“PRINCESS!” Celestia’s desperate scream echoed through the ruined tower as she saw Aqualina slipping, her balance almost lost if not for her tight grip!
Without hesitation, Celestia reacted, her body moving before her mind could catch up. One hand clutched onto the crumbling wall, while the other shot forward, catching Aqualina’s wrist just as she plummeted.
A brutal jolt surged through Celestia’s arm as she bore the sudden weight… but she held on!
She had to!!
With a deep, guttural groan, she pulled Aqualina upward, straining with every ounce of strength left in her trembling limbs.
“ARRRRRHHHHH!!!!” Celestia’s cry was raw, her body nearly giving out due to the abdomen pain!
Aqualina, panting heavily, tightened her grip around Celestia’s hand and used whatever strength remained to pull herself up.
Her boots scraped against the fragile remains of the wall, struggling to find any leverage.
Finally,
“Huff—huff—T-That was… was… thrilling?” Aqualina forced out between exhausted breaths, managing a shaky, half-smile despite the lingering rush of fear pounding in her chest.
Celestia stared at her, speechless.
Aqualina let out a breathless chuckle, her eyes glinting with a strange amusement, “Haha… I never thought I’d feel something like this… a real life-and-death thrill.” She exhaled sharply, pressing a hand to her racing heart before muttering, “I can’t wait to tell Aether all about this…”
Slowly, she shifted her weight, moving toward the wallpaper door that was ahead, barely attached to the structure. The narrow ledge beneath them was crumbling away, offering almost no footing, yet it was the only thing keeping them from plunging below.
They were just inches away from the wallpaper door—so close to escaping!
But then—
“ALL OF YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!”
Aqualina and Celestia’s bodies tensed as they instinctively turned their heads.
And then—
BOOM!!!
A monstrous explosion of force erupted from the depths of the tower, shattering the stone beneath them.
From the gaping hole below, a massive hooded figure surged upward, its colossal form tearing through the wreckage like it was nothing.
The sheer power of its movement sent debris flying in all directions, the shattered remains of the floor breaking apart, spinning chaotically through the air as if gravity had lost all meaning.
It was like a sonic boom had detonated right beneath them, the sheer impact shaking the entire structure.
TTTRRRRRRRRRRRRR… TTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
The deafening sound of destruction filled their ears, and before they could react, their bodies were violently hurled through the air along with the crumbling walls they had been clinging to.
“MO—!!” Celestia and Aqualina barely had time to register what was happening before they were airborne, tumbling uncontrollably.
The force of the blast sent them spinning, the sky becoming a blur of stone fragments and swirling dust.
And yet—amidst the chaos—The hooded figure hovered in the air, unaffected, its dark cloak billowing unnaturally despite the storm of destruction around it.
Even the broken tower pieces didn’t fall. Instead, they floated, suspended in midair, as if bound by an unseen force.
Celestia and Aqualina grasped onto each other, their fingers digging in, their grips desperate as they tried to make sense of the madness unfolding around them.
“What should we do now?!” Aqualina shouted over the roaring wind, her voice laced with urgency. She frantically scanned their surroundings, her eyes locking onto the wallpaper door—just like them it too flew along with the wall it attached, now drifting among the debris.
That door was their only escape.
If they lost it—if they couldn’t reach it—they were dead.
Her mind worked at lightning speed, calculating their chances, their options. Her heart pounded against her ribs as her gaze locked onto the wallpaper flapping wildly in the air, peeling at the corners, above them—just barely out of reach.
Reaching it wasn’t impossible. But one of them would have to risk everything to make the leap.
Blood rushed in her ears. Her breath came in sharp, uneven gasps.
She had to decide!
She bit down on her lip so hard that blood seeped into her mouth. Her hands trembled, every instinct in her body screaming at her to act.
But then—
“It’s fine… Princess.”
Celestia’s voice was calm.
Too calm!
Aqualina turned to her, startled.
Celestia was still holding onto her hand, but her eyes weren’t on the door…. They were locked onto the hooded figure.
And then—she smirked.
Aqualina’s breath hitched…. What the hell was she thinking?
“Do you know…. why I tried to snap its neck even though I knew it wouldn’t work?” Celestia asked, a smirk tugging at her lips despite the searing pain lacing through her body.
Her breath was ragged, her fingers trembling from exhaustion, but her eyes burned with fire as she watched the monstrous hooded figure finally using its power.
No more brute force—this thing was done playing.
She had been waiting for this moment.
The huge hooded figure, now visibly irritated, finally abandoned brute force. The air around it shifted, pulsing with raw energy as it began to use its powers.
She had known all along—there was no chance she could break that monster’s thick, inhuman neck. From the very first moment she had faced it, she understood the truth: she couldn’t win.
Neither could Aqualina!
Yet, she did something when she tried to snap its neck… or more like make sure she was doing that only but in reality she did something else!
Celestia was no powerhouse. She wasn’t like the other women in Aether’s life, who had grown absurdly strong through his touch. She was the weakest among them. While the others soared past her in levels, fueled by Aether’s ‘blessings’, she was barely at 50 with a total limit of 60.
She hadn’t received the same level boosts—hadn’t indulged in that intoxicating surge of power like the others.
She was moving at her own pace.
And because of that, everyone else was stronger.
That was why she had been struck down so easily.
