Chapter 565 The Forgotten Promise

The Ferals screeched as tentacles flew forwards. Keng twisted his body, watching the tentacles flew past Keng as Hydrosphere tore through the tentacles. Keng slammed against a Feral, stabbing the dagger into its chest. Aliza pulled away, slamming her tail into the Feral.

"To me!" Aliza reached her hand out as a sword appeared in her hand. She quickly slashed the Feral, darting backwards into more tentacles as Cayi screamed their names.

"Aliza! Keng!" Cayi shouted. Cayi moved forward. "I-I'm coming!"

"Cayi, don't!" Aliza shouted, moving back into Keng. Her grip tightened around the sword as she looked around. The Ferals had surrounded them. "What do I do?" Aliza's voice slightly quivered. She had gotten into plenty of situations like this, but never with Cayi. There was someone always next to Cayi and now that Keng had left him, she was screwed.

"Why did you leave Cayi?" Aliza barked at him. She swung her sword to keep the Ferals away. Tentacles whipped and launched at the two of them. Keng lifted his hand up, putting a barrier up. The tentacles slammed against the barrier, slowly cracking away. "You should've protected him! He's the weak link! Because of you I… I…"

"Ahh!" Cayi screamed. Aliza's eyes went straight for Cayi. Cayi slammed into a wall as Ferals moved towards him.

"Cayi!" Aliza flew forward, only to be stopped by Ferals. "Get outta my way!" Aliza's breaths grew louder and harder. Panic was setting in. "WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST STICK TO THE PLAN?!?" Energy flew off of the small mermaid. Her hand tightened on the sword as she blasted forward. Tentacles pushed and wrapped around her. Bruises and cuts appeared all over her body as desperation grew.

'I can't let him die! I can't!' Aliza shouted in her head. A flourish of attacks sent the tentacles flying as she zipped through the Ferals. It was only a small opening but Keng easily took the panic of the Ferals to his advantage.

"I feel like that wasn't directed towards me…" Keng whispered. The wisps grew around him, burning the water around him away as tentacles broke through the barrier. The wisps flew outwards, dissolving everything in its path as Keng watched from his spot. "But I guess I'll take that as a cry for help. Go, protect them."

Tentacles flew at Keng, who simply blinked to his last Mark. Rocks flew everywhere as a dust cloud flew upwards. Keng launched himself above the Ferals towards Cayi. Cayi grunted as he tried to shake the Ferals away.

"Cayi!" Aliza shouted. Energy shimmered around her body as she grew. The small mermaid quickly became a regular sized mermaid. "Get away from him!"

'Her voice got slightly lower?' Keng thought. He watched the regular sized Aliza easily carve her way through the Ferals protecting the Ferals with Cayi. Aliza severed them in half, bodies pulling apart. 'Mark. Displacement.'

Keng appeared behind the Feral with Cayi and stabbed the Feral in the head. Cayi screamed as the tentacles loosened around him, leaving him in pure panic. Keng grabbed Cayi and pulled him away as Aliza slashed through the other Ferals. The rage in Aliza's eyes made contact with Keng and immediately flew at him to attack.

"Aliza!" Cayi squirmed out of Keng's hold, popping his head between Keng's and Aliza's blade. "Stop!" The blade came to an abrupt stop, nicking Cayi's cheek. Cayi winced as Aliza's hand shook. "It's okay, Aliza. I'm safe!"

"Not for long!" Keng turned with Cayi, pushing Aliza aside as charged tentacles flew at them. Keng pushed Cayi away as the charged tentacles connected. "Ahhh!"

Keng's body twitched as electricity sparked all around him. He spazzed in his spot as Resonance slipped away from him. His body loosened, dropping as the tentacles pulled him backwards.

"Keng!" Cayi shouted. He swam after Keng, only to be grabbed by Aliza.

"Cayi, you can't!" Aliza shouted. Cayi squirmed in her arms as he struggled to push Aliza off of him. "You can't Cayi! I have to protect you!"

"Let…! Me…! Go!" Cayi protested. He bit Aliza's arm, forcing her to let him go.

"Ah!" Aliza screamed. Cayi swam forward, Aliza cursing as she swam after Cayi. "You can't save him! You'll die! We'll all die!"

