Tenshin's subtle feints seemed perfunctory and timid, due to his sympathy for Alicia whose mind was still wracked in chaos, and to force her to ponder his next moves tore his heart out. Yet, such gestures still worked wonders in making the lass fluster.
"You promised we would handle this diplomatically, right? Please don't do this," Alicia crooned, pushing the void.
"We've passed that phase," Tenshin replied. "Again, I despise myself for doing this, Miss Alicia, but the doomsday clock is ticking."
With not a moment squandered, Tenshin initiated the charge, dodging the frantic plasma volleys she fired simply with his magic circle. Alicia's heart hammered like a horse galloping in a race. She increased her fire rate, in sync with her rapid heartbeat, until her shots finally paid off. Alas, not the outcome she had expected.
A forceful Arcane blow ripped the young sorcerer's right palm off his arm! Tenshin fell into a stunned silence, staring at his stumped hand. Likewise, Alicia gradually widened her jaw in disbelief. Hysterical shrieks erupted from them both.
"My hand! My hand!" Tenshin screamed.
"Y-your hand!" Alicia freaked out as well!
"My hands! W-where? Where has my hand gone?"
"H-how should I know? I didnae mean to sever yer hand!"
"B-but I still can't find my hands!"
"See, it's all yer fault! Should you nae give me such a sudden attack, you wouldn't have lost a hand!"
Tenshin paced around, seeking his hand while wailing in frantic. Too many cracked reflections in the mirror world made it difficult for him to discern the shape of his missing body part. But then, in a moment of clarity, he spotted it lying some distance away. He bolted towards the amputated landing site with a renewed sense of hope, leaving Alicia clueless.
Tenshin screamed again, a joyful tone this time.
"I found it!" Tenshin waved his amputated right hand aloft. He scampered like a pig while flaunting his metal-coated hand.
“It is okay. Do not panic, everyone. My hand is back… uh… oh, n-no! D-d-do not l-look!” The young sorcerer swiftly turned around, awkwardly placing his hand back. "No, no, no… Y-you should not h-have seen this."
A while ago, these two should have been locked in a fierce magical battle, but this unexpected interruption had made everything even more tactless. Alicia looked at Tenshin. How his skittish mannerisms were at odds with the ferocity of his prowess.
"Wait a minute. Yer right hand has been fake all this time?"
"Huh? Ha ha ha ha n-no, really! It's just a form of magic…" Not long after, conscience rebuked him, causing Tenshin to sigh. "Alright. Th-this is indeed a prosthetic hand. Yes, Miss, please look down on a cripple like me."
The lad's admission stirred Alicia with nought but perplexion. Her shaken head felt languid. Her forehead crease showed no signs of easing. "Why, on Ellie’s wrath…, would I do that?"
"S-so… you accept me the way I am—no, you don't mind my prosthetic hand?"
"Divine Mercy, you’re a pure goon, aren’t ye? How many times have I told you I dinnae care!" Alicia's tone was sharpened by irritation.
"Oh, yes. That is r-right."
"Enough! I'm sick of humouring ye! This time, I won’t bat an eye if yer right arm is right severed!"
“F-fine…. By the way, Alicia, c-catch this!”
One could not fathom what was going on in Tenshin’s mind, as he detached his newly attached right hand and threw it at Alicia. The flabbergasted girl recoiled as fast as she could, unsure if it was a clever trap. But Alicia was too fixated on the floating prosthetic appendage that Tenshin had already made his move unnoticed. Only when she looked ahead did she realise the vexing sorcerer had vanished among the reflections of a thousand mirrors.
Oh, the dexterity of that sorcerer! There was no trace of that acutely shy magus around. He better not leave her alone in the mirror dimension to torment her soul until it becomes submissive, ready to be transported to wherever the monks abide, she thought. But Alicia also questioned how a klutz and socially inept sorcerer like him could do such a heinous deed—though she must admit, it was actually a sound stratagem. Alicia saw behind the glass realm, her friends and the wizards were still locked in combat against the other sorcerers.
And then, Alicia felt a sudden gust of wind. A cool breeze that stirred the hairs on her nape.
