Disclaimer: See previous chapters

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Chap. 26

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Preventor Headquaters

"That's…a Starlight Sword!"

Cye, Quatre and Trowa stood before Lady Shiva as she produced her weapon, which the Ronin of Trust pointed out as the second of the two Starlight Swords. Quatre and Trowa both agreed, having seen the one Mia has matching the weapon that was now being held against them.

"Oh this?" Shiva said lightly. "Yes, this is my treasure. Beautiful, isn't it?" She whirled it back and held it downward toward the ground. Both the blade and her body began to glow in a pale blue aura.

"Now, I believe we've talked enough."

Her glow intensified and in a flash, she shot past the three warriors. A second later, they all exploded with flashes of energy and were knocked down to the ground. Shiva chuckled lightly and slowly turned to them as they struggled to rise from the ground.

"Disappointing. I had hoped for a bit more of a fight from the Ronins and Celestials. This won't be any fun if I kill you without any effort."

Cye growled and struck forward in attack. His trident soared through the air toward the warrioress, but with a swift move, she leaped up into the air and landed right on the trident end…while Cye was still holding it!

"That's the spirit, Torrent. Try again."

Before Cye could react, Trowa came up from behind with an attack of his own. Again, Shiva leaped out of the way and Trowa followed, spinning his staff in the air and slamming it down. But to his surprise, Shiva deflected the attack with her sword and it slammed into the ground. In return, Shiva backhanded him with her sword, sending a shock through his body and propelling him across the sky.

"Trowa!" Quatre cried as he rushed in to help. But Shiva gazed in his direction and lashed out with a blade of energy. Quatre's eyes widened with shock, but he managed to dodge the projectile. But the beam continued to fly and it exploded on the Preventor building. Quatre was even more surprised when the structure shook slightly.

'If she's that strong…Oh no!'

Then she could tear this entire place apart…

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Dwelling Sanctuary

Hilde moved through the small trees in search for Duo and found braided Celestial by himself, leaning against a tree. Actually, he was upside-down and doing pushups against it. Upon seeing the approaching girl, he righted himself upright.

"Hey Duo." Hilde started, a little nervous. "You look…uh…good."

"Thanks." he grinned. "Just a little extra training. Gotta keep in shape and all, you know."

"Yeah. Say. Do you think…?" She paused for a minute and then waved her hand. "Never mind. It's a dumb idea."

Duo blinked. "Wait, what is it?"

"Well…perhaps you could spar with me?" In truth, it wasn't what she wanted to see him about. She had wanted to talk about…their earlier encounter and the kiss they shared. But she didn't know how to bring it up and it. So instead, she thought she'd find a way to get around to it. "I would have asked one of the others, but they already have training partners or have left. I could ask Lady Kayura…"

"No. That's okay." Duo replied. "Besides, Ryo and Sage went on a break so I'm free babe."

She smiled, remembering the Duo of old. Raising her arms, she settled into stance. "Alright. Here I come."

She charged at Duo, quickly enough to surprise him and lashed out with a side kick. Duo was stunned and stepped back a bit to reevaluate his opponent. But Hilde came at him again, this time with a straight punch. Duo quickly pulled his arms back and parried the attack. But that didn't stop Hilde, who whirled around with a spinning backhand. Duo snapped his head back to avoid it, amazed that Hilde was fighting so well. Figuring it was time to return the favor, Duo snapped his leg forward in a quick kick. Hilde blocked it with her palms and he snapped it into a higher kick. Hilde dashed her head to the side to dodge it and then spun around in a low sweep. Duo backflipped and the two faced off again.

"Nice." Duo commented with a grin.

Hilde smiled and came at him again, this time leaping up into the air and lashing out with a dive kick. Duo braced himself and when she soared close enough, he dodged aside. He intended to attack while she was still coming down, but she came a lot faster than he thought and their bodies collided into each other.

"Oof!"

The two Celestials tumbled onto the ground, wincing in pain from their collision. When they recovered however, they were in for a shock. Hilde was flat on the ground looking upward.

With Duo right over her looking down…

The two of them were frozen still in place, just looking at each other's eyes. This wasn't exactly what she had in mind. They couldn't even tell if they were breathing or not and the truth was, they really weren't paying attention. The only thing going through their mind was how close the other was and…if they would come closer. It began to appear that they were drawing closer, their faces inches apart and their heartbeats moving a million miles per minute.

But the moment was soon broken when their foreheads shimmered with their individual traits. They both snapped upward and looked up into the sky. They felt it. Their brethren were in battle.

And in serious trouble…

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Preventor HQ

"Kyah!"

Cye was knocked back into the battered group of his friends after taking a punishing blow from Lady Shiva. So far all their attacks were being wasted as the warrioress continued to deflect them and return with greater force, mocking them all the while.

