CHAPTER 18: GURGLE! SPLAT!
Year 2000 AGS Underhaven Calendar
I looked at Aurel, who was by Elder Abaddel's side, and he was also surprised and was looking back at me as well.
My father then immediately hugged me as a father tries to protect his daughter in serious danger and whispered in my ear. "Selena, don't worry. The Templars are honorable. Do not aggravate them. Go to your brothers and tell all of them to behave and be submissive to the Templars. They won't harm us if we do what they ask. Do you understand me?" Father told me hastily.
"Yes, father!" I replied to him.
"Make haste, Selena, especially to Jr. and James. Now, go!" My father added, fearing that my older brothers might fight back against the Templars.
I tried to hurriedly run towards my brothers on one side of the great hall. But a Templar guard blocked my way.
"Let her pass." A deep voice echoed in my ears as I was in panic. I tried to look around, and it was Elder Gabriel looking straight at me. He then looked at the guard intently, as if they were communicating with their minds. The guard nodded at him, and he let me pass.
"What was that?" I asked myself. It was like a voice had just entered my mind. But I shrugged it off and continued to my brothers.
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"Father, what's happening?" Aurel seriously asked Elder Abaddel a question. "Are we gonna kill them all? It is not right, father!" He spoke softly but audibly as he came close to his father's ear.
"Son, I know you would not understand yet. But keeping yourself quiet in this situation would really help. If you voiced what you had just said out loud, you might have caused mass hysteria."
"Bu…" Aurel was about to speak once again. "Observe everything, my son. This is how you deal with trouble. Go to those children you were with earlier and calm them down. But do not stay too far from the Templar guards near us. There are many enemies hidden among us!" Elder Abaddel replied to his son, looking straight at Elder Sandalphel and the representatives, expecting some stupid Domcrean to attack and be accidentally killed by Elder Sandalphel. "Now go!" Elder Abaddel ordered his son to move away from the main areas of confrontation.
"Elders, let us calm ourselves down! We are your friends!" The Dynamen representative, who was so loud earlier, exclaimed.
"Silence!" Elder Gabriel shouted. The entire great hall went silent. Those panicking, those complaining, and those crying. "Sacred light! Now! Do it this instant!" Elder Gabriel further shouted. Everyone's eyes widened as they feared it was their end.
"Yes, Elder." The Templars, wearing white and gold armor, all replied in unison to the Elder's command.
A blinding divine light immediately surrounded all of the great hall. Everyone looked at the light emitting from the Templars wearing white and gold. The light was bright but not blinding.
SIZZLE. SIZZLE. SIZZLE. The sound of something being cooked in a frying pan sounded.
ARGH! Many of the Domcreans in the great hall shouted.
"Attack them!" Then a command was shouted among the Domcrean ranks.
DASH! DASH! Those sounding in agony began to attack Elder Sandalphel, who is armorless and weaponless.
Elder Sandalphel smirked as he saw them trying to attack him first.
"So all of you have finally decided to come out!" Elder Sandalphel remarked.
He took the solid metal chair he was sitting on earlier and bent it into a sharp weapon as if it were made of clay.
The Clan of True Strength possesses a Major Gift that naturally coats the Templar's body, muscles, and skeleton with primordial Light or Dark energy, altering their muscle density and physical structure.
By altering muscle density, members possess extreme physical strength, allowing them to swing massive, multi-ton great swords like light wooden sticks while maintaining fast, light, and agile movements.
The Gift grants rapid physical regeneration that does not consume physical stamina during combat, allowing warriors to heal mid-fight without tiring
A Domcrean dashed towards him with a dagger, trying to attack his throat.
WHISH. The Domcrean used wind martial energy to make himself as fast as the wind. He pulled his second dagger hidden in his clothes using his right hand and was now holding two daggers.
VHOOM! Elder Sandalphel also suddenly dashed towards him.
THUD! He took hold of the Domcreans neck using his left hand. He gripped it so hard that everyone in the room could hear the cracking of the Domcrean's spine.
ARGH. The Domcrean shouted in pain as the immense pressure in his neck increased while the humongous Elder remained standing firm.
The Domcrean tried to impale the Elder's forearm with his daggers, but it did not work. It looked as if someone had tried to impale a solid stone with a wooden sword.
SHHHH. SHHHH. The scratch that the Domcrean's dagger did to the Elder's forearm then began to heal on its own until not even a scar remained.
The Domcrean gasped as the grip on his neck became tighter and tighter. He began choking and gasping for air.
CHUNCH! Elder Sandalphel impaled the Domcrean with his solid metal chair, now used as a spear. Everyone heard the breaking of the ribs and the wet splashing of the Domcrean's blood as his body burst into red after the attack.
Everyone in the room who saw this turned pale. Some of the blood splashed into Elder Sandalphel's body and face, making him look bloodied like a serial killer who had just finished his victims in the streets.
The other Domcreans, whose intention was to attack him, froze midway out of fear.
SQUISH! Flesh meets flesh sounded as Elder Sandalphel threw off what remains of the body of the Domcrean he just killed towards one of those who stopped in their tracks.
Then Elder Sandalphel threw the improvised spear he held in his right hand at the other Domcreans who were unwittingly standing in a straight line.
THWACK! Five Domcreans were impaled by the flying spear. BOOM! Their bodies, including the spear stuck in the wall of the Great Hall.
