Chapter 18: Helle Quin

Chapter 18: Helle Quin

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Yujin deadpanned, looking around waiting for him to be skyrocketed again. “Why should I be the one doing this?! It should’ve been Noctis!”

“Shut up Yuu,” Noctis drawled, folding his arms over his chest. “I thought you wanted to punch that guy?” He asked, his obsidian eyes narrowing. “If you want, then you’re the best candidate for this plan.”

“You didn’t land a punch on him right?” Edward added as he was preparing himself and took a deep breath.

“Oh shut up!” Yujin complained, rolling his eyes and hissed at his two friends, muttering to himself about big heads. Actually he’s in doubt at the moment if he could really call them friends, which only earns himself a sharp glare from the ravenette.

“I was observing the way he fought you earlier,” Edward said calmly, which made Yujin shift his eyes at him. “He has a splendid combat style, he’s fast, he can easily keep up to your attacks, and top of that, he’s actively using the landscape to his advantage too. Although you have the advantage when it comes to Manipulation, your combat style doesn’t.”

“So this is what you have come up to?” Yujin asked.

“Yes.” Edward replied quickly. “Surely your fireballs are strong enough to pierce through his shield of snow; however, the distance is the problem. With him floating around and giving enough distance from you, the impact of your fireballs would have decreased, giving him a chance to dodge it. Even if you jump, he would just easily evade you. Leap into him, and he would simply slap you back.”

“I’m actively aware of that, you know?” Yujin scrunched up his nose and looked back at the brown-head.

“Then it’s worth a try! Let’s cheat!” Edward beamed at him then tapped his cheeks gently and walked behind him. “We will hack your speed, and once you already got a clear-”

“Yeah, yeah whatever, I already got it, just throw me now!” Yujin ordered, which made Edward take a deep sigh. His face frowned a little as he pressed both of his palms at each other before he started the incantation.

“Spiteful winds from the land of the Phoenix, heed my vengeance against the guardians and come forth! I progress the sixty-second Ganlon!”

“Windy!” He cast the Ganlon and a blasting wind with a shape of like a giant dragonfly came forth beneath Yujin.

He blasted in the air like some sort of a baseball! The girls watched him fly off the sky so fast.

“Amazing.” They respond in unison, their eyes following Yujin’s direction. The red-head was screaming in all his might because of his jet-like speed, cruel air blasting all over his face. He can almost tell that his mouth was going to take off his face but moments later and as he was reaching high and near the target, which is the silver-head boy, he was laughing, enjoying the speed.

“H-Hey!! T-This was actually fun!” He screamed in delight.

On the other hand, the silver-head peered at the distance as he saw a flashing light quickly approaching him. “W-What is that thing?” He asked himself, he didn’t like the feeling he had so he moved further to check the incoming light but at the moment he realized what is that, rather, who is that; he started panicking!

“ARE YOU SERIOUS???” He asked loudly, almost screaming before he could try to make a run on the air from it.

Yujin, who was fast approaching his target, started to release flames all over his body, like some sort of air missile which was covered in fire, he was smiling cockily. ‘Normal attacks won’t injure him enough. I need to put some more pressure and make sure this will be a one-hit’ He thought as he was fast approaching the silver-head, then suddenly-

The flames all over his body suddenly disappeared that made the girls gasp in surprise!

“W-What’s happening? Is there something wrong?” Glory kept on asking as she turned her gaze toward Edward who was staring straight above. He knew it, he’s familiar with it, so he was silent and no trace of worry was painted all over his face.

“Watch closely.” He only muttered and that left Glory taken aback and hanging, she held her chest as her heart started beating wildly with no clue of what was happening. She turned her eyes back on the red-head and before she knew it, her expression molded in awe as various colors shine vividly in the sky which reflected back in her soft earthly orbs.