No. No ordinary gust. Not in this strange and otherworldly dimension where the laws of nature held no sway.
Her head initiated a turn!
But the response was too late. Not even a quarter turn, Tenshin had already restrained her movement with both hands.
No error found in that saying—both hands: his normal left hand wrapped in supple leather and fingerless gloves, while his other was a marvel of magical engineering, a synthetic creation formed from his own energy, radiating a reddish-orange light.
The intricate glyphs and patterns that adorned the transparent tissue of Tenshin's right hand seemed to spark with a life of their own, as he held both hands within inches of Alicia's scalp. Both middle fingers seemed to release a small force right at the girl's temporal bones, spread to the nerves, and left her paralysed.
"It is okay, i-it is okay," Tenshin's voice quavered as he tried to soothe Alicia in her paralysed state. Her myopic eyes glared, while her shallow breathing came in quick, panicked gasps. "Shhhh shhh shhh shhh… c-calm down. Calm down. I-I will not hurt you, A-Alicia. Therefore, do not fight… Do not fight… Sleep well, O Child of Miracles…”
A white noise drowned out everything but the sound of her own racing heartbeat. Tenshin's voice, once so insistent, now seemed to come from a great distance, muffled and unclear. Her eyes fluttered and blinked rapidly. Alicia wanted to fight her drowsiness, evident from her tense body and her stark limbs craving to crush something. Alas, each of her fingers refused to fuse with one another. She tried to draw power from Orb floating right under her palm, but even that proved difficult in her half-awake state. Every time she almost succumbed to the shimmering emptiness of dreams, her Arcane flow throughout her nerves was hindered or even drained out.
Times passed, and Alicia continued rebelling against the clutches of Tenshin's hypnosis, making the young lad's patience wear thin. And when Tenshin was ruled by emotions, that was when his focus began to founder.
"A-A… licia! D-Do not… fight!"
Alicia felt her control slowly but surely returning.
“N… n… n… n…”
Still, the girl was bringing all her might to wag her frozen tongue.
"Alicia…! Sleep!"
The yelling was useless. He was pushing himself so hard that the focus of his magic was scattered. The full force of Arcane struck Alicia's nerve centre, and she let out a sharp cry.
"No!"
Alicia regained complete control. Swiftly, she pivoted and hurled Orb at Tenshin's head. The young sorcerer dodged, but she already pulled her blue orb back and launched it at his shin! It hit its mark, and Tenshin let out a pained cry, much to Alicia's flabbergasted surprise. He hopped about on one leg like a frenzied sprite until he lost his equilibrium, just as he stumbled forward and collided with Alicia, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
The lass' mind was hazy as she regained consciousness. The air was dense and stifling, and she could feel a weight pressing down on her. Panic set in as she realised that Tenshin was atop her, his face so close that she could feel his warm breath brushing against her skin. Her face flushed with embarrassment, yet another aspect heightened her shame to an extreme degree.
Tenshin, still dizzy as he was, attempted to rise but was instantly struck by the blood rush in Alicia's cheeks. His own face now mirrored her rosy blush.
The peculiar grips on her bosom, one of which brought a warm and tingling sensation, made the girl nearly squirm. Struggling to stifle a cosy sigh, she dared a quick peek, and indeed, Tenshin's hands rested on her supple lumps. "Both" hands. Tenshin forgot he did not have a right hand yet his holographic one still clung onto Alicia's breast. Oblivious to the situation, at least until Alicia glanced at her breast, he looked down too.
They both simultaneously screeched each other's ears.
"M-m-m-my hand! M-my o-other hand!" Tenshin's gaze locked back at Alicia's reddened face. Still in a state of shock, Alicia's brows furrowed gradually, and her teeth clenched together into two tight rows.
"S-s-sorry! S-sorry! I-I… I… did not mean—"
"Lewd bastard!"
A brilliant blue light trounced Tenshin's face. He crumpled to the ground, wincing in agony. He tried to touch his fiery face; it was safe, still as smooth and handsome as ever! But that did not mean there was not a heavy toll to pay. His nose was broken, and blood trickled down his face. His shattered glasses were rendered useless.
