Chapter 34 - A Grasping Truth

Cerulean knew that time was truly of the essence. Already, a wasteland resided in the formerly wonderful place known as Binan High, where brambles and rubble covered the land. If that was a mere taste of Hireashi's power, then his wrath would cause far more destruction… It was only a matter of time before the dark god would spread the wrath he unleashed upon Binan High to all of Japan – and, ultimately, the entire universe. Cerulean would not let anyone stop him from his goal – he had sworn in Atsushi's good name, after all. This new vow he made to his boyfriend would be his strength and his determination to save the world and reclaim the peace he once knew.

"Apostle Cerulean!" Perlite pointed to a large group in the distance. "Look! There are soldiers waiting at the door for us!"

"Oh, no…" Aurite gasped. "Those dragon wings… That could only mean that they're Hireashi's lackeys. The dark god is known for deploying dragons, so we're in for quite a battle."

"…No, they're not Hireashi's soldiers," Cerulean answered. "They're on our side."

"Are you certain? But who on our side could possibly have dragons?"

"Oh, there's one person I know…" Scarlet cut in as he sped ahead of everyone, heading straight for one of the commanders. "Gora-chan!"

"Yumoto?" Gora barely felt prepared for the hug that launched itself at him. "There you are! Where have you… been…"

"Um…" Aurite gave a nervous wave as Gora recognized him. "Hey, there."

"You… You scum!" Gora charged at Aurite with his Makiwari Axe. "I'm going to have your head for Phuckdis' death, and for nearly annihilating my friends! Die alrea- Huh? Yumoto, what are you doing?"

Scarlet had jumped in front of Aurite to protect him, causing Gora to bring his wyvern to a halt. "Gora-chan, please don't! Kusatsu-sempai is a good guy now. We can trust him – I promise!"

"But Yumoto! He's the scum of the Earth! Step aside, because I need to have his head! That sorry excuse of an apostle will-"

"Gora-san, please hear me out…" Aurite held up a "stop" gesture. "Your brother is right. I mean no ill will upon you, and I swear that on the good name of the gods. Furthermore, I must tell you that I am not the real apostle – His Eminence Cerulean is. I started to follow him after I had inadvertently killed At-chan, and Izanami made me realize how wrong I was."

"I… kind of figured that for a while." Gora, with his enmity towards Aurite slightly lessened, dismounted his wyvern and knelt before the Flashing Prince. "My deepest condolences and respects to you, Your Eminence."

"Likewise." Kurotori, who like Gora, William, Chew, and Hugh had arrived at the corridor with his own forces, followed suit. "We ride with you, Apostle, even through death if need be."

"Okay, this 'Your Eminence' and 'Apostle' stuff is really starting to creep me out, guys. You don't need to be so formal."

"But it's only proper." Aurite spoke up. "Give us your orders, and we will but follow."

"All right, if you're going to act like that, why don't the three of you help me open this door? It's about twice the size of the last one we had to open, so I'm going to need a ton of help."

"At once!" The three men spoke in chorus as they followed orders.

"Ugh, this door may need a few more people to open," Cerulean whined, soon after hearing commotion going on from the other side of the door. It sounded quite unlike anything he had heard before, and he couldn't quite put a finger on it. "What could that be? I think… lightning bolts, wisps of wind and fire, maybe? And… Ah…"

"Apostle? What is it?" Aurite asked, temporarily releasing the force he exerted on the door. "What do you hear?"

"Oh, son of a…" Cerulean's heart sunk at the deep, loud noise fast approaching the door. Fearing greatly for everyone's safety, Cerulean ordered, "Everyone, get away from the door, now!"

Everyone seemed to follow orders just fine, but for some odd reason, Aurite took a bit long to react. "Eh?"

To Aurite's fortune, Scarlet noticed the huge noise and its source approaching the Chevalier. Without a second thought, the Sparkling Prince blocked the attack that proved powerful enough to obliterate the entire door - and cast a pretty big wound on Scarlet.

"Holy..." Forget the fact that his entire troupe now faced a swarm of bizarre spirit creatures - right now, Aurite's primary concern was Scarlet. "You... absolute imbecile. Why did you disobey His Eminence's orders? Look, you're bleeding profusely!"

"Hah..." Scarlet laughed his left shoulder wound off as if it were nothing. "So I am."

"You've got to do something about it, before-"

"Kusatsu-sempai, I'm fine. I'm just glad you're all right."

"..."

"Besides, En-chan-sempai wants us to defeat the 'dark god...' or whatever. Isn't that what we should concentrate on?"

"Okay, if you insist..." Aurite showed reluctance in his voice as he switched the Aurum Blade to bow form. "But if that wound becomes too much, I'll tend to it. After all, I haven't paid you back for that time you so wonderfully encased my hand in a mitten of gauze!"

