It would be an understatement to say that Hikaru was overwhelmed by what was going on. They were flying high above the skies of Cephiro, with Fahren's Dome, a gigantic red robotic dragon, floating next to them. A dragon which as far as she knew was carrying an army ready to invade Cephiro. Despite the extreme conditions, things had gotten even more hectic for them. First Hotaru had been taken over by the enemy and was now attacking them. Then Umi and Selece had been shot down and were now in total free fall. And now it turned out that the one who had shot her, was their former foe turned friend, Alcyone. All of these things were happening simultaneously and she had no idea which one to prioritize.
Plummeting down in a freefall, Umi's entire body felt paralyzed. Alcyone's lightning spell had not only blinded and deafened her with its bright light and loud explosion, but had sent a powerful jolt through her body as well. Though she tried to force herself to move, Selece had taken even greater damage than she had. The Mashin was unresponsive and seemed unconscious.
"Winds of Admonishment!"
Bracing for impact already, Umi all of a sudden felt a powerful upwards draft from below her. Opening her eyes, she saw Windam extending its arm down at her, as the green wind's of Fuu's spell pulled her up.
"Fuu!" Hikaru yelled out happily.
"Ms. Hikaru! You deal with Lady Alcyone and Mr. Hotaru, while I help Ms. Umi"
"R-Right!" Hikaru yelled, trying to get between the two lovers
Fortunately for Hikaru, Hotaru was completely immobile at this moment. The arrival of Alcyone hadn't only come as a surprise to Hotaru and the Magic Knights, but also to Fahren's first princess. Inside the giant robotic dragon, in the imperial throne room, Lady Aska and her two aides were following the fight through a large crystal ball. Lady Aska had strung herself up with hundreds of golden strands to perform an illusion for controlling a chosen target. The strands were tied around her fingers and arms, and she was standing atop a few almost invisible wires.
She had taken control over the body of the giant warrior in silver armor, who had broken her previous illusion. She had been having a lot of fun playing with her new toy, which was much faster than the previous one, until someone interrupted her. Seeing someone else attacking the Mashins annoyed Aska greatly and she wanted to know who was responsible for this.
"Where are they? Where are they!" Lady Aska swung her fan around.
She was looking around on her crystal ball, using her fan to change the point of view rapidly. As she waved her hand, the motions were mimicked by Hotaru outside. The image of the giant silver warrior waving around an equally massive curved sword was quite the amusing sight, which luckily for him no one was looking at.
After about a minute, Aska finally spotted the intruder. A brownish red crab monster, floating in the air, with a single large yellow eye. The crab's body was covered in shiny carapace that extended out in long sharp protrusions. It had four scythe shaped limbs pointing forwards, two backwards, and a long spindly tail.
"Ew!" Aska yelled out, covering her mouth. "What is that cockroach!"
Her advisor, Chang Ang, stroked his beard, before answering, "Hmmm, it might be one of Cephiro's many monsters, Lady Aska."
"You mean our new world is infested with creatures like that?" she yelled in shock. "We will eradicate them all once we rule this world known as Cephiro!"
"Um… who is that on top of it?" Sang Yung asked, pointing at the crab's back.
Zooming in again, they all got a close-up of a tall, shapely, and scantily clad woman. Taken aback by her outfit, Sang Yung and Chang Ang couldn't help but blush, with Chang Ang having to cover a nosebleed. Neither of them had ever seen such a risqué outfit before, as most denizens of Fahren dressed moderately. Hearing them wheezing, the short princess quickly panicked.
"Sang Yung! Cover your eyes!" Aska yelled out, unable to get over to her aide to do it for him.
"R-Right Lady Aska!" the young boy covered his beady eyes.
"Jeez! Who does that woman think she is!" Aska gritted her teeth while shaking her fist. "Does she think she is such hot stuff with her long black hair, fair skin, indigo eyes, and red jewelry!?"
Still covering his eyes, Sang Yung asked, "L-Lady Aska, are you l-looking at your r-reflection on the crystal b-ball again?"
"Ah…" she blushed from embarrassment up to her ears.
"No but the two ladies do share quite many similarities," Chang Ang pointed out, wiping his beard and mustache from blood. "I wonder…"
"Enough with staring at her, elder!" Aska yelled, causing Chang Ang to cover his eyes as well. "I will not be out staged by a cheap copycat!"
Back outside the Dome, Hikaru was doing her best against Alcyone.
"Arile!" Alcyone pointed her staff at Rayearth.
Hikaru quickly raised Rayearth's long, clawed shield in front of her, blocking a powerful blast of blue lightning. The sorceress's spell packed quite the punch, but Hikaru managed to deflect the spell. Not giving her a moment of respite, Alcyone fired another at the red Mashin, forcing her to block again.
"Why are you doing this Alcyone!" Hikaru asked, desperate not to hurt her. "I thought that we were friends!"
"If you are my friend then DIE!" Alcyone yelled, before firing another spell. "ASTRA!"
Another massive ball of white lightning fired from the tip of Alcyone's staff, making its way towards Hikaru. Knowing how powerful this spell was, Hikaru extended her arms in order to counter it.
"Ruby Li—!" she started casting, until she froze in place.
Wait. I might hit her as well! Hotaru would never forgive me if I harmed Alcyone! What should I do? What do I do!
"Winds of Protection!"
At the very last moment, Fuu managed to fly in front of Rayearth and create an emerald barrier of wind. The ball of lightning struck against it with a powerful and bright explosion, but they already knew to close their eyes for it. Before Alcyone could launch off another spell, a massive blue vortex of water surrounded her.
"Sapphire Whirlpool!" Umi yelled, binding the black witch.
As Alcyone was screaming in pain, Hikaru yelled out, "Umi! Try not to hurt Alcyone!"
"Don't worry, I'm holding back," Umi calmed her down, "which is more than I can say for her! What do you think you are doing, old lady!"
"B-Barrier Circle!" Alcyone yelled out.
Creating a black barrier around her and her pet, Alcyone steered her steed out of the blue vortex. Taking some distance away from them, Alcyone started collecting lightning into her staff from nearby clouds.
"I will not let you stand in the way of mine and Hotaru's happiness!" she yelled fiercely.
"DODGE!"
The four women all got out of the way as fast as they could, as Hotaru flew past them swinging his Titan Slicer. This interrupted Alcyone's spell, but the Magic Knights were now faced with a bigger problem. Although Hotaru had managed to warn them this time, whoever was controlling him seemed to have gotten the hang of it.
"Heeeeeeeeeeelp!" Hotaru's voice trailed behind him.
Flying at them at the speed of sound, Hotaru's warnings couldn't reach them in time. Hikaru managed to dodge out of the way, using her reflexes to dive underneath Hotaru. Umi was far enough for her to pull Selece's wings away from Hotaru's sword. Despite her best efforts to fly out of the way, Hotaru's sword managed to cleave through Alcyone's ride, leaving the sorceress floating along on her own spell. As Hotaru dashed towards Fuu, she was barely able to evade the sword, but was struck directly by the kick that followed. Attacking Alcyone and the Magic Knights like this, Hotaru could only stare in horror and despair.
Damn it! How did I not account for this string technique! How can I break out of this?! Umi did it by learning a new spell but that isn't on the table for me! I could yell and try and distract Aska, but I don't know if my voice can reach her!
As the green Mashin staggered back, the puppeteer of the silver warrior laughed victoriously, "Aa-aah-hahahahaha! There, do you see! Our secret art, Illusion Threads is unbeatable!"
Pulling on the strings and swinging on the threads in the imperial throne room, Aska continued laughing gleefully. Her puppet was far faster than the lion she had conjured earlier, and had the added benefit of being more disposable. And yet, she couldn't be too rough on the Mashins, if she wanted to get them back in one piece.
