Forthcoming Union

As they were running through the forest, Timothy's group noticed someone flying through the air on a cloud. Timothy recognized the person immediately and smiled, seeing Tarot descend toward them.

Olishia, Elliott, and the others became befuddled after seeing Tarot sitting on the cloud along with a young child.

"Captain, aye! Funny to see you out here!"

Tarot called and raised his arm to greet him. "Didn't expect you to be around here, Tarot. Who's the kid, and what happened to Ralphie and the others? Did you guys locate the Sanctum City?"

The child appeared somewhat nervous and scared, but luckily Tarot took over the conversation and kept the child secure. "Yup, we sure did. They're probably in by now, but the citizens look a tiny bit discouraging. Not very peachy if I say so myself. They're hunting us down, except for this kid."

Timothy locked his eyes on the child, perplexed and questionable. But he continued to have a friendly expression to ease up the child. "I'm trying to find a woman by the name of..." he forgot, scratching his ears, but the kid quickly responded instead of him.

"It's Shanya..." he added, "She's a very pretty. She's got these cool tiger-like eyes and long-brown hair. She also has a claw on her right arm."

Timothy identified her immediately and smirked in the process.

"I knew she wasn't an enemy."

-

"This is awkward... I really need to fight with her. Could I somehow change her persistence? I could try, but that's the best I can do."

Chiaki's face appeared covered with sweat drops, trickling down her cheeks like water from a dripstone.

The fear of hurting someone who's most likely innocent and manipulated sounded inappropriate to her. It felt like she was trying to trample a harmless flower that stood there with one wish; to survive and blossom with the inability to make its own choices.

"Shanya, please. I'd appreciate it if you told me what your situation is. You don't have to trust Hywel, assuming he'll pay if you successfully complete your task. Instead of relying on him, you can ask us to help you if you need assistance. We'd be happy to do it."

But Chiaki's words weren't getting through to her. Shanya remained on Hywel's side, ready to fight for an unknown reason that one could not describe.

Arguably, Shanya seemed like an adversary instead of a friend. Somewhat understanding yet hostile. It wasn't helping.

"Do you even benefit by working under his commands, Shanya? He's constantly telling he'll pay you when you're done with your work, but I think that's a pretense. You need to be more observant."

Shanya's facial expression stayed the same as before — calm, sheltered, and forbearing — having a single objective.

But her patience quickly dissipated.

It drove her into animosity before claiming that Hywel was her only option despite the possible treason.

By dashing forward at high speed, the grass behind her ripped apart as Shanya pre-readied a mighty punch that she threw at Chiaki's stomach.

Chiaki leaped backward like a frog as Shanya's arm whistled through the wind before it could collide.

She landed, doing her best to keep her balance, and observed the left-behind cyclone of wind Shanya formed with her aggressive strike.

"Whoa, she's not a wimp. I'll give her that. I suppose she is a spirited warrior. I don't think I can handle one of those punches if I get hit." Chiaki thought and understood that the gauntlet Shanya wore could put some horrible injuries on her body.

It was made out of heavy metal, after all.

"I seem to have no choice but to fight."

Chiaki came to her conclusion but still didn't plan to ignore Shanya and was willing to gain answers from her no matter how difficult this assignment would be.

Shanya moved in to attack for the second time. She quivered her arm, ramming the gauntlet into the ground to produce a powerful earth-shattering surge.

It grew forward in a meandering formation, carving lines through the earth that pulsed out waves of wind and fire. It nearly struck Chiaki.

She sprang in the air and flipped her torso forward, plunging onto Shanya with an extended leg and hardened heel. She didn't connect her strike as Shanya's body flickered on the spot and vanished from Chiaki's sight of view.

She tugged back her limbs, rotated, and rolled forward on the floor to cushion her fall.

She returned on high alert and expected to spot Shanya before she could get attacked. She couldn't react, and her enemy's body flashed in front of her view, sending a rearward and advancing kick to bash the heel into Chiaki's shielding forearms.

It put heavy pressure on Chiaki's upper body and guided her feet across the grass, nearing her toward Hywel's building's damaged walls.

