Will of a Prince

For the first time since Avala had met Garbiel, she saw him smile.

"Very well."

Gabriel turned around and moved some of his hair to reveal a glowing rose mark that was left on his neck.

"This is our countermeasure."

Avala stared at the mark curiously and touched it with her finger. Nothing happened.

"It just looks like a tattoo of a rose. What does it do?"

"This mark was given to all of us by Miss Lidia. She was bestowed some power a while back that allows her to cleanse anyone of corruption. This rose that’s on our skin grants us a higher resistance to it."

Avala’s eyes widened.

"She can seriously cleanse someone of corruption? Such a power like that exists?"

"It does."

"This is crazy. Her power directly opposes what the Epigones are using for their strength. With her, I think we actually stand a chance fighting them!"

Slimo waved over at Avala.

"I think it’s also important to mention that she has another power besides that one. Well, I guess it somehow connects in a way."

Avala stared at her brother incredulously.

"She has two Zalo’s?"

"That’s right. Not only that, but Lidia is also the first person that I’ve known to have something called an ’Awakened Zalo’. Do you know anything about what that might be?"

Avala fumbled over her words before finally answering.

"I-... Awakened Zalo? Are you absolutely sure she has such a thing?"

Gabriel pointed to his mark again.

"This mark not only fends off corruption, but it is also innately tied with her original Zalo: energy transferring. Any sort of physical damage that is done to us feeds her energy and power further as if we were an extension of her body. Similarly, she can share her energy with all of us if she wishes.

Avala almost passed out in her chair.

"Such an insanely powerful ability. No wonder you were all able to make it here so easily."

"We just got lucky. Even with all this power, we still struggle against beings as strong as Elder Monsters."

A chilling thought entered Avala’s mind. She looked at Slimo.

"Wait, if she can transfer the energy of physical attacks done to you all, does that mean our spar only made her more powerful?!"

Slimo chuckled and coughed into his arm.

"I told you she would be quite a troublesome opponent for you."

Avala ran her hands through her silver hair.

"This is crazy. You are all crazy!"

Slimo raised his hands.

"I didn’t even want to spar! You were the one who needed to beat up on your older brother a bit."

Avala crossed her arms and turned away.

"Whatever."

Gabriel smiled and looked back over to Avala.

"What other plans did you have in mind for training?"

"Well, I told your friends that I would make them run across the top of the wall with one leg if Slimo didn’t accept my sparing request. What I didn’t tell them is I was going to make them do it anyway whether Slimo agreed to fight me or not."

Gabriel smiled widely while staring deeply into her green eyes.

"When should we start?"

Avala chuckled and pushed Gabriel back into his bed.

"You won’t be starting anything until your wounds heal. You are going to have to sit this one out."

Gabriel’s heart dropped and he grabbed on to her armor.

"What?! There’s no way I can accept that! I’m perfectly fine anyway!"

Avala grabbed his hand off of her and crushed it in her palm. Gabriel winced in pain.

"You still need to heal. And don’t touch me like that again or you’ll lose an arm next time."

Gabriel grunted and pulled his hand away.

"You know I’m just going to sneak out, right?"

"That’s right."

"And you’re going to let me?"

"Nope."

"Who are you putting in charge of watching me then?"

"Who else?"

"You?!"

"Of course, I am. I already spoke with Orvo the other night about my plan for today."

Gabriel sighed heavily and punched his own bedding in annoyance. Avala walked over and smacked him over the head.

"Stop acting like a kid. How old are you anyway? You can’t be much younger than me."

"Ease off. I’m twenty-six. How old are you?"

Avala smacked his head again.

"Ow! What the hell?!"

"Never ask a woman her age. It’s disrespectful."

"But you just asked me mine!!"

"It’s different. Now shut your mouth and stay here with Slimo. I’m going to bring you both food."

"Whatever."

Avala got in Gabriel’s face.

"You WILL be grateful for this food. Now shut it!"

Avala stormed out of the room. Right as the door shut, Gabriel began talking to Slimo.

"Geez, Slimo. Your sister is one hot-headed grouch."

Slimo stared at Gabriel with an unreadable expression.

"What? What’s wrong?"

"Oh, it’s nothing. Do you mind if I ask you how you got her to like you so much?"

"What the hell are you talking about?! Did you see the way she just treated me!! She smacked me at least two times just now!"

"Even so, I’ve never seen her talk with someone like she did with you just now. She looked... comfortable. What have you guys been talking about?"

Gabriel sighed and laid back in his bed.

"All I did was give her some advice that she was wrestling with. It was hardly anything."

"I see. You two would make a powerful duo, I must say."

"I haven’t seen her in battle yet, so that would be hard to tell."

