Cairo had his eyes completely locked, unaware that Thomas was taking out his pistol from his pocket stealthily.
“Y’know, if Death managed to get its hands on you people too, I don’t think that I would be able to stop it either. You’re lucky I destroyed that thing.”
Cairo took one step forward.
“Now, the dagger.”
Theo whispered to Hope, “Is he talking about your dagger?”
Hope couldn’t speak, still in shock at Cairo's appearance. Her breath quickened as she tried to hold her dagger with all of her might. She looked upwards and saw a logo... the same logo on the scientist's uniforms. Seven swords, and an eighth in the middle.
Just like Hope’s.
Zhen stepped forward to Hope.
“You can’t give it to him.”
“What are you talking about? Any of you? Why is HER dagger so important?” Cynthia demanded answers. She was taken back to when Kai had monologued about the Clock in the Lab. “Something about… Hope’s Dagger, and that Clock.”
Kai looked up at Zhen.
“You need to let her give it to him. He’ll just kill us all.”
“So will that THING! That’s not just any little ancient clock! That’s THE Clock.”
Thomas came to a realisation.
“The Machine.”
Cynthia stomped, and bellowed “What the fuck! STOP! Just STOP.”
She took a step forward to Cairo.
“Just listen here, pal. Whatever religious bullshit you want to do with Hope’s puny dagger has nothing to do with me, but if it’s really that important to everyone else here, even if I have no goddamn idea what they’re talking about, you WON’T get your hands on it, understood?”
Kai stood up. “Guardian, you need to understand-”
“No, you need to understand. Even if you are right, so what? If they get that eighth Sacred Sword and they summon that thing with the ice magic, we’re screwed! If that’s your sick idea of being able to go to their NOT REAL ‘afterlife’, then you need to snap back to your senses.” Zhen interrupted.
“That’s not a Sacred Sword. Not sure where that idea came from. It’s a key.” Cairo added.
Cynthia raised an eyebrow. “A key to what?”
Cairo made one step towards Hope. Everything went quiet for a moment, before…
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Bang!
A pistol was fired. Thomas’ pistol. The bullet immediately ricocheted off of Cairo’s armour. Not a single dent.
“Oh.” Cairo said, side-eyeing Thomas.
Cairo immediately dashed… almost teleported, straight to Thomas and began strangling him, digging holes into his neck using claws from the Darkheart’s power of shapeshifting.
“P…please-”
“I never liked you anyway when I was on the Team. Though, smart of you to change your name to Joe just so you could gain access to our Lab. Barely recognised that we were part of the same team at one point.”
“I…”
Body jerking, he attempted to hang on to Cairo’s arm. His claws began to sink into his neck as Thomas’ skin began to turn black. It all happened too fast for anyone to do anything. Not even Cynthia.
His eyes went black and pupils turned white. For a split second, they focused on Cynthia.
“Wait-” Zhen screamed, shaking. But it was too late.
He was gone. Cairo only had to let go until his body began to disassemble itself into pieces on the floor. Slowly dissolving into black goop.
“I… I won’t ask again. Give the Icedagger.”
The claw on his index finger stretched all the way to Hope, hooked onto her shirt and dragged her to him.
“Now.”
Cynthia looked in horror at Thomas’ dissolving head. So many questions can no longer be answered.
Bella twirled her staff.
“Shadow Rider- Cairo- You-”
“Escaped your cell, have you? We put you in there for a reason after you murdered Anthony-”
“Anthony… my father was in that vision. And you were too. You can’t change what was propheticized by THAT thing.”
Cairo steadied his fighting base, trying to ignore what Bella had just reminded him of.
“Get back to your facility.”
“But Buck, he released the Firebrand’s power and freed me-”
“Don’t care how you escaped. Go back.” He ordered Bella, before looking back at Hope.
“Bella, that scientist you killed. That was your father?” Hope added. She was given no response.
Zhen noticed that the Firebrand had fully thawed out of the ice, and picked it up.
“Oh, and Cynthia. You’re so lucky that there are multiple Linked Swords. Because who knows what you’ll fight with once you don’t possess the Sacred Swords.”
“What do you mean..?” Cynthia held on tight to the Illumina.
“Y’know, I was planning on just getting the Icedagger, that alone summons the Machine. If I manage to give the remaining swords to it, maybe your doom will come faster than you think.”
Cairo dashed swiftly to Zhen, who was wielding the now unfrozen Firebrand. Staring down on her.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“So then hand over the Firebrand. I’ve already got the Ghostwalker, Venomshank, Darkheart and Windforce. I don’t want to pry it out of your hands now, do I?”
Cairo wrapped a dark “wire” around Hope, completely weakening her grip on the Dagger, dropping it on the floor.
Hope screamed “You bastard!”, before her mouth was covered with more wires.
