<ⅩⅦ> - II
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— It’s not over yet—
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— Mother!!!!!—
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A new glow flashed through Yuri’s eyes.
as Caesar struck the deed.
Diving his hand across, piercing through Yuri’s chest, penetrating the harbor of Light, the root of the soul.
His motion stayed, his sinews tingling with unspeakable excitement.
Caesar looked down.
Only to see nothing,
no one.
Not a shadow was there where his hand chop so pierced.
Not even a single sign of existence there was in front of his wide disbelieving gaze.
No one.
Yuri had disappeared.
But…I have done it…
I have thrusted my hand…
Her chest…her beating Light Heart…I felt it, breaking in my touch…!!!!!
The Skylord stumbled back, jaws agape, eyes wide like saucers, staring at his empty hand, without a trace of light blood or flesh.
What is happening…?!
What is going on…?!?!
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The time is nigh!!
With a tremendous swing of her unscathed arm, Yuno tossed her ringed weapon all out, the spinning blade like a comet shooting through the heavens, ready to pulverize all that once stood of the Skyworld palace.
Yuno’s eyes followed its trail, certain that it would strike her target, Sora Sky Princess through the Light Heart without error.
Along with the children battling in the premise.
That is the path they took, their fates have been sealed by their own actions.
I have but to finish my part, My Promise!
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Lima could almost feel the cold steel torn through her skin, burning through her abdomen. She tried to flee, to lunge back as far as she could.
But Neruko was upon her, pressing close with beastly fervor, always one step faster than Lima. Her jagged dagger tightly clenched she pushed, deeper and deeper---
But Neruko couldn't.
The more she pierced forth, the more he body began to sway backwards, leaving Lima’s defenseless frame like two magnets of the polar edges repelling each other.
And before Neruko could realize what was going on behind her,
A Large muscular arm, yanking the back of her nape, swung the cat girl up high, and tossed Neruko with tremendous force to the opposite side of the hall.
Lima’s wide eyes beheld who she never would believe to have come to save the day.
But the big shadow looming over Lima was not done yet.
With a swift turn of his body, the long trench coat swaying with his momentum, the large burly man faced his right, arms open and fingers outstretched, summoning a humongous Starbreaker Bazooka that materialized out of thin nano swirls, fitting its handles into his palm and its thick cylindrical body upon his shoulder, as if the longitudinal weapon was born to stay where it was now perched on this robust Captain's frame.
And with a powerful click of the trigger, a star shot out of the metallic tube, blazing with searing flare, flying through the skies before colliding with a silent comet Lima never would have noticed coming their way without sound.
The star and the Comet merged into a smog of fire and blaze, a violent fireball that erupted meters afar, sending tremendous shockwaves across the Skyworld palace halls, pushing all upon their feet tumbling down to the wrecked floor.
Except Captain Castiel Bradson, who stood like an immovable rock, his eyes at the skies, making sure nothing else was there to hurt the children.
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Yuno's body was sitting straight up now, her eyes blank, caught in a dumbstruck gaze.
Impossible...Yuno breathed, lips quivering.
She knew those stern gray eyes that now stared back at her deep blue ones. She knew that man.
The Old Man.
“ ...Se…Sensei...Cas…tiel?!” Yuno stammered under her trembling breath.
With just a bazooka…?! He stopped my last blow…?! Exasperated and frantic, Yuno reached her only good arm instinctively to the hovering disc pod she now sat upon underneath her resting thigh. She knew she would fall to her demise if she sacrificed this last platform for one last strike, but it is a price she had to pay. There are no other chances left. She must destroy the Sky Princess…She must put an end to the Skylord, for the Herunis Carna—For her Promise—!!!
Swinging her full body frame down to finish the deed, Yuno writhed her hand down, only to be jolted back abruptly, as if she was paralyzed at the last second. Like chains coiled around her wrist, Yuno felt an unknown force pulling her hand back, straining her from committing any further action.
There, a hand was, glowing under broad daylight, grabbing her arm in a firm, gentle, yet unrelenting grasp.
Can it be…that I have already been hindered…before tossing my previous blow?!
Yuno’s glaring stare, slightly widening those thin slit eyes, traced up the glowing hand that refused to compromise, panning up to the shoulder, up to behold who it was that would stand in the way of the Herunis Carna.
The face that Yuno saw forced a drastic gasp of air to plummet into Yuno’s lungs. jaws agape without words, eyes widening still trying to comprehend, all Yuno could do, was stare.
“ How… how could you.…?!” after a momentary silence Yuno stammered.
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And then it happened. A wave of blue, of stars and petals, swept out from the city square mile away in a circular blooming fashion, spreading across the capital, across the whole of Skyworld, spreading even further across the horizons, gracing all into spectacular ultramarine hue through its aerial embrace, passing, and touching each and everyone’s light hearts, that started to glow in unison, humming in harmonious reverberation.
All of Skyworld, enveloped in the blaze, felt that warmth.
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Bradson Captain looked down, his stern glare scouring across the daunted gazes of the bewildered children, staring at their own chests that now sparkled abright.
Their light hearts, tuning in harmony to a deep lull on their hearts could hear, could feel.
Lima, amazed, shocked, and in awe, looked down at her own, to see that even her heart was blazing with light, dazzling with many colors. But…how could this be…?! Lima perplexedly looked at the others, then to old Bradson, who also was caught in perplexion. Her heart was unlike the others, not wrought nor fused out of light. But still, beating with the gentle waves that washed through the atmosphere in a soothing melody, whispered deep down.
Lima recognized that voice immediately.
It was like she was whispering next to her ear.
filling it with faraway song,
and her eyes, seeing through the light shining within her, glimpsing into her past.
Her vague Memory.
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“ Lucky…”
Shocked by the call to her ears, the redhead with the jewelry crown looked down at the poor girl in her arms, to see that Neliya was now wide awake, but that was not what shook the girl most.
For around Neliya, surrounding the wounded girl like a gentle force field of ultramarine hue, was an aura none of the girls had ever seen before.
And as the two girls watched, in awe, in marveling gaze, the bullet wound upon Neliya’s arm slowly healed itself, the skins sewing back as if nothing had ever happened before.
Neo, hearing her voice from above, turned around to peer down just in time to witness a miracle before his eyes. Neliya has recovered.
The boy’s emotions welled, flowing out his hardened straining, and the boy wept, tears of rejoice.
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Clashing endlessly against Yuka’s many devices, Caerlia turned around.
The shimmering glow beaming out of Yuri’s full presence can no longer be ignored, yet unable to withdraw, Caerlia could but stand in the range of the flowing waves of light and soul. She felt her light blood ripple all over her veins, her dazzling light heart decelerating to deep firm beats, thumping her body with jolts rocking her all over.
“ I am too late…is it?!?!” Caerlia sensed a creeping urge, an intuition to flee, to dash out of the conflict and snatch her prize.
But a voice, a cry from the depth of her heart echoed in persuasion that very instant—
“ Stop……”
Caerlia felt her light heart skip a beat.
“ Sister……don’t……leave…me…!”
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In that split second, Yuka thought she saw the lance rifle fall out of the Starbreaker queen’s hand.
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‘Solo’ looked up in surprise and relief as the crushing weight of the beams of the Astra Azornir Incarna dissipated into fiery stardust, vanishing to oblivion while the four lance rifles combined to unleash the heavenly strike all fell as if their sentience had left their metallic shell, clanking heavily or piercing deep into the ravaged marble aftermath.
The Starbreaker General turned around, letting the warm blue waves of the Herunis Carna sweep across his battered visage.
The tides are against Caesar Skyman…
His lordship needs his intrusion…fast.
Patiently, ‘Solo’, or perhaps someone,
something,
inside of the man, guided himself out of the wreck, on his way to finishing his Master’s mission.
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The realm is altered.
The Stream of Light is shaking, the void ushered away by blooming lights erupting all around him in the skies, soft voices throughout all the memories from Yuri’s past flashing across the once black heavens.
Searching frantically for the Memory to the secrets he so covets, Caesar Skyman stared, scouring wide eyes, to no avail. It was but chaos to him. All he could feel is his blood-tingling cold.
“ Yu…Yuri…?!?!?!?! YUUUURRIIIIIIIII!!!!” Flying into a fit of rage, with both arms thrashing out of his once composed feature, extending his poise far and wide to conjure a massive boom of flare and light that swept the field a holocaust of thundering wrath, hoping it would somehow strike Yuri down in her futile attempts to escape from him.
But all that he thought, all that he visioned of the massive explosion of light he could muster did not happen.
“ NANI?!” Caesar looked around him.
Surely, in his mind, in his MEMORY, he totally envisioned himself blowing up the stream and the void.
