Book I Finale
Chapter IX
"Yes, hello, I need to retrieve my blade's personal journal," I said to the lady attending the large library on the first floor of the BCCHQ.
"So you will be registering your blade with us today?" she asked condescendingly.
"I guess? I don't know, I'm from Leftheria and was told this was the place to go."
"Ah, I see. Let me see your blade's core crystal," she demanded.
I moved out of the way so that Mythra could move her cloak out of the way, revealing her emerald core crystal.
She looked at me skeptically. "This isn't a funny prank."
"Prank?" I asked. "Her name is Mythra."
"Haha very funny," she said sarcastically. "The emerald crystal is the 'sign of the Aegis'. I know all that malarkey."
Mythra pulled her sword and lit it aflame for all to see as the attendant immediately jumped back out of surprise. Mythra then returned the sword to its hilt.
Startled, the woman quickly regained her poise as she spoke into an intercom. "We have a blade here of immense power demanding her journal, the journal code is MYT-AEG-123 and will need to be brought immediately. Please also ready the nullifier."
"Nullifier?" Mythra and I asked simultaneously.
"In order for you to have legal possession of this blade, it will need to be limited in power. We have a device that will cause this blade to look just like any other common blade and limit its power. This will make it safe and prevent unnecessary attention."
"Mythra is a she, and what do you say Mythra?" I asked, turning to her.
"Is it reversible? Like if I left New Torna and back into territory crawling with monsters?" Mythra asked.
"You will revert upon the death of your driver, when you return to your core crystal. There are no monsters that can't be taken care of by our police force."
"Well if we're just trying to get your memories back, surely there can't be that much harm?" I asked with uncertainty.
"We cannot give you 'her' journal unless she undergoes this process," the girl stated.
"I leave it to you Mythra," I concluded.
She thought for a moment before whispering to me. "When I come out, ask me about events that happened right before we walked in here. Make sure it's actually me and they're not trying something."
"Understood."
Mythra then nodded as she disappeared into the back behind a large, metal employee-only door and I was brought her journal.
I looked at the cover, it was interesting. The cover was black with gold bits all over it. It has a multicolored flame design in the middle, and at the very center was an artistic pattern. It looked really beautiful, but didn't seem like something Mythra would've used. I didn't know her well, but I felt she'd pick more white and gold than black and blue.
Out of curiosity, I opened to the beginning. It started talking about events that took place a thousand years back, but it didn't seem like something Mythra would write. The writing was such a delicate cursive and definitely written in a way that displayed curtesy and properness, something that I didn't think Mythra would've comprehended on this level. And it didn't help that the journal started with "My name is Brighid..."
After about thirty minutes, a lady came forward and brought out a female blade. I hadn't seen a common blade before, but she looked very mechanical. A metal gray color, with glowing blue eyes and her weapon was a katana. Something struck me as off.
"Hello... Mythra. How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Much better now. Carrying that much power all the time is so burdening," she responded. She even sounded just like Mythra.
"So do you remember what we were talking about before we got in here?" I questioned.
"You called me your girlfriend you dumbass," she laughed.
This was unsettlingly accurate.
"So who wrote this journal?"
"I did, every word!" she said proudly.
https/youtu.be/anuAekXi13M
I stood silently before I drew my gun and shot an earth-type bullet through the employee-only door and stormed in, drawing my sword and setting it ablaze.
The woman who was helping me originally jumped in surprise. I pointed my flaming sword to her neck.
"Where is she?"
"I... have no idea what you're talking about!"
she said, as she tried to hit a security switch.
Immediately I shot the switch, causing her to draw her hand back and scream. I grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up before waving my gun in her face.
"I'm not asking again. Where. Is. Mythra?" I yelled.
She struggled before finally bending. "She's in the back, third door on the left. They're trying to ship her out as we speak. P-Please don't kill me!"
I saw the fear in her eyes and I dropped her, hugged her, as I felt bad because I knew she had just been doing her job, and then I ran off as quickly as possible.
