A.N.: The final chapter. Thus we end. My university is on student strike, so I took advantage to finish this story. More notes in the posface.
"Kiyal, you'd better prepare! I just hope Yoko doesn't mind waiting for us." Kittan ordered. The had visual contact with the bulky form of Adamastor. Recognizing its rival, small missiles fired from its fists at Dai-Gurren ganmen that tried to engage it, strong enough to incapacitate or destroy them. If the Adamastor's pilot wasn't so keen with his rivalry with him, Zerael could wipe out a good deal of the Dai-Gurren militia alone. Even without Kiyalunga, King Kittan could survive a blast from Adamastor's weapons, but still its sheer defensive power proved to be a drag.
"Okay!" Kiyal replied. He had a huge smile in her face and whistled a melody.
"And don't even dare flirt with him!" Kittan screamed.
"I would never think of that."
"Do you want me to cover you, brother?" Kiyoh said, calling from Dayakkaiser.
"No, that big bully can shrug off anything you shoot at him. Go for the others!"
"Roger, call me in, if you have problems." With that, Dayakkaiser disengaged and flew to a part of the battle its long range attacks could be more useful.
"Me and Rossiu will go to the throne room, can you hold yourselves?" Nia appeared in the communication feed. The fact she appeared without making a formal introduction, even if it was a quick one, meant she had urgency.
Before he could reply, a huge halberd almost cleaved King Kittan in half if he didn't tilt the controls to the left in the right moment.
"Zee, you're back!"
"Shut up, Kiyal!" Kittan said, slamming the wall of his ganman, where Kiyal would be closer. "What you say, Nia?"
"WE MEET AGAIN, KITTAN BACHIKA!" Zerael bellowed and continued striking with Adamastor's halberd. King Kittan Deluxe flew backwards, avoiding the strikes. Those were easy to dodge, a mere test for Kittan.
"YOUR SKILLS HAVE IMPROVED SINCE LAST TIME WE MET!"
At least King Kittan Deluxe was agile, more than Adamastor. It was a strength with limited applications, the rival ganman had an armor that didn't even seem real with the amount of punishment it could withstand. Kittan used his ganman's agility to lure Adamastor away from the other Dai-Gurren pilots (not that it mattered, since Zerael was keen to duel Kittan).
"What did you expect, bozo?" Kittan hollered, as he rolled King Kittan Deluxe in the air and headbutted Adamastor. It barely flinched. "Still with that annoying thick hide."
"I AM THE PERFECT SHIELD! I AM THE JUSTICE OF THE SPIRAL!"
"You are so cute, dja' know that?" Kittan swooned.
"Kiyal, shut up! Just do your job!"
Adamastor dropped its halberd with all its might on King Kittan Deluxe, so the yellow ganman lifted its arm to shield itself. But the halberd stopped centimeters before hitting the pink shield.
"FOOL! YOUR TRICKS HAVE NO EFFECT ON ME ANYMORE!" Then, it pressed the handle downwards, making an entire turn, hitting King Kittan Deluxe on the lower parts.
"Augh!" Kittan took his hands to the crotch, in sympathy with his ganman. "How did..."
"Of course!" Kiyal said, clapping her hands, "My Zee isn't just strong, but smart as well!"
"I swear, Kiyal, if you do this one more time...ARGH!" Kittan didn't finish because Adamastor, holding the halberd with both hands, smashed the yellow ganman to the ground.
The fall seemed infinite. Just how high in the air were they?
"Dammit, what Kamina would do in this situation?" Kittan asked, as the ground started to become more detailed.
"He would spin on? No, that's Nia's thing..."
"Spin! That's it!" One could swear a light bulb appeared over his head. "Time to test something new!"
"What is it?"
"It's better you don't get sick and give all your spirit!" While in the midair, King Kittan Deluxe stretched its arms and held its pink spear forwards, and started to spin. It did the curve right before hitting the ground and returned to climb up.
"YOU HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW TECHNIQUE, I AM IMPRESSED KITTAN BACHIKA!" Zerael bellowed, upon seeing the pink and yellow drill climbing up the air in a hurricane.
"You'd better bet your hat on that!" Kittan answered, with a grin as wide as the ocean. "Take this: KING KITTAN! GIGA! DRILL! BREAKER!"
"Brother, did you just copy Kamina?" Kiyal said, raising an eyebrow.
With both fighters delivering their mightiest roars, Adamastor lifted its halberd up in the air with both hands and smashed against King Kittan Deluxe's drill. The shockwave sent off any nearby ganmen and even a few destroyers had their course changed.
The aftermath was that both King Kittan Deluxe's lance and Adamastor's halberd broke, remaining nothing but small thumps in their hands.
"My beautiful Kiyalunga!" Kiyal said. She took her hands to her head and stared, wide-eyed at Adamastor's massive power.
"Now, did you finally learn how dangerous this battle is?" Kittan scolded her. "How dangerous he is? He's not a man, he's a monster, a war machine, and we need to take him down if we have any hope of winning this!"
"You're wrong..." She said, and then puffed her cheeks.
"What did you say?"
"Zee isn't a monster!" Kittan noticed something different in Kiyal's eyes. She had tears in the corners of her eyes that made him wonder if he had been too harsh on her. But this wasn't what he noticed. It felt like something burned in her eyes. "Zee knows nothing but war and combat! Look at what the Spiral King did to him!"
