CHAPTER 77: EYE OF DEUS

DANIELLE KEINE

8 MONTHS AGO

It didn’t take long for my former comrade to respond to my concern. Alphonse immediately spread out his arms and commanded his bladed chains to strike me. With my wonderful agility and reflexes, I evaded all those chain whips and the blade strikes that are enhanced with various elemental magic.

“Senor Alphonse! Keep it together!” I cried out loud.

“It’s no use. Alphonse Faradeiss has completely been controlled by my eyes.” The teenage dragonoid girl said. I can sense intense psychic force on his crimson eyes with black sclera, and I can feel a continuing invisible pulse from such eyes. This mysterious heartbeat-like pulse is similar to what I have felt during our operation to capture Doctor Cheng Du. It is the same as the Psychic Amplifier.

I looked at the enemies. The dragonoid girl who has weird eyes is called Sakuradrop if I remember correctly. The intel said that she is Michael Eldritch’s dragonoid, and that’s all we know about her. I have seen her during the state visit, and she always stays by Eldritch’s side. Considering that she’s here, there’s a probability that Michael Eldritch himself is in this place.

“No, Master Eldritch is not here,” Sakuradrop answered politely. “The only enemies here are your comrades. I don’t intend to fight you at all.”

“My, my. Mind reading, aren’t you?” I forced a smile to hide my fear. “Looks like your weird eye has strong psychic powers.”

“That is just a fragment of the power of the Eye of Deus,” Sakuradrop answered. “With these eyes, I can be a walking Psychic Amplifier.”

Nathaniel and I made several steps back. I am terrified and confused about the fact that the Psychic Amplifier is supposed to control the hearts and minds of dragonoid, but this Sakuradrop completely ignores that rule at all. This dragonoid is able to mind control Alphonse even if he’s a human.

Suddenly, my earpiece gave me the voice of our leader Valesmith. I can hear several grunts and explosions on the background and he seemed to be in a calm mood. “Princess Serenity Elkyria has been secured. What’s your status? Over.”

“Senor Valesmith, we have a problem-” I said, but I was immediately cut by Valesmith himself.

“I got a positive ID on Emperor Michael Eldritch. He’s completely alone, and his army is fleeing. I’m going to apprehend him for the kidnapping of the princess. You can now disengage and withdraw from your fight. Stay alert and good luck, over.”

“Wait, do not approach Michael Eldritch! I repeat! Do not approach Michael Eldritch!” I shouted out loud. But the communication has been cut before Valesmith heard my words. Realizing my futile efforts, I balled my fist and cried in pain. “Merde!”

“Too bad, Miss Keine.” Sakuradrop chuckled like an innocent princess. “You should have known that all paths lead to a dead-end... to all of you and the dragon knights of Alterra. Master Eldritch has planned it beforehand, and he is always several steps ahead.”

I held my heart and felt the synchronization of my chest to my dragonoid Nathaniel. I am certain to be defeated if I will stay here, so I’m planning for my Vesryn Pulse to activate. I cannot fight Lothar Pendragon, Sakuradrop, and the mind-controlled Alphonse alone. No, Lothar Pendragon is already exhausted. I think I can hold Alphonse long enough too. The real threat is Sakuradrop. If she uses her Eye of Deus to cast a Psychic Amplifier, he can control our minds at any given time.

“Don’t worry, Miss Keine. I do not intend to use my Eye of Deus on you. You are simply not worthy to waste my precious mana on.” Sakuradrop read my mind again. “I want to see how strong your comrade is, so feel free to become a punching bag.”

“I won’t go down without a fight, mademoiselle!” I cried out loud. “Activating Vesryn Pulse!”

My dragonoid Nathaniel had his body covered with golden light as he reshaped his body into his muscular Muscleflex Dragon. That’s what is supposed to happen, but for a surprising reason, he didn’t. Instead, electric sparks ignited our chest, giving us unbearable pain which made us both fall down on our knees.

“Grah!” Nathaniel cried. I gritted my teeth to suppress the pain.

“Deactivating Vesryn Pulse,” Sakuradrop said. Her Eye of Deus made a sonar-like pulse that covered the whole perimeter. “I’m sorry, miss. Dragon pets are not allowed right now. Please let your dragonoid stay on human form.”

“Damn you…” I whispered as I tried to catch my breath. 

This is clearly a losing fight. We already have a slim chance of escaping, and now that Vesryn Pulse cannot be used, our chance of survival is at zero percent. There might still be a way to free Alphonse from being controlled, such as killing the source, which is Sakuradrop. But we all knew that it’s not going to happen.

Even though, I will do what I still can!

“Stockpile Buff 100%!” I enlarged my muscles on my legs and arms as I leaped towards the flower-dressed dragonoid and slashed her with my bladed fans. In a blink of an eye, the dragonoid named Sakuradrop disappeared, and all she left on her original position were cherry blossom petals.

Sakuradrop was next seen on top of icy rock, several meters away from us.

