Arc I.5: “The Cosmic Guard”
Chapter III: “Crisis”
Episode III: “Encounter”
[Inside the Aetherstream]
Akira peered out the window, gazing upon the colors of the cosmic aether surrounding them.
“It’s pretty, right?” Riella stood next to him, looking out the window.
Akira frowned, “Yeah.”
Riella looked at him, then smiled.
She gave him a nudge with her elbow, “I know. You wish we were there already. But don’t worry; we’ll make it in time— no matter what.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“We’re approaching the next gate!” the navigator shouted, “0.2 Stellar Spans away and closing!”
Garren waved his arm, “Everyone, strap yourselves down. We’re going to maintain velocity coming out of the gate.”
This is going to be a bit bumpy…
“The stream turbulence is at 0.02 Parallax!” an analyst said.
“Good, amp up the flux stabilizer by four chords!” an engineer replied.
“Captain,” Riella walked up to him at the Stellar Console, where he was mapping out the region of interest with the guards.
“Are you sure about this? We don’t want to take any risks—”
“This is a necessary risk. If we don’t do everything within our power to catch Ember… he’ll wreak havoc on everything in his path before we can stop him.”
Riella stood silently with her head down, gripping her fists.
[Less than twenty minutes later]
The Cosmic Guard ship exited the Aetherstream, blasting through the gate.
Maintaining their momentum, they trekked straight ahead— aiming for the last known location of ship 3563.
“Have you located his aether signature yet?” Garren bellowed from the center of the Chamber.
“N-no, not yet, Captain.”
All the analysts were sweating bullets, their expressions sharp as they operated their monitors.
Akira was back in his same spot, looking out the window, when he took notice of a ship in the distance.
Is that!?
“Hey, over there!” he waved, “I found the ship!”
Everyone looked at the window Akira was pointing at, seeing the small silhouette of the wrecked ship.
“Redirect our path to that ship! We must check for survivors!” Garren shouted.
“We can’t,” one of the engineers said.
“We’re going too fast; we’ll have to bleed speed first. If we try to force our ship to turn at this speed, it’ll damage the hull.”
“Negative— we’ll proceed regardless!”
“Captain…?” The engineer sagged.
“Captain!” Riella stomped her foot.
“You’re being unreasonable! We have to slow down first; we can’t save anyone if we destroy our own ship!”
Leave it to Captain Riella… the engineer exhaled. She’s the only one who could stand up to Captain Garren with such confidence.
Garren looked at her, his eyes stubborn. He dropped his crossed arms and sighed.
“Fine. Activate the reverse thrusters! We need to decrease our speed at once!”
“Yes, Captain!” everyone shouted.
Akira was still in his corner of the Chamber, looking out the window with both hands glued to the glass.
No… something’s wrong. He grit his teeth as sweat dripped down his face. This power is…
Riella watched Akira, noticing something was wrong.
“Akira…?”
She watched as a yellow array of aetheric runes formed around his feet.
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“Akira?! What are you doing?!” She jumped out to grab him.
Before she could process what had happened, light flared under Akira’s feet, then the two of them vanished from the Chamber.
When Riella opened her eyes, they were in the middle of a desert— nothing but brown, cracked earth beneath their feet.
“Where… are we?” She gripped Akira’s arm, still confused at what had happened.
Did we… teleport? No, there’s no way…
Akira paid her no mind; his razor-sharp eyes were focused in front of him. He planted his feet firmly, his fists clenched tight enough to draw his own blood.
“You…” he finally said.
Riella turned to see what he was looking at.
The color left her face, as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
A blood-slicked man stood ominously before them. He was holding a child in his hand— their neck twisted backwards and tears of blood running down from their eyes.
Ember!!
“Huh?” Ember drawled, his eyes sliding over to Akira.
“Who the hell are you, brat?”
“You…” Akira’s face darkened as the veins in his temple bulged, his blood boiling.
“Did you… Do this?”
Ember chuckled, “What? Destroy this village? Yeah, I killed everyone in this system already. All three planets.”
“You bastard…” Akira bit his lip.
Riella slowly turned around…
She looked haunted as she gazed upon the massive crater behind them that spanned for miles. The dark hole appeared bottomless, no end in sight.
N-no way…
“What’s it matter to you anyway? Don’t tell me you’re angry.”