"Hmmm, how do we get those Mashins subjugated like this?" Aska thought out loud, rubbing her chin. "Chang Ang, Sang Yung, any suggestions?"
Noticing the lapse in the concentration of his captor, Hotaru yelled out, "Fuu! Hold me in place, now!"
"Winds of Admonishment!"
"Sapphire Whirlpool!" Umi joined in.
Emerald and sapphire vortexes wrapped around Hotaru, keeping him tightly in place, while dealing minimal damage to him. With the two binding spells holding Hotaru in place, his rampage was put to a halt. As Aska tried to control Hotaru, her golden strings wouldn't budge, leaving her suspended in air in the imperial throne room.
"Why you little! Let go of me!" Aska wriggled while tangled up by the strings.
"Lady Aska, this is why I told you not to use the Illusion Threads!" Chang Ang scolded her, while trying to get her down with Sang Yung.
With him safely in place, Hotaru yelled out, "I'm being pulled by invisible strings! Try to cut them! Aim above me!"
"Invisible strings?" Fuu gasped.
"Is such a thing even possible?" Umi tilted her head.
"H'yaaaah!" Hikaru charged in without hesitation.
Lighting the blade of her sword on fire, Hikaru charged forward with Rayearth's flame jets, before swinging with all her might at the space above Hotaru. There was an echoing sound as if a hundred harp-strings had been sliced through at once. While the strings were invisible on their end, the Magic Knights and Hotaru could see them catching fire above him, burning with magenta flames.
With the strings cut loose, Lady Aska quickly found herself without a footing. As her aides tried to catch her, Aska grabbed hold of Chang Ang's beard to slow her descent. The elder let out a high-pitched yell as the little princess slid her way down his beard. Once she let go, the elder stroked his chin while trying not to swear in front of children.
"Silence! Quit your whimpering!" Aska commanded her before turning to her other aide. "Sang Yung! Have the Dome fire at these impertinent miscreants at full power!"
"B-But Lady Aska!" Sang Yung interrupted her. "I think we should retreat for now! We've already used up one of the great illusion-scrolls and the golden string has been cut up. Why don't we retreat for now and come up with a strategy?"
After being defeated and humiliated twice, Aska did not want to hear any talk of retreating. But seeing how serious her most trusted aide was about the situation, she couldn't argue. Sang Yung might have been a well behaved and quiet kid, but very convincing when adamant about something.
Swallowing her pride, she declared, "Oh, all right. Retreat for now!"
With surprisingly swift movements, the several kilometers long red robotic dragon slithered and turned around. It didn't take long for the flaming dragon to disappear behind Cephiro's thick cloud cover, using its sail-like wings. For something that large to disappear like a ghost without trace would have been unnerving to anyone watching it happen. However, our heroes had a more pressing matter.
All but ignored, Alcyone had been gathering lightning bolts from nearby storm clouds into a mass of energy. A halo of blue lightning the size of a Ferris wheel was flashing and sparking behind her.
"Alcyone!" Hotaru yelled out, gripping his Titan Slicer with both hands. "Why are you doing this? Tell me what is wrong!"
"What is wrong is that those three girls stand in our way!" Alcyone yelled out before pointing her staff at the Magic Knights.
Without hesitation, Hotaru moved directly in the path of Alcyone's attack before she could fire, causing her to stop. While the raven-haired sorceress was after the Magic Knights, Hotaru had the hunch she wouldn't fire upon him. While this turned out to be true, it was his other hunch that worried him far more.
Those red jewels and gems… Do they mean that Debonair has taken her over, or did her jealousy boil over? How is it that after everything I've been through, things still ended up like this!?
Below the battlefield, in the crystal castle the size of a mountain range, Cephiro's elite had gathered in the throne room. Using a projection provided by Clef, they all sat around and watched the battle. They had followed the initial clash between the Magic Knights and Fahren's forces with halted breaths, seeing the giant dancing lion get stronger and stronger. With its defeat, they had hoped the battle would have been over, but then the Magic Knights seemed to have been attacked by none other than Hotaru and Alcyone. The two heroes who had assisted them in the battle against Zagato and Emeraude.
The golden doors of the throne room opened up suddenly, as two late arrivals showed up.
"Caldina, Lafarga, you are late," Clef scolded the two of them.
"We were making sure everyone was safely evacuated to the residential quarters," Lafarga answered. "We apologize for the delay, but people were having trouble locating their neighbors."
"That's right! Ya can get off our backs for just tryin' to help people out!" Caldina pointed at Clef with her feathered fan.
The two of them had scoured through the residential quarters several times, but had been unable to find any of the missing people. It was only after thirty minutes of searching that they decided to go and see how the battle was going. Once it was over, they would continue their search.
Despite feeling unappreciated, Caldina's fury calmed down as she saw the projection, "Is that… Alcyone, attacking the Magic Knights?"
"So it would appear," Lantis muttered, standing on the opposite side of the projection to Lafarga.
"She was also riding atop a monster the likes of which I had never seen before," Ascot informed them calmly. "We do not believe it was from Cephiro."
"What's worse is that Hotaru for a moment was also attacking the Magic Knights," Presea said, holding Mokona in her arms. "But it seems to be over now."
"I believe it may have been one of Fahren's illusions, but what is happening with Alcyone is far more concerning," Clef said, staring at the fight in a serious manner.
"Could she have fallen back on her villainous ways?" Lafarga asked, feeling the sting of betrayal.
"If only it were something that simple," Lantis answered. "You see…"
The Magic Knights were watching with bated breaths as Alcyone and Hotaru continued their stare down. The halo of lightning behind Alcyone continued crackling while Hotaru's Double Armor and Titan Slicer gleamed in its light. Although Alcyone had gathered enough magic to turn any one of them to ashes, she seemed unwilling to harm Hotaru. And yet, she was dead set on getting rid of the three girls behind him.
Seeing she was unwilling to back down when demanded, Hotaru figured to try a gentler approach, "Please Alcyone my love, just calm down and let's talk about this. I'm sure you have your motives for acting like this, so let me hear them."
"Geez, I never knew you could be such a smooth operator," Umi complimented him with a whisper.
Hotaru could see Alcyone's cheeks flush red for a moment, before she shook her head, "I'm sorry Hotaru dearest, but I cannot reveal too much. Just know that I am doing this for your own good. Please, join me and let us destroy those pesky Magic Knights!"
While Alcyone's words sounded like madness, the four of them were all taken aback by just how sincere she was. Her eyes had not an ounce of dishonesty and her voice was clear and passionate. Hotaru and the Magic Knights were lost on what they should do, when Alcyone raised her staff above her head.
"Hotaru, I beg of you, move out of the way," Alcyone pleaded with tears in her eyes. "Storm of Vengeance… Avalon!"
Just as the giant halo of lightning was about to fire, they all heard the neighing of a horse, followed by, "Astra!"
A ball of white lightning struck Alcyone, causing the halo of lightning to be discharged in several directions. The dark clouds of Cephiro's eternal night sky were lit up as massive lightning bolts darted in every which way. Fuu hurriedly got in the way of her friends to protect them with her Winds of Protection, just before a massive lightning bolt struck the barrier.
Once the light show ended, the Magic Knights and Hotaru were left staring with their jaws agape.
"A-Alcyone?" Hotaru blinked in confusion.
Among the smoke and steam left behind by the lightning, they could see Alcyone riding atop a black, armored horse with a flaming blue mane. She was holding her bident-like staff in right hand and the reins of the horse in her left. Getting over the shock of seeing her, Hotaru noticed how this Alcyone wore the familiar purple gems and jewelry, and had red lipstick.