"He doesn't care about you..." Kittan actually averted her eyes.
"He doesn't care about nobody, because nobody has ever cared for him!"
"And will you be the first?"
"Maybe I will!" Before she could continue, Adamastor grabbed the shield where Kiyal's cabin was. She yelped, while it tossed her away. Kittan gasped, but Zerael warned him before he could say anything.
"WORRY NOT ABOUT YOUR SIBLING. NOW LET US FIGHT, WITHOUT WEAPONS BUT OUR FISTS!"
Kittan grunted, but put King Kittan in offensive stance, with both hands curled into fists in front of its body. Adamastor struck first, to which the yellow ganman blocked. He tried to counterattack, but Adamastor grabbed King Kittan's arm and twisted it. While he span in the air, Adamastor punched it, this time with an explosive punch.
They fought the same way, King Kittan trying to attack and Adamastor effortlessly defending and counterattacking, they did for a few more times. Zerael was a much more competent fighter than Kittan could ever hope. Kittan imagined that he'd knew at least ten different martial arts. Gabal tried to teach the crew an ancient martial art named judo, but he himself preferred to slack off during the classes. Now he regretted. But against a superb opponent he had no chances anyway.
He realized how important his sister was. In the end, he understood that they could defeat Zerael before because of their bond. King Kittan's panel turned into an entire shade of red.
"Yoko..." The plan was that he and Kiyal would incapacitate Adamastor, while Gurren Solvernia dealt with the other princes, and then invade Teppelin searching for Yoko. He underestimated the princes, thinking he would be able to defeat Zerael like they did the last time.
"No way!" Kittan grabbed the controls again and charged with all that remained in his ganman.
"A COMMENDABLE ACTION!" Adamastor just grabbed King Kittan by the tip of the star and punched in its face again. The light in its eyes flickered, while scrap metal flew away.
"KITTAN BACHIKA, I MUST THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME A GOOD TIME! MAY YOUR SOUL REST AS A WARRIOR SHOULD!" Adamastor prepared its fist one more time. Kittan saw four missiles emerge from the edges of the fist.
"It can't be..."
But then, a red tape enveloped Adamastor's arm. Another red tape enveloped its legs and soon most of its body was covered in red tape.
"WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?"
"Brother," Kiyal appeared in King Kittan's panel, "Kiyalunga has one last trick."
"Kiyal, what are you doing?"
Kiyalunga's shield glued itself to Adamastor's back. The yellow smiley face glowed firmly. Red tapes came out of the sides of the small, broken ganman; they enveloped Adamastor to the point of immobilize it fully.
"IMPOSSIBLE! THIS IS A CHICANERY! A CHICANERY!" Zerael roared as his ganman started to lose altitude and fall down.
"I'll be fine, brother, trust me." Kiyal said. She had tears in her eyes, but she smiled. "Go save Yoko!"
Kittan at first was astonished, but then he scoffed and put on his trademark grin in his face. "You're a Bachika, we laugh at the face of death!" With newfound determination, he grabbed the controls and flew to Teppelin.
"Attention, you bozos! Me and my sister gave a ticket for a long vacation to our bigmouthed prince! Time to go for the big boss and tell him who the hell does he think we are!"
"Now, there is only one prince remaining, Simon." Nia said.
Simon squinted his view. He saw the Kuratori being pursued out of the space by the main Dai-Gurren crew. Six against one might not have been unfair for a prince, but Kuratori struggled a lot to not be hit, spinning and trying to do a maneuver he called "Pugashev Cobra" in its pursuit, to which the most experienced pilots of Dai-Gurren managed to avoid, acting like a team. In fact, they pursued Irenai far from Dai-Zilla Ultra's range.
"They will keep Irenai busy for a while. We can waste no further time."
"It's time to go." Nia said. She landed Gurren Solvernia on the top of Dai-Zilla Ultra.
Kinon nodded and signaled to the crew. All hands in Dai-Zilla Ultra's bridge prepared. The flying, monstrous battleship activated its boosters and took flight, followed by an army of escorting ganmen, both units and destroyers.
The brave soldiers opened a gap in the sea of enemy ganmen with a knife of explosions and scrap metal falling all sides, while a flurry of missiles and shells blasted it open. All this, to carve a path for Dai-Zilla Ultra to where the throne of the Spiral King remained, above the clouds.
But the throne wasn't the only thing above the clouds.
"Holy crap!" Attenborough screamed. A giant metallic circle cut through the clouds.
"It's a giant hammer!" Gabal said.
"We have no choice, full speed ahead!" Dayakka ordered.
"We'll support!" Nia said and joined both Gurren Solvernia's arms to form a huge drill that pushed the hammer back, spinning on one spot.
Dai-Zilla Ultra crashed against the giant hammer and, with all the fighting strength it had along with Gurren Solvernia's drill, it started to push hard enough to prevail over the hammer. Dai-Zilla Ultra might've been the king of ganmen, but the capital was many times bigger and it supposed to have much more strength. But the battleship didn't relent as hammer slowly moved upwards. Fazed by this insult, the capital ganman pressed further downwards.
