The ground was wet, a mixture of mud, sand, and wood.
The entire ocean, split down the middle like an open bubble in the world, its walls suspended dozens of meters high on each side, transparent and heavy at the same time — like glass full of life. Inside those liquid walls, massive fish circled slowly, unaware that the seafloor had vanished. Military submarines were trapped in the water like insects in amber. A cargo ship hung suspended on its side, its keel exposed, rust bleeding into nothingness.
— What an absurd place, so this is what’s inside the distortion? — he said, more to himself than anyone else.
Galactor grabbed Miguel, pulling him behind the heavy hull of the Summer before he could be hit by a stray projectile from Isram, with the wall of water right behind them taking the brunt of the explosion.
— Shh, do you want them to notice we’re here? — whispered Galactor, who was hiding right next to Lilith, tightly covering Miguel’s mouth even over his mask. Both of them watched the battlefield.
A few yards away from the sailboat Summer, three members of the C.E.M were fighting through the wreckage against the cultists.
The first was a woman, younger, with blue eyes and hair tied in pigtails, her C.E.M. uniform torn at the left shoulder. She held a short cleaver in her hands. She stood beside a kneeling man.
— It’s okay Hilhelm... Hang in there. — Said the woman with the machete trembling in her hands.
The man was on his knees on the ground, both palms pressed flat against the seabed. His muscles flexed; he was shirtless, wearing only dark pants, covered in bruises, kneeling in the center as if he were holding the distortion together.
The third one was fighting directly against Jyn with agile movements, her Yaol concentrated in her fists. Her hair was brown and short, her white uniform emblazoned with the black letters C.E.M. across the back.
— Listen — Galactor said, snapping out of the battlefield's trance — Let’s wait for the battle to die down, and then we’ll enter the field.
— No! It’s too risky to leave them fighting alone! — Miguel disagreed, his voice muffled.
Inside the Summer, the wood began to creak as if it were supporting something on the inside, and then the noise started getting closer. From within, Michael poked his head out of the capsized boat, his forehead bleeding and his glasses cracked.
— Miguel? You...! Miguel, where were you? You, B34, and Vierius just vanished all of a sudden... — Michael was also silenced by Galactor, who slapped his other scaly hand over his mouth.
— Michael! Are you okay? — He hugged his friend affectionately, quickly pulling back to explain his plan — Listen, we’re out of time, but long story short, Galactor is going to help us. And Lilith too. — Michael suddenly snapped his head toward the girl, who nodded at him.
— R-right... I... Kutro and Hax will buy us time by holding off the cult. — He looked over at the trio, seeing them all fighting bravely — Meanwhile, you guys try to convince that trio of agents to form an alliance.
Miguel nodded, waiting for Michael to move forward. Instead, Michael sat down calmly in a meditation posture, closing his eyes, and took a deep breath.
"Come on, shikigamis... If you're still in there, show yourselves," He thought, calling out to them, surrendering his consciousness to the animals.
Michael’s eyes turned white again, and he began to float in the air with his head held high. Then, as he lowered back to the ground, he started running toward Jyn with heavy steps. Hax, who was fighting tirelessly against Isram, backed away for a moment, dodging a red beam fired by Isram and stopping right beside Michael.
— Michael. I think I get it now! The pale guy over there has a wide variety of powers, and every time, his Yaol changes! When it turns red, that’s when he attacks! — Hax spoke, crossing his arms to defend against an explosion — And... When it turns green, he makes objects or animals appear.
Michael walked right past Hax without even looking in his direction; the animals had possessed him. Dodging another projectile from Isram, he dashed toward him, trading punches and kicks against him.
— Looks like the "ghost man" is back... — Isram smiled, flaunting his thin teeth. He concentrated his Yaol, instantly coloring it green.
— Envy... — he whispered, his energy expanding around his hand to invoke a trident.
Gripping the weapon in his hand, he threw it at the boy. Piercing through the air with a loud, high-pitched screech, it hit its target dead-on in the torso, stunning him with pain. Michael dropped to his knees, pulling the trident out of his stomach and dropping it to the floor. The cultist walked toward him smugly, raising his elbow for a surprise attack.
The human quickly jumped backward, using every bit of strength his legs had to offer to evade the surprise attack. Snatching the trident and using it against its own summoner, he blocked the strike, both of them fighting for control of the trident with their bare hands.
On the other side of the battlefield, Himari battled against Jyn, dodging his poisonous strikes.
"I get it now... This alien seems to have an ability that can control poison," She thought.
Without giving her a moment's rest, Jyn set up an underground strike. His vines grew like roots in the earth, catching Himari off guard as they burst from the ground and wrapped around her with their thorns.
Three.
Concentrating her energy, she swung her arm around her body, severing all the vines in an instant. Then, wasting no time, she charged forward, leaping over more vines coming from all directions, sliding through the mud and slicing through more of them.
As she closed the distance to Jyn, she quickly charged her fist with Yaol, delivering a punch straight to the alien's face, driving him backward with the impact.
One.
The alien regained his footing after staggering. He looked at Himari with those yellow eyes, gathering his strength to strike her with a lunging thrust. At the same instant, the agent wound her fist back, preparing her punch. Just as they were about to clash, Jyn abandoned the strike and pulled back. Himari missed her mark, thrown off balance and feeling the recoil of her own blow.
"Damn it, I missed, come on..."
— Hmm, I see now... Every time you attack, it's based on the sequence of the digits of pi, isn't it? — he questioned — And so, if you miss a strike, you take the damage yourself.
