"You're late." Amber commented when Ion finally arrived at the port.
"Sorry. I was talking to Kougyoku for a bit…By the way, have you given 'that' to Kougyoku already?"
"You mean the bracelet with the bells? Of course I did. You know, I'm taking a liking to her now, she'll be a good friend."
"I know."
The princess had planned on leaving much later than they did.
They had been too late to prevent Sinbad from using Zepar to control her, not that Sinbad knew about it since it was two days ago, a day before Sinbad confronted Fai of his true heritage.
Amber had infused the bells with Sitri's magic in order to counter Zepar's sound magic inside of Kougyoku's head.
"These are just temporary countermeasures since we don't want to make Sinbad anymore suspicious. There are bound to be times where Sinbad would take full control of her but at least with the bells around she'll be fine, no casualties. But the problem is the bells would break on their own after sometime so when that happens, Kougyoku would be suffering the usual backlash for being controlled by Zepar's magic."
She really hoped that Kougyokuwon't have a break down when the truth comes to light.
"Well, so this is where we part ways? I wanna head somewhere else so I'm taking a different boat." Zaire wondered.
"You think? I'll be staying here for a while. Uncle Darius and Uncle Aaron insisted that I come home with them since I planned on seeing dad again." Rana added.
"Uncle Firuz is being a worrywart again?" Fai raised a brow.
"Yeah but I think it's good. I get to spend some time with the uncles."
"…Haha, I suppose you're right. But be careful."
"I know. You too, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah…"
"Whoowhee, you two are so sweet, you should get a room already." Zaire teased.
"Zaire!"
"I know bud. I know." He laughed at Fai and Rana's reactions.
"Well, I'm going along with Fai and Ion-chan since my pals and crew already left with another ship yesterday, so, till the next few months?"
"Yeah, till the next few months."
"Wow! What a fantastic room! I'll sleep on this hammock!" Aladdin commented as he looked at the room.
"There are three here…"
"That's okay Morgiana, there's another room next to this one so me, Fai and Amber can take that one." Ion stopped her from saying anything.
"E-ehh!? I have to sleep in the same room with a girl!? To sleep in the same room with Morgiana-dono…"
"I don't think it's anything big. I used to sleep in the same room with Rana. And no, not in the same bed, Hakuryuu." Fai added the last part to avoid unneeded implications.
"That's justified because you were dating Rana-dono and everyone are setting you and Rana-dono together!"
"Actually, we six sleep in co-ed whenever we rent a room but we switch over from time to time. Plus, we know each other enough that they won't do anything." Amber told him which made him rather spluttered.
"Besides, Morgiana doesn't seem to mind." Ion pointed towards Morgiana who mouthed 'I don't mind' in reassurance to Hakuryuu.
"Say, don't you think something feels missing?" Aladdin wondered.
"Yes… I feel the same…"
"It's a…" Hakuryuu trailed before he took out a lunch box. "An all inclusive breakfast!"
Both Aladdin and Morgiana cheered while the other three simply chuckled. They could hear some slight banging at the other side of the room which made it funnier. They all know who was on the other side but wanted to mess around with Alibaba for a bit. Fai, Ion and Amber personally felt rather bad for him when Aladdin told them of the plan but they decided to play along.
"Now that I think about it, what do you think of that person?"
"Hm?"
"I mean Alibaba-dono!"
"Alibaba-kun… right…"
"You honestly like him huh?"
"Ah well… he's the first person I met when I came to this world so it's not like that… But thinking back, there are many things I notice about him as we spend time together… Like how he's not so popular with ladies. He always looked at me with greed whenever I'm with the prettier girls… He seemed so resentful and bit his finger…"
"That's…not something someone popular would do."
At the sidelines, Fai, Ion, and Amber simply nodded.
"Now that you say it, I remember seeing Alibaba behaving strangely too… He was alone in his room with the lower part of his body exposed… and was lying in wait with the door open…"
"Ew!" Ion blanched at the image.
