Novel CrystalGuardians: GODS Among Us

Spoiler: Chap5. Part 4

Part 4



"Our abilities are so vastly different that if you wanted to end this, you could have." Antonio repeated Haruko's words to himself as he was walking down the empty street.

(I let him go just like that, but to be fair….)

Antonio stared at his closed palm.

(Given my profession, I would be a hypocrite if I said to give up saving somebody without trying.)

Blood was seeping through his closed fingers and dripping to the ground.

(I could not live with myself if I were to give up without trying.)

Haruko's words echoed in the back of his head.

Antonio exhaled.

Reiko did say that you were like this, even so, seeing for myself in another thing. Mr. Matsumoto, this is probably the first time you have been pushed like this, mentally, physically, and even spiritually. So, you are not aware of what is about to happen to you.)

Staring at his right hand, he walked over to a fountain and let the water pour over his hand, washing the blood away.

(You are starting to awaken your own abilities.)

A slight breeze began to pick up.

(On the bridge and at the hospital, I noticed that you would tap into your very soul for your abilities while at the same time never truly awakening them, whether you were aware of them or not.)

(If that last clash of ours is anything to go by, you are at the tipping point of awakening your powers. I can push you only so far, but ultimately it must be you who crosses that final threshold.

(But the fact that you got this far by just briefly tapping into your powers means that when you fully awaken them, the end result will be truly scary.)



____________________________________________________________________



"Huff"

Buildings and buildings passed by.

"Huff"

The sound of panting broke out on the empty streets of NEO New York City as Haruko Matsumoto ran along.

"Goddamnit."

Haruko stopped in his tracks as he ran into his biggest obstacle going forward.

He did not know where exactly Aoi was.

"Shit," Haruko mumbled under his breath. "How in the hell am I supposed to find her?"

Haruko began looking left and right down the street he was on. He stood there, not moving; he felt that if he moved, he would either get closer or further away from her.

"Come on, there has to be a way to find her, think."

Haruko shut his eyes tightly.

A lot of images flashed in his head.

(Shit, I am getting nowhere.)

"Haruko" A female voice rang out, which startled the teen, causing him to turn his head back.

There she stood.

The sophomore student president.

Emi Takahara.

"Emi, what the hell are you doing here so late, and what with that bag you are carrying?"

Emi walked up to Haruko.

"That is what I’m supposed to ask you; late at night, don’t think you can start going crazy because your birthday is in half an hour," Emi shouted to him.

Haruko's body started to relax.

(Yeah, that's right, my birthday is coming up soon.)

Emi closely examined Haruko.

"What happened with you? You look like a mess."

Haruko calmed himself down.

"It's a long story."

Haruko lazily walked over to a stone bench to catch his breath and sat down with Emi, following suit.

"Been a while since you and I have been together like this, huh?"

A slight breeze began to pick up scattering leaves around.

"Yeah, it has been."

Emi glanced over at Haruko.

Under the lamp post, his appearance was a mess, and she could tell that his mind was elsewhere.

"Are you okay?" It was a simple enough question from her.

"I’m not sure; there was something that I was supposed to do."

Emil got closer to Haruko on the bench.

"What was it you were supposed to do?" She asked with her face close to his.

Haruko looked away from Emi with a blush on his face.

"Okay, hear me out. I was supposed to save this girl and prevent the world from being destroyed or changed," Haruko said in a low voice, trying not to cringe from embarrassment as he said that. Haruko placed his finger under his chin. "Their leader wasn’t very specific about that part."

Emi backed away from Haruko, slowly trying to comprehend what he just said.

"You're joking, right?"

Haruko turned to Emi.

"Joking about which part?" Haruko bluntly replied.

"All of it," Emi loudly stated.

"That is the gist of it, from my understanding; there is probably more, I am not sure, but that is an even longer story."

"Say that I believe even a fraction of that story; what are you going to do now?"

Haruko looked down at the ground.

"Nothing; there is nothing I can do to find her right now, if I ever find her." Haruko clenched his fist. After everything I said to her and myself, she is going to die because of something that is out of my control."

Emi could tell that Haruko was depressed.

She exhaled and quickly pushed herself off the bench and landed on her feet with her arms outstretched at her side, balancing herself.

"Are you giving up?" Emi said this with her back to Haruko.

"Huh," Haruko said as he looked up from the ground.

"I am asking you if you are giving up. I’ve known you long enough that I or anyone else cannot sway you away from what you are thinking of doing."

Emi turned around to Haruko.

"Whatever reason you have, you're going to save her, right?"

"If even I wanted to, and believe me, I want to, I have no idea where in the city she may be or if she even is in the city at this point."

She frowned at him and folded her arms.

"That has never stopped you before."

Haruko raised his head to look at her.

"The Haruko that I know would never give up so easily. He would ignore all logic and reason to help anyone he could; he wouldn’t mope around like this.”

Her words resonated with him.

"Yeah, you are probably right," Haruko said as he pushed himself off the bench.

He placed his finger under his chin and stood there in a thinking pose.

"If I am going to save her, I still need a way to find her."

Suddenly, Emi's phone began to ring.

"It is Alicia," she said, raising her head to Haruko. "Don’t make a sound." Emi swiped left, ending the ringtone and answering the phone.

Haruko tuned out her conversation and began to think.

(How in the hell am I going to find her? Let’s see, I wonder if I can contact that head doctor and see if he can locate her. Would that be possible to do for him?)

Haruko's thoughts were interrupted as Emi approached him.

"I have to head back home. Emilia is starting to become restless."

"She's starting to become a pint-size version of me," Haruko chuckled.

"That is not a good thing; it is just what the world needs right now—another version of you running around the world getting into trouble."

Haruko chuckled again.

"That ringtone of yours was LINKIN PARK, right? When did you start listening to them?"

"It is not for me; it calms Emilia down."

"Well, if that is the case, then I can send you a few more songs.

Haruko placed his hand on the outside of his right pants pocket and rubbed it around.

Nothing.

He couldn’t feel anything.

(Huh.)

In a quick blur, Haruko began patting himself down, startling Emi.

"What are you doing?" Emi asked, watching Haruko move around like a rabid dog.

"My phone; I can’t seem to find it."

"You’re just now realizing your phone is missing."

"Cut me some slack. Alright, it's been a long night, but still, don’t tell me I lost my phone."

Haruko squeezed the bridge of his nose, causing Haruko to close his eyes.

(Think, I had my phone earlier.)

An image of the Matsumoto residence came to mind.

(It is slowly coming back to me.)

"Haruko, are you okay?"

"Shhhhh, trying to concentrate," Haruko whispered, holding out his hand to Emi.

Haruko slowly remembered putting his phone in his jacket and putting on Aoi.

"AOI!" Haruko shouted out as he came to the realization.

"Who is Aoi?"

"It is part of that long story I mentioned earlier," Haruko said as he turned to Emi. "Let me borrow your phone real quick."

She quickly became defensive.

"Why?"

"My phone is in the jacket she is wearing; if she has my phone on her, then I can use your phone to find it and her."

Emi gave Haruko her phone.

He started fidgeting with the screen.

"Close this, close this and this, open this."

Haruko turned his head toward Emi.

"I’m going to sign you out for a bit."

"Do whatever you must," she replied.

With that statement, Haruko typed his information out, and his finger hovered over the button that would log him in to find his phone.

(After everything that has happened tonight, there is no backing out now.)

Haruko pressed the button, closing the page, and it brought up a map of North America. There were several beeps as the map began to zoom in.

(Alright, it is locating my phone.)

The map began to zoom in on what one would consider the east side. His eyes widen when the map zooms in on NEO New York City.

(My phone is still in the city; I don’t know if the phone is on her, but it is a start, but I need to get an exact location.)

Haruko watched as the map continued to zoom in on a location within the borough of the Bronx.

(Just a little bit more.)

Suddenly, there was a beep as the map stopped zooming in.

Haruko stared at what was on the screen.

A red dot on the map.

Haruko began staring at the location.

"Joseph Yancey Track and Field," Emi said over his shoulder, causing Haruko to scream out and nearly drop the phone.

"Hey, don’t go dropping my phone."

"Don’t go sneaking up on people," Haruko said as he handed the phone back to her.

"Joseph Yancey Track and Field." He repeated her words, trying to conjure an image in his head.

"It's the area under construction where the old Yankee Stadium used to be before they tore it down to build the stadium across the street."

Haruko looked at a street sign hanging from a nearby lamp post.

153rd street.

"Yankee Stadium is at 161st Street."

“Yes," Emi replied.

Haruko exhaled.

"You haven’t been there or anywhere near there tonight?" Emi asked Haruko.

"Nope."

"For your phone to end up there..." Emi started.

(For my phone to end up there means it was either dropped there or that Aoi is there, and most likely that guy is there too.)

A quick image of Nereus flashed in his head before he clenched his fist tightly.

"Then that is where I am going."
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap5. Part 3

Part 3



Blue eyes open to the world belonging to the Water Crystal Guardian, Aoi.

She was on her knees with her arms raised. Her wrist was wrapped in dark blue chains, holding them in place in the air.

She began looking around the area she was held in. There were several pieces of construction equipment spread out.

Aoi began struggling against her chains but was unable to free herself.

"So, your awake, that is good," a deep voice startled her, causing her to turn her head toward the source of the voice.

There he stood.

Nereus.

"Who are you?" Aoi questioned.

"Someone who is very much like you, at least not on the surface level, no."

Without a change in her demeanor, water began to appear out of nowhere and swirl around her.

"Oh, that is a nice trick," Nereus said sarcastically as he watched the girl.

Not taking her eyes off the man, the water began to rise into the sky, causing Nereus to raise his head with a bored expression on his face.

In a quick motion, a high-pressure blast of water began to converge upon the man.

Aoi watched as the water hit the man, only to see that the water did not hit the man; nothing did. The water poured around him as if there was something shielding him from it.

Surprised, Aoi focused her attack again.

The water rose again and compressed itself in the form of small spikes pointed directly at the man.

Like a bullet, the spikes shoot toward the man. Aoi watched as the spikes shatter and melt away before they came into contact with him, still with the same bored expression on his face, never changing.

Aoi screamed out, which caused more water to appear. A vast amount of water began to rise behind her, merging together into one giant mass.

"Without a doubt, this is impressive," Nereus said as he was amazed at what he saw behind the girl.

What stood behind the girl was a giant body made of water with glowing blue eyes; there was no mouth. White lines traveled across the body. The body held out its right arm as a sword began to form in his hand.

"I see brute strength. Once again, it is an impressive trick, but..."

The massive body swung the sword down with such force that it cut through the air.

"If you know the secret to the trick, regardless of how massive it is, you can shatter that illusion."

Something in the chest of the body exploded above Aoi, causing her to look back to the body of water as she watched her eyes widen.

"Wha….?"

As if the broken pieces weighed several tons, the broken pieces of the body crashed into the ground, shaking it and kicking up dust and smoke around them. Solid pieces then turned into liquid, falling to the floor.

Aoi slowly turned her head toward the man, only to see him dusting his left shoulder off-still with a bored expression on his face.

(No way…..this is impossible; he managed to disrupt my powers.)

Aoi could not comprehend what was going on.

"Do not be surprised; the Crystal Guardians powers are absolute without any limitations on their abilities. Among their abilities to control the elements at their highest level, another one comes up that doesn’t get brought up much."

Nereus began walking up to her.

"That is, the complete and utter rejection of those said elements being used against you, almost like an immunization, quite the conundrum."

Aoi watched as the water on the ground unnaturally moved away from him with each footstep he took toward the girl, as if the water was avoiding him.

"But that then creates the biggest problem: when two Crystal Guardians of the same element do battle, neither one can truly overpower the other."

"You’re a Crystal Guardian."

Nereus stopped walking.

"To answer your question, yes, and at the same time, no."

Aoi stared at him.

"When the second used his power to split his, I was granted control over the element of water before his departure. It was a great honor to have, but ultimately conflict befell us. There were many devastations, but the biggest was that I lost my power. No, that would not be a fair statement to make. My power was stolen from me."

Aoi's eyes widen at his statement.

(….Stolen?)

Nereus stopped walking.

"I’m pretty sure that by now you are aware that the crystal necklace that is hanging from your neck is connected to your soul. That little fact means that no one besides you can remove that crystal besides you, the bearer. That is false."

Aoi's eyes widen in shock.

"With enough force, it can be removed, but doing so will shatter that person’s soul, resulting in death. That process is what befell upon me."

"If your powers were lost that way, then how are you still alive? No one can survive having their soul destroyed."

Nereus placed his hand on his hip and chuckled.

"Of all the things, now I’m going to start sounding like him, but you are under the impression that I am truly alive."

Nereus right hand peered through the opening of his cloak, unclipping the straps that connected both sides near his left shoulder. He opened up his cloak so that it was hanging off his shoulders. He loosened the black tie around his neck, throwing it on the floor.

He exhaled.

He began dragging his left index finger down from his collar downward, breaking the buttons of the shirt and suit jacket, causing them to fall to the floor. With his right hand, he pulled the right side of his shirt to the side, revealing his chest to the chained girl.

Aoi's eyes widen in horror as she saw his chest.

"Just as I appear before you alive, I am also very much at the same time dead."

On his chest was a mass of dark black veins that were spread out, nearly covering it.

"I am not dead or alive; I am in a state of in-between. Never fully be on one side; this existence is my very own purgatory. My body right now is operated by nothing more than a broken soul hanging on a very literal string and my own willpower. By canceling out the crystal guardian abilities within your soul with the broken mess that is mine, I can feel myself slowly tip over to the other side, which is death, but I will not fall here."

"How?"

Nereus lowered his right hand to his side.

"This is the end result of having my soul partially removed from my body and having my crystal necklace removed at the same time."

"!"

"But I should be grateful; that method revealed to me the very method I will be using to take your soul and power."

Nereus put both of his hands in a prayer motion.

Suddenly, a large gray statue of a man rose up from the ground behind him.

The statue was a nude male with a demonic face. Despite the statue being all gray in color, its eyes were pitch black.

Both of its arms were stretched out before him in a begging pose.

"What is that?" Aoi asked as she looked at the statue behind the man.

"This process to claim both your soul and power as my own is a long one; this statue is the final part of that, but..."

Gray chains burst out of the statue's chest, impaling Nereus back. He did not react as the chains traveled out of his chest towards the girl.

Four chains pierced the girl's chest.

The girl felt nothing as she looked down at her chest.

There was no impalement or blood.

"When an individual becomes a Crystal Guardian, their souls are transformed, and because of that, those powers become the deepest part of that person. That small tidbit is how that necklace is connected to you, not your entire soul. That part is in you, just as that very same part is in me still. I agitate that part within your soul, and these chains will pull it out along with your soul."

Aoi's eyes widen as she begins to struggle against the chains.

"Don’t bother; as of right now, our souls are connected. These chains will yank your soul out of your body and prevent that soul from leaving the area….."

Nereus slammed his right palm into the dirt.

With a loud yell, he began pouring his energy into the surrounding area.

The ground.

The trees.

Dark blue energy began to rise from the ground into the sky, forming a barrier around the area.

Nereus stood up.

His vision was blurry. He placed his hand on his head, trying to gather himself.

(No, I am so close.)

Aoi watched as the man staggered back up to his feet.

The face of the statue behind Nereus began to twist into a crazed smile.

There was a ringing noise coming from the chains as they began to vibrate. Slowly, the chain began to reel itself back into the statue.

Aoi tried to free herself.

She stopped moving as the ringing became louder. The sound of loud church bells rang out.

