Rewrite: Terra Plus
Disclaimer: I do not own Rewrite.
Chapter 1
+ The Awakening of the Aurora +
I jolted awake when the bell rang. Immediately a hidden blade slipped into my grasp and I prepared to sortie at any notice. It must be Gaia, they have found where our secret base was and were attacking!
Except when I opened my eyes, I saw rows of students staring at me. Some were dumbfounded, some were trying to hide their laughter awfully and some just facepalmed, as if they were used to it. It took a second but it finally hit me what happened.
I was a teacher in Kazamatsuri High School and I was supervising these students for their tests. The entire job was so boring that I fell asleep at some point and the bell woke me up. I meant, just what the hell was Esaka thinking? I was the leader of the Elite Task Force Terra Knights. I went half way across the globe to assassinate Gaia leaders and corrupted Guardians alike before. My job now ? Undercover job to look out for Gaia agents in a High School. Why would there be any Gaia agents here? Even if there was why would he send ME of all people to deal with this?
"Tennouji-sensei, you have that look on you again." From the opened door at my left, my fellow colleague Nishikujou Touka came in. I narrowed my eyes at that overused statement. I was not even allowed to grumble in my mind, was I?
"I swear you are the only reason Imamiya-sensei and I are still stuck here." I said as I got up, at least my shift was over. I was pretty sure the class president, fellow Guardian Konohana Lucia just rolled her eyes at me. Hey, I don't become a Guardian so that I could come back to this school as a teacher. My laziness was justified.
"Talking about Imamiya-sensei, he said he has something to discuss with you." Touka said. "Something about finding a key. He will be waiting at Esaka-san's shop."
I narrowed my eyes at the word. Touka's hazel eyes met mine with a confirmation. At the corner of my eye Lucia figitated. I tried to look for more responses from the class but only Lucia reacted. Either there was only Guardian Lucia here, or the Gaia agent hiding in this class has pretty good control over himself.
"Better than being stuck here anyway." I nonchalantly said. "I will be going ahead."
I closed the door behind me and dropped my 'lazy-teacher' act. The grin I have been holding curved up my lips and my fingers played with the hidden blade still in my hand. One year, I have been stuck in this job for one year to 'find' Gaia agents and ultimately be prepared for the Key's spawning. All I wanted was just some action. Exterminating the Key is Guardian's main mission. Gaia will no doubt be going all out to secure their precious Key so that they could let her destroy the world. As Hero- I meant Guardians, it's our heroic duty to save the world.
I clicked my tongue at the obvious cliche setting. Kill the Key to save humanity. I have a stubborn disdain for that idea. Saving the world? I was all for it. Killing the Key for it? Killing the Key that would cause the apocalypse and end humanity? I should be happy to kill her to save the world.
It should be a straight-forward thought process, but I just couldn't accept it.
Because I couldn't accept it, I let the Key go five years ago.
If Esaka had knew he would have punished me with treason. Why did I do it? This question haunted me for years, easily being a subconscious during my four years of training. I questioned what was it that I felt that time. Why did I turn away? It was a faint memory but I could still recount it. I felt unworthy, I felt weak. It was as though I was ashamed to face her with the state of powerless I was.
However it is different now. I have changed, I have become stronger. Days fighting alongside Luis in Gaia concentrated foreign land made me mastered modern weaponry. Another year specializing in night assassinations trained me in mastery of stealth and my own blood manipulation powers. For better or for worse, these three years made me rewrote myself a few times. I am easily stronger than average superhuman now. It took weeks of practising self-control before I dared myself to hold my new phone without crushing it.
It was a specially reinforced phone by the way. God knows how Luis hacked all the way into DocoDoco's company and had one of their hidden superhuman made an armored one for me. He may have grumbled about desk job when he lost his powers but he couldn't deny that he's damn good at it.