Through the cracked lenses, Tenshin saw dozens of ruthless Alicia Crimsonmane, stricken with tantrums and a desire for retribution! With his battered physique and blurred vision, there was no way the lad still insisted on catching the fiery red steed, whose hands were gushing the mightiest energy in the universe.
Tenshin took out a white flag. Literally. "Miss Alicia… e-enough! I g-give up!"
"Gie up? Naw. Naw. Yer the one asking for a square-go, aye? ‘Mon then, ye damned pervert! I’ll kill ye!"
“Kill me–what?”
Alicia, no! Orb let out a cry as well
Alicia did not bother to address the pleas of neither the young sorcerer nor Orb. Instead, the magic bullets became her voice, delivering a message of pain and reprisal. Despite being the only two in the world, she could not stand the thought of anyone touching her body without consent. With each hit, Tenshin's body was marked with new bruises, and he could do nothing but curl up in a futile attempt to shield himself.
"Akh! Ouch! It hurts! It hurts! Alicia, I'm sorry, please stop! Ouch, Alicia!" Tenshin's cries only added fuel to the fire.
Snagged by a barrage of pain, Tenshin performed a series of hand dances, summoning a stream of orange magic and unleashing it towards Alicia with a mighty gust of wind, enough to send the careless lass flinging.
A glass shattered in the middle of the empty horizon, spewing Alicia back into the realm of tangible while tumbling end over end. Tenshin also came out in a state of descent. He remained inert, allowing the shards of dimensional glass to rake across him before fading away. Everyone in the room was alerted.
"Tenshin!" shouted Ko Zarni and Ganika in unison. Ko Zarni threw his extended Slangeskroll to dispel Nadine, Gilmore, and the wizards, before rushing to his brother in arms. Ganika did the same, bounding across the room on her magical platform while fending off half the wizard's unit with her enchanted fans.
Nadine and Gilmore too called out to their dear friend.
"Alicia, awright, hen?" Gilmore offered his palm to rest her head on.
Alicia tried to move while holding back her pain. "Calm down, Alicia. We're here," Nadine reassured her. The bespectacled girl promptly hugged them both.
"Little brother, are you well?" Ko Zarni, with the same attitude, helped his little brother lean on him. "Damn, look at you, black and blue!"
"What happened?" Ganika greeted him. "Don't tell me that lady massacred you all because you touched her private parts, you bumbling oaf."
"Ganika, this is not the time for jokes."
"N-no… G-Ganika is right. I did not mean to, though," Tenshin murmured.
"You—what?" Ko's tone rose slightly, then again said to Tenshin in a whisper. “Little brother, you only have one task in the midst of the golden opportunity I gave you…”
"I-I told you I did not mean to!"
"All right, enough, enough. Help him up, Ko."
"Slowly, I think the Arcane ball crushed my leg…"
"You didn't break your leg, idiot."
As both sides finished chatting with their respective little friend, they shared a glance while pointing weapons. Ko Zarni had his back to the other two. The Caledonian trio remained entwined, while the elite wizard unit formed a line before them, their small stick brandished. Ko Zarni and Ganika were indeed formidable adversaries. Despite the donation of bruises and cuts from the wizards, they displayed no signs of trepidation.
"You are outnumbered, sorcerers! Surrender at once!" one of the wizards gave a warning.
"Tsk! You won this time!" Ko replied. "But if you still don't listen to us, you are responsible for billions of lives lost in this realm!"
Suddenly, the sound of a tremendous explosion rattled the entire building and pierced their eardrums. The walls altered to its true shape.
"What was that jist noo?" Gilmore exclaimed, "Dinnae tell me yon Lailoken is about to make Skycastle fall!"
Still weak, she was, but Alicia managed to rebuke him. "Gilmore, dinnae assume things! And he's not Lailoken!"
"Assuming what! Ma heid’s pure whirlin’ and I feel like I'm being pulled by the ground! Of course, we fell fae a height!"
"We don’t fall from a height, okay? You just got dizzy from the explosion, like everyone else!" Nadine explained.
