Sister found herself growing annoyed with Weavel's antics. The young man increased his body's performance with a few well-placed needles. Because of this, he was faster and stronger than he was before. He bounced around the walls of the Eden's Zero corridor, throwing numerous needles at Sister to overwhelm her with his speed and precision. "Needle Storm!"
Sister was able to use her whip to block most of the needles, but she had to be careful. She couldn't disarm all of them and the ones that did slip past her ended up hitting various joints, causing her movements to lock up. "This is starting to get unfun…" Sister mumbled to herself. Before she could say anything else, the needles present all exploded either on, or near her.
Weavel knew these potshots weren't going to do much to Sister since she had the power of life at her disposal. It was all a distraction in the end. He sought to provide cover, which would then lead to an opening for the single strike he needed. All he had to do was impale Sister's chest to damage her core…or take her head. He thought either would work, so he went for the former. A gigantic needle appeared in his palm and he sought to thrust it into Sister's chest, however…Sister grabbed his wrist. "Huh!?"
"Not good enough!" Sister said while yanking Weavel over her head, then slamming him into the ground so hard he bounced. Before he even hit the ground again, Sister slashed at him with her bladed whip, landing several hits on him before he was finally able to jump back.
Weavel narrowed his eyes, panting softly as he felt blood from the open wounds on his body. Sister was a fearsome opponent. But he only needed one good hit. "…" Wait…the wounds on his body were healing? It wasn't by his doing either. Did Sister make some sort of mistake?
"You know something?" Sister said while suddenly relaxing. "I'm curious. How often have you manipulated the ether in your body to do this?"
"More than you could know." Weavel admitted.
"Hah. Of course. An amateur thing to do at the end of the day. Did you know that all that manipulate is terrible for your body?" Sister stated while quirking a brow.
Was he being mocked right now? Weavel did not appreciate that one bit. The calm man took a deep breath and stood up straight. "I've had enough of this." The ether lines on Weavel's face shone brightly as he summoned numerous needles in front of him, above and behind Sister. Due to the cramped space of this corridor, they were all extremely small needles, but very power. "Behold my ultimate technique! 1000 Needles!" On his command, these needles began to fly towards Sister with the intention of completely skewering her. She'd be unable to move once these needles hit every conceivable joint in her body, which would allow him the finishing blow to end this.
"Huh…" Sister glanced at the needles surrounding her. Without a doubt, a technique like this was dangerous. If she got hit by this, even she wouldn't be able to recover fast enough…yet at the end of the day, she was able to brush this aside, because all she had to do was point her hand at Weavel. "Overheal Destroy."
"What?" Weavel thought this was some kind of bluff…until his body began to feel strange. Before he had the chance to question what was happening, the ether in his body just exploded. "GAH!?" He coughed violently, his 1000 Needles vanishing before they could hit Sister. He just collapsed on the ground with his jaw open, gasping for air. "W-What…what just…"
Sister slowly approached Weavel, planting her foot on his chest, kneeling down to look at him. "Between the way you overcharged your body, and my healing your injuries…I simply too my healing powers and made it explode within you." Sister said with a smirk. "Didn't you know? There's always too much of a good thing." And as she said this, she started to heal Weavel again. He felt better in an instant.
"W-What…?" Weavel questioned. Was this mercy? "Why are you-?" And then Sister made his body explode again, causing him to cry out.
"I wonder…did you ever heal Homura from her injuries while she was captivity?" Sister asked, her foot slowly crushing Weavel's chest.
"S-She would've been a threat…so we haven't given her any…" Weavel started. It was difficult to speak, but Sister healed him right up, if only to make him explode again. "GAAAH!" At this point, the calm man had an expression akin to fear on his face. He'd rather just be dead than experience this kind of torture repeatedly.
Sister was not pleased. "She's a very important person to me, as everyone is on this ship. To see her with injuries like that…it really pissed me off. Even more so now, knowing that she hasn't been treated in days. I can heal her, just like I can heal you. I can kill you as many times as I want, but I can also bring you back, too. So when you crawl back to your crew with your dick between your legs, I want you to remember that you picked this fight." And just for good measure, she repeated the process one more time, making sure Weavel was unconscious under her.
It was at this point that Rebecca and Happy finally caught up to Sister, only to see her stepping on an unconscious Weavel. "I…guess you had everything under control after all?"
