Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 11
(PART 2)
“Is that really you?” Sora asked with eyes wide open.
“Who else would I be?”
“Ah sorry, I just haven’t seen you in a while... Where are the others?”
Ubica reveals a strained smile and replies, “We were separated a little over a week ago... I was hoping that they’d already be here by now but I guess not.”
Sora finally takes his hand and is lifted up to her feet, her body still feels light with the feeling of relief. She was never this afraid to die in the past, she would fearlessly fight anyone if it meant protecting the Prince; but being eaten alive by a Demon frightened her to her core.
“Are the others alright?” she asks.
Ubica looks down to the ground, he doesn’t know if they are okay or not, as far as he knows they could all be dead. A vision of all of them dead while Abaddon is standing over them laughing flashes in his head, he slams his eyes shut and tries to shake it off.
“I-I’m sure they’re fine, they should be here on this island soon.”
“That didn’t sound too confident, are you sure everything is okay?”
“I could never be so sure about anything nowadays. But I have to trust in them, and believe that they’ll arrive here safely.”
“Well I guess there’s no choice but to do that right?”
Hearing words of comfort from Sora of all people gives him a sense of reassurance for whatever reason. It’s not like he thinks she knows any more about the situation than he does, but her voice is actually quite soothing.
“Get away from Sora you bastard!!” shouts a voice from within the jungle.
“Eh?”
Ubica turns around to see its source but is met with a fruit hitting him square in the face.
Of course this would normally mean nothing, but in this situation the fruit has the explosive power of a hand grenade.
BOOOOOM!
The blast hits Ubica dead on and he disappears in the smoke.
“Sora! Are you alright!?” shouts Aria as she rushes to Sora’s aid.
Sora is blue with shock; she can’t believe that Aria just blew Ubica up without even giving him a chance to reveal himself.
“W-W-What did you do!?”
Aria grabs her shoulders and smiles as though she had just finished up with her life's greatest accomplishment, “I saved you, what do you think?”
Aria remains happy and carefree until she feels an angered glare beating on the side of her face, she can’t help but glance over and sees a face through the smoke of the aftermath the explosion caused.
“If you don’t mind me asking... Just who is this girl that threw a bomb at my face!!?” Ubica asks in a raspy voice while cracking his knuckles in a threatening manner.
“Uwaaah!? He’s a lot stronger of an enemy than I expected! Stay back Sora, I’ll handle this!”
Because Ubica’s face is covered in dark dirt and ash, Aria doesn’t recognize him at all. And because Ubica never got a chance to properly meet Aria in the past, he doesn’t recognize her either.
Sensing that this could turn out extremely bad, Sora jumps in between them and shouts, “Stop it you two!”
They both look at her and simultaneously shout,
“WHY!?”
Even though Sora has retained her ability to talk, she is still not quick enough on her feet to explain before the two go at each other’s throats. But thankfully for her, Niera jumps in latches onto Ubica’s arm.
“Ubica!”
“Huh?” Aria halts.
“Wha?”
Ubica stops as well to look down on just who’s grabbing his arm.
Niera has a happy look on her face; her smile instantly breaks the tense situation that has just been narrowly avoided.
“I’m so happy you’re alright.”
Underneath the dirt on his face Ubica is blushing, not only because her words but because her chest is rubbing up against his arm. He’s even surprised that she realized it was him so quickly, it’s been a while since they last saw each other and when they were together they weren't as close as he was to Tsubiri, Trojia, and Daey.
“Wait a second, this guy is Ubica?” Aria asked.
“Can’t you tell?” Niera asks as if stating the obvious.
Aria takes her sleeve and rubs it rather hard across his face, removing the dirt.
“Ooaah it is you!”
Ubica frowns at her in frustration and asks, “Now that this whole that my identity has been amazingly revealed, can you guys can tell me who this girl is??”
“I’m Aria you idiot, I’m happy to see that I made an impression on you.” she replies sarcastically.
“Well I’ve never seen you before now so it’s not my fault!”
“Geez whatever... So where’s my stupid little brother?”
Even though Ubica has never seen her, he still knows her name, and also the fact that she’s Strauphius’ twin sister. He doesn’t want to be the bearer of bad news and tell her that he has no clue where he is or if he is alright or not, so he pauses for a moment.
This gives ample time for Cyrus to join in the conversation from behind, “I’d like to know where Princess Daey is as well.”
“Woah you sure came out of nowhere!”
