"Uehehehehehe... pretty elf ears." Chad said, fondling Niantha's ears. The action had startled Niantha, not expecting the affectionate gesture from Chad. Her face was red as a tomato, and she gently moved his hands aside. "President, snap out of it; now is not the time to do this."
Something or someone makes heavy footsteps in the corridor outside their room. Stepping out of the room, Niantha sees him: The Jolly Man. Niantha glanced back at Chad inside the room, slowly coming to his senses. "It seems I'll have to protect him until he snaps out of it!" Expecting the Jolly Man to charge directly at her, she prepares for any incoming attack. "Come at me." Niantha motioned her hand at the Jolly Man, allowing him to make the first move. Howling, the Jolly Man's voice shook the apartment complex; cries were heard around the building. "MY KNIGHT AND MY JESTER, YOU'VE CUT THEIR THREADS." The Jolly Man says, pointing at Niantha. "THEY ARE NOT IN MY GRASP ANY LONGER NOR DO THEY EXIST IN OUR WORLD." Finishing his sentence, zombies erupt from the rooms in the corridor, charging straight at Niantha. Using her palm, she strikes the first zombie in the jaw, snapping it off. As the zombie gets staggered, she kicks it, knocking it into the zombie behind. As more zombies bombarded her, she fired an Aura blast at the horde, causing an enormous explosion to rattle the apartment complex. As the dust settled, the horde was blown to bits. Niantha was creeped out by hearing the zombies scream in agony, even after their bodies were obliterated. "Dear God, the President wasn't lying; that man is horrible." Observing their bodies slowly reassembling, she failed to remember that she should always keep her eyes on her opponent. She heard footsteps darting towards her at high speeds; looking up, the Jolly Man was reaching out to her face.
His hand was frail, almost as if it were a skeleton. It felt dangerous; even though it was just his hand, Niantha's survival instincts were screaming out to avoid contact with it at all costs. Weaving under his hand, Niantha retaliates by throwing a right to his liver and quickly following up with an uppercut. Before connecting to her uppercut, she saw the Jolly Man swooping his left hand at her head. Leaning back, she took a quick backstep, preparing to counterattack once again. Her eyes glanced down at the area she struck; a dark bruise had formed, yet the Jolly Man smiled without a care in the world. "No way... I put everything into that blow, but he enjoys it?"
Niantha braced for impact as the Jolly Man came towards her. "It's over..." she thought, her hands recoiled against her face. But as she stood still, expecting a collision, nothing came about. She peeked open her eyes, still terrified of her impending doom. As she fully widened her eyes, she saw the Jolly Man encapsulated in an orb of a red hue. "Well, it's as the book stated. The perfect scenario." The man said, standing at the enormous hole in the apartment Chad had created earlier. As the orb condensed, the Jolly Man shrank with it as well. As it got smaller, a bronze pattern surrounded the orb, forming a ball that covered it.
"Now, Niantha, my most precious creation, we must leave immediately." He said, putting his finger on her chin.
It was no doubt a coincidence. That man standing in front of Niantha was someone she had seen a few times in the Terrestria testing chambers. The man who monitored them took an acute interest in her. That man was Deacon Bright, the leader of Terrestria. "You are Deacon Bright, the most powerful person on this continent. Why would you save me?" Niantha asked, slapping away his hand.
Giving a sly smirk, he adjusted the glove on his hand, going over to pick up the orb that had trapped the Jolly Man. "Oh, sorry, I was just merely picking up my slave. Is there anything wrong with that?" Deacon questioned, looking over his shoulder. She saw how easily Deacon dealt with the Jolly Man, pocketing him like a collectible. Even though Chad and her struggled against him, the Jolly Man was quickly sealed away in a small orb. "What's that orb? How did it capture the Jolly Man so easily?" she asked, pointing at his pocket.
"The Orb of Endatras. An orb that was used thousands of years ago to capture Eldritch demons. You could get amazing artifacts like this when you're the most powerful man in Azurath." He went over to Niantha, kneeling at eye level for her. "Quite impressive. You girls managed to escape the Terrestria facilities during the Battle of Synone. I was afraid I was going to lose my greatest asset, but here it is." His hand planted itself against the cheek of Niantha, caressing it. Visions of the cold, barren steel walls gave her goosebumps. The voices of their screams in agony haunted her mind. The Terrestria underground facilities where she and her sisters were once at. "W-Wait, please don't bring me back to that place!" Niantha screamed, trying to pull away Deacon's hand against her cheek. The strength she output barely nudged his hand, surprising her.
Deacon, grinning, looked over at Chad, who was sleeping like an idiot amidst the chaos. He put his hand out, creating a massive ball of flames that had a vibrant hue. "I will incinerate your friend if you don't come with me." Niantha felt the immense heat engulf her side even from a distance of the ball; such powerful flames were condensed into a singular ball, ready to release devastation onto Chad. Tensions building, she broke under the pressure. "Okay, fine... just please don't kill the President. If you even get near him, I'll use Aura to blast my brain to bits." Niantha had figured earlier that she was a very important person to Deacon, even though she didn't have a clue what attribute about her intrigued him. Deacon, hearing this, scoffed. "Oh, do you truly have the guts to?"
A blue glow surrounded Niantha's head as she charged up Aura. It was a thick layer of mana, ready to cave her skull in. Deacon held a small chuckle, seeing her little antics. It amused him how much she had grown during their separation. Her growth in power, her managing to break her constraints in mana, and the fact she boldly put her life at stake for someone else. "Aura, huh? So you managed to learn it, even though that technique is typically only taught at military levels. Unless someone taught you it early on..."
Deacon stood up, picking up Niantha with one arm. "Fine, you have a deal. I'll leave your little pal alone; you come with me." Creating large wings of heavy flames, he shoots a ray of fire at the rooftop of the apartment complex, creating a large hole for them to fly through. "Wait a minute, the zombies; they're still here!"
"What zombies?" Deacon questioned with a smile.
Surveying the area, Niantha had noticed the remnants of the zombies were simply ash. It surprised her because they were under the influence of the Jolly Man. "B-But the Jolly Man practically made them immortal... how are they not regenerating right now?"
"Figure it out yourself." Deacon said before he soared into the sky with Niantha in hand.