Chapter/Tale 7: Universal Extinction: Act 5

Author's Note Intro:

Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter back there! I just hope I can keep it for at least my self-made deadlines a bit shorter if necessary. And I have a poll set up in my profile, so if you have any questions, the story may answer those questions or you can PM me anytime if you're still confused, and I'll do my best to answer them. Other than that, I don't have much to say, so enjoy the chapter! Oh, SolH501, thank you for the kind review! I really appreciate it! Also, this chapter may be a bit more expository than usual just to piece things together, so just a heads up. Alright, on with the chapter!

Niva's POV: An Unlikely Group of Poor Souls

We were in the middle of our discussion with everyone during that time. It was a good thing that the ailment had worn off a while ago, but I wish we knew that we were cured the entire time though somehow. It's the first time I've ever experienced the things I've went through just recently in my life before, being a Clockwork Star and all for most of my existence up until now that I have a human body and a curvaceous physique for some reason with the traits of a cat, just like Callie. For now, I can't really worry about that when I don't have all the answers for it as of now.

With much delay on the cruise that is slowly sailing to a small pitstop after Vanja realized that she needed to make a quick errand in a few minutes, I slumbered as usual, sleeping on anybody's lap that I could get on if they didn't mind it. Kailaine was chosen and she cannot refuse. I also didn't mind that Kazela was also trying to feel me out at the same time. And that would've been the end of the day had it not been for a scent.

That's right- a scent, one that only Clockwork Stars like myself are familiar with. The smell of this scent perked up my ears abruptly without a rest. I knew I had to figure out where it was coming from. "Hmm? That smell... could it be?"

"What's wrong, Niva?" Kaila asked me. Raising my body up from her lap, I sniff some more to detect the direction that it's coming from. "What? Do I smell or something?"

"No no no, not that, Kaila," I told her, glancing outside the cafeteria windows to see that the cruise is gradually reaching a nearby dock. "The smell is definitely coming from there. Excuse me, I'll be right back."

"Wait! Where are you going?" Vanja called out to me as I took the doors leading to the outside. Jumping on top of the railings, I darted around the area where I could see land and spotted a ball of light a good distance away.

"Mrow?! A flare?! I better check it out!" I concluded, running at an urgent speed towards the front helm of the ship to immediately jump ship to land. That also got the attention of all the other passengers as they wondered what I was up to.

Once touching land safely, I sprinted on all fours through the quiet island with the scent's trail as my guide. The smell was getting stronger with every step I took, so I was getting close. It wasn't long before I was at its source in a matter of moments.

"Okay, it should be around here somewhere," I wondered. When I came to a stop in my tracks, I found myself in the midst of a large group of people gathered around, almost as if they were just brought here without warning. Seems like the flare came directly from them after all. However, they were in a state of worry.

"We made it out of there! Thank god we're okay!" A few cheered.

"Wait! Where's Luke and Feena?!" Someone panicked. "And those other four as well! Where are they?!"

As if it was staged, a trio of green stars hovered before them, forming them into human figures. From the looks of it, it was a couple that looked like they had a young son and had escaped from someplace terrible.

"Oh, there they are- but they're in terrible shape!" Another shrieks upon gazing at their condition. In fact, that smell directed me towards the young boy who was also bathed in bruises and scars. Could he have been the one with the smell?

"This is terrible! What the hell happened to them back there?! And only the boy is with Luke and Feena! Where's the other three mages that was with him?!"

"Do you think something happened to them on their way to leave? What if they were ambushed by maybe the Elite Zenoxia Guard or-?!" One panicked.

"Calm down! I hate to say it, but we can't worry about that right now! We have to get them treated immediately before they bleed out!"

"And how are we going to do that? We really didn't think this part through down at the factory, and now we're paying for it! We've exhausted our energy trying to escape from there in the first place! The only thing that could help them now is a miracle!"

Without wasting anymore time, I immediately rushed to the injured's aid, startling the crowd as I casted a healing spell on them, restoring their lashed skin to normal. The crowd was taken aback by me doing this, and they eased up a bit.

"Don't worry, they're fine," I assured them. "They just need to rest. It was a good thing that I saw the flare you made and decided to come here."

"Well, thank you for saving them," One spoke nervously. "But, um... are you with the Zenoxia Guard by any chance?"

I tilted my head slightly to that question. "Why would I be with them? After all, they nearly jeopardized our lives a few days ago! In fact, we're on our way to stop them!"

The crowd gasped and gossiped among themselves in shock. "So, you're actually planning to revolt against the Zenoxia Forces right now?"

"That's right, but for a different reason," I replied. "It's quite complicated right now to explain, and you're exhausted as well. First, we'll see to it that you and your companions are treated and taken care of."

"What do you mean by that, ma'am?"

"Niva! Don't just run off by yourself without saying something! And- whoa! What do we have here?!" At that moment, Vanja and the rest of the allies came running into the scene, being taken aback by the crowd that was before them.

"Niva, is this why you ran off in such a hurry earlier before?" Vanja gasped.

"Well yes, but I was not expecting to find such a huge crowd of people here at all," I said. "And it sounds like they had just come out of the factory as well."

"The Factory?!" The others gasped in unison.

"Yes, and we shouldn't idle here any longer as well. Some of their companions were ambushed by the Zenoxia Guard themselves, so let's take them on board with us and have them treated ASAP. Your cruise should have enough room for them all here, if I'm not mistaken."

"Do you even need my permission to do that for them?" Vanja answers. "All of you, have the passengers be aware of this situation and prepare rooms and meals for them as well. Get the nurses and Esderane to check them out immediately! No one is to procrastinate with a situation like this on our hands! Understood?!"

"Yes, Princess Vanja!" The others agreed and wasted no time doing their tasks. The crowd was astonished upon hearing that Vanja was a princess.

"P-P-Princess?!" One stuttered. "How long has it been since I've heard that?"

"Please, think nothing of it," Vanja smiles warmly, easing the crowd's tensed-up hearts at once, like a case of ice being melted away by a strong fire. "What matters the most is your well-being, and we'll do everything we can to help you out. If you don't mind, you said the Zenoxia Guard was involved, right? What exactly happened between you guys?"

The crowd only points to the three unconscious members of the group that were being carried by the other elemental princesses, but mainly directs our gazes to the young boy resting in my arms. "If it's answers you seek, that young boy holds it all. We'll tell you what we can but seeing as he's the only one of the four that freed us present, only he can tell you the whole story of what you wish to know."

"This boy, huh?" I gazed at the unconscious child. "Alright, we'll do that. Let's get you all taken care of first."

It took us some time as the night began to shine, but eventually, we were able to get everything and everyone situated and accounted for. I think we may get the answers we need in order to resolve the current crisis.

And it all starts with the boy who has the scent of a Clockwork Star...

Knaiva's POV: Uncovering A Painful History

"Knaiva... Knaiva... Knaiva, wake up," A voice called out as my eyes slowly struggle to open the blinds. Doing so, the first thing I saw were the faces of Luke and Feena, who were glad when they saw me awake.

"You're awake, kid," Luke smiles. "Can't have ya croaking when you saved our butts back there."

"Thank god you're okay!" Feena hugs me all of a sudden, tearing up again. "We were so worried!"

"Oh, thanks," I reply slowly as I gazed around the unfamiliar place that I found myself to be in. It was a room that seemed luxurious and filled with the necessary needs like a bed and a bathroom and other stuff. "Where are we?"

"This is the Shivera Starshine Cruise Ship we're on right now," Luke answers. "We were unconscious, but we were rescued by Princess Vanjamirae along with the others who found us in the area we got warped to. We were lucky they just happened to be nearby wherever we warped to, otherwise we'd have it."

"A cruise? But this is just a room we're in, right?"

"Actually, this is one of the many thousand rooms here," Feena explains. "A cruise is a hotel that can pretty much float on water, and this one can hold more than 500,000 people as well. And I suppose that while cruises normally don't do this, they might keep decent number of rooms in case of an emergency like this, at least the princess might do that. Either way, riding one is the best experience there is! Well, it is my first time and I'd never thought it would be for a reason like this. Well, better than nothing, and we have Princess Vanja to thank for taking all of us in."