"Do I have to fight all of you before I get a descent workout?"

The three grimaced as they arose to confront her again and leveled their weapons, but made no move to attack.

"This is crazy." Cye whispered. This is just like when we fought Lady Kayura, only worse."

Trowa however, gazed over at Quatre. "You can't afford to hold back in this, Quatre."

Cye blinked. "Holding back? Quatre?"

Quatre lowered his head slightly. "We have to take the battle away from here. Otherwise we risk destroying this entire place and hurting many innocent bystanders."

"I agree." Cye replied. "But I doubt Shiva's the type to just stop and change places. Why did she come here at all?"

"Yah!"

The three returned their attention to the fight as Shiva came at them and struck. They were able to dodge the initial strike, but not the shock blast that followed afterward which scattered them across. Trowa was the first to recover, rolling across the ground and springing to his feet. Shiva turned to the charging Celestial.

"Well, you have some more fight in you after all."

Trowa ignored her remark as his quarterstaff took to flight, flailing down on her. Shiva deflected the blow and whirled around with a strike of her own. Trowa quickly lifted the opposite end of his staff to defend and when she struck, he used her force to lift the front end toward her face. But Shiva tilted her head back, causing the staff to fly right on by. In return, she shot her leg out, catching Trowa right in the side.

"Guh!"

Shiva took advantage of the opening by striking down on the stunned Celestial full force. But the blade came up short as it was stopped by Cye's yari trident. However, the explosion still erupted and both Trowa and Cye were knocked back, although Trowa hit the ground. Cye shook his head to shake off the shock, only to be greeted by a swift kick to the face.

"That's for interfering, worm."

Quatre meanwhile had managed to recover from the earlier shock blast only to see his best friend out cold and Cye being pummeled by Lady Shiva. He knew what he had to do to stop this battle, but he didn't want to risk it. He had trained to focus his power more so that it wasn't so destructive to the entire area, but he hadn't fully utilized this ability. If this doesn't work, then everybody could be hurt or even killed.

'Trust yourself, Quatre. It's the only way.'

'Huh? Trowa?' He looked back at Trowa, but saw him still unconscious. Was it really him? That didn't matter right now. What did was what Trowa said. He had to trust himself. But how? After last time…If not for him, Dorothy wouldn't have gotten hurt. But if he did nothing, Cye would be killed now. The symbol of Kitai -Hope- shimmered on his forehead and a determined glare crossed his face.

"Armor of Dune!"

Cye instantly sensed the energy and leaped out of the way. Shiva sensed it too, but was too late as the circle of energy appeared underneath her.

"Gaia's Wrath!"

The circle soon erupted into a blast of pure energy that tore up the very ground. However, Quatre was hard in focus, trying to keep the destructive force contained in the single area. Cye, along with a recovering Trowa, looked on a Quatre continued to press on, managing to keep the force of his attack centered in one area. The attack finally ceased and Quatre bent down in exhaustion, his nunchuku unfolding beside him as he panted. But he did it. He defeated Lady Shiva without destroying everything else in the process.

Unfortunately…

"You must think that was a close one, huh?"

Quatre gasped in shock as Lady Shiva emerged from the debris, unharmed. The other too couldn't believe that she survived that attack, much less without a scratch.

"Don't be so surprised, Dune. It will take more than that to defeat me." Her masked concealed a dark smile and she lifted up her sword. "But you…let see how you fare against my…Star Sword Shine!"

An aura of energy blasted out of her and into the skies above. A single star shimmered amidst the sky and in a flash, a ray of intense light shot down on Quatre, engulfing him in a crimson flash.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

The ray of light was brief, but it was more than enough to totally overwhelm Quatre. But it didn't stop there. In another flash of light, a destructive shockwave rippled out everywhere, tearing up the ground and smashing into the Preventor HQ, ripping into it. The awesome force hit Trowa and Cye as well and hurled into the building itself while it crumbled around them. The attack ended, leaving nothing but damage and destruction in its wake.

With Lady Shiva standing atop it all…

Looking down, she gazed at the unmoving body of Quatre. His armor was burned and signed heavily, but it remained intact, showing that he was still alive. At least for now… Standing over him, she lifted her sword, making ready to strike down.

"Just crushing the brain first."

"Hold it right there!"

Shiva paused as she was suddenly surrounded by the remaining Ronins and Celstials, all in battle gear. She lowered her arm as she slowly faced them all.

"Well, it certainly took you long enough. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to play with you all, but don't worry. We'll get down that road soon enough." She sheathed her sword and gave a light wave.

"Until then, ciao."

The armored warriors covered their eyes as she created a flash of light, blinding them. By the time their vision returned, she was gone. With nothing else to do, they moved to check on their fallen comrades. Checking on Quatre, they found him in the same condition as before, except his was whispering one word.

"Dorothy…"