Merlin's followers nodded to one another. Tenshin, embraced by Ganika, formed a rift—a return to the skirmish between the wizards and sorcerers. []
Tenshin's subtle feints seemed perfunctory and timid, due to his sympathy for Alicia whose mind was still wracked in chaos, and to force her to ponder his next moves tore his heart out. Yet, such gestures still worked wonders in making the lass fluster.
"You promised we would handle this diplomatically, right? Please don't do this," Alicia crooned, pushing the void.
"We've passed that phase," Tenshin replied. "Again, I despise myself for doing this, Miss Alicia, but the doomsday clock is ticking."
With not a moment squandered, Tenshin initiated the charge, dodging the frantic plasma volleys she fired simply with his magic circle. Alicia's heart hammered like a horse galloping in a race. She increased her fire rate, in sync with her rapid heartbeat, until her shots finally paid off. Alas, not the outcome she had expected.
A forceful Arcane blow ripped the young sorcerer's right palm off his arm! Tenshin fell into a stunned silence, staring at his stumped hand. Likewise, Alicia gradually widened her jaw in disbelief. Hysterical shrieks erupted from them both.
"My hand! My hand!" Tenshin screamed.
"Y-your hand!" Alicia freaked out as well!
"My hands! W-where? Where has my hand gone?"
"H-how should I know? I didnae mean to sever yer hand!"
"B-but I still can't find my hands!"
"See, it's all yer fault! Should you nae give me such a sudden attack, you wouldn't have lost a hand!"
Tenshin paced around, seeking his hand while wailing in frantic. Too many cracked reflections in the mirror world made it difficult for him to discern the shape of his missing body part. But then, in a moment of clarity, he spotted it lying some distance away. He bolted towards the amputated landing site with a renewed sense of hope, leaving Alicia clueless.
Tenshin screamed again, a joyful tone this time.
"I found it!" Tenshin waved his amputated right hand aloft. He scampered like a pig while flaunting his metal-coated hand.
“It is okay. Do not panic, everyone. My hand is back… uh… oh, n-no! D-d-do not l-look!” The young sorcerer swiftly turned around, awkwardly placing his hand back. "No, no, no… Y-you should not h-have seen this."
A while ago, these two should have been locked in a fierce magical battle, but this unexpected interruption had made everything even more tactless. Alicia looked at Tenshin. How his skittish mannerisms were at odds with the ferocity of his prowess.
"Wait a minute. Yer right hand has been fake all this time?"
"Huh? Ha ha ha ha n-no, really! It's just a form of magic…" Not long after, conscience rebuked him, causing Tenshin to sigh. "Alright. Th-this is indeed a prosthetic hand. Yes, Miss, please look down on a cripple like me."
The lad's admission stirred Alicia with nought but perplexion. Her shaken head felt languid. Her forehead crease showed no signs of easing. "Why, on Ellie’s wrath…, would I do that?"
"S-so… you accept me the way I am—no, you don't mind my prosthetic hand?"
"Divine Mercy, you’re a pure goon, aren’t ye? How many times have I told you I dinnae care!" Alicia's tone was sharpened by irritation.
"Oh, yes. That is r-right."
"Enough! I'm sick of humouring ye! This time, I won’t bat an eye if yer right arm is right severed!"
“F-fine…. By the way, Alicia, c-catch this!”
One could not fathom what was going on in Tenshin’s mind, as he detached his newly attached right hand and threw it at Alicia. The flabbergasted girl recoiled as fast as she could, unsure if it was a clever trap. But Alicia was too fixated on the floating prosthetic appendage that Tenshin had already made his move unnoticed. Only when she looked ahead did she realise the vexing sorcerer had vanished among the reflections of a thousand mirrors.
Oh, the dexterity of that sorcerer! There was no trace of that acutely shy magus around. He better not leave her alone in the mirror dimension to torment her soul until it becomes submissive, ready to be transported to wherever the monks abide, she thought. But Alicia also questioned how a klutz and socially inept sorcerer like him could do such a heinous deed—though she must admit, it was actually a sound stratagem. Alicia saw behind the glass realm, her friends and the wizards were still locked in combat against the other sorcerers.
And then, Alicia felt a sudden gust of wind. A cool breeze that stirred the hairs on her nape.
