Caleb Iwaw, 23 years old, Alharir, yellow-green eyes, and combatant in training. He was tasked to take Guy Slayer to the front line of a battle against a monstrosity of the evil god Umbra closer to Oasis city, in the White Sand Valley Kingdom. Using his power ring and mind ability, he made a sand wind boat to travel fast over the sand desert. He was wearing a red tarboosh over his head, a white short thobe shirt used for work, sirwal pants, and dark leather sandals with ankle straps and rubber sole. His shirt had its left sleeve cut off to show Caleb’s tattoo, where you can see the symbols for multiply – sasa (folded cloth and gecko), mind – ib (heart), and creation – iri (eye). In his back, under his thobe, there’s a tattoo where his familiar, an ammit jinn, is hidden most of the time.
— What brings you here? — Asked Caleb, seeing Guy a little nervous.
— There’s this guy that I was supposed to meet in Stormland, but he was brought to fight against the aberration… — Guy said with a sad voice. — I should have come too, but I was in North Iceland, doing some things…
— A partner?
— You can say so…
— What were you doing in North Iceland?
— Getting some magical supplies… and jewels…
— Are you worried about your friend?
— A lot! I’m having this feeling that something bad is about to happen!
— Do you think your friend can’t handle the battle?
— Oh, he is pretty responsible, that’s not what worries me…
— What could it be then?
— You wouldn’t like to see it…
After they arrived in the near city, Arian welcome them and took them to the advanced post where Nero was.
— Front line?! — Guy shouted at Arian.
— Oui! — Arian shouted back. — He may be the only one charging the situation at the moment.
— But he is not supposed to be forced like that!
— I know you are shocked by Nero, but he was the one that wanted to be in charge!
— No, no, no… — Guy took his large sword, plunged it on to the ground, summoning his familiar, a great boar, to the battlefield.
The ferocious creature, covered by black armor plates just like Guy’s armor was, breathed annoyed, blowing some of the sand.
— We don’t have time to talk, Gus! We need to hurry! — said Guy, mounting the boar it.
— Is this another of your undies incursions?
— No! It’s Nero! Hurry!
Seeing how worried Guy was about his little friend, the boar ran as fast as he could, faster than he ever ran carrying his partner.
Along the way, Guy destroyed some of the aberration creatures that were forming from the eggs laid by the aberration. The air was filled by a putrid smell, thousands of eggs destroyed, and corpses… thousands of corpses…
In the front line, Nero turned himself into a living force field, huge enough to cover the rest of the soldiers that were still alive. Severely debilitated, but alive. Nero was holding the huge creature alone, and the creature itself was huge enough to touch the clouds, consuming the ground to produce more and more eggs from where more and more evil creatures would come and kill people.
Nero’s force field was failing and getting weaker with each explosion against it.
— I need to… Hold it… Guy… Argh!
One last explosion and the force field were gone. Nero descended to the ground, losing his hopes.
— Gotcha! — Said Guy. — And I’m the one who likes to get in trouble!
— Guy?! — Nero shouted. — You are not supposed to be here!
— Leave it to me! I can handle this! — Guy left Nero in the boar saddle, getting ready for the battle.
— No! You don’t understand! You can’t simply cut it down!
Guy heard what Nero said, but he still focused on his work. He used his field control to dominate the area and force the creature against him.
— By the Great Auriga! — He prayed. — Fill my sword with power!
The sword inscriptions shined a white light, and Guy’s armor followed swiftly, launching his special technique:
— Devastation blade!
Guy charged against the aberration and what looked like one blow were in fact multiple strokes too fast for the normal human eye to follow. Nero watched that absurd scene developing in front of his eyes as Guy was substantially hurting the creature. Then he noticed what was happening. Each one of his strokes was sealing small parts of the aberration instantly, and he was stroking thousands of times a second.
— But… He doesn’t have enough power to do that! — Shouted Nero.
— Didn’t you notice? — Said Gus. — He prayed to Auriga. Whenever a Bellum does that, they will sacrifice their body in order to finish their work.
— Wait… What? — Nero realized something. — Take me there! He needs me!
— It’s dangerous. I can’t take you there! — The boar snarled.
— If I don’t heal him, he will die! He needs me!
The boar insisted on taking Nero away, forcing Nero to summon his familiar — a flock of crows.
— By the merciful Papissae — Nero prayed — give me the power to save my friends!
The crows’ power involved Nero, taking him into the air. They flew near Guy while Nero folded his hands together. When he opened them, Nero sent falling stars to each one of Guy’s seals.
— Fall from the sky my little stars! Purgatory shooting stars!
Each star became a sword that crossed the seals, purifying the void energy, forcing the aberration back. Nero and Guy, together, made the impossible.