“This isn’t a good time for jokes; I need to know where the Princess is.”
Ubica sighs and decides to tell them everything that happened when a familiar scythe bearing man who looks awfully beat up shoddily walks up to them.
With a glare that states he feels nothing emotional about their reunion he says, “I’d like to hear as well.”
Phoenix walks up the stairs that lead to the Gate through the waterfall.
He doesn’t speak to Xavier about the conversation he just had with Michael and it prompts the young Prince to ask,
“Who was that guy?”
“The Gatekeeper.” Phoenix sternly replies.
“Wha!? He’s not going to try and stop us?”
“Not this time.”
“Then what do we do?”
Phoenix twitches his eyebrow in annoyance and replies as calmly as possible, “We go through the Gate.”
“But what about the others? What if that Gatekeeper goes and attacks them? Shouldn’t we-----“
“SHUT UP!”
Xavier halts his speech and is genuinely frightened at the face Phoenix is showing him.
“You ask too many questions. The Gatekeeper isn’t going to lay a finger on any of our comrades; they will meet us on the third level of Purgatory in a few short minutes. If you want to go back to them then be my guest, I’m going through to the other side. The last thing I want to do is be here for ‘his’ death.”
Xavier doesn’t know what exactly Phoenix means when he said all that, but one thing is for sure, he won’t be asking anymore questions after that. Fearing the vulnerability he’d face if Phoenix left him behind, he comes to the conclusion that he’d best keep his mouth shut and follow the priest.
The two silently walk under the waterfall and through the shine of the second Purgatory Gate, leaving the others to catch up.
“How could you be so damn careless?” Rage hisses.
Ubica, who found a rock to sit on has his head hung low in shame.
He had just told them all about what happened in the past couple weeks, from start to finish. About how they came across the Black Dandelion, how he was kicked off the ship due to Leviathan’s attack, how he stumbled upon the island, and how everyone he became acquainted with on that island met a grizzly fate.
Though the guilt felt for Amber and her family was painful to them, the hurt that came along with the terrifying truth that as far as Ubica knew, the ship was under siege by Abaddon was far worse.
Aria is sick to her stomach thinking about Straphius being in such danger. Niera and Cyrus are as well, they all know that all Abaddon needed to do is capsize the ship and their chances of survival are likely zero. Something like that would be easy for the Demon that split the first level of Purgatory almost in two. The survivors of the ship's capsize would be stranded in the middle of the sea with no water or food and no one to help them.
“Oh my god...” Aria says in disgust, “This is a disaster.”
“Don’t say that Aria.” Sora urges, “You have to believe that they are alright.”
Aria throws her hands in her face and replies, “How? How can I believe something like that!?”
"...."
Sora stays silent and doesn’t answer her question.
Niera and Cyrus are under the same stress, they are finding it very difficult to believe that all of them are safe and sound.
Ubica appreciates Sora’s thoughtful words and decides to add, “I have a friend that we met up with back in the first level. She has given all of them the power that comes along with being ‘aware'. With her at their side along with Napoleon, it’s not too farfetched to think they have actually won that fight and are on their way here as we speak. At least, that thought has kept me going.”
His words actually do help ease the feeling of despair filling their chests, they take slight sighs of relief and breathe in what little hope that fact has to offer.
Rage on the other hand is instantly curious as to who this woman is and asks, “This friend of yours... Who is she?”
Ubica’s shoulders jump for a split second when he realizes that there is no way that he can avoid revealing that the friend in which he speaks of is the False Prophet. Even though the others won’t know, it’s impossible to get it passed Rage’s ears.
He takes a deep breath and answers, “Her name is Messor.”
Rage’s face contorts in shock and then his eyebrows steepen to form an angered frown. He charges Ubica and grabs his collar, lifting him up off the ground.
“Have you gone mad!? How could you have brought that girl anywhere near them!?”
“It’s not as bad as you think.” Ubica struggles to say because he is being slightly choked, “She’s here to help us, she’s trustworthy.”
Rage shakes Ubica and shouts, “She’s here to help you! She doesn’t give two flying fucks about the others!”
“Keeping them alive ‘is’ helping me, and she knows it.”
“Ridiculous! She’s scheming something! That conniving bitch!”
“Say another bad word about her and I’ll slit your damn throat.” Ubica sharply replies.
He didn’t need to raise his voice in order for those threatening words to strike Rage with the force of an attack. He lets Ubica to the ground and backs off, all the while gritting his teeth in anger.
