Chapter 19

When Fire Meets Ice

“I have to somehow stop this or else. Or else everyone will die. The power I got from the necklace on the ship to Locu was enough to make me loose myself, I cannot imagine what will happen with Bob. He said something about merging our two magic fields, is there some way I can use that.”

After that sudden impulse of pain, Nick’s brain has started working overload.

Meanwhile, Bob’s hands and feet are freezing, while the rest of his body was trembling and shaking from the coldness and power alike.

The power, more than he could’ve ever imagined.

“I HAVE IT, I FINALLY HAVE IT! I CAN PROVE TO HER, I CAN PROVE THAT I AM WORTHY! NOT JUST HER, MY MASTER WILL BE SO PROUD!”

“You got your end of the deal, now what about us?”

Thora yet again cut off the madman’s minute of glory.

“What are you, insane? Do YOU think I’ll just go along with the deal and let you have it YOUR way? DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH!”

“YOU BASTARD! HOW CAN YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT?”

“Very comfortable actually. A new technology I invented makes my bed so squishy and soft, really nice I got to say. Maybe I could go around to selling that to the masses. Why do you always get me sidetracked? UGH! It’s time to finish the job!”

Saying this blue lightning escaped from his body and ice shards pierced the ground around Nick. One of them cut right through his shoulder. But his body was numb, he couldn’t feel anything anymore.

The crystal clear ice shard became red, blood started spewing from his arm like a fountain. All Nick could do was watch as blood started escaping his body and puddling onto the fake floor.

What was he feeling? Probably nothing.

The biggest thing here is confusion. Ever since they started their adventures he has been confused as to what path has lead him to the mess he was always in and what path could’ve he took to prevent it.

So many feelings he had, yet so little time to express them.

Help was coming.

The police along with Emily and the officer had made their way down.

They have seen the open door that led to the path which Bob took not so long ago.

Question is, when should they appear?

“I think it’s best to catch him while he hasn’t sucked all the power out of Nick.”

“Decision approved, move up boys!”

Emily’s statement got approved by Hisashi and they are off.

Slowly stepping into the jungle they heard Nick and Bob conversing.

“You sick maniac.”

Nick barely even able to say this mumbled it out like a person on his death bed.

“Say, say, say, say Ni~ck I’ll let you and your friend live on one condition, get that?”

“I’m not playing by your rules anymore.”

“Is that so…”

Saying this he pierced Nick with a shard right through his stomach.

He took a loud step closer towards the helpless Nick. Before he could proceed even further his movement was halted by something. He mumbled.

“You thought I wouldn’t see you, huh?”

He turned around with incredible speed and launched hundreds of ice shards towards the police who were approaching ever so slightly.

In a moment half the men were down on the ground, pierced by ice.

Hisashi, Emily, and the officer quickly jumped up in the air to get an upper hand.

Hisashi started launching fireballs, Emily casted explosion magic and the officer dashed to Bob.

A huge explosion knocked Bob down and broke Thora and Nick free.

Dust rose up and blocked everyone’s vision. Soon after, the fire started burning all around, almost like it was boiling alive beings.

Police got closer to Bob and along with the officer and Thora, they charged him. Their speed alone cut up the cloud of dust, like lasers they sliced through the dirt.

“That’s sure got to kill him!”

That was some police officer, confident in this first attack.

But when the dust escaped it revealed nothing. They were attacking air. That sure got on Hisashi’s nerves.

“Dammit, where did he escape?”

At the same time, immersed in the moment, Emily completely forgot about Thora’s parents.

Thore however, didn’t. All her attention was directed towards the cage which they were in.

If what he said was true, then nothing will stop him from detonating the charge.

She went to it and with the speed of sound she cut the bars and got her parents out.

Emilly rushed for Nick who was half-dead on the ground, she picked him up and ran with him towards the corridor.

“We’ll be out of here soon enough Nick.”

Nick was too caught up in his own thoughts to respond.

His innocent face was enough of an answer to Emily, who laid him down and started healing him.

All these things happening at once confused some of the police officers who started looking around for Bob.

A sudden sound started thumping everyone’s eardrums. Like a heartbeat that was right in their ear.

Everyone looked around in confusion.

A loud voice, like something from a huge speaker, echoed around everything in this facility.

