Chapter <ⅩⅫ>
The Aurora isle started to rumble slightly, more and more as the vibrations became evident and forbode grave tidings of the breaking of the indestructible fortress of gold.
The Golden Company in hordes of elite swordsmen in golden uniforms rushed to the bases under the sea of the isolated isle, a wide control plane with the panels and engines in the middle, the machinations that the enemy so seeks.
Arashi the Lord betrayer, the sinned milf seeker, the obscener, there stood, with a couple of Illuminatus league members behind him,
out of the hole in the wall,
infiltrating the Golden Company through the tunnel he dug underneath the sea floor,
all the way to Aurora from Denteimong,
bypassing Vilencia and the borders north,
across the sea that parts he from his former Lord’s maiden that he covets,
digging with such fervor and snide intent since chapter 17.
“ I would have commemorated your determination, Arashi,”
Spake none other than the first mate of the Golden Exian Lord, ranked first after the Awesome Lord of Gold Toshiumi Al Seraphim, be Roy Mustangoo the real aide, the Awesome sidekick, spreader of the Seraphic flame, and Head Swordmaster of the Golden Company
“ But your lust has led you down the unforgiven path. The golden company will now shake our heads at whatever you do !”
And so the head swordmaster Roy Mustangoo announced, in unison did the other outstanding swording elites of the golden company behind Mustangoo all shook their heads distastefully and in disgust at their former comrade Arashi that has fallen to the cringe.
“ I find no wrong in Love! A Love I can bear that Toshiumi himself couldn’t !!”
Arashi argued with nonsensical speech as the League members behind Arashi started corrupting the main interface of the machinations in the middle of the control basement
“ Toshiumi indulges in conquest for his own fame and lust for leadership and dictating those that are lesser than he !! He leaves sweet Mio the fare back in this cold fortress alone!
Alone !!!! For many a month, nearly a year !!!!
I saw it all with my own eyes, of the lonely nights that Mio endured, waiting for her Lord that will never return to love but seeking more hearts to conquer! More women to pork !!
Toshiumi is not Awesome at all, he is disloyal !!! to Mio !!!”
“ And you are full of lies and deceit, Arashi simp! Simping on your boss’ wife !”
Roy Mustangoo uttered back at the simp lord Arashi
“ Spreading lies of your Lord, disrespecting both Toshiumi and Mio’s firm undoubted bond of matrimony and tainting their good name !!! My only fail is not cutting you down earlier before chapter 8 !! Roy Mustangoo, Batou !!!!!!”
As explained back in chapter 16,
Ba, in the kingdeniom tongue, means pulling, an action most accurately used as pulling a sword out of its sheath.
And Tou, in the Kingdeniom tongue, means Saber for short,
meaning Roy Mustangoo has firmed his determination to cut down his former fellow comrade that has turned to the dark side and believes in deranged thoughts of seizing her ladyship Mio for his own and foul-mouthing Toshiumi’s acts on other women which…is another story to tell, such an unruly disrespect towards the Awesome Lord and as the First Aide of Lord Toshiumi, Roy Mustangoo cannot listen to Arashi’s words and stay peaceful anymore.
All the elite swordsmen of the golden company behind Mustangoo also shouted Ba’tou as they unsheathed in such high conduct and discipline, unsheathing one after another with a shout of their name aloud before a Ba’tou as they pulled their blades and pointing them all at Arashi’s nose.
“ Arashi Fallen Simp, I, Mustangoo will sever the ties between you, and the Golden Company.
I declare you, Enemy of Awesome !!! Charge !!!!!”
And the awesome sword heroes all charged forth, saber raised, honor fueled,
and Arashi just sneered as they ganged up on him.
“ To me, Legion !!!!!”
Arashi cried out maliciously and Lo !!!!
Legion third son of the Alesdale family, the brainwasher, the wanton sex offender and intentional rapist of Vilencia, the shame of the household and bearer of the artificial bootleg Exia Rune that rots black in his hand, achieving simple mind control powers but not profound stunts, this woeful degenerate that appeared before Arashi’s wake and shone lo black artificial Exia of mind control over the coming elite swordsmen !!!!!!
Attempting another mind-controlling stunt !!!!!
Only to be cut down but the first Golden Elite that swung the blade !!!!
“ AAARRGGHHHH !!!!!” Legion Lubadab Alesdale uttered, scrambling with blood all over his body as he quickly left the scene.
“.......well, that was unexpected.” Mustangoo spoke as they all watched Legion cowardly leave.
And quickly the Golden company reasserted their stance and charged forth at Arashi the deserter, who to all of you the watcher’s surprise,
fought back with such succession and quick assertion of new dominance of power and swordplay, deflecting the coming blows and returning his assailants with strikes of unforgiving malice !!
Even against the elites of the Golden Company, Arashi still stood his ground firm, for legend has it, that in the state of swordplay and levels of skill and power of the blade, surely Toshiumi the Awesome Al Seraphim would undoubtedly come first, but the second that comes in with raw talent and practiced the arts under the Awesome Toshi himself’s teachings that excelled in the ways of the severing katana only second under Toshiumi, be this very Arashi the simp.
And with the dark synergy of cringe and hatred towards those that defile his love towards Mio the fare, Arashi channeled all his suppressed rage and lust into his blading hands and swept his old fellowship away with the now well-known notorious swordplay of the villain, the Arashi Simping Swordplay !!!! None have ever seen such obscene cuts in an agile offense that the Golden company faltered back to regroup to a standstill.
“ Fellow comrades !! Stop the League lackeys !!!”
Mustangoo shouted to his loyal mates
“ This Arashi I shall face, and cut down !!!!”
“ You Wish !!!” Arashi hollered with a maniacal sneer as he began to fly, yes, fly with his bade raised
“ For I have obtained the teachings of the League Master, the one that you Golden jocks shun and fear, the omnipotent one over Toshiumi that bears nothing but Truth and enlightenment !!! Looka !!!! I have here the unseen aid of Kaburagi Shisei himself !!!!!”
Oh, Woe !!!
The mentioning of that name !!!!
The uttering of such profanity !!!!
Had the golden honorable heroes wince and curl in distaste and hatred, boiling their blood and meddling their judgments!!!
Roy Mustangoo need not say more, for this Arashi that has joined the dastardly You Know Who’s side is no more a fellow brother in arms,
But a mere rat on the street !!!!
“ Arashi You Die !!!!” Roy Mustangoo announced in righteous rage as he pressed forth his Mustangoo house swordplay.
“ Mustangoo you Die !!!!!” Arashi shouted back as he with his masterful and corrupted combined skills of the cringe and hatred blade, flew forth in dishonorable yelp to prove his point,
and put everything The Golden Lord Toshiumi has aided him in the past to shame.
…
…………
As the golden company waged war on the island intruders,
Rang the military genius quickly escorted Mio and Haru into the safe castle grounds of the Seraphim estate.
“ Arashi has returned with ill intentions.”
Rang quickly explained to the ladyship Mio and Haru as they went further into the golden palace in haste, where Agnes, the strategist’s wife, and the golden company guards were there waiting
“ But he is trapped in a fake control basement I set up to lure him in. Arashi will not pose that much threat for now.”
“ But… then…..what is this feeling….??” Haru asked wearily as Rang and Mio quickly lay Haru down on a sofa as soon as they reached the inner lobby where the Golden company guards swiftly gathered around them in defensive positions.
Agnes quickly checked Haru’s vitals and scanned the Seed with a power meter
“ Curious, the Seed seems to be reacting to something instead of exploding like before.”
Agnes reported to her husband Rang, as the learned couple both mused with interest and thought
“ It may not be too hazardous for now, let me prescribe to you some rest.”
So Haru rested on the sofa as Rang checked the securities through his monitor, Agnes surveilling Haru’s vitals, and the golden company stood guard around her,
While Haru secretly produced from her pocket, the sheet of calculations she had written, reading it like it was a shocking revelation, a reveal of an irresistible uncouth truth she never knew would be there at the end of her search for answers,
the unexpected fact that changes everything, one that Mio, Rang, and the others have to know.
She had to tell them, before it was too late!
Haru with all her mustered strength sat up from the sofa and was about to call Rang,
But Rang was talking on the microphone busy on the security monitors
“ West tower! Your security camera is tilted. Reeve! Straighten the camera for us, over !”
Lo, there were four watch towers on each side of the Aurora isle, and the one facing the borders of the Kingdeniom mainlands and Vilencia borders is the west tower, guarded by the peach blossom warrior Reeve Lowangleen that had blended into the background since the Helltron dispute, now recruited as a lookout officer of the Golden Company.
This Reeve Lowangleen, this man who left behind his benefactor and demented Callion Bravo of Peach Blossom village with his young sister Miki Lowangleen, the young fiery soul with large secret ambitions to be a Lord of his own, now assisting Lord Toshiumi of the Golden Exia planning to use the Golden Company as a footstone of his hero career!
But hearken !!
Reeve Lowangleen did not reply to Rang’s calls !!
“ Reeve !! Reeve, answer me this instance, over !!” Rang cried with his voice starting to sound hasty, which Haru can’t find the moment to tell this strategist of her grave findings just now that he is busy.