Yujin was now being covered in fire with different colors. Aglow with him are, red, yellow, orange, white, purple and dark-red hovered around him, circling on his waist. His speed was overwhelming and as he was closing the distance between him and the silver-head boy, he muttered in his deep husky voice the word-

“Ishtar.”

A bright, beautiful, red magic circle suddenly summoned upon his hands, there were ancient words engraved on it, one that human intelligence couldn’t comprehend. He was like a phoenix flying across the night sky that even made the girls drawn by it. The flames around him were blown off by the wind leaving only the red flame, which started to crawl all over his body, the flame resembled blood, and it was vicious. For normal people who will get contact with the flames, they could already be dying in agony of its fierce and intense heat. Yujin prepared his fist which was covered in flames and he was aiming for the boy.

“W-What just happened?” Janine asked, witnessing the incredible sight in front of her. “Is this Yujin’s Manipulation?”

“In our world, it is not only Yujin who can manipulate fire. There are tons of fire manipulators that exists, but what made Yuu different is that he can manipulate flames with different color, each represents a particular property or effect.” Noctis explained as he was staring up his friend, Janine and the others were quietly listening, paying their attention to the ravenette whilst amazement was still all over their face, except Pearl who was quite fazed and couldn’t understand what Noctis was saying.

Figuring out, the ravenette let out a sigh and faced Pearl. “Let’s put it this way. Basically, Yuu summoned those flames stored in a different pocket of space. With that, he could easily summon flames depending on what he demands.”

Pearl widened her gaze as if she just caught the explanation behind what was happening. One hand of her formed a fist and laid it down onto her palm. “I see… It was like Yujin had a wardrobe which was filled with lots of clothes!”

Noctis gave the girl a deadpan stare before he responded. “Well… We can compare it to that, the only difference is, he can switch out flames quickly, and to tell you this, the flames he summons are not ordinary,” Pearl looked straight at the ravenette and as their eyes met, Noctis squinted his eyes with a grin.

“Those flames are grand deities.”

Those words left the girls a big question mark on their heads.

“Deities? Y-You mean gods?” Janine blinked and was surprised by those words.

Edward turned his head back to the girls and nodded as a response. “Those flames were deities and each of them held powerful abilities that increased Yuu’s abilities. Those red flames that you are seeing right now are the flames of Ishtar,” Edward closed his eyes and made a gentle smile.

“This is just the beginning of Yujin’s amazingness. This is the true nature of his Manipulation, and its name is…”

“Helle Quin.”

*****

Menacing flames that looked threatening covered Yujin’s whole body. Panicking, the silver-head attempt to manipulate the snow around him to cover and protect himself from the incoming attack but the red-head was reaching him too fast

“You can’t hit me with that!!!” The boy screamed back at the red-head.

“I won’t let you escape!!!” Yujin roared that almost sounded like a warning. The red flames grew beautifully and enormously in his fist! He arched his arm, preparing to land a punch while he’s screaming and forcibly focusing all his strength, the flames became even more powerful and brighter! Seconds were only to wait before he could reach the silver-head kid, and with the strike of the clock at twelve midnight, he unleashed his attack!

“Ishtar’s Brilliant Fist!!!”

The school alarm rang so loud indicating that it was already midnight and before the boy could fully cover himself with snow, it was too late as Yujin already slugged him intensely straight on the jaw. The impact was too strong that created a broken bone sound and almost deformed the boy’s face! It even left a burn! It was so strong that it created a gust of wind upon knocking him down, gasping and making cracks on the snowy ground, leaving the boy unconscious with his eyes and mouth all opened with blood running out from his nose!

Noctis, who captured almost everything in his sight, made a grin and uttered to himself, “Bull’s eye.”

Pearl was in deep awe with her mouth partly open, she pressed her hands together, witnessing for the first time in her life, the truth about Yujin. “A-Amazing…” She uttered to herself. It was like slow motion in her eyes, the red-head was still engulfed in flames, his eyes were staring sharp and blazing just like the fire that he manipulates, his deep bloody hair were brushing off the wind complimenting his beautiful face and his torn and burned coat perfectly displayed his thick biceps, just telling how strong he was.