“Oh look, guess I’ve got the Icedagger too.” Cairo chuckled, lifting his hand, and a black goopy shield launched to the Dagger, containing it before floating it towards him. “Thanks Hope, heh.”
Cynthia looked at Zhen, and judging her look, knew what she was about to do with the Firebrand.
Hope was released from her binds, and she slowly retreated from Cairo.
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Cynthia whispered to Hope.
“Get everyone out of here. Now. Get that… journalist as well, and run as far as you can away from here.”
“But you-”
“Now!”
Hope stared at her, terrified.
“You’re going to be ok, right?”
Cynthia couldn’t answer.
“You need to go.”
Cairo grabbed the Firebrand that was in Zhen’s hand, pressuring her to let go.
“Zhen. I really don’t want to do this. You, of all people, should understand.”
Hope grabbed Theo and dragged him out.
“Huh! H-hey!”
Bella and Kai followed.
Cynthia quickly bellowed. “Do it!”
Cairo turned around, confused, and asked “Do what?”
Zhen quickly snatched the Firebrand from Cairo’s grip and stabbed it into the ground.
The temperature immediately rose. Glass panels began to expand and crack, and Cairo’s armour slightly weakened. The Darkheart shone.
“You forgot one thing.”
Cairo waved the Sword around, lighting up the room before raising it.
“The Darkheart absorbs.”
“If the Illumina isn’t touching it.”
Cynthia immediately dashed with the Illumina, quickly slashing into Cairo’s armour before colliding with the Darkheart. Both of their movements were sluggish from the hot conditions. Zhen held on tight to the Firebrand before letting it loose.
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BANG!
An explosion echoed across the hallway.
Hope, Theo, Bella and Kai ran at the speed of light, with Kai constantly pausing to open doors with the passes that Thomas acquired.
“In here!” Kai commanded, stopping the group and pointing them to the left as they all hurried into the next room. Kai shut the metal-plated door behind them.
The halls were engulfed in flames, the metal door barely standing as the immense heat started to chip away at it.
Hope, catching her breath, told them “We need to meet back up with Skye and Axel and get out of here… somehow.”
“Look, it’s fine. I know most areas of this place AND I’ve got passes to open the barrier at D.I.E.” Kai reassures Hope.
Bella looks back at Hope and was almost about to speak, before noticing the television behind her.
“What’s up?”
“I overheard Cairo talking about promoting them to Lead Terrors because of their strength.”
Hope, Kai and Theo (who was taking another photo) turned around to see two Leaders and an old man on a podium, talking to many Terrors at a Sunrise Congregation.
Hope and Kai simultaneously asked “Who are they..?”
“D and N. That's what they-”
“Deziah and Antonina. Well, Nina for short. I read about them somewhere-”
Bella held her staff towards Theo’s torso.
“Interrupt me again and I swear to G-… wait, what’s your deal anyway? I know Kai because his team used to come to this Lab sometimes, and Hope because…”
Hope turned away.
“I-i used to work with her. But who are you, because I know for a fact that you don’t work for any of those teams-”
“JUST… BE QUIET!” Kai shouted. “I’m trying to listen!”
They all looked at the TV.
“Is that Absolute Toxin?” Bella flinched.
“Shhhh!”
…
“We heard that the Nightfall Team had killed one of our Lead Terrors, Dominance. We know that he served a great purpose in our grand plan. His death shall not be forgotten, and Telamon will make sure that he will have a place in Sunrise.”
Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap…
“Thank you. I would now like to present to you the two newest members of the next generation of Lead Terrors. Two women, and the first women to ever become Lead Terrors. Deziah. Antonina. Step forward and accept the Windforce. You have shown enough bravery, determination and strength to be deemed worthy of wielding the Windforce. Me and Shadow Rider are proud. In my 68 years, I haven’t ever seen fighters quite like you two. Take this as a symbol of honour.”
Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap…
“Now join hands, everyone! And bow before our god.”
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…
“Hope!” Axel shouted.
Skye and Axel had finally caught up to them.
“Uh, why didn’t you just stay there?”
“Well…” Axel looked at Skye for help.
“Let’s just go back.” Hope and Kai led everyone through the Lab.
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Meanwhile, Cynthia and Zhen finally got off the floor while Cairo was struggling to regain back his armour from the Darkheart. Cynthia picked up the Illumina and Zhen picked up the Firebrand, Ghostwalker and Hope’s dagger, which flung out of Cairo’s hands. The room the three were in was surrounded by flames.
“You. You think you’ve won. Haven’t you?”
Cairo began to laugh maniacally. Wrapping himself in an indestructible black orb.
