36th Star: Powerless

"Cousin?" I repeated, not believing what I was saying.

"That's right," Hao replied. "After reincarnating as a member of the Patch tribe five hundred years ago, I reincarnated as Yoh's twin brother. I take it he didn't tell you?"

Reluctantly, I shook my head.

"Well, it doesn't matter," Hao said, walking closer to me. "You may have gotten away from me in that dream, but there's nowhere to run to on this island."

Moving backward, I hit the trunk of a nearby tree and froze as Hao stopped right in front of me stepping over the paper stars as he did so.

"When I was born, Grandfather Yohmei tried to kill me," Hao said in a low voice. "But thanks to the Spirit of Fire, I was able to safely get away. Now I'm closer to achieving my goal compared to my previous lives while you're wasting your time with a worthless boy and a pathetic girl."

"I don't care what you think of my friends," I frowned. "I'm not joining you and that's final."

Hao paused for a moment and then he smiled. "Maybe you'll change your mind after your team fights against Seishin-Gumi and loses."

"What makes you think we'll lose?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Then Hao walked away from me as I slid down the tree trunk.

Sometime later, Lou and Annabelle found me crying as I reluctantly told them what Hao said.

"He must be lying to throw you off your groove," Lou figured.

"But it would explain the uncanny resemblance between Yoh and Hao," Annabelle pointed out.

"Still, we gotta tell Uran and Rutherfor about Hao killing the Mendozas," Lou insisted, but I held him back.

"I'm sure Rutherfor already knows," I said while picking up Hoshi and his friends from the grass. "And telling Uran would be pointless."

"Why do you say that?" Lou asked.

"Before we left the stadium, I overheard some people in the crowd talking about other Shamans going missing along with their souls," I replied.

"And the Patch are doing nothing about it?" Lou clenched his fist. "Some moderators they are."

"They're probably just as afraid of Hao as everyone else," Annabelle said as I got up.

"That still doesn't excuse them from standing aside as fellow Shamans are getting murdered just so Hao can feed more souls to the Spirit of Fire in order to increase its Mana!" Lou insisted.

"Then what do you suggest we do? Go up against Hao ourselves?" Annabelle asked rhetorically. "Our Guardian Spirits are not powerful enough to take that Spirit of Fire down, let alone all of Hao's followers."

Lou was about to speak, but closed his mouth instead.

"Annabelle's right," I said in agreement. "The only thing we can do right now is concentrate on our upcoming match against Team Seishin-Gumi, who I'm certain is one of Hao's teams, and maybe do our own investigation into who really killed the Mendozas before their souls were fed to the Spirit of Fire."

###

After two days of intense training, my team arrived in the stadium where we were greeted by the sight of three young women. One was pale-skinned and dark-haired wore a black quarter-sleeve dress with red flower-shaped embroidery on it, while the second had dark blonde hair tan skin and was blindfolded by a white cloth that had a sun-shaped symbol on it while the rest of her clothing consisted of a plain white toga and gold-strapped sandals. Then the third had dark skin and frizzy hair wearing a brown top and skirt while the rest of her body was covered in white lines and dots.

"All right, ladies and gents!" Radim announced, scanning the crowds. "Not as big of a crowd today, I see. But regardless, this battle's sure to keep you interested since we're about to see Team LouAnnShi, who took out a whole swarm of demons and Hungry Ghosts in their first match, and Team Seishin-Gumi, who managed to take out two literal Gods during their first round, go toe-to-toe! Now without further ado, begin!"

So while I summoned Hoshi and his friends, Lou activated the Lightning Shot rifle while Annabelle's spirit emerged from her body though it didn't have as strong of a glow as before. Meanwhile, the frizzy-haired girl sat down cross-legged and closed her eyes while the dark-haired one plugged her ears. As for the blindfolded one, she took out some incense sticks that had already been lit and held them close to her nose.

"Apollo, Greek God of Music Premonition and the Sun," the blindfolded one said out loud. "I freely give my body to you to take out the enemies of Hao Asakura, who will lead this world to a new age where Shamans rule and the humans are gone. Thus, I shall enact my Oversoul: Delphic Foresight!"

In a flash of light, a tall figure appeared over the blindfolded girl's head. It was a fair-skinned youth with curly blond hair accented by a crown of laurels, wearing a white toga and gold sandals, while holding a golden harp in his hands.

"Whoa, boy!" Radim exclaimed. "Delia Atlas of Seishin-Gumi didn't waste any time and immediately summoned the God Apollo to the stadium! How will Team LouAnnShi react?"

"Lightning Shot! Flying Bullet!" Lou shouted as he fired the rifle.

To everyone's surprise, the bullet went right through Apollo's body as he casually handed his harp down to the blindfolded girl Delia who grabbed it causing the incense sticks to fall in the process. Though the harp was the same size as Delia, she managed to reach far enough and pluck the strings in a soothing melodic tune. As this happened, my vision started to grow blurry before going black altogether. Then I suddenly found myself standing in an empty desert with sparse trees and long grass alongside Lou.

"Wait, where are we?" Lou remarked.

"I don't know," I responded.

Just then, the frizzy-haired girl appeared on top of a nearby rock with a yellow dog by her side that I recognized from the dream I had with Hao in it.

To be continued…