But now…he was alone, arms raised accomplishing nothing at all. Not even a spark did he set abright.
Something is happening—Something has changed—!!!! Yuri—YURI, What Have You Been Hiding?!?!?!
Quickly, Caesar conjured another light ball and tossed it across the dark space, flashing in a huge blooming force like a firework of destruction.
Only for it to never happen in the first place.
WHAT THE—?!?!
The Skylord was sure something is terribly wrong, either within himself or of the zone around him. Something is not operating as it should be!!
“ I have struck a blow, I surely did!” Caesar analyzed aloud, trying to talk sense into his own ears.
“ A blow that suddenly refused to happen, yet I have the full memory of exuding the action! Think…Caesar…Think!!!!”
Ruffling his hair, scratching his chin in frustration, Caesar was not a stranger to being stumped by unbreakable walls of thinking, but it has been a long long time since he had met such a prestigious encounter. As a habit of using his hands to massage his facial features to calm his senses, Caesar scratched the front of his scalp as he usually did, pushing his messy ebony curls back as in a fashion to clear his mind—
—Only to realize that his hair was untouched by any fingers or the cushion of his palm whatsoever.
His right hand was gone.
Gapping, Caesar forced his eyes at the atrocity that has escaped all his senses of warning.
Cleanly severed, leaving just the stub around his wrist, his hand had vanished, leaving up a bloody orifice pumping out light blood of gold, emerald, and tinges of red.
“ I have been attacked…Without Me even noticing?!?! —WAIT!!!!”
Caesar Skyman stopped short with an utter of insight.
He remembered, all of a sudden—His wrist was cut off five seconds ago!! By Yuri’s Sword rifle blade!!!!
But How?!?!?!
“ I remember…I can see it clear and plain…In My Memory…!!! But I cannot see it while it is happening!!!! Can it be…CAN IT BE…It Is An Attack From The PAST?!?!?!”
Howling like a madman, Caesar Skyman reached a simple yet unbelievable conclusion of his encounter.
I am being attacked from the Past!
One second, no, half a second, or even shorter, a millisecond before, is already in the past! I may see the things of now, but a moment after, it is not the same moment as the one I see a split passing after! She is stopping me…Cutting me…Hindering me before My Present can acknowledge!!!!
It Just Works—!!!!!!
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“ To Me!! MOMO!!!!”
“ YES, Commander!!!”
A sudden roar ripped the silence and hauled Caerlia back to her senses before she discerned her surroundings darkening under a looming presence, descending from above. She thrusted her lance rifle upward, piercing what monstrosity was lowering down upon her, only to realize her loyal star weapon was no longer in her grip, but lying on the wrecked cement floor next to her feet.
“ Pt-Retura!!” Caerlia shouted but was too late.
The huge arsenal, dyed red with a shimmering alloy like flame, three gigantic claws of sheer metallic might, thick as starships, clad with blades and mounted with projectiles and missile launchers, crushed down from the sky, gnashing its protruding grip deep down like a gnawing beast on a morsel of prey, with wings of gold at the very top of its back, swooping in acceleration to seize the one it so aimed it grasp in its threading clutches.
“ Damn!!” Yuka retreated with haste, reconnecting her separated parts to her previous Starbreaker form, staring at the mammoth instrument that had just begun to spew fire from the center of its jaw-like contraption.
“ Where were you this whole time?!?!”
Both Firren and Momo, navigating this huge artillery didn’t respond, for their brave eyes riveted, determination focused, all onto the one target their mission so required to intercept.
Built out of scrap metal and leftover parts of Starships and Starbreaker armor, The Allenia armor, so it was named, according to its early designs documented in Captain Bradson’s journals, was a crab-like apparatus with arched protruding claws on both sides whereas the cockpit at the center rear, with an additional claw sprouting out at the top. Initially used to fend off Demons larger in scale, its main purpose now was to stop the formidable Starbreaker Lancer queen at all cost, thus the various additions of rifles, laser blades, and other long-range artillery probed all over its prominent clawed appendages. Dyed red because of Firren’s preference, which also explains the long flame-throwing cannons that amplify his expertise.
The wings at the back, however, were to increase its mobility to combat the Exalted one’s unrivaled speed, provided by Momo’s Starbreaker thruster wings of Light, upgraded twofold with twin turbine Star-burst engines attached to her back.
The plan was simple. Stop Caerlia before she gets hold of Yuri. The timing had to be optimal so as to perform the successful ambush, lower the chances of combat, and trap the Lansar Suprima in one fell swoop. The mission was not about engaging, but to impede and buy Yuri time to escape—Out of Skyworld.
“ You! Yes, you over there!! You are allied with Yuri, are you not?!” Firren shouted in haste at Yuka, putting his all into keeping the Exalted one at bay.
“ Bring her out of this…Get Yuri out of Skyworld as fast as you can!!”
“ Got…got it..!” Yuka rushed forth towards their safehouse teetered to a side, but the moment she neared, the moment the waves of blue light surging out of where Yuri’s body now slept touched Yuka’s light heart, time slowed. Voices ringing and echoing within her helm reverberated through her eardrums.
“ What the…?!” Yuka slowed to a stop, blinking hard to stay focused, yet her visored blurred with distortion like those disrupted by an electric wave storm. Her vision slightly impaired, yet the voices she heard loud and clear, through her light heart.
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—“ …Why can’t you understand…?!” —
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—“ …You call yourself Protector of the Herunis Carna…?!?!” —
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— “ …You are but an idiotic embarrassment—” —
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“ Not good…not good…!!” Yuka quickly slapped herself out of the trance, shaking her body back to control as she rushed on forward.
A dew of hot tear rolled down her reddened cheek.
Finally, in seconds, Yuka reached Yuri’s side of the quarters, jumping in from the torn ceiling, to see Yun, standing in the room, alone.
The bed in the center of the chamber, was empty.
“ O…Oy…! Yun, where did Yuri go…?!?!” Yuka uttered, searching under the bed, but no sign of Yuri in sight. Where did she go?! And where did this wave of light come from?!
“ Yun, did you see where Yuri went?! You were here moments ago, were you not?!”
Without any response, Yun just stood, petrified on the spot. Staring blankly, eyes wide like saucers, her expression dark as if traumatized at the last second before her mind shut down.
And to Yuka’s shock, Yun too, was in tears. Twinkling stars flowing without end down her pale countenance, carrying sorrow across its shimmering trail.
Yun was not where she was, but in a world far beyond, thrown back to a place she thought she had long forgotten, cast away from her until they now resurfaced once more, to haunt her.
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Yuno took a double take before finally finding the words to express her confusion, her exasperation.
“ How could you…?!How could you choose them…Over The World…Over the Herunis Carna—————
———Yuri?!?!”
The Yuri standing behind the stupefied Starbreaker didn’t respond, half transparent like an apparition, calm and indifferent, with a facade enveloped in glistening sparkles and miraculous aura, and eyes shimmering with colors existing and none existing altogether. The universe reflected around her presence said it all.
And at the second, the Yuri vaporized, and vanished into stradusts.
Startled, not only by Yuri’s unexpected hindrance, but Yuno was also amazed, in awe, by the glow surrounding Yuri’s illusive form.
Those are the lights of the Herunis Carna…!
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Staggering back in steps of anticipation, Caesar scoured across the vast surroundings, ready to check out his assumptions.
Hoshino Sensei…is this also part of your blessing?!?! Emerging right before my victory is at reach!
“ I am in the right, Yuri!” Caesar exclaimed, loud and clear to the expanding void.
“ I am the one to restore Humanity!!! For I Am The One Remaining Humanity of this World!!! Those with Light Hearts are but homunculus…Lesser Creations, Bisque Dolls that animate!! They are not Living, But I—!! And My Love Claudia!!!!
We are the last of Humanity, thus the Right to Salvation is Mine!!!!
You have given up that chance…You have lost the Right of the Herunis Carna…!
Repent now, Yuri!
And hand over Your Memories To Me, this True Man!!!!
The Herunis Carna is not meant for none living organisms and walking mannequins—”
“ YOU ARE WRONG, HEADMASTER!!!!”
Caesar froze, his face in doubt, his eyes wide in distraught.
She was behind him, hovering. He could see her silhouette, affront the blazing blue fires like a star bursting with neutron fusion.
He turned around slowly.
Meeting with the eyes full of blaze, full of Life, staring angrily into his soul.
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Yuri’s Starbreaker armor was no longer just blue, but lined with sharp silver additions at the edges, runes bursting with illuminating glow circled the curved surface, writing more and more by itself like an invisible pen carving nonstop.
And her blade, her sword rifle, no longer one, but split into two parts, one attached to each arm like razors steaming with searing heat. And last but not least, the six energy grappling hooks, now bulging twice their original size, hovered around their master with advanced sentience.
