Crystal Soul

NOV. 15. 3000

A large meteor the size of Texas impacted Maine, taking out everything down to Pennsylvania. Moments after impact, the god-like rock cracked open, releasing crystals in all directions. However, these crystals weren’t normal…One traveled all the way to Florida as if it was self-aware then landed on a newborn’s forehead, merging itself with them…

15 Years later, Gavin Komoto sat at his school desk trying to focus on his teacher when everything around him began to slow down until all the students and teacher looked like realistic statues.

“W-what’s happening!?” he cried getting up from his seat. Looking outside Gavin could see birds frozen in place. That’s when he noticed a faint glow in the glass of the window. Komoto raced into their classes’ bathroom looking into the mirror. His silver crystal that had been on his forehead all his life was glowing.

“Is…my crystal causing this!? No it can’t be, that’s not possible!” Just then a student walked in.

“Hey you ok?” They asked. Gavin looked at his crystal in the mirror, it had stopped glowing and that tingling feeling had vanished.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just have a small headache” The boy shrugged going into a stall while Komoto sighed in relief that things were back to normal and he didn’t have to sound like an insane person explaining what just happened…

Once school had ended he went into his room closing the door and pulling out his laptop. Komoto looked up crystals and weird things occurring around them. He read about things moving around a girl that had a green crystal in the center of her head. Looks like there’s others with different type of crystals with different abilities. Maybe one of them can help. Only problem is, how could I find one of them…

One afternoon the teen found an ad from a young adult asking for work: “Will work for any price, will get any task done in five minutes guaranteed” The boy saw this as a clue that this man could be a crystal owner as well since there’s plenty of tasks that would take much more than five minutes. Though there wasn’t a photo of the man so he would either have to call him up or go to his address which he thought was a little odd, not many would just give out their address like that. But even if this was a trick, he was confident he could handle it…

Komoto arrived at the man’s apartment, it was small from the outside and looked poor with maintenance since their community dumpster was full even though the trash should’ve came just yesterday. Gavin was unsure if his crystal would activate if needed but he remained there, going over to the door.

It only took one knock before the young adult opened the door. He had short blonde hair, blue eyes and was tall while Gavin had dark brown hair, hazel eyes and was tall as well, but shorter than him. Komoto instantly saw the crystal on the man’s forehead even with him rubbing his head as if to hide it.

“I know you’re trying to hide it” Gavin commented. The man looked down at his guest also noticing the silver crystal upon his head.

“So, you have one as well?” Gavin nodded brushing his dark hair out of the view of his crystal. “I’m guessing yours was activated recently considering how young you look”

“I assumed they began working around the age of 15 depending on the person” The man smiled replying: “You seem like you know an awful lot about these space crystals already. But I’m sure you’re just assuming from experience” Once again the young teen nodded.

“It went off in class…it was like everyone around me was frozen in time” The man’s eyes widened in surprise for a split second then went back to it’s calm state.

“Seems you were given a gift of time stopping. But I’m sure there’s more to it. Being a wearer of a space crystal myself, I’ve learned that each crystal comes with 2-3 powers depending on their abilities. With something as powerful as effecting time…you may only get two but it’s only a theory. By the way…my name’s Arkusu Ishiku. But here it would be considered Alex Mason in Japanese.

“It’s fine, I like your Japanese name” Komoto said with a smile shaking his hand. My name is Gavin Komoto” As their hands connected, both their crystals lit up brighter than normal. They quickly pulled away their hands feeling a little dizzy…

After that day, they continued to meet up and talk about their experiences and theories of their crystals. It had been a full year since Gavin had his crystal activated which he soon named “Tamashi hikari” Which translated meant Soul light. He choose this because he felt as though these crystals were connected to their souls.

As Gavin walked home from yet another school day, he felt as though something was off. No birds chirping, no people walking or driving around him. That’s when he spun around preparing to trigger his silver Tamashi crystal. A dark blue hover car came sailing toward him. By how it was going, Gavin could tell no one was behind the wheel of the vehicle.

