Infinitum Crystals - The Deadly Maidens [3]

Side Story 4.3 - Blax - Xuanwu Part 1

We have rested enough and it was time for us to make our way down the cliff to capture the Black Tortoise, Xuanwu. Thankfully, we don't need to use any sort of climbing gears because there was a man made slope for us to use. While we were walking down the slopes, Rider whispered to me a few thing.

"Hey, Blax. Did you told her about me?" he whispered.

"What are you talking about?"

Rider then whispered to me what he meant as fast as possible. After hearing what he said I simply gave him a weird look as I am as every bit as surprised as anyone else would be if they heard what Rider had just said.

I said to him, "I didn't tell her that, though. How does she about that?"

Rider shrugged, "Beats me. But she really rustles my feather after hearing that from her."

"We shouldn't think too much about it. For now, let's just get this over with so that we can contact the others about it."

Rider was mumbling, "I really can't trust her..."

"If you can't trust her then trust me, Rider. I'll make sure that we'll get this through without a pinch."

Rider smiled after hearing that. He then asked me, "Hey, who are the others you were talking about? I thought only the four of us were left in this team."

I explained to him, "I really can't tell you everyone involved but I can tell you who will be leading it. And he's the one who's going to try and talk with the others that are wiling to join him."

Rider then made an uncomfortable gesture as I finished my sentence.

"Is something wrong, Rider?"

"Lore is the leading the other team, am I right?"

I reluctantly nodded, "You're right on that one. But you don't need to think too much. I thought you two have already forgiven each other."

"We did."

"So? What's the problem?"

Rider shrugged, "It's nothing really..."

Then I took a guess, "Perhaps it's guilt. That's why you're feeling uncomfortable whenever Lore was brought up to the table."

"Probably that..." Rider shrugged as he said that.

Then Mei, who was ahead of us, shouted, "Hey guys! There's the pillar!"

We finally reached the 2nd pillar and it looks like Hosuke has already begun to unsheathe his Mizusame. He was physically prepared that's for sure. Airi on the other hand remain as firm as ever. He was mentally prepared for this. Rider though, he seems to be lingering over the fact that Mei brought up a past that she shouldn't have known about us. I'm still not sure how does she know about that. My best bet would be that White told her about it considering that White was acquainted to her. But even I can't say if that's true or not. I'll just have to find that out soon or later.

We finally reached the bottom of the cliff. Mei had already begun initiating the summoning sequence to summon the tortoise. As we waited for things to escalate, Airi approached me.

"Blax. This is not a good time but I received this note from one of the villagers when I was walking around the village. They told us to leave and not anger their guardian."

I replied to him, "I've noticed that as well. We do look like the baddies right now with us trying to capture their guardian. But from what Mei had told us, it was necessary for us to capture them in order to prepare for the impending doom."

"What even is the impending doom that is to come?"

I told him, "Mei told me that she ran away from her capital after she realizes that her current emperor, seeks to revive the first emperor of her country, Shi Huandi. And also at that, the current emperor has ties with a familiar enemy that we've faced before."

"Familiar? Who exactly?"

"Remember the Escher incident? He was only a small part of a big outcome. Mei told me that the current emperor was advised by someone that is like Escher and that is why I feel like we still need to trust Mei. For the time being at least..."

"How does she know about Escher?" Airi wondered.

"I don't know but now is not the right time for that, Airi. We need her guidance if we want to see this through."

Airi slowly nodded and took his position. As we were all in our position to brace for anything to happen, Mei had finally finish her summoning as the pillar began to shine bright. The pillar then sends a light beam towards the sky. The beam created a hole between the clouds. A few moments later, the earth began to shake and crack in between the pillars. It was different than when we encountered the Vermilion Bird. The bird appeared from the sky.

This one however emerges from the ground as it completely thrown the pillar off the ground. The pillar landed someplace else. But that's not a crucial part of course. The Black Tortoise was finally here. We were ready for this. But...

"Wait a minute." Hosuke noticed something.

I also noticed something was not right about the tortoise. It's tail...is not a tail at all.

Mei then shouted, "Heads up everyone! This one's going to be tough. It has two heads. The main one and also the tail, which is a serpent."

"You could have told us earlier..." Airi stood as firm as he could.

We thought we were ready to face Xuanwu. But it looks like we weren't expecting this at all...We were not ready.

TO BE CONTINUED