Ch.47 The Future that Could have Been PT.2
The Bifrost is attempting to get away from the approaching Spirit as it has a clear danger level and a menacing presence. The crew is trying to communicate with others in the base, but the connection can't go through. With little choice, they ready to leave, but the ship refuses to respond as well. The Spirit then appears in front of the ship. Akane and Kotori then ready to fight as they direct Tohka to stay inside and protect the others. Akane assumes her Spirit form as she and Kotori go outside to confront the Spirit.
Outside the ship, Akane and Kotori float as the Spirit hovers above their ship with intrigue as he merely states.
"Oh, so their relying on fake Spirits to stop me now?"
Akane faintly remembers Hiro saying something similar to that when she fought him. Kotori has her Camael ready, but is unsure about fighting since Shido isn't around to stop her if things go crazy, but she's better off outside where none of the others will get in the way if that happens. Hiro smiles as he then says.
"Pitiful creatures humans are, all they do exceed at attempting to become more godly."
He then summons a bracelet that appears the be a thorny crown and his right hand and forearm, where the bracelet it, gathers shadows around itself as a blade of pure darkness forms that appears to be made of energy. He then summons a flock of dark orbs that have holes in them and resemble eyes. He smirks and states.
"Satan: Fencer Formation!"
Akane is shocked by this as she thinks.
"He has access to a Demon King?"
Kotori readies herself as does Akane.
Inside the base, the entire team is setting up their barriers, walls, and all sorts of defenses. Their leader, Ryouko, is giving orders to her troops, and then everything falls silent as they retreat deeper in the base. Ryouko normally doesn't give this order as she wants them out of earshot when looks at the group and asks.
"Okay, who are you people? I may not get it, but you're all people I know. Mana Takamiya, Ellen Mira Mathers, Origami Tobiichi, and Hiro Itsuka."
The four are surprised as Ryouko is quick to get it, a little. Ellen simply replies.
"My name is Ellen Mira Mathers Itsuka, thank you."
Ryouko shrugs as she gets back to the point.
"Doesn't matter to me. What I want to know is why you four are back among the mortals again, especially you, Hiro."
Hiro looks down, and Mana gets straight to the point as she briefly explains.
"Look, we can't go into the major details, but we really need to know what happened in this world. What caused the city to turn into that?"
Ryouko silences the alarm for security purposes as the wizards are far enough away now. She looks at the monitor again, and pulls Hiro's picture as she explains.
"Hiro Itsuka was his name when he was human. He was a good kid who loved his parents and his friends. Then, he went on a mission called Operation DULLAHAN…"
Hiro interrupts her as he interjects.
"It was a mission that a few people knew about. I was sent in to collect data on DEM's illegal and inhumane experiments then return to base, and I got it."
Ryouko looks up the screen as she continues typing.
"Yeah, you did. I read the report when I had the chance. You brought back the severed head of Artemisia Bell Ashcroft and they probed her still living brain for info."
Mana and Ellen look at Hiro with surprise, but they aren't ones to judge so they don't say anything. Origami looks indifferent to this as she just listens to Ryouko as she explains more.
"When the war broke out, things were hellish to say the least. Hiro was Spirit Soldier is what we called him."
A Spirit Soldier? They all think, but Ryouko swiftly explains.
"We don't know how, but Hiro was born with the powers of a Spirit, but he could control it, so we let him into the AST as a special soldier, and man was he strong. He killed all the best Wizards DEM had with his hard training and tactical prowess, he was a soldier people looked up to, but then something awful happened…."
Ryouko is having trouble saying it, but she powers through it.
"Hiro was so charismatic that he convinced the other Spirits, including Nightmare, to help us and we accepted it. We lost both Princess and Berserk in that war, but the biggest loss to Hiro was when he was fighting against Adeptus 1 Ellen Mira Mathers."
Hiro can see the differences already, but he fought against Ellen onboard a ship to England and the fight lasted for five days without rest before they arrived in England. Ryouko starts tearing up as she explains.