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“ Mommy, are your stories real?”
The mother chuckled.
“ Of course, they are, silly.”
“ But I have never seen the Mother of All Stars…the Ze…Zeorr…”
“ ZeOrudea.”
“ Is it real, Mommy?”
“ Yes.”
But the young girl wasn’t satisfied.
“ If the mother of all Stars is real, mommy,
Then why is the night sky dark?
Shouldn’t the night be as bright as the day, if the Mother of the Stars is real?”
The mother was impressed, ruffling her daughter’s hair proudly.
“ That is because…ZeOrudea gave her Light to her child. And her child to the next.
Each Light,
Each twinkle,
Each Memory,
Passing down to a new star. Every shine you see in the sky, every glow you can find,
Is a Part of their Mother.”
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“ The Herunis Carna…This Memory…It is not meant for you…!!!!” Yuri breathed, regaining full power, sweeping desperation away, hesitation no more. An aura of Hope and infinite possibilities reflecting behind her with everlasting hues.
“ It is for my friends…
It is for my Family…!!!!
It is for those I cared for The Most!!!!!!
I don’t care who you are…what we are…But I am living…We are Living…Because We Love, We Hate—
—WE REMEMBER!!
We Are Living————Because We Are!!”
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“ One day, Mommy will no longer be close by,
but you don’t need to be afraid, or sad.
Because you have Mommy’s Light in you. My Memories are kept safely with yours.
And one day, in the far far away future…
You will also pass down that Light, share that Memory,
to your friends,
to your new family,
to the ones you love,
to the ones you cared for the most.
So that they can pass it down for you when you are no longer close by.
See, Yuri?
ZeOrudea is real, is it not?
It is right in front of our eyes——————”
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And with a zap and a flash, the upgraded Yuri was no longer there before Caesar’s eyes.
But the Skylord could clearly remember, as his Memory slowly reconstructed to mold to the new reality Yuri so forged, of the Past of her slicing his back one second ago.
Coughing and spuing out light blood out of his mouth, Caesar felt two massive crossed scars ripping his back apart as he tumbled to a kneel, staggering to rise when his memories again started to reconstruct another past—a Past where Yuri was above him, spinning a backflip kick over toward his face.
Through instinct, Caesar blocked the blow with his hands, yet at the next moment, he was already in the air, his chin burning from a blow that he could not discern.
The kick was already done, and all Caesar Skyman could do was let it happen, without even the power to stop it from happening, for the deed, was already in the past the moment it finished.
There is literally no way to counter…an Attack from the past…An assault that is forcefully predetermined beforehand!!
This…This is the power—Of the Herunis Carna…?!?!?!
Angered the Skylord was, as he was overjoyed, to witness a fraction of the Miracles he so covets.
This shall be mine…Caesar snarled, as his body soared and descended to the soft flowing light petals.
This Power…This Transcendence…Yuri is my guide…My Mentor after all!!!!!
Crashing to the stream, light scattered about freely, Caesar scrambled frantically to regain his stance.
“ If there is a Will…There is a Way…!!!!” Skyman shouted at the skies, at Yuri he could not see.
“ I should thank thee…Yuri! For showing me powers of the Miracle engine! Powers that shall surely be mine…! As soon as I break it!!!!”
With his last remaining strength mustered to his presence, Caesar Skyman prepared himself, bursting into a pillar of light protruding out of existence, shooting out to the starlit heavens as if to achieve apotheosis.
“ You can now change the Past, The Memories of the Before…But I Can Change Light, Change Memories of NOW!!!!! Come Ye Faithful Emissary of Herunis Carna!!!! Show me—Is it your Blessings more wondrous, Or my genius that shall Prevail?!?!?!?!
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
COME!!!YURIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!”
“ As You Wish—!!!!” Like a meteor of high-speed, dashing here and there across the cosmos of Memory, Yuri was also ready.
In grave desperation, she had nearly given her Memories away, handing them to this wily man.
To forget of the sorrow, the terrors. The heartwrenching Trauma.
But by giving them away, relieving herself of the Guilt…
She would also be abandoning all the others, All the Memories that she has yet to see, to reminisce…!
Her past…Her origin…gone forever…!
Yuri doesn’t want that.
Yuri wants to know.
to know the truth.
to see it for herself—
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“ Memory is what gives us meaning, Yuri.
To remember, to learn from our past…To wish that we could have changed something, to become better, so that it would never happen again…
That is the power of the Past—”
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To face her Fears,
And be able to apologize, to those of her past.
Mommy…Grant me strenght…!
Bitter or sweet,
of Joy or sorrow…
of pain…
of bliss
It is all part of her Memory…
Her ability to remember, bestowed to her from her Mother—
She is not giving it up to anyone, anymore.
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“ Return to the headquarters. Now. ”
Was all that Bradson demanded of the children, walking past them towards the Sora, summoning a virtual screen next to the slumbering Princess’ presence when the cat-eared girl, struggling back to her feet apprehensively, like a wounded beast meeting its nemesis, charged forth firing her laser pistol before Bradson backed away just in time, dodging with remarkable agility and producing his bazooka as a shield.
The wild girl was not done yet, and Bradson prepared to face the worst.
Lima and Neo rushed forth to help.
“ Go Back to your quarters!!!!” Bradson boomed this time, sending a thunderous wave that seemed to push the dumbfounded children back five steps.
But Lima stayed her ground. She can’t leave the old man behind like this. And also the voices, the chiming, the song vaguely gaining form. She wants to hear it clear.
She wants to understand it…the message from Yuri—!!!
“ Stand down, Neruko.” The old captain bade calmly in an effort to avoid further strife, yet the girl with the feline features reloaded her laser pistol in no time, determined to pull the trigger before suddenly! The weapon was seized away in a whoosh by a vehement twist of a whip blade shooting out from the side.
“ My word, captain Bradson. You are a man of caliber! ” Captain Valentine praised, reaching for the pistol his lasso blade took, his mind dazed by the sudden rippling of the light heart.
“ Anyways, what’s with this sassy lost child??” Valentine Vanodai approached, ready to strike Neruko down with a whip of his blade.
But his palm Bradson raised, motioning for the young captain to stand aside as he approached Neruko with no intentions of conflict.
“ Caesar has tricked you,” Bradson explained solemnly, beseechingly.
“ He used you. But you don’t have to be his knife. You don’t have to hurt anyone.”
“ I chose…to believe in Him…!” Without regret, without remorse, Neruko responded with rage.
“ To believe that he can bring us all…out of this…Hell. I…I can’t stand any second more to look at their faces, knowing that they will never remember anything we’ve went through…nya…”
Tears, now flowing like streams down the defeated girl’s cheeks.
“ I miss the days… when they would touch my ears…stroke my chin and belly…I miss the days when I would follow them around…watching them play…while I bask under the afternoon sun…I miss them…I miss them…so much…that I could give up on my old self…just for Caesar to test on his experiments…Castiel Sensei…you may see them as your students…your cherished children…But to me, they are but strangers that bear the scent that I longed and deared…and it confuses me so…!!!!”
Wiping her tears away, putting her reminiscing of the days as a cat aside, Neruko stood back up on her two thin but sturdy feet, her jagged sharp dagger in hand, its tip glistened, pointing at the old Captain’s heart.
“ I have chose to believe in Caesar…so I must stay accountable…to the end…Castiel Sensei, if you seek to stop him, you shall pass through me first…!”
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Dashing 2 Meters away, Yuri swirved in a wide circle to The Skylord’s rear.
It is time for her to strike!
—Take a deep breath—
“ …What…?!” Yuri spun her head around, searching for who that might be. A child, sounding like a small boy speaking to her ear, encouraging her, pulling her out of despair.
“ Who are you?!” Yuri asked as she dashed a few steps further, circling wider to look for the owner of the airy voice.
“ Where are you??”
—Not now—
Another child’s voice echoed back, this time, a small girl’s, silky and timid, sounding worried.
—He will be attacking constantly, prolonging his time to stop you—
The boy’s voice replied with solid advice.
—But it is futile—
The girl shortly remarked.
“ Who am I speaking to??!?!?!” Yuri questioned, darting off course, rushing further away from Caesar.
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The Skylord sensed a disturbance in Yuri’s stalling. What is she waiting for?? Why is she not landing her attack?!?!
Caesar was perplexed but stuck with his plan nonetheless.
Yuri seemed to only be able to alter changes not too long ago…1 minute tops. Now that I have planted a full aerial blast attack from 3 minutes before…Yuri will be caught in my flurry the moment she engages, and even if she can turn back time, return one minute before— My Attack is already activated!!! Yuri you naive little rascal…! You thought you could outsmart a scientific prodigy?! I AM Your Mother’s greatest Creation aside from the Herunis Carna!
