"Aqua! AQUA! AQUAAA!!!" Sera's terror filled voice seemed to reverberate for miles.
The darkness swallowed her inch by inch, creeping up from her chest to her neck.
"Sera… I have to help Sera–" Aqua told herself, prepping to jump to the large rock she's on.
Before she jumped, a stabbing pain radiated through her brain, as if she was being stabbed with numerous jagged tooth knives over and over.
"—Ghhaaah!"
She grabbed her head, staggering back, her knees nearly giving out. Her vision blurred around the edges and the taste and smell of blood filled her mouth and nose, yet there was no blood.
"This pain… It's just like before… during my fight with him…" She muttered out to herself between breaths.
Suddenly, a voice roared through the battlefield.
"DRACONIC VORTEX!!"
A vortex of flames raced towards her.
"Tch! She's using the same ability as Enaros… no, her fire is on a completely different level than his!" She thought to herself,struggling to force her battered body to move.
She managed to raise a hand.
"Specular Refle–"
But she wasn't quick enough. Before she could activate her ability, the pain in her skull seemed to amplify.
"AGGGGGHH!"
She grabbed her head, fingers tangled in her white and icy blue hair. She dropped to a knee, groaning in agony. But she wasn't able to focus on that pain as the heat from Nara's flames overshadowed it as it closed in. She raised her head.
"I have… to move…"
She barely managed to jump out of the way as the vortex of flames blazed past her.
As she floated in the air, the sky above darkened slightly. She looked up and her eyes widened.
Nara was floating high in the air above her, large wings flapping.
"Not good! I can't dodge in the air like this!"
She instantly shot both hands forward. A massive wall of ice formed in midair in front of her.
Nara saw this and took a deep breath, chest puffing out.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!" She roared out.
An invisible shockwave blasted through the air, destroying all trees and rocks floating in the air between them. The moment it made contact with the wall of ice, it shattered in an instant before slamming right into Aqua.
BOOOOOM!
She was sent flying back, her body smashing through several floating rocks in the process. Each impact knocked out what little air she had left from her lungs. She crashed onto a massive floating boulder dozens of meters wide, groaning and gasping, coughing up blood.
"Get up…move… I have to move… no matter what… I have to help Sera!" She thought to herself, completely ignoring the pain radiating through her body.
She pressed her webbed hands against the rock, struggling to push herself up, but her arms trembled violently beneath her own weight, barely able to rise a few inches.
"I can barely move and my essence… I barely have any left…What do I do? If I don't do anything… captain… Sera… my best… friend—"
Her thoughts were cut off by a sound several meters in front of her. Her eyes snapped up, locking onto Nara standing there.
She stared at her for a moment before she started taking slow, deliberate steps towards her. The scales on her arms and neck began to glow a deep red orange, becoming brighter and brighter with every step she took.
Aqua gritted her teeth, her frustration and panic blending together, clearly visible throughout her face.
"What is going on!? Where in the stars is Velzari?! Jorak?! Someone?!"
Talon looked down at the scene with an amused smirk, her CPI coming analyzing Aqua.
Aqua: 490,000… 460,000… 430,000…
"Hmmm, it looks like it's over for your bestie, huh? What do you think about that theater geek?"
Sera's face contorted with a mix of pure fear, rage, and panic. Veins bulged beneath her light blue skin on her forehead as the reality of the situation set in.
"No! This isn't right! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! NO! NO! NO NO NO NO NO NOO!!" She screamed, her voice raw and unhinged, thrashing around despite the shadows holding her in place.
She looked down towards the rock Aqua was on, eyes set on Nara.
"YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SIDE PIECE—
–MARIONETTE'S DOMAIN!"
Nara's entire body stiffened up instantly. It was as if all of her limbs stopped listening to her commands, unable to move at all.
"Wha—?!" She choked out as a piercing pain seared through her skull.
She collapsed to her knees, her entire body shaking. Talon's smirk vanished instantly.
"Wait… what's happening?!"
Nara's claws dug into the stone beneath her.
"This feeling… it's like before… She's trying… to take control of me again!" She sputtered out.
"Shit! She's using the same ability as the ones that turned those locals and her lackeys into puppets! But how? There's no strings this time. Is it because she had control of her recently?" Talon thought to herself as she watched Nara fall to her knees before turning her attention back to Sera.