And Lo, Reeve Lowangleen finally replied
“ Sorry, Rang sir! I was asle– I mean…fixing the microphone batteries! The camera you say ?”
Reeve Lowangleen replied in a sheepish manner.
“ The surveillance camera is tilted, adjust it to the castle grounds, Reeve. Before you recharge your own batteries that is.”
Rang remarked with a heavy sigh
“ Remember to report your status every five minutes like the others as planned, Reeve.”
“ Ho! Of course, Rang sir! Right away !”
And Reeve did his job and Rang scoured all the surveillance footage at once with his eagle-sharp gaze.
Haru had sat up on the sofa yet seeing Rang surveilling the whole island, she was unsure whether to tell him of the calculations yet.
But it was of grave import, Haru decided, and was ready to call out to Rang,
when suddenly,
At that very moment, Mio too gasped slightly as well, placing a hand to her heart in such an expression of grave distress.
“ What is it, your Ladyship !?”
Cried the Elite guard Akiyama, the trusty member of the golden company, also leader of the elite palace guards, donned in pitch black glistening armor of golden linings as his black armored guards, known by commoners and folk as the Black vanguard, most elite of the Golden Company squad the upholds her Ladyship Mio’s utmost security, now spreading out into a strongly fortified wall formation in circles around the strategist, her ladyship, and Haru the Seed.
Again, Haru missed her opportunity to speak.
“ It’s…Him….Shisei……” Mio whispered to Rang and Akiyama of the black vanguard as she looked up to the skies,
the grey clouded skies swirling in foreboding
“ Toshiumi….he is in danger…!”
Agnes quickly came to her ladyship of the golden company’s side and checked her vitals and power scannings, and so that they were all within normal range.
“ Rest assured, Lady Mio.”
Rang confirmed assuringly
“ Lord Toshiumi may be stalled at Denteimong for the time being, he and I have prepared the precautions while he is not around. See that invisible barrier above the island my ladies ?”
Haru looked up but saw only the grey-clouded skies.
Mio nodded to where Rang pointed an unparticular point at the clouded skies
“ I can feel it. It is a force field.”
“ Ikanimo.” Rang nodded with his fluent Japanese
“ That is the invisible barrier to fend off individuals through biological cell identity sensor system, easily put, it’s an Anti-Shisei barrier. Patent Pending.
Whenever the dastardly Kaburagi Shisei comes near the island, his cells will be incinerated by the barriers infused with Lord Toshiumi’s Awesome Wrath and reduced to atoms. Need not worry, for as long as the barriers are lit, this island will be safe.”
Mio nodded in understanding, but something about this Anti-Shisei barrier seemed off, no, something of the whole island seemed off, yet Mio couldn’t point out where.
Now’s the moment, thought Haru as she tried to stand and walk off the sofa to Rang and tell her of her findings,
when, calm footsteps approached the lobby from behind her and lo, Haru saw, it was her mother,
Miula Aki came to her by the sofa.
This woman of few words, brown of hair with ambient elegance that shone out of her mature and mysterious nature, being a high school teacher herself and also the wife of Miula Kenshi the former wrestler, freedom fighter, and mechanic professor, nothing much was known of this modest woman, except that she is the mother of Haru.
That is gonna change today.
“ Mom…” Haru tried to stand while her mother held her close, taking Haru by the hand.
“ Rang, Agnes, Kenshi is getting the labs and operations ready. Are you joining us ?”
Miula Aki asked politely.
What ?? Haru thought in shock.
That was not what she was told.
Her father Miula Kenshi had told her the operation wouldn’t start this soon, how did he……
And Haru too felt something was off, about this whole Aurora isle, the happenings, and the people around her.
“ Tell professor Kenshi to proceed without us.”
Rang and Agnes both bade with a courteous bow, for the military strategist was too occupied by security matters of the whole Aurora isle
“ Good luck, Miula Haru.”
Rang smiled genuinely at Haru, a smile that seemed to assure Haru, that all is under control.
But Haru still has her doubts, through what she felt, and the weird reaction of her Seed.
And so, while Rang, Agnes, and Mio stayed at the Aurora palace lobby, Miula Aki with Haru, close in her arms, headed forth to the lab, walking down the corridors that led deep down to the dark depth of the island.
…
………..
Earlier that day, hours before,
Even before Arashi and Legion made their move onto the Aurora isle,
This Austria Van Hillingdale was called for a serious matter.
After being notified of such quick notice from the current League's highest member, the Grand Disciple Kaburagi Shisei himself,
Austria Van Hillingdale had to put down his designs on a bigger better Barmidis Ark’arios scheme and rush on the first airbus and fly all the way up north to Denteimong castle, where Grand Disciple Shisei was expecting him.
Thus explaining the sudden disappearance of Austria Dark Stalker at the later events in chapter 21.
“ What is it you seek of me, Grand League man ?”
Austria asked rather tersely and without all that etiquette whatsoever, for he was sleep deprived and working on nearly all the schematic and weapon-designing projects of the Illuminatus League, so pardon his rudeness for now.
“ I’ll be brief.”
this Grand Disciple now Spokesman of the Director of the Illuminatus League, Kaburagi Shisei so spoke tersely as well
“ Help me get in Aurora.”
A league member handed Austria a tablet with the map of Aurora isle, the communication supplies to Arashi, Legion, and the invading squad, and a desk for him to put all said appliances and that’s all.
His open walless office on top of the Denteimong tower, right next to the Grand Disciple of the whole League.
Austria sat down with a weary sigh and looked over all the information he was given,
and his eyes instantly lit up with a glow of enlightenment.
“ This is….sublime !” Austria commented on the situation he saw alone with his strategic mind’s eye
“ This Golden Company Strategist will not see me coming…”
And Austria began his work.
…
……………….
“ Take deep breaths, Haru.”
“ Mm…..”
Haru inhaled deeply,
with the papers she had been writing down her calculations stuffed in her pocket,
Haru exhaled slowly.
“ Mom…can I ask you something ?”
“ Anything, Haru.”
Miula Aki whispered gently to her daughter, as she hugged her close while they moved on,
down,
deeper, and deeper.
“ ……Why did you lie to Mr. Rang..?”
Haru asked, seriously
to which both mother and daughter’s footsteps stopped.
“ What do you mean, Haru ?” Miula Aki asked with a wholesome smile, unfazed and kind was her voice.
“ …The lab isn’t ready yet….”
Haru replied, letting go of her mother's caressing arms slowly
" I talked to dad last night and he still has one biological problem about taking the Seed he hadn’t found the answer to.
The side effect.
He said with all of his projects, that if we have no clue of how the outcome turns out to be, then the experiment isn’t ready.
So I made a mathematical assumption of my current state this morning, of all my physical attributes and vital signs with and without the Seed, and during my calculations, I found an odd truth……something dad hasn’t solved yet.”
Miula Aki stared silently,
while her daughter Haru stared back, backing away from her mother a few steps apart.
“ What did you find, Haru ?”
Miula Aki asked calmly, her expression like a serene lake untouched.
But the more she saw of her mother’s calm expression,
the more Haru felt angered,
“ ….Did you know…?”
Haru asked.
“ Know what ?”
“ ………...”
Haru was about to say it,
but something was off, too off about her mother that made her freeze her words at her lips,
even the Seed blooming inside her seemed to be warning her something was far from right.
“........nevermind…”
Haru blurted out and walked forth to enter the lab at the very end of the corridor,
to see the lab stuck in a huge mess !!!
Tables turned, equipment scattered,
As if the operation was adamantly undermined !!!!
And Miula Kenshi her father, sitting in a corner slumped on the messy desk, unconscious and immobilized !!!
“ DAD !!!”
Haru rushed to the unresponding mechanics professor, to see that his light heartbeat was stable, yet his slumber unperturbed.
“ He wouldn't listen, Haru.”
came the calm voice of none other than Miula Aki,
entering the lab slowly as Haru stood up front, shielding her father behind her.
“ So you knew….!!”
Haru whispered angrily, tears coming to her eyes yet quickly wiped away before they even formed dews
“ You knew…… I wasn’t gonna make it!
You knew I can’t survive without the Seed! You knew everything, but you never say it !!!!”
Haru shouted, angrily shouting the conclusion of her calculations on paper to her mother, of the wrinkled sheet of paper in her pocket.
The results of taking out the Seed from her,
may result in Haru’s life’s end.
And facing this result, Miula Aki was still calm and contained,
eerily staring Haru in the eye,
as if possessed, so Haru observed...
…
…………..
The peaceful scenery of the Aurora isle showed no sign of urgency, so Reeve Lowangleen thought as he looked around the island from his watch tower situated at the west.
They say the enemy has infiltrated the trap facility, Reeve recalled from the info they were reporting on the microphone, an enemy by the name of Arashi. They even showed his face all over the island to all personnel to recognize this certain Arashi dude, who sounded like a traitor in the mouths of the golden company.
Reeve doesn’t care that much, he just does what they tell him to do, so he could climb up to higher ranks and gain more publicity and eventually become a Lord of his own. Being just a mere lookout now can’t change much of his current state, unless….he pulls off a grand deed.