Come, Yuri!!! Your Fate is sealed in this one moment!!!!
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—You have to take a deep breath—
The Boy reminded with care.
—You can’t breath while traversing the past—
The girl reminded stoically.
— the longer you endure, the longer you can go back —
Yuri listened, speechless in thought.
“ What if…” Yuri asked the two voices in the realm timidly.
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Here She comes!!
Caesar turned to face the coming force, poising his stance in combat position. His pose was a ruse, for his attack had already been set. His stun trap shall pin Yuri on the spot, for him to finish the deed!!!!
Flying straight forward, Caesar saw her close, her twin blades latched onto her arms with one side protruding forth, aiming for his heart.
Yes…yes, yes!!! Come to me!! Come to your demise!!!!
And Lo, the Moment Yuri entered range, a dome of sheer energy and lightning blazed up in a sheer frenzy, shocking the arena with tremendous force as Caesar so anticipated.
The Skylord laughed, for his predictions have synergized with reality.
Yuri, stunned by the light storm wave, paralyzed in an arm’s reach!!!!
“ I Have Won…!!!!” Caesar Skyman guffawed triumphantly, his prominent finger glowing into a massive light ball, ready to fire off his iconic excruciation jet stream.
“ You are an interesting one, Yuri, I always knew! But I also am aware of your weakness, your folly!! Your naivety is your demise!! Curiosity your killer!!! We were very much alike…you and I. Fighting for those we love, but it is determination and vision that differs us apart!!! Light Hearted Kind shall always be lesser under man, even under Demon Kind! Earth is fatally incurable, but my love…My Claudia is above!!!!
My Claudia is real!!!!! And a New Earth I shall Seek!!!!!!!”
Caesar grabbed his arm, pointing that finger, that tip of his defining ultimatum at the stunned Yuri as he chanted his endgame incantation, his marvelous Astra, epically.
“Hesitation aside, remorse no more.
The fates I shall seal, under my one climactic act!!!!!
Lo! Here I say—
Terminares - Celestio Hympha—————————!!!!!!!!”
The space between his finger and Yuri caved in, like swallowed by an invisible black hole. Then as the spaces folded, lights of the reality plane, stars of the Herunis realm, and the darkness of the antimatter void, three sides separated in that one instant right where Caesar Skylord pointed, and there, in the space between the trinity realms, the blank nothingness, burst out Light, Star, and Void. Three in one jet stream, searing all and leaving none, blasting the starlight stream below into smithereens, shooting faster than the speed of thought— right through Yuri’s chest!!!!!!!!
Before the unexplainable beam touched Yuri’s upgraded armor,
Yuri took one last long, deep breath, after many she had taken from the very start the moment she approached Caesar.
.
.
.
“ What if…” Yuri had asked the two voices in the realm timidly just seconds before impact.
“ I were to go back to the past, take a short breath, and repeat the process—?”
The two voices fell silent, as if in contemplation.
.
.
.
1 minute.
Yuri told herself.
I need to go back one minute.
Then breath again, and go back another minute.
And go back,
breath,
and go back again,
breath.
Until—
.
.
.
Caesar Skyman blinked.
The Stream of Light was calm as before. The void was intact. And the star flakes falling slowly.
The Memory of his grand phantasm has been erased.
“ Ho ho…” Caesar laughed snidely, already predicting this outcome.
“ You may have erased my Ending Strike, but you can never escape my Light trapping storm activated 3 minutes prior!!!! I will seize you again, and fire as many Beams at you as I please!!!! Turn back time all you want!!!! I am not locked here with you, Yuri— You are Locked here with ME!!! TO ETERNITY—!!!!”
“ Eternity is a long time…”
Caesar Skyman froze, shutting himself up from insane laughter, as he could clearly hear Yuri panting right behind him, less than inches away from his back.
“ But five minutes…Five Minutes is enough to stop you…!!!!!”
“ YOU…!!!!!” Caesar, now screaming, could but ask.
“ You Went to the Past, Five Minutes?!?!?!?! Before My Trap has activated?!?!?!”
“ I can go back…Any time I want—As Long As it Needs, I Will DO IT!!!!!!” Yuri shouted back in answer, as she pulled herself back.
“ YOU DARE—!!!!!”
That was when Caesar felt an odd unspeakable sensation, as if part of his body was drawn out like a drawer carved out at his back.
But it was not.
It was the two arm blades Yuri had pierced through the back of his neck without him remembering, planted into his nape to decapitate him at the next second.
“ I am Not Done Yet!!!!” Caesar frantically conjured his Light storm trap to stun Yuri as fast as he can, setting the runes below his feet as lightning started to dance.
“ Yuri—You think you can outsmart me?!?!?! See How I Outsmart your Outsmarting—”
“ I Don’t need to Outsmart You!!!!” Yuri stopped the frenzied man mid-sentence.
“ For this is my Memory…of pain, of sorrow…of longing, of guilt…of Joy and Warmth—This Is My Memory!!!! Therefore My Dominion!!!!! Caesar Sensei…I Demand You LEAVE!!!!!”
And with just her mind, Yuri summoned her six grappling hooks that shot down from above, planting on all sides of Caesar’s Light storm rune, nullifying all conformations whatsoever.
Then not of speech, not of words, Yuri so chanted her Incantation, her Herunis Astra— In Song.
.
.
.
Lima gasped, looking up at the blooming waves of blue. The voices now clear, and reaching to her heart.
And Lima finally realized what the voices were.
.
.
.
An ouros nepar rien,
“ Once in a forgotten time,
mos paruser at solaris,
among Stardusts and Galaxies,
Tha vas ZeOrudea‘rn,
There was ZeOrudea.
le Mirra vem Paruseais,
Mother of All Stars,
at Parusea vem moy keiros’ir
And All stars have their color.”
.
.
.
It was us…! Lima gasped. Her voice…and Yuri’s…! Singing to the story of which she had declined to listen before…!
But how…?! How is it that my Memory…the Memory I remember…has changed…?!
I agreed to listen…I was singing with Yuri…Once again…!!!!!
Visions of the past, brought tears of the present, to cleanse all regret.
.
.
.
“ This…!!!!” Caesar wasn’t sure if he should be overjoyed or enraged. Yuri is chanting the incantations of the Herunis Carna…He knew it…!!!!
But to his ears…all that Yuri sang,
were of a language of which Caesar had never heard of before.
The secret was there, so close,
Yet so far—!!!!
.
.
.
ZeOrudea’rn merr ruse,
“ ZeOrudea loved her children,
ruse merr zi mor,
and they loved her also,
at merr den Mirra fener’d keiros’e,
and the Colors from each part of their Mother.
Lo moyos arznoveda noy,
So Once, every alignment night,
Raizar at soll le Paruse vil,
the Stars will blaze and shine,
hilt’a poisr t’a sager’cion
with pride and divine,
den bloomer dem lo Paruse’ on—————
and they shall give birth to their own Stars—————
.
…
………
.
“ What do you think of that story, Lima?” The young Yuri smiled, swinging her legs on the thin balcony railing.
“ Did I sing well?”
Wiping a drop of tear, young Lima beamed.
“ I love it.”
Thank you, Yuri—
for everything—————
.
…
………
.
Thus finishing, Yuri retrieved with a swift, powerful flourish, ripping the flesh and tearing the ligaments with one pulling slash, ending with her two arms and blades widely drawn to each side.
Caesar Skyman uttered a scream, but no voice came out of his decapitated throat.
NOOOOO——————————
It had happened. The Past is altered.
And Caesar Skyman’s head plopped out of his body, shooting out like a tin can kicked out to the horizons on a cool leisure afternoon.
The viscous blood traveled behind, leaving a trail of glow and sparkle, as his body vaporized, diminished into dust by the powers of the Herunis Carna—
.
…
………
.
A violent jolt brought Caesar Skyman back from the Memory realm and returned he was to the skies of his capital, his body descending through gravity as his venture so blundered. Crashing on his back, leaving a deep crater on the marble floor of his exposed throne room, Caesar experienced a long-lost sensation, of loss and defeat.
Coughing out the blood of red and light, Caesar quickly flipped his battered body upright, rising in fear Yuri is upon him still.
But now, in the world of reality, those after him are Captain Bradson, and Captain Valentine, surrounding him with their weapons raised.
Caesar heard a gasp and panned his gaze, to see his little spy, Neruko the cat, wounded and defeated, kneeling on one side, her dagger broken in two before her knees.
Behind the cat girl were the children who he remembered were Neo, Rio, Oullo, and of course…
“ …Lima…” Caesar Skyman chuckled tauntingly at the girl who stared back at him disdainfully like facing an uncouth animal as the Skylord supported himself up to his staggering feet, to meet those confronting him in his wrecked hall.
