The people gathered in front of the Dragon Emperor, the Seven Calamities as they referred to themselves, kept their heads low when addressing him. The Dragon Emperor seemed quite pleased with their greeting as a wide grin could be seen on his face.
"It has truly been too long, everyone!", said the Dragon Emperor as he walked around them, "It seems we have been sealed here for quite some time. I can't even tell what era we are in now"
"Umm…you're Majesty, that's because we have yet to leave this place yet", one of the little colorful men pointed out politely.
"Oh yes!"
"Quite right!"
The other two little men spoke up and agreed with him immediately, nodding their heads enthusiastically. Aria then bowed her head even lower to the point where her forehead touched the cold floor.
"I must apologize for my incompetence, your Majesty", said Aria in a solemn tone, "Out of all of us, I alone managed to avoid the fate that you all had to suffer. Yet despite my efforts, I couldn't free you all"
"Hmm, is that so?", asked the Dragon Emperor with a distant expression on his face. His attention didn't seem to be on Aria at all.
Asrige smiled gently at Aria and said, "I'm sure you did all you could, my girl. From the look of things it looks like you've been stuck here for a while along with us, yes? That means you at least tried and that alone is enough for us"
The others seemed to agree with Asrige's thoughts. All of them except Dagro. He simply grunted in response to their sentiments and focused his attention elsewhere.
FWOOSH!
"Instead of sapping over how much you all missed each other, can't you at least notice that these vermins' presences seem to be bothering the King?" asked Dagro in annoyance.
One second he had been kneeling besides his comrades, the next he stood before the only four humans alive in the room. Richard, Gerard and Caitlin lay on the floor, each of them coated in layers of sweat as they struggled to bear the pressure they felt from the powerful beings before them. Lucas was the only lucky one in this situation as it seemed that he could not feel a single thing in his unconscious state.
'Why can…I barely…move…?' thought Caitlin as she struggled to even breathe. It felt like her brain and the rest of her internal organs were about to implode on themselves.
The mere presence of these mysterious beings was all it took to incapacitate an elite warrior like herself. Just like the others, Caitlin was an S rank too. However in front of these people, she was nothing!
"Oh my! How silly of me not to notice", Asrige remarked and she chided herself for not noticing them before.
Dagro's eyes narrowed as he muttered, "Get lost, you overgrown rats"
The pain and pressure that Caitlin felt seemed to double with Dagro's words and if her movements weren't being restricted she would have been bawling from the torment. But she seemed to have gotten the better treatment out of the situation. Out of the corner of her eye, Caitlin caught sight of something absolutely horrible. Richard and Gerard's bodies started writhing and convulsing uncontrollably before they expanded and expanded until finally-
POP! POP!
Something wet and red splattered across Caitlin's face and clothes, making her flinch in shock. The two kind people who had helped her briefly were now nothing more than blood stains and pulps of flesh sprawled across the floor.
"Interesting! How interesting indeed!", shouted the Dragon Emperor in amusement. Whatever he found interesting exactly, only he knew. For now, he seemed content in letting Dagro handle things as long as he was kept entertained.
"Ha! At least they explode quite well", Dagro chuckled dryly before his eyes turned to Caitlin with a frown, "Why won't you die?"
Caitlin felt shivers run down her spine as adrenaline momentarily jolted through her body, numbing just a little bit of the pain.
Run!
That was the only message her body seemed to be sending her. If not for two reasons stopping her, she would have gladly obliged. One being the fact that her legs wouldn't obey her even if she attempted an escape. As for the other-
"She seems to have quite the strong soul and will, Dagro", said Aria, "I suggest killing the one unconscious behind her first"
Aria observed Caitlin's reaction and just as she had suspected, Caitlin's eyes filled with panic the moment she heard her words. This didn't go unnoticed by Dagro either and he simply glanced at Lucas and put two and two together.
"I see", said Dagro as he walked over to where Lucas was and lifted him up by his hair, "So he is the reason for your strong will, right? Would be a shame if something unfortunate were to happen to him…"
The panic in Caitlin's eyes slowly receded, suddenly replaced with a surprisingly high amount of killing intent. Everyone seemed stunned for a moment as they felt the unusual amount of killing intent that radiated from Caitlin.
"Oi Oi Oi, what the hell is this?", asked Dagro as he released just a sliver of his own killing intent, instantly matching Caitlin's but not suppressing it. He licked his lips and his hand clenched tighter onto Lucas' hair as he said, "For a human to have such a level of killing intent…you must've done some pretty bad things, little girl"
Gritting her teeth hard, Caitlin slowly pushed herself off the ground and got back to her feet. The expression on her face was dull and emotionless but her eyes spoke volumes about how she truly felt at the moment. Bending over and picking up a discarded short sword next to her, Caitlin pointed it at Dagro.
"If you value your fingers and the rest of your hand, you will let Lucas go right now", Caitlin threatened, her voice so low it was almost a whisper.
Dagro chuckled darkly, "Really? If you think you can, then go ahead and peal him away from me"
Dagro then waved Lucas in front of her tauntingly. Of course he was absolutely confident in his own strength so he didn't mind stoking the flames of rage burning inside Caitlin.
However instead of getting infuriated like he expected, Caitlin kept calm. She raised her hand to the center of her forehead and pressed gently, causing a small black mark to appear across it.
'A rune?' thought Asrige curiously 'What could she be up to?'
"I once promised someone important to me that I would never use this power unless I absolutely felt that my life was being threatened", Caitlin explained, with a complicated look on her face. However, it soon vanished and was replaced with determination as she declared, "But you have threatened the life of someone I care for very much, so it's only fitting that I use it now!"
"What nonsense is she sprouting?" Aria sneered, "The nerve of her to think she can somehow best Dagro!"
Selei, who stood besides her, didn't say a single word and simply stared at Caitlin with a frown.
'Something's not right' she thought 'Her aura is fluctuating unnaturally. Maybe I should-'
Before she could voice her thoughts though, the mark on Caitlin's forehead glowed and she vanished from her spot in the next instant. Dagro's pupils constricted to the size of needles as he chucked Lucas to the side and raised his arms in an attempt to block whatever was coming.
SLASH!
"Argh!", Dagro grunted in both pain and surprise as a deep gash was made across both his forearms.
"""What?!"""
"Impossible!"
"No way!"
The others all seemed just as surprised as Dagro himself. Selei took another look at Caitlin, who had reappeared besides Lucas.
"Just who is this girl...?"
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A/N: How is this going to go down now...?
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Have a great rest of your day ;)