I hid the blade in my hand and started my way to Esaka's antique shop. If we were not meeting at headquarters but Esaka's shop, that meant I would probably be given special instructions. I quickened my footsteps and made haste towards my destination. I channelled my control over blood through the veins and solidifying my resolution. I have become stronger now. Tonight I would face the Key one more time. Perhaps this time after taking a good look at her, I would finally understand why I felt compelled to become strong to protect her.
Swinging the wooden door open, a wave of warm air greeted me and I quickly entered. Winter seemed to be coming anytime soon. Staying out in the cold would just remind me of the terrifying times in Russia. When General Winter says don't mess with Russia, it meant it. The winter Assassination attempt in Russia was probably the worse job I had taken, and I would not go there during winter ever again.
"If you start shivering now, how are you going to perform at night?" Across the shop, Imamiya Arata said with a mug of hot coffee at hand. "Even though we missed it five years ago, we will finally get to do the real job tonight. It would be a damn shame if you become unavailable for action just because of fore-winter."
"Missed it? I saved your ass five years ago from a beowolf. I doubted you would survive confronting the Key if you couldn't even defeat a beowolf back then." I replied and settled myself on another seat across the table. Other than Arata, Luis was unexpectedly here too. "Yo, I thought you would be busy at headquarters with all the Key ruckus going on."
"I was, until Esaka-san had someone else to substitute my job and called me to report here." Luis said. "You should be there to see how all the staffs were running around. It was hectic. Every available staffs were called back to gather all available information on the Key and Gaia's movement. A few rooms were set up to have the 'Eyes' to find where the Key were through the city cameras. It's like Operation Spring Cleaning again."
"Youngsters with their stupid superhuman pride." Esaka came into the room with a plate of sandwiches and another mug of coffee. I gratefully accepted the mug from him as he sat across us. He continued his recollection of the event with a grumble. "Since the cleaning companies were already under Gaia's monopoly, we have to clean our headquarters ourselves. It's not like we could call Gaia and have them clean our secret base. I lost count of how many individuals I have to convince or even put down so that none would leave their cleaning post. Sometimes I wonder if we superhumans have stagnated so far that we have that much trouble cleaning one base. It's embarrassing."
Arata looked away from Esaka's accusing gaze. Cleaning habits were easy to pick up when you were expected to be a soldier and have to clean after yourself. Luis and I went through the soldier route but Arata did not. We did not know what happened but none of the 'casualties' from Operation Spring Cleaning ever dared to talk about it. Seemed like Esaka was not the head of Japanese branch for nothing after all.
"Nev-Never mind about that. The reason you gathered us for today is for the hunt for the Key, right? Let's get into the main topic!" Arata tried to change the topic. "Like, why are we here instead of preparing to sortie at headquarters? All of my equipments are still there."
"The other members would be proceeding with the main mission, search and destroy the Key. However I have a different mission for the Terra Knights, excluding the still inexperienced Shizuru-chan and Konohana-chan." Esaka said sternly. "The Terra Knights are to intercept Gaia's movement and priorly eliminate the Earth Dragon's summoners before they can summon it for combat. Tennouji-kun would lead the mission while Luis would act as a sniper and navigator close by. Any questions?"
The atmosphere tensed at the summary of the mission. Arata and Luis looked as though they were trying to take in the information but I saw it coming. The mission to eliminate the use of Earth Dragon for Gaia was unexpected but valid course of action by Esaka. However one doubt remained in my mind.
Why separate me from the main mission again?
"Esaka-san, what if we couldn't kill enough summoners before they awoke the Earth Dragon? I may pride my team as the strongest available team in Japanese branch but an active Earth Dragon is still too much." I asked, playing intentionally into his sub-mission. "With only Imamiya, Nishikujou and I as main offense and Luis as navigator, I'd say we stand quite an outnumbered stance against Gaia's main force. We sure can expect their summoners to be very heavily defended as well."
