Chapter <ⅩⅩⅤ>

Part 2

…

……….

Just a little more.

Just one more push!

The breaking of the Herunian Beast shall herald the new age of man, Kaburagi Shisei believed wholeheartedly, the sacred secrets and powerful knowledge shall finally be revealed and be of the Illuminatus League’s use. Miracles are soon to be artificialized, and the first thing Shisei swore to do with the power of Blessed Herunia, is to wipe Toshiumi out of existence and change the course of his defeat into a glorious world carved according to his triumph, and Mio his sister will also be there and her eyes will be filled with nothing but himself.

He shall not only be the monarch of the newly crafted world.

He is, the World.

All that needs to be done is one push of the Great Strike Exia Blade, down it should go and pop this watery balloon of light and reveal its contents!

But the Great Rune Sword never went down further. Not even an inch.

A force was going against him, against his extraordinary will!

“ Who?! Who dares push my Sword up while I strive to push it down?!?!” Kaburagi Shisei shouted to the heavens.

“ That would be me.”

Kaburagi swung his head up and looked.

There, standing far ahead in front of him, miles away on top of the high strong-walled fortress surrounding the Tower, is clearly the unmistakable shining silhouette of Keiken King the Silver-runed, Keiken King the Eternal, Keiken King the Old, pushing gently the prominent portion of the Silver Exia Rune embedded within the Great Strike Exia Rune Sword, acting as hindering force affront the League Master’s primacy.

Kaburagi Kill-Star Shisei refused to believe what was transpiring before his eyes and with his other hand, his left hand, he conjured a foam of dark, a tornado current teeming with nothing but foul Gyouma force, swirling violently as the League Spokesman readied to shoot the Gyouma devastation like a lance that would pierce this senile old fool off the wall.

With a cry, Kaburagi Shisei hurtled that hand, that left hand forth. Only to see his left arm missing, leaving only a bloody stub revealing flesh and bone!!!!

The League Master gapped and restrained his left hand in close inspection, to see that his left arm, his severed arm, was not severed at all! It was fine and working, all five fingers acting as his accord, and no blood nor bone was visible.

What kind of black magic has corrupted my eyes?!

Kaburagi Shisei could think of none at that precise moment, spinning around the apex of the Memorial Tower to see if a nuisance warlock was playing jokes on him while he was treading the path of the truly enlightened.

But the tower was empty, save for his own Rune Sword conjuring self.

A chill inadvertently ran up his spine.

Nani?!

“ What are you writing about, you blathering idiot of an author?! This Kaburagi Shisei does not know fear!! Why would my spine chill without any sound reason?!?!”

Kaburagi Shisei barked at the writer, but it needs no higher being to answer his qualms, for the sound reason was already there, lurking up inside of him all along.

A sudden sense of peril, shaped in the form of his own shadow that Shisei had seen many years already, but was unable to recognize at that moment. It was like another entity looming right underneath his presence, standing there, posing menacingly with a massive weapon in hand!!

As still as he could to restrain any movement from his body, Kaburagi Shisei eyed his shadow with a riveted sharp gaze, staring eye to eye at his own darkness. He dare not blink.

And to his utter shock, his shadow moved, not just a change in position by the lighting or whatsoever, but Shisei was sure he saw his shadow move on its own, raising the shadow’s left hand, which now holds a large stone slab Kaburagi Shisei was not holding at all, not even mentioning holding one before in his entire life!

With that stone slab sword in hand, the shadow raised the weapon high, its tip protruding high above his head.

Kaburagi Shisei forgot to breathe.

Without warning the shadow plunged the greatsword down, right onto his dextrous arm whole!!

Kaburagi Shisei felt the air punch out of his lungs, the stone rough surface crushing his bones into pulp, the solid sharp edges ripping the sinews of his dextrous flesh, as, by instinct any sound person with a decent set of neural sensory systems would react, Kaburagi Shisei pulled his right arm backward.

Only to see his right arm intact in one piece.

Not a drop of blood spilled, nor a morsel of flesh missing.

What was truly gone, however, was the gripping sensation of which he held the Great Strike Exia Rune Sword tightly within his power.

That was when Kaburagi Shisei realized, he was had.

He no longer has control over the Great Strike Exia Rune!!

…

……….

The Great Rune teetered sideways as Old Keiken King on the wall quickly stabilized the Astro weapon from falling onto the city with his powers over the Silver Portion of the Great Rune.

“ Now, Tenmei!!!” The Old King cried as Tenmei Akiro with the Ark’arios’ wings dashed forth to the wounded Herunian Beast’s side, pulling the Giant Strike Exia Rune Sword with his demonic armored hands out of the misshaped creature while Haru assisted Sora who quickly started to heal the sacred deity’s punctures in ancient song of the lost language of the gods.

The moment Sora began to heal the sacred Hydrozoan with the Seed power, Haru felt the essence of her light soul leaking slowly bit by bit and her weight gradually lighten.

The way Haru concealed her drifting, failing sensation surely did escape Tenmei’s sight.

…

……….

As intense as the top of the Memorial tower may be, the battle at the foot of the monument was no less stressful than the clashes above.

Long have the commoners over KIngdeniom pondered on which faction would win in a fair fight across the nation. Some speculate the navies of Xin-an prosper in marine aspects; While Tron may have the upper hand over the other forces in land-based combat, it is no question that the air force comes first in Vilencia of the north.

Now, in this current age, in this current moment, the battle of Tron capital showcases two of the three finest fronts of the Kingdeniom forces, with the sides of Tron at their best expertise, against the united forces of Xin-an and Vilencia, both coming at each other’s throats in the skies and lands between, clashing at the mouth of the Freedom and Justice Memorial fortress in the center of the capital.

Murong Fu had pondered for long if his Xin-an men of navy expertise would pull off a good fight against the feeble Tron men, and the answer was surprisingly pleasing.

“ General Deng has breached the inner plaza! Tron ranks have retreated five miles back!”

“ Good, good!” Murong Fu cheerfully clapped his military fan on his lap.

“ Force onward! Show them we Xin-an men are as valiant as we are at sea!”

“ Take caution, my lord.” old chamberlain Joe Mazha the monk warned in a whisper, however.

“ I sense a disturbance in the Strike Force among these sussy Tron Men. The Prime Minister seems to be hiding something under his sleeve.”

“ That corrupt young Son of Hikaru will soon be forced to resign with his current reputation as dirty as my kitchen mop!” Murong Fu fancied his metaphors.

“ His sister sure has mustered a good amount of resolve to confront his primacy. I say she might even be the next Prime Minister! Imagine how well our relations with Tron would be if history documented us Xin-an assisting in the most dread of times and moments of need. Joining this battle sure is a win-win opportunity!”

“ Sure… sure. If we win, that is.” Old monk Joe Mazha nodded slowly, gazing at the battlefield intensely unlike his optimistic lord.

Something seemed off about what is yet to transpire.

Nanali Hikaru sensed it too. As she dashed on machine horseback, motorbike back if you will, into the Tron ranks from the side with her trusty men and cyborg General Gelouch, the enemy lines seemed too frail to be true. Almost as if the enemy Tron forces are inviting her into the Prime Minister’s camp.

“ My lady, according to my computerized analysis of the Tron armies’ movements, I spy something amiss in their tactics.” Gelouch Dendrobium reported vigilantly.

“ They are retreating close to the center, the Memorial tower foot, huddling like penguins in a winter storm.”

“ If that is where Asuka is, I’ll have to make my way there.” Nanali decided after she checked the digital map on her military calvary’s screen.

“ We’ll wait for Lord Hector’s ambush to open our path. Then we will charge.”

“ Roger that, My lady.”

Asuka…what more are you trying to prove to this city?

Is this all not enough??

Nanali could but wonder as she pressed deeper into enemy lines.

…

……….

Where Asuka Hikaru was already waiting for her.

Retreating his troops, Asuka Line Zeta had his men gather around the foot of the Freedom and Justice Memorial Tower and wait for the enemy to commence.

“ Make sure they get nearer to the tower.” Asuka Line Zeta told Yukari and his men

“ Make sure they have the front row seats.”

“ Front row seats to what, Asuka??” Yukari asked incredulously, dying to know what is in Asuka’s head right now.

To which the Prime minister answered with a smile.

“ Our evolution.”

“ …No. I don’t want that, Asuka. No one wants that!!” Yukari had had enough, yanking her badge of Tron military off her uniform and tossing it hard onto the marble floor.

“ At least your father was honest enough to let everyone know he’s killing people that he thinks are his enemies! But you…!! I don’t even know you anymore, Asuka! What is it you want to achieve?! Killing those that don’t agree with you? Murder?! Is that what you are planning to do?! Give me a sound answer, Asuka, PLEASE!!!!”

Asuka Line Zeta didn’t reply immediately.

He was disappointed.

“ Am I not clear enough?” Asuka volleyed back a question of his own.

“ Am I not struggling enough to usher a new age of Illumination onto this old dying nation?!”

“ That’s not what I see it!” Yukari bravely refuted Asuka’s words, anger fueling her longing to pull Asuka back from his derailment.

“ I see you purging old officials and senates that doubted your ideas. I see you hunt the royal family under the public eye without denying your faults and murder of the King!! I see you lead this capital down a path of fire and destruction and no one is there to pull you back! Asuka…I hate to say it, but My Brother didn’t die so you can become your Father !!!!”

