Chapter 348 A Mass Wipe

"No, I didn't give him Rippersnake Vines. I'd be crazy to give him poison." Halys shook his head.

'Po-poison?!?' Keng looked up at Jyu'so and Halys. Chrono gave him a quiet chuckle as he looked back down.

"Then why doesn't he feel anything?" Jyu'so asked. Halys and Jyu'so turned their attention to Keng. He was still looking down and watched as flames started to appear burning off his body.

"I thought all Saviors were immune to poisons." Halys answered. "Wouldn't that be the case with Keng?"

"But not the muscle powders? What's the logic in that?" Jyu'so pouted. "No wonder why Chrono didn't want any! I wanted to trick these poor kids into drinking it! You're both no fun!" He turned away from Halys, folding his arms together as Keng continued to watch the silver flames burning away.

"They're the Suns chosen ones right?" Chrono asked. "Wouldn't they naturally be resistant to most poisons and status effects?"

"I guess so. I didn't think they'd burn it off like that." Halys pointed. Keng raised his head up to look at Halys and Jyu'so as Jyu'so turned and took a sip of his tea.

"Let's not get off track then. Screw my attempt to poison them." Jyu'so waved. He looked at Keng and set his teacup down. "Introduce yourself, boy. Who are you and why does my sister, Vix'i compare you to me?"

"Oh, um," Keng stuttered. "My name is Keng."

"The Fox Spirit who's human resisted a full bond thus causing a strange phenomenon of two entities in a single body. Yes, yes. I know about that." Jyu'so patiently expedited the introduction. "What makes you so special, huh? So special that my sister and the Eldest both say you two are kinda like me!"

'He seems like he doesn't like the whole "me and Lee Seng are like him" thing.' Keng thought.

"CAUSE I DON'T!" Jyu'so slammed the table. Keng jumped while Halys and Chrono acted like this was normal. Jyu'so stood on his chair and turned to point at Keng. "You think you're a big shot because you have such a large soul orb like me, right?

"You know how hard I worked for that? Hundreds of years and a mere kid and his vessel beat me like nothing!" Darkness blocked the light in the room. Purple flames ignited off of Jyu'so's tails.

"Elder, you'll scare the children if you continue to be like this." Halys alerted him like this had happened before.

"Argh!" Jyu'so slammed his foot into the chair, shaking the entire house as darkness disappeared. The suns light came through as he folded his arms and sat. "If it weren't for the children outside, I would black out the sky and teach you a lesson!" Halys took a deep sigh and shook his head.

"Well I guess that's enough about you. Care to explain how Chrono found you?" Halys asked.

"Well…" Keng rubbed the back of his head. "That's the thing… Something strange happened to Lee Seng."

"Oh? What happened?" Halys asked. "We lost you and him for months and someone just said they spotted Lee Seng today. They couldn't feel you at all until I got a call from Chrono saying you fell from the sky."

'How do I explain this?' Keng but his lips.

"Well, I guess I only figured something was wrong when I actually saw him. Y'see something happened to Lee Seng and I back in November. We got trapped and thrown hundreds of feet under the Earth's surface." Keng started to explain.

"The incident at Penumbra's Goblin hole." Halys nodded.

"Exactly! For some reason I fell asleep for months! I don't really know what happened but when I woke up, Lee Seng didn't look like me anymore! No more ears or tails! None of it. He didn't even remember me when I pulled him into his Soul world.

"The world inside became unstable and something forced me out. And that's not even all! His Protocol said something totally out of left field to me." Keng put a finger up. "She told me to save us all! What does that mean? What happened in those months I was out? I didn't even have time to look at the Oasis of Memories because his soul and spirit were so unstable."

"And that's when you popped out into the sky?" Halys asked.

"Mmmhm. I was miles away from him, without a clue of what was happening. The worst part was I couldn't use his powers. It's like I'm blocked off from him."