“She’s changed, just like me. And I trust her with my life and the lives of the others. They’ll be here soon, I promise.” Ubica says, fixing his collar. He then looks to the others as tenderly as possible and says, “They are alive and well. Trust me.”
The rest of them don’t even bother to ask just who this girl they are talking about is, judging by how fierce the atmosphere is around the subject they feel it’s best to stay out of it. The two glaring at each other like that is causing the rest to feel an intense wave of awkwardness.
Now being able to actually sense things like this, Sora tries to break it. “Come on guys, arguing won’t help to solve anything.”
Seeing that nothing’s changed after saying that, Sora backs off a little and lowers her head cutely in a disgruntled fashion.
(Uuuu~ I tried...)
“A-Anyways!” Aria yells, breaking the silence and changing the subject. “Was it you who made that huge white explosion Ubica?”
“Me? No, I came here thinking that it might’ve been Rage somehow.” he replies as he shifts his gaze back to Rage.
“Wasn’t me.”
“It was ‘him’.” Sora claims.
“Him as in who?”
Sora takes her finger and points in the direction behind Ubica and the rest; they all turn their heads and see the culprit behind that massive light.
“It was me.” Michael says with a slight frown on his face.
“!?” Ubica’s face drops in shock and he is immediately frozen stiff in disbelief.
“Before any of you ask me any questions, allow me to tell you all that I am the Gatekeeper of the 2nd Level of Purgatory. If you wish to pass, you’ll need my permission.”
Rage scowls and squeezes the hilt of his scythe. “So we are forced to battle with someone like the Archangel in order to pass. Tch, what a pain.”
Michael holds out his hand as if telling Rage to take it easy as he says, “You and your friends are allowed to pass. The other two men in your group are awaiting your arrival on the other side.”
“??”
“That’s right, the Gate is behind me, walk in that direction for about a mile and you’ll arrive there. Now go.”
“Isn’t that great!?” Sora asks, beaming with a bright smile.
Niera and Cyrus are relieved as well. Aria too for that matter, because at the last battle with a Gatekeeper Luke was killed, if another one of them were to die she wouldn’t know how to handle it.
“Hmph, then I’ll take your word for it.” Rage says, he turns to the others and finishes, “Let’s go.”
Michael walks in front of Rage and points out his finger. “Not all of you are allowed to pass.”
“What do you mean!?”
“He means me.” Ubica says, causing the rest to turn back to him.
He is standing farther away from the group than before as if he was expecting this to happen all along.
“That’s right; the rest of you can go join the other two.”
“B-But.”
“Do as he says everyone, there’s a reason why I have to stay behind. Not only because he said so, I have to wait for the others to get here.” Ubica said with a strained smile.
The others seem to want to complain but are kept from doing so by Rage saying, “Let it be.” and him walking in the direction Michael pointed.
The rest hesitatingly follow and once far enough away from them Sora can’t help but ask, “Why wouldn’t Michael let Ubica pass?”
Rage takes a shallow breath and answers, “Because he intends to kill him.”
On a certain ship, a large black man is looking through a pair of binoculars out on a distant island, a few miles back he noticed a huge flash of white light and as if using it as a beacon he followed towards its source. Crosschecking the map with the direction he’s leading the ship to, he finds that the island in which the light came from is the x that marks the spot.
The island is where the 2nd Purgatory Gate is located.
“Wow we got here much faster than I thought!” he says with his face still in the map.
Standing next to him is another black man named Napoleon. “We must have got caught in a heavy ocean current that sped up our destination date by a day or so.”
Earlier that morning, it was estimated that the ship wouldn’t get to the island until late the next day.
With his binoculars, Ernest looks around the shores of the island, all over are already docked ships, some destroyed and some intact. But what is quite interesting is that there aren't any people near or around the beach.
“It would seem we aren’t the first ones here. There might be enemies hiding from within the island in search of the Gate. They’ll do whatever it takes to get there first.”
“I’m sure we can handle fighting regular humans, it’s the Gatekeeper we need to worry about.” Napoleon said as he examines his sword’s edges, checking its sharpness.
“You’re wrong, the humans on this island are all ‘aware’. There’s a high possibility that they have extraordinary powers.”
Napoleon smiles in confidence, “We don’t have to worry about that now do we?”
Ernest matches his smile, “That’s right, that Messor girl truly came through with her word.”