The last line was crossed.

Words that never should have entered Asuka’s ears, broke his eardrums like spears piercing deep into his forebrain.

Asuka let his hand sail and slap through Yukari’s cheek, sending the young female soldier to the floor.

“ Tie her to the lamp post at the back.” Asuka bade his men

“ Make sure she has a good view.”

…

………..

Seeing the scale of advantage being tilted away from his favor, Kaburagi Shisei burst forth at the speed of light, shooting out his right arm to grasp control over the Great Exia Rune back, only to be met with three coming weapons that were already there above the back of his hand, waiting to strike his fingers off his arm.

The three weapons were an arrow wrought from a rock from the stars; a Greatsword that reflects the cosmos, and a Lance.

Three weapons wielded by three prominent Parusefor Master Strikers, Hassan Hellsing, Riella, and Sven, who have finally revealed themselves out of the shadows of the Parusefor tactic of fear and deception, now swinging their weapons down to crush the League proprietor's one good hand.

“ Over My Dead Body, You Won’t !!!!!” Kaburagi Shisei howled with sheer fury, mustering the Gyouma energy consumed within his organs and letting it all out, emitting a dastardly vile force onto his pursuers, throwing the Parusefor Masters back to save his hand.

But the three Parusefors Masters were no longer there at the next second, only to be replaced by a hundred Parusefor knights that clambered at Shisei all at once from every direction possible! Pushing the ganged-up League Master further away from retrieving his Great Exia Rune.

Kaburagi Shisei hate to admit it, but the truth that he had underestimated the Parusefors’ mystic powers to conjure fear out of nothing and pull off perfect assassinations in the simplest of ways was a harsh blow to his schemes.

He had lost control of the Great Strike Exia Rune Sword, but it is still there for his taking! He must decimate these shadowy fools and get back his Great Exia!

If only no one else would come and hinder his path no more!

If only that man, that one nemesis that started it all were not here to foil his grand schematas!!!!!!

If only Toshiumi Al Seraphim had not descended onto the apex of the Tower out of nowhere!!!!!! And stood before me with that damned saber!!!!!!

And that was what Kaburagi Shisei feared and hated the most. The second coming of Toshiumi the Awesome, Brave of Zabanya, Savior of Tron, Lord of the Golden Exia Rune, King of all that is gold, and Master of the Golden Company, arriving to take back control over his Golden Exia Rune and smite this petty League Spokesman out of existence.

The hoard of Parusefor heroes leapt back away from Shisei as if to let Toshiumi finish the deed and do the honors.

“ It is over, Sukuru! We have the high ground! Morality speaking!”

Lo, Toshiumi was not alone.

Shisei had seen it coming, but now seeing his sister join his nemesis with her own katana in hand stirs a different emotion inside of him.

“ And you too…Mio?!”

Mio Al Seraphim need not reply. For the revealing of her saber, the resolve for her to Ba’tou and raise the tip of the blade against her own brother, had spoken more than enough.

Then did Kaburagi Shisei realize this was how the stars aligned would be.

“ My dear sister who has been freed from the curse of the Gyouma, has come, to Die.”

Kaburagi Shisei/Sukuru cackled in a faint howl.

“ Of what I have taken from thee, I shall use it to sever our ties. Come, Mio! Come, Toshiumi you churl! Tonight shall be thy end, and also thy rebirth into my New Paradise!!”

With both arms raised, the whole Freedom and Justice Memorial Tower shuddered in sudden violent ferocity.

…

……….

Varis and Nison Char felt it charging in from beneath the base of the tower as soon as they infiltrated the monument.

With her gauntlets opening up into beam cannons in full instinctive speed, Varis stood her ground and aimed below, ready to strike what cometh next. But Nison Char knew better.

Before the marble floors burst into smithereens and shattered into rubble, Nison Char dived forth at rapid speed, pushing the young Homunculus woman with his whole body’s velocity out of the way, escaping the vicious swirling black torrents at the nick of time, landing to the side as the two stared in riveted by the unfathomable powers that slowly engulf all there is of existence by this cosmos-containing assembly of dark abomination.

“ Why…did you stop me?” Varis asked, without a single trace of anger but of wonder.

“ Why would I not?! That thing over there is gonna get you shredded! That’s the League’s ace in the whole!! The Gyouma Force for crying out loud!!”

Nison shouted out loud at the Homunculus lady that feared no death, yet still, his voice was drowned by the deep moaning roar the dark energy thrummed within its airy cavernous husk.

…

……………

“ By jove…!!” Griffon uttered, more times had he ever used that exclamation term in his life, as the Isandor men rode in on their motorbikes to ambush, only to see the foot of the Memorial tower now smothered in glinting haunting substance that sent fear through pure sight.

“ What are we facing now?!” Hector Zefield hollered precariously, he and his men all stupefied by the demon cloud outbursting all over the obelisk of Freedom and Justice.

“ Don’t get near it!” Griffon cried out to the Isandor forces

“ It’s…It’s worse than the Ark’arios!!”

“ A Demon?!” Nina gasped in surprise.

“ No…” Griffon’s terrified grave expression said it all

“ Far worse…”

…

………

Nanali pulled the brakes hard as their tires screeched to a sliding halt before colliding into the ghastly nauseous atmosphere that enveloped the protruding monument before their distraught gazes.

All eyes were on the horrendous smog of desperation that none of them noticed a shadow crawl near Nanali’s motorbike from underneath, lunging up all of a sudden and gripped the stirring handle like vice.

Nanali let out a horrified scream, partly shaken by the brute force that assaulted her, but mostly by the haunting form that beheld her eyes.

A disfigured mash of darkened flesh, tattered pieces of Tron uniform hung over its mangled wet body. It was a man that seemed to be flipped inside out and soaked in the dark unfathomable substance that now swallowed the whole of the Memorial Tower.

This, was but one among many of the poor Tron soldiers that were bathed in Gyouma in the name of evolution by their Prime Minister, “evolved” by the ultimate hidden power of the Illuminatus League.

The dismantled man gave out a moan of agony before Gelouch came forth and kicked the monster out of the way.

Nanali thought she had seen enough, but clearly, that was not all that the Prime minister had in store.

“ …Sister…!!!!”

An eerie laugh crossed with a low roar and a high-pitched shriek, came the cry of the evolved form of the New Prime Minister.

No more a body of flesh and bone, but a tall staggering being wrought by metal and demonry. Its face now but a sleek arched iron mask with two thin sharp slits in the places where bloody eyes stare out eerily from under the metal covers’ shadow; its mouth was left ajar with a wide curved gap between the upper and lower portions of the facial mask, forming a sinister grin above the darkness that revealed not the lower half of his face, already more than enough to haunt Nanali to the rest of her days.

Shoulders, limbs, and torsos, all clad under dull curved metal that fused upon his old flesh, with thin sinewy strands of bloody muscles barely visible under the bronze armor, pulling this abomination of a being together like a metallic rag doll who stomped, heavy steps one after another down the black and bloody wide stairs leading up to the Memorial Tower pedestal.

Nanali recognized nothing from the unearthly voice to the grotesque demeanor of this iron being, but one thing she knew which she tried not to accept but indicates the deepest of her fears at first glance.

The tattered ultramarine cloak that belonged to the Prime Miniaters of Tron, swayed with the ruthless wind behind this iron ghoul’s back.

Asuka Line Zeta Hikaru, had reached his evolved form.

“ The League…promises.”

Asuka The Evolved Iron Line Zeta Hikaru cackled as he neared the petrified Nananli and her men.

“ And the League provides…A new, greater Kingdeniom!!!”

“ There is nothing great about what you have done!!!” Nanali scalded, no more able to control her rage.

“ Look at your own men! Look at yourself…!!! There is no peace in all of this…….”

“ No?!”

With a quick raise of his grotesque rotten metallic hand, Asuka The Evolved Iron Minister shot out beams of darkness that incinerated all of Nanali’s men, and even blew Cyborg Gelouch Dendrobium off the screen, too mortally injured to save the royal stewardess.

“ Now they will all listen…” Asuka sighed in his inhuman coarse voice that echoed beneath the grin formed upon his iron mask.

“ And the obsolete minds will be forced to either change…or die……”

With a nudge of his iron head, two “evolved” Tron soldiers smothered in black alien grease and flesh exposed, lunged to Nanli’s sides and snatched her arms, cuffing her wrists to the back of her waist and pushed the stewardess forward, following the Prime Minister’s deranged path up the wide smudged marble stairs.

…

………….

“ The Gyouma has been released!! I repeat!! The Gyouma had been released!!!!”

Roy Mustangoo, second aid to the Golden Lord Toshiumi shouted urgently to the speakers, his voice echoing over the Vilencian flagship cabin where Rang and Agnes listened prudently with much grave concern.

Phaldemon King bit his lips.

“ This is bad,” Rang admitted to all the resistance forces solemnly

“ The League using her Ladyship Mio’s Gyouma back at us now means they are as desperate to get into Herunia as we are to save it. We must destroy the Freedom and Justice Memorial Tower.”

“ Wait…hold up!” Andrew Anjou Alesdale, top knight of Vilencia and the pride of house Alesdale stopped Rang short with a sudden intrusion.

“ I don’t see the correlation between stopping the League’s devilish ways and shooting down the Memorial Tower!”

“ I fear the whole F and J Memorial Tower is being a hub for the Illuminatus League to hold its most heinous weapons and technologies.”