I counted the doors before seeing a few grown men run out rolling a hospital bed covered in a sheet. I immediately shot all four of them in their legs and pulled it back to find Mythra passed out.
"What did you do to her?!" I yelled.
"She'll be awake in a few hours!" one of them yelled out in pain.
I looked at her and touched her core crystal and a hopeful attempt that she'd wake up. Fortunately she did.
She jumped up and pulled her sword angrily.
"Mythra, I'm right here, you're safe now," I said in an effort to calm her.
She breathed deeply. "They uploaded my memories into another blade before forcing it to resonate. How did you know it wasn't me?"
I help up her journal. "Did you write this?"
"I'm not sure, I'd have to read through it."
"That's why," I explained. "The common blade said she'd written every word, but I knew you didn't have complete memories, so you wouldn't have been able to say that definitely without having checked yourself."
"So... my broken memories just saved my tail?"
"Appears so," I laughed.
Before we could get our heads straight, a loud alarm went off, and we quickly realized we didn't have long.
Immediately the doors and windows were shut with metal security doors.
"We gotta get up a few floors and fast," she said as we quickly ran up to an elevator.
"Shit! It requires some sort of card thing!" I realized.
Before we could decide what to do next, the elevator opened and an employee walked right by us.
She jumped in the elevator, but the only button we were allowed to hit was floor fifty.
"I don't like this," I cautioned.
"Well let's see what we're up against then,"
Mythra challenged as she hit the button.
The elevator rushed up, it has a large glass window, and through it, we could see all of New Torna as we ascended above it. Off into the distance I could see four statues. Two were little girls, one had long hair and looked familiar, but the other has short hair and a beret. One was of a tall woman, holding two odd looking swords, and the last was a short-haired man.
"Do you recognize any of those statues?" I asked Mythra.
"The small girl in the beret and the tall woman. I can't remember either of their names though...," Mythra said as she started reading the journal.
Her eyes grew wide as she looked within. "Brighid! The tall woman's name is Brighid! But why do I know that...?"
"Do you remember any of your previous drivers?" I questioned.
She nodded. "I remember Rex, and how I felt about him. But any others would be a mystery."
"So neither Addam nor Waylon, huh?" I questioned further.
She shook her head.
"That's weird, Waylon was her driver after Rex, why would she remember Rex and not Waylon?" I thought to myself, however my thoughts were interrupted when the elevator came to a stop and we walked out.
"Where are we now?" Mythra asked before something else caught my eye.
"Colonel Acacia?" I said in surprise at seeing a familiar face in the middle of this mostly-empty room.
"Ah yes, you were the boy from Elpys. You're right on time," she responded simply.
I pulled my sword and it immediately lit aflame. "We don't want trouble. How do we get out of here?"
"The only way out of here is through me. Defeat me and the exit is through the hallway behind me. Think you're up to the task boy?"
https/youtu.be/q-ZWPt9Ht44
"Don't you know who I am? I doubt you have what it takes to beat us," Mythra snarked.
"I guess there's only one way to find out, huh?" Acacia said threateningly.
"I suppose so," I said, readying my blade.
Mythra drew her blade. "You can still run... if you want."
Acacia smiled as she got pumped up. "Not a chance."
She pulled out her sub machine gun and let loose a large amount of earth bullets. Mythra blocked them by summoning her ether shield.
"Look, we don't have to kill her, we just need to get her out of the way!" Mythra told me.
"Right, let's do this!" I said before rushing her.
She pulled her short sword and we parried a few times before she kicked me back. Mythra lunged in behind me, and despite the obvious weight difference between Acacia's and Mythra's swords, Mythra still swung her sword faster, knocking Acacia back.
"Just give up now!" Mythra offered.
"Don't assume you have me so easily beat!" Acacia said as she pulled a container-looking device off of her belt, pulled the pin on it, and threw it at Mythra.
