Omega Wars Chronicles

Chapter 87: What I Wanted

   Inside the pilgrim academy, Rico was discussing with Van in an empty classroom as Van leaned against a wall with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.
   "Van, please listen to me!" Rico said.
   "I have been listening. I have been listening to your crap for the past 3 minutes and i'm getting bored." Van replied, "You knew about their plans and kept quiet, but yet you have the gulls to stand here and say you didn't betray me."
   "I didn't! I was only trying to protect everyone!" Rico said.
  "Protect everyone?" Van asked as he opened his eyes.
  "If i told you what Juni and Garl were planning, you would have gone after them, and if i hadn't stopped their plan… If i didn't convince them to drop their plan of betrayal, they would have attacked.
   I… I just didn't want our friendship to break apart. I didn't want to play sides, so i tried to keep everything silent; that's why i didn't tell you in the first place, because if you knew-"
   "But i did know." Van cuts in on Rico with a scowl, "I knew about the betrayal for a long time. The body language and eye signs… It didn't take me long to understand what they were planning. I didn't want to believe it was true so i kept quiet.
   I tried to think of other reasons for their behaviors, but as it went on, it became too obvious. You say you didn't want our friendship to break apart? It was already broken…"
   "You were just too blind to see it." Van said as his irises glowed.
   "Van…" Rico said as he struggled to clog his tears.
  "Tell me something: what if i were alone with the two and they decided to attack despite you convincing them not to, what would you tell me? That you tried to protect? Humph, so stupid." Van said, "I never took you for a fool until this very moment."
   "Van…" Rico said softly.
   "A fiend doesn't need any friends, especially false ones." Van said, "We're done."
   Van turns his back and walks away while a single tear trickled down Rico's right cheek.
   "Van, wait!" Rico pleaded as he grabbed hold of Van's left shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
   At that very moment, Van's upper face was overshadowed while he was emitting a menacing aura that made Rico step back.
   "Listen and listen carefully." Van said, "The next time you put your hands on me…"
   "I'll kill you." Van said as he glanced at Rico with a malicious glare in the time his irises glowed.
   Rico became horrified by Van's threat and Van resumes walking.
   Back at the violet-leafed forest, Rico and Bleid stood staring at one another, waiting for a movement to be made and as this was happening, a drop of sweat fell from Juni's face and hits the ground and in that very moment, Bleid and Rico's irises glowed and Bleid charged at Rico.
    In a quick response, Rico moves his left index finger, thereby controlling a male and female hiveling to throw a sudden punch at Bleid which he guards against but was pushed back in the act. Rico moves his left middle finger, controlling two other males and two other female hivelings to charge at Bleid and attack again as two swung their fists and the others their feet which Bleid guards against but was pushed back again.
  Rico moves his left arm forward, sending more hivelings to pounce on Bleid but Bleid blocks and evades their strikes. Rico moves his right pinky finger and a female showed up behind Bleid and kicked his back; at the moment Bleid was struck from behind, a male hiveling lands a flying knee on the face.
   Rico moves his ring finger, dispatching another male hiveling to crouch and punch Bleid on his rib; a female hiveling takes down Bleid with a leg sweep, and another female slams her palm on Bleid's chest, driving him to the ground and fracturing it in the process. Rico twirled his right middle finger and a huge male hiveling grabbed Bleid's ankle and began to slam him on the ground repeatedly.
   Rico swung his right arm and a female hiveling lands a mighty punch on Bleid's face that leveled the ground behind him and sent him soaring backward. Juni who was watching Rico's battle with Bleid, became amazed at the display of his new technique.
   "Rico is amazing!" Juni said inwardly, "His puppetry technique is beautiful and if he keeps this up, he could actually…"
   "No…!" Juni said within herself with widened eyes as she instantly perceived what was happening, "He is doing it again; the same thing he did to Garl and Gemari. He is playing with Rico."
   While Bleid laid on the ground, a grin crept across his face and he bursts out in laughter, leaving Rico surprised.
