Chapter 27: Guardian of Hope

As they all sat on the floor of the building, each lost in thought about what to do, Elijah remained unbothered.

He could fly away anytime he wanted. Nely stood up, her frustration evident. "Come on, why are we just sitting here?" She looked directly at Dune.

"Dune, come on. Turn your brain on. Think of a plan. You saved me, remember? Do it again."

Dune, however, remained silent, staring down. After a moment, he spoke, "Elijah, how many people can you take with you?"

Elijah responded, "No one. I'd have to use Zeten to carry all of you, and if I do that, I'll run out of Zeten and fall into the water."

Dune sighed, then suddenly, an idea struck him. "Wait!" he exclaimed.

Everyone looked at him, hopeful and eager to hear what he had to say.

"Atlas, your birds... is their blood made from Zeten?" Dune asked.

"Yeah? What about it?" Atlas replied.

Dune shared his idea with Atlas through the Mindlink artifact, which only he, Atlas, and Nely possessed so far. "Listen, this water is made from Zeten or Neba power.

But it doesn't matter which, it's not real water, and that's why it harms anyone who falls into it. So what if we enhance the water? What if we put our Nebas into the water and make it stronger in our area?

I'm sure at least one of them must be close to us, hiding in the water somewhere below. If we enhance it enough, we might be able to overpower their artifact or ability defenses.

This is the only chance I see. Atlas you have strong Purple Zeten. You can also use your remaining birds and explode them, starting from far away and then slowly getting closer to our building.

Like that, they'll have no choice but to come closer to us. If the plan works, they'll have to come up to save themselves. We have you, the twins, Nely, and Elijah. We have a big chance to win this."

Atlas stood, stunned. He was grateful for Dune's quick thinking, it might actually work. He laughed. "Dune, sometimes I forget how smart you are."

Dune laughed too. The others looked confused, not understanding anything yet, but hopeful that Dune had plan.

With their plan in place, they began to slowly enhance the water with their different Nebas, making it stronger, everyone except Elijah, who stood as their weapon, ready to fight for them.

Elijah stood in the middle of the roof while the others pointed at the water from the corners, channeling their Neba and Zeten into the black water.

Atlas started using his birds, sending them in different directions and making them explode in the water. The birds died from the toxicity and exploded, enhancing the water further.

Dune stood in the middle with Atlas, looking in every direction. "Please work... this is our only chance."

At that moment, someone jumped from the water. It was a man in armor with small burns on his face and hands. His artifact armor couldn't withstand the enhanced water's strength, forcing him to surface.

The armored man instantly attacked Dune, who couldn't react in time. But Elijah could. Moving like a bullet, Elijah caught the armored man by the face and lifted him into the air.

He flew with him, slicing the man with his blue Zeten. "Monster," Dune thought about Elijah. Elijah laughed as he descended, carrying the armored man's head.

He pushed him down, lower and lower, the man screaming in fear and calling for his comrades. Elijah laughed, pushing him into the water, making him taste the toxic black water.

When Elijah flew up, the armored man was dead, his face turned into a skeleton, showing bones and teeth eaten away by the water. Elijah threw him back into the water.

With that, only eleven survivors were left. Dune looked at the flying Elijah, who was already hundreds of meters away. "Good job," he thought, but then Nely approached him.

"Dune, I don't feel good... something's wrong." Dune looked at her; she was bleeding from her eyes and mouth, her eyes red.

She fell down, and Dune caught her. "What's going on?" He looked at the others, they were all on the ground, unconscious. "Atlas!" he shouted, but they didn't get up.

"It must be poison, they counterattacked… But.. Why am I alright? Because I don't have enough Neba, because i'm not Zeten?"

Dune looked at Nely, who was crying bloody tears and whispering . "Dune,... it hurts."

He looked away. "Give me time, Nely... I'll do something." But suddenly, someone hit Dune. He fell, bleeding from his head. "Ahh!"

It was a man with blue skin and red eyes, wearing black swimsuit like armour that covered his whole body, except eyes and hands.. he one of the survivors. The blue-skinned man approached Nely, about to stab her with an orange sword.

Dune ran and caught the man's sword with his hand, but it was useless. His hand exploded, but he covered Nely with his body. "I'll protect you this time Nely," he promised, looking into her eyes.

The man was about to stab Dune when Elijah descended. He caught the blue-skinned man and sliced his stomach with his sword, then pushed him into the water.

But before the man fell, he summoned and threw many blue swords enhanced with orange Neba. Elijah blocked them all, but he felt dizzy, falling to one knee. "Ahh, dammit, not now."

Dune was hit with many swords, but he didn't move.. he covered Nely with his own body..

But it wasn't enough ..

Dune then looked at Nely, who was bleeding from her neck. "No, no, no, no!" How did this even happen .. Dune whispered.

Even though he covered her with his own body, somehow the blade had still managed to hurt her.

Dune didn't care that a few of the swords were now in his body. He was bleeding too, close to death.

"Nely, don't die... Nely!" He covered her neck. Elijah shouted as he fell, bleeding from his eyes and mouth.

"The other guy is injured and he lost consciousness when he fell. He can't swim but his ability will protect him from water. Dune, finish him before she dies... that's our only choice."

Elijah then fell on the ground, losing consciousness.

Dune looked at Nely, then ran and took out a sword, without thinking, jumping into the black water. He swam down as fast as he could, his sword glowing in the darkness, guiding him.

Dune's skin burned from the toxins, the pain unbearable. He gritted his teeth and followed the blue-skinned man, who was sinking deeper, not moving.

Dune's ear, nose, and lips disintegrated, his teeth disappearing as he burned, but he kept swimming, his hair gone, his clothes disintegrating.

He still held the sword in one hand. "I must save her... I must keep swimming, keep fighting. If I stop, I die."

He finally reached the blue-skinned man, but Dune lost his sight, his eyes turned to ashes. His sword glowed, and he swung it with all his strength, cutting through the man's neck, killing him on the spot. Dune sank deeper, falling down and down.

He couldn't care about the pain. He smiled in his heart, knowing that even when he was weak, he had managed to save his comrades. That was all he cared about. And then everything went dark.