"This doesn't sound good." Chrono looked at Halys. "Those months we couldn't pin him down. It was like you and him disappeared for months, suddenly appearing back at school. His appearance is human, too. Wouldn't someone remember his physically changed form? He walked around with it like it wasn't a big deal."

"This doesn't make any sense." Halys scratched his cheek. "We didn't have any idea where you both went and then he just shows up like a human. The world seemingly forgot about it. It's like…"

"A tricky spell was put in place." Jyu'so finished the sentence. He nodded as he set his finished teacup down. The cup refilled itself as Jyu'so and Halys made eye contact with each other.

"You don't think, Elder Jyu'so…" Halys began to say.

"A high possibility, Halys." Jyu'so nodded. "Just think about it. I've done my fair share of tricks but what if I could influence this whole town? Wouldn't that solve everything?"

"Wouldn't that be too hard?" Keng asked. The three older Foxes turned to look at the youngest. "No one could be that powerful to get all of Capitol City under the same effects. I've notified the Energy levels of people in passing but none of them would be that strong. That's like being a god."

They all silently nodded. It was an absurd idea to entertain, but it was also something that could be true.

'What if I haven't found someone that strong yet?' Keng thought.

"Could be a possibility." Jyu'so answers his thoughts. The small Elder turned to face Keng. "Humans have shown their capability against the face of adversity, but I'm not sure if something as big as millions of people in a city would work."

"If we're going with that logic, it could explain the Foxes on Earth acting the way they did. They couldn't remember what happened." Halys agreed.

"Do you think someone could be behind this?" Chrono asked. "Who would be that powerful to influence such a thing?"

"What even happened? Did something else happen after the fall?" Keng asked.

"The Protocol." Halys answered.

"Why would they hide that?"

"When you and Lee Seng were down there, what made you lose consciousness?"

"A Shadow." Keng answered after recalling the events. "Two goblins were shrouded in Shadows. Thicker than Dark Matter coursing through the Goblins' forms."

"A Shadow? Does this have to do with the empowered goblins?" Chrono asked. Keng nodded.

"We came across two that had pure Shadows around it. It could manipulate shadows to its will. When the Shadow goblins died, the Shadows formed back together and immediately knocked me out. I wonder if that's what caused Lee Seng to potentially…"

"Lose control and allow the Protocol to roam free." Halys finished. "He was sighted by multiple witnesses, even the rescue team who was sent out to get him. It wasn't until a couple days afterwards that his existence just vanished."

"No spiritual or energy signatures. Nothing." Chrono added. "Like someone wanted him gone."

"And you're expecting it's…" Keng dragged the sentence out. He wanted to be sure if his thought was correct. Halys and Chrono didn't give him much to work with. Halys and Chroni's faces were tough to read.

"Do you know if your connection with Lee Seng has been severed?" Halys asked. Keng put a claw over his heart and closed his eyes. He knew they were on different planets but it didn't try to hurt.

He waited for a while, listening to his body. He could faintly feel the resonating feeling come from his heart.

"We're still attached. It's faint." Keng opened his eyes and removed the claw from his heart. "Why?"

"Elder Jyu'so, I have a question for you." Halys turned to look at the small Fox. "Do you think a spell like that could be broken?" Jyu'so set his teacup down and folded his arms.

"What are you planning to do, General Halys?" Jyu'so asked, raising an eyebrow. The small Fox's smile grew wide as if he knew exactly what Halys was gonna do.

—

"It's been a month since we successfully wiped everyone's mind of what happened in November, ma'am. Why are you still worried about it?" A secretary asked Nicole. She sat looking out to the Academy around her. Students were moving about in the distance as she bit at her thumb.

"It's been a month." Nicole anxiously spoke. "One month and millions of people had to get wiped. It wasn't 'just the Academy' that had to get wiped, the whole city!" She looked down at her shaking hands. "And he hasn't remembered a thing, either?" She spun around and looked at her secretary.