The Witch of the Neuroi
Chapter 13: On the Dark side of the Moon (Flashback Arc Part 3)
"I keep hearing the king... who is he anyway?" Erica asked.
"Oh! Right... The purple king, Zeta..." Yoshika said. "He is a mad person... beyond insane..."
"What?" Perrine asked, not understanding.
"He... is addicted to power... so he strives to enslave all of universe." Yoshika explained.
"He thinks than he is an ultimate being and people under him deserve the highest." Yoshika explained further.
"He thinks that he is a god?" Trude asked.
"You could say that too." Yoshika replied. "Also, the king and queen… those are just names. They don't mean that the two of 'em are married like kings and queens on Earth."
"So what's the meaning?" Minna asked.
"They refer to the strongest person male as a king and a female as a queen."
"Right... I still don't get the difference between a male and female Neuroi." Ursula said.
"It's kind of hard to know at first sight." Yoshika replied.
"How do you know?" Luchinni asked.
"Hmmm... I guess males are much bulkier with a thick armor while females are much smaller but faster."
"So what happens next?" Trude asked.
"Right... where was I... they came faster than we can detect them..."
Flashback Resume
BOOOOOOOOM!
A big beam fired at the hive causing a big explosion as it hits the armor.
Startled, everyone went into a state of panic.
Some were slightly panicked, but the others were heavily panicked.
Emergency siren was called as all personnel rushed out.
I too flew with Tyr out.
To my surprise, there are Neuroi hives that are attacking us and they were purple.
"That's..." I mumbled at the sight.
"Kid... That's the king's forces." Tyr said grimly.
BOOOOM!
Another explosion rang as the battle began.
Beams were being fired everywhere in all directions.
The scenery was dyed in red and purple.
The sounds of shattering bodies can be heard.
Both sides are losing people.
The hives then start producing new Neuroi to replace them.
Flashback Pause
"Replace?" Mio asked.
"Ah... Neuroi Cores are connected to their sources... the hive." Yoshika explained. "They have a reincarnation system... as long as they are not destroyed too fast or damaged too badly, they can reform in the hive to be dispatched once more."
"So we are fighting an endless battle?" Trude asked.
"Not really... sometimes by a small percentage, the destroyed Neuroi Core couldn't be reformed." Yoshika answered.
"So?" Perrine asked.
"We are getting destroyed slowly unless there are reinforcements." Yoshika clarified. "Now with the story..."
Flashback Resume
As the battles intensify, Tyr and Yoshika, along with a few dozen of their own Neuroi tried to do a rear attack.
At least try to destroy a hive as Tyr said.
It could even the battle.
But as they came closer, the hive's defense system kicks in.
Some of the attacking Neuroi also returned to defend the hive.
Yoshika evaded some beams but some more came.
Tyr too did the same.
"What should I do?" Yoshika shouted in the confusion.
"Do as usual kid! Don't panic!" Tyr shouted back as he fired beams towards the incoming forces.
The group sent beams firing towards the enemy.
Once in a while a party would lose a person.
Tyr and Yoshika however, attacked with such precision that they are actually succeeding to scatter the defense forces leaving the enemy hive vulnerable.
"NOW! Everyone, ATTACK!" Tyr ordered.
Everyone fires their beams at the hive.
Explosions can be heard across the moon surface as the barrage of beams hit the hive.
But to no avail...
The hive fires back in retaliation.
Thousands of purple beams fill the dark space.
Half of the attacking forces were destroyed.
Remnants of the defense forces too were decimated.
Yoshika, with her small body, evaded all of them, but Tyr lost a wing.
"Tyr!" Yoshika shouted.
"Don't worry 'bout me, kid! Here comes another one!" He said as he regenerates and the hive fires again.
Another barrage passes by.
Yoshika turned her body hard to dodge the attack.
At that moment she saw the battlefront not so far.
Our hives were under heavy fire.
Even though its attack brought down hundreds of enemies, a thousand more came to replace them.
'This battle is too one-sided.' Yoshika thought.
