Chapter 285 - The One

"What is going on..."

Kazehaya Gin stared back with his breath held at several eyes looking down at him and he shivered. However, he didn't feel any malice in any of the harpies' gaze at him. In fact, they seemed to look… happy.

However, before he could even finish that thought, the giant blue bent over to scoop him up.

"Young Master Gin!"

Gin turned to see Fuji looking ashen as he and his men watched the blue harpy pick him up. They tried to go to him, but Gin waved them away. They weren't dealing with one harpy here. Stribog's legendary horde was here. They would all die if they provoke them.

And harpies were extremely aggressive elementals.

They attacked whoever was on sight without their master to control them. This was why royals in Ged, used harpies as guardians of treasures. They killed anyone – both friends and foes that tried to approach.  

His men should all escape while they could. Nobody could take this horde on without Ryuu, most especially when one of them was severely injured because of him.

Speaking of an injured harpy…

Gin turned to see the battered crimson harpy being supported by the green one. Her beak hung open as small groans continued to escape her lips. If there were two things harpies were weak against, it would be fire and lightning. Being hit by several bolts, Aello's injuries would be severe.

Technically, Gin could cure the harpy by giving her energy. Actually, Aello could simply take some from him. But, Gin was injured severely as well. If he gave her energy, it would be risky. The harpy knew this, and so didn't take some on her own.

But the sisters might not share the same thought. Gin was thinking the others would try and deplete his energy to feed him to Aello.

Both blue and green harpies were much bigger than Aello. The Blue one was Ocypete, a twenty-meter harpy, while the other, Podarge, the green one, was around eighteen meters high. They were three to five meters taller than their youngest sister, although Aello was the one considered as the strongest among them.

But what were they doing here? Gin wondered as he eyed all three sisters then glanced at the rest of the smaller harpies on stand-by.

What was the horde doing here?

Gin sighed in defeat as the harpy lifted him up so he was closer to their faces. He wondered what type of death he'd receive from them. After all, because of him, their sister Aello was in such a state.

Then, he remembered something else – something more important.

ARA!

Gin shifted from Ocypete's hold to look at Ara's still form below and frowned. The crow elemental still had her on its body. But the bird just stood there, not doing anything. In fact, the bird seemed to be looking at him, waiting. It didn't seem like an enemy as it saved Ara and was now letting her rest on it.

"Stupid bird. Bring Ara somewhere safe! She's already very injured!"

Gin remembered how Ara had burst momentarily into blue flames and felt confused again. There was no mistaking those blue flames. They were Ryuu's, Kresnik's divine power.

But how?

Oh well…

He guessed there was no point pondering about that now. He just hoped Ryuu would arrive soon so he could at least save his wife. For now, he had to act as bait and keep the horde's attention on him.

What to do?

As soon as he was facing the harpies Gin cleared his throat and sang.

"Five little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away. Mother duck said, quack, quack, quack, quack. But only four little ducks came back…"

The harpies looked at him for a few seconds before opening their beaks.

SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWK!

Gins' hair was blown as the harpy screamed on his face.

"Ah, you disliked that one? How about the spider song?" he asked, but before he could even open his mouth to sing, the harpies screamed again.

SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWK!

Uh-okay…Picky harpies.

Gin shut up. Well, he didn't have much strength left in any case. He just hoped the stupid bird took Ara somewhere far.

"Oh…"

He didn't realize that the end was like this. His eyes were open, but his vision was slowly becoming blurred. In his heart, he apologized to everyone – to Aello, for being a useless master, to Ryuu for being a failure of a second-in-command, to Ara for not realizing who she was earlier, and to Emi.

"Ah… I didn't get to marry her…"

His voice was light, but the bitterness he had was so strong. He truly regretted how he'd lived. If he could do this life again…

Ooops…

Gin stopped himself from thinking that. Curses were created because of those stupid wishes.

Speaking of which, he wondered again how he'd die. He looked at Ocypete and Podarge, waiting for them to do something, but when they did, it was something he was not expecting.

Huh?

Ocyepete's claw however over him, and in it was a small ball of light. Gin wondered what that was, but his mind was already becoming foggy as the harpy guided the orb towards him.

The light floated and traveled towards him. Gin watched as it slowly came nearer and nearer, and when it reached him, the light embedded itself towards his head, and Gin was not able to do anything but let it in.

WHOOOOOSH!

Huh?

As soon as the orb was absorbed within his body, Gin floated in the air, and the harpies watched as he hovered with light shining from within his body until he was fully enveloped with it.

"What is this?"

Gin closed his eyes as memories flashed before him like a movie. As he recollected, his hair grew a bit longer, the chestnut hue turned into dark gold. When he opened his eyes, his hazel orbs had turned into a golden color as well like a cat's. When the light dispersed, his body remained translucent as if he was under the moonlight.

Gin now remained suspended in air while standing. He turned his golden eyes to each and every harpy in the place and gave them a boyish grin, the signature smile of the Golden Deity of the Wind.  

"I worried you a lot, right? Did you miss me, my babies?"