Previously on Protector’s of Worlds:

Starman takes Calem to a massive tower where his apprentice lives. After having a look at the interior of the tower, he meets with Starman’s apprentice who happened to be another survivor………Marcel Lamunci!

The star giant left the two alone as they chatted and explained what they’d been doing. After telling him about the gauntlet, Marcel showed him something that startled Calem………..a pair of two gauntlets!

Calem then told Marcel about his gauntlet, how his father got it and a stranger warned him about a great evil, and how three seals were holding it back. When he realized that he had a part in the destruction of his world, Marcel became distressed and saddened. Feeling guilty, Calem left him alone, hoping he might feel better if he had some rest.

What will happen next? Let us find out, shall we?........

X

It was now morning in Cybenetex as the sun started to shine. In the tower, Calem was sleeping on a couch, using his jacket as a blanket and the gauntlet resting on a table. His eyes slowly start to open as he raises himself, sitting on the edge of the bed while wiping his eyes.

After putting his jacket back on and getting off the couch, he heads to one of the big windows and just stares at the shiny and magnificent city of the Rovernites. He was amazed that such an advanced civilization existed but it also troubled him that such peaceful robotic lifeforms were being attacked by amorphous slime-like invaders, tearing the rovernites and their cities apart so they merge them into their bodies.

While he was thinking, the door to Marcel’s room opened, causing Calem to turn around as Marcel walked out, tired and upset. The two looked at each other for a moment, not saying a single word, just staring eye to eye. It stopped when Marcel walked to the kitchen, getting him something to eat as Calem looked down in despair.

X 10 minutes later X

After having his meal, Marcel walked out of the kitchen and see’s Calem sitting on the couch with his head down. Just before Marcel went back to his room…….

“Marcel!” Calem said as Marcel turned to face him as he was now standing up. “May I…..talk with you a bit?”

After not making a move, Marcel closed the door and walked over to Calem as he began talking.

“I know why you’re upset and……..believe me, I understand,” Calem said as Marcel stood there and listened. “Knowing that you had a part in the destruction of your world…….It’s a lot to take in.”

When he heard that particular sentence, Marcel’s face started to sadden as his eyes started to become watery.

“But…….the fault is entirely mine.” Calem said “I knew about the warning and yet……..I ignored it.”

“If you’re mad at me…….I completely understand.” Calem said “I'll leave if you want me to.”

With him done, Marcel looks at him with tears running down his face “N-No…..”

“W-What?” Calem said in surprise

“I don’t…….want you to go,” Marcel said. “All of the people we’ve known in our world……..The friends we’ve met……The bonds we’ve made………All gone.” That sentence caused Calem to tear up as well before looking down.

“I just met you.....and I already like you. I can't afford to lose another friend.” Marcel said which caused Calem to look up at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. “As you said, the fault is not yours alone.”

“B-But…..the warning,” Calem said.

“You were just curious, as was I,” Marcel said. “It just got the best of us. Besides, If you didn’t find the gauntlet, someone else would’ve and everything still would’ve happened.”

“Yeah……I thought the same thing.” Calem said.

The two remained silent as the guilt caused them to be quiet. It wasn’t until a few moments later that Calem started to speak.

“Is there anything….I can do to make you feel better?” Calem said

“There is,” Marcel said as Calem listened. “We punch each other.”

“What?” Calem said, a bit confused by what Marcel said.

“We punch each other, for the horrific mistake we committed,” Marcel said which gave Calem some time to think about it.

“If that’s what you want……..then so be it,” Calem said. “You first.”

Marcel nodded as he cracked his knuckles as Calem braced himself, clenching his fist and face. Marcel then took on a boxing position and danced around a bit before delivering a punch straight to Calem’s face, causing him to stumble back and fall on his butt.

“OW, OW, OW!” Calem shouted out in pain as he started rubbing his hand against his swollen face. “Dude, how are you able to punch so hard?!”

“From my father,” Marcel said as he helped Calem up to his feet. “He was a former middleweight boxing champion.”

“O-Oh, cool…..” Calem said as he scratched his head and chuckled.