Pearl blinked and snapped out of her thought process, “I-I think I would never argue with Yujin anymore…” She said suddenly.

Glory looked back to her friend and raised a brow, “Why is that?”

“H-He’ll burn me into ashes.” Pearl expressed shivering.

“I think he wouldn’t go that far,” Glory just gave her a deadpan stare and shrugged the idea. She looked at the area where the boy fell, right now the flurry is spreading through that area before it completely disappears all over the air. Yujin dropped off safely and landed his eyes on the boy who was lying on the cold and snowy ground. The flames all over his body have already dispersed.

“I think you overdid it,” Glory commented warily as she looked at the red-head. Deep in her mind, is the amazement she was holding back. ‘So this is his true nature? He’s so powerful!’ Then she looked at the boy, whose blood was still running out from his nose.

Yujin brushed up his hair and wiped his sweaty face before he stared at his friend, “Nah, my attack was just enough to make him unconscious. It’s not enough to kill him, unless he was all talk and weak.”

“Are you sure? He looks…” Glory took a sight again of the boy, the blood that came out from his nose was still vivid and fresh and that made her swallow her own saliva and sigh in disgust. “…Awful. Well not that it mattered now. What are we going to do to him?” Even though she already decided not to look, she violated herself. Her eyes were still fixated on the young boy that brought a frown on her lips. Something feels off about the kid in front of her and she didn’t like the feeling at all. It’s normal to be doubtful to him after all of the terrible things he did to them, appearing out of nowhere and kidnapping Jade would be the main reason, but she was asking herself for further answers. She already knew the reason, but it didn’t sink in as well.

She felt like there was another reason.

“We’re going to interrogate him,” Edward calmly said, which made Glory twitch and stood straight. He walked past the two and checked the kid, placing his fingertips on his wrist. “Yep, he’s still alive.” He said casually.

“Ohh I like that idea!” Yujin clapped his hands excitingly. “You don’t know how I’m itching to get my hands on that kid! I’m going to torture him! Haha I’ll make him listen to that granny radio DJ that ticks me off, then I will put an insect inside his ear. Then I will never give him water if he’s thirsty!” Then he laughed to himself maniacally. “I’m so bad!”

“That’s so lame,” Pearl reacted, making the red-head turn his gaze at her, his face scowling.

“Oh really? Could you think of anything better, huh!?” Yujin leaned forward to Pearl and grinned, which made the other one feel an intense burning in her cheeks before she slapped Yujin hard on the face and knocked him down on the snowy ground.

“You’re too close! Idiot!!!” Pearl complained, looking down at the red-head. That made everyone crack a giggle as if their situation had already been settled. Edward continued to laugh and looked between Pearl and Yujin.

“I have to agree with Pearl, if you want to torture, you should at least think of something menacing. Just like tying this kid up on a chair then slowly dripping water onto his forehead. It will allegedly drive him insane,” Edward said nonchalantly with a smile but the idea actually made everyone uncomfortable and couldn’t react.

That made only the cold wind blow past them.

“Where did you get that idea?” Noctis asked.

*****

*Stare*

It was Pearl who was controlling herself. After what happened, they all decided to bring the kid to Noctis' dorm since he got the closest place, furthermore it’s already midnight and there’s no way they will walk their way back to their own households.

“This is unbelievable!!!” Pearl’s mind just shrieked. Seriously, if that was her voice, it could totally be heard all over the dormitory. The very sole thought of being inside Noctis’ room is enough to drive her crazy, her heart was beating like drums that echoed in an empty chamber.

