Varvula: Guys check out this cool horse we've found!
Peace: Wow~! It looks so beautiful!
Raven: Tell me about it, I love the colorful designs on it. Where did you find him?
Varvula: He was just wandering inside the store…drawn by the fresh carrots.
Shiho: We need to fix the sliding doors…Or better yet a better security system.
Sanya: Uh, are you alright Varvula?
Varvula: Of course I'm already~! Why you ask? [The horse had it's jaw onto Varvula's head.]
Shiho: Because the horse is biting your head, dumbass.
Sanya: Horses are herbivores...right?
Gwen: Unless this kind of horse, eats meat...This is cool to watch.
Varvula: Nah, he's just showing his loving affection for me...Ow...Ow...ow.
Yang: Nice love of affection there.
Freddy: Well, why don't we start the chapter while we stop the horse from eating Varvula's head.
Things were a bit too quiet for Minori as she sat alone in the infirmary. She was debating in her head if she should check on Kouta and Kirika or not. But before she could make a decision, Minori was greeted with a certain smoking and charred gear user.
"Thank goodness you're awake Minori," Shirabe weary said with a small smile. Her entire body and armor was covered with dirt and soot.
"Shirabe?...What happened to you?" Minori asked in concern, which was hard to tell from her straight face.
"Well…" Shirabe grimaced as she began to explain.
Flashback
"It all makes sense now!" Shirabe announced, after reading the notebook. She discovered that Shervan had multiple personality disorder, which explains some of his actions. But still had more questions pop up.
"If that's the case, then why didn't he tell us about it…Or can he tell us about it?" Shirabe recalled, reading how Shervan had been in a comatose state while the other two took control of his body.
After thinking for a while, Shirabe shook her head. "I'll ask him about everything if I find him. Right now, I should head back with the others before something happens."
Shirabe held onto the notebook as she stood up. Just when Shirabe was about to leave, she didn't noticed a very thin string was attached to the notebook. Once she was just about close to the doorway, the string caused a bunch of camouflaged flavor dials planted on the walls to unleash its toxic fumes all around the room.
"N-Not again!" Shirabe cringed quickly, plugging her nose with her free hand. She quickly tried to escape out of the room, But just as a string attached to the notebook, suddenly reeled back causing the notebook to be pried out of her hands. Shirabe's eyes widened as she tried to get it back.
While looking down trying to snatch the book that was pulling away from him. With only one hand to reach for while the other one was plugging her nose, Shirabe noticed the notebook was reeling back towards another Dial placed at the bottom shelf. The girl's jaws dropped as the notebook was reeled back enough to touch the Dial.
Thinking quickly, Shirabe summoned her large buzzsaws around herself to shield what was about to happen.
BOOM~!
"And that's what happened," Shirabe concluded, exhaustedly. She kept the part about what she discovered about Shervan out. While she was glad that she survived that explosion she was a bit angry that the notebook got burnt up in the process.
"I see," Minori nodded her head. "So did you find information about Shervan's condition?"
"..!" Shirabe was surprised that Minori knew about it. But she decided to answer her. "I found out a bit about his past, along with him having multiple personality disorder. But there still leaves some unanswered questions about it."
"My hypothesis was right then," Minori concurred with her finger massaging her chin. "Shervan does have an MP Disorder."
"Wait, you knew about it?" Shirabe asked.
"Well it was sort of a theory I had," Minori replied. "I read a book that involved the main protagonist having that mental disorder. He would have no memory of doing certain events like stealing or attacking someone."
"So it does affect memory loss," Shirabe noted with a hint of fear.
"SHIRABE~!" Before Minori could reply, a happy and energetic Kirika rushed at Shirabe and tackled her with a large hug. "Where were you?! I was so worri-URK~!"
One good sniff was enough for Kirika to back away from the foul stench girl. "A-And why do you smell like farts?!"
"That's disgusting," Kouta was right behind Kirika, plugging his nose. "What did you do, rolled yourself up in the trash room or something?"
"No~!" Shirabe barked.
