Chapter 101: Who Is She?
Note: Guess who's not in top 5 yet? 💔Here you go extra chapter anyway. Spoiling you guys too much... Goal tomorrow is higher, Top 3. Otherwise... 😞
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[Third Person Point of View]
Aqua's body hit the ground with a heavy thud, his figure a stark contrast against the shattered remains of the tree. Each labored breath he took was a battle against the excruciating pain engulfing him. His eyes closed, surrendering to the overwhelming sensations as he lost consciousness.
As he lay there, the sound of shooting light echoed through the night. Ruby, with tears streaming down her face, flew toward him with a streak of light. Her expression was a mix of fear and concern. She fell to her knees beside him, her hands hovering over him, unsure how to help.
He was unconscious, his body blackened and his veins visibly red. Ruby was no doctor, but he looked to be in serious shape with the beat of his heart two times slower than normal.
"N-no, no! This can't be happening… n-not right after I just found out!" She cried to the sky, shaking his shoulders to wake him up. He didn't respond, his mouth agape with smoke coming out, and his eyes white.
With a gulp, she put her palms over his chest and cast a spell.
"[Solar Rejuvenation]!"
His body shone bright gold, but when the light vanished he remained equally injured. The harm from overusing Icons was not that easy to cure.
Tears cascaded down her chin, and she kept yelling. "Solar Rejuvenation! Solar Rejuvenation! Solar Rejuvenation! Solar Rejuvenation! Solar Rejuvenation-"
Before she could do anything more, before she could waste her Mana in this useless attempt, a sharp voice cut through the air. "Stop that, Lady Ruby." The authoritative voice came from Blue, who, along with the other Tiger Cubs, swiftly moved to Aqua's side.
A light flashed and Ai appeared nearby. She had transformed herself into a witch and used teleportation to appear on the hill. She froze upon seeing Aqua, staring at his body which she thought was a corpse for a second, before running toward him.
"Do not approach!" Blue interjected, halting her advance with a raised palm. She gently took Aqua from Ruby's arms, who didn't struggle in the hope that they'd be able to help him. Blue shot Ai a glare, which seemed to say: you have caused him enough already. "We will take care of him. At least… we'll try."
Ai, who had been about to step forward, stopped in her tracks, taken aback by the unexpected intervention. "...W-we need to call a doctor, that looks serious!" she said instead of arguing with them.
"No mortal doctor will be able to help, this is serious, as you said. Your daughter had a better chance of healing him, but her spells were useless." Blue said and gently lifted Aqua and ran off toward the house, and the Tiger Cubs shot Ai one long look before following behind her.
Although they were told to protect these two women, they couldn't help but feel furious that this human woman dared hit their Lord, even though he clearly cared for her. Even though he was in this state trying to protect her.
Blue carried him into the house, moving with speed and coordination, and gently put him on the bed. His condition didn't look good.
Ruby, torn between what to do, hesitated for a moment before she shot Ai a glare too. "It's all your fault… all your fault! He died last time because of you, and now he is about to die again, because of you!" She growled at her before hopping off the hill and rushing toward the house.
"...."
The night air, once filled with the sounds of battle, now settled into a tense quiet. Ai fell to her knees with her head blank as she failed to think of… anything.
She had never wanted things to end up like this. Ai Hoshino hoped that all of this was… just a nightmare. But she was sober enough to know that it wasn't.
* * *
"What do we do, Blue?!" asked Red in a voice filled with concern, while Blue put Aqua on the bed, beginning to undress him.
"I- I don't know," she said. "Since I'm a girl, I might be able to use the Matriarch's powers." She began to undress herself, but Purple protested.
"There is no way! You never trained in that art, and besides, it'll kill you! You are not the Matriarch, how can you heal an injury such as this?! It's a miracle that he's somehow still alive, his body is special. We need to think of something else."
Silence fell in the room as Blue stopped undressing. The Matriarch Nyxondra, the Wife of Trigathar, also titled the Saintess; she had devoted her entire being to her husband. From the beginning, she had only trained in techniques that would help her husband. Support techniques, healing techniques, and likewise. She had many sacrificial healing techniques that she had used on her husband.
