Isabelle faintly hyperventilates, waiting for D'jor to give her the riddle that'll save her soul. Kenzo tries to calm her nerves, giving her words of encouragement.
She nods, as if to thank him.
"...What is greater than God, more evil that the Devil, rich people need it, poor people have it, and if you eat it, you will die?"
Isabelle froze. It was so cryptic that she didn't understand what was said.
"C-could you repeat...the riddle? One more t-time?"
"I can repeat it, tens, hundreds, thousands of times. You'll have to answer eventually."
He repeats the riddle. Isabelle hesitantly thinks, looking at the floor and Kenzo, back and forth. He smiles comfortably.
"Well, what if Isabelle isn't religious?" Kenzo asks. "She might not know who God or the Devil even is."
"N-no no, Kenzo. I'm thinking as if I were..."
"I know." He says as he winks.
"I'm... not-..."
"If you do not give me an answer, your soul is forfeit."
Isabelle shivers. "I-I just n-need a little time to think..."
Isabelle starts to scrunch up her face in thought, frustrated from the pressure.
"Uhm...U-Uhm.."
D'jor yawns, signalling Isabelle's running out of time.
"I-I've got it! It's..."
***
Arsenio and Nathaniel are back to back as they fight off the knights of the graveyard.
Arsenio shoots a fiery blast, making the suit of armor fall into scrap metal within seconds.
"One down, one to go." he says with a chuckle.
Nathaniel is still swordfighting with the other knight. Their clash could wake the dead around them.
Arsenio is watching from a distance, before warm metal wraps around his chest.
"Hey..." He says jokingly. "At least take me out to dinner first..."
"Arsenio, now is not the time!" Nathaniel's voice yells.
"Alright alright, I got you." With another electric blast, he blasts the knight back.
Then, as he's building up another attack, the knight bangs its sword amongst the ground, creating a hollow, eerie metallic howl. The ground began to shake, and the knights toppled over, becoming lifeless. Hands unearthed themselves, pulling the rest of their bodies out of the ground.
"Uh oh." Arsenio says, pointing his weapon at the newly summoned undead.
"This might be more difficult than we thought.."
"C'mon Nate, we can't just fight them off. There's too many."
"We cannot leave either. It is either fight or death."
"We better hope Isabelle and Kenzo get here soon...wherever they are."
***
"I-It's... it's..."
Kenzo holds his breath.
"Alright Izzy, you've held me up for long enough!"
"Dawlly? What are you-"
Dawlly immediately pulls on the thread, causing Isabelle to drop to the ground.
"I-Isabelle? Dawlly, what did you do?"
"Ohh wait, you don't know?" The plush giggles. "That's right, the last time I did this, you weren't there! Well, let me show you!"
Isabelle slowly rises, pulling out the scissors from her pocket.
"Isabelle!" Kenzo says, trying to revert her back to normal. He tries to remove the pair of scissors from her grip, but she slashed his hands with it, causing him to let go.
"I finally figured out the answer..." She says without a sliver of fear in her voice.
"It's something you'll see for the rest of your pathetic life! It's nothing!"
With a swiftness unlike Kenzo had ever seen with her on foot, Isabelle runs up the the genie, and stabs him right through the chest.
"I-Isabelle! No!"
Dawlly only laughs evilly to itself.
"Man, what a rush! I've never felt so good since the last time!"
Dawlly shakes its head. "There's no one to help you though, Kenzo. Once she's angry, it's hard to calm her down!"
"...Or...is there?"
Kenzo takes Isabelle's hand and stabs himself with the scissors. He winces in pain as the blades dig into his flesh.
"Kenzo! What the-..." Isabelle slowly starts to realize, calming down from her enragement. "K-Kenzo?"
"I'm okay...I knew the only way you'd calm down is if one of us got hurt..."
"Kenzo! Why w-would you do t-this to yourself?!"
"I wanted to show you something. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else."
Kenzo pulls the weapon out, then reveals the area where he was injured. To Isabelle's surprise, his wound began mysteriously healing up by itself.
"B-But...how?"
He whispers into her ear, revealing his secret, then reminds her not to tell the others.
"It's a secret. Between you and me, okay?"
Isabelle nods.
"Good, now let's check on D'jor before we're stuck with another set of riddles..."
They look over D'jor's unmoving body. It begins to scatter.
"...Well. It looks like he's really gone..."
"We should g-go...find the other two... they could be in t-trouble."
"...Wait. There's... something... floating above him."
It was a bright light, a piece of a whole.
Kenzo takes it. "It's warm.."
The piece calls out to them, in a familiar voice.
"Kenzo? Isabelle? Is that...you?"
It was Verna. Her voice was soft, almost as if she was half asleep.
"V-Verna!"
"Listen to me...very closely. The Timebreakers...split my soul amongst themselves..."
"How many are there?"
Well, since you've destroyed one, there should be four...maybe five left. Luckily, I can feel most of my pieces..."
"Most of them?"
"I cannot find my heart. It must be kept deep within a secret lair. Nathaniel and Arsenio are fighting another Timebreaker with another piece of my soul..."
"What should we do with this piece?"
"Take it with you. We don't want it getting into the wrong hands."
They nod. The light flies into the clock of Kenzo, and the two run off to find the others.
***
Nathaniel and Arsenio struggle to keep fighting. The zombies were easily able to tank every attack the two can muster.
"H-Hey Nate...we better call for backup..."