As the smoke cleared off fully, they could still see the Alcyone with red jewelry and pink lipstick, standing where she had stood. The two of them were like mirror images of one another, but Hotaru didn't have to think twice to realize who was who. While both women were glaring daggers at one another, the one with red jewelry seemed far more upset.
"Hotaru! Do not be fooled by this doppelganger!" the Alcyone on horseback warned him.
"Right!" he yelled, before flying next to her.
The Magic Knights soon followed, trusting Hotaru's judgement, as they faced the red jeweled sorceress. While Hotaru could sense a feeling of familiarity from the Alcyone on horseback, it didn't exactly put his mind at ease.
"So, if this is our Alcyone, then who is that?" Hikaru asked, staring at the other sorceress.
"I don't know," Alcyone admitted, staring at herself hovering in the air, "but I won't forgive them for tricking my loved one!"
Upon hearing this, the other Alcyone's eyes widened, "Tricking… your… loved one? …Fu… fufu…"
As the doppelganger started laughing, a blue aura began to glow around them and their eyes started to glow red. As the laughter got louder and louder, they could hear it beginning to echo, as if multiple voices were laughing simultaneously. While Alcyone and the Magic Knights were unnerved by this, Hotaru found it all far too familiar.
What caught him off guard however, was when the white cape the doppelganger was wearing caught on fire. The cape was burnt to cinders, leaving them in just a black leotard, gloves, and boots, which suddenly began to expand. The gloves and the leotard connected together as their leathery fabric crawled across her skin, creating the top of a ballgown. From around the hips, the leotard flared out, creating a full-length frilly skirt that was open at the front. Her thigh high boots gained lace trims at their openings.
As the outfit transformed, it and the doppelganger's skin changed color. Her black outfit turned paler and her white skin darker, until both were a matching shade of gray. At the same time, her ankle length raven-hair gained several streaks of red that cascaded down like blood. Her purple fingernails grew longer and sharper, until they were more than two inches long. Once she opened her eyes and smiled, they could see her eyes having turned blood red and a pair of small fangs growing from her upper jaw.
The bident-like staff in her right hand warped and turned from gold to silver. The staff's left side shrunk while the right side expanded, as one of its bat wing decorations stretched out, Eventually, the bident formed into a jagged scythe.
"I-Is that a v-vampire?" Umi shuddered, with a cold shiver running down her spine.
"I'm afraid it might be something much worse than that," Hotaru said ominously, gripping his sword tighter, before turning to Alcyone. "Have you seen this thing before?"
"Y-Yes…" Alcyone answered while shivering, "I remember it from my dream."
"Just as I thought…"
Before the Magic Knights could present any questions to the woman in gray, a dark shadow appeared behind her. A tall figure with broad shoulders, slim waist and arms, and a large ornately decorated head. Their eyes glowed bright red, causing Alcyone's double's eyes to glow solid red as well.
"Fools," a cold and cruel voice echoed throughout the skies, as Alcyone's double's mouth moved along with the words. "On this path that leads only to despair, you still try to fight to the end. Even your faintest chance at seeing the light, I will snuff out."
This voice is… Hikaru's heart skipped a beat.
The same old villain speech, Hotaru rolled his eyes.
"Ruin is the only thing left for this world."
"The voice from my dreams…" Hikaru whispered under her breath.
"Soon. Soon everything will die. Everything will then become mine. H-hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
As the horrid and demeaning laughter continued, the Magic Knights and Hotaru watched as Alcyone's double's hair began to stand on end. The shadowy figure behind her, who was barely visible to begin with, disappeared. With her black and red hair swaying upwards, the gray vampiric woman soon vanished as well, as if she was nothing but a mirage.
"She vanished…" Umi gasped.
"What was all that…?" Fuu asked, her jaw agape.
Sitting atop Lantis's flaming horse still, Alcyone leaned against Hotaru, who was still using Titan Power. She wrapped her arms around her giant-sized lover, causing him to look down at her.
"Hotaru… I'm scared," Alcyone whimpered quietly.
Reaching down, Hotaru gently picked up Alcyone into his hand, at which point the horse she rode disappeared. He then placed Alcyone up onto his shoulder, so that she was sitting right next to his neck. Given the chance, Alcyone pressed her cold body against Hotaru's warm neck, as she tried to hide among his brunette curls.
Swallowing deep, Hotaru admitted, "So am I, Alcyone. So am I…"
Things have changed far more than you could have hoped, Romeo's words echoed in Hotaru's mind. I will do that which you NEVER could.
Steeling his resolve, Hotaru prepared to do what he hoped he would never have to.
Back inside the throne room, the onlookers of the fight were all in shock. What they had all witnessed, struck them to their core. They had been in shock seeing Alcyone's perfect double appear in the middle of the battle, while the actual Alcyone was still in the room with them. As Alcyone had borrowed Lantis's horse and rode off into the battle, they had thought the pretender was just an invader from another country. But now…
"What was that thing…" Sierra asked, her eyes wide from terror.
"I don't know…" Clef admitted, "but it had a presence just like Alcyone's, right before the very last moment."
"…Wait just a minute!" Caldina yelled out, getting everyone's attention. "Yer not sayin' that there could be more of those doubles?"
Everyone shuddered at the thought of this, looking at the people around them suspiciously. Surely, if Alcyone could have a shape-shifting double running around, what was there stopping anyone else in the room from being one as well? As people started slowly reaching for their weapons, a single voice yelled out.
"HOLD YOUR HORSES!" Ascot drew everyone's attention. "There are no doubles in this room!"
"How would you know that?" Primera asked, pointing at the tall brunette. "Perhaps you are a double yourself!"
"Listen! Think about it. We were all gathered here by Clef's telepathic message," Ascot pointed out. "Master Clef, when you contact people telepathically, how do you connect to them?"
"I sense their presence on Cephiro…" Clef answered, stroking his chin with his thumb. "…You're right Ascot. Had there been doubles amongst any of us inside the Sanctuary, I would have noticed two presences."
"But what if they have already infiltrated our ranks and taken away the real one?" Lafarga asked paranoidly, still holding his hand on the handle of his weapon.
"If that were the case, why would they reveal their ability to take our place by having a fake Alcyone make a scene like that?" Presea pointed out calmly. "At worst, it would be in order to sow mistrust amongst us."
"That is true," Caldina thought about it, leaning her head to the left. "Besides, it's not like any of us have been actin' strangely. That double of Alcyone was off from the start."
"And Lantis gave Alcyone his horse, so he checks out as well," Ferio pointed out, looking at Lafarga teasingly.
With the tension gone, everyone put down their weapons, before there was a collective sigh of relief. It was at this point that Caldina remembered something Ascot had said earlier.
"What did ya mean when ya said that fake Alcyone was riding on something not from Cephiro?"
"It was a monster that none of us had ever seen before or recognized," Ascot answered with a low and serious tone. "According to Clef, it wasn't even from Cephiro."
Clef nodded, before swinging his staff, bringing back an earlier image of the monster they had seen, "I don't know how to describe it, but this monster didn't feel like it came from Cephiro like others."
"He's right," Primera admitted, flying off of Lantis's shoulder and on top of the projection.
Everyone stared at Primera, surprised by her confidence in the manner, prompting Sierra to ask, "How can you tell?"
"I am a fairy that is known as an especially pretty one in Cephiro," Primera smiled in a conceitedly smug way. "I can tell right away that it's not a spirit or a fairy."
"Then what?" Caldina asked impatiently. "A new kind of creature?"
"Even if it was new, I would know if it was something from Cephiro," Primera answered with her eyes closed, before opening then. "But that didn't smell anything like something from Cephiro."
"Puu-puu~!" Mokona chirped, causing Primera to pout.
"I don't feel happy when you nod in agreement, fluff ball!"
