Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:15:00 +0000
From: Chris Angel <moonknuckle@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Last Saga

Author's Notes: This a science-fiction/fantasy/romance story of little under
novel-length. The main pairing is one between two males, containing scenes
of a particularly sexual nature. However; this is a story with sex in it --
not a sex story. So if you came here for flatulence alone... you may as well
skip ahead to the final parts of the story. Anywho, if you like what you
see, be sure to drop me an e-mail as I love hearing from the people who
enjoy my work. If you'd like to see more of my stories on Nifty, the list is
as follows;

- The Misadventures of Anna
- The Misadventures of Holly-Raine
- The Misadventures of Kandi
- Smells Like Sapphic Spirit
- Messiah
- Zara
- Shannon

Enjoy!

- Chris Angel

**********

The Last Saga

**********

"Beyond a mortal man impassioned far
At these voluptuous accents, he arose,
Ethereal, flushed, and like a throbbing star
Seen mid in the sapphire heaven's deep repose;
Into her dream he melted, as the rose
Blendeth its odour with the violet,-
Solution sweet: meantime the frost wind blows
Like Love's alarum pattering the sharp sleet
Against the window panes; St. Agnes Moon hath set."

"The Eve of St. Agnes" - John Keats

**********

2054 (AD): Extensive space explorations begin.

2058: The first Sky Cord is completed.

2059: Plans are drawn up for the Earth-orbital space colonies by the
super-powers of the age (Japan, England, China, Russia, America). Work
begins on them shortly afterwards.

2104: The long, hard work on the first five Earth-orbital space colonies;
Syowa-oh (Japan), New Westhampton (England), Romanovia (Russia), Xiantian
(China) and Victoria Lake (USA) are completed.

2105: Contact with alien life forms are made.

2107-26: The so-called Cosmos Wars take place.

2127: The Universal Confederacy is formed after the signing of the Romanovia
Peace agreement. The Earth Nations agree to recognize the autonomy of both
outer-orbital and Earth-orbital colonies, and to `control' its expansionism.

2128: A group of magically-influenced humans called the Cloud People settle
in Northern England and retain a negative attitude towards the space-boom.

2129: The first terra-forming projects (on Drydna, Valhoth and
Phoebantinople) are carried out by the Universal Confederacy.

2145: The three terra-formed planets are completed.

2159: The space-boom is fully underway.

2162: The Universal Confederacy is expanded to include 42 colonies (31
Earth-orbital and 11 outer-orbital), seven discovered planets and three
terra-formed planets in its system. Thus becoming the `Greater' Universal
Confederacy.

2202: The Earth Disaster takes place. An estimated 97.6% of the human
population on Earth are killed. The Greater Universal Confederacy thus moves
its main base of operations to Romanovia. This marks the point at which
timelines are measured by the acronym `AED' (After Earth Disaster). Certain
timelines also choose to refer to times before the Great Earth Disaster as
`BED' (Before Earth Disaster).

3 (AED): A plan is formulated by the Greater Universal Confederacy for the
revival of the Earth. It is called the Earth Revitalization Project.

24: The Earth Revitalization Project is scrapped.

204: Present day. An anti-Earth/anti Earth-orbital colonial terrorist group
known as the `Four Horsemen' attack the Japanese colony of Syowa-oh. And an
Earth revivalist group calling themselves `Whitestar' are sighted in the
panic...

**********

"Man. Why is schoolwork such bullshit...?"

It was a nice day out on Syowa-oh.

Well, at least as good of a day as the holographic projections could
provide. The images of a blue sky and the overlapping white clouds were
beautiful in themselves. But for the most part, people didn't take much joy
in watching a false sky in view. Still you needed something to brighten up
the gloom of a colony, right? Especially one as big as this. Nobody wanted
to walk around in the darkness or look up at metal rafters for eternity.

Far below the visual projections above that imitated a wonderful sunny day,
hundreds of young men and women poured out of the gates of Gerard's Cross
College. One of the premier colleges on the Syowa-oh colony. Most of them
were of Asiatic descent, this whole colony being the making of their
Japanese forefathers. Others were transfer students from other colonies like
the Russian Romanovia and the English New Westhampton. Their `western' looks
vastly contrasted that of the major populations. But time had ushered in a
new phase so quickly that those of today's age had no time for ill-will
about it. And one of those western-lookers happened to be leaving Gerard's
Cross with a rather foul, lazy grin on his face. This young blonde one slung
his book bag over his shoulder and idly strode through the gates of the
college with his free hand stuffed into the pocket of his all black school
uniform. The boy jerked his head, whipping his blonde bangs from his
eye-line, and scowled. That was the last of school for today but he couldn't
enjoy it. There had been a public warning issued to everyone in school about
an impending attack from some unknown forces. And it wasn't just Gerard's
Cross that had gotten the warning. The entire colony was in the know of this
attack. Thus most teachers had let their students leave to go home. It
didn't seem to worry people very much, so doing this was an act of mercy
rather than worry. Which was reflected in the eyes of most students at the
college.

Most of all, that young blonde man.

Colonial terrorism was nothing new in this year of 204 AED. With the Earth
ruined by a freak ecological disaster, man had climbed into the stars and
had taken full residence there. The great Earth-orbital colonies, those that
hung at LaGrange points around the Old Planet, were the first of this breed.
Then man began to spread outwards to forge smaller colonies outside the
sphere of the Earth's influence. Those were the outer-orbital colonies. The
financial and militaristic powers of the Earth-orbital colonies far
outshined those of the outer-orbital. There had been little in the way of
outright hostility between the two forces however. But there were those who
still retained sentiments of resentment for the founding colonies
surrounding the ruins of the Earth. Terrorist groups that disliked the
power-base of the Greater Universal Confederacy. And for the past twelve
years, terrorist movements had been springing up all across the known
universe. The Pan-Galactic Orthodox Church had been the first to denounce
the actions of these groups. This was no surprise, being that the P. G. O. C
had its roots in the Earth-orbital colony world.

Though headway had been made in tracking down the roots of all terrorist
attacks on the Earth-orbital colonies to the outer-orbital, nothing could be
done about them. Those that launched these assaults had some of the finest
hackers, programmers and developers in human history helping them, willingly
or not. Thus factions like the Ikari Rikugun or the even more infamous Four
Horsemen could cover their tracks effortlessly.

The young blonde man standing outside of Gerard's Cross College knew that
all too well. For he was a man named `Kai Kisaragi'. And despite his western
looks, he was half-Japanese by blood. Kai's baby blue eyes scanned the
crowds that were leaving college as he stood before the gates. Though nobody
expected the current warning of a terrorist's assault to come to anything,
it was almost certain that Viceroy Kazuma Katsuragi would launch Syowa-oh's
chief military forces, the Shinrinkami, upon the streets of the colony. Thus
making it harder for people to move around as they would have liked.
Eventually Kai found the one he was looking for. Standing aside one of the
many cherry blossom trees that lined the front gardens of the college
precinct. The blonde boy smirked for one second then jogged over to her,
quick as he could to peel through all others leaving school. The girl
standing beside the tree, smiled bashfully as Kai approached her.