"Does that mean everyone who's escaped with us is here right now?" I asked.

"That's right," Luke responds. "In fact, the princess wants a word with us, mostly you. We're the only ones left to explain what happened back there as we're the only ones who were roughed up when they found us."

A thought struck my mind. "You mean... about what happened to them? I don't know... what good will that do? Shouldn't we try to come back for them?"

Feena pats my head. "Look, I know you're worried about them, but to try going back for them like this won't do us any good. For now, we need a different way to approach the problem, and that's by getting help from the others. Please, just hold on a little longer, alright?"

I didn't try any more to make a counter statement and eventually decided to comply. "Okay, I understand."

"Thank you, Knaiva. Can you stand?" I nodded. "Perfect. Come on, let's go. Vanja wants to see us in her quarters."

After that, we took off and left the room we were in as both Luke and Feena led me through the maze of hallways that they called a cruise ship. I gazed around to my surroundings as I got a look at unfamiliar faces who whispered among themselves once they saw us, maybe they have heard a bit about what happened to us.

"Hey, did you hear? They were among the group that escaped from the Factory. Can you believe it?"

"Well, after what happened to us days ago, I'm willing to believe it. In fact, they're proof that the Zenoxia Family is definitely hiding something from the world!"

"Man, I really feel bad for them after whatever they had to go through. Just when will this madness end?"

Soon, once ascending a flight on the thing called an elevator, we had arrived at a fancy-looking room upon entering through doors that stood out from the others. Someone was just coming out from inside at the moment, which turned out to be one of the escapists from before.

"Oh, it's you guys! Thank god you're okay!" Shion, which was her name, greeted us. "I was just about to get you after I finished with them just now."

"Talk about perfect timing," Feena shrugs.

"Yeah. Anyway, since you're all here, I just finished explaining my side of the story, so you're the only ones left to explain yours. Well, I'll take my leave here. See you guys later!" Shion explains, thus leaving the room at once.

"Well, we should give them the news now," Luke says. "Let's go."

Walking inside, there was a massive group of people that I could tell was with the princess I've heard about. For some reason, I felt more at ease being around them in those few moments. One of them came up to us, and from the way she was dressed, I somehow could tell who she was.

"We're back, princess," Luke casually greets. "And we brought him with us."

"Luke! Don't be so casual before her," Feena warns him. "After all, we owe her and her allies our lives!"

"Don't worry about that now," the girl interjects. "It's fine, there's no need to be formal at this point."

"Formal? Wait, is she the one you were talking about earlier?" I asked them. The girl took note of me when I made that question.

"I see that you're all better now," she smiled. "As you may have heard, I'm Vanjamirae Echolatte, but call me Vanja, please. And I have to say, it seems your band of friends just can't stop talking about you, Knaiva. Quite the celebrity, aren't you?"

"Er, I wouldn't really say that..." I blushed. "I just had some help, that's all."

"Really? From what we've heard, you managed to lead the whole group out of the factory while escaping and even destroying that shape-shifting robot without any casualties," a girl with cat ears continued. "And you even figured out how to disable it as well. You sure have a clever mind for a kid who has amnesia. Regardless, it was a good thing I found you all in the location you were at, otherwise you wouldn't have made it. I'm Niva, by the way."

"Oh, thank you very much," I thanked her.

"Wait, you know about HR-H?" Feena asks, unintentionally grabbing a select few's attention from the crowd.

"Of course. In fact, there are some who did do battle with the robot years ago with us right now. I'm surprised that you knew about it too."

"Well, only I did a little bit," Feena explains. "But I heard the rest of it from someone who was with us when we encountered it. I guess that's how Knaiva got the idea to attack the arms in its base form."

"Yeah, and we would've been dead if it weren't for them injecting Demon Beast cells into us," Luke adds.

"Demon Beast cells?" A woman with cyan hair stated, who seems like a professor of some sort. Her name was Espera. "Looks like the results from the blood tests were accurate after all. Funny that no one else but you guys mentioned this fact; I was starting to think we screwed that up somehow."

"So, they're keeping people locked up as lab rats over there, huh?" A man with blue hair spoke up. His name was Dedede. "I guess the whole manhunt thing was to keep anyone silent about that after all."

"Simply put, you guys were originally human before they did that to you, and you used that to escape the factory," Espera summarized. "I see, everyone here has pretty decent abilities amassed by the DB cells, but yours, Knaiva, is very extraordinary from the bunch. Imaginipulation: the ability to morph the user's body into whatever the user desires, so long they have the knowledge to support it. I suppose what the surgeons didn't know is that Knaiva's ability is also the same as my ability, Neonatricity: an artifact of the Ancients themselves. A mystery how, but that's how he was able to survive and get you all out."

"That's true," I said, turning to Vanja. "Anyway, like I said before, I was only able to get them out because there was a trio of girls who helped me, who I owe my life to." Just thinking about it made me glummer than I ever was. The group could tell something was wrong when I said that.

"Aw, what's wrong, sweetheart?" Vanja asked me gently. "Come to think of it, you three were the only ones in critical condition out of the group. The others informed us that while you three stuck longer, they said only you could explain what happened. Of course, if this isn't a good time for you, then-"

"No, not at all," I stopped her. "You wanted to know what happened, right? Then I'll explain everything, but there's one thing I do wanna ask everyone here."

"Yes, go on," Niva gestured.

"When I woke up with no memories earlier, I was found by two girls who were mages, and then later on, we ran into another girl as we were about to leave. Does anyone happen to know them?"

As a matter of fact, it turns out someone did. A boy with hair like Marxanae's spoke up. "You mean you ran into Marxanae and Gryll in the factory?!"

"Yes, that's right," I answered, causing everyone to be in shock. "You know them?"

"Yeah, I do! Seems like she didn't mention me, huh? I'm Marx, by the way," Marx replied. "Looks like my hunch earlier was true after all. Well, I only knew Marxanae and Gryll, but who was the other girl you ran into?"

"Her name is Pandora," Luke answered. From their looks, it doesn't seem like anyone knew who she was. "Not ringing a bell? Hmm... oh! She looks just like Vanja, except she has a bang over her right eye, has cone-shaped sleeves, has a dress similar to hers, wears high heels made of ice, and her boobs are the same size as Vanja's! Oh man, the jiggling- so much jiggling!"

"Sounds like my kind of girl," Aege whistled. "But it ain't ringing a bell."

"Damn it, Luke," Feena growls. "You could've worded that better!"

"Oh, I got it!" I called out. "Would it help if I told you that she's a Knightess for something called the Zero Seven?" And suddenly, everyone realized who she was. Well, only the fact that she is one of them.

However, another one of them actually knew specifically who she was. It was a girl named Kailaine. "Hang on, Pandora?! Oh, so those boobs I saw while I was imprisoned weren't Macy's after all! Now that I think about it, Eclipse did mention her when we met him the first time. She was there in the factory too?"

I could tell that there was some hostility against her, and she did mention she was with the same force that did cause this madness, so I went to defend her. "Yes, she was. I don't know what history you had with her and the force she's with, but I can tell you that she isn't like the others, if I'm right about that, I promise!"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Let me explain. After Marxanae and Gyrll found and took care of me, we went into the archive of the factory because they were looking for information about what happened to this planet back then. Before that, they found out the workers who were handling me were oppressed and they were forced to do terrible things against their will. That would explain the hole in my chest right now."

"Really?" Espera beamed.

"Not now, Espera," Susie stopped her.

"Anyway, we found files that talked about the Elejewels after I broke them out from a cabinet. And that's when I bumped into Pandora's chest when I wasn't looking ahead. Marxanae and Gryll was about to attack, but Pandora stopped them, saying that she wasn't here for a fight. It's true she may be with Dark Matter, but she explains that she started to have unfamiliar memories of her life in her dreams recently, causing her to doubt everything. She even mentions that her brother was the first to have them longer than she did, so she came here hoping to find something about her past and Dark Matter's connection as well."

"Is that so? Then even she's starting to doubt her position as well."