He threw his left palm forward pushing it back with his power of telekinesis he had recently figured out how to use. The car went spiraling out of control in the opposite direction. Just as he though it was close to the ground, he then triggered his time stop ability.

Quickly making his way down the road taking a right turn he saw two teenage girls frozen in time in collusion with the incoming car. Gavin raced over grabbing both the girls taking them to the other side of the street a few meters forward outside the range of the car. He deactivated his Tamashi as the two girls turned around looking at him out of breath on his hands. “What are you some kind of perv?” she said as they laughed when the hover car hit the pavement blowing up behind Komoto. They screamed loudly running away. He continued to sit there trying to catch his breath.

(Ugh, seems going long periods of time without using my time ability really takes a toll on me. But at least no one was hurt) As he got up, a man could be seen at the end of the road.

“Bravo, to think a puny kid like you could both deflect a car and save two girls in just mere seconds”

“You did this didn’t you!?” Gavin shouted standing back up with most of his stamina back.

“Maybe I did, so what?” Enraged Komoto took off as fast as he could. His target smirked with his guard up. But once he was in a few meter range, Gavin once again triggered his crystal. The assailant could feel himself slow down until time was completely stopped to the point his target was unaware of what was happening.

Gavin did a punching motion while combining it with his telekinesis ability. His target’s torso was forced inward showing that his attack had made contact with a large amount of force into it. The attack had drained him of his stamina once more causing time to continue once more. The opponent went flying backwards at incredible speed while Komoto hit the sidewalk once again out of breath. He laid there on his back staring up at the sky.

Meanwhile the criminal impacted a water tower spilling gallons of water all over the area. He fell from the tower landing in the flooded street still too hurt to move…

Arkusu found his ally laying there before helping him to his feet. “You alright?” He asked pulling his friend’s arm over his shoulder incase the weakened teen tripped. Gavin turned to him replying: “Yea, my body’s just not fully in sync with the Tamashi so it puts a heavy toll on my stamina” The young teen pointed north down the street. “I knocked our opponent about a mile or so that way. we should hurry before he has a chance to escape”

After about 10 minutes of walking, they finally reached the flooded part of town where their foe was limping away.

“Not so fast!” Arkusu shouted setting his ally on a bench. Their target sighed in annoyance turning around looking at them.

“Just what I need, more troublesome crystal users” Arkusu’s crystal lit up as he raced toward the villain at incredible speed. Weakened, the man couldn’t do much. His green crystal lit up as cars went flying toward the hero. Luckily Ishiku dogged each one just barely. Making his way, Arkusu was the current threat.

His eyes widened in surprise as the hero reached him, beginning to throw a fierce onslaught of blows. It continued for two minutes straight until Arkusu stepped back lowering his fists. “Damn you” Their foe groaned hitting the ground losing consciousness.

“Got em” Ishiku cheered walking back over to his friend. Helping him up once more, they walked over to a fast food restaurant. They decided to relax and eat for about an hour…

After they ate steak and fries, they came out to find their enemy gone. “Damn it! I knew we should’ve bound him up to something before we left!” Komoto put his hand up to signal him to be quiet. “Don’t stress over it. I’m sure he’ll either try to attack us again or avoid us until he found an ally”

Arkusu and Komoto walked through the streets, hoping to find their escaped target. After about 20 minutes, they were just outside of town. “What are we doing?” Gavin asked as he wondered why they were leaving their home town. Ishiku responded: Our attacker are bound to head out of down in search of allies or a strategy on how to beat us”

“That is a possibility, we should proceed then incase we run into the tyrant again or find an ally that may have the capabilities to help capture him”…

They reached a hotel late at night and decided to check in. A young man with dark skin, hazel eyes and curly brown hair. “Welcome to the Wright hotel, how may I help you tonight?” Both teens looked at him, his eyes gleamed in the light of the large lobby. Both could feel a slight unease radiating from him. “Oh I’m sorry how rude of me, my name is Anthony Finacha. May I get the names of you gentlemen?”

