Shattered Stars

24.15 - Captives

As she approached the boy, she swung the greatsword from above. He retaliated by swinging the greatsword from below to block her attack. The sound the weapons made when clashing flew across the air.

     As the two struggled against each other, Tori made her weapon disappear and moved quickly to the left, dodging Arius' blade. She swung her arm towards him and landed a devastating right hook on his face. Arius flinched back, still holding the weapon.

The figure had begun to disappear again, Argos stood in its place as Hina held up an emblem resembling the one Tori had earlier. He was breathing heavily, almost unable to stand. His black hair shifted hues to brown momentarily as he held his head. He gritted his teeth once again. His body began steaming, even with the surrounding cold.

"There really are no breaks around here..." he said, a light filling his hand, which took the shape of his axe.

Tori looked over at him, recognizing he was back quickly. She quickly jumped back to evade a swing from Arius' greatsword. She clapped with her hands and a fire was created, she threw it at him. Arius blocked it with his greatsword and moved towards her.

Tori lifted her hand, a light appeared behind her. A wolf spirit resembling the ones from inside the castle appeared behind her and targeted Arius swiftly. Argos was laughing, his eyes were black and his pupils white once again. His whole body hurt, he felt like collapsing, but couldn't.

"You've passed your limit, why keep fighting?" Hina asked, digging her sword into the ground and waiting patiently.

As the wolf spirit bit Arius' greatsword and held him in place, Tori lit up flames in her fists and punched him back with them.

"You don't get to decide our fate." Argos exclaimed, quickly throwing the axe towards her.

She grabbed the sword from the ground and blocked the axe. Crescent Moon, the axe, flew back into Argos' hand as if he had recalled it. The surrounding ground began freezing up as he threw the axe at her again. The sound the clash made when Hina blocked once again alerted Tori once again.

     The axe made its way into Argos' hand once again, his body still creating steam. Tori concentrated her energy as Arius' blade pierced the wolf spirit, vanishing it.

She created fire in her hand, that she threw on the ground in front of him. A wall of fire now separated Tori from Arius. She took a deep breath as she felt dizzy, her body also created steam.

Tori made her way over to Argos and grabbed onto his shoulder, his eyes returned to normal as he saw her face of worry. He felt something in his stomach, he couldn't explain what this feeling was. He took a deep breath, steam coming off of the two of them.

"What's the plan?" Tori asked him, her breaths rapid.

He held his axe tightly. "Take them down... We're not dying to them."

The two nodded and looked over at Hina. One of Argos' eyes was like before, instead of the usual two.

Hina rolled her eyes and sighed. "Stop playing around, Arius. We're heading back now."

Arius walked through the wall of fire as if it was nothing. His red eyes lit up, and he absorbed the wall of fire entirely. They were both looking at him, Arius closed his eyes and began chuckling.

"Tsk. Letting me out of your sight was a bad idea." a voice behind Argos and Tori.

It was Hina, she had moved there once they were looking at Arius. She grabbed the back of Tori's head and slammed her on the ground. Argos swung his axe at Hina, she blocked it with her sword and moved back.

Argos heard footsteps from behind him and turned around quickly. As he did, Arius landed a solid punch on Argos, which sent him flying back into one of the castle's walls.

The two now unconscious, the two now held captive. Hina commanded Arius to carry them both. They began walking back west soon after...