Most female members of the Cult learned the techniques she used to use in her early life, and Blue was the same. But she hadn't trained in those healing abilities since it didn't suit her.
If not, then she might have been a help. But without it…
"What do we do?!"
The tiger cubs were panicking. Although their Lord was alive still, it wouldn't last for long. No, even if they managed to heal him, every second was precious. It might leave him crippled if they take too long.
"G- guys, hear me out." Blue said, a light of uncertainty in her eyes. "How about we ask Ai to help?"
"What?! Are you crazy?! That woman is the reason why-"
"Shut up, let her talk!"
Red began to yell, but Yellow slipped in and stopped him. They looked at Blue to continue.
"Her power allows her to transform into any character. If she transforms into a powerful healer, she might be able to help. Or better… she might be able to transform into the Great Lady." Blue said.
"What?!" This time, all the cubs yelled in unison. "Blue, you're suggesting heresy!"
"It's fine since it's for the Lord!"
"Ugh…!" they couldn't argue against that. "Fine, but how?! Isn't it that she can only transform into fictional characters?!"
"No? She transformed into a witch earlier, witches aren't fiction, real witches and mages exist. Although I'm unsure if she can transform into a particular individual, we can test that out. First of all, we need to provide her with information. She needs knowledge about the person to transform them." She said and walked to the table in the corner of the room. She grabbed a notebook and came back to the cubs. "Here. Purple, use your Instant Write powers on us. We will touch a page and fill it with information. We have to be quick!"
Purple didn't waste a second and did as asked. A minute later, the notebook was full.
Blue ran out of the room. As she had expected, both Ruby and Ai were there. Ruby looked instantly, opening her mouth to ask questions, but Blue spoke over her.
"Madam, read this. Be quick. Use your magic or something to read this faster. I need you to transform into this person. If you want to save him, this is the only way." Blue finished and handed Ai the book.
Ai, still in her witch outfit, felt a surge of worry, guilt, and regret. She could consume the book's content with a spell but would need a minute to properly understand them. She hoped her acting talents would help her where it counted.
Beside her, Ruby stood silently, her expression mirroring Ai's concern, she lowered her head in a feeling of uselessness. Why would the woman behind this situation also be the solution to it? Why wouldn't her spells work?!
Taking a deep breath, Ai whispered the incantation. The pages of the book fluttered as she absorbed its knowledge, beginning to mutter something on her own.
Blue nodded with relief and went back inside the room. Ai would come when she was done, but in the meantime Blue had to tend to Aqua. She touched his veins to see if he was doing alright. He wasn't. Time was tight.
The cubs were almost crying, unsure what to do. Two thuds resounded from outside the door, like two rice bags hitting the floor, but the cubs were too distracted to care. The half-closed door creaked open and only then did they turn back, expectation high and their breaths caught.
White hair, silver blue eyes, and her black-stripped skin were so pale that it reminded them of snow. With her cat ears twitching on her head, and her striped tail swirling behind her, a white-tiger girl walked in with a sway of her hips.
"M-milady?!" The tiger cubs gasped, they had never seen the Great Lady in person, the book they provided was from rumors and legends about her, along with recorded history. However, they could feel it to their bones that this was her. It had to be!
Otherwise, why would a [Tiger Icon] float overhead?
"Get out of here," her worried, concerned voice boomed with an ethereal echo as the cubs rushed out of the room. They felt extremely relieved as the door closed, certain that everything would be fine.
How could it not? Although their Lord's injury was extreme, he had been severely injured in the past too. At least, according to the legends and records. Then their Lady healed him with no difficulty, though sometimes it cost her life force and power.
The tiger cubs, the only part of the White Tiger Cult in this realm, believed there was no more issue now that their Lady, even if false, was here. They were relieved.
"Huh…?"
Until Red noticed something. All the tiger cubs turned to the two girls outside the room, who had fallen unconscious. Ruby and Ai both lay on the floor, and the cubs snapped their heads at the door with their blood running cold.
Ai was unconscious here, the notebook was torn into pieces and burning with White Flames. In that case, who was the woman inside...?
