195 CXCV. 813666

He looked up, staring at his companions near the tree, who were about to be brutally killed by that man.

Karl tried unnecessarily to help Reidar but was shot in the back, ending up face down next to him and Gridd.

"An inferior race... then why did you keep us alive? You need us, otherwise, you would never have come to Earth!" continued Dag, as the old woman clutched his neck in her hands, ready to strangle him.

"You're a fool. You're just lab rats. Another experiment, another planet added to our collection. Now you will return with us to Earth, our scientists will continue to analyze the anomaly in your blood" she replied, while Dag seemed to have exhausted his strength to fight.

"You have hurt my companions, my sister... you killed an innocent young woman, tearing her to shreds... you are the inferior race, devoid of values! You are the real enemy and you will pay for your crimes!"

Dag, looking down, grabbed the woman's arm with one hand.

"If that's how you think, I think I'll kill you. I'm sure my bosses won't mind knowing they have one problem less. You're just a genetic mistake, 813666, you're a mere anomaly!" exclaimed the old woman.

Dag looked up at her, looking her in the eye.

His right eye was so intense purple that it emitted a glow.

"My name is Dag!" he yelled, as the black liquid crept toward the woman's arm, wrapping it.

"Uhm?! What is this?" she said, immediately leaving Dag's neck, which after resting his feet on the ground continued to hold the woman tightly, to prevent her from escaping.

"How dare you! Stop now!" she continued.

The liquid completely wrapped her arm, then her shoulder, twisting around her chest.

The old woman knelt down and unleashed incredible power, trying to free herself from the grip.

The earth beneath their feet began to vibrate and the enemy's skin became snow-white.

"If I die, you will come with me!" yelled Dag, who squeezed the woman's arm so tightly that it broke, with a noise sound of broken bones.

She did not grimace with pain and, surrounded by the same magic barrier she had used just before, managed to get up, despite her body being half covered in the black liquid synthesized by Dag.

"This fluid... how did you manage to create it? I feel its inherent gravity growing exponentially! That's your real power, the scientists were right!" exclaimed she, who did not seem afraid of what was going to happen to her.

Meanwhile, the man who had just knocked out the others began to walk towards Dag, noting that his ally was in trouble.

As he made his way towards them, he opened his hand down and created a small purple sphere, floating on his palm, exuding incredible energy.

Reidar saw the scene and as the enemy was turned from behind, he rose from the ground in pain.

He took an arrow and charged it over the bow, trying to aim.

"I can't miss him! I have to help the Captain, he can't do it all on his own!" he thought, trying to hold the Failnaught still with difficulty, because of his fully bloodied left arm, wounded after he had hit the tree.

The magic bow created the other two arrows and Reidar shot them, hitting the enemy with an arrow on the head and the other two behind his back.

The magic arrow speared his skull, piercing his eye.

The man turned slowly backwards: his movements were very cumbersome, he seemed a kind of automaton, of much less intelligence than the other Xis, who despite her appearance possessed incredible powers.

The enemy, continuing to hold the energetic sphere in one hand, began to run toward Reidar as if suddenly he had awakened from his sleep.

His only purple eye shone with his light and looked angrily at the archer, while from the other eye, the arrowhead popped.

"Hey, you idiot!" yelled Karl, hitting the enemy with a stone on his head, distracting him.

Reidar held out the bow again: "Weland, if you hear me... help me! I can't fail!" he thought aloud, charging three more arrows.

The Failnaught lit up, shining with a yellow light, the same color as the magic arrows, and Reidar was astonished, noticing the true power of his weapon.

Without wasting any more time, he fired the arrows, while the enemy's gaze was turned to Karl, who had intentionally distracted him, earning a few seconds.

The magic arrows released a golden trail in the air: the normal one chipped the man's ear, without hitting him, while one of the magical ones hit him right on the shoulder, unbalancing him during the run.

After being hit, the enemy tried to maintain his balance by moving his arms and raised his hand holding the sphere.

While the third arrow was flying, Reidar thought he had failed, because it would not hit the target, as its direction was slightly decentralized.

For a fraction of a second, he imagined the movement that the arrow should perform: disobeying the laws of nature and gravity, while in flight, the magic arrow deflected its trajectory, striking the enemy, precisely on the back of the hand holding the sphere of dark energy, flattening it against his face.

The sphere detonated, causing a powerful explosion and opening a kind of gap in mid-air, which began to suck up everything around it.

The enemy, whose hand had exploded with his head, was absorbed by the gap, which sucked every part of his body and subsequently disappeared into thin air, erasing his existence forever.

Reidar and Karl, who had fallen after the explosion, remained on the ground for a few seconds, trying to realize what had just happened, looking into each other's eyes, happy to still be alive.

Meanwhile, Dag was still standing in front of the old woman, who despite her arm being broken, could resist his strength.

"Your friend is gone. You better give up!" said Dag, with a slight smile on his face, after seeing out of the corner of his eye the feat of Reidar and Karl, who had managed to defeat him.