Fai simply shook his head along with Amber. Both Hakuryuu and Aladdin stared at Morgiana in shock while saying, "Oh my god, he's the worst."
"I will not forgive him! Only the worst villainous bastard would do such a thing to Morgiana-dono!"
"Did Alibaba-kun have such taste…?"
"Impossible."
"That's why he's not popular…"
They soon heard said person wailing in despair at the other room.
"I take that it's about time we see him?"
"Sorry Alibaba-kun, Uncle Sinbad told us that you were coming so…"
"It's just a joke. We just wanted to mess with you a bit."
That simply sent Alibaba into a sulking mess instead.
"A-Alibaba-kun!"
"You're not popular if you're crying."
"Say that again in my face crybaby!"
"But it actually happened." Morgiana said. Hakuryuu looked at her, eyes wide before he decided,
"That's it, I'm going to beat you up."
"Bring it on then!"
"Ahh! You two!"
Aladdin went over to stop them from fighting.
"Speaking of which, why are you here?" Ion asked in wonder.
Fai chuckled, knowing the answer already. "It was a suggestion from king Sinbad and also from me; he will be trained by a faction of the Yambala tribe living in Reim."
"Ah! Fai-dono, you knew of them?" Said Hakuryuu, having being stopped from fighting his blond friend.
"A bit; I knew there was only one part of the tribe that stayed in Reim permanently. The four of us were trained by a different member though." Fai answered.
"Ahh, so that's why you suggested it to Alibaba-dono?"
"Yeah, well, I could somehow tell the problem though. Speaking of which, how is your progress going?"
"Yes! It's been a smooth training! I managed to perform a full Djinn equip thanks to you!"
"You what!?" Alibaba had shouted. He was completely baffled that the younger boy had completed it before him.
Fai only gave Alibaba an apologetic look. "Sorry Alibaba. Hakuryuu was trained by one of the Yambala's before he actually obtained a Djinn, so his control over his magoi is superior compared to yours. So I can't say anything that could help you except finding the Yambala tribe."
"That's unfair…" Alibaba sulked.
"Now, now, Alibaba-kun…" Aladdin patted his back to cheer him up.
"Say, this is kind of like favoritism to which of the younger is his favorite, don't you think?" Amber whispered to Ion.
"No, I think Fai's being fair."
The rest of the week was peaceful after that.
"We'll be arriving soon!" Aladdin said as they see the port.
"It was due to your help for fending off the southern creatures." The captain spoke.
"Alibaba did most of the work though." Amber laughed.
"I'm not popular… that's why I thought I should show you all my good points!" Alibaba said dreamily. One could practically see his daydreams of being praised by his friends.
"Does he still have a grudge with that?" Hakuryuu wondered.
"I'm sorry Alibaba-kun…"
Ion chuckled at the interaction before she noticed Morgiana looking at the distance.
"Morgiana? What's wrong?"
"There's something wrong at the harbor… Is that fire?"
"You got good eyes there, miss."
They heard someone talk and they soon saw a young boy floating in a water bubble.
Ion knew a bit of this from what Fai had told her and ran back, stabbing one of her swords down to the wooden platform and creating a borg.
"Please stay back everyone!" She told the other soldiers and the captain who nodded with apprehension.
Fai and Amber prepared themselves on defense as Alibaba asked, "Who are you?"
"We…" The boy motioned his hand that had a hook and had called on more bubbles. More reinforcements.
"Are pirates!"
He landed with some of his friends and started to attack and Amber had chosen to protect the other guards not within the range of Ion's borg, countering the young pirates with whatever chance they could get as the others focused on offense.
"O-Olba! Help us!"
"You idiots… you call yourselves Aum Madaura's children?" Olba scoffed. Causing the other children to hang their head low.
"S-sorry…"
Olba gave that a pirate a pat on the head and faced them. He looked over at Aladdin and then over to Ion.
"How old are you two?"
"Huh?"
