Gibo charges towards the man above him. The force pushing him upward was so strong that it makes all the leaves from nearby trees rattle with vibration. He looked the man in the eye and saw the smirking face anticipating their contact.
“Annoying bastard! What’s with you?!” but instead of answering him the man chanted.
“Searing blades of heaven burn thy opponent.” His swords increased in size as the flames around it got bigger. He then spin both weapon on his hand. Gibo sensing a very powerful attack increased his defence by summoning huge builders from the ground to form a shield. The enemy stopped spinning his weapons and slices the air forming an x like shape fire that moved closer to Gibo. He gathered his strength to keep the rock together. When the flaming x hits him it exploded making the rocks scatter all over the place.
“Gibo!” Thea screamed. She was about to look for him when something wrapped itself around her ankle. “What? Let go of me!” She tried to remove the string that caught her eyes. It was a golden little rope. The struggled fighting it as it appears to be getting tighter and tighter. Then she heard something fell from above. Ignoring the rope she viewed the fallen man. It was Gibo. His shirt was destroyed and most of his body was burned. “Gibo! Get up!”
“I’m just about to. You’re always so loud.” Gibo stood up the tattoos around him started to glow making his injuries heal. Then a strong pact was heard. Just a few distance from them the man who burned Gibo was standing in a newly formed crater.
“I never imagined a diwata as weak as you are.” The enemy looked at Gibo with indifference. He was wearing a bandana over his head, a vest on his upper body and a short with tribal design. His face as well as his arms and chest had many scars.
“I ain’t getting started yet heh.” Gibo just smiled. “Say, Ethan do you want to see my real strength?” more tattoos appeared all over Gibo’s body. Some of them overlapped with the others.
“That’s more I like it.” Ethan seems satisfied and returned to his battle stance.
“Why don’t you take care of your sister first? Here!” Thea shouted. Before Ethan can perceive what’s going on something hits him already. Something heavy.
“Argh, why you?!” Ethan was infuriated. Beside him lies an unconscious girl. She was a voluptuous woman wearing a revealing tribal dress.
“You annoying siblings are pain as always.” Thea tried to stand but her feet hurts. She needed the support of a nearby tree to stand. Her hand bled while holding the golden rope. Looking more closely even her ankles was full of bruises.
“You haven’t won yet princess priestess.” Said a voice from afar. Then suddenly a rain of arrows came towards Thea and Gibo. Instead of panicking Thea waved her hand starting from the left to the right. A strong gust followed sending all the arrows away. A furious Thea became surrounded by strong air currents.
“Impressive. Eastern sky magic.” Ethan uttered.
“You know I won’t back down from you. I don’t know why you’re doing this but you’ve hurt us more than enough.”
“Is that how you greet your cousins?” said the voice from afar.
“Shut up Olivia! You coward!” Just as she finished her sentence the gust surrounding her increased its territory. The trees around them got destroyed. Only one tree remained robust. Suddenly the wind’s strength was able to hit it strong enough that it revealed Olivia’s illusion. She was girl with jet black hair. She was even more petite than Thea. She wasn’t alone though. Wearing her Babaylan dress she rides a creature with a horse lower body and human upper parts. Similar to a centaur except it has a gem-like single horn and it was female.
“Nice ang laki muna!” Gibo commented. It was obvious with Olivia’s pale skin that she was blushing. “Do we still have any more participants in this ambush/assassination scheme of yours?”
“Actually yes.” a very fast shadow was able to pierce the territory created by Thea using a sharp crescent light blade. In just a matter of seconds the air current that encircles her disappeared. The agile enemy went to Ethan’s side. The moment his movements slowed down his real appearance was revealed. Just a little taller than Olivia, the boy was wearing a traditional tribal tunic with a shash tied to it. He possessed the crescent blades that attacked Thea and Gibo earlier.
“How can you forget little Edson?” Ethan poked Edson with a punch on the forehead.