"True, that would have been the case if the Key appeared during the Harvest Festival like normal. However as you know, the Harvest Festival ended months ago and the Key was identified repeatedly this morning. Our intelligence has also determined that Gaia has similarly spotted the Key and would be moving out tonight." Esaka-san smirked. "Since there was no festival to cover the mission, both sides would be moving our forces at inconvenient discreet. We couldn't sortie our helicopters, they couldn't transport all their familiars as fast and safely. We have determined that this is a golden opportunity to not just sabotage Gaia's advances, but to capture the truck carrying the sleeping Earth Dragon and destroy it for good."
"Destroy the Earth Dragon... no one has ever done that right?" Arata looked up, his eyes shining.
"Not yet, but this is by far the greatest chance I think one can have at it." Esaka gave a confident grin. As if it were contagious, Arata grinned disturbingly.
Oh stupid superhuman instinct and their stupid desire for honour!
"Let's do this, Tennouji!" Arata said excitedly. "It's an one of a lifetime chance to take down Gaia's symbolic monster! Forget about the Key, we would become legendary if we take down the Earth Dragon instead!"
"If we succeed anyway." Luis interjected. "Killing summoners are still fine but I doubt it would be that easy to capture the Earth Dragon's truck. Are we conducting this mission outside the city perimeter?"
"Of course, discreet is still a priority but Tennouji-kun would make the call on how to proceed with the mission. As long as the Gaia's advances are halted and the others destroyed the Key, the mission would still be regarded as complete."
A.K.A, as long as I don't get myself involved in the main mission more than necessary, it's mission complete. Is that what you want to say, Esaka-san?
"...I highly doubt that we would be able to capture the Earth Dragon but I am pretty sure we can save a lot of Guardians' lives if we stop their Earth Dragon's advance." As oppose to honor, Luis was more appealed to the idea of stopping their Earth Dragon from rampaging. "What's your call, Tennouji?"
I eyed Esaka carefully. I don't have a choice do I?
"I will do it."
...
"This is Luis. Multiple large trucks have been sighted leaving Gaia's headquarters. I can report each trucks' routes through the city cameras if you want."
"Negative." I replied into the mini speaker at my ear. "Just keep track of the one heading towards the exit I told you. Follow and station yourself as a sniper at the designated building with Imamiya and Nishikujou as soon as possible."
"Roger. Hope you are right about this one."
Turning off the earpiece, I listened into the rustling sounds behind me. Some of the faster advance superhuman scouts were already in the forest. It was only thanks to my rewrote hearings that I could hear them. I have no doubt that the scout type familiars were probably starting to enter the forest too. Especially the scout birds, they were fantastic familiars for assassination missions. In fact since I was hiding alone in a bush a little before the exit, I secretly made a contract with a scout bird to face over the exit. Hiding behind a bush does not give much vision and I would need all the vision information I could get if I were to pull this crazy stunt off.
"Tennouji, what makes you so sure that the Earth Dragon's truck is coming here?" This time it was Touka from the earpiece, her voice sounded uneasy. That was to be given. She accepted Esaka's mission without even hearing the details of it. I didn't even have the time to go through the plan in detail before we moved out to secure the area. "For all we know, it could be in any other trucks."
"They will definitely come to this exit, I am sure of it." I said confidently. "This was the shortest route to the forest from their HQ. To them, the strongest defense was to summon the Earth Dragon as soon as possible. Also, their forces were spreaded out with this exit at the center. If they were to be attacked, reinforcement could come from the flank to quickly save them. This route made it the ideal strategic location to deploy their strongest familiar without fear of ambush."
"And what makes you think we can pull this ambush off if it was such a strategic location for them?" Touka hesitated, but added in nevertheless. "What makes you think you can handle the direct ambush against them alone?"
Okay, she sounded quite mad at it too. I made sure I fully convinced Imamiya and Luis but Touka was a bit more...stubborn in her opinion of this plan.