“Alright, your turn,” Marcel said as prepared himself for Calem’s punch.

At first, Calem was hesitant to hit his new friend but after gaining enough confidence, he clenched his fist hard as he delivered a punch to Marcel’s face, causing him to also fall on his butt. Marcel recovers as blood rushes down his nose.

“Oh, dude, I’m sorry!” Calem said as he helped Marcel up. “You okay?!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Marcel said as he wiped the blood off his nose. “Looks like the training with Arui paid off, huh?”

The two then laughed a bit at that, but it was short-lived as Calem’s laughter slowly turned into sobbing. Marcel stopped laughing when he noticed tears streaming down Calem’s face. The moment he saw the state he was in, Marcel started breaking down in tears as well.

“I-I’m so sorry……about all of this…” Calem said as he wiped the tears away.

“S-So am I….” Marcel said as well.

The two embraced each other in a hug, crying as both fell to their knees. It felt like forever for them as these two knew they won’t be able to get the life they once had back………

X 15 minutes later X

After letting their emotions out for minutes, the front entrance to the tower opens, revealing Calem and Marcel who are both wearing their gauntlets. In the distance, Starman was chatting with some Rovernites before he noticed his apprentice and friend walk out.

“There you two are,” Starman said as he approached the two.

“How are you doing, boss?” Marcel greeted his boss before fist-pumping him.

“Hope you two had a………” Starman stopped before he noticed the injuries on them. “Oh my….What happened to your faces?”

The two remained quiet for a bit before Calem stood forward and started talking.

“You see, we………..” Calem was about to say this before being stopped by Marcel as he got in front of him.

“We were so happy to meet each other that while we were hugging, we accidentally tripped, falling on our faces,” Marcel said, causing Starman to form a confused look on his face.

“Oooookay………..Just be more careful next time.” Starman said as Marcel turned back to his friend and winked, which caused Calem to smile.

For the rest of the day, Starman, Marcel, and Calem strolled through the city, greeting the rovernites who reside. Many of them circle Starman and Marcel, shaking their hands and thanking them for their hard work and protection, with the two of them saying that it was nothing. Calem was in the back, watching as Starman talked with the adults, while Marcel told stories to the children. All this put a smile on Calem’s face.......

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

X

The three are now at a wide park-like place where Starman, using his powers, performs some tricks for the children, impressing them. While he was doing this, Calem and Marcel were in the distance playing catch with a small metal ball.

“So, Marcel. What do you know about the big fellow?” Calem said as he threw the ball to Marcel.

“Don’t know,” Marcel said as he caught the ball in mid-air. “But from what the Rovernites told me, he might be hundreds of thousands of years old.”

“Wow, that old, huh?” Calem said

“Yeah, but it’s mostly a rumor,” Marcel said as he threw the ball to Calem, catching it with both hands

“So, anything else?” Calem said as he threw the ball back.

“Not much,” Marcel said as he caught the ball before throwing it back. “But he likes the name I gave him.”

“Oh, that’s…..” Calem said as he caught the ball and was about to throw it but stopped. “The name you gave him? You mean Starman isn’t his real name?”

“No,” Marcel said. “When I first arrived, the Rovernites didn’t have a name for him, so I decided to give him one.”

“Then……….What’s his real name?” Calem asked as he threw the ball up and down.

“Hell if I should know.” Marcel said, “Whenever we ask about his past or real name, he just…..” Marcel then stopped for a moment

“He just….what?” Calem said, curious to hear what Marcel was about to say.

“He just……..freezes and looks at the ground before standing in place for a long time, like a statue,” Marcel said as he had a worried look. “It’s……… freaky.

That sentence got Calem thinking. “Starman” isn’t Starman’s real name and whenever he’s asked about his past, he remains silent for a long time. Why though?..... All his thinking was put to an end when a single rovernite came rushing towards them, worried and distressed.

“Marcel! Marcel, come quickly!” The Rovernite said as it approaches Marcel, getting in close to his face.

“Whoa, whoa, what’s the problem?” Marcel said, concerned for what the rovernite had to say.

