Mira was in the middle of a battle hovering in the air when she got his message. The monsters were fighting defensively against her… as defensively as they could. They couldn’t defend against the Novas and Shooting Stars were too fast a technique for them to dodge. The only reason they could fight was because Mira was supposed to give the others opportunities to get en-code and improve their skills she wasn’t focused on attacking.
Mira reminisced as the battle went on. She remembered the first time she met Jade. His refusal of her service had made her remember Malik, she remembered the tears he shed when he heard her story she smiled warmly at the memory and thought ‘I hope he’s doing well’.
Mira inhaled as she remembered Funmi her friend. If Funmi hadn’t developed a skill and surpassed her she wouldn’t have felt driven to surpass the technology that Jade first gave her. She remembered her old axes, Havoc Night and Tranquil Day as well as her armor. She thought about the day Funmi saw it and was stunned. She thought ‘Truth be told, I felt a little superior because of my armor but Funmi put me down a peg by getting to Rank 5 while I was still in Rank 4… I hope she’s ok’.
Mira opened her eyes and looked at the people of Night City fighting around her and they overlapped with the people of the sanctuary. She felt proud to one of them one of those who fought against the conditions that their situation had put them in. She thought ‘There really are good people, even great ones as Malik said’. Mira’s mind was silent for a moment before thinking ‘What did he call them again?’ She thought for a while before widening her eyes as she thought ‘He called them Stars’.
The world around Mira went silent as she recalled a song that one of her elder sisters used to sing to her at night before she was sold
‘Twinkle Twinkle little star’
‘How I wonder what you are’
‘Up above the world so high’
Like – ‘
Mira remembered the moment Malik told her why he called great people stars. He said ‘You know many stars you see are dead. They don’t exist anymore wherever they are. Many of them have exploded in an event called a Super Nova. But the light they produced still reaches us. I just find that so damn amazing, stars burn all their life time but even in death they still light up the night. Great people are the same; people can still see and feel their light even after their dead. They still shine so bright regardless of the limits of time and space, they’re so tough Samira! They are the eternal scars of the universe. That’s why I like to call them –‘
Mira completed the sentence “Diamonds in the sky”. Mira remembered Malik’s smile as he died and it reflected in her face as she smiled herself and tears ran down her face. Mira thought ‘You shine so bright Malik. I too, I want to be a Diamond in the sky’ as tears ran down Mira’s face.
A strange sensation swept the whole battle field originating from Mira’s position. Both the monsters and the platoon looked at Mira as the golden pearl like energy she made experienced a fundamental change.
The golden color seeped away from the energies and they became transparent crystals that sparkled. The ex-humans who knew about gems recognized the crystal that vaguely resembled glass to the untrained eye, diamonds.
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Through her teary eyes Mira saw the faces of Malik, Jade, Funmi and other people from the sanctuary and Night City faintly reflected on the faces of the crystals her energy had turned to. Mira stared at the crystals and thought ‘…Beautiful’.
The faces faded away from the faces of the crystals and Mira finally had time to look at the situation around her. Everyone was staring at her, she understood the platoon but the monsters she didn’t understand.
The instincts of the monsters was telling them that they should stop fighting and run away but they didn’t want to disobey their superiors; they were stuck.
Mira opened her palm and a vast amount of Diamond beads came out of her palms as divided themselves into 64 parts each of the 64 parts divided into 64 parts again and the Diamond grains were now as fine as grains of dust. The Diamond dust spread over the monsters in the night sky. Each of the dust particles segmented themselves into two as their shape changed to resemble water drops.
‘Shooting Stars’ The night lit up as a shower of Diamonds hit every single monster and sunk into a vital part of their body. ‘Nova’ The monsters all simultaneously dropped dead as their vital organs exploded within their bodies. Mira’s IP said ‘Congratulations on reaching Transcendent Rank in the Energy stat’.
The eyes of the platoon G members widened when the saw the Diamond dust that was supposed to have exploded returning to Mira from the corpses of the monsters that were all alive a second ago and turning back to energy and refilled Mira’s energy organ.
Mira normally would have been surprised by her IP’s notification but she already suspected that she had gotten to Transcendent rank. She thought ‘I’ve become able to turn my energy to Diamonds so quickly because the energy in my energy organ has changed to become more like the Diamonds. I probably won’t be able to do Magic with the way my energy is now but it’s ok’.
Mira looked at the platoon and said “Sorry for killing all of them. Let’s just pack up and go back for now” Mira looked checked her stats as her platoon retreated, her IP showed:
[Previous State:
Strength: High (low)
Agility: High (intermediate)
Stamina: High (low)
Durability: Intermediate (high)
Intelligence: High (low)
Senses: High (intermediate)
Energy: Pinnacle]
[Current State:
Strength: High (low)
Agility: High (intermediate)
Stamina: High (low)
Durability: Intermediate (high)
Intelligence: High (low)
Senses: High (intermediate)
Energy: Transcendent]
Mira smiled on seeing the result.
News swiftly spread about Mira’s new skill upgrade. Mira came to where Samuel was and said “My energy is now in Transcendent rank. I’m sure I’m qualified to fight a Rank 7”. Samuel sighed and said “Yes that should be true but I’ll need to test you. First though, how does it feel to have a Transcendent rank stat”.
Mira slightly smiled and answered “It feels like I’m a cheat. Like I shouldn’t be this powerful at all but I still am”. Samuel nodded and noted Mira’s statement down on a jotter and asked “How did you get there?”
Mira was silent for a while before answering “My explosions were an expression of my ambition. But I only became Transcendent when I understood what the purpose of my ambition was, what I wanted to become”. Samuel asked after noting down what Mira said “You want to be a Diamond?”
Mira said “Diamond in the sky” as her gaze turned deep and unfathomable. Mira continued after her pause, saying “Nova was a skill for me so its expression was limited. It was just something that I could do. But Diamond in the sky isn’t just something that I can do, it is something that I aim to be, it is a part of me, it is something that I am. As a result the skill has become a part of me, a part of my energy, so my energy has become more than just energy from my energy organ it has transcended itself and has become part diamond”
Samuel nodded as he listed to Mira and smiled and after writing what she said down. He said “Let’s check you out then”. Mira nodded and followed Samuel to a desolate area.