Chapter 1-7: Axial.
The whole area began to shake furiously. The tremendous force caused by that gigantic monster was too much – many people lost their balances and fell down, while items and stuff in houses began to drop from the shelves and tables.
The leaves were coming in contact with each other as the impact shook them around. The water had ripples on them, and eyes were staring at that… that thing with fear.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?" Miya screamed at the top of her voice. It was the largest monster she ever has ever seen.
"A… chimera," said the priest. "I-I'm going to gather all the priests now!" he said hastily before he rushed his way back to the Priest's Shrine.
"Let's go," suggested Melissa before she pulled Miya back onto her feet.
"Let's go? What the hell do you plan to do?"
"To save our sister,"
"You should be trying to save us, not our sister!"
"Fine then. Run for your life, I'm going in no matter what," Melissa insisted before she increased her agility and headed in towards the main entrance that has yet to be destroyed.
"Damn it, this is getting more insane by the minute!" Miya declared to herself before took out her whip that was tightly fitted into a compact pouch, tied to the side of her leg. She then chased after Melissa, praying purely for safety.
"What?" Sam exclaimed at the communicator that he was holding.
"Something's happening here, Dad," Ayla told him. "Um… uh…" she stopped there. Suddenly, Natsumi's voice got through the device.
"Axial ran away, and Miya is chasing her," she said.
"That's it, we're coming home,"
"Hurry! The place is shaking pretty badly. Like there's an earthquake," Natsumi described to Sam.
"An earthquake? At Comodo? Impossible! Comodo is free from all natural disasters except the abnormality of the day and night,"
"That's why you should hurry," Natsumi added before she turned off the device.
"We should get going now," Rachael said grimly before she took in 2 pills.
"You should stay," Sam suggested.
"No!" she exclaimed at him. "I am going with you, no matter what," she assured herself before she threw a large bag of necessities towards Sam. "Now, let's go,"
She quickly walked out of the door. Sam followed slowly, grumbling all the way.
The beast took its first step out of the school compound, staring blankly at the villagers of Comodo who were returning its stupid gaze.
The serpents, sticking out from its back, were too busy hissing to do anything.
The Chimera was at the garden, right beside the main gate, at the front entrance of the school. No one has been hurt yet, but preparations are being made to ensure the safety of the Comodo, and if possible, of the beast too. But, almost everyone knows that would rather be impossible.
Right away, a silver-blue haired dancer dashed in from the side and observed the large monster.
She began strategizing. "How can I defeat a monster 10 times bigger than I am?"
She looked around. The school was practically half-destroyed, crumbles of the building were everywhere, once a while having a large stone popping out of the mess.
As she took in more of her surrounding, she noticed tall poles and pillars. "That!" she thought before she ran towards the nearest pillar.
However, the Chimera noticed her quick movement and reacted by swiping its paw at her, destroying the pillar in the process.
The dancer remained still. The Chimera continued to stare at her blankly. After an awkward silence without any movement, it turned away and continued its advance towards the village.
"When I move, it attacks. When I stand still, it doesn't bother me…?" she wondered before began following the Chimera closely behind it.
As it began to approach the villagers, they panicked and ran around – If they weren't heading back to their home, they were probably seeking a place called "Outside Comodo" to hide themselves in.
The Chimera seemed agitated upon seeing so many movements, and rampaged throughout the village, destroying everything in its path.
Obviously, that was bad news to everyone.
"Everyone, don't move!" she shouted but who the hell would listen to her?
Comodo was beginning to look more like a ruin. Thank God there was no fire… well, yet.
The Chimera opened its mouth wide. From its mouth, a purple ball of flame formed and kept on growing in size.
"Oh no," was the first thing that hit Axial's mind. She tied a Water Arrow to her whip and slung it towards the Chimera, injuring its back.
It let out a loud roar as it faced the sky. The purple fire ball was launched into the sky, without ever returning back.
The dancer let out a sigh of relieve before she scaled one of the tall houses that was still standing. From there, she was standing at eye-level with the Chimera, which turned around in anger – wondering who the hell shot it.
Axial remained still. The Chimera noticed the building, and even her – but didn't react to anything.
She was nervous – and hesitant as well. She was as still as a statue, and completely fooled the beasts' eyes. It turned its field of vision away from her.
And when she thought it was safe enough to attack, the serpents from its back began to dive in for a piece of her meat. She had to roll her way out of safety – from the large building, onto the ground… into the Chimera's vision.
"Uh-oh," and right after that she jumped to leap and instant reaction from the raged beast – an attempt to swipe her away with its paws.
While she was still in mid-air, the serpents dove in for another attack, but she managed to knock them away using her whip, damaging them at the same time.
