The turmoil and screams of soldiers being pursued and attacked were heard throughout the capital. Codey's crew was the last to arrive, and they were already met by chaos in the city. Gunshots could be heard from afar, and people were fleeing the center, with tremors felt in their feet. Codey's first encounter with the turmoil was intense and well worth the anxiety.
"Why's everyone screaming? Don't tell me that one of our groups failed before we even arrived."
Codey's squad was rushed past. They looked about, perplexed, and disturbed by the turmoil. Natan turned to look for the issue but couldn't find it, so he sat down in a neutral position, while Elliott put his hands against his hips.
"Who dares to disturb such beautiful young ladies?" As he began to slide from one side to the other, Elliott's yearning for love continued to surge through his veins. Some of the girls stared him in the eyes and persuaded him to pursue them. His chest was cracking as his eyes beat with hearts and affection.
Elliott began running behind the cluster of girls with his arms held high above his head before anybody else noticed. "Angels, please wait for me! Please don't leave me!" The eyes of Codey, Natan, and Ellie trembled, and their plan was already one person short. It infuriated Codey, convincing him to issue the next orders.
"Natan, Ellie, go on ahead! I have to go catch up with Elliott! We can't afford to lose our power!"
Ellie and Natan made their decision and assigned an agreement despite the fact that the operation would become considerably more difficult. They used strong language. "Catch up to us in the temple, once you're done!" Without another second's hesitation, Ellie and Natan dashed in the other direction of Codey and began rushing across the city, hoping that their mission would not fail.
Codey tried to navigate through the crowd while looking for Elliott, as well as to go into the crowd without harming the individuals. Men and women were lifting sand owing to the disturbance and their fear of Byron and his comrades, and they were unable to remain quiet, despite the efforts of others to do so. Their main concern was that another pirate raid would take place in the same way as before. Codey searched left and right, behind and in front of him, but couldn't find Elliott.
"Damn it! There's too many people and I don't even know in which direction he went?! Of course he'd get affected by some women that he'll never get!" He raced inside the nearest left road and started looking there.
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Tim proceeded to flee the swarm of troops who continued to fire rounds at him, as he always did. Due to the soldier's poor aim, many rounds missed him, but the remainder were easily evaded by Tim, who kept his hood over his head to conceal his identity. "Wow! Their shots are terrible!" He laughed, his back to the wall, until the next second, when he noticed a wall in front of him only a few meters away.
As he tried to impart the news, his voice sounded unsteady. He began sliding on the sandstone floor, attempting to avoid the wall, but failing owing to his inability to turn while sliding. With the troops quickly approaching him and leveling their rifles, his body slammed against it.
"You're surrounded! Give up, you've been caught!"
The dust settled, revealing Tim, who sat inside the wall, his head throbbing from the blow, murmuring a few pained words. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! That could've gone better... I don't get it. Are these supposed to be Byron's helpers or what? Well, whoever they are I gotta get outta here..." Tim peered in both ways for an exit, then swiftly raised his eyes. As the troops fired their rifles, he smirked and leaped out of the wall, leaping high into the air on top of the roof.
"Sorry, my bad! It's not my fault your shots are terrible!"
The soldiers fired the next bullets as he mocked them, telling Tim to drop down. The bullets were unexpectedly accurate, and he had to create an unpleasant stance that resembled a flamingo in order to avoid them. He blinked again and understood that fleeing was the wiser option. "That was close..."
The troops attempted to fire their weapons again, but someone dashed in from the side, leaping and kicking one of the soldiers in the face. The individual landed on the floor, squatted and jumped on the spot, then kicked one of the soldiers in the cheek with a rolling kick. Then he squatted down and kneed one of the troops in the stomach, driving him through a line of other soldiers who all dropped their weapons and collapsed to the ground.
However, a couple soldiers aimed their rifles at Tim's back and fired a shower of bullets that flew at Tim like a swarm of bees. "Oh my god!" Because he was in mid-air when the bullets fired, avoiding them was impossible, therefore one of them could penetrate him.
