Scourge of Sorrow

"What do you mean Blythe's alive? How could he? He was taken and imprisoned and then appointed to his death. Explain yourself, Yules! This better not be another one of your deceptions." Elian seemed surrounded by indignation in an error of feeling tricked.

"My brother? Alive? What do you want from me? Haven't I been through enough suffering already in the last few days? How dare you bring me to the forbidden chain and then say my brother's alive?! If that's your way of trying to harm my emotions, you're doing a horrible job!" Chiaki shouted, pulling away from Elian in obsessed frustration.

Yules stood in one place, arms crossed and holding a stern face to show he had no flaws in his explanation. He gandered and sighed, fixing his glasses in between, "I'm just stating the facts, is all."

Chiaki received a stone-cold look as Elian stepped forward. "Your statement makes no sense. He shouldn't be alive or-!" Yules shut him down, "Exactly, it doesn't make sense. But it does if I told you the World Government accepted him as a candidate and revoked his title by making him a Sea Noble. You were an admiral before me, yet you didn't know that?"

Elian felt stunned and furious, knowing the person who killed his father was pardoned. "All this time, Blythe Yasuda kept hidden behind the Sea Noble rank? I finally had hope Yasuda would be erased from this world, but with one still on the loose, should I really proceed in disposing of this girl?"

He looked at Chiaki behind him, seeing her flinch for a moment with her arms tied behind her back. "You have no other choice, admiral. You are required to eliminate Chiaki Yasuda. These were orders from the fleet admiral, and you complied. There's no time to go back on your word." Yules explained, standing confidently

"Chiaki!" Their eyes glimpsed into the distance, seeing Kyora and Kou running over the bridge. "We found you!" Kou shouted, stopping in place a safe distance away. "Kou... Y-You made it!" Chiaki exclaimed, amazed to see their friends.

Elian grabbed Chiaki and pushed her back. "Time for you to meet the devil, Yasuda." He looked sharply into her eyes. "Let her go! You've done enough!" Kyora shouted in the distance and pointed her finger at them. "Afraid not..." He pushed Chiaki further, causing her to fall on her chest. "W-What are you doing?!" Chiaki wondered, horrified and terrified. "I'm finishing my job."

He picked her up on her shoulders. "Hey! Put me down!" She complained, swinging her arms and kicking her legs. "Stop! I-!" Kou didn't finish his sentence and observed Elian take her away.

He glimpsed at them with a side glance, but in an instant, Chiaki opened her mouth and screamed in the air. "Let me go!!" Her voice reverberated, and her teeth bit sharply into Elian's shoulder, forcing him to drop her on the ground.

She harmed her body by hitting the solid ground and quickly felt her ankles grabbed by Elian. "I told you not to do that again!" His arm created a hot green fire around Chiaki's ankle that scorched her skin, nearly melting it.

Chiaki screamed in agony, and the pain made her eyes shake so hard that tears began to form around her pupils. "Stop! You're hurting her!" When Kou saw her in pain, he yelled out in fear, terror, and anxiety. "Yasuda, how does it feel? Are you experiencing skin burns? You could prevent this if you cooperated! Nevertheless, you simply had to act foolishly!" He turned up the intensity of the fire, scorching further into Chiaki's skin.

To prevent herself from crying or screaming any louder, she kept her body tight and even compelled herself to bite the edge of the bridge.

-

Naeve summoned a raygun through a portal and charged up a beam that drove itself through the library.

Yumiko sprinted at it head-on and ran aside, jumping and wall-running closer to Naeve and descended. She surrounded her blades with blue and purple energy and slashed them downward.

"You're getting quite fond of the environment you're in, huh? Don't think you have the upper hand for a second!" Naeve swiped her sword obliquely and collided with Yumiko's.

The metal made a deep resonating sound as their enchanted blades zapped out electricity. "I'm sorry! But this is over!" Yumiko's voice echoed through the library and astonished Naeve, "Moonlight Dance!" Yumiko's body shone with the brightest blue color.

Naeve became surrounded by a blue star pattern with many blue silhouettes of Yumiko's traces emerging from each star's perimeter.

Yumiko disappeared from Naeve's frontal vision after zipping through the star pattern lines like lightning. She appeared behind Naeve, kneeling with her arms outstretched.

As Yumiko's eyes flashed, Naeve felt five slashes slicing through her torso and commencing her to bleed.

"N-No... I-I don't- I can't. You little-!" One more time, Naeve attempted to swing her sword, but blood spurted from her wounds, causing her to collapse and her sword to fall beside her, bounce, and break up into small pieces.

Yumiko stood up straight, clutching her bruises, and looked out at the collapsed wall. She sheathed her swords after taking a few seconds to catch her breath.

Ralphie scaled the inside balcony to the top and clung to the edge, peering at Yumiko. He spotted Naeve struggling and yelled to her as pink hearts fluttered around him., "Yumiko-cupcake! My beautiful bird! You did it!" He shouted, waving at her.

Yumiko smiled as she turned to look at Ralphie.

-

Timothy and Riley dashed to one another, yelled out to each other, and punched with their fists. Timothy delivered a head blow, and so did Riley.

They knocked each other away and slid on the concrete floor. "Fire Fist!" Timothy stepped forward, punched, and shot fire in Riley's direction.

Riley stomped the ground and turned the room monochrome, freezing time, and hurriedly slammed his fist into Timothy's stomach.

The colors returned as Timothy's body reacted with a jolt, feeling pain in his stomach. "Say your prayers! Time Skip Hustle!" Timothy's body got bound under the time-skip effect and making him stationary.

Riley swiftly attacked Timothy with a full-on onslaught of punches, landing blows to every region of his body, taking advantage of the opening.

Tim had to cough up saliva after being knocked away by the force that was created when the time skip effect ruptured like a different dimension.

"Time Skip Tremor!" Riley teleported behind Timothy and unleashed a vicious kick to his back, causing Timothy to fly through the air and crash into the wall in front of him.

"Have you had enough?! I will admit it! I'm surprised you've lasted for this long! The previous pirates got taken out in seconds." Riley outlined the situation, but to his shock, he noticed steam emanating from the crates. "You've got to be kidding me!" After adjusting his gaze, he saw Timothy standing up, his body motionless.

Timothy's mouth was wide open, and his eyes were as white as snow.

His heart beat swiftly, and his limbs did not linger. He stood there like an empty soul or a lifeless corpse. "C-Chiaki... I-" He struggled to speak, "I... promised to..."

"Save you..."

"B-But... I-"

"I can't..."

"I can't stand..."

"I don't feel my body..."

"It's like... it's like... I'm deteriorating..."

"Deteriorating from the inside and... outside..."

"I-I'm not strong enough to..."

"I'm not strong enough to save you..."

His body slowly started losing balance and began falling backward.

"Please..."

"Forgive me..."

He finally collapsed on the ground, tears splashing from his eyelids.

And the next moment, his body became motionless. Incapable of even moving a muscle.

To be continued...