22;1 The forbidden powers must not be weld with foolishness
Like a shooting star in the sky, Neon crashes into the main path in front of the manor, her impact indents the stones on the walkway causing dust to ploom into the air from the blow. As soon as she draws her ornate sword it begins to spark with large arches of lightning emanating from it, with one powerful step she launches herself through the main doors, bursting them open and breaking them off the hinge.
Within a second she changes her eyes yellow and freezes time around her, she finds Argon midway through a swing of his sword towards Red whose face is frozen in a deathly fear. Neon once again dashes towards Argon but before she can land her strike Argon snaps out of the frozen time state to block her slash causing a massive metal clank to echo through the manor halls. Just looking into his emotionless yellow eyes makes Neon feel uneasy, “how did you get like this so fast?”, she thinks to herself at that moment.
The castle is a very aged and weathered structure, evidence of huge fights resonating from the scratches on the stone walls. Arguing voices echo deep within the walls of the castle’s halls, “Are you kidding me Sigma!? None of you thought to follow Neon to see what was wrong!? Perhaps I’ll just need a new personal guard because my current one is inadequate”, an older woman angrily shouts to Argon.
Her hair is a dark rich purple that flows down to her shoulders and ends in flury of long swirls. A large and frilly white dress covers her body all the way down to her feet. Multiple precious jewels from necklaces and rings compliment the dress of priceless value. Sigma shoots down to his knees in shock, “I’m sorry lady Xenon, I didn’t know what she was saying and thought these others would be valuable to you” he nervously says. Holly leans over to reach Crystal whose face is still beet red.
“Hey he looks like a little cutie when he’s following orders Crystal”, Holly says with a little giggle, “mmm Holly please, he’s right there!” she whispers in frustration. Xenon paces around Sigma with a pondering look in her face, “Go to Neon right now and help her out, and don’t keep me waiting”, she says while standing in front of him. “Yes my lady, I’ll go right away” he says while his eyes glow a golden yellow while he suddenly vanishes in thin air. “Hey um shouldn’t we go and help him, at all?” Crystal asks Xenon as she walks by the group.
“No that shouldn't be necessary, and that doesn’t sound like a good way to welcome my guests. Now come, follow me there should be a complimentary dinner made for your efforts of protecting the town”, she says while guiding everyone down to the dining hall.
Argon pushed back with enough force to blow Neon back to the main hall of the manor, and into a large sculpture breaking it into pieces. Her sword flies out of her grip and gets stuck in the air by being frozen in time, Neon takes a few seconds to gather herself together while Argon slowly walks over to her sword and snatches it out of the air.
"Ugh damn it!", Neon shouts out as she buries her hands into the rubble. The statue's rubble begins to form around her hands, "it's been quite awhile since I used earth, good thing I'm not rusty with it yet", she says while gradually getting back to her feet. Sparks begin to fly as Argon smashes his swords against Neon's newly defended hands, all the sparks freeze in the air looking like a thousand suspended fireflies as they continue to trade blows.
Neon winds up and swiftly punches Argon across the room into the far manor wall and before he can recover she punches him once again with such a strong force to break him right through the wall and into the grand central gardens in the middle of the manor. Everything around begins to react normally to time due to Argon's concentration being snapped from Neon's massive blow.
"Please don't hurt me!", Red says while throwing her hands up in fear, only to be left confused moments later by Argon's sudden absence. Red pushes herself back up while she gazes at all of the damage in the manor, "wha- what happened to everything? Is anyone here?" She asks nervously into the manor halls.
The group is guided through the seemingly never ending twists and turns of the castle, "hey, Ruby, don't you think we should help Neon out? It sounded pretty serious", Crystal asks with a concerning whisper. "Don't worry Crystal, I've known lady Xenon my whole life, if she thought it was serious enough she would just ask us to help. From what I heard that Sigma kid is a bit of a prodigy", she says with a soft smile back to Crystal.
Crystal's nerves recoil back after hearing such a nonchalant reply, "well… okay, if you say so Ruby", Crystal worryingly says. As the group makes their next turn they finally set their sights upon an absolutely gigantic dining hall, beautifully decorated engravings line the walls from top to bottom. The long center dining table is set with luxurious fine china, surrounded by articulately carved wooden dining chairs. "Wooow this place is wonderful!!", Holly says in a giddy excitement while staring around the room.
