Previously:
Meanwhile, The SML brothers were making their way through a part of town that had caught fire.
"… This is just like hell..." S Nando said, looking around.
"Mama, mama, where are you?" a child screamed, holding his stomach and bleeding from one eye.
"Stop it—!" one man pleaded with another, who had his sword raised, ready to attack.
"Damn… Why did this happen…!?" a man with a ponytail cried, holding the hand of a burn victim.
"Someone… Someone, save us..." two mothers cried, cradling their children. People were screaming and crying all over the place, young and old. Two children were trying to wake up their dead parent. And old man prayed beside a bloody sword that had been discarded.
"!?" M Nando gasped. He pointed at the sky. "What's that?"
"What is that..." a little girl asked, also looking up.
"Flying towards here… a bird…?" a woman holding her baby said. Up in the sky was a gathering of white rukh flying together in the shape of a huge bird. And in the middle of that bird, flew Aladdin on his magic turban, accompanied by Faith. Together they sped towards the city infested with black rukh, their expressions grim.
Chapter 60: Solomon's Wisdom
"Judar, just like you, he is a 'Djinn' who is entrusted with black rukh," Banker said, explaining the situation at the palace to the magi. "Use your power to control him. That way, he'll become your servant!"
"Quickly become…" Judar said, raising his hands. "Mine already!!!" He slammed both of his hands down on the back of the Dark Djinn's neck. Light and energy that crackled like electricity erupted from his hands, making the Djinn cry out. When the smoke cleared, Judar was floating next to the Djinn and smirking. "Hmm…" He raised his wand and the Djinn stood up. "I see..."
'Damn… This is the worst...' Sinbad thought, glaring up at Judar. "But, I've got to do something!"
"Thalg Al-Salos!" Judar shouted, shooting a rain of ice spears at him.
"What!?" Sinbad said, quickly dodging. The ice spears froze the part of the wall they hit.
"Thalg Al-Salos!" Judar shouted again, repeating the attack.
"!!!" Sinbad furrowed his brow when he realized that moving had put Hope in the line of fire too. Before she could react, he was already pushing her out of the way. "!!" Sinbad exclaimed as he was pinned to the wall by ice spears, and they froze parts of his arms and legs. "Urgh..."
"Sinbad!!" Hope cried, staring at the painful scene with wide eyes. She picked herself up and moved to help him.
"Don't!!" Sinbad told her. "He'll only go after you, too!"
"Behave, Sinbad… don't worry, I won't kill you… I'll make you mine later, too," Judar told him smugly. "And don't worry about the girl. I was already going to kill her."
"Damn!!!" Sinbad cursed, glaring up at him.
"Now… It's finally time to kill you!!" Judar told Alibaba and Hope, pointing his wand in their direction.
"!!" Alibaba and Hope said, sweating nervously. Judar waved his wand and sent more ice spears raining down on them.
"Alibaba-san!!! Hope-san!!!" Morgiana cried, tackling both of them out of the way. She held onto both of them while she repeatedly dodged the ice spears Judar shot at them.
'This kind of attack… cannot be avoided for a long time!!' Morgiana thought anxiously. 'I can only... temporarily… escape for now…!!' She stopped to catch her breath after the first wave of attacks was over, taking advantage of the temporary cover the dust and ice vapors had created.
"Morgiana," Alibaba said, getting her attention. "Can you… throw me up there..." he asked, pointing up at the sky where Judar and the Djinn were hovering.
"!?" Morgiana said.
"I still have enough power to make an attack like before… I'll use this power to finish him off," Alibaba said.
"Bu… But…!" Morgiana said.
"The situation is worse than before!!" Hope said.
"The numbers of the enemies has increased and the demon has already recovered from its injury…!!" Morgiana agreed.
"Have you run out of magoi?" Alibaba asked Hope.
"No, but I haven't been able to Djinn Equip at all since this happened," she replied, holding up her black hand.
'As I thought, it's up to me...' Alibaba thought, the crease in his brow deepening. "If the situation is worse than before, then, I just have to use a power stronger even than before. As long as I 'exhaust the magoi within my body', I'll be able to do it!" The girls's eyes widened as they recalled what Sinbad had said about that.