They hesitated for a moment then Gavin responded: My name is Eric Stevens and this this is Seth Mason. That’s when the man begun to laugh even though the two hadn’t said anything funny. “Heh, you’re a good jokester. However, I’d rather you tell me the truth than lie right to my face”

Komoto went silent before telling him that he wasn’t lying. “I’m not lying, that’s our names!” Anthony said in a calm voice “Clairvoyance reveals all secrets Komoto” That’s when they noticed a faint glow glistening beneath the man’s hair. Gavin quickly realized that the faint shine was a crystal from his forehead!

“Get back Arkusu, that guy has abilities as well!” As the two men leapt back, Anthony brushed his curly brown hair from his head, revealing his crystal. They saw his purple crystal beginning to shine. At that moment, both men realized they were unable to move. “W-what!? You can stop time as well!?” Komoto cried out.

“No, I just paralyzed you…think of it, as telekinesis. Now, I don’t mean to come off as selfish or heartless, but I knew you two would probably attack if I hadn’t paralyzed both of you” The man dressed in a black and gold suit, walked over to Gavin that was frozen in place in a back-jumping position.

Finacha stood in front of the boy looking into his eyes. “Hmm, such a youthful boy. It'd be a shame if any tyrants were to hurt such a boy. Anthony placed his hand across the boy's cheek. “I am not an enemy, I shall join you to protect you” Gavin blushed seeing the man stare into his eyes with his hand still on the boy’s cheek.

Their target deactivated his crystal, allowing the two boys to land back on their feet. “You have no reason to worry” he looked at Komoto and continued: “I have plenty of experience using my crystal and will be a great help in our next battle”

“If you think you can help us, then you can join. But I’ll be watching incase you try something” After a night resting in the hotel, they came back down to the lobby to find Anthony waiting for them in a big blue leather chair by the front door. “Glad to see you’re both awake, didn’t expect you two to wake up until noon, yet here you are at only 9:00 A.M”

“So where are we going?” Ishiku asked. Gavin thought for a moment then replied: “We should check out the impact zone of that meteor that took out a large portion of the U.S. Maybe there we’ll either get more info about our crystals or another enemy will be waiting to ambush us”

CHAPTER 2 Searching For Answers

After a few days of driving through the country, they finally reached halfway through Pennsylvania where the damage was too great for them to take the road at this point. Gavin and Anthony decided to use their telekinesis ability to fly over all the destruction left over al those years ago. Finacha carried Arkusu with his ability as well since he had more practice and stamina against the strain of their crystal’s use.

A silver light outlined Gavin’s body when he used his ability to fly, while his ally’s outline was purple. Looking down every now and then, they noticed some parts of the destroyed states managed to rebuild a portion of it’s city. But compared to it’s original size, they were just small villages at this point. Barley any plants grew in the damaged area, either from some kind of radiation that killed most types of plants, or there just wasn’t enough soil and natural resources to keep the plant alive.

After another few days of soaring through the air over the wastelands that once were filled with life, they reached the location main once was, but now was just a massive crater. It seemed almost as deep as the grand canyon but was round instead. Carefully the trio descended down into the hole, slowly lowering themselves until they finally reached the bottom.

It was dark, but just enough to see a few feet in front of you. “Hopefully we can find some clues or info about our crystals and where they came from” Each of them studied a section of the endless hole until after two hours of looking, Gavin saw a blue crystal laying in the dirt. “Strange, if I remember correctly, the crystals landed on earth and went to find a host as if they knew what they were doing”

“Maybe it ran out of energy before it could find a user”

“Energy huh?” This gave the boy an idea, he picked it up and concentrated his power in hopes he could restart the blue crystal back into working. After multiple attempts, he finally felt the crystal power-up in his hand. He let go of it, hoping it would find a host, but instead it bonded with his left arm.

“Fascinating, I had no idea a person could weld more than one crystal at a time! Either it’s because you’re the one that gave it life, or crystals look for a certain life force and attach themselves to it” Anthony commented.

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“Well putting it like that it could be both” Komoto responded. Arkusu looked for any other crystals but had no luck. Finacha told him that the crater was huge and it’s probably rare that the crystals didn’t find a host, so there was a low chance he’d find one. Just then a red beam rushed by, creating an explosion just several feet from Gavin. They turned in the direction of the projectile and saw a girl dressed in black leather coming out of a dark cave across the crater.