"Firing all missiles!" Attenborough cried and slammed the fire button. The explosions of hundreds of missiles localized in a small area of the hammer made the balance tip in favor of Dai-Gurren and the hammer moved upwards once more.
"Simon, there's a weak spot in there." Nia said, eyes fixed at a point where a good part of the missiles blasted.
"How do you know?"
"I have an eye for those things ever since my days as a digger." She said, winking at him. Simon nodded.
"Simon, Rossiu, Boota! Give it your all!" Nia said and pushed the control forwards, along with Rossiu in Gurren. Screaming at the top of their lungs, Gurren Solvernia started to drill at that spot, with its panel turning into a darker shade of green. Soon cracks started to spread throughout the entire hammer. The drill penetrated the metal and then it dove in it, making the giant hammer shatter in a million of pieces.
One particularly enormous piece fell on Dai-Zilla Ultra like a dagger. Attenborough managed to shoot down other pieces, and yet they started to lose altitude.
Gurren Solvernia stopped in the midair and looked back, but before Nia could say something, Dayakka appeared in the panel and said, "Dai-Zilla Ultra can take hits stronger than that," all of the bridge crew waved or had thumbs up, "Go get the Spiral King!"
"Right!" Nia nodded and flew over the clouds, through the circle created by the giant hammer.
And then, she saw: the Spiral King, slouched on his throne, one hand holding his chin, smirking at her. His consorts surrounded him, in a circle. She broke a window and landed on a floating platform. Silence permeated the surroundings. The light of the moon illuminated the room, along with the light of machines and instruments in the walls.
"Welcome to Teppelin, Nia the Digger." The Spiral King broke the silence, his deep voice boomed through the room.
Kittan ran through the streets inside the capital. He had little time to appreciate the inner architecture of the place. The place had no problems with illumination and the directions were clear. It was almost as if the rough map they found in Dai-Zilla's database wasn't necessary. He had a copy of Straea's brooch and his hands had his trusty shotgun.
So far, he met few beastmen. And most of them weren't even combatants, so just pointing his gun at them made them fall on their knees and tell everything Kittan needed to know. Even if the temptation passed through his head, he would never shoot an unarmed beastmen. After all, he'd promised Nia he'd find a way to live with the fuzzballs in peace. Even Jigitalis and Chidori weren't bad persons after they met them. They let them with other noncombatants in a base they made up, close to the battle site, Gimmy and Darry were in safe hands.
"Hey, you!" A wolverine beastman ordered Kittan, from a checkpoint. He had a guard cap and a spear in his hands. Just as all the guards he met, his role seemed to be more cerimonial than anything else.
Kittan blasted his shotgun in the air. The piercing sound of the shell was enough to make the guard drop the spear and kneel.
"Please, don't kill me!"
"Now," he pointed the shotgun casually at him, "Where's the prison block?"
"Two flights of stairs in that direction!" He pointed to his left, without looking at Kittan.
"Thanks, buddy." Kittan said and ran to that direction. He stopped and turned around, "Ya' know, I think you and your friends should do a runner from this hugeass city, and quick!" And Kittan continued running. But his ears heard that guard running away to other direction.
After falling for hundreds of meters, both Adamastor and Kiyalunga met the ground. The crater was there, but both ganmen had little damage from the fall. If anything, the battle did much more to worn them out than the fall.
Kiyal exited her ganman knocked at where she thought where Adamastor's lid was. She placed a light torch close to the downed ganman. They didn't even notice when the day turned into night. Her intuition proved to be correct when the ganman hissed and the door opened. The first thing that greeted her was a huge longsword pointed at her throat.
In the moments of tense silence, Kiyal didn't abandon her smile. The prince awkwardly sat down on his seat, holding the sword with one hand. His scowl deepened as the sharp tip of the sword got even closer to the skin of her throat.
"WHY?"
"Your honor won't allow you kill someone who can't harm you." Kiyal giggled, "But I'm not as harmless as I look." She ended with a wink.
Zerael returned his sword to its sheath.
"Please, get out, Zee."
The prince did as requested. The light of the torch shone on him, revealing his imposing form. Kiyal felt he was twice her size. It was an exaggeration, but she felt like meeting a giant. She wanted to jump on his strong arms, but she resisted the temptation, allowing herself to blush at how handsome he was and how he had weird eyes just like Simon's. But she'd say Zerael's were prettier.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
"I just wanted to talk," she drifted her gaze. She picked something out of her pocket and said, "I made some cookies before the battle, in case I got hungry. I can share with you, if you'd like."
Zerael could only stare in confusion at the girl who caused so many headaches to him.
"Father, I came here to talk to you." Simon said, after exiting Gurren Solvernia.
"It is you, Prince Simon Teppelin." The Spiral King scoffed. "The Failure Knight."
Simon grunted, but concentrated his strength in ignoring the insult. "Father, I demand you to stop with this nonsensical war. Far too many people have died!"
"I have nothing to talk with you." He gave him a severe look.
"You! Stop treating your own son like trash!" Nia said. She rose from her seat, indignation clear in her expression.
"Nia the Digger, the one who has been giving me such trouble." The Spiral King turned to her, his expression quickly returning to his initial, creepy smirk. "You have a power you use but you do not understand."
