14 The Crew's Power (2)

"You must focus Althea!" I thought, trying to concentrate the best I could. Dominic's presence was already enough for me to be distracted.

This time I was the one who charged against him. The attacks that I was launching in Dominic's direction were more difficult and much stronger than those against my two other companions. The wind was never in my favor, which required more effort.

The fight was getting harder for both of us. Around fifteen minutes had passed when Dominic decided to take our confrontation to another level. He wielded his second sword and changed his fighting style. His blows were now twice faster.

Joseph howled from a distance and was increasingly excited by the fight. Tiredness was surfacing in every inch of my body. I sent several pulses of energy consecutively at Dominic, in a cascade, however, he swerved without any effort. The ground was already completely ruined, due to the craters made by his blades. It was time to end the battle.

Few of my attacks had hit Dominic while several of his blows had hit me. I felt the exhaustion consuming my body and knew I needed to find a way to make him stop.

Dominic was about to attack me again when I used most of my remaining energy to give him the finishing blow. I rose my arms in the air and pointed my hands in his direction.

"Stagno." I spoke automatically. Dominic stiffened and, with a gesture, I moved my hands to the right side. As if chained to my fingers, Dominic's body followed my movement and flew a few meters. With the greatest possible speed, I lowered my hands and he fell together, hitting the floor hard. The noise was very loud.

"Wow!" exclaimed Joseph. "He is finished."

At least that was what it looked like. But Dominic was stronger than that and stood up without difficulty.

On the other side, I could barely keep myself standing. As a last resort, I decided to use one of the strongest (and most desperate) attacks I could muster at that moment. The best description of that attack would be "a wave of impacting energy", that caused a shock on my opponent's body. There was no time for Dominic to dodge, but what I wasn't really sure about was how strong or devastating it would be. Perhaps it would not be enough to beat him; maybe it could be too strong. However, I couldn't just give up that small battle.

He was about to strike in my direction, but I was faster.

I opened my arms and concentrated my powers, feeling the energy flowing through my veins. The ground started shaking and the stones surrounding us started to float in the air. Dominic then stopped his own attack and took a step back, however, it was too late.

A colossal wave of energy flew towards my opponent, along with all objects around us, destroying everything along the way. Even with all his speed and agility, Dominic was unable to escape. The attack landed directly on his body and he was thrown meters away. Without being able to fully see the extension of my attack, I succumbed. My knees gave way to gravity and I fell on my side on the grass. I knew however that I had lost that fight.

I could hear Joseph howling at incomprehensible words. A cold wind touched my face and with difficulty, I turned with my back touching the land and faced the cloudless sky. I took a deep breath and gathered all my strength to speak a single word.

"Dominic?"

I didn't hear an answer. I suddenly felt something touching me and saw the outline of a person sitting next to me. My body was then gently pulled up, and put against Dominic's body, sitting shoulder to shoulder with him.

"I'm here." He said running his fingers through my hair. "This last attack was truly extraordinary!"

"But apparently, it was not very effective." I whispered. Dominic did not look at all dejected.

"I was lucky. You could say that I am not very fragile. Such a blow would kill any normal human being."

"Thanks... I guess. What did you mean by "not being very fragile"?" I asked.

"Let's say there is more than one benefit to having powers from a sacred fountain. Compared to a normal human being, you can say that I am 10 times more resistant. Besides having a sturdy body, small wounds on my body can heal in a matter of minutes."

I then saw Joseph moving from across the field into our direction, while dragging Heath's unconscious body.

"Do you think you are able to walk back to the ship?" asked Dominic.

"I'm not able to move a single muscle right now. And is all your fault. " I said while shaking my head. "The worst part is that I made so much effort and still lost."

"But still, I am sure that I will feel my muscles soar for a couple of days as well. You did a great job Althea." he replied. "Let's go."

He got up and took me in his arms.

"One day I will repay your favors." I said snuggling up.

"There is no need for that. Now let's go back to the ship and rest. You can also try to rest now on the way back if you want."

"I don't need it, so don't worry about me. How are you going to take Heath?"

"Joseph will carry him. It certainly won't be as light as carrying you, but Joseph will for sure manage. Now relax and rest."

I couldn't control myself anymore and lost another fight. Fatigue consumed me and at the same moment, I fell asleep in Dominic's arms.

I woke up to a very loud scream from the deck. It was Heath's voice, which seemed to be arguing with someone else. I heard the sound of my bedroom door opening and closing, while another voice spoke in the corridor.

"Can you both be quiet? You will end up waking her up!" reprehended Dominic.

"I'm sorry sir." Heath hummed. "But I still can't believe you let me lose everything! Joseph said she beat him and almost managed to defeat you! Also, I still have no idea what she did to me."

"Well, it's not our fault. You slept like a little baby and no one was able to wake you up." replied Dominic, teasing his friend.

"It makes me really sad that you lost such an incredible fight between a Descendant and a Knight" Joseph added, stirring Heath's wrath even more.

"Argh!"