The half-Japanese man skidded to a stop when he reached her. "Hey, Celena! I
had a feeling your teacher would cut you loose too. You doin' alright?"

Celena nodded. "I'm fine. I was a little worried though. When the
announcement was made to us by the colony Constabulary, I kept thinking that
this might be as bad as what happened to the Romanovia Colony."

Kai smiled at Celena. She was a class act, really. Celena Avalis was much
like Kai himself. Not in personality, but rather circumstance. At least in
most respects. Thus they had a kind of friendship between them that allowed
them to sense out what the other was feeling. And Kai could see that Celena
was genuinely worried about this terrorist warning. No matter how much her
smile tried to hide it. But Celena wasn't concerned for her own safety. No,
she was far more consumed with the safety of those around her. In
particular, Kai Kisaragi.

"You shouldn't worry about it," Kai offered, "The Barrier Shields of the
Syowa-oh Colony are a hell of a lot tougher than Romanovia's. Launching the
Shinrinkami is just a precaution.  You don't have to worry about a thing."

Celena sighed with a small smile. "...If you say so."

"Now then," Kai didn't seem to realize that the issue wasn't settled for
Celena, "how about we crash at your place for a while, huh? It's been a
while since you cooked for me, so..."

A scowl suddenly came to Celena's peaceful face. "...Is that what you met up
with me for? So I can cook for you? Is that it?"

Kai sweatdropped. "...Uh... you're not... mad about that, are you? Geez, Celena,
you know I'm crap with that kinda stuff! It's not like it's the first time,
either! And your cooking is so great and everything and so much better than
the slop we get from those stupid androids in the cafeteria and I haven`t
had a home cooked meal in fucking months and I`m too broke to go eat in some
restaurant which would probably turf me out thanks to this warning and-"

"Enough!" Celena seethed haltingly, "I'll make something for you, alright?"

Kai grinned greedily. He knew EXACTLY how to work Celena when he wanted
something. It wasn't all bollocks though. Kai really couldn't cook worth a
damn, and, he was broke. The fees for studying at Gerard's Cross and the
cost of the bills and rent for his apartment took up all the credits from
his part-time job. Because of his low cash flow he had to feed of off the
re-processed junk that sold cheap in supermarkets. The kind of crap that was
overloaded with Monosodium Glutamates and GM (Genetically Modified)
vegetables. Going over to Celena's was sometimes the only way to get a
decent lunch.

Kai slung his arm around Celena's shoulder and began walking forwards with
her. "Thanks. I knew I could count on you, Celena. That's why you're my best
friend, right?"

"..." Celena simply exhaled, "Kai, you know sometimes I think that something
is VERY wrong with you. And knowing me, that's probably why I like you so
much."

The blonde boy sniggered at that as the two of them left the precinct of
Gerard's Cross College. Celena's apartment was just a twenty minute walk
from the school, so there would be no problems with getting there before the
Shinrinkami were placed on the streets. They were known to be the most
stringent appliers of martial law in cases of terrorism prevention. And it
was because of the pressures placed upon the Syowa-oh leader, Viceroy
Katsuragi, by the Greater Universal Confederacy.  It was the one thing that
most people did not like about the Viceroy, in particular Celena. So despite
their relaxed nature, Kai and his female friend were actually hurrying to
get to her apartment. Which caused them to ignore all worries of those
around them on that particular high street. When Kai and Celena turned a
corner around one of those streets, there was someone there waiting for
them. Or at least, waiting for Kai. And he was the first to notice her.

A young woman, looking to be older than the two of them, around the age of
about 22 or 23. Dressed in normal street attire, just some designer denim
jeans (Matsushiyo brand, by the hottest fashion designer in the
Earth-orbital world), and a white tank top.  She stood leaning upright
against the wall. By the looks of her she was of American descent. Which
probably meant that she was from the New Victoria Colony. The older woman
ran one of her hands through the bangs of her amethyst hair and tilted her
sunglasses downwards to get a better look at the two friends. Celena took
note of her moments after Kai did, wondering what her interest was in the
two of them.

The woman spoke when Kai and Celena passed by her. "...There's no need to
hurry is there? The Shinrinkami won't be mobilizing any time soon. The
forces of Syowa-oh are fast but not THAT fast."

Kai stopped (hence the stop of Celena) to address. "You got something to say
to us, ma'am?"

The busty American woman stood upright and removed her sunglasses, staring
into the eyes of the young man who had spoken to her. She observed him for a
moment, then smiled. "...Hm. I must say, you're much cuter than I thought
you'd be. Now I understand why Angel has such an interest in you. Work out
much?"

"Huh?" Kai blinked, in confusion.

"...Not too bright, though," The woman smirked, "Wanna know my name?"

Kai narrowed his eyes at her. "Do I?"

The American descendant chuckled to herself while Kai and Celena just stared
at her oddly. "Well of course you do. When a beautiful woman approaches, a
handsome young man must make it his duty to enquire about her. The name is
Lucielle. Lucielle Howard. Nice to meet you."

Still giving Lucielle odd looks, Kai grasped her hand, which had been
extended to him. They shook in that moment. Then the half-Japanese boy
released her grip. "Thanks. Nice to meet you too. Now... uh... I think that we
should be going now. Catch you later... `Lucielle'."

Lucielle laughed quietly again as Kai prompted Celena to leave with him.
"...Now, now. Like I said, there's no need to rush off. The Shinrinkami won't
be marshalled right off the bat. And even if they were... it's not like they
could stand in your way. Right, Tensatsukai?"

Suddenly Kai froze in place. His heart leapt into overdrive and his head
instantly swung back around to look at Lucielle again. Who still had that
quiet smile on her face. Celena seemed to pick up on the sudden change in
Kai's demeanour, but said nothing. Kai instantly turned and faced the older
woman, who now possessed his full attention. "...How the hell do YOU know that
name?!"

Lucielle suddenly giggled and waved off Kai's focus. "Come on, don't get so
riled up. I know a lot more about you than you know about me. But if you
wanna know how I know what I know, then..."

"Dammit, would you start making sense?!" Kai yelled irritably.

This time Lucielle replied seriously, slotting her sunglasses into her
pocket. "If you want to know more... then come with me."

There was no time for a reply to that one. Just as Kai began to part his
lips to speak, there was a furious explosion across the street from them.
One that echoed so loudly that no one in a 200 metre distance could ignore
it. Kai, Celena and Lucielle yelled out as they were thrown off their feet
from the force of the explosion. They crashed back into the stone pavement
of the streets when the combustion finally died down. But it was now obvious
that the whole mood of the scene had changed. The line of shops that framed
the other side of the road were now nothing more than a smoking pile of
ashes, brick and steel. Flames danced in the ruins of those shops. While
smoke began spreading from the blast point. The loud screams of terrified
women rang out with the realization. While people scrambled away from the
scene or rushed to help someone who had been injured. Celena, who was under
Kai's protective body, coughed vividly as she laid out on the ground.
Lucielle groaned and slid up from the ground, scowling at the ruined
shopping arcade near Gerard's Cross College.