The results of exhausting magoi within the body… can lead to death.
"No!! You can't do that!" Morgiana said anxiously.
"You need to hold some magoi in reserve for yourself!" Hope said, concerned.
"There's no other way," Alibaba said, and Hope opened her mouth to argue but closed it when she saw the determination in his eyes. He was doing this with or without them.
"But!! But… Alibaba might die…!" Morgiana said. Hope looked at her black hand and clenched it.
'Ipos…!!' she thought desperately, biting her lip.
"If we cared about something like that, Everything that everyone has been protecting until now will be destroyed!!" Alibaba argued fiercely. Even the soldiers and guards were staring at him with wide eyes now. "I've got to do this!! Please, Morgiana!!!"
"…!!" Morgiana gasped. "Alibaba-san…!!"
"Where did they run off to?" Judar wondered. "Those brats… scurrying around..." The dust and ice vapors began to clear. "Oh…?" There, at the center of it, were Alibaba and Morgiana. Alibaba held Amon's fiery sword at the ready.
"Here we go!" Morgiana said, cupping her hand under Alibaba's back foot.
"Yeah!" he agreed, preparing to push off with his front foot. Morgiana gripped him tightly and threw him into the air with all her might. Judar smirked as Alibaba flew towards him with his flaming sword.
"Heh… It's Djinn Equip…" he said, unimpressed. He raised his wand. "Gravity magic infused with the magoi from the Djinn and me… Do you think you can beat this!?" he demanded, turning the Djinn's right hand into a long black blade. The two blades clashed. Judar grinned.
'Amon's sword is… distorting!!' Alibaba thought, alarmed when he thought he heard cracking noises.
"Hey, just break already!!" Judar said, applying more pressure.
"Amon!!!" Alibaba yelled, determined to cut through the black blade. A crack appeared clearly in Amon's blade. Alibaba's eyes widened in horror as it spread, and his sword snapped in half. Everyone watching from the ground stared in shock, alarmed. Alibaba and the pieces of his sword fell to the ground.
"Ahh…!!" Hope gasped.
"Alibaba!!!" Morgiana cried, rushing over to him.
"The prince's sword…" a soldier said.
"!!" gasped another.
"… Is already..."
Alibaba tightened his grip on the handle of his broken sword and used it to push himself up.
"One more time, Morgiana," he said.
"!?" Morgiana gasped. "What are you saying!? The sword is already..."
"The sword is still here. I'm still alive," Alibaba said. "I have to do it one more time..." Morgiana and the soldiers hesitated. Not only did the sword look broken beyond repair, but if Alibaba kept this up… Hope gritted her teeth and glared at her black hand. "One more time!!!" Alibaba shouted with a burning determination.
"!!" Morgiana gasped. "O… Okay!!"
—∞—
'Hey, Alibaba,' Aladdin thought. 'Why do you do things to such an extent?'
—∞—
Morgiana launched Alibaba into the air again. Judar and the Djinn repelled him. Hope squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated hard, harder than she had ever concentrated on anything else before.
—∞—
'You always shoulder all those responsibilities alone when you don't have to. Like that time.' He remembered when Alibaba helped save Faith and the little girl from that carnivorous plant in the desert. 'Like that time.' When Alibaba used the treasure from capturing the dungeon to buy the freedom of Morgiana and the other slaves in Qishan. 'And like that time.' Alibaba faced Ahbmad for the people. 'Really, what is it for? No—… actually, I understand.'
—∞—
Alibaba struggled to stand back up again. He glared up at Judar.
—∞—
'It's because you're Alibaba. And because of that, I—...'
—∞—
Hope managed to make the blackness fade from her hand. It was back to normal. Not only that, but she was able to bring out her Djinn Equip again. She looked up, ready to tell Alibaba the good news, that he wouldn't have to fight alone anymore, when she saw Judar raise his wand and shoot more ice spears at him. Hope and Alibaba's eyes widened. But before the spears could finish reaching Alibaba, a bright light appeared in the sky, and it came shooting down between Alibaba and the attack, scattering the ice spears. Alibaba and a few of the soldiers near him were blown backwards a little bit, but when he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar back standing there in front of him inside the light.