"Yeah, and we would've been out of there sooner if it wasn't for the alarm that we unwittingly tripped," I explained further. "Turns out they placed some sort of alarm in the files we took without us noticing and things started to go downhill from there."

"Well, Marxanae and Gryll knew some escape spells, so why didn't they use that?" Marx questioned.

"That's the reason why. When that alarm tripped, there was some strange energy pulse that erected, and it didn't take us long to realize that the pulse disabled any form of escape artes to prevent intruders from leaving at will. I suggested Pandora accompanied us, so we had no choice but to flee by foot and through the way Marxanae and Gryll came from. But that's when we were ambushed by the Zenoxia Guard, the generals. I believe it was the chancellor called Teyren, not to mention that the Godbeast Celsius was with him."

At this, everyone's eyes shot wide open. "You encountered the Godbeast Celsius and the Chancellor Teyren?!"

Luke ended up putting two and two together to come up with four. "Wait, don't tell me you all ran into those bastards earlier before you found us!? Maybe that's what everyone earlier was saying about their lives being jeopardized days ago!"

"No kidding," Magolor confirmed. "In fact, hours earlier, we had an unexpected run-in with Celsius. Does that mean earlier she may have trapped you somehow?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Before we even knew what was happening, she used this strange move called Howling Obedience to force us to the ground against our will and suddenly, the ground below us instantly crumbled, hurling us four deeper into the factory. That's how we ended up into the place they called The Abyss, where there's a massive, colossal city underneath the entire place. And as if that wasn't enough, we had to defend ourselves against the security forces as we were falling. And after that, we landed to the nearest piece of land safely and went inside the city known as Edenia."

"And my suspicions are confirmed," Zeta spoke. "It appears that you were the group who found their way to Edenia by accident. And it may be a good thing you ended up there as well. What was it like there?"

I glanced at Luke and Feena before I continued. "When we arrived there, it may be beautiful, but it was ugly the moment we saw how the others were treated literally as prisoners; they had handcuffs made of Voidthrilis, as Pandora stated, which were made to restrain the host's abilities at will. We didn't know what to do for them, but that answer came when we went inside a living machine that was also a massive library called the Chronova Sanctuary. A little bit further in, and we stumbled across a section that was called Edenia's Lost Memories, where we met the host of the celestial body that offered to show us what happened to this planet. I think I'll hold off explaining that for now."

"Interesting," Vanja nods.

"After seeing what we saw, I thought maybe Pandora could find out more about herself and maybe I could get my memories back. But when we tried doing that, it wasn't possible for Pandora because there was some kind of seal on her memories. Still, she was satisfied knowing that something was amiss. As for me, well, I never got the chance because that's when the Zenoxia Guard located us and was approaching our way. The host of the area gave us a shard to break the shackles of everyone else and asked to escape with them. Of course, the rest follows."

"Well, if that's the case, then why were you three the only ones who were injured?" Gooey asked.

I sighed. "That's what I'm getting to. Unfortunately, you're not gonna like what happened. We were going to escape once we gotten everybody through the portal that we found in the factory once we arose from the Abyss, and just when we're about to get in... she attacked us again."

"You mean Celsius?!" Taranza gasped. "But we encountered her hours ago!"

"And that's not the worst of it," I shivered, "The Chancellor Teyren was with her along with someone named Rushgarde, and before we knew it..." As I said that, even Luke and Feena looked down in shame and regret. "They had already beaten us to a bloody pulp."

"Then... how did you...?" They hesitated to ask.

"...it was because of them that we ended up leaving the factory. By force," We finally admitted, leaving those words to click into the minds of everyone to realize for themselves.

Marx pounded the ground out of distress. "Damn it! I was hoping this wouldn't happen! Now we've got another problem on our hands! This whole thing ended up being all for nothing in the end!"

"...I'm sorry," was all we could mutter. Marx, however, was cackling slowly.

"Sorry, sorry. First of all, it wasn't your fault that happened last-minute, and secondly, knowing those two, even if they were to get themselves all tied up, they'd still find a way to get the last laugh. In fact, those royal bastards wanted those files you stole as well, right? If so, they can't get them back if you have them in your possession right now, am I right, Knaiva?"

Hearing that clicked something in my brain. "Oh, you mean these?" I pulled out the folders from my cloak as I thought that. I pulled them out in a way that displayed unwittingly the hole in my chest for a moment.

"Egh, so that's what it looks like," Aqua shudders. "For some reason, those kind of things makes my legs turn into jelly. No offense."

"Ah, perfect," Marx grinned. "Now that I think about it, Marxa did mention that she heard about a famous jewel hunter. Maybe she thought they may have some confidential data about that or something."

"Yeah, if it helps, you all can look at it," I replied. "Besides, I already know enough about what happened to this planet anyway. Right now, I'm more concerned about rescuing the other three, but I have no idea what exactly's going to await them before we could even do anything, and we couldn't fend off well enough against those three elite warriors."

"Geez, talk about a massive, unfair difficulty spike," said Espera. "By the way, you said you went into the hall of Lost Memories, correct? If I'm not mistaken, something like that requires something from that specific time in order to view such a memory. What exactly did you use to get the memory to show up?"

"This," I answered, pulling out the same drawing from before and showing it to everyone. Everyone was confused. "Ok, I know it may seem bizarre to use this, but in truth this was drawn by a little girl who was involved in the year that the crisis happened. Apparently, she wanted to give this to her parents before she ended up having to leave them for good along with the other children from this planet to avoid the virus striking. Only adults were infected, but not the children; still, they couldn't take any chances. It does seem that all the children in the world got away safely though, so maybe they're outside the planet somewhere."

Kirby rung up a possible thought. "Hey, this may seem farfetched, but do you think that maybe the people we've met before we got here might be some of the children from Blizzard Star grown up?"

"You know," Susie agrees, "That may be a plausible explanation to that mystery. Time does pass differently between planets and galaxies after all, so that would be reasonable if the humans everyone met before were the children that fled this planet. After all, humans weren't common in our home galaxy. Anyway, it's rather impressive you've learned all of this from a simple drawing, but where did you get that?"

"Yeah, that would seem like something Adeline would draw," Niva adds.

"That? Actually, it was Pandora who had it stuffed between her chest after she found it a long time ago- wait, you said Adeline, right?" I asked.

"Of course. Why?"

"Because..." I hesitated to answer for some reason. "This drawing... belongs to her."

"What?!" Everyone gasped. With that, they all avert their eyes to only one person in the room, who resembles the girl I saw in the drawing's memories. She did not say a word when she was gazed at because she was already lost in her own thoughts.

"Adeline..." Karly softly gasps. "Is this why you...?"

"...I'm sorry I've been nothing more than depressed," she slowly answers. "Everything that this boy explained... it's all true, which is why I can't explain it, even if you ask me about it. I don't even know how I'm alive after all these years. It hurts so much..."

"So... does this mean that this planet was- er, I mean, used to be your home?" Kazela slowly asks. "And does that mean that we were right in assuming you might know the deal about the Captain of the Zenoxia Guard before?"

"...yes," she sighed, before looking at me. "In fact, how much of my memory did you see?"

"Oh, first of all, sorry that we looked," I apologized first. "And we pretty much saw up to the point where you leave the planet on a shuttle. In fairness, it was just a short summary of what happened to this planet through your perspective. I don't think there's much to ask about it... unless are you implying that there was something that wasn't shown to us that only you know?"

"You mean the flashback didn't show you when he appeared at that moment and destroyed the area?"

"...wait, what? I don't remember seeing that happen at the end of it. All it showed was you getting on the shuttle before it ended there... maybe it did have its limits. But besides that, you're saying that if it did continue on a bit longer, it would've really shown him leveling the place the moment you got on the shuttle. But... why would he do something like that?"

"I don't even know at this point, but the moment he arrived, that's when things went wrong. Everything was a blur, so... I wouldn't say it's a grudge, but more on wanting to know what happened. My parents were there when it happened... and I don't know what's become of them. That's why... I want to know the truth, to hear it directly from him. It may not make much of a difference, but not knowing is the worst thing to be feeling right now. I don't know why he's even with the Godbeast anyways."