"...Ah, shit!" Lucielle expressed, "...The Four Horsemen are here already?!"

Kai ignored that and checked the girl below him. "...Celena, are you okay?"

The young woman nodded to her friend. And Kai suddenly took action. The boy
hurried Celena up onto her feet and then roped her arm around his shoulder.
Then he rushed away with her as best as he could, hobbling along to allow
her to recover from the shock of the explosion. Once Lucielle got over her
reverie, she noticed this. But by that time, Kai and the stunned Celena were
down the road and fleeing from the blast site.

Lucielle frowned. "Kisaragi! Wait!"

**********

The defences of a colony are called `Barrier Shields'. By working
electromagnetic fields in the way of the late Ormond Bailey's theory of
Sphereonics, a globular wave is formed in a certain space. The size of the
wave is determined by the force of the manipulation. Thus the mighty
generators of the Syowa-oh Colony could produce Barrier Shields with intense
strength that could repel most energy blasts. It was not surprising then
that these generators was created by the vast empire of the Bas Dahlem
Foundation, the richest and most successful electronics/machinery
conglomerate in the known sphere of understanding. Even the famous armaments
of the battleships of the Greater Universal Confederacy (those belonging to
ships like the Baal, the Koshchei, and the legendary Asmodeus) would have a
hard time breaking through them.

But defying all logic, something had done just that. Broken through the
Barrier Shield of Syowa-oh. It could be seen high in the air through the
holographic projection of the sunny day. Like a hole in the sky. One that
was about 120x135 metres wide. It had cut straight through the Barrier
Shield and the frame of the colony, striking down into the metropolis. By
which time the force of the blast had been watered down. But nonetheless it
had destroyed a large portion of a district. If there had been no Barrier
Shield at all, a couple blasts would have wiped out a sixth of the entire
colony. This power vastly transcended what was on hand for the Shinrinkami.
And it probably even outclassed the Anti-Matter Cannons of the Greater
Universal Confederacy's uniform army, the Interplanetary Vanguard.

At the smoking hole in the sky holograph was a figure. Quite a significant
one. He stood on a metallic disc that hovered in the air and allowed him to
observed all that was going on below him. This man beamed a devious smile.
With his dark black and gold tunic flocking around his legs and his long
brained ponytail of ebony black hair doing the same. In one hand he held a
Halberd. But it was far more significant than some archaic polearm from the
old ages. Surrounding him were around Xaphan androids, also created by the
Bas Dahlem, but running on fighting software that had been manufactured by
unknown forces. Each of them were armed with standard mode PR-SM: 23 Plasma
Rifles in their mechanical grips.

The mysterious man sniggered at the colony below him. "As I thought. The
defences of this colony cannot stand against the Phase Wave Cannon of the
Astaroth. That was pathetic. I expected more of a challenge than THAT. What
was Aurora being so cautious about?"

There was a radio-frequency ear piece in this man's ear. A voice spoke to
him through it. "You should not be wasting time. Just retrieve the Ouroboros
and then leave. We cannot afford to lose a weapon of that calibre to just
anyone. And it won't be long before the Vanguard make their move."

The halberd-wielder scowled. "...Stop ordering me around. I will do what I
came here to do in my own time. Do you doubt my power? Or that of the
Qingu?"

"Not at all," Replied the voice, "we just do not wish to tempt fate. Now
that the Earth-orbital colonies will be aware of the capabilities of the
Astaroth and its Phase Wave Cannon, we will need to move swiftly. The Master
does not wish us to reveal our true strength until it is absolutely
necessary. Can you understand that?"

The mystery man growled roughly. Mention of `The Master' put things into
perspective for him. "...Fine. We'll play it your way, Aurora. Just give me
the coordinates. It shouldn't be too hard to track down."

**********

"We should be safe here... for a while."

The second district of Syowa-oh was full of many buildings and warehouses
that had been erected by the Bas Dahlem Foundation. Mostly to store the
heavy machinery and lighter electrical goods that had been built there,
ready to be shipped off to the neighbouring colonies. However there was a
disagreement between Bas Dahlem and Viceroy Katsuragi over six years ago. It
was supposedly about the customs duties that the Viceroy had on those goods.
The Bas Dahlem Foundation's Syowa-oh branch declared that those charges were
far too high and the costs were putting off potential customers within the
colony. But being the haughty man that he was, Katsuragi ignored such
claims. This led to a rather serious debate between the Viceroy and Bas
Dahlem as a whole. In the end, Katsuragi simply banned the sale and import
of all Bas Dahlem goods on Syowa-oh, turning to other companies for the
colonies' electronic needs.

All items of Bas Dahlem origin in Syowa-oh were either destroyed or stored
away without use. The warehouses of this district was one of the places in
which Bas Dahlem commodities had been deposited. Kai strode along with a
confused Celena next to him. Her arm was still wrapped around his shoulder.
He managed to get the two of them out of the area of the blast. But that was
not the only thing to worry about. When he looked back, he could see that in
the far distance, district one was being attacked. More explosions (these
were obviously less powerful than the first) rang in the streets of
Syowa-oh. Flames were spreading. And in the skies, Kai's abnormally good
sight couple pick up on Xaphan-type androids hovering around on Propulsion
Gears, flight systems hardwired into contemporary androids containing very
rare anti-gravitational matter from an alien star-system, the Colis Uh Star
System (which remains mostly unexplored). This mineral was called Grav.
Incorporating Grav into a metal shell and linking that shell to a central
processor via a sophisticated new software, the gravitational pull around
the body of the machine in question could be controlled. Enough so to allow
flight without means of a chief energy source. Propulsion Gear technology
was considered to be the future of flight, however it came with snags. Grav
was extremely hard to come by. Even though a few grams of it could last in a
Propulsion Gear system for years. And the little Grav that people could get
a hold of was ruthlessly expensive. A standard colony would have only been
able to afford a few kilos of it (if that amount were available).

Kai scowled to himself from thinking of this. Whoever these guys were that
were attacking Syowa-oh, they had some highly advanced tech on their hands.
Which was why they had to get out of sight. Making it to a shelter now would
be difficult. Kai and Celena managed to make it to a large warehouse in
district two. One that was of Bas Dahlem creation. The young blonde boy
opened the thick steel door by pushing it to one side. This place was mostly
derelict so there was little security here. Once the door was opened, Kai
got inside with Celena around his shoulders. The younger woman released him
and Kai closed the door once more. The two of them then sat on the floor in
that dark, abandoned warehouse.

Kai was the first to speak between the two of them. "...Celena. Are you okay?"

"...Just... a little shaken," She admitted, "...I haven't seen an explosion of
that kind in... years. It was just a bit frightening for it to happen so
suddenly."

It was then that Kai remembered Celena's past. She was an orphan, just like
him. But she was not born on Syowa-oh. She was born on the English colony of
New Westhampton, hence the English accent and name. And New Westhampton was
the first colony to suffer terrorist attacks that were known to be from anti
Earth-orbital militia. That first incident happened many years ago when
Celena was just a little toddler. And her parents had been killed in the
crossfire of the colony's resistance force. The death toll of that day
(nicknamed by some as `Bloody Monday') over 400. With more than 1700 people
injured. The flow of orphans into social services was so large that a few
kids had to be shipped off to Syowa-oh to ease the surge.  One of those
people happened to be Celena. And she had been living on this Japanese
colony ever since.

