Dark Hartina was out of breath. His body had been badly injured by his emblem's monster attack. He and Rafiz have decided to settle their own monster and now, here they were, fighting with their weapons. Truly not a wise choice to fight separately but he wanted to do it by himself.

 

What lowered his energy and mentality was that this serpent monster was not injured by his attack. He had tried many skills and attacks but still couldn't penetrate its body. He did not deny the serpent in front of him was very strong. Stronger than anything he had faced before.

 

"So this is the level of Revioryx underling's power? It seems I am still too weak... Am I really unable to defeat it without Kairi's help? My power… Is so useless in front of it!" He thought angrily while looking at the serpent who wanted to attack him again.

 

Instead of fighting with him, Dark Hartina dropped his weapon and glared at it.

 

"Come, then! If you really want to kill me, come on! You want my life, right? Then, come and get it!" He shouted at it.

 

The serpent roared and then all his heads attacked him. 

 

"Hydra!" 

 

Virgo and the others were shocked by Dark Hartina's outburst. His words make them think he was giving up.

 

"Kairi, help him, please!" Aries told Kairi below her with a worried expression.

 

However, Kairi was looking calmly at the battle. He only said one word to her and the others…

 

"Watch."

 

So, everyone watched Dark Hartina again. Dark Hartina who has closed his eyes snapped open and dodge the heads' attack. At the same time, he felt his stressful mind lightened a bit. His eyes widened at the sight on his chest. His emblem chain was emitting a glowing white light.

 

"Don't-…"

 

"What?" 

 

He was startled to hear a small voice inside his head. 

 

"Don't… Give… Up..." The voice repeated clearly this time.

 

Dark Hartina tried to find the owner of the voice but what he found was only the serpent in front of him. The serpent started backing away from him because of the light from his emblem. All the heads also shrieked like they were in pain.

 

"Save… Us..." A second voice was heard.

 

"Where are you?!" Dark Hartina asked. 

 

He was sure the voice belonged to his stellar's spirit. Kairi already mentioned it to him and Rafiz. So this must be his stellar spirit talking to him right now.

 

"Save us... We're over… Here..." A third voice appeared next.

 

Dark Hartina didn't know where they were but he noticed something strange from the serpent. There was a small light the size of his fingernail coming from the middle of the monster's chest that had many legs moving disgustingly.

 

The small lights have been in a state flicking on and off. Seemed to him like his stellar spirit was going to die if he didn't do anything right away. Without thinking, he ran towards the serpent's chest while it was still distracted by the emblem's light. 

 

Everyone there except Kairi was shocked. They saw Dark Hartina enter the serpent's mouth in its chest. Some immediately went pale at his action.

 

"Hydra!" 

 

They fear that he killed himself and that was not what they wanted!

 

As for Dark Hartina, after he entered the serpent's mouth, he dodge all the jagged teeth and ran to the throat hole. He still remembered the location of the small light and ran his way to it. When he arrived somewhere, his surroundings were so dark that he couldn't even see his hand. 

 

"Thankfully, I still bring it with me." 

 

Dark Hartina touched something on his hair. It was a small dot hairpin stuck to the side of his head. When he touched it, his eyes were instantly covered in a clear layer. With that, he can see his surroundings like it was still daylight.

 

"Dark Kage's invention is really useful, huh? Gotta thank him later then." He chuckled and sped up his running again.

 

When he arrived somewhere, his foot bumped into something and fell down hard on the slimy floor.

 

"Urgh... Eww! Damn, this is so… Eww!" 

 

He groaned while feeling disgusted when his front was covered in those slimy substances. He hopes he can wash his body right now. Yet, he could only ignore it and stood up again. He looked at the place he had stumbled upon. 

 

He felt confused seeing something like a root or maybe it was the serpent's blood vein. The veins were getting more and more in one direction and Dark Hartina went there to investigate. A moment later, he stopped in front of something high and huge.

 

"Strange... Why is there a tree here?" He thought and walked around the tree.

 

As he touched the trunk of the tree, a sharp thorn appeared and injured his hand. Dark Hartina automatically pulled his hand away and looked at his injury. Apparently, the tree has a defence mechanism against him. He became more vigilant and distanced himself from the tree. He noticed there was a small hole far above him.

 

He slid his boots base and something like a click sounded. Then, he stretched his leg and jumped. When his body was in the air, something like air pressure was coming out from below his foot. He slowly controls his stabilities while flying in the air.

 

"Dark Kage, your invention rock! I wonder if you would feel happy if I told you about it before. Tsk! He probably would and shows ecstatic expression even though he has no feelings..."

 

Dark Hartina once used it during his attack on Syarantonia three years ago. Now, he was using it again. It was a flying machine attached to some Deorc Star users' boots. It allowed them to fly in the sky or move somewhere fast.

 

Dark Hartina was able to reach the hold because of it. He bent down slightly to level his eyes to look into the small hole. His eyes widened at the sight of a small three-headed snake looking alike in the hole. It was wrapped in sharp thorny veins. The light from his body was flickering on and off.

 

Dark Hartina gasped. This must be his stellar spirit!

