Pablo tried to collect himself and think of a plan. "I'm not a fighter. But I can't stay useless, I'll figure out a way to support him!" he stared at Sanita in awe.
"If Tsuyoi somehow makes it here, I think he can take on Sanita. His Treasure directly counters his Sorcery."
He gets up and follows Sanita. He has his back, making sure there are no sneak attacks from behind. "I saw the doctor heading in that direction. You said his name was 'Blessings'? That's kinda ironic. If we keep going, we might get to him."
Hearing this, Sanita turned away and glanced in the opposite direction. He then started walking towards there. Pablo was confused immediately and followed him. "Hey! What are you doing?!"
Sanita didn't turn towards Pablo and kept walking. "There is no 'we', I'm going to escort you to the exit before I kill Blessings."
Pablo raised an eyebrow. "...then why did you turn away?"
Sanita paused and awkwardly started walking in the direction the doctor went. He tries to play it off. "You didn't count on the fact that the exit could also be in this direction, did you? It's not like the facility is binary." Pablo tries to hide his amusement.
Sanita didn't respond and avoided showing his face and acted like he was ignoring Pablo.
Pablo rolled his eyes and didn't feel like rubbing it on his face. "I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not. I'm not leaving."
Sanita kept his act, and didn't even react to what Pablo said. Pablo didn't like being ignored, in fact he hated it. "I guess Magiborns don't have ears either."
Sanita turned around instantly and furrowed his brows. "What was that?" Pablo flinched and raised his hands in defense. "Nothing!"
"Tsk." Sanita mumbled something else under his breath. Pablo got tense but followed him without a choice.
Pablo felt dread washing up on him, wondering if Sanita wants him to leave for the reason he thinks.
"...Why don't you want me around here? What do I look like?"
Even though he himself wanted to get the hell out of here before meeting Sanita, he feels like staying right now. But why? What did Pablo fear so much that changed his motive?
It's probably because he doesn't want to prove to himself that he is…
"...An unreliable person." Sanita said it bluntly, not thinking twice.
Pablo stopped walking as his heart skipped a beat. His breathing got slower as he stared with wide-eyes at the uncaring Sanita.
A sweat falls down from Pablo's forehead and falls on his left eye, Pablo doesn't blink. "..." Pablo clenched his fists as his lips trembled into a thin line. Sanita wasn't even aware of this as he kept walking.
KILL HIM, PABLO.
"Huh?" Pablo almost stopped breathing.
HE CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU STRUCK HIM IF YOU AIM AT HIS NECK. IT WILL FEEL GOOD, I PROMISE YOU.
Pablo took a step back, frozen in shock.
I WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH YOU NEED.
Pablo's hand unintentionally went towards his sword. His ring glowed just a little, faintly. His mouth was open, fully concentrated on Sanita.
"...His back is open. Besides, I need him dead or otherwise he'll kill the doctor." he pondered to himself as he took a step forward.
Sanita took a look at the walls, taking note of the layout and trying to guess which way they will go next. "Where are the flies I sent to the city center? Are they not back yet-" while he was mumbling to himself he slowly turned around and faced Pablo.
Seeing him in that state surprised Sanita. He was a bit unsettled. Pablo gasped.
"What's the matter?" Sanita asked with a low-voice.
Pablo smiled nervously as his Treasure stopped glowing. "Nothing. It's just very hot in here." He avoided eye-contact. Sanita sharply exhaled and turned his back again. "Whatever."
Pablo pushed away the thoughts instantly, he started breathing heavily as he almost did something drastic. "What the hell was I thinking?"
He collected his composure and wiped the sweat off his forehead, he noticed his eyes were burning as he forgot to blink just now. "When did I last take my medicine?" he thinks to himself, realising he forgot them in Thalorien. "Shit."
…
COWARD.
"Ugh! Agh! Hi-yah!" Tsuyoi tried to catch the flies with his fingers and tried to hold onto them as they flew towards the facility.
"I think you're too heavy for them Tsuyoi." Kori watched with confusion, she seemed genuinely baffled.
Tsuyoi stopped trying and grunted. "Kori, you try! Everyone I know says their girlfriends are 'so light', I'm starting to think that's just women in general because it can't be a coincidence!"
Kori smiled and started following the flies, not even thinking about Tsuyoi's 'plan'. "I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I'd be too heavy for them."
Tsuyoi stared at Kori with a confused glare. "You don't look heavy." Kori just sighed and focused on the objective. "Smooth, but not now."
Tsuyoi reluctantly followed her in annoyance. "Whatever. How do you even know Pablo is at the facility?"
Kori giggled and she started skipping once more. "A bird told me." Tsuyoi reacts to this with a nod. "Makes sense. Happens to me all the time. Let's just go get him then!"