“ My little accomplice…my unscrupulous defectors…honorable disrupters…is this how you all repay me…? For all I have done for thee?”
“ Return Lady Reina’s memories to her, you gnarly tyrant!” Brave Starbreaker Captain Valentine accused, his whip blade highly raised.
“ Or we shall taketh by force!”
Caesar blinked, turning to Bradson in disbelief before howling with laughter.
“ A coup?! Is it?!” Caesar couldn’t stand the untimely idiocy that his old friend had brought to his pulverized doorstep.
“ Cas…oh, my dear Castiel…I expected highly of you—”
And before Caesar could blast all those before him with a point of his finger of light,
a harpoon,
a full-length, jagged clawed, 30 meters long iron pole, shot out from The Delfalak starship hovering miles above,
Crashed into the throne and crushed its center arrowhead right through the Skylord’s ribcage, shattering where the heart and lungs should have been, pinning Caesar to the marble floor from where his tyranny once rose.
Instead of a baneful cry, all that came out of the Skylord’s mouth were viscous blood, pouring like a malfunctioned hose.
“ Ha! Gatcha!!” Captain Delprim Jargo barked from above, having the last laugh on his ship.
“ I am King now!”
Wincing back in terror and disgust, Neo and the children backend, verily relieved by the close passing of the evil lord, croaking with a starship arrow protruding out of his shattered body. Even Elza the wolf cub whined at such a gruesome way to go.
Neruko however was silent, facing the floor, casting her expression under shadow.
Lima, however, stared with her all, wishing to witness the exact moment of Caesar’s passing, then can her mind be at peace.
.
.
.
Lying face down, Yuri touched her surroundings, feeling the smooth marble flooring did she somehow realize she had landed back onto Skyworld, somewhere close to the palace. Where exactly she wasn’t sure, but reality she now resides.
Those wacky powers of time manipulation and Memory traveling had all but ceased, and like waking from a dream, her body felt heavy, and her sensations solidly at work.
And so came the pain.
Not of battle, not of the wounds of strife, but the same pain as she had suffered ever since she arrived in the capital of Sky. The aching of her lower belly, now but amplified tenfold, as if her insides were constricted in a rough knot, pulled constantly by merciless hands yanking and twisting none stop.
A pain that forced Yuri to the ground, unable to rise, unable to cry for help.
“ …help…” Yuri managed to whimper, crawling slowly forward, to no avail.
— take a deep breath—
“ I Can’t!!” Yuri shouted at the boy’s voice, immediately regretting what she did.
“ I am sorry…I didn’t mean it…I…I need…to lie down…” But Yuri couldn’t even turn herself around and prostrated, face down.
“ …Yuri?!?!”
“ Oh my…sister Yuri, is it you?!?!”
Yuri jolted, recognizing those two voices immediately in rejoice, granting her strength to slightly raise her hand to climb nearer.
“ Ne…liya…Lu…cky…!!” Yuri croaked as the two young girls quickly rushed to the poor Starbreaker’s side, hoisting her up to lie on her back.
The grey lights of the morning dazzled through her visor once more, assuring her she had returned to the world she knew, the land she called home.
“ Oh my…oh my! Yuri, what happened to you?!?!” Lucky uttered in disbelief, feeling hurt just by seeing Yuri’s frail and painful expression.
“ Who did this to you…?!”
“ Yuri, let’s take you somewhere to heal…” Neliya suggested, but Yuri shook her head weakly.
“ I… need…some rest…” Yuri panted, her hands placed upon her lower belly instinctively, where her palm suddenly felt an apparent knock, from within her insides.
Yuri stared down at herself.
That was when she finally saw, flowing out from the armor shielding the inner sides of her groin,
a trail of thick, viscous light blood.
She had been bleeding from underneath, nonstop.
.
.
.
After a short period of silence, Bradson Captain stepped forward, knowing pretty well that the job wasn’t done yet.
“ Captain Valentine, watch the Skylord closely. He will try to escape even in this state.”
“ Roger that.” Valentine Vanodai prepared his lasso sword readily, cautiously standing guard next to the pierced figure of the Skylord, grasping the large metallic arrow in pain, pulling in vain.
Bradson approached the floating unconscious Sky Princess once more, activating the virtual screen of her inner control panel, searching for the crucial switches.
“ Wait!!” Bradson turned, looking up to see that it was Rio that had just called.
“ What are you going to do to her?”
Rio’s eyes, anxious and full of apprehension.
Bradson tried to find an acceptable answer as fast as he could to explain.
“ I…I am… freeing her from her corporal state.”
.
.
.
“ I…I need…I need….Grand…papa…” Yuri’s voice trembled, her skin as pale as snow as she struggled to climb up to her feet, her eyes staring widely at the blood coming out of her in terror.
“ I need Grandpapa Bradson…I need help…!!!”
Of all her ventures and missions as a Starbreaker,
Yuri had never felt so terrified before.
“ Yuri, you…you need to calm down…” Neliya was also terrified, shivering as she tried to make a full sentence.
“ Everything will be alright…Okay…???”
“ Captain Bradson is up there!!” Lucky hollered frantically, constantly moving around in short lengths to calm herself.
“ We…we can carry Yuri…up…” Lucky stopped short, realizing how stupid she sounds.
“ Ooooy!!”
Yuri, Neliya, and Lucky looked up in unison, to their grateful surprise,
Feira, Finnir, Kai, and Treize arrived with weapons and gear, providing instant support when help is most needed.
“ Yuri needs Captain Bradson’s help! Immediately!” Lucky explained quickly to the others that had just arrived.
“ The Captian is up there, on the third floor. We need to help Yuri get up there!”
Finnir the all-seeing pondered for a few seconds.
“ Sister Yuri, I believe you have six energy grappling hooks on your side?”
Yuri shook her head remorsefully.
“ I…I can’t…now…”
“ Hey, where’s Neo and the others?” Treize the chubby boy asked, out of the blue.
“ If they are up there, then we can toss our rope to them and they’ll pull Yuri up.”
Everyone gazed at the chubby kid in silence, in newfound admiration.
“ Treize, you’ll have a seat with me whenever I converse.” Finnir promised.
.
.
.
“ What does that mean?!” Rio questioned further, seeing the old captain’s screen-swiping fingers tremble slightly.
“ Captain! What are going to do to her?! Please! Tell me what you are about to do..!!”
“ I am shutting her down!” The old Captain’s voice boomed, like punches pivoted to Rio’s gut.
“ It’s the only way…to stop Caesar…Skylord.”
Tears welled over Rio’s eyes in no time.
“ You can’t do this…!” Rio uttered, crestfallen and in pain.
“ You can’t just take her away…She’s done nothing wrong!!!”
“ Rio!!” Neo cried, stepping forth in haste.
“ Rio, Stop! What must be done, Has to be done!!” the child lead tried to pull his younger brother back, but Rio swiped his brother’s hand off his shoulder, fighting his way forth toward the captain.
.
.
.
“ Hello?! Neo?! Guys?! You there?? Yuri’s here, and she needs our help!” Lucky and the folks at the lower level called out, and instantly,
Lima appeared.
“ YURI!!!!!” Lima cried, nearly jumping down had the children below stopped her.
“ Yuri needs to get to Captain Bradson!” Neliya explained quickly.
“ And we have rope!” Feira tossed a thick bundle and Lima caught it.
Tying one end of the rope around her arm, Yuri nodded to Lima, who nodded back assuringly.
With Oullo’s help, Lima pulled with all her might. Elza lunged down from Lima’s shoulder and the wolf cub too helped pulled the rope. To Both Lima and Oullo’s surprise, the tiny critter’s strength weighed more than the two children combined. And soon Yuri was halfway up to the throne room when she could hear the voices quarreling from above.
.
.
.
“ Sora is innocent!! It’s the Skylord that used her! Punish him, not Sora…! Please…Please, Captain Bradson, PLEASE!!!!”
“ Neo, take him away!!” Bradson, now shacking, hastily commanded. For not only was Rio’s desperate begging wrenching his heart, but also the codings on the virtual screen of Sora.
Whatever way Bradson tried to shut her down, the Sky Princess, the whole of Skyworld seemed to reboot itself, surging Light Power source faster and faster into it’s primary host— Caesar Skyman.
The Skylord managed to chuckle out of his misery.
“ Cas…tiel…” Caesar could but hiss in an eerie inhumane sound.
“ You…failed…”
“ I can fail…” Bradson tried another equation to counter the rebooting hurriedly.
“ But I can’t give up…I can’t stand down. For the children…For Them…! I must give my all—”
“ Then You shall give out Your All.
Castiel Bradson.”
Valentine Vanodai heard a meaty squash before he could react, turning around to see that all had already taken place.
