66 The Trap

"Am I going to die?" Blaze was feeling cold, his hearing already long gone.

The whole of the prince's body wasn't listening to him anymore. His fingers were numb and so were his feet. The spikes on his body were numbing as much as they were painful. With his blood squirting from time to time whenever his heart pumped blood.

"No! I can't die like this! I am the heir to the throne! I will be the ruler of the fire domain!" He screamed these words in his head. Although they aren't true, they nevertheless allowed him to stay conscious a while longer.

"I cannot die! I cannot die!" He chanted this over and over like a healing spell. But the only thing he felt was a scorching heat that remained at his core. Burning his body from his center spreading out.

The prince himself didn't notice this. Probably because of the situation that he was in. Yet steam was beginning to form from where he was and the spikes began burning…turning black as charcoal. Yet his body's response was a little too late as his heart beat its last and all consciousness faded from Blaze's eyes.

He was dead.

"Ahhh the last time I saw someone as proud as you was during the old civilization."

Blaze was transported to a dark place. He could neither see nor feel. He was completely paralyzed yet his lips could move; allowing him to ask.

"Who are you?"

"Those Seraphims really did you dirty huh." This was the answer he got. In an entertained tone nevertheless.

"Seraphims? Are you another earth titan!" Blaze was trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. Yet everytime it speaks, there was a different voice. Always coming from a different location.

"Who I am is not important. What is important is that you, my dear prince, have sinned with pride. And that brought you to me."

"Pride? HA! Pride is what differs me from the rest of the commoners."

"Is that so? I can't wait to meet your parents then. I bet their souls are as rotten as yours."

"There is nothing rotten about me! Now release me before I burn this spell of yours down."

"Oh that won't be necessary Prince Blaze. I'm not done having fun with you." Blaze felt something crawl up his body which he finally felt at that moment.

The prince kept on screaming. As the gentle touches quickly turned to clawing that dug through his flesh. A huge serpent like creature then slithered around the darkness, causing his heart to throb even harder.

"Your wish. Getting stronger was it?" The creature finally showed itself to Blaze, making the prince scream from the terror that he faced.

"I'll grant your meagre request."

…

…

…

Sol and Alice continued running for their lives. There was too much danger to go around and, Sol wasn't planning on risking their chances of winning on that moment.

The flames that stuck on the trees have spread quickly. The wind blowing on them was helping it grow even more. Sight was restored to them as their surrounding were painted with yellow and red, mixing with each other and fighting for dominance as the flames intensified with each passing second.

There was no time for him to explain the whole detail of the plan to Alice. The girl simply followed him, knowing that Sol knew exactly what he was doing. And he did.

In Sol's head, he perfectly retracted the steps they took upon entering the park. Although poorly illuminated, he could at least discern where the moon was and this was his guide to coming out. With as much swiftness as their bodies allowed, the Voids ran towards the exit. A plan which would've worked. That is, if their enemy didn't make his move.

As if the flames wasn't enough of a bother the ground began shaking in a wild tantrum. The tremor was enough to knock the two off balance as they watched their doom unfold before their eyes. A colossal wall of rock erected itself. But not just in front of them. The blockade rose all over the park, trapping the two Voids along with the earth titans.

Alice tried throwing a grenade at it right away but, Sol held her wrist. Making a shaking motion with his head that meant it was a bad move.

"They won't raise something like that up if they knew it couldn't hold us in. Some defense mechanism must've been added to that thing."

"Then how do we get out when it's covering the whole area?"

"We can't. Not in this situation at least."

"That doesn't seem to be a very bright idea." Alice commented, thinking that they were as good as dead if they remained there.

"We need to head back."

"That also doesn't sound like a good idea."

"We'll circle around. If we continue moving just on the edge there's a higher chance for us to escape. The wall won't last long because there's also the wildfire that's spreading on the area. Meaning, they're in the same level of danger as we are." Sol turned around but just before he could move, Alice pulled him again. Sending the boy to the ground as spikes of rocks shot up right in front of them.

The sound of clapping came in front of them and in that moment, what Sol feared the most has finally happened. They were pitted against an earth titan. Yet he didn't give their enemy much momentum as he called out to his reliable partner.

"Alice."

The girl began shot up from where she sat, bringing out her dual gunblade. The cautious earth titan stood right where he was and, without any motion being made, erected even more spikes form the ground. Alice easily dodged these by leaping backwards as she pulled the trigger countless times. With all the bullets aimed at the head of their foe. Yet all of these were negated by shields that floated around the earth titan.

"You must be the ones who killed our poor little Gerard." The earth titan spoke with calm. As if victory was already assured for him.

"I'm not really in a conversing mood." Sol said, bringing out the two shields.

Alice took a glance at Sol. The boy nodded at him, holding the sack bag in one of his hands. She then continued to battling against the earth titan. Even though Alice was going all out in evading and trying to attack but their opponent was still taking them lightly. Although Sol was also being attacked at that moment, it wasn't anything that the dual shields couldn't handle.

"Is that all you're capable of?" Alice did a mid air spin; dodging a couple of earth bullets as Sol shielded himself from some more. As soon as she landed to the ground, she fired a couple more bullets before dashing towards the enemy.

All throughout the exchange, Sol was analyzing the movements of their enemy. The number of attacks he could cast and, the cooldown time of the skills. This was the only backside of relying on skills as, they won't always be active. Yet, even with the cooldown taken into consideration, their enemy was casting too fast.

"I don't have time to waste on you anymore. My team must be finished with that basilisk by now." Little by little, their enemy unconsciously lowered his guard. Until it was time to move. Until that short exchange of glance between Sol and Alice was finally put into motion.

"Same here." Alice took Sol's blade that was on the ground. She then swung it at the earth titan who placed his shields in front. The wind crystal did its work, sharpening the blade even further and allowing Alice to slice through them.

In shock, the earth titan placed his other shields to block. But it was too late. Alice activated the second function of their weapons. The one where it releases whatever mana was taken in by the [Aegis Shield].

Alice pressed the button, releasing a burst of flames that fired straight at their enemy. He was caught in flames, screaming in pain as he dropped to the ground. More earth spikes came up, preventing Alice form coming closer as their opponent was still caught in agony.

"We need to go before things get ugly."

"Are you sure? He looks pretty dead to me."

"Yeah? Well last time we saw them in action, your danger sense went haywire." As Sol said this, there was a look of panic on Alice's face.

"Yeah, just like that one. Now let's go!"

They didn't want to take notice of their enemy anymore. Specifically, because they didn't want to believe the nightmarish thing that was happening to the earth titan. Wings were sprouting on its back and its scream became lower and lower in tone. Until it was unmistakably a monster's. Horns grew form its burning head and it continued growing twice its height.

Even before their enemy could finish this transformation, Sol and Alice were already too far away. Leaving the earth titan to himself. In a state that has lost all reason. And as this transformation finished, the titans from the other domains have finally reached the wall.