With each bell toll, she started to feel more nauseous, as if the sound was ringing every corner of the inside of her head, causing her body to writhe in agony.

Her vision started to get blurry.

Aoi clenched her fist shut as she tightly closed her eyes, trying to drown out the noise.

Everything went black as the bell tolls continued to ring out.



_____________________________________________________________________



Elora groaned as her eyes opened to the night sky above her.

She groaned as she sat up from the bench she was lying on.

Everything was quiet around her.

She began looking around the area as she placed her hand on the right side of her cheek as it stung.

"That damn kid and that doctor."

Elora sighed as she closed her eyes.

In the blackness that was the center of her mind, there was a dark blue flicker that quickly faded out.

She opened her eyes.

"I can feel his energy; he is still alive."

She staggered to her feet before leaving the hospital yard.

(Wait for me, your majesty.)



_____________________________________________________________________



With a loud bell toll, Aoi's eyes shot open.

Space was distorted as large boulders floated in a purple void.

Aoi stood alone on a single flat rock, no longer shackled by the chains of her wrist. She began looking around; there was nothing beyond the floating rocks.

"This isn’t real; it can’t be," Aoi said, as there was an echo in her voice.

"If this is not real, then what is?" A booming, distorted female voice spoke out, causing Aoi to turn around to the source of the voice.

There she saw ‘it’.

A large, flying blue mass weaving through the floating boulders.

A dragon.

Blue body.

(No.)

Black arms and legs.

(No…no.)

Two pairs of black wings with glowing blue markings.

A fear began to creep up inside her as she watched the creature fly.

Bright eyes that were shining more than the moon that was staring at her.

Water began to form in her open palm as she had her hand at her side.

(Stay away.)

Aoi thrust her hand forward.

Water blasted out toward the dragon as it blew through the rocks.

The water blast clipped the left wing of the dragon, causing it to spin out of control.

Suddenly, several of the boulders merged together, forming a flat surface to break the fall. The dragon crashed into the ground, rolling around as its claws stabbed into the ground to balance itself.

On a flat surface above her, the dragon peered its head over the ledge to glance at the girl and roared, creating a shockwave.

Aoi shielded her face with her forearms from the blistering wind.

The dragon lunged at Aoi, causing her to hold out her hands in front of her, creating a wall of water to shield her.

She expected the dragon to hit it head-on, but as the dragon got closer, it broke apart, scattering into the air around the girl.

Nothing.

Aoi watched as she took several deep breaths as she lowered her arms, causing the water shield to melt away, falling to the ground.

Aoi began turning her head left and right.

Nothing.

Silence.

The dragon was nowhere to be found.

There was a rumbling sound in the distance as the boulders began falling down into the void.

Without second thought, Aoi began running in the opposite direction from the falling debris.

As she was running, she spotted something at the corner of her eye.

Several of the small boulders began to merge together into a flat surface, and a white stone door began to rise from the surface.

(A door.)

She began making her way toward her one chance to escape.

The door slowly opened with a loud creek, as if it were inviting her inside.

Dodging the falling rocks, Aoi made her way to the door. She jumped into the air toward the door as the ground beneath her began to break apart.

Her shoulder slammed into the door, breaking it wide open as she crashed on the floor with a loud thud.

Aoi was breathing hard as she laid on the floor.

Her breathing was cut off as the door closed loudly.

The room she was in was dark.

Aoi rose to her knees to look around the dark room.

"Well, this is truly a surprise; after all this time, I was beginning to think that we would never see you again," a deep male voice spoke out, causing Aoi to open her eyes in shock.

Her eyes slowly glanced at an all-black, male-shaped figure sitting on a large gray throne on top of several stairs.

The dark figure had no distinctive figure except for a pair of bright purple eyes that were staring daggers at the girl.

The figure rested its head on its right hand.

"Do you have nothing to say, daughter?"



_____________________________________________________________________



Nereus stood a few feet away from the chained girl.

He watched as the young girl's body twitched.

A small flicker of light emerged from the girl's body.

(She has been like this for a while; no matter what, just a little bit, this should all come to an end.)

Nereus then looked up at the night sky.

(Soon.)

_____________________________________________________________________



Aoi began to stand up.

"Fa….father" Aoi's voice echoed out in the large, blackened room.

The dark figure sitting on the throne did not reply.

Aoi was looking around the area she was standing in. Surrounding her on all sides were dozens of human-shaped figures with various eye colors staring right at the girl.

"I believe I asked you a question: do you have nothing to say, daughter?"

Aoi did not answer due to a fear that swept over her.

There was a silence.

"Traitor!!" A voice shouted from one of the figures that surrounded the girl.

"You left us!!"

"Deserter!"

"How dare she appear before us, before the king!"

Aoi began looking around at the voices that were shouting at her.

The crowd of black figures began closing in on the girl.

With a frightened look on her face, water began to rise around her. She quickly pushed the water outward, blasting the figures away in the room.

She turned her attention to the throne in the room, only to see that the figure that was sitting there was now gone.

(Wh….what?)

The room went black.

Pitch black.

Something grabbed her, lifting her off the ground.

In the darkness, Aoi felt her body being squeezed as a large black hand grabbed her.

The area around the girl became chaotic as it broke away, revealing the dragon as the darkness cracked away.

"DID YOU THINK THAT YOU COULD AVOID FATE?" The voice of the dragon roared out. "DID YOU THINK THAT YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO RUN AWAY?"

"SHUT UP!" Aoi shouted out.

The dragon's hand gripped the girl tighter.

Aoi screamed out in pain.

Water began to form around her, and she shot toward the dragon.

"FOOLISHNESS, EVEN NOW YOU ARE TRYING TO HIDE BEHIND THAT POWER," the dragon roared, creating a shockwave that blew the water away. "THAT POWER DOES NOT CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE, AND IT WILL NOT CHANGE WHAT YOU WILL BECOME IN THE FUTURE."

Aoi looked up to the dragon with fear in her eyes.

"TRY TO RUN FROM IT, AND I WILL ALWAYS BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU; TRY TO DENY ME, AND I WILL ALWAYS SHOW UP IN FRONT OF YOU."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!" Aoi shouted out with all her might.

"………………"

The chaos in the room began to die down.

Still holding the girl, the dragon brought his face closer to her.

"YOU HATE ME, YOU HATE MY EXISTENCE," the dragon’s voice spoke out, its voice getting softer.

The dragon slowly released its grip on the girl, causing her to fall to the ground beneath her. Aoi watched as the dragon began to shrink in front of the girl.

No more was the large behemoth of the dragon but a dark female figure that stood just a few feet from her.

The dark figure was just about the same height as she was, with dark blue eyes that were staring at her.

A crack emerged along the face of the figure.

"You hate me." The voice that came out of the figure was the dragon's, but calmer. "Even though I have been with you longer than you had those powers,"

The figure closed his eyes.

More cracks began to emerge on the figure's face.

The cracked pieces began to flake away, slowly revealing the head.

Aoi slowly opened her eyes.

Black and blue hair began flowing from the figure.

"You hate me because……"

Brown skin.

Thick eyelashes.

A scar on her left cheek.

Aoi took a step back.

The darkness that shrouded the figure completely broke away from its body, revealing a young girl.

"……I’m you."

What stood before Aoi was no longer a dark figure but an exact, nude mirror image of herself.



_____________________________________________________________________



(She has been like this for almost half an hour.)

Aoi body twitched, which had alerted Nereus.

He grinned.

(It’s time; her soul is weakened enough.)

"When the second sage created the first generation of Crystal Guardians, those who were selected were carefully selected not only to wield that power but to use that very same power to lead us into the next age. It was a tremendous effort on our part, but it was for a good cause."

Nereus pointed to the chained girl.

"The fact that your soul can be so easily wavered only proves that you are not deserving of such power. I don’t know who created the new generation of Crystal Guardians, but whoever that person was, they did so with no end goal in sight. This world needs correction at all levels. To prevent its own destruction."

Aoi's eyes shot open as she screamed as the chains began to slowly pull themselves out of the girl's chest.

"Whatever reason you have to hold on to that power, it is not enough anymo-"

Blank.

Nereus cut himself off as he felt a blank, void feeling. It was just for an instant, but in that split second, he felt it.

He did not have time to comprehend that feeling as the barrier broke apart like a popped balloon.

Nereus looked around the area to see the tattered remains of his barrier floating in the air, quickly disappearing.

(What the….?)

The chains stopped pulling themselves from the girl's chest.

"My barrier collapsed……that impossible. No......someone is here, but who?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Aoi coughing.

Nereus looked back at the sound of footsteps approaching him.

Aoi started to exhale deeply, trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, good, you're still alive," a voice broke out. "I guess I am not too late."

Aoi's eyes widen when she hears his voice; her eyes slowly drift up from the ground. Past the man and the statue, she saw him.

A feeling of warmth washed over her.

A person who said he would save her—a girl who she herself considered doomed to be hunted—a girl she herself lost to the abyss.

There he stood.

Haruko Matsumoto.

A person who was not involved with her.

Haruko looked at Nereus, and then his eyes drifted towards the chained girl.

Both Haruko and Aoi stared at each other without saying a word.

Haruko closed his eyes and sighed.

"We got to stop meeting like this, or people are going to get the wrong idea," Haruko said as he grinned.

Haruko opened his eyes with a serious look on his face, looking toward Nereus. He clenched his fist.

"I hope you are ready; this long nightmare ends here."

Nereus turned a step toward the direction of the teen, and as both men looked at each other, a grin slowly appeared on his face.


/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap5. Part 2

Part 2



Reiko Matsumoto's brown eyes open to see the white tiled ceiling above her.

She groaned as she placed her hand on her forehead.

Beside the sound of a few faint noises, everything was quiet around her.

"My head"

"Try not to move around so much."

At the sound of the soft voice, she jumped, nearly falling off the hospital bed.

Gathering herself, Reiko looked to the corner of the room to see Antonio staring out the window overlooking the courtyard.

"Head doctor," Reiko said as she sat up on the bed.

Antonio turned his head to look at the woman.

"Please don’t move around so much," Antonio said as he turned to the woman. "You suffered a bad fall; I found you passed out on the floor in the lobby, so I brought you here to rest up, but you appear to be doing well’

Without saying anything, Reiko stared at the head doctor.

Slowly, the events of the past started to rush back into her mind.

The man in the dark cloak.

"Your lying," Reiko said softly.

The memory of Nereus showing her the image of the girl that Haruko brought to the hospital to be helped.

"That girl is part of something big, isn’t she?"

Not feeling that he could lie any more, he replied.

"I don’t know the full details myself, but given what has happened tonight, it would appear so."

After a few seconds of silence, Reiko laid back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"And Haruko is a part of that as well."

Antonio sighed.

"I’m afraid so. He is most likely there now. He is everything you said he would be, I’m sorry," Antonio said, looking at his bandaged hand.

"It isn’t your fault; if he isn’t here, then the center of all this is where he would be."

(Haruko, you idiot. Getting involved in issues like this without a care in the world.)

"You are so grounded," Reiko said, still staring at the ceiling.



_____________________________________________________________________



In an open field under construction, there were three people.

Aoi, the Water Crystal Guardian- A girl who had complete control over the element of water. At the moment, she was a chained captive by-

Nereus, the former first-generation Water Crystal Guardian who was planning to steal the soul of the chained girl for her power and-

Haruko Matsumoto- an uninvolved party in this matter, who came to rescue the girl.

"If anything, you are very persistent; I’ll give you that," Nereus said.

Once again, Aoi stared at the person who had came to rescue her.

Haruko Matsumoto.

"Haruko, you...you came here."

Haruko looked at Aoi with a surprised look on his face.

"Wow, I think this is the first time you called me by my name since this whole ordeal started." Haruko turned his attention to Nereus. "Let’s just hope it won’t be the last time."

Nereus raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, the chains began to vibrate. Aoi groaned in pain as the chains in her chest detached themselves, falling to the floor.

The chains quickly reeled themselves out of the body of Nereus and back into the statue, with Nereus never taking his eyes off the teen.

"I know I’m going to sound like a broken record, but this time, after everything that has happened, this time I am going to save you."

Aoi watched on as Haruko started walking towards the man.

Something has changed about him since the last time I saw him—something that I can’t explain. (He seems like a whole different person.)

"How are your insides?" Nereus's deep voice interrupted Aoi's thoughts.

Haruko did not reply.

"Surviving that attack is one thing but coming back for more is idiotic all together."

Nereus started walking towards the teen.

A white sword began to form in his right hand.

"I want you to know you will not have the opportunity to regret that decision again."

"I won't," Haruko coldly replied.

Sword in hand, Nereus crouched down.

Like a bullet, Nereus blitzed towards the teen.

As Haruko took a step back, Nereus vanished before him.

"What the hell?"

"Behind you, duck!!!" Aoi shouted out, breaking the silence.

Haruko ducked as Nereus appeared behind him and swung his sword, missing the teen's head.

Not letting up on his assault, he swung the sword again.

Slamming both of his palms on the ground, Haruko quickly handstands and kicks his right foot towards Nereus, causing him to block the hit with his left forearm.

Both men stared at each other for a quick second.

Nereus moved his head as Haruko brought his left leg up in an attempt to kick him. He swatted Haruko's right leg away and grabbed his left leg.

"Too slow," Nereus said as he lifted the teen off his hands and into the air. He then flung Haruko away several meters.

His body rolled across the floor before coming to a complete stop.

Haruko's body laid there on the floor, not moving.

"Haruko!!!!" Aoi shouted out.

Haruko quickly shot up to his hands and knees.

"Owowowowow, holy shit that hurts," Haruko blurted out.

Aoi looked at the teen.

Blood was pouring down the right side of his face, dripping to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Aoi asked.

Haruko dusted himself off and stood up.

"Yeah."

Haruko stared at the man.

(This guy, his reflexes are nothing to scoff at; if Aoi did not warn me to duck, my own head would be on the floor.)

Haruko placed his hand on the back of his neck.

(With his speed, I can forgo attacking him head-on, not without a plan at least. If I can find a way to catch him off guard.)

"I assume that you are finished with coming up with a plan to defeat me—no, I take that back: a plan to survive."

Haruko ran towards the man.

With an expressionless look on his face, he raised the sword in the air, and in a quick second, he swung the sword down with all of his might.

Seeing this, Haruko jumped out of the way.

Since the sword was not physical but what he considered energy, he assumed that the sword would release an energy blast, but nothing happened.

Haruko turned his attention to the man, only to see him with a grin on his face.

BOOOM!!!!!

A loud, thunderous noise startled the teen.

Haruko turned his head back, and his eyes drifted down to the ground. His eyes widen as he sees that the ground was split open with a huge cut that spans the length of the open yard.

(What the hell? He did this with a quick slash, Haruko thought as he observed the damage.

"Still trying to process what is going on before you," Nereus said as he rested his sword beside him.

Haruko turned his head toward the man.

"Those who are slow to understand the information in front of them are even slower to react."

With a quick dash, Nereus appeared crouched down in front of the teen, ready to swing upward in an attempt to split his body in half.

Haruko looked down.

(Oh, that right, his speed; I totally forgot about that.) Haruko nonchalantly thought.

Through his eyes, it was as if everything was moving in slow motion.

Ba-bump.

(With his speed and strength…..)

Nereus twisted his body.

Ba-bump.

(I won’t be able to dodge this.)

Haruko unclenched his fist.

(This attack would most likely kill me, and that will probably be it, huh.)

Ba-bump.