  "I'm disappointed. You disappoint me, human!!!" Bleid said as he sat up with a wild grin.
  Rico subconsciously stepped back at the time Bleid's laughter boomed while Juni swallowed hard as she was clenching her fist.
   "The symphonies are disappointing! We need a new rhythm!!" Bleid said.
  "We? What the heck is he talking about?" Rico asked inwardly, "This guy all of a sudden makes the crazies in the academy look normal."
   "When i was given information about you, i felt you weren't worth scratch until you showed me this new technique of yours, then i became interested, only to be disappointed." Bleid said with a smile while standing with closed eyes and his head slightly bent, "If you are not going to make the music louder…"
   Bleid dashed towards the huge male hiveling and splits him in half with a swift karate chop which caught Rico and Juni off guard.
  "Then i will." Bleid said as the left side of his face was overshadowed with his left eye glowing.
   "Did he just…?" Juni said with widened eyes.
   Bleid licked the blood off his hand and grins at Rico.
   "What fun." Bleid said.
   "Huh?!" Rico said as he subconsciously stepped back in horror.
   Bleid chuckled and ran towards Rico but Rico quickly regains his composure and moves his hands, therefore sending more hivelings to fight Bleid, however Bleid began to swiftly and brutally massacre the hivelings sent at him, increasing the horror on Juni. Rico blared and swung his right arm backwards, sending more hivelings but they were all slaughtered.
   During Bleid's rampage, Bleid smashed a female hiveling's head to the ground with a powerful force that killed her instantly; Bleid ran at high speed and tore a male hiveling like a piece of paper while grinning devilishly.
   "This guy... He is killing his own like they are nothing..." Juni said  within as she witnessed Bleid pierce a female hiveling's chest with his fist while grinning, "This is no hiveling or insectoid. This is a devil."
  "Rico!" Juni said within herself as she fixed her gaze on him.
   Rico yells with his irises glowing and began to weave numerous hand signs, thereby sending more hivelings to go after Bleid but Bleid charged towards them and still slaughtered every last one. Rico yells again and moves his fingers, making different hivelings fire energy blasts from their palms but Bleid released a beam of green bolts from his right palm that immediately wiped out all the hivelings that fired at him, spawning a bright light that made Rico shield his eyes.
   As soon as Rico uncovers his eyes, Bleid appeared in his front whilst grinning in mid air and with his hand stretched out to grab Rico's face, but a flood of green ice sprung out of the ground in front of Rico and overtook Bleid. Rico stepped back a bit in a slightly startled manner and glanced back and sights Juni on one knee and one hand on the ground while the other hand was stretched out.
   "I told you not to get involved!" Juni said.
   "But-"
  "No buts!" Juni cuts in, "You have just made yourself a target of that crazy killer! He was after me, not you!"
  "But-"
  "No buts!!" Juni cuts in again.
   The green ice instantly shattered, creating a shockwave that threw Rico and Juni back but the two quickly balanced themselves and raised their heads to sight Bleid standing with green bolts flowing round his body.
  "Good grief. I guess it cannot be helped." Juni said, "Since you are now a target, you have no choice but to stand and fight. Damn, i wish you never came for me, but knowing you, you are not the type to abandon or betray a friend.
  Though i am angry with your decision for helping..."
  "A part of me is grateful you did." Juni said as she glanced at Rico with a smile which left Rico surprised.
  "You are not the friend i deserved but somehow you became a friend i needed. You have done a lot for us, more than I, Garl and Van could ever ask for and i am grateful for it." Juni said to Rico as she returns her gaze to Bleid, "Thank you, Rico."
  "Juni..." Rico said softly
  "Let's do this together! I won't sit here and let you do all the work." Juni said, "As you are protecting me, i will be protecting you; in other words, we will be protecting each other, because..."
   "That's what friends do!" Juni said with a smile as her irises glowed while emitting her aura.
  "Right!" Rico said with a smile as his irises glowed while emitting his own aura.
  "Hehe. Please do well in entertaining me." Bleid said with a grin, "A new song is just getting started and i would hate for it to get boring."