Soothing and healing Qi exploded within the room, the only thing that stopped the cubs from barging inside. Whoever she was, she knew what to do.
* * *
Storm Queen Nyxondra stood beside his injured body, her eyes focused on the image of a deity long gone, a legend once thought to be dead. Contrary to the injured old legend that lay on the bed, Nyxondra's form exuded an ethereal grace that was both mesmerizing and intimidating.
The latter vanished a second later when she indeed confirmed that this was him… this was her husband. Fondness filled her gaze as she smiled.
She had been dormant for so long, accumulating energy in hopes of awakening inside this mortal body of hers, but the universe's pace was unbearably slow. Yet, the sudden manifestation of the Time Icon had hastened things slightly, but not enough. It's when that woman, Ai Hoshino, transformed into a cheap copy of herself, that she drew all of her own powers from Ai to materialize like this.
She had made sure the woman was not harmed in the process. She had noticed in the past decades how close her husband was with this Ai, even if she disliked her, how could she do something that'd displease her husband?
Although, she had hoped that when they finally met again, the reunion would be filled with smiles and cheers. Not this silence. Not this injured state he was in. She disliked it because it brought her face to face with a sight she never wanted to witness again – her husband, injured and on the brink of death.
Although the number of complaints she had was endless, her mind enraged at seeing him trying to sacrifice himself for other people again, Nyxondra's hands moved with a precision and gentleness that belied the urgency in her heart. She held his face, kissing him deeply, as she climbed on top of him.
She worked to heal him, with her thoughts being a whirlwind of emotion. Worry gnawed at her, regret pierced her heart, and a simmering anger at the universe for putting him in harm's way again bubbled beneath the surface. All these years, the void of his absence had been a constant companion, a relentless reminder of what she had lost. Now, seeing him here, so close yet so vulnerable, unknown that she was with him right now, reignited a longing that had never truly extinguished.
She noticed the stark contrast of his hair – black instead of his customary blonde in this life, a little too long than earlier too, falling in unkempt waves around his face and down to his waist. She wondered why it was black, even though that dark crown Icon wasn't active right now. This was ominous…
"Well, white suits you much better anyway," she whispered, a wish to see him as he once was, the man who had ruled beside her, whose strength and presence had been a beacon in her life.
Her healing powers were formidable, especially when used on him. She had trained it for centuries to heal his injuries, and she was doing just that. A rectangular silver aura covered the bed, and life energy poured into his body. The room lit up with that ethereal light, as his wounds lessened.
As she worked to mend his broken body, she realized the toll it took on her. She felt no regret of course, she could lay her life for him. However, her current form, this borrowed existence, would not be able to handle her existence afterwards. She'll fall asleep, once again. She wasn't sure when she'd get to meet him again, for she'd fall into a slumber soon.
The [Tiger Icon] overhead was growing transparent. Time was slipping through her fingers like grains of sand, and she hastened her efforts.
Slowly, under her guidance, Aqua's body began to respond. The blackened skin faded, returning to its natural hue, and the visible red veins receded, signaling a return to normalcy. Yet, as his breathing steadied and the immediate danger passed, she noticed with a frown that his hair remained stubbornly black. It was a minor detail, perhaps, but to her, it was a reminder of the changes he had undergone, changes she had not been a part of.
"I don't like this version of you, he seems annoying, like the opposite of who you are," she said and kissed him. "But I love you anyway."
Her task completed, she looked up, catching the final fading of the Tiger Icon above. It was a signal, a reminder that her time here was fleeting. With a final, lingering look at her husband… Trigathar, who now went by Aqua, she leaped gracefully out of the window, disappearing into the night as mysteriously as she had appeared.
Her origin, her true identity, remained a mystery to the people outside, but her work was unmistakable. Aqua changed, his hair a stark black with a few strands of blonde here and there, but he was unmistakably healed.
…
When morning came, his eyelids slid open, casting an eerie, blood-red glow in the dimly lit room. His long black hair was spread on the white bed sheets like a dark river, as he rose up with more than a few screws loose on his head.
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