Rang explained gravely

“ The only way I can think of to take that advantage away from the League is to destroy this hub where they stabilize the Gyouma energy in one exact position. With the bases destroyed, the Gyouma force might…I say might, disperse. Hypothetically speaking.”

King Phaldemon and his knights and subjects, along with the warlords of the north all exchanged stern foreboding looks with each other.

“ Guess we’ll have to find out.” Phaldemon King pointed to the skies at once.

“ Men of Vilencia! To the skies, we shall! And bring down this monument once and for all!!!”

Rang also replied to the Golden Company.

“ Mustangoo sir, I need you to focus fire on the F and J tower. I repeat, All Golden COmpany personnel, bring down the tower at will!”

“ Roger that!” Roy Mustangoo turned his mecha horse riding mobile walker giant around with the rest of his brave folk and started attacking the Memorial tower with missiles and laser beams all, alongside the Vilencian airforce of Mobile Flyers, mobile giants with wings, dumping and shooting all kinds of arsenals they could muster to bring down the marble establishment.

But to their surprise, none of the weapons work, for the Gyouma force casting a dark foam over the Memorial Tower acted not only as a protective film, but also as assaulting weaponry, shooting out tendrils and devouring fighter jets and mobile flyers like a hungry beast with countless heads.

Reeve Lowangleen, rookie of the Golden Company had had enough. He just wanted to be a lord of his own estate. He never signed up for this impossible suicide mission fighting supernatural alien powers and flying Jellyfished made of sheer light.

The moment his mobile walker was hit by a Gyouma wave and chopped in two, Reeve launched off his cockpit and refused to fight anymore.

Guess I’ll just run away as soon as my feet touch ground, Reeve sighed, floating down under his parachute along the winds that rocked him harshly down to the raging battlefields below.

…

…………

Yet down below the raging skies were not as pleasant as Reeve imagined.

The united forces of Xin-an and Gasolia were pushed back by the strong resurgence of the Evolved Tron armies, like zombies with ten times the fervor and flying colors in accuracy.

Above all the upgraded qualities except their unacceptable appearances, is their high resistance to any damage the opposing forces bring down upon them.

“ General Deng is wounded and requests to retreat five miles back, sire!”

“ Granted! Retreat now!” Lord Murong Fu ushered the herald in haste.

“ And make sure to vaccinate general Deng and put him in quarantine before he makes close contact with anyone!”

Lord Murong cried out at the herald leaving the camp.

“ This is certainly not a zombie holocaust, my lord.” Old Joe the monk suggested calmly

“ It is the corruption of the Gyouma force that existed eons ago before the age of Light Children.”

“ Is it contagious?” Murong Fu had to ask to assure himself.

“ No.” Joe Mazha shook his head.

“ Then how can we stop it?”

“ By stopping the origin of the Gyouma.” The old monk pointed in the Memorial Tower’s direction.

“ Inside that monument.”

…

………….

Inside the Freedom and Justice Memorial tower, however, Varis stood at the edge of the side, overlooking the giant hole in the floor from which the bursting turrets of the Gyouma Force rises from yonder below.

“ I swear, You’ll die if you get in there!” Nison Char tried to persuade Varis more times than he could count.

“ There’s definitely another way!”

“ The stabilizer…engine…is right there.” Varis’ eyes fixed on the bottom of the tower, covered by endless bursting Gyouma energy before her eyes.

But through her enhanced vision per the designs of the ultimate homunculus of the Illuminatus League, Varis was sure she was staring right at the League’s energy-storing tank engines that hold the Gyouma extracted from Mio intact underneath the Tower.

“ There are wires running around this whole tower that transmits this kind of bullshit!” Nison tried to argue an alternative still.

“ We can just blow up the tower and block the transmission!”

“ As long… as the storing engine stay…The Gyouma belongs…to the League…” Varis explained shortly, heading back a few steps from the edge, only to reposition herself to run in and jump down full speed into the corrupting depth.

Nison Char had not met such a stubborn woman for a long time.

The last was his sister, who insisted that King Varche Scrirocco of Terminas is a decent ruler and the man she loves all her life.

Nison Char closed his eyes with a sigh, facing the fact that if she had faced the same situation as he, Milina wouldn't hesitate to jump down and destroy whatever was dooming the world.

“ …Wait!” Nison came forth to block Varis’ path at the last second.

“ I might be able to help you!”

“ …How?”

“ Remember how I fixed you? Making your parts with my orange magic? I’ll do that…while we jump in together…”

Varis’ unexpressed face slightly, very slightly darkened as she considered Nison’s plan thoroughly.

“...You… will die.”

“ If only you’d seen me inside that pitch-black room in the last chapter, you’ll be familiar with my relations with death.”

Nison Char managed to squeeze a sly grin.

“ I am not afraid to die. I am afraid to waste this life that Milina had sacrificed for. Give me a purpose to save this damn world, and I am ready to go. On your mark, young mistress.”

Seeing Nison’s determination in his eyes was genuine, Varis finally gave in to our vagabond, our ruffian, our Noble Slayer’s advice.

Before the jump, Varis motioned for Nison’s hands, letting him wrap his burly arms around his neck as Nison stood close behind her, leaning against her metallic slim armored frame.

“ …Stay close.”

And with that said,

Varis and Nison leapt down, towards the raging upward turbulence of the merciless Gyouma Streams.

…

………….

Tenmei and Haru were at work nonstop, as Tenmei continued pulling the Great Strike Exia Rune Sword out of the watery blob-like body, Haru and Sora healed the weakened Deity with the Seed’s song and restoration spells.

Pretty hard to not catch a glimpse of the Memorial Tower vanishing behind them more and more into the chaotic swirling darkness.

“ Never knew the League kept that amount of Demonry.” Tenmei hollered as he swiped away a falling head of a mobile flyer with the Ark’arios wings.

“ It’s the Gyouma.” Haru pointed out.

“ The same cursed power inside sister Mio I told you about.”

“ The magnitude…quite incredible” Tenmei had no idea the Gyouma could grow into such insane proportions. To think all that was trapped in one individual's body, waiting to burst out at any given moment. Just like the Seed, but dark in nature.

Tenmei wondered if the Gyouma had any relations with the Archdemons that share the same colors of dark.

And the rightful person to explain it to him was coincidentally present.

“ Gyouma. The name of which we call the roots of Darkness.”

explained surprisingly Austria Van Hillingdale, strategist of League, entering the scene with a revolver in hand, pointing the weapon at Haru’s chest.

Haru jolted in shock, trying to process her legs to outrun the coming bullet.

Yet without sentiment, Austria pulled the trigger.

It took barely a tenth of a second for Tenmei and the Ark’arios to dash down from the wounded Deity and seize the bullet in his armored hand.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“ If you dare do that again, I’ll kill you before the next bullet leaves the canister.” Tenmei Akiro warned menacingly, to which the strategist chuckled chillingly.

“ I am a Strategist. My goal is to enlighten those that require further understanding. You are unaware of what the Gyouma is, therefore I have the duty to show thee.”

Austria then used his gun to point at Tenmei’s hand which held the bullet he just fired

“ That you just caught, is a Gyouma-enhanced bullet designed by the League, by this me to be more exact. Gyouma in its simplest sense, is the same as the Powers of a Demon, but more ancient, more powerful, and full of malice.”

Tenmei felt the bullet in his hand start to burn, and opening his tightly gripped fingers, he revealed his armored palm scorched and burned nearly through.

Tenmei quickly dropped the bullet to the ground and left it there, sinking slowly into the cement ground.

“ Alas!” The Ark’arios snarled with mild concern.

“ Even the deadly Gyouma they now dare hold as weaponry. I see the end of the world is nearer than expected.”

“ You know of this Gyouma??” Tenmei asked the Ark’arios in shock.

“ It is a Force beyond us all; a congregation of Dark with the scent that resembles the origin of us Demon kind. The Grand Archdemon of the ancients Death hoarded this amalgamation of power inside its serpentine husk before Yuidis of Herunia had the Grand Archdemon burst into smithereens, setting free the ancient Dark Souls out to the world of light, hiding in the deepest corners of the lands.”

“ It hides not just in the dark, but also in the hearts of us,” Haru added, knowing that Mio Al Seraphim was one of its victims.

“ It’s like a lurking disease that dooms its victims with destructive powers of evil!”

“ Light-hearted kind shall never temper with the Gyouma! Not to mention using it as a weapon against Herunia!”

Sora was deeply disappointed at the League reaching a new low in morality

“ Tread this path no further, for it will only lead to your own destruction!”

Austria, despite the dismaying confrontations towards his works and designs, still nodded in a delightful chuckle.

“ Indeed. One can say the Gyouma is the Anti-Light Soul which existed long before the start of the age of Light Children. It is the sentient primordial energy of pure malice, and also the last power you shall see!”

As the whole Memorial plaza shook more and more violently and the Dark swirls of the Gyouma devoured the tower whole, Austria Van Hillingdale aimed his revolver at Tenmei Akiro’s head.

“ Tenmei Akiro, or should I say, Homunculus Number Three, I hereby relieve you of your duty. Stand down, or perish.”

Tenmei Akiro, with the Archdemon armor all set, crouched low in readying pose to dash forward and finish the damnable Strategist once and for all.

But the confidence in Austria’s sneer seemed to allure otherwise.

…

……….

