Chapter 141 - Absorb
"Darn! Where did he go?" Serena asked
"..."
"What's wrong, Ariel?"
"John... Didn't feel like himself, but felt familiar..."
"I know, it's just like that time."
"Do we go after him?"
"Can you propel yourself underwater, with wind magic and create an air bubble underwater?"
"Yeah"
"Really? Then, let's go."
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John who had suddenly vanished, reappeared inside of water where Rikirin was currently rampaging.
He watched as the electric beast devoured mermaids and fried those in the vicinity, one by one.
The circle of mermaids which john had seen earlier, was already gone. Instead, all that was left was a pitch-Black sphere
John muttered a few words underwater before saying
"Quaerere" Translation: Search
He then looked around as if he had noticed something, he hadn't noticed earlier. From behind came a fallen mermaid who seemed to have been hiding itself throughout this whole time.
As it was about to reach john, he raised his hand muttered 3 words before saying
"prohibere" Translation: Stop
The mermaid completely froze, and instead slowly floated towards john, due to the moment from charging at him.
As it reached john, he muttered another 5 words before saying
"Advanced Lightning Magic: fulgur Forum"
Lightning began to circulate around the water slightly over John's hand, before he extended it towards the mermaid, and it collided straight with it.
The fallen mermaid was hit by so many volts underwater, that it turned to ash
"Now... What am I going to do with you?" John asked as he looked at the pitch-black sphere
John then propelled himself closer to it, he looked completely unaffected by the electricity which was being conducted around the water in that area, or the fact that he was underwater with no air bubbles on his head.
As if he had some other method, to freely breathe and talk underwater.
The lightning beast, seemed to have finished its job as it just circulated the black sphere, seeing this. John decided to withdraw it.
"Rikirin, disperse."
The lightning beast, dispersed and suddenly vanished. After that, John slowly propelled himself towards the Sphere as he muttered a few words
When he finally reached it he placed his hands on it and a smile formed on his face
"A forbidden spell... What a lucky find..." John muttered
[By gathering enough magic power, they planned to unleash this upon the city... John would want me to leave things like this so...]
John started to mutter a few more words, before saying
"hauriendum" Translation: Absorb
Some sort of vacuum started appeared at john's palm and started to pull in the Pitch-Black Sphere. Slowly, Part by part, the sphere started getting absorbed into John's palm.
It's size which was nearly 10x the size of john, was slowly decreasing.
And in a short while, it was completed absorbed. Seeing this, Zestari made a small smile.
"I see... it really was a forbidden spell... Aurora somnum exterreri solebat" Translation: Nightmare Dawn
Satisfied and somewhat happy, john turned back towards the shore, and as he was about to teleport back there, he noticed 2 familiar faces in the water, propelling themselves towards him at high speeds.
"Hmm... John, I'll give the control back to you. I got what I wanted after all, thank you." Said zestari
After that, John's eyes opened, and his first reaction was drowning. He couldn't see anything since his eyes were underwater and he couldn't breathe either.
John then quickly formed an air bubble over his head before he actually drowned
"*Cough* *Cough*"
His vision was blurry and his eyes were itchy, he also felt like a bit of water got into his lungs.
"*Cough* Darn it zestari, why would you bring me back when you're underwa- *Cough*"
As john was trying to get his thoughts back, something suddenly grabbed onto his arm.
Surprised, thinking that it was a fallen mermaid, he was about to freeze the whole area around him. But he quickly stopped when he noticed it was Ariel.
"Hey, Ariel, Serena, you two mind carrying me back? I'm feeling a bit ti...red..."
Suddenly, the air bubble which john had over his head disappeared, he seemed to have fallen unconscious.
Serena and Ariel who saw this, panicked for a moment before grabbing onto him and forming an air bubble over his head
"Did he really just fall unconscious?" Serena asked
"Yeah... He must've drained all his energy." Said Ariel
"Alright, let's head back. While I do like swimming, It's too dark down here, and I'm not getting any good vibes" Said Serena
"You're right, Velox."
***
Once john woke up, he could feel a soft sensation under his head, it felt comfortable and relaxing.
As he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at Ariel's face from under. The sun had set, yet for some reason there was a lot of lighting around.
[Wait... This sensation... This angle... This softness... Am I receiving a lap pillow right now?]
"Is this a lap pillow?" John muttered as he stared at Ariel
"Eh? Ah, john you woke up?" Ariel asked with an embarrassed and surprised expression
[Did she think I'd go unconscious for another day like before?]
"Yeah..."
As he stared at Ariel's shaken expression, he was reminded of she said that day, and it made him get slightly red
"T-That's good! I thought you'd be asleep for another day"
"Haha... After master's training, I'm not even able to sleep without being on alert."
"You know, when you were asleep, you looked like a baby"
"Says the one who used to cling to me in her sleep"
"F-Forget that!"
"Haha... Okay..."
As the two chuckled amongst each other, they suddenly made eye contact. As he stared at Her small cute eyes, he wondered how much longer he'd have to hold himself back
Between Serena and Ariel, there was no way he could choose one, he didn't want to ruin the party they had after all.
But whenever he thought of choosing one and thinking about how the other would react, he'd feel a sting in his heart. Which was why he wasn't able to do anything.
But what if... What if he really could...
"Ariel... would you be mad if, me you and serena... If we-"
John was interrupted by Serena who called out to him
"Oi!! John! Ariel! If you're up come over to the party!" Shouted Serena
[Party?]