When she landed on her feet, the serpents began spitting corrosive acid at her. As she tumbled, the acids landed on the ground – creating holes and dents as they turn the soil into – well, basically nothing.
Immediately she started circling the beast, avoiding the acids that she was being spat at and throwing Water Arrows at it whenever possible. But even so, the damage she was doing was merely miniscule and the Chimera felt the annoyance of it rather than the pain. Like, a fly trying land all over you. You won't die from it – you'll feel extremely annoyed. At least, most people would.
She knew she had to change her tactics. She tied another Water Arrow onto her whip but she lost the arrow when she had to take a leap to the side – avoiding the large purple fireball the monster sent at her.
So, another problem rose. Fireballs. As if the rest weren't enough. She tried to tie another Water Arrow but before she could even take out one of the elemental arrows, she had to continue dodging the attacks constantly thrown at her.
Her mind broke the panic barrier. She had no idea what to do. She briefly skimped through all the teachings she learned while she was an amateur dancer…
In a heated battle, you might not have time to think ahead. When that time comes, think of the primary problem and use the simplest solution to take care of it.
Primary problem… the monster is too large for her, so she needs to shower it with arrows. Now, she can't equip her arrows because of the attacks. How can she obtain the time to equip an arrow?
As she constantly dodged their attacks, and almost got hit by the acid, she saw lots of rocks piled up like a mountain. Cover! She quickly made her way towards it.
The Chimera launched another fireball at her, and she leaped as the force from the explosion pushed her jump even further. She landed and rolled onto safety, behind the pile of large stones.
As the acids were having fun with the large stones, she tied a Water Arrow hastily onto her whip, and side stepped out of the way before another fireball literally turned the stones into a pile of ash.
Great, her first problem is solved… for now. Now, where does she attack?
She knew it would be a problem. She didn't have much time either, even though the crowd has already left, she was losing energy. Her breaths were getting heavier and heavier. Her movements were slowly but constantly slowing down.
She scanned her surroundings once again. What wasn't destroyed? Besides the ground, some trees and that single tall pillar which seemed as tall as the Chimera itself… wait, a tall pillar!
She took a detour and made a windy path towards the large pillar. As she was advancing towards the pillar, her Water Arrow began illuminating a bright aura. Now, for the timing.
Axial began circling the damned beast as she observed its attack pattern. Slowly, it was as if the serpents were getting more accurate by the minute, but she wouldn't have figured out it was her stamina that was letting her down.
Finally, the Chimera swiped its left paw at her. She jumped high into the air, to be greeted by its right paw. But before it landed hard on her with force, she used it as a mid-air platform and pushed herself into safety, back onto the ground. The Chimera fixed its posture and launched another fireball at her while she was still at a safe distance from the pillar – to prevent the explosion from damaging it. So, it was time.
She turned around and dashed at the pillar with all of her remaining energy. As she ran up the pillar, the acids that were following her trail began to corrode the pillar.
Right at the top, the previously large pillar became as skinny as a bamboo. With one final push she somersaulted into the air, and when she was right in front of its face, she threw the Charged Arrow right in its face, and a large explosion followed, which completely swallowed the both the dancer and the beast.
A priest and a silver-haired dancer arrived at the scene.
"Now what?" Miya exclaimed at Melissa.
"Calm down,"
"WHAT?"
"Don't make me use Lex Divina on you," Melissa said grimly.
Even so, that was enough to act as a natural Lex Divina on Miya.
Suddenly, the cloud of smoke glowed purplish in colour. A Fireball shot out from it, and exploded on the ground. Not that it bothered the two girls… yet.
The smoke cleared and Axial was no where to be seen.
"Miya, take care of that beast, please!" Melissa told her before she ran towards the explosion.
"H-how?" Miya asked but received no reply. She had no idea what to do, even though she was the eldest sister.
"Um… uhh…" She kept on looking around. She needed a clue. A clue to what to do – and how to do it.
Well, she received her clue the moment the Chimera noticed her sister running towards the explosion.
Spontaneously, she tied an Oridecon Arrow to her whip and it began illuminating a bright aura. As soon as the serpents were all focused on Melissa, she aimed and threw the Charged Arrow – not at the Chimera itself, but at the serpents.
In the process, about 3 of them lost their head. So, 3 down, 5 left to go. The agitated Chimera turned its direction towards the silver-haired dancer.
But her body reacted again without her mind. From her compact pouch, she took out a foldable bow and knotted as many arrows as she could on it.
She took aim, and rained a shower of arrows on it.
But even so, it wasn't able to pierce the thick hide of the Chimera. The serpents were agile enough to dodge the arrows.
