Shiki decided it may be good to have a pair extra hands help them in their search for the Black Moon Star. That's why he asked an ally for assistance in the matter: Elsie Crimson. They were both on the same page when it came to stopping Ziggy, among other things. Plus, Elsie was a reliable person for them to have on their side. "…And that's everything we know so far." Shiki spoke to Elsie via communication. Their ships were in completely different Cosmoses right now, but that was actually a good thing.
"The Black Moon…" Elsie had one leg crossed over the other. "I can't say I've heard of it before, but if it's as dangerous as you say, it's not something we can leave unchecked."
"We know that people are looking for it too." Shiki said with his arms crossed. "We don't even know if Ziggy is looking for it. That's the last thing I want to deal with."
"You're right." Elsie crossed her arms. If the Black Moon was truly was powerful as claimed, the last thing they needed was Ziggy getting his hands on that. He was already troublesome enough on his own. "Alright then. Since we haven't made much progress in finding Ziggy, I think it's alright to take a little time to hunt this star down! If anyone else has it, it won't be out of the blue for the feared Elsie Crimson to steal something." She even had a grin when she thought about it.
"You look like you're enjoying this." Hermit commented.
"Oh, I already am." Elsie laughed. "Where exactly am I supposed to start looking, though?"
"That's easy." Hermit said. "I've isolated and made a copy of the frequency the Black Moon Star shard we have emits and I'm sending it to you now. It leads to the other shards of the start. There is currently one in the Kaede Cosmos, excluding the one we already have. Two are in the Sakura Cosmos, while one is in the Aoi Cosmos. We were there, but circumstances made us had to flee."
"The Aoi Cosmos, huh?" Elsie looked over the frequency that Hermit sent her. "What a coincidence, I'm over in that area of the Cosmos right now. It looks like it's not too far from where we are."
"That's great!" Shiki smiled. "We'll take care of the remaining shard over here in the Kaede Cosmos. After that, we should meet in the Sakura Cosmos to hunt down the last two shards before anyone else can get to them."
"Sounds simple enough. I'll go ahead and start looking. I'll keep you updated on what we find." Elsie said.
"One more thing." Shiki said. "Have you ever heard of someone named Casey Aster?"
"Casey?" Elsie had to think about that for a second. That name did ring a faint bell. "…Hm. The name sounds familiar, but I don't remember where exactly. I'll have some people do some digging on the name and I'll get back to you."
"Alright, thanks." Shiki nodded. With that, the communication ended. "It's great that we have Elsie's help. This could help us stop Ziggy if everything goes right, but I don't want to think too far ahead yet."
"We have to take things one step at a time." Hermit said. "I'm getting closer to figuring out where the other shard is leading us. I should have something by tomorrow. After that, I can finally take a break and play some games."
"Don't work too hard. We're counting on you just as much as everyone else." Shiki said with a slight smile, one that Hermit returned.
"I'm just leading everyone in the right direction. When it comes to the heavy lifting, I know you guys can handle that easily." Hermit replied. "By the way, how's Blair doing?"
"She hasn't been any trouble." Shiki stroked his chin. "I want to ask her to be my friend, but I think it's too soon…"
"You haven't grown out of that yet?" Hermit shook her head. The smile on her face still remained, however. Even though Shiki had grown more serious in the past two years, he was still the same person on the inside. "Or your fear of bugs, I'm guessing?"
Shiki shivered at the mention of bugs. "Please don't bring those up…" Bugs just weren't natural! Of course he'd be afraid of them!
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Blair was in a white, empty landscape. There was nothing around her and she just kept walking and walking. "…Did I fall asleep?" She'd seen this before. Her dreams were always extremely vivid. "What am I going to see this time…?" As Blair kept walking, she saw some familiar scenery. An old town with broken and destroyed buildings. The streets were soaked with blood. Her expression fell as she walked through the streets. "…" Soon enough several bodies started appearing. These were people she once knew, and she had to look away from it all.
"…" Blair couldn't say anything. But soon enough, one person stood in her way. It was a young man with black, spiky hair and yellow eyes. He looked similar enough to her. "Raven…."