Lima turned around, her rope-pulling hand nearly loosened by the sight she so beheld,
Neo and Rio, standing just a few steps away from the captain, blood splattered upon their mortified faces.
Even Oullo the quiet reserved one was shocked by what he had witnessed, a feat none could achieve, an act so devilish, so heinous yet so unbelievably done by someone…or ‘something’.
Neruko’s face arose slightly, eyes so wide, her pupils thinning into straight lines in horror.
Yuno looked down from her perching spot in the air, knowing that it was already too late.
“ Oh no…” Yuno gasped in fear, seeing Yuri just a few steps away from the one, this entity that had just appeared and finished the deed.
A very dangerous Being.
.
.
.
With her remaining strength, Yuri pulled herself up the last hurdle, with the help of all the children present, climbing with her up the wall, finally able to rest on the smooth chilling tiles of the throne room.
There were more people present than she expected.
On her left was Lima, whose back was facing her, standing like a stone statue, her eyes transfixed in yonder direction at the center.
Oullo too, was acting the same as Lima.
Neo and Rio, whose voices she had heard quarreling were standing near the center, right in front of where Bradson Captain stood.
“ Grandpapa—”
Yuri cried, calling out with her one last breath as she staggered closer, her eyes gaining focus on the tall frame of her Captain, standing idly at the center of all attention.
“ Grandpapa Bradson…I…Something’s wrong with………………
……me……”
There, Yuri’s eyes beheld,
a bloody protruding hand, jutting out of Captain Bradson’s chest. Piercing through his heart.
Panning her mortified gaze, along the thick, bulging arm covered in crimson red,
Yuri stopped, gazing at the very one that had done the deed.
He, who has punctured his arm right through the back and out of the old Captain’s chest.
“ Took you long enough…Yuri.”
Spake Starbreaker General ‘Solo’, looking tired as if he had just returned from a raging war.
.
.
.
The first thing Yuri did, was take a deep breath.
I can save grandpapa…
I can still save him…!!!!
But no matter how she tried, how she struggled to go back,
Time wouldn’t budge.
.
.
.
“ Signals of the Herunis Carna…None.” ‘Solo’ scanned the whole area with his visor, runes of data flashing through his eyes.
“ You are powerless here, Yuri. You have done enough to handicap My Master to a certain degree none have ever achieved. I congratulate you.
But…as a Protector of Man,
As the Defender of Humanity!
I am bound with a coded oath, to secure Caesar Skyman’s life.
And exterminate any threat that opposes his wellbeing.
Hoshino Yuri, are you Caesar Skyman’s enemy?
Or Are you his ally?”
Yuri need not think to give an answer right away.
“ Get your hands…Off My Grandpapa!!!!!!”
With sheer rage, powers out of nowhere, Yuri stood up, stomping the marble floor sending a thundering shockwave across the whole teetering palace tower. Her Starbreaker armor glowed once more, runes of power illuminating upon its surface.
“ If it is so that you’ve chosen.” ‘Solo’ acknowledged without sentiment, drawing his hand out of Bradson’s ribcage as the old Captain fell with a loud thud.
“ Then I need not show you courtesy.
Caesar Skyman, I beseech thee—”
The Starbreaker General’s voice echoed throughout the heavens in his one say.
“ —Permission to unlock my Seals of Restriction.”
Chuckling, still pinned to the floor as blood spewed out of his mouth, Caesar’s lips curled to a genuine sneer.
“ …Permission…Granted…”
The winds, shifted. The morning, darkened.
Chimes from the breaking of chains rattled across the city, echoing across the heavens as each chime went, ‘Solo’ glowed with a different color, and with each color, a new Rune carved itself upon his Starbreaker hide.
Seven Chimes, as ‘Solo’ stepped forth, seven steps, shimmering seven colors before he stopped, face to face with Yuri, one meter apart.
The winds howled as if begging, and rain started to fall.
“ Let me ask this one last time.” ‘Solo’ spake, his voice now deep, distorted, and petrifying to hear.
“ Are you ally of Caesar Skyman, or enemy? Hoshino Yuri?”
I will be his killer.
Yuri opened her lips to cry out in hatred, only for someone else to shout out before she could answer.
“ RUN!!!!!!”
Like a knife to her heart, Bradson’s shout boomed to her ears.
“ RUN….!!!! YURI….!!!!!!”
“ What are you talking about, Grandpapa…!!!!!” Yuri snarled, summoning her twin blades out of her arms.
“ I AM GOING TO AVENGE YOU—”
— Run—
— Run—
Before Yuri could comprehend, her arm, her arm tied to the thick rope, was pulled back by a vehement force, yanking her back. Poise tilted, Yuri slammed to the floor hard, yet she still tried to crawl back up.
But couldn’t.
The pain in her belly, had suddenly erupted.
Screaming in pain, Yuri fell back, unable to stand as she could but succumb to the force that pulled her arm by the rope, dragging her further and further away from the center of the hall.
“ Wait…!!!” Yuri panted, her voice drowned by tears and swept.
“ Wait…Grandpapa…Grandpapa—!!!!!”
.
.
.
“ Commander!! The enemy is breaking out!!” Momo shouted from behind the Starbreaker Commander of the Betelgeuse ship, who had just jolted himself out of a grave trance.
Firren felt cold, despite his fiery arsenals blasting right beside him.
It was as if his Light Heart was plowed hollow, and all the Light in his veins sucked dry.
“ Commander! The Enemy!!!” Momo shouted again when Firren saw the claws of his Allenia armor start to crack, and between the thin sealed apertures of the clasped gigantic claws,
Were the hands of the Exalted one, breaking out from her prison with sheer force.
.
.
.
Lying soaked in the pool of his own blood, Bradson’s mind swayed. He could hear cheerful laughter not far away.
Drifting further, further downward, Castiel Bradson sank into a far away Memory
.
…
……….
.
- Eons ago -
“ Demons have evolved, Cas.” The Skylord had said in his research chambers, scanning the many surveilling eyes of his drones scattered across the lands, observing the Nano Beasts in their habitat.
“ They once feared the Light Blood I so forged. Now…they are consuming it. Somehow they know, Light bears the Memories of the Past. They crave its solace.”
Caesar turned around gravely to face the old man standing at the other end of the chamber, silent and in shadow.
His only remaining Human friend and ally at that time, Castiel Bradson, the once school janitor, now Captain of a Starship, bestowed upon him for his loyal service.
“ It is, in the end, an epic fail. All of this…Cas. None of this could outlive the Demons…The offspring of the Nano Scourge!!!..... This Earth is ruined already.”
“ I’ll do what I can…” Castiel Bradson vowed sincerely, begging Caesar to reconsider.
“ I…I’ll find a way to help Yuri remember! We have built Memory resetting devices, Caesar! We can Find the—”
“ That you will do.” Caesar nodded, stopping Bradson mid-sentence.
“ But not here. Not in this…hellish dearth. You will continue with your side of the research, Cas, while I prepare the evacuation.”
“ Evac…WHAT???” The old man blurted in shock.
“ You heard me.” Caesar rephrased patiently, his eyes wide with a maddening aura beaming out of his thin insane pupils.
“ I am Giving up on this Earth. I will be leaving this planet at the end of this year.”
That’s two months—!!! Bradson choked, thinking fast.
“ But…how about the people we have reanimated?! The population is huge, are you leaving them behind?! To feed the Demons?!?!”
“ No, no, no. That would be a waste, will it not?” Caesar laughed jovially, a heavy weight lifting upon his frail shoulders.
“ I have already sent my Elite Starbreakers and drones to collect their Light Souls back to me—to be processed into fuel to provide this city with the horsepowers required to outreach Gravity. To Reach…Claudia.”
“ Caesar…you can’t be serious—”
“ I Am. And it has already begun. With your help, with Yuri’s…eventual help, if she someday remembers, of course, We would bring the Herunis Carna to Claudia, and start somewhere out there, among the stars. A new planet…a New Home…”
The Skylord’s gaze was full of hope, of joy.
Unlike Bradson’s, which were filled with fear and anxiety.
“ You…you are turning those you revived…into what, Caesar?” Bradson stammered. wishing that his elderly hearing had played a cruel prank on him.
“ First off, Cas, I didn’t revive anyone. They are just reanimated. Come on! They are not living! They are but walking models that look just like our friends! And They F-king Don’t Remember Anything!!!! They are objects!!! They Are Not Human Beings!!!!! They can be anything I want, Anything I Need Them To be!!!!
…And right now…I need them as fuel to power my Starship City—!!!!!”
Breathing wrathfully, Caesar waited for Bradson to reply, wishing his old janitor would make the sensible choice.
“ …And the children…?” Castiel Bradson asked after a dreadful silence.