No. No ordinary gust. Not in this strange and otherworldly dimension where the laws of nature held no sway.
Her head initiated a turn!
But the response was too late. Not even a quarter turn, Tenshin had already restrained her movement with both hands.
No error found in that saying—both hands: his normal left hand wrapped in supple leather and fingerless gloves, while his other was a marvel of magical engineering, a synthetic creation formed from his own energy, radiating a reddish-orange light.
The intricate glyphs and patterns that adorned the transparent tissue of Tenshin's right hand seemed to spark with a life of their own, as he held both hands within inches of Alicia's scalp. Both middle fingers seemed to release a small force right at the girl's temporal bones, spread to the nerves, and left her paralysed.
"It is okay, i-it is okay," Tenshin's voice quavered as he tried to soothe Alicia in her paralysed state. Her myopic eyes glared, while her shallow breathing came in quick, panicked gasps. "Shhhh shhh shhh shhh… c-calm down. Calm down. I-I will not hurt you, A-Alicia. Therefore, do not fight… Do not fight… Sleep well, O Child of Miracles…”
A white noise drowned out everything but the sound of her own racing heartbeat. Tenshin's voice, once so insistent, now seemed to come from a great distance, muffled and unclear. Her eyes fluttered and blinked rapidly. Alicia wanted to fight her drowsiness, evident from her tense body and her stark limbs craving to crush something. Alas, each of her fingers refused to fuse with one another. She tried to draw power from Orb floating right under her palm, but even that proved difficult in her half-awake state. Every time she almost succumbed to the shimmering emptiness of dreams, her Arcane flow throughout her nerves was hindered or even drained out.
Times passed, and Alicia continued rebelling against the clutches of Tenshin's hypnosis, making the young lad's patience wear thin. And when Tenshin was ruled by emotions, that was when his focus began to founder.
"A-A… licia! D-Do not… fight!"
Alicia felt her control slowly but surely returning.
“N… n… n… n…”
Still, the girl was bringing all her might to wag her frozen tongue.
"Alicia…! Sleep!"
The yelling was useless. He was pushing himself so hard that the focus of his magic was scattered. The full force of Arcane struck Alicia's nerve centre, and she let out a sharp cry.
"No!"
Alicia regained complete control. Swiftly, she pivoted and hurled Orb at Tenshin's head. The young sorcerer dodged, but she already pulled her blue orb back and launched it at his shin! It hit its mark, and Tenshin let out a pained cry, much to Alicia's flabbergasted surprise. He hopped about on one leg like a frenzied sprite until he lost his equilibrium, just as he stumbled forward and collided with Alicia, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
The lass' mind was hazy as she regained consciousness. The air was dense and stifling, and she could feel a weight pressing down on her. Panic set in as she realised that Tenshin was atop her, his face so close that she could feel his warm breath brushing against her skin. Her face flushed with embarrassment, yet another aspect heightened her shame to an extreme degree.
Tenshin, still dizzy as he was, attempted to rise but was instantly struck by the blood rush in Alicia's cheeks. His own face now mirrored her rosy blush.
The peculiar grips on her bosom, one of which brought a warm and tingling sensation, made the girl nearly squirm. Struggling to stifle a cosy sigh, she dared a quick peek, and indeed, Tenshin's hands rested on her supple lumps. "Both" hands. Tenshin forgot he did not have a right hand yet his holographic one still clung onto Alicia's breast. Oblivious to the situation, at least until Alicia glanced at her breast, he looked down too.
They both simultaneously screeched each other's ears.
"M-m-m-my hand! M-my o-other hand!" Tenshin's gaze locked back at Alicia's reddened face. Still in a state of shock, Alicia's brows furrowed gradually, and her teeth clenched together into two tight rows.
"S-s-sorry! S-sorry! I-I… I… did not mean—"
"Lewd bastard!"
A brilliant blue light trounced Tenshin's face. He crumpled to the ground, wincing in agony. He tried to touch his fiery face; it was safe, still as smooth and handsome as ever! But that did not mean there was not a heavy toll to pay. His nose was broken, and blood trickled down his face. His shattered glasses were rendered useless.
