CHAPTER 32

To prove she’s Number One, Chiaki burns brighter than ever before

 

Chiaki never thought she’d witness the phrase seeing a ghost so literally. Chaos may create ghoulish monstrosities of various shapes and sizes, and those conglomerations could be considered ghosts in their own right. But to see the form of the late Soren Park gave rise to emotions that ought to come with seeing an actual ghost.

 

“Soren,” she said plainly. She paused a moment to look him over. “You’re looking pretty good—considering that you’ve been dead for ten years.”

 

“The work of my beloved Sheila.” He looked at his hands in a brief bout of idle admiration. “Her image of me hasn’t faded after all these years.”

 

“But that’s all you are, aren’t you—an image. You’re not really you.”

 

He ignored her remark, flexing his fingers as if trying to decide just how real and reliable they were.

 

“…The soul is a strange thing, isn’t it? Things that shouldn’t be possible can be made so.”

 

Then he closed his hand into a fist. “But something kept me alive in Sheila. Working towards this moment. And now…”

 

With a sweep of his chaos-brimming arm, a shadow in the shape of a sword instantly formed in his hand. The purple in his eyes glowed brighter, and the impassive expression they had a moment before twisted into one seething fury.

 

“Stars… Superstars… I’ll pluck each of them from their self-indulgent skies.” He pointed his sword at her in challenge. “Starting with you.”

 

Chiaki gazed at him with the hardened eyes of a Superstar steeling herself for a fight. And then, the scowl that had masked her face began to curl upwards into a smirk. The jumbled emotions she felt pieced themselves together into the reality before her. It was callback to old times when they were in constant competition. A wonderful, twisted reunion. Her best friend had returned.

 

She was going to beat him to a pulp.

 

“A rematch? Fine by me.” She snatched two of her swords from the air and brandished them, falling into a stance indicating she was combat-ready. “I’ll kick your ass just like every other time.”

 

No more pleasantries. As soon as his well-and-whole friend was finished speaking, Soren raced towards her with his sword held ready to strike. Chiaki absorbed his attempt with her own dual blades. The clash began.

 

Chiaki kept a keen, well-trained eye on his movements. He was fast; a lesser Star would have trouble keeping up. But she had seen his style of swordplay for years. While a decade had passed since their last meeting, it was as if she were sparring with him for the hundredth time since yesterday. He closed gaps with lunges, and his arcs were wide. Chiaki found exactly where his weak points were; she jabbed and sliced when they were exposed.

 

Taking gashes to his gut and leg, and a stab in the back of his shoulder, Soren disengaged, creating a space of respite for them both. Wisps of energy drifted away where he had taken the hits, but there was plenty more to spare from the surrounding shroud of chaos.

 

“Typical Chiaki. My swordplay could never top yours.”

 

She sneered. “You really make it too easy.”

 

“That overconfidence of yours is nostalgic. I should remind you why I was still Number One in the world.”

 

He clasped his hands together on the hilt of his shadowy sword, similar to how Sheila would when she summoned copies of herself—and with the same effect. From his aura sprouted two clones, which mimicked his movements as he stood at the ready once more.

 

In response, Chiaki willed her luminescence to sprout its own seedling shapes, which formed into several more of her trademark blades. With renewed arsenals, the two once again threw themselves at each other. The scene gave the illusion of quantity, with clones clashing against flying swords while each attempted to reach their respective marks. Their two originators clashed face-to-face, dodging and slicing away at any of the projectiles that attempted to get in their way.

 

It took all of Chiaki’s concentration to face Soren directly while keeping her swords whipping about to ward off the meddlesome, persistent clones. Decades of going through these same mental gymnastics against countless morphs of chaos had trained her well. Such focus had become second nature to her.

 

Still, it was taxing on the amount of luminescent energy she required. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up for too long. And Soren was far from ready to relent.

 

Unable to break through Chiaki’s nimble defense or fend off her precise offense, Soren leaped back to create distance between them to quickly switch his tactics. He recalled his copies to his side, merging them together and whipping them back outwards like a wave of water. As the wave of chaos launched from his grip, it abruptly shattered into hundreds of needle-like shapes instead. Such crafty combat responses surely came from merging with Sheila.