"Hiro was fighting Ellen in the city as she got through somehow, and they fighting….and then, Hiro fired a laser that she dodged and two civilians were hit instead. He went to go check on them, and his heart snapped when he realized that the two civilians he accidently killed were his dad and pregnant mother. When that happened, everybody lost. He turned into that thing we call Nemesis and he rampaged the city, killed almost everybody, and then he tortured Ellen and Isaac Westcott until they weren't capable of thought anymore. He just…turned into that thing…."
Mana has her hand over her mouth, Ellen gasps, and Hiro has a shocked expression from this information. Ryouko then punches the console as she clearly feels regret over that event as she pounds it hard and states.
"Why were they even there!? They should have been underground like the rest of the civilians."
The alarm goes off again as Ryouko pulls up the monitor outside as she sees Nemesis outside with a smile as he has just successfully defeated both Akane and Kotori as their bodies are on the Bifrost, but are cloaked by the ship's defenses. Nemisis then float to the ship's base as he grabs Akane by the collar of her dress as he moves his blade to her face he asks.
"How did you both obtain Efreet's powers?"
Akane is gasping for air, but then Hiro simply says.
"It doesn't really matter…nothing matters."
Kotori then gets up as she shouts.
"Let her go!"
She then readies Camael for its megido cannon. She points it him as she gathers mana to fire it. Nemesis then drops Akane as he needs to think of a counter move. Suddenly, Tohka warps on the scene next to Kotori as she needs the help. Upon seeing Tohka, Nemesis becomes shocked as his attention is immediately drawn to her as he gasps and then he clenches his head in pain and begins yelling out in pain. Tohka then gets Kotori to stop charging her cannon as something is happening to him. Nemesis' body then begins emitting negative energy as he rises into the sky as he then disappears into a dark cloud and then it vanishes.
This goes noticed in the base as Ryouko wonders.
"What happened there? He freaked out and ran away…"
Tohka didn't appear on the screen due to the cloak so Ryouko has no idea what happened, but Hiro, Ellen, and Mana have a good of what happened. Hiro thinks to himself.
"So, he also has it, probably worse than me then."
The alarms on both sides stop due to Nemesis running away. Ryouko sighs with relief as she talks into a microphone and announces.
"Good work, everyone. He's gone, so return to your stations."
Hiro and the others decide that they need to get back to the ship to check on the others. But as they do, Ryouko stops them as she hands Ellen something, a transmitter and explains.
"Look, if you find anything out, like where the other spirits are, you let us know. We're all that's left to fight without them."
Apparently the other Spirits disappeared after the war and nobody knows where they went. Hiro convinced the people of his time that they simply left the world and that's why they're gone, but this world has no idea. With this, the group leaves the base as they need to prepare for Nemesis as he will have to be fought sooner or later if they plan to continue the search. The resistance group has no knowledge of what's happening in the city, so they wouldn't know of any weird activity outside the destruction.
Aboard the Bifrost, Kotori and Akane have most of their injuries healed already due to their powers, but Nemesis was too powerful for the both of them put together. They don't know how well Tohka would have helped either since her own inverse form is already incredibly dangerous. They see the others below and they're signaling to be warped up and are brought back to the ship.
A little while later, Ellen and Mana explain to Tohka, Kotori, and Akane about what happened. Shiori, Kenji, and Miyuki aren't around for this as they don't need be involved with such a dangerous mission. After hearing this, Akane looks at her hand and thinks.
"Is it possible for me and the rest to obtain an inverse form?...Maybe I could learn to control it like Miya."
She walks away and heads to Miyuki's room to check on her and make a hypothesis. As Akane gets closer, Shiori is seen exiting Miyuki's room as she puts up her finger in "quiet" gesture as Miyuki has fallen asleep after being sung to sleep. Shiori then quietly says to Akane.
"Miyuki is such a good girl. It really pains me to know we had to take her from her mother. She really misses her."