(After everything that has happened, after everything I said, this is how it ends.)

Haruko closed his eyes.

Ba-bump.

(Reiko.)

Ba-bump.

(Alexis.)

Ba-bump.

(Jayden.)

Ba-bump.

(Emi.)

Ba-bump.

(Emila.)

Ba-bump.

Nereus raised his body, and the sword followed suit.

Aoi.

Ba-

Silence.

HARUKOOOO!!!!!!! Through the blackness in his mind, Aoi's voice shouted out, causing Haruko's eyes to quickly open, bringing him back into the world.

As the white sword quickly approached him, Haruko ducked under the strike of the sword.

The missed sword strike created a violent gust of wind behind the teen.

Both men stared at each other.

With his sword raised in the air, he brought it down once again.

Suddenly, blue chains wrapped around his forearm.

Nereus quickly turned his head to the source of the chains.

Aoi.

"You, what do you think you are doi-"

He was cut as he moved his head to dodge Haruko's uppercut.

Nereus pushed the teen away from him with a kick and sent the teen back.

With his free hand, he gripped the chains around his right forearm.

The chains began to liquify, falling to the ground.

He raised his sword to Aoi.

"Don’t think that little trick of yours will work agai-" Nereus was once again cut off by Haruko as he rammed his shoulder into him. Knocking him off balance

Slamming his foot into the ground, Nereus stopped himself. He quickly spun around, and under the cover of his cloak, he grabbed the teen's neck, lifting him into the air.

Haruko struggled for a bit before being slammed into the ground.

Haruko let out a pained gasp as Nereus squeezed his throat.

"Foolishness," Nereus said as he knelt over the teen.

Nereus quickly released his grip on the teen's throat and raised his hand to block the blast of water coming towards him.

Haruko watched as the water avoided the man.

(What the hell, he can block her water attacks.)

Both Aoi and Nereus are in an intense battle.

(If he can block her attacks, then how the hell can this guy be beat?)

As Haruko watched as Nereus blocked Aoi's continuous blast of water, something caught his eye.

Nereus's white sword, which was firmly implanted into the ground,

Its shape or lack of features did not matter to the teen, but-

Looking at the weapon, Haruko could see that small cracks began to appear.

(Wait.)

Haruko looked at the man's face; he could see that he was pushing himself, blocking Aoi's attack.

Turning his attention back to the sword.

(I see that is how it is.)

With both hands, Haruko grabbed Nereus cloak.

"What are you doing?" Nereus asked as Haruko pulled himself away and head butted him.

"Gahhh!" Haruko shouted out as his head bounced off Nereus's; it felt as if his head had hit a brick wall.

Nereus then face-palmed Haruko, slamming his head into the ground.

Blue chains of hardened water began to wrap around his body and outstretched arm.

"This again," Nereus said as he gripped the chain around him with his free hand.

"Not the same," Aoi replied.

Hardened water spikes emerged from the ground under Nereus and Haruko, grazing him on his arm.

Nereus winced in pain as the chains pulled his arm down.

With nothing holding back the water, Nereus was blasted away several meters away. The water pressured him against a large pile of sheetrock.

He pushed himself and slowly started walking against the pressure of the water. Aoi increased the volume of water being put out, causing Nereus to stop walking.

Suddenly, the water was blasted away from him.

Aoi stopped her water blast as Nereus stabbed his sword into the ground.

He attempted to take a step, but several blue chains wrapped around his ankle. He groaned as he attempted to cut the chains with his sword. The ground beneath him began to grow darker, causing him to look at the sky.

"Whoa," Haruko said as he looked up. "What the hell is that?"

Descending from the sky was a large blue hand made of water.

"Do not think that this will stop me," Nereus said as he raised his hand to the sky in an attempt to dispel the large hand.

His eyes widen.

The large hand began to fall faster.

(NO….with both its size and its speed, I won’t be able to dispel it in time.)

The hand slammed into the ground, crushing Nereus under it. The ground shook violently as dirt and smoke shot into the air.

The shockwave of wind and smoke caused Haruko to block his face with his forearms.

The smoke began to die down as Haruko watched on.

There was silence in the area.

Haruko turned to Aoi and started running towards her.

(This is my chance; if I can’t beat him, then the least I can do is free her so she can escape.)

The large hand began to crack, causing Haruko to look back.

(No, it can’t be.)

More cracks started to appear.

BOOF!!

The large hand exploded.

Standing in the broken rubble was Nereus; he was slouched against one of the broken fingers. Haruko noticed that a large amount of blood was pouring out of his mouth.

Aoi watched on.

(My body right now is operated by nothing more than a broken soul hanging on a very literal string and my own willpower. By canceling out the crystal guardian abilities within your soul with the broken mess that is mine, I can feel myself slowly tip over to the other side, which is death.

Nereus words echoed in her mind.

"Haruko, listen to me."

Haruko looked back at Aoi.

"That individual, regardless of the state that he is in, is a Crystal Guardian of the same element, just like me."

Haruko's eyes widen as he turns back to Nereus.

"But how?"

(Another Crystal Guardian with the same element as Aoi; I guess that was how he was able to block her attacks, but then...)

"His soul is broken."

That sentence from Aoi interrupted the teens thoughts.

"With his broken soul, he can’t create water the same way I can; he can only attempt to dispel the water that I can create, but since his soul is broken, that means..."

"The more he dispels your attacks, the more broken and damaged his soul becomes."

Now that statement surprised her.

(It isn’t much, but if we attack carefully, then we might win.) Haruko thought.

"Haruko"

Nereus began walking toward the pair, with Haruko walking towards him.

"You don’t have to worry much. I just need you to do what you were doing before to support me as a backup. By either your attacks or mines, this all ends here."

Aoi watched the teen move towards Nereus.

(Just watch and wait for a time to strike, Aoi thought.)

Not waiting for an attack, Haruko ran up to the man and threw a haymaker punch with his right arm.

Nereus effortlessly blocked Haruko's wrist with his left forearm. He then pushed the teen’s arm away, throwing him off balance; in his right hand, a white sword began to form.

He gripped the handle of the sword and swung the sword toward the head of the teen. As he did, a pillar of hardened water rose up from the ground to block the incoming strike, causing the sword to bounce off the pillar.

As the sword recoiled off the pillar, Haruko crouched down in front of the man. Nereus watched as the teen thrust his body towards the man.

Haruko cleaned his fist tightly as he brought it upward.

The teen, with all of his strength, uppercut Nereus in the chin. His head bent upward as blood from his mouth flew into the sky.

(He hit him.) Aoi thought as she watched the events before her.

Haruko lowered his left arm.

(I can’t let up now.)

Nereus lowered his head to see that Haruko was attempting to punch him again. He dodged the punch by leaping several feet into the air. Both men stared at each other as the distance between them increased.

As he got higher into the air.

Behind him, a massive wall of hardened water rose, blocking his path of retreat.

As Nereus turned around to see the wall of water, a pair of chains flew towards him, wrapping around his left angle.

With a quick motion, the chains yanked him down and threw him back into the ground.

A large amount of thick smoke began to fill the air.

Nereus cut the chain from his ankle as he stood up.

Through the smoke, he could see a silhouette of a person running towards him. Since the girl was chained, he assumed that the person running toward him was the teen.

Nereus thrust his left arm and the sword forward, impaling the silhouette in front of him.

Suddenly, the silhouette features began to melt away.

(A water clone.)

The clone grabbed his arm, holding it in place as it began to harden.

At the sound of several footsteps, Nereus raised his head and looked to his left and right.

Around him was the sight of several water clones running towards him from all angles.

Deciding to forgo his trapped weapon, he released his grip on the sword and spun around in a clockwise motion, dragging his foot along the ground.

As he did, a white sword began to form in his hand. Now that he had fully turned around, he used his momentum to swing the word with a powerful slash, creating a violent shockwave of wind that blew away the smoke in the air and the water clones.

All but one.

Nereus glanced upon a single individual who was shielding his face with his forearms.

The real one.

He gripped the hilt of the sword tighter as the teen lowered his arms. Putting pressure on his feet, he quickly dashed toward the teen.

As he got closer, a spike of water shot from under the teen's feet diagonally towards the head of Nereus.

He quickly spun around counterclockwise to avoid the strike.

Haruko took a single step forward as he pulled his right fist back.

As Nereus spun around, he switched the sword from his right hand to his life and raised the sword over his head.

Haruko crouched down.

Now fully facing the teen, sword in hand, he brought down upon the teen head.

With his strength and the weapon of choice, he was sure that both would allow him to split the teen head open but-

There was a loud noise that sounded like glass breaking.

White particles floating in the air.

Nereus eyes widen when he takes a glance at his sword—more like what was left of it.

The sword was now broken, and the pieces that remained in his hand were breaking apart.

Nereus looked at the teen as he raised his head.

He noticed that there was no damage from his sword to the teen. On the right side of the face, where the sword impacted, a faint vein-like pattern appeared, flickering on and off.

Aoi watched as Haruko swung his arm around with his fist tightly clenched with everything he had.

Haruko Matsumoto.

This person before her right now was much different than the person she had met a few hours ago; his attitude and resolve have changed from the person she saw run out of her room in the hospital.

(Haruko, what happened to you?) Aoi thought as she watched Haruko strike the man in the face, knocking him to the ground.


/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap5. Part 1

Part 1



(I’m going to save her.)

Haruko's words echoed in her mind as Emi walked down the street back to her house.

Emi stopped walking as she pondered those words.

"Given the distance, he is probably there right now. It would be easy for me to be on my way home, but..."

Emi turned around and sighed because she knew what she was about to do."

"I’m sorry, Emilia, but there is no way I can leave your father to his own devices because he is an idiot," Emi said as he began running in the direction Haruko ran off in.



_____________________________________________________________________



Nereus began to pick himself up off the floor.

Blood dripped out of the side of his closed mouth, causing him to wipe it away with his thumb.

(Something really is different about this kid; by itself, that would not be a problem. The problem is that both are working in tandem with each other; if I take this kid head-on, it leaves me open to her attacks.)

Nereus glanced over at Aoi.

(And if I deal with her attacks, it gives him a small chance of attacking. His attacks don’t have any real power behind them, but there is a possibility that he can land a lucky hit. I can’t risk attacking the girl too much, as it might kill her.)

Nereus glanced over to Haruko.

(My only option is to deal with the boy swiftly; doing it this way may cause my soul to become unstable, but..)

Haruko readied himself for his attack.

It was just a blur, but it was too fast for him to react.

Nereus kicked Haruko across his midsection, causing Haruko to cough up blood.

Haruko flew off his leg and bounced off the floor several times, a couple of feet away.

(That speed... I was barely able to see it.) Aoi thought as Nereus landed back on his feet.

Groaning Haruko slowly began to pick himself up, holding his midsection. Blood was pouring out of his mouth.

Nereus immediately dashed towards Haruko.

As he got closer, a wall of water appeared in front of the teen, shielding him.

Nereus appeared behind both the wall and the teen.

Haruko looked behind him, only to get kicked several feet into the air. As Haruko was sent into the air, Nereus jumped after him.

(This is bad; I can’t follow him.) Aoi thought as she watched Nereus punch Haruko higher into the air. (My Crystal Guardian powers are only able to move as fast as I can react….)

Nereus appeared behind Haruko's broken and bloodied body in the air.

(If he moves faster than I can react, then...)

Floating above the approaching Haruko in the air, he brought his right leg back.

(I won’t be able to help him.)

With a yell, Nereus kicked Haruko, sending him back to the ground.

BOOM!!!

Haruko crashed into a small shack containing several pieces of construction equipment.

Aoi watched on in horror as Nereus landed in front of the broken debris of the shack and the smoke.

There was silence that filled the area as Nereus watched on. With a gust of wind, the smoke was blown away, revealing the body of Haruko Matsumoto lying on the floor, face down.

The teen was not moving.

Nereus closely observed the teen.

He noticed that the same blue and white vein-like pattern was appearing on the skin that was visible.

(He is still alive.)

Nereus quickly raised his left arm in the direction of the girl.

Aoi started to gasp for air as a massive ball of water behind her fell to the ground.

"You are really going to try this again, even with your last hope defeated."

Nereus slowly closed his hands into a fist, causing Aoi to scream out as she felt like her insides were being crushed.

There was a loud yell coming from behind Nereus.

SHUNK!!!

Nereus eyes widen as a steel rod pierced through his chest from behind.

The sudden impalement caused Nereus to lower his arm. He turned his head to glance behind him to see Haruko beaten and bloodied, holding on to the steel rod and breathing hard.

(To the very end, I assume.)

With his left hand, Nereus pulled the rebar forward out of his chest, yanking Haruko along. As Haruko got closer, Nereus hit the side of his head with his right elbow.

Dazed, Haruko threw a wild haymaker with his right hand. Nereus caught Haruko's wrist with his left hand and used his right arm to lift the teen off his feet.

With a judo flip, Nereus slammed Haruko's spine first into the ground, causing him to let out a painful gasp.

The vein-like pattern on Haruko’s skin flickered on and off before fading out completely.

Still holding on to the teen's wrist, Nereus rolled Haruko over onto his stomach.

"That’s it, huh?" Nereus said with a disappointed tone in his voice, "This is the extent of your abilities."

Nereus released the teen's wrist, letting his arm fall on top of the other arm.

A white sword began to form in his right hand.

In one quick motion, he stabbed the sword through Haruko's right palm and left forearm, impaling the ground, causing Haruko to grunt in pain as his body twitched.

Blood was seeping into the dirt.

Nereus rested his right hand on the handle of the sword.

"And now this battle is over."

With a final look of disapproval toward the teen, Nereus started walking towards Aoi.

"Wa…wait, don’t go near her," Haruko growled out.

Without paying Haruko any mind, Nereus pulled the steel rod out of his chest before quickly examining it.

"If I had been a human, your little attack may have killed me," Nereus said as he tossed aside the steel rod.

Haruko stopped struggling.

"If you had been a human... what is that supposed to mean?"

Nereus stopped walking and turned to the teen on the floor.

Haruko knew that he had lived for a long time, but not being human was something entirely new to him.

Nereus stared at Haruko with a puzzled look on his face.

"You really don’t know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"Because you kept coming back to save her time and time again, I assumed that you had to be aware of it, even at a subconscious level. But it now seems that you are an idiot who has gotten way over his head. I'll explain it to you just so you are brought up to speed."

Haruko stared at the man.

"The nature and origins of the Crystal Guardians powers, myself, my followers, and..."

Nereus pointed his right index finger at Aoi, causing Haruko to turn his head and look at her.

"....that girl is not from this world."
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap5. Part 0

Part 0



(If you don’t mind me asking, how exactly did you get into this city?)

(Through the sky.)



_____________________________________________________________________



"Not from this world; what do you mean?" Haruko asked calmly while he was lying on the floor.

There was silence as Nereus chose not to answer the question from the teen.

Haruko's finger began clawing into the dirt.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?" Haruko shouted out.

"It is just as I’d said. I’m pretty sure that you are aware of the Crystal Guardians abilities at this point and that you have seen those abilities in action through this girl, correct?"

"……" Haruko did not reply to his statement.

"Now think, I know somewhere in the back of your mind a thought came to you: ‘There is no way that a human could create a power like this’ right?"

Haruko's eyes widen at that statement.

"How did you get here?"

"After we lost our home, we came here. Alex Gabriel Deleon was the name of the second sage, the original Crystal Guardian, and it's very creator."

"What?" Haruko whispered.

