A Vague Secret

~Meanwhile~

•Serus' P.O.V•

We are now inside the underwater prison in the factory's second floor that Rhys is also watching over. We finally infiltrated the facility. I hope this plan works.

"Ready, Serus?" Oceane prepared herself for this, and she is in an advantageous state, since the sea is her forte.

"Let's go." I verbalized. She turned us into liquid to let us escape the prison easily. We reformed in solid state after getting out quietly.

"Why the long face?" Oceane asked.

"I just hope Grey is okay, also the arrogant Blaze." I replied.

"Well, I can see that you're finally calming your hatred." she said.

"I hate to admit it, but yes." I spoke.

"We need to go to the basement. He might be keeping them there. But before that, we should get the keys from the master room first." she ordered.

"Alright." I said.

We sneaked to the first floor, where the master room is. Everything in this facility is like from the future. The human-like squids now where a uniform, and held futuristic weapons like plasma cannons, or even from space. How did they get this?

We finally got inside the master room. Thankfully, Rhys isn't there. We started to search for the keys to the basement.

"Did you see it yet?" Oceane asked.

"No. Not yet." I responded.

I opened one of the drawers. Instead of finding the key, I found a picture. At the background of the picture was my house under a happy morning sunshine, where the grass sparkles, and the flowers show their beauty. I miss my messy house. Then there are five kids in front of the house. One blonde-haired girl that hurled her shoulders on two boys beside her. One redheaded and the other is blonde. The other girl carried a baby, as if it was his brother. The baby had a yellowish hair too. Between and in front them sits another boy. He wears a black hooded-jacket, with a white plain T-shirt inside. Black shorts, and a type of boots for the bottom torso. Who are they? Some of them looked familiar. Actually, all of them. I put it inside my pocket.

"Have the keys yet?" I uttered.

"Yes, let's go now, before anything comes up." she said. We walked as slowly as possible to reach the basement, and we're almost caught by one of the guards.

Eventually, we reached the basement door, and unlocked it. We saw papers and a bunch of files everywhere. We saw two human-sized chambers with water first. It contained both a man and a woman, slumbering. What are they doing with them?

"Serus, hurry." Oceane told me.

"Okay." As I went inside the another small hall, I saw eight chambers alike from the one I saw a while ago. Inside the first four were the four siblings, Arlo, Beatrix, Mason, and Vita. Oceane closed in on the large wires that kept the chambers activated, and sliced it with her keen scythe.

The fluids came gushing out, but Oceane collected it, so that the floor wouldn't be slippery. The siblings propitiously showed signs of life.

"My siblings." Oceane cried, still holding out the big, levitating sphere of water, and hugged her siblings.

"Oceane, what happened? Where are we?" Beatrix asked.

"Long story, big sis." Oceane replied.

The alarms went off, and I heard the guards rushing inside the other doorway. So, we went to the previous door that we used to get in.

"Wait, let's free them." I pointed at the first two chambers that I saw, and told them. But the soldiers is approaching us already.

"Get back!" Oceane threw the sphere of water that she was holding hard enough that it broke the chambers of the two strangers. Arlo reached them with his elongated arms, then carried them both with his muscles enlarged. Before leaving, I quickly snatched the two documents on the table near their broken chambers.

We avoided to battle, but those guys doesn't seem to give up. So Beatrix unleashed an invisible surge that blew the enemies away, and cast illusions. They began to trick themselves, hitting each other, not knowing who the real enemy is.

"Whoa!" I gasped in amazement.

"Look lively now, it will not take much time until they gain their senses again." Beatrix said.

"Let's get out now." Mason said.

"No, our father is detained in this laboratory somewhere." Oceane uttered immediately.

"Who said?" Arlo asked.

"Blaze told us, and he's the one who planned this rescue."

"What? He's the one who captured us in the first place." Arlo said.

"Maybe that's why he captured us. He wants us to save dad." Beatrix deduced.

"I didn't think that before, but it all made sense now." Vita said.

"He didn't tell us that he's the one who captured-----" the idea struck me. I remembered the moment that the kid told us that there is a traitor, he must be relating to Blaze. But in the end, he was the one being betrayed already. What a strategy of a superhero. I still can't let myself believe in them, or trust them. They're the reason my parents died in the first place.

We finally went upstairs to the third floor, where they said they'd kept the father of the Fatums. It looks like an arena, with only an elevator that will lead outside appeared.

"This is the exit already." Mason uttered.

"That's right." a voice verbalized from the near distance. It was Rhys, with his tall and big killer robots, and the armed squid faces.

