Lola who was sixteen feet above them saw another side of Crystal that was never meant to be exposed until the right moment. Mind-blown at the improvement the Aruba heroine had when it came to common morality, she witnessed Marscilla falling gravely but was held up by her back with Crystal’s Snake Symbol coiled around the woman’s waist. Barely lifeless, Marscilla felt as if her body was being hoisted into the air by a mythical creature.
That girl is definitely something else, Lola had begun to have second thoughts about why Crystal wanted to stay loyal and faithful to one of the Aruba Beast’s laws: Even Your Greatest Rivals Deserves the Praise For Their Devoted Talent. I guess to a certain degree you have to have a great challenge every once in a while. And this great battle proved that Crystal still has ways to go when it comes to taking the life of another individual. Wrong vs Wrong will have no equivalent values.
***
Outside Blue-Eyes Fortress, the massive stampede of water had stopped roaring; thanks to the Head-Administrator of Global Government’s frozen abilities. But at a huge price, it had cost her to maintain her standing balance as she fell heavily onto the right side of her jawline.
(Almost seven minutes ago, during the duel at Blue-Eyes Fortress, Shiver had managed to break the others out of the Lobby in time before they were about to be drowned. However, she felt that the Grizzly Beast Carnage Blitz. Thus, advancing to stage two of the Aruba Blitz: Sub-Zero Wilderness or Frozen Wilderness. Most people had thoughts that it might have been either of the two, but only the Aruba Bird would have the answers to all the people’s theories and questions about the Aruba Bloodline and what they heavily and respectfully stand for.)
***
Rouge properly gave Shiver’s combat and mental performance at Leserado a more appreciative comment, “Well, I guess I was wrong from the start. Shiver isn’t really as mean as I had claimed.”
Hiba and the others gawked over at Rouge with a bit of contempt, but soon realized that she was telling the truth. The Apex Magician wasn’t too proud of her own compliments towards a fellow heroine of the military. In addition, Shiver was able to hoist her head up and make a deduction that Rouge had all rights to speak her mind and voice how she truly felt inside.
“Well, Mizuka. I can say the same about you, except you did a better job than I had,” Shiver’s voice was had nearly turned to dust, due to the lack of energy she lost from using the Artic Frostbite Wave to stop the flood from reaching everyone else.
“After all this fighting, I’m going on one more mission, Hiba,” Rouge uttered excitingly. This surprised everyone.
“What’s that, Rouge?” Hiba was curious but prayed that it wasn’t something that Rouge had always done after every big mission.
Her eyes had sparkled with nothing but pure joy and excitement, “The next mission I have to accomplish is developing my appetite by eating meat.”
“Oh, gosh, Aunt Rouge,” Hitachi replied to Rouge’s silliness. “You’re always hungry after every time you’ve completed a big mission.”
“So. Is it wrong for women to eat as much as men can?” Rouge was laughing while asking.
“To a certain degree, yeah,” Alex answered. “Most women don’t seem to develop as much of an appetite as men do. Unless they’re trying to be really chubby.”
Countless remarks from everyone was added. Fortunately, it was taken in a positive manner, since they had thought of celebrating their victory. Rouge felt mortified about the comeback from the Demonic Warrior.
Out of frustration, the Apex Magician placed exposed both her long middle fingers and flaked them around, “You see these two right here. That’s means—“
“OK, Rouge. I’m sorry,” Alex chuckled. “What is with you Mizuka women?”
“In terms of?” Rouge asked with a high-pitched voice.
“Your reactions. It’s like you go overboard with it whenever someone’s joking around,” Alex answered without sugar-coating.
“It runs in the family. We can’t help it,” Rouge gave a concise answer while trailing pass the others and bumped into Alex out of frustration.
Moments before they all kept it going while laughing and enjoying their tender moments, they heard a loud explosion coming from the Tomb of Leserado. They had the same idea in getting as far from the premises as they’re legs could fly. They had been strictly ordered by the Core General to leave the forbidden country in one piece.
