Scene 0.5: Wrap Up
"Yeah? What's the problem, Tatenashi? Are you too scared and pacifistic to understand that I care about our friend? Is it that surprising that someone like me can love someone who you and the higher-ups think is a regular person? Am I unfit to make these types of decisions myself? Did you fancy some sort of political marriage for someone like me?"
Ilya angrily ranted. Tatenashi was in no position to try and make him back down. She would definitely lose in a fight. Hell, even Sevodim and president Isyanov would get dispatched quickly, even without Ilya using an IS. He was that impressive.
"I understand. From how you're acting, I see that you've hit your breaking point in all of this. I'm sorry, Novikov. I'm sorry for not being able to protect both you and Miyu from the big shots. Whatever you must do, I won't intervene. I'm sad to see you closed off from being someone I could share my world with, but honestly? I sense that Miyu is the one. The one who can walk beside you no matter what, despite the gap between you two in terms of power and social standing. I hope you treat her well, my old friend."
Tatenashi sincerely apologized. She had definitely wronged the both of them by letting Miyu take the brunt of their hellish trainer. She understood that Ilya's wrath was not something that should be intercepted. For if she tried, he would swat her away like a fly before advancing towards his goal with a fire in his eyes.
"I expected more of a fight from someone of your caliber, Tatenashi. I'm happy you have enough reason to let me go like this. I will strike at tomorrow's earliest possible point of intervention. Make sure you are not present when those scumbags try to hurt my woman. They will be destroyed, with the wrath of the most precious of wronged souls."
As he said that, his 'Ryukyu' copy stared glowing a blackish purple. It was giving off a radiance that seemed to be directly tied to Ilya's own emotions. As if it was some sort of fuel for its power.
"Whatever you do, I pray for the safety of everyone involved, for your own sake. Who knows what Isyanov and those legendary bodyguards of his would do to you if they found out you were in open rebellion. Maybe he will even send that Tabane after you. I've heard of rumors that say she is one of the overseers of this place."
Ilya was unfazed. What were they gonna do? Combat him with the only other ultimate in the world, Japan's proudest weapon and risk breaking her? Even they couldn't be that dumb, right?
"It doesn't matter who they send. I have decided. I will not let anyone lay a finger on her from this point forward. If so much as a scratch is dealt upon her, even I wouldn't know what to do. I would certainly go berserk."
Ilya eerily mentioned. It would definitely lead to him unleashing the greatest power ever seen before in IS history.
As their teacher, the polite and bubbly Ms. Valentina Sokolov finally stepped into the classroom, their little feud ended as the class was in session...
Scene 1: Destruction of Myself
An early morning. Everything pointed to it being just a routine Wednesday at the Talent Hell, formally known as the CCF (short for Closed City Facility). Nothing special happened in the early morning. All of the students were awoken to their assigned caretaker knocking on the door to their relatively luxurious dormitories. Miyu was covered in bandages on her legs and arms, Tatenashi had a certain uneasy gloom looming over her and Ilya was his usual, expressionless self.
Well, that'd be largely true, if not for his IS having a faint glow of red and black. Signifying just how much rage he really had built up for today. It was not a matter of if he will use it, only a matter of when he'll use it. Well, that'd have to wait anyway. As breakfast had arrived, served to him by his faithful caretaker, someone he liked to call 'Yume'. Her real name was unknown to him, but one thing he knew was that she was some sort of Japanese. That much was obvious from her character and more importantly, the fact that she'd sometimes teach him Japanese as part of his studying program.
But that wasn't important anymore. As he munched away at his food, Yume came into his room suddenly.
"Novikov. You must get to the courtyard soon. Workouts are starting in a few minutes from now. You know what to do."
She winked, already aware of his plans because of him having an IS bracelet on him and because she had seen everything with Miyu transpire. She wasn't going to tell on him, of course not, but she liked to tease him from time to time.
"Yeah. I got it. I'm finishing up right now, actually. As for 'what I have to do', you think I haven't already gone through with that myself, Yume?"
Ilya casually smirked at her. He knew she was just rambling and goofing about, which made his heart feel more at ease as he was going into what would eventually lead to a massive conflict between the ultimate human and the resources and overseers of the CCF.
"I'll be heading out now, Yume. Make sure you don't get caught up in the crossfire."
Ilya said, quickly passing her by and quickly breezing past to the facilities training grounds.