"Oh well… it doesn't matter since you're in Aum Madaura's way…" He raised his right hand and has it point to them. The hook detached to reveal a pipe. Before any of the four could react, Olba had called out a water ball surrounding them.
"Magic tool AlaRasas!"
Olba commanded the water ball to float above and pop as soon as they are away from the sea. Morgiana was shot with a water ball before she had a chance to use her metal vessel to bring them back to the platform.
"Bye bye~" Olba cheerfully waved as they fell. Turning over to Amber and Fai who were still guarding some of the guards.
"So it's only you two left."
"You think?" Fai smirked at them.
"Wha-"
"Olba! Over there!" One of the children pointed over to where he dropped the others, to reveal plants forming near where all four were.
"I guess it's time for me to fight." Hakuryuu said, preparing his stance as he faced the children, having placed his comrades back on the ship.
"Don't be afraid! Show them that we are worthy for Aum Madaura!"
"Yes!" The remaining pirates chorused after Olba and shoot water balls over to Hakuryuu. "Eat this!"
Hakuryuu assessed his surroundings before he slash the water balls with ease.
"Don't falter! We'll attack together!"
They obliged and all pointed their magic tools to Hakuryuu. Hakuryuu simply showed his arm and commanded,
"Zaug Movalezo!"
The wooden arm changes shape and moved, attacking the airborne pirates.
"This is the end."
Olba tch-ed at the unlikely situation but he then looked around and took the situation to his advantage. Preparing himself to activate the magic tool and shoot it over to another direction.
"Where are you even shooting?"
"Who says I planned on shooting you?"
Fai looked at where the water ball has gone and shouted. "Ion! Disarm the borg and take out your sword! He's going to break the borg by aiming at the sword!"
Ion managed to take out the sword from the ground as Fai told her to but she was unable to avoid the impact of the magic, her shoulder was grazed.
A borg powered sword spell is capable of a strong borg that will protect those inside and had a wide range than a normal borg, but the downside was that it can easily be broken by aiming a hit to where the sword was placed. It will be an exception if the caster held the sword with them which could help to cover the crack, but Ion didn't hold it, thus, the borg was easily crushed.
Olba took the opportunity to bound Ion's hands and placed a sword near to her neck.
"Ion!"
"If you want her safe, then hand over the cargo you have."
"Hakuryuu." Fai beckoned him. Whispering something, which he nodded; Hakuryuu went over to where the cargo was and placed a small seed in there as he brought it over to the pirates.
Seeing enough, Olba let go and left.
"Ion-dono, are you alright?"
"I'm fine…"
"Why didn't you fight back Ion? I knew you should be able to use other means to get away." Alibaba Alibaba had pointed it out, all of them thought that it was true. Ion could have easily fight back and free herself. But she didn't.
"…I don't want any more damages." Was her reply; she then added,
"I heard from rumors… there was a pirate crew known as 'Aum Madaura's' crew. The same one that attacked us and… They mostly consist of children."
"Children!?"
Ion nodded. "I just can't attack them knowing that some of them may be younger than some of us…"
"Ion…"
"Hey guys? There's a big ship over there." Amber called and pointed over at the ship coming closer to them.
"It's the Aktia Navy."
"This is bad…" Alibaba commented at the state of the city.
As the group checked on the city, Fai, Amber, and Ion went over to the victims of the attack.
"Are you alright?" Amber asked.
"My daughter… My daughter's been kidnapped!"
"My grandchild!" She heard another victim crying out. Amber looked over to Fai and Ion; they too gave her a know what to do, but depending on their actions and plans for this, they don't know if it will turn out well or things don't work out then Hakuryuu might break his friendship with Alibaba and the others completely.
"I don't want that to happen, he agreed to it too." Fai had told them as Ion and Amber were talking during the trip to Aktia.
They all gave a nod to each other.
Amber turned to the lady she was talking to and called.
"Miss,"The lady looked at her in desperation she spoke. "I promise you that my companions and I will save the children."