"Yup." Sister said as her battle dress vanished and she donned her usual outfit. "I just had to take care of some trash." She stepped off Weavel and tied him up with her whip, dragging him along. "I'm not taking this one to the infirmary. When Hermit gets that ship link set up, I'm dragging him back there. I'll get to Weisz in a moment."
"…Works for me." Rebecca said with a slight sweat drop. All she could do was follow Sister.
.
.
The only two members standing of the Fiertia were Tobias and Waltz. Aside from Jigan, the rest of the Eden's Zero managed to wipe the rest of them out. The elemental duo were the last regular members standing, and it was up to Jinn and Laguna to take them out. Tobias raised his foot high and stomped on the ground, sending numerous sharp rocks shooting up from the floor towards Jinn and Laguna. "Stone Edge!"
The two members of the Eden's Zero jumped into the air to avoid this, but that was precisely what Waltz wanted. He gunned right for Jinn, eager to remove those machine parts from his body. "Blazing Swing!"
"…!" Jinn had no time to dodge. He crossed his arms as Waltz's fiery sword slammed into his body. The impact caused Jinn to cry out and he hit the floor harshly.
Laguna was presented with an opportunity. Since he could make himself shed a tear on command, due to his acting career, he did just that. That single tear was then put onto his finger, and he flicked it forward as though he fired a gun. "Tear Bullet!" That single tear turned into a powerful bullet. One that exploded against Waltz's side.
"You bastard!" Waltz grunted in pain as he fell from the side, landing on the ground in a crouched position. "A single tear…!?"
"It's very powerful." Laguna said. The moment his feet touched the ground, however, his legs were encased in stone. "What-!?"
It was Tobias' doing. He wanted for Laguna to land so he could trap him. "Rock Blast!" Tobias shot his hand forward, numerous rocks appearing to pelt Laguna all across his body. It was a continuous attack that seemingly had no end in sight.
In that case, it was Jinn's job to end it. He recovered from Waltz's attack and sped towards Tobias, sneaking up on him by approaching his right flank. "Skymech Ninjutsu Attack…" Jinn slammed his palm into Tobias' lower right side, causing the Rock Blast to stop. "Crushing Palm Strike!" From Jinn's palm, a powerful cyclone emerged and blew Tobias away.
"Gaaaah!" Tobias shouted as he was hit with a surprise attack. The winds did succeed in blowing him away, but rocks appeared from the ground to grip his feet and keep him from flying too far. Tobias instantly retaliated by creating a gigantic rock that was double the size of his own body. "Rock Wrecker!" And then he launched this boulder towards Jinn and Laguna.
"Windstorm Slash!" Jinn repeated his attack from before, easily cleaving through the rock with the X mark slash of wind. The rock was broken up in to dozens of pieces after an attack like that.
"And…" Laugna shaped water into a massive hand. He pushed his hand forward, punching Waltz in the chest. "Water Hand!"
Tobias just grinned as his Rock Wrecker was completely destroyed. That was just what he was hoping for. The shards of debris began to shine brightly and the pointed stones began to point towards Jinn and Laguna. "Stealth Rock!" These shards of rock then launched towards the pair, relentlessly pelting them.
"Damn…this guy is a problem…!" Jinn grunted.
No time to think about Tobias, because while the pair struggled to defend themselves, Waltz saw his opening. His blazing sword burned brightly and he drew it backwards. "Rending Flash!" A simple, horizontal slash was delivered, a fierce wave of fire following suit. This caught Jinn and Laguna, throwing the both of them backwards. They managed to land, but in a crouched position with Waltz and Tobias standing triumphantly, as if they had the advantage in this battle. It didn't help that the two Eden's Zero members were burned, cut, and bruised.
"Give up yet?" Tobias chuckled.
"The android is a nuisance, but we're not getting anywhere with the rock guy…" Jinn whispered.
"I can take care of him if you keep the android busy." Laguna said.
"Right." Jinn nodded. Laguna started to sprint ahead and Waltz tried to intercept him, but he was struck in the face yet again by Jinn's rocket gist.
"You…" Waltz snarled and turned his attention to Jinn, rushing at him with his blazing sword. Jinn made use of sharp blades of wind to counter the sword.
As for Laguna, he formed a blade of water and rushed Tobias down. Tobias thought this was a foolish endeavor and started to attack Laguna with rocks…but Laguna wised up by this point. Instead of slashing at the rocks, he avoided them completely. "That's not going to work anymore."
