"Oh this is such a fine reunion!" The queen smirked as she slowly stood up from her blue colored throne.
With a shook of my head, I said, "Katherine? Ho--"
"Shut up. It is Queen Katherine to be exact," She corrected.
"My queen, this is a shocker," Xavier looked at her with his eyes widened.
"Deal with it, my successor," Queen Katherine smirked.
Then with confidence, she continued, "Anyway, I can't believe that you are still clueless about the significance of my actions to promote the victory of my clan, Gerald."
"What are you talking about, you son of a bitch?" I asked.
"Let me blow the bubble for you, dumb creature," She looked at me. "I secretly owned that ship you and your friends rode a few months ago. It was our way to have a source of income and do something more promising and useful."
"What is it?" I glowered at her.
"Most of the people inside that ship are ordered to eavesdrop every conversation they can hear. Aside from that, they also check the whole port from time to time to see any traces of a clan-related fight. Unfortunately, you happened to make a commotion in the port with that grandma, revealing your powers in the long run," Queen Katherine continued to look at me as she raised her right eyebrow. "Of course I was delighted to see that according to my men who saw the fight, the people involved with it actually bought tickets to ride my very own ship. Interested with your group, I volunteered to eavesdrop your conversations. Of course, it does not end there. For every enemy encountered in that place, I order a few men to follow them wherever they go."
I was right. I was right all along, I said to myself.
"You are such a clever bitch," I hissed.
"Oh thank you. I take that as a form of gratitude," Queen Katherine slowly and gracefully walked down the black marbled stairway. "Anyway, let's get back to my astounding tactic. Thanks to the spies that followed you, we had finally located the location of the Maria's Base in Mandaue City, which we bombed and the Tres Marias Base that after all this time was the home of the real crystallized heart."
Then she mockingly laughed and continued with the words, "And that's not all... Thanks to the spies, we had known the exact location of your base and the other places you had been. Until that fateful day came when you realized that the three of you were being followed. Despite of that, the knowledge we had gathered from you was already enough to promote destruction to your dear pathetic clan."
"So it was you who had destroyed the Concepcion Base in Tacloban City," I shouted.
"Who else?" She asked with a chuckle. "Of course it was my idea. I'm glad it caused you misery."
"You are going to pay for what you have done!" I growled.
"And you're team is going to pay for what you had done to Principal Sky!" Xavier shouted was he tried to hit me with his left ax.
Good thing I was fast enough to escape the impact and managed to kick him right on his left shoulder. Instantly, he stumbled onto the black tiled floor, but managed to keep his weapons held by his hands.
"Let me face Xavier. You guys handle the queen," I commanded as I looked at Xavier slowly stand up.
"Okay," Christopher nodded as they grabbed the swords from their sword canes and ran towards the queen.
"You think you can handle me on your own? Let's see about that!" Xavier snarled as he threw his right ax towards me.
Good thing I ducked just in time as I surprisingly saw the ax flew right back into his hand.
"Telekinesis really is handy," Xavier smirked as I stood up and grabbed my silver colored sword from my sword cane. "Let's bring things to the next level."
Unexpectedly, Xavier threw both his axes towards me and instantly managed to control its attacks with his mind. At that exact moment, I was forced to defend myself from the deadly strikes of those mind controlled weapons. With every strike that I had done, the more I got exhausted. Xavier was stronger than I had expected.
"We can do this forever," Xavier laughed. "It's nice to see you suffer while I stand here with a grin on my face."
What should I do? I asked myself with my face bathed with sweat. There must be something that I can do.
"Ready to give up now, Gerald?" Xavier asked with a smirk.
I never answered his question. Instead, I used that moment to think of something that I could do.
How about if I try to walk towards him while I defend myself from these axes, I said to myself. Then with the right moment, I will slash his suit which keeps him immune from any strikes of lightning. After that, with a skin exposed, I will electrocute him. Slashing or electrocuting his head or hands are kind of tricky. So, I'll play safe and stick with the suit slashing.
Then, with confidence, I started to put my plan into reality as I slowly walked towards him while I defended myself from the axes. With Xavier concentrated with the "Mind Control", he did not realize that a tactic was currently on the move. He stood firm on his ground as I walked closer and closer to him.
Almost there, I said to myself. Keep yourself together, Gerald. We are almost...
"There!" I shouted as I mercilessly slashed Xavier's cerulean suit with my silver sword.