All this was sure to remind her of her past. "...Celena. Don't worry. I'll be
here to protect you. You're my best friend, remember? We just have to hold
out until the Shinrinkami take care of all this. Now that these bastards
have broken through our Barrier Shields, Katsuragi won't drag his ass in
sending them out. I just hope he doesn't underestimate what he's up
against."

Celena nodded to that, trying hard to allow Kai's words to calm her. It
worked. But then she took notice of something else that made her worry. The
shoulder of Kai's uniform had been torn by the blast. And there was a
serious gash in his revealed skin. Kai watched Celena's attention to his arm
and chuckled. "Heh, heh, heh. Stop gawping at it. It's just a scratch."

"No it's not. Hold on."

The fair-haired beauty reached down and gripped her skirt by the folds. With
a grunt she ripped a piece of it off, and then nudged over to her male
friend. "Could you take off your blazer for me?"

Kai shrugged with a sigh and undid the three buttons of his black school
blazer. Then took it off his arms and shoulders. He caught on to what Celena
had in mind and began undoing the buttons of his white undershirt. The
blonde pulled the shirt from his body when he was done, revealing his toned
and muscled chest. Celena blushed a little but said nothing, and went to
work on the injured arm. But before she could, she saw something on Kai that
she had not noticed before. It was a tattoo of sorts. Saying simply
`Tensatsukai'. In this day and age, the one spoken language was English. Few
people spoke in the various native tongues of their ethnicity. But from
Celena's study of the old language of Japanese, Tensatsukai was fused of the
romanji words for Heaven (Ten), Murder (Satsu), and World (Kai). That was
not the odd thing about it though. This mark seemed less a tattoo and more
of a... branding. However Celena chose not to ask about it.

She wrapped the ripped piece of her dark blue skirt around the wound that
had been carved by debris from the previous explosion. Celena was careful.
Knowing not to apply too much pressure or too little. But just the right
amount. She tied up the makeshift bandage with a knot, stopping the flow of
blood.

"There," She said, "That should hold you for a little while."

Kai nodded, putting his shirt back on. "Thanks. I owe you one, Celena."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad that you're okay."

Kai loved to hear Celena say things like that. It might have been a little
vain of him to think it, but he liked the idea that his beautiful best
friend, Celena Avalis, was concerned with him. Back in Gerard's Cross
College, she was one of the most popular girls around. It probably had
something to do with that English accent of hers. It pleased Kai to know
that at the end of the day, Celena's primary concern was for him and no one
else. Because Kai very much felt the same way.

"Yeah, well, I'm tougher than I look-"

Before Kai even finished that, there was a rumbling sound that shook the
frail stone that made up the roofing of that warehouse. Both youngsters
looked up at the ceiling to see what it was. The roof actually was shaking.
Then something cut straight through it with great light. A beam from a
plasma rifle. Celena gasped at the blast. Kai quickly shoved her to one side
of the beam and rolled away in turn, getting them both out of the way of the
shot. The thin beam of light blue energy burned across the stone floor in
reached leaving nothing behind but melted rock and smoke. Then came the
explosion from the damage. Celena screamed and Kai grunted when the two of
them were blown further away from each other. The blast whipped up another
gust of flame and smoke, directly cutting Kai off from Celena. So much so
that he couldn't see her anymore. All he could hear were her whimpers. Kai
steeled himself and quickly climbed back up to his feet, looking through the
flames that were surrounding him.

"Celena! Are you alright!?" He yelled frantically.

The girl yelled back with `I-I'm fine!' but Kai still could not see her. And
his worry for Celena made him unaware of the danger he too was in. This
ground he stood on was not ground-level. There was a floor below it. And the
cracks in the floor showed that the stone holding those two levels apart was
growing fragile. Kai felt this himself. The ground beneath him broke fully
and he collapsed into it. The student fell downwards into the separated
level with crumbling rocks all around him. He toppled over and landed on the
floor of the second area whilst the debris from above rained down briefly.
Moments later he managed to pull himself together. Kai slowly opened his sky
blue eyes again and groaned. Blood now dripped from a fresh wound on his
forehead. Dust was all over his shirt and trousers. But he kept it together
with a steel will that showed off a tremendous inner strength. Kai Kisaragi
hoisted himself off the ground on his lithe but muscled arms and looked
around. And he became aware that he was in a whole different place. This
floor of the warehouse looked more like a laboratory. Full of beakers,
advanced tech, white walls, clean tables, bookcases containing texts on
certain kinds of new thinking thesis.  More important than that was the
podium erected in the centre of that lab. It was white, just like the rest.
But held something very, very special. Kai looked over at it. It was a sword
in the image of a Japanese katana. Complete with its black sheath at its
side.

Kai couldn't understand why such a thing was here, but, "It might not be a
Plasma Rifle but for now, it'll do."

The Japanese blonde rushed over to the podium. Whatever blasted the roof of
the warehouse was still out there. Something - anything - would have been
good as form of protection. And most of all he had to get back up to Celena
to protect her. Kai threw caution to the wind and reached for the blade,
grabbing its grip in one swift motion. The moment he lifted the sword from
the podium, it started to glow. So much so that it illuminated that dark
lab. And caught Kai well off guard.

But not as much so as when it started speaking to him in the computerized
voice of a ten year old girl. "Ouroboros Magi-Tech System online. DNA
pattern unrecognised. Proceeding to register current wielder. May I ask your
name?"

Once the glow ended, Kai lifted the sword up and stared at it with
confusion. "Hold on a minute. This sword has a computer system?"

"Correct," The sword (or the mini-computer built into it) replied, "I am the
Artificial Intelligence Program that operates the Magi-Tech capabilities of
the Ouroboros sword. You may refer to me by any name you wish. However my
designer, Doctor Hideo Shinguchi, has named me `Ai'. You may choose to
accept that if you wish. May I ask your name?"

Kai blinked. "...Magi-Tech? Ouroboros? Ai? What kind of technology is this?"

"I will explain. The sword you are holding is known as `Ouroboros'. The
first of only two weapons that are programmed with Magi-Tech capacities.
Magi-Tech is a primarily offensive system that controls certain elemental
charges known as `Magites'. By using electrical charges to weave these
Magites into a specialized pattern, varying emissions of compressed force
are produced. As yet the Magi-Tech can only adhere to the fundamental arts.
Though the arts can be fused to create sub-arts. May I ask your name?"

"Geez, can you simplify all that?"

"In Layman terms... this sword can cast magic. But the only `styles' of magics
that can be used are those that fall into the category of Fire, Water, Earth
and Wind. These can be mixed to create new magics. May I ask your name?"

>From that, Kai was dumbstruck. "Magic?! Are you serious?!"

"Yes. The power regulator ranges the strength of these emissions between
four levels. Four being the weakest. One being the most potent. It is
recommended that you avoid using anything above Level 2 if you intend to
wield this sword. May I ask your name?"