"Excuse me?" Nia raised an eyebrow, accompanied by Boota.
"You and I are kindred spirits. We both possess a power which we cannot hope to fully understand. With experience, one can tame the Spiral into their own hands and perform marvelous acts."
"What is your point?"
"Let me teach you how to tame your own Spiral and by combining our strengths we can produce an offspring capable of taking my burden."
"Wait a minute..." Nia widened her eyes.
"Nia, become my new wife and I shall give this team Dai-Gurren of yours a haven to live in peace." The Spiral King extended his hand.
"This is disgusting and insane!" Rossiu interjected. Boota also angrily made a fuzz on Solvernia's panel.
"Father, what do you expect to accomplish?" Simon said, stepping forward with an angry expression. "Nia is too young! This is not what a true knight would do!"
Nia looked down and remained silent for a few seconds and then balled her fists. "'This team Dai-Gurren of yours'", when she lifted her head, her eyes burned, "How dare you belittle my friends, my family!" She raised her fist to her chest, "I hoped we could stop this through other means, but you," she pointed an accusatory finger at him, "you think of nothing but yourself. I would never abandon my family to a tyrant like you!"
"You prefer the hard way, don't you?" The Spiral King smirked again.
"Now, just put this thing that Leeron made here..." Kittan said, placing a metallic box with a panel on the lock of the prison cell. The box emitted some noises and sparkles flew away, turning the force field down.
"Hey, Yoko," Kittan slowly approaches her, covered under a blanket. "I've come to rescue you. I'm not as sparkly as prince fancypants, but that ain't look bad, right?" Kittan chuckled.
Yoko didn't respond.
"I just hope you're not naked, because I'm not feeling like receiving a slap." He uncovered the blanket.
"What?"
"If you wish to fight so dearly, you-" An explosive sound stopped his words. A bullet shot right at the Spiral King's head.
Nia and the others gasped. The bullet became a huge, creased scrap after failing to pierce his head. The Spiral King turned his head around. One of his consorts didn't have the emotionless expression that all of them bear day after day.
The one more distant from him, she glared at him. In her hands, she pressed again a button in a small, round control. Another shot right at his head, that had the same fate as the last one. She pressed one more time, before giving up, pressed another button. A huge rifle flew to her, propelled by a rocket, landing right on her hands.
Nia, Boota, Simon and Rossiu knew that rifle and her owner.
"Who are you?" Kittan asked, while removing the fold around her mouth.
The woman didn't reply. She had orange hair, with dark blue highlights. She was tied, but she didn't show any emotion. In fact, she looked dead inside.
"If you're here, then where's..."
"Yoko!" Nia said, almost leaping of joy.
"It's good to see you, Nia!" Yoko said out loud, and she removed the plastic mask that covered her face and the wig in her hair, allowing her hair to tumble down. She shot another bullet at the Spiral King, who just blocked with his hand.
"Damn, and that's because I brought anti-armor shells!" Yoko said, knowing she couldn't waste more ammo, she turned around and ran.
"Yoko, catch!"
The sniper turned around and grabbed Gurren Solvernia's left hand. The mecha flew to another floating platform and stopped.
"Yoko, I'm so glad you're fine!" Nia said.
"It's good to see you back, miss Yoko." Rossiu added.
"Yeah, I never thought I was going to use a rob this big again." Yoko took off her robe and returned to her usual outfit, the black shorts and red bikini with flames.
"We can chit-chat later," Yoko said, taking aim at the Spiral King. "We have a dictator to topple down. I'll stay here and try to find a way to hit where it hurts."
"You have no idea of low your odds are," the Spiral King said and then crossed his arms, "But if you are true Spiral Knights, then you shall fight nonetheless."
The Spiral King crossed his arms and his throne started to sink in the ground. Dark red drills enveloped his consorts, who gave a weak, but uncanny screech as the drills closed and sank down in the floor.
"This signal!" Rossiu said.
The floor below the throne opened, revealing a jet black ganman, arms folded and as if sat down. It resembled Gurren Solvernia, having a helmet as well, with a horn above its forehead. The Spiral King sat on and deep red lines surrounding it.
Gurren Solvernia also landed on the floor and now faced the dark ganman. It summoned its drills in its hands and stepped in.
But, the floor in front of it gave up. A whirling sound of buzzsaws revving echoed through the throne room. From the dust, four chainsaw swords emerged, clearing away the dust.
"It's time to judge you, you monster!"
"You." Nia muttered. It was Tsuuma, again in a modified Enkidu. Viral's ganman attacked Gurren Solvernia, swinging wildly its chainsaw swords.
"I won't lose to you! The Spiral King gave me a new body," she roared, venom dripping from each word, "An immortal body, to which your pitiful human body can't match."
"Your name is Tsuuma, right?" Gurren Solvernia blocked each strike from Enkidu's swords, by slapping the side of each sword. Everything was so fast, but Nia seemed calm during the ordeal. "My apologies, but I have far more important problems to solve." Using both hands, Gurren Solvernia slammed both palms all chainsaw swords and, with mighty twist, the red mecha broke all of them.
Enkidu widened its yellow eyes, staring in disbelief how Gurren Solvernia broke its weapons, a reaction shared by its pilot. It glared and try to tackle its enemy, only to be hit by a single punch and fly away, stopping at a wall.
