Chapter 15: Nozomi
Chapter 15: Nozomi
「You feel better now, Nozomi?」
「Somewhat, anyway, where are we?」
「So let’s get all the questions out of the way. We are at Karmen and I just got woken -」
Nozomi gently closed Tiana’s mouth with her fingers.
「You know what? I’ll figure it out myself. Also, Tiana, have you shrunk? You look tinier than I remember.」
「No, you have grown a lot.」
Nozomi notices me before she rose and confidently approached me. Without skipping a beat, she gestured me a polite curtsy despite not wearing a dress.
「Greetings, you must be Leo, my name is Nozomi; it's a pleasure to meet you.」
「That’s creepy.」
「SHUT UP, TIANA!. Oh damn, I am taller.」
「um, Hi Nozomi, nice to meet you.」
「Oh Tiana, you really should MHMMHMMMHMHM」
Tiana instantly teleported, gripping her arms around her mouth while locking her legs around the hips, leaving only random muffles out of her mouth. Nozomi rocks in an attempt to escape Tiana's grip, but Tiana tightens her hold, worsening the already futile struggle. Tiana uses her powers to lock her hands using time while Nozomi increases her speed of her shaking while trying to rip Tiana’s arm off of her mouth.
Next thing I know, something uncontrollable left my mouth, a burst of laughter left my mouth with no warning. Tears started to stream down my face as the sound just kept coming. While I was laughing, I could tell that their antics had stopped, putting all their focus on me. My laughter died down, and I opened my eyes to find Tiana finally letting go of Nozomi, allowing her to talk.
「Fine, I won’t go into it. Right now, let's kill that husband killer, Areseth. He got very lucky, plus he had backup. I would of definitely won.」
「No need to, he’s dead. Got killed by … well, your husband.」
「Hold on, that’s too much information. First, my little king alive?」
Nozomi lights up, her face filled with joy with her eyes faintly glowing pink. She starts to Frolick and dance around us. I glanced towards Tiana, I could see every fiber of her body tense with her face filled with guilt, making her movements static. Her head dipped down instinctively while her eyes locked onto the ground.
「Second, where is he? I know he would be ecstatic to see me again, I can’t wait to see ███████████.」
Nozomi's body instantly froze with her face going pale. The once jolly Nozomi instantly filled with dread. Soon her breathes slowly gets heavier with sweat dripping all over her body.
「Tiana, what happened to ███████████?」
I could feel an intense aura leaking out of her face, the only thing I could feel from her was the rage of a demon ready to unleash hellfire on the entire universe.
Tiana sighs, but before she could say a word, her eyes start glowing purple followed by Nozomi's eyes glowing gold looking towards the forest.
「For now, let’s get out of this da-」
Tiana looks to be before continuing on.
「Let’s get out of this place.」
I suddenly felt an unusual feeling hit me; I can’t properly tell what it is, but it reminds me of a certain priest.
「No, let’s fight, they got here at a perfect time to -」
Nozomi's body felt like a thousand thunderbolts struck her in a second, completely stunning her before falling straight towards the ground, creating a loud thud.
「Ok, Mrs. violent Deadweight, what's your plan now?」
「mmmmnmnnmmm.」
「Cool, let’s see if this works correctly..」
TIana fidgets with the watch looking through different menus. She taps on the watch before she points her arm towards the open creating a small portal oval portal. It was very shaky feeling like it was about to collapse. Inside the frame of the portal is a very blurry picture of what seems to be my ship.
「Help me out, the portal will collapse if we don’t hurry.」
Tiana was grunting in exhaustion, sluggishly puller her up towards her shoulders, I swooped under Nozomi's shoulders and slowly drag her towards the portal. We step into the portal instantly teleporting to the ship. We pulled Nozomi onto the couch, gently laying her down. Her skin was beet red, radiating heat, and each agonizing breath she took was a loud, painful gasp. Then, her muscles started to constrict and ripple, shifting beneath her skin as if an alien creature was desperate to claw its way out.
「Don’t worry too much, it’s just mana deficiency. Just get some food and water.」
The strained sound of heavy breathing came from my right. I turned to Tiana. She was on the verge of collapse, swaying unsteadily, clearly at her limit. Sluggishly, she tried to fetch some water in the fridge while trying to get the leftovers to feed Nozomi.
「Tiana, you should rest too.」
「I’ll … be.. Fine. Just help me out.」
She fumbled with the jug of water, trying to lift it, but her strength failed her. Before I could react, she collapsed, pitching forward toward the ground. I managed to grab her arm, carrying her to a chair to rest.
「Please just take it easy, Tiana. I will handle it.」
「Ugh… fine. Just help Nozomi out first.」
I nodded. I guess this is going to be a long night.