Napoleon puts his sword back in his sheath and walks towards the barracks. “I’m going to inform the others that we’ll be arriving shortly.”
“Sure thing.”
As Napoleon opens the door to the stairs leading down from the deck to the innards of the ship, he thinks to himself,
(I sure hope you are there by now… Ubica.)
“Long time no see.” Ubica says, breaking the silence of his and Michael’s glare.
“It hasn’t been that long really... I’ve seen your image every day for the past thousand years.”
“I see...”
Ubica takes another good look at Michael, he sees that his knees are shaking violently in anger and that he’s clasping on to his spear so tight his knuckles are as white as his clothes. This is a man who’s desperately holding himself back from immediately attacking; this is a man who wants him dead at all costs.
Sensing this, Ubica unsheathes his sword and holds it to his side; a bitter look is written across his face as he knows that avoiding conflict is going to be impossible.
“Before we do this...”
“???”
A sight Michael thought he’d never see, Ubica is bowing his head to him.
“I’m sorry for what I’ve done.”
“...You’re apologizing?”
“I know my apology means nothing to you, and I know an apology isn’t enough to right the wrongs of the past. But I truly feel guilty for what I’ve done, I’d do anything to make things right.”
Michael takes a step back in amazement; the person he has been visualizing in his head all these years would never do something as weak as saying sorry. It’s almost beyond belief that those words can even exit his mouth.
Not being able to find anything to say to that, Michael mutters the first thing that comes to mind.
“Prove it.”
“What?”
“Prove to me that you’re actually sorry. Repent for what you’ve done.”
“How do you want me to do that?”
“Kill yourself. Right here on the spot, slit your own throat. Fall on your sword. Light yourself on fire! DIE IN FRONT OF MY EYES AND SHOW ME HOW SORRY YOU REALLY ARE!!”
Michael’s face contorted in anger as he said that, the memories of what Ubica has done have shattered any possibility of accepting an apology.
Ubica takes a deep breath and lifts from his bowing position. He looks Michael square in the eyes as a soft breeze weaves its way through the jungle and gently beats on the side of his face; adding a serenity to this moment that can’t be defined in words.
“I can’t do that.”
“Hehh!?” Michael moans as he twists his neck to the side in a disgusted manner. “Then have you reneged your pathetic excuse of an apology?”
“I haven’t, I meant what I said with all that I am.”
“Then why don’t you die!?”
“Because...”
Flashes of the human world at war, of Satan’s army rising once again, of Damien and the others having free reign on the world while waging their own war on Heaven shows itself in his head. The all too familiar images of destruction another war like that would cause beat on him. He cannot let something like that happen again, in his mind, preventing such a thing from happening is entirely up to him.
And lastly, the faces of his friends, his comrades that have been traveling with him the past couple months. Napoleon, Strauphius, Messor, Daey, Trojia and Tsubiri. The memories he’s shared with them are all gazed upon through his sight when he finishes his statement.
“I have a reason to live.”
“Hahaha.” Michael laughs, “Hahahahahahahahahahahah I won’t allow it!”
Michael charges Ubica with revenge shining in his eyes; the unavoidable second battle between the Anti-Christ and the Archangel begins with a bright flash of light and a loud bang.
Rage and the others all walk up the stairs to the Gate, not a word is spoken between them for their thoughts are still on the well being of Ubica and the rest. An almost empty feeling is felt in their core as they leave behind a friend to fight for his life alone, and that feeling is intensified when the thought of them being the only ones in general to reach the third level crosses their minds.
Each step they take, their worry and doubt is intensified and the crashing noise along with the mist of the waterfall in which they are about to walk under is pushing them away as if telling them to stay.
But Rage presses on, half of his body is in when he looks back to see the others hesitatingly moving forward. It becomes obvious to him that all of them want to stay behind, help Ubica, and wait for the others.
Rage sighs, there’s nothing he can do to change the way they feel nor does he care to do so. But he needs them to move forward so he says, “Ubica won’t lose; and the others will come. Once we reach the other side, we’ll wait as long as it takes for them to catch up.”
Niera’s face lights up at the thought of being reunited with her sister.
“Really!?”
Rage doesn’t respond but nods his head.
“Hahaha you really do have a nice guy in you!” Aria says as she pats him rather hard on the back and walks under the waterfall and through to the other side.
That was all she needed to hear in order for her to feel comfortable enough to leave Ubica and the others behind.