"My King, how?" Tsuuma asked. The impact opened its lid.
"Tsuuma, you poor, simpleton creature." His voice boomed. "A beastman must know its place in the order of things. The immortal body I gave you is supposed to serve your new role as my storyteller. For generations, you will tell the story of the Spiral King suppressed a rebellion and triumphed against his enemies." He tossed his robe away, showing his muscular, imposing form. The chest of his hair had the shape of a spiral galaxy. The eyes of his dark ganman flashed red.
"Behold the power of Lazengann!"
Lazengann bent its knees and jumped at Gurren Solvernia. Just like a savage animal, it tackled Gurren Solvernia, roaring like a beast, scratching with talons the red mecha. Nia, Simon and Rossiu screamed, they didn't expect how brutal Lazengann could be.
As if possessed by an evil spirit, the dark mecha knocked the red mecha down and slammed its fists on Gurren Solvernia's chest armor, screeching a shrill noise. Rossiu moved the controls and kicked Lazengann away. Still in the air, Lazengann shot a drill. It looked like a drill, just like what Gurren Solvernia produced, but it was thinner and more flexible. Nia and Rossiu didn't want to know what would happen if it hit them and they rolled on the ground. To their surprise, the drill did a 90 degrees turn and hit Gurren Solvernia, perforating the armor in its shoulder.
Without losing time, Gurren Solvernia got up and grabbed its bladeshades. Lazengann produced more drills that emerged from its orifices throughout its entire body, each other aimed at Gurren Solvernia and with power enough to pierce its armor. The red mecha defended as it could, however Lazengann's flexible drills proved to be too fast for Gurren Solvernia's bladeshades and pierced its joints. After piercing its ankles and knees, Gurren Solvernia tumbled down, kneeling, clutching a hand to its chest.
"Nia, we won't survive much longer." Rossiu said, all of his panels flashing red.
"We need to end this," She twisted the core drill, "FINISHING MOVE!"
Gurren Solvernia tossed its bladeshades. The swinging movement made them divide in two and they immobilized Lazengann, pinning both arms and legs. The Spiral King watched it impassively.
"GIGA!" Gurren Solvernia summoned a drill from its hands. Lots of drills emerged in its body
"DRILL!" The drill grew three times its size, by all the smaller drills converging into one.
"BREAKER!" The giant drill span, followed by a trail of rainbow energy that Gurren Solvernia let in its flight course.
The tip of the giant drill broke through Lazengann's armor. But it stopped on Lazengann's teeth. Lordgenome also had a two faced ganman. After breaking down the breastplate armor, it revealed a face of yellow eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth. The teeth crunched the drill.
"How?" Nia stared, mouth agape. Lazengann broke free from the bladeshades.
"You are fun to play with." The Spiral King said and then with a push of Lazengann's controls, it launched dozens of drills from its body, impaling Gurren Solvernia against a wall, as if it was crucified. The drills retracted back to Lazengann and gathered into a bigger drill and the dark ganman beastly rammed at Gurren Solvernia.
A shot pierced the hand Lazengann's hand that held the drill, making it miss Gurren Solvernia. The drill still destroyed its left side, but the cabin, where Rossiu was, wasn't destroyed.
"Rossiu!" Nia said.
"I'm okay!" he said, with a drill right at his side. "Thanks, Yoko!" The redhead made a positive sign and then made a sign for Nia, of a spinning finger into her hand and then pointed to Lazengann.
The Spiral King didn't take well this interruption and fired a projectile at her platform. She ran off to another one, before it could hit. But after it hit, the smoke blurred the view and they couldn't see what happened to her.
"That's it!" Nia said. "Simon, we're gonna combine! Rossiu, hold your position!"
"Huh?"
Solvernia detached from Gurren and flew up in the air.
"Color me impressed." The Spiral King smirked.
"SOLVERNIA IMPACT!" Nia screamed while Solvernia descended down, with a drill pointing downwards. Lazengann lifted its left arm and blocked its strike. The detached and exploded, leaving Nia speechless. Finally, a drill slammed at Solvernia, sending it back.
"You have used your ganman to take control of others, but this is a tactic I am far too familiar." The Spiral King crossed his arms. "It is time to end this." The same drill slammed the remains of Gurren against the floor and Lazengann flew high in the air. It covered itself in red energy and transformed its legs into a drill, that grew bigger than Gurren Solvernia's Giga Drill Breaker.
"I refuse!" Nia said, while the green in Solvernia's panel, also turning its legs in a drill. The Spiral King grunted and doubled the size of its already enormous drill, breaking the ceiling of the throne room and struck Solvernia. Now, it was drill against drill. The tips of each other span to point of creating sparkles and smoke. Each side span against each other and neither of the mechas moved one centimeter.
The Spiral King remained silent, while Simon and Nia screamed at the top of their lungs, pressing the controls forward. Small rocks nearby started to float and catch on the fire, both drills started to overheat, turning into a shade of red, ready to melt off.
They heard a crack.
The Spiral King looked in awe. The crack started to spread through its own drill. Solvernia, taking advantage of the momentum, blasted off and slammed the overheated drill against Lazengann's second face. This time, the teeth had no chance against it and Solvernia easily pierced through it.