 

Without missing a beat in the heat of combat, Chiaki made a sweeping motion of her own. A fresh arsenal of glowing swords appeared, and she commanded them to rapidly whirl around her. The brisk blur of their motion deflected the hail of incoming projectiles. When the barrage subsided, she fixed her attention back on Soren—just in time to see him begin to transform.

 

His features became less defined, melting into the dark aura that surrounded him. Abandoning his human shape and size, his form grew larger and more shapeless. A handful of shadowy tendrils flailed about the base of this hideous sight, which seemed like the silhouette of something straight from a Lovecraftian dream.

 

“Perhaps you remember me better this way.”

 

Indeed, Chiaki had seen it plenty of times in her nightmares of that day. A twinge of irritable amusement played upon her lips as they curled slightly upwards. “Familiar sight. You have a flare for melodrama.”

 

“You’ve had your fun, Chiaki.” The tendrils rose up, threatening to bear down on her. “It’s time to end this.”

 

They slammed themselves downwards in quick succession like a line of dominos. Chiaki deftly evaded them one by one. As the tendrils began to flail wildly at her, she swung her arms in sharp strokes, commanding her swords to slice and fend them off.

 

Having such a mess of tangles to deal with left Chiaki no time to think of something new. She could feel her energy waning quickly now, and the once crisp, confident motions of her swords grew increasingly desperate—desperate with the hope that brute force would be enough to quell the enormous monster of chaos before her.

 

One shadowy limb finally broke through.

 

A stake made of chaos impaling a luminescent is akin to a knife through the physical body’s heart. And while luminescents don’t perish by this kind of stab wound, the pain is still as excruciating. The lucky tendril shot straight past a gap in the storm of swords and pierced through Chiaki’s chest.

 

Unprepared to be struck so directly, the Superstar’s concentration immediately broke. Her arsenal of flying swords vanished, leaving her completely exposed as she was unceremoniously lifted into the air.

 

The rest of the unsightly protrusions from Soren’s chaotic aura took their turn to stick themselves through their nemesis. The purple glow in Chiaki’s eyes faded. Her bright aura flickered and burned out. Her luminescence had broken.

 

Suspended in the air, Chiaki gasped as if taxed for breath. A dim glow started to emit from her being, indicating her luminescence’s struggle to keep her in existence. She could feel the fibers of her body beginning to fray.

 

“Ten years ago, we were evenly matched.”

 

In the dark of night, illuminated only by refractions of starlight and moonlight through the shroud, Chiaki could see the hazy detail of the Shade’s face leaning towards her. Its voice felt female, but the undertone was male. And it was laced in that hideous growl.

 

“But this time, I’m empowered by years of accumulated resolve. All unchained for this moment—the beginning of the end for the era of Stars. Your own resolve has only dwindled into apathy.”

 

The face of this shapeless creature was inches from her own. Once again, the shroud may have been playing tricks on her eyes. Chiaki wasn’t sure if she were seeing its own face, or that of Sheila or Soren. They all seemed to meld together.

 

“Looks like I finally won one over you,” it gloated, malicious satisfaction oozing from its tone.

 

But Chiaki still had one more trick up her sleeve. It was time to use it.

 

She reached her will deep down into her fading soul and roused it like a fan against a flame. That flame began to swell within her. The meek, desperate glow of her aura began to radiate brighter. It reached her eyes and, instead of a solid purple, blazed in a melting pot of color.

 

She bared her teeth in a wicked, cocky grin. “…You… wish.”

 

Suddenly, a wave of iridescent light burst from her body. Her soul heeded the call for one final act and glowed brighter than it ever had. Even one with luminescent eyes would be hard-pressed to discern her detail within such an extravagant blaze. It incinerated the tendrils that had run themselves through her. The sight of this shining Superstar made the monstrous, chaotic form of Soren Park recoil in shock. This excessive show of light could only mean one thing.

 

“No… You wouldn’t! Having your luminescence… Being a Superstar… It means everything to you!”

 

“Is that so?” Within her searing, impenetrable bubble, Chiaki let a defiant laugh ring out. “My best friend in the whole world… Sheila’s perception of me has blinded you. Have you’ve forgotten just how stubborn I am?”