The said plan involve three snipers and me to directly confront the truck. Arata, Touka and Luis were to snipe the Earth Dragon's summoners when they were out in the open. When the summoners were surprised and sent most of their familiar towards their location, I would make a quick hit and run against the remaining familiars and summoners. When it became obvious that it was too much for me, I would retreat into safety. And head towards the forest to find the Key as soon as I could. They don't need to know this part of the plan.
"Precisely because it is the ideal strategic location, they will never see an ambush coming. This is their territory, they would think that no Guardian would dare to be here because of their strong presence in the area. They will send some scouts to secure the area beforehand but I am confident in my stealth skills. Besides if it comes to worse, I can always strengthen myself and escape. It's you guys I worry about. You three are going to have familiars swarming your building from all directions. I warn again, just take a snipe or two and leave." I emphasised. "Stay any longer and you would be swarmed before you know it."
"You are going to take on the summoners with the strongest familiar in Japan and you are worried for us. We should have Luis check if you lost any screws in your head again."
"Is that a joke I am hearing from Guardian Nishikujou?" I chuckled, normally only Teacher Nishikujou would joke around. The Guardian her was her serious personality after all.
"No, I am serious about it. Luis already took up my offer to perform a check up on you. He was aiming to get a master in psychology and you would be the perfect training for him. You better prepare yourself after this is all over." Touka said sternly, not a hint of humour in her voice.
I could hear Arata's laughter in the background. Even if such concern was probably the 'sweetest' you could get from Touka, I was not too sure if I would appreciate it at all.
A faint blur flashed pass my- no, my familiar's eyes. I doubted my mind just played a trick on me at such crucial mission.
"Call you later." I said quickly and cut the communication. What was that? I used my familiar to look around the area but found nothing. Could it just really be a trick of light?
No, if I have ever learn anything from my assassination missions, there's no such thing as trick of light. I assassinated people who thought I was one. I do not plan to join them any time soon.
!
I kicked my legs of the dirt and rolled down the sloppish ground. Balance be damned! I leapt back into standing when my legs were in control. Looking up at where I was, I looked to see what made me abandon all thoughts and rolled down to for my life. Even though it was dark, I could clearly see the man under the moonlight. A tall black haired man dawned in black over-coat. I took note of the white bandages, definitely not just an ornament, hanging around his neck like a scarf. The man looked surprise, as though he never expected me to dodge that.
"If you had let me knocked you out, I would have assumed you as a normal civilian and left you somewhere safe in the city." The man said as he slowly walked down, his red eyes gleaming. "That reaction speed, those armaments, you are a hunter from Guardian, aren't you?"
I said nothing but concentrated my sight on him. I broke the contract with the scout bird and focused...this man was wrong. If I were a mere superhuman, I would have never noticed the red string of bond between a summoner and familiar.
"You are a familiar, aren't you?" I asked. The man-familiar looked surprised. He probably didn't think that he would be found out so easily.
"...a hunter that could use familiar." The man-familiar narrowed his red eyes at me. "Should you not be joining your comrades at the forest searching for the Key? Why would one sole hunter be here?"
"Well, the Earth Dragon wasn't something we could just ignore after all. Someone has to try to delay it. I just got the short end of the stick." I lied, only partially because this mission was kind of the short end of the stick.
"Hm? How would you know that the Earth Dragon is going to pass through this exit. A spy?" By now, we are only a few feet from each other. My hidden blade slipped into my hand. I doubted he missed it.
"The shortest and fastest route to summon the Earth Dragon and the center of where all the familiars would be pouring in. This is the ideal place to summon the Earth Dragon, don't you think so?" I said. The man-familiar stopped before me. This man-familiar was strong, in fact up close I felt as though I was in the presence of a demon. I momentarily braced myself, this might became one of the bloodiest one on one confrontation I would be in.
However the man-familiar made no move. Instead, he looked up. My vein throbbed in annoyance. Does he not even consider me worthy of his attent-
He was looking at the building Touka and Arata were on.
