The dragon in a blink of an eye chomped off his arm at his shoulder before turning into electric sparks. Bright yellow sparks flew around before materializing back into normal.
It seemed like every time he turned into that electric form he regenerated from every type of physical damage.
"Woah, woah, that mark on your face… I have never seen such a mark like that."
He started to laugh, light started to flicker at his hand as a weird cone-like weapon formed. I had never had a weapon with that weird of a form before but as he held it, the segments of the weapon started to move.
Red lines that moved irregularly across the weapon started to form, as it reached the top of the cone a beam of light exploded out of the tip erasing everything in its way.
I'm glad I dodged that one, if not, I would have been a human doughnut. Wolte turned into his lightning form and sparks of yellow flew across the room. Appearing behind me he fired another blast at me.
I readily avoided them, but he kept reappearing in my blindspots and it was sorta annoying not being able to catch him.
This was making my blood boil. He was such an annoying fighter and did not fight me directly.
"Dragon! I will give you one chance, you can either fight me directly or I'm freeing you immediately."
He stopped for a brief moment.
"Free me?"
He laughed at my face and retorted what I said.
Roxy stared at me with uncertainty whilst Steve was cradling Alicia.
"Just who are you Vivshi?"
And with that, I froze the air around Roxy and Steve, covering them in some sort of silver barrier.
Wolte's weapon glowed red and started shaking violently before the energy that had been trapped blasted towards me.
The air was cold, the ground felt hard, I took a deep breath before exhaling silvery mist. The world felt so still, I remembered the day the Silver Saint handed me this power. How the whole atmosphere stood still in his presence. Even though it was a mere imitation of his power, I stepped forward, eye against the beam of energy.
"Freeze."
The entire chamber felt still, there were sounds of things cracking and things getting filled with silver. I took another deep breath, this time exhaling a warm misty breath. It felt like all my silverine aura had spread throughout the room. Slowly but surely I felt the silver reentering my body.
Everything in the chamber had completely been turned into silver. The dragon fell from the sky with a loud metallic clang and echoed throughout the bright shiny room. It felt like the room had become a palace full of jewellery. Everything shone so brightly and everything reflected off the walls.
I looked at the dragon's silver corpse. I pointed my finger at him.
"your arrogance led to your defeat, Wolte. How does it feel to be the one who isn't moving?"
Did I freeze through his body or was it just the surface of his body?
It didn't matter, I looked towards the small bubbles of silver I had covered the adventurers with.
"Shatter."
As I felt all the energy-returning back into my body, glitter rained from the chamber like a luxury palace. Roxy stretched her hands out trying to see what the glitter was. With one eye open she tried to comprehend what just happened.
Turning back my gaze towards the dragon, his body was completely shattered, but it wasn't in dust form. Looks like the inner parts of his body weren't completely frozen with silver…
Before I could dispose of the dragon properly, Steve ran up towards me and without a second thought he started smashing the dragon's corpse into dust. The dragon's blood was splattered all over the place with a hint of silver particles in it.
He didn't leave a single solid piece of the dragon, breathing heavily he fell onto one knee.
I didn't look at him with disgust or disdain, I knew what he did was purely for revenge and an emotional outburst.
Alicia ran up to her dad and held him by his shoulder looking at the mess he made on the floor.
"Vivshi? Who exactly are you?"
My eyes filled with emptiness turned towards her, and ooze from my cheek dripped as she stared at me. Some fear inhibited her as she hid behind her father.
Steve shook his head as if trying to tell her not to pry but even behind her dad's back she persisted with knowing my true identity.
Father and daughter stood together as I approached them, I rubbed my cheek. My hand was covered in a liquid thought to be freedom itself. But why would such a thing be in a hideous colour and shape? I looked back up towards Alicia whose face had fear and doubt written all across.
"Are you really the same Vivshi from that day? Why are you like that?"
Honestly, I didn't know how to answer it myself. How am I really me I wonder, am I really Vivshi when I turn into this hideous form?
Taking a step closer towards Alicia, I reached out my hand. Her face filled with uncertainty, she smacked my hand away before it could get any closer.
Feeling a tiny sting on my hand even though I couldn't sense pain, was it something deeper that made me feel that slap? Was it that I regretted ever meeting them that day? To show them a side of me that they never knew of.
"Alicia…" Her dad called her name out in a slow soft coarse tone before shaking his head.
My eyes diverted direction away from Alicia as I stared at the ground.
"I'm sorry."
An empty silence filled the room as I walked away from them but as I turned my back a bolt of lightning descended from the ceiling onto the blood of Wolte. My neck snapped back towards the dragon's bits on the ground. The crushed organs and bits of the dragon started to ripple as a spark of electricity flew from the puddles. I could hear some weird cracking and bubbling sounds coming from the blood. Another one struck the pool, then another, then another… the force of the lightning sent Alicia and Steve away flying into the wall, this time knocking them out completely.
I leapt a few meters back seeing the blood reconnect with the electricity. It started to form a structure and in mere seconds, Wolte's body had completely regenerated after yet another bolt of light.
"That was a close one. Woo…"
He started laughing before summoning his weapon again.
"Time for a second go!"
His sharp teeth showed as he gave me a wide grin. He looked at the unconscious daughter and father against the stone walls.
"Looks like you are protecting them, isn't that right?"
He casually waved his hand around in the air whilst saying that he wouldn't do something as petty as taking out unconscious people who can't defend themselves.
"That flower, you are one of those Aeons, right? But it feels like I have seen that silver before…"
Wolte rubbed his weapon against his chin, trying to remember something.
