Chapter LVII: Thwart
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Y/N LOOKED AT THE YOUNG MAN in bewilderment. She wondered what might have happened to him while they were separated. And most definitely she didn't even do anything to make him out of his mind. Unbeknownst to her, that was the point for the elemental hero. She didn't do anything and yet it feels like she has managed to reach the stars. "Pardon me?" She raised an eyebrow, blinking repeatedly at the young man behind her.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I please have your attention?" A loud voice began, snapping the two off back to reality. They let go of each other, turning to the source of the voice soon after. Their eyes landed on the towering figure of General Erithrius who stood tall and proud as he faced the crowd of eldians. "It is such a pleasant dauna to have you all here, your presence is so much appreciated. This banquet is organised and made under the order of our king, King Lunos Llumina, " General Erithrius continued.
"In his stead, I am here to announce the entire reason we are all gathered here in this fine dauna," He fixed his throat before placing a hand on his chest. People began whispering, uncertain if they should trust the leader of Llumina's military. General Erithrius was an ambitious man who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty for the royal family and especially for the ruler of the kingdom. Y/n tensed on her spot, she had a feeling this will not sound good.
Boboiboy glanced at the female with him, noticing her discomfort and anxiety. His hand reached to her shoulder, attempting to comfort and reassure her. Y/n turned back to him where she earned a small smile from the elemental hero. She nodded her head in understanding, pursing her lips before she could listen back to General Erithrius' welcome address. "I know we have not been on good terms these past few lunarias but, as good citizens in a respectable community, we need to take our respective parts with no grudges," the general reminded them.
"Yes, it is difficult to accept some truths. But those would not have happened if people obeyed in the first place so if I were you, I would change the way I have been viewing the king to be away from harm. The King will not do unto you if you are disciplined, honest and cooperative. So let us be comrades from now on, yes? This is for the better and ascension of our Kingdom, the kingdom of Llumina. What is a kingdom if the nobility refuses to cooperate? A useless kingdom!" General Erithrius narrowed his eyes before gesturing for a server to come forward.
"We would not want the fall of Llumina do we? Eros, our God is watching over us and it will be a sin if you turn your backs on him, quite a shame indeed. A kingdom inhabited by sinners, what an embarrassment to the other kingdoms! We are supposed to be the model kingdom for all, we are the most prestigious, most powerful, most influential and the most superior!" The head of the military continued to speak, his voice becoming louder.
Boboiboy couldn't help but grit his teeth, Erithrius was brainwashing the eldians to the point he even used their God against them. The system was wrong, and shameful and should be stopped at all costs. But, speaking against the general would blow their cover and he didn't want that either. They just needed to endure all of these things and in the end, everything will go well, they'll save Lluminaria from this merciless tyranny and free the kingdom once and for all.
"Now, a toast for King Lunos and Lluminaria," he raised a glass of wine, showing it to the eldians with a smile.
"May our kingdom stay the strongest and may more blessings come to us!" Most eldians followed his movements before drinking the wine together with him.
Y/n looked down before shaking her head, the general was insane. Her head was spinning, the dark magic was getting stronger and she couldn't just seal it in an open place like this. A few guests were already infected by it but she couldn't fight against it with this many people around. She lost, just for this once. "We should return to the others, we still need to get Adu Du's ship," She turned to the young man beside her in a stern manner. Time was running out, it was going to be the time when eldians were going to be infected by dark magic as said by Lazarus.
"Right, let's go!" He nodded his head before he wrapped his hand around her wrist to help her navigate around the crowd of people. "Pardon," Boboiboy apologised as they keep running into people as they hurried out of the crowd. Once they managed to leave the ballroom, Boboiboy glanced at his power watch, thinking about calling his friends to inform them about the intel Y/n managed to pick up.