"Really, you're such a strange person," Aladdin said. "But because that is who you are, I want to be of help to you..." he turned around to face his friend. "And I'll stretch out my hand to you no matter how many times..." He held his hand out to Alibaba, who stared back up at him in amazement. "Hey, Alibaba!" Aladdin greeted him with a smile. Everyone stared at the young boy in awe.
"Aladdin!!" Hope said, relieved to see that he was okay.
"Hey, Hope!" he greeted her warmly. "Sorry for worrying you."
"Yeah, 'sup?" Faith said, landing next to her on the magic turban.
"What are you doing here?" Hope asked, surprised.
"You told me to stick to Aladdin, so I did," Faith replied nonchalantly, wrapping the turan around her neck like a scarf for safe keeping, since Aladdin was busy. She squinted at her sister's face, looking especially close at her eyes. "You've been pushing yourself again, haven't you?"
"Guilty," Hope admitted. "But right now isn't the time to be worried about that."
"Yeah, who has time to be depressed with all this going on?" Faith said, looking around at the destruction, then Judar and the Dark Djinn.
"Ha… You have finally arrived… I've been waiting for you!" Judar told Aladdin. "Let me say this, Midget… I won't lose this time. Because I've attained a 'Djinn' too!" He spread his arms wide, showing off by making the Dark Djinn roar. "Okay, call out your Djinn now!!"
"!" Sinbad gasped. 'That's right, if it's Aladdin's Djinn, it can definitely match up to them! And if Faith can produce that explosive spell again...' His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed the state of Hope's previously black hand. 'It's back to normal! When did she… how did she…?' Not only that, but her Djinn Equip was back and with the armor on her arms too.
"Call it out now!!" Judar ordered Aladdin, firing an ice spear at him. A glowing sphere appeared around Aladdin that blocked the attack.
"!?" Alibaba, Morgiana, and Hope gasped. "That's!?"
"Yep, I think our boy leveled up," Faith said proudly.
"Hmph… a barrier that defends against attacks with malice… Isn't it normal for a magi to be able to do that?" Judar said dismissively. "Just let out your Djinn now and fight me!" Judar fired more ice spears at Aladdin. Aladdin continued about his business as if nothing special was happening, completely untouched. "Tch!" Aladdin strolled over to Sinbad.
"Oji-san, are you alright?" Aladdin asked him.
"Ah, yeah..." Sinbad replied. "Aladdin! The only person left who can match up to them is your Djinn!"
"Are you talking about Ugo-kun?" Aladdin asked. He held the flute that was hanging from his neck. "If you're talking about him..." He squeezed the flute tightly. "He's not here anymore."
"!?" Sinbad, Hope, Faith, Alibaba, and Morgiana gasped.
"Not here? What do you mean…?" Judar asked, furrowing his brow slightly.
'That's right… That was the last time I will see Ugo-kun...' Aladdin thought, remembering how Ugo had seen him off with a tearful smile and said that Aladdin would be fine even without him.
"Without a Djinn… you're just a normal brat. Die," Judar told him coldly. He had the Dark Djinn fire a ball of black fog at him.
'But, it's not like Ugo-kun disappeared completely,' Aladdin thought. He crossed his arms then spread them wide. Suddenly he was surrounded by white rukh again, and he floated a foot above the ground.
"What!?" Rukh's divine protection!?" Judar said. "No, that's wrong!"
'Ugo-kun left me power!!!' Aladdin thought, giving the rukh commands. Hope and Faith watched in amazement as they formed two giant white arms, which grew to sprout shoulders, a neck, and a head, continuing to grow until a whole body had formed.
"Wha..." a soldier said nervously.
"That's…!!?" another exclaimed. "A white giant…!!?"
"Could that be!! Djinn materialization!?" Banker said, taken aback. "Could he… possibly have 'attained' that!?"
"Ah? What the..." Judar said after a moment. "Although it bears the appearance of that giant… that's… just purely heat magic!"