She quickly knotted another two arrows and shot them towards one of the serpents. It dodged the first arrow, but ended up right in the pathway of the other arrow. It went straight through it, right between its eyes, and was torn off the Chimeras back.
And that was when it was really angry.
Melissa was out of danger then. The exploded subsided a long time ago, and right now the smokescreen it created was only beginning to do the same thing. But, she didn't have the time.
At – what seemed to be a ruin created by a meteor - she saw Axial, unconscious, but seriously burnt and injured.
"T-Third degree burn!" her mind thought. She couldn't believe it. Her youngest sister didn't look like her youngest sister at all – it was as if she was a totally different person.
She immediately began following protocol, continuously hoping and praying that her sister survives. She was literally in a blood pool, and as if the burns weren't bad enough, dusts were everywhere and the air was constantly moving.
Melissa tore a piece of cloth from her clothes and wet it with cool water, and laid it lightly on her sister's exposed body. Immediately after that, she held up multiply blue gem stones and began enchanting something. The area around Axial lit up brightly in green, as the blue gem stones disintegrated into thin air and a sanctuary was formed. From there, she focused on healing her whole body.
She then positioned herself near her sister's mouth. She had rapid and shallow breathings. A sign of shock… and it shocked Melissa too.
"Damn it, I need the priest team, but how can I get them?" she wondered. Touching Axial now isn't the best option she has, yet it was probably the only option he had.
"Should I?"
The roar of the Chimera together with Miya's groan disrupted her thoughts as she turned around.
"Miya!" she reacted with an exclamation. Her sister was being crushed in the Chimera's paws.
Miya was screaming. Her bones were starting to give in, and tears escaped through her eyes.
Melissa stood up, shouted "Holy Light!" and a bolt enchanted with holy power was sent towards its paws. They had no effect.
"N-No!" She kept on throwing the Holy Lights at its paws, in hopes that it would at least loosen. But, eventually she gave up, and so did Miya.
"T-This can't be happening!" she thought. Was Miya dead, or did she just pass out from the pain? Axial was about to die, probably sooner than Miya unless the damned monster eats her sister up right now.
But numerous footsteps finally got to her, as she turned to notice a large group of warriors. Every single one of them were here to take care of the monster. She thought it would relieve her, but she didn't feel any changes in her at all. That was, until she noticed the team of priests behind the group.
"Kevin! HELP me!" She exclaimed as loud as she could. The leader of the priests – who had dark green hair, increased his team's agility and made their way towards her, while the archers, dancers and bards of the group of warriors quickly used their ranged attacks to distract the Chimera.
"What's wrong?"
"I-It's my sister!" she said with panic.
Kevin went towards the pool of blood, and was shocked of what was in front of him.
"Everyone, we have to begin the resurrection process! ASAP!"
"Resurrection?" Melissa gasped.
"Melissa, you too!" he ordered before all the priests surrounded Axial. But she didn't dare to approach her sister.
Kevin had nothing to say. He had no choice but to continue without her.
Each and everyone of the priests – whom surrounded Axial - held up a single blue gem stone. They began to read out the verses of a spell, and the blue gem stone began illuminating brightly.
"MIYA!" Someone with a familiar voice shouted. Melissa turned around. Natsumi was right beside Miya's body – who was pulled into safety.
A sign of fear completely overwhelmed her. But even she knew she had to do something. She gathered up the remains of herself and hesitantly made her way towards her eldest sister.
"Miya! Wake up! Wake up!" Natsumi pleaded with tears, but there was no response.
"What're you doing?" Melissa questioned her sternly and pushed her away.
"What the hell do you mean? I'm trying to wake her up!"
"Get your white potions!"
Natsumi immediately obeyed her instructions and took out as many white potions as she could find within the cart she brought along.
Melissa checked her pulse. It was faint, but the pulse was still there. She touched her ribs and the rest of her body parts to locate obvious bone dislocation.
"Damn it, if only I studied more about this…" she cursed within her mind before she held out the very same blue gem stone that the team of priests held out. She, too, began reading out the very same verses… of the very same spell, as her blue gem stone began illuminating brightly too.
Natsumi opened the cap of the potion and poured all over the dancer's body. She couldn't force the liquid down, so it had to be absorbed through the skin.
And, all the while, Ayla was too busy trying to get revenge for the harm that beast caused to her sisters by throwing all of her stashed Acid Bottles at the Chimera. When the Chimera tried to attack her with its melee attacks, and if it was within range, she would mammonite it with the zeny she had been saving up till now.
To many people's surprise though, she probably one of the very people who could actually deal some damage to the monster.
Meanwhile, back at Axial, a few of the priest's blue gem stone had already broke into two. Their spells failed.
