Ch. 42 Ultra Violet
Darkness envelops the area, people still alive scream in terror, and Saori smiles as she has awakened something she has wanted to see, a perfect inversion of a Spirit Child. The darkness fades and the sounds of a sword dropping can be heard. Aki stands where he was and is wearing a new outfit consisting of thing armor around his chest that resembles deep dark purple vest with a leather-like texture, dark purple pants with glowing purple lines adorning it with greaves that resemble the claws of a beast and are much like his pants with dark color with glowing lines. He has dark gauntlets with spikes on the forearms and covers his hands completely; a torn cloth fauld at his left side with a strange symbol on it that resembles a sword, a necklace with a black gem adorns his neck and a pair of earrings that resembles the lines on his pants and greaves. His eyes appear empty now as he looks around the area without saying anything.
He begins walking around and looks at the dead bodies around him and actually starts inspecting them much like a child exploring his surroundings. Saori just watches. He then looks at the people around that are still alive as they panic as he approaches. They cower and run away, as Aki sees this, he says in his normal voice.
"Those humans are of no threat to me."
He ignores them and then notices the twins are still here as they can't run away. Aki is curious about them as he approaches, kneels down and asks.
"Why are you both not fleeing like those other humans?"
Sora swallows some spit and asks in worried tone.
"Aki, is that you?"
Aki looks confused, points at himself as he asks.
"Is that my name Aki?"
Kenji stands up and adds.
"Question, you met us just a bit ago here in this area, don't you remember?"
Aki shakes his head and then he notices Saori. He walks up to her and asks her.
"You are like me, where am I?"
Saori smiles as she disappears after saying.
"Not where you're wanted."
Saori fades into a shadow leaving Aki alone with the twins. He turns to them and asks again.
"Where am I?"
The twins don't know how to handle this as he just has this aura around him that makes them afraid. Eventually, they can't handle this anymore and attempt to run away, but Aki teleports in front of Sora and picks her up by the collar causing her to stop breathing from the force. Kenji runs up to Aki and shakes his arm as he tells him.
"Let her go!"
Aki then smacks Kenji with his free arm and sends him slamming into a tree. Aki looks at Sora, and then states.
"You seem like a person of interest to me. I shall take you with me to find where I need to go."
Aki's chocking causes Sora to pass out, but he puts her down and opens a shadow like the one Saori disappeared into as holds her under his arm and walks through the shadow with her. Kenji is coughing up some blood and his a couple of his ribs are shattered as he falls to his knees.
Aboard the ship, Hiro has seen everything as he contacts Mana and tells her what he saw. She listens and she replies.
"Got it, I'll go and help that boy."
She then races to the location. Minutes later, she arrives and sees Kenji trying to walk, but he can't. Mana grabs him before he can fall over and helps him up. She then asks Hiro.
"I got him, so where should I take him?"
She asks because Hiro seems like he has a plan as he explains.
"I'm going to gather the others, and we can't take any chances of leaving someone on the ground."
Tohka and Akane have just finished off the enemies without really breaking a single sweat and have plenty of energy to spare. Tohka wishes to race to Aki to see if he's okay, unaware that he is gone. She attempts to warp towards his location with her power, but she can't. She still has Sandalphon and her partial dress, but she can't summon any more power. Concerned, Akane is about to say something, but she interrupted by a communication from Hiro as he tells her that he has big news for everyone.
About a half hour later, everyone is back on the ship, the Oa has vanished from most likely turning invisible, the streets are calm, and Kenji is lying down as he passed out from his injury. Tohka is worried since Shido and Aki are both missing, but Hiro tells her, and everyone.
"I've reviewed the footage, but some of it is blurry. But Shido, Kurumi, and Aki are gone."
Tohka's eyes widen as watches the footage in horror. Everyone in the group is horrified by the video as they witness Saori's cruelty, Kurumi fleeing with Shido, and Aki's inversion. Mana, Kotori, and Akane are the most furious, Tohka is too horrified to really do anything, and Ellen and Hiro clench their hands into fists. Shiori is with Miyuki in the latter's room because Shiori has come back to reality and is checking on the younger Spirit Child.
Moreover, Akane approaches the screen and looks at Inverse Aki as he disappears and wonders.
"I wonder how he was able to achieve this form."
Akane scratches her chin and then Mana mentions.
"I found this near the area."
She presents the sword Aki stabbed himself with. The sword called Azael, but it has lost all of its power and it just a plain piece of steel. Akane looks at it as she does remember it from when he partially inversed. Akane sighs and explains something she has been observing since the start.
"Everyone, I've been reviewing our footage, and I'd like to explain what I think is happening."
