Sparkle Sunrise

Chapter Five

Right after transforming into his Cockatrice form, Soleil dives directly at Stella, but is countered by Harold's Leaf Spellbomb.

Focusing on Harold now, Soleil, powers up his wings with Fire Midrash to attack Harold with a move called Sparkle Fire Wing. Harold tries to dodge, but the span of the wings is too large. He takes the hit and receives major damage. This is because Wood is weak to Fire.

Harold, in his Wolf form, is weakened from his opponent's attack. He fights through the pain and powers up his fang with Wood Midrash. With his fangs coated, he opens his mouth wide and bites down with an attack called Leaf Fang. The Cockatrice does not care and shakes violently to make Harold let go of the bite. This plan works because Harold, still in his Wolf form, is not able to hold his bite onto the Cockatrice.

Soleil again begins to power up his wing, but this time, Harold is prepared. Instead of letting the attack happen, Harold aims for the throat of his opponent and immediately bites down with Leaf Fang. Following up from this, the Wolf transforms back into Harold and starts to punch at the Cockatrice's throat.

Now grabbing the Cockatrice by the throat, Harold uses all his strength to throw him through the window. Tiny pieces of shattered glass were as a result. Outside, Harold throws a Leaf Spellbomb at the Cockatrice who slowly begins to transform back into Soleil.

Cecilia walks up to Soleil and begins kicking him in the stomach. The battle is now over. Harold goes outside and carries Soleil back into the paint store.

Soleil regains consciousness really quick. Gervais is still knocked out.

"So," Harold began. "What can you tell me about the journalist?"

Soleil scoffs. "Hmph! As if I'll tell you anything!" He looks at Stella and Cecilia. "You ladies send this guy over? You stole my paint and now this!?"

Harold punches Soleil to shut him up. "That's enough! Now, the journalist?"

"Heh!" Soleil scoffed again. "Even if I do say something, you'll never get the evidence you need."

"A confession from you will suffice."

"As if I'll confess to anything!"

"Maybe not here, but definitely somewhere else." Harold looks at Stella and Cecilia. "You guys might want to leave now." He looks back at Soleil. "This guy and I will get to know each other."

"Why?" Stella asked. "What are you gonna do?"

Harold does not give an answer.

"Come on, dear," Cecilia put her hand on Stella's shoulder. "Let's go now." She looks at Harold. "Come back to the inn when you're done."

Stella and Cecilia say goodbye to Harold and Edgar and make their way back to the inn.

Now that Harold and Edgar are alone with Soleil and an unconscious Gervais, the interrogation can truly begin.

"Now," Harold began. "Let's try this again. What do you know about the journalist?"

Soleil just grins and smirks. "Let's see what you got!"

Out of nowhere, a green Goblin breaks into the paint store and runs past Harold and Edgar.

"What the-!" Harold and Edgar both exclaimed in surprise.

"You-" Soleil started to say but the Goblin suddenly stopped in front of him.

Standing directly atop of Soleil, the Goblin sharpens his claw and swipes at Soleil's throat with Wind Claw. Blood starts to gush out immediately and profusely from the severed throat. Before Harold and Edgar are able to react, the Goblin swiftly jumps out onto the streets and hops onto various buildings and eventually out of town.

Harold and Edgar run outside and watch as the Goblin disappears from their sight.

"Who or what was that?" Edgar asked.

"I don't know," Harold said. "But we need to check on that Soleil guy." He and Edgar go back into the store and see Soleil's body was stiff and lifeless. Harold checks the body for a pulse. He looks at Edgar. "He's dead."

"What? He has a Therian Construct! He should have been able to recover from that attack!" Edgar runs towards the body and checks for himself.

"We need to get out of here now."

Edgar looks at Gervais. "What about him? We can't just leave him there."

"That creature didn't go after him." Harold glances at Soleil. "It seems like he was the only target."

With that said, Harold and Edgar return to the inn to meet up with Stella and Cecilia. Harold explained to the mother-daughter duo that Soleil was no longer alive and the killer had some sort of unknown Mythic Therian Construct.

"I can't believe…" Stella said quietly. "I didn't like the guy, but he didn't deserve to die like that."

"So," Cecilia said. "What now? Is the investigation about the journalist done?"

Harold shakes his head. "No, I believe Soleil knew something and he was killed to keep silent. Whoever he was working with didn't have much faith that Soleil would keep quiet."

"This investigation just got bigger than we had thought." Edgar said. "If the journalist is dead, then this isn't a missing person case anymore. It's a murder case." He looks at Harold. "What should we do now?"

Harold looks at Stella and Cecilia. "Still looking for paints for the self-portrait?"

Stella said yes, but not with much enthusiasm.

"Alright, then" Harold said and looked at Edgar. "We'll go with you guys and go after that creature. It was heading east to the next location over."

With that said, Stella, Cecilia, Harold, and Edgar leave Pomme Town and head east to their next destination. This marks the end of this arc.

Meanwhile in an unknown location, the Goblin goes into an office in their human form.

"Well?" asked a man sitting on a desk.

"Soleil is no more."

"Good! We can't risk him talking to the police. Any else?"

"The people involved were the Leaf Wolf and the Rainbow Girl."

"Interesting."