“So, looks like I’m not the only one that acquired a crystal with supernatural abilities. Never the less, I should be able to dispose of you fairly easily”

“Like to see you try!” Ishiku taunted back. The girl brushed her blue hair out of her eyes before firing another beam from her red crystal in the center of her forehead. Komoto watched as his ally was nearly hit by the beam when suddenly it swerved to the side, crashing into the wall of the crater. Suddenly the mile high walls begin to Shake in an abrupt quake.

Quickly activating his Crystal Gavin was able to stop time nearly instantaneously. He looked up to find large rocks falling towards them. He rushed over to them, grabbing Ishiku and placing his free hand against Anthony. Once his hand made contact, his ally was unfrozen from the time stop. “Lets hurry and get to the surface before you run out of stamina!”

“Almost there!” Gavin cried out as they were close to the top. Suddenly the boy’s crystal became less bright and they realized his time manipulation had faded. The women’s body surged with red electricity as she moved at super-human speed, running up the wall of the abyss, using the falling rocks as a surface to jump higher and get closer to the top. She was just a few meters from them when Komoto used the last of his stamina to create a powerful telekinetic blast aimed toward the approaching assailant

“Take that!” The silver crystal user cried out. Arkusu and Anthony watched as the force of his attack caused her to stagger off balance and fall back to the bottom of the pit. Gavin fell with her from his drained crystal when Anthony stopped his fall with his telekinetic ability. After bringing him over to the surface, they watched as the threat fell with large boulders right behind her. She faded into the darkness as tons of massive rocks buried the bottom.

“That’s the last of her” Arkusu commented. The others looked at each other unsure when a ray of red light filled the abyss. All of them watched as giant boulders floated up. In the center was the women. Suddenly she fired a beam right for Ishku, it went right through his chest and out his back. His friends watched in horror as the boy hit the ground in a pool of his own blood.

“How sad, to see such trash down with just one strike. Perhaps I should’ve held back a little. Anyway, it’s your turn to die and hand over your crystals. Such scum are unworthy of such power” She held her hand up toward he sky, shooting a wave of dark-red power. That’s when numerous bolts of red lightning came down in random spots. “Heh, let’s see you fight me and evade the lightning strike at the same time!”

“This might be tricky” Anthony commented seconds before a bolt came down at amazing speed. Luckily he dogged it just in time. “Get ready Anthony!” Komoto cried out as his silver crystal glistened in the dark. Stopping time, the boy rushed over to Finacha, placing his hand on the guy’s shoulder so he can move around in the frozen time.

“Alright I’ll take care of her, you take his body and get away from here. Try to save some stamina for your flight ability!” With a nod Gavin lifted his friend over his shoulder and flew away while Anthony remained by the abyss where their foe was still motionless. “Now, let’s see if I can get some damage on her before this time manipulation wares off”

Making his way over to the frozen opponent, he concentrated most of his power into his fists, using his telekinetic ability to multiple the damage of each strike. “Take this!” Finacha unleashed a barrage of blows to the woman’s abdomen to the point he could feel his power nearly drained. As he drifted a few feet away from the hole so he could rest, the time stop wore off. Anthony watched as his opponent flinched as if she were getting punched at that very moment.

After the last strike, she fell back down toward the hole. It seemed as if the hero had won, but as he approached the cliff entering the hole, he saw her holding onto a rock sticking out of the side just a few feet from the top. “D-don’t think this is over!” She shouted as she struggled to get any higher than her current spot. The man decided to use the last of his stamina to send a physic blast of force in her direction. She tried to hold on, but the force was so immense, it caused her to lose her grip and fall bac into the darkness of the abyss.

Her stamina was drained, so she couldn’t use her abilities to save herself this time. As the assailant plummeted to her doom, the hero collapsed onto the rocky terrene on his back out of breathe from using so much power. (I might be here for awhile, but at least I stopped that tyrant from killing anyone else)

MEANWHILE…

Komoto found a small town to try and find help for his friend and rejuvenate his stamina. “Hello can I help you?” A women asked answering the door, she looked to be in her late 60’s with gray hair and wrinkles. Her eyes were green and she was short. “My friend here needs aid, do you have a clinic or someone that can give any kind of aid?” She motioned them in as he carried his wounded ally inside onto the guest room bed.

