From a distance, Timothy caught a glimpse of a creature that looked like a half-horse and half-human with an extraordinary physique. It is a creature they call tikbalang. It is exceedingly fast with its horse legs, and the human upper body allows it to think critically when it moves.
Timothy smirked, “Now, now, isn’t it our lucky day?”
“Well, the tikbalangs rarely show themselves, but they’re worth a fortune in the marketplace,” Atlas added.
Timothy brushed his now long hair in a bun as he remarked, “Oh, your sentence structure sure did improve, Atlas.”
Atlas smiled with his enormous teeth and tusks showing, “I have a great teacher.”
Timothy smiled just before he ran towards the tikbalang like the bull he is. The tikbalang was sensing what he was aiming for, and it started to run in a circle trying to deceive Timothy’s senses of sight and hearing.
This is typically what tikbalang does; they try to trick and outsmart their opponen
Rosa snapped and pushed John away; she gritted her teeth and said, “You need to wake the hell up, John! They left us here!” “They didn’t!” John defended them, “Why else do you think Sinas and his men along with the king of the forest hasn’t found us? Do you think we’re just lucky? Arwin and Mark are out there, and I believe they’re still protecting us- their friends!” “Snap out of it! For all we know, everyone in this goddamn forest moved on with their lives, and here you are drunk again trying to wait for someone who will never come back here!” Rosa’s voice is getting louder at this point. She is really mad that John has to do this again. He keeps planting this idea in Timothy’s mind that Arwin and Mark are still out there, just waiting for us to help. It won’t do anyone good. It’s nothing more than a big ‘what if,’ and they can’t let their world stop just to keep waiting on them. “We’re stuck here in this village- in this forest, and instead of find
Meanwhile, at the heart of the forest, the king, Damon sat down casually at his throne built from the branches and blood of those who have died in the forest. King Damon’s kingdom within the forest is enormous, yet no mortal can see it or even go inside without the mark or insignia of the king’s armies. King Damon played with his long platinum blonde hair as he asked, “Please somebody tell me you found the raven?" Sinas, with his head shaved bearing the insignia of the king, reported, “Arwin was last seen near the river banks.” “Tell me something I don’t know!” King Damon threw a fit, “Where are my children? Call out the children of the forest.” Sinas’ men do as they are told. Soon, the leader of the children of the forest- a human comes forward proudly. Sinas gave a nasty side-glance at him as he walked past; he remarked, “You’re a traitor no matter where you go.” The King is delighted to see him; he greeted the person, “Mark, ah, the prodiga
Timothy’s attention was drawn to the spot where Mark just left as he heard some muttering, and he felt a presence, so he scanned the area for creatures lurking nearby, or possibly it might be Sinas. His thoughts about Arwin and the others are slowly shifting from worry to fear that they might have sold them out to Sinas. He drew his trusty revolver that Gloin had also designed. It looked unusual with all the coils and barrel out of place, but it is designed to reduce the sound when firing from a distance. Gloin originally designed it for Mark for his assassin works. Gloin calls it the silencer. Timothy also turned on his arm gear which is a metal and looked like a robot’s arm with those clocks and mechanism around it. It used steam to power, and it added a powerful pack to each punch. With some modifications, Gloin also added firepower to the fingertips of his device to fool one’s enemy as they come closer. Gloin originally designed it for Arwin. He e
Rosa stumbled as she looked for the words she wanted to say. Her thoughts are a mess right now. Her greatest fear is being realized once again. More than anyone, she hates Arwin for leaving them all clueless in whatever village she found, and as if that wasn’t enough, she’s coming into their life once again just when they finally settled down. Rosa hated how Arwin abandoned them, or at least that’s how Rosa felt. Finally, Rosa stood up and went inside their house, she said, breaking her silence, “We already talked about this.” “I know, and this time, I’m not asking.” Rosa sighed, “You’re willing to leave all of this behind and risk your lives for the people who don't even want to be found?” “Rosa-“ Timothy grabbed Rosa’s hands, but Rosa removed Timothy’s hand, she cut him off, “Don’t. We looked and waited for them. Hell, we even postponed having a child to find them! What else, huh? What else do I have to give up for them? How much longe
Located in the deep forest, Arwin is making her routine of fighting new and dangerous creatures of the forest along with Mosse. Mosse casually sat by the poisonous mushrooms as he picked up the steampunk clothes he got from the village’s dumpster. He was wearing the thick leather boots and the long coat with rusty old clockworks and mechanisms surrounding it. Along with it, he was wearing the leather straps to hold the pistol in place. Arwin sarcastically remarked, “Now that you’re all dolled up, do you mind helping now, Mosse?” “Sure, can I have a pistol? It kind of completes the looks.” Arwin reached out for the side of her baggy brown pants while she pinned down the creatures with her leather boots and threw the clockwork pistol to Mosse. Mosse shot the creature dead. Suddenly, more of them appeared, striking Arwin down and tearing her white and loose undershirt, but the leather corset with a different mechanism attached to it as well keeps
Everyone felt it; it must have been in the form of an earthquake, a picture frame falling and shattering into pieces, a gut feeling, or even the dark skies, but everyone’s aware, especially the village people. Something bad happened. They all feel the barrier protecting them slowly collapsing, which only meant one thing. Arwin is dead, or she’s dying. This is the second time this happened. Mark instinctively left his kingdom with caution to make sure no one’s following him. He saw the underground village, and he hesitated to step because he knew that if he can’t get in, it means that the barriers are still up and running, but if he can then it means that everyone’s in danger. Mark hesitantly stepped inside, and his heart sank at the conclusion he got. He is able to get inside, and just as he does, what welcomed him are Timothy, Gloin, and John. Mark waited for this day to come to meet everyone again, but now that it’s happening, he can’t utter a word.