"..." Minori glanced at Shirabe and then slowly stepped back, joining Kirika and Kouta. "...You are really stinky."
"You just noticed that now?" Shirabe muttered with a sweatdropped. She was going to have a hard time explaining to the other two of this misunderstanding.
Chapter 49: Cure Honey vs Mist Stone Dimanu.
While the Upper Ruins war wages onward, two young combatants are going all out. Cure Honey was facing off against one of the Octadict Slayer; Dimanu Heim for the second time. Only now that the dragon slayer had gained an additional element, making him the Prism Stone Mist Dragon Slayer.
"Prism Stone Mist Dragon: Club Barrage!" Multiple dark gray clubs rushed at Honey at a rapid pace. She weaved through some of them while rushing towards him.
One large pillar rushed way too close to her head to dodge. "Honey Teleport!" The Precure vanished right before the large club could hit her.
Right when Dimanu's arm returned to normal, Honey reappeared in front of him from above, planting both her feet into his face. The dragon slayer tumbled onto his back before backflipping right onto his feet, but Cure Honey didn't let up. She was already speeding in front of him, with her baton split into two maracas.
"...!" In the blink of an eye, Honey sped past him, with her maracas extended wide while Dimanu was hurled in the air, too stunned to react. He felt both maracas hitting his body; one in his stomach and the other under his chin, which launched him into the air.
Honey then leapt into the air, summoning a clover shield above so she landed underneath it with her feet. Using her shield as a launching point, she dived downward towards Dimanu like a yellow blur, with her right arm pulled back. "Honey: Comet~!"
The impact itself caused the stone ruins underneath him to crack from the yellow Pretty Cure's strike. Dimanu gape in pain feeling her fist connecting to his midsection, until he suddenly grin. "Fooled yah!"
Dimanu turned his legs into a club and kicked Honey off of him, but she quickly caught herself sliding a bit. Dimanu stood up, winching a bit but tries to hide it.
'So his midsection isn't made of Prism stone...That's his weakness,' Honey noted, noticing how the boy grunted in pain from her punch.
"Mist Prism Stone Dragon: Titan Fist!" Dimanu emitted a magic circle in front of him, summoning a large dark gray fist radiated with white mist and hurled it towards his opponent.
Honey braced her to block it with her maracas crossed in an X in front of her. But was startled when she only felt moist on her body. The large fist went through her body, and continued past her before it vanished. 'Was that another illusion?'
"Gotcha again~!" Dimanu appeared right in front of her with his right arm morphed into a dark gray metallic-like dragon claw cloaked with mist. "Prism Stone Mist Dragon: Devil Claw!"
Honey felt the force of his claw connect to her maracas as she slid back a bit. Her two maracas's started glowing a yellow light. "Honey Super Sonic Spark!" Honey fired off multiple yellow clovers at Dimanu. The boy, who was rushing towards him, quickly brought his devil claw in front of him, blocking a few of the clovers, exploding upon contact.
Taking advantages of the dust cloud, Honey dashed into it. Dimanu had no chance to react as Honey delivered an elbow jab into his midsection, causing him to gape in pain and was launched back before catching himself. Not letting up, Honey then rushed towards the winded Dimanu and swung her right maracas towards Dimanu's forehead. He barely managed to blocked her strike with his left arm, and swiped again with his right arm, only to be blocked by Honey's left maraca. The two two continued their dance of weapons clashing with each other.
"Why are you stopping me from performing my role?!" Dimanu demanded, over the noise of their weapons clashing. "I'm the only one who can stop Eneru!"
"That doesn't mean you have to sacrifice yourself to do it!" Honey yelled out in between clashes.
"But that's the only way I can be useful!" Dimanu argued back. "A monster like me has no purpose to live if I can't kill a Devil Fruit user!"
Dimanu's magic suddenly increased due to his emotion as his last strike overpowered Honey's defenses. Honey felt his dragon-claw fist drilled into her gut, launching her across the clearing and crashing through two stone ruins.