Miyuki is very young and she is attached to Yoshino. Akane was going to check on her for a reassurance on the power spectrum, but now just feels bad as she hates using Miyuki for her data. She never thought of Miyuki as a specimen, but a person who she could get data from without doing anything mean or hurtful, just observation. Still concerned, Akane enters Miyuki's room anyway, but just for concern purposes.
Upon entering the room, Akane finds a scene that surprises her, but not in a bad way. She sees Miyuki in her Astral Dress and a woman, who greatly resembles a taller Yoshino, wearing a light-green robe-like dress as she gently rubs Miyuki's head with a loving smile as she looks at Akane and gives the same "quiet" gesture. Akane instantly realizes that she is in fact looking at Miyuki's guardian, but doesn't know when it awakened. Rather, Akane simply exits the room as she has more thinking to do as Miyuki may not be aware this yet. Akane and Aki awakened their guardians through fighting, Shiori's two awakened during a contest when she needed to win the most, and Saori's must have awakened from similar circumstances.
Akane returns to the bridge as Hiro has a plan to defeat Nemesis as he talks to Ellen about his plan.
"If my hunch if correct, then there is one thing we can do, but I'll need our remaining bracelet to do it. I'll also need your help, Ellen. Please, this may be our only way."
Ellen nods as she agrees with his plan. They will find what they need while Mana and the others go into the city to search and probably fight with Nemesis. With their plan set in motion, the group makes their move without telling the resistance group. However, Ryouko did in fact hear everything as she had it set to hear everything on the ship as she somberly says to herself.
"So, that's how it's gonna be. Hiro, I understand. But it looks like our final mission will be coming sooner than I thought."
Ryouko smiles a bit as she readies her small battalion for a fight.
Unknown Time
Kurumi and Shido have taken shelter in an empty apartment that nobody is living in with a futon that she stole from a store and a few bags of food that she also took due to leaving her purse on the Bifrost. Shido is still unresponsive to anything she says or does, even stripping in front of him as she tried to get any response from him.
She is spoon feeding him some soup as he does have muscle reflexes to swallow and she's had to clean him for at least six days, which is how long they've been here. Kurumi is simply waiting at the moment for the others to show up as traveling around should only be done if the enemy shows up. She has also attempted to find any friendly places, but can't find anything at the moment.
A little bored, Kurumi decides to leave for a minute to get some fresh air and to think about the situation. She ventures around the school area as it may lead her to a Spirit child and a potential ally, despite it being evening. She looks around while wearing a school uniform that she forms around herself as she walks around the school. As she walks around the gates with the evening sun creating an orange scene, Kurumi wonders while biting her nail.
"What was she trying to prove? Or is she planning another trap….tch, why did I have to an even more cynical daughter than the others?"
While thinking, Kurumi then hears a voice saying.
"Hey, young lady, where have you been?"
Kurumi turns around and sees a police vehicle with two cops in it as one looks at a picture and says.
"The hair is a different color, but everything else checks out. It has to be her."
Kurumi puts on an innocent look as she asks.
"What is the problem, officers?"
One of the cops gets out of the car as he approaches her and says.
"You're family has been worried sick about you, Saori. Get in the car, and we'll take you home."
Kurumi keeps her usual look as she thinks.
"Saori? Could this mean that…"
To prove her theory, Kurumi gets into the car without argument as she is driven to a house, but on the way, the other cop says.
"You really gave them a scare. Having your daughter missing for a month isn't easy for parents. You should apologize for scaring them."
Kurumi simply rides with a smile as she replies.
"I really shouldn't do such things, should I?"
The police officers simply smile and tell her to keep out of trouble. Within a few minutes, Kurumi is escorted to a familiar house as she recognizes it slightly from her brief time here before. She is then escorted to the door by the officers as they knock on the door, and a woman answers the door, the older Kurumi who is Saori's mother, and she has a hanky in her hand as she looks a little sad. Kurumi is relieved as she has found her friendly place in this time.