Caleb and Arian were just arriving at the local.
— Sacreblue! — Said Arian in disbelief, as the giant aberration was now reduced to the ground.
— Did they do that… alone? — Asked Caleb.
— Hold the charge, mon ami. I will go power them up!
Now it was Arian time to summon his hummingbirds. They flew around him before flying high in the sky, following the movement of the clouds that were now forming an eyewall that descended as a hurricane over the aberration with lightning bolts and strong winds.
— By Tempestas, bring the power to discharge my enemies!
Arian pointed his kitchen knives to the air and made an ‘X’ in front of him.
— Lightning destroyer knife!
A strong and powerful lightning bolt struck over the aberration, terminating with it.
Guy and Nero were still attacking for some more time as the deafening thunder swept the sand away, revealing some rocks underneath it and destroying what was left of the creature’s eggs. They were standing there, exhausted.
— Good job! — Said Guy, panting.
— What? — Asked Nero.
— I. SAID. GOOD. JOB. — He tried again, barely hearing himself.
Nero couldn’t say a thing, as the last egg the aberration protected with its body emerged from behind Guy. Nero didn’t think. He just raised a force field after running to Guy’s back before the explosion.
Arian launched a bolt of lightning at the egg, frying it for good.
— Are you on, mes amis? — He asked, also feeling exhausted.
Guy ignored Arian.
— Nero! Are you okay? — Guy shouted, still feeling the tingling from the thunder hit.
Nero wasn’t looking hurt or anything.
— I feel… strange…
Nero’s eyes began shinning as more and more spiritual power was flowing through his body. A light wave filled the area, covering the battlefield. Every person who was killed was brought back to life with not a single injury. Guy’s body was renewed, just like Arian was.
— No! — Said Nero. — This can’t be happening! Make it stop! Make it stop!
— Nero… — Guy couldn’t believe it.
— I don’t want to be a saint! — Nero tried to hit himself, to stop the power from flowing. — It’s my body! Mine! Mine!
Guy hugged his friend, getting hit multiple times.
— It’s okay, Nero! It’s all okay!
— No! My body! My body!
An intense light shined through all over Nero’s body, a ball of light came out of his mouth, turning his organs into a mass, and shedding his skin as a snake does.
— Nero… — Guy said once more, seeing a little horrified how Nero’s skin looked without him inside it. He hugged it a little, trying to feel his warm body one last time, though his black armor didn’t let him do it. He wanted to look at his private parts one last time, but he couldn’t do it. — Nero, I…
— NO! — Nero's voice echoed through the place. — I want to do it! I want to do it! I want to do it!
— Nero! — Guy shouted, now worried. — You need to calm down! Everything will be okay!
— No! — His light body was now forming a humanoid aspect, but it wasn’t getting it right. — No! I don’t want to be a saint! I want to be human! To have my body! To do it!
— You don’t need to do that! — Guy tried once more. — I love you! We…
Nero looked at Guy one last time. So many thoughts passed through his mind, all that could have been, was now gone. He was just a null mass of light now, his worst nightmare. Light teardrops fell from his face.
— This is not fair! — He screamed, making the ground shake for kilometers away. — I hate myself!
What was light was now darkness. Nero’s warm light was getting dark and gloomy. Despair took control over him, and he turned into a corrupted saint.
— Nero! — Guy shouted.
Caleb noticed what was happening, and ran to help. He quickly used his magical tattoo to distort time and space, forcing his existence to exist six times at the same moment.
— By the great Eremita! Give us time to save our lives! — Prayed Caleb, freezing Nero in time.
— You need to ban him — said Arian. — You are the only one who can discharge him now!
— Nero… — Guy looked to Nero’s shed skin, rolled it, and put it inside his armor. — Nero! — He shouted. — You will always be with me!
His large sword flew to his location.
— By my love for you! I ban you to another dimension! — A triangle formed in front of his sword and its edges separated from the central, opening the flow to the inside of the banishment card.
Arian didn’t stand still and helped to force the air inside the banishment. Nero struggled a little more.
— May Caritas help me… — Guy prayed to the gods of love and friendship. — I love you, Nero.
Nero stopped struggling and was sucked to the banishment portal, closing into a little card with his despair face trying to crack his way out no matter what.
Arian got close to Guy and put his hand on his shoulder.
— He will be all light now, mon ami — his voice was sad. — He was a powerful friend.
— Yes, he was… — and Guy started to cry out loud, wetting his face in tears. — May Caritas help me…
It got some time for Guy to get up feeling so empty and alone. Caleb and Arian talked for some time and they decided to take Guy to Caleb’s house, while Arian would go directly to the near war base. Caleb’s house was small, but at least he wouldn’t need to talk directly to any warlord (the person responsible to take action in wars and aberration attacks and to provide countermeasures), about his report for the moment. They would just make a live report through the Wave Box app.