In an instant, the two axes fell towards the black colored tiles as Xavier got aware of his exposed chest.
"Well, there goes your defense," I smirked as I rapidly kicked him right on his chest.
In an instant, he fell towards the ground with his back first. With his hands both stretched, he tried to control the axes again. However, his attempt was hindered as I kicked his chest and face several times. In the end, with a weakened mind and body, he had given up and stopped the attempt. With his bruised eyes focused at me, it seemed that he silently asked for my mercy. Unfortunately, everything was too late for anyone to be pardoned.
A few seconds later, with my heart filled with nothing but rage, I had felt my right hand charged with a green colored electricity as I slowly stretched it towards Xavier's exposed chest. Then I said, "I'm sorry, Xavier, but it must be do—"
Suddenly, a blast was heard from behind! As I looked back, I realized that the red driller tank that I had just rode a few minutes ago was on fire!
With my eyes widened, I said to myself, Oh no! Mac and Cam are there inside!
In an instant, I had felt the whole place slow down as one after another, I saw the other driller tanks blast. Unfortunately, Xavier took that opportunity and rapidly stood up. Then, with myself still bothered with the horrifying sight, he had punched me right on my face and kicked my chest. Overwhelmed with a tremendous sensation of pain, I fell to the solid ground and had loosed my grip on the sword. With a smirk on his face, Xavier used his telekinesis to get the two axes. Then, he slowly walked in front of me as he wiped the blood on his lower lip. I was about to surround my both hands with electricity, but Xavier was just too quick that he instantly had stepped on both of my hands with his black rubber boots.
"Don't even think of using electricity to defeat me," Xavier smirked as I looked at him with my blue colored eyes. "Just accept it that you are finally doomed and on the brink of your end. At last. My axes will be stained with blood."
Then, he placed his left ax on the left side of my neck as he continued with the words, "Once upon a time, I had met a traitor named Gerald in an underground school in Cagayan de Oro City. He and his friends successfully had escaped the Rosarios in there. But now, they will all die inside the queen's castle and the identity of their league's name will slowly fade as the years go by... That is such a happy ending."
With that speech, I was given the chance to recover from all the impacts. With a slight smile on my face, I confidently said, "We'll see about that."
Instantly, I placed my legs against my torso and kicked his crotch. With a scream, he helplessly fell to the ground as I quickly got up and grabbed my sword. As I looked back at him, my eyes widened as I saw him raise his right ax and swiftly throw it towards me. It was about to slice my face into two when suddenly, a silver colored sword flew on its left side which had resulted to its shocking detour.
At the moment my head turned at the source of that lifesaving aim, I realized that the throw was made by no other than Hazel!
"Thanks!" I spoke loudly.
"No problem," Hazel replied. "Now, get rid of him while Scott, Christopher and I continue to handle the queen."
"I got it," I nodded.
At the moment I looked back at Xavier, I instantly felt my hands surrounded with electricity.
"I may have missed on the first try, but this will surely hit you now!" Xavier shouted as he raised his other double headed ax above his head.
"It will never happen!" I snarled as I rapidly stretched my left hand towards him and struck a tremendous volt of lightning right on his exposed chest.
After three seconds, I stopped my attack as I saw him instantly fall to the ground with no sign of life. His eyes and lips were slightly open as a thin black smoke continued to ooze from his chest.
"No!" Queen Katherine suddenly shouted as she ran towards Xavier. Then, with the crystallized heart held by her left hand, she rapidly hugged her lifeless son with her right hand.
"Xavier, talk to me! Talk to your dear mother!" Queen Katherine cried loudly.
With an emotionless face, Christopher, Scott, Hazel and I stood up at each other's sides as we looked at the queen and her son agonized in two different ways.
After a minute of silence, Queen Katherine looked at us and asked, "Are you all happy now? I had just lost my only son... The whole clan had just lost the only successor to the throne... And it's all because of you!"
"Oh shut up!" Christopher shouted. "You are also involved with this mess! From the start we all have been involved with this mess."
"Thanks to that crystallized heart you are holding, everything is in chaos," I said loudly.
"Because of that crystallized heart, we are forced to fight against each other for immortality and world domination," Hazel added.
"Everything happened because of self-interest," Scott spoke.
"But we can still do something to fix everything," I said seriously. "All we have to do is destroy that thing you are holding."