"Just a bit more…" Kevin's mind thought, as one by one, more and more priest's blue gem stone began to break into two. Everyone's resurrection was failing, and he was the only one left.
"Almost…!" He thought again, but right when he closed his eyes, thinking it was done, he was pushed back by a force, and his blue gem stone broke into two. The process failed.
The team of priests were disappointed. They lost a life, and someone isn't going to be very happy about it.
Miya, on the other hand, was guaranteed to be safe from death as Melissa called towards the team of priests as she noticed they had nothing on their hands at that very moment. They rushed towards her, and began treating Miya's wounds.
"How's Axial?" she asked one of them, but didn't get an answer.
"How's Axial?" she repeated herself, louder than ever.
Kevin pulled her out of the group, and went close to her ears. A moment passed, and a sign of shock mixed with sorrow was poured onto her face.
He patted her back, as she kneeled down. He would like to spend time to relieve her, but with Miya being the second on the chopping board – although saved by Melissa's Resurrection spell – he had to make sure that she would still be able to live a normal life after this.
Meanwhile, Natsumi was just sitting beside, observing whatever the priests were doing to Miya.
Ayla however was still battling the Chimera. She leaped backwards to dodge a single claw swipe from the Chimera.
Despite being the only female with guts, she was out of breath, and fell onto her knees. She used too much energy while in an adrenaline rush, and couldn't move at all.
The Chimera took this as a golden opportunity and sent a purple fireball towards the emerald-haired alchemist.
"Scatter, everyone!" One of the knights warned, but Ayla was too worn out to do anything. She simply closed her eyes and prepared herself – apologizing to her husband for leaving this world so early.
But from the very moment the Fireball left the Chimera's mouth, suddenly – from the pool of blood, Axial's left arm began illuminating a blue aura. The ancient mark – which was somehow hidden from everyone up till now – stood out and shone brightly.
And Melissa was probably the first person to see that happen.
"What's going on…?" her mind thought blankly.
A shadow of Axial rose from the body and – before the Fireball could reach Ayla – warped itself in the Fireball's path. It completely blocked the huge orb of flame and dissolved it so that there would be no explosion.
Ayla slowly opened her eyes, only to wonder why she hasn't felt anything yet. She noticed the blue shadow, hovering in front of her. The hair, the figure… she looked very familiar, but Ayla was too tired to think about it.
Axial's shadow unwrapped its weapon – which looked exactly like a whip, except this time it was made out of short blades and was extremely long – probably at least double the length of normal whips.
Everyone was staring at it. The shadow turned around and saw Melissa staring blankly at it. Deciding that there are matters that need to be taken care of first, she turned back and charged towards the Chimera's face.
It tried to charge another Fireball, but paused when the shadow was right in front of its face. It just opened its mouth, didn't even form anything in it, and the shadow was already in front of its face.
The serpents didn't have enough time to react to its movements that were going at light speed.
The Chimera raised its paws, but even so it was no match for the shadow's speed.
It raised its whip, and then flung it all around the beast's body. It was as if the shadow was doing aerobics, since the whip didn't look like it came in contact with the Chimera's body.
But when it stopped to withdraw its whip, the Chimera was split into a million pieces and those tiny pieces were disintegrated into thin air.
Everyone rejoiced. The Chimera was finally gone. Of course people would rejoice… right?
That was what Melissa obviously thought. But how could she? Her youngest sister… left. Her eldest could've followed her, but thankfully she managed to save her.
Melissa stood up, and looked towards Axial's lifeless body. She shed a single tear – knowing how worthless it is to cry over spilt milk – and turned around, only to be caught off guard by Axial's shadow.
"W-what do you want?" she asked.
The shadow only had visible eyes – and the eyes were clearly of Axial's. Because it was grey in colour, and Axial was the only person who had those eyes.
"A-Axi?" found its way out of Melissa's mouth. The shadow – although only had a pair of eyes – smiled. The eyes were enough to show Melissa that it was smiling.
"Don't go… please!" she begged but the shadow shook its head.
Melissa stared at the ground. The shadow approached her and patted her back, as if assuring her that everything was going to be alright.
"What about Keiro?"
The shadow's eyes opened wider. Tears collected itself within its eyes, but managed to keep itself within. The shadow then walked towards its own corpse.
It turned around, and waved to Melissa. And it was that time that Melissa… no, not just Melissa, everyone related to Axial; Sam, Rachael, even Miya who was unconscious; Including her one and only friend out of the all the classmates she knew, Rins; and finally Keiro… together with his duplicate, Zero… heard her last voice.
That voice, within their minds, said this before the shadow slowly faded away into the air, still gazing at its own corpse…
"Sayonara," Sayonara means Farewell
The End of Chapter 1.