Certainly, this Lord Toshiumi would congratulate him and grant him a position of high rankings if he successfully did something no one could ever achieve, like saving the Lord’s life. Saving the Lord’s wife’s life? Saving the Lord’s pet? If there are any though, he isn’t sure, Reeve just started being a clansman of Gold for like less than a week before.
As he pondered on the possibilities to reach his goal of becoming a Lord of great proportions, something not far below his watch tower caught his attention.
Now that the island has been under strict curfew and surveillance, not many personnel were seen walking around the island streets aside from the patrolling elite black vanguards of the whole Aurora security, so seeing a person walk down the west boulevard just mere miles away from his post, Reeve directly deducts it must be a patrolling vanguard as before.
“ Hmm, but I have not seen this uniform before…..”
Reeve, out of boredom looked at this walking figure down the west boulevard with his virtual telescoping eyeglass.
It was a dude, no doubt.
In a uniform of grey and dull white, slightly ravaged and tattered through combat,
with a long katana strapped to the waist, a katana with a sigil Reeve had not seen anyone wield on Aurora isle. Still, he was just a newbie for less than a week, probably a high-rank officer that had just returned from a faraway mission.
No…Reeve told himself, that he saw that sigil on the katana before.
It was spread all over the island for all personnel to look out for,
That was the weapon…..of that one Arashi the traitor ?!?!?!
Reeve can not believe his luck and zoomed in on the walker’s face, and nearly gave out a yelp of sheer horror!
It is Arashi !!!!!
Walking down the west Aurora boulevard !!!!
Heading straight to the main palace !!!!!!
Reeve Lowangleen quickly scrambled his microphone and dialed all security persons including Rang, stammering in a frenzied whisper
“ A..A….Arashi sighted…..ARASHI IS HERE !!!! AT THE WEST BOULEVARD! I REPEAT, ARASHI AT THE WEST BOULEVARD !!!!!”
Reeve hastily waited for backup and reinforcements to swarm in and cut down this Arashi traitor, for he heard that this Arashi had the closest of swording skills only lesser to the Golden Exia Lord Toshiumi, surely facing him one on one means death, and death means no reward!
So Reeve decided to play it safe, wait for the others to come, and deal the finishing blow while they are at it !!
Clever me, Reeve sniggered to himself as he peeked sneakily at the walking Arashi traitor down the long wide west boulevard.
“ Hmm…?”
Reeve grunted in bewilderment after a long minute’s wait
“ Hello ?! Arashi is here !!! West Boulevard !!!”
Reeve called out again through the microphone.
But strangely, no one replied.
Not even Rang.
Reeve then directly dialed Rang’s location
“ Rang Sir !!! Arashi is here !!! Check the camera !! I caught him on 4K !!”
But sure enough,
no response.
“ You got to be shitting me…..!!!” Reeve Lowangleen hollered under his breath as he held up his newbie katana handed down by the Golden Company blacksmith, a jolly good blacksmith in that regard, but that’s not the point !!
Arashi the enemy is here, and no one can hear him !!!!
Reeve is alone !!!
But wait!
So is this Arashi !!!!!
“ Perhaps….I can hit him and run…to a location where there is backup !!”
Reeve enlightened with gamer brain, drawing out his katana now, a man with a plan
“ All righty then…..!”
Reeve whispered, sliding down the long watch tower ladder and crept silently towards the west boulevard.
Lo, this traitor Arashi was still walking, rather slowly compared to the steps of a normal young dude. Mayhap he is wounded, Reeve thought as he sneaked closer and closer towards this Arashi walker, definitely not that walker named johnny, as Reeve Lowangleen has this idea of a wholesome backstab.
Yes, like a critical strike through the back, stabbing the opponent through the light heart!
That is what I will do! Reeve roared triumphantly in his light heart, as he made his move !!!
He sneaked forth, faster and faster !!
“ Hoh, so you are approaching me ?”
Reeve Lowangleen froze, in utter shock and disbelief.
Lo,
this Arashi that had spoken, stopped in his slow heavy steps,
turning slightly around at this Newbie of a golden clansman,
staring menacingly down Reeve’s light soul with just the side of those fierce penetrating glances !!!
“ I…..I…..Ah…..”
Reeve Lowangleen, trying to quote the classic response, yet lost of words, brain turned to mush, legs now noodles, cowed by the fear of death itself !!!!
Seeing the blade in this traitor Arashi’s hand slowly being drawn, the reflection onto the blade like a blinding blaze !!!!!
Reeve wished he could scream, but his senses and vocal nerves were now immobile and numb like the rest all over his body !!!
“ Oh ho, then Come, as close as you possibly can…..”
this Arashi sneered sadistically in answer to Reeve’s toneless whimpers
“ …I dare you.”
…
…………..
“ Aiyah! Alas.”
Rang muttered with his feathered fan fanning in a quickened path than before
“ Reeve Lowangleen slept on the wheel during grave tidings !! He hasn’t reported for over ten minutes !”
“ …at least there is no one close by the west side.”
Agnes observed the surveillance cameras with much attention,
to see that all the positions,
even west boulevard is empty.
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No intruder in sight.
“ Wait !!!”
Both Rang and Agnes turned to Mio Al Seraphim, who looked serious at them both as her ladyship pointed at Rang’s microphone
“ …….Did you hear that, Strategist Rang ?”
Mio asked timidly, seeing both Rang and Agnes staring back at her like she was sounding crazy all of a sudden.
“ …Beg your pardon, my lady…?”
Rang asked in a serious tone with a frown, sensing a disturbance on this island meddling with his strategies, a malicious force that he yet not see !!!!
…
……………
At the same time, the standoff between the mother and daughter continues and increases in heat.
“ I choose to not say anything, because it is best for all of us."
Miula Aki replied candidly
“ Are you happy now that you know separating the Seed from you will cause your death ?”
“ That’s not the point !” Haru snapped.
“ It is.”
Miula Aki moved closer to her daughter
“ It is all that matters. Before you knew the truth, the truth of you …..”
Haru stared at her mother in sheer bewilderment
“ What truth…..?”
Haru asked, her insides running cold as she realized something was terribly wrong
“ What truth….what are you talking about, Mom ?!?!”
“ I am talking about something you don’t remember anymore.”
Miula Aki confessed with a heavy heart
“ But it’s alright, Haru. No one will take the Seed out of you, not Rang, not Toshiumi....Follow me, and get out of this isle…before it’s too late !”
And slowly, steadily, Miula Aki approached Haru, though calm this mother of hers may seem, something eerily wrong seemed to reflect out of Miula Aki’s glare, with something sharp she held in one hand she hid behind her back, which Haru saw through the reflection of the glass wall of the laboratory that was still intact.
Haru quickly fled to the back of the lab, in search of something to protect herself.
“ MOM, What’s wrong with you !!??” Haru cursed as she found a crowbar and held it straight at her eerily calm mother
“ Can We TALK ?!?!”
“ Not if you drop your crowbar first.” Miula Aki suggested.
“ No, You !”
Haru strongly insisted
“ You drop that thing you are holding first and show me your hands are empty !!”
Unreluctantly,
Miula Aki showed Haru that sharp syringe-looking device in her hand and placed it on the long table next to her.
“ You know, we used to talk a lot, before bed especially, when you were younger. Yet you’ve grown up to be one that conceals their thoughts. Not that it’s a bad thing.
It just…..makes a mother feel lonely.”
And Miula Aki showed both her hands empty to Haru did she finally lower her crowbar down.
“ Tell me everything…..”
Haru demanded
“ Tell me Why you are doing this !! Tell me what you know !! And tell me what you did to dad !!!”
“ I gave him a small dosage of that injection.”
Miula Aki answered the third question swiftly and without delay
“ It puts grown men to sleep for three hours, and a girl your age for five or more.”
“ I thought you were just a high school teacher.” Haru remarked in disbelief.
“ Of Health and Biology, yes.”
Miula Aki confirmed.
“ Then tell me….mom….. What is the truth we are talking about ?”
Haru asked cautiously,
to which Miula Aki thought in a long pause, before finally replying solemnly
“ You were diagnosed with an incurable disease when you were three, Haru.”
Miula Aki spoke,
words of grave import that only the Miula family knew,
like low booming church bells to Haru’s ears, rumbling, ringing, echoing like a bursting wave of the endless murmuring of unrest all around her.
…
……….
“ I thought I heard….someone answering through the microphone, Strategist Rang…”
Mio Al Seraphim of Gold whispered timidly
“ Didn’t any of you hear it…? Oh…..I am sorry….must be the curse….my illness…my…”
“ Do not falter on what only you are able to observe, My Lady !!”
Rang shouted urgently with utmost sincerity
“ Please, tell us what you heard !”
Mio nodded and as her peach rosy lips were about to open in reply to such revelation of import,
Akiyama the black vanguard stormed into the military strategist’s presence just a moment earlier than Mio’s words !!!
“ Strategist Rang !!!!! Grave News !!”
Akiyama reported aloud
“ The reports just arrived !! They say Arashi has infiltrated the Real control centers !!! Getting close to the Anti-Shisei barrier interfaces !!!”