As Primera and Mokona began to argue, Clef moved the projection forwards in time. Stopping to the moment when Alcyone's double began to glow and transform, he looked behind the copy of his former apprentice. He couldn't quite see what was behind her himself, but he knew there had been something.
That evil light surrounding Alcyone's double… What was that aura filled with hatred and ill feelings?
Having made their way back to the Sanctuary, the Magic Knights were all dead tired. Having barely gotten any sleep and been dragged into a prolonged fight right after, had left them in no condition to fly heavy machinery. As such, the three of them joined Alcyone in riding Hotaru back to the Sanctuary. Hotaru himself was also tired, but his mind was so focused on other things that he barely even noticed it.
Using the open entry way of the central tower, they flew in gracefully, with Hotaru only lightly knocking his head on the ceiling. Shrinking back down, his four passengers hopped off of him, once there was less than a ten-foot drop. Once the flight was over, Hikaru started yawning, which soon made the other four yawn as well.
"I see we all had some trouble sleeping last night," Hotaru said, forcing a comforting smile.
"Yeah... I've been having weird nightmares as of late," Umi rubbed her eye.
"Same here, it must be due to all the stress," Fuu said analytically.
"You two as well?" Hikaru asked worriedly.
As everyone started realizing the commonality of these nightmares, Hotaru could tell that they were starting to get worried. Knowing the consequences of this, Hotaru decided to calm things down before it could escalate.
Using a gentle voice, he addressed the Magic Knights in a paternal manner, "I feel we should talk about this together, after we have had some sleep, okay?"
"But what if we just have more nightmares?" Umi asked, scared of the thought.
"We could try sleeping together again, for a change?" Fuu suggested.
"But we don't have a bed large enough for that…" Hikaru reminded them.
"You can always ask Mokona for one," Alcyone suggested, until she remembered what had happened last time. "…If you're okay sleeping on the heart-shaped bed that is."
"It would be a bit cramped…" Umi grimaced.
"I could always come and push your current beds together into the same room," Hotaru suggested, thinking about the layout of the girls' apartment. "Alternatively, you could sleep in our apartment's master bedroom this time."
"A sleepover!" Hikaru yelled out happily.
"Umm… dear, could I talk with you for a moment." Alcyone tugged on Hotaru's gauntlet.
"Uhm… sure?" Hotaru agreed, before Alcyone walked him a bit farther away.
Once they were good ten meters away from the girls, Alcyone leaned over before whispering in a sweet yet stern tone, "We can't have guests sleeping over as we haven't cleaned up since we got here."
Listening to Alcyone's persuasive and threatening words, Hotaru quickly realized what she meant, "Right… Sleepover cancelled!"
With a quick visit over to Hikaru's, Umi's, and Fuu's bedrooms, Hotaru used his Steel Strength spell to move their beds into Hikaru's bedroom. As the beds all had large, golden, dome-like headboards, Hotaru had to place the middle bed backwards for them to fit next to each other. With three beds in the same single person bedroom, it was slightly cramped, but the girls said it was okay.
With the job done, Hotaru returned to his apartment. On his way there, he finally had some alone time with his thoughts. While Hotaru wasn't the kind of person to dread loneliness or silence, there was no sugarcoating the situation he found himself in.
Not just me and Hikaru, Alcyone, Umi, and Fuu all potentially have their own version of Nova. How could this have happened!? I thought that my influence on the story would reduce the amount of suffering and stress those girls would have gone through! Nova was born from Hikaru's grief over Emeraude's death, so perhaps it is the same reason? The battle with Emeraude did drag for a lot longer because of my actions…
By the time Hotaru made it back to the door of his apartment, he already felt like a guilty criminal. And yet, he couldn't wallow in self-pity or hatred, for he had to make things the door, he was met with an aromatic smell and the sound of clattering coming from the kitchen.
"Did it go well?" Alcyone yelled from the kitchen.
"Yeah…" Hotaru said, still feeling a lump in his stomach as he sat down on the living room couch. "Not sure if it will help but they seemed optimistic."
Carrying a silver tray with two cups and a pot of tea, Alcyone hummed calmly, "I know you're not a fan of tea, but this blend should help with relaxing and peaceful sleep."
With Hotaru scooching over a bit, Alcyone sat down next to him before pouring them both a cup. She did so slowly and meticulously, after which she blew on one of them, before handing it over to Hotaru. With the cup in hand, Hotaru stared at it for a while, realizing this could be the last cup she ever served to him.
Seeing him staring glumly, Alcyone smiled awkwardly, "I promise you it will taste fine."
Snapping out of thought, Hotaru stuttered, "I-I have no d-doubt about that, i-it's just…"
"What?" Alcyone looked at him innocently.
Eventually, Hotaru calmed down, before smiling back. "…You're too good to me."
Enjoying each other's company, Alcyone and Hotaru drank their tea slowly, with Alcyone resting her head against Hotaru's shoulder. With Alcyone starving for attention, Hotaru stroked her hair and arm gently, until they both finished their tea. As promised, the tea really did help them both relax, so much so that neither of them could bear to get off the couch. Hotaru laid down against the arm rest with a pillow under him, placing his feet on the couch. After this, Alcyone laid down on top of him, placing her head against his chest. With the tall sorceress curled up on top of him like a cat, Hotaru wrapped his arms around her.
Unable to tell how everyone would react to his confession, Hotaru smiled knowing he had been able to share this moment with Alcyone.
Having been used to her dreams being nothing but dark voids, Hikaru was pleasantly surprised to find herself surrounded by light. But as she looked around her, all she could see was a blank white world. There was nothing but blindingly bright light in every direction, yet her eyes didn't hurt as she looked at it. Though she felt at ease, Hikaru quickly started getting nervous, as she could feel an oppressive presence around her.
"Hikaru…" a voice called out for her. "Hikaru…"
At first, she tried looking into the void to see where the voice was coming from, until she realized it was coming from behind her. Turning around, she could see a tall, jagged, stony pillar, surrounded by a thick thorny root. At the top of the black pillar, sat a single figure with long, flowing hair, and an outfit with broad pauldrons. As she looked closer, the only characteristics she could make out were red eyes, pointy ears, and pink hair.
"Hello, Hikaru…" she whispered with a happy voice.
"Who are you?" Hikaru asked, feeling an odd sense of familiarity.
"I am Nova," she answered, staring down at her gently. "The one who was born for you. Nova."
"For… me?"
"Yes. I was born just for you, Hikaru…"
"Nova…"
"Hay, Hikaru, who do you love the most?" Nova asked innocently.
"…Huh?" Hikaru blinked.
"I hate everyone you love, Hikaru. I hate them so much," Nova chuckled cruelly. "I'll start off by killing whoever you love the most!"
Hikaru's heart skipped a beat hearing this, as her protective instincts flared up, "Wait… Who are you?!"
"Soon… We'll meet soon… Hikaru," the pink-haired elf's voice trailed off.
As the image of the elf and the pillar faded away, they were soon replaced by an image of a room. The walls of the room were skillfully cut stone bricks of different sizes and shapes that formed a complex geometric design. A pillar of natural light descended from the ceiling, upon a stone pillar surrounded by water.
Upon the pillar, there was a floating golden pedestal that looked like an upside-down scepter with a bowl on top of it. Above the pedestal, floated a golden tiara decorated with a large round emerald, surrounded by smaller round gems. The tiara looked familiar to Hikaru, bringing back painful memories of a fight not too long ago.
But as she looked at this serene scene, she could feel a chill run down her spine. A shadow glided across the water's surface and then rose up against the stone wall, creating an all too familiar silhouette. As the shadow grew, the light in the room receded and the room turned darker.