"You bastard!" I roared. I pumped my blood faster with my blood manipulation power and slammed into him. The man-familiar staggered under my unexpected tackle but held his stance.
I quickly leapt away before his hand reaching for my throat succeeded. I flipped my hidden knife open and stabbed forward. With inhuman speed, the man-familiar batted the hand away, in fact threatening to break. He continued with his other hand aiming to push me from below. As if one punch would be the death of me, I kicked against the dirt again and dropped to the ground, barely evaded the blow. I rolled on the ground leftwards immediately, trusting my battle instinct. True enough, I could feel flying dirt hit my face when the man-familiar's fist punched where I was. It was packed with such force that it left a sizeable crater in the ground.
I quickly got up and braced in a guarding stance. If I had taken that one punch, it would have crushed my heart.
"Tennouji, are you alright!?" Touka's worried voice came over the earpiece. "Who is that man!? Do you need him shot?"
"No!" I shouted. "Mission aborted. Get Imamiya and Luis out of here now! I will catch up with you guys later!"
"But!"
"Get out of here! It's an order!" I then took down the earpiece from my ear and kept it. The man-familiar has not moved when I was talking. He just stood there with an unreadable expression.
"Three more hunters. Your leader must be pretty daring to send just four people to ambush Gaia's strongest familiar, the Earth Dragon." The man-familiar made his observation. "Did you four really think that there's a chance of succeeding?"
"The other three might. I just want an excuse that the Earth Dragon is too heavily guarded and go straight for the Key instead." I confessed. If I was lucky I could strike some compromise with this. "If I am to promise you that if you let me go search for the Key, I would not come back here, would you accept it?"
"...I dislike unnecessary bloodshed so I would. I thought all superhuman has that stupid pride of theirs." The man-familiar eyed me with sharp eyes. "Then again, you fulfilled the requirement to be a summoner so your personality is reasonably mixture of both. Okay, I will let you go."
Well, I might just live through this after all.
"I still have to chase after the three other hunters after all. You seems sincere in pursuing the Key but I doubt your friends would be content with leaving immediately."
...Stupid superhuman pride. Those guys would be the death of me.
"Looks like I can't let you go, not when your next course of action is to kill my friends." I tigthened the grip on my knife. "It's a pity, I thought I would be able to survive and tell the tale of the true strongest familiar."
"You would sacrifice your chance to escape so that I would not get your friends? You are an honourable man, hunter." For the first time since our engagement, the man-familiar smiled.
"The name's Tennouji Kotarou, a mere hunter and a lazy teacher in Kazamatsuri High School." I grinned at my introduction.
The man-familiar rose an eyebrow but then introduce himself with a smug voice. "I am Ohtori Sakuya, a mere human familiar and one hell of a butler."
This time it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. He could read manga? Black Butler at that too.
I chuckled at the thought of the strongest humanoid reading a manga. He looked like someone who would have a bible or Martel handbook in his hands than anything else. Arata would love to know this.
Touka would wonder what's so great about manga again.
Luis would note down the name and read about the manga when he has the time.
Esaka would probably even find the whole set to add it into his collection.
To do all this, I could not die no matter what.
I looked deep within me. Five years ago, I have realized that I could strengthen myself with even further superhuman strength and possibilities. All at the cost of the span of own life. Five years of fighting have forced me to drink more power from the well hidden deep within me. What was once full is now close to a quarter left. I stared down at the well, it was power, but it was also the remaining of my life span. By now I can barely live for another ten years. If I drink more now, I might have as short as five.
Careful not to spill a drop, I drank half of what was left regardless of the consequences. I could feel the impulse to become stronger to protect the Key mixed with my resolution to protect my friends. In fact, it was as though telling me to greedily take all.
However the thought that I would need to survive longer to meet the Key calmed the impulse. Savoring the new wave of power running through me, I waited for my new strength to adjust. Sakuya, the human familiar looked at me wide-eyed. He must have figured what I had just did.