“ NANI !!!!!”
Rang and all that heard of the grave report uttered in shock and disbelief, mortified by the serious news.
…
………….
Miula Aki continued her tale while Haru listened, mortified
“ They expected you to pass at the age of ten. But somehow, we made it to your fifteenth birthday…. until…..You found out. ”
“ You hid it from me…? How come I didn't remember any of this…?!"
Haru questioned with much confusion.
Yet Miula Aki stopped Haru's questioning with a hand as she calmly continued
“ Indeed, we hid the truth of your illness from you, with days of bliss and happiness that ended as soon as you found out. Then your health started to deteriorate further yet you refused to forgive us. Then one day…. on that fateful day, when Lasvet Hikaru was at war against an old political enemy close to our home…. you ran away.... ”
“ Ran away ?! During a war ?!"
Miula Aki nodded gravely
“ During those days of your failing health, they say you barely attended class and stayed at the old shrine at the schoolyard. That was where I found you after the war ceased, collapsed before the bombed shrine……..”
“ So I died… bombed at a shrine….??"
" Listen, Haru. Ask questions later.”
Miula Aki sternly continued
“ No, you did not die. You seem to have fainted, but you were not alone. I saw, with my own eyes, someone was there with you, someone…. glowing... blue….someone out of this world……. vanishing in less than a minute to thin air.... ”
And with that, she heard,
a skip of heart Haru felt,
as if the Seed inside her stirred in answer.
“ You didn't remember a thing about your illness when you woke up, and miraculously… Your illness was cured.
This someone…….
in a split second, a flash through her mind,
Haru thought she saw for a glimpse,
Of that someone, she certainly knew,
but no longer remember.
The gentle whispers, the soft murmuring,
as if still close to her ears yet unable to recognize, to make out the words they were trying to convey…!
“ … what does that someone look like…?"
Haru asked in a lost whisper.
“ Well...I saw you and her from afar, so…
to me, you two look the same. Just like twins… but she had blue hair, while yours were brown, like mine. But not anymore…..”
And it dawned on Haru, something she assumed, with the results of her calculations and the past of her health, that the Truth might be as simple as it seemed.
“........The Seed saved me.”
Haru concluded, to which Miula Aki concurred with a slow nod.
“ It may seem improbable, but in a world where aliens once invaded long ago and Lord with Exia Runes fighting all over, I think, perhaps it's true. ”
Miula Aki then turned to her sleeping husband
“ But your father… he foresaw the Seed wasn't going to stay for long, and sure it grew more and more unstable. But… even if he could accept the hard choice of taking the Seed out of you…..I can't…!
I can't just give you away… Haru! I can't….... I can't………
….. Haru…. now you know the truth…
…. are you still willing to give away the Seed, give away the one thing that kept you alive all these years…. and just leave?
Are you…..?!?!"
With both her hands on Haru's trembling thin shoulders,
Miula Aki wept,
unable to lose her one and only daughter again to the cold hard fates.
Miula Haru, was at a crossroads.
…
………..
“ That’s…..impossible…..!!!”
Rang quickly calmed himself, yet his feathered fan flapping now of speed such as a motor-powered electric fan
“ But it’s strongly guarded…..”
“ Rang, the security footage of the real controls is gone !!”
Agnes cried out in haste.
“ And the microphone system there isn’t responding back !!”
Akiyama added seriously.
Military strategist Rang had only one last option he could do.
“ Agnes…Akiyama…..keep her ladyship Mio safe.”
Rang spoke gravely, his stern expression in shadow, yet with much determination in his eyes as he held out his gun, loading lo six bullets into the circular canister in quick succession
“ I’ll face Arashi, in the Real Control Room myself !!”
“ But Strategist Rang….. !!!”
Mio cried out to the military genius to stop the man as desperately as she could,
But Rang is heading away !!!!
To the Real Control Room, where the operators to the barriers of Anti-Shisei were kept !!!!!
…
………..
Miula Haru,
facing the critical crossroads of her fate.
Either to stay the way it is,
escape from Aurora and live until probably sooner or later, explode with the Seed's unstable bloom;
Or give it away,
to help Mio, to help others in need of a miracle, and put the Seed snatching wars to an end.
Haru closed her eyes to think calmly,
but like raging waves of a tempest at sea,
her heart wouldn't settle.
What would anyone choose to do if they face the same fate ?!?!
and slowly, from afar in the void of her mind,
through light heart, through memory,
his voice,
the only voice he could recognize and make out of,
the voice of Tenmei Akiro, during that night when he decided to help save her father from Lasvet’s grasp
…...
“ I will stay, and help get your father out of there. And see if we can find your mother on the way. That is…….the right choice, I guess.”
……
“ I am sorry, Mom….”
with her hands clasping her mother's, slowly holding them from her shoulders down close to her
“ It might sound selfish…. and stupid…. But….. But……!!
…….I have decided… To help someone, and let go of the Seed……….
…. Because……. That is the right thing to Do...Mom…..!!"
Seeing the determination and inner strength, like an aura of warmth and comfort,
though hard to accept,
though hard to give in,
Miula Aki had to eventually let go,
for it is, after all, her beloved daughter's one true choice of heart.
And with words no more, but the strength of love and understanding,
Haru buried her mother in a warm emotional hug.
Quivering still, yet slowly,
Miula Aki’s arms too curled around Haru’s small frail in a locking embrace.
…
……….
In the dark end of another corridor at the basement of the Aurora isle, Rang stopped at a secret entrance, blocked by an illusionary wall that revealed to be a door of shining gold underneath.
The military strategist reached out his palm and let the scanner on the door scour his palm through golden light and with but mere seconds, the golden door beeped in confirmation, and was unlocked.
…
…………
And with tears streaming out of her eyes, that regained color from the dim eerie hue,
Miula Aki looked at herself, and the undermined lab around her,
then back at Haru her daughter like she was awakened from a long disturbing dream.
“ Oh my……Haru….!!!”
“ Mom….??”
Haru also sensed a sudden change in her mother’s actions, her voice, her whole expression returned to normal in that one split second, but before Haru could reach out to her mother,
Miula Aki suddenly gave out a serious urgent cry !!!
“ HARU WATCH OUT !!!!!”
Before Haru knew it, her mother had pushed her out of the way, only for Haru to see a large curved piece of metal, the crowbar she found earlier, swung onto her mother’s head like vice !!
Hitting Miula Aki to the corner of the dilapidated lab, immediately passing out !!
Haru would have screamed, but her anger prominently stirred her senses, to look up at the assailant standing over her mother and herself, looming in a dark silhouette under the glowing laboratory lamplights,
a sneer over that deranged maniacal face
of Legion Lubadab Alesdale !!!!
…
…………
Not just Haru, but also Reeve Lowangleen, craving for a boon of glory, faces a crossroad of either triumph or death, depending on if he has the courage to fight this villain Arashi traitor man!
Courage is what’s lacking now, Reeve told himself, yet unknowing that his skills are also what’s coming short, and with a battle cry, such a manly shout to awaken his manly spur, activating his testosterone burst, charging forth like a rabid wolf at a common passerby with a deadly katana this glory-thurst Reeve did pursue, clashing arms with this Arashi who stared back at menacing eyes of contempt and disbelief at a maggot such as Reeve would dare strike him.
Arashi’s stare would have been enough to kill our Reeve Lowangleen, but his cowardice made him look away from this Arashi’s stare, only to see behind this Arashi he now clashed,
stood another Arashi !!!!!
Two Arashis at the west boulevard ?!?!?!?!
Reeve uttered a scream of real fright and his kneed turned soft as his bladder nearly gave away.
One Arashi is about too much for him, now there are two of them!
Why ?! How is this possible ?!
“ WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LOWANGLEEN ?!?!”
the second Arashi roared at our wet-panted Reeve who staggered backward, raising his large saber for it’s the last thing he can truly rely on.
But wait!
Reeve looked at his large broad saber then at himself, for he then realized after clashing with the first Arashi, he was not slain, but rather deflected with fine stances. If he can deflect more blows, and lure these two villains to where his allies are, he might still stand a chance !!!!
“ Ha….ha ha !!!” Reeve laughed at the two Arashis mockingly
“ Magic tricks now, huh ?! Are you too afraid to face this Reeve Lowangleen of Peach Blossom mount in fair combat ?! Shame on you !!! You are unworthy for dying under my blade !”
And with that said, Reeve hurriedly rushed off towards where the nearest outpost, the middle surveillance tower was located, where three golden company allies were already gathered a few miles off !!!
“ Hearken !!!” Reeve shouted excitedly in sight of jolly cooperation
“ Traitor man Arashi sighted at West boulevard! That villain has multiplied and I need help !”
The three golden knights heard Reeve’s call and all turned around,
to reveal themselves to be three Arashis in golden company uniform !!!!!!
“ NANIIIIIIII ?!?!?!?!?!?! Now There are THREE of them ?!?!?!?!?!”
Reeve hollered at the top of his lungs for this time he can no longer contain his shock and terror, pointing his large saber at the three Arashis with shaking arms.
“ YOU FOOL !!!”
One of the Arashis taunted in rage
“ Look closely !! Are you on drugs ?!?!”