"I should have never trusted a ganman to do this job." The Spiral King laughed and his head caught on fire. The same red energy that permeated his ganman now covered his bald head giving him deadly dreadlocks. The canopy in Lazengann's head opened and the Spiral King walked to Solvernia.
"Nia, look out!" Simon warned, seeing his father laughing mad and approaching towards Solvernia. They both screamed as the Spiral King punched Solvernia's canopy with a fist infused with red energy. The sound pierced their ears, mixed with a mad cackle and circuits frying.
Everything went blank.
When Simon opened his eyes again, Boota licked his face. He heard something slamming on metal close to him. He turned around and saw his father and Nia in Solvernia. The canopy was open, but judging by the remains of the edges, it seemed that the canopy was tore away.
Nia held Solvernia's controls trembling. Her expression denounced her tiredness, she panted. In contrast, the Spiral King had a murderous grin in his face. His eyes and his head burned with red energy. He punched Solvernia, which used its right arm to block, but it almost lost balance and fell.
"Solvernia, don't abandon me!" Nia pleaded, "Please, one more drill!" She moved the controls back and forth, but the green eyes of the mecha faltered.
"Has your Spiral run dry?" The Spiral King taunted.
"I can't allow you..." They both pushed each other with their hands.
"I can't remember the last time I had so much fun!" The Spiral King twisted Solvernia's and they broke down, in a heap of nuts, bolts and scraps. Nia stared in shock at his monstrous offensive. Then, he delivered a kick so strong that it tossed her away from Solvernia.
The mecha went straight to the air and it took a while until it returned, but Nia remained in the ground, still clinging to her core drill.
"You still have a lot of grow," the Spiral King slowly approached her, "I have plans for you. I will not allow you to run away anymore." The Spiral King lifted his feet.
They heard a crack.
All furs in Boota's body bristled. Simon lifted a little, wishing his sight could betray him.
The look in Nia's face broke their hearts. The pain caused her eyes to widen as much as her irises shrunk. She tried to scream, but it was like her brain couldn't process the pain. She opened her mouth once, failed to scream and closed again. She tried again, but this time she bit her lip. Painful tears streamed through her face. Her hands tried to hold on to something, her right closed tightly around her core drill and her left with the dirt in the ground. As her body suffered spasms, the Spiral King turned to his son.
Slowly, he drew his sword from its sheath and, with both trembling hands, he pointed to his father.
"What have you done, father?" His eyes had no patience or mercy anymore.
"Do you expect to threaten me with this toothpick?"
"I will never forgive you!" Simon advanced, holding his sword high above his head. The Spiral King grabbed him by the neck. His sword fell to the ground. Simon tried in vain to remove his father's hand from his neck and he started to gargle.
"Back to the dirt with you." Lordgenome looked straight into Simon's eyes as the grip of his massive hand tightened and life slowly drained away from his body.
"You..." He heard something, followed by a loud wheeze. He turned his head around and saw Nia. She dragged herself with her arms and her other leg. Her right leg looked like made of spaghetti, it dragged like one. Every time she tried to move her left leg, she squinted and wheezed heavier than usual. She had her teeth gritted.
Lordgenome softened his grip on Simon to watch her.
"You will...you will..." She panted heavily. She tried to stay up on her arms, but the pain coming from her right tight was unbearable. She grunted and lowered her head, tears still flowing through her face, wetting the ground. Her grip on her core drill got so tight that it cut her palm and she started to bleed.
Simon and Boota knew that Nia had blood phobia. She couldn't see blood and now she looked at her own palm, bleeding from the cut. She opened her mouth to scream, but again no sound. Then, she wheezed and gritted her teeth, as hard as she could and closed her palm around her core drill. She bled even more, but her blood around her palm started to mix with some sort of green energy. The core drill glowed green, brighter than usual.
They felt a breeze under the moon. The Spiral King raised an eyebrow.
"You will..." She glared at him. "Leave...Simon...ALONE!"
That definitely didn't sound like a little girl. It sounded more like an angry mother bear protecting her offspring. Lordgenome tossed Simon at a pile of dirt. His expression hardened. The breeze turned into a gust.
The green energy from her core drill flowed through her body. All cuts and gashes disappeared and she got up, as if he had never stomped her tight. In her hand, the core drill glowed and grew up in green energy to turn into a spear, as long she was, with a golden drill in its tip. Her glare deepened and she stomped on the ground, making a small crater, and put herself in offensive stance, with the tip of the drill pointed at him.
One of the poets of the old world had a saying that flashed in Lordgenome's head, as Guame reminded him once: "There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."
Obeying his instincts, Lordgenome rushed towards Nia. He tried to tackle her, but she speared him, with strength enough to stop him. He slammed his fist towards the ground, but Nia sidestepped and speared his neck.
His skin proved to be too tough to be pierced, but he still massaged his neck. Nia remained with her spear pointed at him, with its tip spinning. Not for a single moment, she dropped her glare.
The Spiral King jumped and dropped a kick at her. Red energy flowed through his leg and slammed right at Nia. When the dust settled, Nia was nowhere to be seen. He turned around, with a distressed expression. The floor started to shake.