Niera quickly follows Aria and says, “Thank you Rage, I mean it!”
Cyrus scratches his head takes his own steps towards another new world. “You sure have a way with words. I need to learn a thing or two from you.”
The last one on this side of Purgatory with Rage is Sora, she now has a voice to speak with but chooses not to say anything as she walks through the Gate. Instead she just smiles gratefully at the fact she is somehow still alive and makes her exit from all the life threatening experiences she just had.
Now alone, Rage looks out into the distance and sees yet another bright flash of light from within the jungle. The battle between Ubica and Michael is underway and it’s undoubtedly going to be difficult for Ubica, both mentally and physically. Though it is sad to see the Archangel deteriorate into what he is now, he knows that no matter what the circumstances are, it is clear who the good guy is in this battle.
He faintly smiles and turns away from the flashing lights while saying under his breath,
“I’m rooting for you, Ubica.”
“This is odd...” Ernest says as he scours through the jungle of the island, “There should be hundreds of people here, yet we haven’t seen anyone.”
Following Ernest, is Napoleon and the others, and all thirty of his crew members. Having this many people walking through the jungle is bound to attract attention, but oddly enough there hasn’t been a single encounter.
“Considering the fact that there are dozens of ships docked on the shore it’s almost a freak occurrence that no other pirate has been spotted.” Napoleon said, rubbing his chin in wonder.
“Do you think they’ve already passed through the Gate?”
“I think that’s pretty unlikely, there’s a better chance they’ve all been wiped out by the Gatekeeper.”
“Whaaaaaaaa!”
A man suddenly shouts, shifting everyone’s attention on him.
“It’s a body!” he says as he lifts his foot and finds that he had just stepped on a severed head.
“Kya!” Daey squeals, to her right a couple more mutilated bodies lay tangled in a bush.
“What’s going on here!?”
Looking closely around the area, dozens of body parts are seen throughout the darkness of the jungle. Though Trojia, Daey, Tsubiri, and even Strauphius are squeamish at this sight, Napoleon and Messor calmly analyze the situation.
“Do you think it was the Gatekeeper?” Napoleon asks to Messor, who is now standing beside him and looking down on a mangled corpse.
“I can’t say for sure. But it looks like they’ve been chewed on by some kind of animal.”
“But what though?”
“Hmmm.” Messor racks her brain at what possibly could’ve done this when it hits her, “It can’t be! Cerberus?”
Little does she know, she was spot on in her assessment; both Cerberus and Amon went on a killing spree before confronting Rage.
“Guys, this one is all swirled up.” A pirate a couple yards away states.
Messor walks over to the body and finds it in almost a liquidized state, now there is no doubt in her mind what happened here.
“Tch... Amon was here.”
She turns to all of them and warns, “Be on the lookout, there’s a good chance that we may come in contact with a very powerful demon.”
Even though the pirates have no clue what a demon would look like if they were to see one, they find it hard to discredit that statement due to the happenings on the ship with Leviathan a few nights earlier.
Napoleon wants more information on the matter and gets ready to speak when he is interrupted by the feeling of the ground shaking.
Everyone feels it and some fall due to their balance being thrown out of whack.
Once it stops, they pass it off as an earthquake until...
BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A huge explosion rips through the jungle and the night sky shines in both green and white.
Messor’s eyes open wide as she instantly recognizes this power.
“It’s Ubica!”
She immediately rushes toward the explosion and weaves her way through the shrubbery of the jungle, leaving the rest behind.
A bright smile forms on Tsubiri’s face as she says, “Ubica’s here!?”
Her and Daey begin sprinting after Messor, the thought of his face lights their eyes.
Ernest and his men want no part in that explosion, but when Napoleon and Strauphius both rush towards it without saying a word, him and the crew quickly follow.
The only one not rushing is Trojia, who is idly walking with a nervous face and shaking shoulders.
On any normal occasion, she’d be the first to rush to him, but now, she doesn’t know how to face him. Moreover, she doesn’t want to face him. The fear and anxiety in her eyes grows as she picks up speed with each step.
The Anti-Christ and the Archangel once again battle to the death, this time on different grounds.
The Archangel is fighting for revenge instead of Heaven and peace, whilst the Anti-Christ is fighting for his friends and the innocent lives of all on Earth.
The two fight with such an intensity to them it’s as if the world has focused itself around the two.
This battle, this hate, has caused the world of Purgatory to seize its movement as a whole.
