"Lydia . . . you have two choices. The first one is to give up and hand over the pendant. The second one is to die in vain by hiding the necklace. I'll send you to Planet Pagos if you readily agree to the first one." He shrugged.
"What if I don't want to handover the pendant?" I shot back as I strangled to wriggle of the chains.
"You. Will. Die." He gritted his teeth as he spoke the three horrifying words.
"Other than that?" I scoffed.
"I'm tired of playing games, Colonel, finish her!" he growled.
"With pleasure. . ." the woman replied. Her sword plunged straight through my limbs, I choked as I collapsed through the ground, drenched in a pool of blood.
I panted as I slowly walked around her, keeping my hands steady as I prepared my defense for her upcoming offense. Elnicjansamemli instantly plunged her sword towards me. I swiftly dodged the sword and jumped back. She roared her battle cry as she slammed me harder and banged the sword towards my head. I fell down in shock. I saw a small wooden staff nearby. I grabbed the staff and jumped above her. I turned the staff as I avoided her harsh attacks. Her rage made her out of control, that was what made it easier for me to beat her. I managed to figure out her patterns of attacks.
"You always strike forward and place your foot to your ten o'clock. You twirled and switched your footing when you switch to your defense. You always hold you sword lightly when you're on ease, but you become stiff when you're consumed in rage."
"What are you talking about?" she scoffed.
"Your combat patterns, they were easy to recognize! You're just as weak as your subordinates!" I shot back.
Her rage grew and grew. She plunged her sword fiercely towards me. I jumped across the wall and flew above her. She growled in anger as her sword was permanently planted into the wall. Without her sword, she was easy to deal with. I kicked her quickly as I firmly slammed her towards the ground.
"Stop... I give up..." she cried. She twisted her fingers and my surroundings instantly changed. The beach transformed back into a dark room. She dragged herself towards the door.
"Let's go." The Dark Prince shouted as they both jumped into a portal. When they were gone, the room instantly turned warm. The ice vaporized into thin air. I sighed in relief and returned to my regular form.
I quickly noticed the needle still stuck onto my neck. With all those tumbling and fighting going on I was surprised that it didn't fell off. I pulled firmly and let out a loud groan.
"Hold on. . . this symbol. . . I've seen this symbol!" We exchanged glances.
"Isn't this the symbol carved onto the syringe during the case back on Earth?" I asked.
"Yes, it was the one-"
"-Your eye." I cut off.
A slight red mark suddenly appeared on his face. It attracted me somehow, and made me curious seeing a slight red mark appearing. I went over to touch his cheek beneath the eye and the Prince screamed in pain. A vivid red mark formed surrounding his eye, the mark suddenly burst into small drops, forming a circular mandala pattern.
I was startled. I quickly pulled back my hand and started stuttering as I tried talking.
"You- You..your e-eye, it's bleedi-"
"Calm down." He coolly replied. He brushed off the blood coming down from his eye and quickly covered it using an eye patch.
"A-Are you alright? Should I get help?"
"N-No! We have to get out of here, now! Quickly teleport back to Mars!"
He sounded really harsh. I shook my head, "In my current condition, I can only teleport us to the borders of Europa. You see, there are portal blockers-"
"Argh!" He grunted as he kicked the door open.
I could sense that something was wrong and that he was hiding something from me. At those times, he seemed so dark and distant. I haven't seen a single smile carved on his face since the Dark Prince came.
I decided to head outside and searched for food to regain my strength. The Prince walked after me slowly. He kept observing me and he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something to me. I looked back at him, wondering what he has to say.
As my curiosity grew, he tapped my shoulders and pulled my hip closer to him. I froze, he bent down his head and slowly went closer and closer to me, his hands clinging on my arms. His lips touched into mine as we slowly flown along the emotions. But something doesn't feel right. I usually felt sparks of happiness when I kissed him, but this time, all I felt was particularly nothing. I moved back from him and left him there ending our not-so-romantic scene. I sort of felt that he wasn't the Prince I used to know.
"That's strange." I mumbled as I brushed my lips softly.
His expression withered as we entered the pub. I went to the main bar and ordered a krasi along with a bowl of poure patatasiere. The warmth of the brew soothed my throat after a week filled with hunger and torture.
He rubbed his head a few times before finally decided to sit next to me. He ordered the bartender to serve him a bottle of masi sampania.
"Excuse me, are you her?"
"Her who?" I curiously replied.
"I guess you're not. You look similar to the last key warrior." He shrugged.
I stared at him in confusion.
Could he be the one to answer my questions? I thought.
"Who is this warrior?" I asked.
"She was a really powerful bad-"
The Prince suddenly choked as he heard those words. His glass wobbled as he started coughing. The bartender quickly apologized and gave him a bottle of water to calm him down.
***
When I left the pub, dark clouds started forming around us. I laid my hand on top of my head to block the powerful wind busting around me.
In a few minutes, a gigantic black hole appeared up high above the city, absorbing everything around it. I held onto the ground using my Land Controlling Powers. Having the powerful wind blowing my hair, I couldn't see a glimpse of the Prince's condition.
Thunder started striking the tallest building. The lightning struck building, crumbled into rocks and flew up towards the hole. A car flew straight above me as the hole started swirling harder. I clasped my hands together and screamed as a magic circle surrounded me.
"The circle of . . . Oregon?" I mumbled. A huge amount of light burst suddenly and closed the dark hole. I collapsed into the ground. . . a tear running down through my face.
"Lydia. . . Are you alright?" a voice called.
-End of Chapter 17-