"A population that is born by fighting will meet its end by the very same method. With no one left to rally against, we turned on each other. At the time, what made the crystal guardians so revered was the fact that, at that point, their powers could not be competed against; that was until new and more powerful abilities, given enough time, eclipsed our very own."

(More powerful abilities than the Crystal Guardians... than hers.) Haruko thought as he looked at Aoi. "That can’t be." After seeing what Aoi could do with her powers, it was hard to believe that there were stronger abilities.

"When the second sage died, it ultimately created a power vacuum that the five of us who were chosen could not fill."

"Wait, you said five; I thought there were six that were created."

"There were six; five were giving out, but he left one to his family. Conflict began to arise when it was time to choose the next leader that we could get behind. What started out as nothing more than a few skirmishes here and there ultimately ended up as a full-scale war between the two races. The second created the Crystal Guardians powers because he believed that the calamity of destruction that appeared before us a long time ago, if given the chance, would do so again."

Nereus placed his hand on his hip.

"The two races, because their abilities were tied to their emotions, raised the threshold with every battle, every loss, and every death. The raw emotion of losing their loved ones pushed their abilities to unprecedented heights, which in turn made their battles even more brutal and destructive. Ultimately, lines had to be drawn."

Nereus glanced at Aoi.

"Because the two races were both in possession of a crystal, the remaining Guardians had to get involved, which started the Crystal Guardian War. Sides were chosen, three each on both sides, and in the ongoing conflict, our world became a desolate hell, and in the mist of all that chaos, the second’s prediction came true. That calamity came for us."

Haruko stared at the man.

"By the time we were aware of it, three Crystal Guardians, myself included, had lost our abilities to them. It took everything for us to work together with those we were warring with. Those that destroyed our homes and killed our families, but somehow it did work due to the simple fact that we did not want to die to them. By some miracle, we managed to defeat them, but the damage caused by the war between us and the conflict preventing the destruction of our world ruined what was left of it. Taking my broken existence and my followers, we came to this world living in the shadows."

Nereus walked up and kneeled in front of the teen.

"I can see it in our eyes; naturally, you are doubting everything that I am saying, but it is the truth. The instability of the people of this world, the powers they possess, and the chaos in the world, with all this—the only end result of all that instability is its own destruction."

Haruko looked up to the man.

"The world needs someone who can lead it to prevent that, someone who can make the hard decisions. This world is one event away from all the chaos. I can bring peace to your world, which has suffered from multiple world wars, mass outbreaks of disease, and mass counts of death, just by sacrificing one girl."

Haruko slowly looked over to the chained girl with a somber look on his face.

He shut his eyes.

Suddenly, all the memories of the last few hours involving Aoi came rushing back to him.

"No," Haruko said in almost a whisper. "No, I won’t let you sacrifice he-" Haruko attempted to move his body but couldn’t. "What the hell is this?"

"So, you finally noticed," Nereus said as he placed his palm on the white sword. "It does not matter what you believe now or what you would allow me to do. This sword and any other swords I create are made from portions of my soul. Every living being has a soul; when two souls meet, the stronger one always overpowers the weaker one, just like it is happening now. Your idealism is good, but without the strength to back those ideals up, it is meaningless."

Removing his hand from the sword, Nereus began walking towards the girl.

"Wait!" Haruko called out.

With each step, Nereus got closer, ignoring the teen.

(Move.)

Haruko's body twitched, trying to free himself from the sword.

(Move, dammit, MOVE.)

A large amount of blood began pouring out of his palm and forearm.

Fshhh!!!!

White and blue markings appeared on his skin as sparks emitted from his body.

The teen closed his fingers to form a fist.

(Move. I can't let her die here. If I do, then what was the point of all this? What was the point of coming here?)

Haruko's eyes began to glow a light blue before he closed them.

(Move.)

(In the absence of fear, it seems that my voice can reach you now.)

A female voice echoed in the mind of Haruko.

(With this….from this point on….if you want to protect something….)

(Move.)

(Do not retreat….)

(Move.)

(Do not hesitate…….)

(Move.)

(The only way to move forward is to crush every obstacle in your way….)

(MOOOVE!!!!!!!.)

(With this.)

The images of his loved ones and friends flashed in his mind before shattering apart like glass as everything went white.

Suddenly, Haruko let out a loud yell.

Haruko's eyes shot open.

As Nereus continued walking to Aoi, a huge gust of wind hit him, causing him to quickly turn around.

Shielding his face with his right forearm to block the shockwaves of wind and sparks of lightning.

Nereus's eyes widen as he sees his sword break apart, and slowly the teen stands up.

He noticed that the teens wounds were healing. (Regeneration, how?) Suddenly, several crackles of thunder broke out above them in the sky.

A huge strike of lightning from the sky hit Haruko, but he did not react; it was as if the light had no effect on him.

Suddenly, a roar broke out in the sky above them, causing Nereus and Aoi to look up at the sky.

There it was, a dragon whose entire body was composed of lightning, gazing down upon the both of them.

"That is a..." Before Aoi could finish her sentence, the dragon roared, creating a shockwave of wind and lightning that crashed into the ground.

"This can't be," Nereus said as his eyes drifted down to the teen. He noticed that something was glowing on his chest.

A necklace.

(That necklace…..)

A red six-sided was swaying against his chest.

Nereus’s eyes widen as he gets a closer view of the object.

(Don’t tell me... that this person is a Crystal Guardian.)

Sparks of lightning flew from Haruko's eyes as they opened, staring intensely at Nereus as thunder roared out in the sky.
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap 6. part 0

Part 0

Date: Friday, May 29th, 2009, 12:00:24 a.m.

Location: Joseph Yancey Track and Field, The Bronx, NEO New York City.

Earth.



(Fire.)

(Earth.)

(Water.)

(Air.)

(Life.)

(Death.)

(The complete control over those elements makes up the Crystal Guardian's powers.)

(That refers to both the title and abilities one would possess, should they be worthy of either.)

(So why….)

A loud roar broke out, coming from a dragon whose body was composed of lightning in the sky.

(Why is this mortal a Crystal Guardian?)

“Haruko …” Aoi said, in a soft tone with a worried look on her face.

Haruko's body twitched as he heard the voice.

Nereus created a white sword in his right hand and pointed it towards Haruko.

It was a blur.

Something passed by Nereus.

In a quick blur and a long trail of lightning, Haruko appeared behind Nereus in front of Aoi.

(His speed.) Nereus thought as he gripped his sword tighter.

Both men spun around clockwise, with Nereus swinging his sword and Haruko swinging his right arm across with his hand covered in lightning.

A shockwave broke out as both the sword and hand collided against each other.

Both Haruko and Nereus stared at each other as sparks flew around them.

Nereus placed his other forearm on the sword for added strength, but-

With a growl that sounded like it was coming from a lion and a dragon, the lightning around Haruko's arm began to intensify.

The lightning began to overpower the sword in Nereus hands.

(He is pushing me back.)

With his right hand covered in lightning, he grabbed the sword, pulled his left arm back, and closed his fist.

Sparks engulfed his fist, creating a huge fist of lightning.

Haruko then punched Nereus with the force of what felt like a hundred freight trains, hitting him all at once and pushing him several feet away.

Nereus grunted as he crashed into the ground, sliding across the dirt before coming to a complete stop.

Aoi watched on as Haruko stood there in front of her, sparks radiating from his body.

(Every fiber of my rationale wants to believe that the events before are not real, but—.)

As Nereus stood up from the ground, lightning began to surround Haruko's feet. He jumped from the ground into the air above Nereus.

(Is he really a Crystal Guardian?)

Nereus stared at Haruko as he jumped in the air.

His right finger twitched.

(That boy........there is no doubt about it now; he is a Crystal Guardian; how he has this power no longer matters, but at this point I can’t beat him head-on. My only choice is to pour more of my soul into this weapon to increase its density and durability.)

The sword began to glow and vibrate intensely.

(The Crystal Guardians powers are one thing…….)

Nereus jumped into the air towards Haruko.

Lightning emerged from Haruko's right hand.

Both men got closer to each other; Haruko thrust his right arm forward, and Nereus swung his sword across, followed by a bright flash in the sky.

(But the energy that is being emitted from him is beyond anything I can comprehend…..it’s massive.) Aoi watched the flash in the sky, her eyes widening as Haruko’s lightning-covered arm twirled off into the distance. As the arm hit the ground, an explosion of lightning broke out, causing Aoi to look back.

Haruko and Nereus descended from the sky, their feet breaking the ground beneath them.

Neither one of them was moving, as they had their backs to each other. Nereus stared at his sword and smirked when he saw blood on it, kicking up debris.

He turned his head to the teen to see that he was missing his right arm as blood was profusely pouring on the ground.

“A clean cut,” Nereus said.

"HARUKO!” Aoi shouted as she saw Haruko's wound, and still the teen did not react.

(I don’t understand; being a Crystal Guardian doesn’t remove one’s ability to feel pain.) Nereus thought as he looked at the teen. (Yet not so much as a whimper after losing his arm....It’s almost like he is not fully there.)

Suddenly, the bones that made up his shoulder blade began to regenerate, causing Nereus to open his eyes.

The next bone to follow was the humerus. Nereus watched as the bone protruded from the empty socket. Soon, the skeletal muscles of his shoulders began to form and travel down the humerus, connecting themselves to the still-forming bone holding it in place.

(This is high-speed regeneration, but how?…no Crystal Guardian ability allows regeneration of this caliber.)

Nereus watched in shock as more bones and muscles formed. The blood vessels and muscles began to wrap around the bones that made up his hand. The skin tissue started to form, traveling down his shoulder to his hand, completing the regeneration of his arm.

(Just what is this kid?)

There was silence as Haruko raised his hand to examine it.

He quickly turned around and swung his right arm upward, creating a huge wave of lightning towards Nereus.

Because of its speed, Nereus blocked the wave by placing his sword sideways and holding each side with his hands. He struggled as the wave pushed him back slightly. Nereus eyes widen as his sword begins to crack.

(No.) Nereus thought as the sword broke apart.

With nothing to shield him, Nereus was hit by the wave of lightning pushing back across the open field.

As the wave sent him flying, he let out a loud, desperate yell as a sword formed in his right hand.

Thunk!!!

He stabbed the sword into the lightning wave, dragging the blade down and splitting it apart.

He landed on the ground as the two parts broke away and scattered into the night sky. Staring at the teen, he gripped his new sword tightly in his hand.

Quickly, blood began to pour out of his mouth as he coughed. He placed his hand on his mouth and examined it.

The sword began to crumble away in his hands.

(My body is failing; at this level, the remnant of my soul will no longer be enough to keep this body moving. His regeneration is one thing; he also possesses the ability of a Crystal Guardian. At my current state, I can’t match up against a power that is absolute and limitless, but….) Nereus thought as he glanced over to the statue. (…I can steal it.)

The statue flew off the ground and landed behind him, crashing with a huge thud.

(No, he is going to try and steal Haruko's ability.) Aoi thought.

“Forget the girl; if I can’t have her soul, then yours will suffice.”

Nereus claps his hands, causing the chains of the statue to shoot out and impale his back. The chains emerged from his chest, flying towards Haruko.

Aoi watched on in horror.

"Haruko, move; don’t let those chains touch you." Aoi shouted out, but Haruko did not react.

SHUNKKK!!!

The chains pierced Haruko's body.

“Now everything…… that you have is now….. mine." Nereus spoke as he was breathing hard.

Haruko grabbed the chains, piercing his chest, and slowly started pulling the chains out.

Nereus raised his right palm to target the teenager's soul, immobilizing him.

His body began to twitch as he took several steps forward, holding the chains. Nereus started to close his palm, preventing Haruko from moving.

(Now for the deepest part of your soul.)

The chains began vibrating as several bell tolls rang out in the area.

As he did, a blank, empty feeling washed over him for just an instance, and he wasn’t able to feel anything within the teen’s soul.

In an instant, all the bones in his outstretched arm began to break as his arm violently contorted back, causing him to wince in pain.

With his free hand, Haruko swung his right hand, which was engulfed in lightning, against the chains, shattering them.

Nereus watched on in pain and disbelief.

It was just a blur, but Nereus did not have time to react as Haruko appeared in front of him, crouched with a burst of speed, as sparks flew past him.

He attempted to take a step back, but his back hit the statue behind him.

(If you want to protect something, do not retreat; you’ll only live in fear.)

Haruko grabbed the chains protruding out of Nereus chest.

(Do not hesitate, or you will second-guess yourself.)

Crouched down, Haruko raised his head.

Determinedly bright blue eyes met shocked red eyes as both stared at each other.

Haruko stretched his arm back behind him.

(If you want to truly protect something with this power….)

Haruko closed his fingers into a fist, which caused lightning to crackle out.

(Then never waiver.)

Haruko's left foot slammed into the ground, causing lightning to spread out under his feet.

(Never look away and….)

Nereus eyes began to widen when Haruko began to rise up with his fist swinging upwards, the lightning that surround it tearing into the dirt ground.

As the teen’s fist got closer, Nereus felt as if his skin was being melted by the intense heat from the lightning.

(….Destroy everything in your path with this.)

Haruko let out a yell, which was drowned out by the lightning as it got more intense.

With an uppercut, Haruko punched Nereus in the chest, knocking him off his feet and several inches into the air. There were a few seconds of silence, followed by a single spark of lightning that came out of his back.

BOOOOOOM!!!!!

Suddenly, a pillar of lightning emerged from the ground, reaching all the way to the sky and swallowing both Nereus and the statue whole, thus bringing this battle to an end.

Its victor: Haruko Matsumoto.

The Lightning Crystal Guardian.
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap 6. part 1

Part 1



Rain was pouring down furiously.

Standing in the rain was a young man standing at the edge of a cliff, staring at the destruction of a village below.

The sky was filled with black smoke as the smell of death filled his nostrils.

Several destroyed buildings and massive piles of bodies awaited his vision.

The man felt empty and detached as he watched on. He turned his head at the sound of footsteps approaching him.

A group of people stopped beside him.

“Lord Nilan, we have been looking for you.”

Nilan turned his head back down to the destroyed village.

“There is nothing here, no survivors, nothing,” Nilan said in a soft tone.

An elder of the group steps forward.

“If there is nothing here, then we keep movin-”

“No.”

The elder was shut off as Nilan spoke.

“If there is nothing here, then there is probably nothing anywhere else. All that we would end up doing is traveling around, only to come to the same conclusion every time: death and destruction.”

A young woman stepped forward.

“Even so, we can’t abandon all hope just yet.”

"Elora,” Nilan said softly as he turned his head to her. “We could spend all of our time clinging to hope, and it still won’t change what has happened. There is nothing here for us any more for us to call home anymore.”

“Then where will we go?” Elora asked, defeated.

There was silence as Nilan looked on into the distance.

“Does the portal between worlds still exist?" Nilan asked softly, which surprised the group.”

“Surely you are not serious, my lord." A voice spoke.

“I am,” Nilan said as he overlooked the cliff. “This world is not for us anymore, so the only option is to go to another world and start anew.”

The group began to clear a path as Nilan walked through.

“I am not going to ask anyone of you to come." Nilan said as he began walking off from the group. “But should you decide to, we will move forward and think as one to ensure our survival and goals, so that we will not end up like this.”

Nilan stopped walking.

“In time, out of the shadows, we will create a new world.”

He started walking again.

"In time"

_____________________________________________________________________



The sky was illuminated.

BOOOOM!!!!

As the large pillar of lightning continued to shine brightly across NEO New York City, Nereus body flew out from the lightning pillar covered in dark smoke.