"I feel ya there," Luke agrees. "And from what I've heard, apparently it seems there's some kind of conspiracy going on involving a theft of a jewel or something and a massive manhunt; it's likely they just want the jewel back, but don't you think it's a little too convenient to direct a search party for the jewel to the point where they'll even use the monster that caused all of this in the first place to get the job done? Wasn't that psycho dealt with already or something?"

Vanja unintentionally sighs, seemingly as if something was bothering her while she flipped through a book called Frozen Tears. "As a matter of fact, yes, she was before." That line grabbed everyone's attention in the blink of an eye. "Before the year 2000, apparently Celsius was tamed after a long and deadly battle that went on after the children evacuated from this planet for some time by the survivors that were left behind. Eventually, the battle came to an end with Celsius being imprisoned in statis; of course, it was not won without casualities. One of them was my mother, Veramirae, who placed the Godbeast into a coma stasis, and she paid the price with her life as it was too much for her body to handle at once. I'll have to assume that they captured her in the Abyss. Once that was over with, that's when on March 24, 2000, there was footage of a group of five seeking the Crystal Shards at that time, and it was revealed that the virus was gone for good due to Celsius being tranced, so it wasn't long before plans were made to move back to the surface."

"Wait, the virus was dealt with years ago?" Feena asks. "So then, why were the rest of us kept down afterwards?"

"Maybe before they were affected by Dark Matter this time around, I bet they were gonna let us up on the surface at some point, but it was probably out of caution just to make sure that it was safe. Probably then, they wanted to figure out how to reverse the effects of the eternal winter since Celsius was only put in stasis and not dead, and maybe they wanted to use her power since she did cause the whole mess one way or another. But that never happened because of Dark Matter striking again," Luke theorized. "And it could be that jewel everyone would kill for as well. By the way, what is that jewel's worth at all anyway?"

A thought came up to my head. "What about that Re: Genesis Project?"

"Where did you hear that from?" Espera questions.

"From Naiva, correct?" Niva answers. I nod. "I thought so. There's no way you wouldn't be carrying around that shard if you hadn't run into that clockwork star on the way here. That's what you used to break the voidthrilis chains, and honestly speaking, because you had his smell clinging to you earlier, that's what drew me to you and the others in the first place. And it sounds like he's still functioning after those many years. Guess I better pay him a visit then."

"Oh, right. He told me to give this to you."

Remembering the elder nova's advice, I pull out the shard and gave it to the cat woman, who may be of the same species as Naiva somehow. "Aw, thank you, sweetie. No wonder those three are so attached to a cutie like you. Speaking of which, do you think those files they gave you might have something on that little Re: Genesis Project?"

"The only thing I know of it is that it was only built to reverse the effects of the winter caused by Celsius; I would think they'd have found a way by now, but it seems like something that can't be easily reversed because it was caused by accident, so I doubt Celsius could turn everything back, even if she wanted to. I don't know what it looks like, but maybe to complete it, they need some sort of catalyst, like that jewel you guys keep mentioning before. I don't know the full story, but it seems like it was never paid attention to until it was actually gone at the exact moment they planned to use it."

"You know what?" Gooey agrees, "That makes so much sense; no wonder they went gojo for the jewel, they were going to use it for that genesis whatever project. Good thing I ate it."

"Gooey, shut up!" Magolor, Marx and Taranza tried to silence him, but it was pointless since we were literally right there.

"Wait a minute," Feena points at the quartet in shock. "You mean to say you four stole the Void Jewel and spiraled the whole world into a massive manhunt?! What were you thinking?!"

"Er, um... trust me, I can explain..." Magolor stuttered.

"They always say that. What a shame," Luke shook his head. "But since this whole crisis has Dark Matter in the picture, I have to assume it was for a good reason, was it not?"

"Well, yeah," Taranza nods. "Long story short, let's just say this moron here ended up saving us by swallowing the jewel because it was about to release unstable energy at that exact moment. So, in a weird way, he did save us- temporarily, of course."

"I see, but won't that endanger you guys again if they found out the ones who stole it are hiding in this very cruise ship itself?" I questioned.

"Don't worry about that, we explained everything to the passengers, and they agreed to help us," Marx answers. "You know, considering the fact that we did save them from Celsius that time and that we managed to fend off the Zenoxia Guard the first time, they agreed to help us out. After all, we were originally buddy-buddy with Queen Spectralinae herself, mainly Taranza and her were together; that was before this whole mess happened. This may have been driven more by them than by Dark Matter themselves."

"I see," Kazela spoke. "Still, even with this amount of information at our hands, we clearly have no idea what the heck we should do about it even though our goal is clear. Now that we have more forks in the path than spoons, that makes it all the more confusing for us in the end. Dark Matter may have spiraled this mess, but it feels like this time they had less of an impact on this planet than previously before. Still, we have to do something about it anyway; we have more problems and questions than solutions and answers."

"She's... actually right," Sirica sighs. "And we also have to find the location of the chambers and retrieve the remaining Gem Soul Spirit as well, which is unfortunately spotted near Tempestoria territory."

"What now, Vanja?" Yae asked. Just when Vanja was going to propose a possible answer, it seems like there was a force that already made the decision. At that moment, Esderane came through the doors in a rush as if she had something important to share with us.

"Sorry for the interruption, but we've got another problem on our hands!" She gasped, turning her head out of worry. "The Zenoxia Guard has made a public announcement; one we can't take lightly! Look!"

The monitor in the room suddenly flashed by itself, displaying an important announcement on the channel it was on.

"We interrupt your program for this sudden change of events! We've received word from the Zenoxia Guard of the Tempestoria Nation related to the massive manhunt for the Void Jewel, and by God, do they mean business! Apparently, the Factory Inspection, located in Tempestoria, has been reported infiltrated by a group of mysterious individuals for unknown reasons. However, they were apprehended by the leaders of the Zenoxia Guard in an attempt to escape the factory when discovered. With their capture, the Chancellor for Queen Spectralinae, Teyren Yggranox and the Captain of the Guard, Sir Alzen Rushguarde has arranged a ransom for the culprits, who happen to be three mages and they suspect one of them being in relation to one of the four criminals who stole the jewel. Tomorrow at noon in the Central Square of the Factory, they will forfeit the lives of these girls unless the four criminals surrender the Void Jewel and themselves in exchange for the girls."

"My, this is quite the conundrum, I must say. Surely, we did not ever foresee the Zenoxia Guard resorting to this cliché but effective tactical means of retrieving the jewel back. The real question is, will the hunted surrender themselves should their hunch proves to be correct or will they allow themselves the opportunity to flee from this? According to their demand, the wanted have till tomorrow at noon to consent with the proposal or the lives of the hostages will be forfeit! And resistance will only make it worse should they attempt that. Either way, tune in tomorrow at noon to witness what will happen next!"

"And just when we thought things couldn't get any worse..." Karly groans.

"Man, we can't catch a break," Marx growls furiously. "Damn, it can't be helped."

"Hey, don't tell me you're just gonna give up like this, are you?!" Magolor snaps at the jester.

"Oh, I don't suppose you have a better idea then, smartass?! It's not worth running if innocent lives are being held as ransom in the end! What else can we do against this stupid cliché trick?!"

"Please, since when did that become a concern for you of all people, last time I checked?!"

"Screw you! I'll give you something to check on!" Marx was ready to jump at Magolor, and so was he. I had to step in.

"Both of you, quit it right NOW!" I jumped in between them, forcing them to freeze at blade point; I pointed both arms mutated into blades, fencing close to their faces. "Don't be acting stupid at a time like this; trying to fight each other isn't going to help the situation!"

"Says the kid who has us right now at blade point- ack!" Marx scoffed before I edged the blade closer to him. Same with Magolor. "Okay, man! We're cool!"

"Kid's growing up already," Luke sneers while Feena gives him a deadpan stare.