Xenon slowly makes her way to the dining table, “Please my friends, take a seat wherever you want, the food should be out shortly”, Xenon says before sitting at the furthest end chair. Ruby and Holly take the first row, Crystal takes a chair in the second row quickly followed by Blue and Ali takes the seat next to Crystal. “Is it really true that you’re Neon’s forreal sister Xenon?! Is it true you’re the most powerful person ever and that you mastered every complex?!”, Holly says with tons of enthusiasm.
“Wow Holly, you sound like quite the fan” Ruby says with a little giggle in her voice. “Oh please now Holly, this really shouldn’t be the time for such talk, please enjoy yourself”, Xenon flatteringly replies back to Holly.
Red slowly makes her way step by step to the massive hole in the wall, but is abruptly cut off when she feels the ground shake beneath her. She loses her balance and falls onto the ground as she scoots over to the wall, she peeks over the splintered wall to gaze upon Argon and Neon trading blows in the gardens, “boop”, Red squeakily says while firing a tiny bright while laser from her finger at Argon.
The laser cuts through the air in an instant, reaching Argon and reflecting off his sword causing the laser to cut deep into the ground and surrounding manor, “Wait what the hell was that?! Is that…?” Neon says while shifting her view back to the hole in the wall, she can just barely make out the glow of her eye peeking out from the bottom of the cavity.
“Red, don't fight him! He’s a different person than what he used to be!” Neon yells out as loud as she can to Red, Argon’s focus quickly shifts onto Red and throws his sword into the manor wall just barely missing Red. She has almost no reaction to the sword, only giving it a slight glance before looking back over to Argon who blindsides Neon square in the face, the impact of the blow made such an effect that she falls over on the ground.
The world feels like it’s spinning around her from the impact of the blow that she can’t even get back to her feet. Argon lifts his sword in the air above Neon, it’s blade shimmers in the bright moonlight before he swings it down to strike her, but in the last moment Sigma appears to deflect Argon’s swing.
“What’s wrong Neon? I thought you always bragged about how strong you are, and here you are on the ground”, Sigma says with a cocky demeanor. “Oh shut up Sigma, that was just a cheap shot”, Neon says while gradually getting back to her feet.
Blue stares into Crystal’s worried eyes as she thinks about Neon, she then snaps back to lock eyes with Blue, “what do you think you’re looking at?!”, she irritably barks to Blue, “oh it was ummm nothing Crystal”, Blue quickly says with a flushed face.
Xenon notices Crystal’s clear look of distress from across the table, “Now Crystal, please, enjoy yourself. If Neon was in danger I would know”, Xenon says with a bright warm smile. A bright golden glow begins to fill the ceiling of the dining hall, “wait what’s that?”, Crystal nervously asks Xenon, “oh it’s about time you showed yourself Iris, I swear you get nervous wherever guests arrive haha”, Xenon cheerfully says as a small golden orb lowers from the ceiling.
“Wait, what? Am I missing someone, we’re the only ones in the room”, Crystal says in confusion, The orb rests in place right next to Xenon as it gives off a brilliant glow, “oh yes, deepest apologies from me. This little orb right here is the one I’m talking to, in fact I think you should introduce yourself to our lovely guests for once”, Xenon says while placing the orb over the table.
“Wh-why yes, hello I’m Iris, I’m Xenon’s personal guardian angel. I feel very honored to meet such a great group of kids” Iris says, as her gentle and sweet voice almost seems to echo in a brilliant radiance from her ball of light.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
The woman in black calmly walks down the gloomy and empty streets of town, her steady footsteps resonate through the twisting back streets and alleyways as she wanders through the city. “I gave him a warning, I guess he really wants trouble”, she aggravatingly says so herself.
Sigma takes a deep detailed look at Argon, he notices his blank soulless eyes staring him down, “I know you’ve been holding back against Neon, well I have some good news for you. You don’t need to hold back against me” Sigma confidently says while drawing his royal guard sword. The double doors of the garden suddenly bursts open, as the woman in black gradually steps out from the shadow.