"Why, Blair?" The boy named Raven asked. "You were supposed to protect us, but you didn't! You let everyone die!"
"I'm sorry…!" Blair shouted. "I didn't want things to turn out that way. Do you think I wanted to!?"
"You just weren't strong enough in end. We all thought we could rely on you to protect us…" Raven went on and on. "Some Sister you turned out to be. You let us all die!"
"I didn't do it on purpose!" Blair shouted back, feeling tears sting her eyes.
"And look at you now." Raven took a few steps closer. "You're just a monster now. A monster that let everyone die."
The sudden surge of emotion caused Blair's therion arm to awaken. "I DIDN'T! SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE!" And she reached out, gripping Raven by the throat. Anything to make the talking stop….
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Rebecca was up late editing a video. As it turns out, Blair was in the room next to her own. So she could hear faint grunts and cries coming through the wall. "…Blair…?" Rebecca was a little concerned, so she closed her laptop and hurried out of her room. She knocked on Blair's door, but she didn't get a response. So she opened the door, only to see Blair thrashing about on her bed. "Blair? Blair, wake up…!" Rebecca went over to nudge Blair awake, since it looked like she was having a really bad nightmare.
"…!" Blair instinctively attacked. Her Therion Arm was active from the stress, and she just lunged at whatever it was that touched her. This meant…that her Therion arm wrapped around Rebecca's neck with murderous intent.
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"Ah!?" Rebecca suddenly shot awake. There was a cold sweat on her forehead. Maybe trying to wake Blair like that was a bad idea!? She was panting heavily, trying to figure out where she was. She…wasn't walking? No, she was being carried by someone. "What happened?!"
"Rebecca…! You're awake." It was Shiki. He was carrying Rebecca on his back.
"Shiki…?" Rebecca was still trying to get her bearings straight. "What happened? Where am I…?"
"What happened?" Shiki turned to look at Rebecca. Based on the curious expression on his face, she should already know what happened.
"I see what the problem is." That voice came from Noah. His presence was one Rebecca didn't foresee or notice until he spoke.
"Master Noah-!?" Rebecca said. She was feeling well enough to walk and gently climbed down Shiki's back. "Wait…" She then noticed that they were in some sort of cave with azure stones. "What's going on…?"
"You're a different Rebecca. Something must have happened and your Cat Leaper assumed you to be in danger, thus propelling you to a 'safe place'." Noah said. "You came from a point in time before now."
"Ah…" Shiki's expression shifted slightly. "You…she, passed out after what happened earlier."
"Does this happen normally?" An unfamiliar voice caught Rebecca's attention. She turned and saw a young man clad in blue armor, similar to Weisz' Arsenal suit. But it wasn't a fully body suit, for there was a red visor over his face, and she could see spiky brown hair pointing up as well. "And do we have the time to discuss all the detail? Things are really bad out there!"
"Kid's right, things are getting' downhill and fast." There was another voice, but it was disembodied. Rebecca couldn't tell where this gruff voice was coming from, but it sounded like it came from the blue armored boy.
"RAAAAAAH!" A bestial cry shook the area violently.
"W-What was that!?" Rebecca asked. When she looked out of the cave, she saw Weisz, Homura, Kleene, and Jinn fighting against some green and black-like beast while all in their Overdrive states. It was similar to a wolf, its claws violently raking the air as it tried to attack the crew of the Eden's Zero. Everything on this planet was dying slowly, the ether visibly flowing into that beast. "W-What IS that!?" And then Rebecca saw it; the black cape on the creature's back that almost resembled a tail. "No…is that…!?"
"Yeah…" Shiki nodded slowly. "That's Blair."
"Blair!?" Rebecca's jaw dropped and she wore a horrified expression.
"Shit!" Weisz cursed while leaping back from one of Blair's attacks. "She's totally out of control! How are we supposed to stop her, let alone fight her?!"
"She already got Laguna…" Jinn mumbled. Laguna was lying on the ground, his eyes closed and he was completely motionless.