I sighed, retracting my blade arms to normal. "I understand how you feel about this, but we all can't lose our heads over this major setback. Either way, you're both right about the situation. And as much as we can't risk their lives, we can't give ourselves up as well. I think we all know the inevitable will happen even if we surrender ourselves. However, we still have to do something about it! Let's think this through for a moment, okay?"

"...fine," The two concur. "Sounds like you have something in mind, no?"

"Probably, but it's not a guarantee it may work before tomorrow, though. That's how long we have to make our choice. I don't know the whole story, but I think someone mentioned something about a Gem Spirit? If I heard right, there's supposed to be a chamber that holds it somewhere in the Tempestoria nation, right?" I asked.

"Well, yeah," Everyone replies. "Our objective is to find them to break the barrier that holds the Gem Star captive along with a person who's possessed by Dark Matter. At least that was the case before."

"Yeah, like I said earlier," Kazela reminded us, "It just feels like Dark Matter has less of an influence than the previous times because none of us sense any aura of Dark Matter around this time."

"If that's the case, then I was thinking that maybe we should get the spirit first if possible before tomorrow. That way, it'll be easier to manage if a spirit might know something we don't. But that is a big IF scenario, so I'm not sure it'll work in execution," I suggested.

The group ponders over my suggestion for a while. And if the entity known as God was with us, someone else came into the room with some urgent information. It was Naomi. "Sorry to interrupt you, but there's something I need to tell you."

"Alright, shoot," Vanja gestures.

"Remember when I told you how my friend discovered that chamber you were all looking for earlier? In fact, it was actually spotted just a fair distance from where the cruise is just now! Turns out it was at the line that crosses into the Tempestoria nation! You should get there while you have the chance!"

Everyone blinked before gazing at me; I shrugged. "I guess the idea was already in motion after all."

"You're something special, you know that?" Espera smirked. "Now we can get the remaining spirit before tomorrow! Thanks for that, Naomi!"

"Oh, it was nothing, really," She replies.

"In that case, let's have Knaiva deal with that once we get near it," Vanja declares. "You think you can tackle this one on your own?"

"Sure, why not? I did suggest this idea anyway," I said.

Vanja giggles and pats me on the head. "Already that eager, huh? But it's dangerous to go alone, take this." She also digs in between her lumps and pulls out a bag full of unassembled pieces of an artifact. "The chambers never appear until you get all the pieces of these orbs. Use this and the door will open. However, don't expect the spirit to just hand himself over without a test of spirit. Beat him in the test, and you win! Think you're up for the challenge?"

"Yeah, I'll do it, princess!" I volunteered.

"Perfect! Still, I do feel bad sending you out there on your own, so I'll have someone go with you, unless you want to go for it solo."

"I don't mind."

"Great! In that case, the four of the wanted will go with you on this one- no exceptions allowed," Vanja announces, throwing the quartet off guard.

"What? But we-" Magolor and Marx tried to protest, but Vanja shushed him with a finger.

"Maggie... Marxie, I said no exceptions. Don't try to get all fussy with me now, you understand?" The quartet ended up concurring and gave in.

"Yes, ma'am..."

"Glad that's settled. We'll be close in about a few minutes from now. Get yourselves ready and no worming out of this, or else," Vanja demanded. "And Magolor, after you're done, you'll be seeing me in my quarters tonight. Don't try to resist."

"...ok," Magolor groans as he left the room along with the others selected, while everyone else either sweatdropped, whistled with weird faces, or were clueless like I was.

"Er, if you don't mind me asking, what's your connection with Magolor?" Feena asks.

"Oh, with him?" Vanja crossed her arms and smirked proudly. "My boyfriend, of course, what else? Even a princess like me can get their ideal man without even trying! Just look at Aqua getting all cuddly with Bandana Dee over there! Now that's a match made by God himself! I just knew Maggie and I were meant to be!"

"Well, you certainly have the boobs for it," Kailaine glares at her. "Besides, you literally just met 3-4 days ago!"

"Don't pay attention to her," Vanja whispered to us. "She's just frustrated that she can't tell the boy she likes how she feels about him; you'll know that when she denies it."

"Hey, don't be giving them weird ideas, alright?!" Kailaine hollered, turning red immediately.

"See what I mean?"

"Yes," I answered, "Yes, I do."

"Don't listen to her! You do not know what she means!"

"No," I answered again, "No, I do not."

Later...

Soon, we had arrived near the chambers as the cruise ship came to a complete stop for that matter. The ruins were floating about in the distance, creating a path made of ice for us to cross on. The other four were with me at my side, against their will, of course.

"Well, we might as well get this over with," sighed Magolor. "Let's go."

"Sure thing," Taranza follows suit, along with Marx and Gooey.

Luke and Feena calls out to me before I venture out. "Hey, kid! Just watch yourself out there, okay?"

"Good luck, Knaiva!" Feena waved.

"Okay, I will," I smiled, thus taking my leave to catch up with the others, following the trail of cold steel all the way to where the chamber was, a building of mystery to me as we approached the entrance to it. The doors knew we were here, opening itself wide for us to cross inside.

Level Four: Chamber of Isolated Snow- Main Hub

It was cold. I should have seen this coming. But it doesn't bother me. Anyway, the pillars around the area were literally made of icicles, accompanied by a visible mist echoing at our ankles. With every step came a feeling of awkwardness and uncertainty; the place looks abandoned, yet it doesn't exhibit that feeling as well, for it appears like someone lives here, keeping the place in good care.

The only person here is the spirit, so I wouldn't be too surprised. It was for a few moments before we stumble upon some strange pedestal with a number of stands, followed by a huge double door with a hole in the middle.

"Okay, we're here," Gooey shivers. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"Knaiva, you have the pieces of the Winter Orb from Vanja," Marx reminded me. "I think we're supposed to place them on there."

"Oh, these?" I quickly pull out the pieces from the bag, only for the pieces themselves to float over to the pedestals and fix themselves on the stands. Suddenly, the pieces started to merge at once, creating one complete orb again. It drew a strange symbol before emitting a light that struck us all without warning.

"Huh? What the-?!" Taranza shouts.

The light was brief, but it did give us something in return for making it complete again.

Knaiva learned Destruction Rain!

Magolor learned Pulse Distortion!

Marx learned Meteor Rift!

Taranza learned Venom Stinger!

Gooey learned Eraser Void?!

Ability Scroll retrieved!

After that, the orb flew away from the pedestal and threw itself into the hole in the door, which may have been the key the entire time. The door did open once it inserted itself in the keyhole.

"Well, that worked. Now let's go get this spirit ASAP, shall we?" Magolor suggested, being the first to walk forward before all of us. On the way, I went and touched the same circle from before, feeling more energized than usual.

Would You Like to Save Your Progress? Yes.

Now Saving... Save Complete! Showing Results...

Current Status:

World 7, Level 7-4: Jewel Chamber of Isolated Snow

Lives x 73

7/12 Abilities Collected So Far.

Current Level: Level 43. Next Level in 5800 Experience Points

Party: Knaiva, Magolor, Marx, Taranza, Gooey.

Current Location: Entrance to the Spirit Arena

Now Exiting...

With that, I followed the rest of the party inside the doors, where the spirit awaits us.

Jewel Chamber- Spirit Arena: The Gem Soul of Snow

"Man, why is it so pitch black in here?" Marx groaned. "I'm freezing up here as well."

Nothing but darkness occupied our eyes from here on out. Anyone would find it scary to even go forward without being able to see where they're going. Even using light wouldn't be enough because it is controlled by whoever has authority over this area.

"Yeah, and not even a simple light skill has enough power over this domain," Taranza explains. "Only someone with authority can control how dark it is here."

"Maybe we'll find something once we ventured far enough?" Gooey suggests.

"Like that floating pendant over there?" Marx points with his voice.

Sure enough, a floating pendant presented itself before us once we all got closer to it. It was shaped like the moon tonight, crescent shaped as well and it was shining with a mixture of light blue and blinding light. I was about to extend my hand to touch it out of curiosity, when suddenly...

"Poof!" It vanished somewhere else.

"Hey, where did it go?!" I gasped. "What's going on?!"

"That has to be one of the relics of Crystal Star," Magolor summarized. "Obviously, it belongs to the one who is in possession of this chamber, the Gem Soul Spirit. The spirit has to be here right now."