Mythra ducked underneath as it flew above her face, and I blew up right in front of her. However, the device did no damage.
"Was that a dud?" I asked in confusion.
"Was it?" Acacia answered with another question.
"Silas I can't see!" Mythra yelled as she regained her footing. "Whatever that thing did disabled my sight!"
Acacia immediately threw a new clip into her gun. "Let's see you fight without your precious blade."
I immediately jumped behind Mythra as Acacia fired a round at me.
"Mythra! Shield in front!" I commanded.
She threw up a shield and the fire bullets bounced off.
I pulled my pistol, which still had earth bullets in it from earlier, jumped out from behind Mythra and shot Acacia square in the leg.
The force blew her through the air and she landed flat one her face and went unconscious.
Mythra could finally see again, as the effects of the flash wore off.
"Nice shot," Mythra complemented, but I ignored it as I flipped Acacia over and ripped off the pant leg of where I shot her.
"What're you doing?!" Mythra asked in shock.
"This bullet could kill her if we leave it in, we need to extract it, luckily her pant leg was bullet resistant and it's not too deep, but I definitely broke her leg. Hand me those gloves by the sink."
Mythra looked around for the first time and realized that we were in a testing facility, it was decorated with lab coats, medical supplies, and surgical instruments. She grabbed a pair of rubber gloves and handed them to me. She also gave me a pair of forceps and I carefully pulled out the bullet.
"That's pretty impressive," Mythra commented.
"That means you know less about what I'm doing then I do, I probably ruptured something, I'm not an expert. At least now she won't die from lead poisoning though," I replied.
"More guards will be here any second, let's get a move on."
I nodded and we ran down the hall to find yet another elevator. We rushed in and saw that there was only one button lit yet again.
"B10...," I read.
"What does the 'B' mean?" Mythra questioned.
"How am I supposed to know? I learned what an elevator was yesterday," I laughed.
"Colonel!" some guards shouted in the distance.
"Well no use dwelling on it now, let's go!" Mythra said, hitting the button as the elevator began going down.
This elevator was inside the building this time, so there was no window or nice view to enjoy. Just an empty metal shell hurling us to an unknown location.
"I think I know what the 'B' means now," Mythra noted.
"What?"
She pointed at the monitor that displayed what floor we were on and I realized that we were below floor one.
"Basement!" we both said in unison.
The door opened and we walked out into a large room. Not just a large room, a massive room, it was easily a few hundred feet in diameter and another few hundred feet tall, it looked like some sort of high-tech arena, with large lights and metal walls and floors.
As we walked out, we stood face to face with the large man I had met back in Spirit Crucible Elpys, General Adonis.
"You're right on time boy. You're just in time to test my new weapon," he said threateningly.
https/youtu.be/hwebAhgpnxw
"Aegis Weapon Six Seven P, please reveal yourself," Adonis said simply.
"Of course, General," a female's voice said with a giggle as a woman in a cloak walked forward, throwing her cloak off.
"This is a weapon I have designed. It has the power of an Aegis and you will be the test subjects for it," he explained bluntly.
The woman wore bright red colors, had a green, cross-shaped core crystal, and short red hair with stunning red eyes. Her core crystal looked just like Mythra's...
"Did they design that core crystal based off of yours?" I asked Mythra.
"Looks like it, although she looks like a cheap knockoff more than anything," Mythra shot.
"My name is Pyra," the woman said. "Within myself is the power of an Aegis, something I'm sure you're familiar with, yes?"
"Maybe a little. I'm Silas, this is Mythra, the real Aegis," I responded.
"THAT's the Aegis? With what she's wearing? She looks like a slut, and not one you pay much money for at that."
Mythra growled at her.
Pyra giggled. "Oh and no manners either, what a shame. Probably one of those broken sex dolls that leaves all the men she sleeps with crying and confused."
"Enough," Mythra said as she pulled her sword.
