W—where am I? Why does it feel like I am floating? A familiar scene appeared below me, and I swam towards it. How strange that my body felt surprisingly light. Wait— am I… dead?
Kirin and Byakko were bantering with each other at their favourite spot; yet they weren't surprised to see me in my strange form.
"What did I miss?" I chuckled as I floated closer to them.
"Sigh, this is why we shouldn't have used our spectral form. Our current sanctioned powers aren't enough to protect him when we split our consciousness," sighed Kirin.
"Hang on— am I really dead? For real?" my mouth went agape.
"Close, you are inching closer to death as every second passes by. And none of your wives are in a position to be helping you," shrugged Byakko.
"I only have one wife. Still up for debate whether Lily will agree, but as of now, it's just one. Anyway—what's going to happen to you two when I pass on? Are you going to search for another host?" I casually asked them.
They glared at me with hostility. Did I ask something wrong?
"Had you always been looking for an opportunity to get rid of us? You seemed awfully accepting of your own death. I do not believe we have treated you badly enough for you to hate us this much. We stuck with you because you were destined for greatness, just like your parents," Kirin sounded pissed, but Byakko kept his silence.
"Woah—the both of you should know full well that there's no ill intent in what I asked. C'mon, you can literally read my mind. Don't do this and sour the mood of our last meeting," I tried to calm them.
Kirin started approaching me, but Byakko stood in the way. Did he really want to kill me? But I'm already dying.
"Calm yourself, Kirin. Live up to your reputation at the very least. You know full well that the boy is right. I am sure you know what he's feeling right now. You're welcome, boy. It's been an honour to fight by your side. I am certain Kirin is feeling the same," bowed Byakko.
"Oh no! I should be the one bowing to you two. Thank you, for accepting me as your host and fighting with me thus far. I am eternally grateful to both of you," I started to float up.
"I guess this is goodbye after all. If possible, can you look after my family and Lily for me? I know it's much to ask, but at least I'll feel better knowing that both of you are watching over them," I waved at them as I started to float higher.
"You can tell them yourself, boy. I daresay we got lucky—really lucky. You can expect us to give our utmost cooperation in the future. This is a wake-up call to both of us," he turned towards Byakko, seemingly wanting to discuss something with him.
"Hey, what do you mean? Hey—wait. I'm not done yet!" My vision turned white as I continued to float higher into the sky.
***
I opened my eyes. W—what? Everything was dark. I was expecting everything to be white and Morgan Freeman would be there to welcome me. Guess I got my hopes up for nothing. Why is it dark though? Even if I went down under, you would have expected it should have been hot and fiery.
A friendly hedgehog popped into my vision, seemingly soaked in something. He started licking my face excessively, and I told him, "I'm up, I'm up" as I tried to move my hand to stop him from licking me.
"OWWW!!" I squirmed in pain as I tried to sit up. An excruciating pain resounded in my stomach as though someone had stabbed a burning poker through me. I inspected the wound and quickly realised that it was sealed. Who— helped me?
I inspected my surroundings and saw my tube of healing gel was squeezed half empty, and Q was soaked in it. Did Q save my life? Upon further inspection, my wound was sealed both ways, which amazed me. Q is a brilliant hedgehog, and I'm eternally grateful that he ended up as my family pet.
I carried Q and placed him on my shoulder. Ugh, it hurts to even walk. I knew that Q had only sealed my wound from the outside and prevented me from bleeding out, but any wounded organs might still be bleeding internally. I walked to my hip pouch and retrieved a cloth to wipe Q.
"When this is over, a fancy meal is on me, family included," I told him as I wiped him down.
"Kew kew," he pointed his adorable hand towards a direction. Right, despite my hearing being muffled due to my ruptured eardrums, I knew that Lily and Rose were still fighting. I must help them when I still can. I inspected my fingernails, and they were extremely pale. That's a sign that I'm horrendously lacking in blood.
I placed Q on the ground and rummaged through my hip pouch. Three potions were what I retrieved: an adrenaline potion, a +10 all-stats potion, and an experimental one; a blood regeneration potion. This is the closest I had ever gotten to making a healing potion. I had tried it once without the knowledge of my wife, and fell horribly ill the next day. My whole body felt fatigued like I had been working the field for a week continuously. I lied and told Rose that I came down with a horrible cold, but in actual fact, it was the side effect of this potion. Better to be seriously ill than being dead when push comes to shove.
I took a swig of all three of them. Ahh~ Best drinks I ever had. I'll live, for now. The blood regeneration potion will keep me alive as my body goes into overhaul, creating more blood throughout my entire body. But I'll still need medical care after since it doesn't stop me from bleeding out internally.