"Rhys, where is our father?" Vita asked him.

"That's confidential. Get them!" the robots lunged at us with their rocket, mechanical feet.

We prepared our weapons and powers for the fight. Oceane froze some of the robots, and sliced them. Arlo created multiple other hands in his right hand, and enlarged them. He then smacked the robots with it. They attacked with their signature moves, but the robots still stood formidable.

"That's no use. My robots are made out of tungsten and titanium. With the tungsten, they could withstand any temperature, while the titanium could withstand heavy impacts. They are the most formidable robots I've ever made, despite they're still prototypes." Rhys said.

"Capture them." Rhys ordered the robots.

They grasped us with their metallic hands, almost crushing our bodies. I tried to burst out strong flames, but it didn't even scratch them.

"Please bring the Phoenix into my office." he continued.

I am then brought to his office, while they imprison the others inside a normal prison cell.

"Don't be afraid, Serus, or should I say 'impostor'." he said.

"What do you want from them? I know that you are both rivaling clans, but I've got nothing to do with this." I said.

"Then why are you with them? Helping them even. You don't even know your true nature." Rhys replied.

"I want to know about the truth." I told him angrily.

"What truth?"

"The truth about Duskaea." I said.

"You have no right to know about him." he frowned.

"Who is he anyway?! I am so tired of dreaming about that name. That name is a curse to me. I got even killed, right now too I am imprisoned because of him." I uttered.

"You'll never know him, because he's dead, and you're the cause of it!" he shouted.

"What?" I asked. Tears began to flow right through my eyes.

"Why are you crying? Is it because you killed your own master, your own parent?!" he said furiously.

"What? I don't remember him as my father or a stranger even." I uttered.

"Because he protected you, but what you did to him was nothing, but giving him a cold death. We will revive him, and we will then emerge the world into the most powerful one. A world where everybody will get a hold of Duskaea's power, and defend themselves from harm." he ambitiously verbalized.

"That's an impossible dream." I said.

"Since you're the son of Duskaea, and inherited his powers, your Phoenix will resurrect him, and we'll finally execute our plans." Rhys uttered.

"I will not let myself be used just to wreak havoc!" I shouted.

"Well, we're not asking your permission. We're going to force you to used it." he replied.

We heard a sudden crash from outside.

"What's happening?!" Rhys gritted his teeth onto each other, showing immense anger and rage. As we both looked outside, we saw a huge hole that was struck by something at its roof. The ocean water came gushing in the factory rapidly.

"Who caused this?!" he asked a henchmen of his that came by.

"There's a girl with grey hair, and your pet Fatum came with her too, sir." he said.

"That Blaze Fatum, I will kill him. Get the girl, and bring me her head." Rhys angrily uttered.

"For a child, you seem to have a harsh mouth, Rhys." I mocked him.

"You knew this, don't you? Oh well, you're not the only one who knows how to stall time." I said.

"What?" I am puzzled.

"What I'm saying is that I'm not the actual threat here."

"Serus!" Grey appeared out of nowhere.

"Die!" six metallic tentacles with crab claws emerged from Rhys' back, and it charged at Grey all at once.

At the moment it hits her, the metal tentacles started to disintegrate, as if whenever and whatever comes near Grey, everything disintegrates.

"Grey.....you have...." I am interrupted.

"Let's talk later." she carried me and jumped from platform to platform until we arrive the surface. When we reached the surface, the others are saved too, and with them stood the arrogant Blaze. The two strangers that we saw a while ago are with them too.

The sea suddenly started to create giant ripples, and there are also flashing violent torrents nearing the shore. The squid henchmen jumped onto the surface with their advanced weaponry. Along with them is Rhys, and he brought someone else with him too. He is an old-man. Has grey-hair, and mustache. He wore a black vest, and a white long sleeve polo within the vest. He wears clothes that it'll match up a waiter's uniform.

"Dad!" Vita called out to the old man.

"If you still want to see him alive, I suggest you to surrender." Rhys placed one of his tentacles near the old man's neck.

"You scum!" Arlo shouted at him.

"Well, I can call myself the most intelligent scum. Now, where were we? Oh, right." Rhys tapped the old man's back, and he approached us. As he approaches, I see a mixture of a dark-colored aura along with his blue one.

"Dad, where's mom?" Vita asked.

"Because of your irresponsible actions, she died!" the old man started to transform. His whole body are covered with hard scales, his head multiplied, and the skies turned to red. His body started to inflate into a dragon-like body. So this is the father of the Fatums. A huge battle awaited us then.