Kai scowled again. "Why do you keep asking me for my name?!"

"To register you as the true wielder of the Ouroboros," Ai replied, "What is
your name?"

"Kai Kisaragi..."

"...Acknowledged. Kai Kisaragi. Genetic Syowa-oh male. Age 19. DNA Lock now
registered for Kai Kisaragi. How would you like to be regarded?"

"As `Kai', I guess?" He replied sarcastically.

Ai spoke up again. "Well then. Would you like me to explain some of the
operations of the Ouroboros sword?"

Well he didn't think he needed that right now. But Kai was about to learn
how wrong he was. The far wall of that lab he was in, began to shake as the
roof up above had done before. The new wielder of the Ouroboros sword
watched this with caution, unconsciously taking up his blade into a
defensive and surprisingly knowing stance. The wall exploded in that
instant, the brick and glass thrown across the laboratory. Kai brought up
his arm to shield himself from the flying debris. Then looked forwards to
that new hole in the wall, smoking from the power of the blast. One of the
Xaphan androids that were attacking Syowa-oh stood there. With its plasma
rifle in its grip and more than ready to kill. But it seemed that the
humanoid machine wanted something. The very same thing that was now in Kai's
hands.

The Xaphan spoke to Kai in its robotic voice. "Relinquish that sword. Now."

"Up yours, dickwipe!" Kai barked.

Still, the Xaphan android was unmoving. "Relinquish that sword, now."

"Dammit," Kai pulled back Ouroboros and frowned, "I don't have time for
this! I have to find Celena and get her out of here! Even if that means
cutting this piece of tin shit to pieces!"

Ai soon spoke to him, though. "That is not a recommended course of action.
This `piece of tin shit' as you call it; is a Xaphan-type android. Such
air-to-ground combat androids are often built with restorative nanomachines.
While the Ouroboros sword is fully capable of slicing through the armour of
the Xaphan-type android, it could easily repair itself."

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do about it?!" Kai barked.

"You must use the Magi-Tech system," Ai answered, "the use of magic will
destroy the Xaphan-type android by eliminating all traces of the
nanomachines in its body."

Kai nodded in understanding, watching the Xaphan with keen eyes. "Okay. How
do I cast the magic then?"

"Simply concentrate your thoughts. My central processor with interpret the
language of your brainwaves and produce the most suitable action in terms of
brain pattern, regulated by  situational needs."

The Xaphan pointed its gun at Kai. "I repeat. Relinquish that sword. Now."

But Kai was far beyond listening to that. His blue eyes slipped shut and he
held Ouroboros in a two-handed grip. Focusing his thoughts as Ai had
instructed him to. The Xaphan android before him started to step forwards
with the gun at the ready. But before it came too close, the blade of the
Ouroboros sword sudden caught aflame and burned vividly in that dark lab. It
forced the android to stop and take note. Kai's eyes then flashed open and
he swung the blade around his body with a fierce battle cry. The searing hot
flames around the sword were thrown forwards and morphed in the air,
transforming into a bird-like shape. The Phoenix Wing magical attack glided
through the air and charged straight into the armoured Xaphan. A small gush
of flames became a large one. And the mechanical beast was forced back. The
flames of the magic burned heavily against the steel of its armour and the
latex of its fake flesh. Swiftly immobilizing it. Then, moments later, the
whole thing exploded. The charred remains of the android were blown across
the room. Leaving the immediate threat of danger to obscurity.

Kai gave off an astounded glare and lifted the sword to get a better look at
it. "Sweet damn. So the thing really can use magic. What the hell was that?"

"It was a Level 1 magical skill known as Phoenix Wing." Answered Ai.

The blonde grabbed the sheath of Ouroboros and searched for an exit out of
here. "Well whatever, whatever. That doesn't matter now. I have to get back
up there and find Celena before she gets hurt. The fire could spread all
over the warehouse in a matter of minutes."

Kai instantly sheathed Ouroboros and scanned the room. The hole in the wall
that had been created by that now dead Xaphan. It led into a small corridor.
Since that seemed to be the first and best place to escape from, Kai made a
dash for it. He ran through the smoky hole, jumping over the ruined brick
and vaulting into the corridor. Once inside Kai searched from one side to
the next to find a path back up to the first level. There was a flight of
stairs down the left side of the hallway. So he ran over to them and jogged
up as fast as he could, already smelling the smoke from above. Kai growled
ferociously and extended his leg, kicking down the door at the top of the
stairs. The metal door was broken from its hinges and toppled back, allowing
Kai access to the upper floor. He instantly covered his face to shield
himself from the smoke and heat. As he had feared, the whole floor was an
inferno. Plasmatic rifles could do a hell of a lot of damage in a very short
space of time. But what of Celena? Kai looked around as best he could, the
smoke watering his eyes, but he couldn't see her.

"C-Celena!?" He yelled, "Dammit! Celena! Where are you!?"

A cool, composed and softly effeminate voice called to Kai thereafter. "...You
must escape."

Kai turned around when he heard the sound of someone addressing him. He was
literally stunned by what he saw. What appeared to be a young woman.
Standing gently just a few metres away from him. With short brown hair that
hung over one of her eyes to give her a very sultry, mystical look. The
light milk chocolate tone of her hair meshed well with the paleness of her
skin. And the large eyes of bright emerald almost spoke to Kai. This unknown
girl was dressed in a while and gold over-shirt and a garment that seemed in
some respects to be a half-thigh long brown skirt, with knee length socks
and brown moccasins. From the gentle maturity in the girl's voice, she
seemed to be around seventeen in years, though she looked more like a
fifteen-year-old. This unknown one had a curious glow about her. A kind of
mystical `aura' Kai seemed to feel and understand in some terribly apparent
way. But that aura was possessed by a veil of... tragedy. Sadness. The sultry
look in the young woman's eye seemed to suggest a personal dissonance. One
that was magnified the violent flames that now surrounded her and Kai in
this warehouse. Kai was entranced by her. But he did not let his curiosity
distract him from what he had to do.

"...You should get out of here," Kai said, his voice lowering, "...it's
dangerous to stay."

"What about you?" Asked the brown-haired one, tenderly.

Kai looked around the fires again. "...I can't go until I find my friend. Have
you seen her? She's an eighteen-year-old girl named Celena Avalis."

The mysterious one lowered her large bottle green eyes and nodded, "I know
who it is that you speak of. She is safe. I can take you to her from here.
But you must escape with me now."

"You've got Celena? Where is she?" Kai questioned.

"We have no time for explanations now," Answered the younger person, "Please
move quickly."

Kai narrowed his eyes at her. "Just one thing. Who are you?"

"My name is..." The green-eyed youngster began, "...Angel Edelweiss."

Well at least he knew her name now. Kai nodded to Angel and followed her as
she made her escape from this flaming warehouse. The smoke was piling up and
the flames were growing stronger than ever. The two made a point of leaving
as quickly as possible. Kai and Angel ran straight through the ruins of the
warehouse and out the side fire exit. The door was already open when they
got there. So they ran outside and into the side alley. The two stopped to
breathe in the fresh air of the outside (fresh air formed from the
Regeneration Wheels, the microscopic nanomachines in the air that recycled
wasted carbon dioxide from human origin and converted it into oxygen at an
almost instantaneous rate).