“ You are on drugs !!”
Reeve shouted back and with raw instincts and one mind to stay alive, started thrashing his large saber at any Arashi that stood before him, like a madman swinging his weapon in madman swordplay!
“ Damn it… !” One of the Arashis muttered as the villain took out his microphone
“ Lowangleen is hallucinating! I repeat! Lowangleen is hallucinating! Might be a Stand attack from the League !!!”
…
…………..
There Rang stood,
As the golden door slid open by itself,
The Real control room was revealed, and despite what Rang have heard, the control room was
Pretty Empty.
But Rang was not alone.
“ I appreciate your guidance, Strategist Rang.”
spake the specter of a shadow hiding right behind Rang the military genius,
pointing a gun at the back of Rang’s head !!!
“ But your games end here. “
Lo, Arashi traitor man !!!!!
Revealing himself behind Rang’s presence, as his fingers curled over the trigger of his weapon,
the bullet just about to sail through Rang’s intelligent brain!!!!
…
……………
Mio looked up to the skies with a gasp.
“ Mio, is it….?!”
Agnes followed her Ladyship’s blank appalled stare and saw,
The barriers over the island,
was deactivated.
…
………..
Grand Disciple Kaburagi Shisei took a deep breath of satisfaction under the cloth and blindfold over his joyous eyes
“ Finally…..”
League Spokesman Kaburagi Shisei dastardly sighed in relief and triumph
“ Mio…here I Come.”
And with one, just one, sound-breaking leap that exploded right beside Austria’s open office, sweeping all of Austria’s stuff off the table and shaking the Denteimong tower violently back and forth, the League Disciple was off.
“ …You are welcome.”
Austria Van Hillingdale spoke as his boss flew off to the horizon in no time.
Speeding faster than a jet, bursting through the air with rings of fire ignited through sheer friction of air and his supersonic speed as This Kaburagi Shisei of the Illuminatus League flew headfirst, across the Vilencian borders, across the northern lands and mountains, over the heads of the shocked north men and commoners, passing the shoreline to the seas did the sea erupt at his path, rearranging the tides with but his zoom, such dashing distance can be seen by readers of your time as if starting from Sapporo, west of Hokkaido to Kushiro, east of Hokkaido, a total distance of 348.5 kilometers in but 3 minutes, which after some simple math can we deduct that Kaburagi Shisei’s flying speed to be around 6970 kilometers per hour, 5.69 Mach, truly remarkable even in Great Strike Exia standards.
Undoubted was his eagerness to finally reunite with his sister, with what intentions none of us know just yet.
…
……….
After clashing in swords and arms against his sworn brother for more nearly four episodes,
even this Awesome Toshiumi Al Seraphim had to stop and think of a way to stop this Kaburagi devil man of the League from hurting his wife and snatching the Seed,
But Varche Scrirocco the Revenjaja won’t let Toshiumi go !!!
“ Serves you right, Toshiumi !!!!!”
Varche cried like an animal with tantamount wrath
“ Now you know what it feels like to lose !!!”
“ Losing is one thing, Varche !”
Toshiumi awesomely deflected the Red Exian Lord’s deadly blows
“ But Losing yourself is a bigger matter !!!! Is this how you shall be ?! At the end of the day, a red goblin mad in his own rage ?! Meting out Justice that has long passed it’s due ?!”
“ YES !!! AS LONG AS I CAN BRING BACK MILINA !!!! THROUGH THE SEED AND HERUNIA !!!!!”
Varche Scrirocco laughed as the Red King of Terminas hurtled up a mountain up his head and smashed the whole mount onto Toshiumi’s head, who with swift elegant daring slashes of his trusty katana Kouzuki, diced the mountain to mountain nuggets falling all over the lands like a rain of dirt.
“ The League has corrupted you through false promises, Varche !”
Toshiumi tried to reason still
“ They seek to destroy the world of now, the memories of all of us–”
“ You also covet the Seed to save your wife !! What difference is there between you and me ?!?!?! Save your Spit and Fight Harder !!!!!”
Varche the Revenjaja refused to speak and resorted to more brutal fiery punches !
Alas !!
A noble king that once was, rightful protector of Terminas and the first children of light, now but a brute wallowing in self-guilt and desperation! Only the pain and the flames of battle alone can cease his sadness.
And fatefully, Toshiumi had to be part of Varche’s wrath as the true enemy now flies at 5.69 Mach speed towards his island villa !!!!
…
…………
Haru quickly staggered to her feet, trying to find another crowbar or anything she could find to fight this creepy villain that just assaulted her mother.
“ Hee hee…upon closer look, you sure are a pretty gal~”
Legion the sex offender crooned slyly in his deranged manner
“ Why not make it easy for both of us, huh? Surrender to me and my League powers of Brainwashing NOW !!!!”
And Legion activated his artificial Exia Rune that oozed out black fart-like gas around the lab, which Haru quickly hid in the far corner, blocking her mouth with her handkerchief.
The fetid foam of corrupted energy swarmed across the laboratory as Legion cackled. It was with this sinister charm to snare his victims under the brainwashing superpowers, by revealing their weaknesses and bringing out their darkest secrets to light, so he can control them through their fears and desires. By using the Miula family’s darkest secret of their daughter’s history, Legion had succeeded in luring Haru out with her brainwashed mother.
Now all that was left to achieve, is to brainwash the Seed bearer to his snide grasp!
“ Now now…tell me what you see, what you fear, what you want….? I can give it to you~”
Legion pressed onward, emitting his synthetic Exia more and more.
“ I want you to f-ck off !!!”
Haru shouted back angrily, as she crouched low, hiding under the operating tables and gears.
“ Hmm hmm…no matter, the stronger the denial, the sweeter they succumb.”
Legion chuckled sinisterly as he waited for the Artificial Exia gas to do its job
“ Come now! I swear I’ll be gentle !”
But after five minutes, Haru still regains her consciousness and hid among the lab equipment out of the degenerate Legion’s sight.
“ Strange…..perhaps I’ll ooze out more !” Legion decided and sprayed more and more black brainwashing Exia gas over the whole lab to no avail.
Haru quietly waited for her chance to strike, as she realized the Seed within her, now glowing in gentle bloom unlike the blazing explosion that once occurred before, seemed to dim all the black artificial Exia gas useless.
That was the reason why the Seed had been reacting from the start!
It had detected corrupting powers flowing in secret and prevented the Exia from corrupting her!
Now knowing that Legion can do her no harm, it's time for a counterattack! With the syringe her mother Aki prepared during her brainwashed phase in hand, Haru charged at full speed without a sound,
piercing the syringe down the side of Legion Lubadab Degenerater Alesdale’s neck !! As hard as she could !!!
“ AAARRGGHHHH !!!!!” Legion gave out the same shout, the same grotesque utter when Mustangoo cut him down as the wanton sex offender fell to his knees, pulling out the syringe with much difficulty.
Haru thought of running away, but Not Yet !! Her mother, also her father were both helplessly unconscious here in this lab!
“ I can't run away anymore….!! I have to defeat him !! Before he can hurt my family any further !!!"
Quickly, with deep resolve and form determination, snatching the crowbar Legion dropped, Haru our girl swung the metal weapon full swing upon Legion the crackhead’s abominable face,
Only for her hand to be caught in mid-air !!!! With such speed of Legion’s vicious arm, neither Haru nor anyone would expect from a man given a full dosage of anesthesia !!!
“ Foolish girl…..!!!”
Legion cackled maniacally with a deranged sneer that hides zero lust behind
“ You thought there were drugs in this syringe ?!?! NO !!!!!
I Brainwashed your father to sleep !!!!!
And I brainwashed your mother to believe she drugged him with this powerful syringe !!!!
There were no drugs in this syringe at all !!!!! I HAVE OUTSMARTED YOUR OUTSMARTING YOU LITTLE WENCH !!!!!!!!!!”
And with a brutal punch through the cheek, Haru was slammed to the floor, pain erupted over her face as the horrible man forced himself onto Haru’s frail body, curling lo strong fingers of his single arm around Haru’s windpipe, choking our girl with his only good hand like vice.
“ Now die, little b-tch !!! Your Seed is Mine !!!!!”
Legion laughed triumphantly, pressing harder and harder as Haru kicked, punched, and squirmed under the heavy weight to no avail as her throat burned and her whole world spun, spiraling down to infinite blackness of cold merciless death.
Haru could feel her light slowly slipping away from her as her limbs grew numb and her senses began to diminish, her body felt light as her consciousness slowly let go of her mortal shell, plunging into the void, where all the murmur and voices ringing constantly in her head condensed with each other and formed one loud clear speech,
of a voice of someone she knew had spoken to her long before,
echoing in vibrant shout
“ DON’T GIVE IN !!!! HARU !!!!!!!!”
And with one last struggle, Haru gave out a cry, as she let go,
letting go of the Seed that had been blazing brighter and brighter under Legion as the villain finally noticed the bloom of the astro Blue, enveloping the whole laboratory, and before Legion Lubadab Alesdale could utter any more words of profanity, he simply croaked
“ Oh !”
