Hailee and I began happily heading back to everyone after we settled everything. It was the first time in awhile where we were just chopping it up. Just casually talking and laughing.
Our upbeat nature was instantly eliminated as soon as we got back, though.
"What's wrong, guys?" I said, after noticing the gloomy aura that was surrounding everybody. I noticed that Lucy wasn't around either, but I didn't care enough about her whereabouts at the moment to ask. "You guys all look like you saw a ghost."
"Wish he was a ghost..." An Outer named Kai grumbled.
"Who?"
"Zero."
"He's in Euphornia City with King Jasper, and they're unveiling some new statue of himself," Phoebe said, as she showed me her phone. "It's being broadcasted right now. Look."
"And why exactly does he need a statue? To commemorate how much he's ruined everyone's lives?" I asked.
"The statue says 'Arusia's Greatest Treasure,'" Bowie scoffed.
"That 'treasure' is nothing but false gold, then," I said.
"We have to stop him," Rose added.
"Why don't we go stop him now?" I said, eagerly. "If I give Phoebe the power up, we'll have two people on our side who can handle him. And he doesn't even have his henchmen with him. He's just with the king. We'll have strength in numbers, and a power advantage."
I walked up close to Phoebe with conviction, and prepared to ask her the important question.
"Are you ready?"
"A-Actually, is it okay if I pass?"
Everybody, including me, contorted their face in shock as she made that statement.
"Um...why?"
As Phoebe started to strut in Hailee's direction, I could tell where the conversation was headed. Couldn't say I was mad at her decision though. In fact, I was happy about it.
"Because this young lady," Phoebe started as she playfully put her arm over Hailee's shoulder. "Deserves to get it first."
"B-But Phoebe, you're our leader," Hailee said.
"Exactly. And as your leader, I order you to be the first to get the power up. You're not going to go against my order, are you?"
"N-No, ma'am," Hailee shook her head.
"Good. Now go show everyone that you are strong. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise."
Hailee gave Phoebe a strong nod, and started walking my way. She had a very serious aura as she came towards me. She was walking with a strong intent, and reason. I could feel it in my bones that she was more than ready.
Uh oh, End chuckled. Looks like we have another incoming Alex situation. You want to be the cause for another one of your friend's death?
That won't happen, I thought. Not this time.
And why's that? Because she's..."strong?"
Not "strong." She is actually strong, and I'll show you.
"I don't have to ask, do I?" I said, smiling at Hailee as we both looked into each other's eyes.
"Nope. I'm ready, Ezra. Do it."
"Your wish is my command," I grinned. I started to channel up all the cursed ki I could, and began honing it all in. I wasn't sure how I knew, but I could feel exactly what to do to complete the process even though nobody told me how to. It was like the cursed ki itself was telling me what to do.
Finally, I was able to trap all of the power I needed to give to Hailee into a tiny dark, floating sphere that I was keeping within my hands. All that was left to do was to push the sphere towards Hailee, and let the power wash over her. I could've simply touched her and given her the power that way, but something inside me told me that this was the better option.
"Here goes nothing," I said. Without hesitating any longer, I pushed the sphere towards Hailee. It took a little moment, but the sphere eventually was absorbed by her body completely. We all waited in anticipation for some type of reaction from her.
"Isn't something supposed to happen?" Hailee asked, chuckling a bit. "That felt too easy-"
Right on perfect cue, the reaction we were all waiting for had arrived. Hailee suddenly grasped her chest, and winced in pain. I tried to ask her if she was okay but was instantly interrupted as a huge wave of cursed energy was released from her and blasted me away.
She started screaming in agony with her eyes rolled back, as she was engulfed in a huge swirling ball of cursed energy. It was difficult for us to get near her as we were all being pushed back. I was getting flashbacks of how I was the first time I touched the Cursed Sword. The same markings that were appearing on my body that day were beginning to appear on her as well as time passed.
"Stand back!" I yelled, as I saw everyone else trying their hardest to get closer to her to help. "I've got this!"
It was hard for me to make my way to Hailee despite my own strength. Since I gave her some of my power, it was like I was fighting myself. A version of myself that was acting erratically as well, which made things even more difficult.
Doing the best that I can to use my sword as a shield through the huge sphere of energy surrounding her, I was gradually making progress. With each step, I was getting closer and closer to my dear friend.
"Hailee!" I cried. "You have to calm down! Listen to my voice!"
I noticed that she was starting to bleed a little from various spots on her body. This made me realize that I didn't have much longer. I had to save her, and fast.
I charged up as much power as possible, took a deep breath, and successfully launched myself towards her despite the immense pressure that I was feeling from the cursed energy that was spewing out of her.
I had no clue what to do once I got close to her. So, out of desperation, I just hugged her, hoping it would bring her back to her senses.
"You have to fight it, Hailee!" I pleaded, as I tightly wrapped my arms around her. "Please! Stop this!"
Suddenly, the gigantic, swirling ball of dark energy that reeked of malice, and negativity, had dissipated. The pressure that was pushing all of us back was gone, the markings on her body went away, and she stopped screaming.
Her eyes returned to their normal state, and then they closed as she fainted. Everybody ran towards me to see if she was okay.
"This is why I was hesitant to do this," I choked out. I could barely speak as tears were flowing down my face. "I knew it would be dangerous, yet I still did. Now look what I've done."
"Ezra, she's going to wake up," Phoebe said. "Don't worry-"
"How do you know?! Huh?!"
"Because you woke up when this happened to you. Remember? When you first got the sword?"
"But...that's different."
"Why? Because you're special?"
"No, it's just-"
"Ezra, I know you're worried that you might lose another friend, but Hailee's strong. She'll wake up."
"How can you be so sure-"
Ack, ack!
I instantly turned my head to the coughing noises that had interrupted me, and grinned.
"Hailee!!" I squealed, jubilantly. I hugged her tightly again. I just couldn't resist the urge to. Then, I realized she was coughing, and was probably still hurt and immediately backed off of her.
"Sorry! You're probably still in pain."
"Actually...I feel...great..." she replied.
"But you were coughing just now. And you were bleeding all over-"
I stopped speaking as soon as I saw the miracle occurring on her body. All of her wounds from the cursed energy hurting her had closed up. Her body was healing itself right before my eyes. Just like my body healed itself the first time I acquired the sword.
"Woah..." Brog said, as he witnessed her body healing.
"Woah indeed," Bowie added. "Do you feel stronger now, Hailee?"
"Ezra...try to hit me," she said, suddenly.
"Huh?" I replied. "I'm not going to try to hit my best friend."
"C'mon, just do it."
I saw the amount of seriousness within her eyes, and could feel the confidence exuding from her as she asked me this. I had no choice but to accept her challenge at that point. It would have been rude of me not to.
Respecting her wishes, I charged up as much cursed ki as I could into my sword, lunged at her, and swung my sword with all my might. What occurred after was unbelievable. I was aware of the fact that she had to be stronger now that I had given her a boost in power, but I didn't know how strong she was. I thought she was going to simply just dodge my swing or something. But no.
Hailee caught the sword and stopped my attack.
AN: hi! to whoevers reading this, i love u so much! with how inconsistent my updates are, my many grammatical errors, and just overall messiness when it comes to writing, i would not blame anybody at all from dropping this lmao! i'm going to try to be more consistent with updates soon. things have just been hectic honestly. i have lots of plans for this, and "Ash's Magic" though, so stay tuned. again, thanks for reading and make sure to vote! love u <33