Chapter 27
"Out that way! It leads outside towards the power facility!" Roxanne shouted pointing at the door the Chevalier Pandora had been guarding. Chiffon through her arm around Varen's waist helping him move while Arnette did the same for Attia. Dust and small pieces of concrete dropped down around them as they made their way out the doors. Behind them the other students pulled the injured free and into the facility to get them to medical.
"Look out!" Ticy yelled as a large crack raced up the side of the wall dropping metal plates and concrete down where she had been standing. They ran as fast as Varen and Attia' wounds would let them avoiding the debris as more explosions erupted from somewhere nearby shaking the ground.
"Almost there, come on!" Roxanne commanded putting her arm around Varen on his other side to help. Shi Jing ran up ahead towards the door and kicked it hard sending the double doors flying open. The deafening screech had not abated and threatened to overwhelm their senses as the pushed the last few feet out the doors and into the snow.
They collapsed trying to catch their breath as the earth continued to rumble. As everyone looked up they saw the huge open patch of land that led from the main facility towards the power generators. Countless Pandora and Limiters littered the area with weapons drawn. Only when they looked further up did they see the reason why.
"No…" Ticy said, drowned out by the sound emanating from the Nova floating ahead of them. It raised higher than any Nova she had ever heard of. The most unsettling thing was its head was all too human in appearance and the sound was like an inhuman scream.
"How can a Nova be here?" Attia cried letting go of Arnette. Chiffon took a step forward looking up at the Nova.
"Amelia…it's Amelia." She said sadly making everyone look at her.
"No, it can't be." Arnette responded with defeat.
"We're too late." Chiffon said. The scream coming from the Nova elevated in pitch and they all covered their ears again. The sound sent them to their knees in pain as it shook their very bodies.
"What's happening?" Roxanne yelled. They watched as some of the Pandora arched their backs in pain and began to spasm.
"She's resonating with our stigmata!" Chiffon shouted back as they fought against the Nova's attack.
"Get out of my head!" Arnette screamed grabbing her head and shaking it violently. They all huddled together putting their heads low and covered each other with their arms.
"I can…feel her!" Varen said gritting his teeth.
"Make it stop!" Attia cried out.
"Fight it! Keep fighting it!" Chiffon ordered as blood seeped out their ears and noses. The pitch died down to the original sound that had been coming from the Nova and they all took a deep breath recovering from the pain.
"Resonating? What does that mean?" Shi-Jing asked. Chiffon wiped the blood away from her nose and face and took one more deep breath.
"Our stigmata come from the same genetic makeup that is present in the Nova. In essence, so long as we have stigmata we are part Nova. The Nova can use this as a weapon to try and gain control over our bodies." Chiffon explained. Roxanne looked at her in surprise.
"Are you kidding me? That's kind of a big problem don't you think Chiffon?" She said angrily. Chiffon nodded slowly.
"Yes, it relies on us being stronger mentally to resist the effect. At least until a counter measure can be developed." Chiffon answered.
"And you know all this…" Shi-Jing trailed off.
"Her father is Gengo Aoi." Varen answered while Chiffon's face remained passive. Roxanne put her hand to her head.
"Well, that explains a lot of things. Alright, so what do we do now because that is going to be an issue." Roxanne said pointing behind them. A large number of Pandora stood awkwardly throughout the open field. Ebony spikes pierced out their backs and their eyes were clouded over and lifeless.
"Novalization." Arnette said.
"It's just like Gina." Ticy agreed watching as the effected Pandora shifted and began attacking the others.
"Nova form. It's what happens when we push our stigmata past the limit and the corrosion rate exceeds our ability to control it. There's no way back from it." Chiffon said.
"We need to help." Arnette said pushing herself to her feet. Varen nodded grimacing as he stood as well.
"Hey! You cannot go out there in your condition." Roxanne yelled grabbing Varen's arm.
"People are going to die Roxanne. I won't sit here and watch. Besides, you'll need all the help you can get to stop her." Varen argued nodding towards the Nova.
"Varen…those Pandora have been lost to the Nova. They aren't human anymore and we won't have the luxury to avoid killing." Chiffon said. Varen kept looking towards the battle that was now breaking out amongst the Pandora and Nova forms.
"Pandora shouldn't kill Pandora." He responded.
"No, but they aren't Pandora anymore. They are Nova and I can tell you right now that I would not want to live that way." Ticy answered. Varen held his arm out and his sword materialized into his hand. Ticy gave him a grim smile and called her sword into her hands as well. Arnette's scythe, Attia's meteor hammer, and Chiffon's gauntlets all appeared in their hands.
"This trip sucks. Volt weapon, deploy!" Roxanne said stepping up beside them. Like everyone else, lights flickered around her arms as gauntlets shifted into existence. Varen looked over at her with eyes wide as long talons reached out from each finger of the gauntlets identical to Chiffon's.
"Uh…" Was all Varen was able to say seeing Roxanne's volt weapons.
"Don't stare so much, it's embarrassing." Roxanne said pretending to blush.
"Midlands Genetics modified Roxy's stigmata to allow a specific volt weapon to appear. They were trying to create a Pandora like me." Chiffon said causing Roxanne to sputter a bit.
"How…" Roxanne tried to formulate a response, but failed to find the words.
"Don't worry, hers are a pale comparison to the real thing. These are the real deal, the only thing I have left of my mother." Chiffon answered breaking into a jog towards the fight ahead.