“Nath! Go free Z!” I shouted out loud.

“Stockpile Buff 300%!” Nathaniel bulked his body up and charged towards Lothar Pendragon who is carrying the unconscious Z on his shoulders. In the nick of time, Lothar Pendragon blocked Nathaniel’s muscular tackle with the flat part of his buster sword. The sound of the metallic clash echoed in the snowy atmosphere.

Nathaniel noticed that Z twitched, so he grabbed the opportunity to go loud and wake Z up. If he can wake Z, then we can have the Vesryn Pulse connection cancel out the mind-controlling effects to Alphonse.

“Z! Wake up!” Nathaniel said as he made a series of heavy punches towards Lothar Pendragon’s sword. The noisy clanks of metal finally woke Z up.

But when she opened her eyes, everything went worse. Z’s crimson eyes are lifeless, which indicates that she has been mind-controlled too. Z went off from Lothar Pendragon’s shoulder and stood upon the ground with her own feet.

“Z!” Nathaniel cried out loud. 

Suddenly, Z spread out her rainbow-colored wings that reflected the faint sunlight from the snowy skies. In the blink of an eye, colorful lasers were launched by her wings that blasted through Nathaniel’s humongous body. All those laser lights created holes on Nathaniel’s skin, flesh, and bones.

“Nath!” I cried out loud. I was about to flap my fans and rescue my dragonoid in peril, but I realized I’m in deeper trouble than him. Sakuradrop is already in front of me, and her hands dipped to my chest. “Wha-!!!”

“Heartstopper Curse.” Sakuradrop smiled. Then, dark aura engulfed her hands that were groping my heart. My lungs froze, and I couldn’t move any part of my body. Every inch of my nerve cells started to go numb.

“Guh…” I spit out black-colored blood from my mouth. The Heartstopper Curse is so powerful that it contaminated all the red blood cells that pass through my heart that are no longer operational. “N-Nath…”

“Noooooo! Nielle!” Nathaniel cried out loud. With his remaining strength, he tried to run to the extent that he is just dragging his feet.

“Sir Alphonse, that popcorn buff musclehead is noisy. Rip him, please~” Sakuradrop said like a needy teenager.

The mind-controlled Alphonse just nodded and started to follow the poor Nathaniel who is already crawling on the snow. Alphonse raised his right hand and commanded his chains to wrap the muscular right arm of Nathaniel. The chains immediately unleashed flames that sunk unto my dragonoid’s skin. And, after a second, Alphonse pulled his chains mercilessly.

I don’t want to watch it, but I can no longer control any part of my body. I can’t even blink.

“Graaaaaaaah!!!” Nathaniel’s cry echoed around the mountain range as he endured the pain of having his right arm ripped off from his shoulder. Blood endlessly flowed due to mutilation, but it did not bother him for his one and the only reason is to reach me. “Nielle!”

“N...Nath…” I cried, but I doubt he can still hear me. My strength is losing me. My lungs could no longer inhale or exhale air.

As the severely wounded Nathaniel crawled pitifully with his remaining left hand, Sakuradrop finally withdrew her hand from my chest. My heart is no longer beating, and it’s already polluted with a dark curse.

My death is certain.

I can feel my eyelids closing.

“Nielle! Don’t… Don’t close your eyes! Nielle!” Nathaniel tried to crawl faster, and he finally reached my hand after three seconds of crawling like an earthworm. “Nielle! Stay with me! Nielle!”

My dragonoid managed to pull me and cradle my head on my wrist. With my blurry vision, I finally realized the existence of another enemy who is overwatching this fight the whole time. A beautiful tall woman wearing a red dress, her reddish-brown hair dancing as the gentle snowy breeze blew. She has a crown on her head which indicates that she is the Empress of Elysia, Marisse Trystgade-Eldritch. She’s having this dissatisfied cold glare at us, and there’s a glass of red wine on her hand.

“What a corny performance.” Marisse Trystgade-Eldritch said. “Sakuradrop, you told me that you will show me a heart-breaking theatrical drama. This scene looks like it came from a low-budget indie movie who never selected their actors.”

“I-I’m sorry, your highness.” Sakuradrop bowed down. “I’m sorry if I failed to entertain you.”

“Let’s forget about that. Mike told us to go back to the castle. He said that we won the skirmish, so we will hold a party tonight.”

“Really!?” Sakuradrop jollily pumped her fists. “Let’s go home then! Let’s go!”

Then, all the enemies boarded the airship, including the mind-controlled Alphonse and Z. They all left me and my dragonoid Nathaniel in these snowy mountains, leaving us to die like a stray dog.

“Nielle! Stay with me! Stay with me!” Nathaniel continued to cradle me the whole time, but my situation is not going to be better. My heart is no longer beating. My death is absolute.

As I closed my eyes slowly, the crying shouts of the man I treasure the most became softer and inaudible. 

When everything went black, I can no longer hear his voice.

[Danielle Keine: K.I.A.]