Shanya set her foot on the dirt path and spread her legs. She summoned her broadsword, grabbed its handle tightly, and spun in place, sweeping out blood-red, demon-inducing flames from the stropping blade that skittered forward at moderate speed.

The flames in her control weren't represented as a natural fire. Instead, it had a bizarre effect to it. Whatever it adjoined, it withered it.

And Chiaki noticed the after-effect at the perfect time.

She couldn't let it connect and harm her skin, so she needed to do her absolute best to evade getting influenced by the withering status.

She acted in a hurry, side-stepped the incoming flames, and coursed into a full-speed sprint to dodge it before mourning her choices.

The blood-red flames wriggled on the construction's walls like a fiery tidal wave and scattered away like smoke in the wind.

Chiaki stopped herself from falling over by planting her palm closest to the floor and faced her enemy, relieved not to have been caught in the fire shower.

She tensed her muscles and tightened her stare. "You're willing to kill for that cash-on-hand, Shanya? I know you have other reasons to be doing this, but I can't help if you're just gonna stand there in silence."

They traded eyes, each standing still from a distance.

Shanya lowered her broadsword, tugging its heavy blade rearward and leaning it on the path base behind her legs. "You want to know why I'm eager to do this? Fine..."

Finally, Chiaki managed to make Shanya speak, and even if she provided her with just but a trace of her goal, she felt like she was making progress.

"I need that money before it's too late. There's a sick woman I need to repay with my service living in the Armagh Desert. She's infected, her skin withering like a dead flower. But, people from Armagh Jungle won't help unless I pay them, claiming that the antidote to cure Zahya's is limited, that not everyone can have it, no matter how bad the situation is..."

"...My only way to save her life is by paying for the antidote, and I'm willing to kill for her health. I don't really care if my actions compel me to end up in jail. If that's the punishment for my miserable stunts, I'll take it. But I won't stop pursuing money until she gets remedied. And I don't have much time."

Chiaki narrowed her eyes more. She was bent forward, hanging to the side a little. She pointed her finger in Shanya's direction and appeared sedated.

"Then why are you depending on Hywel? Why don't you find someone who wants to help you without vile cravings? You're an adult who knows strangers won't always do as sworn. If you want someone's help and you're on a time limitation, then let US help you instead."

Shanya closed her eyes, breathing in the air. She showed composure but no signs of stopping. "How can YOU help me? You came here to stop Ivione, didn't you? So, why are you trying to interfere with my and Hywel's work? He's not your target, is he?"

Chiaki understood Shanya's motivations and declarations but had several tribulations regarding her alternatives. She knew she couldn't afford to lose time.

"You're working for an insane and selfish person. He wants to resurrect Yerachmiel, so someone needs to step in and stop him from doing it. I don't know the genuine motives behind wanting to summon him, but it's definitely not for a good reason, no doubt about it."

Shanya's mouth trembled behind her suppressed frustration. It was as if she hated her current job and wanted to quit it. But she needed money, loads of money. The antidote wasn't cheap, and she knew that very well.

"If you want, WE can give you some of the treasure we earned from the previous islands we visited, and I'm sure Kyora would understand. But please, stop working with Hywel and help us instead. If we keep fighting, we'll never be able to help the islanders of the Sanctum Islands..."

"...The true enemy here isn't the people from Scanara Tribe, but the Seraphs who joined up with Hywel in an egoistic form. If we can stop them before confronting Ivione, we'll have more than enough time to return to the sea, and we'll give you the money you need if you just sell it."

It seemed Chiaki's words didn't change Shanya's decisions, but they definitely influenced her in one way or the other. It didn't stop her from rushing in for another attack to resume their battle, but someone's voice reached their ears.

Like a bomb from a plane and an incoming missile, blue flames coiled from the sky, slamming between the two women on the battlefield and forming a massive inferno that harmed neither and only assembled a flashy diversion to block their view.

Once the flames cleared and the girls regained their clear vision, Shanya and Chiaki suddenly noticed a group of people around them while Timothy stood in between.

"Shanya! Please, stop!" the child screamed and gained her attention. "Benjamin..." She said and looked behind her. She didn't understand what was going on around her and heard the boy call out to her.

"These people aren't bad. Please, stop fighting and help them instead. They came here to help the good citizens."

To be continued...