“S-Something crashed into the barrier!” The Rovernite said which made Marcel even more concerned.

“What did? Scavengers?!” Marcel shouted, hoping that it wasn’t another attack from those invaders.

“Not, not scavengers.” The Rovernite said, which eased Marcel as he let out a sigh of relief. “It was some kind of……metal object that fell from the sky.”

The part about a metal object falling from the sky caught Calem’s eye. “What did this………metal object look like?” Calem asked.

“I-I don’t know. Just before I left, we were about to bring it in.” The Rovernite said. “Would you like to see it?”

“Yes, show it to us,” Marcel said as he began to follow the Rovernite but was stopped when Calem grabbed him by the arm.

“Hey, shouldn’t we inform Starman about this?” Calem said as the two looked towards Starman, who was still entertaining the children.

“Nah, I don’t think it’ll be that big a deal,” Marcel said with confidence as Calem shrugged his shoulders as he proceeded to follow the Rovernite to the barrier.

X

After reaching the barrier, the two noticed a hole opened in the barrier as four rovernites bring in the metal object that hit the barrier. Once brought in, everyone got to see that this thing almost resembled a capsule-like rocket that about’s about 8ft tall and 6ft long with three engines. The Rovernites put it down as Calem and Marcel inspect it while a crowd surrounds them, curious about the rocket's origins.

The two mostly checked on the interior of the rocket, knocking on the metal, checking the engines, and the dent mark on the nose. Marcel then pressed his ear against the metal and listens to the inside, hearing some mechanical parts moving.

“Anything?” Calem asked, wondering what Marcel is hearing.

“Nothing, just…….” Before he could finish, he heard a loud noise inside, which caused him to back away.

Suddenly, a door opens on the front of the rocket, and steam is released. As the steam start’s to fade away, a black humanoid figure emerges from the rocket before jumping off and landing in front of the two and the crowd. We got a good look at the figure which reveals it to be standing around 7ft tall with red/white color scheme, pinkish eyes, and a reddish dome-like head. This automaton is known as………Molidio!!

Thinking it might be a threat, the crowd of Rovernites backed away from the automaton, fearing what it might do. Molido starts analyzing its environment, scanning through the entire area. It noticed the crowd of hovering robots but didn’t pay them any mind, knowing they aren't the targets.

It wasn’t until it spotted Calem and Marcel that it started going on the attack! It raises its arms towards them and from its fingertips, rapid-fired bullets. The two and some of the rovernite managed to get down quickly, but two Rovernites weren’t quick enough as they were riddled with a swarm of bullets. Their bodies fell lifelessly as Marcel and Calem looked in horror that two innocents were killed but that horror quickly turned into anger.

“Marcel, get everyone out of here!” Calem said with anger in his voice. “I’ll take care of it!”

“Don’t need to tell me that!” Marcel said as the two quickly got up and Marcel yelled at the crowd to run which they did as he helped them escape, leaving Calem to face Molidio.

He knew what this automaton was doing here and why. It was probably sent by the same guy who sent that giant robot to kill him on Arusatora! If it’s here, that means the shadow humanoid knows he's here on Cybenetex and will possibly send more until Calem’s dead. He didn’t want to see anyone else die because of him, he’d already seen enough of death and destruction in his world.

With that in mind, Calem grips his gauntlet, which causes sparks of electricity to appear. He then raises it into the air as lightning from out of nowhere strikes him multiple times. For each strike, parts of Calem’s armor appeared. The final strike formed the helmet and with that, Calem was fully armored!

The two squared each other off, Calem, wielder of lightning against Molidio, the deadly automaton. They didn’t move at first as both stared, eye to eye. It all started when Molidio let out a roar before the two started fighting. It started with physical combat, both trying to land a blow but Calem proved to be quicker as he avoided Molidios attacks and dealt kicks and punches to the automaton. The fight was in his favor!

