Rewoke

Cold temperatures and rushing wind currents both prevailed over the Sanctum Islands. Tied to a chair, Chiaki rested. Silent and alone, she awoke.

Sounds of feet banging on the floor echoed throughout, and with a singular shine of ray into her room, Hywel approached and lingered before her.

He clutched a glass of water and poured it over her, splashing it into Chiaki's face. It scared her, feeling cold, and soon she exchanged her eyes with Hywel.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

-

Timothy ran through the wooden lands at maximum speed, his jacket wavering behind him. He came across a mountainous slope and soared in the sky.

"Shift!"

His body ignited, hot flames covering him whole. After shifting his body and developing his hair, he transformed into a woman.

Tiffany's silver eyes scouted the forest from an aerial view in a possibility to locate Chiaki sooner. She bent forward, diving from a high place, and extended her limbs behind her,

"I'm coming."

She pondered, erupting orange flames from her hands and feet, utilizing it identically to a swift rocket flight.

-

Olishia, riding Ferris with Elliott and the rest of the tribe, led him through the forest. The secret hidden behind the Seraphs' goals had been finally revealed.

Following a singular road with bushes and trees all around, Olishia provided Elliott with even more information.

"The Seraphs are descendants of the race of angels whose wings were plucked at birth and who later turned hostile toward the god himself. As payback for his 'cruel' directives, they sought to destroy Ivione's stature by summoning a long-lost angel monarch known as Yerachmiel."

Elliott didn't comprehend every detail Olishia shared, "A woman who contracted an infection from the diminishing gave birth to a Seraph a few years ago. A disease that eats away at people's skin and begins to decompose their bodies. Because the wings of the Seraphs connect each other in some way, the illness from that youth applied to hundreds of others, and many died."

Elliott pondered, "A sickness that 'decays' someone's body? I've never heard of it."

"Because of that reason, Ivione decreed that every newborn Seraph must have their wings amputated in order to prevent the transmission of a new illness to others. Because their distinctive body parts would be removed, many Seraphs disliked that concept. They held that a Seraph lacking wings did not fulfill the requirements for being an angel."

Elliott witnessed multiple people from the tribe expressing gloom, proving to him they were once the victims of having their wings taken away.

"In a previous crisis, we were together. We didn't enjoy the notion of our lone emperor being abused. Because of this, we chose a few Seraphs to form what resembled a guild and decided to fight against those who had the intuition to extinguish the presence of our ruler.

Olishia considered her words and heaved the heavy spear onto her back, "To distinguish ourselves from those horrible Seraphs who want to further devastate everyone's life, we produced masks for those who choose to team up with us. We anointed ourselves the 'Scanara people.'"

Looking behind, balancing on Ferris' back, Elliott noticed Ricardo nodding. He looked at Olishia's back and inquired about the subject.

"What about Yerachmiel? What's the story behind him?"

Olishia's eyes became sorrowed, trying to hide her anxiety at the thought of Yerachmiel getting summoned or in other words, 'reborn.'

"Yerachmiel, the first Seraph to be born, lived for a long time. But it was because of him that the withering actually happened. Nobody is aware of what he endured throughout his long life. Do you, however, recall the woman who had a child while being ill?

Elliott nodded, desponded for most of his journey on Ferris' back, "She contracted the virus from her spouse and the prior Seraphs who had endured similar suffering. Ivione had no problems letting individuals maintain their wings, but it was never as problematic as it was during that child's birth."

She gathered some seconds to inhale and exhale, "And in the present, Ivione and his people are at odds because of his decision. And it has continued for a while now."

-

In the basement, Hywel approached Chiaki with a big attitude. He seemed composed and didn't appear aggressive. "Chiaki Yasuda, huh? I didn't think I'd see you join forces with those pirates. I've heard stories about you, some terrible relationship among the world government. But I'm not into that. I'm here to question you. I'm sure you'll have knowledge as a second in command."

Chiaki's expression didn't change. She appeared mellow and more subdued than usual despite understanding she was inside a possible torture room.

"If you think I'll talk, you're wrong. I don't care whether you torture me or not. I have no reason to talk." She had her eyes latched onto Hywel and refused to look at the pincers in his hands.

"Wow..." he raised his chin, "Aren't you impolite. You didn't even let me ask you the first question, and you already came to a conclusion I'll torture you? You sure have some intrepidity, lady."

Hywel chuckled and began walking around Chiaki, who sat in the middle while pounding the pincers against his palm. "However..." he examined the table with various tools, "Your life is on the line. If I asked..." he dropped the pincers and grabbed a thumbscrew. "Do you want to live, what would you say?"

He continued circling around her, keeping his eyes on her. She remained fearless, "Is that your first question? Because I think you can do better than that." Hywel nodded, fascinated.

"Wow, sassy. I thought you hated to live and look at you now. You became discourteous. You always wanted to flee the life you held, yet you're still somehow alive. Why?"

