Enter The Ninjaverse

CHAPTER 81

"...The last battle," Ophiod lowered his head, "I left before I could speak to you. I..."

Ophiod trailed off. The moment he mentioned the battle, Prime's smile had fallen. Ophiod felt a sudden wave of anger emanating from Prime, despite the fact that he hadn't even moved. Just losing his smile felt as though a weight had pressed down hard into the serpent.

"...You had your, partner, to take care of," Prime shook his head, "It's fine! You had to deal with him."

"Yes, but, you failed to contact me after that," Ophiod shook his head, "I... I left Skales with my mother. She, she'll be able to reverse whatever... whatever that scroll did...." Ophiod felt his chest tightening, "I.. I'm hiding from them right now, I suppose. I can't... I can't show my face to my mother. Not after... not after all of that. I..." Ophiod trailed off.

"I... I am sorry," Ophiod gulped, "This staff, the power, it is... it is incredible, but... but I hurt him, Prime. I cannot bring myself to fathom it now, and yet I must carry it with me. I needed to speak to one that would understand its power while I... while I lament over my foolishness in using it."

"Well, whatever it did, you were incredible," Prime grimaced, "You were really strong out there, Ophiod. I'm... I'm impressed you were able to... able to stop him."

"I suppose," Ophiod frowned, "But I am worried for you. You, saw the smoke as well, yes?"

"Yeah... yeah I saw something," Prime gripped his arm, "Or more like I felt it again."

"I... I wished to talk about that," Ophiod frowned, "I... I do not know what Oni was thinking, but it... it was because of that smoke that I hurt Mage. I caused it all to happen. What, what was he thinking?"

"He was just doing his job," Prime exhaled, "And he reminded us why we're really out there, fighting like that."

"Yes, this much I am aware of," Ophiod looked up at Prime, "But it is still my own actions that perpetuated that attack, and he did that without us thinking. If he is willing to hurt us to fulfill his goals with the Twins..."

"The Twins?" Prime narrowed his gaze, "This... this is about so much more than the Twins now, Ophiod. You saw him, didn't you?"

Prime leapt down from the table, the look in his eyes hardening. Ophiod watched as his fist crumpled up a page. The page shriveled up onto the floor, the letters 'KOTA' splayed across the small sliver that was still visible. Prime turned away form the table and began to pace around the room, his expression growing distant.

"Our enemies... they are helping him," Prime shook his head, "Him. You had to have seen it. I knew it from the start, but now... now he's shown it. Deep down, no matter what's happened, he's the Overlord. He's the embodiment of darkness, evil, vile incarnate! And yet... and yet they fought alongside him. They'll still fight alongside him. He's shown his true colors and we... we have to be the ones to stop him."

"Over only lost control because Mage was... hurt," Ophiod inhaled, his fist trembling, "I wasn't... I wasn't able to stop them. Again. Again and again all I have done is allow them to persist. But to say that Over was the only one that caused that incident was-"

Prime reached out and grabbed hold of Ophiod's shoulders. Ophiod found his words silenced, and in turn, his attention fully drawn into the grasp of Prime's thrall. The eyes that looked down at him were intense, powerful, filled with too many things for him to fully grasp. Prime's hand dug deep into his scales, holding him firm enough Ophiod wondered how much magic it would take to break his grasp.

"Ophiod... you haven't fought like have, you haven't..." Prime inhaled, a small chuckle falling from his lips, "You haven't seen just how hard it is to lose people. You almost lost Skales. It doesn't matter who fired the first shot, who started it. It only matters that... that you make sure the one that finishes it. You can't go and blame yourself. You have to focus on taking down the one that made this all happen. Do you hear me? Do you understand, Ophiod?"