With all the Gyouma now crawling to the top of the tower, swirling up like a sentient beast of dark and cosmos of dread and abhorrence, enveloping the Memorial tower in dark masses, gathering most of its depravity around Kaburagi Kill-Star’s presence, as if hailing the League Master like a Lord of Dark and Despair.

“ If you two are so considerate in the formalities,” Shisei sighed as the swarm of Gyouma handed the League Master a long straight piece of shining ceramic to his hand

“ I too, shall do mine with proper legitimacy.”

The pale ceramic long object, which Kaburagi Shisei held close on one end,

was in fact the sheath of his blade.

“ Kaburagi Shisei…!”

The once champion of Kaminosato; fallen successor of the house of Kaburagi, and now Master of the Illuminatus League shouted out to the heavens.

“ …Ba’tou.”

Now that the words were spoken, there is no turning back from an unsheathed blade.

Blood shall surely be spilled tonight.

Like the unstoppable tides of the Kingdeniom ocean, Kaburagi Shisei charged forth, with the sea of Gyouma following his dastardly blade, crushing forth the two katanas of the Seraphims that clashed back, strong-willed and relenting, with styles of Strength and Dexterity, of Toshiumi’s striking power stances that crush stamina like chopping weak timber, and Mio’s graceful yet deadly swirls of an unseen blade that slits through the vitals leaving painless wounds without tainting her blade with even a drop of blood; each side of the swordplay spectrum dominating Shisei’s stance. Endless dance of blades that keep on coming to take his life. Like the failures of the past reenacting themselves before his eyes.

Nay!

With a forceful stomp, sending Gyouma burning flame across the apex arena, Shisei forced the Two into the air. Now separating Toshiumi and Mio for a split second, Shisei had found his chance.

His winning tactic was set into motion, and both chess pieces of Toshiumi and Mio are placed in the death zone.

Shisei readied his stance, the undefeated stance of House Kaburagi.

The air around him ceased to flow.

Now that my turn has come, your end is wrought in stone!!

…

…………

“ I have studied you and your Demon kind for long.” Austria spoke to the Ark’arios donned upon Tenmei as his armor

“ And I find the truth rather shockingly funny, that you, Ark’arios, are never a true Archdemon! You are but a petty Light Soul, corrupted by Dark eons before, imitating the ways of the Demon, only to stray further away into beast hood! You are no Demon, you are a Pretender! While I who harbors the Gyouma, is more Demon than you now!”

Both Tenmei and the Ark’arios heeded not Austria’s mockery and dashed forth to smash this sinister strategist out of the way, only to be served by bullets that were smeared with Gyouma pus.

Tenmei not just dodged the bullets, but punched them off course far away in different directions, not taking risks for any of them fly near Haru.

The Gyouma bullets did melt through Ark’arios’ hide, but both, man and Demon, pressed on relentlessly, resisting the pain to stop the wily scheme master.

Soon Tenmei was over Austria, standing in a punch’s distance.

“ Hit here.”

Austria pointed at his own light heart sneering.

“ That way I will surely die.”

“ As you wish!!” The Ark’arios contained his rage no more, letting out its fist infused within Tenmei’s through the strategist’s bare chest.

Feeling nothing at all.

Tenmei’s blood ran cold as soon as he realized what was about to happen.

“ It’s a hologram!!!!”

Haru shouted as they all realized too late. Tenmei spun around to see if Haru was alright.

Haru looked around her, expecting a stab or a, ambush from the sinister strategist from behind.

But Austria was not behind her either.

Wait…a thought flashed through Haru’s mind.

How does a hologram of Austria shoot bullets in the first place…?

“ Haru…”

Haru looked up.

A drop of liquidus Light fell onto her cheek as Haru’s eyes widened in shock.

Sora, with hands over her lower abdomen, slowly descended to the ground.

Pure Light blood wouldn't stop bursting from the orifice, and the puncture wound proliferated through Sora’s flesh with dark Gyouma malice inch by inch.

Time is running short.

“ Damn it, it’s a sniper…!!” Tenmei cursed himself, not realizing the dastardly scheme fast enough.

Austria’s hologram was but a ruse, a red herring to distract them from the fact that he was sniping from afar!

Austria quickly loaded his next bullet from his secret vantage point and aimed. First-person shooter games have always been his forte.

“ I’ll Unroot This Whole Tower, this city, to get my hands on him, AND SKIN THIS BASTARD ALIVE !!!!!”

The Ark’arios was losing its control over itself, bursting with rage in the form of bursting waves of Darkness, wings outstretched ready to pounce off to find Austria whatever it takes.

But Tenmei Akiro, with his iron will and fast decision, halted the Ark’arios from its flight but rather shielded Sora and Haru with the pair of large demonic Exia rune wings.

“ He can be anywhere to stop us,” Tenmei whispered to all in haste

“ But we’ll make it first! Sora, We will escort you back to Herunia as fast as possible, with that Jellyfish too. Lead the way, and we’ll do our best!!”

Sora nodded with a weak smile before Tenmei and Haru’s determined gazes.

“ They have already opened the gates for us.”

Pointing with a shaky finger above, Sora motioned to the wide cleft of light drawing wide across the night sky, from whence the Herunian Beast descended.

“ Through that rapture…would be fine…”

“ Rest Sora!” The Ark’arios apprehensively boomed

“ Tenmei!! Grab the Beast! We are moving!!”

The Great Strike Exia Rune Sword was still stuck in the sacred Jellyfish, Tenmei was about to say, but on second thought, perhaps carrying the whole Creature with the Great Rune Sword still intact is the most efficient way now.

“ Let me carry you, Sora.” Haru hoisted Sora onto her back as they hid under the Ark’arios’ wings.

Haru then held onto the sacred Beast gently and exchanged resolving nods with Tenmei.

“ Let’s do this.”

…

………..

Nanali searched with quick gazes over her surroundings, wishing one of her allies and friends were around, but they too were fighting for their lives against the deformed Tron armies.

The two deformed Tron men ushered Nanali to the top of the pedestal on which the Freedom and Justice Memorial tower was erected. There, on one side of the pedestal a few steps ahead, Nanali caught sight of Asuka’s former second in command. Gasping in relief to see Yukari safe and in regular form, but also distraught by how they tied the young woman brutally to an iron lamp post with heavy chains.

“ Is this how you treat others now?! Through humiliation?!” Nanali scalded furiously at her forgone brother walking straight ahead.

“ You put this Hikaru house in shame!”

“ Father ordered to execute her before he died.”

Asuka The Evolved Hikaru replied in a crude menacing murmur

“ I don’t kill do defend my ego. I am not my father.”

“ You have proved otherwise.”

The iron Prime Minister stopped in his steps and turned around slowly. Each movement creaked the bronze mottled armor nestled upon his rotten flesh.

“ Nanali Hikaru, you have taken Princess Keiken hostage and refused to corporate with the government, instead forming an alliance with terrorists that endanger the stability of this nation.”

Asuka Hikaru leaned close, staring at his furious yet terrified sister with his monstrous bloodshot eyes that were deprived of eyelids for moisture and protection.

“ Of all the treasonous actions you have committed against this proud nation, I, Asuka Line Zeta Hikaru, hereby sentence you, to Death. As I said, sister, I don’t kill for my ego.

I kill for this country. For Kingdeniom!!!!”

With a ruthless wave, The iron Prime minister ordered his men to take the captive to the side of the Freedom and Justice Memorial tower wall, where a row of shooters was already there waiting to carry out the order.

Nanali felt her blood run cold that very instant. Her head felt light as her mind went blank, letting the men drag her seemingly weightless body toward her end. Nanali tried to fight back her tears, forcing her body to stop trembling, in vain.

…

…………..

From where he perched, Austria could clearly discern the silhouette of Tenmei in his Ark’arios armor carrying the large Herunian Deity up slowly into the air.

“ Hoh…they have decided to carry the Beast with the Great Exia? Amusing, but futile.”

Austria aimed with his good spectacled eye, looking for the Seed, which was blocked by the Ark’arios’ large winged frame. With less than a second of consideration, Austria aimed at Tenmei’s head and pulled the trigger without sentiment.

The Gyouma bullet sailed, and struck the left wing of the Ark’arios instead of the head.

Did I miss? Austria wondered and reached a probable hypothetic. The Ark’arios can sense the bullet, shielding the lethal blows with its wings…While its arms now carry the Herunian Jellyfish. The Archdemon is unable to parry nor dodge effectively from my bullets now, being but a merely delayed target!

Tenmei and Ark’arios may negate some lethal damage, but damage still taken.

With enough rounds, Austria predicted, he is able to bring down the Archdemon, the Seed, and the Herunian Jellyfish altogether!

Austria continued his shots, as the Archdemon endured them while still holding onto the blessed deity, carrying it higher and higher to the sky.

…

……….

“ Tenmei, your wounds…!!”

“ It’s alright!”

The Gyouma bullets piercing through the Ark’arios armor and searing deep into his flesh was unlike any torture Tenmei had ever experienced.

The pus of the Archdemon merged with his light blood, flowing down from the mottled orifices punctured on his back and wings.

But still, Tenmei went on, higher, higher, and higher.

He cannot stop now.

He cannot fail now.

This is the moment of his calling.

The mission he has been entrusted with by his benefactor since the beginning.

The promise he had made with all that has carried him to this moment!

This is the right thing to do…

…for the smiles and laughs of the people…….