As Arwin is taken to Timothy and Rosa’s house, the crew inspected Mosse seeing his human physical appearance and clothes that he got from the village as well. Timothy asked, “Who are you?” “I’m Mosse; nice to meet you too, Timothy.” “How do you even know our names?” Gloin asks “Excellent question, Gloin. That’s because Arwin and I sneak every now and then to check the events or any problems in the village, but usually, she sends me.” Mosse said with his talkative nature, “Arwin even gets rid of the high-class creatures in the forest every day to protect you. Ah, she’ll kill me again if she knew that I said that, so just act like I didn’t say it, okay?” “You talk…a lot. It’s making my head ring and my hangover worse.” John groaned as he drank a cup of coffee “Wait, wait. Did you just say ‘again’?” “Well, yes.” “So she has tried to kill you before?” Timothy asked as he got ready to draw out his weapon to strike. In his mind
Timothy rounded up everyone as they went inside his house; it’s been a while since they last came together like this. From planning a heist and now they are now planning how to get out of the forest. Oh, how time flies by so fast. Timothy took a deep breath and began, “Okay, I know Arwin’s vital in making our plan work, but I have a plan. “ “It won’t work without Arwin; why does it matter?” Gloin’s eyes sank from exhaustion and staying up all night. Timothy smirked and said in confidence, “I know her. Arwin is going to join us. I know she will.” John chuckled softly, which made everyone in the room, including Rosa, look at him with those confused looks all over their faces. John explained, “It’s just… it’s nostalgic. You know, Arwin said the same when we were planning the heist. We said we needed you to make it work, and Arwin did the confident smirks and said that you’ll be joining us and look at you. You’re here and leading now.” Ros
Arwin walked calmly. Wendy saw her when the young woman said, “Yes, everything turned out for the best, they gave everyone immunity, and they decided to unsubscribe. The army’s way of doing things is not the best!”Wendy, with a smile, said, “It’s true. It is not! But it’s good that the republic doesn’t follow them anymore. They’ve been close to me for a long time, so you don’t have to worry!”Smiling, Arwin thanked him and said, “I know! The mafia has done a lot for us, and we are available. We will open a special commission agency, and we can take on any job. Any…!”Wendy, with a smile, said, “I’ll keep them in mind then… Tell me! On the hand, how does it work?Smiling, Arwin nodded, saying, “The hand works great! Just like Strickland’s arm, though, he only knows how to complain….!”Wendy nodded and, seeing Arwin said, “That’s great, but if you don’t need anything, what did you come to do? Just to say hello?”Arwin nodded and said, “I wanted to know how you were, but more than anyth
Arwin was unconscious and the warm hand of a person she knew brought her back to reality. Everything was collapsing, and a one-armed man was pushing hard to remove part of the railing that was above it.“Luca.”She whispered when she saw the effort that the man-made toward her. She placed both hands on the railing and, helping him between the two of them, managed to lift her, she looked at him, and he said, offering her a hand, “I was worried, and I came to see how you were!”She, smiling, took his hand and, standing up, said, “It was difficult, but I did it! Is dead!”Luca smiling, began to run to the side of Arwin. Both were injured but kept a steady pace walking to get out of that place. Arwin seeing him, looked at his bandaged leg and said, “You managed to beat Skyler!”The smiling young man looked at him and said, “Nine times out of ten, she would have lost… I was very lucky!”She looked at him and was sure that he was speaking sincerely. However, she also knew how efficient he w
Arwin looked at the man walking towards her. Her shirt fell to the ground and showed a torso full of scars. The man raised his hands, looked at the pirate, and said, “It is said that you were the captain of a pirate ship. Is that true?”Arwin tightened his muscles, and the smiling man said, “I also!”With speed, she approached. For Arwin, it was strange to see a person of that size move at such speed, the man launched two direct blows to Arwin’s face, and the young woman, moving her head from side to side, managed to avoid them.He prepared a strong uppercut and threw it at the girl’s face. She tilted her face back to avoid the blow, but she could only feel the impact and see the entire room move around her. She didn’t understand what was happening.She was sure she had dodged it, but now the whistle that deafened her ears was in accordance with the erratic movement of the lights when the next blow caught her in the stomach.She felt a powerful hollow in her stomach as her legs failed
Arwin looked straight ahead at the swordsman of the black knights, the corpses of his companions adorned the entire anteroom, and he said, smiling, “After killing you. I’ll go find that Skyler guy and finish him off!”She, smiling, calmly breathed as she squeezed the handle of her gun. In that place, the smell of blood began to permeate everything, and the man in front of her said, “This is it. It’s the end!”Taking a step forward, he pressed the handle of his sword. That action generated a reaction from Arwin, who, with full power, advanced. Their steps were synchronized, and in a fraction of a second, the blood on the ground splashed from their strong steps until they crossed each other and stayed behind their enemy.They both calmly smiled, and it was one of Arwin’s daggers that broke at that moment. She looked at it and straightened up, and looked back when she said, “The weapons of the black knights are unmatched!”Seeing the man, he fell to his knees, and slowly, his hands went