"A polluter-type hunter? No, you are more than that. I recognize the power running through you..." Sakuya eyed me carefully. "You are exchanging your life span for this power. Do you think it's really worth it?"
"Well, someone has to protect the three idiots with superhuman pride after all." I smiled weakly. I had took another five years of my life but I doubted that it would be enough. Gripping my blade tightly, I charged.
My vision was in a blur from my new-founded speed, but I managed to recognise that my blade graced through Sakuya's side. While he was surprised at my sudden burst of speed, I was similarly surprised that it made me missed his vital parts.
A hand from the side came and threatened to break my ribcage. I recklessly tackled into him by the shoulder. The blow weakened but still struck its mark, blasting the air out of me. A punch came from the other hand but I quickly retracted my hand to parry it. However even after rewriting myself, my strength still paled against his. The punch that was supposed to be pushed away was barely re-angled instead, missing my head by a hair breadth. In return I tried to kick up my leg but it was quickly blocked.
Using my rewrote powers, I unleashed a fury of blows hoping to hit him. However each one of it was either dodged or safely blocked. While he looked barely harmed, I was covered in wounds from dangerously gracing all his fatal attacks. It is obvious now, I am fighting a losing fight. Not even another five years of rewriting was enough for me to face this monster.
If five years weren't enough, then you just need to use another five.
If I use them all, I would die after the fight.
Death is not what awaits you at the end of the well. She is.
She? Who is this she?
She is the one who shall judge the fate of humanity. She is also who you are fated to protect.
The Key?
Come, drink all that was left, Tennouji Kotarou. Awaken the Aurora and let the Rewrite begin.
.
I found myself before the well again. Deep inside, there was barely enough for a bucket fill. If I drank this all, I would not survive past midnight. I might not even have enough time to meet up with anyone before I die at this spot. It would be a lonely death.
A girl with short white hair flashed through my mind. On impulse, I greedily drank all that was left.
Power ran through my body once more. I could feel it within my body, I have rewrote myself beyond the point of return. However to use this new power I needed time to adjust-
"You drank everything!? Are you out of your mind!?" Sakuya shouted in disbelief. His eyes wide as though he looked disgusted. "To fight me you yearn for so much power that you would trade your life for it? I will put a quick end to your misery."
For the first time since we fought, Sakuya held the white bandage in his hand swung it. The bandage was razor-sharp. At the state of incomplete power I was, I would have no way to dodge or block it.
Then awaken now. The Rewrite must not be stopped.
"Wha▂▂▃▃Gah-▄▄▅▅!"
My body burnt. My throat could barely produce a voice at the sudden rush of power and pain running through me. I could feel my life pouring out of my wounds. Baring open my eyes over the pain, the sight of the white bandage being blocked by a similar wave light. The instant I saw it, I knew what was it.
It was the purest form of my blood, my life form itself.
Sakuya was surprised. This was the closest chance I could get! I willed the life running through me to will my body forward and unleashed a barrage of spearheaded 'life' from all my wounds at him. Caught by surprise, he crossed his hands and bandage over to try to block the barrage.
Sakuya hissed in pain. Those that hit his white bandage bounced off harmlessly. The others however stabbed right through him. None of it was fatal but it was close enough to even the scores.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!" I roared and formed a sword in my hands. Using the momentum my life controls over my body, I swung the sword down.
Sakuya tried to dodge but widen his eyes in realization when the life spears through him were holding him in place. His bandages coiled around his hand and tried to act as a shield. Between my life sword and his bandage shield, I poured more life to sharpen the edge and power and swung it in full force.
"Sakuya!" A young female voice came from behind, his summoner perhaps. She's too late, nothing would stop this.
The sword crashed against the bandage and logged into his hand. I put more strength to it to cut his hand off-
I felt my connection to my sword cut when something with a force of a truck slammed me at the waist, effectively tossing me to the sides. My back hit a tree and I struggled to keep my eyes open. Just who attacked me?
