PART 4: JULIAN'S SICKNESS

Julian reclined back in his seat inside the sterile, white-walled room. The muscles of his arms trembled with each second, making his anxiety spike up.

Across from him, Aqua, the blue-skinned and red-haired doctor, examined his test results with a clinical yet compassionate gaze.

She had seen countless patients like him in the last weeks, veterans of the war whose bodies were exposed to irradiated gemcrabs.

The diagnosis of muscular cancer was an all-too-familiar one for those who had endured the horrors of battle.

With a sigh, Aqua looked up from the results, her voice steady but filled with empathy.

“Julian.” She began. “I'm sorry to confirm that you indeed have a rather advanced case of muscular cancer. It's a consequence of your exposure to the explosive sack of the Gemcrabs."

Julian's slender hands trembled in worry.

He had visited numerous doctors before, hoping for a different outcome.

But everyone started with these same lines before giving up on saving him.

However, Aqua’s voice continued. “But there's hope. We've developed a treatment over the past five days specifically for cases like yours. I only regret that we didn't have it sooner to save more lives.”

Julian sat there, numb, as her blue hands placed five long tubes into his trembling hands.

In that moment, he felt the mist clouding his sight disperse as the world regained color once again.

This was his second chance, fate had not abandoned him and the previous Saint’s curse was not going to defeat him.

With his mind running like crazy, he stood up from his seat without telling goodbye to the doctor.

The doctor had explained something to him, but he couldn’t remember it.

He could only advance forward, to a new future.

Despite his shivers and the strain in his once-mighty muscles, Julian left the sterile room with newfound determination, his heart set on finding his wife.

She was waiting outside, her purple eyes red from crying, fearing to hear the same dark diagnostic.

And as she saw him approach, with his stunned fae, tears streamed down her face.

Julian, his voice numb and eyes filled with determination, whispered, “I will survive.”

It took a moment for Valerie to fully grasp the weight of his words.

But when she did, her face turned from grief to a sunny smile.

“How!” She exclaimed, immediately enveloping him in a warm embrace, her tears staining his dress. “What happened? Did they...?”

Her words made little sense to his ears, but he somehow managed to convey his relief by embracing her.

“They have a cure for my cancer…” He paused, lost for words. “I think the doctor mentioned the instructions were on the label... To be honest, I'm still trying to process it.”

Valerie just tightening the strength of her hug.

“Dummy, I told you I should have accompanied you. You can barely pay attention to others.”

In that moment, the uncertainty that had plagued their lives seemed like a distant nightmare.

Together, they would live a long life, clinging to the newfound possibility of a brighter future.

With that in mind, Julian clutched the tubes containing his treatment, and hand in hand, they walked towards the hospital entrance built by the Astraliths.

A pair of ‘Boys’, with their big rotating eyes, watched over them until the main door opened.

However, the moment they stepped out into the open, they were met with a thunderous explosion that sent shockwaves rippling through the area.

The sheer force of the blast hit Julian's weary muscles like a saw, making his face distort.

“Fuck!” His wife by his side fussed over him, ignoring the scorching mess before them. “You shouldn't be out here with all this chaos going on.”

As a battle-hardened war veteran, she had grown accustomed to such sights, as had the other Elysians nearby.

Because of that their reactions were subdued, in contrast to the mayhem surrounding them.

Only the metallic fishes guarding the premises flew around, projecting mental shields to shield the civilians from harm.

Contrary to his wife, Julian's head snapped to the heart of the mayhem, where the most Boys were gathered.

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There, in the midst of chaos, he spotted Alex, their king, who was shielded by his loyal guards but surrounded by a group of fanatics.

“In the name of God Ignitus!” one of them shouted, his voice shrill. “We shall deliver divine punishment onto you for defiling our Saint!”

These individuals, as if consumed by madness, rambled on nonsensically, their words accompanied by spittle that sprayed in all directions.

Their eyes were unfocused and the red robes they were using seemed to come out straight of a dumpster.

It was a scene of madness and fanaticism that sent shivers down Julian's spine.

“It's like what happened in the past with the previous Saint is happening again.” Julian whispered to his wife.

Valerie just looked up at his face with wide eyes. However, her face quickly turned proud.

“We are a hundred times more prepared than back then, you just need to recover your forces.”

“You are right.” Julian nodded, a confident smile on his face as he adjusted his long blue hair.

Without wasting a precious second, Julian tapped into the elemental energy that flowed beneath the ground with his mind.

His eyes glinted with determination as he conjured fiery orange orbs that crackled to life around him.

The orbs floated in a mesmerizing dance through the air.