"Cephiro's Pillar is no longer here and her legacy will soon be mine," a cold voice spoke out, as sharp claws emerged from behind Hikaru's back, reaching for the tiara. "This country is as fleeting as shadows dancing on water. Cephiro and all living things in this land, are mine."
As Hikaru turned around, she could see a tall figure with light blue skin and piercing blue eyes, staring down at her. With a large golden jeweled headdress adorning her light blue hair that was combed into two near rolls, she looked like a demented monarch. With a greedy smile and a cruel laughter, it was almost as if she was going to snatch Hikaru away.
But before she could take her away, a loud, eerily familiar voice yelled out, "Stop!"
The voice was so loud that Hikaru snapped awake, standing up in her bed. She was panting restlessly, while looking forwards. Fuu and Umi were sleeping next to her, their beds facing the opposite way to hers, allowing her to see their faces. All three of them were sleeping in their school uniforms, as they had been too tired to change out of them. The room was brightly lit as they hadn't turned off the lights, in order to feel safer. While Hikaru had had more nightmares, she did in fact feel safer and better rested now that she was awake.
"Puu?" She heard a silent chirp from behind her.
Looking behind the headrest of her bed, Hikaru saw Mokona standing on the floor, looking up at her worriedly. For as long as she had known Mokona, Hikaru had never seen it make an expression like this before.
"It's alright Mokona," Hikaru smiled warmly. "I feel a lot better now."
"Pu-puu!" Mokona chirped happily, before jumping into the bed with Hikaru.
Hikaru picked Mokona up, hugging the fluffy marshmallow bunny, "Were you so worried that you looked over me while I slept? Thank you Mokona."
As Hikaru talked, Umi and Fuu started stirring from their sleep as well. Umi rubbed her tired while Fuu put her glasses back on and straightened her hairband. Seeing Hikaru cheerfully playing with Mokona, they both smiled warmly, feeling better rested now. Just as they were thinking of getting out of bed and going downstairs for some kind of breakfast, they could feel a slight tremble.
As they were laying on top of soft beds, it took a while for it to fully register that their entire apartment was shaking. The tremors grew steadily stronger, until their pushed together beds were starting to separate from one another.
"What? What is this?" Hikaru asked in a panic, seeing her friends falling out of their beds. "Umi, Fuu, Mokona! Are you alright?"
"Are we under attack?" Umi asked, getting up into a sitting position.
"I believe the earth itself is shaking!" Fuu said, listening to rockslides happening outside.
"Cephiro is disappearing…" Hikaru clenched her fist, as memories of her dream flashed before her eyes.
As Cephiro's dwindling landscapes continued crumbling, the tremors of its collapse echoed throughout the Sanctuary. People, beasts and magical creatures were all shaking and panicking, as they feared the end of Cephiro was near. People were grabbing hold of anything they could get their hands on, trying to hold onto the hope that the Sanctuary would stand.
Just as things started to see their most dire, the tremors stopped, causing the Sanctuary's leadership to sigh in relief. Having been discussing their next move, Master Mage Clef, Prince Ferio, and master blacksmiths Presea and Sierra had been in the throne room when the tremors started. But even with the danger over, they knew that it was only a momentary respite.
"Another portion of Cephiro has been lost," Clef stated with a heavy voice.
"How much longer do you think we have, Clef?" Presea asked.
"…Less than a week," Clef admitted with a heavy heart.
Before Clef could go more into detail, there was pounding at the throne room door. Several pairs of arms were knocking on the golden doors, making the people inside worry if the refugees had started panicking. But soon, they could hear a familiar voice from behind the door.
"Clef! Clef! Are you alright?"
"Hikaru?" Clef yelled, before unlocking the doors.
The doors opened wide immediately as they were pushed with great force. The three Magic Knights ran in quickly, wearing their basic armors. As soon as they got onto the throne room's orange carpet, they began to ask questions.
"Clef!"
"Are you all right?"
"Was anyone injured?"
Seeing that they had just been worried, Clef and Presea smiled, before Sierra informed them, "We're all right. You weren't hurt?"
After finding out that both parties were unharmed, the Magic Knights walked over to the throne. Despite knowing no one had been injured, the tensions were still high.
"That quake…" Hikaru spoke out.
"Cephiro is disappearing," Clef confirmed her suspicions, "at an alarming rate. If a new Pillar is not born, Cephiro is sure to completely disappear."
"However, most of the inhabitants of Cephiro are already in the castle," Ferio pointed out exasperatedly. "How can we find any more candidates for the Pillar?"
Realizing it had never come up before in discussion, Umi spoke out, "Say, how is the Pillar of Cephiro chosen? Is there a test or something like that? Or do you need to have some qualifications to be the Pillar?"
Before Clef could answer, a loud voice spoke out, "Finding the Pillar is the least of our worries right now!"
As they all turned around, they could see Hotaru in full armor with Alcyone by his side at the throne room entrance. While the young man's words could have been taken as arrogance, they could tell by his expression he was serious. Even Alcyone seemed surprised.
Confused by his words Clef asked, "What do you mean Hotaru? Is something wrong?"
Standing in front of the gathering of people, Hotaru requested, "Clef, summon everyone of importance here. There is something you all need to know."
At Hotaru's request, Clef had gathered the Sanctuary's upper echelon into a meeting room in the central tower. The meeting room was vast, with a light purple floor, golden walls, white pillars, and a blue opal ceiling. The room was sparse in terms of furnishings, only having a table and some chairs. The table was large, white, and round, with a large black half-sphere in the middle of it. The thirteen floating chairs around it were large, egg-shaped and golden in color.
From Hotaru to the left, the seating order was Alcyone, Lafarga, Caldina, Ascot, Presea, Umi, Hikaru, Fuu, Ferio, Sierra, Lantis, and Clef. Once all the seats had been filled, Mokona hopped onto Hikaru's lap and Primera landed on Lantis's shoulder.
"Master Clef, with all due respect, why have you gathered us?" Lafarga asked formally.
After exchanging glances with Hotaru, Clef spoke out, "I have gathered us all here due to Hotaru's request. Go ahead and tell them."
"Right," Hotaru nodded, before addressing everyone else. "For starters, I must confess that I have not been entirely honest with any of you. I have been withholding information from you that concerns all the events currently taking place. The three invading countries, the nightmares that have been plaguing everyone, as well as the situation with the Pillar. What I am about to tell you is not going to be easy, not just because of the gravity of the situation, but also because I don't even know where to begin with."
Everyone stared at Hotaru, as they didn't know what to make of the young man's confession. Had it been anyone else, they might've disregarded such claims as nothing but absurdity.
Eventually, Sierra spoke out, "How about you start from the beginning?"
"There in lies the problem," Hotaru sighed, stroking his hands together nervously. "The truth is… when I was brought into Cephiro, it wasn't the first time I had been brought to another world."
Hotaru could hear the Magic Knights and Alcyone gasping loudly and see Mokona's ears twitch, while the others looked at him with stunned confusion. He swallowed deeply, before continuing with his tale, knowing the atmosphere in the room was about to get a lot colder.
"What was this other world?" Ferio asked. "Was it Autozam? Chizeta? Fahren?"
Hotaru shook his head, "It was Earth, much like the one Hikaru and the others are from. But in that world, the story of Magic Knights was nothing but a story. A work of fiction produced in a multitude of mediums; each version slightly different."
"You mean like… books and plays?" Caldina suggested, trying to wrap her head around it.
"Puu?" Mokona's ears twitched.
"Eh… something a lot more visual and colorful…"
"Wait… You mean anime and manga!?" Umi yelled out, standing up in her chair and slamming her hands on the table.
Seeing the confused looks of the others, Hotaru answered, "Precisely, video games too. But if you want to explain to these good people what any of those are, feel free to do so on my behalf."