'Heat magic!? I see… that's actually steam! But what can steam do against gravity!?' Hope thought anxiously, hoping Aladdin wasn't about to get hurt again. 'When and where did he learn it?'
'Heat magic!? Has Aladdin learned how to use magic!?' Sinbad thought.
'Actually, I… knew how to use magic all along...' Aladdin thought. 'Whenever Ugo-kun used my magoi to use magic, he let me practice through the flute. To ensure that I'll be able to use magic in the future...'
"You're such a boring brat—just die already!!" Judar told him, raising his wand again. Aladdin clasped his hands together around his staff.
'For me to be able to battle on my own. It's already alright, Ugo-kun, because you taught me...' Aladdin thought, preparing to fight as the Dark Djinn flew at him. 'Even if I'm alone...' He swung his staff out in front of him. 'I can do it!!' "Har-Har Infigar!!!" he shouted, firing a massive ball of fire at them.
"UOOOOO…!!?" Judar shouted in surprise and alarm. Everyone watched in astonishment as he was enveloped in blindingly bright flames. The residual heat coming off of the attack was so strong that it melted the ice that had Sinbad pinned to the wall.
"Oji-san, are you alright?" Aladdin asked him.
"Yeah!" Sinbad replied. "What about you, Hope? Your hand..."
"It's back to normal," she reported with a smile, holding it up for them to see. She was actually starting to feel pretty good now.
"How did you…?" Sinbad asked. She didn't have any training in manipulating magoi…
"Well, I figured that if the black rukh was the opposite of white rukh, and black rukh was filling me up with bad memories, I should counter that by filling myself up with good ones. So I concentrated really hard on everything good that ever happened to me until there was no more room for the negative stuff," Hope explained quickly.
'Through sheer willpower!?' Sinbad thought, surprised. The amount of inner strength that must have taken…
"It's a good thing you're used to doing that for your illness," Faith remarked. Although Hope couldn't get rid of that so easily.
"Hope is amazing!" Aladdin said with a smile. "Then, Morg, can you help me take Oji-san to the town?" he asked. "There are people waiting for him."
"Bu… But..." Morgiana said, hesitating to leave.
"It's alright!!" Aladdin reassured her, pointing off into the distance. "Now go!"
"What a disappointment… It seems that it's really only heat magic..." Banker remarked. "If it's only a magi of this level, he's no match for Judar in this country now. But that girl..." The debris cleared to show that Judar was perfectly fine, protected by his borg.
"Making a fuss over something of this level… Don't disappoint me, Midget!!!" Judar shouted, gathering more black rukh.
'The attack wasn't effective against that guy—…!' Alibaba thought, sweat sliding down his face. 'But today's Aladdin seems even stronger than ever. I feel like it'll be alright...'
"..." Aladdin stared up at Judar. "Hm… looks like I… can't win," Aladdin said.
"Eh!!?" Alibaba exclaimed.
"Alibaba… because my magic is still incomplete… I can't win against him, no matter what I do," Aladdin explained. "I need your strength. If it's you, we can definitely defeat that guy and the black 'Djinn'!"
"And we'll help you. Right?" Faith said, glancing at her sister.
"Of course," Hope said.
"I… I wish to do so, too…!!" Alibaba said. "But I've lost my sword… and I have no magoi left… I can no longer fight..." He was trembling, feeling too weak to even pick himself up off the ground.
"… That's not true," Aladdin told him with a small smile. He placed his hand on Alibaba's shoulder. "Here, take a close look. Alibaba..." Aladdin raised his staff and the flow of white rukh connected them to the city outside the palace.
—∞—
"Royalty, nobility, kill them all!" a man with dreadlocks and a mustache yelled, holding a bloody sword. He was hit on the head with a frying pan.
"Idiot! What good would that do!?" his attacker said.
"Just when everything was changing for the better!" a mother holding her baby said with tears in her eyes.
"Didn't we already decide, that we would reestablish our country by ourselves!!" said a soldier. Sahbmad was working hard commanding the troops.
"We already swore at that time!!"
—∞—
"Alibaba… there's still the power of hope left for this country," Aladdin said. "The power to step forward, overcoming fate's crisis." They could see through the rukh that there were people looking toward a brighter future all around them. "Aren't you the one who lit them? Everyone's hopes within their hearts.