Tobias grit his teeth, forming a blade of rock and dirt within his grip. He and Laguna slashed at each other, immediately entering a stalemate. "Okay, pretty boy. I guess we'll just do this the hard way!"
"I guess so." Laguna said while holding his own against Tobias. "Did you know…this area in space used to be where Nero 66 was? The area where the Aoi War took place?" He asked, his expression unchanging.
"Of course we know!" Tobias said confidently. "After all, Jigan just knew it would dredge up terrible memories of what's happened! Your friend Homura told us all about it."
"…So she did. So you know that there was a beautiful android that loved her crew on the Eden's Zero. How that Android, when everything was bleak, sacrificed everything to keep the people on that ship safe?" Laguna's voice cracked a bit.
"Y-Yeah…!" Tobias wasn't sure what was happening. Why talk about this now? Was their plan of inflicting emotional damage working?
"She entrusted everything to us." Laguna said with a sniffle. "Her final words to us were… 'I love you'. This was where she made her last stand…she rests with the stars now, along with Ijuna and the others that lost their lives in that terrible war."
"I-If you think this sob story is going to make me feel sorry for you, you have another thing coming!" Tobias said while trying fight off the tears stinging at his eyes.
"Are you crying?" Laguna asked.
"NO!" Tobias shouted defiantly. Crying in front of his enemy?! What sort of man did you take me for!? He averted his gaze down, only to see… "You're wearing stilettos!?"
"I'll let you in on one thing. I am sad about what happened to Witch…but it does make a really good story to touch someone's heart." Laguna said. Before Tobias could respond, he was turned into a puddle of tears. "Blame yourself for trying to manipulate an actor."
Waltz turned, only to see Tobias be reduced to water. "What!? You!?" He was going to attack Laguna, but Jinn reminded him of his presence.
"Skymech Ninjutsu Attack: Crushing Gale!" When Waltz turned around, Jinn slammed his entire arm into the android's back. This direct hit inflicted a bunch of damage, causing the Android to tumble before catching himself.
"Damn you!" Waltz grit his teeth. The android reached the limits of his patience and decided to end things here and now. He stabbed his sword into the ship and a blazing ring of fire started to spread out from around him. "I'll burn it all just to get rid of you!"
"This is the attack Rebecca mentioned!" Jinn gasped.
"I'm already on it!" Laguna said. All of the water he made use of thus far was spread out for this exact purpose. He even made use of the puddle that was temporarily Tobias. A wave of tears appeared with Laguna commanding it. "Tears Wave!" The tidal wave of tears crashed down on the beginnings of the Explosive Ring, immediately canceling it out. Steam flooded the bridge and blinded everyone.
"What?! No! What's happening!?" Waltz growled and had no choice but to pull his sword out from the ground. Unfortunately, his sword was drenched and unable to light up in fire again. "Damn, useless object!" As the steam began to clear, he could see a figure within it. It was Jinn, but he looked different. While he could detect Ether, all he could do was sense and report the spike. He had no idea of knowing who it belonged to. "Who…!?"
Jinn entered his overdrive, not out of necessity, but simply for good measure. Before Waltz could realize what was happening, Jinn coated himself in wind ether and rushed forward. He flew past Waltz, leaving behind a torrent of powerful windstorms that began to shred through the enemy android at sonic speeds. "Wind God Sky Rending Slash!" It all happened so quickly, but the only thing Waltz registered was the fact that he was lifted off the air by winds, and relentlessly shredded until his body hit the ground. He didn't even have the chance to make a sound. "That was for Homura, Happy, and Rebecca."
"I doubt that android could shed a tear." Laguna said while looking at Waltz's unconscious body. "I only sensed anger and desperation from him. My Ether Gear worked better on that guy…who I'm going to keep as a puddle until we leave."
The crew of the Fiertia was successfully routed by the crew of the Eden's Zero. The only one that remained now….was the captain himself: Jigan King.
.
.
Shiki stood in the middle of the captain's quarters, glaring at Jigan. "You…"
"It's so good to finally meet you, Demon King." Jigan said with a soft chuckle.
"Let Homura go!" Shiki demanded.
"Not until you give me what I asked for. You have it, don't you? The Black Moon Star? Well, a shard of it anyway." Jigan said while tilting his head slightly.
"Shiki, don't…! It's dangerous!" Homura shouted.