Angel adjusted herself first and spoke. "We must move swiftly. A shuttle is
waiting nearby to pick us up. You can find your... friend there."

"A shuttle?" Kai shook his head, "I should have known. You're not from
Syowa-oh, are you?"

The young Angel shook her head for a no.

"Well, no offence but you've got to be out of your mind. No shuttle could
break through the Barrier Shields of Syowa-oh so I can't see how you plan on
getting out of here now. Viceroy Katsuragi is likely to bring down martial
law thanks to this attack, which means he won't lower the shields to let
anyone escape."

"...Do not underestimate us," Angel answered, "We have... our ways."

Kai blinked. "Our...? What do you mean by that? You belong to some kind of
group, don't you? Are you with the ones behind this attack?!"

Angel shook her head to contradict that. "No. Please don't misunderstand me.
The ones who have instigated this attack are the ones known as the Four
Horsemen. Do you know of them?"

"How could I not?" Kai answered, "they're considered to be the biggest
threat to Earth-orbital peace since the Cosmos Wars."

Then a third voice answered to the pair of them. "Yes. That's right. Though
we intend to do quite a bit worse."

Kai and Angel jerked and turned around to the south side of the alleyway.
They were not alone. A man wearing a gold and black tunic, armed with some
sort of futuristic halberd, stood on a metal hover disc, watching the two
young ones as they escaped from the flames of the warehouse. This man
smirked deviously at the two of them. Kai didn't know him from Adam, but
Angel seemed to at least know of him.

"...It's you..." Angel expressed with concern.

Kai stared at the concerned girl. "Who is that?"

"He is Garland Lilith," Answered Angel, "A member of the Four Horseman. The
man behind this attack on Syowa-oh. He is a master of many weapons and is
one of the most infamous assassins in the known sphere of influence."

Garland tapped his halberd against his shoulder. "So I see that even
children have heard of me now. My, my. Aren't I flattered?"

"...So you're Garland Lilith, huh?" Kai gave a defiant grin, "I think I've
heard of you before. I never would have expected to meet up with a Class A
assassin in my neighbourhood. So what brings you to Syowa-oh, buddy?"

Garland chuckled at him, shutting his eyes. "Beelzebub. Confirm. Is the
sword that boy is now holding the Ouroboros?"

The seemingly harmless halberd in Garland's hand now began glowing with the
same light that Kai had seen from the Ouroboros sword. And to his surprise,
it spoke back to Garland with a similar computerized voice, but in a male
pitch, as opposed to the female tone of the Ouroboros. The voice of the
mini-super computer hardwired into the halberd. The one known as
`Beelzebub'. "...Confirmed. It is the Ouroboros sword."

Kai, understanding that Garland was becoming more and more significant by
the minute, unsheathed Ouroboros while stepping before Angel protectively.
As soon as it was released from the sheath, Ouroboros' own mini-computer,
Ai, spoke to Kai. "I advise you to proceed with extreme caution. That man
holds the counterpart weapon to the Ouroboros. It is called Qingu. It
contains a similar microcomputer to me and is equally equipped with
Magi-Tech capabilities."

Garland locked eyes with Kai. "You have the sword, eh? So the DNA Lock is on
you now. That is unfortunate. But not a serious problem. I'll just kill
you."

Kai growled venomously at him. "...Just fucking try it, pal."

The man called Garland smirked again and readied Qingu, just about to
pounce. Until Angel stepped ahead of Kai, spreading out her arms. The blonde
man was confused by this, and said so. "Angel, what the hell are you
doing?!"

Angel simply ignored Kai and began speaking with a focus directed at
Garland. And all that sultry aura about her was now reflecting sheer power.
"...By the ancient spirit of the Cloud People, bless this holy blood with thy
divine strength. Bestow upon me your power and I shall give you all my
heart. In the name of God and righteousness, I summon you to the realm of
the living. Awaken now, o Lord of Wind and Peace, awaken Amot!"

The bright jade aura of Angel's now appeared in the real world for all to
marvel at. Kai was forced to cover his eyes to prevent himself from being
blinded by the intense mass of light that now appeared before Angel. Her
skirt and short brown hair was blown back by the force of whatever it was
that he was doing. And now Kai began to realize that the mystical air that
surrounded Angel was more than look or a feeling. A great power had been
summoned from nothing more than his will. One that was beginning to take
shape in all that dazzling light. Garland maintained his calm but watched
with caution at the magical luminosity that Angel had just called on. A
humanoid being of green crystalline matter leapt out from that void of light
and jumped out before Angel and Kai. A lean figure of around six feet in
height, glowing with almighty power. Armed with a spear made of the same
crystalline matter as the body of the being itself. This was the fabled wind
spirit, Amot.

Kai was dumbstruck. "...Mother damn... what the hell is that...?!"

Garland sneered. "So Aurora was right after all... you're a God Summoner..."

Without even being addressed, Amot knew Angel's intentions for him. The
deity of Wind and Peace extended the arm that held the spear and pointed it
directly at Garland. Huge gusts of air circled that spear vibrantly.
Rotating around and around until the wind gathered a ferocious tearing
momentum that could have sliced rock in two if given the chance. Those
manifestations of wind then surged forwards with incredible speed. Straight
for Garland. The Horseman remained alert and pointed Qingu directly at the
incoming wind blades of the  spirit creature, Amot. A shield of almost
invisible energy came before the tip of the polearm. Amot's wind blades
crashed into the shield, one by one, but could not pierce it.

Angel quickly turned to Kai. "We have to leave."

"Are you kidding me?!" Kai yelled back, "You expect me to run away after
what that dickwipe's done to my colony?!"

"You said you wanted to see your friend, did you not? Well Garland is too
much for either of us right now. If you challenge him, you'll die. You need
more training with the Ouroboros before you can handle him. Now please come
with me."

Kai shrugged, sheathing the Ouroboros. The two of them then made a break for
it, running down the path of the alleyway out into the main road. Amot
continued to remain as he was, firing wave after wave of those hoop-shaped
wind blades at Garland and his shield. It provided the perfect cover for
their escape. Amot would dissolve when Angel ran a certain distance away
from him, but it bought the two of them enough time to flee. Garland scowled
as the pair got away, but could do nothing to stop them.

"Come back here, damn you!" He screamed.

Kai and Angel turned the corner and rushed down the main road. From here,
Kai could see the damage that those few Xaphan androids were doing to the
district. In the distance, flames were rising as high as the holographic
projection of the sky. Even if the Shinrinkami were on the streets by now,
it was too late to save that area. Then Angel turned another corner. Kai
followed him. This led to a series of narrow paths worming around the
warehouses. After a  ten minute run, Angel and Kai made it to a clearing. In
that clearing was the mini-shuttle that Angel had been speaking of. And
standing before that shuttle were Celena and, surprisingly enough, that
American woman, Lucielle.