There stood all of the main actors at the training grounds. The armed guards guarding the premises, the girls and Sevodim, the mad dog and his primary target. President Isyanov would return in around ten minutes as he also oversaw the facility. Crucially, he always had one of his fellow overseers with him. He knew one of them was Tabane, but the other was also an IS pilot of her caliber, however he didn't know who it was. It didn't matter. He had ten minutes to make the mad dog repent. As soon as he arrived, the coach gathered the three students...
"Alright, you failures. Today's regiment will start with rock collection, as usual. Failure to provide satisfactory results will result in adverse action. You all know by now what to do. Now, what are you all waiting for, huh?!"
The bastard yelled out, as he clicked on a button that made a huge excavator drop large rocks at each of the students.
"This goddamned bastard." Ilya muttered under his breath, as he quickly breezed past the rock the instructor had tried to drop on him to protect Miyu.
"Illy, don't... I don't want them to hurt you too..."
Miyu weakly warned him. Punishment for assisting fellow students was very harsh, to say the least. But, he didn't care. Why should he? Nothing could ever topple his desire to protect those he wanted to protect.
"And do what, dummy? Leave you here to fend for yourself in that state? Don't be ridiculous. You shouldn't even be here with how wounded they've left you!"
Ilya said, with an especially angry tone as he easily deflected the large rocks with his bare hands. They weren't mountains or anything, but it was still an above-average feat only doable by the ultimate human and his counterpart, Tabane.
"Hey! Novikov! What the hell do 'yer think 'yer doing? Helping others during the training is highly forbidden!"
The instructor angrily said, as he came up to him and Miyu, who was standing beside him, visibly in pain.
"Protecting my injured friend, dipshit. What do you think I was doing?", Ilya retaliated. It was the right thing to do, even if he didn't have the motives of provoking him to start his final battle in the CCF and protect his new love.
"Well, ordinarily, I would give you a round with the tazer dogs, but since you were protecting someone..."
The middle-aged geezer said, with a devilish grin and with a sinister snicker following his pleased expression.
"How about you take the punishment, refugee? You wouldn't be able to fight off the rocks in that state anyway."
He said, trying to grab onto Miyu in an effort to lead her into the punishment chamber, but out of nowhere, Ilya interposed between them.
"You're not taking her anywhere. Understood?" Ilya's intense bloodlust was leaking through his expressionless façade.
"Who the hell do 'yer think you are?!"
The mad dog retorted, as he pushed Ilya away, grabbing Miyu and slapping her across the face, sending her to the floor with a whimper, as if he was abusing a hurt puppy.
"I decide the rules here, 'yer hear me!?" Sevodim retorted, as he looked back to Ilya.
...
At that moment, his IS' standby form couldn't tolerate the intense rage he was putting into it and morphed into something of a black sword. This was accompanied by streaks of purple lightning emanating from the newly formed sword. His face was one of pure anger. As his rage boiled over, he shouted something that would send shocks into everyone present, his bloodlust even reaching president Isyanov who was still in another facility.
"Now... Now you've done it for real. PREPARE YOURSELF. LESSER HUMAN SCUM. You will not come out of this alive, and I, Novikov Ilya, the Ultimate Human, will see to that!", Ilya said, as he drew his sword and rushed right at the mad dog instructor, Sevodim, with intense speed and power in his step.
As his sword was within striking distance, Sevodim partially summoned an experimental type of IS, armor IS'. These acted more like specific pieces of armor imbedded with IS technology, which made them way more dangerous.
"Fisticuffs!" The mad dog yelled out, as he summoned his armor IS in the form of Brass Knuckles to fight Ilya with. He was a top military expert, especially good with those fisticuffs of his. He wasn't going to be as easy as an opponent as one would think.
Ilya's sword failed to penetrate Sevodim's defense, with him backing away from the engagement. His sword would not work at super close ranges. Thus, he decided to switch up his strategy.
"If you think that you'll survive, this, you're wrong. I'll give you this; you're a diligent fighter. But, this ends NOW! I cannot afford to waste anymore time!"
"Come to me, Dusk Knight!"
Ilya said, activating his IS. Interestingly, it did not take the form of a traditional IS. Instead, it really was a skin-tight and light set of knightly armor. It seemed to be some sort of armor IS, although it wasn't. This trait was exclusive to it. It had the power to shift from a traditional IS form when deployed to a more maneuverable one, at the cost of some durability and giving up any potential size advantage in exchange for easy maneuverability while keeping the increased power of an IS.
"What- What the hell is that thing...!" Sevodim trembled in fear before trying to attack Ilya.
Ilya easily parried his attack and sent him flying. with just a punch in the gut from his IS, Ilya being able to hear Sevodim's ribs breaking from the sheer impact of the blow alone. What came next was him vomiting both blood and whatever food he had eaten prior in an embarrassingly shameful display.