"…!!" Alibaba gasped. Tears formed in his eyes. "Everyone's…!!"
—∞—
"We'll never... give up!!!" the soldiers and citizens shouted together with determination.
—∞—
"I don't know what's going on, but pull yourself together!" Faith told Alibaba, slapping him on the back. "Your people need you, right?"
"Faith… be a little more gentle with him," Hope chided her sister, sweat-dropping. He had enough injuries already. But for once Alibaba didn't mind.
"Right!!" Alibaba agreed with Faith firmly. Aladdin smiled.
"In order to move forward in life, the rukh bird will lead!!" Aladdin said, and they all watched as it flew over the city. "That's why we can still continue to fight!!" The rukh bird circled back around and dived down on top of Aladdin, surrounding him with its light.
"Cheh, gathering rukh for heat magic again!" Judar said, frowning. Aladdin raised his arms, and the rukh swirled around him, flowing into his forehead.
"Wow!!" Faith said.
"Aladdin…!!?" Alibaba said.
"No… It cannot be," Banker said, alarmed. "That's…!?" The light swirled back around in the other direction now, forming large hands that wound themselves around Aladdin and Alibaba in circles. The twins shielded their eyes and faces from the wind it was creating. "There's no mistaking it… so he has already 'attained' it…!! That's genuine!" Aladdin's forehead glowed. " 'Wisdom of Solomon'!!!" An eight-pointed seal shined brightly on Aladdin's forehead.
"Aladdin's… head is…!?" Alibaba exclaimed.
"Just as I thought!!" Banker said, gritting his teeth. "That's the genuine… Wisdom of Solomon!!!" This time the rukh swirled to form a blindingly bright ball of light above Aladdin.
"What… What is it this time!!?" Alibaba asked.
"Dude, chill," Faith said. "This is Aladdin we're talking about."
"Are those… people?" Hope asked, looking up at the shapes that had formed in the light. Sure enough, they looked like the white silhouettes of faceless people. There appeared to be hundreds of them. The 'people' shrank down and seemed to flow into Aladdin.
"What was that just now..." Alibaba asked.
"Well, I made everyone come over," Aladdin said. "To guide you to your friend."
"Eh?" Alibaba said.
"Alibaba, that's your important friend, right?" Aladdin asked him. "He has completely fallen into the darkness now. You are the only one who can save him."
"…!" Alibaba looked sadly up at the Dark Djinn.
"Use your sword to penetrate him and get rid of that darkness!"
"…!" Alibaba said. "I want to do that too, but the sword is already… Hope can still use her Djinn Equip, maybe..." But he didn't know what to say. Maybe he should leave it to her? That didn't feel right.
"It's alright! Amon's sword can be restored…!" Aladdin said. "As long as we combine our strength! This is something Alibaba has to do!"
"….!!?" Alibaba said.
"Har-Har Infigar!!!" Aladdin said, creating another huge fireball.
"Heat magic again! Didn't I tell you that won't work on me?" Judar said. Aladdin turned his head to look at Alibaba.
"Eh?" Alibaba said. Aladdin fired the attack at him. "!!!!" Alibaba cried in alarm. "Hey… Hey, Aladdin!??"
"Rukhs..." Aladdin called.
"!!!" Alibaba gasped when he realized the fire had changed form and was being absorbed by Amon. "Flames!!!"
'I see! Sinbad did say we could recharge using the same element of magic as our Djinn!' Hope thought.
"Although this heat magic is the only magic I can use now… It's fortunate that your sword is a sword of flames!" Aladdin said. "This, too, is surely not a coincidence!"
"Amon's sword... is restored…!!" Alibaba exclaimed, amazed to see the long blade intact again.
"Now, go!!" Aladdin told him. "Hope! Faith! Help me distract that other magi!"
"You got it!" Faith said, and they all sprang into action.
'Cassmin…!!' Alibaba thought, gritting his teeth as he ran towards the Djinn.