“I’d like you to wait outside please, I’ll let you know when I’ve done all I can”

“Alright” Komoto responded making his way back outside. The boy just sad on the porch looking up at the stars. “Looks like the sky’s cleared, which means our opponent has been defeated” Just then Gavin could hear footsteps approaching him. The boy’s stamina wasn’t fully back yet, but if it was an enemy he wouldn’t really have a choice.

Anthony came out from a large rock walking towards him. “Glad to see you’re ok and found a place to rest. How’s Ishiku doing? He looked like he was at death’s door just moments after he was struck by the criminal’s attack”

“Yea I was worried he died on contact, but seems he’s still alive barely hanging on” They sat that for about 15 minutes when the women came back out letting them see their injured ally. “I did what I could, surprisingly his wound isn’t as bad as I originally thought. I wrapped bantages around his torso to stop any more bleeding and gave him a pain-realf pill that should help”

“We appreciate all your help miss” Anthony replied as he walked over to the bed. Ishiku slowly opened his eyes looking over at his comrades. “What-what happened” Arkusu asked in a faint voice. Finacha placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder replying: “It’s ok, you were attacked by that unknown women, she struck you through your chest with a long-range energy attack. We’re all glad you’re alive my friend”

Arkusu weakly sat up, a surge of pain rushed through his body as he moved. Once he was sitting up, most of the pain had ceased. “Well…what’s our next course of action?” Finacha explained to both of them that they should find a T.V or computer to search for any situations caused by evil crystal users. The elderly woman insisted their friend stay put for a day or two to rest and heal instead of leaving so soon.

“Well it’s dark for now, you should sleep for now and we’ll come get you in the morning” Arkusu sighed but knew his friend was right. As he prepared for sleep, Gavin and Anthony laid on the couch before falling asleep in minutes…

Once they were all awake and ready, they once more thanked the woman for her kindness before leaving for a more active city. Since their teammate was still hurt and couldn’t walk too far, once more the two users flew through the sky while helping the inured hero fly along side them…

3 HOURS LATER…

Once they saw a city that hadn’t been effected by the catastrophe, they descended down onto the sidewalk near a fast-food restaurant called: “Dakaino’s” Komoto ordered chicken and fries while his friends got salad and a burger. “How’s the food?” Gavin asked. Both nodded enjoying their food choice. After they finished, their server came over. “Would anyone like some dessert? We have this new sundae of ice cream with chocolate syrup and cherries all over it”

“Sure, I’d like to try it” One of them replied. Their server brought them the sundae and check. While Anthony paid the bill, Gavin decided to try it. The ice cream was perfectly between frozen and melting at the same time, a lot of syrup all over the dessert with tons of cherries. “This is great and was pretty cheap for a large sundae”

An abrupt explosion rang out just a few blocks from their location. Screams could be heard as they raced outside into the street. “Best case scenario: A pipeline blew up, not harming anyone” Finacha commented. They reached the location to see a group of hooded men searching the area while attacking innocent citizens.

“Enough! Stop attacking those that don’t deserve such treatment!” Komoto cried out. One of the assailants dressed in a red robe turned his attention toward the trio of heroes. “Ah, you’ve mad it easier for us to find what we were looking for” In an instant, the hooded man moved straight toward the dark-haired boy. Anthony watched as they gripped the hero’s crystal in the center of his forehead.