***
Soaring out from within the building, trying to find a way out of the Fortress and out of Leserado’s Tomb, Crystal and Lola had been slashing their ways through various areas. Driving their swords heavily with an unconscious Marscilla in their grasp.
Lola felt as if she should’ve left Marscilla to die and disintegrate and go down with the Tomb. Unfortunately, Crystal had other plans, not having the strong will to watch someone die in the predicament that they were in, she insisted on bringing the Erisa Bloodlust member back to the Northern Coast.
With various directions to go, Lola had decided to take the lead and guide Crystal; for as long as she could keep up. Even in the newest form, Crystal personality remained the same. She never had the chance to show that she was cocky or arrogant enough to withstand such a terrifying scenario.
“Crystal, don’t worry, sweetie. We’re getting out of here,” Man, I just wish I could bash us thoroughly through these walls and onto the outside world where we could breathe fresh air.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Lola had kept her eyes closed for few moments and had done whatever it took to survive. She hoisted her head up and viewed a big shadow from above her and she barely got caught. The giant blue boulders flew down crazily due to the gravity ability Marscilla had triggered just moments before she passed out. Lola was nearly frightened for a bit, but had used her ability to try and reach Crystal before the gigantic rock struck the both of them.
In her Fiery Busimas Form, the accelerated speed of Lola’s Mizuka Spear developed incredibly, driving her body deep into the heart of the giant rock and used her sword to enhance the burning waves of the Heatwave Blitz – Phoenix’s Irresistable Burst to disintegrate the rock into countless pieces. The impact from the slash had created flaming pebbles, all going in various directions, causing more of side walls to break as well.
***
Back outside the Tomb, Tornado and the others continued to look onward from, four miles away from the catastrophe. Gawking helplessly and for the first time in sixteen years, the canine General was fearing the safety of the two formidable fighters.
“I sure hope nothing’s happened to them. They sure as hell had a lot put on their shoulders, especially fighting against a Bloodlust Revelation. The fact that Lola’s been strangely manipulated to fight Crystal, when in reality Black had plotted Crystal and Lola to fight you all just to prove the fact that even the kindest hearts can have vile demons consume their hearts.”
“So that was his plot the whole time. And here we all thought that he was trying to release the Avarian Beast when all he was trying to do was turn Crystal against the Intoxian Army without hesitation. He constantly kept the Avarian Beasts as a distraction to lure us into Leserado,” Shiver spoke in fear. “I can only have a clear vision of what his real plot is. But knowing him very well, since he was my teacher back during my Ujikadaka Academy days, he’d wait for an extended amount of time to use his core plot to strike.”
Jaw-dropped at what she just heard, Shizuka approached the woman even more with a straight face, placing both her palms on the Aruba Head-Admin’s shoulders, “Bitch, he was not your teacher.”
“What you mean? Why would I lie about something like that? It was the sad reality that someone you looked up to is now your worst enemy,” Shiver was stunned that Shizuka’s interest went passed its’ peak.
“I believe it,” Rouge uttered, walking towards the two. “If I’m not mistaken, Black was a teacher back at Ujikadaka Academy during Lola's time. And despite all the knowledge they’ve gained from him, then it would ha
ve been more than enough as to why they couldn’t outwit him on many levels. He only taught them the stuff they knew. But not what he, as the master, knew.”
Within seconds, they felt the tremor from their destination, due to the Leserado’s destruction. They all seemed worried to the core. Fortunately, Tornado had reminded them it’d take a lot more than a collapse to rid both of the best warriors of the Intoxian Army. The only thing he prayed was that their victories are legit.
***
The collapse of Leserado’s upper levels and Lobby had finally came to an abrupt end. Nothing left but a giant mountain of rubble and pebbles. Dust aroused throughout the premise.
Rouge yelled out her name, scared that her eldest sibling and Crystal had lost the battle and the war.