"It's the one reason why you shouldn't have laid your hands on MY Miyu, you goddamned geezer." Ilya coldly said, as he accelerated even further towards Sevodim, intending to break him beyond repair with a flurry of punches from his IS' gauntlets, when he heard a clap coming from above him...
Immediately, Ilya deactivated his IS. He recognized it. It was the president of the Russian Republic, Aleksandr Isyanov.
"Yeah, I can't say I didn't expect this conflict to happen, Novikov. Tabane, make sure he doesn't kill my instructor. I'd hate having to get a replacement and having to divulge details about this secret project to the parliament." Isyanov said, and surely enough, Shinonono Tabane descended down from the skies.
Her IS, a golden one. It had a radiant glow from it, almost as if it was some sort of IS constructed by the gods. She interposed between Ilya and the wounded trainer who had received one of his powerful attacks. Fully intent on carrying out her employer's orders she warned the young Ultimate of one thing.
"Cease at once. Continue to fight, and I will be forced to neutralize you." Tabane spoke with a powerful conviction behind her words.
"Who are you to tell me when MY revenge ends, you lousy bitch?" Ilya said, before attacking Tabane with his reactivated IS' gauntlets. As he raced towards her with his gauntlets primed to attack, they glowed with a hellish purple aura around each of his hands.
"I see. You have chosen to defy the will of President Isyanov. In return, you shall lose something you cherish dearly." Tabane ominously said, as her IS started radiating an even stronger glow, with her putting up a single hand as defense against Ilya's assault, before finally unveiling her trump card.
"Ruler of Heavens." Tabane said.
Immediately following the incantation of what seemed to be her One-Off ability, the entire room glowed a horrifyingly bright yellow, as her One-Off ability activated on the entire complex, in some sort of dome-shaped ball. All who were inside it felt their strength slowly drain from their bodies. This is due to how the One-Off ability worked. It sucked the energy of the people and the IS' inside of it. But, as Ilya would soon find out, that wasn't it's only effect.
"This... This isn't enough to stop me, Tabane!" Ilya defiantly resisted, as his words had truth to them. His punches were almost connecting. Always blocked.
As he threw in a kick, Tabane was forced to unveil all of her secrets.
"Ngh... Ruler of HEAVENS!" She screamed, as her IS formed a sort of see-through cape which covered her body like a blanket would.
"GAHHH!" Ilya yelped, as his attack that had seemingly connected onto Tabane suddenly found itself being forcefully redirected onto him. This was Ruler of Heavens' true ability. The ability to negate any attack or hostile action towards Tabane and have that inflicted onto the attacker instead. As he crashed into the wall, he started spitting up blood.
"You cannot defeat me. Now, you shall witness what it will cost to defy the president's will." Tabane coldly said, as she hovered in front of Miyu, before grabbing her by her neck and priming her other arm to end her.
"Illy! Save me!" Miyu yelped, as Tabane was closing in on her throat and preparing herself to spill her blood for the sake of the president, Isyanov.
Ilya tried to move, but his body couldn't. His will to protect Miyu was stronger than it had ever been, and the situation at hand was more stressful than any other he had ever encountered...
But his body. It wouldn't move. His brain screamed for his muscles to jump in and save his beloved, but they wouldn't move. He had taken too much damage, and Tabane's Ruler of Heavens was still active only on him, his hostile intentions towards her activating her ability in all of its fury.
"Goodbye, Sakaki Miyu. Your life was not in vain. You have contributed greatly to our nation's research. Be happy. Even some filth like you could be useful in the end." Tabane said, before striking her.
A thunderous sound was heard, as Tabane's free arm attacked Miyu. It seemed like all hope was lost... But, at that moment, something happenend to Ilya's IS. It let out a massive beam of lightning that was seemingly unaffected by Tabane's Ruler of Heavens.
It headed for Tabane's head, and it connected with a direct hit.
"Wha- AHHHHHHH!" The surprised Tabane let out, before being tossed aside into a wall, as if her invincible armor was a mere fly in front of this beam filled with negative energy from Ilya's rage.
"President! We have discovered a massive tornado of dark energy in the complex. We at the control station HIGHLY suggest for you to send Brynnhildr here as soon as possible! Shining Sun is already at her breaking point! Any more and we could risk both of our overseers!" Someone said to President Isyanov over the secured communications network.
