Interlude: Awakening (Part One)

Kira continues to shake Zero, trying to wake him back up.

“Get up Zero! Don’t do this! I can’t be alone! I already failed Mabel— don’t leave me behind too!”

She hunches over his limp body, wrapping her arms around him tightly as she starts to wail into his chest. The sound of her wailing could be heard throughout the ruins of the village.

Corina licks her lips and chuckles at the sight of Kira’s outburst.

“Oh, I didn’t expect him to die that easily, I thought he’d be able to see my attack coming.”

She turns to Zoe, giving her a small little pout.

“I’m sorry Zoe, I didn’t think your little toy would die that easily. I was hoping to play with him more so I could break him and make him yours.”

Zoe lets out a sigh before hugging Corina.

“It’s okay Corina, he was useless anyway. He didn’t even listen to me! I’m glad you killed him. My Leo is the only one who ever listens to me!.”

She lets go of Corina and picks up her staff, cooing at it.

“You’re such a good little brother Leo! If only Zero was more like you! Maybe Corina can turn his body into a staff like you too! Then I’ll have two!”

Kira freezes, her blood boiling. She gently lays his body back down before gripping her blade tightly, standing up in front of Zero’s body to shield him.

“Don’t you dare touch him! I’ll kill you if you touch him!”

Zoe scowls at Kira before turning back to Corina.

“Can you kill her too? She’s the one who took Zero from me when I first saw him. It was all HER! I hate her, I hate her, I hate her!”

Corina gently strokes Zoe’s hair to soothe her.

“Did she now? She’s kind of annoying me too, so I think I’ll do just that.”

Kira readies her blade as Corina starts to step slowly toward her, her whipswords dangling down on each hand, covered in Zero's blood.

“Mmmm… delectable… I’ll be sure to play with you thoroughly. I can already see how I’ll slice you apart… I can’t wait…”

Kira slowly backs up, creeping away from Corina as she advances.

Hummmmmm voovoovoooovooovooovoovoo

A low vibration suddenly resonates from Zero’s body. The ground shakes as thin cracks start to split on the ground beneath him. 

Seconds later, a dark goo erupts out from his severed arms, his blood on the ground turning pitch black, slowly crawling together to merge into one.

The dark ooze emerges as one into what looks like a body of sorts, standing upright in front of Kira.

“W-w-who are you?! Get away from me and Zero!”

The body of ooze turns to face her, staring at Kira for a few second before focusing her attention to Corina.

“My master is dying.”

“It is my duty to protect my master.”

“He is mine, I am his.”

“Together, we are one, so therefore I must… do.”

Kira looks at Zero’s limp body and then back at the entity.

“Master? What do you mean master? He’s no one’s master! He’s just — “

FWING!

Kira flinches at the sound and falls bottom first onto the ground, tendrils erupted from the entity as it seemingly deflected back Corina's surprise attack, catching Kira off guard.

“Aww, why did you block that? I wanted to see the look on her face the moment I sliced her.”

Corina turns to face the entity, her weapons ready in hand as she continues to walk forward.

Hmmm… a  black ooze forming into a human of sorts… what a weird little monster… I wonder if I should capture it and take it back to Gray to experiment on.

Zoe bursts out in anger, pointing her fingers toward the entity.

“Get away! You’re ruining our fun! Do you want us to kill you too!? Why is everyone trying to get in my way with Zero!”

The entity stands still, its tendrils flailing all over, but with precision, almost like they have a mind of their own.

Corina cautiously approaches, before suddenly disappearing from everyone's view. The entity continues standing still, unwavering from its spot. Corina dives down from the sky, weaving her whipswords with extreme speed as she closes in. 

Kira, sensing a surge of bloodlust, looked toward the night sky. Seeing Corina come down toward the entity, she tried to call out to it, but the entity was faster. Its tendrils sprout upward from its body towards Corina, crashing into her body with a loud explosion, sending her falling into the ground.

She winces a bit on the ground before getting back up to brush the dust off of her.

“Mmm, now I’m even more interested in you, little thing, I hope you don’t break too easily.”

Corina readies her whipswords again, getting into her position before launching herself forward. The entity wastes no time, thrusting its tendrils forward, each one hitting the whipswords and deflecting with the strength of a boulder.

Corina continues weaving her whipswords between each hit, manoeuvring them out wide to try and hit the entity’s flank and then also trying to strike the unconscious Zero and the fearful Kira.

Zoe, getting upset that Corina seems to be struggling against the entity, starts to cast a spell.

“Glacial Magic : Icebound Needle!”

Around her, magic starts to form. Little bits of ice hover around her before merging into a large icicle in front of her. She lifts her staff up before thrusting her staff forward, a cold gust of wind howls past her as she launches the icicle forward.

The entity senses the magic build up  and lifts its left arm toward the oncoming icicle.

CRASH!

It smashes into its palm, causing the collision to ripple around its arm as the icicle continues to try and penetrate through.

Corina, noticing that the entity had its attention toward the icicle instead of her for a split second, changes her stance from a defensive style to an all out offensive.

It seems to be holding out against Zoe’s glacial magic. I need to not play around anymore and finish it off before we run out of time here.

“Physical Enhancement : Alacrity”

“Physical Enhancement : Indomitability”

“Physical Enhancement : Endure”

She does a flip back and lands on her feet to rebuild her momentum before exploding forward, a continuous onslaught of slashes onto the entity as she re-engages.

Tch, this little monster can put up a decent fight, haven’t felt like this in a long time.

She continues her attacks, each one being successfully deflected back each time by the entity. Seeing that the engagement isn’t going anywhere, she leaps back to Zoe.

“Zoe, darling, I think it’s time we take this a bit more seriously if we’re going to try and capture this thing.”

Zoe looks up at Corina before nodding with a grin. 

“Okay! Time to get serious!”

She twirls her staff around her, expanding a magic circle below her and begins chanting. Corina plants herself directly in front of Zoe. She begins to swing her whipswords in a circular motion on each side, not fast but not slow. The entity, noticing that the mana surrounding Zoe was steadily climbing up decides that it couldn’t stay idle anymore. In a blink of an eye, it leaps forward and instantly reappears right in front of Corina, its tendrils closing in onto them.

Corina’s eyes widen at the sheer speed, but continues swinging her whipswords, now being on the defensive and holding back against the tendrils that are sorely focused on Zoe with a killing intent.