Citrine Earth

Chapter Five

Stella and Renee had followed Chloe to Galen's ranch.

From the base of the hill, Renee wants to go to a nearby cafe for breakfast, but she sees that Jasper is surrounded by Galen and five men.

"Hey, Orchis!" Renee said. "Look! I think Galen is onto Jasper."

Stella looks up at the top of the hill. "Yeah, the men are moving closer to him. Let's go to back him up. No time to call Florian for backup."

The five men go towards Jasper and try to grab him, but stop when Galen notices Chloe coming.

"Hold on, boys!" Galen said to the men and turned to Chloe. "Was Jason at the river this morning?"

Chloe shakes her head. "No, I didn't see him."

"See?!" Jasper said. "That's because I took care of him already!"

Galen scoffs. "That doesn't mean anything! Still, I found it suspicious that someone like you-!"

Before Galen is able to finish his sentence, Renee, in her Phoenix form in the air, comes diving down at some of the five men. Poppy red Fire Midrash particles disperse as she lands.

"What the heck!?" Galen shouted and activated his Sura to bring forth his Axe. He coats his Axe with his yellowish Earth Midrash to attack Jasper with a Geo Strike.

Jasper sees this coming, activates his Sura to bring forth his Dagger, and counters with Dust Slash. Both attacks had canceled each other. Galen gets angry and keeps swinging his Axe at Jasper blindly. None of the swings connected. Jasper simply dodges and when Galen is running out of stamina, the former uses Dust Slash on the Axe. The wooden part of the Axe is destroyed. Galen has no choice, but to drop the Axe. He is surprised and looks down at his broken Axe. When he looks up, Jasper's Dust Spellbomb explodes.

Right before Jasper's Spellbomb explodes, Galen quickly rolls out of the way. He gets up and runs towards Jasper. At close range, he punches and kicks his opponent several times. Jasper drops his Dagger onto the ground.

Galen, seeing the fallen Dagger, bends down to try to pick it up, but instead sees a kick coming at him. Without time to react, the kick knocks him back several inches.

Seeing his opponent on the ground, Jasper throws two Dust Spellbombs at him. The first is avoided by Galen, but the second one lands and explodes on Galen's back. Jasper follows up with another Dust Spellbombs which finally knocks out Galen unconscious.

Renee, who had already transformed back into her human self, is getting ready to fight when a yellowish Wind Spellbomb comes at her. She immediately dodges and looks at the person who had thrown the Spellbomb. It was Chloe who looked scared, but ready to fight.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?!" Renee asked. "You don't wanna get involved in men's business!"

"I can't just leave!" Chloe said.

"Why not? Do you owe Galen anything?"

"Sorry!" Chloe said and ran away to Galen's house and left the ranch.

Renee decides to fight the bodyguards who are getting ready to fight Stella.

Since the five men didn't have access to Midrash ability, Renee was able to easily defeat some of them with a Fire Spellbomb. The remaining men quickly fell to Stella's Dark Spellbomb.

Galen looks around several times. "Where's Chloe?"

Renee scoffs and kicks him. "She wasn't able to fight. She's a girl! Fight your own battle!"

"Now that the battles are over," Stella said and looked at Galen. "Is Orphea your benefactor?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Galen responded.

"Actually," Jasper said. "You do! You mentioned Orphea when we met yesterday."

Stella crosses her arms beneath her breasts. "Really? Where did you meet Orphea and why?"

Galen scoffs. "Hmph! As if you guys can find her in such a big city!"

This was all Stella needed to hear. On the map given to her by her superior, there is only one city. It is located at the center of the map. Before leaving, Renee throws an Ashen Spellbomb at both Galen who was knocked off. This is to make sure they can leave without any incident.

"Alright," Stella said. "To the city. We should leave now before they wake up."

Jasper looks around quickly. "Wait! Where's Florian?"

Stella and Renee stop walking and look at each other.

"He's probably still fishing at the river." Stella said.

"I can't believe you girls almost forgot about him!" Jasper said.

"Let's get him back and tell Jason he can go about his business now.

With that said, Stella, Renee, and Jasper go back to the river to meet up with Florian and leave Angouri Hill and make their way to the city in the center of the map. This marks the end of this arc. The search for Orphea will start in the next story!

After Stella and her friends leave Angouri Hill, Galen gets up and notices an unknown person walking up to him. The unknown person has two soldiers in black uniform with him.

"Galen?" asked the unknown person.

"What?" Galen responded irritably. "You wanna join the goat business, too?!"

The unknown person shakes his head. "No, I just wanted to confirm that you are who I think you are." He turns to the two soldiers. "Grab them, boys!"

"What?! Who are you?!" Galen protested but was quickly subdued by one of the two soldiers.

Meanwhile, in an unknown office, a young man with eyes the color of a branch walks to an unknown girl with platinum blonde hair.

"Galen has been taken out." said the young man with branchy eyes.

"Hmph!" said the girl with platinum hair. "They're all useless. Be on alert! The Scythe Lady and her friends will be coming here next."

The branchy-eyed guy smiles. "I'll let everyone know!"