The Immortal Player

Chapter 148: A Bird? A Plane? No! It's a Dragon!

The surroundings became darker each second because of the clouds that continued to spread. At this moment, Contra Almirante Paul Solares and Beatrice shifted their attention towards the tornado and frowned after they felt a faint burst of dark magical energy inside it.

Elder Treant Tan also stole a glance towards the tornado, after he felt the same faint dark magical energy. But since it was weak and it dissipated immediately, Elder Treant Tan returned his focus towards the melting ice that was shrouding one of their fellow treants.

"Beatrice!" Paul shouted, calling the attention of Beatrice.

In response, Beatrice glanced towards Paul. Then, they nodded towards each other, as if they read each other's mind, before Beatrice glanced back towards the tornado and, at the same time, pull her sword out of the ground.

She held the handle of her sword with two of her hands and stood straight, resembling the perfect posture of a Knight. Her eyes were closed--as if she was meditating, while her hair, her hands, and her sword started to emit faint reddish flames that were hot enough to make everyone on the shore sweat. 

This, in turn, broke Yuson's daze--making him shift his attention from the tornado to the flaming Beatrice. It was the first time he took of his eyes from the tornado, since the moment it was formed. 

"Wha-What are you going to do?" Yuson asked with a frown on his face. His heart pounded anxiously as the flame on the sword of Beatrice grew stronger than before. 

At the next second, Beatrice opened her eyes that emitted the same faint flame on her hair. Then, her grip on her sword tightened as her left foot was planted forward--placing her into her striking stance. 

Afterward, she lifted her sword slightly above her head, focusing all of her magical energy on it. At this moment, Yuson's face went pale. He tried to stop Beatrice from her attack. Unfortunately, he was too late. He was not even able to utter a word as Beatrice swung her sword downward.

"Northern Flame Art: Red Flame Strike! Maximum!" Beatrice shouted as she swung her sword downwards with full force, sending a vertical arc made of red flame towards the tornado.

Beatrice's red flame strike had transformed the darkish white tornado into a vortex made of fire. As the flame rose into the sky, explosions occurred from inside and seemingly was about to escape out of the vortex.

"Sh1t!" Aldo cursed as he, Ashley, Loren, Charlotte, and Elisabeth ran towards the boat. They pushed it at ninety degrees and hid behind it, making the longer side as their 'shield'. 

Fortunately, the momentum caused by the rotation of the vortex hindered the escape of any flame, even those that escaped due to the explosions. Thus, besides the initial bursts caused by the explosion, the flame spiraling in the shore was still contained in that point.

When the flames reached the highest point, the top most part of the vortex started to release flames into the sky as if it was a stove, a torch, or a flamethrower. This, in turn, had weakened the vortex and had stopped it from releasing the thick clouds, eventually clearing the sky and returning it back to normal. 

"The... The Wind God's... Blessing!" Yuson glanced towards the vortex. 

Soon, the flames were all released into the sky, leaving a weak whirlwind that becomes weaker and weaker each second. From its highest part, a roasted ancient paper fell at the centermost part of the whirlwind. 

The moment it dropped into the floor, Beatrice didn't give anyone a chance to even peak at the roasted ancient looking paper and immediately stabbed her sword in it. Then, the flame on her sword became stronger--burning the paper into ashes and was consequently blewn in the air.

When the paper was no where to be found, Beatrice glanced towards Paul--who nodded towards her in response, before she glanced towards Yuson, and explained, "It was a fake one!" 

"Fake?!" Yuson frowned and argued, "How could you say that it was fake? The gust remained at one point! The weather changed! How could you be sure that it was fake?"

Beatrice shook her head and sighed in response. She flicked her sword to the side before stabbing it to the ground and placing his hands on top of its handle--facing Yuson with flames still enveloping her hair, hands and sword.

"It contained a dark magical energy!" She said as she furowed her forehead. Then, she asked, "Did you forget one of the laws of the fleet?"