A beeping noise was released from his power watch before a hologram of his friends appeared from his watch. "Boboiboy, Y/n! Did you manage to get information?" Yaya began before Gopal's screen popped from the side to reveal him and Fang together. "Yes we have, let us meet on the west wing of the manor! There is a dead end on the corner which is only an illusion due to magic being cast. The ship is hidden inside that secret room!" Y/n explained what she heard from the gossiping nobles.
"Eh? But, we will get caught! Do we have to fight the security?" The molecule manipulator began worriedly but his friend with him responded immediately. "Like we have any other choice, then we must fight them alright," Fang nodded his head in confirmation. "Very well, let us see each other soon enough," Y/n nodded her head in agreement before the call ended in a flash. Boboiboy dropped his arm before looking at the female elf.
"There is no time to waste, we would not want to be against eldians. The magic they possess is outstanding, it would be a struggle for us to fight against them," Y/n reminded the elemental hero with her. "I understand, let's hurry then. Come on!" He began to move but immediately paused seeing her struggle to move quickly with her gown. Boboiboy didn't say a word and grabbed the lower part of her gown so it to be lighter for her to navigate around. He helped her with her gown as they began to search for the hall where the west wing would be.
Shoes clicked and echoed through the hallway, they didn't even bother to be quiet anymore since they were going to face the guards anyway. "Is this the right place?" Boboiboy glanced at the (h/c)-haired female in wonder. "Affirmative, any time now guards will block our path," She nodded her head. Even if they will try to get more people against them, it would be difficult since everyone was busy in the ballroom. Y/n stopped dead in her tracks, surprising Boboiboy at her sudden action. "What's wrong?" He asked her, trying to catch his breath.
"They are here, get ready, Boboiboy," Y/n responded quickly.
"Intruders, halt! You shall not pass this area!" Multiple guards blocked their path, spears being pointed towards them. "An eldian! Did you perhaps get lost? This is no place for strangers to go, return to the ballroom or we will escort you out of this manor once and for all!" A guard began, turning to Y/n with narrowed eyes, with a tight grip on his spear that was being pointed at her. Even though they were trying to be polite, pointing a weapon against someone else is an act of disrespect already and Y/n kept that in mind.
"That weapon says otherwise! Boboiboy triple split!" The elemental superhero yelled, raising his arm where his power watch was on.
Insignia of the elemental powers he chose to use suddenly appeared, glowing brightly before he jumped out of it to reveal three copies of the young man with the same attire just in different colours. The guards were stunned to see this happen before their very eyes, it was almost unbelievable. "W-what kind of magic is that!?" One of the terrified guards questioned them, pointing to the three elemental splits with Y/n. "It is impossible! What kind of a creature are you!? You are not ordinary!" Another yelled out at them.
"Silly guards, we are not magic, I'm Thorn! Nice to meet you!" Boboiboy Thorn gave them a salute, greeting them enthusiastically as usual. "You guys seem like you peed your pants," Boboiboy Cyclone laughed loudly, holding his stomach because of the horrified looks the elves gave them. "What magic are you talking about? The only ones with dark magic here are you," Boboiboy Ice calmly held the back of his neck, without even looking at their opponents.
"Huh?" Y/n blinked at the trio in bewilderment. It was always amusing to know how Boboiboy keeps so many different personalities inside him. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Y/n! We can handle this for you," Cyclone cheekily began while winking at the conflicted female Glamour. "Yeah! Feel the wrath of Climate change trio!" the three elemental splits posed out of the blue. Everyone watched them in disbelief, blinking at the not-so-ordinary display the Earthlings had managed to show the Glamourans.
"Haha! Feel intimidated now? We're the outlanders from a galaxy far far away. Fear us, we have rice!" The wind element laughed, adding irrelevant things to their conversation. The Glamourans don't recognise what 'rice' is, they wondered if it's a powerful weapon. "What is 'Climate'?" Y/n was puzzled, they were speaking words that she couldn't recognise. That was certainly a good question to ask.