Then, with a flick of his hand, he sent the blazing projectiles hurtling towards the terrorists.

His attack engulfed their forms, incinerating them in a burst of searing flames.

They didn’t even have the time to scream as they were reduced to ashes in a brilliant orange flash.

As the last embers of the confrontation flickered out, Julian couldn't help but let out a comical comment to the King, a wry grin playing on his lips.

“Well, that's one way to clear the fanatics out of the way, wouldn't you say?”

However, when he turned to look at Alex, expecting the usual judgmental gaze as people often directed towards him due to his eccentric attire, he was surprised to find the king staring at him with eyes devoid of judgment.

It was the first in his whole life something like that happened, even his wife had judged him during their first meeting.

A smile appeared on his tired face as he marveled. ‘So this is the King huh?’

PART 5: CONNECTIONS

Alex held his battlestaff between his hands, its metal surface cool against his hands, as his sharp gaze scanned the chaotic scene for any threats.

His heart pounded, each beat echoing like a broken drum at a festival.

Step by step Alex approached Julian as the shields around him were deactivated one by one.

His contingent of metallic guards followed closely, with their jaws wide open and ready to shoot at the first sign of hostility.

As Alex drew nearer, he couldn’t help but notice Julian's attire, a white dress that remained clean amid the dusty air.

Julian, on the other hand, turned to him, a wry grin playing on his lips. “Well, well, King Alex, it seems our little outing has taken an unexpected turn.”

Raising an eyebrow, Alex observed Julian’s thin hands tremble as he waved them around.

“No, this was planned by us to lure the enemy out.” He turned around,scanning the surroundings for any lurking fanatics. “Guess I'm sorry for dragging the famous and retired strongest Elysian into the kingdom’s affairs.”

The weight of their conversation hung in the air for a brief moment.

But before Julian could respond, Alex's eyes detected movement in the shadows. More fanatics emerged among the debris.

They held crazed expressions and each was holding a beeping ball that he could swear was a bomb.

Alex immediately held his battlestaff between his hands.

“On guard!”

In an impressive display of marksmanship, he shot a ray of energy straight into the chest of the nearest fanatic.

Following the lead of their King, the Boys unleashed rays of orange, purple, and green from their open mouths.

Each shot was fired with precision, felling at least an enemy with each ray.

As the final foe crumpled to the ground, Julian's urgent shout pierced the air. “Quick! the shields!”

Fortunately, even before he had reacted, the flying fish around them had already sprang to action and were deploying a pair of mental shields.

With no time to spare, Alex and Julian could only shut their eyes as a second wave of explosions rocked the area.

Smoke filled their vision while the shield did their job and protected even their hearing from the deafening blasts.

“Those guys never give up!” Alex became incensed, looking at the destroyed street he had just ordered be built.

However, just as they were recovering from the second attack, a final fanatic's desperate shout rang out.

“Die! You filthy round ears…. Ugh”

Turning around to the source of the shout, their attention was drawn to a surprising sight.

Above them, on the hospital's rooftop, Valerie, Julian's wife, had a fanatic trapped in a headlock, holding a sniper rifle away from his grasp.

Julian sighed, noting the empty space beside him where Valerie had been moments before the attack.

Valerie shot them a wry smile as she struggled to maintain her grip on the fanatic. “Guess I couldn't let you boys have all the fun.”

Her cute comment contrasted with the blue face of the dying man in her arms.

Alex couldn't help but be impressed, commenting. “That's a hell of a woman”

Hearing the praise, Julian puffed out his thin chest with pride.

He gave the King a victorious smile as he fixed his blue hair. “Of course, that’s why she married me!”

Alex could only scratch his hair. “You’re a lucky bastard then.”

It was at that moment that the faint sound of a ship’s engine was heard by them.

Looking up, they managed to see a ship resembling a missile with triangular wings.

The ship descended slowly to the ground beside the crater left by the second explosion.

With a hiss, the hatch on the ship's right side swung open, revealing the figures of Ashlyn and Novel.

The pair of women hurried to Alex's side. Ashlyn's expression was serious while Novel began a quick but thorough examination of Alex, searching for any injuries.

Ignoring her companion and Julian for the moment, Ashlyn delivered the news that Alex had been waiting for.

“The woman from the restaurant, the one who caused the scene and triggered Aria's jealousy, was spotted here. She might be the main culprit.”

The revelation hung in the air like a weight as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place.

Alex remembered one of the many women with closed eyes who had followed Aria around.

He hadn't recognized her then, as she had not been covering her hair back at the restaurant, but her face was almost identical now he thought about it.

Alex's eyes widened in realization as he blurted out. “Don’t tell me?!”