Zeke and Yuli disappeared back to coast forest, he was going to follow her to wherever she was thinking of getting Abel from.
"I need to create another clone of myself before we leave Zeke" she said, her image already forming. After she was done, she placed it on air and surrounded it with a barrier of flames, guarding it.
Zeke watched in a little awe "can I hold it?" He suddenly asked.
"Hold what?"
"Your swords" he was already moving to get it. "It's engulfed in flames Zeke" Yuli stared at him like he has lost his mind
"I'm not blind Yuli, I can see that"
To Yuli's surprised, he touched the sword and lifted it, staring at it in admiration as it emitted ice flames but it was obvious that it was taking a great course for him to hold it firmly.
His hand was already wavering and burn marks could be seen now
"We are going into the enemies camp now, don't exhaust yourself from trying to hold my sword" Yuli was already behind him and took the sword away from him. She was surprised he managed to hold it firmly even for a few seconds.
She healed his and they disappeared, with Zeke following her lead but he became confused because they had appeared at a... market?? He looked around, they were now mixed among common folks and had started turning heads of the few people remaining, they were already packing up to leave the market to their directions.
"And what are we supposed to be doing here?" Zeke squinted his eyes at her
"To get things of course, I don't like the shade of the lip balm I got last time" Yuli gave him a 'what else are we supposed to be doing in the market' face.
Zeke looked stupefied, it was very hard to retain his indifferent expression around this girl. He was about to speak when he saw she was moving to the back of the market, wasn't she going to buy the damned lip balm?
He took a step to follow her and she suddenly disappeared, is she really going to ditch him right now and go solo? Does she think he is a little boy who can't protect himself? He was almost getting annoyed now.
Turning around to leave he caught sight of a little girl of about ten years waving at him and smiling widely, he pointed at himself with his finger
"Me..?"
"Yeah come over Zeke!!" that voice.. he recognized the voice but couldn't quite figure out where or who he knew it from.
He decided to walk over and upon reaching, the girl had a smug smile on her face now, this girl was suspicious. He tried to see through her but he couldn't.
"How does it feel to be older now? All the times you've felt like smacking me, you can finally do them now"
Yuli???? This was definitely Yuli!!
"What are you up to now?" He asked in slight irritation trying to act like he had known it was her.
"You don't have to pretend, I know you didn't see through me, that means my disguise is perfect though" she curled her hair around her finger.
"Why?" Zeke could only ask.
She turned serious "disguise yourself Zeke we are going under cover"
"Why?" he became even more confused weren't they supposed to just storm in and scare whoever it was?
"Conceal yourself really well, they think I'm dead or something considering I'm supposedly killed at coast forest, to get them we don't have to alert them"
"Not knowing I've paid them a visit they'd let their guard down and it will save us quite a lot trouble"
"And they may use Abel as a leverage to subdue us, his body is being used by another person so I think they have trapped his soul somewhere" Zeke's face was itched in worry now.
"If anything happens to my brother, no one is leaving alive" he said in a low voice but the threat was very loud.
"Including us?" Yuli asked
"Oh no! I don't intend to die today" she faked a shocked and scared face.
"Stop being dramatic or I might actually kill you first" how was this girl his sister? .. oh, he suddenly remembered, she wasn't actually his blood sister.
Zeke massaged his temples, Yuli makes him feel like a seventy year old man with a troublesome child and looking at her disguised as a little girl in poor clothes and now brown colored hair tied into double buns, made him feel like giving her a good beating but he knew better
"I'd like to see you try" she smiled at him, Zeke recognized that smile, that was her signature smile when she is about to kick some asses.
"Well, I'm not like that to... kids" he drew closer, patted her head and ran off.
"Hey, you kid!" Yuli yelled at him.
"Come back here!!"
...
People had been disappearing for no known reason so Yuli decided it was best to wander like a powerless duo and maybe lure them out. They might think to abduct them also, seeing how confused and aimless they were.
Zeke was in a disguise of an old man with a stick supporting his weight.
Yuli went to a seller to buy the supposed lip balm.
"Where are the new products, I want a... purple color"
"There's none in that color"
"Are you sure?" she didn't seem to believe the seller.
The seller eyed her, she observed them for a while before giving out a smile too cute to be real "actually.. there is" she opened a box and brought out a very shinny purple one.. Yuli smiled and she exchanged a knowing glance with Zeke, this was not a lib balm at all. A dark energy was emitting from it which she of course pretended not to know.
She opened the balm and a very nice smell filled the air around them. Yuli suddenly remembered that perceiving this was supposed to make them pass out immediately.
They were immune to it of course, for people as strong as them, things like this had no effect on them and Zeke didn't even notice that he was supposed to pass out, the seller had began to look at them suspiciously so giving Zeke a sign, she slumped down the next moment.
Zeke was taken aback by her action first but then he decided to go with the flow and pretended to pass out.
The lady smiled moved to them.
...
Yuli opened her eyes when she felt the air around her change, she looked around and couldn't understand what this place was, Zeke had same confused look in his eyes. The energy and aura around was very dark and for a cold world like Winter Universe this place was really suffocating.
Dark whisp smokes were swirling around and the space was fluctuating at intervals, what was this place? It looked like they were in a different time and space. She looked around, there were people around them bound in thick chains and that was when she instinctively looked at her hands and legs, the chains on her were extended to Zeke.
Sure enough, they had abducted them and this were the other people who fell victim. Froze beasts were behind thick locked bars seemingly in a slumber but they were receiving a life force, the life force of.. the people around them... It turns out... all those missing were all here and .. their life force was being transferred to the froze beasts.
The powerless Iceis in Winter Universe were being abducted and used for this?? And this was the reason they were brought here? To transfer their life force to the froze beasts? Ha!! whoever was behind this better watch it because he was in for a really big surprise this time around!!
So.. this was why they suddenly regenerates after being killed, they already had more lives in them.
The people around were almost lifeless now except they recently captured ones.
The expression on Zeke's face shows that he seemed to have also understood what was going on.
They were under cover and soon it will be their turn to be used, they can't act reckless but this had to stop now.
Whoever it was using Abel's body appeared from a black vortex, looking around he seemed very proud and gave out an evil laugh, his eyes completely black with no trace of life or warmth in it.
Yuli fixed her intense gaze on him, wanting to uncover the mysteries behind the face of the crown prince he used as a facade and what she discovered shocked her.. No! this can't be true. The dark spirit was already killed by Noah! she looked at Zeke and he was staring back at her in same shock.
Feeling a piercing gaze at him, he turned to look at Yuli and Zeke, his eyes narrowed and he took slow steps towards them.
He was almost close to them when he abruptly turned.
He chanted inaudible words and the space opened, revealing an ethereal being in slumber, trapped in an ice casket with dark energy swirling around it. A very long sword cut right through his heart, Zeke recognized this sword, it was the sword of death. The royals used to punish people that committed heinous crimes, it kills in one strike but since it was created with royals blood it can't kill a royal. It could only cause pain to them. The dark spirit doesn't seem to know about this fact.
Noah had stabbed the dark spirit with this same sword and he was assumed dead, but unbeknownst to him, this blasted spirit was still alive and has been hiding under the covers of the crown prince all this while.
This place was separated from Winter Universe, no wonder she couldn't sense him. He was able to hide well.
The person in the casket was none other than the soul of Abel, he looked freezed and powerless. Yuli couldn't sense an atom of energy from him but compared to how shrink he was looking, his hair and nails were glowing and Yuli remembered when he had told her about wanting long nails.
Could it be that? He could escape at times? And all this powers were in his hair and fingers?? Is he trying to stop the dark spirit from assessing his powers??