"Very well! …Uhm… Let's see…" Umi tried her best to come up with words, but quickly realized what Hotaru had meant. "…So imagine a story, told through a whole bunch of pictures? And shared via… okay I give up."
"But… wait, didn't you say that you lived all your life in an orphanage?" Hikaru asked, remembering the wanted poster she had seen in Tokyo Tower.
"Yes, all of this life. I died in my previous world in a car accident, and… I don't know, I just woke up in the body of a baby in your version of Tokyo," Hotaru explained, equally as confused as the others. "I thought I had just been reincarnated in the past, until I… well, found out about you three."
"Wait… What do you mean in the past?" Ferio asked.
"I died in my old world in the year 202X, and appeared in the Magic Knights' world in 1976. I was 36 at the time of my death, so I reincarnated in a time before I was born."
"Hold on! This… this makes no sense!" Lafarga objected. "Time travel? Reincarnation? Our lives presented as a work of fiction? How could we all be characters in someone else's story? Like… we're real, aren't we?"
"As real as I am," Hotaru said with conviction, trying to calm the swordsman down. "But this… This is how I know what I know."
Thinking about the young man's words, Clef stroked his chin before turning to his left, "Then let us put that knowledge to test. Can you tell me how the next pillar is chosen? I have only shared that information with a select few individuals."
Hotaru leaned back in his chair while stroking the corners of his forehead with his hand. He needed to get as many details right as possible, so he had to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything.
"There is a floor in the central tower... that is disconnected from the rest. On that floor there is a door that can only be opened with either your ring, Lantis's sword, or Zagato's armor," Hotaru described while squeezing his eyes shut. "Behind that door, lies Emeraude's tiara, surrounded by water that crushes anyone who enters it, who isn't fit to be the next Pillar. The presence of Cephiro's next potential Pillar can be found out if the tiara starts to change form. Once it has finished transforming, the next Pillar is ready to take their position."
Seeing Ferio, Presea, Sierra, and Clef stare at Hotaru in disbelief, others began to get restless in their seats as well. Hikaru stared at Hotaru most intently, as his description fit what she had seen in her dream almost perfectly.
Alcyone turned towards Clef, before asking, "Is what he says true?"
Clef sighed deeply, "Aside from a few missing details, he is correct."
The room went quiet, as everyone tried to wrack their brains over Hotaru's claims. Some of them couldn't believe it and wanted to call him a liar, others to tell him that he was mad or hallucinating due to stress. Yet with Clef's confirmation, as they observed Hotaru in this new light, things started to make more and more sense. As the true implications of Hotaru's prior knowledge started to sink, people began to have moments of realization.
"…That's why you were at Tokyo tower when we were summoned," Umi realized.
"And were so quick to trust so many people…" Fuu added, fixing her glasses while glancing at Ferio.
"And how you evaded my trap at the mansion," Presea said with her arms crossed, looking a bit peeved.
"And cheated me out of my money!" Caldina yelled out, realizing she had been had.
"That, I assure you, was accidental," Hotaru admitted, interrupting others. "I had no idea what was in the royal vault. The story didn't go into detail in that regard."
"…Then did you know about Princess Emeraude and Zagato?" Hikaru asked, looking at him with sad yet stern eyes. "Did you know what our true mission was?"
"…Yes, that plot twist is sort of integral to the story," Hotaru admitted, unable to face Hikaru. "I didn't tell you, for the sake of preserving the original story. If I had told you, I would have risked the chance that you would have refused to save Cephiro. I was not lying when I said I wanted to save this world, in order to live in it afterwards."
A silence fell upon the meeting room again, as everyone exchanged glances, trying to figure out what to make of Hotaru's tale. If he was telling the truth now, then what did it mean for this character? Had he manipulated them for selfish goals or had he truly done it for good intentions? As the silence continued, everyone could feel the temperature in the room drop.
Staring at the man next to her in disbelief, Alcyone had to use all of her self-restraint not to act out. The image of the man she had known for months now, seemed to have disappeared. Her beloved who she had slept with just a moment ago, was now a stranger. The pillar of hope and reliability in her life had turned out to be nothing but a façade.
"Then… What is your real name?" she asked.
Unable to look Alcyone in the eye, Hotaru answered with a frog in his throat, "My real name… is Martin. Martin Duell."
"That is so plain sounding…" Umi quipped quietly.
"Or at least it used to be… I don't know exactly whose body this is, so you can call me Hotaru or whatever," the young man told them.
"Well then, Martin," Clef addressed him calmly. "You said you knew about the countries that were invading us and the Pillar. You mind telling what the story of the Magic Knights taught you about them?"
Although Clef spoke calmly, everyone could feel a sense of urgency in his undertones. If the man previously known as Hotaru truly knew about the invading countries and the Pillar, they couldn't ignore it. As such, they all listened to his words carefully.
Hotaru took a deep breath, before stating, "Alright. For starters, Chizeta and Fahren are not a threat to Cephiro. They are currently seeking to invade; however, they are doing so out of misguided reasons."
"How are they not a threat then?" Lafarga asked.
"Because the people leading the invasions were easily persuaded to stop after learning the truth about Cephiro's pillar system. Princes Aska of Fahren is hoping to turn Cephiro into her personal wonderland, but her heart doesn't allow her to abandon her country. Princesses Tatra and Tarta are looking to invade Cephiro to gain more land for Chizeta, but they love their family too much for either of them to become the Pillar."
"I see," Fuu thought about Hotaru's words. "If we manage to relay the information, the battle between those two countries will be over."
"Correct. Specifically, it was Fuu who convinced Aska, and Umi who convinced Tatra and Tarta."
"But what about Autozam?" Hikaru asked worriedly. "Are they an actual threat?"
"Eagle Vision is fully aware of Cephiro's Pillar system," Hotaru explained, before turning to the right of him. "All thanks to someone telling him about it."
Almost everyone in the room turned to look at Lantis, staring at him accusingly. The tall dark magic swordsman lowered his gaze, but didn't seem to express any other forms of guilt for his actions.
"You Hikaru, you and Eagle clashed several times in battle, but he remained steadfast in his goal. Eventually, you got through to him and he became an uneasy ally. But none of it matters," Hotaru said in a loud voice to create emphasis, "for Autozam is not our true enemy!"
"True enemy?" Lantis asked, finally speaking up.
"…The nightmares," Hikaru spoke out, "what do you know about them?"
"Before I tell you the details, I want you all to answer a few questions. Raise your hand if you have had nightmares as of late."
Everyone in the room, with the exception of Mokona, Primera, Caldina, and Lantis, raised their arms up.
"Alright…" Hotaru said, lowering his arm with a slightly nervous look on his face. "How many of you have had repeated encounters with an oddly familiar figure in your nightmares?"
This time, the only people to raise their hands were: Hotaru, Alcyone, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu. The three Magic Knights looked guilty, having all hidden their inner demons from one another. While the result could have been worse than Hotaru first expected, it was still as bad as he had figured.
Putting his arm down again, Hotaru stared at the Magic Knights, "Hikaru, the figure in your dreams is called Nova."
"Yes," Hikaru nodded quietly, "I am sorry for having kept it hidden…"
Hotaru nodded, before continuing, "Nova, as well as the other figures in our dreams, are shadows of our hearts that have formed due to great trauma. Nova, at least in the original story, was born the moment you three killed Princess Emeraude, due to Hikaru's self-hatred."
Hikaru began to tremble in her seat as Hotaru explained to her about Nova, but soon came to a stop, as Fuu and Umi hugged her tightly. Reaching over from their seats, the short red-haired girl almost disappeared from sight when hugged by the bigger girls.
