Chapter 16
It took some time, but Kira and Mint finally came to as they slowly sat up on their make-shift beds.
"Good, you two are awake." Layette commented.
Kira groaned. "Everything hurts..."
"I just want to stay here for a while..." Mint added.
Layette pulled out a strange purple drink and poured two small cups. "Take small sips. This will ease the pain."
Both began drinking the sweet concoction slowly as Layette opened her book again. "Now Chili, show me your wrist."
He raised a curious eyebrow. "Why?"
"Just do it." She urged.
Groaning, he presented his hand to her and she held it while using her powers to flip through the pages of the book.
"'The symbol of shadows... If an inkling has been infected with dark magic this symbol will appear on their hand. To remove the mark one must bring the darkened energy out...'" She turned to Chili. "I hope you're ready for what I'm about to do." She gave him a rag to bite down on and had the book levitate in front of her while she traced her fingers on the symbol, as if she were moving a planchette. Chanting something in an ancient language, the dark symbol on his wrist began swirling around Layette's fingers and out of his body. Chili screamed into the rag as she kept chanting and moving her fingers, until the energy his arm had endured was locked into a glass vial.
"Thank you for your patience." She commented before he spit out the rag and yelled.
"Good lord you could have warned me you were going to do that!"
"And if I told you I was going to be ripping that dark energy from your bloodstream you would have said no anyways." She replied.
Mint tilted their head. "So wait. Why don't I have that symbol thing on my wrist like Chili did?"
"Because you're the opposite of the shadows; Light. Your energy immediately repels the force. So when you healed him, it quickly evaporated from your system."
Mint smiled. "Neat."
"Okay, now we have a bigger problem." Kira started. "We can't wait around any longer. We have to finish the war now."
Tenta crossed her arms. "We got the forces... We just need a new strategy."
"An ambush." Kira quickly commented. "If we get a head start towards the next battle location, we can have the salmonoids hide along the path and rain terror from above while the stronger forces cover the front line."
Akari nodded. "Good plan."
"Kira, you're the only one who can kill TarTar. Are you sure you can do it?" Layette told her.
"Chili and I will help the others take care of the sanitized as Cherry Bomb. Once we finish there we'll defuse and I'll fight him on my own."
The battle location: Molusk Mountain Keep
The sanitized, alongside TarTar, were making their way along the path. The salmonoids and dark cephalopods got their early enough to set up around the gorge. All of them armed with splatterscopes, chargers, and splat-bows. Cherry Bomb was waiting from a cave system, alongside Akari and Mint.
"Mint, you need to be behind the troops and heal them whenever you can. Akari, you're more of a support so stay in the wings or get real close up."
Both nodded and prepared their weapons. "What about you? What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to prep the final battle with good ol' Tary there. And make sure he gets a nice wake up call." Cherry Bomb made her way towards the front of the gorge and stayed hidden, looking above to where Tenta was.
Tenta nodded, and Cherry nodded, the soldiers aiming their weapons, and the stingers locking onto their targets.
"Steady... Steady..."
They got into a position best suited for the good results they needed. "Ready... Aim..."
As soon as TarTar's troops crossed the threshold, Tenta screeched and everybody open fired onto the unsuspecting troops and the final battle begins
End of Chapter
