Azure Water

Chapter Five

Everyone went inside the restaurant. Stella looked around and the place was half full. She and Renee waited while Florian and Jasper went to the kitchen.

Jasper looks around and sees the waiter from earlier. "You!"

The waiter makes eye contact with Jasper and immediately runs to hide behind the two present chefs.

"Hey, guys!" Florian said. "Remember us?!"

"You guys had the jump on me last time," Jasper said. "But this time, it'll be different. Where's my Dagger?!"

One of the chefs quickly hides something behind his back. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"We'll see about that." Jasper creates a Dust Spellbomb and throws it at the chefs and the waiter.

Florian creates his own Spellbomb. His is Sludge Spellbomb. Both Spellbombs explode into poison particles with a shade of green and dust particles with a shade of orange. The two chefs and waiter are knocked out. Jasper sees his bracelet on the floor. He bends down and picks it up.

The boys leave the kitchen and meet up with the girls.

"Found it?" Stella asked.

"Yep! I don't think they'll mess with us again." Jasper said.

"Let's find an inn where you guys won't get kidnapped again."

Everyone stayed in their room at the inn until the next morning. It is about eight in the morning. Stella wakes up later than usual. Renee then woke up followed by Jasper. Florian only woke up when Renee threw a pillow at him.

Back at the chief's house, three people could be seen as Stella and her friends approach it. One is Linos, the other is Cora, and the third must be Damianos. He looks to be mid-forties, muscular, dark curly blonde hair, blue winter jacket, and black boots.

"What happened to this building?!" asked the man presumed to be Damianos.

Linos looks nervous and just notices Stella. "Her!! She did it!"

Damianos turns around and sees Stella. "Who the heck are you guys?!"

"Stella?! Renee?!" Cora said. "You did this? Why?! I was nice to you!"

"We should finish them," Linos jumped in. "Before they cause more damage!"

"Good idea!" Damianos said. He transforms into a Crab.

Linos transforms into his Lion form.

"W-wait!" Cora said. "I don't know how to fight!"

Stella activates her own Sura to bring forth her Black Scythe. Renee transforms into her Phoenix form. And Jasper brings forth his retrieved Dagger.

Without hesitation, Damianos, in his Crab form, charges at Stella and uses his right pincer to attack her with Hydro Slash. She dodges, but the Crab uses his left pincer to attack Renee with the same move.

Renee, in her Phoenix form, takes the damage because she doesn't realize that Damianos would follow up to attack her.

In this rematch, Linos, in his Lion form, decides to go after Jasper first. He starts the fight with an Ember Fang directed at Jasper, but he blocks it with Dust Slash using his Dagger. Linos jumps back and turns to Florian and attacks him with an Ember Spellbomb.

Florian uses Sludge Punch to counter the incoming Spellbomb. Both attacks collide with each other and energy particles from both Midrash disperse into the cold air.

Using this opportunity, Jasper runs up to the Lion and attacks with Dust Slash. The Lion takes the damage and tries to charge towards Jasper, but Florian grabs the Lion's tail and pulls him towards himself. Jasper follows up with another Dust Slash and it hits the Lion's face.

The Lion yells out in pain. Florian does not care. He attacks the Lion with multiple Sludge Punches. The Lion is knocked out and transforms back into Linos.

Stella uses her Black Scythe to attack with Shadow Slash, but Damianos uses his pincer to block it.

Renee gets up from the ground and charges towards the Crab and attacks with Ashen Wing. Using his other pincer, Damianos counters with Hydro Claw.

Stella realizes that her Black Scythe will just be countered by the Crab's pincers, so she gives her Scythe to her right hand. Normally, she is left-handed. With the Scythe in her right hand, she slashes at the Crab expecting him to block. Damianos does as expected. Now that the Crab's two pincers are occupied, she throws it at her opponent. The Spellbomb lands on the Crab's shell and explodes into black particles.

Taking the damage from the Spellbomb, Damianos is knocked onto his back. Now that the Crab's weak spot is exposed, Stella and Renee attack his belly for massive damage. Stella throws another Shadow Spellbomb and Renee throws her Ashen Spellbomb. The combined power of the girls are enough to knock out the Crab. The battle is now over.

Panicking and not knowing what to do, Cora throws an Earth Spellbomb at her. Seeing that the Spellbomb is weak, Stella slashes it with her Scythe. The Spellbomb disperses into earth particles with a shade of blue.

"You guys are mean!" Cora said. "How could you do this? My dad wanted to turn this place into a resort and you want to destroy that?!"

Stella deactivates her Sura. "Calm down. We're not here to start any trouble. We only fought back. We didn't start any fights on our own."

Damianos is the first to regain consciousness "What do you guys want?"

Stella crosses her arms beneath her breast. "Who made you chief?"

Damianos gets upset and glares at Linos. "Tsk! What did you tell them?!"

Linos shakes his head quickly. "Nothing! You were made chief and that's it!"

Damianos calms down and sighs. "Hmph! If I tell you, this person will take everything away from me. I have a daughter to protect. I'm not saying anything." Damianos looks at Linos. "I can't trust this guy here to keep his mouth shut."

Linos lowers his voice. "But I kept this place safe when you were with Zoe in Bezilia Prairie yesterday…"

Stella and Renee are immediately surprised by the name Zoe.

"Fine," Stella said. "We'll go now."

Back at the inn, Stella explained that the name Zoe was one of the five individuals to track down. There is a place called Bezilia Prairie in the next area over. That will be their next destination. And that concludes this arc!

Meanwhile, a few hours after losing, Damianos was in his house when there was a knock on the door. The person knocking didn't bother to wait for an answer. He just forced the door open and walked in. This man wore a black uniform. Behind him are six soldiers in black. "Damianos! If you want to stay chief of this village, you'll do everything I say."