They were right. As Ilya's desire to protect Miyu reached a point where it could break his mind if she were to actually die here, his IS somehow responded to his feelings, letting out its pent-up energy in a powerful storm with an accompanying thunderbolt towards Tabane as his IS underwent another evolution. The sword that made up his IS' standby form morphed yet again, looking more and more like an épée blade, one used in fencing. The difference from a regular épée and what Ilya now held was that the bell guard looked more like the sides of a trident, only that those pointy edges looked more like a devil's horns, which were colored purple.
"I- I'm okay? Wait... Illy... Where'd you go?" Miyu confusedly opened her eyes, before they saw Ilya still in the wall. He slowly stood on his feet, as a massive tornado of purple lightning surrounded him. It shot high into the sky, threatening to destroy the entire Kazan CCF.
But. It abruptly stopped. It all was sucked in by Ilya's blade, as he defiantly and confidently jumped out with his sword in front of Miyu, facing towards Tabane, then activating his new IS.
"Dusk Knight! Evolve and give me the ultimate power that will never allow Miyu Novikov to ever see the horrors of the world ever again!" Ilya sincerely cried out, as he held out his sword and let it absorb all of his rage. As it did this, it shattered, with a massive purply explosion accompanying the shattering of the blade.
What came next, was a sort of mist taking the shattered blade and engulfing it. As Ilya and Miyu watched on in shock, it morphed back into the épée blade from earlier, except it was significantly wider. The grip was extended, the trident-like bell guard was a bit wider and the blade itself became thicker. The really big change was that the mist-like ball from earlier was indented onto the blade, as if it acted as his IS' new core. It was see-through, and not really a mechanical core like he was used to seeing.
"Illy? What is that?" Miyu curiously asked, as she looked over his shoulder to see him holding his new blade, her thinking that it had just shattered moments ago.
"It's the culmination of my IS. The ultimate form of it! My dusk knight responded to my wish to protect you, from now on and forever more, Miyu." Ilya said, before hugging Miyu and kissing her forehead, with tears forming in his eyes.
"I thought you were gone, for real. I- The rage came over me. I think that's why my IS evolved like this?" Ilya confusedly explained, as he continued embracing Miyu. She couldn't complain, they both needed it.
"I'm not gonna go anytime soon, dummy... I won't let you die either, Illy. I'll protect you!" Miyu said, before jumping into his arms and kissing him as well.
As she said that, Tabane attacked again. She still had some energy left in the tank, and she used it for a final attack. Her ultimate move, a massive two-handed wave of energy sent from her forearm armaments.
"Miyu, Duck!.. Shadow Gain!" Ilya yelled, as he swiftly cut down Tabane's all-for-nothing gamble with his sword, which glowed a horrifying red as he activated his new One-Off ability, which he could use with the sword (the standby form of his IS) instead of being restricted to using it only when piloting the whole IS.
"Wha... Even my Ruler of Heavens wouldn't be able to block that... WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ABILITY!?" Tabane screamed, as she deactivated her IS, trying to hobble away in front of Ilya's overwhelming strength...
Ilya did not answer her question. He instead asked her his own question, as he inched closer to her hobbling self.
"Are you ready to repent?"
Ilya coldly said, as he tried to swing his sword...
Hello readers! Once again, it is me! Gesischteteller. I am sorry, the delay for this one was pretty big. I still have another part at least before this little prequel is finished. I want to take this time to both explain myself and respond to a few of the reviews I've had so far (All reviews, negative or positive, are very appreciated! Please send me more, I want to know what you guys liked and what you guys didn't like!). So far, this chapter took a longer time to finish than all of the others, as this entire chapter is entirely new material. I had an original draft for this story while it was in its infancy, which I used a lot of to make Parts 1 and 2.
For the reviews: I'm noticing a general trend. I've seen a lot of good advice (which I've tried to implement in this chapter, please let me know if there's more I should work on), but I also want to say that I want all of you to be a bit more patient. This prequel is necessary to show why the characters act the way they do and why they don't act more like they do in the original IS story. I want to explain it all in detail so that every character has strong backstory and so that they're easier to feel bad for/relate to.
With that being said, I'm not really sure when I will have the last chapter of this part out. I've been feeling less motivated to continue this story, as I have new ideas for stories (I have been reading more recently, I think I will eventually get around to making some sort of Isekai fanfiction as well, since I think I could tell a decent story with the broad and near-limitless template of an Isekai.), with university starting pretty soon for me, I also have more on my plate outside of writing and summer antics.
With that being said, I hope you guys enjoyed this little chapter (shorter than I wanted it, but I decided that this would be the best point to cut it off and pick this fight back up in the next one) of mine! If you have any gripes with the story, or want to show your appreciation for my work, please let me know with a review!
Gesischteteller, out.
