Sparkle Sunrise

Chapter Four

Right after getting slapped by Cecilia, Soleil got so angry that he started to grab anything near him and threw them against the wall. Multiple colors of paint splashed against every wall in his paint store. When he had finally calmed down, he left his store and went outside to an associate of his.

Soleil walks down the street and makes several turns until he arrives at his destination. He knocks on the door.

The door opens and the person in front looks to be shorter than Soleil by a few inches and younger by a year or two.

"Gervais!" Soleil said. "I need to come with me to the paint store."

Gervais pokes his head out the door and looks right and left. "Is this about the journalist?"

Soleil gets upset. "Tsk! Don't talk about that! And no, it's about something yet. Let's go already!" He turns around and does not wait for Gervais.

Together, they make their way back to the paint store. Oh, and the outfit on Gervais is a green T-shirt, black jeans and black dress shoes. His hair is blonde and his eyes are hazel.

As Harold and Edgar are about to leave the inn, Cecilia calls out from behind. "Wait! Let's eat first and then Lily and I can show you guys the way."

"We're eating?" Stella asked. "Yay!" She quickly walks to the door.

Harold smiles. "Alright, we can eat."

"This will give him time to calm down." Edgar said.

Stella is confused. "Calm down from what?" She looks at Harold and makes a mischievous face. "Are you angry or something? Hihi!"

Harold couldn't help but smile to himself.

Leaving the inn and looking for someplace to eat, Stella points out that she wants to try out a pastry that sells apple tart cake.

The bakery is about a few minutes away from the inn. Everyone goes inside and sits down. Harold, of course, likes to sit in a corner to scan his surroundings for potential threats.

"So," Stella said. "How goes the investigation? What does Soleil have to do with the journalist?"

Harold swallows his coffee. "Yeah, turns out the journalist might be dead. The person that I questioned let that slip."

Stella and Cecilia gasp.

"So," Cecilia said. "It's a murder case now?"

Harold nods. "It might be the case and the suspect said we-," He looks at his partner. "Meaning Edgar and I, should go see Soleil at the paint store."

Cecilia thinks to herself. "I don't know about Soleil. I mean he's a pervert, but a murderer?"

"Well," Edgar said. "The suspect was under a lot of pressure, so he might have said anything to get us to leave."

Harold shrugs. "That's why we're going to see Soleil and find out."

Edgar frowns. "And not just to punch him for making a move on these ladies here?" He gives a small smile.

Stella is the first to finish her apple tart cake. She claims it was delicious and tasted very tart. With that said, she and Cecilia show Harold and Edgar the way to the paint store.

Once at the paint store, Harold and Edgar go inside and see paints scattered all over the walls. As soon as they entered, Soleil and Gervais turned around to make eye contact with them.

"Hi," Harold said. "We're looking for Soleil."

Soleil stares at Harold. "Who are you and why do you want to know?"

Before Harold and Edgar can answer, the door opens and Stella walks in.

"Oh!" Soleil said. "It's that girl and her mom!" He turns back to Harold and glares. "And they send you here? Ha! I can't believe it!" Soleil laughs.

Gervais looks at Soleil and takes a few steps backwards. Soleil throws a Fire Spellbomb at Harold, Edgar, and Stella. The Spellbomb explodes into flame particles with a color of fluorescent red.

Cecilia hears an explosion from outside as she is walking into the store. She quickly goes inside the store and sees Stella hurt from the explosion.

Harold gets up and transforms into his Wolf form and charges at Soleil. Gervais sees this coming and activates his Sura to bring forth a Spear. He coats his Spear in greenish Fire Midrash and tries to stab Harold, but Edgar tackles him to the ground.

"Lily, dear!" Cecilia exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

Stella slowly gets up. "Yeah, Harold blocked the attack so I didn't hurt much."

Cecilia glares at Soleil. "Was it that pervert?!"

"Yeah, it was him."

When he had attacked Gervais, Edgar also fell onto the ground. He gets up and tries to punch Gervais, but the latter quickly rolls out of the way and stands up. Gervais tries to attack his opponent using a move called Fire Thrust.

Keeping his distance, Edgar dodges the thrust from the Spear wielded by Gervais. Seeing that his opponent would just keep dodging, Gervais swings his Spear around like a whip and it hits Edgar on his rib.

Stunned by the pain, Edgar lets down his guard and Gervais takes advantage of this and manages to stab Edgar on his shoulder.

Seeing Edgar getting hurt, Stella throws a Rainbow Spellbomb at Gervais. Since his focus was on Edgar, Gervais isn't aware of the incoming Spellbomb and it explodes when it lands on him. Multiple colors of light particles disperse from the Rainbow Spellbomb.

Edgar resumes the battle with a Metal Spellbomb and then jumps on Gervais as soon as the Spellbomb explodes. With his opponent on the ground, Edgar starts to punch him several times until the latter is knocked out. The battle between Edgar versus Gervais is now over with the help of Stella.

Harold, in his Wolf form, charges at Soleil with an attack called Leaf Fang. Soleil immediately jumps into the air and transforms into a mythical creature that looks like a cross of a dragon and a rooster. This creature is called a Cockatrice.

Stella and Cecilia are surprised at the sight of this weird looking creature. In fact, the sight was so funny-looking that Stella laughed a little.

Soleil, in his Cockatrice form, notices Stella laughing and dives directly at her.