Cure Honey groaned as she pushed herself off the ground, feeling the pain of the punch. She noticed Dimanu's shadow and looked up to find the boy standing on the broken ruins she plowed through.
"Look at that! You're still standing after a hit like that!" Dimanu declared, with his casually playful voice. "Damn, Pretty Cures sure are resilient. I was trying to punch a hole into your stomach."
"..." Cure Honey didn't reply back. Her eyes were casted by her yellow hair with a frown on her face.
"I did warn you," Dimanu grinned maniacally. "I may be the weakest Octadict Slayer, but I'm no pushover! I won't let you ruin my destiny!" His arms changed into two spears covered with white mist. "Prism Stone Mist Dragon: Harpoon Missile!" Dimanu fired his spear arms like missiles towards Honey who stood there.
One of the spears flew into her forehead, which turned out to be made of pure mist.
The second one pierced through her right shoulder, she recoiled back a bit with a bit of blood but stood standing while facing him.
"...!" The boy shivered a bit, while eying the spear in her shoulder. "H-Hey, are you trying to figure out which one is the real one? T-That is a really stupid way to find out you know!"
'Despite what he says, and his personality...' Cure Honey grabbed the spear lodged into her shoulder, and pulled it out. She winced a bit, feeling a bit of blood running down her shoulder while she dropped the bloody spear to the ground. As she eventually looked up at Dimanu, he was taken aback by her expression as well as her words.
"...You're scared aren't you,"
Dimanu blinked. He was expecting the Pretty Cure to glare at him like a monster or to attack him with some powerful upgrade power of friendship or anything.
Instead, Honey looked at Dimanu with concern and worry.
'The only time that happened was when…I killed my parents.'
"S-Stop it," Dimanu muttered with his clenching fist. His magic increased due to his rage building up. "STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!" The Dragon Slayer dived down towards Honey with his right leg turned into a pillar.
Honey jumped to the side avoiding a deadly kick that tore through the ruins. Dimanu's left arm morphed into dragon-like claws, and hurled a right hook towards her. Honey crossed her arms to block it but the force managed to slide her back a few feet.
"You should be hating my guts right now!" Dimanu yelled out with his voice cracking. He continued to swing his punches recklessly towards the Pretty Cure who had no choice but to block his strikes. "I beat up some of your friends~! I tricked you and used Sinolia to get into this form! I might kill you or your friends, just like I did with my parents!"
"..." Honey was pushed back by every punch from the young boy. She was quiet, letting him rant angrily. She felt the pain in her arms, but chose to ignore it. It was nothing compared to what Dimanu was going through. He may be a strong, powerful Dragon Slayer, but he's still a young boy deep inside.
"IF I KEEP LIVING THEN I MIGHT KILL SINOLIA OR THE OTHERS!" Dimanu continued to rant. His right arm slipped past hers and landed a solid blow on the Pretty Cure's face. "I'M NOT A HUMAN ANYMORE I'M A MONSTER!"
Cure Honey flew into the air, before landing on her back. Dimanu breathed heavily as he stared down at her, hoping that she'll stay down. But frowned when Honey struggled to sit up.
"You know you can't win against me. So…please stay down," Dimanu muttered the last part quietly. While she sat up, Cure Honey noticed the boy's arms were trembling. "I-I need to kill Eneru…I'm the only one who can...If I don't…then what good am I?"
"...It's going to be okay," Honey said to him, with a small smile. "I know that you're scared…but sacrificing yourself won't make things better. Sinolia and the rest of Luminous Tail, they still care about you."
"I care about them too," Dimanu defended weakly. "T-That's why I need to d-."
"Even if you managed to defeat Eneru, do you think they'll be happy that you risked your life for them?" Honey cut him off. "You think Sinolia would be happy that her only brother died for her to live on?!"
"...Shut up!" Dimanu snapped with venom in his voice. A magic circle appeared underneath his feet and soon a white, thick carpet of mist covered the entire field beneath their feet. Honey looked down with her guard up wondering what was going on.
Suddenly, a dark gray pillar shot out from the mist carpet in front of her, causing her to barely dodge it by jumping back. 'That was so fast, I barely had a chance to notice it!'