Another person emerged behind his back and pointed her palm forward before it happened. A pulsating white barrier appeared at the tip of her palm, easily blocking the swarm of bullets. It finally shattered like glass and assisted Tim in landing on the other roof.
"Kou! Tomomi! I knew I could count on you two! Thanks for the hand!"
With Tomomi, Kou soon turned around. He grew enraged as his vein nearly burst from the pressure. He screamed and raised his arm toward Tim.
"Be quiet! You just created a stir in the city, and look where we are now! You're being pursued by Byron's hired bandits! Do you have any idea what that means?! Byron is already aware of our presence! I'd stay behind and let you experience this "unforetold" destiny if I knew this mission was a misery and hopeless to be handed to you!"
Tim scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, laughed, and replied with a neutral expression. "Don't be worried! These thugs will be thrown in jail or maybe the ocean the instant I find Byron and kick his ass! By the way, I would advise you to duck."
Kou appeared perplexed by Tim's suggestion, but he flatly refused it. He pondered his motivation. "And why should I do that?" Tim's fist caught fire as he drew it back and punched forward without hesitation. "Flaming Fist!" Kou's eyes, shook as a flame formed into a fist and shot toward him. With the fist flying at Kou, he ducked swiftly, which then flew behind him. It lighted his hair before exploding behind him, throwing the bandits into the air, where they collapsed and piled on top of one another after yelling.
Kou turned around, holding his head and blowing out the fire with his hands. He pointed at Tim again and said when he was finished and began to scream. "Warn me before doing it?! Are you trying to kill me?!"
"I told you to duck, didn't I?"
"You didn't tell me the reason why?! If you just told me that you're going to use some kind of fire magic and toss it behind me, I'd already be further away from it!"
"Hehe, sorry! Hurry up and let's go!"
"Is this funny to you?!"
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Nina led Ayuka on her back as she headed toward the capital, followed by Jazu. She had pale eyes and a fatigued expression throughout her body due to the desert's heat and sweat. With Ayuka's weight on her back, she barely made it through the sand and nearly fell.
"Track down Tim and leave a girl alone with an oversized crab. Why not... Wouldn't you say that's an "excellent" deal? How do you keep Ayuka's body on her back for so long without becoming exhausted?Am I really that far away from their power?"
Nina continued to draw Jazu's attention, and he was perplexed to see her so full of complaints and queries. Nina whirled around and yelled with near popping veins and wide open eyes, which startled him.
"Maybe you should help me! You're way bigger than me and all you do is follow me! Your oversized body sure is useless if Tim's not around!!!"
After witnessing her struggle and continuing forward, Jazu grew shy and sweated."I hope I'll still have the strength to break someone's bones..." Nina sighed from it and quickly became depressed due to her solo "trip".
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Ireene, Karisa, and the Sand Shark Surfers began their ascent up the temple's stairwell. They were fortunate that the bandits under Byron's command had ignored them. Karisa wasn't used to climbing so many stairs and was becoming more exhausted.
"How many stairs are required to reach a single temple? Isn't ten to twenty stairs sufficient? I'm not sure we're getting any closer because walking these three hundred steps is so painful."
"Only 150 steps were really climbed. Actually, there are three hundred in total." Karisa's eyes sprung open in surprise as she nearly collapsed. She regained her balance and yelled at Ireene.
"You can't be serious, can you? It feels as if we've been climbing for over an hour, and now you tell me there are only three hundred steps, yet we've only climbed half of them?! This is a catastrophe..."
"Since the construction of this temple, the principal barrier that separated the king and the population has been the stairs. They were constructed so that the king's serenity would not be disturbed. This ensured that individuals with more pressing needs would rise faster than those who did not. As a result, the more essential the reason, the faster that person would ascend it."
"That makes sense, I think... Nonetheless... Climbing these stairs seems strange. Let's hope we get there soon and that no one gets in our way."
The journey continues...