Ember looked at their outfits.
“Oh, you’re with the Cosmic Guard, aren’t you. I guess I didn’t kill that guy fast enough, and he sent a distress call.”
Ember tilted his head up dramatically, placing his bloodied hand on his forehead.
“This is bad… whatever will I do~!” he cried out.
“I’m gonna kill you,” Akira whispered.
“Huh? What was that?” Ember leaned his head forward, his hand cupped around his ear.
“I didn’t quite catch that.”
“I said… I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, BASTARD!!” Akira barked, knocking Riella down as he charged forward.
Ember burst out laughing as he tossed the child’s corpse aside.
“You? You’re going to kill me?”
Ember licked his lips.
“Good, come then! Let’s see if you’ll be able to entertain me!”
Akira effortlessly closed the distance between them in a single bound, then hugged the ground as he swiped his leg for a sweeping kick.
Ember hopped over the kick, his knees pressing against his chest.
Akira used his hands to pivot into a handstand, launching his feet up as a follow-up attack.
Despite already being midair, Ember flipped backwards— extending his body as he landed on his feet and one hand, sliding through the dirt.
“Not bad,” Ember smiled deviously.
“I didn’t know there were guards this strong… I thought you’d have to at least be a Vice-Commander.”
Ember stood up, his hand on his hip as he leered at Akira.
“You haven’t seen nothin’ yet.”
Akira squatted, focusing his aether.
“Spirit Resonance!”
His aether surged, his eyes gleaming white. His muscles flexed, brimming with power.
What is that? Riella watched his transformation in awe.
“Oh, so you’re reinforcing your body with a dense amount of aether? That looks fun.”
He’s able to tell that I’m stronger despite my yield not changing… this guy might just be as dangerous as I was told.
Akira glanced behind himself, “Riella, you should back up.”
“You sure? I can fight too!”
“No… let me handle this,” Akira said, gripping his fist.
“Oooh, scary!”
Akira and Ember simultaneously Aether-Skipped, shearing through the starry sky at tremendous speeds.
“Woah… they’re both incredibly fast…”
Riella looked up, her eyes darting back and forth as she tried to keep up.
Oh! That’s right!
Riella pulled out her transmitter, then pressed the emergency signal.
I have to ping our coordinates! After they check the other ship for survivors, we’ll need their reinforcement!
Akira and Ember exchanged a rapid flurry of blows as they hovered in the sky, neither side letting up.
He’s able to keep up with me like it’s nothing! Akira thought, clenching his teeth.
“Then let’s turn up the heat!”
A golden aura surged around him.
“Golden Energy Mode!”
“Ah, you still had more for me? How thoughtful!” Ember shouted as he also increased his yield.
Both of their yields keep increasing! At this rate, I won’t be able to step in!
Riella tightened her fists.
“Layer Five… Six… Seven… Eight… Nine… TEN!”
Ember clapped his hands.
“Impressive, impressive. But can you actually wield all that power? Let’s find out, shall we?”
He leaned forward, ready to pounce.
Akira stepped to the side, anticipating his lunge.
“Try again!” Ember shouted as he redirected.
He was able to land two hits on Akira before he could block the rest.
“Grgh!” Akira staggered, Ember jumping back.
“Akira!” Riella shouted from below.
“I’m fine,” he tilted his head to the side to spit some blood.
“Yeah, you’re tough,” Ember said, cracking his knuckles. “This is the most fun I’ve had in years!”
“Oh yeah? Then let’s see how far I’ll have to turn it up until you take this seriously.”
His aether flared out again.
“Seriously? This kid can still keep going?”
“Layer Eleven… Twelve… Thirteen… Fourteen…”
“I had no idea Akira was this strong… he might actually be at the same level as a Vice-Commander…”
The wind in the air began blowing violently, as if a storm was passing through the area.
“Nineteen… Twenty…”
No… this isn’t enough… I HAVE TO INCREASE IT MORE!
Akira grunted as his body screamed out in pain.
“Golden Energy Mode… LAYER THIRTY!”
Should I stop him? Ember thought to himself, sweat running down his face.
No, there’s no chance that he could beat me. My strength is unparalleled right now.
“Layer Forty! Layer Fifty!”
Ember looked down at his palm, opening and closing his fist.
