<< Prev Next >>
“The Morikai will be released… whether you live to see it, or not–!”
Siyuakén interrupted Morcii with a lightning strike of incredible power,
knocking the Nanocreature leader back several meters. The rest of Hero Machina
quickly spread out, with Davídrius and Christeané moving to close the distance
between themselves and Morcii as he jumped back to his feet and lunged forward
fast enough to blast past the Introtechnics. Kaoné instantly stopped his
approach by spontaneously lifting a pillar of matter from below, slamming
Morcii’s chest and launching him skyward.
“Everyone, get back–!” Kievkenalis exclaimed, jumping back as he raised
his right hand toward the Nanocreature leader. “Cha…os…!”
Each uttered syllable issued forth a shockwave powerful enough to shatter the
ground beneath his feet, each subsequent shockwave even more devastating than
the last as the Chaostechnic continued, “Mach…
Five… Cannon!”
The force of firing the projectile slammed Kievkenalis into the ground as
it instantly tore into Morcii, completely obliterating his body as his
constituent metallic parts spread out and fluttered to the ground.
“…That did it?...” Kaoné questioned, frozen in shock.
“Of course not!” Kevérin countered, “He’s still around here somewhere–!”
The very moment the Pyrotechnic completed his thought the ground
underneath Kievkenalis exploded upward as Morcii appeared, snatching the Master
Ayas from the Chaostechnic before he could react and taking to the air.
“The Ayas–!?”
“Fuck! After him!!” Kevérin shouted, giving chase to the Nanocreature
leader who had fled to the cavern’s higher platform. He, Rebehka, and Kaoné all
flew through the air while the other four Chaotics rushed up the steps, each of
them pausing at the platform’s edge to take in the sight before them: a massive
arena, nearly a half kilometer wide and a whole kilometer long, with thirteen
wide, blood-red pillars forming an oval around the platform’s center. At the
top of the right-most four pillars were the four Light Ayas, at the top of the
left-most four pillars were the four Dark Ayas, and at the top of the tallest
pillar, the one located farthest back from the steps, was…
“Morcii!!” Davídrius roared, crouching down and then leaping high into
the air, prepared to slam his feet into the Nanocreature leader – only to be
blinded by a bright flash of silver light, causing him to miss completely and
slam into the far wall instead.
“Ha… ah ha ha ha. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!” the
Nanocreature released a maniacal guffaw as he stood atop the tallest pillar,
the Master Ayas hovering in place behind him. The pillar was too tall for any
of the Chaotics to make out Morcii’s expression, but they could feel his
haughty glare nonetheless.
“Sh…shit…!” Kevérin scowled, his entire body tensing as he realized the
situation, “That’s… that’s all the Ayas…!”
“Indeed!” Morcii
replied, a malicious grin spreading across his face as he slowly lowered to the
ground across the platform from Hero Machina. “Finally… after a hundred thousand years… the
Morikai will reign once again! My goal has been achieved – all thanks to you!”
“No–!” Siyuakén shouted back, charging forward and releasing several lightning
bolts toward the Nanocreature leader as she brought the Arcán Claymore overhead
and prepared to slash him. At the same moment, Davídrius dashed up from behind
and prepared to deal a fearsome kick to the Nanocreature, forcing him to take
at least one of the two blows… except Morcii simply disappeared, the
nanomachines constructing his body dissipating into the air.
“You are too late!”
Morcii retorted, his body reforming in the very center of the oval formed by
the red columns. Before any of Hero Machina could react, he raised his arms
into the air, shouting, “Chaos:
RELEASE!”
Each of the nine pillars hosting the Ayas immediately turned pure white,
emitting columns of light that reached up to the cavern ceiling. A
thirteen-point circle appeared on the ground around Morcii, lighting up a
brilliant blue as the Nanocreature leader jumped back, allowing a series of
energy blasts to strike the center circle as hurricane-force winds picked up in
the cavern, causing the Chaotics of Hero Machina to reflexively shield their
faces. Then, as the energy strikes continued to grow in brightness and
ferocity, a form began to manifest in the circle’s center, starting with a
right leg –
– then two strikes later, a left forearm –
– five strikes later, a torso –
– three strikes later, two hands and feet –
– six strikes later, the remainder of the legs and arms –
– two strikes later, a set of extravagant armor swathed in black, silver,
and gold robing –
– and four strikes later… a head.
A brown head with dozens of backward-facing hair-like spikes, similar to
that of the Drakkars – yet with a sharp nose, pursed lips, and black eyes. The
figure possessed the skin tone, stature, and apparent physical frailty of the
Drakkars yet possessed the bodily and facial structure of an Aldredanoid, with a
two and a half meter height and a pair of five-fingered, two-thumbed hands that
resembled neither.
“…Ikirom…”
“That’s Ikirom…?” Rebehka echoed quietly in response to Arcán’s
utterance, “…then… the Morikai have really…!”