There was a loud boom as he crashed into an area surrounded by trees, creating a small crater in the ground.

The smoke from his body was starting to clear as he coughed, revealing the damage that was caused by the teen’s last strike.

His body was heavily charred, and the upper portion of his suit and cloak was burned off, revealing his burnt chest. His right leg was blown off right above his knee, and his left was blown off below his thigh. His broken right arm was gone completely, and only his thumb and index fingers remained on his left hand.

That was the state of Nereus body as he laid there.

Nereus coughed again, causing sparks to travel across his body to the surrounding area.

He opened his eyes to see the lightning pillar in the distance. There was a slight ringing noise in his ears.

He attempted to lift his body up but plopped back down to the ground, causing him to stare into the night sky.

(I…lost, after everything I had striven for.)

Nereus closed his eyes as his mangled hand clawed into the grass.

“Yo…r….m….je…..ty” through the ringing in his ears, he was able to hear someone call out to him.

He weakly turned his head to his left to see Elora running toward him.

(Elora.)

She began checking his injuries as she kneeled down beside him.

Without warning, a white sword came through her chest from behind. Nereus eyes widen as he sees the weapon protruding from her chest as blood begins to pour out.

As she weakly placed her fingers on the white sword, blood began to dribble out of her mouth.

“Elo…..ra” Nereus said as he struggled to raise his mangled arm to her.

“Poof!!!!!”

Suddenly, Elora's body exploded, causing her blood and internal organs to splatter upon Nereus, the trees nearby, and the ground.

“E…lor….a”

His most trusted follower was now gone; it was as if an empty void of emotion washed over him.

Nereus arm fell to the ground as he tried to process the events that happened before him.

“So, it seems that you do have a shred of emotion left." A voice spoke out.

Nereus slowly turned his head toward the sound of the voice.

His eyes widen as he saw a white figure walking out of the trees, holding a staff with the appearance of a lance that had branches protruding from it.

“I’m sorry, I tried to recreate the attack you used on me within a 10 percent margin, but it seems I have to tweak the staff a little bit.”

Its white appearance and attire contrasted with the dark area around him.

Barefoot, the figure began walking through the puddle of blood toward Nereus.

Nereus looked on in disbelief as the figure stood above him, a person whom he fought and killed with his own hands.

Raziel, The founder of NEO New York City

His white hair was now longer, reaching his ankles.

Raziel looked down at him without saying a word, then to the lightning pillar off into the distance and smirked.

“Wow, it seems with that attack, this entire ordeal is now over. You managed to subvert a few of my calculations, but the end results managed to be within the parameters of my plans. While the end result was not what I expected, it is a welcome one none the less.”

Raziel looked down at Nereus.

“Ho…….w?”

Raziel stared at the man on the ground with a puzzled look on his face.

“It seems that you are trying to speak, but most of your internal organs are damaged.”

"How... are you still…..alive?” Nereus said as he got angry.

Raziel looked at the pillar.

“I believe I told you that my plans do not end at my death; I merely accounted for the fact that I could die." Raziel looked down at Nereus. “It wasn’t that I calculated that I would die against you; it was that I would die in general. There are many methods I have taken to ensure my survival throughout all of my calculations.

“That is... insane," Nereus mumbled out.

"Let's say that an individual, not you, were walking down a path only to come across a part where that path splits into two. Both paths lead to the same place at the same time; the only caveat is that one path leads to certain death. If you chose the right path, then congratulations, but what if you chose the wrong one?”

Nereus looked at Raziel as he continued to look at the pillar in amazement.

“Choosing the wrong path would only create more possibilities since the method of death is unknown. What if I get attacked by an animal? What if I get attacked by a person? multiple people? What if they have the same magic that I do? What if it is different? What if they can cancel out my magic? What if my death is natural in nature—sickness, drowning, and so on? If one plans on bracing all that going forward, then the only way to survive would be to have a method in which you cannot die in place.”

Raziel looked away from the pillar and down to Nereus.

“What I have done is no different; I plan ahead for the worst so that every eventuality that appears before me ensures my survival, thanks to the methods I have prepared. All living things in the universe will die. We can try to fight it, but ultimately that is the fate that awaits us, and no amount of power one attains will change that, but you can plan ahead.”

Nereus attempted to move once again.

“You may have believed that the relationship between us was nothing more than two people playing chess, both of us making moves against each other, waiting for each other to respond, back and forth until someone slipped up. But in reality, that was never the case. You were playing with the rules I implemented, using the board and pieces I created, against someone who you created in your head—a phantom opponent, if you would say so. No matter how many times you tried to deviate, the end result was always going to be the same: your defeat.”

The staff in Raziel's hand began to disappear, scattering as small particles in the air.

“That end result was so much so that I was able to integrate another plan into this flawlessly, and that plan was the individual who would ultimately defeat you.”

Nereus eyes widen at that statement.

“Do you understand? You were fooled this entire time. Leading others to a supposed wonderland with you at the top, while you were none the wiser. I was hoping that his last attack would have finished you off…”

Suddenly, six white feathered wings emerged from his back that reflected off the moonlight.

“I believe that this is checkmate.”

With that statement, the six wings converged upon Nereus.
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap 6. Part 2

Part 2


A shockwave broke out in the area of the open park under construction.

The lightning pillar rose from the ground and traveled straight into the sky.

Aoi sat there on the floor, trying to process the events before her, even though she could not take her eyes off the person a few feet away in front of her.

She knew him to be Haruko Matsumoto.

The Lightning Crystal Guardian

Suddenly there was a loud thunderclap in the sky, followed by several lightning strikes that spread out across the sky above the city.

Aoi never took her eyes off Haruko.

How could she?

The person she was looking at was now a Crystal Guardian.

An individual with the power to control one of the six elements of the universe at the highest level without any known restrictions

A GOD.

Haruko Matsumoto.

(Those who become Crystal Guardians have their souls transformed.) Nereus words echoed in her mind as she watched on.

Haruko turned around and slowly began walking towards her.

(Is he the same person…?)

With every step, sparks broke out from his feet.

(Or….)

Leaves started blowing in the area as Haruko got closer to Aoi, and as the leaves touched his body, they disintegrated away in the wind.

She could hear his distorted breathing.

(Could he really be different?)

Aoi placed her hands on the ground to push herself up, but-

(I don’t understand what is going on with you, but I have a feeling—one I cannot explain—that you need help.) Aoi froze as she heard Haruko's words.

His words washed over her.

(I’m not leaving you.)

Aoi's body relaxed.

(And if this girl or anybody else was in hell or the deep end of the abyss where the idea or hope that she can’t be saved exists, that is pointless to try….. Then tell the devil to make some room, because I’ll join you in the abyss at the end of it, and I’ll pull you out of it.

As she remembered those words briefly, ‘Haruko’ closed the distance between the two and was now standing over her, less than a foot away.

He stood there, unaffected by the sparks that were coursing around his body.

She raised her head to look at the person before her. Her blue eyes met his blue eyes.

Sparks emitted from his body into the surrounding area around them.

It was chaos around the girl as sparks continued to fly.

“Are…you..okay?” Through the chaos, a distorted voice spoke out, coming from the individual whose body was covered in tattered clothes, blood, and sparks.

Aoi's eyes widen as she hears the voice.

Since it was still his body, the sound of the voice did not surprise her, but rather what was said.

What was said did not come from the power-hungry individuals she was used to after acquiring powers for themselves.

Those who would cast aside the weak and only help themselves

Despite the chaos around the individual, it still sounded like:

Aoi swallowed.

"Haruko,” Aoi said in a soft voice.

“Yeah.”

It was him.

Despite everything that has happened before and now,

It was still him.

The person who said he would save her.

The person who did save her.

The person who traveled to the deep end of the abyss and pulled her out of it.

Haruko Matsumoto.

Aoi felt at ease.

“Are you alright?”

A smile slowly appeared on her face.

“Yes”

Haruko looked at her and smiled too.

“Th…at good”

There was a thud as Haruko fell to his knees.

Then he fell forward on his stomach past the girl sitting on the floor, and suddenly the right side of his head crashed to the ground with his left hand beside his face.

Haruko's eyes closed as Aoi shouted out to him.

And with that, everything went black for Haruko.


/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Chap 6. part 3

Part 3



Raziel stood in front of a large blood-stained puddle on the ground as his wings stabbed the puddle and the ground where Nereus body once was.

Nereus body was gone, leaving only the puddle of blood on the ground.

Raziel watched as the puddle was absorbed into the wings.

“And once again, as I stated before, a pitiful end." With that statement, his six wings began to stretch outward behind him.

Suddenly, the wings began to illuminate.

Small particles of light flaked off the wings into the air around him as the wings began to disappear.

He turned his head at the sound of soft footsteps approaching.

“If you are here before me, then I assume that you completed our task.

“Of course, but if I didn’t complete it, you probably had another plan ready to go just in case,” said Alistair as he appeared to be walking between the trees.

Smirking, Raziel turned his head.

"It is not wrong to have plans should everything go wrong.”

Alistair placed his hands in his pockets.

“Speaking of plans, did you calculate all this too regarding Haruko?”

Raziel looked up at the sky to see the multiple lightning strikes move very slowly across the night sky.

“While the Crystal Guardian powers are no doubt impressive in their own right, it is not the ability I was hoping to awaken at this time. Generally, among the general plans that I have calculated, I allow them to occur naturally, but in rare cases, I can also force those very same plans to reach my desired results. The biggest obstacle among the plans I hypothesized is that everyone reacts differently; therefore, no one individual is the same.”

Raziel turned his head back to look at Alistair.

“I believe the humans call it fight or flight. The best I can do is work off a plan based on the subject pattern behavior, throw the outside variables at them, and see what happens. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that the girl came into the city, nor is it a coincidence that the individual known as Haruko Matsumoto has been within this city.”

Raziel turned his head and began walking away down a path.

There was silence between the two.

“You know, with all these plans, backup plans, variations, and failsafes you conjure up, I have been meaning to ask you: what is the end goal, the end of all of this?” Alistair asked, causing Raziel to stop walking.

A slight breeze began to pick up.

"What is one plus two?” Raziel asked nonchalantly.

"You're joking, right?” Alistair replied.

"It is a simple question; therefore, it has a simple answer. What is one plus two?" Raziel repeated as he turned to face

Alistair sighed. "Three.”

“That is correct but think of it this way: say that we remove the answer from that equation and just focus on the one and two. Let’s say that the one in the equation is life in its most basic form, just a normal man, and then let's say that the number two is the information that we have gathered throughout, whether it is through the use of experiments or by supernatural abilities. If those two make up the equation, then what would be the answer?”

Alistair stared at the man, not understanding Raziel's question.

"Reality,” Raziel replied.

"Reality,” Alistair repeated.

“It is defined as the world or state in which things exist as opposed to an idealistic idea of them. The number one is not important to the equation, but rather the number two is. The more information we gather and understand, the more our grasps on reality will increase, thus changing that number two into another number. Just like the first human to understand fire to the first human to understand magic, humanity will have no choice but to evolve with the information that is gained.”

Raziel looked up at the night sky.

“My end goal is to see it.”

“It?” Alistair questioned, “What is supposed to be it?”

“What lies beyond this current reality? I want to see everything beyond. Is there anything beyond, or perhaps there is nothing? I want to see it with my own eyes. That beyond is, despite my best efforts, not something I can reach with my own methods; that’s why this city exists. Whether it is through both their arrogance or ignorance, if they don’t find an answer, they will create a situation where that answer can be found in time.”

Raziel started to walk away.

“I will leave Haruko Matsumoto in your hands for the time being; if you could please have him checked out, I would hate to have him perish before I have calculated anything regarding him.”

Alistair turned in the other direction.

“And the girl?”

“I’ll figure out what to do with her later. Right now, I have some matters to attend to,” Raziel said as he began walking down the path between the trees.

And with that, both men went their separate ways into the night.

As Raziel was walking down the path, a thought came to him.

(Haruko Matsumoto is an odd one, truly.)

Each step moving one foot in front of the other.

(The Crystal Guardian.)

Raziel grinned.

(Who would have thought that in my plan regarding him, another anomaly would emerge? One that even I could not foresee.

Raziel walks into an open field to a loud silence in the area.

(A new Crystal Guardian over an element no one has ever seen before. It is rumored that when all six Crystal Guardians are brought into existence, the world will suffer a paradigm shift unlike any other.

As Raziel kept walking, he stopped in front of a larger crater in the ground.

(And now two currently exist within this city.)

His eyes drifted down into the crater, and there he saw it.

Half covered in dirt and blood was the shriveled-up right arm of Haruko Matsumoto that was cut off earlier by Nereus. Its appearance was as if all the moisture was completely sucked out of it.

“It seems that tonight is full of surprises for the twilight of the new world.

Raziel raise his head to glance at the night sky.

"Four Crystal Guardians down, two to go.”



Chapter 6: END
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: Arc Epilogue

White.

White squares.

A white ceiling.

For a teen who has just woken up, that is all he can see right now. If he kept staring at it any longer, he would have started counting the individual squares in the ceiling.

Haruko Matsumoto.

He groaned as he turned his head to his side.

A bed.

That was what he was laying on at the moment. Beside the light beeping in the room, everything was quiet.

Laying on the bed, Haruko began looking around the room.

There was a little sunlight peeking through the half-closed curtains in the dim room. His eyes glanced over several machines in the room that, by this point in his life, he was very familiar with.

A hospital room.

Sighing, Haruko pushed himself upward with his elbows to sit up on the bed.

Wearing a dark green hospital shirt and pants, his hair undone, he began looking at the name tag wrapped around his right wrist.

(A hospital… when the hell did I get here? What the hell happened?)

As Haruko pondered that thought, the door to the room had slid open, causing Haruko to turn his head to the doorway to see the head doctor standing there.

Antonio walked in.

"Ah, you are up; it seems that you’re doing well, Mr. Matsumoto."

Haruko stared at the man.

“I’m in the hospital; when did I get here, and what the hell happened to me?”

Antonio looked at Haruko with a puzzled look.

"That's what I was hoping you would be able to tell me—they found you unconscious in a park a few days ago.”

“A few days ago, how much is a few days?”

Antonio walked to a dresser in the room and placed a clipboard on it.

“About two to three days. Today is the 1st of June.”

“Three days!” Haruko shouted out. “What the hell happened?”

“You honestly don’t remember anything between you and Aoi.”

"Aoi," Haruko repeated slowly.

Haruko's eyes shot open.

“AOI, what happened to her?” Haruko shouted out as he turned to Antonio. He looked at the head doctor with concern on his face. “Is she okay? Is she even alive? And what happened to the guy who took her?” Haruko questioned.

“I am not sure about the person who took her, but you two were the only ones brought in that night. As for the Aoi, she is alright in what would be considered good health.”

Haruko looked down to his knees, which were covered by the bed cover.

“You said that it had been three days, right? That means right now she is in the custody of the city,” Haruko said.

Antonio looked at the teen.

“Not quite”

Haruko turned his head toward the man. “What does that mean?”

“The situation regarding the girl has changed; as such, while she is in the city, she is not in its custody. It is difficult for me to explain, so I will let her tell you.”

“Let….her tell me,” Haruko repeated.

"You can come in."

As he said that, a girl walked into the room, causing Haruko’s eyes to open when he saw her. Multicolored hair of blue and black, with the black portion of her hair coming down to her ankles even though her hair was in a ponytail. Her skin was a light brown, with a scar on her left cheek. She was wearing a white dress with a dark blue jacket over it that came to her waist. There was a necklace with a bright, light blue crystal hanging from it, resting just under her chest.