Kai skidded to a stop when he saw the two of them. "...Celena?!"

The fair-haired English woman smiled cheerful and ran up to Kai, throwing
herself into his strong arms. "Dear God, you're alright! I was so worried
about you!"

"Yeah," The blonde man hugged her back, smiling, "...well, I had a little bit
of help in that department. But I'm glad that you're alright, Celena."

While the two of them hugged it out, Lucielle smiled and strode up to Angel,
pressing her hand into the younger one's short mop of auburn hair. "Hey
there, kid. Normally I'd chew you out for disobeying orders, but what the
hell, I'll forget about it this time. We'd be in big trouble if we lost
you."

Kai looked over at Angel and Lucielle while Celena embraced him. "...You two
know each other...?"

"Well, duh!" Lucielle chided playfully, "I did tell you to come with me if
you wanted to learn more. Then when the Four Horsemen attacked, I guess
Angel must have beamed down to help us out against my orders. Ah, but he's a
good boy, really."

Kai blinked fiercely. "...Hold on a minute. You're a GUY?!"

Angel blushed, looking downwards. "...Well... yes..."

Now that was an odd discovery. Angel wasn't a `she' but rather a `he'. Still
it didn't matter much in the face of what was no happening to Syowa-oh. And
Lucielle became serious when she saw the destruction taking place less than
a quarter of a mile behind them. "...Lets save the chit-chat for later. We
need to be getting out of here before the Four Horsemen come a callin' for
the Ouroboros. This area isn't safe with them on the loose."

"Where are we going?" Celena asked, untangling herself from Kai.

Lucielle winked at her, beaming a cute grin. "We're going to my ship, the
Sparta."

**********

THE LAST SAGA - All God's Children

**********

Viceroy Katsuragi of the Syowa-oh Colony was quick to enforce martial law as
soon as the attack by the Four Horseman became public knowledge. In hours
the Shinrinkami were released and deployed on the streets of Syowa-oh to
stop the fires and round up the last remaining Xaphan type androids that
were on the attack. Though Kai was aware of the insurgence of the Four
Horsemen, he had no idea about how the Shinrinkami were going to handle it.
But for the most part... he now had other concerns.

The small shuttle that Angel had led him to quickly made its getaway with
them, Celena and Lucielle aboard. Kai was still very sceptical about how
such a small dropship could get through Spheronical defences of Syowa-oh.
But it did. Phasing through the Barrier Shield with a new technology that
not even he had heard of. Once free of the barrier, they were now in the
thicket of space, with the large Japanese colony behind them. The shuttle
did not last long in the void however. It docked in the flagship that
Lucielle had been talking about. The one called the Sparta. It was a
privately owned vessel that actually did belong to Lucielle. As soon as the
dropship docked in one of the three bays for the mini-shuttles, Kai, Celena,
Angel and Lucielle stepped out from it and into the technologically advanced
civilian battleship. A young man rushed up to the automatic sliding door
when Lucielle emerged and saluted her with pride.

"My goodness!" He said, "It's so good to see that you're well! Did
everything go okay? Do you need anything?"

Lucielle nodded. "Things went fine. Not only did we pick up the Ouroboros,
but we also managed to get Tensatsukai to come with us. But enough about
that. Has the damage done to the Leap Drive been fixed yet, or what?"

"Yes, ma'am. Solon asked me to tell you about it as soon as you got back
with Angel. The repairs were short work with our team on the job! Now we're
ready to head off to Valhoth as soon as you request it, Captain."

Kai blinked as he stood with Angel and Celena by the shuttle. "Captain? You
actually run this ship as well as own it?"

"Of course," Lucielle grinned at the blonde boy, "You're looking at Lucielle
Howard! Captain of the civilian battleship Sparta and leader of the
pro-Earth revitalization group Whitestar."

The half-Japanese lad stuffed his hand into his pocket, the other carrying
the now sheathed Ouroboros sword. "Whitestar, huh? Why do I get the weird
feeling that I've been roped into something bigger than I want it to be?"

Lucielle sniggered at the young man and turned around to face him. Kai's
eyes widened when the older woman came at him face to face, smirking with a
full `bounce' to her actions. She made a point of pinching his cheek and
grinning further, saying, "You're very cute, you know that? I would have
never imagined that you were Tensatsukai. Tell you what. I'll give you a
little bonus for being such a sport about all this. You can call me Lulu."

"...Why?" Kai asked, confused and blushing.

"My favourite people are allowed to call me that," Lucielle spoke, "And
you're just a cute little bag of sugar, aren't you?"

Angel sighed, lowering his smooth green eyes. "Captain, is this really...
appropriate?"

Lucielle giggled softly at that, still pinching Kai's reddening cheek. "So
now you take a stand, huh? You'll never get anywhere in life if you leave
things to the last minute, Angel. Anyways, I can't stand here playing with
you kids all day. I have to plot the course to Valhoth with Solon before we
leave. Then I think... we'll have to explain a few things to our two guests
before we move on."

Lucielle then turned to the guy at hand, releasing Kai. "You there."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Get a room ready for Kai and his friend," She ordered, "And before you do
that, tell Rock to keep us as we are. I know that the Four Horsemen will be
on our tails soon enough but I'm not leaving the colony until we explain a
few things, alright?"

The young man nodded to his captain with enthusiasm. "Yes ma'am! I'm right
on it!"

We soon scampered away to get the jobs asked of him done, while leaving
behind the others. Some of the other personnel began to tend to the shuttle
that has come up just moments ago with their captain in it. And the captain
herself turned back to Kai, Angel and Celena.

"I have to catch up with Solon before we do anything. So you guys just make
yourselves comfortable, have a look around, and if you want, ask Angel to
show you the ropes. I'll be calling the pair of you to the bridge in about
twenty minutes, so make the most of your time."

Lucielle then walked off to one of the sliding automatic doors leading out
of the dropship hanger. It closed behind her, leaving Kai, Angel and Celena
by the shuttle. Kai was the first to speak, holding his cheek; which was now
sore and red (but not from the pinching). "Man. That chick is a few
sandwiches short of a picnic."

"She certainly is... candid." Celena added.

Angel then interjected. "I know that she can be odd at times, but Lucielle
is a very capable captain. You will see it in her, when the time comes."

"Yeah, whatever," Kai answered, "explain a few things about this ship before
we do anything else. Considering the fact that it has dropships that can
break through Syowa-oh's defensive barriers like toilet paper... I'm guessing
that you people are a lot more than just some random civilian crew.
Especially if you're getting tangled up with the Four Horsemen. Am I right?"

Angel bobbed his head. "We are. Lucielle can better explain the details. But
I can tell you about this ship if you'd like. It's called the Sparta, as you
know. And it was built by Lucielle's father, James Howard, in the Victoria
Lake Colony. It is the ship that Whitestar operates from. The crew is
numbered at 35 men and women who all work hard in their chosen positions.
And this ship is built with a special Leap Drive that can slip through
Barrier Shields. Even ones as strong as Syowa-oh's. I do not know much about
the mechanical specs and such, but I am sure that Solon or Rock could
explain that all to you if you feel you need to know."