“ …it’s not alright…”

Like a sudden relief from the aching tense flight, Tenmei felt his exposed flesh closing in gently on itself and the pain alleviated with soothing warmth.

Turquoise light bloomed over the bloody bullet holes as it ceased the corruption of the Gyouma poison from spreading, all because of the glow in Haru’s hand placed gently onto Tenmei, channeling the Seed powers to mitigate Tenmei and Ark’arios’ suffering.

“ Miula…”

Tenmei would have thanked Haru with much gratitude, but seeing the more she tried to heal his wounds, the frailer and sickened Haru had become!

The Seed force is leaving her, and Haru had decided where to place them last.

In hopes that her last effort could be of some help to Tenmei’s noble strife.

“ Stop…Miula…!” Tenmei quickly held Haru’s hand away from his wounds

“ Stop! You don’t have to do this!”

“ I have to…” Haru replied in a weak whispered.

“ And I want to…to make sure you make it to the end…For all you’ve done…for my parents…for me…you are…worth it……..”

Tenmei felt her hand fall limp in his grip.

Without hesitance, our man Tenmei Akiro rose up with his last ascension, determination as his wings, stepping forth to a great leap he made one last dash towards the fissure above, with a cry that awakened his last resolve, elevating both the Herunian Deity and Haru up, up, and up toward the Light.

As fast as he could!!!!

…

………..

As Tenmei and Ark’arios made their way drastically up the skies,

Reeve Lowangleen however was following gravity’s lead.

Finally, crash landing onto solid ground, Reeve thought about kissing the earth in the name of All mother Yuidis but scampered hurriedly behind a deserted military vehicle when he heard footsteps approaching his way.

Reeve Lowangleen peaked out from the corner of the buggy, only to nearly gasp out in wonder at the sight of an iron Man, a literal being clad in bronze metal with a tattered blue cloak dancing behind its robotic staggering pace, passing by Reeve’s hideout in a dominating atmosphere.

Reeve immediately assumed that this Iron Hero is a man of caliber simply by his looks, and his gaze was riveted on the iron ruler for a long minute until he noticed a small band of three personnel following behind.

Reeve winced as he saw two ugly monsters walking on hind legs appearing to view. Has he somehow accidentally crash-landed in a parallel universe where beasts roamed the lands on hind legs and governed under a Robot king’s iron rule? Reeve shook the daydreamings aside as he carefully slid into the military vehicle, planning his escape route as he secretly tried to activate the engines of the buggy with his rusty car-stealing tactics.

Failing to notice a terrified young woman being dragged away by the monstrous men in front of him, about to be executed in cold blood.

…

………..

Toshiumi sensed the currents of the night wind swirl in Shisei’s favor.

The Kaburagi swordplay! Hiding under a flurry of deadly slashes as the wielder dashes in an unexpecting trace, drawing the last lethal blow at the opponent’s weakest point.

This tactic could only be pulled off when the opponent is finished with their stances, and at a distance less than 2 meters away.

Mio is in range!!

Shisei’s ground slam had separated Toshiumi from Mio, and the Gyouma force have curled up around his Awesomeness to hinder his path.

Mio is on her own.

The Kabragi Swordplay is too fast, Toshiumi wouldn’t make it in time!

She must either escape, or react!!

Mio!!!

Kaburagi Kill-Star was now zooming like a bullet train, Gyouma force pushing him forth, infusing his rush with godspeed, katana pointed affront, aiming at Mio’s light heart. By hurting his sister, Toshiumi would definitely lose his calm, and his victory shall reveal itself before his presence!

Toshiumi, You Have Lost! The moment you decide to be my enemy!!!!!

…

……….

Austria initially thought Tenmei was descending. The sudden surge in power and acceleration took the Strategist off guard as Austria aimed quickly once more, tracing the back of Tenmei’s head as he followed up, raising his sniper rifle skillfully.

The track is set.

He but needed to pull the trigger!!!!

Tenmei Akiro, Your Journey Ends here!!!!!

…

……….

Nanali felt her back hit solid wall, freezing cold upon her shivering flesh. Her restraints fixed in place.

The arms dragging her by the sides let go, tying a black cloth around Nanali’s wet eyes, plunging her world into panicking darkness.

Nanali prayed under her breathless sobs.

Her brother’s distorted voice barked like drums to her ears.

“ Arms at the ready!!”

The loading of the bullets heralded her end.

“ Asuka…please…” Nanali begged one last time.”

“ Aim!!!”

That was when Nanali finally accepted the hard truth.

Her brother was gone forever.

…

………..

Kaburagi Shisei’s blade was inches away from Mio now. The Gyouma Force, like a lunging serpent bursting out from behind him, drew its blood lust jaws wide open as it neared Mio’s tiny frame.

She seemed as helpless as the day she lay half naked in his tent of the tourney.

She deserves such an end.

We could have been a formidable pair, Mio!!!

Fortifying our house, and bringing everlasting pride to our family!!!!

But you chose unwisely, and brought shame and devastation to house Kaburagi,

To this Brother !!!!!

“ Your death shall serve a greater purpose than your living, Mio Al Seraphim!!!!!!!!!”

…

……….

Darkstalker Austria Van Hillingdale’s finger curled around the trigger.

His finger, his aim, his skills, all three aligned to form a perfect kill.

He heard a drastic crash of metal down below somewhere too far to concern him and decided not to distract himself from the grand prize.

The League’s victory, sealed in this one stroke!!!!

…

……….

The opening to Herunia,

one last dash away!!!!!

Tenmei Akiro took his last breath.

Whatever is about to happen is out of reach.

He needs just go, fly.

Fly until he no longer could.

The world around him calmed to hollow stillness.

The wind bellowing in whispers was all he heard.

…

………..

Asuka Hikaru had his hand hoisted forth, his index finger pointing like a rapier toward his sister’s heart.

Yet before the Prime minister could utter the defining order to his gunners, his world brightened from the side in a sudden fashion.

Proliferating shafts of yellowish white dawned on Asuka Line Zeta Hikaru’s presence,

Coming closer as the world enveloped him in pallid white.

…

………..

“ Headshot…” Austria unpurposely breathed as the restrained flicking of the chamber set the Gyouma bullet off course, but with a jolting backlash that Austria had not encountered during all his rounds of shooting, a sudden cruel force swung his rifle up from the barrel and the strategist toppled backward, letting go of the weapon and leapt feet away vigilantly to an opposing stance, staring at what seemed like a colossal bear grabbing his rifle by the barrel and snapping it in two with a crushing grip.

Austria blinked hard to comprehend what he beheld his eyes.

…

………..

Nanali winced as the screeching scream of what seemed like sliding metal running across cement roared close ahead of her dark world, followed by numerous grunts and howls accompanied by squashing sounds.

Hot liquid splattered onto her cheek as Nanali half screamed, her body jolting in shock at the unexpected.

Then silence drowned the darkness.

Nanali waited for the Prime Minister to give his last order, but all she could hear was a faint hissing of steam escaping somewhere in front of her.

…

……….

Something is wrong.

The Gyouma had softened, and his blade had become heavier.

Kaburagi Shisei could not comprehend how his power, his command over all of the League, and the wrath of the Gyouma,

cannot possibly penetrate Mio’s opportune blade!!!

To Shisei’s utter horror, the Gyouma Force that was enveloping his whole body and blade drastically thinned and peeled off like dead skin, dissolving with the night breeze as the winds swept ruthlessly behind his back.

The Gyouma was no longer stabilized onto this tower, onto him!

Something is wrong!!!!!!

…

…………

Deep down at the bottom of the Tower, Varis lay in a pool of her homunculus blood, her body ripped nearly apart with but thin scarce orange energy strands connecting her vital organs together.

There Nison lay, next to Varis, panting heavily upon his lesser pool of light blood.

Between the two exhausted mortally-wounded castaways,

was the shattered storage engine, its parts scattered all over the ravaged ground.

…

…………

Before Kaburagi Shisei could realize the error and remedy the excruciating loss, a pillar of red, ten times thicker than the whole Freedom and Justice Memorial Tower, searing and burning hot like a hose of lava spurting down onto his head with vehement force, like the energy flow of the whole universe poured down on him like an overwhelming waterfall of power and might and destruction, slamming the whole Memorial tower like a twig in a storm, and vibrating the earth like an astro god punch given on the surface of the planet. The energy broke Shisei’s posture and negated all kinds of defense Kaburagi Shisei had prepared to defeat the world in that one maximum beam of extreme devastation.

Kaburagi Shisei with all his draining strength and might tried hard to look up from the puncheon of sheer energy force rushing mercilessly at his face, to see a spec of red at the utmost end of the beam at the top of his head.

Kaburagi Shisei recognized the hew of that red dot on the farthest end of the skies.

It was Varche Scrirocco, King of Terminas, first of his name, with the father of all beam rail guns Laseriom, that had shattered all of the League Master’s guard as well as his katana.

Kaburagi Shisei was finally forced to a disadvantage.

He was stunned. As his one eye, he stared grievously at his betraying sister, the other eye wide in hatred as he witnessed his nemesis, his thorn under his sole, his pain in the ass, Toshiumi Al Seraphim Brave of Zabanya and savior of whatever Shisei couldn’t give a damn about, has seized the chance of his perilous ordeal and came to his sister’s side, holding his sister’s hand, clasping his sister’s fingers tightly at the same blade!!!!