“You….” Haruko said surprisedly, “….Aoi.”

The person that stood before was Aoi, the girl he met a few days ago, and also an individual who was a Crystal Guardian, a GOD over the element of water.

She stood just a few inches from the hospital bed Haruko was sitting on, her dark blue eyes meeting his light blue eyes before shyly drifting to her right. Haruko quickly examined her.

After noticing no visible injuries at a surface level, Haruko said, “You’re okay?”

Aoi did not reply.

A cat-like smile slowly appeared on her face, which Haruko noticed.

“Hey, are you oka-” Haruko was cut off as Aoi jumped towards him. “Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoawhoa!!!” Haruko shouted out as she jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Gah…are you crazy?” Haruko said he was trying to free himself from her tight grip, but to no avail.

“You're alright,” Aoi said softly, which caused Haruko to stop struggling.

“Huh?”

“I was so scared that you were never going to wake up." Aoi said with tears in her eyes, still hugging Haruko. “You’re the only person that I know in this city; if you perish and leave me alone, I don’t know what I would do.”

Taking what she said in with a light smile, Haruko placed his right hand on her back.

“You didn’t have to worry about me that much; this sort of thing happens a lot for me,” Haruko said.

“That is not something to be proud of, Mr. Matsumoto,” Antonio said, walking up to the bed with his hands in his white lab jacket.

“You almost died; promise me you won’t try to do anything stupid like that again." Aoi said, as she was still holding on to Haruko.

“What, trying to save you or others? I’m sorry that not a promise that I can ever ma-ktatatatatatatatatatatatatatata-” suddenly Aoi squeezed tighten her hold on Haruko's neck, suffocating him and causing Haruko to rapidly tap her back.

The sound of desperate gasps for air filled the hospital room.

"Please, no violence in the hospital,” Antonio said, looking on.

Aoi released her hold on Haruko, took a step back, and turned away, letting him catch his breath.

“I only did that because I felt that was the only way I could get to you and because you’re an idiot,” Aoi said to Haruko as he coughed.

Throughout his mad coughing, Haruko realized her words were what he said to her.

“Oh, you have jokes,” Haruko said with tears in his eyes, grinning. “It’s nice to know that you’re doing well and haven’t changed much,” he said as he wiped his eyes.

“Doing well,” Aoi said before turning around and startling Haruko, which caused him to tense up on the bed. “I haven’t been doing well; after you defeated that guy, they brought me to a room, and a scary, large man started asking me a bunch of questions. Who am I? Where did I come from? How did I get here?” Aoi said, waving her arms frantically.

(They interrogated her.) Haruko thought.

“And that wasn’t even the worst part; the food that they had to serve me wasn’t as good as the food you gave me, so that is why I had hoped that you would wake up and feed me, but now that you are awake and okay, you can now fully take care of and pamper me.”

Silence.

There was silence in the room.

Haruko's left eyebrow twitched as he could feel himself losing brain cells by listening to her.

“What the hell do you mean take care of you?”

Aoi cleared her throat.

“This city has designated you, Haruko Matsumoto, as my legal guardian,” Aoi said with a smile.

Silence.

Now there was a loud silence in the room.

It took a while for Haruko to process this information; the more he looked away from the smiling girl, the more his eyes drifted back to her.

Her expression never changed.

“What the hell? I can’t become a legal guardian for another person. I’m fiftte-” He paused for a second. “Sixteen. How the hell did a decision like this get made?” Haruko shouted out.

“When I was asked those questions, a man dressed in white came into the room and said that I should stay with you as the best option due to the fact that it was better to keep two Crystal Guardians together,” Aoi said softly.

Blank.

Haruko just stared at her.

“What kind of reason is tha-” Haruko shouted out, but stopped himself. "Wait, you said two Crystal Guardians?”

"Yup,” Aoi cheerfully replied, still smiling.

This was new information to the teen; he knew that the girl before him was a Crystal Guardian, and now, according to her, there was another one.

“Another Crystal Guardian’ Haruko said it in a soft tone. “Who is the other one?”

"You,” Aoi said without hesitation.

There was silence as Haruko stared at Aoi.

“Me….what are you talking about?”

Haruko Matsumoto was just a normal sixteen-year-old; he enjoyed watching anime and playing video games. He was a student who was barely passing all of his classes; now, according to the girl that stood before him, he was now a Crystal Guardian, an individual with control over the elements at the highest level.

Him.

“Hey, you're joking, right?" Haruko said it with his voice shaking. “There is no way that I can be a Crystal Guardian.”

Aoi placed her hands on her hips.

“Don’t you remember anything about that night?” Aoi asked.

“Please be easy with him; at the moment, he seems to have some lapse in his memory regarding that night,” Antonio said.

“Maybe this will convince you,” Aoi said.

Without a second thought, Aoi quickly placed her hand inside the neck hole of Haruko's hospital shirt.

“What the hell are you doin-so cold." Haruko blurted out as he shivered at her touch.

Slowly, Aoi pulled her hand out with her index finger pointed at Haruko. Hanging off that finger was a small red, six-sided crystal that was attached to a piece of string around his neck.

His necklace.

Aoi let the crystal slip off her finger, causing Haruko to catch it with both palms. He looked at the crystal.

“You’re a Crystal Guardian over the element of lightning,” Aoi said, which caused Haruko to widen his eyes and look up to her.

“Wha….”

Haruko lowered his head to take a look at the crystal in his palms. As he examined it closer, he could see small galaxies floating in the small crystal.

It was the same as hers when he saw it.

“How?” Haruko questioned whether something like this was impossible for him.

Aoi sat on the hospital bed.

“Is it not obvious to you that the crystal awakened because it answered the call of your soul.”

"My soul,” Haruko said as he stared at Aoi.

(Every living being has a soul.)

(This necklace is not connected to my body but to my soul.)

Both Nereus and Aoi's words rang out in his mind.

“My soul awakened... when did that happen?"

Aoi stared at Haruko with a puzzled look on her face.

“Do you honestly not remember anything that happened a few days ago?”

Haruko raised his head to look at Aoi.

“No, at least not all of it. I remember bits of it, then everything sort of went white, then I woke up here.”

“I see,” Antonio said as Aoi sat on the hospital bed near Haruko's feet.

“I’m sorry, I can’t give you a definite answer. I am still trying to wrap my head around all this,” Haruko said, looking at the crystal in his palm.

Antonio stared at the teen.

"Well, you appear to be in good health with no visible injuries. I will prepare the paperwork for your discharge,” Antonio said as he walked to the open door.

There was silence in the room as Antonio left, leaving the two Crystal Guardians together.

“Who would've thought that what I was looking for….” Aoi started to speak, breaking the silence in the room as she rested her head on Haruko’s legs. “Would be you?” Aoi said as she smiled at Haruko.

“Me?” Haruko asked.

“It is a story for another time. I will answer later, but answer me this: ignoring you awaking the powers of the crystal aside, how did you even come into possession of this particular crystal? Possessing one of the six crystals is rare enough but possessing an element—one that has never been seen before—is a one in a billion chance.”

Haruko stared at the red crystal in his palms.

“I..” he started. “I’m not sure. I have had this crystal necklace since I was three; the last I heard of it was that it was a family heirloom. The crystal was always covered up, so I did not notice that it was anything out of the ordinary with it; this was the last thing she gave to me right before she died,” Haruko said with a tone of sadness in his voice.

Noticing this, Aoi thought it was best to change the subject.

“So, how does it feel to be a Crystal Guardian?” Aoi asked bluntly.

Haruko did not respond, causing Aoi to look up to the teen; she could tell that he had trouble processing the information before him.

“Are you okay?”

“A Crystal Guardian... like you….A GOD and I have to..."

Aoi pushed herself up to sit on the edge of the bed, her back facing Haruko.

“That is what you are worried about. I know this is a lot to take in now, and it's going to be even more difficult going forward with now understanding both yourself and your powers-”

“That is not what I was worried about,” Haruko said as he bluntly cut her off, causing her to look back at him.

“Huh”

‘You said that I was supposed to be your legal guardian, which means that in any case scenario, you are going to be staying with me. You aren’t really the ideal guest.”

"Wha!" Aoi said, her voice almost squeaking as a blush appeared on her face.

"Well, for starters, you have zero regard for people's property, for example, my balcony and front door.”

Aoi's face got red.

“You are difficult to try and reason with.”

Aoi's face got redder.

With every statement Haruko made, her face lit up with embarrassment.

“And we’re not even going to talk about your eating habits.”

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

With a cry, Aoi pushed Haruko back down into the bed.

“What the hell do you think you are doing? What happens if I have to stay here because of your recklessness?" Haruko shouted out.

Aoi sat over his waist with tears in her eyes.

“Take it back!”

"Huh,” Haruko replied.

“Take it back, take it back, take it back!!” Aoi said, whining, as she was banging her fists into Haruko's chest.

"Hey, calm down, will you.”

Outside the room, in the hallway, stood the head doctor.

“Well, they seem like a rowdy bunch, the both of them,” Antonio said as he could hear the both of them. “I’m sure you heard them, right? How do you feel about this?”

He turned around and saw the trio of women standing in the hallway with him.

Reiko Matsumoto, Alexis Matsumoto, and Emi Takahara.

There was silence from all three as they were trying to process the information they had just heard.

With her arms folded, leaning against the green wall that separated the hallway from the room Haruko and Aoi were currently in, she lowered her head.

“Haruko….” Emi said under her breath.

Inside the hospital room, Aoi was still weakly hitting Haruko with her fist, causing him to smile.

His life was about to get a little more hectic.

_____________________________________________________________________



(At the time, looking back at it, I don’t know why I let that bit of information escape me. Perhaps it was because I was excited about becoming a Crystal Guardian or because I was scared and did not want to accept what the answer would be had I pressed forward.

(Six crystals were created, but five were given out; the last one was kept with his family.)

(I had this crystal necklace since I was three; the last I heard of it was that it was a family heirloom.)

(They say that hindsight is twenty-twenty, and I guess that there is some truth to it now. If I could weigh the choices I made then and the choices I made going forward, that decision not to press forward with it was probably the worst one I made. If I had followed up on what he said, even just a little bit, it probably would have prevented all the deaths, despair, and destruction that would later await all of us.)

(I’m sorry.)

(The second sage was the individual who created and was the first user of The Crystal Guardian powers…..)

(If only I had acknowledged that little bit of information earlier….)

(And that person name was…..)

(Considering that…..)

(…Alex Gabriel DeLeon.)

(……Was my name.)



GODFall ARC. END.
/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: ARC2Prologue: Part 1

Prologue: Part 1: Danger That Comes to Our Door. Prelude 2 War-ENTRY LOG

Sunday, May 31st, 2009











Several lightning strikes broke it above NEO New York City in the early morning sky.


A city of 8.2 million people.


A city that was closed off to the world—well, not entirely closed off.


There are twenty-six heavily guarded highways, with seven leading in and out of the city; fourteen of those roads are reserved for cargo deliveries. Outside the large city walls in front of a large tunnel at one of the far-right end toll booths was a semi-trailer truck.


“All right, everything seems to be in order." The young man in the elevated booth passed the identification card of the diver on the truck through the window. “You should be good to go now. Sorry for the inconvenience. There was a really bad lightning storm a couple of days ago, so a couple of devices have been frizzy.”


The driver looked at the sky through the front windshield.


There was not a cloud in sight, but


Lightning scattered across the dark sky.


The driver sat back in his seat.


"There must have been some storm." The driver mumbled his breath.


He watched as the stop barrier was lifted.


After the barrier was lifted, the truck slowly drove through the tunnel without any problems.


It wasn’t even a few minutes into the tunnel before two of the three back left wheels were blown out. That unexpected action caused the end of the semi-trailer to lean left. Sparks trailed behind the semi-truck.


"SHIT!" the driver shouted out as the left-side truck slammed and slid across the wall.


“Back left wheels not operational, back left wheels not operational, back left whe-” the driver cut off the overhead announcement by pushing a button above him. He pushed another button, which released the elevated wheels, letting them fall to the ground.


As the truck bounced off the wall into the middle of the road, the driver pushed down on the breaks hard, and after several seconds, the vehicle came to a complete stop.


There was beeping in the truck as it rested there.


After that ordeal, the driver plopped himself back into the seat and exhaled.


After what felt like several minutes, he grabbed his radio. Pressing the button on the side, he spoke.


“This is truck number 26 to dispatch reporting a 10-42; repeat reporting a 10-42.”


There were a few seconds of silence.


-10-4 What is your ’20 at this time, and do you need any emergency services?-


“I am currently in the St. Gabriel Tunnel leading into the city; emergency services will probably have to be called. According to the HUD, the truck is in no condition to drive.”


-10-4 Stand by for just a second-

The driver's side door opened up as the cold air hit him. He climbed down using a ladder attached to the truck.


Now on the ground, the driver began checking the damage to the vehicle.


The left side of the truck was damaged as the wall container was scrapped open, though he was relieved that the contents did not spill out onto the road. Turning his attention away from the container, he began walking towards the back of the truck.


(Back left wheel), he thought as his eyes drifted downward to the wheels.


The back-left wheels were gone completely, leaving the rear drive axles.


(Well, this is a fine mess, the man thought as he lightly kicked the axles.


As he kneeled down to the lowered wheels, he could hear a footstep quickly approaching him. He looked up to see the toll booth attendant running towards him.


-Command to truck 26: Come in-

“This is truck number 26 here; go with your message.”


We have someone on route 65 minutes out who can tow the truck and cargo off the road; emergence services should be there soon-


"Copy, I’ll standby for now,” the truck driver said.


As he kneeled down to check the lowered wheels, he could hear a footstep quickly approaching him. He looked up to see the toll booth attendant running towards him.


“Are you okay?” he shouted


The driver sighed and stood up. “Yeah, my back tires are blown out." He looked up at the container. “As of right now, this truck is in no condition to move. I have notified my dispatch to have this vehicle picked up; until then, this lane and the next will probably have to be closed for the time being.”


"Copy,” the worker said as he unclipped his black radio from his belt. “This is post seven; a truck crashed and broke down in two of the lanes, requesting barricades and the shutdown of several lanes.”


There was no reply from the radio.


The man spoke into the radio again.


“This is post seven to command, reporting a truck crash in the tunnel, requesting emergency services at this time, post seven to command.”


There was faint static coming from the small radio in his hands.


Observing this, the truck driver said, “You think the random lightning strike could be affecting everything?”


“…….orry”


The two men heard a weak voice that echoed in the tunnel, followed by the sound of footsteps.


“I’m……sorry” A raspy voice whined out.


Both men turned around to see an elderly man walking towards them down the entrance.


“What the..." the toll booth worker said.


As the elderly man continued walking, they were able to make out his features.


His skin was ghostly white and wrinkly; the top of his head was bald, with hair behind his ears and the back of his head. He was wearing a black long-sleeve button-down shirt that was tucked into his black dress pants. Over that shirt was a gray v-neck sleeveless vest.


The toll booth could see a small object in the right hand that was shining from the overhead lights in the tunnel. He stepped forward and placed his hand on his taser on his belt.


"Sir, I have to ask you to stop right there; this is not a pedestrian walkway.”


There was no reply from the elderly man as he continued walking towards them.


“I’m so….sorry” The old man spoke weakly as he raised his head, revealing his sunken eyes.


In a quick motion, from behind the man, a black mass began traveling across the tunnel walls and ceiling covering it. Suddenly, the tunnel walls were pitch black, frightening the two men and causing them to take a step back.