 

He can feel his eyes starting to dampen. His spirit was so weak and vulnerable. When he was about to reach for it, he suddenly felt his sight moving in circles.

 

"Wha, What...?" 

 

He didn't understand what was going on and only knew that he was falling while his sight still looked towards the hole. 

 

Poison!

 

That was the last thing Dark Hartina thought before his consciousness faded. He guessed the thorns of the tree had poison in them. 

 

Kairi who was resting his back to the wall had his eyes flickered. He looked at the serpent who was moving in a closed space he made for it. It was rampaging while looking at Rafiz nearby because it wanted to attack Rafiz next.

 

"Hartina…"

 

Kairi slowly opened his mouth and chanted a sentence. He can feel Dark Hartina was in a bad state and used his power to heal him. After that, his eyes went to Rafiz.

 

Rafiz finally managed to defeat the feline monster but he wasn't happy yet when the feline's body turned red and got bigger. His eyes twitched when another pair of hands appeared, becoming four of them. 

 

"What the hell?! Is this thing going to regenerate more and more autonomy if I cut it again?!" He couldn't help but curse.

 

All of the feline's fingernails extended past its elbows like sharp curved blades. Its long tail turned into a blade as well.

 

Rafiz dodged the attack of the tail which was flipped at him so fast that he couldn't see it coming until his instinct told him to move. Although his dodge was successful, his body was still scratched from the attack. 

 

He felt strange but did not sit still when the blade of the monster in front of him came at him again. He held on with one side of his sword before repelling another hand attack. The other two feline's hands also attacked him.

 

Rafiz had to dodge and even repel his attacks by moving quickly here and there. His breathing was getting faster and he was starting to feel a little exhausted. The strength of the feline also pressured him.

 

"Damn it!" 

 

He was too late to escape when the feline's tail wrapped around one of his legs and threw him into the air. Again, he had to repel all the feline's blade attacks while in the air. 

 

He was at a disadvantage! 

 

Even so, he didn't panic. He knew if a slight attention was lost, his life would be gone. 

 

"You can do it, nyaa!" A voice startled him.

 

It was coming from his head.

 

Nyaa?

 

"What the?! Are you my stellar spirit?" Rafiz asked through his mind.

 

"Yes, nyaa! Help me, nyaa!"

 

Rafiz's eyes twitched. What nyaa-nyaa? Is that your slang habit?

 

He shook his head before repelling another attack. When he found a chance to escape, he jumped far back from the feline.

 

"Where are you?!"

 

"Destroy the monster first, nyaa!"

 

"Then?"

 

"I'll be free, nyaa!"

 

What a simple thing to do… As if! How can he defeat this feline's monster?!

 

His complicated feelings changed to anger. He was furious at the feline monster in front of him because it annoyed him too much.

 

"Die already!" 

 

As soon as he swung his two blades, a glowing white light appeared from his slash and cut off all the hands and tail of the feline. He caused the feline to roar in pain.

 

Rafiz didn't stop his action. He channelled his power into his blades next, causing them to emit purple auras. He moves them upwards and carves a circle in the air. The circles turned into a blast and it was released toward the feline monster. As soon as the blast hit it, its body exploded loudly, bringing a fierce gust of wind and dirt to its surroundings.

 

Rafiz then panted heavily and wiped his sweat on his forehead with his arm. He can feel his fingers trembling while holding on to his blades. Finally, he can no longer sense the feline monster's aura and breath out a sigh of relief.

 

Everyone who saw the situation felt relief too but some of the users have turned into serious expressions. They surmised who Rafiz was after seeing his attacks.

 

Rafiz who didn't know their complicated feelings focussed on the explosion clouds. He waited for a long time for his stellar spirit to appear but… Now, he wondered if he accidentally killed it.

 

"Thank you, nyaa." A cute mewled voice sounded beside his left shoulder.

 

He snapped his head to look at it. He was surprised to see a kitten sitting on his left shoulder. Its body was in black colour with a striking aurora green pattern. Below its ears have long feathers in the same colour as the pattern while its tail was short and fluffy.

 

"Lynx…?" Rafiz called it.

 

"Nyaa." The kitten replied before snuggling against his face.

 

Rafiz feels ticklish and strokes his stellar spirit body. The small Lynx purred at him.

 

"Congratulations, Rafiz." Kairi appeared next to them.

 

Rafiz turned his head to him. "You could have given me and Hartina a little hand, you know. Since you are our leader."

 

Kairi chuckled. "I want to see if you can save your stellar spirit by yourself or not. By the way… Hartina is still fighting. I hope he can save his spirit."

 

Rafiz's eyes went to the serpent monster. He shuddered at the moving legs. It reminded him of worms.

 

"Don't be afraid, nyaa. I will never let any worms come close to you, nyaa." The Lynx spirit told him.

 

"Err, thanks?"

 

Kairi beside them burst out laughing. It seems their days would not be too gloomy with the spirits around. That reminded him to upgrade the Bright Star user's power. With the upgrades, the spirits can finally form themselves in front of their users. He will do it later after Dark Hartina saves his spirit.