"Aw, you remember!" Scarlet, reassured by this memory, arose and aimed the Lumiere Statf at a thunder-like enemy. "Okay, sure. That's very sweet of you, Kusatsu-sempai. But don't worry - I'll fight for the both of us! …Wait, look over there. Naruko-sempai doesn't look so good."

"Ugh…" Sulfur looked like he was about to keel over as three wind-like monsters plummeted him with gusts of wind. With a great thud, the Gaia Axe dropped to the ground as Sulfur proceeded to follow. "I… can't take it anymore…"

Crud… Io's greatest weakness is wind. Well, I know one great way to fix this problem, Vesta thought as he shot three arrows at once, and immediately after the wind monsters disappeared, he caught Sulfur from a fall. "Io! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Sulfur insisted on arising on his own. "This is nothing compared to that burn from the Ignit Arrow you suffered. And thank you again for saving me, my Thrilling Prince."

"You're welcome…" Vesta blushed, and would have let himself get lost in pleasant conversation with his boyfriend, had they not had a dark god to defeat. "Yufui- I mean, Apostle Cerulean…"

"Like I said," Cerulean rolled his eyes. "you can drop the 'Apostle' part. Anyway, what?"

"Where is this 'dark god' located, exactly?" Vesta looked about the ridiculously spacious chamber, annoyed that all he could see were spirit monsters and more spirit monsters. "Can't you use your oracle powers or something?"

"I guess that's the only option." Cerulean looked to the ceiling. Gods above… Please help my friends and I. Please help us find Hireashi.

Amaterasu soon returned to the Flashing Prince with an answer. My child, you'll find the dark god a few meters down that corridor.

You mean where it's super dark? Cerulean stared in the specified direction. But we can't see anything down there!

Not without the one who has my personal blessing, that is.

"If you say so." Cerulean turned to Scarlet. "Yumoto, Amaterasu says you should light up that end of the corridor with the Lumiere Staff. You can strike from that far, yes?"

"Are you kidding me?" Scarlet snorted, aiming the Lumiere Staff at that end of the corridor. "Watch me."

With that, Scarlet proved to everyone that he was not merely all bark and no bite. The light spell he released was stronger than any other, as it radiated brightly on its swift path to the dark end of the corridor. In response, everyone heard a daunting voice shout, "Argh! That hurt a little."

"That…" Cerulean ran to the source of that voice. "That must be…"

"How dare you try to hurt me in such a fashion!" Hireashi exclaimed as the troupe stopped just short of him. "That's how you face the almighty god Hireashi?"

"So… We're up against quite a great power." Aurite pondered the god, who by this point had grown so large as to occupy a good 60 square meters. Knowing that few options were available to them, Aurite imbued the Aurum Blade with a good deal of energy, manifested in a golden aura surrounding the sword. "Yumoto, you've got to put an end to this. Take all the power I have."

"B-But…" Scarlet showed hesitance. "Isn't that a ton of power to give me? You could die!"

"Scarlet, it's the only way to restore peace to the universe. You've got no choice."

"No!" Scarlet knelt, embracing Aurite and refusing to let go. "I won't do it! Not after you've promised to repay me for that 'mitten of gauze' thing…"

"My, my…" Perlite took note of Scarlet's unexpected dedication to Aurite. "I can't help but wonder how Hakone-kun feels about Kinshiro-sempai."

"Well, Hakone-kun has a point." Zundar came out of hiding as he approached Cerulean. "Aurite, as mighty as you are, you are not strong enough to defeat the dark god. The Battle Lover Cerulean is the only one who can."

"Oh, yeah? What do I need to do?" Cerulean asked.

"The legends on my planet say that to defeat the dark god Hireashi, the apostle of Suijin must summon the power of all the gods and become his ultimate form. It's a truly immense power that only you can handle."

"Yeah, something that 'only I can handle.' You're talking to the laziest student in all of Binan High here."

"Cerulean, I'm serious." Zundar stopped just short of scolding the Flashing Prince. "Do it, unless you want to see the entire universe blown to smithereens."

"Sure, sure… I better get to it, then." Cerulean ran his hand through his hair and began to chant in an ancient form of Japanese. "Dear gods… I want nothing more than to save this universe from utter destruction, not only for the sake of all living things… not only for the sake of my friends… but also for my beloved Atsushi. In my boyfriend's good name, I swear I will use your power in the name of good. So please… Please, lend me all of your strength."

At the end of this incantation, a flurry of colourful lights shot across the room, none harming anyone. They all imbued into Cerulean, enveloping him in a great veil of light and water, to reveal a beautiful final form.