"True Strength! Capture all those who are emitting purple and black smoke." Elder Sandalphel then ordered.
"Yes, my Lord!" Those in the Clan of True Strength shouted in unison.
As they began to take out their great swords from their back. "By the Makers!" Prime Minister Arthur Cobal commented as he watched everything unfold.
"Our saints! Please calm down! We can all talk this out!" Prime Minister Arthur Cobal further remarked, his face pale and sweating. His face frowned heavily, and he looked older at that very moment.
Even with that remark, the ordered Templars did not listen; they began to run toward areas where people were emitting purple and black smoke.
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"Wait! James, don't attack the Templars! Father ordered us to restrain ourselves and be submissive to them!" I exclaimed to my brother.
"Quit with your fantasies, Selena! They are out for blood!" James replied as he was panicking about what to do.
"Calm down, James. We can't win even if we try to attack them. At least by not attacking. We survive longer, and things might settle down after. That's what father meant." Jr. added, calming our brother down.
"Thank you, Jr." I replied. Thankfully, Jr. is a rational person.
"And what even if you attack? Can you even have a chance against 3 Elder Templars?" Aurel added as he went over us siblings. "Even if all of you here tried to work together and attack, you can't even get rid of 1 Elder Templar. And there are 3 of them here." Aurel further explained.
"That is why you all need to calm down and trust us." Aurel rationalized the situation we are currently in.
"If Lopez had been arrogant and had a sharp tongue, we would have our own Aurel." I silently thought to myself.
"Good for you on being a Templar! You are not in grave danger, as far as we know." James remarked towards Aurel. Panic has disconnected his mind from his plan of being friendly towards Templars.
"Well then, go ahead and try to fight your way out of this. Attack one of the Templars guarding the doorway and escape." Aurel sarcastically replied. "Just a reminder that these are Major Clan Templars. The best of the best among Templars." He further noted, shrugging.
"Why, you little brat!" James took Aurel by his clothes and yanked him close to his face.
Aurel then took James' hand and twisted it, tripped him on his feet, and pinned him down.
"See! You are no match, even to a kid like me." Aurel remarked while James was on the ground with his face on the floor.
James tried to struggle, but he couldn't find his way to get out of Aurel's grip.
"Just stand here quietly and let the Elder Templars resolve this. They have no intention of massacring all of you. My father told me personally." Aurel told us as he faced Jr. Clearly, he knew who was really in charge among us siblings.
"This boy is really sharp," I told myself. "Are all Templar children as strong and smart as this one?" I contemplated calmly after Aurel clearly stated that the Templars meant no harm.
"Then what is happening right now?" Jr. asked Aurel the most obvious question. The question that all of us here are trying to know and understand.
"I don't know. I am at the bottom of the Templar hierarchy. They don't share highly classified details with a kid like me." Aurel replied.
"Then how sure are you that they mean no harm?!" James exclaimed. I forgot that he was still on the ground, his face on the floor.
"Because father said so. He is one of the highest authorities currently here. And the strongest Templar within this airship. Even if all of your Republic's army is here right now, you won't beat my father. That is how strong he is---" Aurel paused, looked at the current situation at the center of the Hall. "If he had bad plans towards all of you, he wouldn't bother explaining. Heck, he won't even tell me to come here and calm you all down. So that's why." Aurel explained as he was holding down James, who was way bigger than him, by the way.
"Okay. Okay. Loosen your grip and let me go. You have made your point." James remarked. I think he was in pain as his position on the ground looked awkward.
"Everyone near those people with purple and black smoke move away! Unless you want to be collateral!" I was surprised. It was as if someone had entered my mind and talked to me.
"Did you hear that?" Miguel exclaimed. Miguel was here observing everything silently.
"Yes, someone talked in my mind!" Armann added.
"That is Elder Gabriel's Divine Presence," Aurel informed us all yet again.
I looked at the center, trying to see what was happening.
"Currently, there are Neo-Illumina and the 'enthralled' among all of us here. The enthralled are all Neo-Illumina, and we are trying to capture or get rid of them!" Elder Gabriel began to talk in my mind. Based on what I see, he was talking to all of us telepathically since the representatives at the center began to calm down. I looked towards Father and saw his stance had calmed down a bit.
"Don't be afraid of the Templars! We are as equally strong as they are now that we have the soul element!" one of those with purple and black smoke began to shout.
GURGLE! SPLAT! GURGLE! SPLAT! The people began to vomit purple solid like smoke. I think it's like an ectoplasm from supernatural ghost stories!
Then the physical purple ectoplasms began to form into humanoids and materialized some armor.
"I see. So that's what they look like in person!" Elder Sandalphel from the center of the Hall shouted.
"Be careful, their blades pass through our weapons and armors if they are without spirit attributes." Elder Abaddel shouted to Elder Sandalphel.
"I know, that is why we have sacred light users here." Elder Sandalphel replied.
Their voices are so loud. They might be indirectly warning others here, aside from Templars.
GURGLE! SPLAT! GURGLE! SPLAT! The enemies continued vomiting all those ectoplasms, and the hall began to be filled by them.
"Oh, my Gods. There are thousands of them already!" I exclaimed in shock as the number of enemies there had been only hundreds earlier, then turned into thousands as the spirit armors, with purple smoke for faces and limbs, began to materialize.
"I see. So that's how they work." Aurel, beside me, commented.
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*End of Chapter.