The arrows of the Lunarians were completely ineffective against Shirou's shield, breaking and bouncing away after impacting it. However, they only stopped shooting for brief periods of time, and we were too deep for him to try to shoot an arrow anyway. He must also come to realize this.
—We need to climb one of those buildings! —he said, and only then I noticed he has taken off his weird mask, but he seemed to be "holding his breath" still.
He gave Dia one of his swords and tried to give me the other, just to change his mind and give it to Dia too. I feel a bit offended, but I could understand his reasoning. I climbed to his back as I had done before, and just as the Lunarians stopped shooting, he undid his shield and "swam" to a nearby building, grabbing it and pushing himself to another, gaining altitude. Dia did the same, a bit more efficiently, and protected us both when arrows started raining over us. We took coverage inside one of the buildings by entering through one of the holes in its walls, climbed a couple of stairs, and got to what would have been the rooftop.
Dia kept protecting us while Shirou prepared his arrow, but he saw something that made him doubt for an instant. There were two figures alongside the Lunarians that looked more like us than them. One had a rough and unpolished appearance, made of some kind of black crystals with red glowing veins covering him. He had a sword made of his exact same material. The other one was more beauty, like us after Sensei had fixed us and applied powder to us. But there was something different about him, he looked... even more like Sensei than us.
Shirou eyes widened as he noticed the first one was raising his sword, and tried to conjure his shield and cover us again. I didn't understand what he feared, until I saw something approaching us, black as the crystals of the one with the sword, but somewhat ethereal. It cut clean through Shirou's shield and his right arm, and it exploded when it touched the ground behind him, sending us all flying in pieces.
The next thing I knew, I was being dragged to the surface by the Lunarians, and my legs were gone. Dia was next to me, cracked, but still in one piece. Shirou was missing his arm and had several bits blown out of him. He had tried to protect me to the very last moment, taking most of the explosion himself, but I was just too weak, and the movement of the water around me alone had been enough to break my legs. I wondered if they were on the bottom of the ocean or if the Lunarians had retrieved them already, but there were more important matters at the moment.
—I brought you Lustrous as you asked, even the dangerous one made of steel, now release my brother! —Ruler said.
The Lunarians didn't speak, at least not in a language I could understand. I thought I heard some quiet whistling, but I couldn't be sure.
—What? You want more? Even Phosphophyllite should be enough payment for my brother, I brought you Diamond and Shirou, what more do you want?
The Lunarians turned her spears covered in flames towards her, making her retreat.
—Fine, I'll try to bring another one, maybe if I go for the outcast Cinnabar...
My eyes widened as I tried to undo the restrains they had put around me. The ruler noticed me.
—No, they will surely suspect of me already, this is all I can do.
The Lunarians attacked her again, burning her arm off.
—RULER!!!
Then the whole sun spot trembled, and a figure started to eclipse the sun that was setting at my left, coming out of a gigantic shell that I hadn't noticed until then.
—DO. I. SMELL. FOOD? —The giant mess of tentacles said in a ridiculously infantile voice.
—So... So cute —Dia, who has regained conscience after all the commotion, and I said.
—Aculeatus... —Ruler said with a weak voice.
The Lunarians started attacking the feral Admirabilis to make him retreat to his shell, but instead he started thrashing and kicking around. I heard a weird noise and saw the black figure from before, raising his sword. Black fog started to gather around it, and I realized it was going to launch another attack like the one that had severed Shirou's arm before.
Before he could, a small projectile was shot from behind me, aiming right between his eyes. It missed because he moved away, but it chipped away something like a mask that he kept over her eyes. This allowed me to see one of them, and it looked different from the rest of his body, the sclera was white and the iris was yellow.
This surprise attack made him loose focus, and he directed his anger towards who had attacked him, Shirou. He cut the ropes that tied us by making sharp spikes grow out of his body, and rose to his feet. Having only one arm, he had broken a bit of his finger and threw it to his enemy, planning to do the same with the rest of his hand.
But there was no need, the feral Admirabilis started attacking everyone with his tentacles, Shirou was barely able to grab Dia and me and jump away before one of them smashed the statue that was holding us. We were surrounded by Lunarians, but they seemed more distracted dealing with the tentacles and their platform losing stability. The dark figure tried to go after us, even to the point of cutting Lunarians that were on their way, but the other one stopped him. They walked beyond the remains of the giant statue and vanished somehow.
The giant snail fell to the ocean, and Shirou jumped towards other direction. As we were falling, I managed to see another storm of tentacles, thinner this time, raising from the ocean. Shirou managed to shield us from most of the impact, but some damage was inevitable, and we sunk as we drifted out of conscience.
I heard voices, but half of my head was missing, so I was too drowsy and could barely understood anything of what they said, at least at first.
—So you used them to save me? We are lucky that the Lunarians weren't able to take them away —A black figure with lots of tentacles spoke—. If we use them to negotiate, we could free our mother and father and the rest of our comrades. These three are very valuable for them, right? Specially the pale green one, it is the kind of beautiful thing that they seek. You did well to come so far, all on your own, but now you don't have to fear them not fulfilling their part of the deal, as I would be at your side.
—That's not fair — I spoke, with whatever strength was left on my body—, how can I get angry at you after hearing all that.
Ruler looked at me with her eyes wide open.
—So you don't mind being used as a bargaining chip? —the other Admirabilis said—. You are all immortals, so you don't have much to worry about, but you might not be able to return ever.
—Just don't touch Cinnabar —I looked around, Dia was still all cracked, and Shirou was a mess of spikes—, nor my friends here, it has to be just me.
—Fine. I, Aculeatus of the Admirabilis, give you my word.
He started to approach me, but Ruler stopped him, and came to me instead.
—Is it really alright with you?
—It's fine. I'll let you off this time. I mean, I don't have the power to punish you, and unlike you, I can't come up with clever plans to save my friends. Just do it quickly before Shirou wakes up, or he will probably kill you —I looked at her eyes—What have I even been doing all this time? I'm three hundred years today, you know? I only managed to lose my eyes and now my legs. You are so awesome and I bet you are way younger than I am.
She touched my face. Her hand was very soft.
—So you can choose not to melt me, huh? That would be useful to know before.
She carried me on her arms, and I started to lose conscience again.
—Sister?
—We have to change, or else we will not be different from the Lunarians. Let's go home.
I blacked out, only awakened by the sound of metal grinding against itself. I saw tentacles getting away while a substance tinted red the water. Shirou was dragging us through the sand towards the shore, but every movement seemed to require such effort for him that we were barely able to advance even with the waves pushing us. Finally he took us to the surface, and I could feel his chest moving up and down. Was that breathing? I also saw the back of a familiar silhouette, peeking away from us from behind a stone.
—Cinnabar... —I spoke, and I saw her jump very surprised, turning her head around slowly—, could you... call Sensei? Dia and... Shirou are very hurt...
His eyes widened in horror at our sight, covering his mouth with her hands. He approached me instead of those two. It took me a moment to remember I had lost my legs. Instead, I was holding two huge spikes and the piece of my face that had come off.
His hands reached towards me, trembling, but backed at the last minute. He held them against his own chest for a moment, only to get up and start running away. Some time passed, I could only stay there listening to the waves. Then the other gems started appearing, followed by Sensei. I tried to explain, but I was too weak to even say that I was sorry.
He got closer and I expected to be yelled at, but he just put his hand over my head.
—I'm glad you came back, and you brought Dia back. You did a good job.
I tried to smile.
—Thank... you... I'm... —I blacked out again, but now I felt much more secure.