Through the cracked lenses, Tenshin saw dozens of ruthless Alicia Crimsonmane, stricken with tantrums and a desire for retribution! With his battered physique and blurred vision, there was no way the lad still insisted on catching the fiery red steed, whose hands were gushing the mightiest energy in the universe.
Tenshin took out a white flag. Literally. "Miss Alicia… e-enough! I g-give up!"
"Gie up? Naw. Naw. Yer the one asking for a square-go, aye? ‘Mon then, ye damned pervert! I’ll kill ye!"
“Kill me–what?”
Alicia, no! Orb let out a cry as well
Alicia did not bother to address the pleas of neither the young sorcerer nor Orb. Instead, the magic bullets became her voice, delivering a message of pain and reprisal. Despite being the only two in the world, she could not stand the thought of anyone touching her body without consent. With each hit, Tenshin's body was marked with new bruises, and he could do nothing but curl up in a futile attempt to shield himself.
"Akh! Ouch! It hurts! It hurts! Alicia, I'm sorry, please stop! Ouch, Alicia!" Tenshin's cries only added fuel to the fire.
Snagged by a barrage of pain, Tenshin performed a series of hand dances, summoning a stream of orange magic and unleashing it towards Alicia with a mighty gust of wind, enough to send the careless lass flinging.
A glass shattered in the middle of the empty horizon, spewing Alicia back into the realm of tangible while tumbling end over end. Tenshin also came out in a state of descent. He remained inert, allowing the shards of dimensional glass to rake across him before fading away. Everyone in the room was alerted.
"Tenshin!" shouted Ko Zarni and Ganika in unison. Ko Zarni threw his extended Slangeskroll to dispel Nadine, Gilmore, and the wizards, before rushing to his brother in arms. Ganika did the same, bounding across the room on her magical platform while fending off half the wizard's unit with her enchanted fans.
Nadine and Gilmore too called out to their dear friend.
"Alicia, awright, hen?" Gilmore offered his palm to rest her head on.
Alicia tried to move while holding back her pain. "Calm down, Alicia. We're here," Nadine reassured her. The bespectacled girl promptly hugged them both.
"Little brother, are you well?" Ko Zarni, with the same attitude, helped his little brother lean on him. "Damn, look at you, black and blue!"
"What happened?" Ganika greeted him. "Don't tell me that lady massacred you all because you touched her private parts, you bumbling oaf."
"Ganika, this is not the time for jokes."
"N-no… G-Ganika is right. I did not mean to, though," Tenshin murmured.
"You—what?" Ko's tone rose slightly, then again said to Tenshin in a whisper. “Little brother, you only have one task in the midst of the golden opportunity I gave you…”
"I-I told you I did not mean to!"
"All right, enough, enough. Help him up, Ko."
"Slowly, I think the Arcane ball crushed my leg…"
"You didn't break your leg, idiot."
As both sides finished chatting with their respective little friend, they shared a glance while pointing weapons. Ko Zarni had his back to the other two. The Caledonian trio remained entwined, while the elite wizard unit formed a line before them, their small stick brandished. Ko Zarni and Ganika were indeed formidable adversaries. Despite the donation of bruises and cuts from the wizards, they displayed no signs of trepidation.
"You are outnumbered, sorcerers! Surrender at once!" one of the wizards gave a warning.
"Tsk! You won this time!" Ko replied. "But if you still don't listen to us, you are responsible for billions of lives lost in this realm!"
Suddenly, the sound of a tremendous explosion rattled the entire building and pierced their eardrums. The walls altered to its true shape.
"What was that jist noo?" Gilmore exclaimed, "Dinnae tell me yon Lailoken is about to make Skycastle fall!"
Still weak, she was, but Alicia managed to rebuke him. "Gilmore, dinnae assume things! And he's not Lailoken!"
"Assuming what! Ma heid’s pure whirlin’ and I feel like I'm being pulled by the ground! Of course, we fell fae a height!"
"We don’t fall from a height, okay? You just got dizzy from the explosion, like everyone else!" Nadine explained.
Merlin's followers nodded to one another. Tenshin, embraced by Ganika, formed a rift—a return to the skirmish between the wizards and sorcerers. []