“ Are you…?”
“ Oh, yes. The Children, definitely.” Caesar nodded, clapping as if the old man had reminded him of something crucial he had accidentally forgotten.
“ I don’t know why, but juveniles hold more Light Power than grownups do. They definitely are our main source of horsepower. I’ll exhaust them slowly, not all of them at once, one at a time, their Light could provide one full day of space travel nonstop…Hmm.
But don’t worry,
Yuri will stay. She has the Memories of the Miracle Wishing Machine inside of her little head, remember? And Lima too! How can I forget Lima…She is like us after all. Probably she’ll agree with me. You should see the look on her face when none of her friends remembered what was going on…How pitiful.
So…who shall we start burning…draw the lot? Or by alphabetic order…Do we have any children starting with A in their names, Cas?”
The old man didn’t reply.
“ Cas?” The Skylord loomed over his shaking, trembling old friend, staring deep into his mortified soul.
“ Do we have any children starting with A in their name?”
.
.
Later that night, Castiel Bradson took all the children with him, reset their Memories, and hid them far away in an abandoned outpost, where Caesar Skyman cannot reach.
Lima followed, protecting the children secretly while staying by their side.
Castiel had also constructed secretly, under Caesar’s nose, a surveillance droid to aid his watching over the pack, an automaton copy of the Sky Princess, a sister pair to Sora—Tricia.
After the children were secured, Bradson went back to Skyworld, and fought some Starbreakers with the help of Reina, his reanimated daughter who he had narrowly successfully restored her Memories, and Firren, one of the children he trusted whom he had upgraded to become a Starbreaker and luckily, successfully restored his memories also,
And brought Yuri out of Caesar’s grasp.
Many times, on his way back to the children he saved, Bradson had tried to restore Yuri’s Memories, but to no avail. Even upgrading Yuri to become a Starbreaker didn’t help, but at least Yuri had the power to protect herself, per Bradson's plan.
Hence the beginning of this whole venture, from where this epic starts, and plays out through Yuri’s perspective.
Alas, Yuri, the most precious piece of the puzzle, had been hurt, contaminated by Demon kind during Bradson’s voyage, which forced him to return to Caesar in seek of help to cure Yuri.
But the Skylord never forgets, and never forgives those who betrayed him.
And eventually, things have gone down to this.
.
.
.
Coughing out the blood stuck in his trachea, Bradson wheezed, crawling slightly up one more time, to catch a glimpse
of Yuri,
Lima,
Neo,
Neliya,
Lucky,
Kai,
Feira,
Finnir,
Treize,
Oullo,
Neruko…the kitten that the children loved and loved them back…
and Elza…somehow you lived…your fur shimmers just like your mother’s…
“ Thank..you…My dear children…” The old Captain saluted, one last time, knowing his time is running out.
And Yuri…I…am Sorry…
…for all that I have done wrong…I wish to do one thing right…
…Live…Yuri…Live, and Protect Your Memories—!!!!!!!
His world slowly dimmed, and the last thing he could hear, were the children calling out his name.
His true name.
.
.
.
Helping Lima as they hurriedly pulled Yuri out of the hall together, Neo turned around one last time.
“ Wait!!!!”
Neo shouted, stopping his folk in their tracks, terrified to the core as the children watched as a transparent film-like coating vaporized off the fallen visage of the honorable captain.
It was clear as day now. How foolish Neo and the children felt the moment they knew who Captain Bradson was.
“ Captain Bradson…He…He’s Sensei—!?!?!?!?!”
“ Sensei…!!!”
“ Sensei Castiel!!!!!”
The blending shroud had been lifted, and the Children now saw the old man as the one form they were set to remember.
Their Sensei.
The Sensei that had gathered them, children, at the beginning of their First Memory in this world, their benefactor. Their savior.
“ No…!!” Neliya and the others teared up, edging forth to save the man, but were stopped by a vehement shout.
“ Have you not Heard Him?!?!”
Lima, tears streaming rapidly without end, shouted to her friends, her family, achingly.
“ We must Run…He Told Us To RUN!!!!!”
“ No…don’t make me leave him…!!!” Yuri wailed, crawling back despite Lima’s pull.
“ Lima, Let us save him…Let ME save My Grandpap Bradson—PLEASE!!!”
But Lima dragged on, pulling the reluctant Yuri with all her might.
Desperately, the children followed suit, helping Lima pull Yuri out of the scene.
While ‘Solo’ just stood, without pursuit, as if he was still waiting for Yuri’s answer.
“ For Bradson Captain!!!!!!” All of a sudden, Starbreaker Captain Valentine Vanodai leapt out in assault from behind, his twirling lasso blade forming a hurricane surrounding his lunging form, as he dived down, ready to slice ‘Solo’ into bits.
‘Solo’ didn’t move.
And with just one rune, one bloodshot rune that flickered upon his chest armor,
Valentine Vanodai was instantly crushed into a flat meaty pulp, by nothing at all.
Nothing touched the young handsome man, who was now but a pool of blood and gore.
Yuri saw it all, of the instant demise of the affable gentleman, but she still fought to turn back. She can’t leave her Captain behind…She can’t leave Grandpapa Bradson Behind—!!!!!
The children saw the gruesome end of Captain Valentine and some wet their pants.
“ Hurry…!” Lima stammered, trying to stay strong.
“ We…We must hoist Yuri down…!!!!”
“ Bu..but but but but…HOW?!?!?!” Treize could but stammer.
The children on the upper floor, mind blank and in utter chaos.
“ Slowly…put Yuri down…!” Neo managed to speak out a plan.
“ Come one, guys!!” The child lead pumped their courage with his raised voice.
“ We get hold of the rope and send Yuri down—”
“ Stay, Where You Are.”
With that spoken by the Starbreaker General, the children could but freeze, in sheer terror.
“ Yuri hasn’t answered my question.”
While not moving at all, ‘Solo’ still managed to control the flow of the whole room.
“ It’s alright…” Staggering up with her last breath, shielding the frightened children behind her, Yuri knelt, one hand supporting her body straight up to face her new arch-nemesis.
“ I’ll deal with him…!!”
“ ‘Deal with me…’ Is it?” ‘Solo’ questioned with much interest.
“ Does that mean…You are planning to stand against Caesar Skyman…?”
Yuri didn’t know why this Starbreaker General was so obsessed with this one question, and how his demeanor had completely changed overnight, but all that she couldn’t care less.
Yuri took a deep breath slowly one more time.
.
.
.
“ No…” Yuno fought the pain of her shattered lung to stand upright now, looking down from her hovering pedestal apprehensively.
“ Don’t answer him…Yuri..!!!
Don’t Answer His Damn Question!!!!!!”
.
.
.
“ Yes.” Yuri spoke, loud and clear.
“ Caesar Skyman will forever be my Enemy, And I shall hunt him down—Whatever it takes!!!!!”
Silence.
None of them spoke, save the howling winds.
Then ‘Solo’ chuckled.
His chuckle grew, into a laugh, and then he howled, his laughter reaching the murky heavens, his candid joy palpable.
“ Then You are also My Enemy now, Hoshino Yuri…!” ‘Solo’ breathed with much elation.
“ You now face One of the Seven Saving Graces of Mankind,
One of the Seven Pillars of Humanity,
Sovereign of All that resides in the Physical Realm,
I, was code-named Solo,
But You shall know me… as Solorum Igmus Bradaperegna.
Bradinn of Physics And Power.
Hoshino Yuri, for the livelihood of my Master Caesar Skyman,
I shall Destroy you now.”
And without further warning, The Bradinn activated his first Rune.
“ GRAVITAS!!!”
[https://img.wattpad.com/37e27a41ba09705e9905cf8f76e4cce160be1654/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f564f7344334c7a4158576a6f70413d3d2d313331383830353638312e313734366332356239353838643931373634303331393530323833322e6a7067]
And before Yuri and the children’s eyes, the floor before them caved in with such intensity, crushed by an invisible force that drove closer and closer towards them.
Yuri stepped forth, shielding the children behind her as she summoned her all, everything, anything—
But nothing came to her aid. Her powers were all spent.
( STAY BACK!!!!!!)
Out of the shadows, wafting out of the corners of the hall, a sea of thick fog shrouded all around Yuri and the children, repelling whatever undiscernable power threatens them all. The sea of mist, cut at the edge where the Gravitas field started, pushing closer and closer while a shadowy lean silhouette pushed against it, with all her might.
“ Yu…Yun…!!” Yuri recognized as Yun’s Starbreaker form emerged before them, holding her repelling fog barriers as long as she could.
( Go…As far as you can…!) Yun shouted, her voice still serene compared to others, but the urgence was apparent.