“Tell me Anti-Christ, do you wish to kill me!?” Michael asks as he takes a colossal slash of his spear towards Ubica’s neck.
Ubica blocks it with his red diamond katana but the force knocks him back into a batch of trees.
“I don’t want to, no. But I will if you are standing in the way!”
Michael swings his spear and a line of light spreads horizontally from left to right. Ubica ducks under it and the force of that attack is felt on the back of his neck, the light rips into the jungle behind and a loud wind noise is heard rattling the trees.
“Hahaha oohh nonsense! What kind of man apologizes and then attempts to kill the man he said sorry to!? You’re a piece of shit!”
By now Michael’s face and demeanor are so filled with hate it’s disturbing to look at. A sad, sad sight for a man of such stature to turn into. But Ubica doesn’t look at him with pity, he still sees the same man as before, but feels guilt as well for causing him to have such a horrid expression in the first place.
This is the result of Ubica's evil; it has brought down the strongest of men, turning them into shadows of their former selves.
The Archangel is no exception.
“You’re right; I’m the worst kind of person.”
Ubica maneuvers under on of Michael’s flashes of light and gets within arm’s length of him; he slams his left palm into the Angel’s chest and shouts, “PULSUS!”
Michael is sent flying violently as if being hit by a tremendous weight.
This is one of Ubica’s special attacks, he moves his arms as fast as he can, and whatever air his hands caused to move in that motion, forms tenfold into his palms. After storing the energy of that air, he is able to push it out in an intense forward force; the air is so strong that it is more similar to a train hitting someone at full speed.
“I’m the worst kind of person who can’t even protect his friends! But I’ll be damned if I don’t try! I’ll do whatever it takes to insure their safety! Even if it means enduring the guilt I’ll feel after killing someone like you!”
This is his resolve; this is what he learned from the tragedy of Amber’s death. He may fail at whatever he does, but he won’t ever give up, even if it means forsaking the person he’s trying to be.
Amber told him not to change, but change is needed in order to become strong, it only took till her tragic death to learn such a lesson.
“So stand up Michael! I’ll defeat you! And feel ashamed for it until the day I finally die!” he declares as he points his sword in the direction in which the Angel was sent flying.
Awaiting Michael’s return, he notices a small flash of light from the darkness of the trees. The light only glitters for a moment when it disappears back into the dark.
Thinking nothing of it, he readies to run into the jungle after him but is quickly halted by a dull feeling in his stomach. This sensation is quickly followed by a sharp pain and the feeling of liquid running down from his chest to his legs.
The tip of a cross shaped blade of a spear has penetrated his body, and the man holding that weapon is Michael, in a crouching position below him.
Squinting his eyes and gritting his teeth in pain, Ubica asks, “How?”
“Are you surprised? I have the power to freely move through light, I can get from point A to point B faster than anyone.”
Travelling as fast as the speed of light is something that should be physically impossible. Even if the physics didn't matter and it were possible, the human body would literally fall apart by moving at such a speed. But after a thousand years of nonstop training, Michael has tuned himself to become one with light, thus making it his most powerful weapon.
Michael pulls his spear out of Ubica’s solar plexus and kicks him to the ground; he stands over Ubica and points his spear down at him, signifying a position of victory.
“My oh my how the roles have changed. You’ve lost Ubica, all that nonsense about you killing me to protect your friends has proven to be false. I pity you.”
Ubica takes his free hand and puts in on his chest and over his wound, a black smoke rises and molds around his hand as his body is rejuvenated with a new found determination.
“Pity me all you want, it doesn’t change the fact that I must win no matter what.”
“Tch.”
Michael clicks his tongue and another bright light forms, this time around his spear and his whole body, this is the attack he used to rip the flesh clean off Cerberus. The black smoke engulfs Ubica in a similar fashion and it becomes apparent that these two attacks signify the light vs. darkness that was spoken of.
The two forces are about to collide when some voices are heard out in the distant jungle.
Ubica and Michael halt and they move away from each other.
Michael’s glow fades and a bitter expression forms on his face as he spits, “Damn it... There are still people here.”
He scowls at Ubica and then turns and walks away, causing Ubica to wonder just where in the world he is going.
Sensing this, Michael states, “I made a deal with God that I’d fulfill my job as a Gatekeeper. Though as much as I hate to stop this battle, protecting the Gate is my number one priority.”
In a quick flash, Michael vanishes and retreats back to the Gate.