He grabbed Molidio’s right arm and then threw it over his shoulder, throwing it far and hitting the ground hard. Hoping to end it quickly, Calem summoned his sword out of thin air and dashed towards Molidio. The killer robot does a kip-up before bringing its arms in and forms a reddish shield of energy from them. With great force, Calem hits the shield but didn’t do much as Molidio uses its protection to push Calem back. He quickly regains his footing as he strikes the shield a certain amount of times but is incapable of damaging it.

Realizing this isn’t working, Calem plants his sword into the ground and summons a lightning bolt from his hand, hoping energy attacks might do the trick. He throws the bolt of lightning at the shield and to his surprise, the shield actually absorbed the lightning bolt. The shield then starts to charge as it fires its own bolt of lightning, only this one is of red coloring. The lightning bolt strikes Calem in the chest, causing a mini-explosion that knocks Calem back a few meters.

Calem writhes in pain as his chest burns from the attack. The battle now turns over to Molido as it grabs Calem by the head, pulls him up, and proceeds to land powerful blows on Calem. Punch after punch, Calem was doing his best to stand this onslaught. Molidio then stopped with the blows before grabbing Calem’s head and headbutts him, causing Calem’s legs to shake. It lowered its head and finished Calem off by ramming its head into his abdomen, knocking him down on his back.

Weakened with his armor damaged, Calem backed away as Molidio roared with glee and triumph, knowing that it was about to claim victory. He crawled far from the automaton till he hit his back against something. He turned to see who it was and it was none other than his friend, Marcel!

“Having trouble there?” Marcel asked as he helped his weakened friend up.

“Somewhat,” Calem said as he leaned on Marcel’s shoulder to help balance himself.

“Tell me……” Marcel asked as Calem noticed the tone of his voice had some anger in it. “Did the same guy who killed all our loved ones………..send this thing?”

Just by looking at him, Calem could feel the anger growing in his friend. He was clenching his fists hard, he was gritting his teeth, a few veins popping out of his head, and his eyes…….those were the eyes that wanted to demolish…….to destroy…

“The same one……..yes,” Calem said, allowing Marcel to calm down a bit.

“Then…….do you mind if I have a go at that thing?” Marcel asked, wanting a fight with Molidio.

“You sure?” Calem asked. “It’s pretty tough.”

“Oh, please. This is gonna be a cakewalk.” Marcel said, brimming with confidence. Feeling this, Calem steps back, fulfilling his request.

With his friend now out of the way, Marcel stands off against Molidio, cracking his fists and punching the air with a few jabs. Molidio just laughs at the human’s effort and doesn’t even prepare, it thought that since it was able to overpower Calem, it’ll do the same thing to him.

After cracking his neck, Marcel slams his two gauntlets together. Beneath him, the ground started to crack before magma shoots up, engulfing his entire body. As the magma subsides, it's shown that he's now covered in molten rock which has cooled down. Suddenly, small cracks start appearing everywhere, leaking out beams of orange/yellow light. Just then, Marcel’s entire body started to shake as the molten rock surrounding him exploded, sending chunks everywhere which caused Calem and Molidio to shield themselves from the debris.

With his encasing gone, Marcel’s armor was revealed to everyone! His armor has a yellow/orange/red color scheme, red lines on his chest area, red shoulder pads with orange lines, an orange visor lens, and a crest on his head that looks like the ones on Spartan helmets. He slams his fists together hard, before shouting out “Bring It!”.

Molidio roars to his challenge and begins by opening fire on him. Instead of retreating, Marcel stood his ground as the bullets hit him but didn’t seem to damage or even scratch him, the bullets flattened as soon as they hit the armor. Not afraid, Marcel walked towards the automaton as it kept on rapid-firing as more bullets laid to the ground, flattened. When he was in close range, Marcel clenched his right fist and prepared to land a hard blow. Molidio noticed this and quickly summoned its energy shield, but if it only knew what would happen next….

With the hard punch ready, Marcel twists his hips and chest and throws his fist at the shield. While it was not able to damage the shield, the punch was able to knock Molidio back, causing its feet to skid across the ground before coming to a halt. The shield then started to flicker out of control before disintegrating entirely. Realizing its only means of defense is gone, Molidio has no other choice but to fight Marcel, bare-handed.

