Spirit of the Wind

Bo grabbed the hostage by the arm and continued to walk deeper into the facility. The Jumper followed. Bo spoke toward his hostage.

"What's your name?"

He pointed toward himself, surprised that he'd asked.

"My name?"

"You're the only one here that I don't know the name of and is capable of giving it to me. So yes, your name."

"Ulysses Print."

Ulysses jumped as the Jumper made three light chirps in Bo's direction.

"Only a few rooms left until we reach the end, she says."

Talia and Ulysses responded in unison.

"R-Roger."

As they entered an expanded corridor, Bo felt uneasy and stood back while the Jumper continued to proceed down the corridor. Bo and the others waited at the entrance.

Five men rushed the Jumper with weapons directed at it, but before they could get anywhere near it, their blood was thrown about the walls without any indication that they'd even been struck. Ulysses cowered farther from the room.

"Those Warbeasts sure are somethin'."

Bo began walking through the corridor.

"Yes."

They walked a bit more, and Ulysses spoke sarcastically toward him.

"You're a real smooth talker, you know that?"

When they reached final door, Bo touched the doorknob but winced before backing away from the door.

"There's a stench coming from the next room."

Talia climbed off of Bo's back and opened the door, covering her nose.

Bo grew silent, pushing Talia away from the door before she could even see what she'd opened the door to. No one dared to walk any further into the room besides him and the Jumper. Metal cells, covering both left and right, held children covered in blood, but not dead. Ulysses stood against one of the cells.

"This is some fucked up shit. If I'd known we were doing stuff like this to them…"

Ulysses paused as he looked at Bo again.

"Bud?"

Bo tore up the chains and led the children out of their cells. Bo whispered with a light growl, his demeanor completely changing.

"One night…"

After releasing the children, Bo headed straight toward the next door. He made clicking sounds as he exited. The jumper responded by transporting the children and Talia away from the facility, and as Bo entered the room, he was met by a sly voice from above.

"So… You finally made it?"

"A General…"

He flew through the air, the wind around him carrying him across the room. He had completely white hair with brown skin, similar to Bo, but he had a smirk seemingly engraved across his face as he looked downward upon Bo and Ulysses. He only wore thin sheets of cloth that covered half of his chest and wrapped around his waist.

He spoke as he lay horizontally in the air, kicking his leg up as if lying on a hammock.

"You know, I've been waiting here for hours trying to rid myself of this boredom. I would've had a lot more fun if Rigkt allowed me to come outside this room, but I made due with what I had."

Bo looked to the back corner of the room, and sitting there was Nifla strapped to a chair, motionless. Her legs had been completely separated from her body and her body was riddled with cuts. He whispered to himself.

"Nifla. You hurt her…"

Beo spoke in his head.

'He cut her legs off to stop her from teleporting away.'

Bo and Ulysses walked through the door, ready for battle, and Bo removed Ulysses's wrist restraints.

"A Hero rank aiding the enemy?! Laughable."

As they got closer, his appearance became more defined. He was about average height with short hair only covering his ears. His eyes were grey and deranged, focusing on the duo.

'Despite his talk, he's not underestimating us.'

As Ulysses separated from Bo, the general's eyes followed him closely, almost completely disregarding Bo.

'He seems more afraid of Ulysses, Icarus. Who is this guy?'

The chair in the back of the room rattled as Nifla had awoken. She continued to struggle until trying to teleport away, landing flat onto the white room's floor. The man's arm reached toward her as she crawled toward Bo, blinking furiously to keep track of his movements.

"We've already gone through this. That won't work... I think I've had enough of this toy."

Nifla was hoisted into the air, blood still dripping from her legs and body. Bo started dashing toward the man, but was immediately blown away by a gust of wind that caught him off guard.

"Goodbye."

A gust of wind hurled toward Nifla, connecting, and separating her lower half from her body. The room grew silent as Bo's eyes began shifting, their form changing rapidly.

'We're separating. I'll fight him, Beo. You tend to Nifla.'

'Fine.'

Beo pulled himself from Icarus's body causing Icarus's appearance to change drastically. Wings sprouted from his back but sat limp, seemingly unable to move, and his skin turned pale. Bo dragged Nifla away from the battlefield and began stopping her loss of blood as she sat unconscious and limp, dying.

"I'll be your opponent. I'm here to exterminate you."

"That's better for the both of us… Are you, by chance, Icarus Kreyn, boy?"

Icarus made no response and charged toward the man, covered in metal.

"I guess that answers my question. Why aren't you dead? Aren't you supposed to have committed suicide or something?"

The man blew a gust of wind at Bo, but he withstood the impacts and swung his fist toward him. The man easily dodged it without touching the floor.

'An elemental. It being wind will work in my favor.'

A spear manifested in Icarus's hands.

"What happened to your Full-body Takeover, Mr. Kreyn? It'll be more fun that way."

"Stop talking."

Icarus jumped toward the man in a spiral, cutting the air that went against his momentum, but it was easily avoided again, the man smoothly getting out of the way of his slices before speaking once more.

"And your expression, It's like you don't have any emotion at all, but before that man separated from you, you seemed a bit angry. Why is that?"

Metal swords appeared behind Icarus and directed themselves toward the man who was now floating above him. They were launched in the man's direction, but his wind redirected them back toward Icarus. The blades bounced off of Icarus's hardened skin.

'The wind's power is increasing.'

"That curse mark; It's the curse of sealing. Could it have, by chance, sealed away your emotions?"

Icarus threw his spear toward the man, and he was unable to repel the spear's aerodynamic structure, being forced to dodge, but the spear quickly moved by itself, directed by Icarus's finger.

"I see. Master Rigkt truly is a smart man. Taking someone like you's ability to even function properly is a wonderfully thoughtful punishment for a snake like Icarus Kreyn."

"Stop talking."

Icarus's spear followed the man, swinging over and over, but all of his attacks were dodged.

"Even as I slander your name, you don't raise your voice a decibel. Priceless! Truly priceless to see you, a fool who was turned pale, beaten, and sentenced to jail, get bonus karma!"

The man flew extremely fast toward Icarus, and before Icarus was able to react, he was blown back into the wall and choked by the very air.

"I won't regret a second of torturing you, pig. Die like the swine you a-"

A smack landed onto the man's head, causing his head to hit the wall of the white room. His expression quickly changed from nonchalant to pissed off.

"Ulysses Print... So you're intent on betraying Rigkt, huh? You and I both know its not that easy."

Ulysses stood there, holding a wooden sword. He swung once through the air, hitting nothing, but the general still took the impact.

"Your ability always annoyed me, Print. You'll die first!"

"And your attitude always irritated me, Scott."

Before Scott could move a muscle, another blow would land. Every attempt at attacking Ulysses was met by blow-after-blow. Scott had already been bleeding profusely after a few hits, but they kept coming one after another until he was forced to lower himself from the air.

"How does that stupid ability even work?! Where's the initiating blow?!"

"The initiating blow? Everywhere, my friend. The ground, the walls, or even the air itself are all the contact I need to beat the fuck out of you."

"Don't talk to me like you're above me, fool!"

Scott tried to get up, but another swing brought him back to his knees."

Ulysses looked at Icarus and made a small gesture, directing his attention to Beo who was still treating Nifla.

'He's stalling. He has no intention of winning.'

Icarus pushed himself from the wall, weakened by the general's attack, and headed toward Scott in an effort to continue redirecting his attention. Ulysses attempted to land another swing on Scott as he was about to stand up, but it had no effect.

"I'm done playing around with you idiots."