"Pale comparison? You little…I'm the second ranked world Pandora come back here!" Roxanne shouted in anger chasing after Chiffon. The rest of the group followed behind running as fast as their bodies would allow. Attia and Varen fell behind as they closed the distance trying not to stress their wounds from the previous fight with Chevalier.
Chiffon and Roxanne slashed hard at three of the Nova form Pandora. Their claws scraped against the weapons held by the Nova forms. Having lost control of their bodies, and enhanced by the Nova energy controlling them they were far stronger than a standard Pandora. Roxanne and Chiffon spun around one another reaching their talons out with each rotation to deflect a riposte aimed at them.
"Tempest turn!" Ticy shouted splitting her body into multiple projections before slashing her blade in a wide arc. The enemy she faced held a long staff spinning it once before batting her sword away easily. She forced her projections to surround the Pandora and accelerated to shift positions with one of her copies. Immediately after she brought her blade forward in a vicious thrust that the Pandora still managed to push aside seeing through her subterfuge.
"Look out!" Attia called out flinging the chain out wrapping it around Ticy's waist before yanking her backwards. An explosion erupted where Ticy had been standing sending dirt and snow raining down. Another Nova Pandora lowered her hand from where it had sent the blast of energy out.
"Thanks Attia, didn't know they could do that." Ticy said relieved flashing the small Pandora a smile.
"Gina did something similar, be careful." Attia answered flicking the chain to release the tension.
"Freezing!" Shi-Jing and Varen called out sending blue lights racing out along the ground locking some of the Nova in place. They focused the energy to wrap around their Pandora so as not to accidentally freeze them in place.
"Disable them! There still could be hope!" Varen shouted and Arnette rolled her eyes before leveling her scythe.
"Why are you always so optimistic?" Arnette shouted back flipping the scythe and cracking it across one of the frozen Nova form Pandora's faces. She tumbled aside barely moving from the blow.
"Thank you." Varen said exhausted. Using freezing was taking its toll on his strength since he had already lost so much blood. Attia spun three times rotating the meteor hammer in a wide orbit before sending the chain end out to slam into another enemy's head.
Because he's a big softy!" Attia answered finishing her rotation, twirling the hammer above her head.
"Come on Roxy!" Chiffon shouted to the red haired Pandora beside her. Nearby four Nova forms cut down a defenseless Pandora and fell upon her piercing their weapons into her body. Roxanne accelerated bull rushing into the four sending them sprawling across the snow while Chiffon caught up. The four Nova were already standing back up as Roxanne looked back.
"She's gone, let's clean this filth." Roxanne said angrily seeing that the Pandora on the ground was already dead. They both were thrown to the ground as a series of explosions erupted nearby. Roxanne shielded her eyes as a large beam of light shot down towards her. A blue translucent shield wrapped around her deflecting the energy. A similar shield curved around every Pandora and Nova form nearby making them all look around confused.
The beams of energy stopped and Chiffon instantly turned towards where Varen now lay. Wafts of blue smoke spun lazily up into the night air from his body. She sprinted hard back to him and fell beside him turning him over slowly. Small cracks were receding from all over his skin and face from his overloading of his stigmata.
"Damnit Varen, why did you do that?" Chiffon yelled.
"Pandora…shouldn't kill…Pandora." He said still catching his breath. His stitching had opened and was now bleeding again.
"You stubborn man! You can't save everyone!" She argued as Arnette came nearby.
"I can try." He smiled weakly. Arnette shook her head slowly.
"That blast came from Amelia. She's heading for the generator. She hits that and we're all dead and it won't matter." Arnette said.
"We can't get near her with all these Nova forms and the power she has." Attia added joining them. Ticy, Roxanne, and Shi-Jing arrived a few seconds later.
"I overheard the retreat ordered. An evacuation order was sent we need to go now." Ticy said looking back as the huge Nova moved slowly towards the generator facility.
"We're too close, we'd never make it far enough away fast enough." Attia said.
"If she destroys that facility then this entire region will be nothing but ash." Roxanne explained. They all looked around at each other until Roxanne sat down on the ground.
"Well, I guess that's it then." She said. All the Pandora and Limiters in the area were now either locked back in combat with the Nova forms or running to try and escape the coming blast. Some stopped and joined their group recognizing who they were. Surprisingly, even a few Chevalier Pandora took a knee near them waiting together for the inevitable.
"Command ordered to pull back." One of the Chevalier Pandora said and Ticy nodded.
"Yeah, we know." She answered gravely.
"This place…to hell with it. Better that it burns." The Chevalier Pandora said bitterly. Varen started to push himself up, but felt a hand push down on his chest keeping him in place. Chiffon looked down at him and rested her head against his. She stayed that way for a few seconds silently before brushing her hand over his face and then stood up.
"Alright…I'm ready." She said out loud. Those near her looked on as a series of lights trailed around her body spinning faster with each second. Her hair whipped around her face as a wind picked up that seemed to only circle her body.
"What are you doing?" Varen asked in fear. She looked back with a smile opening her eyes.
"Rest now, I will handle this alone." She said and her gauntlets reappeared over her arms as well as two huge rotating shields as tall as she was that spun around her body. They seemed to be of the same material as her volt weapons and between each one grids of blue lights connected them.
"Chiffon!" Varen shouted watching her walk slowly towards Amelia.
"As my mother once did I will protect everyone. I won't let you take them from me. Witness why my mother and I are called legendary!" Chiffon yelled to Amelia breaking into a run.