"To destroy anything that contains dark magical energy... As soon as possible!" Beatrice said in a cold and authoritative manner. The heat emanated by the fire on her hair, hands, and sword had pressured the surroundings--similar to the pressure that the magical energy can establish. 

Yuson had nothing in his arsenal to counter act or, at the least, neutralize the pressure exerted by Beatrice with out launching an attack in response. So, he could only take a step back in response as his right hand find its way to the handle of his Katana that was attached on the left side of his waist. 

Aldo, Ashley, Loren, Charlotte, and Elisabeth tried to peak and watch the two face each other. But because of the pressure exerted by Beatrice, they had no choice but to hide once again, and even dip their body to the arriving waves in order to neutralize the heat present on their surroundings. 

On the other hand, Paul Solares ignored them and stared in the sky--to the south that was on their right, where figures of seemingly three birds were flying towards their location. Pedro's Aunt and the other crew members of the three ships also had their attention to the figures of the three 'birds' from afar. 

Soon, Even Elder Treant Tan was able to recognize the familiar magical energy that was inching closer towards their direction. But because the ice shrouding the Frozen Treant was full of small cracks and was about to break, Elder Treant Tan could only stole a glance towards the three bird like figures and smirk before returning his focus to the Frozen Treant. 

'This magical energy! It's that bastard!' Beatrice grumbled inwardly as her forehead weave more lines, making her eyebrows almost meet.

She glanced towards the three bird looking figures in the sky as the intesity of the heat--that she was emanating, became stronger, making Yuson grip the the handle of his Katana, tightly. Fortunately, he followed her gaze before making an attack. 

It was only at that moment did he notice the three bird lookig figures in the sky, thus, making him realize that Beatrice was on another level because she was able to sense the presence of the three unidentified flying bird-like objects in the sky.

Although he held a high value to the said inheritance, he knew that Beatrice, even Paul, was not that dumb to just simly waste something that could grant them power beyond what they could imagine. Realizing so, he stole a glance at Paul Solares who was one the highest ranking officials of BHO East Division and whom did not even lifted a finger to stop Beatrice from destroying the said 'inheritance'.

"Still..." Yuson took a deep breathe, trying to soothe the heavy feeling he had. Then, he stared towards the figure of the three unidentified flying birds with his hand still gripping the handle of his Katana, and thought, 'I don't understand! Just because of a dark magical energy that they were able to detect... They destroyed the inheritance of the legends! It could have empowered one of us and, consequently, increasing the fleet's overall strength. Why would they disregard this posibility with out even batting an eye, when it could help us kill monsters and help more people?'

Unfortunately, No matter what his arguement was about, nor how good or beneficial it may become, he had no authority nor strength to back it up and argue head on against Beatrice and Paul. Hence, he could only control his conflicted emotions and put his trust towards them.

After all, Paul and Beatrice was his seniors in BHO. They had more experiences compared to him. On top of that, they were able to adventure with one of the most powerful Vice Admiral in BHO, Vice Almirante Soledad Laparas. 

Whatever their decisions were, it is most probably based on and shaped upon the ideologies and laws established by their predecessors. Someone who did not only left a mark on the Bearth Human Organization itself, but... even to independent parties on several human continents like Kingdoms, Empires, and even just Villages. 

Ignorant to this matter, Aldo, Ashley, Loren, Charlotte, and Elisabeth peeked towards them as they wonder 'what' caused the heat around them to intensify. 

'Are they fighting?' They thought.

However, after several peek towards them, they noticed Yuson and Beatrice staring towards the sky. The tense air that the both of them were releasing, even increasing each second, made the five follow their glance into the sky.

"A bird?" Charlotted asked with a frown, that made Elisabeth smirk.

"A plane?" Elisabeth chuckled.

"No!" Aldo said as his face forced out a smile. Then, he gasped and said, "It's a Dragon!"