After she landed, Honey witnessed multiple prism stone spears, and pillars, sprouting randomly from the thick carpet of mist across the island cloud. She dodged a spear sprouting behind her only for being in the line of a pillar slammed into her stomach, causing the Precure to gasp in pain.
The pillar hurled her up in the air, before it vanished. The yellow Pretty Cures' body was then held in place by two spears stabbing her arms. Dimanu flinched when he heard a shrill scream, but ignored it as he glanced up at his victim. Honey was held midair by the two spears.
"A vile villain like me, does not need sympathy," Dimanu huskily declared. With the snap of his fingers, multiple pillars sprouted in all directions heading towards the vulnerable Pretty Cure. "Prism Mist Stone Dragon's Secret Art: Chaotic Carpet Death Trap!"
Dimanu declared, with his voice wavering.
Dimanu's secret technique seemed to covered the entire Upper Ruins. As the fighters were startled to find pillars and spears springing from the ground. A few of them managed to hit the massive snake, but it just shrugs it off. It's skin was too thick for the spear to pierce through and instead broke.
"AH~!" Todd had barely avoided a spear sprouting in front of him. He was trying to find a safe place to place the unconscious Hime, on his back. But was having difficulties trying to avoid the mist carpet death trap. "Damn it, what is Dimanu doing?"
While he was running, and avoiding the pillars and spears, Todd got to the side of the ruins, near the beanstalk. He noticed the faint mist carpet hasn't reach to the island cloud. Todd sighed in relief and gently placed Hime on the island cloud.
"I know I shouldn't do this...but I need to back up Terra," Todd told himself. He grip his broken sword and ran back to the ruins area.
"What's going on?!" Erza questioned. Her fight with Ohms and Holly was interrupted when a pillar rose in between them in mid swing.
"The Dragon boy is responsible for this," Ohm informed, calmly. He avoid two spears that shot towards him with ease. "His emotions are clouded with deceive thoughts...A soul that needs saving from his life and desires."
Touma had to dodge multiple Prism Stone spears and pillars sprouting out from under the mist carpet that reached towards them. He was still carrying Sinolia on his back. A spear sprouted beneath him and he quickly shattered it with his right hand. "Damn it, what the hell is going on back there?"
"Dimmy's Secret art," Sinolia mumbled weakly. "He used that same technique to save me from those bullies…long ago…" She clenched her fist, as tears formed down her face. "Because of that...his parents were killed…I didn't mean for him to go this far…"
"..." Touma didn't say anything and let Sinolia sob in his clothing. He continued to dodge and avoid pillars and spears, looking concerned. 'Honey, please be safe.'
Dimanu was breathing heavily after a huge magic consumption. He then glanced ahead of his work. The yellow Pretty Cure was limped and motionless as her body was trapped in multiple large pillars in the air.
"I warned you," With a snap on his fingers, the spear and pillars burst into sparkles. Honey's limp body was falling, her eyes covered by her hair. "A villain like me needs no sympathy."
Dimanu walked away while Honey's KO'd body landed on the stone ruin, motionless. Despite his victory, Dimanu didn't look happy. His thoughts lingered to Honey's expression and concern but he tried to shake them. "No, I can't stop when I'm this close. Once I kill Eneru, Sinolia and the others can escape…She'll have a better life without me…"
"...!"
Dimanu's body froze in place when he heard movement.
He quickly turned around and saw the injured and barely conscious Honey on her feet. She stared back at him with tired eyes, but determination.
"Why…" He muttered weakly. "Why…go so far for me?"
"I won't…" Honey quietly said. She then gave Dimanu a bright smile of determination. "I won't give up on you, Dimanu!"
Her words caused a warm feeling in his chest. Dimanu gazed at her in awe for a brief second before he quickly shook his head. "In that case…" He then flashed his devilish grin. "I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"
Both Dimanu and Honey were at full throttle. Dimanu stomped on the ground, reforming his mist carpet which summoned endless pillars and spears in different sizes of large and medium. With her butterfly wings, Honey flew directly towards the dragon slayer, swerving and avoiding the pillars and spears as best she could. She felt one of the small spears and pillars scraping her body, but ignored the pain.
