Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Metal

Chapter 8 Wielder Of Altem's Axe

Each fighter Krissy took down was just one step closer to obtaining what she needed to avenge her nephew. With the power she held over everyone else in the arena, it was easy for her to think she could take Sinnel down herself. As the brawl went on, the number of combatants dwindled. It took a moment for Krissy to realize that she was just now standing in the middle of the entire field, taking full control. The other remaining 4 fighters circled her like a pack of hungry dogs. Not a single one of them was concerned about the other, all of their eyes were locked on her. "You all know fully well the fight is already over. Give. Up." Krissy commanded them.

She raised her metal hand again, making a gesture that seemed like she was going to electrocute another person if they didn't listen. Of course, there still had to be another stubborn fool that bothered to raise their blade and charge forward. "I didn't come this far to give up!" The orc screamed at the top of his lungs. What the orc was expecting was more electricity but what followed instead was just a punch to the face. Before that orc could get a single hit in on Krissy, she turned around to swing her arm. Her prosthetic hand made a direct impact against his face and he went out stone cold. "Me neither." She replied after he was already knocked down. That was enough to have another two fighters concede. They dropped their weapons. "I give up." "Yeah... we're done." They replied.

The audience booed the two orcs leaving and something about that didn't sit right with Krissy. "HEY! These two knew their limits! Don't you dare boo them off!" Krissy's Comment made the crowd go silent. The two orcs looked back at her in disbelief. "They made it this far because they are still strong! I would never fight for a bunch of cowards who are too afraid to admit their own weakness!" Krissy told them all. Krissy looked at the last fighter. "What about you? Do you not see that this fight is already over?!" She questioned him. For a moment the orc looked as if he was afraid of her, now after hearing what she said, he felt relieved. "I concede. There's definitely something different about you. If anything else, you deserve to wield Altem's Axe." The last orc dropped his weapon and left. "There you have it!" Krissy called out to everyone watching. It wasn't the flashiest end to a fight, but one that should be respected and Krissy definitely wanted to show that. The crowd applauded and cheered for her. A separate group of soldiers were now marching out, holding what seemed to be the Unyielding Bulgasari wrapped in a silver cloth.

Sol watched Krissy as she unwrapped the axe and threw the cloth aside. She picked up the axe with one hand and raised it in the air to get a better look at it in the sunlight. By raising the weapon in the air to get a better look, she unintentionally made the crowd cheer again. The orc that announced the beginning of the tournament took the stand again. "Ladies and gentleman, the new wielder of the Unyielding Bulgasari... KRISSY HARK!" As soon as the orc announced the winner, the two edges of the silver axe began to shine in a silver light. It wasn't long before Krissy's body began to embody a silver light as well. The moment only lasted a second but Krissy remained unfazed. "From what I remember, the new wielder is supposed to meet King Balmer." Aria said. When they watched Krissy exit the arena, it didn't take long for the audience to disperse as well. "Thank you all for coming, everyone! Have a good evening!" The orc announced. "Now that you mention it, why couldn't Balmer watch the tournament himself? Where is he?!" Brook said. "Would you like for me to escor-" The orc that became the announcer for the whole tournament was cut off by Sol. "No thanks. Bye now." He said quickly, trying to get up and leave as fast as he could so that he could hopefully catch up to Krissy. Although it was partially because he was annoyed by the orc as well.

It didn't take long for his sister and everyone else he was with to get up and follow him in pursuit. "Sol, where are you going?" His sister asked. "I'm going to see Krissy. With everything that's been going on, I never expected to see her again like this." Sol made his way through the corridors and outside the arena, dodging and weaving through countless orcs who had yet to notice that a prince from another kingdom was passing them by. Though it was partly due to the fact that they couldn't notice him when most orcs seemed to tower over him in height. "Krissy!" Sol called out as he frantically looked around.

Soon enough, he was able to see her getting escorted to see King Balmer. He made his way over before the orcs around started to notice him, but he became more noticeable when his group was able to catch up, essentially creating a scene. Of course Krissy was able to notice him as well. This only made her look disgusted and she tried her best to keep going and looked forward. Sol stepped in front of her, stopping Krissy in her tracks giving her no choice but to confront him. "Sol stop!" Lilac pleated. "Krissy, I know things are hard right now with everything that happened to your crew and William. I know you and Lilac aren't on good terms right now but listen, you wield Altem's axe now. We need each other." Sol tried to reason with Krissy while he could but she wasn't having it. "Move or I'll make you move." Krissy told him. Lilac tried her best to back him up, feeling like she no longer had any choice in the matter. "Krissy, I'm truly sorry for everything. If I had known William's feelings about me sooner I would-" "Stop bringing up his name. It gets tainted with your mouth." Krissy looked away from Sol and towards Lilac.

When Sol and Lilac failed to talk with her, Drakiel gave it his shot from a different approach. "I don't know much about what you went through with these kids, but you have a responsibility now. The moment you picked up that axe, you should have known that you would have to work with us." Drakiel tried to use his own logical point of view but Krissy's response to him was coming from the heart. "Who says I have to work with any of you to defeat Sinnel? I can handle it myself." That was it. Krissy pushed Sol aside and tried to continue on. Krissy's shove was hard enough to knock him to the ground but when Sol looked at Krissy again, she hesitated and looked back one last time. "Lilac. Be warned. The reason I don't fight you here and now is because I'm exhausted. Don't think words are going to be the only thing that gets exchanged between us the next time we meet." Krissy left again, leaving them all behind.

"Well isn't she just peachy?!" Drakiel threw his hands up in defeat, entirely fed up with their situation. "We had to watch all of that fighting for this?" As Drakiel complained even more, Crystal tried to focus on Lilac. "We'll have to see King Balmer soon as well. Krissy might not want to work with us but there's still a chance the king will." Crystal said to her. "I think we'll need to wait things out a bit before that. Let's try to not jump from one huge event to another in a single day. Balmer is usually very busy and has a certain schedule set for these things." Brook explained. "No wonder he didn't show up to the arena. He has better things to do than watch a sweat fest." Aria commented. "Regardless of whatever we do, that orc lady needs to get her act together. It's just one thing after another and we haven't even come across a star demon yet... aside from you Sol." Drakiel said. Sol got up from the ground and rolled his eyes. "Yeah we get it."

Sol could truthfully understand where Drakiel was coming from though. He had come to this kingdom focusing on making amends and saving Amon. Now they had to make amends with Krissy as well. Everything he heard from Lilac and Brook was true, getting Krissy back on their side was not going to be easy. Despite everything that happened to William being the culmination of his own choices, Sol still felt a little responsible deep down, perhaps they all were to some degree. But Crystal knew what to say in the moment they were in. "We can't keep pointing fingers at each other. We're going to see King Balmer, whether Krissy likes it or not. We may have our feelings in a rut but Drakiel has a point. We have a job to do and we're going to do it."