Molidio charged at him and started with a barrage of punches to Marcel’s head and chest but they were useless as he wasn’t taking any damage, not even flinching from the blows. Marcel retaliated with a cross straight to Molidio’s chest, forcing the automaton to back away as its chest had a big dent in it.

It then roared in a fierce manner before ramming its head into the human’s abdomen and while it did manage to make Marcel fall back a bit, it wasn’t causing real damage. When it attempted again, Marcel grabbed its dome head before lifting the automaton on his shoulders. He lifted it over his head and throws Molidio to the ground hard, causing the automaton to spasm with agony. Now in great pain, Marcel backs away and starts spinning his right arm around and around.

Just when Molidio got back on its feet, Marcel charged and hit’s it with a powerful lariat, knocking Molidio back to the ground. Marcel then lets out a “WOOO” as he dances around, wanting the killer robot to get back up. It was able to stand on its legs, but after taking a devastating hit like that, it was wobbling all over the place and nearly lost its balance.

Taking advantage of this, Marcel wraps his arms around Molidios front waist before flipping it over him, throwing Molidio to land on its back hard. Molidio was able to get back on its feet but was met by Marcel, delivering a mighty dropkick to the automaton's chest, knocking it back to the ground as it rolled across with Marcel chasing after it.

In the distance, Calem was watching this event among the rovernite crowd, who was cheering for Marcel to win. While he didn’t cheer, he was impressed by the way Marcel fought. His combination of strength along with his boxing and wrestling moves were enough to keep Molidio down.

Back to the battle, Marcel lands a cross punch straight to Molidio's face, cracking it and causing oil to fly out of its mouth as it backs away and falls on its knees before we get a good look at its current shape. Its dome head was horribly misshapen, one of its pink eyes was dead, big dents on its chest which leaked oil, and oil dripped from its mouth.

Despite knowing its defeat, Molidio tried once more to fire from its fingertips, but Marcel quickly grabbed both arms and lifted it up on its feet. With great strength, Marcel crushes both arms before tearing them off from the joints, causing oils to spray everywhere, covering Marcel’s armor.

With his opponent worn out, Marcel decided to finish the fight. His entire right arm is engulfed in flames before punching it through its chest, covering his arm in oil and tangled wires. Molidio vomits out oil just as Marcel pulls his arm out of its chest and backs away. In its final moments, Molidio lets out one last roar before collapsing on its back and exploding, scattering pieces of it everywhere!

With the automaton now destroyed, Marcel turns to the crowd before slamming his fists multiple times and raising them in victory, causing the crowd to cheer and applaud him. Making his way through the crowd, Calem makes his way towards his friend as both of their armors disappear.

“So, what did you think?” Marcel asked with a big smile on his face.

“Gotta say………I’m impressed.” Calem also said with a smile as the two handshakes in an arm wrestle way before the two embraced in a hug.

As they were hugging, they heard clapping coming toward them. They both let go and see Starman, clapping after watching the entire event

“Nice fight there, my apprentice,” Starman said, applauding the way Marcel handled the fight.

“O-Oh, thanks, boss,” Marcel said. “Sorry if we didn’t tell you about this earlier.”

“Don’t be,” Starman said. “You handled the situation well and there weren't many casualties.”

Hearing that from his boss formed a big smile on Marcel’s face. Starman got on one knee and embraced his apprentice in a hug.

“I’ve trained you well. I’m proud of you.” Starman praises Marcel, knowing everything he taught him has come to fruition.

Calem stood back and smiled as he let’s master and apprentice have the moment together.

“Well, I believe after something like this, a big feast would be nice, wouldn’t you agree?” Starman said.

“Hell yeah!” Marcel agreed

“I’m down for it,” Calem said as he wrapped his arm around Marcel.

With the two in for it, Starman had them follow them to the tower to celebrate. However, it wasn’t just Molidio that emerged from the rocket as we see in the distance a flying drone just like the one on Arusatora was observing the whole thing…………….

After the defeat of Molidio, what will be in store for our heroes? What obstacles will they face next? Find out in the next chapter!!