Slimo smirked at Gabriel and looked away.

"Lidia was telling me old stories about you. To be honest, it’s a bit hard to believe them every time she talks about it. I could never see you doing some of the things she’s said."

Gabriel remained silent for a few moments before responding.

"I had quite the ego, that’s for sure. I was humbled dozens of times, but to me it never really meant anything because I was still always a part of the strongest group in the kingdom. However, being outside the walls of the kingdom showed me just how small we really are. Our group, the Katra Clan, was never the strongest. We were no stronger than a single wild beast."

"Carrying this burden of loss on your shoulders is not healthy, Gabriel. You can become strong without almost killing yourself every time you train."

"There’s no time anymore. I can see it on both Avala’s and your face. There’s something dangerous on its way and we all need to be prepared for it."

Slimo’s face dropped.

"We already have a plan to deal with it."

"And what if Squabee isn’t enough? We can’t just leave the whole thing to her! I want to fight; I want to help!"

"Me and Lidia are planning much more than simply using Squabee’s power. Would you like me to let you in on what we’re planning?"

Gabriel appeared surprised at how well-thought this plan already seemed.

"What are you going to have us do?"

"Avala was put in charge of training you all so we could form a combat team to fight the Epigones and help with the war effort. Considering the mark that Lidia has given us all, we will most likely be coming after the Epigones first to weaken them. However, as you can most likely assume, we do not have a lot of manpower to spare. Therefore, we are dividing everyone into teams of two to three people to take out an entire camp or prison by themselves."

"Only a few of us for a whole camp?!"

Gabriel thought to himself.

’Is that even possible?’

"Exactly. That’s why I need you all at the strongest you could possibly be. Not only that, but I also need you to have much better mastery of your Zalo powers. To be honest with you Gabriel, I feel you could use yours a lot more efficiently. I would work on how fast you can grow or shrink your body."

Gabriel sighed and looked towards the door.

"It’s too bad I’m your sister’s prisoner until these bandages fall off of me."

"Hey, leave my sister alone. She didn’t have a lot of friends growing up because of her personality."

Gabriel whispered to himself.

"Who could have ever guessed..."

"So, leave her alone. Even if she is hard to look at."

"Hard to look at? She’s a princess of Paria Empire. She’s one of the most ethereal looking women I’ve ever seen."

Slimo was dead silent as he stared past Gabriel blankly. He cleared his throat and laid in his bed, pretending to be asleep.

"What? No one can possibly deny that it’s true. She’s beautiful! Is that so wrong to simply state the obvious?"

"What’s so obvious?"

A voice echoed behind Gabriel. He jumped high in his bed hearing the familiar tone. It was Avala, who had returned with two large plates of food.

Gabriel fumbled with his words as he turned around.

"I-I was just saying how it’s obvious that Slimo needs rest! I mean, look at the state of his body! You sure did a good job roughing him up!"

Avala stared at Gabriel oddly.

"Uh, thank you? Anyway, here’s your food. If it’s bad, let me know so I can execute the chefs."

"You’re very scary sometimes when you talk, you know that?"

Avala bared her teeth. She slammed the trays of food on the table next to him.

"What did you just say?!"

"Please just don’t kill the poor chef. By the way, I think there’s something stuck in your teeth."

Avala’s face turned slightly red and she turned around, picking at her gums. After a few moments, she exhaled and continued talking.

"Shut up."

"But I didn’t even say-"

"I said shut it!"

Gabriel slouched in his bed.

’Likes me my ass.’

Avala walked over to Slimo and shoved him around.

"Quit pretending to sleep and eat your food."

"But I’m tired. I just wanna-"

Avala picked up Slimo’s entire bed with him in it and ran towards a window.

"W-w-wait! I’m sor-!"

She threw him and his bed through the glass away from sight. Afterward, she dusted her hands and looked back at Gabriel.

He choked on air and began reaching for the food next to him, eating it as fast as he could.

She slowly walked over and pulled her chair right next to him as he ate. Gabriel was so scared he was shaking slightly. Avala crossed her arms and looked away from him, her eyes growing droopy.

"Thank you for earlier. I feel a lot better now."

’Do you really?! You just threw your injured brother out a window!!’

"N-No problem at all."

Suddenly, Avala’s head began to drop as she fought back sleep. Eventually, the sleep overcame her, and her head fell on to Gabriel’s shoulder. Gabriel froze, not daring to make a single move. His eyes looked down at her as soft breaths left her mouth. Now Gabriel was stuck in a position worse than being stuck with a wild leviathan. He feared nothing more than to see the consequences of waking Avala from her sleep.

’... you’ve got to be shitting me.’