Chapter 31
The fourth rebel shall rise,
The greatest land shall meet its demise,
Few shall fight,
For victory to take flight.
Conquer with no fidelity,
Triumph through perfidy,
The land shall be guarded but
A vixen shall paint it red.
"How?... I knew for sure... The Great War... You died..." Esmeralda could not think straight. Every word she spoke and her reaction is pleasurable to witness, for Sivir that is.
The warrior princess smiles as she looks away from the fallen prophetic goddess. She leans back and shuts her eyes, feeling the wind touch her bare face.
"Being a goddess made you think that you could control how the prophecy unfolds," Sivir states, "but you were wrong, Esmeralda."
Clenching her fists, Esmeralda tries to keep her calm for what has been stated is the truth. She thinks that if the prophecy is fulfilled, she would return to the heavens and redeem her place back. The reason why she has always stayed at the side of the head of the Paxley household is to make sure that Gusion would truly rebel against his clan. And knowing the existence of Hanabi, she is more than happy for she thinks that the scarlet ninja is the vixen being referred to in the prophecy.
"Gusion Paxley became an insurgent against his whole clan. The Land of Dawn has been taken by the abyssal demons. Under Princess Silvanna, the Lightborn squad is born," Sivir adds, shifting her position and once again looks at the battlefield. "The first part of the prophecy came to be just how you expected but do you know who shall betray who?"
Esmeralda gulps. Sivir is right, the prophecy did come true just as predicted and she thinks that the betrayal that is deemed to happen shall be enacted by the VENOM squad. And such betrayal would lead to the victory of the Moniyan warriors as well as the warriors of Magical City. She is sure of that for everything that has happened until recently is going smoothly.
"And who shall be the vixen?" Sivir asks, her devious smirk is now plastered on her face. Her eyes are staring right back at Esmeralda that sends shivers down her spine. "Is it truly Hanabi... or me?"
Esmeralda is on the verge of going crazy upon pondering over the prophecy again and again. And a lot of questions are whirling inside her mind; how come Sivir is still alive? She is not an immortal to even live thousands of years. How did she know of the prophecies? How did she know of the situations happening at the Land of Dawn? Why? Why does she seem to know more about the prophecy? Sivir's sudden appearance and existence at that moment alone has changed a lot of things, it is enough to even change the flow of the prophecy.
"You shouldn't be here," she speaks. Just then, the outline of her body and the scarf that has the star and moon on its ends start to glow.
"Go back to where you have come from!" she screamed, her voice is now hollow and high-pitched. She shifts position and lunges at the warrior princess yet Sivir manages to block her attacks with her weapon, a large and four bladed spinning crossblade that is bronze in color and its armature is glowing in blue.
"Don't you want to ask how we came here?" Sivir tempts her as she continues to step backward and dodges Esmeralda's attacks.
Back on the battlefield, both Dr. Rooney and Dr. Baker are running towards the bell tower where Nero said to witness the SABER Squad's comeback. Worry and urgency are plastered on the faces of the two doctor as the hurry to the top, running and heaving as they take steps after steps of the seemingly unending stairs.
Out of breath and about to pass out, Dr. Baker manages to reach the top of the bell tower. He tries to catch his breath as his eyes are fixed on the silhoutte of Nero Ton sitting on a rocking chair.
"Mr. Ton," he calls out yet the CEO did not respond. He is still haughty no matter what, that is what the doctor thinks. He rolls his eyes as he walks up to him and stands in front only to gasp in shock.
"Dr. Rooney! Hurry up here!" he yells as he holds Nero Ton's throat, feeling if there is a pulse. His colleague finally shows up, his sweat dripping down his chin.
"Wh-what?" he breathes as he leans on the wall to catch his breath.
"Mr. Ton is dead."
Dr. Rooney turns his head on their direction, his eyebrow raising and he even snorted. He shakes his head as a smile draws on her face for he thinks that Baker is simply joking.
Dr. Baker unbuttons the polo of the CEO and takes a better look at his wounds that is still bleeding, yet only a little bit. Not only one or two deep cuts marked him on the chest.
"Four deep cuts on the chest," Dr. Baker states as he stands straight again and stares at the forehead of the CEO, "and one on the forehead."