About a few minutes later, the pillar had suddenly been smashed through, due to the strength Lola had gained from the Mizuka Phoenix. Nothing but flames had embraced all three individuals together. It was breezing away everything in their surroundings. The decent amount of training Lola’s been able to do the last fifteen years had barely paid off once she realized she had to concentrate and halt herself from killing her loved ones.
Once everything was out of their site, Lola had reverted back to her human state. They had drowned back into her back with the flames leaving her body. The Mizuka Phoenix Orb had taken its’ toll upon the Mizuka General. Lola had caught her breath landing flat on her kneecaps, she gawked down at the two.
“How is she, Crystal?” Lola asked, hoisting the red-haired woman’s head up.
“She’s fine. When I was battling her, I realized that she was horrified for some reason. I don’t know what the deal was, but as a Bloodlust Revelation member, it was weird to see what triggered it,” Crystal had implied. “I had always had some suspicious of the Bloodlust when Mom and I were talking. It surprised her that Marscilla was always the most stabled and mature one of the group when she was also an Intoxia Warrior of the army.”
Lola’s eyes had nearly shaded with shock, “Wait. She was a member of the group. I think I have an understanding to why she wanted you dead; she’d even sacrifice her loyalty to Bloodlust Revelation for it and not go by Black’s orders.”
“I knew it from the get-go. My instincts never lie to me. All I knew was that she mainly was big talk and not a lot of action. Unless she was trying to be evil, but another part of her is a small chunk of positive aura was trying to break that negativity. The type that would forbid her from trying so hard.”
“Crystal, I wouldn’t be too accurate of that. The reality of is that the most unpopular things are the best things sometimes,” Lola stated as she had used her own strength to hoist Marscilla up by her head and legs so she wouldn’t drop her. “C’mon. We’re taking her back to the Facility for interrogation.”
Crystal, even though she wanted to save Marscilla, had an eerie feeling about Lola’s decision, “You think it’s appropriate. Killing her is one thing, but bringing her back, I’m not too sure.”
“There’s various reasons why I’m bringing her back. First, we’re going to treat her wounds, then we’re going to interrogate her. Once all that is taken care of, we’ll execute her.”
“No.” Crystal had another idea. “We won’t kill her. There may come a time when we’ll need her for questioning. Not to mention that she has gained more knowledge and training from Black than she could’ve back when she was working for Mom.”
Lola then realized that gal’s perspective and, but how utterly foolish it would have been to killing off one of puzzle pieces to help them fight Bloodlust in the future.
“I rarely make bad choices, but this has to be an exception, Crystal. You are right though. There’s more to Black’s plot than when he lured me here to fight you to the death and destroy me mentally.”
“Thank you, Lola. I knew you could rely on opinions,” Crystal assumed, making Lola laugh as they both continued down the hallway and out the door. “Perhaps, I should boost you up in the rankings, young lady.”
“Huh? Who? Me? Are you serious? Lola, tell this is a joke?” Crystal’s constant questioning had forced Lola to burst out laughing, but wanted be serious at the same time.
“That is… If you want to take on the title as the Flower Of The Intoxian Army as a ray of hope?” Lola added with her extending a kiss to her forehead. “I want to hear your answer within a week. We have some things to take care of before we can promote you.”
***
Somewhere on the far ends of the Southern Coast at Last Cave (also known as Organization Caverns), only two hours after the massive showdown between Lola and Crystal against Marscilla, Black had knew that his member would be defeated. He wasn’t too worried as he continued down to the lower levels where his minions were busy operating giant tubs filled with blood and organs placed deep within. Some of his associates were on the verge of collapsing from overwork, but Black showed no sympathy for their exhaustion.
Moments later, Lisa, Charlie, Emerald and Thorn had all emerged from the upper levels as they came and stood next to their ringleader.
“I see that you all had no problems with finding the Amili Beast after you all dismissed yourselves from Leserado, correct?” Black asked, looking on as he looked onward.