"Of course, why wouldn't I be here?" a mysterious voice echoed throughout the space of darkness. "Not like I had a choice some time ago."

"Okay, what's your game here?" challenged Marx. "Why did you have us come here when it was convenient?"

"When you put it that way, it sounds like I'm the villain here, which I'm not. Look, didn't someone explain the situation to you? I can't leave this place until I've reached the requirements needed to do so. Thanks to those Dark Matter freaks, everything's gone haywire, just like how they ruined this planet years ago. And now that they're back, I have to rise up along with the others again. But that can wait. First, this planet needs to survive what's going to take place tomorrow."

"What do you mean by that?!" Taranza demanded.

"Please, do you really think I'd just tell you right away? If you really want to know that, then you better prove it- on the battlefield, that is." With the sound of a finger snap, the field of darkness began to illuminate with a ball of light, ridding the area of darkness and revealing the room to be an arena of sorts that we've walked on. The floor was covered with blankets of snow and that same ball of light began to take on a strange form: a massive behemoth with white fur and red marks on its tan face and wrists. It sports black eyes, a grey goatee and a tuft of grey long hair. It looked like an ape.

"What the hell is this?!" Marx grunted.

"This is your challenge, jester and company," the voice declared. "You know the rules of the battlefield, so if you want my help, then you ask for it through your fists!"

"Oh, I see," I spoke, assuming a battle stance. "That's the rule of your situation, huh? Well, I'm ready if you are."

"Alright, we accept your challenge," Magolor agrees, readying himself.

"Heh, this is gonna be fun," Marx cackled.

"Fine, let's hurry this up, okay?" Taranza reluctantly readies himself.

"I'm with you on this one," Gooey agrees.

"Good, get ready to keep that fire alive or else you'll freeze to death! The Gem Soul of Snow, Icesis, will see how long you can keep that fire going! Let's rock!" The spirit shouted.

Duel With The Spirits- 40th Boss Battle

Knaiva & Party VS Shiver-Icesis (Boss Battle- Kirby's Return to Dreamland)

Boss Description: Within the events of Return to Dreamland, the quartet climbed up to the top of White Wafers to retrieve the Mast of Lor Starcutter, that is, with a guardian to stand in their way. A primate that lives in the cold mountains challenged them- a warrior yeti known as Goriath. A master martial artist, this yeti is not to be taken lightly. His kind can use energy known as Ki, mainly for energy attacks and can manipulate ice as well. Nonetheless, you have a job to do!

Blizzard-Icesis challenges you to a duel! Let's do this!

"Think you can withstand the blizzard? Go ahead and try!" Icesis roared, pounding his chest with a battle cry. Pillars of ice began to sprout about the arena in the meantime. Goriath began to climb up the pillars, chucking snowballs at the same time.

Dodging, the snowballs spurted out icicles upon impact. I used Sniping Daggers to pierce through the second wave of snowballs, some striking Goriath in the process. Goriath bounces from the pillar and jumps onto another one nearby. Firing more snowballs, Marx and Magolor counters with their various projectiles, cancelling each other out on impact.

Goriath leaps from the pillar and pauses himself momentarily before he attempts to stomp us by hurling to the ground where we are. We evaded but got caught off guard by the shockwaves created by the ground pound and got knocked back further. Regaining our bearings, it was just in time when the ape was winding up his fist rapidly and before I could blink, he threw his arm straight at me, extending it at a fast speed.

"Let's see how you like this one! Lanky Punch!"

I was forced to tank it, but I wasn't shoved from my standing position. With that opening, Gooey lashes his tongue at Goriath, causing his arm to retract and throwing him off balance, being roped into one of Taranza's spider web traps that yanked the ape by the foot and being lifted off the ground. While Goriath was airborne, Marx dropkicked the ape, sending him straight at the ground and being bombarded by Magolor's spinning spheres in that moment, creating a huge explosion in the moment.

"Heh, how'd you like them apples?" Marx snorted.

"Amazing..." I thought to myself. "I better get in on this too!"

Goriath was not done yet. He took a concentrative stance and fired energy blasts with his fists. I took this chance to close the gap between us as I sprinted and dodged the blasts at the same time. Cupping his hands together, he concentrated a big mass of energy at his palms before firing a big one during the barrage.

"Try this on for size! Super Force Blast!" Icesis shouts.

I realized that I could shoot lasers as well, so I thought I could charge it down too. With that thought, I performed my idea and imitated what Goriath did, and as I thought, it worked. I fired my own version of the laser move I first did while falling into the Abyss, a stronger version, cancelling the opposing blast in a flash.

"Oh, it worked after all," I mumbled in surprise.

"Heh, you just got lucky that time! But how about you get another serving of the Lanky Punch instead?!" Icesis cackled, winding up his fist yet again.

I also realized that I could stretch my arms as well, just like down at the factory. When Goriath ceased the barrage and winds his fists again, I did the same in response and swung at him with all my might.

"I hope this works!" I shouted. "Bullet Punch!"

Instantly, my arm extended itself to cover the gap between us, colliding with Goriath's fist too. A huge shock force burst upon impact. Goriath attempts another strike again, and so did I, but I was much quicker to react and land a solid blow on Goriath, knocking him backwards into a nearby pillar.

"Wow," Taranza whistled. "He copied that attack in an instant without much effort. He's learning as he fights... man, what an impressive quirk to his ability."

"You can say that again," Gooey agreed. "What kind of Demon Beast has that sort of power anyway?"

"Hey, I ain't complaining," Marx shrugs as he hurled some arrows out of nowhere to an evading Goriath.

The ape bounced off the pillars like a bullet to evade the storm of arrows, then directing his assault directly at us after hurling some icicles to throw us off guard. Jumping, Gooey turns into stone and fall directly on top of Goriath, creating a crater to bury him in.

"Huh, that was easier than I thought it would be," Gooey shook his head. "Glad that's over."

That line got him a bop on the head from Marx. "Moron, why would it be over if it was that easy? He's still standing!"

Goriath jumped from the crater, shaking off the bruises received. "Pretty impressive, for a band of misfits. Consider this a warm-up; I'm not holding back this time!" Goriath pounds his chest wildly, letting out a ferocious roar than before.

Phase Two Activate!

"Ever heard of a great super ape? With their backs pushed to a corner, they can unleash this phase of power- like THIS!" Goriath suddenly went wild as aura begins to surround the ape, giving the ape blood red eyes and golden hair as well, not to mention the hair went from smooth to spiky in an instant.

I was amazed. The others? Not so much.

"Wow," Marx scoffed, "What a rip-off."

"Not now, Marx!" Magolor shouts, firing more spheres. "We have to finish this quickly!"

"Okay, okay," Marx shakes his head. "Fine by me!"

Goriath came charging at us first, vanishing from the spot he was at and reappearing before the party in the air and plummeting right into the ground, forcing us to evade. On impact, not only shockwaves were made, but icicles began to rain from the non-existing ceiling. They continue to fall as Goriath jumps around some more.

When one landed near me, I immediately tried to pick it up- which I did somehow and hurled the huge ice needle towards the area where Goriath might land while the others were taking hits and other unexpected factors of the rumble. Just as I thought, the ape did land close enough to where the icicle was headed.

I decided to throw more should that one misses the target; grabbing more near me, I threw them rapidly without much effort. Goriath noticed the icicle coming his way, so he slaps that one aside only to see a ton more of them aiming to get him by surprise.

"That kid's really something else, huh?" Marx commented. "No wonder Marxa picked him out of whatever he was in. Well, that ape is history!"

"A creative tactic, I'll admit," Goriath sneers, adjusting his stance with clenched fists emitting a strange aura. "Now I'll show you one way of evading an assault like this one! Chaotic Burst!" With that, he opened his fists and pounds the ground savagely, shaking the ground like an earthquake. The icicles in range immediately shattered to pieces one by one.

"Tch!" I grunted. "So close!"