And was swept away to dust by the blooming explosion of the Seed, condensed into one thin beam of immense power and heat that burned the vile pest of a man out of existence, as the Seed beam burst forth far and wide, sizzling everything it touched as it traveled all the way up from the basement, out of the island surface and penetrating out to the sky and up to space, traveling even to this day across the galaxies.
And after that one defining fatality blast that cleansed the world less a degenerate,
Haru fell back to the floor, gasping for breath as her exhaustion took over and she too fainted in the lab alongside her sleeping parents.
…
……….
At the dark end of the long corridor, before the golden door to the control room,
There, Arashi stood, his gun he held still at Rang’s head.
“ Why…?”
Arashi asked in a bewildered whisper
“ Why is it….that the barriers are opened…before I even touched the controls ?!?!”
“ Elementary, my dear Arashi.”
Rang the military genius smiled casually his iconic smile towards those inferior in intellect and schemata
“ None of the control rooms regarding the Anti-Shisei barriers are real. Simple as that.”
“ …So you knew I was not heading in the first trap control room in the first place ?”
Arashi asked, not wanting to accept yet deep down he believed Rang knew it all.
“ One has to be careful dealing with an enemy with the ability to cause confusion and control the mind.”
Rang began to explain, with the back of his head still facing Arashi leisurely
“ Compared to you, that Legion with the artificial Exia produced by the League is a far more dangerous opponent, a fine chess piece any strategist would put to good use including myself. Your League Strategist did not disappoint in this regard.
At first, I staged four fake control rooms and spread the news so that whatever control room you find, is always the fake one.
But still, I too was nearly fooled by the secret brainwashing tactics, but there is one thing you have misjudged in this near flawless schemata.”
“ What is that ?”
Arashi asked with much grimace.
“ The one thing you thought you knew well, but understood too little.”
Rang smiled in reply as he slightly turned around to show his sneer at Arashi’s face
“ Mio Al Seraphim. Descendant of Somaris Lima and sacred maiden of the magical realm of Kaminosato. She may bear the curse from her brother, but that does not change the fact that her ladyship harbors strong magic powers even more than even Lord Toshiumi himself.
Do you think a magical being such as her ladyship Mio will be clouded by some cheap bootleg Exia Rune? The answer is obvious, but your lust and greed for lady Mio have shrouded your judgment from the fact that lady Mio is against you, Arashi! And it was her that saw everything as it is in its truest form :
First, You led Legion up the island and disrupted the west boulevard, letting a newbie called Reeve to see illusions of yourself to control this Reeve to disrupt the golden Company thinking he is fighting Arashi but in fact just engaged in shadowboxing his fellow colleagues.
Second, with the Illusions of Legion, you tricked Akiyama to think you have infiltrated the real control room, forcing me to go there and point out the true location for you to open the barrier, but unfortunately, None of the control rooms are Real !!! So acting as bait, I have caught you, Arashi in my real trap !”
“ Then you are a fool, Rang !!”
Arashi laughed in denial
“ Even if you have trapped me here, my goal is fulfilled !! I have somehow made the barriers open, letting the League Master and Toshiumi’s nemesis Kaburagi Shisei in onto Aurora !!
Now all I have to do, is put a bullet in your head !!!”
“ You can try.” Rang chuckled
“ But just like your brainwashing friend, I have made an illusion of my own. Do you not realize, that you are but following a hologram all this time, Arashi ?”
“ NANI !!!???” Arashi shot Rang in the head and true as the strategist so said, the bullet sailed through Rang’s hologram and penetrated deep into the wall of the corridor.
“ Ha ha.” Rang’s hologram chuckled, as the real Rang, still in the Aurora palace lobby chuckled, for lo! It was Rang’s white feathered fan flying like a bird above Arashi’s head that projected the hologram !!
“ And one more thing, Arashi, something I especially placed at the end of all my explanations, of why the barriers opened. You want to know why ?”
“ …..Why…Rang ?”
Arashi asked with gnashed teeth.
“ Elementary, Arashi, because the barrier controls are always close to me. There was never room for the barrier controls, just a mind switch chip in my head.
I opened the barrier, Arashi.”
Rang’s hologram tapped his temple playfully.
“ Then…you have doomed your own Lord, Rang, you FOOL !!”
Arashi shouted in insulting laughter
“ I never knew you were one of the League! Opening the barrier for Toshiumi’s nemesis to enter and snatch the Seed! It's Suicide!!!!!
A Fool !!! An Utter Fool you are, Rang !!!!!!”
“ Suicide? Nay, I consider it a bet.”
Rang then pointed to the skies
“ What do you think will happen, Arashi, if an object flying at the speed of 5.69 Mach meets an impenetrable wall ?”
And Rang tapped his temple once again and the island rumbled, as before all their eyes witnessed,
the Anti-Shisei barriers were reactivated !!!!!
And above the skies, Mio and the others watched in awe as the exalted defining explosion of many colors above the whole Aurora isle,
of the 5.69 Mach flying Kaburagi Shisei, unable to brake from his own speed, crashed onto the barrier that’s anti-himself, burning his flesh and repelling every piece of existence as well as incinerating each cell all over his body with grave succession, as the League Spokesman screamed in utter rage and defeat,
like a moth fading in the flame he so covets blindly.
Arashi finally realized,
Rang simply closed the barrier, to lure Kaburagi Shisei to crash !!!!!!
Everything was all in the military genius’ grasp !!!
Austria, back on Denteimong castle tower, was screaming and tearing his hair off his scalp in sheer rage
“ RANG, YOU FREAKING COUNTRY BUMPKIN !!!! YOU DARE SHAME ME A HIILINGDALE LIKE THIS !!!!!”
And Austria nearly tumbled down his seat had the league members not scooped the fuming dark stalker just in time
“ I can’t be insulted like this….My strategies are not lesser than this charlatan!
I can still do it…I CAN AT LEAST GET THE SEED OUT OF THIS !!!! DON’T BELIEVE ME, JUST WATCH RANG !!!!!!”
Lo, the clash of the strategists, the battle of the wits,
Ahh, yes,
The siege of Aurora has finally begun.
…
…………
Though Rang's schematics may have halted the enemy of the universe Kaburagi Shisei for a moment of reprieve,
Toshiumi Al Seraphim awesomely believes he still has to return to Aurora isle to finish his dastardly nemesis once and for all,
But his sworn brother now vengeful Revenjaja Varche Scrirocco the fuming King is Terminas yet hinders his path of awesome world salvation !!!!
" Toshiumi !!!!!!!!!!!"
Lo!
Varche has begun to muster all his Exian Lord powers! The ruling of all tech and weaponry, arsenals, and cavalry of mecha all into a large horde of earth-breaking devastation, ready to ram them all down on Toshiumi like one hundred steam engines mauling a single lion !!
An awesome lion in that regard!
“ One chapter has passed, and here we stand !"
Varche Scrirocco the Revenjaja boomed as his right hand transformed into an airship-size multi-canister beam machine gun through his Red Exian Rune.
“ Two chapters have passed, and here we still stand !!"
Varche Scrirocco the Revenjaja boomed again as his left hand transformed into ten pairs of huge scissors the size of twelve-story pagodas with blades burning with laser and flame.
“ Three chapters have passed, and here we still stand !!!"
Varche Scrirocco the Revenjaja boomed the third time as his legs bulged and morphed with all the fallen mecha machine mobile walkers scattered over the Denteimong battlefield, holding this King of Terminas up high towering over the northern realms, his angered fiery eyebrows reaching the clouds and the birds hitting his armored abs and cooked into roasted pigeon all by Varche's rage alone.
“ Now !!! Four chapters have passed !!!!!!!!
ONE OF US SHALL STAND, AND THE OTHER SHALL FALL !!!!!!!!!
TOSHIUMI !!!!!!!!"
Lo !!!!!
This Terminas Iron Giant mecha tech combined ultra Oochu Goten top hierarchy monarch machine Maxima Ultimatum Buster Kaboomer Smash Trash Bash Cash Almighty Sky high Alternator Slayer Lord of bazinga Exian Rune King Emperor Varche Scrirocco Za Revenjaja !!!!!
Unleashed its wrath onto our Awesome Toshiumi !!!!!!
In the form of a stomping mecha foot the size of My house !!!!!
Seeing this, Toshiumi was awesomely unfazed, and resheathed his katana Kouzuki of everlasting flame,
only to draw it all out at a speed faster than light, stronger than the gravity of Jupiter, with such excellent skills surpassing even the 59-second minute rice cooker, splendidly catching the iron stomp with his awesome slash !!!!
Stomp versus slash !!
Stomp versus slash !!
STOMP VERSUS SLASH !!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!
Before the world crumbled under the unrelenting standstill of Varche’s Wrath stomp versus Toshiumi’s Awesome slash,
Lo !!
Ten thousand Wires made out of sheer light burst out of the ground and coiled all of the giant Varche Scrirocco the Revenjaja 's joints, torso, and neck !!
Wires of light were released, but none other than Varche King's loyal clansman Pablo Roaneru the black mechanic genius !!
