They have all found the very core of the mountain inside Dragon's Lair, inside, was a powerful dragon named Kufhra, but out of the blue, someone was fighting him, it was Lenny.
"LEEN! LENNYYY!!! IT'S ME, LUKE!!!"
Luke's shout echoed through the wide wide room of the mountain's core. The woman he screamed at seemed to noticed him, she turned her gaze to where the sound came from and she barely saw a group of peoples who's at the top of the core.
"Isn't that... Luke?"
Time didn't let her to think about the confusions from her after she remembered that she was currently fighting a dragon.
—
6PM, at the top of Mount Nimri, 1 hour before Vlera's team found the mountain's core.
Plate sounds could be heard inside a house, two guys were having their dinner and seemed to be talking about something.
"It took you two days to wake up, what happened?"
"I... I don't really know..."
After waking up from a slumber two days ago, Marco was told many questions from Old Man Tagic, as they had their dinner, the conversation continues.
"But how do you feel now that you've got to talk to the Other You?"
"I'd say... some sort of guilt."
"Why?"
"Because of the words he said..."
Marco's sentence was cut off, he was remembered of certain things that they talked about. In his mind, it was a blank white room with no walls, that also means that the place has no endings. There stood Marco, the Marco that came from Earth, he looked around for something but failed to do so. Minutes of walking and he didn't know whether he was moving in places or not, another more minutes of walking, he noticed a person from afar, he ran to it and the person's figure gets clearer and clearer as he went closer and closer, and after approaching him clearly, Marco saw another Marco. From skin to face to posture, everything, everything from the other Marco was as the same as the Marco from Earth.
"Hey, are you alright?"
He tried to talk to him but was unexpected to react after the other Marco actually replied.
"What would you say so?"
"Hah?!"
Marco stumbled after being surprised by the other Marco's reply.
"What do you mean, am I alright? Of course, I'm not!"
"W-why?"
"Why? WHY?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT QUESTION?! I'M NOT ALRIGHT BECAUSE YOU TOOK MY LIFE AWAY FROM ME! AND WHAT'S MORE?! I'VE BEEN TRAPPED HERE EVER SINCE YOU CAME!"
The other Marco finally let it all out after being silent and tortured inside the white room, his scream totally scared Marco to the point that he trembles just from being reminded of the conversation.
"Marco, Marco...?"
Old Man Tagic tried calling Marco multiple times as he went blank in his plate, his eyes suddenly moved and realized that he was currently having dinner.
"Huh? Oh, food, in a plate..."
"*sighs* You had no improvements, huh?"
Old Man Tagic sighed after finding evidences that Marco failed to befriend his other him for the 2 days of his sleep, but then, Marco said something in a different tone that made those evidences disappear.
"Why would you say so?"
"Look, you slept for two days, yet you had no improvements with your alter-"
After realizing, his sentence was the one that cut off this time.
"Don't tell me..."
"It's two whole days, Old Man Tagic, how bold of you to assume that nothing happened during that time."
"Who... Who are You?"
"Me? I'm Marco, what do you mean?"
Marco chuckled after he actually managed to scare Old Man Tagic, heavy breaths could be heard from the Old Man and as an old man himself, Marco tried to calm him down first before explaining his sudden change of tone.
...
"Oh... So you only got to fix your ties with him?"
"Yup."
After half an hour of calming the Old Man down, Marco explained what happened during the two days of his sleep, after explaining, the Old Man sighed in relief and asked him a question next.
"So, if Vlera and her friend finally came back here, would you join them or continue our one week training?"
"I don't know... Maybe join them...?"
"Even if you haven't got a look at my lessons yet?"
"Maybe yes."
"Oh, yeah? What if there's a knife behind you waiting to end your life?"
"That's very easy to answer, Old Man Tagic..."
After Marco's paused line, something fell from behind, Marco continued his line and it scared Old Man Tagic away.
"... He was there for Me."
The knife that was floating behind him suddenly fell it's blade leaving only the handle, Old Man Tagic assumed that it was Marco's doings to cut the knife from behind, and it took another half an hour of Marco trying to calm Old Man Tagic down.
—
Moving on.
*Sounds of rage*
"Luke, we're gonna have a long talk after this."
After going down from the hole that they came from, Luke finally got to reunite with his partner, as they stood on their besides, a smirk appeared on Luke's face.
"I don't mind, It's been days since we haven't seen each other, though."
...
"Tri-Attack!"
With the technique being used by both Starlight, Re, and Blu, they shot the dragon using a powerful beam that corresponds to what color represents them.
"T-Teacher... This dragon... it's too much... for me... to handle... I'm... just a human... afterall..."
As Vlera trembles in the distance, she never avoided to get frozen in the scene; With Luke perfectly syncing a thread user named, Lenny, and the Trio Stars being as coordinated as they are, it left her with no power at all except for her physical strength. A sudden flashback reminded Vlera of that day.