Himari looked up at him, surprised by his quick deduction.
— You're very sharp, alien — she said, forcing a smile — You won't survive either way! — Said Himari, proudly.
She looked down at her own arm, watching an acidic liquid drip from it, her fingers twitching with pain.
— Even if you touch me, you will still be poisoned. — Jyn said, sprouting the next horde of vines, his amber energy emanating from him like a mist, like an aura.
Himari stood up, reacting against the massive vine which was made up of several smaller vines, dodging it by a hair before it could crush her.
Vulcro was far from everyone else, still focusing on his ritual.
He stood motionless before an amber stone, locked onto it with a concentration that shut out the rest of the world. There was a red circle painted around it, with many objects laid out as offerings.
There was still just one single ingredient left that was incredibly difficult to extract, yet there he was, practicing a portion of the ritual. His fingers yearned to touch the stone, brushing the air right beside it.
He felt a deep fear that it wouldn't work, that he wouldn't be able to bring her back. He felt guilty even as he maintained his silence, his mind drifting away from reality for a moment.
Hours earlier.
The Atlantic Ocean was bathed in the calm light of the morning sun, the cold water reflecting the sunlight and making it look crystal clear. Barely a wave arose in the calm water, and when one did, it was small and quickly vanished, merging back into the sea.
Suddenly, four shadows descended from the skies. Vulcro had placed a seal beneath a massive piece of earth, making it float and fly according to his will.
Hamura was unconscious, bound under Isram’s green Yaol. Vulcro touched his finger to the water, drawing it back immediately as if afraid. Then he lowered himself, cupping the water with his fingers. As he let the water drain through his fingers, he stood up and said:
— The water is cold. It's here. — He said, trusting that the location of the sub-relic Yatswan had revealed was real.
The final ingredient was at the bottom. The relic had calcified in the ocean centuries ago, dense enough to serve as a catalyst for the ritual. Small enough to be overlooked by any careless sailor. The space was perfect; no company would try to approach, no one would ever reach that point in the sea, leaving the four of them completely alone.
But not the C.E.M.
Suddenly, a speedboat emerged from the horizon, cutting through the sea at high speed, splashing water everywhere. Isram fired an explosive projectile at the boat, blowing it up before it could get close. The pieces of the speedboat flew in every direction, and on one of them, a member of the C.E.M was riding.
— Hilhelm, now! — Himari shouted once before sinking into the sea. Instantly, Hilhelm created a barrier around everyone, displacing liters of water outward, expanding it at the same time.
— Yua! Now it’s up to you! — Hilhelm shouted, using every ounce of strength to hold the barrier.
In a swift move, Yua concentrated all her energy into her heart, the energy that emanated like an aura from her body now receding back inside her. But nothing happened...
— I... I can't transform... — Yua said to herself in a hopeless tone.
As soon as all the water was expelled from within the barrier, everyone began to fall, falling many meters down to the ground. Plummeting headfirst, Yua gripped her cleaver, flailing her arms in the air trying to reach Hilhelm. Himari used the walls of the barrier for support, planting her feet there and sliding down at high speed toward the mud. She leaped into the air toward Yua, using the momentum to reach another wall to keep sliding.
— Yua! What's happening? Why aren't you transforming?
— I don't know! I can't... Something is wrong, maybe I shouldn't have touched the water...?
Himari took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down in such a situation as a backup plan formed in her mind.
— Fine, let’s go with Plan B. I’ll go after the cultists, fighting them head-on. You need to find an opening to sneak up behind their leader, that way it'll be easier to defeat the other two.
Both landed on the ground, sliding through the mud until they slowed down, their sneakers kicking up sparks. Hilhelm reshaped a piece of the barrier beneath himself to cushion his fall. Automatically, Himari went after Jyn, not letting the enemy claim the territory.
As soon as Hilhelm stood up, he began to use the barrier against the enemies, closing in on their space and leaving them with no way to retreat. He began to advance against Isram, clashing directly with him, deflecting the strikes with the barrier.
However, as soon as Hamura was released, she began to attack everything around her, knocking down even Isram who was in the way. With a slap, she hit Yua and Hilhelm dead-on, slamming both of them against the barrier.
Even after that, Yua stood up immediately, refusing to lose. She began to limp toward Isram without giving up, her legs shaking and making her stagger, squeezing her cleaver tightly in her hand.
"I won't give up... This mission can't end like this..." She thought. Looking back, she saw Hilhelm weakened, using his remaining strength to hold the barrier.
— Yua... Please... I can't hold... The barrier —
She turned back immediately, trying to run with her weak legs, tripping and falling beside him. She pulled a syringe with a clear liquid out of her pocket, the only one they had left.
"This syringe contains adrenaline, which will keep you active even if you're on the verge of passing out," She remembered Himari's words, who had entrusted the use of the syringe to her. "We will take every necessary resource for the mission."
— Hilhelm, if you pass out, the barrier will disappear...! —
She injected the entire contents of the syringe into his arm using only one hand.
— Outside the barrier... Time passes irregularly fast... Maybe someone will come help us. — Said Hilhelm, who was losing control of the barrier as it expanded further and further.
Immediately, a boat broken in half was hurled inside the barrier, its speed slowing down in the mud, with broken pieces flying a few leagues away. Three people crashed down along with the boat, burying themselves in the mud.
— It's okay Hilhelm... Help... Has arrived — Yua hissed her words, growing weaker and weaker before passing out, dropping the empty syringe beside her.
