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Legendary Witches Zero: Before the Liberation

Chapter 14: Classified 1934 Part 9

-Kye-

June 16th, 1934

The armada of Neuroi approached, and we were ready. They fired an incredible amount of energy beams at us, but our auras were more than capable of taking the hits. We exchanged blows with the Neuroi with our nine taking out multitudes of their mass.

The swarms of small Neuroi had no place in the battle. Their beams were nothing to the defensive power of our auras, and their defenses were incapable of withstanding the shockwaves given off by our attacks on their larger kin.

"Reppuzan!"

"Mahousen!"

"Kousen!"

"Fire Dragon Cleaver."

Our techniques crisscrossed with beams of energy.

I cleaved large Neuroi with Reppuzan attacks. Yami and Rei pelted them with their respective magic and light beam attacks. Yuko and Hiro were mirroring their mother. Doran even pulled out a few of his favorite fiery sword techniques.

Lily flashed between Neuroi, leaving explosive charges of Holy Fire magic behind to explode and eradicate the Neuroi caught in the blasts. She usually relied on her sword techniques and space magic to combat enemies, so to see her using the golden flames was a grand sight. The explosions were like fireworks.

Shadow was employing a similar strategy, but she put a spin on it of which only she was capable. She remained intangible with her Shadow Magic and flew through Neuroi. She deposited charges of her magic direct inside the Neuroi's cores that disintegrated them on contact. Her method was much less flashy, but much more efficient, requiring very little of her magic reserves to employ.

Before long, we garnered the attention of several powerful human shaped Neuroi. These Neuroi were a significant cut above the rest. Some generated swords made of the same material as their bodies while others fought with no weapons. We had to put effort into destroying them. One attacked me with voracious intention.

"In the name of King Xaladin, I will destroy you humans here," the Neuroi bellowed as he fired an incredible beam at me.

I could feel the heat through my aura as I deflected the beam to the sky. "I felt that, Neuroi. Impressive."

"You'll soon feel much more than the heat of my power." The Neuroi summoned six lances made of Neuroi material, five of them levitating and one in his hand. "I am Xaldin the Lancer. I will be your death."

"You will not," Retah said as she suddenly moved between us. "Your opponent will be me, Xaldin the Lancer. I am Retah Sosshaa."

"Very well. I will entertain you until your death."

"Conserve your power, Kye." Retah telepathically said to me. "I sense a much more powerful adversary within this armada. You must be ready for that battle. I will fight this one."

"Thank you, Retah."

She turned her head toward me slightly and nodded before charging at the lance wielding Neuroi. "Let's begin, Xaldin the Lancer."

"Death shall come."

That Neuroi seems obsessed with death.

I sighed and shook off the thought. I flew back a short way and began searching for the one Retah had mentioned. I sensed the incredible power just before Xaldin challenged me, but I was interrupted before I could pinpoint it. As I searched, I couldn't help but watch Retah's battle.

She dodged Xaldin's lances as if she were dancing around them. It had been many years since we fought together, but I was no less surprised now by her graceful moves than before. She closed the distanced between them quickly. Xaldin attacked with the lance in his hand, but Retah evaded it and quickly struck the lance itself with her right hand. She formed her hand into what resembled the beak of a bird.

"Crane Beak Strike." She struck with a well-known technique, however, her attack was much more devastating than a typical Crane Beak Strike. She struck with her magic. She broke the lance and impaled Xaldin's chest with her hand. She quickly brought up her left hand and followed through with an empowered palm strike to the Neuroi's chest, next to where her right hand was impaled in his chest. "Tiger Palm."

The force of her palm strike was intense. Xaldin was blown back over one hundred meters and struggled to regain his airborne balance.

Retah grabbed one of Xaldin's lances before he pulled the rest to him and readied it, using her magic to prevent him from controlling it. She charged in toward him, parrying his other lances away as she closed in. She jabbed the spear through Xaldin's body, marginally missing his core, only stopping once her right hand reached his chest. She released the spear, but did not pull back her hand. Instead she formed a fist and struck the Neuroi's chest point blank with an extremely powerful blow.

That was a One Inch Punch infused with her Force Magic. That Neuroi is done for.

The Neuroi staggered back away from Retah, grasping his chest. There was a gaping hole centered where Retah struck him with her fist. Xaldin's core was visible and broken.

Xaldin looked at me and said, "Look behind you. Your death awaits."

As his body shattered, another male voice spoke up from behind me. "He gave me away."

"Not quite," I replied. "I sensed you approach."

"Why allow me to come this close?"

"I sensed no killing intent from you." I turned to face the owner of the voice. This one was visibly different than the other humanoid Neuroi. Red streaks ran down his arms, legs, and torso. What resembled a crown was adorned on his head. "King Xaladin, I presume?"

"Correct. And you are Major Kye Miyafuji."

I nodded.

"Excellent." Xaladin gestured around at his army of Neuroi. "As you can see, I have many friends. These friends are here simply to keep your friends busy, so that we may have a proper, one versus one, battle."

"I see," I said. "I accept your challenge, King Xaladin. Before we begin, I must ask something."