Since she met another Spirit Child, Akane has wondered about all the mechanics to it as she has noticed differences in power. She gathers everyone and pulls up a screen that she's been working on in her spare time. It is pictures of the other Spirit Children in their human and Spirit forms and she explains.
"Since the start, I've noticed the difference in our power levels between Spirit Children. I hypothesize that each of us has a different percentage of Spirit mana from our mother's. Let's use the usual 100% as the place holder. I've placed the number for myself at around 30-45% because my Spirit Form originally lacked a weapon until my guardian summoned one for herself. Now I think that a Spirit Child has to have a minimum of 30% to transform based on what I noticed during our time in Miku's timeline, the one Shiori is from. I found it odd that she couldn't awaken her powers despite the amount of emotional flux she was feeling from her friend's death and subsequent attack. When her baby brother glowed, I believe he transferred his mana to her and it caused the transformation. I'm thinking that Shiori, before that point, had about 29% or less and couldn't achieve her Spirit form and now has more than 30%. Miyuki is unbelievably strong, and I think she has more than 60%, but I'm not sure. Saori is who really worries me, as she can summon her mother's angel, Zafkiel and must have at least 80% or more. I think 80% or even a tiny bit less is the amount needed to do this. The guardian mechanic is something is still uncertain of since all of us, except Shiori who has two and Miyuki with none, have a single guardian. But inversing is something I'm not sure of."
The other's are mostly fine this explanation as Akane has the most reasons to be curious about Spirit Children as she is one, and Hiro wishes to learn about them himself. But he suggests something.
"I want to take that young man home to his parents."
Kenji is still resting and he should be taken home. Tohka has to stay on the ship for this as she is still combat ready to an extent. She's also anxious to get to looking for Shido and Aki. Hiro is still injured, but he insists on going, so he will be accompanied by Mana and Kotori since the latter will be sort of a buffer in case things get complicated and Ellen will be the one to monitor from the ship with Akane as they search for Miya and the Oa. With Kenji and Sora unable to transform and with Sora missing, Miya has to be the one they're looking for.
They find the address by hacking into Raizen's school records and they notice Kenji and Sora's mother is listed under the name Yamai rather than Yuzuru or Kaguya.
Tohka remains on the ship as she is with Ellen and Akane as they look through the monitors for Miya or the Oa. Tohka simply says to herself out of guilt.
"If I had only looked for him still, and didn't…."
Ellen tells Tohka upon looking at her.
"Tohka, that wasn't your fault and it wasn't Shido's fault either. Saori is behind this, and I'm not going to let her go unpunished either.
Akane agrees as she adds.
"We'll find them, Tohka. I promise we'll find them."
Tohka nods and regains her confidence and is actually really starting to like this older Ellen. In Miyuki's room, Shiori is talking with the young child as she continues to draw with her crayons. She is drawing a snowman with bunny ears and a big smile and it cheers Shiori up. Yoshinon looks at Miyuki and says.
"Hey, I want to draw something next."
Miyuki wags her finger and Yoshinon and replies.
"That's not how we ask, Yoshinon."
Yoshinon gives a little puppet sigh and then rephrases.
"Fine, can I PLEASE draw something next, Miyuki?"
Miyuki hands the crayons to Yoshinon and this act makes Shiori laugh a little. Shiori then starts rubbing Miyuki's head and simply says.
"I'm glad that you're around, Miyuki. You're just a like seeing a winter snow for the first time."
Miyuki blushes as Yoshinon continues her drawing and Miyuki's power starts to leak out a little as she instinctively makes a small ice sculpture the size of a small toy in the shape of Shiori holding her guitar. She looks at and Miyuki says.
"For you."
Shiori loves this little gift and hugs Miyuki a little. She is still behind on the events, but she is at least feeling a lot better about everything else now.
Down in the city below, Hiro is walking fine despite his bad injuries and his bandages are well hidden under his clothes and he wears a band over his new eye to appear less strange. As they walk, they see AST forces flying through the sky and Hiro actually does recognize one of the members as she was a member of his squad during the war. He ignores this and continues to the address with Kenji being carried by Mana. Because Aki didn't activate a spacial quake, the city is more or less ignorant to what happened, but sirens can be heard in the distance.
Mana and Kotori are both worried as Hiro seemed a little too insistent on going. They soon come to a rather large home in a suburb area that looks big enough for a bigger family, but not a mansion. Hiro is the first to approach the door, but he is hesitant. He puts his hand towards the door, and slowly he presses on the doorbell.
In another area of the city in an undisclosed area, a person is telling someone.
"I understand this isn't fun, but this is your mission."
The group is in disarray despite their appearances. Shido is missing, Aki has vanished, and Kurumi has left with Shido to another time. They aren't exceptionally worried for Shido as Kurumi will most likely protect him in this regard.