“Hey brother! No!!!” the noise from Edson woke the unconscious girl. When she got up she yawned. She was very pretty. She had sun-kissed skin and thin pink lips. Her eyes where similar to Thea but has a strange emerald color.
“Nyah!!!!! Uhm? It’s not finished yet? Ethan?” She complained without even trying to stand. “You said you can finish them off within 20 minutes? God. And my my my Thea give back my string.”
“Ate? You were the one who tied up my ankles?!” Thea was surprised.
“Wow Irene! You’re still beautiful. You must have gained weight. Ethan took all the impact when Thea threw you at him.” Gibo remembered her as the edest granddaughter of Thealona, just a year older than Ethan.
“Yes my dear. Sorry but we have to do this.” She snapped her fingers and then suddenly the one horned demons appeared surrounding her. Realizing their situation Thea decided to use one the powers she wasn’t able to master yet.
“Strand of your beauty, strand of the waves. What is before me wash them away. Princess of all waters I plead for your mercy.” Without any cue Gibo took Thea away from the ground. The cousins were confused that they didn’t know what Thea did. They were about to chase them when soil that they were standing at melted quickly and turned into a pond, a creek, or more likely a lake. Looking from above Thea smiled triumphantly.
“You do realize that’s not just a body of water you placed there. You didn’t create it. You have changed the property of that surrounding into water.” Gibo seemed worried.
“Wait, there’s more.” Her mischievous smile frightened Gibo. He decided to have a closer look. Ethan, Irene, Olivia and Edson were all struggling fighting sea creatures whose bodies were made of water. Truly both a wonderful and terrifying sight. But he noticed something strange. Instead of facing the monster, Ethan dived deep into the bottom of the lake. Suddenly something flashed from beneath the body water. At once the other three cousins hurriedly escaped the lake whilst defeating the monsters that attacked them. Then the ground shook. Thea felt a strong concentration of diwa coming from the lake. Without a second to think about an eruption occured from an artificial volcano underneath the lake. Thea and Gibo received a direct hit. They landed to the nearest ground with burned bodies. Thea became unconscious. Gibo was glad she did. Because even without looking at the mirror he can tell that his inner skin was exposed and toasted like a barbecue. His tattoos were overlapping each other so much. This means something bad. The more tattoos there are the stronger the binding of his powers are. He can feel it because of the slow regeneration of his body. He can feel the pain that he had felt two decades ago. Even with all the pain he was feeling he felt amused by the thought of having this rare occasion to feel close to being human.
“Tsk, fools.” Ethan appeared with the other three. All of them ready with their weapons. Strange that Olivia’s Anggitay disappeared. She must have banished it when they got engulf by the artificial lake. “Stupid girl. She’s even willing to go that far to defeat me.”
“Defeat you? You were all ganging up against her!” Gibo positioned himself in front of Thea. His powers are sure becoming easier to handle but after all those battles, there’s no way he can manage to awaken it.
“It was unfair! We won’t let it happen!” Olivia blurted out and aim for Thea using her bow. This time different colors coming from the sky gathered inside her arrow forming a rainbow color. Gibo sensed the lethal effect of that kind of attack. Gibo can’t think of anything to stop it. He knew very well that that arrow will pass right through him a pierced Thea’s brain. He somehow knew how to read Olivia’s mind. Just as she was about to loosen her arrows bamboos started to rapidly grow from the ground. It formed a large cage that enclosed the cousins in a particular area,
“Damn you Ansel! Don’t get in our way!” Edson shouted.
“Grandmother’s orders were absolute. Sorry to disappoint you. Binukot!” he chanted a single ancient word. That instant the cousins were compressed into a very tight manner by the bamboo trees.
“Ansel!” Ethan glared at him. Ansel nod. He seems to be very polite. He like Olivia has pale skin. He has a very gentle face and jet black hair with the same length as those Korean Boy band. His eyes were dark.
“Thank you Ansel. Why are they doing this?”
“Before I answer that would you mind sharing what had happened to my father?” The cold look sent shivers to Gibo and Thea’s body.