Guy felt his heart break and walked slowly riding his great boar.
— You are still keeping his undies, aren’t you? — Asked Gus.
— Oh! Shut up Gus!
— They smell good…
— Yeah, I know…
— Will you show them to me like the others?
— No.
— Was he so important like that?
— Gee Wiz, Gus! Stop!
— I’m sorry… They smell really good…
— …
Arriving at Caleb’s house, a small house made of adobe bricks, Guy sat in his sofa while Caleb was getting ready for a nice sleep time:
— (Yawn) Aren’t you going to take off your armor? They look uncomfortable for sleep.
— No. I’m fine. Not feeling I should sleep right now — Guy looked down. — And I feel safer while wearing them.
— Feel free to be comfortable, likun Allah maeak, my friend. May God be with you! (Yawn)
— Thank you.
Caleb walked to his bedroom in the back and Guy noticed how it was close to the living room. He saw Caleb walking from one side to the other and saw him putting his Jalabiya long shirt on. Then Caleb, clearly too drowsy to do it right, unmade his sirwal laces, let his pants fall to his ankles, and seemly just feel asleep over his bed. Guy thought that wasn’t normal, but couldn’t help thinking he was just exhausted from dividing himself six times that day.
— Doing just one would consume a lot of energy already. Six times and coming back home probably just made him too sleepy… — Guy said to himself.
Guy let himself down on the sofa and received a call from the warlord at the Wave Box app.
— Guy talking, sir — he said.
— I’m sorry about your friend…
— …
— We need to talk about keeping his banishment card.
— I want to request to be its keeper.
— We don’t recommend people to keep any banishment card. Way less anyone holding a corrupted saint!
— I know. You don’t need to lecture me about it, sir. I… I do anything you ask me to do! I take any test to see if I’m able to keep him with me! Just… let me try.
— Were you closer to him?
Guy took two rings from one of his pockets and showed it to the warlord.
— Does this answer your question, sir?
— Are you saying…?
— Yes, it’s a promise for the rest of my life. As long as I can hold him with me, I will keep him safe no matter what.
— Okay. I will talk to some people about your request and…
While they were talking, Caleb suddenly got up, still sleeping. His eyes were semi-closed and he wasn’t looking like he was doing that himself. Guy couldn’t hear what the warlord said and got up.
— Caleb? — Asked Guy.
— Any problem? — Questioned the warlord.
— It’s Caleb, sir. He is sleeping walking.
— What?
Guy moved his wave navigator camera to show Caleb getting out of his house. His Jalabiya got stuck in something. Guy got up, trying for a better closer. Caleb Jalabiya didn’t last long and ripped, leaving him in just his white briefs.
— Ooh… — made Guy.
— This is not good — said the warlord. — He is indeed sleeping walking! Guy, you need to do something to protect him. His familiar probably took over his mind!
— What do I do?
— You are not supposed to let him wake up. I will call the advisors for help. Protect him, combatant Guy.
— Yes, sir — Guy turned off his wave navigator. — Why today?! Dammit… What nice buns! And… Oh god… His undies! Are you fucking kidding me?
Guy followed Caleb outside, and couldn’t help but stare at how his briefs looked on him.
— Dammit! Why you are not here to see this Nero! Why?!
Caleb jinn noticed Guy talking.
— His mine! — A voice coming from Caleb said, but it was distorted and evil. — He's mine now!
— Fuck you! He’s not yours your fucked damned jinn! You should have some respect for your partner!
— Respect, do you say? — Caleb's face twisted in a smirk, turning to face Guy. His hands take a hold on his briefs and they landed on the ground. — Ammit knows no respect!
— Good god… — Guy put his hands on his face. — He is hot… and took his undies off… Why Nero couldn’t be here?!
— Hahaha… — laughed the jinn. — I will kill him for imprisoning me in his skin!
— Uhh… You know he only does that to protect you, don’t you?
— I do whatever I want!
— Even if it hurts you?
— I don’t care! I’m an ammit! The jinn that consumes! Give me your soul, you peasant! I… — Guy knocked out Caleb.
— I’m fucking tired of you! I just banished the cutest guy I have ever seen and you want to do whatever? Not on my turn, you little piece of shit!
Guy took Caleb’s undies from the ground, hid it in his armor, and took Caleb back inside. When the advisors arrived, they took care of Caleb.
— Did you see his clothes? — The advisor asked. — I think he wouldn’t like to see himself naked.
— Nope! I didn’t! — Guy smiled.
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