“No problem at all. Except I think that it’s more appropriate that we told you in person that she wasn’t at Widow Forest,” Thorn answered while in her wolf form. “We pretty much found her unconscious on the ground. Just on the borderline of Leserado’s country.”
“Hmm. I wonder what caused her to do that?” Black seemed to have recalled he assigned Emerald and Charlie to Widow Forest to have the Amili Beast attend the resurrection of her sister, Renusakuya’s interest wasn’t as peaked. “Now I remember. Charlie, Emerald. Great work, gentlemen. I say that we’ve completed our mission now. The rest is on the other organizations to deal with Lola and her company. The other three coasts, we can handle indefinitely.”
Charlie had asked Black a question that he never thought the others would expect or understand, “Hinura, if there was ever a side that you’d take: Avarian Tribe or the Intoxian Army, which side would you ultimately take in reality?”
The room was as quiet as it could get. The background had disappeared, leaving Black all on his own. He had always thought about questioning himself that for the longest time, but never gave himself a very detailed or concise answer to either of his assistants.
Hearing echoing voices from outside his thoughts, all he could do was turn his body at the another door once the blackness was reverted back to the detailed bottom level of Organization Caverns.
“If there was ever a side that I’d take, it’d be no one that’s one the side of racism or forces of light...”
***
Final Chapter – Promotion & Respect
Two weeks later, Lola and her warriors of the Northern Coast had returned home after a month-long struggle against Bloodlust Revelation in attempt to rescue Crystal Aruba from the rogue organization.
In the process of those two-weeks Marscilla had been incarcerated within the upper levels of the Facility’s Security System (F.S.S) and was being interrogated a few times by all four Generals of the Intoxian Army from Lola to Shizuka, followed by Tornado and then Brook. In fact, one day, they’ve all decided to confront the woman head-on with endless questions. Numerous times have they asked her what the Avarian Beasts were and where they came from.
Due to lack of being able to speak, even after her wounds were severely treated, she still had no intention of unsealing any classified information that could lead the Intoxian Army to theories and ideas of how they can counter the Bloodlust Revelation.
***
(The Last Day of Interrogating Marscilla Erisa)
“General, has she said anything since I left two hours ago for lunch,” Shizuka asked, returning back into the room.
Lola nodded her head in disappointment, “Not a word. I know it’s rather frightening information that she’s willing to keep hidden
from us. But she got her ass kicked, she was then spared by Crystal and this is the repayment we get?”
Tornado, as wise and very well experienced as he is, gave out a solid reasoning and answer, “These Avarian Beasts aren’t just typical monsters. Trying to find valid information them is like an eclipse that comes once every two-thousand years. Black isn’t really the type to leave his comrade here to get questioned about them.”
“Any recent incidents regarding the Bloodlust Revelation?” Lola asked, gawking up at the anthropomorphic canine whose stood at a little over eight feet tall.
“Unfortunately no. About a week or two ago, right after the final battle, Black had abandoned Marscilla, as we knew, to challenge you and Crystal. He felt that witnessing the battle was waste of his time,” Tornado seemed puzzled about the Reaper’s actions. “But what gets me the most is that why wasn’t he trying to do all this sooner?”
“What do you mean, General Poison,” Lola peered over the glass window.
“I mean that Black was able to pinpoint when Kuronina was going to be brought back to life. But if could do that, wasn’t there another reason why Crystal’s Diary Symbols were that powerful? Surely it wasn’t entirely Crystal’s competence was being used during the battle. Otherwise, she would’ve easily trampled Marscilla with ease and without your help.”
As crazy as it sounded, Tornado did make a valid point. It was an argument Lola couldn’t even verbally argue with.
“I do say that the pinnacle of the Avarian Beasts’ powers are granted to one person per generation from different bloodlines,” Lola stated while sitting down in the second to last chair on the right hand side. “Brook, push that red button so Marscilla can hear me speak to her.”
Intoxia Warriors - Mizuka Blood (Book One) Page 52