Cerulean's hair had turned platinum blonde, his eyes shimmering gold. He now bore six wings, giving him even more of a regal air. Now fully transformed, he aimed the Aqua Blade at Hireashi and prepared to do battle. "Hireashi, dark god…" Cerulean began in a voice quite unlike his normal one, "Hear my name and tremble. I am Even More Better Battle Lover Cerulean, apostle of Suijin, and the true oracle of the gods. Prepare to meet your end."

"Ooh, I'm shaking," Hireashi taunted. "Come at me anyway, though, if you like. It will keep me entertained."

Before Cerulean could motion to accept Hireashi's challenge, the Flashing Prince felt an airy sensation on his lips. The air around him suddenly began to smell like chocolate manju… with a little bit of curry. For a while, Cerulean disregarded all surroundings and focused on these sweet, pleasant sensations. "Atsushi, you really are watching over me, aren't you? Your presence… it will give me strength. Don't worry, my love, I'll put an end to the dark god and restore the peace we loved so much."

Cerulean needed no further motivation as with all strength, he lunged at Hireashi, who despite his large size could move rather well. "Hmph! Not bad, for a puny mortal. You'll need a lot more than that to so much as lay a scratch on me. Come, I dare you!"

"You're inviting me to show you what I've got?" Cerulean smirked, launching a barrage of shock waves at Hireashi. "Then I'll gladly oblige!"

"Why, thank you for your willingness to entertain me!" Hireashi dodged each of the shock waves just fine, and answered with some shock waves of his own. "How caring of you!"

Damn… Cerulean continued his assault on Hireashi, and despite how strong a fighter he proved to be, the two remained at a stalemate for quite some time. This guy's got to have a weak point…

It didn't help Cerulean, either, that Hireashi was not the only one who wanted to kill the Flashing Prince. A great deal of spirit monsters, most notably wind ones, began to sneak up on Cerulean. Sulfur and Vesta both noticed as the Roaring Prince cried, "Your Eminence! Behind you!"

Cerulean failed to detect the incoming wind monsters attacking him, but to his fortune, Sulfur did. Disregarding his vulnerability to wind, Sulfur struck the ground hard with the Gaia Axe, creating a great eruption of rocks that destroyed the wind monsters. With a vast flame from the Ignit Arrow, Vesta dispelled the remaining monsters that had almost succeeded in their attack on Cerulean.

In thanks, Cerulean turned his head slightly, still taking care to parry Hireashi's attacks. "Thanks a bunch, Io and Ryuu."

"Any time!"

"The spirit monsters are starting to become a really big problem…" Gora remarked. "Well, since we can't attack Hireashi and do jack-diddly-squat on him, we ought to protect the apostle so he can concentrate on defeating the dark god."

"Good call." Argent nodded in agreement as with a swing of the Argentum Lance he destroyed a slew of spirit monsters before they could so much as approach Cerulean.

"There are tons of them, though…" Perlite sounded worried. "We're going to need to fight just as hard as His Eminence is."

"En-chan-sempai looks like he's having a really, really hard time, though…" Scarlet noted with worry as with each passing minute, Cerulean seemed all the more weary. "He looks exhausted."

"I'm worried, too…" Wombat cut in. "Even as the apostle, His Eminence can only last so long in this fight. If he takes too long, it's likely that the incredibly powerful might of the gods will overtake him."

Meanwhile, Cerulean was truly as drained as his allies feared. He endured multiple wounds on his wings, and his hair stuck to his sweaty face. "Damn it… Am I not worthy to save the universe?"

"Like hell you are!" Hireashi cackled. "Take this, why don't you!"

"Eh…" Cerulean unfortunately didn't notice Hireashi's large fin coming down on him, and before he could parry the attack, he found himself prone on the ground and in pain. "Urgh!"

"Yes! Tremble in fear of my power," Hireashi declared as he generated an orb of dark energy. "Now, I will put an end to you and any hopes humanity has against me. I would give you the chance for last words, but what an incredible waste of time that would be!"

Ah… Cerulean stared at the one he truly believed would end his life. How many times have I been in this position? Except that now, there's truly no one to save me, seeing as how I'm apparently the only one who can defeat Hireashi… Atsushi, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't- What?

Before Cerulean could resign himself to his demise, an unexpected ally jumped in front of him, completely warding off the dark orb and deflecting it to a nearby wall. "Leave Apostle Cerulean alone, you scum."

"What…" Hireashi was apparently just as surprised as Cerulean was at this intrusion, if not more. "How did you awaken without the power of the gods?"

"Like hell I'm telling you." This ally stooped down to offer Cerulean a hand. "You need help getting up?"

"Why, thank you!" Cerulean grinned as he accepted the hand and got back on his feet. Upon studying the face of his rescuer, he immediately recognized that face… and shocked to learn of how powerful his saviour had become.