Basmakal appeared in the control room with murderous looks. He saw all the Kraligians knocked out on the ground.
'Useless!'
"IA, tell me what happened here!" Basmakal ordered.
The AI showed the footage of Sakura knocking out the Kraligians and stealing the Fire Heart.
'What the hell?'
He thought the culprit was a Leviniank who had infiltrated the ship, but he was confused to see Sakura.
'Another intelligent species?' Apart from humanoid physiology, he had never seen a race with characteristics similar to Sakura.
He was also confused to see Sakura make the fire heart suddenly disappear.
'Spatial manipulation?' He thought of a possible hypothesis.
"Detect this person's location."
The AI tried to detect Sakura but was unsuccessful, the heart of fire was also not found.
Basmakal frowned, looks like he would have to look it up on his own.
"Close the ship's exits!"
-
'Shit!' Keiichi didn't expect to be discovered so quickly.
Several Kraligian guards tried to find them, but the ring of invisibility was sufficient to elude the detection of all.
'Sakura, where are you?' Keiichi sent a telepathic message.
Sakura: Go to the main exit of the ship.
'Understood.' Keiichi bolted towards the exit. Of course, he also had to keep a low profile, using as little mana as possible.
Mana particles interfere with the environment and can reveal your location.
As Keiichi made his way to the exit, he noticed a few strange rooms. Dark rooms with minimal lighting, Inside the rooms, there were several cages with people inside?
'What is it?!'
Keiichi was shocked. He approached the cages and saw humanoid figures inside.
*motion signal*
A humanoid figure lifted her head and watched Keiichi. The darkness of the room made it impossible for an ordinary man to discern what she looked like, but Keiichi could see everything.
The creature had green skin, black eyes, small horns on its face, and a humanoid body.
"H-Hel…p." The humanoid figure extended its hand towards Keiichi.
Sakura: Keiichi, where are you?!
Sakura sent a telepathic message.
'Just a minute.' Keiichi replied. He tried to think of a way to help the unknown figure, but nothing came to mind.
He wanted to help her, but it was too much of a risk, but seeing the pain on her face was heartbreaking.
'Maybe-'
"!!!"
Keiichi felt a bloodthirsty presence on his back. He looked back and saw Basmakal looking at the humanoid figure.
Keiichi felt his throat dry, even though he was not the victim of those eyes. Sweat started to run down his forehead, but he did not move an inch from his body.
Sakura: Keichi?
Sakura sent another telepathic message, but he didn't respond. His thoughts were full of fear at that moment.
'Shit!'
Only the pressure Basmakal emitted left him defenseless.
…
"...It must be my impression." Basmakal left the room.
Sakura: Keiichi, we're running out of time!
…
'I am going.' Keiichi was relieved when Basmakal left. He took one last look at the humanoid figure.
"Forgive me." He excused himself and left the room. The humanoid figure lowered her hands and returned to its previous state.
-
Sakura was in front of the main exit. She thought she could get out without difficulty, but a problem arose.
The main exit was closed, with several Kraligian guards patrolling the area. Trying to destroy the exit door was one option, but she wasn't sure if she could.
This spacecraft is extremely tough and even though it had the power to destroy large mountains with relative ease, destroying this spacecraft was beyond its reach.
'Sakura.'
Keiichi suddenly appeared, making her more relieved.
'Step away.' Keiichi knew how tough this spaceship was, but he had one ace up his sleeve, his Hell Flame. Hell Flame also ignores durability to some extent, which is why he managed to destroy the warehouse.
Sakura backed away so as not to be harmed by the blast.
The amount of mana that surged up suddenly alerted the Kraligians.
"Ehh?!"
The giant green fireball shocked everyone, they tried to run away but it was too late.
*BOOMMMM!*
'Let's go!' They bolted towards the exit.
After leaving the spacecraft, they smiled. Of course, the mission would only be complete after they escaped.
A space gate appeared in front of them.
'We achieved!' 2x
When they were about to enter the portal…
"Looks like I found the mice."
"!!!"
Sakura and Keiichi's eyes widened in disbelief.
They didn't even have time to react when Basmakal appeared in front of Keiichi, punching him in the chest.
*BOOOMMMMM!*
The punch threw Keiichi miles away. The impact caused earthquakes and created a crater in the ground.
Sakura was also taken aback by the impact of the blow and was thrown far away.
'Keiichi!!'
…
-
*Cough! Cough!*
Keiichi weakly touched his chest, which was overgrown in blood, his legs and arms were also broken or fractured.
[The necklace of life has been destroyed]
Basmakal's punch nearly killed him, but one item had saved him.
The necklace of life is an item that absorbs incoming damage to avoid fatal wounds. He was alive thanks to that item.
*Cough! Cough!*
'Shit!' His body was barely moving, the pain he was feeling was so great he thought he would die.
'Why did it go wrong?' They did everything right, but why had they failed?
'I can't die here!'
-
"Tell me… where's the heart of fire?!" Basmakal asked as he held Sakura by the throat. Sakura was writhing, trying to get away, but she couldn't get out of Basmakal's grip.