Alongside the speedster war hero and also loyal clansmen Flaming Genale !!! His speed so fast the afterimages of his shadow all acted like an individual Flaming Genale, pulling on the wires of light coiled around their beloved King with all the speed and might they could muster !!!!!
" GREAT KING !!!!!"
both loyal Clansmen Flaming and Pablo shouted at the top of their loyal lungs
“ NOBLE HEART !! CEASE YOUR WRATH !! THINK OF THE WORLD !! THINK OF LOVE !!!!!"
“ NOOOOOOOOOOORRRRAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
King Varche robot messiah replied in the most unwilling refusal in the history of refusals.
And even Toshiumi and Flaming and Pablo cannot stop this Top Hierarchy monarch ?!
Lo !!!!
Another contender approached the scene !!
It was the Prince of Kingdeniom, Edmund Keiken, and his silent subject, Tricia, the ageless, together with Edmund’s Silver Exia Rune bursting out like a gigantus squid that held Varche iron king in place!
While Tricia,
the young girl without words, just sheer magic of the ancient age unknown to the readers for now and the common folk, with a voiceless whisper and a soft touch onto the burning metal surface of Varche machine god's foot,
stunned the Terminas Red Rune Exian Lord in a mind lock trance !!!!
Halting the wrath and pausing the rage for 3 whole turns !!!!!
" Go, awesome Lord Al Seraphim !"
Prince Edmund of Kingdeniom bade the Awesome Toshiumi with honor and respect
“ We'll hold King Varche here as long as we can !"
“ Katajikenashi !!"
Toshiumi Al Seraphim thanked the prince and everyone that helped stop Varche’s wrath for 3 whole turns, thanking them with a fluent common Japanese phrase that simply meant Thank you in the most polite tense. Japanese 101, people. Written in plain English here because Webnovel won't comply with Chinese or Japanese words, so too bad for them, we have to stick with this for now.
And with one strong leap of awesomeness, unlike the leap of faith that goes down under, the leap of Awesomeness goes up and beyond, sending our awesome Toshiumi Al Seraphim of the Golden Exia Rune out towards where his beloved Mio awaits,
and where his nemesis Kabiragi Shisei, burnt and seriously damaged staggered to his feet,
ready for a real fight of the ages.
…
………..
…………………….
…………Haru…….
……………………Haru…………….
There, in the dim glow among the everlasting dark, slightly brightening as it approached closer, closer to her as if floating in the void, without form, without existence, simply floating as the glow eventually cometh to her astro-like presence, bringing her world to light.
Under the witness two large silhouettes looming over her, crouching as they gently caress her soft fragile form.
“ …….Haru………”
Echoing, did the name again and again out of their lips, like a soothing prayer in song, loving whispers to her ears.
The simple word that harbors a million thoughts and longing,
is her name.
The name bread out of her parent’s love and hope,
a name that brings warmth, and assurance in every mention, every call.
Every moment with the name that defines her existence consists of nothing but pure joy, the world clear and bright, gentle and kind.
True it was, as Haru followed her younger self grow amongst the days that were too far to reminisce, across encounters and happenings throughout, with those that once played a row in her joyous life, her parents, relatives, friends and classmates, neighbors and passerby, addressing her with smiles and nothing but wholesome responses unconditionally, treating her like one treasured kind, an existence of utmost rarity, so it seemed.
She was loved,
and she loved them all.
But, when did all this change?
When did the joy and gladness start to fade?
When the Difference is visible, and can no longer be ignored.
While other children were playing and running in chase and games outside,
she was forbidden to join, and indulge in hyperactivities, so she was told.
You are special, the grown-ups would always say,
You are special, so you don’t need to.
While the others achieved the same goals as her yet got little to no recognition,
She was praised always for anything she achieved.
You are special, the grown-ups would always say.
You are special, so you deserve it.
Perhaps she deserved such difference, she used to accept what she was told, of the strange behaviors among her classmates and the grown-ups.
Yet the difference was not the only thing that bugged her peaceful life, it was, the peacefulness itself that made her sick. The monotonous days, cared for and looked over upon by all around her, like a flat stale show playing nonstop before her eyes, Haru would imagine to herself.
Even breaking the rules and failing on purpose in small exams would never get her into any trouble, as long as she does not engage in hyper activities like the other children.
“ Well, why not ?” Young Haru decided to herself one day, that fateful day
“ No one would scald me or say otherwise.”
“ Don’t." Haru of the present day whispered back to her younger self, but of course, she would not listen.
So she ran and ran, around the school freely, feeling like a bird free out of the old rusty cage, flying freely over the world out there beyond her imagination,
until,
“ Teacher, come quick !!! Haru collapsed in the yard !!!”
Lying on the hospital bed, Haru could hear her parents' voices, speaking to each other in angered shouts outside her room
“ They should have always kept an eye on Haru…. What were they doing ?!!”
Miula Kenshi snarled, as angry as he was terrified of the loss of his child.
“ It's Not all their fault, Kenshi.”
Miula Aki answered sorrowfully however
“ We can't hide it forever, and no longer can we. Haru should know the truth. We were wrong…….”
“ No, we aren't! Haru is Happy !! Her life is Happy !! Is that not enough for her?!?! As long as Haru is Happy, she doesn't need to know !"
“ Lies, Kenshi !! Lies! I can't stand lying to my girl every day every night…... I can't….. I don't want to, but we Must !!....”
“ You must ?!?! Telling our darling dear she's Dying ??? It's not lies, It's LOVE !!!”
That was when she finally realized, she was special, in the worst way possible.
Those were not kindness in their voices and actions,
but pity.
The privilege granted to her out of extreme consideration and lament, smiles and sweet words were spoken to her face, only to whisper the truth and unfairness behind her back.
She hated it.
She hated this false world of staged kindness, this play of insincere love and care orchestrated by her parents that she wished no more a part of it, casting everything they say were true from their mouths, but lies like everything else the world provides, nothing more to believe in than the only truth that she, Miula Haru, is dying.
Locking them away, out of her life, not only would be easier for herself,
but also a mercy to those around her.
Thus began her days of solitude, and self-remorse, casting all those faces that looked down on her like a weak fading creature out of her vision, looking only at her own small shadow that grew thinner and frailer as each winter passed.
Yet even so,
there was one last place she would go,
one where there lived a person that would treat her not as a special perishing individual, but as a friend, a fellow normal light child.
The old shrine at the mountain behind the school grounds,
Where her friend was.
A friend Haru never knew her name.
Their first meeting was of sheer accident when Haru was wandering around aimlessly, skipping class, and got lost in the mountains. There she found this other girl who looked just like her, with light blue glowing curly hair sitting at the front porch of the old deserted shrine, in a pale shrine maiden outfit that doesn't belong anywhere in history.
Out of curiosity, and sheer boredom, young Haru sneaked up on this doppelganger and surprised this shrine girl with a loud shout, earning her a slap before the terrified girl screamed and hid away in the shrine in panic.
That was the first time anyone has ever treated her like this, like a light human being,
like an actual individual.
“ What…. Who are you…?!?!"
the girl of the shrine cried out in fearful questioning, hiding behind an old wooden pillar
“ What do you want…..and Why are you laughing ?!?! It isn't funny, you know !!"
But Haru couldn't stop her laughter, nor could she resist the fresh excitement of someone reacting to her like never before,
as if she had finally found a real existing person out of the sea of pitying robots.
“ You are funny.”
Haru chuckled in answer as she calmed down, wiping a drop of tear away
“ I am Haru. Who are you ?”
“ I am not telling you, you creep! Go away !”
her doppelganger shouted back angrily and tossed her straw sandal at Haru, which missed and flew past Haru to the other end of the shrine.
“ I am not going away. I am staying.”
Haru swept the dust off the front porch and placed a handkerchief before sitting down, basking under the sun beaming down onto the old shrine
“ I have noodle bread here. Want some ?”
Before this bun stuffed with a large portion of fried noodles, the shrine girl didn’t directly reject it overtly and it took her five minutes to finally make it to Haru’s presence, sitting a distance away cautiously.
“ ….if….just a little bit…” the shrine girl whispered uneasily.
“ Here.” And Haru ripped the whole noodle bun in half, handing out the larger portion to the girl nonchalantly.
And so the two girls ate silently under the afternoon sun, under many suns that come and go while they spend the days together, simply chatting, doing simple stuff, helping out on her homework and detention papers, and sometimes doing nothing at all and just stare at the skies in silence with each other’s company alone.
Haru would tell the shrine girl of the things and happenings she read on the news and trash posts from her old T-phone, teaching her friend what she learned while the shrine girl would share the lore of the ancient worlds and civilization about Starbreakers fighting demons and a certain skylord, which sounded like tall tales to Haru, which is fun, so Haru didn't give it too much thought.
“ They say our light goes to Herunia after we die. But what does Herunia look like though ?”
Haru asked her doppelganger one day as they lay side by side on the dusty wooden porch, staring lazily at the clear blue skies.
“ It is a warm and cozy place, actually.”
the shrine girl replied candidly
“ No pain, no demons. Just a lot of light flowing here and there in circles. There is nothing to be afraid of in Herunia.”
“ Speaking as if you were there.”
Haru joked.
“ ……….”