"Blair! You must snap out of it!" Homura exclaimed while sliding to a halt, summoning numerous swords all around her. "ODIN'S STRIKE!" These swords all flew towards the enraged Blair, who didn't even look human anymore. The swords all struck her, but they were absorbed into her body, doing absolute nothing to damage her. Homura grit her teeth. "Curses…!" Blair then swung her tail towards Homura, but she was able to block it. That didn't stop her from tumbling across the ground violently. "Ngh…!"
"AAAAAH!" Blair let out another roar, and soon numerous black and green swords appeared all around her. She ate Homura's attack and now prepared to regurgitate it back at everyone.
"I forgot she could do that…!" Homura grunted.
"Here it comes!" Jinn warned, grabbing Laguna's body as the rain of swords began to fall down towards them. Weisz and Homura had to deflect and destroy these blades for their own safety, while Jinn tried to dodge them, "Nothing we're doing is working! We can't even attack her!"
"Ahahahaha!" That laugh came from an unfamiliar voice to Rebecca. It was Vanessa Viscard. She laughed loudly, taking a seat on a floating chair while watching the chaos down below. "This is the power of the Therion, Eden's Zero! All of my research has gone into this. This planet will soon be consumed by her power…and then I'll take it all for myself!"
"I gotta go!" The blue armored boy said before suddenly flying off. He zipped forward, his left arm charging an abundance of Ether. "Megabuster!" He took aim at Vanessa and fired a large sphere of ether towards the woman. But the ether just phased right through her. "No way…! That's getting really annoying…!"
"I already told you, you don't have the means to touch me." Vanessa snickered. "Besides, I'm not the one you should be worried about." She pointed behind the boy, where Blair pounced on both Weisz and Homura, having them pinned down.
"No!" The boy started to fly towards Blair, but numerous spikes launched from her back to keep him at bay.
"I have to go there." Shiki told Rebecca.
"Shiki, wait…!" But it was too late. Shiki was already getting involved. He couldn't stand and watch this anymore. The situation was rapidly getting out of control and he had to do SOMETHING. In a panic, Rebecca turned to Noah. "You have to tell me what's happening here…! Why is Blair like this? Where are we!?"
Noah nodded slowly. "This is the planet Mercurius. Your crew came here in search of the Black Moon Star…as did another. I don't know what made your friend turn into that monster, but I do know one thing. From what I have witnessed with Heaven's Eye, you cannot escape this moment in time. You will always arrive here, on this planet…and face this scenario."
"What!?" Rebecca shook her head. "Blair's always going to end up like this? We can't avoid this?!"
"GAAAH!" Weisz, Homura, and Shiki were all thrown back violently by Blair's rampage. There was nothing they could do against her power, while Vanessa just stood and watched eagerly.
"Are you guys okay?" The blue armored boy asked. It was a foolish question. The longer they came into contact with Blair, the more of their life and ether she sucked away from them. This was a battle that was continuing to snowball downhill.
"I feel…quite tired…" Homura said while closing one eye.
"Don't close your eyes." Jinn said while looking up at the cloudy sky. The dark clouds were so thick, he couldn't see anything. "Sister! Hermit! What's going on up there?! We have to go…!" There was no response at first…but then…
"Oh, worried about your ship, are you? Allow me to show you what's happening." Vanessa snapped her fingers and the dark clouds overhead vanished. It showed the Eden's Zero completely surrounded by the Galactic Fleet. "Don't worry. My friends are taking good care of those on board." Just then, a transmission came in through Hubert, X, and Marshall. She displayed the screen for all of them to see.
"We have successfully boarded and overtaken the Eden's Zero. The Black Moon Star they possess is in our custody. With the one Alexei has in hand…that makes all of them." Hubert reported. He had a shut down Pino and Happy in his hands. "I don't know what these are for, but they could have been trouble, so I deactivated them."
"Let me go!" Kleene was on the ship, struggling to move from X's grip.
"Stop fighting or I'll hand you over to Marshall." X said. "Although it looks like his hands are full already."
"Who would've thought this ship had such good looking androids." Marshall said while holding Hermit and Sister over his shoulders. They were both damaged heavily and unable to fight back, but their bodies were mostly intact. "I'm gonna have fun with these two." His eyes were pink; Lust completely took over.