“Oh come on, more of you?! I guess I really have my work drawn out for me”, Sigma says while approaching the woman. She continues to move forward as if he’s not even talking to her, “Hello, do you hear me?! I’m talking to-” Sigma continues saying before getting cut. The woman’s hand opens up in front of his chest and blows him back into the manor wall by twisting the space in front of him, “get out of my way, you’re useless to me”, she calmly says while walking up to Argon while looking at him eye to eye.
“What a damn shame, you’ve been reduced to a primitive being whose only purpose is to cause suffering. Mortals really can’t be trusted with these powers can they?”, She says while partly unsheathing her sword.
Holly stares into the vibrant glow of Iris, “soooo is that really really you? That’s sooo cool!!” she shouts in excitement as her fists slam on the table, shaking all the diningware on it, “alright Holly take it down a couple of notches you’re gonna end up breaking something, I don’t think Xenon would be pleased”, Ruby says with an embarrassed expression on her face.
“Oh yea, right. Sorry bout that Ruby”, she replies in a cheerful but bashful grin. A set of large double doors towards the back of the room begin to gently creek open, “oh, my grateful guests. It appears the dinner is ready for you”, Xenon says while nearly a dozen servers pour out of the room with a seemingly countless amount of delicious and masterfully created dishes.
Crystal’s, Blue’s and Holly’s eyes all start to boggle at each meal as they get placed down in the center of the table, “Milady, will you take the honors of taking the first taste?”, the head server says while he kneels down next to her. “No no, this dinner isn’t for me, I would rather have our guest of honor Holly try out anything she wants. Without her help we would have lost many more people in this horrible tragedy”, Xenon cheerfully says to Holly. She instantly starts to blush hearing such a gracious comment towards her.
“wha? You- you really think so? Than-thank you so much Xenon”, she cheerfully says with a bright and beaming smile as she fills her plate with as much food as she can cram onto it. Her mouth opens wide as she stuffs her mouth full of food, her eyes suddenly begin to light up in amazement, “mmmm! Wooow that’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever eaten!!” she wails in excitement before digging into the rest of the plate.
The garden drops to an almost deafening silence while the two stare each other down, As soon as Argon moves to swing his sword the woman draws her sword and instantly cuts through him. Argon collapses to the ground severed in two by the clean cut of her blade. She looks down at the body, “this hand, the sigil on it looks different than anything I’ve seen”, she says before cutting off the hand and placing it inside her jacket.
Neon stands to the side, frozen entirely by the insurmountable power she saw, “it-ti was as if she moved like a streak of light right through him, who even are you?!”, she asks in a horrified groaning tune as a raging storm begins to pour down from the sky. The woman turns around to face Neon, “wouldn’t you mortals like to know, you’re all always so curious”, she says while focus shifts to the garden doors.
“I see you over there, reveal yourself now or I’ll level this entire manor to the ground”, she says whole outstretching her hand towards the door. Slowly Red steps out of the doorway in hesitation, gradually making her way to the woman. The both meet in the center of the garden, “I feel like it’s been way too long since we have last talked, Rayen” she calmly says while placing her palm on top of her head.
Distant memories begin to flood into Rayen’s mind, visions of a once peaceful land turned into a wasteland. Friends and family in unforgettable horrors, and a little girl with long black hair.
“Ne- Ne- Ne- Ne-ga-tive…” she says in horror before falling down onto the ground. She digs her fingers into the ground frantically trying to inch away, “Ho-how are you still alive?!”, she shouts at her in terror. Negative kneels down to match her height , “you know, I was about to ask the very same thing about you” she calmly says while wiping the wet hair from in front of her eyes, “Oh I see the other eye isn’t doing too well, my bad”, Negative says about her scared eye before having her hand slapped away by Rayen as her other eye glows a bright red.
Rayen’s hand starts to glow with a blindingly bright while orb, “WILL YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!”, she screams while hurling her arm into Negative only to be easily slapped away, causing her light orb to fly high through the sky outside the border of the city. The impact of the orb feels as if the ground was hit with a meteor, a plume of blinding light fills the sky as the glass of the manor shatters from the rough and aggressive rumbling of the ground. Rayen scrunches her eyes shut from shining light and when she’s able to open them back up Negative is nowhere to be seen anymore.
