"Tell me your name, Exorcist," Tyki said.
She winked at him. "Its Star Johannes, beautiful. I already know your name, Tyki Mikk. Now don't make me break that pretty face."
"Tyki-pon," said Earl.
"Lord Millennium, I've asked you not to call me that," Tyki said.
The Earl laughed indulgently. "I'll go first after all," he said. He aimed a sweeping, wide-range dark matter blast at the Order's team. Star had to turn her eyes away from the sharp, bright violet light.
"Miranda!" Lenalee called.
"I don't think I can get the shield up in time!" Miranda cried. Her hands shook and tightened on the Time Record as she tried frantically to raise enough power to protect everyone.
Shouts sounded as the attack struck ground in the ravine, breaking the rock under their feet.
As the dust and debris cleared, the Millennium Earl stared down at the destruction, trying to gauge the effects of his handiwork. Something translucent and red flashed below.
"There she is," the Earl said.
Standing legs braced apart and hands out, Star's red and gold shield was seen briefly around Miranda's green Time Out and the Order team before vanishing.
With a third of her armor destroyed and unable to manifest itself at her current power level, Star lowered her raised arms. Her legs shooks so badly she fell to her knees. She and Miranda collapsed to the shattered ground, teammates gathering around them.
Allen knelt beside Miranda and helped her into a sitting position while Lenalee helped Star.
"Star, you can create a shield, too. How did you help Miranda protect us like that?"
"I told you," Star croaked, "I can manifest weapons and other things made of Innocence by forcing my Innocence emanate from inside my body. So I can create barriers the same way… but they last for even less time than Miranda's Time Out. And this," she drew a ragged breath, "is the price." Star huddled inside her uniform, shrunken and barely able to move.
Angry and worried, Mahoja chastised her, uncaring if the others heard at this point.
"You're not invincible, Star so stop acting like your life doesn't matter! Even for the Exiled Ones of the Bookman Clan, some rules still apply to us! We still die, albeit under specific circumstances."
"But…" Star started to speak but her body floated up and then away from Lenalee, Jump, and Mahoja, moving on it's own.
"Star!" Jump and Mahoja rushed to their feet chased after her as she was propelled away from them by an invisible force.
"I can't move!" she cried.
Out of the reach of her friends near the foot of the Earl's cliff, Star slammed into the ground. There was a bending in her bones as if her limbs were threatening to break but it stopped a second later.
"That move just now should've broken your legs and arms," Sheril said, eyebrow raised. He was sitting on a rock on the Earl's left side, legs crossed.
Lifting her head though she was shaking and terribly weakened, Star mustered up some indignation and shook her fist at him.
She griped noisily, "You really just tried to kill me, didn't you Sheril Kamelot! How dare you!"
"Not exactly," Sheril said casually, "just incapacitate you. To resist the power of Noah's Desires… What are you exactly?"
Coolly, Star said, "The best you can do is temporarily immobilize me, Desires. You may be able to effect me somewhat but otherwise your power holds no real sway over me."
"Whatever she is, it looks like she's still got some spunk," said Tyki, approaching the Noah, walking across the night sky.
"I agree." To Star, the Earl said, "That's a powerful shielding ability you used there but it sure has a dire price."
"Let's see if she can do it again, Lord Millennium," Wisely said glibly.
"Let's," grinned the Earl delightedly.
The Earl aimed blasts of dark matter at the Exorcists from both hands.
"NO!" With the last of her strength, Star threw another shield around Krory, Lenalee, Allen, Lavi, Bookman, Kanda, Mahoja, and Jump.
Pretty good for someone who's about to pass out if I do say so myself, she thought. Out of power, her face dropped into the dirt. Her armor vanished, leaving her dressed only in her battered uniform.
"Go Gaia!" Mahoja said over the roar of the attack coming at them.
In a flash of gold, Gaia rushed to Star's side. She transformed into the form of a golden African goddess. Clothed in a gold and rainbow-colored peplos-like wrap, Gaia raised it's rainbow-feathered wings. A gilded shield rose around Star, protecting her from the dark matter blast. But, under the extreme violence and pressure of the Earl's attack, Gaia shattered into pieces.
In the aftermath, the Exorcist lay saved (thanks to Star's shield) but barely conscious on the broken ground. Those who were just barely conscious watched as Mercym leapt down from cliff. He came to stand over Star's unmoving form.
"Bring her. We're taking her back to the Ark," said the Millennium, Earl as he opened a gate behind them.
Mercym bent and picked Star up, tucking her against him with his arm around her waist.
"Let me go…" She hung like a rag doll in Mercym's grip. Damn it, I can barely lift my head…
A few yards away, Mahoja was trying to stay conscious, watching the Noah walk away with Star. She whispered, "Gaia…please…"
Gaia reformed from shattered bits and pieces into her golem form. Shaking out her wings, she zipped in a flash underneath Star's loose jacket.
Author's Note:
Gaia can transform her body. However, if she is destroyed while in an altered form she cannot resume another form until she fully regenerates. Gaia looks like Mahoja in her solid gold goddess form only with very long locs with gold and rainbow wings and clothes.