‘Is this really the reality?!’ Pearl screamed inwards. ‘Am I really inside my baby love’s room? Oh God! Did I do something so good that I deserved this? Yes! It might be! This heavenly sensation that is filled with Noctis’ smell entering my nostrils! Wait, what is this smell? Hmm… Strawberry. Mint strawberry, how should I forget? I can always smell this enchanting scent when I’m close to him. Wait, am I being ecstatic? Is this the effect of being inside his room? Being suffocated in his manly scent?’

While being wistful in her own private space, Glory just stares at her friend hopelessly. “There she goes again,” she sighed in defeat.

Pearl was drooling all over, and her eyes turned into heart shapes. She is subconsciously combing her hair with her fingertips while enjoying the delightful moment of being inside Noctis’ room. ‘This is bad, if this continues something cruel might happen to me! I shouldn’t let my greediness overwhelm me! But I need to grab some of his things for my collection! I already have in my utmost care his hair strand, his handkerchief that I never return, and droplets of his sweat which have already evaporated. Yes!!! I need to know what kind of underwear he’s wearing!” She laughed to herself that made everyone, including the young boy who’s tied up, uncomfortable and awkward.

“Why are you so fidgety?” Noctis’ voice echoed in the room and that made Pearl stop and return to her sanity.

She stiffly turned her head back and looked at Noctis who was staring down at her. “Uh…” She started. “W-Well…”

“Hah!” Yujin exclaimed. “She just couldn’t believe to be invited into your room-!”

Yujin couldn’t finish his sentence since Pearl already threw a pillow at him, directly slamming on his face. “Next time it’s a hammer!” She screamed while glaring at the red-head.

Yujin removed the pillow on his face and did some sassy shoulder shrug before he replied. “I’m just spitting out facts… I-I mean what else do you live for?!”

His reply earned him another glare from Pearl. “One more word and I’m going to rip off that mouth of yours!” Pearl said angrily that made the red-head shriek and covered his mouth. Their exchange of one-lines made Noctis roll his eyes and pulled out a chair on his side and sat on it.

“Don’t be too loud. Other people might hear you, what would I do if they found out that I brought several people into my dorm including three girls and a…” He glanced at the young kid who was quietly being wrapped by a rope, his mouth covered with a cloth. “Weird one.”

The boy reacted angrily to what Noctis said and tried to move, his nails transformed into sharp claws and tried to hurt the ravenette but he failed as he was being strangled.

“Ohh, you made him mad,” Yujin commented and looked at Noctis who just shrugged.

“It’s futile.” Noctis began. “You are all tied up and we will only take that cloth off of your mouth if you’re going to cooperate with us.” He leaned on his chair and glanced at him, his sharp obsidian orbs glaring cold at the kid. “You had the nerve to kidnap Jade.”

The young boy calmed down and looked straight at everybody, his eyes observing each one of them, studying their faces and the situation he’s in. He looked back at the ravenette and he gently nodded.

“Is that a yes?” Noctis asked only to earn him another nod from the boy. His gaze turned toward Edward and gave him a nod.

Edward reached the boy cautiously, he stared at him stating seriousness before he gently untied the cloth that’s covering his mouth. When he did, the boy immediately breathed in for air as if it was his food. Breathing became much easier for him, he was breathing wildly. He stretched his neck, indicating that he was being crumpled on for the same position for hours. His pair of golden eyes below his snowy eyelashes stare at everyone.

No one couldn’t start the conversation, they were waiting for him to spit anything he knew, until they were all caught off guard when the boy screamed so loud! Everyone panicked, even Yujin moved fast and reached the boy to cover his mouth.

“You little bastard!!!” Yujin screamed quietly as he intensely covered the boy’s mouth with his huge palms. Noctis immediately went to his door and peek through the peeping hole. After realizing it was all clear and knowing that no one got awake by the screeching scream, he breathed out, feeling relieved.

He turned his back only to see Yujin struggling to cover the boy’s mouth. “That’s it! I’m tired of this!” Yujin was about to slam the kid’s head but Edward immediately grabbed his arm and stopped his friend.

Yujin turned back, “What?” He asked, his temper flared immensely.