“No… something’s wrong,” Kevérin narrowed his eyes, watching Morcii
approach the new figure and kneel. “There’s only one of them… Morcii sounded
like he wanted to free the whole race, so why only one–?!” The Pyrotechnic clamped
his mouth shut and froze in place as the recently formed figure began to move,
slowly shifting his gaze to fall on the five Chaotics of Hero Machina who
remained by the platform edge. Silence befell the entire cavern for several
moments, with no one moving so much as a millimeter until Morcii finally opened
his mouth.
“Master Ikirom, Supreme
Commander of the Morikai… welcome back to the physical realm.”
“…” Ikirom narrowed his eyes into a frightful
glare, his gaze remaining on the Nimalians as he addressed Morcii, “A hundred thousand years it has been, Morcii.
And this… this is all you can manage?”
“I apologize, master. The
Aldredas’ meddling has even extended into the current age; this is all I could
accomplish for now.”
“Hah,” the Morikai snorted, his arms crossed
behind his back. He eventually turned away from the Chaotics to look up at the
Ayas upon the cavern pillars; Davídrius and Siyuakén seized the opportunity to
attack, lunging forward from their position behind Morcii and Ikirom. The
Nanocreature leader quickly jumped to his feet and whipped around, prepared to
counter their attacks, only for the two Chaotics to be suddenly swept into the
air and thrown forward, hitting the ground hard and tumbling to a stop just in
front of the rest of Hero Machina.
“…Surely you jest,” Ikirom retorted, having
moved nary a muscle. He swept his eyes across the Chaotics once more before
addressing Morcii again, “I count merely two Chaotics who could have
possibly given you trouble, one of which is hampered by her aversion to
violence, and the other has only recently reached his full potential. Yet you’ve
allowed them to reach this far? To last this long?”
“He… he knew our types without even seeing us in action…?” Kaoné faltered.
“He knew we were comin’ without even lookin’,” Davídrius scowled, warily
climbing to his feet as he kept a safe distance from the Morikai Commander, “and
then he flung us across the platform without even movin’!”
“That is but a fraction of Ikirom’s
power…” Arcán responded
tensely, “that… is a Realitechnic’s power.”
“…I apologize,” Morcii commented,
ignoring the stunned Chaotics as he replied to Ikirom, “I may have… gotten carried away with my actions. The
urge to play with this inferior age is difficult to quell.”
“Is this ‘urge’ of yours to blame for this petty
excuse for a release? You should know well what it takes to undo an Ayas Seal.
Yet you create an incomplete replica of the initial moments, allowing only I to
come out and leaving the rest of my brethren within that cursed space?”
“I apologize.”
“That is not all, either. Your incredible lack of
ability leaves me chained to this region of space, and my powers limited. You
cannot undo a full Ayas Seal with only nine, Morcii!”
“I believed that restraint to
be a non-issue given your Chaotic type, master.”
“You incompetent fool! Have you spent so much
time in this age that you forget the basic
laws governing the Chaos Ayas and all else derived? You are beginning to
draw my ire; know well that my wrath has no bounds, and even servants such as
yourself can be reduced to nothing with a thought!”
“…They’re arguing,” Christeané deadpanned.
“This would be funny,” Kevérin commented
uneasily, “but for Morcii to be acting so subservient… just how powerful is this guy…?”
“Why are we still here?” Davídrius questioned, “He’s a fucking Realitechnic, right? We can’t fight that!”
“It sounds like he’s handicapped, though,” Rebehka commented, “…but it
still might be best if we left–?!”
The Cryotechnic gasped as the entire cavern immediately turned
pitch-black, removing all definition from the surrounding platform. A second
later the environment was replaced with an endless gray plane, stretching for
as far as the eye could see in every direction toward twilit horizons while the
sky itself appeared to be a dark static-like fuzz – and neither the pillars
housing the Ayas nor the Ayas themselves were anywhere to be found.
“Do not be mistaken,” Ikirom addressed Hero
Machina, “My powers may be limited, but you still cannot
hope to stand against me. Nor shall I let you; it was your ancestors who locked
me away in that timeless prison, after all. Thanks to their short-sightedness I
have spent countless millennia observing the galaxy, unable to interact with it
in any way, left only to watch as that which I saved was claimed by the descendants of those who betrayed me! I
may not be able to exact vengeance on the true perpetrators… but you shall receive
punishment in their stead, sons and daughters of the Aldredas!”
A severe gust of wind exploded outward from the Morikai Commander as
seven pitch-black holes appeared in space behind each of the Chaotics. The
seven glanced behind themselves in surprise just before a steady stream of
hurricane-force winds began rushing outwards from Ikirom, pushing Hero Machina
toward the tears in space.
“Chaos Time!” Kievkenalis
quickly shouted, forcing the environment around him – Ikirom included – to come
to a sudden stop. He then relaxed, taking a deep breath as the strong winds
were no longer a factor.
“Good effort.”