“So very…..sorry”


With that statement, several eyes opened up against the black walls, revealing eyes with red pupils of various sizes. The pupils were quickly moving around, scanning the dark tunnel.


The toll worker and truck driver froze in fear as all the eyes glanced upon the both of them.


“I am so sorry….so please forgive me.”


There were multiple groaning sounds coming from the dark tunnel walls as dark black arms began to protrude out. The arms began to use the walls to push the rest of their bodies out.


The bodies plopped out of the wall and fell to the ground with several loud thuds. The two men watched as the black bodies were crouched over on all fours like an animal on the floor. The bodies surrounded the two men.


Slowly, the bodies began to stand up, the bones cracking along the way. They had no defining traits, though males in appearance were completely emaciated. There was no hair or genitalia on them; their eyes were a ghostly pale white with black teeth; and there was a pitch-black liquid dripping from their bodies onto the floor.


Suddenly, there was a shriek from the bodies as they began converging on the two men. There was a lone yell that quickly became muffled as the black bodies began to pile on their targets.


Through the muffled yelling, there was a squelching that echoed out in the tunnel, followed by a soft footstep as the elderly man walked past the piling black bodies.


“I am so sorry.”


The elderly man said as he unfolded his hands to his side.


“So very sorry.”


The muffled screaming began to die out to the sound of violent gnawing and tearing of flesh.


“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. So very sorry so…..sorry.


The celling and tunnel walls started to become brighter as the black mass began sliding onto the ground. Soon, the black bodies began to slowly sink into the ground. The elderly man paid no attention to the sinking bodies as he continued walking down the tunnel that led into the city.


“Please forgive me; you two were not the targets I had been sent her for-”


The black mass on the ground began to shrink rapidly to a circle on the ground, with the elderly man at the center following as he walked.


A sword hilt slowly emerged from the black circle on the ground.


“Go to sleep on time, pray before every meal, and carefully read your books." The elderly man spoke in a high-pitched tone in his voice, as if he were imitating a female speaking. “And slaughter sinners wherever they are.” His voice got raspy as he said that last part.


The elderly man had kneeled down to grab the hilt.


“I only kill sinners, so please forgive me. This job is so hard, so very hard.”


The back circle under him shrank as he pulled the hilt out; there was no blade on the hilt. The circle disappeared as he stood up.


“It is a hard job because everyone is a sinner," the elderly man said as he began walking down the road into the city, hilt by his side.


——————————————————————————————————


Inside a black four-door SUV were two people riding inside. A young male in his early 30s is behind the wheel. He had short black hair with a light stubble on his face. His brown eyes looked forward at the road before him. His outfit consisted of a dark blue tactical long-sleeve jacket with a bullet-proof vest over it, dark blue cargo pants with multiple pockets with diagonal black stripes over the thighs, and dark black steel toe boots.


His brown eyes looked forward, and as he could see several orange cones in front of the entrance to a large tunnel, he started to slow the vehicle down.


“Hey, we’re here; look alive,” the man said to the passenger in the back.


A red-headed female was laid out across the seats. Even though she was wearing the same outfit as her male counterpart at the moment, her bulletproof vest was lying on the car floor. She had her jacket half-zipped, revealing her gray tank top.


"Ugh, finally,” she said as she scratched under her chin. As the SUV pulled over to the left, she sat up and zipped her jacket up just under her neck.


With the vehicle coming to a complete stop, the man sighed before putting the vehicle in park and taking the key out. The man exited the SUV and began walking toward the trunk of the vehicle.


The female exited, putting on her bulletproof vest, and began walking towards the back of the SUV as the man opened up the trunk. Inside the trunk were several tactical gears and weapons.


The two began to load up on serval flash bangs, pepper spray, bear spray, and tasers. After strapping on his helmet, the man passed the woman with her helmet. As she grabbed her helmet, the man pushed a button on the side of the trunk, which caused a locked compartment to rise up from the floor of the trunk.


The man put in a six-digit code, followed by a light beep. He opened the safe to reveal two black AR-15 rifles. They had grabbed their respective weapons off the gun rack. Both stood there, examining the riffles. The female pointed the gun away from the man to look through the scope.


“I am all good,” the female said as she lowered the gun to attach it to a strap on her jacket.


“Me too,” the man said as he placed the magazine back into the gun after checking the bullets. He then, too, attached the gun to the straps of his jacket.


Closing the trunk off the car, both of them began walking towards the cones in the road. A police officer approached them.


The male and female pulled out their badges.


“Tactical Response Agent, Kazuhiro Matsumoto’’ The man said,.


“Tactical Response Agent, Maria Holm,” the female said, following suit.


Quickly checking their badges, the officer moved the two of the cones out of the way, allowing both to pass through.


Maria smirked and turned around to the officer.


“Stay sharp; I don’t want anyone to assume you’re slacking off,” she said, pointing at the officer.


“Look who is talking,” Kazuhiro said under his breath.


“What is that supposed to mean?” Maria said, pouting.


"Nothing, just remain focused, will you” Kazuhiro said to her.


Both of them entered the tunnel, which caused all the sounds they made to echo.


“But all work and now fun make Maria a dull girl.”


“What the hell am I supposed to do about it?” he replied as he saw several officers examining the toll booth as they walked past.


“Speaking of fun, how is your family?” Maria's question caused him to tense up.

“Oh, about them. They are doing great, last I heard,” he said nervously.


A devilish grin appeared on her face, leaning in closely behind him.


“I know they are doing fine.”


She then placed her index finger on her chin.


“Probably unrelated, there was a call a few days ago that came up about an armed robbery of a corner store. What stood out to me was not the crime itself, but that someone saved them.”


“S-saved them,” Kazuhiro said.


“Although that individual had left, they managed to give a description of him.”


Kazuhiro gulped.


“Height five-foot ten”


(It is not enough to go on.)


“Black and red-colored clothes”


(I mean, two random colors don’t mean anything.)


“Blue eyes and black hair”


(Those traits could belong to anyone; they are not rare…..)


“With the left side of his hair sticking out in a wild manner,”


(That little shit)


“Soooo…” Maria trailed.


He knew where she was about to go with this, so he was trying to prepare for it.


“How is the little hellraiser that is your nephew?”


Kazuhiro sighed and groaned.


“Where do I begin? From the calls I get from Reiko, Haruko seems to be brash, outspoken, and somehow always finds himself in the middle of conflicts.”


“Funny, that sounds like somebody I know.”


“What was that?” Kazuhiro said.


"Oops, nothing, nothing.”


The two kept waking up in the tunnel to see several people circling various spots around a semi-truck in the middle of the road. The pair walked up to a brown-haired man wearing a tan trench coat.


“Commissioner Gallahan”


The man turned around at the sound of Kazuhiro’s voice and stared at the two.


"It's just you two from the T.R.T (Tactical Response Team)”


“We have several more squads coming; it's just that we were the closest unit available.”


“I see, I guess I can’t complain; this incident just sprang up, which is why I requested a joint operation between the N.N.Y.C.P.D. (NEO New York City Police Department), The City Bureau, and the Counter Terrorism Taskforce.”


“To have all those agencies in a joint operation, there must be something serious.”


Gallahan placed his hand in his trench coat pockets.


“Follow me, would you? When I was notified of what happened and saw what occurred with my own eyes, I decided that this was the best course of action. I’ll bring you up to speed,” he said as he walked off. Both Kazuhiro and Maria glanced at each other before following him, walking along the side of the truck.


“What we know so far is that 71 minutes ago, a N.N.Y.C.P.D. operator received two emergency calls, one from the dispatch of a trucking company saying a vehicle broke down and the other from the overnight supervisor after they had discovered the mutilated limbs of a toll operator and, what we are assuming at this time, the truck driver.


That last part of the statement caught Kazuhiro's attention. “Limbs, not the full body itself,” he asked.


"That is right, but that is not the only part; it gets weirder from there.”


The trio approached a large white tent near the front of the truck; the tent was sprawled out across three of the five lanes in the road. As they entered the tent, on the floor were multiple evidence markers.


In one section of the road, there was a forearm in the street. His eyes drifted to another section to see the head and shoulder of a male. There were several fingers on the floor. There was a clothed midsection a little far off. Legs, arms, and internal organs were just lying on the floor as if they were ripped apart by a large animal.


It was the perfect gory scene in a horror movie, or it would have been—despite the brutality before them, the thing that stood out to Kazuhiro and Mario was the lack of blood.


The walls and the road were clear of blood—any blood.


“This road leads into the main hub of the city, Manhattan. I had several squad cars go down that road and set up checkpoints at the exit of this tunnel, but based on this crime scene and the time we got here, we have to assume that this individual or individuals that did this are probably well within the city.”


"How far is gathering evidence coming along?” Maria asked.


“We’re pulling entry logs, camera footage and conducting interviews with the employees, trying to get an accurate timeline of events. We are already behind, and it is most likely these attacks will not stop here, so we need to gather what we can and coordinate our efforts going forward.”

Kazuhiro looked to see a dismembered hand on the ground that was still holding on to a black radio. Like all the other limbs on the floor, there was no blood near them.


(What the hell is about to happen?)


——————————————————————————————————


Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009


“Anatoli Azarov”


A single name was spoken.


“That is the name of the individual that entered your city. Russian national. Alias, the Black Death. Wanted in four countries on charges ranging from breaking and entering to mass murder. His current age is unknown, but we have reports of his crimes dating back to the Cold War.”


A female voice rang out in the large white room, coming from a monitor hanging on the wall, regarding this.


"Sorry, I wasn’t able to get this information to you earlier; we had some issues on our side that had to take precedence.”


Standing in front of that monitor was Raziel, the Founder of NEO New York City.


At the moment, he was staring at a large screen on the wall.

“I see. Very well. If that is all the information you have reported, then I believe that we can end this-”


"Wait, you didn’t let me finish. Three weeks ago, he arrived in London and began a wave of small murders over the course of two weeks, with thirty-one victims in total, including several families. The thing that stood out to us was that all of his victims were completely random—race, nationality, sex, age, if they were magicians or not.”


“Isn’t that how all mass murders are?”


“To him, he is judging them by some unseen metric," the female voice replied. “On the 26th of May, he committed the final wave of his murders when he entered an occupied train car and killed the people inside between that stop and the next. One survivor at the time, a little girl, said that Anatoli, while murdering the passengers, kept shouting out'sinners' before succumbing to her wounds in the hospital hours later.”


“Sinners against what?”


“Based on his victims, no one knows. After that, the magic association and several of my elite forces manage to track them in an abandoned building."


“And they haven’t been able to capture him, haven’t they?"


“I’m afraid that is correct; they lost track of him.”


There was silence as Raziel took her words in.


“Lost track of him, you say; either you are lying or the magic association is more incompetent than I thought.”


Now it was her turn to take his words in through the silence.


"Shoot, you caught me." The female voice said with a sarcastic tone, “It wasn’t that they lost track of him, but rather they couldn’t track him after a certain point.”


There was a single beep as a picture popped up on the screen.


The picture was of a green sword hilt and a gold guard.


Nothing came to his mind regarding the object in the picture.


“Ooh, even though I can’t see your face, I can tell that you are frustrated. You, who prides himself on calculating dozens of plans as long as he has a slither of information, but when an unknown variable comes in that even you are not aware of, you’re as lost as a deer in headlights; it's actually quite amusing.”


“What is this?” Raziel said, not taking his eyes off the picture on the screen.


“The group that the magic association sent consisted of twenty-seven, including four of my own guards. Nine of those that went excelled at tracking individuals. If one person using their magic lost him, that would not raise concern…”


“I am assuming that there were users of different types of magic in this group that was sent out.”


There was no reply from the female.


Taking her no response as a yes, he continued.


“And all of the tracker magicians lost him?”


“Yes, this hilt is a remnant of the first magic war 500 hundred years ago; it was a weapon that served as an antithesis to another weapon of the same type left behind by The First. This hilt was too dangerous to be left unchecked, so it was sealed by the magic association. Yesterday, it was told to me that the hilt was no longer in their possession. We are trying to see if the group that attempted to target me and the group that took the weapon are related. If the hilt is not here, then he most likely has it.”


"But there is no proof, only speculation.”


"Hmmm, that is odd; I would have never guessed those words would have come out of your mouth. I can tell you’re calculating how to deal with a magical item you have little to no information about, and you are right to do so. You should be cautious about this item because the true ability of the hilt is-”


/SPOILER]

 

Spoiler: ARC2Prologue: Part 2

Magic Assassin Arc: Prologue Part 2: The Voices That We Do Not Hear Yet. Early_Morning_Routine.



-Please stand clear of the closing doors-

Haruko's light blue eyes opened as he heard that statement, like something was telling him to wake up. Something that he could not explain.

Just a feeling.

He sat in the middle of an empty train car as it began to move.

(A train) Haruko thought as he began to look around. The air around him was hazy, and there was a slight echo in the train car. (When did I get here?)

The train exited the tunnel, bringing in sunlight from the outside world into the train car.

(How long have I been here?)

Haruko lowered his head as he stared at his hands.

“Where was I going?”

“So, you’re finally awake, are you?” A female voice broke out in the train car.

Haruko slowly raised his head to see someone sitting directly across from him.

A woman.

The woman's face was obscured by the sunlight that came through the window outside.

Haruko's eyes were focused on the woman.

The female, from what he could tell, had long blond hair that reached her waist. She was wearing a white dress that reached her ankles. The dress had a thick blue line just above her midsection. On her shoulders was a light blue, low-cut jean jacket. Her feet were bare as she had her hands folded in her lap.

There was silence.

"This is a dream." Haruko said.

The woman did not react.

"You only ever appeared before me in my dreams."

“That I have,” the woman replied in a soft tone.

“Who are you?”

“That is an odd question to ask even now, don’t you think? Can’t you see that I am ————-, —ur —rys————dia———rit?

Haruko's eyes widen.

(What the hell was that? Her voice was cut out.)

The last part of her sentence—he was not able to make it out

The woman noticed no change in Haruko's demeanor from the information she gave.

“I’m sorry,” the woman lightly smiled. “After all this time, I thought my name and who I was would finally be able to reach you, or perhaps you are not the person I am not supposed to be talking to.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Such an odd existence you are, both at the same place, living as one but at the same time—neither one or the other, never whole. It would make sense why my words never fully reached you.”

“What the hell are you going on about? If I am not the person you are supposed to meet, then who is?”

Suddenly, an arm emerged from his chest.

“Ugh” Haruko grunted as he looked down at his chest.

There was a scaly white arm with light blue highlights poking out of him, along with long white fingernails.

"Gahhhhhhhh!" Haruko let out a loud scream, even though he felt no pain.

The arm was so unpleasant to look at.

It was so draconic in appearance.

Grabbing the arm with both hands, Haruko attempted to pull it out.

The woman stood up from the subway seat and began walking toward him as he was struggling with his arm.

“So close, yet so far away,” the woman said, placing her hand above the draconic arm with her index finger. “So close”

A single spark of lightning emerged from that index finger.

She lightly tapped the arm.

Suddenly, it felt as if thousands of volts of electricity ran through his body.

Haruko let out a scream as everything went white.





Light blue eyes shot open, belonging to Haruko Matsumoto, as he jolted awake to see the ceiling of a quiet, dark master bedroom.

He was breathing hard.

His hair was an undone mess as he laid in bed, half covered by his covers.

He slowed down his breathing.