She had sound elated and so does the other victims nearby who heard her. "Th-Thank you! But none of us have anything to pay you for…"
"We don't need any payment miss!"
Hearing this, they all thanked her profusely. It took a while for them to have let her go.
"Amber-san, what did you do?"
"Just talking here and there; we all planned on saving them, after all."
"You got us, Amber-san…"
"That aside, Hakuryuu, you showed them the way already?"
"Yes, Fai-dono; are we going right now?"
"When all of us are prepared for it, yes."
The island took a while to reach seeing that it was a good distance away from Aktia, but it was still close enough by that it was only mid-afternoon when they arrived.
However, they were all ambushed the moment they reached the ship stayed in standby in front of the island's rocky terrains.
"What's with all the water balls?" Fai groaned as he used AnhAlam to disperse them.
"This is to be expected after all. We're intruding an enemy's headquarters." Amber commented lightly as she hit water ball after water ball with her spinning chakrams.
"You can say that again." Ion drawled as she hacked and slash her way around.
"I wish Zaire's was around; Botis is way helpful in repelling the water." Fai scowled at the many water spheres as the three stood back to back and the others are also struggling from the onslaught of the ambush.
"Yeah but aren't we forgetting something?" Ion smirked and raised her hand.
"Hada!"
A wave of sound boomed through and changed the direction of the water balls towards them.
Aladdin stared at her in surprise. "Ion-san…? How did you use magic without a staff…?"
"Spell fencers are all required to cast their magic through their hands so they could channel their magoi through the weapon much better as training. There wasn't a need for a staff for us. I thought I told you that when we first met before."
"Almost forgot about that." Fai scratched the back of his neck.
"Wait, where's Morgiana?" Amber wondered.
Speak of the devil, they heard screams of agony around the cave in front of them, signing that Morgianawas beating the pirates down throughout the passed with the screams until the walls cracked, revealing tunnel outlines, defeated pirates, and Morgiana standing while holding several pirates by the hem of their shirts.
"I finished them all." She casually announced them.
"Mor-san that's amazing!" Aladdin cheered.
"Hooray for Morgiana!" Alibaba cheered as well.
Hakuryuu watched wordlessly. Fai soon patted over his shoulder to snap him out of his thoughts.
"Either way, now that we deal with the pirates in front, how about we barge in?"
Easier said than done.
"More kids…" Fai groaned. He didn't think there would be so much kids that Aum Madaura had kidnapped.
"Protect Aum Madaura!" They chorused as they proceeded to attack the group.
"Sleep," Amber murmured, waving her hand slightly to cause a chime on the bell.
At the chime, the children slumped down and fell.
Fai smiled at her. "Nice. Safe."
"What just happened…?"
"I had Sitri to help me with making them sleep. I work together with Sitri to make simple word commands for her spells so these are quiet easy for me. Although, it took me a long time in the past to make the word commands. Anyone who hears Sitri's chimes will be affected." Amber informed them.
"But we're not affected…?"
"That aside, let's move on, we can't waste much time." Fai cut them off, dropping the question for the time continued on and soon arrived at Aum Madaura's chamber. There stood the woman above in a throne, holding several babies.
"You did well… You are very brave. You are also strong. I admire your strength."
"Return the children you had kidnapped from the city!"
"It's useless, you can't even attack me." Aum Madaura chuckled saccharinely, moving her right hand, which had on a glove of some sort.
"Now come little children, and become my sons." The gem on the glove glowed.
"Magic tool: Holy Mother Halo Fan!"
Light overflowed throughout the room.
"I wonder what memory you will see that would make you loyal to me." She chuckled darkly.
"You think?" She looked up and saw Fai and Ion unaffected.
"What!? How!?"
"Nice, Amber; Glad you're here to help out." Fai praised the dancer as he smirked at Aum Madaura. Aum Madaura turned to see Amber waving the bell bracelet, the bells chiming with each wave.