Adding tantamount salt to the already bleeding wound of his heart! Shisei snarled, howled, screamed, and shouted at this affront to his Kaburagi pride. His Apotheosis, his ascension to beyond the divine only to prevent this moment, only to see it all happen through his beholding hateful eyes that came to the joining wife and husband, their blade pointing at his bare chest.

Kaburagi had already felt lost before his eventual defeat.

“ You lead, Mio.” Toshiumi tenderly whispered to his beloved with grand resolve.

“ I follow.”

Hand in hand, in hand to the blade, husband and wife, boy and girl, together, facing their mortal adversary together.

“ Yes, Toshiumi my love.”

With the courage filled by her love, Mio finally mustered the courage she had assembled for years to answer her brother’s doubts upon her.

“ You are wrong, brother!”

With her thin katana kissing Shisei’s wrathful tip atop her chest, an inch away from her heart,

Mio and Toshiumi parried the blow together, firmly.

“ I can prove my own worth, without You, Brother!!”

Impossible!!

Shisei pressed his blade forth with all his ruthless might.

Why?? Why is this happening?!

Why can’t I move my blade away?!?!

The entwining tapestry of slashing blades flashed and swirled all around him, enveloping Shisei into a gradually revealing kaleidoscope of katanas that swung gracefully all over not just his presence, but slicing down his skin and separating his flesh.

Kaburagi Shisei felt no pain, as if cold lips kissing every inch of his body, eating away his physical form bit by bit, resembling the scattering petals of the spring sakura did his limbs and torso start to decompose.

Ahh. Toshimi has already helped Mio activate her Kaburagi Swordplay way before mine, and how beautifully the style was played!

A million unseen slashes dissected him down into atomic levels, hiding the one final blow that surely was coming from where Shisei least expected.

That was when Shisei/Sukuru was hit by the revelation he reached the last moments of his life.

Toshiumi let Mio go, flying out of his arms to deliver the final blow.

Mio is Shisei’s final lethal blow!

Before he could pull his senses back to focus on snatching Herunia and the Great Strike Exia back, his final seconds strayed off to infinite disbelief, wondering indefinitely how he lost until either his vision or his mind slowly sank into the void.

And Kaburagi Shisei was gone.

The Gyouma force swirled aimlessly, hovering high up like a snaking smog in the air in search of its harbinger that was lost, dispersing with the wind and vanishing back to the shadows where it hid for ages before, and ages after.

After a second or two, like a valiant fountain, Shisei’s remains started to pump out all the light blood through the severed veins, bursting high up like a mighty stream until all of the League Spokesman descended into tiny bits that stayed soaked in the pool of his own blood.

Mio Al Seraphim was in a daze, falling to her knees and letting the rain of light blood drizzle upon the apex of the Tower.

Taking off his jacket, Toshiumi awesomely tucked it upon Mio’s shoulders, sitting down next to her, comforting Mio in his arms with considerate company.

“ It’s alright,” Toshiumi whispered gently into Mio’s ear

“ From this moment on, Everything’s going to be alright.”

…

…………

“ …….Asuka?”

Nanali timidly asked in the dark.

No one replied.

He might have abandoned his name, but Nanali still felt she had to say it before her life ends.

“ Asuka…you are better than this…you know father better…You know what kind of man father was! No matter what father did…he wouldn’t hurt family…please…please Asuka, please……”

“ Apologies, Ma’am…! Ma’am? Ma’am, I beg your pardon…”

Nanali was still processing whose voice that just spoke belonged when her world instantly regained light and the grotesque scene that beheld her sight made her gag instinctively.

There lay a smoking military buggy sideways above a messy pool of tattered flesh and gore, ravaged body parts splattered here and there over the perimeter.

A young inexperienced soldier in a golden uniform anxiously undid Nanali’s cuffs hastily.

“ I didn’t mean to interrupt, but…”

Reeve Lowangleen, wounded and bloody all over by the unexpected crash, pointed guiltily at the bottom of the flipped van.

“ The jeep lost control…and…I think that’s the Prime minister right there.”

There, lying next to the broken bronze mask shattered in pieces,

was Asuka Hikaru’s deformed bloody face, looking up at the skies blankly in distorted agony.

The lower torso of the prime minister was never found, according to future claims.

…

………..

Austria Van Hillingdale observed the current situation around him.

The Jellyfish of light has nearly reached the Light.

The Gyouma has dispersed.

And a large towering entity covered in fur stood before him, menacingly.

“ …Bear?”

Austria asked.

The tall fluffy teddy bear zombie nodded, confirming Austria’s assessments.

“...why?”

Austria didn’t expect to be interrupted by anyone, not to mention a big bear.

“ Because you be shooting people’s backs that’s why!”

Feeling a hard concussive collision struck at the back of his head, Austria’s vision blurred and his world teetered to a side. His skull vibrated drastically after the solid blow.

A short slim silhouette with long purplish hair loomed over him sideways from sight.

“ You Fool…”

Austria sighed with a snarling chuckle of defeat. He should have known better that Rang already had his eyes set on him.

Sending Luka with Varis and Nison CHar initially, only to blind-sight him from Luka’s true mission which is to smite him!

With no choices left, Austria admitted defeat reluctantly.

“ None of you are worthy of Illumination…You resist enlightenment, over your own sentiments. Is it worth it, giving up on evolution, on what’s more, only in fear of what meager insignificance you might lose?”

“ I don’t give a damn about all that evolution bullshit, man.”

Luka spat with spite over Austria’s crawling body.

“ But if you are gonna take something away from us, you’d better be well prepared We’re gonna take it back, over your dead body!”

But before Luka could pull the trigger on the cornered Strategist, Austria vanished into the dark at lightning speed, slithering away like a dark serpent into the shadows.

“ Enough of this…”

Austria’s echoey hiss rang over the vintage balcony around the bewildered Luka.

“ Farewell to you all, I shall return to the abyss…and await for the True Lord of Illumination…”

And Austria Van Hilligdale disappeared into the dark.

…

……….

Griffon poked a motionless body of a Gyouma-smeared zombie soldier precariously with his glaive.

“ I think they’re dead.”

“ They are already dead.” Nina turned away from the sea of the crumbled corrupt Tron men in disgust and pity.

“ It’s The power dominating their bodies that has left.”

“ So we’ve won, then??” Hector Zefield took off his bloody helmet and sank his buttock onto the back of his ride, sighing long and smooth, a sigh of relief.

“ …I am not so sure.” Griffon felt an unease foreboding. His Parusefor Strike senses still tingling alarmingly.

Like things aren’t over yet.

With the passing of League Spokesman Kaburagi Shisei and the fall of the corrupted Prime minister and his forces, Peace was briefly restored upon proud capital Tron as the victorious alliances led the citizens back safely to their homes.

The Golden Company cheered, praising the death of Dastardly Kaburagi Kill-Star and deciding to proclaim the day of Shisei’s death as a national holiday.

Warlords and generals of Vilencia congratulated each other's contributions in saving Tron and began to celebrate the success, except one.

“ Strategist, The war is over! Why not rejoice with us?"

Phaldemon King asked the yet stern military genius Rang whose frowned eyes gazed at the clouded night skies.

“ …Blessed Herunia is not yet secured.”

Rang sighed deeply with much apprehension.

The others followed his gaze, at the large silhouettes reaching the aperture of light above.

…

………….

Panting heavily, Tenmei Akiro felt his dash coming to an abrupt stop.

The opening of blessed Herunia is right in front of his eyes. The numerous flowing light, like streams so gentle and serene, flowing gracefully as a million waterfalls and rivers of grandeur sailed in ornate arches above and under. An invisible conductor seemed to be composing an operating work of art so magnum, so splendent, channeling all sorts of ways of Light in harmonious flows.

They have arrived.

Tenmei Akiro couldn’t help but burst out in a joyous chuckle.

“ Miula…Haru! We are here! We’ve made it!!”

Haru peered forward from under Ark’arios armor’s wing to the bright opening and instantly her weariness lessened like she had slept for a couple of hours and woke up at that exact moment.

Sora’s wounds started to heal slowly as she motioned for them to follow her in.

But Tenmei’s Archdemon armor reacted before Tenmei sensed anything amiss.

“ STAY BACK!!!!!!”

The Ark’arios’ sudden opportune boom warned just in time for them to backen away from what seemed like a humongous sharp red bulk soaring up right before their eyes. With a deafening roar of multiple herculean engines all at once, ripping the space between them and the gateway to Herunia in its wake, the large red mobile armor, armed with six pairs of wings, two enormously long thruster cylinders sticking out at the bottom like stiff pillared legs, and machine gun turrets alongside missile launchers loaded all over each part of its body and limbs, stopped with a jolt of power and hovered in their path.

Fixing a pair of large metallic pincers onto the Herunian Beast’s soft bubbly flesh.

Tenmei hardened his grip to pull the large deity out of the iron pincers, to no avail.

“ Homunculus Man Tenmei Akiro, I presume.”

echoed a voice of royalty from within the large red flying giant’s central hub, which opened slowly, hissing with vapor gushing out of the small cockpit.

“ I have here one last unfinished task concerning this Herunian Emissary. Let go, so I may finish what I have started.”

And lo,

it was Varche Scrirocco that had spoken from his exposed cockpit,

but he was not just Varche, neither was he here for revenge.