The drill slashed through his back, but as fast as it came, it disappeared. He saw a hole in the floor, probably where she came. Before he could prepare, the drill slashed his shoulder. She was too fast. He grunted span, in a lariat of red energy. Nia couldn't hit him anymore.
Before he could react to ground below him giving away, all he felt was Nia's drill spearing him where it hurt most.
He fell back, taking his hands to his crotch and glaring daggers at Nia, with teeth gritted. She glared in return, but her glare was much...colder. At that moment Lordgenome knew: she was holding back. Even in spite of her wrath, she still held back. He didn't know if she knew that, but he decided he couldn't hold back anymore. He flexed his arms and roared: the flames on his hair grew even more, creating a gale. His eyes glowed red.
"Enough of you! I will show you what a fully trained Spiral Knight is CAPABLE OF!"
Lordgenome saw a glint. Then, the next thing he did was scream in pain and took a hand to his eye, as blood exploded around it. Through his other eye, he saw a certain redhead moving away from her position.
"I...will kill you! I WILL KILL YOU! UGH!"
He looked down. Nia thrust her spear right on the middle of his chest, right in the middle of the galaxy of his chest hair. Green energy filled the gap between the tip and his chest.
The ones present in the battlefield stared in awe at that scene. Simon didn't know if he was happy because Nia won the fight or surprised because his father lost. Rossiu, who just managed to get Gurren work, was shocked. Yoko, who left her cover, had a satisfied smile, knowing Nia didn't disappoint her. Boota chirped. And Tsuuma watched everything, even her genius brain couldn't process what happened there.
"My name is Nia the Digger." She said, beside him, "I don't like to fight. But if you threaten to hurt my friends, I'll try to solve without violence. If you do hurt my friends, I'll still try to resolve without violence, and if I can't, I'll still hold back. But if you already decided in your heart to kill them all, without regrets," the drill started to spin faster, "I cannot allow your heart to continue beating."
The drill span faster and it exploded in a beam of green energy.
After the dust settled, Lordgenome had a giant gaping hole in his chest. The fire in his head had died off, but he returned to his impassive expression. Nia's spear converted back into her core drill as well.
"It seems your Spiral has surpassed mine."
Nia kept staring at the bulky man. He spoke as if he didn't have that hole in his chest.
"I admit my defeat, but tell me, do you have what it takes to take my burden?"
"What are you talking about?" Nia asked. Simon approached them. He took small steps, but remained attentive to their talk.
"When the planet crawls with a million monkeys, the moon will turn red and show its true face."
"Why do you speak in riddles?" She barked.
The Spiral King gave them one last smirk.
"Father!" Simon lifted in vain his hand, trying to grasp him.
Lordgenome fell through the edge of the tower. His lifeless body fell in the depths of the capital, far from their view.
Simon looked at Nia. She balled her fists. They couldn't understand why the Spiral King chose riddles. Nia grunted. A gust started to form again. She felt something emerged, something that hadn't emerged for a long time.
But then, a zephyr soared through and whispered: Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
"Nia, are you okay?" Simon called her. She shook her head.
"Sorry, Simon, I got carried away." She scratched her neck and gave him an embarrassed smile.
Then, her right leg collapsed. Clutching her leg, Nia grunted in pain.
"Nia, what happened?"
"My leg is still broken," she said, with difficulty, "What happened, I thought...Oh, I know what happened?"
"What?"
"I think I somehow...somehow used the same power that Gurren Solvernia uses to repair itself. After Solvernia detaches from Gurren... the damage return as well."
"Let me carry you in my arms, my dame." Simon said, extending his hand.
"As you wish, my prince."
"Look at them, Rossiu," Yoko poked at his forehead, "In the end, they're just kids." Boota purred in agreement.
"I am more concerned about the Spiral King's words." He replied.
"Anyway, I think we should leave this place soon." As she said this, the building started to tremble.
"It's over, isn't it?" Tsuuma said. Yoko and Rossiu turned around to see the beastwoman, with tears flowing through her face. Before they could react, a hole opened in the ground swallowing the fallen Enkidu. Tsuuma didn't say anything, neither screamed from the fall. However, Yoko and Rossiu signaled to Simon and Nia to hurry the heck up.
The enemy forces pinned Dai-Gurren down. Dai-Zilla Ultra lied down against a mount. They retreated from Teppelin's range. They trusted Gurren Solvernia to take down the dictator, thus they decided to stay away from it.
The fight wore down Dai-Gurren. Marks of explosions through the entire battleships, some deck cannons broke, it barely could move. Denkabaki also moved to its position to provide support. Leeron calculated it remained almost one tenth of the initial force. None of them were bad fighters, it was just that the capital overwhelmed them with sheer numbers.
They were not ready for the amount of resources the capital had. Against all odds, they managed to fend them off hundreds, thousands of enemies. But they started to get tired.
"Have you managed to return contact with Nia, Kinon?" Dayakka asked. He took cover behind one of the walls of the bridge. The glass windshield had been gone for a while. He exited his cover and fired a rocket from his bazooka at a flying enemy ganman that approached too much.
"Not yet!" Kinon controlled the positions of everyone in the radar. "After those energy surges, I'm pretty sure she's still fighting the Spiral King."
"Dayakka, something's happening!" Kidd said.