"You should have told us you were feeling so down," Umi scolded her playfully, but worriedly. "You always overexert yourself and when you're in pain or suffering, you never share it with us."
"I know we have acted similarly," Fuu admitted, feeling slightly guilty too, "but if you were feeling so strongly about Emeraude's death, I wish you would have talked with us."
"Everyone…" Hikaru teared up.
Hikaru's therapy session was interrupted, as they heard Clef clearing his throat, "Sorry to interrupt you three, but we need to learn more about the foe we are facing."
"You could be at least a bit more tactful about it," Umi glared at him before letting go of Hikaru.
Letting go of Hikaru after straightening her bow, Fuu asked, "So what can you tell us about the rest of our shadows, Mr. Martin?"
Feeling a slight sting from being called Mr. Martin, Hotaru took a deep sigh, "That's the issue. I cannot. Originally, the true villains of this half of the story consisted of only three characters. Nova was meant to be the only shadow."
"Who're these other villains then?" Caldina asked, leaning against her arm.
"…The main villain of this story is called Debonair. An incredibly powerful monster who was born from the collective fear that all people of Cephiro felt, when Princess Emeraude died," Hotaru explained, trying to sound matter-of-factly so as not to cause an alarm. "She gains her power from the collective fear of all of Cephiro's people. The more you fear her, the more powerful she and her monsters become."
"So that is the presence we have been feeling…" Lantis said pensively. "What about the third member of the trio?"
"…It was me, wasn't it?" Alcyone spoke out.
This time, it was Hotaru's turn to be surprised, as he turned to look at her, "…Yes, how did you know?"
With a voice full of grief and sadness, Alcyone spoke through her hanging forelocks, "When my shadow appeared disguised as me, you hesitated to kill them. If you knew it was going to happen, you would have known they were a fake. But since it didn't and you hesitated, that means you truly thought it was me. Meaning I was the third villain…"
Before Hotaru could confirm or deny, Alcyone stood up in her seat. Her eyes were squeezed shut tight, with tears trailing down her cheeks. While it pained for Hotaru to see her like this, the fact that she even refused to look in his direction, hurt even more.
"Excuse me everyone, I need to be alone right now," Alcyone said, before teleporting right on the spot.
"Alcyone, wait!" Hotaru yelled out desperately, but too late.
There was an awkward silence, as others watched Hotaru grasping the air in front of him. Before anyone could ask or say anything, the silence was broken as Hotaru slammed his fist against the marble table, causing it to chip.
"Damnit!" he yelled out angrily, before burying his face in his hands. "I knew this would happen if I told her…"
"Then why did you?" Ascot asked angrily, feeling betrayed himself. "You have kept silent and haven't told any of us about this so far. Why change now? Why not before you killed half of my friends!"
"Ascot!" Caldina scolded him.
Slamming his palms against the table, Hotaru stood up, staring at them all angrily with his lime-green eyes, "Because if I had told you back then, you wouldn't have believed me in the first place! None of you would have! I have done all I can to make things better, but now, things have gone so far down south that I have no choice but to tell you!"
"…The other shadows," Fuu's eyes widened. "How powerful was Hikaru's Nova?"
"Powerful enough that it took all three of you to stand a chance against her!" Hotaru said, staring at the Magic Knights. "She has all the magic Hikaru has and then some. She has her own Mashin created by Debonair, which she used to crush Hikaru's sword with its bare hand!"
Listening to Hotaru's rant with bated breath, everyone gasped upon hearing the last part. The idea that an Escudo sword had been shattered so easily, painted a grim picture in everyone's minds.
"I thought I could remain silent, but since there are now five of those fuckers running around, I cannot!" Hotaru continued his rant, using his hands to emphasize his points. "So I'm sorry for lying to you all this time, but if we don't use everything at our disposal, there will be no future for Cephiro!"
"Hold on a second," Clef interrupted him. "This story; it had a happy ending, correct? You wouldn't have stayed in Cephiro if the world wasn't saved. So, tell us, who is the new Pillar?"
Clenching his fists, Hotaru looked around the room, trying to calm down despite everything that had gone down. With how things had changed, he wasn't sure if he was right about who the next pillar would be. However, he also knew that if he wanted things to remain the same, he couldn't let others know.
"As of right now, there is no next pillar of Cephiro," he said with a straight yet glum face. "The reason the tiara has not yet reacted, is because no one worthy of becoming the Pillar exists yet."
As everyone seemed to be losing hope, Hikaru spoke out, "But… there will be one, right?"
"Yes," Hotaru nodded.
"You could at least tell us who it is going to be!" Presea pressed on, having had enough of quietly following the conversation. "You owe us that much, since all you seem to have done, is make things worse for us with your presence!"
"Presea!" Sierra yelled out, shocked by her sister's bad behavior.
"It's true! He himself said so! If things have changed in the story he knows, then he is the cause behind that change!" Presea yelled, pointing at the armored young man accusingly. "Had you stayed out of this, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
Knowing Hotaru's explosive temper, everyone assumed he was going to chew Presea out. And yet, to their surprise, the brunette imposter was chuckling. Quietly yet steadily, he was laughing with his mouth shut, with a sinister undertone. At first this unnerved them all, but then, as they looked more closely, they could spot tears in the corners of his eyes.
"Ascot," Hotaru chuckled. "Could you please retrieve your little red ball from Presea's back?"
"W-What?" Ascot asked, blinking confusedly, until Hotaru glared at the two of them angrily.
Not wanting to upset the man anymore, Ascot reached over to Presea who was sitting next to him. He held his hand out behind her, until he felt a familiar sensation from the blacksmith's upper-middle-back. Realizing what it was, Ascot extracted a red glowing ball from behind Presea's ponytail.
"This… This is the ball I used when playing with Atalante!" Ascot's eyes widened.
"That giant bug we fought with at Presea's mansion?!" Umi yelled out, staring at the ball aghast.
"Correct," Hotaru said bluntly, with an unhumorous voice. "And the first time around, it wasn't just Presea's mansion that was crushed~."
Realizing what Hotaru meant, everyone who had been present at the mansion stared at him in pale shock. Remember how the battle had gone with Hotaru around, they could only imagine what had happened when he wasn't there. As the silence dragged on, Hotaru looked around the room one more time, before presenting his final offer.
"We are all in this sinking boat together. So, if you don't feel like listening to me, I got better things to do than spend my final moments in this world bickering!"
Purple lightning flashed across a pitch-black sky that covered a landscape made out of pieces of debris, jagged mountains, and purple rocky ground. Among the vast wasteland, stood a massive tower made out of dark, obsidian black crystals. It had five jagged towers that looked like the devil's pitchfork, with wing-like protrusions on each side. The tower was built into the unnatural looking cliffs behind it, with both structures supporting one another. From this both brand new yet ancient looking building, a hauntingly beautiful and sad melody echoed all the way to the outside.
Inside the dilapidated looking building, there was but one room that was intact. The roof of the room was covered in dark purple curtains that reached the sides of it. In a corner, stood a giant hourglass with a frame made out of smoothly curving purple stone. Silver sand was slowly trickling down the hourglass, which was third of the way full at the bottom. In another corner, was a stone pillar with a thorny root growing around it. At the back wall of the room, there was a large ice sculpture in the shape of a man. In the middle of the room. there was a pool of water.
In the pool, laid a beautiful young woman with the tail of a fish, who sang while adding more red pearls into her necklace. She had fair skin, deep blue eyes and long, pastel blue, wavy hair that cascaded elegantly down her back, shoulders, and chest. Her tail was covered in fine, grayish blue scales with a metallic sheen to them. The tailfin was crescent in shape with sharp bony barbs. Her outfit consisted of white scarves wrapped around her body, creating a toga-like swimsuit.