"What? We are going to destroy the crystallized heart that will make my son resurrect again and pursue his kingship?" Queen Katherine asked as she shook her head. "No... It will never happen!"
"Well in that case, we are going to get it by force!" Hazel shouted.
In an instant, Queen Katherine stood up and wiped her tears. Then, she grabbed one of Xavier's axes with her right hand and said, "I may only be one, but I can still kill the four of you... I am not called as the queen for nothing."
Then, with her eyes narrowed, she looked at the golden eagle statue which was placed behind her blue colored throne. Shockingly, all the ten thousand feathers detached itself from the icon and only then I realized that they were all made out of knives! Swiftly, they flew towards the queen and in a clockwise motion, they circled around her.
I tried to strike a lightning bolt towards her, but the knives were just too quick to repel it. I tried to do it again and again, but it was still no use.
Scott tried to push her with a force field, but it seemed that the knives were the only once that absorbed the impact. Then after a few seconds, they all went back to their circular motion.
"Tell me who is invincible now?" Queen Katherine laughed.
"Let me try to handle this," Hazel said as she stood in front of us. Then, with full concentration, she tried to control the knives. But alas! Queen Katherine's telekinetic powers were stronger than hers.
"Damn it!" She shook her head. "I can't steal the knives from her."
"Are you finished with your attempts?" She snarled. "Because whether you all like it or not, it's now my turn."
Suddenly, half of the knives started to fly towards us. Luckily, with a jump here and a duck there, we safely escaped all the deadly impacts.
At the moment when everything was temporarily clear, Scott looked at us and said, "Guys, stay close to me. I have an idea."
With a nod, we ran towards him as we saw the knives fly back towards us.
"Don't you mess with the power of force filed, my queen," Scott spoke loudly as he instantly pushed his both hands towards the charging knives. This had resulted his hand's excretion of a transparent force with a strength that was out of scale. In the end, all the knives were repelled and this led to their dramatic change of route. Some were even thrown at a longer distance that some of it impaled the other Rosario soldiers that were in the middle of their own battles.
With the coast slightly cleared, Scott rapidly looked at me and instructed with the words, "Gerald, strike a bolt of lightning towards the feet of that huge naked eagle."
"Got it," I nodded as I rapidly surrounded my right hand with greenish lightning bolts and struck the feet of the statue. This resulted to its fall towards the front which instantly crumbled Queen Katherine's throne into pieces.
"No!" Queen Katherine shook his head. "Not my throne."
"It seems that we can't control the knives," Scott spoke. "But maybe we can control the icon and other debris."
Then, he looked at Christopher and said, "Christopher, you know what to do."
Christopher nodded and looked at the fallen statue. Then with full concentration, he lifted it up with his telekinesis.
"This is for my parents!" Christopher shouted as he instantly threw the statue towards the queen.
Unfortunately, the queen was just too fast and alert that she easily escaped it. The icon relentlessly fell onto the black tiled floor and slid itself until the friction was already unbearable. An elongated crater was made which had shown its tremendous impact.
"Hazel, grab all the throne's debris, now!" Scott commanded.
Upon hearing this, Hazel instantly looked at the ruined throne and lifted the blue colored debris with her telekinesis. With full concentration and determination, she let them float towards her. Whether it was big or small, everything was carried smoothly. Then, rotating in a clockwise motion, she made the debris levitate around her.
"I guess we are already equal my queen," Hazel smirked as she threw half of the debris towards her.
Shockingly, we felt a sense of slight fear as we saw the knives swiftly slice the incoming debris into bits.
"Damn it," I said. "What are those knives made of?"
"The intelligent students of Rosario High made it," Queen Katherine answered confidently. "It just shows how we the Rosarios are way ahead of you!"
"Well, not for long!" Christopher shouted as he rapidly lifted the eagle statue with his telekinetic powers.
He was about to throw it towards the queen, when all of a sudden, one of the golden knives flew towards him and impaled his left arm. With himself agonized, he instantly held his left arm as he let go of the statue. Shockingly, Queen Katherine was not satisfied of Christopher's condition that she made another knife fly towards him. Good thing Scott was fast enough to push the knife with his force field.
"Christopher, stay behind us," I looked at him. "Let us handle this."
"Okay," Christopher nodded as he rapidly walked towards my back.