"Just keep it down." warned Dominic.

"That's right. You can come back..." Joseph answered. His voice was so low that I couldn't make out the words.

My bedroom door opened and closed again. I heard someone sitting on the chair near my bed. With some effort, I turned around looking for Dominic's figure. My vision was a little blurry, but I could see him standing and coming closer to me.

"Damn it." cursed Dominic quietly. "They woke you up."

He sat next to me and kissed my forehead. I turned on the bed and rested my head on his lap like a spoiled child.

"You can say yes. Heath sounds furious." I answered almost going back to sleep while Dominic was stroking my head.

"He is outraged that he missed the show. Are you feeling well?"

"I feel fine. How long have I been sleeping?"

"Around three hours. Heath also woke up only now. Soon they will be getting ready to go to the town and buy some supplies. If you would like, we could come along as well."

"I would really like it!" I answered, getting immediately excited with the idea.

"I'll go upstairs to warn the scandalous duo that they woke you up then. Get ready."

When I realized it, Dominic had already left my room. I woke up "for real this time " and I went to the bathroom to wash my face. I looked in the mirror and saw that I had a small cut on my forehead that my hair covered. I checked my entire body for injuries and noticed that there was a bandage on my arm.

In less than ten minutes, I was ready and went to the floor above to search for the others. All three of them were sitting in the living room, and when Heath saw me, he couldn't hide his indignation and bowed his head. Joseph burst out laughing.

"Damn! I still can't believe that I lost everything." He mumbled.

"Don't worry Heath. We still have a lot of training ahead of us and a lot of opportunities for you to see more of us fighting." I said, trying to cheer him up. Apparently, it worked, and Heath smiled to me. "I just didn't expect that tactic to really work. I didn't think also that you would lose consciousness for so long."

"I didn't expect it as well." laughed Heath.

We then left the ship and after a short walk, we arrived at the city center. Toedo was smaller than the city of Lyrus, but it was just as crowded. There were a good number of bars scattered on the main street and dozens of shops. We divided into two groups; Joseph and I would be responsible for buying the food while Heath and Dominic were to buy ammunition and weapons.

With incredible diligence, Joseph taught me to differentiate spoiled food from a fresh one. He was an excellent cook and everything he bought was considering not only the taste but the importance of keeping our bodies healthy at the sea. For a moment, I wondered from where they got the money for all those purchases. In the end, I decided not to ask, in case the source of money would have been something illegal.

"Where are we going to meet with them?" I asked as we walked down the crowded street.

"In the main square, next to the navy barracks. "Replied Joseph. I couldn't help laughing and he looked at me without understanding.

"Don't you find that a little risky and ironic?" I asked.

"Just a little." he replied with a smile.

Suddenly Joseph stopped. His gaze was lost, and he seemed to have his mind elsewhere, not responding to me.

"Joseph? Joseph, are you okay?" I exclaimed worriedly.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

"What happened? What's wrong?" I asked, starting to feel my body shaking.

"Hunters. They are after Dominic and Heath and it seems that the rewards for both have increased."

It was clear now what was going on: Joseph had a vision.

"What should we do?" I asked, trying to calm myself down.

"We will join them. Come." he said running through the crowd while I followed him with difficulty.

It was very easy to find Heath and Dominic – we just had to go in the direction of the turmoil. The fight was already breaking out in front of the navy barracks and people were running away from there in panic. Heath had finally found the action he wanted.

"Get ready to fight." exclaimed Joseph.

"Okay." I answered.

In a matter of seconds, we joined the turmoil and the fight started. It was a real battle and this time I couldn't be distracted. I started launching attacks in the direction of the Hunters while the military come to join the confusion as well. The place was on the verge of madness. My eyes then met Dominic's and his expression changed for one that I didn't like at all.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he shouted, putting himself in front of me and attacking the people who came in my direction.

"Joseph said we should join you! I am here to help." I answered, striking three soldiers who came to attack us from behind.

"He shouldn't do that! You can get hurt!" he scolded furiously.

"Dominic, I know how to defend myself. I can't just run away from everything and you know that if I run around alone, I will end up in more trouble. I better stay close to you." I argued.

"I fear that is true, but don't you dare leave my side now. And this is not a request, it is an order!" he said, still in anger.

"I won't."

After a few minutes of fighting, Dominic managed to find an opening and pulled me by the arm to away from the confusion.

"What about the others?" I asked.

"Joseph saw us leaving. He will soon warn Heath and they will find a way to get rid of the Hunters and the military."

At that moment, a poor soldier stood in front of us, in a futile attempt to block the way. With one punch Dominic made the man fly.

We infiltrated the forest and, without asking for permission, Dominic took me in his arms and flew through the trees. I didn't complain because I knew it would save us a lot of time. Very quickly, we reached Destiny and boarded the ship. He left me on deck and, in a hurry, began to prepare the ship for us to leave the moment our companions arrived.

It didn't take more than five minutes for the two to arrive and less than one for the ship to start moving quickly across the sea. That was our last moment in Toedo.