“I told you this place was engineered by me, for me. I am one with this place and you’ll suffer the consequence of messing with me.”

“MEN, BRACE YOURSELVES, IT’S COMING!”

Hisashi had picked up on this, what was coming, they still didn’t know.

The ground started shaking like an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.5 on Richter.

Stalactites started falling from the ceiling of the facility, walls started collapsing. It was almost like the ground was turning upside down.

Vines with huge thorns emerged from the ground and started heading for everyone. The trees literally came to life. They started moving using their roots as legs and their branches as hands.

Dark smoke started filling the already apocalyptic room. The fire Hisashi caused was still burning and the trees it was burning on were walking. A mess like something from a folklore fiction.

About 40 policemen were alive after the ice shards and they are all now getting slaughtered.

The vines swiftly grabbed them and started piercing them with their thorns. The trees crushed some of the policemen. A tragic scene too bloody to bear.

Everyone’s vision was blurring out from the continuous shaking of the ground.

Nick was fully healed, but the collapse of the facility and the puddles of blood didn’t help reinforce his mental state.

He was starting to fall into despair.

The dark smoke and the earthquake suddenly stopped.

Could it be that the place was reaching its limits?

Everyone was down on the ground, excluding Hishashi.

He was standing straight and breathing heavily. Sweat was drenching down from his forehead. His brows furrowed as he looked deep into the dark smoke, from which a familiar figure rose.

The thorns and trees all surrounded it.

It was Bob, coming out of the darkness.

His eyes were shining and electricity was flowing through his body.

He cracked his knuckles and in an instant after that dashed to Hisashi. For a regular viewer, it would look like he teleported, leaving a trail of ice behind him.

The bottom half of his lab coat was frozen, along with his shoes.

Dead silence enchanted the facility in that fateful instant.

Where fire and ice met.

Standing next to each other for a dead second. A second in which time seemingly froze.

Vapor was coming from Bob’s cold body, while next to him Hisashi was burning. Fire emerged from deep within him.

In the next second, for as little as a second. They turned around, truly breaking the sound barrier whilst doing so and in a split second they let out all they had.

Ice filled the left half of the facility while fire the right.

The sudden influx of differences in air pressure and temperature created a huge explosion.

It knocked over the steel bridge and along with the fire continued to almost completely incinerate the long corridors.

The ice, along with the explosion pierced through the roof and launched parts of the mountain onto the city, revealing the facility to the world.

A loud [beep] was all that was left in both sides eardrums.

After that show of force, Hisashi completely collapsed on the ground with an ice shard sticking through his chest.

While out of the fire, Bob went out with a few scars and burns.

He quickly regained his cold temperature and extinguished the fire with freezing air.

After that, he looked around to see if anyone was still alive, to his surprise most were only knocked out.

While only one stood up.

A figure emerging from the cold fog.

It was Nick, who was yet again half-dead. Dead man walking.

His necklace was flashing in blue. He was barely looking and that was from one eye.

Bob put on a smile and rose his hands in a “Looking to the heavens” pose.

With that he said.

“You Nick sure are persistent. Of course, it’s only natural. You are her son after all.”

That final sentence halted Nick’s steps and stopped his breath.

In his mind, an image of Frederica popped up. His dear, loving mother. Along with that the memory, the memory of her giving him the necklace.

Now the necklace developed into a solid color.

“Oh, I see, someone is getting excited. I want full control over that power of yours and in order to do that, I’ll need to kill you. So to make it painless just stop resisting.”

“Power of mine? Wait, THAT’S IT! If he controls this place with his magic field and our two fields are merged, then wouldn’t that mean I can control it as well? I have to try this, so everyone’s efforts don’t go to waste.”

Nick let out a short breath.

“I’ll take this as acceptance, haha.”

Vines with thorns emerged from the ground below Nick but just when they were about to hit him, they stopped.

“What are y-”

“I a-m tak-ing contro-ol”

“Well, that’s too bad, because I’ve come prepared.”

He took out yet another switch and quickly flipped it. The vines disappeared.

“Now for my final trick.”

He charged back his hand like he was about to take a swing, his hand started freezing and vapor was coming out from it.

In a millisecond he dashed to Nick and hit him with a full swing.

In that moment happiness arose from deep within him when it was crushed just a second after that.