In the battlefield, the enemy ganmen's eyes blacked out. With a few exceptions, all of them fell limply, as if they were turned off.
"Oh, this is new~!" Leeron commented. The ones who didn't turn off would continue their attack if they didn't heard a giant parting sound coming from the capital.
The fight stopped. Thousands of giant fragments started to fall from the capital, like the rain. Then, one arm detached and its legs broke down, unable to sustain the giant torso.
"That can mean only one thing!" Dayakka smiled.
"...THUS, ARSHUN IS PART OF MY FAMILY, BUT I HAVE ALWAYS IMAGINED THAT FEW PEOPLE WOULD MOURN HIM WHEN HE DIED." Zerael said, looking at the ground.
"That's really awful. As much as I want to say good riddance to that monster, he's still your family, there is still a bond." Kiyal replied.
They ate cookies and watched the battle unfolding. They saw Dai-Gurren's retreat after opening the way fro Gurren Solvernia for the throne room. They felt Lazengann and Gurren Solvernia dueling for their lives. Zerael told her that if Lordgenome won, he would have to kill Kiyal with his own hands. Kiyal just laughed off and told him she trusted Nia. He didn't ask what he would do if Lordgenome lost.
But then, they heard the parting sound coming from the capital. Most of capital ganman fell down, eyes turned off.
Zerael slowly got up.
"OUR KING LOST!" And then, he fell to his knees, catatonic.
Kiyal looked attentively at him. He looked at the forces of his might empire falling like dead flies.
Irenai panted inside Kuratori. All the systems flashed red and his age started to show. He couldn't hit straight anymore. A prince of the empire being crushed by ruffians. At least, the capital could churn out more drone ganmen and they would eventually win through numbers. A victory that lacked honor or grace, but a victory nonetheless.
But when, the drone turned off, it only meant one thing: Lordgenome fell to Nia the Digger.
Doing a 180ยบ turn, Kuratori flew in full speed in jet mode and headed to the capital. He didn't mind the star banana ganman that almost crashed against him and flew, dodging the falling debris. Then, he landed on a platform and ran through the halls. For the first time in the day, Irenai didn't appear to be 200 years old.
"I have a little bit of Spiral power remaining." He muttered.
Dodging the falling pillars and holes in the ground, he arrived at the room. In a fallen sign, it read "Nursery". A baby lied down in the ground, enveloped in a blanket. She cried as loud as she could, even a person as little as her could feel the danger to anyone inside the capital. A cradle was keeled and not far from them, a beastwoman was stuck in a pile of debris. A small puddle of blood ran from her. In fact, the chunks of concrete only didn't cover her left arm and her head.
"Save...princess...Ameli..." The beastwoman begged and with a last breath she expired.
Irenai cradled the baby in his arms, calming her a bit, and ran back to Kuratori.
Gurren Solvernia flew the skies over Teppelin once more. Granted, it wasn't in its pristine form. Gurren held Solvernia on its hands. The beating the smaller ganman received from Lordgenome made it unable to summon drills, thus unable to combine. The rising sun shone in the horizon.
"Look at this, we did it." Yoko said, staring at the falling capital from the opening that Lazengann made on Gurren. She shared the seat with Rossiu and helped with one of the controls.
"I'm afraid this is just the beginning, Yoko." Rossiu said. "We may have defeated the king, but his cronies retreated to fight another day. Just imagine the amount of work we have to do in order to rebuild it."
"Now is not the time." She poked at his forehead.
"Calling, Rossiu!" Kinon said, her image appearing the working part of the panel.
"Kinon! The communications returned!" He beamed. Another image, above her, showed everyone in the team saluting them from the ground.
"Yes, and...why is Yoko with you?" Kinon raised an eyebrow.
"I'm just taking a ride." Yoko winked at her.
"Rossiu..." Kinon drifted her gaze and adjusted her glasses, "What people will talk about you? Letting other girls in your ganman?"
"No, I mean," Rossiu blushed and almost lost control of Gurren, "It's not what you think!" Yoko only watched in amusement.
Meanwhile, in Solvernia, Nia hold to Simon tightly. After an intense battle, she just wanted to fall asleep close to his chest. How good it was to feel his heartbeat synchronizing with hers.
"Nia," he said. His voice soft like silk. "During this time I have been with you, I have developed feelings I don't understand. And," she turned her head to look at him, "I have conflicting feelings about you."
"What kind of feelings?" She felt her heart beating faster.
"I got so...worried when father tried to keep you as his consort. Not just because it's wrong, but...because I feared losing you to him."
Nia blinked once and then smiled. She gently caressed the back of his head and said, in a low voice, "Simon, I also have feelings for you. After all, I wouldn't be the same person if it wasn't for you. I think..." she took a deep breath, "I might be in love with you."
Simon remained silent for a few seconds, but he asked, "What does in love mean?"
Nia blinked twice this time and giggled. Then, she closed her eyes and moved her head to meet his lips. She pecked him in the lips and looked at him. He looked confused, but he blushed and smiled at her.
"I guess we need to figure this out together." She returned to her position, leaning against her head against his chest. "We'll head towards tomorrow." Saying this, she allowed herself to sleep.
Status of the Capital: Fallen
The dawn of the new day never looked so bright