...
"Here, take this."
"Teacher, what's this...? A keychain?"
"Yup! So that whenever things get rough, just look at it and everything would be alright! Better take care of this so that you could still remember me even if you're far away with me!"
...
Being reminded of her little teacher brought a smile to her face, but also being reminded that the keychain is just somewhere besides her definitely brought even more confidence than smile to her.
"Power of dragons, lend me your strength!"
Upon chanting those words, those voice of her little teacher echoed around her.
"Wishes granted, for now, that a new strength will arrive!"
Vlera grabbed tight into her blade, without her knowing, she's growing a semi-visible dragon's wings that fits perfectly behind her. She leaps into the dragon — not being aware of her new self.
!!!
"Where... Where am I?"
"That... That girl..."
"V-Vlera...?"
"Isn't that?!"
"Isn't that?!"
"ISN'T THAT VLERA?!"
Starlight's shout reached Vlera very well,
Even if Vlera was so far from them,
Even if Vlera suddenly dashed so far it delivers her from the dragon's head,
Vlera heard her shout even if she moved hundreds of meters ahead in the speed of light.
*WHOOOOSHH!*
The sudden disturbance of air pressure really destroyed everything that Vlera passed through in just a nanosecond, that includes the ground, the dust, even the air, and of course, the portion of the dragon's neck.
*AAHHHHHH!!!*
Because of the sudden pain that the dragon felt after centuries have passed, he released a very deafening roar that made everyone block their ears... except for Vlera that isn't getting distracted while flying using her wings.
"How...? How could this happen? I was trembling in the ground 5 seconds ago, but now, I feel like I could have aerophobia with how far I've dashed. It's so high, it's so high that I could see the dragon face-to-face."
After the dragon shouted, it glared deadly towards the little flying human, but one thing it didn't know, the little flying human isn't scared of that glare.
"How unfortunate, You were close from terrifying me ever since we came into this place 10 minutes ago, but turned out, It would only take me a minute to defeat you."
"How?! How could you deal so much damage from the almighty Kufhra?!"
After she provoked the dragon, it suddenly said something that Vlera clearly understood.
"Surprise, surprise, the monster could talk. Alright, your 10 seconds is running."
"WHY?! WHY CAN YOU TALK TO ME?!"
"9. Simple, maybe because a thing that my Teacher made for me suddenly made me a dragon itself? 8."
"IT HURTS! WHO'S THAT TEACHER?! TELL ME!!!"
"7. I refuse, her name isn't worthy of your discovery. 6."
"HUH?! DO YOU WANNA DIE?!?!"
"5. No, but do you want to? 4."
"YOU'RE REALLY IRRITATING ME MORE THAN THIS STRINGS AROUND ME!!!"
"3. Who? 2."
"THE ALMIGHTY KUFHRA, IS BEING HURT!!!"
"1. Asked? 0."
After the countdown was finished, Vlera suddenly dissapeared.
"Starlight, Re, and Blue, back me up!"
Appearing right behind the Trio Stars, she took them with her light speed, without a second of thought, the Trio Stars was right besides the dragon's head.
"30 Seconds of Hell!"
29. Being with the Trio Stars who gave her even more strength, they travelled the whole body of the dragon before doing an act.
28. "Vlera, how can you do this? Aren't you just a normal human?"
"I also don't know, Starlight, but one thing is for sure, just follow where I'm going, I trust you — you can do this."
"A-Aye...! Re, Blu, in!"
"Yes."
"WHAT?! WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS-"
27. "Why did you recalled them?"
"I'm pretty sure they can disturb your aerodynamics."
"Oh, that's very observant of you coming from someone that doesn't experience this law very often!"
26. As they travelled around the dragon, it was attacking endlessly, it may seem that it's hitting Starlight and Vlera, but it also seems that what the dragon is seeing was just the remaining illusion of how fast Vlera is.
25. "Who are them? Are they your friends?"
"Yes, Len, I met them just last night."
"Sorry to comment something about them but... They're somewhat weird..."
"Don't worry, it's more weirder when you've finally met those Triples earlier."
24. "24 seconds remaining, Starlight. Let's share our powers together!"
"Yes!"
"SHOOTING STAR!"
"SHOOTING STAAAAAAR!!!"
With their powers being combined, they almost looked like a shooting star traveling around the annoyed dragon that looks like swatting a fly.
23. "Are you ready? Starlight?"
"Yes!"
22. "What are they doing? Its so bright!"
"I don't know, but what's better thing to do is to save ourselves!"
"Why? Don't you trust them even as friends?"
"I really trust them, but their powers are beyond humane!"
21. "Starlight, here we go!"
"Straight into it!"
20. "30 Seconds of Hell: 20 (Deadly)Slashes Per Second!"
— End of Chapter 22