Luca watched Skyler. Every move in his mind ended with the man stabbing him somewhere in the body, and even though the sword was severed and its reach reduced, Skyler didn’t look fazed in the least.In a normal fight with a normal person, Luca would have the advantage because of his armory on his arm, but against Skyler, all those weapons were useless. Something about that person was extraordinary, and his ability to fight was beyond everyone’s expectations, including Luca’s.Skyler bending her knees forward, jumped towards him, Luca raised his arm, trying to anticipate the blow, but the union member did not reveal his attack until the last minute.With a precise sword strike to the abdomen, Skyler made Luca step back, activating the barrel of his weapon. He opened his palm so that it pointed at Skyler, and the young man, only leaning forward a little, managed to dodge the shot.Swinging his sword hard, he hit Luca’s arm with the edge making his hand do a huge flip, and with his bare
Arwin and his men arrived at the antechamber of the emperor’s room. They all looked at the door ornamented with the symbol that was the shield of the empire on the doorknobs while they breathed deeply. Arwin said, “Once we go in, probably if we find opposition, they have to be careful and attack firmly. We don’t know what’s in store for us!”But that was not entirely true, and she had a clear notion of what was waiting for her behind that door. Seeing her companions before entering, she said, “Listen, if there are any black knights entering behind this door, I want you to retreat immediately… if you stay, you will die!”One of the soldiers saw her and said, “We will not retreat. If we even die, we have to make sure to make your mission easier, and if the black knights are behind this door, then we will have to face them, that’s all!”She smiled, the support of her men always lovely, and kicking the door hard, she had a split second to see the formation in front of her.Four soldiers a
Holly looked back and could see Loid storming in, firing her gun and sliding on her knees to get behind the wall her grenade had built. Seeing Holly, she asked, “Are you okay?”She was happy to see him and smiling. She nodded, breathing deeply. Loid saw how a fragment of the wall deteriorated and, looking to the side, said, “First, we must move. This won’t last long!”Coming out of the side of the wall, he raised his rifle and, firing several times, managed to hit Ben in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Looking at Holly, they both began to run at full speed towards another iron container.From the ground, Ben threw his nails, trying to kill them, but they moved quickly and managed to take cover.Loid was surprised, and seeing Ben stand up, he asked, “I gave him six shots. How the hell is he intact?”Holly, with a hint of frustration in her voice, said, “He’s reborn. I shot him in the head, an explosion with a grenade, I even hit him with a forklift, and he’s still whole. It won’
Luca was right in front of his enemy. The man in the white suit was smiling despite the wound on his shoulder. The man was looking at Luca carefully when he said, “Do you think you can survive this time? This injury was because you took me by surprise!”With those words, the man threw himself on Luca. He threw a hook hoping that Luca would protect himself but instead, the soldier moved his head from the place of the impact avoiding the blow with ease.The man looked at that, but, far from being discouraged, he launched a strong kick to the abdomen, but Luca, moving with his legs, got out of the reach of the blow. The man started throwing combination after combination, but Luca moved his body kept away from him.The frustrated man felt the pain in his shoulder when Luca smilingly said, “It’s not space mechanics. If I can’t cover myself, then I’m going to dodge everything you throw… your physical condition isn’t very good!”The smiling man shook his head and said, “As if they hadn’t tri
Arwin was running at full speed. The corridors turned into different paths but they had their path well established. They exactly knew which direction to go thanks to Holly’s help. However, the girl had stopped responding, and that puzzled Arwin a bit as he advanced with a glance. A quick glance at the troops that were with her, the girl stopped.She was looking at her men curiously when one of the Mafia soldiers asked, “What’s wrong, Arwin?”She is a quick movement, took out her dagger and, throwing it at full speed, stabbed one of the mafia soldiers directly in the chest, and all the soldiers raised their rifles to point at her. They were terrified when she, without paying any attention to them, saw how the man stabbed in the ground became another person.The guards looked at each other and saw Arwin, and the girl said, “Apparently, he can change his appearance and clothes at will... I don’t know when he replaced one of you, but he did!”One of the mafia soldiers looked at her in su