''Night Style, Twisting Souls, and Bones!'' Aether grabbed his broken shoulder and started twisting his bones to correct places, every now and then, a sound of screams and bones cracking was heard in the long hallway.
''Huff... Huff...'' He removed his hand from his shoulder and tried to move his arm but could barely move it. His bones had moved to their previous spots, but it needed time and rest to completely heal his shoulder.
And the pain was still present, and Aether couldn't do anything except focus his attention on the pain. Teardrops trickled down from his eyes and landed on the floor of the hallway, making small stains below him, which soon dried up.
He tried to stand up and continued walking but to no avail. His adrenaline has died down, and now even moving is an incredibly difficult task for him.
*Boom*
*Crack!*
He covered his ears and closed his eyes. The sound of fighting was even more apparent, it was like there were people fighting right next to him, and every now and then, he heard a sound of someone dying.
His father, Abyss, tried to teach him to get used to these kinds of situations, but Aether never took those kinds of training seriously.
*Bam!*
He slammed the side of his fist on the wall next to him and bit his lip with enough force to make it bleed. A trail of blood left his mouth and trickled down all the way to his chin.
The drops of blood started dripping down to the floor, making a sound of splash every time the drop of blood landed on the ground.
''Move...'' Aether gritted his teeth and started hitting his thighs in hopes of igniting his adrenaline, but to no avail.
''Damn...'' Without any choice left, he started crawling. He used his left arm to push himself forwards and had to drag his broken right arm behind him.
He tried to propel himself with the help of his two legs, but it didn't have much effect.
After crawling for five minutes, his face was drenched in sweat, but he could already hear the sound of dragon roaring and the sound of thunder clearer than ever before!
He recognized the place he was in and knew that it was only a dozen or so meters before he entered the courtyard.
Only around 20 meters, but that distance seems impossible to be crossed.
''S-Soon...'' He tried to use the wall to push his body forwards, but the exhaustion was too much for him to bear. He thought it was weird for him to be this exhausted, and he had a hunch that Adamas did something to him.
After the green beam infiltrated his head, he felt him becoming much weaker than before, like he didn't have any control of his body.
First, that feeling of weakness was around his head, which caused a massive headache, but now it is all around his body.
Soon, he saw a flash of thunder outside the cracks of windows, and he almost cried at sight. He knew his father was close, but also so far.
But when his tears started to start pouring down once again, he heard footsteps coming behind him.
His face paled as he didn't dare to turn his head.
''Hehe...'' A laughter came behind him, and soon, two heads dropped down right in front of Aether's face.
Aether widened his eyes in shock and couldn't believe what he saw. In front of him, two heads, which belonged to Master Oliver and Conrad... Their faces were pale, like his, with faces of despair and horror.
Xenor and Adamas stopped next to Aether; their bodies seemed completely unharmed, like killing Oliver and Conrad was a piece of cake.
''They also felt pain before they died, but now they can't feel anything.'' Xenor said with an innocent smile, ''So, pain is good? Pain makes you feel alive!''
Adamas took off his hood, which revealed his face to the world once more. He was missing one of his ears, which made his look both menacing and colder.
His index finger on his right hand started glowing on the nuclear green, which made the place they were in warmer.
''Soon you will feel pain, and please, enjoy the pain, savor it because soon, you will stop feeling anything,'' Xenor said and stepped to the side as he let Adamas do his magic.
Adamas grabbed Aether from his nape and slammed his head back on the floor, making a crater form around his head.
''Pfft!'' Aether's nose broke from impact, and a mouthful of blood left his mouth. A shallow cut appeared on his forehead, but it was enough to make his forehead stained with blood.
''Hmph.'' Adamas snorted and touched Aether's head with his index finger. Soon, the green color started infiltrating Aether's head.
''A-Aaarghhhhhhhhhhh!'' It didn't take long for Aether to start screaming and squirming in pain.
Xenor grinned viciously and enjoyed the screams of Aether.
...
In Coldland.
''Hmph!'' Azura humphed while sitting with Alena on the couch. They were watching a movie on TV, which didn't seem to make Azura interested even slightest.
Alena wryly smiled. Her daughter has been like this since Ichiro left.
For the first week, she was angrily sending messages to her dad, but didn't receive any replies.
''I wonder what they are doing now...'' Alena thought aloud and saw from the clock that time was already reaching midnight.
''Hmph!'' Azura humphed and turned her head around angrily, ''Every time... Every goddamn time...'' Her eyes showed her bloodlust as she felt like she couldn't spend more than a week with Ichiro before he was either blackmailed into fighting in some Battle Royale of death or when he is getting kidnapped by her father.
''I am sure they will return soon,'' Alena said with a pale face as she saw her daughter having another dangerous look on her face.
Azura bit her lip, and since a few hours ago, she had a sinking feeling on her stomach. She didn't know why, but she had a hunch that something was happening, which would change the course of the world.
''I will go train!'' She suddenly shouted.
''It's late.'' Alena said worryingly, ''Maybe you should go sleep?''
''No, I will become strong enough to kick my father's ass for kidnapping my Ichiro!'' She puffed her chest and jumped out of the couch as she started running towards the stairs.
Alena only saw the black-haired girl running away with her long hair flowing gently, and it only took an instant, but she saw the side of her face, which told her absolute determination to become strong enough to defeat anyone who crosses her path.