Was he just gonna stand there and do nothing? I could attack him whenever but he would probably avoid it, he is faster than me so any attacks that rely on speed wouldn't do much. I would need one of those big attacks that affect everything like earlier to hit him but now that he has seen it, he probably knows how to avoid it.
"Yeah right! It was that little human girl I killed!" A monstrous grin emerged that just told me of the evils he had committed. He put his hand on his face trying to hold in his laughter.
"There was this guy with white hair, he was so mad, he was practically crying and screaming after seeing me rip off his sister's head. After I did that, I met the same guy after a few years."
The smile deteriorated into an angered expression. His face contorted and then stayed still. I could see his cheek muscles twitch as he remembered about the guy.
But I had heard enough, a dragon, whose sole purpose was to make people suffer. My cheek started to burn. Wolte noticed me getting ready to pounce on him and gave me a disappointed stare before turning into sparks.
I felt as if cold knives were pressed against my scalp. It was as if an anvil was dropped on top of my head and crumpled me into the ground. It felt cold, the ground was embracing me. My head tilted to the side, to see Wolte holding my head down.
Before he could finish me off, the silverine aura emitting from my body burst up towards him, freezing his half-front. He turned into sparks again, allowing me to stand up.
Spitting on the ground he looked at me before snarling at me.
"How annoying. You remind me exactly of that guy, it disgusts me."
He can't make contact with my body, otherwise he freezes, and I can't make contact with him because he is too fast. This is a lose-lose situation for both of us.
With that, he tried aiming for my neck, trying to sever it with his weapon. But the moment the weapon touched my neck, it completely froze and it slowly made its way up towards his hand.
He chomped off his right hand and it fell to the ground with a thud. A little blood ran down from my neck as he regrew his arm.
As blood trickled down my neck, I touched it with my hand and rubbed it all across my hands.
I closed my eyes once again. The air felt cold, my breath turned into silver mist.
Wolte sneered at me.
"Freeze."
The whole room turned into silver again, I had already made sure to encase Roxy, Steve and Alicia before doing it. I scanned around the room, searching for the dragon but he was nowhere to be seen.
The places that were safe from freezing… don't tell me…
I shattered the encased bubble I made around Alicia. There was nothing inside, nothing but a glint of sparks before I felt something cold on my back.
"You aren't the brightest tool in the shed are you?"
I looked down to see his weapon through my stomach covered in my blood and organs. His weapon started to freeze and he let go of his weapon, but while he was still holding it, I managed to hit him one time with my blood-covered hand.
Alicia opened her eyes again and saw me in such a pitiful state. Her eyes which were once distrustful and filled with doubt were now just fear.
She saw me cough up blood as I desperately held onto the weapon.
"You have made a grave blunder Wolte."
His cocky demeanor that thought he had finished the battle slowly changed as he realized what was on him. The smeared stain of blood on his body.
I grinned, exactly like how he did earlier.
"Freeze."
The blood exploded, and a wave of silver emerged to swallow him whole. The silver crackled and broke as he tried to free himself. But it was to no avail, in his last moments of struggles, he tried to rip off the parts of him that had my blood on him, but the silver still went after him.
Like a hunter seeing a blood trail, there was no escape.
Struggling to free himself, he turned into sparks but it was still connected to his body. His whole body was eventually frozen.
His last words were "You bastard, this isn't the end" before being encased.
I looked down towards the weapon in my stomach and yanked it out, guts and blood spilled out onto the ground as I coughed up more blood.
Alicia didn't know what to do, should she help me? Could she help someone she didn't know? She maybe thought I was a monster just like Wolte, not being eligible for aid.
I fell down onto the ground, I hadn't expended any of my Aeonic powers so it was in full swing. It stopped the bleeding and started to heal me slowly.
Seeing me collapse onto the ground Alicia had an option, to help me or let me die. At least that is what she was maybe thinking. In 2 minutes or so, I should be completely healed with the help of the Aeon of Freedom.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, but as I was relaxing, I heard small footsteps approaching me. Had Alicia finally made her decision? Opening my eyes I saw Alicia standing in front of me. Without asking me anything, she started her chanting.
After she was done, the hole in my stomach had completely closed.
I sat straight up looking at her. Her clothes were all dirtied up, she had bruises across her body from being slammed into the wall. Her face was bloodied but she wasn't shaking before me. She wasn't scared as she was earlier.
"Am I a monster?"
Alicia looked hesitant, her eyes diverted while fidgeting with her hands. It seemed like she still didn't know her answer yet. But why did she decide to heal me when she didn't know what I was yet?
"I wanted to return the favor, for saving my dad and my friend."
She bowed down, with her hands tightly tucked together near her stomach. Her blonde hair covered her entire face as she bent over.
"You aren't scared of me?"
Alicia finally made eye contact with me, her eyes beautiful as a gem. But in them, I still saw a scared little girl who was trembling.
"I would be lying if I said I wasn't."
Alicia thanked me once more for saving her dad and stepped back to start healing Steve and Roxy. But as I was listening to Alicia chanting the healing spells I heard another pair of steps, they were distinct and had a click.
It was a completely different type of aura, it was as if the atmosphere had changed with those footsteps alone. I turned around and saw something near Wolte's frozen body.
A girl with long red hair was stroking Wolte's cheek. Her back was completely turned away from me as if she didn't care about my presence at all.
There was a tiny black crown above her head and on the back of her red and white net-patterned dress were the symbols of wings. The dress went all the way down to her knees acting like a skirt.
She was very petite, just comparing her to the frozen body of Wolte, she was half the height of him.
The girl finally spoke out.
"I still need you Wolte come back."