James wasn't exaggerating, as in the next few moments Phoerinho appeared to come, holding a large oval shaped strange shield and a long sword that looked like a spear!
The moment he approached James he didn't hold back, as he waved his sword trying to kill him.
"Stefanie!" James muttered before the rod moved on her own to stand between him and the incoming attack. The next moment a shield appeared around James, preventing the attack from landing on him.
The sword moved back to the hand of Phoerinho, who stood in his place watching the rod going back to James' hand. "Tsk, such a gem wasted in the hands of some foolish weak kid," he then glanced at James as he added, with his voice appearing directly in James' mind:
"Listen kid, as long as I'm here you can't move an inch forward. To be honest, they hired me to kill you but I like your artifacts. I want them both! In exchange I will let you leave here with your life."
James glanced at him before deciding to answer him in actions. He tightened his grip over Stefanie as he muttered: "show me your magic once more."
"…"
Stefanie wasn't prepared to ignite herself to use all her abilities like the first time she did when she met James. Yet, she knew if she continued to extract his energy he would be instantly weakened.
So, she had to time her moves right, not to unleash all her abilities from the start. She had to wait, select the right time to attack, and select the right attack to use.
"Just wave me and I will hit him," she said, and James complied.
As he waved her, she started to elongate, covering the distance of hundreds of meters in a short time. This seemed weird, yet James had seen such a trick before.
"Such an amateur attack won't hit me," the voice of Phoerinho appeared in his mind as the rod easily was evaded by the elegant moves of his.
"Stop me now!"
Stefanie suddenly shouted and James did what she asked for. Despite him feeling how impossible to stop her, yet when he stopped his hands she stopped with him.
Then she got elongated, and the next moment spikes started to appear from her end, hitting everywhere!
This sudden attack came out of Phoerinho's expectations, yet he was so much experienced as he moved his shield to stop the attack.
"Use me," suddenly Lara said, and the next moment she went on her own to fly in front of James.
All he needed was to just let one hand pull the string, and then let the arrows be unleashed. Lara took care of the aim, so when he let the arrows loose, they went directly towards Phoerinho.
He was surprised to see such an attack coming at this timing, so he hurried to wave his shield, yet Stefanie bent herself, making a curvy end where many spiked started to appear.
And this time she kept firing the spikes towards Phoerinho, targeting his back!
One attack from from, and one from behind; while Phoerinho was pressured in between the two!
"How is this even possible! Two opposite energies are joining together to aid you?" This attack proved to Phoerinho that James wasn't just waving the artifacts without using their full potential; he was totally controlling them.
"Don't tell me…" his eyes shone, and his face paled! There was only one explanation for him, and this made his entire body shudder!
"I need to leave," this was the result he reached, and to do so he had yet to stop these attacks from hitting him.
"I have to use her then," he gritted his teeth and then his sword vanished, and instead of it a giant knife appeared.
This knife was long and curved, with a tapering end and sharp edge. Its body was pulsating in dark red color. The moment Phoerinho took it out, James felt a surge of energy emanating from the knife, hitting Phoerinho, his two girls, and himself.
"Stop resisting," Phoerinho thought to himself trying his best to control this rebellious knife while enduring the backlash coming from her.
"Oh gosh, she is the queen," Lara suddenly exclaimed out in shock, while Stefanie muttered in disbelief, "no way, is this the queen? Can I hug her?"
"Stay back," Lara shouted, as she hurried to say, "this girl is really explosive. Come here and let's hope this crazy dude never controls her."
Just as Phoerinho was trying to aim the knife towards Stefanie, the latter moved back, shrinking fast until she regained her original size.
"Is she this angry all the time?"
"Her kin is always angry!"
"Excuse me ladies, can someone explain what the heck you two are speaking about?"
James waited, patiently for any of the girls to speak and explain what this queen was. yet the two were immersed in their own thoughts, so he had to yell at them.
"She is a special kind of artifact," Stefanie said, before waiting for Lara to fill in the gaps.
"She was born from the universe itself. It was said all queens hailed from lands of disaster and slaughter. They have no mercy, show no compassion, and their mission is to kill everyone."
"Even her master?"
"Even her master," Lara replied before taking a deep breath, "their biggest grudge is against their masters and those who are spreading chaos and destruction all over the universe.
Some went even to say they were the embodiment of the wrath of the universe against us. No one managed to ever tame one, and even artifacts didn't escape their wrath."
James understood how violent this knife was. "She looks angry, yet I don't see what strength she had," he muttered.
"She…" Lara paused before adding, "she is like you, having both light and darkness inside them."
"Oh, really?"
"That's one of the reasons the elders and the high council stated that you are the messenger of destruction and death."
"Like these queens, right?"
"Yes."
James just shook his head. "What's the plan now?" he asked as he noticed that Phoerinho was very angry and impatient, finding it hard to deal with the knife even with both his hands.
"He will try to make her clash with us first, so we need to move as far away from him now," Lara said.
"You seem quite familiar with these queens," he muttered to her, before adding, "do you know how I can move now?"
"You are a dragon, flip your wing and fly!" Stefanie said, as she was feeling odd staying in the corner silent watching the two flirting together in front of her!
"We are in space."
"Just do it!"
James didn't delay and started to flap his wings. The next moment he found his body moving; like really flying!
"Amazing!' he muttered before he thought about the ships in the distance. "What about them?"
"Don't worry, if this queen wasn't controlled soon, this elder is doomed to die alongside many of the ships nearby," Lara sneered while adding, "it was his fault."
"For taking her out?"
"For coming here to face you, hehehe."
"Hahaha!"
"Really funny, can you two stop talking about things I don't know!"
Stefanie was angry, as she felt James getting closer to Lara, and she had this strange feeling of being threatened.
"What? Jealous already? Don't worry, you are his girl as you are mine, hehehe."
Lara was speaking carefree like if the fight already ended. James understood she was speaking out of her experience, hoping she would be right.
"You damn abomination! I won't let you run away!" Phoerinho's voice thundered with anger in James' mind before starting to move forward chasing him.
"He is coming, should I fire a couple of arrows at him?" James asked as he turned to see Phoerinho coming with much anger towards him, while facing such a hard time controlling the knife with both hands.
"Don't!" Lara hurried to warn him, "this can't be done, if this crazy queen touched any of us, even our arrows, she would leave him and attack us!"
"This is his trap then," James nodded before adding, "that's why you asked for Stefanie to come back fast!"
"Sure, if she stayed there, she would have fallen in that elder's wicked trap."
"Sigh, a light shrine elder with a wicked mind, sigh," James shook his head while continuing to flap his wings with all his might. He was moving fast, yet not enough to outrun that persistent elder.
"Try to make him near his fleet, not yours," Lara said as she noticed James was heading closer to his fleet. "Hurry," she urged, and James changed his course of flying, taking a wide detour before heading again towards the invading fleet.
"Try to make them fire again at you," Stefanie suddenly said, with a soft chuckle. "Oh, you are bad," James understood her meaning as he laughed before holding Lara and launching a couple of times towards the far fleet.
"Let them attack, let them fall in the scheme of their henchman, hehehe."