"I'm not done yet! Super Ricochet!" At once, he bounced from his spot and leapt to the pillars again, bouncing like a pinball from pillar to pillar at an insane speed. Before we knew it, one of the pillars broke off, being lifted from where it was planted, and it took only a second for everyone to realize what he was going to do.

"Oh crap! DODGE!" Taranza shouted.

Instantly, Goriath grabbed the pillar and swung vertically at us like a hammer. The impact was so strong, the arena couldn't take it and gave in to the collapse that occurred right afterwards, sending us all into free fall. The battle continued in the air whereas Goriath landed on a stable piece of the arena that managed to survive the collapse.

"Alright, Donkey Kong," Marx snarls. "Deflect THIS! Lightning Rush!" A multitude of arrows appeared from his wings and were immediately shot without a moment's hesitation.

"With pleasure!" Goriath used his Lanky Punch to counter, but not in the way anyone expected. He used both his fists to unleash a rapid barrage of blows to the raining projectiles while hollering a battle cry.

"AROAROAROAROAROAROARAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROAROARO!"

"You're kidding me, right?!" Marx jumps back, flinching a little.

"ARO!" Goriath quickly lashes his arm to end the blow.

Thinking fast, Taranza made a web spring to soften the attack, or rather it repelled his fist instead. Before that, Gooey shot a dark laser at Goriath, throwing him off-guard while his fist retracted in the meantime. Magolor covered the attack with more flaming spheres too.

In short, all of us jumped around at different angles and tried to shoot Goriath down. Goriath dodged and attacked back as expected, getting more agitated with every passing second. He was about to use his super force blast attack again, but a stronger variation of it in his wild form.

"This will finish you for good! Hyper Force Blast!" Goriath let loose with the attack blast instantly. The blast was bigger than usual, probably enough to decimate a town or two if it wanted. And it was headed right for us.

"Oh man, we're in for it now, guys!" Gooey gasped, before noticing the wild grin on my face.

"What's so funny, kid?" Marx questions. "We're about to get fried here!"

I smirked. "We've won."

Magolor and Taranza glanced at each other before glancing at me. "Won? Huh?"

"JUST. AS. PLANNED," I smirked again, jumping into the blast's radius and taking the hit directly. The guys were confused or shocked by what I did, but that's because they didn't know what I was planning to do afterwards, witnessing the blast being shrunk down to size by the hole in my chest until there was nothing left of it.

"Did he just-" Magolor gasped.

"-absorb the blast?!" Marx finished the sentence.

"What?! How?! That's impossible!" Goriath was even taken aback by this, not realizing that I was right in front of him. "How did you-?!"

"Nothing really! I just have a hole right where my heart's supposed to be," I lifted up my cloak only to show what I'm talking about. The ape was curious and took a look at it. "See? It even fires back whatever passes through it- like that Hyper Force Blast you fired earlier!"

"Wait, what-" Before he could he react, that's when it was game, set and match. I had unleashed Chaos Requiem on Goriath, spraying him with his own attack that launched him away from the arena and into the walls, reverting to his base form as well. Just as he was about to bounce back, he froze in the air momentarily, slowly looks down, and falls like he was in a cartoon.

"CURSES!" Goriath screamed, and the sound of impact echoed afterwards. The arena flashes once, and everything was back to normal before the battle even began. In fact, the only difference was Goriath's body lodged into a crater before dissolving into stars.

"Oops," I chuckled. "I forgot to tell you to dodge after that. Silly me!"

No one said a word except Marx. "Oh well! At least we won, right? All hail Knaiva, everyone? No? Aw..."

Goriath has fallen from a cheap shot! Victory! (Normal Victory- Grandia 1 HD)

Party has gained 5800 Experience Points! You are now Level 44!

Health rose to 3600! All stats rose by 360!

You got the "Artist" ability! Let's get... crafty, shall we? 8/12 Abilities Collected.

New Spirit Attack: Trailing Cold-Steel!

Next Level in 6500 Experience Points.

The arena was back to the way it was after dissolving the body of Goriath; a ball of light formed itself to be a person in ball form. It had light blue hair that covered the eyes of a white body with light blue feet. Other than that, the hair looked like ice. That must be the spirit.

"Well, I was not expecting that," Icesis groaned. "But I was expecting not to expect anything, so it doesn't count. Anyway, well fought, kid. And company."

"What are we, extras?" Taranza sweatdropped.

"Meh. So, before I forget, this is what you came for, so here." With the snap of his fingers, a light-blue jewel in the shape of the moon right now appeared before us and into our hands.

You got the Last Luna Soul Jewel! All Gem Soul Trials Complete! Now we just need to rescue Diamond!

"Oh, thank you so very much," I replied. "Er, sorry about earlier."

"Hey, not a problem. Far as I'm concerned, I just needed to see if you were able to handle yourself in a fight. Either way, I can finally leave the chambers now for good, but my job's far from over."

"You mean about the last Gem Star Diamond?" Magolor reminded him.

''Yeah, and the crisis this planet will face soon unless we stop it. Normally I would dissolve the Dark Barrier created by Dark Matter, but this time I don't sense any aura of Dark Matter at all, except for the one standing among us right now. Gooey, right?"

"That's me."

"Well, thanks to that stunt you pulled, you actually managed to avert the crisis in that very moment. The day you swallowed it was the day the Royal Family was planning to use it as a catalyst to the Re: Genesis Project. However, it's impossible to use it at its unstable condition; it can only be stabilized by anything with the same affinity of the jewel, something like a tamer version of Dark Matter- you. Either way, don't let anyone get that jewel from you until you drain it of its aura. I'm sure you've noticed how the Void Jewel gives you certain abilities from time to time, right?"

"Now that you mention it, I suppose you're right about that. What does it mean?"

"Can't really say for sure, but I think it likes you. In fact, I believe the Void Jewel, sitting in your belly, is actually giving you its aura for the time it remains there."

"Hey, that's it!" Magolor came up with an idea. "If Gooey receives all of the aura from the Void Jewel in time, maybe it might turn back into the Snow Elejewel, so even if they managed to get it out of Gooey, it'll be useless to them in the end!"

"That'll only erase one problem, though," reminded Marx. "We still gotta find whoever has possession of Diamond and stop them, but how can we do that if there aren't any traces of dark energy nearby? We don't have time for another genocide hunt!"

"We won't have to," suddenly said Gooey. "Because I just sensed an unusual amount of energy right now."

"Really? You know where it might be?" Taranza asked.

"It's not exact specific, but I can tell you that it's somewhere in Tempestoria as we speak. I think it'll make its move tomorrow."

"Not good," I panicked. "What if the person who does have Diamond gets possessed at the moment?"

"Sorry... all I can sense is where it is, not the person it possesses. If I wasn't an inferior version of Dark Matter, I could instantly tell who they got as their puppet," Gooey sighs.

Marx pats him on the head. "Don't worry about it, just knowing where they are is good enough for us, so that means we can get ourselves ready for them just like we planned earlier. And that also means we don't have to try hard to find the victim too, because our list of potential puppets isn't much anyway. Thanks for that, Gooey."

The mock matter blushed. "No, I should be thanking you..."

"In any case, we should get back to the others and inform them of this," Magolor proposed. "They must be waiting for us by now."

"Oh, ready to leave? About time. And we should probably hurry and get ready- there's no telling what could happen now that we know where Dark Matter is," Icesis suggested, clapping his stubby hands, which revealed an exit that took us back on the cruise deck as we went through it.

I think we may have a chance now.

Level Four Complete!

Shivera Starshine- Vanja's Quarters

"...and that's the whole gist of it," Magolor summarized. "In short, if Gooey drains the jewel of its aura, then it'll be harmless. On the other hand, the power given to Gooey by the jewel itself has allowed him to detect stronger sources of aura than usual, but it's not completely accurate right now; still, he is able to pinpoint the area where the energy is amassed at, which is Tempestoria, so we were right on the money."

"My, so smart, Maggie!" Vanja coos, squeezing him between her lumps. "I knew we could count on you! Oh, you too, Knaiva!" With that, she approaches closer and kisses me on the cheek.

"It wasn't a big deal or anything, I mean," I shyly refused. "I don't think I've done much."