"Where?!!" Basmakal pressed her throat.
"What is your race name?" How come you're here?
Basmakal had a lot of questions for Sakura, so he didn't kill her. He didn't know where Sakura had hidden the heart of fire, so he needed answers.
In desperation, Sakura tried to execute any attack using magic, but Basmakal released pressure which canceled all Sakura attacks. Even illusions weren't effective.
Now that Basmakal had discovered their location, the invisibility card was useless.
-
Keiichi moved his body using the magic of the wind and headed for the gate. He saw Sakura was in the hands of Basmakal and did not know what to do to save her.
His body was severely wounded and could only move with the elemental magic.
'Why did everything have to go wrong?' They were so close to finishing the mission, but why did everything fall apart so suddenly?
He needed to avenge his family, so dying now was not an option.
As Keiichi was heading towards the portal, a thought came to his mind.
'Is it worth trying to save her?' Despite finding Sakura a nice girl, was it worth risking your life for her?
'I…'
-
"I see… so you don't want to talk?" Basmakal thought about what method of torture he was going to use on Sakura.
"I'll cut off every part of your body, then rip your skin off." Basmakal said.
"S-Stop…" Tears streamed down Sakura's face, imagining that she would die in this place. Her body was shaking with fear, but she couldn't do anything.
'Onee-chan…' In desperation, she called out to her sister.
"Looks like a mouse survived." Basmakal watched Keiichi approaching the gate. He took the axe out of his back and gathered the energy.
*Shudder!*
The energy in the ax was so great that the ground began to shake. Basmakal pointed his ax at Keiichi, ready to end his life.
'!!' Sakura was shocked to feel how much energy was in the axe, she was sure that Basmakal could destroy a country without any effort with this attack.
"N-No, stop! I'll tell you everything, but let him go!" Sakura exclaimed. She knew Keiichi had made a decision. Even though she was angry, she knew this was the best way.
'Maybe he can call Yato.'
…
Basmakal canceled his attack. He needed to know where the heart of fire was, so he let Keiichi live.
"If you lie to me…I'll show you something worse than hell."
Sakura's eyes fluttered.
-
Keiichi arrived at the gate with a conflicted expression.
'Forgive me.' He looked at Sakura with a sad expression. He couldn't trade his life for a girl he barely knew, despite feeling like crap doing so. After all, she was his teammate.
He also realized that she convinced Basmakal not to kill him.
…
Keiichi entered the portal with tears in his eyes.
-
"Your friend left you, now you don't have anyone to save you." Basmakal smiled.
"Tell me, where's the heart of fire? If you don't answer me in ten seconds, I'm going to kill you."
Basmakal was already tired of this delay, his patience was running out.
'I will die?!' She thought about handing over the heart of fire, but she was sure she would die anyway.
'Am I going to die here?... Would my family be okay without me?' Unanswered questions took over her thoughts.
'Damn it!'
Basmakal saw that Sakura was not going to speak and became angry.
"I will-"
*BOOMMMMMM!*
A blast of energy hit Basmakal, knocking him miles away.
…
Sakura had no clue what had happened. When she raised her eyes to the sky, she saw a green and black Spacecraft.
"Hahahaha! Filthy gecko, did you think they would succeed?" An unfamiliar voice echoed. The Kraligians inside the ship showed signs of fear.
Basmakal stood up with an expression of pain. He recognized that voice very well.
"LEVINIANKS!!" He roared in rage. If the Levinianks were here, does that mean the King failed in his mission?
*BOOMMM!* *BOOMMM!*
The Levinianks on the spaceship didn't give Basmakal time to react and continued bombarding him with energy blasts.
"AHHH!!" Basmakal charged a large amount of energy into his ax and charged towards the Levinianks' spaceship.
'This is madness!' Sakura felt she shouldn't get into this fight.
"Retreat with the ship!" Basmakal ordered. He didn't want the spacecraft to be damaged.
'This is my chance!' Sakura darted towards the portal.
Basmakal sensed Sakura's movement and prepared to chase after her, but the Levinianks swung into action.
"Take this, gecko!" An energy cannon appeared in front of the ship.
*BOOMMMM!*
Sakura felt her eardrums burst, she needed to get away from this place as quickly as possible.
Basmakal pointed his ax towards the energy blast intended to destroy him, the collision would be…
Catastrophic!
*BOOMMMMMMMMMM!*
…
…
What was supposed to be the "continent" of planet Awei has disappeared.
-
"Not dead, huh." The Leviniank who was commanding the ship was not surprised to see that Basmakal had survived the blast, despite the energy cannon having the power to destroy a continent.
"Let's back off, the Gecko King is coming." They could damage Basmakal, but defeating the Kraligian King with that spaceship was impossible.
"Commander…" A Leviniank called out to her.
"I know, that girl…" Commander Leviniank remembered Sakura. She didn't shoot Sakura because her target was Basmakal. However, this situation was, to say the least, curious.
"Let's go."