  "The difference between us is too great." Juni said within herself, "He is on a level we cannot currently hope to reach and the scary part is that he is not serious at all. He could easily squash anytime he wants especially if he decides to let loose.
   Should I use it? The forbidden Keillax art that could me stronger but a great cost. The effect of this technique is similar to Sonia's rumored final form, but what are my chances of beating him with it?"
   "I am scared." Juni said within herself as she clenched her fist.
   "I have never been so scared of an opponent since i fought her." Juni said within as she recalls the face of Karma.
  "And i haven't felt this amount of shame since my battle with those two." Juni said inwardly as she recalls the faces of Jagami and Karma, "The amount of shame those two made me feel still burns my heart and that's the kind of shame i am feeling right now, but i cannot allow it to get in my way, not when i have someone to protect!"
  While Juni was conversing in her heart, Bleid stared at them for a while with a grin and charged at their direction.
   "Get ready." Rico said.
 With no time wasted, Juni slammed her palms on the ground while her irises glowed.
  "Jade ice: Shard thorns!" Juni said.
   Countless green ice shards rapidly sprang out of the ground to stab Bleid but Bleid leaps in the air to avoid the attack, only to get knocked away by a male hiveling's fist. Bleid balanced himself but Juni swiftly sent a myriad of green ice shards to pierce Bleid while Rico used his soul chain to send hivelings after Bleid at the same time the shards were in motion.
   To the shock of the two, Bleid surfaced in mid air and sent them both tumbling with a spinning kick. Juni steadied herself but Bleid immediately showed up in her front, grabs hold of her head and slams it to the ground.
  "Juni!" Rico said.
  Just as Rico moved his arms to command more hivelings to attack, his arms were instantly cut off, and Bleid began to release a combo of punches on Rico's belly and face, and ends everything as he stabs Rico's chest with his four fingers, making Rico cough out blood. Bleid hastily pulls out his hand from Rico's chest, leaving Rico to fall on his back, but as Rico was falling, Bleid hurls his hand towards his face.
   While falling, Rico had a quick recollection of his little self crying in front of a Ripar woman with long black hair and green eyes, and in front of a black haired Ripar man that bore a striking resemblance to Rico.
   "I don't want you to go! Can't you just stay with mother?!" Little Rico asked the man.
  "Your mother is unbearable! I can't take it anymore! She can go to hell for all i care!!" The man said to Rico.
   "Rico, i love you but i can't stay with your father any longer." The Ripar woman said to Rico, "Divorce is considered as a huge dishonor for married people, because it shows that the man is unable to take care of his wife while the woman is unable to keep her husband, but i would rather live with the dishonor than to continue staying by your father's side."
  "But i don't want you to go!" Rico said.
  "You know, you don't have to stay." Rico's mother said with a smile as she squats to look at Rico, "You can always come with me and forget your father."
  "I don't want to go. I want to stay with the both of you!" Rico replied.
   "Unfortunately, that's not how it works." Rico's mother said, "You can either come with me or go with your father. The choice is yours."
   Rico stared speechlessly at his mother with widened eyes while his father looks away with his arms crossed.
   'Due to me not picking a side, they both left me and i stayed with my aunt and because of their absence in my life, i grew to become an angry and bitter person.'
   A flashback takes place as Rico (current 14 year old) was walking down the marketplace with a scowl.
   'I wasn't even close to my aunt. But when i met them, there was something in me that changed.'
   Another flashback occurs as Rico was talking with Van, Garl and Juni.
   'We did a lot of things together. Made names for ourselves and made a lot of memories.'
  An image replays of Rico, Juni, Garl and Van laughing.
   'Whenever we were together, i always felt happy. It's not like we didn't have our ups and downs, we did, but being with them gave me a feeling that i lost a long time ago and i wanted it to last forever
   I just wish we could get back together one last time. What's wrong with that?"
  After recollections, tears flowed out of Juni's eyes as she witnessed Bleid holding Rico's head while his corpse laid on the ground.
  "RICOOO!!!!" Juni screamed.