my Yang powers are guided towards life and healings. Maybe if I tried hard enough I could... Bring them back.
The door creaked open and Xain walked through the door. He looked at me and asked me why I acted suspiciously earlier. I pretended to not know what he was talking about and said that he was imagining things. He told me that I was lying and added that he could tell because his ability can detect a change in actions. He also mentioned that his oldest brother detected that as well, he said that sonokenisis can detect a change of actions.
"Xain, listen, I don't know what you guys are talking about, I only know what Eqihr told me, OK?" He didn't know whether to believe me or to keep his hunch. I walked out of the room and told him that I would let them know if I find anything out.
Hours later, nighttime began and the battles stopped, I guessed the fighters wanted to rest for days of fighting. To my knowledge, the leaders of the town are protecting the borders from the more severe attacks. The lady I met the day we got here was healed and protecting the front gate while the others were widespread.
We remained inside for the following hours with that same awful feeling exchanged across the home. Mai and her brothers were grieving their father's return as I stood fully aware of his death. Eqihr was upstairs doing whatever he was doing. "Goshi, do you know if he is going to be alright," Mai asked while she held Xain in her arms.
My leg started shaking because the idea of reviving the dead sounded difficult to accomplish. I punched myself in the stomach and said, "Guys, I'll find them." I opened a portal and entered Eqihr's last location. I stood on top of someone's home and looked down at the guillotines. Enemy troops were around them trying to retrieve them. I shouted, "I don't think you want to do that!"
They all snap their necks at me and condescending told me why not and picked a fight. I dropped to the floor and my white aura became visible. I activated the remaining natural force I had and used it as well.
The fight began and one of them launched a meteor of debris at me. I activated my shield and the debris turned into crumbs of its former self. A few of them tried to fight me head-on. I used my martial arts to deflect their attacks and defeat them. After all that, the ability users had things like telekinesis, enhanced strength, and enhanced endurance.
I brought them all down smoothly and when the last troop fell, someone behind me said, "Fighting like that you'll get nowhere." That voice was familiar, it was the tentacle guy from before. Then, in all four basic directions were three scaled sword users. They all said that they were going to take me down and take my power. I closed my fist and said, "You'll die before that happens." They all leaped at me and launched an attack on me. I crossed my arms outward with my palms open. I broke the cross and released a wave of supersonic wind. Their attacks broke and they blocked the wind as they fell back to the floor. "Listen, if you comply, we won't kill Manny." I turned my head towards the one who said that and asked him what he meant by that.
He said that Manny was captured and is unable to escape and is at the mercy of Nazo at the moment. I gave off a nasty glare and said, "You wouldn't dare." I clashed my fists together and a surge of wind grew fiercely. I leaped to one of them and kicked him into a nearby wall. One of the other ones tried to sneak up on me and my barrier blocked her attack. I placed my hands on the ground and spun my legs and kicked her into the ground. The man with the dark power and another scaled sword still stand between me and Manny.
The remaining scaled sword jumped above me and faked a punch and appeared behind me. He swung the sword at me and knocked me into the other man and he blasted his dark aura at me. The other two scaled sword members had gotten up by now and joined the fight.
They took turns knocking me about and the last strike sent me to my hands and knees. The pangolin scaled sword user laid his sword on my head and said, "Enough, you aren't skilled enough." The swords end wrapped around me and imprisoned me by restricting my movement. The one with the skink-scaled sword told the first guy to extract the spirit now. the third scaled sword user here was the lizard-scaled sword he recommended that they got out of Haru and back to base for more protection. The other two didn't agree and thought it would be more simple if they just did it now. The man with the Kurayami said Nazo would want to do it himself, so he advised that they would return to base.
I started to struggle vigorously and the sword felt like it was draining the energy from me. The pangolin user said, "Our swords don't only boost our abilities but drain others as well." I stopped struggling when my strength was too low to continue. All but one came into agreement about bringing me to Nazo or not. And the majority voted on bringing me to him.
All three of them placed the tips of their swords together and opened a gateway to their base. The one with Kurayami wrapped me in darkness and picked me up before walking me through the portal.
*End Of Chapter 24*