Time to head over to where Rose and Lily are. Inu is going to pay for that sneak attack of his. One does not stab someone when they're talking!
***
*Rose's Perspective*
"Unforgivable! To be forced to use this sacred form against a human—and an elf. I knew there was something about you, Lily Moonshine. To think you were this powerful," he glared angrily at us.
Horrus looked really different now. His form grew grotesque as the bone blade on his right palm grew shorter but much sharper. Additional eyes grew at the side of his primary ones. Sharp, spiky bones protruded from his right forearm, further increasing the amount of grotesqueness from before. Blue flames engulfed his entire left arm as he held a highly concentrated blue flame on his palm, while a cape of blue flame covered his back. Talk about being presumptuous.
How are we going to win this? Lily seems to be down for the count after using that new power of hers. I can fight, but— Horrus is literally melting everything around him. I will be cooked alive trying to fight him at close range! But why— despite everything that's happening around me, why am I feeling so calm right now?!
"Time to feel the wrath of the God Of Destruction. My flesh reconstructed— and my blood burns. Corpse after corpse, burned in my stride. As I awaited— for his return. Heed my words. I am Horrus, Amaterasu Jinrou. And I have neverknown defeat," he readied himself.
"Uh-uh, no. You can't just say that; you have to prove it first before actually saying those words," spoke a familiar voice behind me.
My heart brightened upon hearing his voice. He's still alive! But how? Did Lily imagine that he died? What happened when we were fighting Horrus? Did someone else save him? The only thing I can think of is that perhaps Q saved him. He's a brilliant hedgehog that will go to lengths to protect him.
Zen walked calmly towards us; his eyes muddy as he had activated Focused Meditation. So that was why I felt calm despite Horrus's powerful form. A gaping hole can be seen on his armour and cloak, ending with a sealed wound. He must have been stabbed horribly judging from that wound of his. I'm glad he is alive despite what Lily told me. However, will the both of us stand a chance against him? How are we going to fight when we can't even fight him up close?
"Give me a sit-rep. Inu seems to be in his second phase right now. Can you fight, Lily?" he asked.
"We're not badly injured, but Lily should be down for the count. She almost killed Horrus, but he came back with this new form of his. We can't get close to him, not when that blue flame of his is melting anything in his vicinity," I explained.
"Horrus? What heresy is this? Horrus doesn't look like that in my book. Hmm, I guess it's up to the two of us then? I'll take point," he rummaged through his hip pouch.
"Hey—I'm not dead, you know. I can help. Just… need to regain my strength," Lily tried to stand.
Zen continued to rummage through his pouch and took out four potions. I recognised only two of them while the other two looked foreign to me. He tossed three potions to Lily while he drank the foreign one himself. Why don't I have any?
"Rose, you have your urumi, so attack from a distance. I only have two fire-resistant potions with me, so only two of us can fight him in close combat. Lily's Frozen Lightning is going to help tremendously; possibly turn down the heat," he said calmly.
"Zen—my gauntlets; they're not responding. I don't think I can use Frozen Lightning now," she panicked.
"W—what? Then pass Rose the Fire Resist potion then. Wait, did you just—" he trailed off.
"I've already drank them all! You didn't tell me what potions they were, so I trusted you!" she pouted.
He scratched his head. What is my husband doing? Despite using Focused Meditation, he still does silly things. What's done is done, I suppose; Lily will have to drag her feet and fight by his side despite not having her frozen lightning spells.
"Lily, you can stand and fight, right? I'm sure the strength and stamina potion should have helped your condition for now. You can use your fire spell at the very least?" he asked her after some thought.
"Yeah—I can fight if that's what you're asking. But why are you asking for fire spell when I'm more proficient in using lightning? Fire is the most basic spell in my guild, Zen," Lily explained to him.
"Ever heard of the term 'fight fire with fire'? We have already proven that beasts are weak against fire. I'm fairly confident that Horrus is weak against it too," he explained.
"Zen, Horrus is literally covered in blue flame. Isn't it obvious that he's immune to it?" I questioned his flawed logic.
"Just use fire and lightning then, we'll see which one works better," he summoned his spectral purple cloak with Rend.
I changed my blade into an urumi with a swing of my rapier. I need to deal significant damage to Horrus from a distance, and an urumi is perfect for that. I need to be confident in myself. You have the skills to do it, Rose. You can master this!
Horrus lifted his left arm, which held the concentrated flame, and slammed it into the ground, spreading the blue flame throughout the whole area, melting anything in its path. We leapt to avoid that flame, but I was the only one who could fly. Both of them fell to the burned area of the ground, which was still burning hot. It seemed that the fire-resistant potion worked a miracle as they were smirking rather than screaming in pain. We can win this; we can kill Horrus. Let us be rid of this bastard.