I looked at our forces.
Out of the number of people we had, we now only had around a dozen.
We couldn't continue attacking.
"Everyone retreat! Ask for reinforcements from earth!" Yoshika shouted.
The Neuroi that heard that fall silent.
"The kid's right! We can't force it! Come on! Skip with it!" Tyr shouted.
"But..." One of them tried to say.
"We'll hold them off!" He said interrupting them.
I was stunned for a moment.
I didn't think he'll actually approve of it.
The Neuroi then flew back to the hive.
And now me and him will cover their retreat.
"It's coming!" Tyr shouted as he starts maneuvering to evade.
I however did not move.
"Hey kid!" Tyr shouted.
'Those retreating could be hit if I evade...' I thought.
So I'll protect them.
I raised my hands in front of me.
'I hope I didn't get rusty…' I hoped to myself.
I focused my magic to create a shield.
A shield did form but to my surprise, it is black and there was no insignia.
'What is this…?' I thought for a moment but was brought back to reality as a barrage of beams hit the shield.
"Ugh..." I said while straining myself to hold the shield.
It seems that a huge margin of the attacks were deflected by my new shield.
"Not bad, kid." Tyr said at my side.
"Why not use it from just now?" He asked.
"Never thought it up till now." I said back tiredly.
"Incoming!" He shouted.
I looked back and saw that the retreating Neuroi were all out of range.
So I evaded the beams.
"Let's attack!" I shouted.
"Sure." Tyr replied.
We maneuvered through the incoming lasers.
It got harder as we got closer to the enemy hive.
We aimed at the same position.
A part of the armor is our main target.
Locking on to the position, we fired a barrage of beams.
Our beams are slowly melting the armor.
But the battle in the horizon isn't going so well.
One of our hives is on the brink of destruction.
Its armor was all battered.
"Hey kid! Do that..." Tyr shouted.
"What?! But I can't do it well yet!" I shouted back.
"Sure~ materialization is easy!" He shouted again.
"Well... it's not for me... Incoming!" I shouted back.
It is somewhat a lucky thing that the hive itself destroyed most of the defending forces.
We, slowly but surely, were destroying the hive.
We somewhat attracted a lot of attention.
When the armor is melted and a huge hole formed, half of the attacking forces returned to destroy us.
I strained my body to fly through complicated movements.
Tyr sometimes got scraped by incoming beams.
I, with my small body, can easily evade.
But because of that, neither of us can fire at the hive.
'I'll at least use that...' I thought.
I focused my beams but this time I also focused my magic.
'Hope it works.' I hoped in my heart.
I fired, aiming at the enemy forces around me.
Yellow beams fired around me.
Though quite small, each yellow beam pierced an enemy Neuroi, destroyed its Core, before finding a new target.
The dark sky that was filled with purple beams was now filled with golden yellow light.
A sound of shattered Cores resounds all around the area.
I looked around and saw that I managed to get at least a thousand.
Tyr then shot a beam at the hive's Core and shattered it.
A loud shattering sound can be heard everywhere.
Around a quarter and a half of the enemy defending Neuroi shattered as their hive was destroyed.
Tyr then flew near me.
"Not bad, kid." He said to me.
'Ah, right...' I tried to reply but can't.
'Ah...' my vision got blurry.
The world turns upside down, and I passed out.
I soon wake up.
I was lying on a surface.
It's not the hive.
I can still see the endlessly starry sky.
Tyr came close and asked, "You alright, kid?"
"Ah...yeah... just tired..." I replied.
"Is that so? Then rest for a while." He said.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"In a crater... hope they couldn't find us." Tyr answered. "Rest, kid... we need ya."
"Ah... right..." I said as I fell into a deep sleep.
It's a shame that I woke up to a huge explosion.
"Woke up, kid?" Tyr asked.
"Yeah..." I replied.
"They found us." Tyr said.
"I knew that." I said as I looked at a few dozen Neuroi going in our direction.
"It seems we got their attention." Tyr said.
"We don't have a choice do we?" I said as I floated upwards.