 

She pointed an assertive finger at him. “You could never beat me in a fight, no matter how hard you tried.”

 

Then she rotated her arm to point straight into the sky, reciting the words that harnessed all the luminescence her soul ever had, and would ever have again.

 

“Let no dark corner be left untouched… Brighten the world beyond all doubt… As this star reaches its final hour, I bring my all to bear!”

 

The iridescent aura surrounding Chiaki grew even brighter. The more intensely it glowed, the more it obscured her from being viewed from the outside. It expanded with all the might of an erupting volcano trying to break free from the mountain it was caged within. It engulfed everything around her in a flood of light that Soren was powerless to stop even with all the chaotic energy he had left at his disposal. The coils he flung against it disintegrated at the touch. The projectiles he hurled burned away before they even came close to their mark.

 

And as the expanding radiant energy reached its critical mass, Chiaki roared out her command.

 

“SUPERNOVA!!”

 

Her aura exploded—an enormous bomb of luminescence. All the chaos in the area was torn apart by its intensity. The shockwaves of its energy rattled Soren over and over, ripping away his shadowy aura as he screeched in his chaos-ridden voice.

 

“GWOOOOOH!!”

 

The top of High Tower was illuminated by the most extraordinary beacon, its radiance sailing in all directions. It burned brightly for a full minute.

 

And then, slowly, it faded away.

 

The luminescent wave had left the real world completely untouched—save for two, vaguely tangible things. First, a fleeting moment of complete and utter serenity could be felt across Halo Ridge after its passing. And second, it left in its wake the clearest night sky the town had ever seen.

 

=-=-=

 

One floor below the top of the tower, Pike and Mindie sat huddled together in a corner behind the towering bookshelves. Mindie had decided that descending and escaping the landmark library was too much of a risk. At any time, chaotic energy could stray away from above them and cause them problems. If they had taken the elevator, its pulley system could have snapped and sent them plummeting. Taking the stairs was out of the question too; they were already fully exhausted from fending Sheila off. If they were caught halfway by any Shade spawns, they’d be sitting ducks. She decided here, just below the dueling Superstars, was their safest bet. They could rush to Chiaki’s side in a pinch.

 

Although, it was with a facepalm much later when her wits had returned that Mindie realized she could just have easily called her big sister for help while her mom was occupied. As soon as she sent a message to Ciara, she felt a wave of calm wash over her. Where moments ago she could still hear the commotion beyond the high ceiling above, there was now silence.

 

“…It sounds like it’s over. I hope Mom’s okay.” She turned her attention from the ceiling and looked at Pike with a small smile.

 

That smile quickly turned into alarm. “Pike?!”

 

Her companion was hyperventilating. He locked his arms around his knees and rocked slightly on his bottom. His eyes were wide and crazed, focused on something that wasn’t there.

 

“Pike?! What’s wrong?!”

 

What his eyes saw was in his mind. He too had a demon in his past—a demon in the form of a Shade. A Shade that was struck down without ceremony by a flash of green light. A flash of green light he couldn’t remember the face of, and who saved him from being comatose from drained energy or worse.

 

“Pike!”

 

The sharp sound of his bestie’s voice snapped him back to his senses. His breathing began to normalize into a slower pace, and the visions in his mind began to fade away with the return of reality. Mindie was clinging to his arm, her emerald green eyes wide with concern.

 

“Hey… What’s wrong?” she asked quietly.

 

He stared at her, his mind gauging just how real she was. Then, the last of his nightmarish haze lifted, and the manic look in his eyes reverted to having their normal deep-set, dark circles. He blinked slowly, the wisp of a smile returning to his face.

 

“It’s nothing. Just freaking out about what happened, is all.”

 

Knowing his normally wanting countenance might’ve seemed even more ghoulish in the dark, he turned his head away and rested his cheek on her hair. The certainty of his constant companion next to him like this further brought his focus back to reality. He closed his eyes, silently taking in the moment.

 

“Thanks for being here with me. Partner.”

 

Mindie, for her part, rested her own head on her partner’s chest. She nestled comfortably beneath his cheek, some part of her smile returning. “You gave me half a heart attack. As long as you’re okay.”