Standing at where I was with a leg still hanging in the air, a orange haired girl in an unfamiliar high school uniform glared at me. Did a young girl just hit me with the force of a truck? From the red line of bond between them, she must be Sakuya's summoner. Was that shear strength a side effect of her contract with Sakuya?
When my senses stopped just focusing on Sakuya, I realized that a lot more other people came. Right at the exit stood a group of summoners with their familiars, ranging from the simplest hounds to leaf dragons. It was then something rose beyond the height of all the summoners and familiars there. It rose taller and stood behind them. It walked forward, leaving a loud 'thud' for each of the foot step it took.
"...The Earth Dragon..." I muttered its name at its presence. The familiar was like a T-Rex but without hands. It's size spoke volumes of the strength it possessed. The Earth Dragon felt like a beast of destruction, its ghostly eyes glaring at me could seemingly shorten my lifespan, if not for I don't have much left.
She is near.
The voice echoed inside my head again. Remembering the gentle face of the white haired girl, I tried to sense for her presence.
I could feel her, like a warm green light that resonate with my life. There...she was not far away. In fact she was heading towards me.
I quickly checked my surrounding. Sakuya was standing before his summoner, seemed like he was not in the favor to leave his summoner to attack me. The group of summoners and familiar have just made way for the Earth Dragon to lead them. The Earth Dragon stopped in front of the other familiars. It seemed content to just stay there until a young lady with light brown hair in black dress emerged. Then our eyes met.
The lady seemed surprise at my presence and hesitated. She kept her stare at me, as if wondering how she wanted to deal with me.
...She looked familiar...Have we met before?
The lady in black then came to a decision and pointed at me. With determined eyes, she muttered two words.
"Capture him."
The air trembled under a huge pressure and the Earth Dragon was already upon me. When it landed, it packed such force that it was equivalent to a small earthquake. It shot out its tail towards me. I struggled in my balance against the earthquake while hastily made a sword against the tail.
The sword shattered like glass against its thick skin and the tail reached its target. It coiled me around, my arms were stuck coiled while my legs dangled in the air. I summoned my rewrote strength to pry myself open.
"Don't even bother, Aurora's chosen one." A deep voice came from the Earth Dragon. Is the familiar talking!? "If you try any harder I would have to break your bones. The Holy Woman would be displeased if I have to resort to that."
"...If there's a human familiar, I shouldn't be surprised that the Earth Dragon can actually talk huh?" I stopped prying myself open. It has enough strength to trash me around if it wanted. I needed to find another way out of here. "What's with the name 'Aurora's chosen one' anyway?"
"...If you will learn of it when the time comes." The Earth Dragon then looked down. Following his sight, the lady was just below me. She looked up and hesitated.
"Do you still remember me, Tennouji Kotarou?" The lady said. As I thought, we have met somewhere before. However just where was it?
"Even if he doesn't, I do." Another voice came from behind us. "Release him this instant, you reptile!"
As though the Earth Dragon compiled with her demands, I was dropped on to the ground. The Earth Dragon leapt away, dodging a red ribbon that had attempted to cut off its tail. I stared at the edge of the ribbon, I knew it was sharp enough to slice through the Earth Dragon's skin. I knew because the red ribbon was just like my 'life'.
I traced the red ribbon back to a white haired girl walking towards me. It was like that time all over again. She was as young as before, in a black dress and her ribbons...looked more intimidating than last time. She had a calm, innocent expression the five years ago. Now she looked...mad?
"Five years." The Key stopped before me. Her eyes filled with emotional fury and talked me down. "I was born in resonance with the birth of your Aurora five years ago and you just left me there. It took the five years for you to unleash all your Aurora for me to track you down. What do you have to say for yourself, despicable homosapien?"
It's the word Aurora again. Just what was that? The name of my power?