“What–?!” the Chaostechnic exclaimed, crossing his arms in front of
himself as Morcii appeared and dealt a fierce kick, sending the Chaotic flying
into the black hole behind him – where he immediately disappeared and the tear
in space closed.
“But not good enough,”
Morcii sneered as the flow of time returned to normal. Ikirom offered the
Nanocreature a brief nod before stretching his arms forward. Catching the
motion in the corner of his eye, Davídrius broke into a head-long sprint,
attempting to counter the high wind speeds and attack the Morikai. Before he
could reach him, however, Ikirom snapped his fists shut, imparting a sudden and
massive force to each of the Chaotics and flinging them all back toward the
holes.
“What–!” Kaoné exclaimed, barely holding herself in place with her
Materiatechnism as she watched Davídrius and Christeané tumble backwards and
get swallowed by the voids in space. “Wha, where’d they go?!”
“Shit! Hold on!” Siyuakén grasped Arcán with both hands and drove the
Claymore into the ground, using it as an anchor as she turned around and
reached toward Kevérin as he struggled to fight the wind currents with his own
flame jets. Kaoné reached out to help the Pyrotechnic as well, but as soon as
she took her attention away from Morcii the Nanocreature leader appeared by her
side and dealt a fierce blow to her chest, flinging her into the void. Kevérin was
quick to follow, but Rebehka managed to deflect Morcii’s attack and keep
herself anchored to the ground with massive ice sheets. Eyeing the white
anchors, Ikirom simply twisted his mouth up into a half smirk – and all of the
ice spontaneously disappeared.
“Siyuakén–!”
“I’ve got you!” the Electrotechnic released Arcán, jumping backwards to
grab Rebehka’s hand before summoning the Claymore again and stabbing it into
the ground – only for Morcii to interfere and knock the blade away. Failing to
properly anchor herself, Siyuakén stumbled and tumbled over backwards, inadvertently
letting go of Rebehka in the process.
“NO–!” her eyes shot wide open as she snapped her attention backwards
just in time to watch the Cryotechnic disappear. She froze for a second before
whipping out Arcán again and slamming it into the ground, followed by shoving
such an incredible current through the weapon that the dark ground for meters
around glowed a bright white. Even Morcii and Ikirom found themselves shoved
backward from the force of the blast.
“…Interesting,” the Morikai Commander muttered
as the final void closed without receiving its target, “The Prior State offers more resistance than I expected…”
“You… bastard…!”
“Mm?” Ikirom responded calmly, eyeing Siyuakén as
she tore the Claymore out of the ground and held it in front of her in a
battle-ready stance.
“You…!” she trembled with rage, “What did you do to them?!”
“What did I do to them…? For now, nothing. I have
simply subjected them to the bodiless limbo I experienced for countless millennia.”
Ikirom crossed his arms behind his back again, “They are certain to be disoriented, but perhaps
they will realize their own station in time to witness your defeat at my hands.” He then summoned the Syn
Scythe, twirling it in the air once before grasping it firmly and slamming the
pole-end into the ground. “I do not believe I have fought another user of
the Prior State before…”
“His voice… that weapon…!” Siyuakén muttered warily, glaring at Ikirom as
she tightly grasped the Arcán Claymore, “Arcán, is he…?”
“I see… the Aldredas Keys did
seal away the Morikai shortly after they defeated the Menace, after all,”
Arcán responded, “He must somehow
still be in the Syn Prior State… but if that is the case… Syn! Prior Praefectus Syn! Answer me! Why do you still
support this threat?!”
“You will receive no answer,” Ikirom countered
as he stretched an arm toward Morcii. The Nanocreature leader immediately
dissolved into a silvery cloud that rushed toward the Morikai Commander and
coalesced around his body, forming a second pair of arms and a long tail. “Syn remains loyal to me. And if you knew your
place, Prior,”
the sky was spontaneously replaced by a giant red orb of plasma, illuminating
the entire space-time with the light of a red giant while leaving temperature
and radiation levels somehow survivable, “then you, too, would join me!”
“You speak nonsense. Any other
Prior would agree! Siyuakén, my presence and the Prior State offer you a level
of resistance to his manipulations, but even so–!”
“I got it, be careful,” she nodded resolutely, and then raised her voice
to address Ikirom, “I don’t really know what you did way back when to deserve
this, but if you’re Morcii’s commander, and the first thing you do when you
show up is off my friends, then you leave me no choice but to kill you!”
“You may think that a threat, but in truth it is
merely a promise that will go unfulfilled,” Ikirom responded calmly, “but if you truly wish to fight me, very well.
Allow me to demonstrate for you the power of the Morikai…” he leveled his Scythe toward Siyuakén
as the environment spontaneously changed to that of a tundra, “allow me to demonstrate the power… of
Realitechnism!”
* * * * *
==================== End of Chapter 82 ====================
* * * * *
Data Entry: {null}
No comments:
Post a Comment