Nathaniel holds a stronger attack from the from the undead. His armor finally shatters from the damage. He stumbles, but manages to stand his ground.
"These... creatures have adapted to our...attacks..."
Arsenio tries to hold him up. "Alright champ, we've got a lot of enemies... coming straight for us..."
Arsenio pulls Nathaniel aside while he continues shooting beams with the last of his energy. His Gift then unactivated, leaving the both of them without offense.
"T-Tempus: Cessatio.." Nathaniel muttered.
Overexerting his Tempural Energy, he forces time to stop.
"Arsenio..." he mutters again. "If you want to leave...n-now would be a good time..."
"Yeah but...what about you?"
"I will... try to fight these peasants off while I still have a chance...find Kenzo and... Isabelle.."
Nathaniel's nose and mouth became covered in crimson, as he coughed from fatigue, but yet, he holds on.
"No no, Nate, we've gotta get outta here, you're super hurt, and stopping time isn't helping.."
"They will attack as soon as I release it...take this as an opportunity..."
Arsenio dashes off, and time goes back to normal.
"C'mon Isabelle...please be somewhere close.."
On a stone in the grass he trips, landing on his side...
"Crap...sorry Isabelle..."
As he holds his reopened wound, he runs towards the others.
***
"Ow..." Isabelle whispers.
Kenzo looks at her. "Hm? What's wrong?"
"... Dawlly, a-are you tugging at m-my threads again?"
Dawlly appears from her shoulder. "No, why do you ask?"
"My heart's begun to hurt.."
"If I wanted to tug at your thread, I would've pulled it hard enough to make you angry."
"...We should look for Arsenio and Nathaniel...they could be in trouble..."
"Right...let's go..."
They run as fast as they can, calling for Nathaniel and Arsenio.
"Arsenio! Nathaniel! Where'd you guys go?!"
Arsenio is somewhere nearby, they could hear him calling back. "I'm out here somewhere! We have to hurry, Nate's fighting for his life out there!"
"Nate?"
"He's out there in a cemetery, don't worry about me, just help him and go!"
As Isabelle continues to try reuniting with Arsenio, Kenzo runs off to get Nathaniel.
"C'mon Nate...please be alright..."
At some point, he does see Nathaniel, but in the worst situation he could be in. Fatigued and with no way to protect himself, Nathaniel lays on the ground, the zombies trying to reach for him. He kicks their hands away and slides back whenever they get too close...
"Nate...please hold on!"
Kenzo dives to the ground and runs to Nate's side, shaking him vigorously to keep him awake.
"Nathaniel, it's me! Kenzo! I'm here to help you! I won't let these zombies touch you! You gotta hang on!"
Nathaniel nods, and looks up at Kenzo. His eyes are nearly fully closed from the tiredness.
"I'm gonna get you to safety, Nate, just hold on!"
Kenzo uses his Scythed Chain to slow down the remaining zombies, then makes a run for it with Nathaniel.
"What are...you doing?"
"I'm saving your life. If it means we don't get that soul piece, so be it."
"Where...is Arsenio?"
"Isabelle's looking for him. He told me to look for you."
Nathaniel stopped speaking afterwards, only the sound of his shallow breaths as he tried to rest. Hovering with his wings, Kenzo calls out to Isabelle, asking if she's finally found Arsenio.
"I-I have! He's right here with me!"
"Great, now we just have to finish off the Timebreaker and get the other soul piece!"
He can see them in the distance, as Isabelle tries to stitch Arsenio's wound back together.
"You b-better be lucky it was slightly healed.."
"...Yeah. Not as many stitches, right?"
"Maybe half as m-many as last time... m-maybe even less if you could...stay still..."
"I'm sorry, it just hurts is all.."
Isabelle giggles. "It okay, I just need to...tighten it to hold it together... it'll hurt quite a bit, but it's just for a little while."
Arsenio takes a deep breath. "Alright..."
In order to securely suture the wound, Isabelle pulls fiercely on the thread. Arsenio leans up involuntary from the sudden shock of pain, groaning as he does.
"S-sorry, sorry...that hurt like hell..."
Isabelle cuts the thread with her scissors and puts them back, while Arsenio carefully gets up. The two then walk with casual conversation.127Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX3LHAfzCj
Isabelle and Arsenio walk over to Kenzo, where they see Nate.
"Great, you guys are here!"
"I-Is he alright?"
"Don't worry, I managed to get the rest of the zombies...but weird, there was no soul piece..."
Isabelle holds Arsenio as he steps closer to the center of the graveyard.
"It's gotta be around here somewhere..."
"We'll keep looking. Kenzo, c-could you take Nathaniel somewhere safe?"
"...Alright.." Wings of multicolored light appeared behind him, and he flies away.
Arsenio and Isabelle look together for hints of the soul piece. When Kenzo comes back, he helps.
"Where'd you put Nate?"
"He's on a bench in a nearby park. He managed to fall asleep."
"Good.."
As they look, a dark cloud looms over them, unbeknownst to them.
***
Eran and Ezra look over her as Catherine stays motionless...
"...She is recovering faster than I expected..."
"... That's good, right? That means she's doing better.."
"Not exactly true...while Catherine is recovering at a faster rate..it means she may not be to handle the dragon's power. It will be difficult for her to control it.."
"...And if she doesn't?"
"Anything can happen. That is why we must prepare."
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To be continued in Prodigy: Casters of Time: Chapter 10
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