I activated my right eye.
It felt different for some reason.
I can see much further.
I see the Neuroi that were coming and located their Cores.
Using the eye also is less draining than before.
'Maybe should I try?'
I held my hands to my front and charged a beam.
Again, I put my magic into it.
This time, rather that homing, I wanted penetration power.
'So... lightning.'
Electricity crackled in my arms.
I imagined a strong vision.
A bow formed in front of me.
"I knew you could do it." Tyr said.
'Yeah, right...' I thought to myself sarcastically.
My head hurts from the amount of concentration.
I made my electric charged beam into arrows.
Power radiates to the surrounding as I notched my bow.
I launched a volley.
The arrows flew at a normal speed before suddenly bursting into lightning.
They arched and pierced their targets with perfect precision.
'Once more…'
I notched my bow again, and launched another volley.
The incoming Neuroi couldn't even evade.
As soon as they saw the light, their Cores have been pierced.
"There's still around a dozen left, kid." Tyr warned.
Huff… huff...
My breathing gets ragged.
"You okay kid?" He asked.
"Yeah... huff... huff..." I replied tiredly.
I notched the bow in my hand and tried to launch another volley.
But due to a ringing headache, the bow disintegrated and the arrows disappeared.
"Don't worry kid... we'll just do it the normal way." Tyr said as he fired a beam to one of them destroying them.
I too flew towards the dozen of Neuroi and fired beams.
With my eye still active, I destroyed each one of them with ease.
Soon nothing can be seen.
My head stops hurting and it seems my body is fine.
"Let's go..." I said.
"Sure~ one down, two to go." Tyr said.
They headed to the super hive.
As they flew towards it Tyr warned Yoshika.
"Hey kid!" Tyr called.
"What is it?" I asked.
"A super hive is different from a normal hive… just be careful."
"I heard of it but what's different?"
"You'll see for yourself." He said.
We went to the front line.
Red and Purple beams flew left and right, up and down.
"Join in the fray?" I asked.
"Nope... again, target the hive." Tyr said firing beams.
We flew towards the huge hive with a pretty good momentum.
Thinking that they actually destroyed a hive boosted my confidence.
To my surprise, the hive in front of me changed shape.
It changed into a shape similar to a mace.
But strangely, a small wing was attached in the middle of its body.
'It must be a symbol.' she thought for a moment.
To her surprise, that symbol turned purple.
"Evade!" Tyr shouted.
Yoshika wondered why; she couldn't see anything.
'What's to evade?' she thought.
To her horror, an area of the battlefield was destroyed completely.
Enemy and friendly forces alike were crushed in an instant.
"What was that!?" I shouted.
Tyr answered, "It's a lv2 weapon... we don't have one equipped here."
"Incoming!" He shouted.
Lasers, much more than a normal hive can fire, filled the dark sky.
All around, I can only see purple beams.
Tyr got cut in half.
Luckily, his Core is not damaged and he starts regenerating.
"Ouch, that hurts..." He complained.
Then a strange thing happened.
A siren sounded.
"Now what?!" I said in panicked voice.
"Don't worry kid. You'll learn about our weapons in time." He said.
"For now, let's retreat."
I couldn't say anything.
I followed him back to our hive.
It seems that the battle was suspended for a while.
'It's around a week, I guess...' she thought calculating the time of her battles.
'Time flies fast, doesn't it…? How can we defeat that...?' she thought to herself.
She looked at the menacing shape from afar.
Flashback End
P4Nd0RaS Here!
Reviews! Please!
To all people that are still confused, please don't worry.
It will be gradually explained bit by bit until chapter 14.
I took this over after chapter 4 so for anything below those chapters message Sky EXE for any complaints.
Look forward to Yoshika's newfound powers!
If you want an explanation on her specs... I'll make a chapter 14.5 just for you.
If you think that her power is overkill, she is WEAK 4 years ago and trained hard.
To those lazy people out there understand that training makes you stronger and this kid over here trained really hard!
She deserves power from her efforts, her naive yet kind heart!