"I thought all of you were strong enough to kill me. I guess I'm wrong... I am the queen and my strength is equal to a thousand men. Surrender now or face your youthful deaths!" The Queen demanded as she tightened her grip towards the crystallized heart.
Scott rapidly looked at us and said, "I have another plan... I will hit her with a force field while you, Hazel, throw your controlled debris towards her knives. Then, once she gets slightly defenseless, you Gerald will strike her face with li—"
"Look out!" Hazel interrupted as we saw Queen Katherine run towards me. Raised by her right hand was the silver ax of her only son and with every step she took, her beast-like rage turned worse.
Luckily, my life was spared at the moment Scott pushed all the rotating knives with his force field and Hazel threw all the debris towards the raised ax. This had resulted to the queen's stumble against my body with no weapons at hand. Her hand lost grip of the crystallized heart which continued to flicker its reddish light in the middle of that starry evening. It rolled for about fifteen times until it bumped into one of the white Corinthian pillars.
"It was way different than planned but it will do," Scott nodded.
"Hazel, get the crystallized heart now!" Christopher shouted.
Upon hearing this, Hazel ran as fast as she could. Unfortunately, Queen Katherine grabbed her right foot which resulted to her fall. The queen rapidly stood up and tried to make a run of it. Alas! She had been successful and tightened her grip with the crystallized heart. With a stern look, she controlled the golden knives to fly back towards her and do that circular defense again.
With herself in front of the Corinthian pillar, we tried to run towards her. Until, she shouted, "Don't come any closer. Or else I am going to impale a knife onto your foreheads simultaneously!"
With the fear of what she had said, we suddenly stood frozen on our tracks.
Suddenly, our eyes widened as the crystallized heart started to glow a whitish color.
"At last! Immortality is almost here!" Queen Katherine smiled.
"No!" Hazel shook her head.
"It is over now," Queen Katherine smirked. "Everything is over now. We win. You lose!"
At that exact moment, I experienced the sense of failure flow into my veins. The first thing that I contemplated was Alexander, whose death could possibly not be put to justice. The next thing that I pondered was our Concepcion Base that was mercilessly destroyed by the Rosarios. Lastly, I also thought of Commander Lorry who possibly was killed by the attack.
Damn it, I said to myself. What should we do? What in the hell should we do? This is hopeless! This is entirely hopele—
Unexpectedly, my eyes widened as it focused on the Corinthian Pillar that stood firm behind the queen. In an instant, my mind flashed an idea which could give us a sign of hope.
With a smirk I looked at her and said, "My queen, we'll see about that."
In an instant, I pointed my left index finger towards the upper part of the pillar. There were no place for any kind of errors. So with full concentration, I struck a greenish bolt of lightning towards it and this had resulted to its loud blast. Because of her full concentration with the knives, she totally forgot about the danger on top of her. A few seconds later, she was crushed with the pillar's white colored debris. With her life put into an end, she lost her grip of the crystallized heart who intensively had brightened its whitish glow.
"Guys, we don't have much time!" Christopher warned.
Alarmed with what Christopher had said, Scott made a run for the crystallized heart and grabbed it with his hands.
"Damn it," Scott said worriedly. "It's brighter than before!"
"Guys, you all know what to do," Christopher spoke. "Scott, throw it now before it's too late!"
"Got it!" Scott exclaimed as he threw the crystallized heart up in the air.
With its brightness now like that of the dawning of the sun, Scott, Hazel and I simultaneously blasted it with our own abilities. In an instant, the war had stopped as both the mighty Democrats and the loyal Rosarios silently saw our attempt to destroy it once and for all. Due to its intensity, we did not see the penetration of our powers towards this heart shaped gem!
Due to exhaustion, we suddenly stopped on the release of our powers and gave ourselves a time to catch our breaths. Unexpectedly, we were all surprised to see it continue to float in mid-air with its unchanged dawn-like brightness! It seemed that our all efforts did not change a thing.
"That's strange," Hazel said with a puzzled look.
Unexpectedly, one of the Rosarios shouted, "They are resurrecting! Rosarios, they are resurrecting!"
Instantly, I felt my heart pound tremendously. As I slowly looked around, I was terrified to see that the person's statement was real! All the dead Rosario Soldiers, including Xavier and Queen Katherine slowly stood up with a bluish glow around their bodies!
"No!" I shook my head with my blue eyes widened with horror. "It can't be!"