In the cave
"So, where are you at with your goal of manipulating steel?" Aconé asked.
"I'm almost there," Simone replied, her hands still gripping the bars.
"And by the way, Darlius… I mean, if it's okay to call you that," Aconé said.
"Call me whatever you want," Darlius answered.
"You coming with us?"
"Of course he's coming," Simone snapped curtly. "Even you, Aconé, despite abandoning us… We're on a mission with a low chance of success, so the more we are, the better. Now shut it!"
A few minutes later
"Damn it!" Simone cursed.
"What, you can't do it?" Aconé asked.
"I can, but I feel it—I can control it like granite. But the moment I try to move it, it suddenly gets heavier. And not just the steel—my hands, too!" Simone explained.
"And do your hands stay heavy even when you break the connection with the steel?"
"No, they go back to normal. And I'm not trying to connect with the steel," Simone clarified.
"But your affinity is earth, right? So you're trying to connect with the steel," Aconé insisted.
"Wrong! Well, it's true I can connect with earth—like the ground, nature, materials… I don't know how far it goes. But here, I'm not trying to connect with the steel. I'm trying to take full control of it, to manipulate it without using my hands," Simone said.
"Like you said, you've done it with granite before. So why can't you do it now?" Aconé asked.
"I don't know, but it feels like it's already under someone else's control… someone much stronger than me," Simone replied.
"Well, since your attempt didn't work, let's try it my way," Aconé said, stepping back to the far end of his cage.
He charged at the bars, leading with his right shoulder.
The bars didn't budge an inch, and Aconé crashed violently to the ground.
"What a brilliant attempt," Simone said sarcastically.
"Argh… Damn it, that dislocated my arm," Aconé groaned, struggling to his feet and sitting against the bars, clutching his right arm. "This isn't normal. I'm an eighth-rank cultivator! How can simple steel bars stop me?"
"How about you shut up for a start? I told you it was weird. And have you ever even tried fighting barehanded or breaking a wall?" Simone shot back.
"No, but I know my strength. You'll see—when we get out of here, I'll show you how to smash a wall!" Aconé retorted.
"If we get out of here," Darlius muttered.
"Start by not bringing down the mood," Aconé said.
"I don't think you realize we're prisoners of lunatics and tomorrow we're going to die," Darlius replied.
"So what? If you already see yourself as dead, that's your problem. If you don't want to survive, keep it to yourself, idiot!" Aconé said, his tone serious.
"Anyway, Simone, all the steel in this cave is already under someone's control. You've got until morning to overpower their hold," Aconé concluded.
"You're not telling me anything I didn't already know," Simone replied, pressing her hands back onto the bars.
Elsewhere, outside the cave
"How are you still moving with those injuries?" Hikiri asked.
"Well, you know, my right arm can now spin all the way around, my left arm barely feels attached to my body, and I've got cuts everywhere. But overall, I'd say I'm doing fine," Dina said with an ironic smile.
"Do you know where they might've taken the others?" Hikiri asked.
"Honestly, no clue. But can't you slip through the winds? Start with that, and I'm sure you'll find them easily," Dina suggested.
"Okay," Hikiri said, standing to leave.
"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?" Dina called out.
"You told me to go look for them, didn't you?"
"Yeah… true. But first, take me to the bottom of the hill," Dina ordered.
"Are you serious?" Hikiri said, surprised.
"Think about it! You really think you're going to fight them all? You're going to free the others and run. So it's better if I'm already at the bottom. That way, I can meet you mid-escape, and we'll get out of here fast," Dina explained.
"That makes sense," Hikiri admitted. She reached out her hand toward Dina.
"What do you expect me to do with that?" Dina asked, puzzled.
"You're such a pain," Hikiri grumbled, grabbing Dina by the waist.
Carried by the wind, they took off.
At the bottom of the hill, Tony, armed with his black sword, was sitting against a tree, waiting for the others.
Suddenly, he sensed someone approaching. He stood, slowly turning, scanning the surroundings, including above him.
"Psst!"
Someone was behind him. The moment he noticed the presence, Tony launched a compressed fireball wrapped in lightning, directing it with his will straight at the intruder.
Dina and Hikiri, having just landed, saw Tony's back. As they were about to call out to him, the fireball was already ten meters away.
Hikiri prepared to block it, but Dina grabbed her and shouted, "We need to dodge!"
They leaped to the right, narrowly avoiding the electricity sparking from the fireball. If they'd been five meters closer, the lightning would've hit them head-on.
Tony, ready to charge if the intruder had dodged, turned and saw Hikiri and Dina. His expression hardened. He detonated the fireball, the explosion taking out three large, sturdy trees and electrifying twenty more over a fifty-meter radius.
"Next time, warn me before sneaking up behind me like assassins!" he shouted.