“CYNTHIA. ZHEN. I will allow this. For you to take these weapons. I am not fit enough to battle right now. But remember this. The two of you. You think that you people are the heroes of this ‘world’. But Telamon sees all. Including those who reject Him. And they will be eternally punished. We will fulfil our mission to kill those who reject Him. This is why the Swords exist, Zhen. He passed them down to the people who truly believed in Him, and entrusted them to destroy all that refused to believe, in order to restore a perfect world. These people passed these Swords to their descendants. And now to me. And when I open the gates and resurrect the Clock, you will meet the same fate as those who were killed from it three thousand years ago.”
Cairo sent out a black shockwave that completely eradicated the flames in the room.
“Go. But I will get my hands on the Icedagger. One way or another.”
Cairo began to cough up black blood. Cynthia and Zhen rushed out of the room.
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At least 20 minutes had passed, as Hope, Bella, Kai, Theo, Skye and Axel had finally reached the entrance at D.I.E.
“So, how do you actually go through this wall? When I tried I couldn’t…”
Kai raised a pass in front of the wall and immediately walked through it.
“Come on!”
Everyone else walked through, and Cynthia and Zhen had finally caught up to them, quickly rushing through.
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And they were finally out.
The eatery still seemed empty.
“Cyn?”
“Axel!”
The two hugged quickly and held on tight to each other.
Axel was about to mention Buck.
“Did Buck…”
Cynthia let go and looked at him, then looked at Hope, who looked distraught.
“Oh my god. I forgot about Buck. Where is he?”
Cynthia did not answer.
“He died, didn’t he? That Amalgamation must’ve got him.” Bella grabbed Theo’s collar and started dragging him out of the eatery kitchen, before turning back around.
“Unless of course, it was you.”
Zhen gave Cynthia the Firebrand and Ghostwalker, before turning to Hope and giving her the Dagger.
“I’m taking this idiot back to the town.” Bella took a large jacket that belonged to one of the employees, to cover her face and arms.
“Wait! Won’t Cairo be after you?” Hope reached out her hand a little bit.
“I think he’ll be after everyone.” Cynthia added.
“Shut up!” Hope stared at her.
“What… what did I do?”
“He’s dead. Buck’s fucking dead! And you don’t even look like you care!”
“You do realize Buck caused all of this to happen, right? Him and Zephyr are the whole reason why we all ended up in that lab. I needed to kill him to power up the Ghostwalker and defeat the Amalgamation.”
“But you didn’t, did you? You killed him for nothing! He could’ve changed- It was pointless!”
“Enough!” Zhen silenced all of them.
Skye and Hope’s D.F.E’s turned back online.
“I suggest we all just get back to Nightfall Base. Including you, Theo.” Hope got her D.F.E and held it in her right hand. With her left, she joined her hand with Skye. Skye held her hand out for Kai, and they eventually all joined Hope, before Hope teleported back to the Base with everyone else.
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The base was never this crowded in a long time.
Cynthia walked to the glass cases to temporarily put the Illumina, Firebrand and Ghostwalker into them. Until she has the time to contain them in places around the Heights.
Hope walked up to the wall that had everyone’s names on. Buck’s name was crossed out, just like it was in that folder.
Theo took Hope’s and his bag and emptied out the folders they took from the Lab for everyone to read. They didn’t take all the folders, but hopefully the folders that actually mattered. He put his camera away into his bag, zipped it up, and went to sleep on a couch. Right next to Axel, also sleeping.
Zhen, Bella and Skye were all in the tech room, as Zhen was discussing everything that happened when their ship crashed. Zhen also mentioned what Cairo had told her and Cynthia before they fled.
Josh had also been awake for a short while, being filled in on what happened from snippets of many conversations.
And Kai…
…
Midnight. Everyone was asleep, except Kai. He took the pack of Ice Potions but couldn’t find Hope’s Dagger. Maybe Hope was sleeping with it near her.
He teleported outside of the eatery. The police, ambulance and fire engine services were all crowded, thinking that the corpses and arson could’ve been a crime scene.
He needed a way to sneak back into the Lab without being noticed, but the signal around the Lab completely blocked any form of teleportation inside of it.
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Instead he decided to teleport to the Arena. It was a colossal mess. Skye’s drones were completely broken, and huge craters were left where the Amalgamation had slammed. It was quiet in the Arena, for once.
…
He launched himself into the crater, landing successfully.
Right in front of the Clock.
He approached it slowly.
Smoke filled the air, but he tried to muffle his coughs with his sleeve, in case somebody heard him.
He grabbed three Ice Potions, and put them in their respective slots.
It began to tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
A slot opened in the giant clock. Human size.
The ticking grew louder. The Ice Potions began to resonate in the tension.
Kai threw himself in, and the door closed.
“H-huh?!”
Locked. Chains wrapped around it.
Just the Icedagger now.
ns216.73.217.39da2
and then Add to home screen.