I would’ve liked to absorb more stars before running into the Cosmic Guard, but so be it.
His grip tightened.
I simply have to kill this boy before I burn out.
“Layer Sixty!”
The winds turned to torrents as the sky itself shook in recoil.
Riella kept watching as Akira’s yield skyrocketed. It almost seems like he’s pushing himself too far…
“Layer Seventy… Layer Eighty!”
Masses of runes formed with Akira’s meridians, supercharging his flux and flow.
“Layer Ninety!”
“Incredible…” Ember whispered.
“Layer… ONE HUNDRED!!”
Akira thrust his arms out, a massive shockwave bursting out from his body. Some of the skin on his face began to peel, revealing what seemed to be golden aether leaking out from his body.
Ember smirked, laughing to himself.
As I thought. There’s no way this kid could be stronger than me. And it doesn’t seem like he’ll be able to keep this up for long.
He licked his lips, then widened his grin, his white teeth reflecting the light from Akira’s aura.
“I can win…” he chuckled.
I’ll crush him with a big boost in power… it’ll drain some of the reserves I collected, but it’s better not to drag this out.
“HA!” Ember’s fiery red aura surged from his body, his yield increasing again.
Akira’s vision blurred, the strain on his muscles catching up to him.
Come on, Akira! Focus! He clapped his cheeks.
Ember Aether-Skipped, reappearing behind Akira. He raised one leg up, then dropped it down like a hammer— knocking Akira straight into the ground with a thunderous kick.
“Oh no…” Riella covered her mouth.
Akira stood up from the cloud of smoke, jumping out and ascending before Ember again.
“Don’t tell me you’re done already?” Ember chuckled, watching Akira struggle to catch his breath.
“Not yet…” Akira’s arms quaked, trembling from overexertion.
Dammit… Can I really not handle this yet? I’ve barely moved, but my body’s already screaming out in agony.
Ember blitzed him again, not giving him the chance to recover.
Akira barely managed to dodge or block all the attacks, being pushed back from the hasty assault.
He’s still that much stronger than me!? Akira panicked.
“I thought this would be fun, but it seems like you’re reaching your limit.”
Ember knocked him back with a strong hook.
“Let’s just end this.”
He raised one hand into the air, gathering a monstrous tide of aether into his palm.
Normally, this attack is hard to land due to its lack of speed… but I have the perfect target to ensure it hits!
He glanced at Riella.
What’s he up to? Akira watched, panting.
Quickly, I have to gather some aether to counter him.
Akira struggled to raise his arms, the trembling getting worse as more skin peeled off of him in cracks.
His aether leaked out of the fractures like a bag of sand full of holes.
“Flaming Destruction!” Ember shouted as he formed a large orb of fiery aether over his head.
He launched it at Riella, who was standing on the ground.
“W-what…?” Riella watched, not immediately realizing that the attack was meant for her.
“No!” Akira shouted, “You bastard!”
Akira dove headfirst in front of the blast, a massive explosion engulfing him.
“AKIRA!!” Riella shouted, covering her eyes from the blinding light of the fire.
“Hehehe…” I knew that would work.
“That’s the problem with you, Cosmic Guards.”
Akira’s charred body plummeted towards the ground, Riella running to catch him.
“Akira! Akira! Are you alright?!”
He groaned, coughing up blood.
She held his blackened skin, resting him down in her lap.
He tried to block it to save me…
“Alright… now it’s about time I got out of here,” Ember turned, getting ready to fly into space.
“Hold it,” Riella said as she stood up, laying Akira down.
“We’re not done with you yet,” she said as her gaze hardened.
“Oh? So, you want to play as well? Alright. I’m game,” Ember grinned.
[Next Time on Lyte of Utopia]: “Akira’s New Power: Soul Resonance!”
[Yield Levels]:
Akira: 2b
- Suppressed: 1
- SR: (200b) (Physical)
- SR + GEML10: 20b (2t) (Physical)
- SR + GEML100: 200b (20t) (Physical)
- Dragon Shift: x1 (Teleportation)
Riella: ???
- Suppressed: 5
Garren: 105m
Ember: ???
- Suppressed (Initial): 5b
- Suppressed (vs GEML10): 5t
- Suppressed (vs GEML100): 50t
- Flaming Destruction: x100