( You cannot defeat him now, Yuri…You must Go…!)
Yuri watched in desperation as the Gravitational field of doom edged closer and closer, sweeping the fog and ripping the mist apart.
At that exact moment, out from all sides, blades and lasers showered down from behind the children, aiming each powerful blow on the immovable Entity, still standing, waiting for Yuri to perish.
“ What are you waiting for?!?!” Yuka’s voice rang from all sides, as different parts of Yuka’s Starbreaker form fired myriads of arrows, missiles and whatnot at the Bradinn, trying all she could but to no avail.
“ Get the hell out of here!!! Can’t you see???
He has the whole Earth Physiology on his side!!!! You don’t stand a chance! WE don’t stand a chance!!!”
“ Just like…what Yuka said…”
Yuri spun around, gasping in shock as she saw the exposed rib cage of Yuno’s chest.
But Yuno seemed not to mind anymore.
“ Yuri…Listen very carefully…” Yuno advised after she had sent all the children down to safety with rocks and debris she harnessed with her control of the aerial flow.
“ I have here one last pod that could carry you out of here…As soon as you get out safely…Find the Herunis Carna! It is the only things that matters now. Do you understand?!?!”
Reluctantly, Yuri nodded.
“ Good. Now step inside.” The elliptical portal that Yuno had been sitting on all this time opened and unfolded into an egg-shaped escape pod, gold of color, sealed shut.
Yuno helped Yuri lay down inside the narrow space and was about to close seal the glass when someone stopped her.
“ Wait!!” Thankfully, it was Lima, accompanied by Elza the canine.
“ Let me follow Yuri. I can guarantee her safety, and help her traverse the outer worlds.”
“ No. Just leave.” Yuno snapped but Yuri shot out her arm just before the glass windows closed in on the escape pod, grabbing Lima tightly by the arm.
“ Please…” Yuri begged with all her Light Heart and soul.
“ I need…Lima…”
Reluctantly, Yuno gave way, letting both Lima and Elza abroad.
And soon, it was all set.
“ Yun, Yuka, stand down.” Yuno whispered, despite her two sisters’ looks of disbelief.
“ I need his Force Field, or I can’t send Yuri away,” Yuno whispered, only audible to her sisters’ ears.
‘Solo’, or Solorum Igmus Bradaperegna, hereby to be called Bradinn for short, could see everything that The Starbreaker sisters were doing.
Yuri is now inside a pod, flight speed of 800km/hr tops. It is in my grasp, as long as I stay, unmoved.
Bradinn decided to exert some speech interference on the enemy.
“ Yuno, you too haven’t clearly answered my question, as I remember.” The Humanity Restoring Pillar hollered from his side of the vast throne room.
“ Are you sure you have no intentions of siding with Caesar Skyman? Or…are you trying to be his Enemy?”
“ My intentions are clear.” Yuno stepped forward, as Yun slowly retreated, the Gravitas field slowly prevailing over the repelling mist.
“ I serve only to Save This Earth. No more, no less. There’s nothing between us.”
“ Sad to hear.” ‘Solo’s iconic passive chuckle emerged for a split second, before he resumed his Bradinn form in the next instance.
“ I always thought our ideals are similar. Your way of thinking matches the way I compute my understanding.”
“ You think too highly of yourself.” Yuno sighed, signaling Yun to fully deactivate her mist in five seconds.
“ I am not like you, I live. I breathe. I feel pain. Do you dream of sheep in your sleep, Solo?”
“ Ahh…a misconception many has made. I do dream. I breathe as well, and I feel pain like you and many others. But I have the power to obstruct my nerve transmissions, and the ability to force oxygen to exchange through my veins without me moving a muscle to commit the action. I am living…Just, more superiorly.”
“ Well then, can you guess what I am about to do now?” Yuno asked, three seconds left before the repelling mist recede fully.
“ You will help Yuri escape in some way. But I assure you, it will not work.” Bradinn surmised as he had calculated.
“ I beg to differ.”
“ You don’t know what I am capable of.”
“ Ahh ha…Well, Solo. That is a misconception on your part.” Yuno chuckled lightly to alleviate her bleeding lungs.
One second.
“ I have already fought you before, and won.”
‘Solo’ jolted slightly with sheer surprise.
“ You—”
The repelling mist wanned off. The Gravitas field burst out, charging like the invisible jaws of a beast, crushing and crunching matter and existence, pressuring all that stood in her way, that is now Yuno alone.
With a swing wave, before the Gravitas field could even touch her armor, Yuno summoned a circular rune right in front of her, dazzling light blue with symbols unique in shape and design.
“ That…That is—!”
Before Bradinn could fully grasp what that familiar rune could be, he watched as Yuno’s rune started sucking the gravitational field in, as if an unseen drain warping his transparent pressure field into a pocket dimension hiding within that rune.
“ Gravitas, Deactivate—” ‘Solo’ sensed an impending error, shutting his rune of Gravity down, but was just one moment too late than Yuno, who had already begun her chant, her Astra summoning—
“ Flow of Light, Flow of Sky, Flow of the Stars that reflect through Time,
Grant me reflection, on this Flow against thee—
— Yunosolo - Caelodius Enma!!!!!”
As soon as Yuno finished, all that her rune had devoured, all the Gravitas force that threatened the children and the world, shot out from Yuno’s hands that pointed onto two sides.
One at the escape pod Yuri lay.
And the other onto ‘Solo’ Bradinn.
Not good…!!!
‘Solo’ deactivated all the runes upon his Bradinn armor, leaping up to seize the escape pod as soon as he could, only to be swallowed by the Gravitational field he himself had exerted upon the lands, crushing him deep onto the throne room floor, crushing him through and onto the floor beneath, then crushed through again onto the lower floors, one after another, sinking down to the basins of Skyworld, into the dark deep depth.
While Yuri, Lima, and Elza, were pushed far, far, far away, the reverted Gravitational force, now as a helping hand, tossing them out to the vast wide world,
now covered in Demon pus. Darkness consuming the lands under sky.
.
.
.
With one last heave, Caerlia ripped the Allenia claws apart, rage pulsing through the veins of her strengthened arms as the morning shafts lit her world once more.
Rising from flame and spark, The Exalted one saw, drawing a thin pale line across the morose heavens,
An escape pod, shooting to the far beyond.
Both Firren and Momo shot up to their feet, ready to engage in a ferocious second round.
But the Lansar Suprima didn’t respond, but stood, watching the small pod vanish into the gray.
“ You can stop me all you want, but I will never stop without the Herunis Carna in my grasp,”
Caerlia confessed with a queenly aura.
“ So, is it to stay behind staring me with those helpless eyes, or follow me on my trail to save all Light-Hearted kind?”
Firren took a double take.
“ What are you—”
“ Your choice.” Caerlia snapped without waiting any second more, shooting to the heavens with one deafening leap, pivoting herself up high, vanishing also to the infinite gray with a twinkling flash.
“ Commander…She is after Yuri!!” Momo cried out after a daunted pause of silence.
“ Ahh…” Firren took a deep breath, grinning slightly to himself.
“ At least Yuri made it…You ready for one more ride, Momo??”
“ Yes, Commander!” The young Starbreaker cried with unextinguishable fervor.
“ Always!!”
And the duo sped up to the skies, the Allenia armor pushing them as their thrusters, chasing their mission far behind but never giving up.
Need not worry, Captain…Sensei Castiel Bradson…
Firren vowed in heart to his Captain, his mentor.
I’ll let nothing harm Yuri—Under my watch!
His oath, did the brightening heavens hear and approve.
.
…
………
.
The grandness of the lands, now shrouded in vast Dark, a sea of black, shrunk into a small looking glass, scanning the corrupted earth within its golden glass orb.
It has been long since the last signal was detected by the orb radar, seated in the center of a control hub, a rectangular chamber walled with transparent gold. But the orb went on searching, sensing, detecting until a golden spark lit up on one particular corner of its surface.
The golden orb boomed like an orchestral horn, its low moan echoing throughout the glass empty corridors.
One armored figure, dazzling in the color of the sun, runes of sun rays proliferating upon her visage, neared the orb, bending close to discern what the radar had caught.
Another error? False alarm?
Neither.
It was a dashing pod, oval in shape, speeding across the air above the ruined lands, traveling nonstop.
But it was not the pod the orb so detected.
It was the golden sphere,
harbored within a chained golden necklace,
ringed around the girl’s neck.
The tiny sphere shone abright like a tiny sun in its own galaxy, as if in answer.
The armored figure stumbled back a few steps, gasping gently as she bent closer than before, fearing her eyes had deceived her.
Fearing that all this was a dream.
Her fears slowly shifted to a joyous whisper.
“ ……Lima…..?!
Is it…you…?!”
[...to be continued……]