"Quite," Pyra giggled again as she pulled her own sword. It was bright red and shot a blade of fire. It was reminiscent of Mythra's blade, but not quite the same.
Immediately they clashed. Pyra slashed a few times, but Mythra dodged it easily. Mythra retaliated with a few of her own attacks, and Pyra countered and parried. Each slice from Pyra's sword left a trail of fire, and Mythra's left bright light, when they collided, sparks and smoke would fly off.
Pyra went to slice Mythra's neck, but Mythra narrowly dodged by ducking backwards and landing on her hands. She then threw her legs up and kicked Pyra back onto the ground, knocking the sword out of Pyra's hand. Mythra also used the kick to launch herself back up before jumping once again, landing with her feet by Pyra's torso. She took her sword and went to drive it straight in her core crystal.
Pyra quickly caught the metal part of Mythra's Aegis sword and held it back before she lifted her legs and spun them around, forcing Mythra to jump off. Pyra quickly ran and grabbed her sword before they both collided intensely enough to send them both back to their drivers.
"Pyra, status report," General Adonis requested.
"She's a toughie. Even in this setting she's much faster than I am. Her driver on the other hand..."
"Affirmative," he responded before taking out his large automatic rifle, letting loose a well above-average fifty rounds per second.
Mythra casually walked in front me and sliced every bullet out of the air with her sword.
"Pull your sword Silas, don't hold back," Mythra said.
"Right," I responded, lighting my sword ablaze.
"No good, she's an artificial fire blade, use a water gem," Mythra instructed.
"Oh, yeah," I said, quickly changing gems. My sword was instantly covered in an aura of water, it looked very interesting, the water rushing around the blade, but now was hardly the time.
Adonis pulled his two-handed claymore, and it began to glow with a dark aura.
I went for Adonis, and Mythra returned to battle with Pyra.
At first I wasn't too worried, a big claymore like that would be impossible for him to use efficiently, but I soon realized I was sorely mistaken.
I took a swing and he parried it, and before I could swing again he was already halfway done with his next strike, I narrowly parried it. He had swung that sword much faster than Acacia had swung her one-handed sword. He slammed it into my blade, causing me to stagger backwards as I had to recover my balance.
"Mythra! Switch!" I yelled.
She seemed confused. "Right," she responded as we swapped targets, placing me on Pyra and her on Adonis.
I clashed against Pyra, who was much more manageable... or so I thought, she was still extremely fast, but with a lighter sword. The water element also seemed to help a bit.
"The hell are these two?" I heard Mythra yell out of frustration. Apparently even her speed wasn't fast enough.
"Out of your element dearie?" Pyra laughed.
"Out of your... was that a pun?" I asked in confusion.
Pyra winked before slamming her sword into mine, sending me flying backwards.
Mythra jumped backwards, landing next to me. "Yeah it was," Mythra explained. "I can't use my full power while in a building like this, otherwise I'll cave this whole place in. It also prevents me from drawing enough energy to move at my top speed. We're sitting ducks here, we gotta leave."
"Not to disagree, but where do you want to go, we're stuck under the ground!"
"Not quite, I noticed a skylight-type window on the other side of this arena, if I can grab you and jump through it, we should be able to get to the top floor easy."
"Why the top floor?"
"The rest are probably covered in guards."
"Fair point, but they'll never let us get close easily," I pointed out.
"Agreed, but I think you can piece together a distraction, don't you think?"
I loaded some light element bullets into my gun. "I might have an idea."
Mythra grabbed her sword and began dragging her sword around her in a circle as she began spinning rapidly and dragging her sword on the ground as Adonis and Pyra closed in, causing a large cloud of smoke to surface.
I shot the light bullet onto the ground, causing a large flash of light to erupt into the room, blinding both of them.
Mythra grabbed Pyra and slammed her into Adonis, causing both of them to fall as we both ran. As soon as we were below the window, Mythra shot a blade of light through, causing the glass to shadow.