“Let’s avoid violence. Your fist wouldn’t solve anything, and besides, we’re still at the dormitory, we don’t want to wake up other people,” Edward suggested and let out his usual smile that somehow that made the red-head think twice of the situation before-

The kid took the chance to open his mouth and bite Yujin’s hands which made him yelp like a kicked puppy and instantly distanced himself from the kid. He was trying so hard not to scream from the pain and whined inwards. “He bit me! He seriously bit me!” He complained while blowing his fingers.

“This is no time for this nonsense,” Glory muttered to herself and let out a deep sigh. In total loss of her patience, she hastily marched over, and stomped right in front of the kid before she sat down facing him, her brows meeting at each other. “Listen, we need you to tell us where Jade is-”

“Shut up ugly,” The kid replied apathetically and made Glory crack an irritated face.

“W-What did you say?!” She cried angrily to the kid.

“Oh man, what are those big ears for? For shade?”

Her eyes flashed angrily as she stepped up with the loss of her calmness. “I can’t believe this! Okay! I’ve had enough of you! Let’s see who’s ugly once I took all of that hair from your head!” She was about to hurt the kid but both Edward and Janine reached her arms and stopped her.

“S-Stop it, d-dangerous!” Edward managed, holding the girl in her arms.

“Calm down! He’s just a kid!” Janine added as she was struggling to control her, preventing her friend.

“No he’s not a kid! He’s a demon! A white demon!” Glory yelled at the silver-head boy before stopping herself, she broke from the grasp of her friends as she sat down on the floor. She appeared calm and in control again, then she combed back her ruined hair and glared at the young man who’s laughing at her ridiculously.

Despite that everyone hates him now and was being glared at by the strangers that surrounded him, the boy grinned with a nasty face.

Noctis stood up from the chair and walked near the kid and then, he kneel in front of him to level his face. His perfectly sculpted jaw clenched as his eyes which are hued in deep black met those gold jewel-like orbs of the kid. At that time, Noctis extended his arm quickly to approach the kid’s shoulder. Everyone, especially Pearl gasped in surprise as they never saw it coming. Being astonished, the young boy winced as he felt how tight the ravenette was holding him, making him let out a soft grunt as Noctis pushed him hard against the black sleek wardrobe. ‘Just how fast could this man move?’ He unbelievably thought to himself, however he didn’t let that bother him. He stayed calm instead.

“Let go of your hand,” the silver-head boy protested sternly, toughening his tone so he won’t feel dominated by his situation. He was about to spit some more words but he was halted as Noctis’ dark eyes were staring at him menacingly, like he was glaring directly at the boy’s soul.

The ravenette ignored him completely.

“The people around here are trying to be nice and gentle to you despite the problem you caused,” Noctis uttered with his baritone voice. This time, it sounded colder compared to how he usually talks, which made the boy slightly raise his brow in nervousness. “But too much patience is poisonous to your body,” he continued talking.

“It's better to get it out as soon as it's appropriate.” The boy remained stiff in his own position, he couldn’t understand what Noctis was saying. There’s only one thing that is making sense as of the moment and that is, he felt disturbed.

“And do you know what I mean by appropriate?” The boy gulped audibly while staring at the ravenette. It’s too bold. That alone, made him think that something is lurking under his breath, or a trap has been laid for him. Either Edward or Yujin was able to stop their friend this time as they both felt the eeriness of the words that the ravenette had spoken. “Right now my patience is decreasing rapidly. If I were you, you would already be telling us the place where you kept Jade.”

“Or shall I open the curtain?”