Dr. Rooney could still not believe what he has heard so he pulls himself together and walks towards their direction. And upon setting his sight on the CEO, he almost trips on his own for blood has stained almost the entirety of Nero Ton's face. He looks down on his chest and sees the other four wounds. Taking out his hanky from his pocket, he wipes off the blood to see the bare wound.
"Daggers," he speaks which Dr. Baker agrees to, "Gusion... could it be him?"
The fourth rebel, Gusion, is one possible suspect for he wields daggers better than anyone. Yet what is his motive in killing him?
Dr. Baker turns his head towards the battlefield and sees both the SABER and VENOM squad going against each other. Calculating the time when the VENOM squad has left the city and thinking that Nero Ton is still alive when they set out to the battlefield, Dr. Baker doubts that it is Gusion who killed Nero Ton.
"Nevertheless, we have to stop the VENOM squad before they get ahold of the magic cube," Dr. Baker states.
When Gusion and his squad started acting on their own, the two doctors realize that they are aiming at another goal instead of retrieving the SABER back. And such rebellion explains nothing else but the involvement of the magic cube. Gusion and Harley once read the raw data about it and for warriors like them that aims for strength and power, it is no wonder why they want the magic cube.
And in order to stop the VENOM squad, they need help from other warriors that are capable of doing so. Heading to the warzone, the head Paxley steps in to stop them from going outside the city.
"Your son is after the magic cube, Paxley. If he opens that, no one can no longer stop him," Dr. Baker insists which made the head of the Paxley grit his teeth in anger. He could not help but blame himself for being careless of Gusion.
He heaves a sigh before facing the doctors again.
"How can we stop him?" he asks.
Dr. Baker shifts to Dr. Rooney who holds the serum of degeneration which would contradict the effect of the exousia.
"These must be injected to the VENOM squad. We only managed to make just enough dosage for each of them so we only have one chance. We need someone who could inject them with precision," Dr. Rooney states, showing the greenish serum to the mage.
Watching how his son fought, it would be hard to get near him so a marksman is the ideal warrior to do the job. The head mage looks around, scanning the vicinity and thinking of someone who would be suitable and capable of the job to stop his son.
"Lesley! Aim at that flying bitch Alice!" he hears Princess Odette. Just then, the adopted daughter of the Vance couple crosses his mind. He looks up to one of the towers which he thinks to be the perfect position for a sniper to hide.
A smirk slowly forms on the edge of his lips as his gaze is fixed on a woman whose hair is braided and colored pink.
"She is perfect," he states. Not letting the two doctors step out from the protective barrier, the head mage heads to the location of the swan princess. He explains the new situation they need to give a thought before something more problematic would arise.
"So, please ask Lesley to do the job," he requests which is of no problem to the swan princess.
Yet she has still something to ask before going along with his plan, "What is the magic cube about?"
Heaving a sigh since he also knows nothing about it, he simply replies what the doctors had told him.
"It is something powerful, Your Highness. If Gusion opens it, jot only will it be the end of the SABER squad but also Magical City."
Still unsatisfied with the answer, Princess Odette turns on her heels and heads to where the doctors are.
"Paxley, take care of that bitch of a witch for me," she commands before running towards Dr. Baker and Dr. Rooney.
Reloading her rifle, Lesley once again aims at the copy of Alice who is so annoying since the start of the war. She glides and flies in midair without much problem and has killed a lot of their warriors. She is hard to target since she is agile enough to even dodge a bullet.
Looking through her sniperscope, Alice is the only one at sight so she holds the trigger and waits for the perfect time to shoot. But before she could even pull the trigger, her weapon clangs on the floor when she feels a bullet scraped her hand. She is lucky enough to acquire a not so serious injury, if not, it would be a serious problem, especially for a sniper like her.
"Damn, who is that?!" she curses under her breath, ducking behind the concrete to avoid being shot for the second time. Yet while covering her wound with her hanky, she suddenly feels cold shiver running down her spine. Who among the abyssal demons is capable of wielding a gun? Why did she feel uneasy?
She heaves an exhale before grabbing her weapon from the rough floor and slowly stands to scan the vicinity.
"Come out, come out, whoever you are," she whispers to herself, moving from side to side. But when she looks just beyond the barrier through the scope of her rifle, her heart almost dropped. She focuses her sight on one man holding a gun as he tries to shoot the mages who keep the barrier intact. He is wearing a black trench coat and just like her, on his belt is a line of bullets and grenades.
Gritting her teeth, she whispers, "Father."
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