Ice crystals that were supposed to pierce right through Nick went around him.

The voice of his mother echoed out into his head.

“So Nick. In a dire situation, I may not be physically by your side, but I’ll always be there in the form of this necklace. Mommy wants you to be safe and sound!”

A little smile appeared on Nick’s face in that silent moment.

The necklace yet again, like the battle towards Locu, blinded both of them with a light as bright as the sun. That sudden flash broke the ice around Nick.

After that flash, Nick’s eyes lit up in anger, which he directed towards Bob.

“So it comes down to this, huh?”

Without uttering a single word, Nick dashed to Bob and kicked him up in the air above the city.

Bob, in return, started firing hundreds of ice crystals at Nick.

Nick swiftly dodged them mid-air and with a lightning strike brought Bob to the ground.

He slashed through four buildings and made an explosion.

Though that didn’t do much to him, it still angered him a lot.

Grinding his teeth and flying upward, toward Nick he said.

“You are just making this more difficult. Just give me your power already!”

“You are right, it is MY power. That’s why I won’t give it to you. And that’s why I won’t let you win using it!”

Nick made a looping movement in the air and got behind Bob. From there he launched a big fireball which sent the madman off his course.

“If I’m going down, I’m taking this godforsaken city with me!”

Said Bob, crashing into a building.

Luckily, upon seeing the explosion from before the citizens were evacuated to the other half of the city.

Bob split the ground in two and threw huge rocks with buildings on them at Nick.

He dodged them and in return dashed again towards the scientist and punched him with a fire punch in the face.

That knocked him far back.

Nick thought that he would just give up by now, but in a desperate attempt he dashed towards our hero and kneed his stomach, made a super quick turn and kicked him in the face.

This brought him again in the air, from where he started throwing fireballs at him.

Bellow them the city was burning. A lot of buildings were destroyed, turned to ash or missing.

One of the fireballs knocked him to the side and some object fell from his pocket.

That object was the so painfully familiar set of pliers.

Nick directed his attention to them.

Seeing this Bob tried to sneak a punch at him but instead, Nick just dashed to get them.

And he did get them.

Only now did Bob realize what mistake he had made.

“NO!”

“Ah---”

Nick gripped his jewel with them and pointed the blast towards Bob. This move hurt Nick a lot but it split their magic fields.

Now Nick has his full power.

“My, m-m-m-my power.”

“Actually, it’s MY power.”

Bob started falling to the ground where he was met by Nick.

He forcefully stepped on his head and burned it.

By this time Emily, the officer, and what’s left of the police were already waking up. Just in time to see the show.

Nick threw Bob really high up in the air and with an [explosion!] he casted and explosion spell that was like a nuclear blast.

It knocked all of the surrounding buildings down and sent rocks from the mountain flying in the air. After the flash from the explosion, a horrifyingly recognizable thing happened.

A big figure flew past with Mach 3 speed. It caught the remains of Bob and disappeared in a second. That figure was the same thing Nick saw in Locu.

Yes, The Blue Eyes…

Nick exhaled a last cold breath and dropped on his knees.

The collapsed city around him drove his mind into despair when he suddenly felt warmth to his left.

Something was holding him, or more specifically-hugging him. It was Emily who had seen the fighting and witnessed Nick’s mixed emotions. These emotions were all cleared up by that warm hug that melted his frozen heart.

“Don’t stress it anymore, okay?”

“Mhm.”

After a while, they stood up (Nick barely) and went to the facility, which was now a ruin of its former self.

Looks like Thora and the officer had taken care of Hisashi and Thora’s parents.

They all will need some time to heal. After all that fighting everyone can barely move.

So they went down into the city where heard a sound of a thousand feet drawing near.

It was a division from a nearby small town which had come to check the safety of Grasvel.

Along with them, they had a squad of medics which when seeing everyone’s condition rushed to heal them.

The damage done to the city isn’t that big but it’ll take a while to fix.

They were all sent to the local hospital where they will rest for the next couple of days.

“So, in the end, I couldn’t get him.”

“Don’t stress it, at least my parents and everyone else is alright. Talking about parents… Why don’t you introduce yourselves to them tomorrow?”

“Seems fine to me.”

And with that ends another battle, with that ends another struggle.

A struggle through the deadly...