"Oh! Climate is... Uh..." Thorn trailed off, realising that he also didn't know what that word is either. "Dunno! I just agreed to call our team that because it sounds smart," Thorn gave the female a thumbs up, giving her a blissful smile in the process. Crickets played in the background as the Glamourans deadpanned at his cheerful expression in return. "Ehehe, moving on! We're going to take you down!" The 2nd-tier form of the leaf element added, with him being enthusiastic as ever.
"You know, you can choose to play safe. We won't attack you but... You let us pass, pretty easy right?" Boboiboy Ice bargained, walking forward to their opponents with his two hands stuffed inside the pockets of his trousers. "Or... Unless you decide to be a jerk and still block the path then I'll make sure to meet your doom," the cold element began, pointing a finger from his ice hand towards the adversaries acting as obstacles to their mission. The guards were irritated at the confidence the young man displayed about beating them up.
"You are all children! You should not disrespect adults! We are throwing you out here!" Another guard barked at the teenagers out of his furious state. "You had your chance," Boboiboy Ice shrugged his shoulders before touching the ground suddenly. From where he was standing, his powers travelled on the ground, freezing the once-smooth floor of the hall. The ice crept up to the feet of the guards, making them unable to move from their places. "W-what!? Ice!?" They were shocked to see those come out from nowhere.
"You! Get us out of here!" They tried to struggle and free themselves from the elemental split's ice powers but they were stuck. "No can do, come on guys!" Boboiboy Ice shook his head before gesturing for his companions to follow him and escape over the frozen guards. Before they thought they could get through, more guards were patrolling the area much to their dismay. "Stop them this instant!" One of them ordered and pointed to the four intruders attempting to enter the secret illusion room.
"Oh no you don't!" Cyclone grinned in determination before preparing to attack. He dashed towards one of them before swinging his arms. "Whirling Cyclone!" He released a good amount of energy, blowing some guards away in a single attempt. Duri dodged the incoming attack by a guard, successfully escaping the spear that was supposed to stab him. "Ah! How violent!" He gasped at the Glamouran, covering his mouth in surprise. "Alright, now it's my turn!" He smiled, standing in a different fighting stance.
"Rapid vines burst!" He yelled out. Vines began to burst out from the walls and even from the floor, destroying the building unintentionally. "Capture them!" He ordered the vines that he summoned, pointing a finger towards the rest of their opponents. The vines obeyed the elemental split, capturing some guards and wrapping their bodies to prevent them from moving or attacking them any further. Yelps and cries of the guards were heard as they struggled to get away from the vines, they remained unsuccessful in their attempts.
"Thorn, you destroyed the manor, look at the walls!" Y/n deadpanned at the young man who just gave her a sheepish chuckle in response. "Oh well, seems like we're going to get filed a case of property damage," Boboiboy Ice joined in with a sly smile while looking lazily at the bemused royal Glamouran. "We're criminals!" Thorn gasped loudly in realisation. "Hm... We were already criminals in their eyes even before this," Ice ruffled his hair nonchalantly while turning to look at the damage they have caused. It was a rather horrifying sight.
"Inform the others! We need backup!" A voice caught their attention. A guard managed to run away from the scene to get more security and to inform the whole manor about the intruders. "Ah! Darn!" Cyclone began to sweat, thinking that the enemies coming after them were endless. "Quick! To the secret room!" Y/n began, picking up her dress as they continued to run deeper into the hall, searching for the dead end where the room might be hidden.
Y/n stopped, noticing that it was the end of the hall but she didn't know where the entrance of the place could be. "Find the room!" She began, touching the walls to see if there was anything unusual there. Ice and Thorn helped her search for the illusion of a wall since time was running out. Their hearts were beating quickly, knowing that more guards were coming their way and soon General Erithrius will face them if time manages to catch up to them in no time. "Where is it..." Ice mumbled, his hand pressing on the empty wall while Thorn does the same.
