Disclaimer:

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 36: Facing the Wall Guards

"Oh? Do you know these humans?" The elf turned to look at Bill with interest. It was obvious he wasn't concerned about Seth and Zephyr's presence at all.

"I don't know any of them…" Bill spoke with a grave voice as he moved his orange eyes over them.

Zephyr noticed how much Bill had changed in just one year. His hair was longer and unkempt. His face had several visible scars, and his eyes seemed to have lost all light in them.

He did not know what kind of things Bill had experienced since he was taken from the village, but he seemed to have gone through a lot.

"Are you sure?..." The elf leaned closer to Bill and smiled.

"I don't know them…" Bill answered again with an emotionless monotone.

Zephyr was not surprised by this. Bill had never met Seth, and he looked very different from what Bill was used to. Not to mention, they were never too close.

"But they seem to know you…" The elf's eyes went from Seth to Zephyr, where they stopped. The elf's eyes narrowed. "What a peculiar color of hair…"

The elf pulled out his long sword from the scabbard.

"No matter… I don't really care who you are. What I do care about is that two awakened humans are invading Celestial property and breaking our laws… you two are aware of the law at least, right?"

"Stay behind me…" Zephyr whispered to Seth.

The elf smiled. "You want to fight?... That's fine too. For the breaking of the Celestial laws, I sentence you two worthless humans… to death." He placed a hand on Bill's collar, and it changed color from its previous black to a bright red.

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"Go on, Bill, execute the sentence. First...kill the one who knew your name." The elf looked at Seth and licked his lips. "I'll take care of the younger one."

Bill said nothing. Instead, he just took off running and charged at Zephyr. "Fire Ball!"

A small sphere made of pure fire appeared in Bill's hand and shot like a projectile towards Zephyr.

Zephyr managed to avoid it, but then the elf managed to get in front of him. Before Zephyr could react, he was kicked in the chest with tremendous force and sent flying backward.

Bill chased after Zephyr while the elf stayed with a scared Seth.

Zephyr stopped rolling on the ground and stood back up but then realized this was the elf's intention… to separate him from Seth.

'I need to go help Seth… that boy doesn't know how to fight!.'

Bill ran at him and threw another fireball.

Zephyr avoided it without much issue as the projectile was not too fast. He still had to be careful not to be too close to the zone of impact. These fireballs appear to explode when they touch something.

He looked at Bill as the boy he once knew continued to attack him.

'What do I do?... I don't want to hurt Bill, but if I don't go help Seth, that elf is going to kill him.'

When Bill got closer, he extended both hands towards him. "Flame!"

A wave of fire erupted from his hands and covered the width of the bridge as it traveled toward Zephyr, leaving him no room to dodge it.

"Lightning Nova!" With no other choice, he had resolved to fight back.

His wave of lightning impacted the fire one.

[Lightning Nova is now Level 2…]

"Ahhh!" Bill screamed when his body was hit by the sparks remaining after his flames were dispersed.

Bill was hurt but not enough to disable him or even make him fall.

Zephyr could have taken the chance to use a Lightning Strike but would have certainly killed the other boy.

Instead, he had to choose a different approach.

Zephyr made use of his full physical prowess to charge at Bill and give him a crushing punch to his face.

Bill grunted and fell down, rolling a few times on the stone floor and only stopping at the edge of the wall.

"Stay down!" Zephyr shouted.

"N-no…" Bill muttered. He moved his hands and aimed at Zephyr. He was not willing to give up because if his Master considered that he was disobeying orders...he would certainly die.

Zephyr felt his body heat up, and not even a second later, his clothes erupted in flames.

'This is what he used against Thomas the day he awoke.' He recalled what happened at that time. He saw everything clearly from behind the wooden food cart.

Unfortunately for Bill, Zephyr had barely any clothes to burn.

It only took him a moment to rip away the tattered remains of his robes and throw them away.

Not caring about being completely naked, he then rushed at Bill and gave him three more powerful punches until he was finally knocked unconscious.

"Ahhh!"

Zephyr heard Seth screaming and got alarmed.

'I need to hurry!'

He took off running as fast as he could, and soon, he could see their figures more clearly.

"What happened there?!" Zephyr exclaimed.

Seth was kneeling on the ground, clutching at his leg while the elf had his hands on his face.

"You damn human! How dare you!" The Celestial elf was totally enraged.

He lifted his blade and aimed it at Seth.

Zephyr then was able to see the elf's uncovered face. He had a long cut that ran from his forehead to his chin.

'Did Seth do that?' Zephyr could not believe it.

But there was no time for that; before the elf had time to attack Seth… he jumped into action. "Lightning Strike!"