The boy’s eyes widened as he felt an ominous wind sending off chills through his spine. He couldn’t understand what was happening. ‘What did he mean by opening the curtains? He didn’t open it at all! So why am I feeling cold?’ He asked himself confused, and soon he started sweating profusely. He blinked repeatedly as he noticed the surroundings are getting darker, it was vicious for he doesn’t have any idea what is going on. He couldn’t move, every muscle in his body had become tensed, and his heart was pounding right in his ears as blood rushed from a broken dam. He stared at the ceiling, the window, and even at the other corner of the room, darkness was creeping all over. After turning his head side by side, he paused for a moment as he smelled an awful billowing scent in the air. The smell of mint strawberry faded and it slowly changed into a terrible, musty and unbearable, rotten water. ‘Damn, what is this? Is it toxic gas?’ The odor entered his nostrils and made him insane and wanted to puke, he badly wanted to cover his nose but he couldn’t as he was all tied up. The rising odor was like an acid, threatening to burn the mucous membranes of his eyes and nose. He feels nauseous, a sour taste creeps up his throat. He’s desperately trying to gather all of his force to break free but he seemed powerless, struggling as he tried to transform his hands into claws but it wasn’t responding to his heed.

“Ha..Ha.. Ha…. Ugh!” Reaching his limit, he spit some like of a white and slimy liquid from his mouth and fell on the floor. He continued to puke that same gooey liquid as it was running under his chin. Crouching and enduring the eerie atmosphere, he thought it’s all the worst thing that could happen but he felt betrayed as the deep darkness has eroded his lungs through his breathing, he felt like being choking, like someone’s gagging him even if there is no one.

‘There’s no one?’ His thoughts echoed.

His wide-eyed gazed at the surroundings which are covered in pitch-black, tears involuntarily flow from his eyes with all of the horror around him. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t see anything, it’s as if he was just blind and helpless and could only feel the terrifying things. Soon, he heard something, like a squishy sound near him, he tried to lift himself up but failed, so he listened carefully. The sound was getting clearer and before he knew it, he felt something crawling on his body.

“W-What is this?” His dry voice uttered.

Similar to his appearance, the squishy sound was coming from a creature that was dotted with white things, like caterpillars, leading to the back. Some were already on his neck, others were crawling inside his clothes, touching his soft skin.

Panic rose inside him and he immediately screamed and rolled on the floor to remove the worms but that only led for the nasty creatures to be pressed heavily and squirt, letting out a gooey texture from its body. It’s driving him crazy that his voice tore out through his lungs and cried for help. The panic hit him hard as he felt a worm entering his ear, his eyes were in agony, he was breathing deep earlier but it became worse as he was already breathing for air wildly. Hysteria was rising as he let out a shrill scream of horror that echoed.

“Nooo!” He wailed. He was asking for mercy and pleading for forgiveness, he shut his eyes and continued to beg until all of the horror suddenly disappeared like it was all a lie.

The only thing he knew was that he was gasping for air and his body was full of sweat, the disgusting smell had gone and the room seemed turned back to normal. He vigorously shook his head and saw the familiar faces that he never imagined he would want to see. For a moment, everyone in the room went rigid, as if they were in a golden bind. Pearl was in awe not because of amazement but fear. She slowly looked at the back of the ravenette who was still in front of the kid.

The momentum was too strong for silver-head as he was panting hard, his heart felt like it was shriveling and cracking to pieces as he reluctantly looked at Noctis who was staring at him emotionlessly.

He gathered all his strength and asked him. “W-What did you do to me?”

“I’m not obliged to answer your question,” Noctis replied coldly. “Consider yourself lucky. If you don’t want to experience it again, you better spill out the information we want.” He definitely demanded as he looked up at the kid.

“Psh,” Was all the young man replied while rolling his eyes. He wouldn’t want to experience that near-death feeling again, he could still feel his legs and hands trembling from it and in the back of his mind, he apologized deeply to his master. He already reached his limit, he’s done with his purpose.

Gathering all the strength left from his body, he looked up to everyone and inhaled deeply.

“You wanted to know where your friend is? Fine, by this time, she should be already at Alvarez park…” He said in a controlled voice, careful not to let his voice tremble, and turned his head to the side to hide his face.

“She’s with my master.”