"What is your question?"

"You seem to have your sanity. Why are you mounting an offense against humanity? Nothing good ever comes from war. They are deathly afraid of your kind and will go to any lengths to protect themselves."

"Humanity is not my target, although Queen Xalara intends to destroy them in a few years."

"Then your target is me?"

"Yes. You are the only witch that she believes to be powerful enough to stand against her. Although I personally am unsure if you have the power to defeat even our children, Xala and Xale."

"I am not the witch Queen Xalara should be worried about. I am here to insure that witch will have the opportunity to grow into her destiny. A destiny that will have much less bloodshed if you and Queen Xalara stand down."

"There will be bloodshed, much of it." Xaladin's voice suddenly turned evil.

"There's the killing intent," I said. "If you insist on this battle, then so be it."

Xaladin suddenly exploded with power. Much more than any of his subordinates. So much more that their combined power would be inferior.

"Joey, Kari, this is the enemy that I cannot fight without doubling up the Awakened State. Are you ready?"

They responded in synch. "Yes."

I felt an intense pull of power from both Jouten in my left hand and Hikarimaru in my right. "It's now or never. Awaken!"

I knew the power increase would be dramatic, but I had not expected an increase of such enormity. It felt like my power had increased by over twenty fold. I had to adjust quickly. I couldn't afford to waste a single second. I had only sixty from the time I spoke the word "Awaken". I immediately launched into a flurry of dual wield attacks.

Xaladin parried most of my attacks, but I landed one final, powerful blow with my left blade to his right shoulder. He blocked the blade from sinking very deep with his own blade and countered with a point blank energy beam.

I swatted the beam away with Hikarimaru while simultaneously jumping back. I aimed Jouten at him and launched a beam attack of my own. "Kousen!"

"Forty seconds left," both Joey and Kari said.

My beam destroyed his blade and much of the right side of his body, but he instantly regenerated all of it and launched an even more powerful and much larger energy beam at me.

I held Jouten and Hikarimaru in front of me, their tips pointed at the incoming blast. As the blast reached their tips, I split the beam in half, sending the two resulting smaller beams to either side of me.

"Impressive," Xaladin said.

I ignored him and continued my assault. I formed several spears of light energy and launched them at him, forcing him on the defensive. As he dealt with them, I quickly flew around behind him and prepared my most powerful technique.

"Joey, turn into a bracelet on my right wrist."

She did so instantly and I pulled Hikarimaru to my left hip. I summoned her sheath and readied my attack. "Senkou Suto." In an instant, I jumped forward, drew Hikarimaru from her sheath, and slashed Xaladin in half. Joey and Kari cut off the Awakened State right after my attack.

Xaladin's core was cut in half, but he was so powerful that it didn't shattered right away. I had Joey return to her sword form and stabbed her through both halves of Xaladin's core. The blade glowed in rainbow energy and cleansed his core of any evil influence.

Xaladin spoke quickly, "Thank you for setting me free. Be aware of Queen Xalara. She is more powerful than myself. She will attack humanity in a few years, I don't know exactly when. You cannot allow her to have her way."

His body shattered before he could speak another word. I felt my consciousness slip soon after.

-Doran-

Kye defeated the Neuroi King, and all of his subordinates died with him. Every one of them shattered. She fell unconscious right after the King shattered, and I flew up to catch her. She had a smile on her face.

"Well done, Love."

Everyone grouped up and gave a sigh of relief. Before anyone could speak, the Godly Kye appeared.

"You have all done well," she said. "Thank you."

Yami's body glowed briefly as she returned to her godly state. "It was fun."

The others followed suit, returning to their immortal states. Only Retah, mortal Kye, and I remained as mortals.

I looked at Godly Kye and said, "I'm staying."

"Why?" Yami asked.

I shrugged. "I just want to."

Godly Kye smiled and said, "Okay. I know what you're up to, and I think it's a good idea." She glanced at Rei, winked at her, and disappeared.

Rei raised an eyebrow but dismissed it. "Whatever. How long until you'll come home, Dad?"

"A few years maybe."

"A few years my ass," Michelle suddenly yelled into my head. "I'll give you eighteen months."

"Five years."

"One year."

"Four years."

"One year."

"Three."

"Eighteen months."

"That was your first offer."

"Take it or leave it."

I sighed and reluctantly agreed.

Rei laughed dryly at the telepathic conversation before disappearing. Liliana pulled our striker units out of her pocket dimension for us before she and the others disappeared.

I looked to Retah and nodded. She returned a nod and we headed back to the carrier.

(A/N) The battle of the 1934 arc is over! There will be one more chapter about the aftermath of the battle coming next.

The Neuroi "Xaldin the Lancer" is a direct reference of the Nobody Xaldin from the Kingdom Hearts franchise. I chose to reference Xaldin pretty much on a whim. Fighting Xaldin in Kingdom Hearts II was one of my more memorable experiences in that game.

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to send a private message or submit a signed review. Guest reviews are welcome of course, but do know that I cannot reply to them! Thanks for reading!