While they make their way to the facility, she senses something. Kori stops walking and looks at Tsuyoi. "Tsuyoi, why don't you go ahead without me? I'll catch up in a second."
Tsuyoi curiously turns around to face her. "...why?"
Hearing this, Kori smiles and tilts her head. "I have to pee. Promise not to look, okay? I'm sure a gentleman like you wouldn't do such a thing."
Tsuyoi thinks about it before giving her a thumbs-up and returning to walking. "Oh, alright. I heard there is a urinal around the corner for whatever reason. You could use that."
Kori doesn't know what to say to that and tries to keep her normal face to hide her bafflement. "...thanks?"
As Tsuyoi follows the flies and disappears into the shadows, Kori turns around and looks at where the noise came from. "Didn't know Jinns had regulated body temperature." Her voice was cold and threatening, her glove started glowing from her pocket.
Tsuyoi starts sprinting when the flies get faster. "We must be close, they saved their stamina for the last stretch!"
The flies lead Tsuyoi to an alleyway with no other exit besides going back. They go down a little hole on the ground, disappearing and leaving Tsuyoi helpless. "No! Where did they go?!"
He looks around to see if there is any way to get down. He looks at his right, a normal apartment. He looks in front of him, a wall. He looks at his right,
a fortified reinforced metal wall with an even thicker door. "...okay I'm not that dumb."
He steps forward and knocks on the door to see how thick it is. "I wonder if my Treasure can burn through this?" He inspects the wall and the door as he keeps knocking. Right as he was checking every part of the door, a noise speaks out through a speaker he can't see.
"Password and Name." The voice had authority behind it. It was cold, colder than anything Tsuyoi heard.
Tsuyoi flinches at the voice, but then tries to think of something. Anything. Even if he guesses randomly, there is a chance.
"...lemons on a horse's face?" He gives his answer.
The speaker shuts off.
"Shit." He looked down, scuffing the dirt with his shoe. "Don't worry Pablo, I'll guess correctly in no time! Eventually I'll get it right!"
Meanwhile, Kori stood her ground. Her guard was up but she didn't look that serious. Out of nowhere, seemingly from nothing, a person showed up. He took on Pablo's shape, but his feet were mirrored, facing away from each other.
"What a plan. If Tsuyoi comes to check due to the noise, he will see me fighting Pablo. That's not a good look. That meat-head won't listen to anything I say if that happens. That's his plan." She pondered.
"Didn't know they would go that far." The Jinn crossed his arms, inspecting Kori. "But you know what they say, Liar Liar…" He opened his left hand and aimed it at Kori.
Kori rolled her eyes, putting her glove on. "...Pant's on fire. Too predictable."
Flames erupted from the Jinn's hand, Kori quickly dashed to the left and started running on the wall to close in the distance. "Such moves!"
Kori tried to deliver a dropkick, but the Jinn blocked it fairly easily. "I can't use my invisibility against you, can I?"
He gripped her leg and slammed her on the floor, she didn't make any noise of pain. Almost like it didn't even hurt her.
"I will send you to hell!" The Jinn used flames to finish Kori who was on the floor. She sighed. Her Treasure glowed. She created a wall of ice to protect herself from the flames, rolling to the side at the same time.
She quickly gets up and creates a knife made of ice, she thrusts it towards its neck. "Are one-liners all you can say?"
The Jinn gasped and erupted flames from his palms as a sort of boost, allowing it to dodge the knife. "She isn't playing around, is she?!"
Kori started swinging the knife rapidly, pressurising the jinn so much that he could not make a counter-attack.
"Your species have flashy fire abilities, but they come with obvious weaknesses doesn't it?"
She created an ice wall and sent it towards the Jinn. "Boiling Water for example, one drop of it makes your skin boil. What kind of weakness is that? How can a kettle be your weakness?"
She smiled like she was proud of her pun.
The Jinn was left with no choice. "If I melt the ice, my flames will boil it! How does she know so much?! But if I can use flames hot enough, they will boil fast enough that the water will fully vaporise before it touches me!"
He screamed and unleashed the full potential of his flames. The flames burned so hot they almost turned blue. They were even brighter than Tsuyoi's flare from before.
As predicted, the ice wall melts and doesn't stay as water for too long. The vapor disappears into the air. The Jinn starts panting. "I used too much-"
Kori stabbed the Jinn's neck with no hesitation, blood splurged from his throat as his disguise slowly disappeared.
"Sorry, but you'll be going to hell alone." she smiled softly as she took his life. The ice knife disappeared while she wiped the blood on her face. "See, I can do one-liners too."
Her facial expression changed instantly, she tucked her hair behind her ear. She made sure to get rid of all sorts of blood on her body. She practiced her smile and went to follow Tsuyoi.