That’s when an electric shock wave sent both himself, and the attacker in opposite directions. Before the enemy could crash through a nearby storage house, one of the other men used his power to stop his ally’s impact. “Guessing this won’t be as easy as the others” The silver dressed man commented. Hearing this Gavin cried out: “What do you mean others!?” The red and black dressed men looked at him with complete silence until the silver one answered: “We take crystals from mortals so I may strengthen my group. You three seem too nice to deserve those supernatural powers the meteor bestowed upon you”

“If you found a crystal on the ground, I will accept that as yours, but if you hurt or even killed those who were given such a divine gift, I will never forgive you!” A grin grew from the leader’s face and responded: “My name is Sintamari Tenkodo, a high class user of the crystal soul”

“Enough of this!” Gavin and Anthony said at once. They charged him at incredible speed. Seconds before they reached him, Gavin once more activated the power of Tamashi, stopping time for anything in about five miles. “Finish this!” Komoto told his partner. But as the tall warrior reached the silver-dressed man, he realized the man’s body was still moving!

As Anthony attempted to jump back, Tenkodo grabbed him by his throat, lifting him off his feet. That’s when his cloak’s sleeve fell down, revealing multiple crystals across his arms. “What!? How many do you have?” The man chocked out. Sintamari laughed replying: “Enough to handle just about any threat that comes my way and the fact you don’t know most of my abilities, gives me a big advantages” Placing his index finger upon Anthony’s crystal, nullifying it’s power while also draining the hero’s stamina. “You’re as weak as a human now. I’ll finish you in a moment” Suddenly he threw the drained hero over to his followers where they sealed him within a barrier of gold energy.

“One down, two weaklings to go” Arkusu was still injured and was recommended not to fight. But at this rate he’d have to anyway. (What can I do? My crystal can only use telekinesis and stop time. Maybe I can figure out how to use my new one) He threw both hands out and focused his power into his hands…But nothing happened.

“Ah, now I see…You have a 2nd one that you’re clueless about what abilities it contains. Just submit, you can’t figure it out fast enough to save your friend” Pulling back his hood to revel his bald head and first crystal he was given. However, this was the first black one the teen had ever seen. “You’ve wasted enough of my time” In a sudden movement, Tenkodo struck the young boy in the torso with great force. The attack was so powerful, it caused Gavin to black out just moments after contact.

“Now for the last nuisance to capture” Komoto was sealed within a ball of energy like his friend while the tyrant approached the last remaining hero. Ishiku was shaken in fear, sweat ran down his face as if he were paralyzed. “Come now, you are going to fight back aren’t you? Would be a shame to just watch you cower in fear while your friends are captured” Pulling himself together, the boy focused every inch of his crystal’s power into his left fist.

(If this doesn’t stop him, then nothing will) The boy lunged toward his opponent, striking him across the face. “Crystal overload!” The two other villains watched as the boy struck him across the face, sending both Tenkado and a massive force of air across the city like a sideways tornado. “T-that was an impressive attack, you actually injure me” To his horror, Arkusu saw his foe covered in blood but still alive.

“Didn’t think you had such power, especially in your weakened state. Which reminds me” He grinned as the crystal on Ishiku’s forehead shattered and landed on the ground. “You poor boy, seems you destroyed your ability stone. Now you’re as weak as all the other scum that lives on this damaged rock. Arkusu new he was beaten, he got on his knees putting his hands up in surrender.

That’s when he was struck in the back of the head and blacked out…

CHAPTER 3 Captured

All three of them woke up bound to the wall by steel shackles. “Where…where are we?” Komoto asked still dizzy from all the damage he had taken. That’s when Anthony was waking back up. They realized their teammate was beside them. They called out his name but there was no answer. Out of the dark came Sintamari, he smiled as he walked over to the pair pinned against the metal wall. “How fun it is to see such heroes trapped like mice while their ally is nowhere to be found”

“Where is he? What did you do to our friend!” Gavin shouted trying to break his restrains. The tyrant walked right up to him before slapping him across the face. “You honestly think you can escape? Both of you are badly injured from the first battle and you’re so drained I doubt your crystals will work any time soon. I’m giving you both half an hour to say your goodbyes before I take your powers and end your suffering once and for all”

Both men sat there unable to find a way out. Anthony finally gave in commenting: “I think it’s over, our powers aren’t working from our hurt bodies and even if they did, highly unlikely we could beat such a hostile opponent” Gavin was shocked to watch as his ally began to silently cry, tears slowly ran down his face. The boy reached over to him as a final farewell, but as their hands connected, both of their crystals lit up the room brighter than ever.