"Can you really say that after the way you fought against Icesis earlier?" Marx counters. "This kid was chucking icicles and took a massive blast like it was nothing, not to mention quickly learning the ape's attacks and making his own imitation during the fight. You guys should've seen it."

"He quickly learned and imitated his opponent's attacks?" Espera looks at me. "I see, that must be part of how his ability works. Speaking of which, if the theory is true, then perhaps he may stand a chance against the trio again, considering the length of their ambush battle- brief, but not pointless. There's the chance that he may have memorized their attack patterns better than we did in one battle- I suppose the effect hasn't bloomed completely at the time. If he faces them again, he might have a better chance of winning."

"I hope so," Adena agrees, not before spraying water on Callie, who was nibbling on her legs. "Sit, girl."

"But we also need to find out who has the last Gem Star Spirit as well," Dylan brought up. "Won't that be a problem altogether?"

"I don't think it will be," answers Gooey, "Because right now, they're somewhere in Tempestoria, and I can be sure that they won't strike until tomorrow. They'll most likely show themselves till then, so we've got to be ready. The aura feels dormant for tonight, but when I sensed it, it was wild but brief before it settled down..."

"Meaning?" Taranza demanded.

"They've already got who they wanted. And I know you're worried, Taranza, but you should be prepared for the possibility that they may have gotten "her" at that time. Still, it'll spell trouble should they possess the Zenoxia Guard or even the Godbeast as well. Either way, we can't do anything right now but prepare for tomorrow, and we need to figure out how we're going to rescue the girls too, so let's get through this together, okay?"

"...okay, I understand, Gooey," Taranza nods. "Worrying about it won't help anyway. I guess I needed that, ironically. Thanks."

"Come to think of it, Gooey sounds more serious and focused than he always is, or is it just me?" Karly asks.

"Who knows? It's been one long day for us," shrugs Kirby. "Still, he has a point. And we have till noon before the execution, so how about I tackle the plan for tomorrow? You all should get some rest, it's somewhere around 12. I'll figure out something, shouldn't be too hard."

"Are you sure, Kirby?" asked Kailaine. "Some of us could stay to help you."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine; well, that is, if you want to, then I guess I can't refuse. Sure thing," Kirby smiled, and so did Kailaine. I honestly think she likes him; well, from the couple of minutes I've known him for, who wouldn't like him?

"Alright, since we've settled that," announced Vanja, "How about we turn in for the night? Normally I would stay up, but the others insisted that they take over for me today, so there's that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get some beauty sleep- with my prince, of course. Come along, Maggie."

"Um, about that," Aege points at the spot he was supposed to be at before aiming at the door. "He used the secret technique of running away the moment you made that sentence."

"What?! MAGGIE, YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Vanja roared, making a mad dash after her boyfriend before anyone could process what the heck just happened.

"Pff, he had one job. One chance, and he wasted it on the secret family technique," sighed Aege and Saito. "He may not be a simp, but do you know what we call people like Magolor? A wimp. He ain't one of us, a man of culture."

"For shame, Magolor," Dylan and Dash sighed. "For shame."

"And that's why he fails," adds Dedede. "We may be MOCs, but the real man of culture has to be Bandana Dee, who actually scored himself a chick without even trying. And that's why he's my right-hand man in everything along with Meta Knight. He's a savage and yet he's got a girl to get intimate with, regardless of how many times he denies it."

"Well, he's not wrong there," admits Bandana Dee, who was receiving head pats from Aqua before he glances at Meta Knight, who found himself in between two different versions of Dinah.

"Honestly speaking, I've stopped trying," Meta Knight replies.

"See what I mean? Magolor just lacks training. Sometimes, when the opportunity presents itself, you just gotta grab your destiny," sung Dedede. "If you know what I mean."

"Okay, I can't bear to hear this anymore," Merina groans, standing up. "I'm out."

"Me too," Sirica joins in.

Soon, everyone, using their bodies, agreed that they should turn in for the day, after doing some last-minute things, of course. Those who stayed behind were going to help Kirby plan out tomorrow's attack. I didn't have anything better to do, so I decided to get some rest with Luke and Feena.

Before I left, I noticed Taranza still being anxious. I guess that's understandable; I decided to at least say something encouraging to him.

"Hey, Taranza. It'll be okay. Whoever it is you're worried about now, I'm sure we'll be able to save them tomorrow. Just hold on for a bit longer, okay?"

Taranza glances at me for a moment, then he warmly smiles. "Heh, thanks for that. It's no wonder those three got you out of there; you're a good kid, Knaiva."

"No need for that, I'm just doing whatever I think I can to help. I just hope the person you're worried about is okay... if not, then we'll go save them, I know it."

"Heh-heh, I suppose you're right," Taranza softly chuckles as he gazes outside the window where the moon shines.

With that, I went back into the cabin I woke up in along with Luke and Feena and get myself comfortable for a good night's sleep.

Marxanae, Gryll, Pandora... I'm coming to save you tomorrow.

Meanwhile...

"Agh, make it stop, make it stop already!" I clutched my head more tightly than ever before, stumbling about with a feeling of dizziness as I collapsed on the ground, barely able to stand.

My breathes were like I had escaped from something so vile, sweat splattered on the carpets, my vision was alternating between reality and memories, memories I was unfamiliar with, yet I feel like they belong to me.

"W-what... what... is this...?" I gasped. "Why... why do I have these... random memories? But why is Taranza... in them? I just met him..."

A thought came across my mind now. "No... if that's not it, then... does that mean... I've met him before in the past...? Just who is he?"

The breaths stop.

"Just... who am I?"

"Fufufufufufu... you really wish to know?" A strange and ominous voice called out to me, sourcing from a vessel cloaked in nothing but darkness in the form of a sphere.

"W-who are you, and how did you get in here?!" I demanded, being unable to move. "H-huh?! I can't- move?!"

"Hush now, I can tell you just who you are with those memories, of course," the figure chuckled which then escalated to a howling of laughter as the sphere gave birth to an eye.

My eyes widen out of terror and shock, attempting to struggle some more. "No... you can't be!"

"That's right, and once again, I'll tell what you're about to be right now-" The demon eye suddenly lunged forward, charging straight for me, boring a wicked, visible smile that leaked black blood.

"NO! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

"A PUPPET FOR OUR ABSOLUTE MASTER- ZERO!"

Before I knew it, the last thing I did was scream. "TARANZA, HELP ME!"

"OH, THE SPIDER, HUH? WELL, TOO BAD YOU WILL BE OUR WEAPON TO DESTROY HIM AND THE STAR WARRIORS! PREPARE TO BE OUR PUPPET!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Meanwhile...

"A scream?" Taranza gazed out the window from his cabin in response to this distant scream. "Oh no, I have a bad feeling about this."

Would you like to save? Yes.

Now Saving... Save Complete!

To be continued...

End of Chapter 7 Act 5!

Author's Note Summary:

Finally! I'm done with this one! So sorry about making you all wait for this chapter, traffic was an absolute nightmare! So anyway, let's just say I ran into some complications while writing this chapter. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed this act so far. And there's not really much to say because this chapter is mainly expository for the most part with the exception of the only fight available here, so I wanted this chapter to have you think for a moment about the situation present. Other than that, it also explains itself, so I guess it was kinda pointless in a way? Eh, who knows?

This time, there's something I want to announce. I was thinking about cross-posting this story to AO3 with some persuading from my sister, who had that Jojo story I was telling you about before in my profile and the last chapter. In fact, I think I will do that for the time being while continuing work on the next chapter. What do you think? Let me know your opinion in your reviews below!

Well, that's pretty much it. I'm also excited for the fact that Stone Ocean is getting animated! Who's excited?! Along with Pyra and Mythra being in Smash, I hope to see who else gets in as well! Anyway, I hope I can write the next one a little faster if possible and shorter. Sorry I made you wait so long; as usual, let me know what you think of the chapter and story in your reviews. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me at anytime, if I'm not busy, that is. Also, advice would be helpful as well. I'm trying to improve on my writing too. That's all and I'll see you next time! Please take care!