He is here to save,

to resurrect his love, Milina, through the ancient secrets of Herunia,

and through his excellence, as The 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 Savior!!!!!!!!!

with the father of all laser cannons mounted on one arm, The Laseriom laser cannon pointed at Tenmei and folk.

Nothing but determination lit Varche’s eyes of grand radiance.

Tenmei Akiro felt the intentions behind this Terminas King to be noble and grand, but very likely contradicting the Seed’s will and the stability of the world.

“ …What do you intend to do with the Herunian Beast, King?”

Tenmei asked gingerly, trying hard to prevent conflict when words are still available.

“ I intend to crack it open. To study and understand it, and learn its miracles to save Milina, my one true love that you and your King Slayer avatar Ark’arios had brutally Slain on the Helltron plains!!!!”

Varche’s speech escalated quickly and his rage was evident.

“ Whoever you are and whatever you now think your actions may merit the world, you are unworthy of that task, you murderer!!! Hand the Deity to me now, before the world suffers from more of your treachery!”

“ Hernia is not for your wants right now!” Sora, Seed of Herunia and protector of the Blessed Realm confronted this Red Sky King in his large robotic crushing form.

The Seed’s wounds, not yet fully healed as light blood dripped from her compressing hand.

“ The League and you unguided ones have caused more than enough detriment to Herunia’s systems tonight! If it is to resurrect the life you seek, then Herunia is not the place for you. Your want goes against The Natural Orders of All Mother Yuidis itself!”

“ Then it is either you are too blind to see or your attempts to lie to this Varche Scrirocco are unimaginably foolish!!”

Varche Scrirocco taunted with rage.

“ Have nothing occurred to you to who you now speak?? To what rays of color my Exia Rune dazzles before your eyes?!

I am Varche Scrirocco, Lord of the Red Exia Rune! The Rune of knowledge and insight that governs all learning and wisdom! I can know everything, and You will never fathom what things I have seen from the Great Strike Exia Rune Sword now struck within that Herunian Deity!!!!!”

Tenmei and Haru both gasped in terror.

Indeed, the Great Strike Exia Rune still punctured halfway into the sacred Hydrozoan’s flesh, and the flaring portion of the Red Exia Rune sank deep into the Deity’s mysterious insides.

Through the connections as a Lord of the Exia Rune, Varche Scrirocco has seen within the Herunian Jellyfish more than he should.

“ The Illuminatus League tore the veil so that my eyes can discern the Miracles lying behind plain light, and I can proudly inform you that those miracles are true, All of them! Like a scanner, my Exia Rune has been scouring all that Herunia holds and sending it back to this brain of mine to process the knowledge that even you, the Seed may possibly never heard about!

Your wound made by a Gyouma bullet simply started to heal even by standing in front of Blessed Herunia’s Light. That means something. That means Everything!

I have cracked the code that locks us away from divine knowledge, so it is needless to say that I am most worthy of using that knowledge, for one noble task!”

“ As noble as your intentions may be, I cannot allow its use in defying the basic laws of Herunia’s order!”

The Seed Sora and Varche Scrirocco the enlightened, standing at both sides of the standstill.

Despite the vehement rejections from the ancient powers, Varche Scirocco didn’t budge but scoffed in his high-tech cockpit.

“ Well, if it’s the Natural Order that you so intend to protect, then certainly you would accept your own demise under the Gyouma bullet instead of returning to Herunia to heal, to resurrect, would you not?! Surely, if I cannot get to save the ones I lost, you too don’t deserve that power which you ordain to be against your doctrine! It is fare! Is it not?!”

“ YOU!!” Ark’arios burst forth with Tenmei within his armor to strike Varche and his iron bloke out of the way, but a solid Nano energy field parried their lunge and pushed Tenmei and Ark’arios back.

The path to Herunia, completely sealed off by the Red Exian Lord’s resolve!

The Terminas King insultingly spat at the Ark’arios’ attempts to pass through his invincible nano particle force field.

“ Ha ha! To see that the Demon Lord Slayer now aching to save his love. Has it not occurred to you of that sentiment when you drove your cursed blade through Milina’s flesh?!?! Hypocrites all of you!! I will not yield unless you hand the Herunian Deity to me!!”

“ NEVER!!! You Will Die!!” Ark’arios boomed frantically, unleashing all its berserk fury on the one that hinders his path to save Sora.

Tenmei Akiro, with his body linked to the Archdemon and crashing arms onto the impenetrable force field, was thinking fast for an alternative to settle this attrition, analyzing all that is in hand.

Sora’s bleeding is worsening without Herunia’s Light.

Haru too is perishing without the Seed.

The Herunian Jellyfish is also dying without Herunia with a Great Exia Sword struck into its flesh.

And King Varche seeks wisdom to save his love or he won’t let us into the Blessed Realm.

Somehow, someone has to make a hard choice.

“ Ark’arios, stop.”

Tenmei Akiro held his posture back and pulled the Archdemon armor with him away from the nano force field.

“ Tenmei…? What are you doing?” Haru asked in a weakened worried whisper.

“ I am thinking…of a compromise.”

And before Haru, Sora, and Ark’arios could stop him, Tenmei flew forward to the Terminas Skylord’s Smash Trash Bash Cash presence calmly, both hands still grabbing the Herunian Jellyfish firmly.

“ King Varche, it is complimentary of you to find a way to bring back someone you dear, and with the insights which your Exia Rune Sword has sought from within the Deity, I propose we cooperate and seal a deal which both sides can merit.”

Varche Scrirocco was doubtful at first, but nodded acceptingly after a moment of thought.

“ What do you propose, man Tenmei Akiro?” Varche Scrirocco inquired kingly.

“ Let us enter Herunia to save the Seed and the Jellyfish, and we will let you come along, into the Blessed Realm. Of course, no weapons allowed.”

And with that, Tenmei drew out from his demonic armor the cursed blade Lifthrasir and hurtled it far away outside Tron bay into the sea.

The Ark’arios cried out in furious shock, yet Tenmei remained composed, letting his grand weapon sink to the bottom of the ocean.

“ What say you, King?”

Finally, releasing the Herunian Deity from the humongous iron pincers, separating the huge mecha Ultimatum Buster Kaboomer armor into dividing compartments, and letting go of the father of all cannons Laseriom for it to fly back to Terminas,

Varche Scrirocco alighted from his invincible mobile armor and stood before Tenmei, Exia Rune Bearer to Rune Bearer.

“ I say jolly cooperation, man Tenmei.”

Varche motioned for them to enter the aperture of light before them.

The world changed drastically in but a flash. Passing through the threshold, the murky clouded night sky immediately transformed into swirling rivers of multicolored light rushing here and there sentiently with sacred vibrance.

A resplendent city of a world beyond their existence revealed to the eyes of man.

Varche stopped at his feet, tranced by the marvels in the center of a hollow world basking under the countless Light sources that generously beamed from all the unknown technologies around him.

Haru and Tenmei helped Sora to an ethereal pew made of sheer light that emerged on its own from the sea of colors as if sensing Sora’s return.

Resting on the bench of light, Sora secretly pulled Haru close to whispering range.

“ Haru, I leave to you a part of my Light, so that you may still have time to go back to your parents safely after we part.”

“ Thank you…Sora.” Haru hugged the sacred emissary with gratitude one last time

“ …Thank you for giving my life meaning.”

“ You are the one that gave it meaning, not I. You should be proud of yourself.” Sora smiled at both Haru and Tenmei, then turned to her love in the form of the Archdemon armor, Ark’arios.

Their gazes merged and the joy riveted between their intimate stares was also teeming with sadness.

“ Herunia is my home…Rio.” Sora whispered sadly, reconciling with the Demon being that has sought to free her from Herunia’s machinations but still failed at the very end.

“ I rely on its light, as it relies on my protection. I am sorry…but I can never leave this realm until the end of existence.”

Ark’arios grunted. Rather than rage or anguish, with deep thoughts that seemed to calm the Archdemon’s rage ever after.

“ If you insist on staying, then nowhere but here I shall stay, with you. To the End of Time.”

Letting go of his past strife, his vengeance, and anger towards all the unfairness of the world, Ark’arios finally let things be as natural as it was ordained by the designs of Herunia, staying prisoner in the realm of light with his love indefinitely to the end of all worlds.

Sora wept silent tears of joy as she accepted Ark’arios’ choice.

Remembering something of grave import, Sora turned to both Haru and Tenmei seriously and whispered with grave urgency.

“ You two must leave Herunia as soon as possible. The system here will soon detect you as intruders and send more defensive mechanisms to take you out. You must hurry.”

Tenmei understood gravely, but there was still a task yet to be accomplished.

“ Haru, you go first.” Tenmei Akiro our man suggested gravely

“ I have to pull the Great Exia Rune out of the beast first.”

The Great Strike Exia Rune Sword, the culmination of all Seven Exian Runes, an existence of utter power from monumental aspects of the light-hearted kind, an overwhelming force not even Blessed Herunia could reckon with, still stabbed atop our misshaped Deity.

Such devastating power does not belong in this holy location, certainly not at this Varche King’s disposal. Tenmei thought hard and fast for a way to get the Great Exia out of Herunia as swiftly as possible.

Haru was reluctant to leave Tenmei behind as our man with the Ark’arios armor went to grab the Great Rune Sword out, ready to do one more effort in righting the wrongs of the world.

But Lo,

Someone was against that move.