"Let's go!" she commanded as she grabbed me tightly and used a light blast from her sword to launch us upwards. As we ascended, Mythra cut through the floors and continued to jump through them. She cut through them in a specific manner so that minimal rubble fell and the building's integrity wasn't compromised.
"Oh no you don't!" Pyra shouted as a ball of fire emerged from below her.
I looked down to see her rapidly flying upwards towards us, sword ready.
"Mythra! Grab my right hand and my ankle and keep going!" I said, throwing myself from her.
She used her legs to lock my foot into place and grabbed my right wrist as I dangled dangerously, drawing my sword and getting ready to clash.
Using one hand, I clashed against her, the water coming off my blade wasn't weakening her much, but it was just enough, as I quickly flicked my wrist and slammed my blade into her side, causing her to plummet back down. This also caused my blade to shatter.
"Shit!" I yelled.
The moment she hit the ground, she reignited and jumped towards us again, this time Adonis was with her.
"Mythra if you're gonna do something do it now!" I warned.
"Got it!" she said as we soared through the roof of the building. We looked down to see the giant city below us.
Pyra and Adonis landed on top of the building, waiting for us to come down.
Mythra concentrated as her core crystal, the green gem on the tiara in her head, and the green flower in her hair began glowing intensely. I then realized we weren't falling, she was floating in the air.
"Siren, do you read me?" she asked to no one as I watched in curiosity.
I turned and watched as a beam of light shot down from the sky, striking Adonis and Pyra directly and sending them tumbling down through the building. Mythra then grabbed me so that I was no longer dangling and she launched herself through the air well outside the city and we fell into large lake.
The impact caused her to black out and I was forced to carry her back. The only problem was that I didn't know how to swim and had an intense fear of deep water.
I started thrashing about, somehow making it to dry land while dragging Mythra behind me. It was a good thing blade's didn't require oxygen, or else she'd have drowned. I probably also kicked her a few times in my desperate attempt at movement.
Mythra soon stirred and shot up.
"Did we survive?" she asked quickly.
"I think so?" I answered with uncertainty.
She immediately punched me in the side.
"Ow?!"
"That's a yes then," she laughed. "You weren't half bad there, kiddo."
"Yeah whatever at least we got your journal," I responded.
"Let's get back to Leftheria, I imagine they'll be sending people after the stunt we just pulled."
"We can't go by train, there's only one railway to get there," I pointed out.
"Yeah but we could always use a titan ship!" she suggested.
"Have you even seen any titans capable of flight since you woke up?"
"Now that you mention it..."
"Well let's just go see what we can find."
"I want you to know that it's your fault they got away. Why can't you do anything right you stupid bitch?!" a voice said before I heard a large smacking sound and something hit the floor.
I stirred awake. Where was I?
The door opened and General Adonis, Lieutenant Uzuki, and Pyra walked through.
General Adonis seemed angry, my sister seemed cheery as always, and Pyra looked like she was about to cry.
"Colonel Acacia, are you alright?" General Adonis asked.
"I've been hit harder...," I stated. "You have my apologies for not succeeding to subdue the criminals."
My sister gave me a shit-eating grin, I chose to ignore it.
"You were neither prepared nor expected to succeed. Not with the arsenal I provided you. I simply needed you to fight them to gain data for Pyra and you're new weapon that I designed for you to use," he explained.
"New weapon?"
"The perpetrators will either head to the Kingdom of Tantal or the Leftherian Archipelago. Lieutenant Uzuki, get yourself prepared with yellow traps and plenty of ammo, then station yourself in Theosoir, Tantal. Colonel Acacia, the nanobots should finish healing you in the next hour. See me in the briefing hangar for your new weapon."
"What is the weapon called?"
He laughed. "It's a Kosmos Obey Strategical Multiple Operation System, abbreviated and designated, KOS-MOS."
Readability Level: 11th-12th Grade
Time Taken: 7 Hours
Please do not use without permission. All artwork is not mine and credit goes to the artist.