"Ah, we don't need magic to find it?" Thorn glanced at the (h/c)-haired female with his dilated irises. "I do not think so, it is an illusion. Therefore it is somewhere around here, I hope," Y/n responded, continued seeking for the magical room.
"Eh, this will take a lot of t─ Woah!" Boboiboy Cyclone was going to lean over a wall from the corner when he suddenly met nothing. The rest of them looked at the wind element with widened eyes, seeing that he managed to go disappear but they did hear a loud thump. "Taufan!" Thorn called his fellow elemental split with his original name, rushing in his direction in concern. "Cyclone! Are you okay?" Y/n followed the nature element, passing through the magical wall to see if he had injuries.
"My back kinda hurts a little but because of the fall but, overall, I'm fine. At least I found the room, eheheh," Cyclone stood up, caressing his back from the impact of his fall with a sheepish look on his visage. "Hm, I guess that fall was worth it," Ice smirked earning a frown from the carefree element in return. A moment of silence invaded the atmosphere when they began to scan the mysterious room. They were surprised to know that it was actually a hidden hangar but only one ship was inside.
"Woah... This place is huge!" Thorn marvelled, walking around carelessly. "Hey! Be careful, don't touch anything!" Ice caught up to Thorn who was beginning to admire many pieces of equipment to use for repairing ships. "That ship... It's Adu Du's," Cyclone pointed out to the only ship inside the hangar. Y/n could feel a sudden rush of déjà vu just by looking at this huge building. A frown etched her lips as she suddenly remembered Swift, her current father figure who she had been missing for quite a while now.
"Guys! We're here!" They could hear the familiar voices of their friends arriving inside the secret room. "Phew! You have no idea how many guards are out there for us, let's hurry before they catch up to us!" Gopal was breathing heavily as he spoke, fearing the numerous amount of people chasing them. "Good, Fang, you operate the ship," Boboiboy Ice nodded his head while turning to the shadow manipulator. "On it! It might take a while but I'll do my best!" The shadow manipulator.
Aside from operating the ship, they also need to open the hangar as fast as they could. Y/n on the other hand was worried about where Kaden and Elliot were. They were about to leave and she couldn't just leave without them.
"Stand down and surrender!" Many guards suddenly arrived, surprising everyone inside the hangar. They were outnumbered but they didn't want a single taste of defeat. "Ahh! There they are!" Gopal shrieked, trying to hide somewhere but was unable to. The TAPOPS members stood in their battle stance, backing away as they began sticking together. "There are so many of them, but we can't lose!" Ying told her friends, pursing her lips while making eye contact with them. "We need to prevent them from reaching Fang, we can do this!" The gravity manipulator encouraged them.
"Alright! Cyclone rush!" The wind element started with a strong attack, creating a strong tornado in front of them to prevent some guards from reaching them. Their hair swayed from the strong wind, unable to prevent them from moving. "Candy transformation attack!" The molecular hero screamed, aiming his gun-like fingers at the weapons of their opponents. Glowing green bullets emerged from his fingers, hitting and transforming their adversaries' weapons successfully.
"Ice bow!" Boboiboy Ice managed to summon his main weapon before aiming attacks towards the enemies coming closer to them. With a single hit, he was able to prevent them from nearing because of the freezing effect of his ice arrows. "Thorny leaf barrier!" Boboiboy Thorn grinned, creating a huge shield as some light attacks were being shot in their direction. "Good job, Thorn!" Yaya and Ying complimented the nature element who grinned at them in response.
"Bubble Ferrokinesis!" Yaya used her powers to create pink bubbles that trapped some guards. The bubbles floated in the air, preventing the guards that got trapped to fight against them. "Slow-mo speed!" She began shooting beams that hit their opponents, causing them to move at a very slow pace unlike the usual. Boboiboy Ice used this opportunity to hit them with his ice bow, freezing every one of the guards with a single hit. Previously, he struggled fighting light elves. But seemingly after his powerup, his attacks were satisfyingly stronger.
