17 Kill Me If You Can

"Monsoon…"

A familiar gust of wind enveloped Thea the instant she called out to her nature spirit buddy. A wind blade formed in both her hands. She could not take her opponent lightly.

Asuren was a formidable foe when in a serious mood. Thea had seen him fight against the fairy who poisoned him. He nearly killed his opponent. If Thea gave Asuren an opening, she would be seriously injured. She could not risk that. She was there to save him. Not get herself killed.

Asuren attacked with blinding speed and vicious strength. All Thea could do was evade each time he would swing his dagger. It was a good thing that Thea focused on enhancing her speed. Her attacks cannot be as strong as Asuren, but her speed could outmatch his.

Thea was flying in circles. She was relying on Monsoon to watch where she was soaring. She could not risk hitting on anything and get cornered. Asuren was successively swinging his dagger. She could not look anywhere else other than the movement of her opponent.

"Asuren, you don't want to do this!" Thea yelled the moment she crossed her blade and trapped the dagger of her newfound friend.

The hatred in the eyes of Asuren intensified and his wind blade absorbed the wind covering the rest of his body. His energy focusing on one location shattered the wind blade of Thea. She was thrown a few feet away and Asuren dashed towards her, ready to stab her to death.

Thea managed to find balance before her chest was pierced. She rolled in mid-air, grabbed Asuren's weapon hand, and jumped onto his back. She wrapped her legs around his torso and covered his wind blade with a strong gust of wind until it shattered.

"Asuren, stop this, please!" she yelled closer to his ear but Asuren was oblivious of her pleading.

Instead of yielding, he revived the wind blade in his hand and aimed it at his heart.

Terrified, Thea surrounded her hands with a stronger gust of wind and grabbed the blade Asuren tried to pierce in his chest just to harm his target.

Thea was able to stop the blade before it punctured her friend.

"ASUREN!!! PLEASE STOP!!!" Thea yelled at the top of her lungs and she finally succeeded in shattering the blade that pierced the overcoat of her friend.

Asuren let out a deafening roar and released a strong gust of wind. He was trying to throw Thea off his back, but the latter refused to be hurled away. She gripped both hands of Asuren and protected herself with a strong gust of wind. She focused the remaining half of her energy in knocking Asuren on the ground, which she successfully did.

Asuren fell on his stomach and Thea pulled her hands towards his back and tied it with a sturdy gust of wind.

"Monsoon, confine his hands for as long as you can," Thea crept away from the back of Asuren, gripped his shoulders, and rolled him onto his back so they could face each other.

"I hope that this can help you remember what your heart truly desires," Thea sat on top of Asuren and grabbed his cheek.

The moment her hands touched his skin, Asuren was paralyzed.

Thea smiled, "I can see that your body already remembers this," she bent over Asuren and kissed him on the lips.

Shock replaced the hatred in the eyes of Asuren.

"Will you please stop this now, Asuren?" Thea begged when she raised her head and stared at her newfound friend.

"Thea…" the hate in his eyes had completely disappeared and he was gazing back at Thea with recognition.

"Finally," Thea breathed with relief and let her back collapse on the grass-covered ground.

Asuren sat up and checked Thea from head to foot. Though he had seen that Thea was unharmed, he still asked her, "Did I hurt you?"

Thea glanced angrily at Asuren. She sat up and leaned her head closer to him. She was leaning so close that Asuren felt uncomfortable.

"You wanted so much to kill me that you are willing to kill yourself just to succeed on it!" Thea snapped at him.

Asuren looked away with shame.

"What? I don't get to hear I'm sorry or thank you?" she raised an eyebrow at Asuren.

"Why do you keep risking your life for me?" confusion was returning in his eyes.

"I already told you the reason," Thea looked him straight in the eyes. "We should bring peace between our realm."

"I can't help you," Asuren looked dejectedly at the ground. "You've seen what happened. I cannot resist my mother. I will only hurt you… or worse… kill you."

"I also said it before. This will never be an easy fight. If you surrender now, we can never bring peace between our realm."

"If Mother insists on her vengeance, she will leave us with no better option but to kill her. I cannot do that to her. I cannot kill her…" his eyes looked deeply torn.

"I know," Thea honestly told Asuren. "I will never ask you to kill her. There will always be a better way. We will find it. No matter how long it takes. For now, you should guard yourself against her influence or whatever spell she had used to control you. We need to know how she can do that so we can find a cure or a counterspell for it."

"Thea…"

"You want to say sorry and thank you, don't you?" she beamed at him. "Forget it. I already said that friends do not need to thank each other. An apology is also not necessary. I want to see it, not hear. And…" she leaned her face closer to him, making him uneasy again. "Kill me whenever you want, I can always kiss you to make your heart remember."

Asuren finally smiled.

"Keep that smile on your face as much as you can," Thea grinned. "We should leave this place. I don't know where Riz and Ayhan had gone."

"They were with you?"

"Can you see it now? Many fairies want to keep you safe. You should be strong for us."

Asuren nodded then lowered his head on the ground, "Kayah, can you please take us to where Ayhan and Riz are?"

A tiny opening had been revealed in front of them.

"Let's go, Thea," Asuren dashed through it and Thea quickly followed.

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