"No we won't!" Cayi shouted. "You're just scared everything they said was true! You don't want to risk anything for him or the others!" Cayi readied his staff, lifting it up. "You call yourself a Warrior?!? You're no Warrior! You're! Just! A! Scaredy Catfish!" Cayi slammed the staff downwards, a greenish-teal energy billowing outwards. The cavern shook as Cayi's form shifted.

The Ferals screeched as they pulled Keng towards them. The greenish-teal energy flew past the Ferals, immediately tightening their bodies. The Ferals began to explode around Keng, splattering blue blood into the air.

"Keng!" Cayi shouted, swimming into the blue-purple cloud. "Keng where are you?!?"

"Oh my god." Keng coughed. "What the hell was that?" The small healer bear hugged Keng, pushing them out of the blue-purple blood cloud. Chunks of Feral moved all around them as Cayi buried his face into Keng.

"You're okay!" Cayi sobbed. "You're okay!"

"C-Cayi…" Keng took in his surroundings.

[Tails of Devour has connected with Cayi.]

[24 Ferals have been slain with the help of your teammate, Cayi. Cayi has boosted the souls from 288 souls to 422! Total Souls: 1,136/10,000!]

Keng's eyes widened as Cayi pushed them towards the back of the cave. The young healer cried into Keng's armor.

"H-hey…!" Keng awkwardly patted Cayi's head. "I-it's okay, Cayi. I-I'm okay."

"Cayi!" Aliza flew out of the blood cloud. Her eyes were wide. Her hair easily billowed behind her as she came to a stop. She wore the same shock on her face as Keng did. "W-what was… What was that?!?" Cayi continued to cry as Keng continued to awkwardly pat him on the head.

"I'm okay." Keng pushed his shock away. The youngest member had just saved him and was now crying. Keng needed to calm him down and access the situation later. "H-hey, it's okay. I'm fine. You saved me."

"Why does everyone protect me?" Cayi cried. He looked up at Keng. "I don't want anyone to die because of me!"

"No one is going to die because of you!" Aliza shouted. Aliza slowly swam forward, reaching out to Cayi.

"But you think I'm a burden! Cayi spun around. "You all think I am!" He threw his hand outwards, sweeping outwards. Aliza's face grew wide by Cayi's words. Her form immediately shrank.

"No!" Aliza shook her head. "I don't think that at all! We all don't! We would never think like that, Cayi! You're the youngest so—"

"So you have to protect me?!?" Cayi finished. "I want to prove myself, too y'know! I'm trying to fight against my anxiety and fears everyday! Squadron Leader Rya and Sir Vizo say to take my time but I feel like I'm burdening you guys! Just then, you left a teammate behind to die just to protect me! Is that right?!? Is that what we were taught!?!"

"Ca—"

"No!" Cayi shook his head. "I'm going to protect the Savior because he's my friend too!" Aliza grew quiet. The youngest member had poured out his pent up feelings and was now standing up against his senior. His entire body shook as he protectively hovered in front of Keng.

"Hey." Keng quietly spoke. His voice pulled the young healer towards him, turning him. Cayi was met with a hug. "Thank you." Cayi's face scrunched as his hands hugged Keng. He continued to cry as Keng patted his back.

Cayi's sobs filled the room as Aliza watched. Keng focused his attention onto her teammate and the feelings inside of her started to burn. She felt like horrible.

'Cayi's a member of our team.' Rya's voice echoed in Aliza's head. The scene played out in her head. Cayi stood next to Rya, nervously looking down with the staff in his hands. He was twirling it with his fingers. 'He's a great healer for such a young Merman! He'll definitely be strong to fight with us in the field one day. But for now, let's do our best to protect our healer and teach him the ways of our squad, alright?'

Aliza gulped. 'How could I forget that day? We all promised to show him the ropes, to protect him while he learned… We… It was never a promise to protect him at the expense of someone else's life.' Aliza swam forward, lowering herself in front of Keng. Keng watched Aliza do this. He had learned this was their way of politely acknowledging someone.

"Keng! Cayi! I'm really sorry for what I did!" Aliza shouted. She didn't show her face to them as Cayi turned slightly from Keng's arms to look. "You're right… What I did wasn't the right thing to do. I just… I got caught up in protecting you because of our promise. That day you came, Cayi, we promised to protect you… I forgot we were supposed to show you the ropes, let you gain experience… I-I'm really sorry, Cayi… I'm really sorry, Keng…"