"As if I would let that happen!!" Judar shouted, raising his wand. "!!" he was surprised when Hope suddenly ran underneath him and sprang up to attack. "Tch…!" He started to turn to face her when Faith intervened from the ground.
"Takhtariq!!" she shouted, aiming her stick directly at Judar, commanding a beam of black strength magic to shoot from her wand to pierce his borg, punching a small hole the size of a golfball in it. Judar, who had flinched out of the way in case the attack continued all the way through relaxed.
"Hah! Don't try to scare me with something so pathetic!" he mocked her, even though there were beads of sweat on his brow. That was the second time she managed to pierce the borg of a magi… just how powerful was this girl? Faith smirked.
"Made you look," she said with a Cheshire cat grin. Judar's borg was instantly filled with cracks, and it crumbled away around the hole she had already made, creating a cascade failure throughout the whole spherical shield. While he was focused on Faith, Hope had finished delivering her attack to his borg. She aimed another punch at him, but he quickly floated out of the way, startled to suddenly find himself defenseless, even if it was only temporary.
"Darab!!" Faith shouted, and he was hit with a blunt force that would have sent him crashing into a wall if he hadn't stopped himself in time. Judar rubbed his sore jaw and glared at her, but before he could retaliate, Hope was coming for him again.
"Wow! You know magic, Faith!?" Aladdin said, amazed. He had heard from her the she could make things explode if she pushed herself hard enough, but he didn't know she knew any magic words, though something seemed a little off about them…
"Nope! But thanks to our relatives in Lebanon, I know some Arabic!" Faith replied. She had never been so glad to have such a diverse family background. "That's what your spell sounded like to me, so I thought I'd give it a shot!" She couldn't quite get the spells to behave the way she wanted, but it seemed Arabic was close enough to whatever language Aladdin was using to at least get a result.
While Judar was distracted by the twins, Alibaba charged the Dark Djinn, stabbing it with his revived blade.
"GUOOOAA!!" it roared as he injected the wound with flames.
"Hmph, the black Djinn is immortal!" Banker said. "You'll only get hurt with an attack of that degree!!" The black rukh swarmed around Alibaba.
"Prince Alibaba!!!" a soldier cried.
"!!" the twins said, glancing in his direction as the black rukh wrapped themselves around him and began pulling him into the Djinn. "Alibaba!!"
"Wait!!" Aladdin said, stopping them when they moved to help. The Djinn swallowed Alibaba whole.
"What!?" Faith exclaimed. Hope gasped, but she looked at Aladdin, wondering why he had stopped them if that was the result.
"That's… just a joke, right…!?" one of the soldiers said nervously, not wanting to believe his eyes.
"What's that?" Judar said with a smirk, suddenly feeling a lot better despite how on edge the twins had managed to get him only moments ago. "He was swallowed into the Djinn's stomach. Looks like that was just a bluff, haha!" He was definitely going to use the Djinn to pay back those twins by crushing them. Aladdin furrowed his brow and frowned as he turned to face Judar again.
"I have some things I want to tell you," Aladdin told him. The seal on his forehead shined brighter.
"Ahh?" Judar said, but then suddenly, his head was filled with images he had never seen before. Images of the Organization attacking a village. The people, powerless against such a strong force, pleaded for them to stop. "Wha… What…? This is..." A man and woman he couldn't remember, yet felt strangely familiar were slaughtered when they tried to protect their baby. A veiled member of the Organization reached for him. "… Stop it…" he said with wide eyes. "Stop it!!!" he screamed, holding his head.
"Judar!!" Banker said when he fell to the ground, landing in front of Aladdin. Aladdin's forehead continued to shine brightly.
"Hey, Ala—" Faith started to say, when Hope placed a hand on her shoulder and held a finger to her lips.
"I get the feeling we shouldn't disturb him," Hope said.
"Yeah… I kinda do too, but… What are we supposed to do now?" Faith asked her. "Aladdin is clearly taking care of that other magi, but Alibaba was eaten by that thing!"
"Aladdin wouldn't have stopped us if Alibaba's life was in danger, and he said this was something only Alibaba could do…" Hope said thoughtfully. She couldn't see where this was going yet. "Let's trust Aladdin. He seems to know something we don't."