Just one hit! That was all it took!!
But Aether… he had given her something to make up for it.
Not brute strength or Not overwhelming power.
But tools.
Tools meant to keep her alive.
One of them— objects Aether had used two iterations ago when he slaughtered Jack Sparrow’s puppets.
Tang, Tang…
Snnngggggggggggggggggg!!!
Aqualina’s sharp eyes caught the source of the sound… Around the hooded figure’s thick, monstrous neck, hidden beneath layers of its tattered cloak, was a set of small, spherical crystals. They pulsed with an eerie glow, growing brighter, throbbing in time with the arcane power now coursing through its body.
Celestia grinned…. A wicked, knowing grin. She had been waiting for this exact moment.
“There it is… I’ve been waiting for this, you bastard.”
The creature had no idea…. or didn’t care about small pebbles!
Those insignificant-looking beads hanging loosely around its own throat—were about to seal its fate.
Aqualina’s breath hitched. She didn’t know exactly what Celestia had done, but she felt it something dangerous about to happen,
Celestia’s grip on her wrist tightened.
“Ready to go up?” Celestia whispered, her voice filled with unshakable certainty.
Aqualina didn’t hesitate, She snatched Celestia’s hand.
The hooded figure didn’t seem to care about the glowing crystals on its neck. It was focused on them.
A shadow loomed over them as it raised its colossal arm, forming an enormous, nightmarish gauntl—
“NOW!!”
Aqualina jumped.
And in that exact instant—
BBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A violent explosion erupted from the creature’s neck. The force of the blast was deafening, a brilliant shockwave of energy tearing through the air.
Aqualina squeezed her eyes shut, her ears ringing from the sheer intensity.
Celestia, gritting her teeth, barely managed to tear a small black cube from her belt.
Ssssshhhrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkk!!!
The moment her fingers curled around it, the cube disassembled into liquid metal, shifting like a swarm of nanobots. Within a heartbeat, it reformed into a massive, curved shield.
And the moment it made contact with blasting force—
BOOOOMMM!!
The impact was immense force… Celestia grunted, her arms trembling as she held the shield steady. The sheer power behind the blast pressed against it like an unrelenting storm, straining the barrier!Aqualina grabbed Celestia tightly, her fingers digging into her skin.
The momentum was brutal—but it worked.
The blast sent them hurtling toward—
The wallpaper door!!
And then—
Ssssshhh!!
The second they passed through, the wallpaper door—already peeling from the earlier shockwaves—was torn from its frame, reduced to smouldering ashes by the sheer intensity of the explosion.
Behind them, only a blinding light remained. Then—silence
…..
…
THUD!
Celestia and Aqualina crashed onto solid ground, tumbling in a heap of tangled limbs.
“Ugh… hot!” Celestia yelped, instantly flinging the shield away. The once-solid metal was glowing a molten red, the sheer heat from the explosion melting its surface.
PUFFFF!!
Both women flinched as the shield liquefied, pooling into a dark puddle that hissed against the cold ground.
“T-That was… way too close,” Aqualina panted, still trying to process what had just happened.
Celestia exhaled shakily, dragging a hand down her sweat-slicked face.
“Yeah… we’re never doing that again.” But even as she said it, she knew that was a lie.
Ssssshhhhhh!!!A sharp, crackling noise made them both snap their heads around.
The wallpaper door—on this side—was burning.
Both of them stared at the empty space where their only escape had once been. A heavy silence filled the air.
Then—
“Hahahaha…”
“Hahahahahahah…!”
Laughter erupted between them, raw and breathless. They collapsed onto the ground, their bodies aching, lungs gasping for air, but neither of them could stop laughing.
Celestia gripped her ribs, “Shit, that hurts!” she groaned. “I feel like my insides got turned to paste… ahaha… fuck it!”
“Hahh… That was insane…” Aqualina chuckled, still breathless. “I am never forgetting this shit!”
Celestia exhaled. “Yeah… but…”
Her laughter faded as saw them.
People.
Dozens of people…Test subjects… Children.
They stood silently, their eyes locked onto the two battered women. Their expressions were blank, unreadable and some test subjects crying in happiness as if they had sanity or something while others just blankly stared at two women.
“Now… what do we do with them?” Celestia murmured, sitting up.
Aqualina swallowed hard, scanning the area, “First of all… where the hell are we?”
The space felt unnatural, almost too structured to be a natural cave. Artificial lights lined the walls, illuminating metallic surfaces buried beneath layers of stone. As if… someone had built this place under—
CRACK.
A deafening rumble echoed from above,
TTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
The entire ceiling was suddenly torn away in one violent motion.
“What the…?” Aqualina jumped to her feet and as the light entered the cave, Aqualina squinted her eyes before,
“Aqualina?”
A familiar voice called down.
Everyone turned and only to see….
The Principal, Isadora, mumbled in disbelief, her voice barely audible.
She stood there, suspended in mid-air, holding an entire classroom building in one hand as if it weighed no more than a toy. Her wide, shocked eyes locked onto Aqualina and Celestia, her gaze flickering over the wreckage and the hundreds of people gathered beneath them.
“What… what is this?” Isadora’s voice trembled as she spoke, her shock evident. She hadn’t expected to find this, to see so many people, children even?… crammed into a place she had never known existed—under her own academy… or more specifically, under the classroom building that Alaric had built!