"You…bastard…" Sister tried to weakly attack Marshall, but she was just in no condition to do so. "Don't touch Hermit…"
"There was some fat chick here who tried to get in our way, but I took care of her." X said, her Demon Blade dripping with blood. "She couldn't put up a fight at all. Thank goodness, because I didn't feel like dealing with that."
Jinn's jaw dropped. "No…"
"This can't be…" Shiki clenched his hand into a fist. The first thing he thought to do was launch himself towards the Eden's Zero, but he was smacked down by Blair. "Agh!" It didn't help that he was already wounded from some kind of encounter. Shiki was struggling to move. "Ngh…"
Alexei slowly walked forward, holding a shard of the Black Moon Star. He took a passing glance at the battle taking place before continuing to walk. "Finish up here. We don't have time to dawdle."
Vanessa sighed. "Fine…Hubert, help me detain Blair and finish these pests off."
"Of course." On that cue, multiple Knight Gear dropped from the sky, surrounding Blair and the crew of the Eden's Zero. "Wait a moment…there is starship rapidly approaching the atmosphere. Who is this…?"
Rebecca's eyes were wide in horror. This couldn't be happening. "W-What is this…who are these people…!?"
"They're the….." Noah's voice was starting to fade in and out. That meant Rebecca was losing her connection to this timeline. "Rebecca. Whatever happens, you must find a way to overcome this situation. You will always wind up at this point in time. The only event that will play out the same is Blair's frenzy….and the confrontation with these enemies. You have to avoid this future no matter what."
"But how…!?" Rebecca didn't know what to do. Everything was happening so quickly. She could also feel her eyes growing heavy. Everything was fading, but her gaze was fixated on Blair, who was desperately fighting against the numerous Knight Gear that tried to pin her down.
"Rebecca! Rebecca…!"
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"REBECCA!"
"Ah!?" Rebecca shot awake, looking around frantically. She was…on a bed? She stared up at Blair, still in a bit of a panic. "W-What happened? Blair!? You're okay…!"
"What the hell were you doing, waking me up in the middle of the night like that?" Blair glared at Rebecca. "I almost ate you out of instinct!"
"S-Sorry…" Rebecca rubbed her arm sheepishly as she sat up. "You sounded like you were having a nightmare. I heard you from my room, too."
"…" Blair glanced away. "…Look, just don't do that again, okay? I can't be held responsible for what I do on instinct." Blair rubbed her bandaged arm. "And I'm sure as hell not taking blame for it either."
"R-Right…" Rebecca couldn't look at Blair the same after what she saw. There was so much she didn't understand thrown at her at once. She stood up. "Goodnight." She then exited Blair's room.
"…." Blair just sighed. "…her Ether tasted weird."
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Rebecca had a lot to think about. She decided to go to the bridge where Hermit was. "…You're still awake…?"
"I can ask the same of you. I'm almost done, though. I should have our next destination panned out when everyone wakes up." Hermit looked back, noticing that Rebecca was a little out of sorts. "Are you okay?"
"I had…another Cat Leaper experience." Rebecca said. "It was a little hard to process it all at once. I don't even know where to begin. But can you do me a favor? Can you look up the planet Mercurius? I want to see where it is."
"Mercurius?" Hermit repeated. "Sure. Give me a sec."
Rebecca nodded and tapped her foot. She was still thinking about what she saw… "…."
"…Are you sure it was called Mercurius?" Hermit asked.
"Yeah. That's what I was told." Rebecca replied.
"Well…I don't know to tell you this. But the planet Mercurius doesn't exist." Hermit said with a pensive look.
"What…!?" Rebecca's eyes went wide. "But that….!" It didn't make any sense!
Blair was keeping her presence hidden. She was listening to Hermit and Rebecca talk. The conclusion that Hermit drew didn't surprise her at all. She just sighed and started to walk back to her room. "…Of course it doesn't…"
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The Midi Orbital Gate was completely destroyed. The entire defensive structure of the planet was obliterated by the Galactic Fleet, which suffered minimal loss. What used to be a defensive space station was nothing more than space debris, akin to that of an asteroid field. Alexei held a piece of the Black Moon Star in his hand, staring at it intently. Finally...the power to change the universe was in his hand. This was only the beginning. "One piece down. Four more to go."