"That's enough of this."
Her pink eyes glowed as the rubble in the immediate vicinity began crashing into Sera, constricting her even more.
"AQUAAAAAAA! HELPPPP ME!" Sera stretched out.
Talon eyes widened before she flew up and out of the way just as a blade of ice sliced through the air where her head was, slicing the ends of her hair.
She came to a stop midair, hovering as her eyes snapped towards Aqua who was now standing on the rock in front of Sera.
"What the?! Aqua? How did she recover that fast?"
Her eyes darted down toward the rock where Aqua was a moment ago.
"She was just struggling to stand just seconds ago, so how was she suddenly this fast?"
Aqua stood with the icy blade raised, her breath misting in the frigid air around her.
"Sera… I need to help… my friend." She mumbled to herself.
"Aqua, bestie! Please… get me out of here!" Sera pleaded behind her, tears rolling down her face.
Aqua turned around and grabbed a hold of a piece of Sera's purple jacket that wasn't covered in shadows already. She pulled with all she had, but no matter how hard she tugged, how much force she applied, the shadows seemed to only tightened even more. Black tendrils crawled up Sera's upper chest, nearing her neck.
"No… This doesn't make sense. What kind of ability is this?" Aqua muttered to herself, eyes wide as the fabric of the jacket she tugged on got swallowed up by the darkness.
"There's nothing you can do at this point. Your bestie is done for…" Talon said calmly as she floated behind them.
Sera's heart nearly stopped, the weight of Talon's words seemingly crushing her more than the rubble and shadows constricting her body at that very moment.
But inside Aqua's mind, there was a voice… yet it wasn't hers nor Sera's… It was someone, or something else… And it repeated one thing over and over.
"KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!"
Her body began to tremble as a weirdly familiar but unfamiliar sensation began to spread throughout her entire body and mind… not only that… it felt completely evil and overwhelming, as if a demented being inside her was waking up from a long slumber and hungry to kill.
"KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!KILL HER!–"
Aqua's eyes became lifeless and a surge of icy-blue essence crackled around her. She stretched her right arm to the side and a frosty mist enveloped the area, completely blocking sight through it for a moment before dissipating. Once it did, she was holding a ginormous scythe seemingly encased in a smooth layer of ice, covering the majority of its design and features.
Even Talon was left speechless for a moment, eyes wide with shock as she stared at the long curved icy blade. Her CPI scanner began to flicker in her eyes.
Aqua: 400,000… 700,000… 1,100,000…
"Is that a cosmic artifact!? But how? Was she really hiding that the entire time? She didn't seem to have much essence a moment ago, but now she's able to conjure and wield an artifact? Not only that, her CPI it's slowly rising and doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Who is this brat exactly? She's no push over whatsoever. Come on… This isn't good. The seal is almost finished, I need to buy more time."
She tried to raise her left arm, but it wouldn't budge.
"My entire left side of my body is still useless. I need to use my other hand, but if I do, I'll lose control of Sera… I can't, not at this stage of the plan. I have to think of something else."
Her mind raced nonstop trying to think of something on the fly… anything. But it was too late… Aqua moved, appearing right in front of her, scythe cocked back for an attack
"Shit! No time! I have to let go!" Talon thought to herself urgently.
The pink essence flowing around began to die down as she eased her grip on the rubble around Sera, but before she could fully let go—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Something fast blurred into her vision and smashed violently right into Aqua, sending crashing through the rock she and Sera stood on before. Her body collided with a massive floating tree, shattering it on impact before she skidded across the surface of a large floating rock dozens of meters below where she stood.
Sera's eyes zipped down to the crashzone in a panic.
"Aqua?! But how!? What… what was that?!"
Aqua groaned, propping herself up on her elbows and knees.
"What… just hit me?" She asked herself, dazed and confused.
Nara, still on her knees, blinked in confusion before looking over to their location.
Talon did the same until her eyes widened once she saw what the source of the crash was… or rather who it was.
There was a faint trace of lightning crackling around him as the dust cleared.
Talon stared at the back of the person now standing between her and Aqua.
That stance.
That presence.
That ridiculous timing…
"Kai… Kaito?" She muttered, completely shocked.
"What's wrong princess–"
Kaito turned and looked back at her, small arcs of lightning crackling around him with a casual smirk.
"–You look like you've seen a ghost."