"What does that have to do with anything?" She asked incredulously.
"What we mean is; Amber had already cast her spell on us moments before you did." Ion smirked.
"No!"
"Nasma Shea"
"It's alright…You've been in so much pain, right?"
They were tempted with the memories, the words, and the warmth that voice had brought them.
They were close to succumbing to it. But then, a singing voice erupted through their minds.
The silhouette of a mother was changed and instead, was a shadow of a girl singing.
They couldn't tell who it was, but the beautiful voice was recognizable.
"Hear nothing."
"This voice… Amber-san?"
And the chains that slowly shackled them had broken away.
"Amber-san!" All four had called out when they felt that they see a memory of Amber singing. They soon heard the bell's chiming on and on, as if in a performance.
"No! No! No! The halo fan is supposed to work!" Aum Madaura screeched.
"Newsflash lady; as long as I'm around, nobody gets hurt or controlled." Amber smirked as she kept waving the bell bracelets in both her wrist.
"How are you able to disrupt the effects of the Halo Fan!?"
"Simple, all of us had already grown from our childish minds. And besides, they had my bells." Amber smirked to her once more.
"Bells…?" The remaining four wondered.
"Remember the pouches that Amber gave you two weeks ago back in Sindria?" Ion inquired.
"Pouches…?"
"Say, Amber-san, what are you giving that to us for?" Aladdin wondered as Amber gave the pouches which contained the bells.
"Think of it as a good luck charm Aladdin." She simply smiled as she gave him his own pouch.
'So that's what they are for…' Aladdin looked back at the pouch he held after he took it out from the pocket. The other's too, either in their pocket's or had it tied as a necklace after realizing this fact. The bells contained Sitri's magic.
They remembered being unaffected from Amber's magic earlier when she commanded the children to sleep.
'The bells were meant to protect us...'
"Nasma Shea is a spell I worked on with Sitri over the years. Blocking voices to prevent you from seeing or hearing what you didn't want to hear or see; it's the same to being deaf, or wishing to block your ears from anything you do not wish to hear. All the bells I gave in the pouches are infused with the same spell." Amber explained as she kept fluidly waving her wrist and hands. Like dancing, and the bells chimed on.
"I can basically repel whatever you show since they had the bells infused with Sitri'sMagoi so none of us will be affected by your manipulations. And those who held the bells will be protected from all of my attacks as well."
"Y- You…!"
"Besides, no children can depend on their mothers forever. They had to grow up and leave for independence. They would have to grow up one day. Don't you think?" Amber soon turned towards the children.
"You know it too, didn't you? You'll eventually have to leave your family one day so you can see the whole world with your own eyes."
"No!" Aum Madaura screeched and called. "Children; we should leave! Gather everything!"
The other children obeyed without question and scattered around.
"Not so fast-"Hakuryuu was about to prevent her from escaping but was blocked by Olba who attacked him to draw some time for Aum Madaura.
"Kh...!" He grunted in annoyance as he had to fight with Olba.
He used Zagan's magic and bound his legs with the plants so he could catch up with Aum Madaura.
"Hakuryuu! Wait!" Fai called out. Soon realizing that Hakuryuu didn't hear him as he went on with his chase and started to follow him.
When he finally caught on to Hakuryuu, he could see him looking at Aum Madaura and the children that followed her being surrounded by soldiers.
It seems the navy had finally arrived.
It was almost sun set by the time they had returned to Aktia and brought the children to custody.
Amber silently mutters the same spell to release the children from Aum Madaura's magic. But she finds it hard to erase the effects of those who had been very devoted to Aum Madaura herself.
Like Olba.
"Mother!" Olba and several children who are quiet attached to her had cried out.
"It'll be alright." Aum Madaura reassured the children with a smile so sickeningly sweet to Ion, Fai, and Amber's eyes.
They felt like gagging at the sight, knowing full well of Aum Madaura's true nature.
Then, a victim called. "Kill her."
Soon, it was followed by the others. "Kill her!"