As Honey got close, two more spears flew from opposite sides of her. In mere seconds, Honey noticed the two spears were silhouettes coated with mist, which told her they were just an illusion.
Honey zoomed past the fake spears and headed straight towards Dimanu who stood there shocked to react.
She plowed through the boy, revealing to be a fake, and headed straight towards the real one, who had his cheeks puff up.
"PRISM STONE MIST DRAGON ROAR~!" Dimanu unleashed a power blast of mist and prism shards, consuming Honey and multiple stone ruins in its path. Dimanu grinned and thought that he finally won.
Until Honey appeared two meters in front of him, riding against the funnel. Her yellow ribbon was spiraling around her body, barely protecting her from the powerful roar. Dimanu closed his mouth, and did one last resort of swinging his iron and mist coated fist at Honey, only for her baton to counter his punch.
"I don't need a reason to hate or abandon you…" Cure Honey then released her weapon to form a fist as he pulled her right arm back. "...Because behind that fake smile and the wall you built is your pain and fear…crying for help," Dimanu's eyes widened as tears ran down his face. "…That's why I'll stop your plan…BY CRUSHING THOSE DOUBTS WITH MY OWN FIST!"
With all the strength in her body, Cure Honey drilled a right hook straight into Dimanu's stomach. Due to her momentum, the boy's feet rose off the ground, knocking the wind out of his lunges as he cough up saliva. Cure Honey's punch, launched the dragon slayer across the clearing, and crashed right into the ruins.
"I...did it..." Honey panted as she stood there a few minutes before she fell backwards, finally losing consciousness. "I...saved him..." As she hit the ground, her Precure outfit vanished revealing her normal hair and a yellow cape wrapped around her body.
Dimanu Heim, the weak yet durable Octadict Slayer, was found lying sprawled on his back on top of some rubble from the ruins. His body had returned to normal, losing its mist effect. His jaw was hung open with his eyes pure white in KO, with a red fist print on his bare stomach.
Yuko lay sprawled on her back unconscious. But with a content smile on her face.
Moses and Terra were still going strong towards each other, with the woman being on the defensive side. The area around them was a mess with pieces of the ruins scattered across the ground, along with burnt marks. As for the fighters, they were both covered with minor injuries, with Moses still looking cold towards Terra.
The two were just about to launch their spells, but both froze in place. They sensed two voices vanishing with their mantra. One of the voices was one of their comrades.
"So, it seems as though the useless fool got himself beaten by the yellow Pretty Cure," Moses scoffed, clicking his teeth. "And here I thought my plan would've gone perfectly if that girl didn't interfered."
'...Useless?' Terra gritted her teeth, glaring at him. 'You know clearly that Dimanu will act recklessly to prove himself useful! Why did you told him that?'
"It is not of your concern, Traitor," Moses spat out. He didn't care that he shouted that despite Terra not replying back. Black wind erupted around him. "I will get my revenge for what you did to her!"
Yang: DANG~! THAT WAS EPIC~!
Peace: Yeah, that was amazing~!
Gwen: This is arguably the author's favorite fight he wanted to write about.
Raven: Really?
Shiho: I can understand it. Cure Honey rarely used her fist and kick in combat. She mainly used her batons and weapons.
Freddy: I see, and even though she managed to beat him, Honey still lost unconscious after that.
Yang: Yup which results in a tie~!
Varvula: Can someone help me please. [The other were startled when they found Varvula's head inside the horse's mouth.]
Shiho: How the hell did that happen?
Varvula: No idea, just get me out of here?!
Sanya: Next Chapter: Rage and Regret.
Peace: Uh, where is the horse going?
Shiho: Probably returning back to the wild. [She waves at it.] Have a safe trip~!
Varvula: HEY~! DON'T JUST FORGOT ME LIKE I'M GONE! GET ME OUT OF THIS HORSE~!