89 Ch. 89 'The Butterfly'

"Now, it's time to come with me."

Niken wasn't used to fighting, so she was off guard. The man had escaped from the noose of the tree's root when she looked down at her feet. Without preparation, he used a wind storm to attack her. The man smirked as the magic circle above Niken's head had disappeared.

He was determined to have Xiao Yue's power along with her magic. He could not wait to extract all the energy and magic from the poor girl's body.

Niken wanted to rise, she wanted to fight, but she felt numb and aches throughout her body. She did not have the energy to stand up.

Niken sheds a tear and subconsciously called out to someone.

"Kazu,"

Niken closed her eyes. She was too afraid of what would happen to her. She knew she would not be able to do anything once this man took her.

No one could save her. No one would notice she was missing. Because of that, she did not dare to look, did not dare to open her eyes when she heard the footsteps approaching her.

Just when she felt a hand about to touch her, she felt a gust of wind passed over her as if an object was rushing rapidly in front of her.

"I won't let you take her!" hissed a voice near her ear.

In the next instant, she felt two sturdy arms curled up to her body, and she was lifted in the air.

Niken ventured to open her eyelids, and that's when she cried loudly.

"Kazuto,"

"I'm here," whispered Kazu gently right next to her ears.

Niken gave a thin smile, and then she passed out, unable to bear this tension and she drained her energy to freeze the time.

The moment Niken fainted, the time went back to normal. Every single one who once stopped now rushed to the black-haired man and the white knight. Seeing a large number of opponents, both the men decided to retreat.

"Remember this, I, Muyun, will come back to fetch our little girl."

Four black shadows along with fire bursts of Richard strike toward the men. Unfortunately, the men have already gone with the power of the white knight.

"Niken! What is she doing outside here?!" groaned Richard in frustration.

"How come Niken was here when she just right behind us?" asked Scarlet in confusion as to when she and the other girls noticed Niken was missing, they ran outside panicking.

"And how did you manage to come here so fast?" this time Shin Ha was the one who asked to Kazuto.

Many various questions arose amongst them as they didn't even realize they had been trapped inside the frozen time. Also, Richard could not sense that the time had been freeze.

Despite their curiosity, they still let Kazuto bring the unconscious Niken inside the house.

"What happened to my sister? Why is she bleeding?"

"I will explain later. Shin Ha, could you please heal her."

"Sure."

"I know you were eager to save her, but your existence still a secret from the world. You can't do a reckless act."

The butterfly flapped its wings dejectedly as if it had made a grave mistake.

***

After making sure Niken had fallen asleep comfortably in her room, Kazuto came out to explain what had happened to them when Niken stopped the time around them.

"How did you move?" asked Shin Ha after Kazuto explained about the frozen time.

"At first I couldn't move like you guys. But suddenly, I could feel my body. Maybe, this is just my hypothesis, but maybe it's because..." Kazuto let out a white spark of energy from his right hand.

"That is not your energy," uttered Shin Ha.

"But it also doesn't belong to the white knight," stated Hokuto.

"It's like ..." Scarlet narrowed her eyes as she recalled the white light emanating from Niken's body. The vibe was similar to the one Kazuto created.

"This is Niken's energy. It seems that our energy forces have successfully got merged so that we can share each other's energy. This white force was the one that made me able to move around."

"It still doesn't make sense. If it were the ordinary time-controller that stopped time, we knights could still move. But why couldn't we move? As far as I remember, the only person who could stop time with the Elementalist knight is the Time Master, Princess Xiao Yue. But ... she's not Princess Xiao Yue. Is she?"

"How did you find out about Princess Xiao Yue's abilities?" Izzy was curious at how Scarlet knew about the almost extinct Time Master.

"That ... hm ..."

"Lately, I feel like you're hiding something from us. Isn't it about time you told us?" prompted Kazuto.

"..."

Hokuto and Shin Ha also felt the same, even so, they did not want to force Scarlet to speak. It seems that Kazuto wasn't too pushy either. But since this was related to Niken, inevitably, Kazuto was a bit urgent to get enlightened.

"Is it just my feeling, or did you guys smell something?" Edward's question made the tension in the house break and focused their sense of smell.

There was the smell of something they were very familiar with. The scent of pine trees and some fresh peppermint as if they were in the middle of the forest. But it was impossible! The house where the twin siblings lived was in the middle of the city, which was located quite far from the forest. So it is impossible now that they are in the middle of the woods.

But the smell...

The Elementalist knights looked at each other while thinking the same assumption. They ran to open the door of the house to see what was happening.

Outside, many trees surrounded the house as if they were now in the middle of a forest.

Kazuto stepped out further, looking around, and he realized they were in the middle of the forest along with the house!