"Stupecus!" Y/n used her magic to stun the guards. A light beam escaped from her hand, shooting brightly its way from one guard to another, making them fall unconscious within a single hit. Their attacks were working, one by one, and the guards were getting fewer in terms of amount. She wanted to think that they were winning but, something prevented her from doing so.
"Well, if it is not the traitor of the royal family."
Y/n gritted her teeth at that voice, just what she didn't want to hear. Her (e/c) irises lingered around the familiar formal Lluminarian attire of the person she wanted to avoid today. But it seems like fate was against her as always. "Erithrius, how surprising," Y/n's hands tightened on the fabric of her dress. "No wonder you looked familiar, a child bearing the similar features of Eros, the King of all elves, yet it is quite an irony that it had to be a treacherous member of the royal family," General Erithrius continued, pointing the tip of his sword towards the teenager.
"You dare show your face shameless traitor? If I were you, I would flee already. Just because you are an eldian does not mean you are strong," he taunted her.
"Too bad I am not you," The bearer of the artefacts grumbled, breathing heavily and glaring at General Erithrius. "And most of all, I did not betray anyone. Lunos is lying, I never tried to overthrow him! He is just finding an excuse to get rid of me since I am the only royal member that could compete with him for the throne. I never wanted the throne either way!" Y/n tried to explain the truth behind the hoax prophecy. "Besides, no oracle gave that message to anyone in the kingdom! It is not true," Y/n added.
"Twisting the truth now, huh? Humorous attempt but nothing you say is believable!" He barked, approaching the female Glamouran slowly and gingerly. "You are affected by the dark magic, of course, you will not believe me," Y/n grunted, feeling more annoyed about the situation. "Dark magic? You must be mistaken, the only servant of the darkness here is you!" He tried to lunge and attack the teenager with his sword, wanting to slay her here and now.
Y/n didn't have the time to react but she was lucky someone had managed to protect her right on time. Her eyes widened to see the ex-royal adviser stopping Erithrius from attacking Y/n with another sword. "Kaden!" She gasped seeing the long-haired man throw himself in for her safety. "My apologies I took so long... Erithrius managed to stall me for a moment but I am glad I arrived right on time," the male smiled reassuring at her before turning to the general and pushing him off.
"Well, what do we have here? A traitor to a traitor alliance, how predictable of you Lord Kaden," General Erithrius taunted the two elves before scoffing at them. "We never betrayed Eros, we only turned are back on the current ruler. The tyrant you call yourselves a 'King' that murderer! And now you are trying to slay the bearer of the artefacts? I cannot let you do that, you are also a traitor in a way, Erithrius!" Kaden huffed, tightening his hold around the handle of the sword that he was using.
"You shall not speak of King Lunos that way!" General Erithrius pointed his sword at Kaden's face, threatening him but the latter wasn't fazed at this. "And you shall not use the name of Eros against our people, Quiaes!" Light particles began appearing out of the sword, making it glow. It was now charged with light energy which will give him a stronger critical attack against Erithrius.
"I am general and you are a teacher, what makes you think you can go against me!?" The general smirked before defending himself from the attack by creating a temporary light barrier. "As long as I am in the right path, then Eros will grant me the blessing of winning! Facio!" Kaden continued, generating great energy from his feet before breaking the shield open with a single kick. "Fighting is not always about brawns! Fighting needs brains!" Kaden proudly stated, twirling the sword flawless around his fingers.
"Quick, your highness! Purify him!" Kaden yelled out as he kicked Erithrius' feet, making him fall into the ground with a huge impact.
Y/n nodded her head rapidly before producing a good amount of light particles around her, her hair moving slightly from the wind as she summoned her purifying weapon. The light particles gathered to form a bow and arrow, since she can only purify once, she needs to aim it in a critical spot. General Erithrius was one of the sources of dark magic, purifying him would free the other guards inside the Pallad manor or the eldians he managed to affect.