"The Key is over there!" I spot a fellow hunter, one of the Eyes right behind her. Soon more joined the hunter, I could recognize some of the few too. In fact, one of them was-
"Kotarou!" Lucia shouted in fear and charged at the Key. I must have looked as though I was going to be killed by the Key. That idiot! To be sentimental now of all times!
The Key clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Don't interfere!" The red ribbons instinctively shot forward, aiming at Lucia who was the closest.
When I was about to cry out for the worse, I felt the familiar sense of poison being released. The red ribbons that threatened to screw through her slowed down and withered. Lucia then cut them down with her vibrating katana and headed straight for the Key. She used her accursed power she hated so much!
"Get away from Kotarou!" She swung her katana. The Key dodged in wary. By now I was between the two of them. Lucia looked down at me, saw that I was alive and smiled in relief.
It was then I saw the Earth Dragon's tail coming, aiming to pierce Lucia without her knowing.
I pushed Lucia behind me and poured all of my life force within me out. This blow was meant to be a fatal one. If I don't block this, Lucia would get hurt too!
The emotionlessly stilled girl called Haruka Asahi flashed through my mind. I promised that I would protect her!
I recalled and imitated the quality of the Key's red ribbons. Mine do not need to be as sharp, it needed to be as strong. I would not be able to block this half-heartedly, so I pull all my remaining life force I had left for this.
The strike came. My mind screamed as emptiness threatened to take everything over. Each layer of my life shield it broke, the more empty my mind became. I no longer felt pain anymore, it was just the losing space of my mind beginning to terrify me.
But nothing would terrify me more if I couldn't protect Lucia as promised.
The final layer of my life broke and the tail pierced me. My mind was mostly gone. My head fell down, staring at the tail that reached halfway inside me.
Hehe...I protected Lucia...
The tail was plucked out of my body and I fell down. The voice of a few people echoed inside my head. One was Lucia's. The other...that's right...she was Akane...Asahi reminded me of her...they were alike...
"What a troublesome homosapien." Even at my blurry sight, I could make out the Key standing over me clearly. She cut down a piece of her ribbon and grinned at me. "Rest for now, Tennouji Kotarou. But do remember to wake up soon. It would not do to make three girls waiting after all."
Clouded by darkness, my mind shutted down and I drifted into the darkness.
A/N: 6474 words...wow, that was long. I was planing around 4 thousand but okay. It just seems that I have enough creative juice for this.
Hmm. Seventh story in the entire fanfiction. What do you think, Midori?
Midori: It's quite empty~ Little Buster was the same state until its anime got it running. You still aren't going to invest me there yet?
All in due time. Hell I started and wrote this story on the spot. I just 'Hey, let's write something.' and you just 'Rewrite maybe?' and I just 'Okay'.
Midori:You know, won't the readers creep out if you are suddenly talking to a character they don't know?
All they need to know you are from Litter Busters. They don't need to worry about you being an oc or joining the story as an oc.
Midori: Even though you might add me as a side-character in the future?
Maybe, but definitely not someone that would oc the story.
Okay let's answer some questions! Pretty sure some of you (if anyone is reading) would have wondered 'Why is Kotarou so strong?', 'Why is Luis still alive?', 'Lucia was tsun at the beginning and dere at the end? She still has her decay powers?' and 'Where's Shizuru and Kotori in all of this'.
I made Kotarou stronger because why not? That's why this story is called Terra +. In fact everyone has become stronger, Lucia could fight against Kagari one on one when the Earth Dragon couldn't. I like Luis, he is a good character and since this story is written on a whim, I decided to have him alive and kicking. Most of the canon Terra route until the fated meeting with the Key happened, except Kotarou went through a lot of training and assassination missions. There are some plot change here and there, met five years older Kotarou before. Shizuru and Kotori just missed the chance to appear. They will be appearing in next chapter though, if this fanfiction gets enough attention that is.
Go ahead and ask questions in the review if you have some! I am pretty sure this story has some noticeable changes.
Last of all, please read and review~!