Chiaki gently closed her eyes, "Let me tell you. If I don't answer you the first time, what makes you think the next one will work? I already told you. I don't have a reason to speak."

Hywel nodded, "A reasonable answer, indeed. But listen. Words are just words, said and gone. But I think you're scared. I believe you're worried about your friends' safety. You're too nervous to answer my inquiries because you think I'll go after them too." He dropped the thumbscrew and grabbed a knee splitter.

The moment he picked it up, Chiaki's eyes shivered a little. She did her best to keep her sweat dripping from her forehead.

Hywel noticed it.

"Oh, is something the matter? You're not worried about losing your legs are you?" he questioned, bringing the knee splitter in front of Chiaki. But again, she closed her eyes, "As I said before... I'm not worried about getting tortured. Even if you do such a cruel deed, you wouldn't make me speak. Knee splitters are the least of my concerns in my life."

Hywel grinned and squatted before Chiaki, trying to lock her view onto her knees. However, despite worrying, Chiaki didn't flinch or move. "Look at your beautiful legs. You wouldn't want me to dirty them, would you?" she remained despondent, "Imagine all that blood pouring from them while your screams of pain would sound the outdoors. Of course, your yelling wouldn't help you either. We're too deep in the woods for anyone to hear us."

"If you think I'd scream for you just because you'd destroy my knees, I'm sorry to be that gal, but I don't think you have the balls to do it." She tensed her eyes on him, showing him a menacing stare.

Hywel smiled and stood up, "Ah, how bold. You really are different since the last time I heard about you. But I don't think destroying your knees is a good enough punishment to gain some answers." He tossed the knee splitter against the wall and walked toward the table, "But what about tongue tearer? No, no, that's not helpful either. You wouldn't be able to speak that way."

He clutched his chin and thought, "Hmm, let me see. Ah!" he spotted a new device and laughed, "Burning..." Immediately, Chiaki's eyes opened wide, "I'm sure that would bring back some memories of your homeland."

Chiaki's body shivered as tears slowly dripped from her eyes. She tried to hide them, but the memories of her entire homeland getting burned to a crisp continued circling around her mind, "I think such activity would surely make you talk. I also found this."

He grabbed a newspaper and read its title, "The world government prepares to cleanse the world of the final few Yasuda family members..."

"5 years ago, a Japanese family known as Yasuda attacked the world government by joining forces with the pirates in order to prevent the disastrous war known as 'Deadly Rain.' Because of Yasuda's alliance with the pirates, the world government considered them threats and is prepared to compensate the individuals a $1,000,000,000 reward who were to locate their whereabouts and bring them to La Isleta Cortada alive. The reports assert that the escaping Yasuda family members are siblings who escaped the 'Deadly Rain' 5 years ago..."

He looked at Chiaki with a smile, "I think that money would improve the Seraphs' potency by quite a large amount. And guess who I found, waltzing around my island. I can easily bring you into custody and we'll both walk away our separate ways. Is that what you want? To be in the hands of the world government?" he giggled and placed the paper on the table, "Of course, that doesn't need to happen if you'll ask my questions."

"No, don't you dare! I don't need to go back there! Don't you realize what they'll do to me if they catch me?! They won't just kill me! They'll kill everyone else I traveled with!" Hywel couldn't hide his giggles and earned Chiaki's attention, "Oh, you're so predictable, Chiaki. Even after growing up to becoming a pirate, you're still scared of the the little world government. Besides, those 1 billion bolts are so rare to come by! And on top of that, your bounty of 400 million is an addition!"

He grabbed her bounty poster, "Chiaki Yasuda, 400 million vast expanse bolts, alive..."

"Ah... Chiaki, Chiaki, Chiaki... You'll never escape the world government that way. You should confront them and finally accept your fate."

"Now..." he became grave but still had hints of laughter on his face, "Let's do something about those beautiful, young knees." He picked up the knee splitter he tossed away and walked in front of her, seeing sweat and stress covering her face.

He crouched in front of her and prepared to attach the knee splitter, "And don't worry. I'll make sure to keep you alive to earn my reward. I'm sure the world government will be happy to see you."

"I said..." Chiaki's eyes glowed pink, and her expression became menacing, "That I'm not going back there!!!" Her voice echoed through the room like she roared inside a cave, and her eyes unleashed a tremendous shockwave that vibrated the ground and created a heavy wind that terrified Hywel and forced him to back away from her.

The trees and the bushes outside were caught by that vibration, causing them to waver in the gust, "Forbidden technique of supremacy? N-No!" Hywel claimed, terrified, "How can she possess such a rare ability?"

The chair Chiaki sat on broke into wooden pieces. She rolled on her shoulders, backed away against the knife on the table, and cut her rope with a terrifying expression, "Find someone else's reward, bounty hunter. But get ready because I'm not going to let you disrespect my family or my homeland."

To be continued...