"You sing so beautifully, big sister Luna," a figure sitting atop the stone pillar complimented her. "Did you manage to get more today?"
The figure was a pale skinned elf with red eyes, and bushy pink hair that reached the ground. She wore a black catsuit and gold-trimmed silver armor with broad pauldrons, the breastplate of which was adorned with a circular red gem.
"That's right, little Nova," the siren smiled at her complacently. "But please, do not interrupt my performance."
A winged figure atop the hourglass shifted its weight, before asking, "How can she ever talk to you then, as you never stop singing?"
She was a stylish woman with tan skin, green eyes, and multi-colored feathered wings growing from her back. She had long minty green hair in a braided ponytail, a hair knot, and two curls that hang down her front. Her wings cascaded gracefully down her entire body length, and were green at the top, golden in the middle, and white at the bottom. She wore green Persian silk robes with golden embroideries and red gems sewn on its lapels and shoulders. Aside from her face, the only parts of her body that were visible from underneath the robe were her taloned hands and feet.
Hearing this, Luna laid down on her back to look up at the top of the hourglass, "You are just jealous that I can sing better than you, sister Terra. Imagine that, a bird who loses to a fish in a singing contest!"
As both Luna and Nova laughed at her, Terra spoke politely, "I did not mean to be confrontational. I was merely stating the facts."
"Tsk, you are no fun," Luna clicked her tongue, before staring in the direction of the ice sculpture.
Next to the sculpture stood a tall woman with grey skin, black hair with red highlights, sharp nails, and slightly pointy ears. She wore a grey dress with red jewelry, and hummed a sweet tune, while looking at the sculpture adoringly with her crimson eyes, her pink lips curled into a smile. The vampiric woman used her purple fingernails to slowly and skillfully carve the ice into an almost life-like likeness.
"Big sis Stella is in a good mood…" Luna stated quietly, pouting slightly. "Just wish she would do something more fun than obsess over that man all day."
"You know her. Once she gets her mind set on something, she doesn't take her claws off of it," Terra stated before flying down from the hour glass. "Look sharp, mother approaches."
Hearing this, Nova jumped down from her perch as well, before joining her sisters. The three of them stood at attention, with Luna making the water in the pool to wrap around herself. Using the water swirling around her, she stood up next to her sisters.
Soon after, a tall, see-through, regal looking figure with pale blue skin and hair appeared before them. She wore a large golden headdress embedded with jewels over her Japanese style hair, with long pieces of gold hanging down from her rolls. Her outfit consisted of a black and gold dress with a frilled neckline and a white cape with furry shoulder pads.
With their mother present, Stella finally joined her sisters, standing at the very left of the row.
"Welcome home mother Debonair~" they greeted her simultaneously.
With an unamused look on her face, Debonair glared at her daughters with her almost solid blue eyes, "The fools seem to have become aware of our existence, my dear daughters."
"Did Hikaru tell the others?" Nova asked eagerly.
"No, the one my eldest daughter pines after was the one to let it slip," Debonair said with a disappointed voice.
Before Stella could apologize, Debonair quickly turned around and slashed her claws at the ice sculpture she had worked on. The sculpture was sliced into pieces vertically, before crumbling into pieces.
"…I am sorry, lady Debonair," Stella apologized politely, bowing her head meekly.
"No matter, it is not your fault," Debonair said with a calm and dismissive voice. "Soon that child will be ours and you may do as you wish with him. As long as you do not let them out of your sight."
Stella smiled widely, curtsying in front of her, "Thank you, lady Debonair. I will take good care of him."
"Hay, mother," Nova asked, looking up at her with an innocent smile. "When do I get to play with Hikaru?"
Debonair tilted her head upwards slightly, "The one who discovered our existence through dreams. Just wait a bit longer. You may play with her soon, Nova."
"What about me, mother?" Terra asked formally. "When do I get to punish Fuu for her crimes?"
"You will have to wait a bit longer," Debonair waved her off. "You can make her pay when the time is right."
Before the five of them could continue their conversation, they heard a cheerful voice speak out, "Tadaima~!"
Turning to look towards the large open entrance way to their lair, they saw a small child flying in at brisk speed. The child had black hair, light blue eyes, light skin, and small horns growing up from his forehead. He wore extravagant looking clothes, all decorated with red gems, all picked out by the women in the room. Flying in a wide arc, he landed behind Nova and the others.
"Big brother Romeo!" Luna, Terra, and Nova all yelled at once.
The three girls all jumped the short, small boy-looking imp. They hugged, nuzzled, and picked him up, while also pinching his cheeks slightly. The three of them showered Romeo with greetings and affection, while the little imp could do little else than to accept them. The only one of his "sisters" who didn't seem infatuated with him, was Stella, who greeted him matter-of-factly, appearing neutral about his arrival.
"Hay, are you hungry, big brother?" Luna asked him eagerly.
"Do the clothes we picked out for you fit well?" Terra asked worriedly.
"Can you tell me another story later today?" Nova asked sheepishly.
"Yes, yes, and yes," Romeo smiled happily, before finally wriggling out of their embrace and onto the floor. "But I want Stella to be the one to cook this time."
Stella glanced at her broken ice sculpture, before relenting, "…I suppose I could."
Before the siblings could get started, Debonair reached over to Romeo, and picked him up off the ground. The short, less than four feet tall boy looked like a small puppy when lifted by the tall monstrous woman. As Romeo dangled in front of Debonair, he looked at her with a confused yet guilty expression, as her lips curled up into a half-smile.
"Did I do something bad, mommy?" Romeo asked.
"The one you were born for," Debonair spoke with a stern and deep voice, "he has been withholding more information than you told me. In fact, he seems to have the knowledge of an outside spectator. And now he has shared that information with the rest of Cephiro's ilk!"
"Really?" Romeo asked, his eyes widening. "I had no idea… I knew he was special, but not to that degree. I'm sorry I don't have his past knowledge myself… I will make sure to gather as much information from him as possible, mother dearest!"
Debonair stared at Romeo for a while, before clasping him with both hands, "Make sure you do. Your plan for sending Stella out to unnerve their ranks worked well, so I will overlook it this time. You've never failed me before, my precious little Romeo."
Knowing what was to come next, Romeo braced himself as Debonair brought him close to her face and nuzzled him. The feel of the monster's ethereal and cold skin sent shivers down Romeo's spine, but he knew not to resist. Once she was done, she placed him down on the ground gently, before disappearing before her children's eyes.
With their mother gone, Debonair's daughters dragged Romeo off with them. As he was being hurried off by Terra and Nova, Romeo grinned victoriously on the inside.
Well done Martin! I knew I could trust you to do exactly as I hoped! I cannot wait for our next conversation…
Author's Afterword: This chapter was… not an easy one to write. Not only is this the point where the story will start to deviate from the anime at an exponential rate, but also because of the change in status quo.
There are a lot of stories where the main character ends up in a world of a series that they have prior knowledge of. Much rarer is it for those MCs to ever come clean with the fact that they have this knowledge. And having written this chapter, I can see why, for it was difficult to put all the characters through the conversation regarding the matter.
What is the main outcome of this revelation? Relationship problems! Another trope that one comes across in romance stories is that the story ends once the couple ends up together. But as Hotaru and Alcyone find out, that is but the first hurdle on their way. The path towards their dream coming true will not be an easy one, and will get worse before it gets better.
In somewhat lighter news, I finally got to showcase Nova's new siblings. As much as things have changed in the story, these four are the first OCs I have introduced since Hotaru. While they share their origins with her, you will find out none of them are alike.
As always, reviews and speculations are welcomed and appreciated. My thanks go to merendinoemiliano, and our recurring anonymous Guest for your reviews on the last chapter!