As everyone is enjoying their meal, they start to feel small rumbles, quickly followed by a violent shaking, knocking plates off of the table, “what? Could that be?”, Xenon says seriously before running towards the window. She gazes upon a massive ball of light in the direction of the manor.
She looks back to the table, “Iris please tell me, does that have anything to do with Sigma” Xenon nervously mutters out, “I cannot affirm who that attack could have come from, but I can sense that Sigma is doing just fine lady Xenon”, Iris softly says while floating around everyone. Almost in the blind of an eye after the blast dissipates Neon appears in front of everyone, Argon is passed out over her shoulder and Rayen holds her other hand.
Neon hunches her head up towards Xenon, her eyes are a bright yellow after just traveling through frozen time. Her clothes are soaked in mud and her face is spattered with blood, “hey, thanks for being the best sister ever and NOT HELPING ME XENON!”, Neon shouts out while throwing Argon onto the floor. “Well I thought Argon would have been enough, apparently I need to break him in a little more”, Xenon quickly says back to Neon abashedly.
Later in the night Neon prepares her bath in a guest bedroom in the castle, her washcloth quickly gets soaked in blood from scrubbing her face, “I really got more messed up than I thought I did” she says while gazing in the mirror, viewing the cuts and scrapes she sustained from her fight.
All her clothing is covered in countless slashes from Argon’s swords, “goddamn these clothes are ruined, and I just got them the other day”, she aggravatingly says while tearing them off herself, “oh well the water should be hot by now anyways”, she says while approaching the bath. Her injuries sting while in contact with the water causing her to take it slow before she’s all in. Neon ponders the chaotic events of the day as she slowly soaks in the southing hot water.
“I never thought that these Complex powers had so much to them, these light based attacks from the Rose Complex is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and that girl Rayen. She has already far surpassed me and at that young age, it’s just incredible. She just can’t seem to control it all that well”, Neon says to herself nodding in and out from her enormous exhaustion. “Ugh, tomorrow is gonna be a loooooong day”, she frustratingly says while sinking her mouth into the water.
The loud clanking of swords can be heard over in the front castle courtyard as soon as the sun starts to rise up, “oh come on all you guys are such wimps!”, Crystal shouts out to multiple guards as she’s easily able to spar with them, winning with just a few simple moves. “Oh wow Neon, you really seemed to train her really well”, Xenon cheerfully says, “what do you think the next step will be. You said there’s someone else out there, just how strong are they?”, she continues to ask.
Neon looks up to the soft bright glow of the dawn sky, “she is really something else, and I don’t think I stand a chance against her, but I do have one ace in the hole. That little girl Rayen holds the secrets to getting even more powerful but she doesn’t know it yet, wish me luck Xenon this could take a little patience haha”, Neon confidently says back to her.
“Oh and by the way, your manor should be fixed in a couple weeks. You guys really did a number on it”, Xenon gleefully says while holding back a laugh, “oh knock it off Xenon, MOST of that damage wasn’t me okay, but thanks for helping me out. I really appreciate it”, Neon says with a soft smile before getting up to find Rayen.
The morning sun is shining onto Rayen and sparkling off her orb with a magnificent glittering shine, “Hey! You’re still obsessed with that thing huh?”, Neon asks Rayen as she looks back with a perplexed look, “I know this might sound strange but I need you to train me, you showed some amazing skills the other day that seemed just like the skills of legend, so please tell me how you know this stuff Rayen”, Neon says to Rayen with a big smile.
Rayen looks back with a look of confusion, “Weeell, I don’t really know how I do any of these things, they just kinda come out when I get scared”, she says with a disappointed frown. Neon is brought back a bit from the news, but she quickly regains her momentum.
“You know what? That shouldn’t even matter at all, that just means we’re both going to figure this out together”, Neon continues with a joyful demeiner, “I’d say it’s more than late enough for you to begin your actual training”, Neon says before guiding Red down the long curving steps in front of the castle’s overlook and finally reaching a massive grand garden below, “alright Rayen let’s do this!” Neon shouts in excitement.