"Emancipatio..." She stretched the elastic of the bow, her other eye slightly narrowing to make sure she was aiming at the correct place. As soon as possible, she released the arrow. It travelled in the air, twirling as it did, light particles trailing behind it as it flew towards Erithrius. The general shielded himself with his arms out of fear as the arrow approached him with so much overwhelming energy he didn't want to absorb.
But a sudden change of events prevented the purification process. "Detarus," a monotone voice suddenly interrupted and the trail of the arrow suddenly changed, light guided it away in a single snap. Y/n gasped at that, shocked to see that she failed to purify dark magic for the first time because of an intervention she didn't want to happen. The female Glamouran began to breathe heavily as he looked at the elf emerging from the dark, the man that prevented her from purifying General Erithrius.
"S-sir Elliot... Why..." She couldn't bring herself to accept that the truth was revealed. The dark-haired teenager walked slowly, a blank expression present on his face. "Ah, yes. Was it a surprise to you? Sir Elliot, has always been on King Lunos' side. What made you think he will side with traitors? This young lad, swore his loyalty to the crown, to King Lunos only and not to you!" The general laughed as he began standing up and dusting himself off.
"Elliot! H-how could you!?" Y/n could feel tears brimming from the corner of her eyes, she knew she should've expected this but seeing it happen before her was much more painful. "Elliot, what are you doing!?" Kaden glared at the younger royal adviser, furious at the sudden turn of events. "You think I wanted to join you? No, I never did. King Lunos is our ruler, I will not follow you! I will do everything to keep anything in order, to what King Lunos wants it to be! And that is a world without you!" Elliot clenched his jaw.
"How can you say that? Elliot, why are you doing this? Can you not see we are trying to fix this? We are saving Glamoura and you are keeping us from doing so by stopping us from purifying the dark magic!" Y/n yelled out, breathing heavily. Tears were getting ready to spill, she loved Elliot, she looked up to him and even wanted a future with him before but everything broke down just because of his betrayal.
"Elliot, you promised to never leave me what is going on with you? What changed!?" Y/n was beginning to break down, she couldn't take the pressure anymore. "You will understand my place, my decisions are nothing of your concern. The past should stay where they are, until then, put up a good fight," the dark-haired young man answered blankly before summoning a sword from the air out of nowhere to attack them.
Y/n didn't want to fight him, especially in her broken state. Kaden was exhausted and used all of his energy trying to stop General Erithrius from reaching the hangar. "If you ask... I have no regrets siding with King Lunos," he finished before using his energy to conjure a strong attack. "Astros!" Beams of light circled him, his sword glowing brightly. Going against Elliot is almost a death wish.
But he did anyway.
"Solar transport!" A bright circle appeared before Y/n, with Elliot's light attack getting transported away somewhere else with the use of light manipulation. Y/n's eyes widened, recognising well who owned that attack. A young man wearing suspenders with folded sleeves and a grey turtle neck sweater underneath casually walked in front of her. "Boboiboy Solar?" She blinked, admiring the elemental hero's figure before her in awe.
"I knew there was something off with you the first time I saw you yet I didn't do anything because I know how much mean to Y/n. Probably much more than me in her perspective," He started, looking at Elliot with a blank expression.
"But now that you're betraying her and hurting her of all people, now I know that I can question if you were worth so much, you being more valuable to her is an insult after this incident. She loved you more and yet you wasted it, that's what I can't forgive," Solar pointed his finger to form a gun while his other hand was stuffed inside his pocket.
"If you ever try to hurt her again, know you'll have to go through me first. And I know I can make her happy like how you weren't able to."
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A/n: I wanted to cry but suddenly got giddy at the final scene.
Disclaimer: The illustrations above aren't mine. They belong to their original artists.