“ What do you think you are doing, Tenmei Akiro!”

barked the demanding voice of the King of the skies, Varche Scrirocco offensively, pointing at Tenmei’s armored hand just an inch away from the Great Strike Exia Rune that was so real.

“ I don’t recall you pulling out the Great Strike Exia Rune Sword is part of our deal!”

“ It is not.” Tenmei candidly faced this angered King of Terminas bravely

“ It is something I will do no matter what deal I make.”

“ Then you would foolishly pull out my connections of my Exia Rune and the Deity of Herunia!”

Varche bellowed harshly with his kingly aura.

“ I strongly suggest you hold your hand until I have fully collected all that I need to accomplish my grand goal!”

“ I cannot do that!” Tenmei refused aloud.

“ The Great Strike Exia is a threat to Herunia! It must leave this sacred realm before this whole place realizes our intrusion and destroy us all!”

“ That is but excuses and qualms of the unlearned!” Varche Scrirocco argued still, his menacing aura approaching Tenmei.

“ I can guarantee you, if you step aside and let me learn Herunia’s secrets, I will be able to deflect anything this realm brings against me! Now cut the crap and stay two meters away from that Deity and Great Strike Exia Rune Sword! Let this be my first warning! You wouldn’t want to reach my third warning.”

You shouldn’t have defiled Herunia’s warnings yourself either, Tenmei thought of saying but his mind was not of speech but determined to pull the blade out of the deity before it is too late.

As the Lights of Herunia healed the Seed, they too healed the Herunian Beast’s wounds and the slumped weakened Hydrozoan slowly gained power and recovered gradually, glowing in ominous repeated glows menacingly under where the puncture wound went.

“ Varche King, I do not mean to be insolent, but Herunia’s Light has healed the deity enough to make it attack us soon! Pulling out the Great Strike Exia Rune might cease its rage and buy us time!”

Tenmei suggested with haste but was met with Varche’s two raised fingers of sheer malice.

“ Second warning, Tenmei Akiro.” Varche Scrirocco snarled agitatedly.

“ If you do not back away from the Deity more than two meters away, then I’ll consider the agreement broken and slay you here and there on this spot, along with anyone that defies me!!!”

“ The Herunian Deity is waking up! What part of that do you not understand?!” Haru too argued against the stubborn King and before both Tenmei and Varche knew it, Haru was already standing before the Great Strike Exia Rune.

“ Fine, if you won’t let him do it, I Will!”

Before Varche could fly over and stop Haru like a raging Sky Bat, Haru’s hands were tightly grabbed onto the Great Strike Exia. Though she still had the turquoise Seed armor on her, the energy shockwaves that emanated all over the Great Rune burned Haru’s nerves and sent electric currents all over her armor, causing Haru great pain yet still Haru was determined to save the Deity and pull the Grave Strike Exia Rune Sword out.

Tenmei Akiro rushed immediately to Haru’s side and withstood the same tortures as Haru, helping her pull out the Great Rune while the Red Exia Lord flew in to hinder their path.

With his robed sleeve dematerializing into nanoparticles and reaffirming a new form as a short hand cannon enveloping his arm, Varche blasted an energy ball down at the ground where Tenmei and Haru stood, as Tenmei with his Ark’arios armor flipped out its wide looming wings and pushed the enraged King off course in the air. The energy missed its target and exploded behind them, causing drastic a disturbance in the whole Light Stream around them.

The Blessed Herunia shuddered.

Sora knew that they were too late. Haru and Tenmei had to leave now. Herunia is closing in and sensing their animosity towards the realm.

“ Haru…! Tenmei…! Rio……!!”

Even though she tried to shout, to make them leave, they would not go without taking the Great Exia Weapon out with them, risking their lives to save the sacred realm of light.

Varche however is risking his entire career and life to learn the way to resurrect Milina.

His Red Exia Rune had scanned more than just secrets, but also undeniable truths and bizarre history before the making of Herunia.

Varche was sure he is close to the one power to restore perished Light Heart back to its existing form.

Had these insolent fools not foiled his grand scheme!

Seeing Tenmei rise to action with the Ark’arios’ aid, Varche couldn't help but feel his blood boil. The two dreadful pair that took Milina away from him, now seek to destroy his way of reviving his lost love!!!

Varche can not have any of this any longer!

With a cry and a pose to assert dominance, Varche T-posed and summoned his Exia Powers to him, channeling all his Red Exia Rune Sword had learned from the Light Deity and transmitting that wisdom to his head, and with that one pose with his two arms stretched far wide, Varche conjured a Herunic Lightwave that swept forth from where he stood, sending a wall of Light and Sunflare that traveled across Herunian ground towards Tenmei and Haru, burning the fields of light with unrelenting ignition tide!

“ Enough, Varche!!”

A strong gust of fast Golden Wind whooshed across the Herunian clearing, pushing against the Lightwave of Herunic flame that Varche conjured and the air and fire mashed together and swirled violently before it all dissolved against the laws of physics.

Varche was about to call out the physics department for foul play before his mouth dropped agape at the coming of the one unexpected figure, blazing gold as he entered, floating down from above awesomely like a warrior king.

Yes. It was Toshiumi Al Seraphim that had entered Herunia right on time to stop Varche’s folly and lend Tenmei Akiro and Haru an Awesome Helping hand.

" You are not even invited into Herunia!” Varche barked angrily at his sworn brother’s sudden intrusion as the Golden Lord settled down between King Varche and Man Tenmei and Haru.

“ On the contrary, I am invited, by his highness Emperor Keiken himself.” Toshiumi smiled gallantly and motioned to all like introducing a sponsor, Old Keiken King, the old soul also entering the scene to stop Varche and retrieve the Great Strike Exia Rune.

The Old Emperor has turned slightly transparent, for Princess Isabel and Prince Edmund’s powers are already much spent in keeping the Old King reanimated, and his ethereal form is a sign of a ticking clock.

So does the rising Deity of Light behind them, floating up menacingly with a hazardous glow all over its delicate film.

“ Toshiumi, I aided your whole quest in hunting the Archdemon and tracking the Seed and though our conflict may have lasted more than five chapters, I have put away my vengeance and conducted my last beam to fall on your nemesis Kaburagi Shisei, breaking his stance and shattering his defenses so your wife can slay him properly! Have I done not enough to get something out of this conquest in return?! Something worth taking for my part in this arduous long journey?!?!”

Varche, angst and demanding, requests a prize for his paramount contributions.

“ I don’t ask for your help, Toshiumi.” Varche raised his arm with the nano robe materializing into a long killing blade.

“ I ask you only to let me finish what I started, in peace.”

“ What you attempt to achieve will not end in peace.” Toshiumi Awesomely reasoned.

“ As an Exian Rune Bearer of pride, you among all of us knows best of the devastation this culmination of runes can cause. Diffuse the Great Strike Exia Rune Sword, Varche. That is all I beseech of you.”

“ Without it, I cannot fulfill my task!” Varche snarled, feeling lonesome and misunderstood by all.

“ None of your words can persuade my stride no more. I will do what I must, and none of you have the right to stop me from trying!!!!!”

And hidden behind his shadow, the other hand of Varche that had secretly formed a wide web of long slithering nanoparticles fingers snaked around the Great Strike Exia Rune while everyone else is watching his bladed arm and never noticed his scheme!

With the long wired nano fingers, Varche activated his Exia, his Rune Power of the insightful, the techno genius, and from the Great Strike Exia blade, Varche began to consume all the wisdom inside the now fully awakened Herunian Jellyfish.

The pain of infinite knowledge is overwhelming, but Varche accepted it all, the suffering to learn and the mentality to accept the beyond.

Everyone, including Varche’s sworn brother Toshiumi, lunged forth to stop the forgone King.

To no avail.

A sudden blast of light erupted from the Herunian Deity, sending them all to their feet, shattering the walls of Herunia, and tightening the atmosphere of their surroundings.

Light Heartbeats slowed, and the tracheas constricted.

Tenmei Akiro and Haru both felt a pending doom looming upon their mere finite existence.

It was the Hydrozaon deity.

The more ancient wisdom Varche consumed, the Herunian Beast bloated instead of shriveling, enlargening in drastic proportions as its glows and dazzles began to blaze frantically and the tentacles shot out to all directions, fiercely breaking the Herunian barriers and even reaching back to the reality plane, like chains of light shooting out from the cleft of light above and pinning onto the earth, shattering the earth and shaking reality in its furious wake.

Everything went to nightmarish chaos in no time.

The light tentacles pierced into the ground and ripped the soil apart.

Tron was sinking into darkness in seconds.

No one knew what was going on.

Even those that were in the Herunia frontier above were too shocked by what was about to take place.

The Beast of Light had glowed pale white all over, the tentacles all blazing white now. Searing heat swept across Tenmei and the others who stood too close a distance from the ominous shining as the light slowly engulfed them all into the paling nothingness.

Tenmei was stunned, unable to see himself in the sea of white. His surroundings left no shadow, and the floor he stood upon a second ago seemed to vaporize into thin air. But he was not falling.

“ Miula!!” Tenmei managed to shout, reaching his hand out front, trying to grab onto something, anything.

But there was nothing before him.

Deprived of all sensations, trapped in an empty prison, floating amongst the blank void.

Haru was shouting his name.

Her voice echoed afar, further and further until a hollowing high pitched moan replaced all sound.

Tenmei Akiro was lost from existence.

[..................Reality Undetected…….]

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