"Kill the witch!"
It soon turned into a rather horrifying sight as the citizens began pulling her hair and beating her up.
At that moment, Fai had seen Hakuryuu preparing a sword and Fai stopped him before he could get to Aum Madaura.
"Hakuryuu, don't."
"Fai-dono, you know I can't. Not after seeing that fact that she never loved these children as her own. She said it herself to you, didn't she?"
"And kill her in front of the kids who didn't know any better?"
"Fai-dono, you don't understand! I'm doing this for the good of those residents who are her victims!"
"At what cost? Tell me, Hakuryuu."
"I don't care if it would have made me a villain to those children's eyes. I'm doing what's rig-"
"Hakuryuu, if you kill her right in front of these kids there and then, you're not any different than the witch that killed your father and brothers."
I'll leave it at that. Firuz is the name for Rana's dad, if you recall, was the blacksmith close to Darius and Aaron but the information about him would come up a bit later.
I lost too much motivation that this came up much later than I thought. Q.Q
Now for a few points:
1: I'm not sure if I got the pronunciations right, but Hada roughly means "Echo" in Arabic. Since I plan on adding a few original sound magic since there isn't much to be explored of it in canon, I did a research for some of the translations. If anyone could give a much helpful Arabic pronunciation and translation, please do tell me!
2: Sitri's ability is based on some terms of music and people's hearings. For example, the healing effect is based on some peaceful sounds like a guitar in a silent room or piano. The one above is actually the one that Fai mentioned in the last chapter. Sitri's ability is also based on the quote "See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil." It was more support based if anything in terms of gaming.
3: Yes, Hakuryuu is going to change. He won't be going downhill and becoming Zuko or Sasuke. I don't think there was someone who pulled the last quote out so I did. This might go pretty long but I'll say it.
I find some kind of pattern to some of the members of Al Thamen or those fallen to depravity. While most fall to depravity unable to move on, there are others who fell because their dreams are broken by reality. Or still chasing the shadows of the past;
Dunya, Falan, and Judal are of the first example. Dunya wanted to bring Musta'Shim back despite knowing well that it seemed impossible to bring it back to the way it was, Falan was broken because she wanted to make amends to Tess since their last conversation before his death was on a bad note (It just got worse when Wahid became the medium for them and she is just broken than ever.). Judal is a lesser example but he wished to have been in a much more normal life and see his family. And I find Kassim to be the second and last example.
Hakuryuu, in my view, was a mix of the first and last. He was unable to move on and take the deaths of his brothers under Gyokuen too well (He didn't' show it and didn't completely fall to depravity but the fact that he mimicked Hakuyuu's style of clothing and hair as some form of memento makes me think this way) and it was turned into a hatred that grows worse after the encounter with Aum Madaura. He was still chasing the shadows of a past where his brothers were still there and Kou Empire had been a good kingdom for him. He's still chasing the shadows of his deceased brothers. At least for me;
Given the recent chapters, I felt that while he did respect and loved Hakuei, the reason why he resented Hakuei which he showed during Belial's dungeon was probably due to Hakuei's own kindness. True, Hakuei didn't know the truth of the incident, but Hakuei, from my point of view, isn't someone to solve things through violence which was probably why she didn't do anything despite knowing that something was very off with the empire and Gyokuen herself.
It gives me the incentive and thought that Hakuryuu really needed an older sibling mentor to guide him and support him. To let him know that he'll be there at his back if he ever fall down. Fai's interaction with him was to give him some form of closure to a brother mentor that he lost and looked up to. Because he could hardly trust anyone anymore after Hakuyuu and Hakuren died, even Hakuei; He got no one to trust to for almost ten years until meeting Alibaba and the rest before he let his hatred take over.
This was also my try in changing him but whether the change is a success will depend on the future chapters.
4: Don't worry about the confession to Morgiana not happening after this. It would still happen, but in a completely different situation.
Ciao!
- TransparentAnswer