The shrine girl didn’t reply and just stared at Haru, who had her eyes on the wide, extending blue above.
“ All Light Hearts are born for a purpose, Haru.”
the shrine girl spoke after a long silence
“ To shine brighter in life, and eventually return to Herunia to be reborn in a greater form.”
“ Yeah, I’ve heard of this too many times already.”
Haru mumbled with a sigh
“ But it doesn’t change the fact that my Light is dwindling by the second. I don't care if my Light has any purpose or not, I just……. just ….."
Like a flower passed its time,
its petals falling one after another,
counting to an inevitable end.
An end that leaves nothing behind, like it never existed before.
“ Enough of me, I am just a dying nobody. How about You? Have you ever thought of leaving this broke shrine someday ?"
Haru changed the topic swiftly, putting all that behind her.
“ …..I can't. "
The shrine girl replied shortly, turning away and facing Haru with her back
“ I… just can't. ”
“ What do you mean you can't? Are you dying too ?"
“ It's not what you think. "
The shrine girl finally sat up straight, looking Haru in the eye with a serious stare
“ Haru, your light may be weaker and short-lived compared to others, but you still have a world out there, choices to make, and a life to explore. ”
“ You don't understand. Everything is out of my reach…”
“ Don't just give in to what you think is inevitable and waste it in despair….!!"
The shrine girl spoke up, sounding angry at Haru's pessimistic attitude
“ Surely you don't want to go like this, do you? Living your days locking everyone and everything away ?! It's never too late, Haru…. Don't just throw your life away like this !!"
“ Whatever I do with my life is none of your business !!"
Haru lashed out at her friend, her only last companion in her own world.
And with that said, the shrine girl stood up from her porch and turned away sadly in despair yet with much resolve
" Don't come back to this shrine. ”
The shrine girl snapped in a cold whisper.
“ Fine by me. ”
Haru also stood up with her backpack she grabbed in anger
“ Soon you'll forget about me anyways, like everyone else !"
Leaving the shrine behind with her only friend,
and her older self watching all this play out
without sentiment.
A day or two passed, and Lasvet waged war on the local Lords, and the place Haru lived soon became a battlefield. Residents fled before the war started and soon the city was deserted and no signs of life remained.
The blue-haired girl stayed like always in the old shrine, as she had always been, watching the world come and go.
Suddenly, as the bombings and gunshots started to rattle and echo over the small hill behind the abandoned school,
someone approached the shrine, alone.
The shrine girl gasped in utter shock as she saw the one approaching.
“ Ha…. Haru ??!!”
There Haru came, gasping for breath, in exhaustion, staggering towards the shrine as she collapsed into her blue-haired friend`s arms
“ Why, Haru…. What happened ?!”
“ I cursed my father….” Haru whispered wearily, sobbing a little bit trying hard to push back her tears
“ And yelled at my mother………. Let me stay….. would you …?”
“ You can't, Haru !! Armies are coming! You aren't safe here !”
“ What's the difference…?”
Haru retorted back desperately
“ I am already Destined to die ……! Doesn't matter where I fall…...”
“ Don't say that… ”
The shrine girl quickly hoisted Haru up her shoulder
“ Tell me where you live... !! I'll carry you…..!!”
“ No.” Haru pushed her friend away as explosions of gunpowder echoed nearer to them
“ A cowardly Scum like me…. Deserves to die alone…. But you… My friend… You have been a good friend to me…… you deserve better…. You should go… leave me here…. find my parents…and be the Daughter I never meant to be.”
Haru suggested with a weak smile and began to cough uncontrollably that She could no longer stand but sit on the wooden porch.
“ I have been an ungrateful loser…. ”
Haru admitted as her voice grew thinner and closer to a whisper
“ But they… my parents don't deserve this, they don't deserve me…...Can you…
…..Be that perfect daughter for me ?”
“ I can't…”
Haru’s friend refused, holding up Haru`s hand up to her wet cheeks
“ Don't say That, Haru… Don't say you deserve to die…. Don't be the one that denies your own worth! You are a wonderful person, Haru…. You are best the way you are…... Come on, let's take your home——”
And before Haru could stand up once more time, a missile flew out of the city, towards the back of the old school, into the mountain, into the shrine and—
KABLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM
Haru died, on the spot. Her blood splattered across the burning crushed shrine remains.
Yet There, the Blue haired shrine girl stood, unscathed, unhurt, without even a scratch upon her clean pure flesh,
looking down at Haru`s motionless body,
unable to react to what just transpired in but mere seconds.
Slowly,
kneeling down at her friend's side,
The shrine girl produced from the innermost parts of her insides,
a Blue swirling ball of sheer energy and gently placed it upon Haru's chest.
“ Wait !!"
The shrine girl looked up, surprised and amused at the same time.
“........ Haru…….???"
Lo, Haru from the present too was shocked by the girl of the shrine in her past responding back to her cry
“ Oh...Hi……..”
Haru greeted her old friend from long before in an awkward stammer
“ Didn't know….. You could see me….. this is supposed to be the past…. Right ?"
Seeing Haru now grown older than she first met,
did bring a smile and free-flowing tears to the shrine girl's face.
“ We are connected, because of what I did. ”
The shrine girl replied gently, placing the blue bursting energy ball into the young dead Haru's body
“ To see you here… It means you have made it…. ”
“ …. You saved me……”
the Present Haru knelt down right before her weeping friend in tears of joy as her old self lay with the glowing blue light sinking down to her chest
“ You gave me… Your Seed.….”
“ No, Haru. ”
The shrine girl chucked as she shook her head slowly, wiping her tears away
“ I am, the Seed. And my real name, is Sora.”
“ Sora…….."
Haru whispered the name, feeling it familiarly ringing many bells in her head
“ But Sora… You brought the Seed down to the reality plane, risking the world and Herunia…. only to save me…...I...I am not….”
“ You are, my friend, Haru. ”
Sora replied firmly
“ And like all of us, we deserve a second chance, don't we? Now’s time we make our limited lives together worth it !"
As the younger Haru began to heal from the wounds and started to resurrect,
Sora led Present Haru up, hand in hand as The magical shrine girl opened a portal above their heads
“ I was sealed within blessed Herunia for eons and must return eventually. To join you on this exciting journey all around Kingdeniom, meeting new things, new people…..and old friends as well……it’s like a dream come true….”
Sora whispered as she led the present Haru up closer to the magic portal
“ What say you, Haru ?"
Sora then asked cheerfully
“ Is it fun ?"
" ….. Yes. ”
Haru replied, thinking back on the wacky trip along with the wacky people, all those adventures good and bad bringing a warm unspeakable feeling to her light heart
“ It is……”
“ You met anyone you like? Fond of, maybe ?"
Sora asked playfully as they floated up slowly closer into the center of the magic portal beyond space and time.
“........Kinda……. ? Why ask, though? Aren't you supposed to see and feel everything like I did if you were the Seed inside me all this time ??"
Haru realized as Sora giggled in agreement.
“ True. Now listen, Haru. Though it may sound unfortunate, my powers can't stay inside you forever. Our voyage has to come to an end. But before the end occurs, there is one last adventure, a final mission to accomplish. Perhaps you might need the help of that handsome Tenmei Akiro of course…”
“ Cut to the cheese, Sora. What is it ?"
Haru snapped, as the two girls chuckled after, like friends that have known each other for ages.
“ You must bring me back to the old shrine, back to where it all started, before I fall into the wrong hands. ”
Sora the Seed explained
“ There is a gateway there for me which leads me back to where I belong. Go there, Haru… And save, the world………”
“ But how about Mio ?!" Haru asked quickly as they floated higher and higher, deeper ivy the magic portal
“ How can I help cure Mio’s curse before I seal the Seed ?!"
" The curse in Mio is different in scale, Haru. Even I can't cure it. ”
Sora the Seed explained quickly
“ It is something far sinister, as strong as those of Demon kind—!”
Yet before Sora could finish, the magic portal started to moan and suck the two girls into the passway of many colors, like the stars of each and every universe blooming in perfect alignment making way for their grand transport.
“ Thank you... for everything, Sora !”
Haru shouted quickly as they began to fly, the two girls smiling back at each other, before the one last leap beyond the multiverse
“ Thank you… for giving me a second chance….!"
" You are welcome. ”
Sora then turned towards the star lights aligned before her eyes and Haru followed her gaze.
“ I am very proud of you….. Haru. ”
Hand in hand,
two girls, friends surpassing time and space, flew back through the astro highway of stars,
All the way,
Back to where they belong.
…
………..
……………………..
Haru woke up with a violent jolt, finding herself still in the ruined laboratory, this time surrounded by golden guards, golden medics,
and her ladyship Mio Al Seraphim, worriedly kneeling close by her side.
“ Haru…!! I thought we lost you !!"
Mio hugged the awakened high school girl in tears
“ Are you alright ?! At you hurt ?!"
" I am enlightened… that’s for sure !!!”
Haru cried out loud, both hands on Mio’s shoulders shaking excitedly, staring at Mio with eyes wide like saucers with the starlight glistening within her round pupils
“ Mio, listen!
I seriously have to save the world !!!!”
[...........to be continued]