Tenkodo came in to see a blinding light filling the room. The bonds broke from the wall as a figure stepped down onto the tile floor. “No, it can’t be…they fused into one being!?” The being smirked as raw power swarmed around him, his body wasn’t injured unlike the pair’s body just a moment ago. “Hmph, seems merging as one has given us a new body with multiplied powers. Time to make you pay for putting our friend through all this”

The villain took a few steps back before firing an immense energy attack from his palm. In a split second, the fused warrior created a small barrier that condensed Sintamari’s attack into an orb-shaped attack. Anthonin threw it right back, as the target created a rift to escape, the orb made it’s way through. The hero listened in silence…a massive burst could be heard a few blocks away. With his amplified powers and endurance, he burst through the roof of the metal storage building he was kept in, flying toward the dust cloud at great speed.

“Where do you think you’re going? Our business isn’t through”

“You’re a low-class fighter, you shouldn’t be alive by now! Fine then, I’ll use my best attack to finish your game! Ray of destruction!” Putting his hands together in the shape of a triangle, he fire a blast head-on for his foe. The attack was more powerful than anything Anthonin had ever seen, it tore through the city, destroying everything in it’s path until leaving the earth’s atmosphere.

Once Tenkodo saw that his rival was gone he let out a loud victory laugh. “Yes! That annoying freak is gone!” That’s when he was grabbed from behind, his foe’s hands in the neck-snap position. “Too bad Sintanari, I wouldn’t think someone as smart as you would assume their foe's dead just because their body isn't anywhere in sight. That's a mistake so many villains do that causes their eminent defeat and you’re no different”

That’s when his foe became black sand that fell between his fingers as a rift opened. As the figure made of sand entered the rift, Anthonin lunged after him when suddenly a women back-handed him away just in time for it to close. “Sorry, but I can’t after my master die so soon. Kill me if you want, but I served my purpose in protecting my lord”

Looking ahead, the man saw a women with dark-purple hair dressed in blood-red. “Fine, if you’re the next one I have to beat then so be it” Moving at high-tier speed, Anthonin moved past the woman, striking her in the center of the back. A surge of pain rushed through her body from the force he put on her nerves.

“You are strong, I can see why master would have trouble with you. If this is to be my final battle then so be it, I shall not let you get to my lord. For I am Emma Safire, his loyal bodyguard. “He has those other clocked men, why would he need a bodyguard?” The hero questioned. That’s when the woman surprisingly started to laugh before answering his question: “Those aren’t his bodyguards, technically he does use them for protection or extra aid. But those “men” aren’t paid to protect him like I am. They’re duplicates of himself, each with a fraction of his overall power. The clones are about 40% of his power, but if he were to call them back and become whole again, I assure you that his power would be equal or at least close to your own power. I don’t know my lord’s intentions on why he never became one again, but I stick with his decisions”

“Enough talk, you’re still standing between me and the monster that hurt or even killed my comrade and for that he must pay back his crime” Both charged forward exchanging blows, after just moments of clashing, Anthonin found an opening and struck his opponent in the chest. The blow was so intense, it caused Safire to cough up blood.

“D-damn it, how could I be losing so quickly!? I may not match my lord or this merged being, but surely I have the power to last longer than this!” Her pink crystal lit up as she sent a powerful shockwave in all directions. It’s power was strong enough to destroy the rest of the city that hadn’t been destroyed by Sintamari’s ultimate attack. Aside from the catastropic damage to the city, Anthonin had sustained only minor cuts and burns from the long-ranged attack.

When the girl saw that her attack had destroyed everything around her except her actual target, she fell to her hands and knees out of power. The man moved right to her at instant speed, picking her up by the throat. “I won’t kill you for now, but get in my way and I won’t really have a choice. I’m not fond of killing. I only resort to it if they’ve killed someone themselves or are planning to kill multiple. Plus you’re a woman so it would leave a bad taste in my mouth” He let go of her and took off into the sky. “I need to find him, maybe I can try sensing his power from all those crystals he has”

Closing his eyes, he began to focus in on any power he could find, that’s when he felt something…

TO BE CONTINUED…