(Those weird dreams again), Haruko thought as he closed his eyes, squeezed the bridge of his nose with his right thumb and index finger, and let out a groan.

For the last four days, ever since he left the hospital, he has had the same weird dream. No matter what he was doing in that dream, a woman whose face was hidden by light would always appear before him.

(I probably have to talk to someone about these dreams I am having.)

Opening his eyes, Haruko began swiping his left arm across the surface of the bed, hoping to find his phone.

Nothing.

He removed his right hand from his nose and placed it on the bed; soon after, he began swiping that side of the bed too.

And once again, nothing.

"Huh,” Haruko said as he stared at the ceiling.

Silence.

After a few seconds, Haruko lifted himself up and turned over to his hands and knees. He began swiping his hands and darting around the bed, the same way a cat chases a laser.

“Come on, where the hell are you?”

The sound of shuffling and creaking could be heard from the king-size bed as Haruko moved around frantically. He saw the corner of the phone peeking out from under his pillow.

“There you are.”

Haruko moved the pillow aside, finding the phone. Haruko picked up the phone; it felt cold to the touch as he pushed the button on the side, turned the phone on, and fell on his stomach.

The date and time read Friday, June 5, 2009, 5:37 a.m.

“If I start now, I could probably do an hour and a half of training before everybody wakes up.”

Laying on his stomach, Haruko closed his eyes and stretched his arms so that his fingers were touching the wall. Using the tips of his toes, he began pushing his butt upward to the sky.

There were several groans and grunts coming from the teen.

On his bed, Haruko was stretching in the same manner and posing as a feline would. With a final groan, he fell right back down to the bed, letting out a huff. He stared at the screen of his phone one last time before getting out of bed.

Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

Piles of clothes that laid on the floor, and trash cluttered his computer desk.

Deciding that his white t-shirt and black gym shorts were a decent option to go outside to his back yard, he grabbed his black sweater jacket off his swivel chair and put it on. As he stepped into his slippers, he placed his phone in his pocket.

Zipping the jacket up, Haruko headed to the door of his room. With a sigh, he opened the door and walked into the hallway.

Everything was quiet as he began looking around the hallway.

(Good, it seems that everyone is asleep, which should make everything easy.)

This is the one time of the day he could practice with his powers unfettered, and to be honest, that was what he needed at the moment.

He made his way down the stairs.

Yawning, he stepped into the living room. It was cold and empty as he gazed upon the room. His eyes slowly drifted to the wall beside him.

His finger lightly brushed against the dozens of puncture holes in the wall. The memories of that night flooded back into his head.

That night.

May 28th, 2009.

That dates from nine days ago.

The night a GOD came down and landed on his balcony, which set off an unprecedented chain of events.

Letting his arm fall to his side, he started walking towards the white door that led outside to the backyard. Opening the door, he stepped outside, pulling the two strings to tighten the collar of this hood around his neck as the early morning chilly air hit him.

He slowly closed the door so as not to wake the occupants upstairs.

Sighing, he walked into the grassy backyard that was surrounded by a white fence.

He stood at the center of the yard, reached into the neck hole of his t-shirt, and took his necklace out. The necklace was a six-sided red crystal that was attached to a string around his neck.

Though it was not always like this,

Over a week ago, Haruko had always assumed that it was a normal necklace that had a normal stone on it.

But-

Haruko let the crystal fall below his chest as it rested there, and he began to slowly inhale and exhale repeatedly.

The necklace was something entirely different.

On the final exhale, Haruko closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind.

A breeze began to pick up.

His face began to wince as he began to concentrate harder.

(Start small)

(Just focus; just do what she did—the way that she did it.)

In his mind, it was a memory of Aoi.

The girl who landed on his balcony.

The memory was when she was standing in Haruko's room with a dragon made of water surrounding her after she was asked to prove her powers to Haruko.

(I have the ability to create and manipulate water at its highest level without any limitations, natural or manmade.)

Haruko focused on those words.

Aoi was a Crystal Guardian, an individual with godlike control over the elements, with hers being water.

And now, Haruko-

Small sparks of lightning began to emit from his body.

And now Haruko, too, was a Crystal Guardian.

One of the unforeseen results of the night Haruko had met Aoi was that he would become a Crystal Guardian by using his soul to awaken the crystal hanging from his neck, and now he had complete control over the element of lighting.

The sparks began to intensify, and suddenly his body was engulfed in lightning from head to toe.

Through trial and error, Haruko learned that he was immune to the lightning he created, allowing him to suffer no ill side effects.

Haruko opened his eyes to glance at his hands.

"Wow,” Haruko said to himself.

It was like an aura of lightning wrapped around his body. To the teen, it felt like a really light sheet was touching his body.

Haruko started shadow boxing, throwing a few punches in front of him.

Sidestep.

Punch.

Dodge.

Punch.

Sidestep.

Jab.

Punch.

Back step.

Dodge.

Spin around

Back hand.

Each move caused sparks to fly off his body.

Duck.

With his right hand and a yell, Haruko threw an uppercut.

With his fist in the air, Haruko started to exhale. Slowly, the lightning that surrounded him began to flake away, disappearing into the air.

The teen collapsed on his palms and knees.

Sweat was dripping onto the ground.

(I was able to do that much and still maintain control. Without lighting or the sparks flying everywhere)

The Crystal Guardians abilities allowed the user to manipulate one of the six elements without any limits—except one. After nearly blowing up his room and the city block his house was on, it would prove to be the hardest lesson he had to learn.

The mental control that was needed to control the output of his lightning.

Even though she was not that good of a teacher, Aoi tried to explain it to the best of her ability.





(June 3rd, 2009)

Time 5:34 p.m.)

“Do we really have to do this now? Can’t this wait until the weekend? I just got out of school.”

In a park on a sunny afternoon, a voice broke out, coming from Haruko Matsumoto.

"Yes,” Aoi replied. “If you’re not at school or sleeping, you need to practice your powers until you can better control them. May I remind you that this schedule was agreed upon by all three of us? Myself, you, and your legal guardian”

Haruko sighed

“On a technicality, she is yours as well.”

He stood there, holding his right wrist outward and his palm facing the sky.

A small spark of lightning formed in his palm.

Aoi noticed that Haruko was struggling.

“Come on, come on,….COME ON” Haruko said, straining the muscles in his hand as more sparks were emitted from his palm.

“Do not force your powers out; bringing your powers out should be as second nature to you as breathing,” Aoi said as he walked up behind him. “You have to focus.”

“I’m trying to; now stay quiet,” Haruko gritted through his teeth.

Haruko took a deep breath.

Suddenly, the sparks began to connect to each other as lightning engulfed his arm.

"Alright, I did it,” Haruko said as he stood up straight.

Aoi ran from behind his back to his front.

"It is not exactly the result that we were hoping for, but it is a start. I wanted for you to summon your lightning at the center of your hand,” Aoi said.

“After two days, I think I am starting to get the hang of this now,” Haruko said, looking at his lightning-covered arm.

Aoi closed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

“Well, of course you are getting the hang of it; you are being taught by the greatest teacher in the universe,” Aoi said smugly.

Haruko looked at her.

"Be careful; if your head gets any bigger, you will start pulling in other planets." Haruko chuckled before moving his head as a blast of water blew past him.

“Woah, what the hell are you doing?” Haruko shouted out. Suddenly, the lightning on his arm started to spark out of control.

“Shit, no,no,no,no”

Haruko turned to his hand.

“Haruko focus” Aoi shouted

"Quiet,” Haruko replied.

The lightning began to expand in size, now touching the floor and spreading out.

"Haruko, clear your mind,” Aoi shouted out.

There was no reply from the teen besides a few grunts.

Now the lightning was tearing into the ground and nearby trees.

Aoi slammed her left palm on the ground, creating a wall of water in the area around both her and Haruko.

Noticing this, Haruko looked at the rising walls, which caused the lightning on his arm to spread out.

Without thinking.

Without thinking, Haruko unclasped his left hand from his right wrist.

Aoi watched on in shock.

With his left hand free, Haruko created lightning that covered his left arm.

With a yell and a left hand covered in lightning, he clamped it over his right hand.

Haruko let out a yell.

BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!

As he forced both hands together, the clash of both hands created a small shockwave that extinguished the lightning, knocking him off his feet into the grass.

Aoi lowered her right forearm, which was blocking her face.

She saw Haruko lying on the ground, not moving.

Aoi ran towards him and knelt down beside him.

"Haruko!” Aoi shouted out, rubbing his chest. "Haruko, wake up!”

Haruko winced before letting out several coughs.

“Stop yelling… I am still alive,” Haruko said as he closed his eyes.

“Well, that is no doubt good and all, but this is your fault for easily losing control of your power.”

“Huh”

Haruko's eyes opened with an annoyed look on his face, and we weakly sat up.

“Are you fucking stupid? I lost control of my powers because you decided to-” Haruko was cut off as Aoi flicked his forehead, cranking his head back.

“That excuse is not going to always hold up; your powers went out of control because you can’t control it,” Aoi said, sounding like a mother to the teen sitting on the floor as she stood up. “You’re a Crystal Guardian, so now you need to have some control over your powers if you want to overcome their most inherent flaw and prevent your powers from becoming a liability.”

“A liability,” Haruko slowly replied.

“The Crystal Guardian powers, yours and mines, have a single flaw, one that, if not taken into account, can be fatal.”

“What…..fatal” Haruko said, sitting on the grass-covered ground. “I thought you said that we were unaffected by our powers."

"Yup, that is what I said. This flaw is not really known to those besides the Crystal Guardians themselves, so it really doesn’t factor into much. That flaw is the output of our abilities; do you remember when I showed you my abilities?”

Haruko turned his head away.

“How can I not? You almost blew me out of my room.”

“I was holding back,” Aoi responded nonchalantly.

Blank

Haruko paused before turning to the girl.

“You were holding back! How there was so much water, wind, and shockwaves.”

Aoi stared at the teen.

“I can’t really explain it fully, but imagine that the output every time you bring your lightning out is like running a faucet that only releases high-pressure water. The Crystal Guardians powers work the exact same way. While we are immune to our powers, not everyone else is.”

The wall of water began to liquify, falling to the ground.

Haruko looked around the park to see kids playing soccer and parents pushing baby strollers.

The stuff of a normal, peaceful life.

“If you don’t take that into account every time you bring your lightning, your very power will end up destroying everything, whether you want it to or not.”

Haruko clenched his fist, squeezing the grass.





Haruko held out his right palm before him and used his left hand to grab the wrist of the right.

“Now, let's try this again.”

He grunted as lightning engulfed his right arm.





Laying in the bed in the room on the second floor of the Matsumoto house was a brown-skinned, blue-and-black-haired girl.

She was in a room that was not used much, so there was not that much furniture in the room except a full-size bed and a dresser with a small alarm clock.

She was sprawled across the bed wearing a white-strap nightshirt that revealed her midsection and black gym shorts.

Aoi.

The girl from another world that landed on Haruko's balcony set off an unexpected chain of events on the night of May 28th, 2009.

The Water Crystal Guardian.

At the pressure of a faint shockwave outside the house, her left index finger twitched.

She groaned as she lazily opened her eyes.

It took awhile for her blurry vision to focus; she was staring at the ceiling. Aoi brushed the strands of hair that were stuck to her checks by her drool.

Groaning again, she closed her eyes.

It would be easy for the girl to head back to sleep.

But something kept her awake—something that her body would not let her ignore.

There was a grumbling sound that broke out in the room that came from her stomach.

She was hungry.

She could not tell the exact time of her last meal; according to her, the mortals of this world had a different method of telling time in this world, something she had a hard time getting used to.

At the feeling of her stomach and hunger becoming unruly, Aoi sat up, the black part of her hair covering most of the full-size mattress.

She stretched her arms with a loud yawn.

Her arms plopped down on the mattress, and she began scanning the room.

There were empty snack boxes on the floor, with multiple wrappers on the mattress.

Leaning over the edge of the mattress, struggling to grab a box with a picture of a brownie with sprinkles off the floor,.

Still leaning over the bed, she lifted the snack box off the floor and looked inside, hoping to find nourishment.

To her disappointment, the box was empty.

Her body had slid onto the floor.

At the sound of another grumble from her stomach, she quickly moved around the room, checking various snack boxes.

Apple pies.

Empty.

Strawberry shortcakes.

Empty.

Cinnamon rolls.

Empty.

Box after box was empty.

“Come on,” Aoi said on her knees before throwing away another empty box across the room.

Her body fell forward, but she caught herself by using her hands to break the fall.

She glanced over to the small alarm clock on the dresser.

The time was read in bold red numbers: 06:03 a.m.

For the last week, she had closely watched the habits and schedules of the three occupants of the Matsumoto household. She knew that it was too early for Reiko and Alexis to be away, so her mind drifted to the third person.

Haruko Matsumoto.

The other Crystal Guardian, the person whom the city has designated as her legal guardian.

Even though Reiko and Alexis were the ones who cooked all the meals, surely Haruko's skills were not that far behind.

She stood up and inhaled.

She made her way out of the room into the empty hallway. The floor was cold beneath her bare feet.

Making her way down the hallway, she stopped in front of the door that led to Haruko's room. She lightly opened the door, peeking her head inside, before stepping fully inside.

The room was a mess as she began looking around.

There was no sign of Haruko or life in the room.

She slumped her shoulders and grumbled underneath her breath.

Suddenly, there was a strike of lightning that flashed outside the balcony window of the room.

Aoi jolted up.

She knew.

She stood up on the bed and jumped off, landing on the floor.

She knew that this lightning was from only one person.

She quickly ran towards the closed window, opening it.

(Food, food, food)

Aoi ran onto the balcony, making her way to the ledge.

She placed her hands on the ledge and took a deep breath.





Haruko grunted as his right arm was covered in lightning, and the spark flew all around him. He was immune to his lightning, so he wasn’t grunting in pain or even feeling any discomfort.

But rather-

(Focus, focus, and try to make lightning smaller.)

Haruko began to concentrate.

The lightning began to travel down his arm.

The spark began to shrink as he tried to focus all the lightning into his right palm; this was harder to do due to the fact that he was trying to pin point all of the power and control he had in one small location, which was different from the mass of his body.

(Come on)

The lightning traveled down his forearm.

(Focus)

Haruko closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind.

(Focus)

(Focus)

(Focus)

With Haruko lightly breathing, he opened his eyes.

“Just clear your mind,” Haruko said to himself.

With a deep exhale, he attempted to do that.

(Just shut off all the noise, find your center, and bring that to the surface.)

Quiet.

Silence.

Nothing.

Over the sound of his lightning, that was what he heard at the moment.

The lightning moved down his wrist, now fully covering his hand.

Then-

"HARUKOOO!, I’M HUNGRY, SO FEED ME!!!!!!!!” A voice shouted out above him.

Haruko's eyes shot open as he let out a scream.

He quickly turned his head towards his balcony to see a brown-skinned girl with dual-colored black and blue hair waving at him.

Looking at the girl, Haruko shouted out, “What the hell are you doing?”

It was just for a moment—a quick second.

A momentary lapse in his concentration.

The lightning that engulfed his hand detached itself and flew up towards the early morning sky, causing both Haruko and Aoi to look up.

"Oh,” Haruko said in a deadpan tone in his voice. “That is not good.”

There was silence as both Haruko and Aoi watched the speck of lightning disappear.

After a few seconds, the sky began to rumble.

BOOOOOOOOOOM.

The sound of thunder broke as purple lightning flashed across the sky above the city as several car alarms broke out.

It was the start of the morning.
/SPOILER]