Michael reached down his shadow and picked up a switch. And as he flicked it open, the Unity beam shot up and created his Unity Saber.
The blonde girl looked up at the Unity beam, her eyes flashing with familiarity.
"I knew it... you’re going to save me!" she exclaimed.
He immediately noticed her reaction. "You know what this is?" he asked, waving his Unity Saber around.
She opened her mouth to say something, but soon showed a confused face as she failed to remember what she was trying to recall.
"I... I think so... I just know that you’re going to save me with that weapon!"
She somehow knows what Unity is? No modern human aside from researchers even knows of its existence, right?
[That is correct. After a cataclysmic event that fractured the GodForge into pieces, the Ancient Humans have also lost their ability to wield all eight elements, making Unity lost in time.]
The fact that she seemed to know what Unity meant was that she was either a researcher who dug up ancient records, or she personally witnessed Ancient Humans wielding it herself.
Is she really a thousand years old? Who really is she?
"Master, look! Your sword is melting the shackles!" Fudge exclaimed happily.
Unbeknownst to Michael, just having the Unity Saber in close proximity to the shackles would start its melting process.
The chains were starting to sweat blood!
He quickly switched off his Unity Saber, stopping the shackles from melting any further.
"Why did you do that, Master?! She was going to be freed!"
"I don’t know what’s going to happen once she’s freed. Maybe her captor would immediately notice it and try to kill us," he said, cautiously looking back towards the hallway where they came from.
He wasn’t going to do anything drastic unless he had an escape route ready. Somehow, this gothic castle was cutting him off from the world, preventing him from accessing the shadow clones he left everywhere. He wouldn’t be able to teleport to safety whenever he wanted.
If he was going to free her, then he needed to find the exit doors first. That way, he knew where to go if something awry happened.
Just then, a drop of blood continuously traveled through the chain and onto the shackles attached on the blonde girl’s wrists.
It continued to flow downwards, until finally, it dripped towards her skin.
And immediately, the blood got absorbed into her skin.
She jolted up, her eyes flashing golden for a brief moment.
"What happened?" he asked her.
The blonde girl looked at the chains on her hands, and he saw that the look on her eyes had changed.
Just a few seconds ago, her eyes reflected confusion and bewilderment, as if she had absolutely had no idea about anything around her.
But now, there was a tinge of clarity in her look. She eyed the shackles on her hands with curiosity, not one of wariness.
It was as if she no longer treated the shackles as something that restricted her.
"I... I think I remember now," she muttered.
"You know who you are?"
She shook her head. "No... but I remember the shackles."
Then, she looked up at him. "You don’t have to worry about escaping. No one’s going to chase after you."
"Really?" he asked, with a hint of doubt. How can she be sure if she doesn’t even know her own name?
She nodded. "Yes. Trust me," she said.
Fudge nudged at his legs. "She’s telling the truth, Master."
After mulling it over for a few seconds, he decided to trust them on this one. If Fudge trusted her enough to give him his word, then that was enough for him.
"Alright," he said as he clicked his Unity Saber on. "You better be right."
He raised his weapon above his head and brought it down towards the chains, shattering it into a hundred pieces.
The broken pieces of the chain immediately melted into blood, creating a splatter mark all over the walls and the floor.
A white fire then erupted on the ends of the broken chains, spreading forwards and continuing to melt the frozen blood chain into its liquid form.
It wasn’t long before the shackles on the blonde girl’s wrist melted, freeing her from one of her restraints.
With another swing, he broke off the chains connected to her legs.
And with one after the other, he destroyed all four chains that restricted her four limbs.
The blond girl fell forward, the chains no longer binding her to the walls.
She massaged her wrists.
A relieved smile spread across her face.
She was free.
Then, she looked forwards and saw the pool of liquid blood splattered all around the floor.
It flowed towards her, like a river branching off into a new territory.
And eventually, it reached her finger.
As soon as it got absorbed into her skin, her irises suddenly turned golden and was accompanied by an aura that burst out of her body.
Michael covered his eyes, feeling the pressure of Aubility Power like the chaotic wind from a storm.
The liquid blood continued to flow towards her skin. And with each drop that she absorbed, she seemed to get stronger and stronger.
Finally, she found the strength to stand up.
Despite being shackled for what looked like thousands of years, her body became incredibly healthy just from absorbing the blood from her own shackles.
Her skin started to shine, with the grime, oil, and dirt getting purified from the golden aura she emitted.
And as her body got stronger, her absorption also followed along with her.
The blood on the ground swirled upwards and splashed towards her body, her entire skin.
Even as she floated off the ground, the blood continued to follow her like she was a magnet.
Finally, the last drop of blood got absorbed into her skin, resulting in a surge of aura that exploded outwards.
The breeze washed over the entire room, with the candles getting extinguished.
This should have resulted in complete darkness.
Yet, the blonde girl’s entire body was glowing in a golden light that illuminated the entire room.
And somehow, her light revealed etchings on the floor and the walls.
He squinted his eyes. Those looked familiar. However, it didn’t last long enough for him to properly take a good look.
Finally, the blond girl floated down, and the light on her body subsided.
"What just happened?" he asked her.
She looked at him, and he noticed that she seemed to have gotten taller.
It was as if she grew a few years in age.
Aside from that, there wasn’t that much difference from when she was imprisoned.
"I remember now," she said, looking at her own hands. "No one imprisoned me here. I did."
"What?"
She nodded. "Yes... I used my own blood to shackle myself in this place. As for how or why, I don’t know.
But I do know that the only way I was getting out was if someone with the right power saved me, someone like you," she said, pointing at the Unity Saber in his hands.
Michael looked at her, trying to discern her true identity.
Somehow, he had a feeling as to who she really was.