Shiki knew that, but Homura's safety was his priority here. "…"
"Of course, if you have no intentions of giving it to me…" Jigan raised his hand, causing a few sparks of lightning to appear around Homura. Upon closer inspection, she was completely surrounded by an invisible field of high voltage electricity. A single wrong move and she would be zapped. With her injuries, it would be fatal.
"Alright." Shiki concede. He pulled out the safely contained Black Moon Star shard from his coat and tossed it over to Jigan. "Now, release Homura. We had an agreement."
Jigan caught the star shard in his hand, looking it over with intrigue. "It's even more beautiful than I expected…"
"Let Homura go!" Shiki demanded.
"Oh, right. I suppose she's served her purpose." Jigan snapped his fingers, dispersing the field of lightning around Homura.
Shiki immediately ran over to Homura. "Homura, are you okay!? They didn't hurt you anymore, did they?"
"I am okay. Just a little dizzy and sore." Homura said with a slight smile, attempting to reassure Shiki she would be alright. Several days without medical treatment did make her a bit weak. "I…I am vaguely aware of the situation surrounding that shard. But are you sure it was wise to give it to him?"
"You're more important." Shiki said, deciding to help Homura stand and walk. "Here, I'll help you." With the use of his gravity, he could make Homura's pain lighter. It didn't heal her, but it did allivate some of the stress she was under.
"I can walk now…" Homura let out a small sigh of relief. But her attention turned to Jigan, who was watching them for a while now. "…Your intentions…what are they?"
"I was wondering if one of you would ask." Jigan said while holding the Star Shard in his hand, finally standing up from his seat. "I already told you that I intend to amass so much power that not even Elsie Crimson could hope to match me. As you already know, the Black Moon Star will seek out its broken shards so it can become whole again. When you find the Black Moon, you will also find an incredible source of power. But aren't you curious about this star? Although this is merely a fragment of the larger picture, it is still a part of the Black Moon. As such…this is a tiny piece of the Black Moon's power in my hand."
"Are you serious!?" Shiki's eyes widened. That was one bit of information he didn't know. That would explain the abnormally large Ether readings, but he thought that was for a different reason.
"That's right, Demon King! I hold a piece of the strongest substance in the universe, all thanks to you!" Jigan laughed. "All because you thought the life of this girl was more important than universal power! Now…shall we see what happens when I try some of this power for myself?"
"Do not do it!" Homura exclaimed. It was too late.
"HAAAAH!" Jigan crushed the container that protected the Black Moon Star shard, and then proceeded to clench his hand around the fragment itself. This prompted a powerful shockwave to boom out from the Fiertia that shook the ship, and the Eden's Zero that was nearby. The bright yellow lines along Jigan's arm, showing off his Ether Gear, started to turn black as his body was overflowing with Ether.
"Kyaaah…!?" Homura was flung off her feet from the shockwave, but Shiki managed to catch her, and used his gravity to stay grounded.
"This surge of power…it's nothing that I've ever felt before!" Shiki exclaimed.
"HAAAAAAA AAAAH!" Jigan let out a battle cry when he finished powering up. There was a black aura around him as his body was influenced by the power of the Black Moon. The once yellow lightning that crackled around his body now had a black tint to it, and his muscles bulged violently. "Oh…I've never felt more alive!" Jigan said happily. "This power! This is only a taste of the Black Moon, but it's even more than I expected!"
"This is only a piece of the Black Moon…!?" Homura couldn't believe it. If this was only a fragment, just how much power did the Black Moon itself grant!?
"HOHOHOHO!" Jigan gave a hearty laugh. "Now, it's time to take care of business. I don't care how well my crew did against yours; because I'm gonna kill everyone on your ship with this power anyway! Once you're dead, I'll be branded an Oracion Seis Galatica! The defeat of the Eden's Zero is where my rise to power begins!" The black lightning around his body began to zap around wildly and haphazardly, with no care for anything in its vicinity.
Jigan crossed many lines. First, he kidnapped Homura, then he proceeded to torture her in front of everyone. Now, he was threatening to kill everyone on the Eden's Zero? Ever since this conflict began, Shiki was waiting for the chance to take this guy down. That itch was finally about to be scratched. "You can still move, right, Homura?"
"M-Mhm…" Homura said while nodding.
"Alright. Go meet up with the others." Shiki then held up a fist, giving Jigan an unforgiving glare. He held up his fist, which was glowing green with the Ether he already had activated. Black Moon or not, Shiki wasn't about to let Jigan get away with his transgression against the Eden's Zero. "As for me…I'm gonna crush this guy."