This could either be considered good luck or misfortune, there is a possibility that Ubica could’ve been defeated in that attack. But at the same time it could’ve went the other way, and now that the two are both still standing, Ubica is at a big disadvantage. The wound in his chest is only going to proceed to get worse and his loss of blood is rapidly causing him to lose strength.
“Shit.” he says in annoyance as he staggers up to his feet.
He buttons up his black silk coat to keep things such as dirt from entering the wound.
Contemplating how he is to fight against Michael’s power, his thought process is broken when he hears a gentle voice calling his name from behind him, a voice that instantly saps the feeling of pain that’s currently plaguing him.
“...Ubica.”
He quizzically turns around and sees a sight that makes him drop his sword in disbelief; Messor is standing there holding her hands over her mouth in joy.
He doesn’t say a word, the look in his eyes do all the speaking for him, she’s alive and well and he is overrun with the feeling of relief.
He slowly walks to her and she walks to him, this will undoubtedly result in an emotional embrace.
That is, until Ubica is decked by a girl with magenta hair shouting,
“UBICA!!!”
“Oooaaaahhh!!?”
Being leveled flat on his back so suddenly knocked the wind out of him, struggling to catch his breath he yells, “What the hell was tha------“
He stops his yelling when he catches eyes with the person who tackled him.
“Tsubiri..?”
She is sitting on his lap and looking down on him with a huge smile on her face, he instantly sits up and gives her a big hug.
“You’re okay! Hahaha you’re okay!!”
A vein pops on Messor's forehead as she attempts to ignore their happy reunion, they’re almost too happy to see each other as he lifts her up and they begin dancing around ridiculously.
“Oh how I’ve missed your stupid face Ubica!” she says as they dance.
“I could say the same for you!”
They both share a laugh as they insult each other and it makes one wonder just what kind of relationship they actually have.
This odd display of affection is interrupted by Daey dashing in between them to break it up.
“Knock it off, you two look ridiculous!”
“Whooah Daey!”
As if he Tsubiri wasn’t there, he grabs Daey from under her arms and throws her into the air.
“Kyyaaah!?”
He catches her and starts laughing, “I’m so happy to see you!”
When he said that, her shyness comes in and her face turns beat red.
“M-Me too.”
“Geez he’s a little too excited by just seeing the girls. He didn’t even notice that we’ve been standing here this whole time!” Strauphius said with a sigh of exasperation.
Standing quietly next to him is Napoleon.
“Hey guys how’s it going?” Ubica asks without much care in his voice.
“What the hell kind of greeting is that!?”
“Hahahaha I’m just kidding.”
Napoleon chuckles slightly and gives Ubica a firm handshake. “It’s good to see you.”
“Likewise... So where’s Trojia?”
Before Napoleon can answer, a small voice is heard from farther back in the group of pirates.
“I’m right here.”
“Trojia! Huaaah what a relief, all of you guys made it here safely.”
Ubica walks up to her and puts his hand out to pat her on the shoulder, but to his surprise she flinches and backs off quickly.
“Huh?”
“I hate to interrupt this warm reunion but we’d like to get to the Gate already.” Ernest chimes in with an annoyed tone.
“R-Right.” Ubica says, still a little confused at Trojia’s defensive reaction. He shrugs it off and finishes, “About that... I have something I need to warn you all about. But first, I need to know what happened with Abaddon while I was away.”
After getting the run down about the happenings on the ship, Ubica explains the situation at hand with the Gatekeeper. Though to be perfectly honest, he doesn’t know what to think about what happened to them, he’s worried about why exactly Damien showed up and what he did to Trojia.
While all of them walk towards the inevitable battle with Michael, he pulls Trojia aside and asks, “Are you really okay?”
Trojia doesn’t even turn her head to acknowledge him when she coldly replies, “I’m fine.”
“U-Um...”
He doesn’t know what to say to that, and while thinking of something, she speeds up her walking and leaves him behind.
(Is it just me, or does something seem a bit off about her?) he thinks to himself.
And that’s when it hits him, the pain of his chest wound pounds on his body like a jolt of lightning. In his happiness, he had forgotten how weak his body is and how bad of a spot he’s in. He can hardly breath.
“Hnnggh!” he groans, the sound of his blood falling to the ground in a stream beats his ears.
His legs buckle momentarily and he falls to his knees. Quickly rising back to his feet so no one notices, the realization hits him when he says under his breath,
“Damn it... I'm in serious trouble."
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