Celena shook her head. "Forgive Kai for being so forthright. We're really
grateful for what you've done for us."

Angel returned that with a small, sad smile of acceptance. Kai looked around
the hanger bay for a while. This ship was of American design, alright. He
could see all the trademarks of a ship built on Victoria Lake. He just
wondered what the connection was between these guys and the Four Horsemen.
"...I have to admit that this is an impressive ship. Angel, could you show us
around? Since that Lucielle babe gave you the permission?"

The younger boy, Angel, blushed, his sad smile turning into a slightly
happier one. He agreed to show them around the Sparta. He, Kai and Celena
left the hanger bay and then showed the two guests the complexities of the
ship. It was divided into quite a few sections. The one most important being
the Bridge. Angel showed them where it was but didn't quite go there yet.
There were all kinds of sections on the ship. The Dorms where everyone
slept, the Galley were food was kept and prepared, the Training Room, where
Whitestar members would hone their fighting skills, Recreational Area, the
Engine Room, the Conference Room, the Brig, etc. It was a very large ship
for a relatively small crew. But these Whitestar people seemed to be in
control of everything. Even Kai was impressed. He hadn't seen a group of
people this well organized in years. Ever since his... older days.

Around fifteen minutes or so later, when Angel, Kai and Celena were turning
a corner in the upper level of the ship, they all realized that they had to
meet up with Lucielle on the bridge. But just when they were they were about
to go...

"Angel! What you run away for?"

The three teens halted when they heard a female voice call to Angel from
behind. The brown-haired boy turned around with a sheepish frown, knowing
exactly who that was. Kai and Celena also looked back. But were surprised to
see this person. She was a woman of 24 years. With a young, bubbly
disposition. That was not her oddness, however. This one was an alien. A
humanoid mix between human and lion. With the beautiful figure of a young
woman and the lightly furred flesh of a cat. This alien wiggled her whiskers
and crossed her arms, looking at Angel with an expression that demanded an
explanation.

Celena blinked at the alien girl. "Wow. An Effiran. I've never met an
Effiran before."

"Angel!" Yelled the Effiran, "Why you not speak!? Why you go down Syowa on
own?!"

The God Summoner's shoulders sagged. "...I'm sorry, I just wanted to help..."

The Effiran let Angel trail off and then turned to Kai and Celena. Celena
had a nervous smile while Kai just eyed her up and down. He hadn't seen an
Effiran before either, they were a native race of the terra-formed planet of
Phoebantinople. Celena leaned over into Angel's ear and whispered something
to him.

"Who is that?" She asked.

Angel whispered back. "She's one of my guardians. Her name is Chestnut.
Chestnut Fealton. Despite her loudness and broken English, she is a very
nice person."

`Chestnut', as Angel called her, walked up to Kai and stared down at him.
"...You one call Tensatsukai?"

Kai looked away, his mood suddenly switching from curious to irritated. "...I
don't use that name anymore, okay? My name is Kai Kisaragi. And I-"

The blonde boy said nothing more. A second later, Chestnut grinned and drew
back her fist. Then thrust it forwards and punched Kai straight across the
face. Celena gasped and Angel sighed as Kai stumbled backwards from the
force of Chestnut's punch, reeling. He instantly grabbed his cheek and
stared at the taller Effiran with blind confusion. "...Are you out of your
fucking mind?!"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!" Laughed the alien, "That is warrior's greeting! Effiran
are race of warriors! This show that you and I friends! Me welcome big
friend, Kai!"

The disbelieving Kai rubbed his sore right cheek (now as red as the one
Lucielle had pinched) whilst staring over at Angel. "Jesus Christ. Is
everyone on this ship a goddamn lunatic?"

Nevertheless, it was time to head off to the bridge. Celena rubbed Kai's
cheek for him a little then walked with Angel and Chestnut straight to the
bridge itself. Lucielle was waiting for them. And both Kai and Celena were
in the mood for an explanation of what was going on with this `Whitestar'
group. It took just a couple minutes to make it down to the bridge from
where they were. The automatic doors into the helm of the ship opened up for
the four of them. Kai, Angel, Celena and Chestnut strode into the bridge
where all the consoles, video screens and seating were waiting for them.
>From the large window screen framing the north of the room, Kai could see
the stars and the background image of the Syowa-oh Colony. About six people
were on the bridge (outside of Kai and the others) which included Lucielle.
Who sat on one of the side chairs with an unusually serious expression on
her face.

"So you guys made it on time," Lucielle spoke, "I didn't wanna hunt you down
after all."

Kai pressed his hand into his hip. "Yeah, well, we're here. Now start
talking."

"Huh?" Lucielle pointed at the bruise on Kai's cheek, "What's up with that?"

"...An Effiran greeting." Answered Angel.

Kai shut his eyes and scoffed, while Lucielle just smiled and spoke up. "I
can imagine. Now. You two probably want to know what's going on here, right?
Well it won't be very simple to explain but I'll give it a shot. To try to
put it simply, we're a group that wants to see humans return to the Earth."

Celena gave off a questioning glance. "...The Earth?"

"Why would we wanna go back to that shithole?" Kai responded, "you know as
well as I do that the civilization on Earth was ruined damn well more than
200 years ago. The Greater Universal Confederacy tried to start things up
again... but those plans hit the fan. Like they always do."

Lucielle leaned back on her chair. "That's because they didn't try hard
enough. It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than talk to do this. But
that's what we all want. Because the Earth is our home. It's where we all
come from. Where our culture originates. My Dad always told me stories about
his grandfather. He told him that the Earth is the most beautiful place in
the cosmos. We owe it to the Earth to restart things."

"...So that's it?" Kai remained sceptical, "...do you mean to say that you
started off a crew and pilot this ship around the colonies just so you can
see us all going back to Earth?"

The Captain of the Sparta scratched the back of her head. "...No, actually.
Our goal is for those that want to return to the Earth... to have that shot.
But right now... as things stand... that will not be possible. Because of a
situation we need to resolve beforehand."

Kai and Celena became curious while Angel clammed up. To no one's notice but
Chestnut. The half-Jap boy wanted to know about this obstacle. "What are you
talking about? What situation?"

"Solon could probably explain this better..." The seemingly air-headed
Lucielle looked over to one of the consoles, "... why don'tcha give it a shot,
girl?"

The others all looked over to the front controls of the bridge. A young girl
of sixteen sat in a velour Whitestar uniform, a little hat on her head of
strawberry blonde hair. The one called Solon turned in her rotating chair
and looked at the others.

"Who's this?" Celena asked.

"My name is Solonatamazaimatsu," She replied, "but the vast majority of the
populous of the ship have opted to address me with a shortening of my name.
Hence the Captain's regard of me by the nickname `Solon'."

"This kid a robot or something?" Kai commented sardonically.

Celena nudged him in the shoulder with a whisper. "Kai! Don't be so rude!"

"The situation is thus," Solon continued, "the Greater Universal Confederacy
and the preponderance of both the Earth-orbital and outer-orbital colonial
world has been led to suppose that the catastrophe caused on Earth was a
consequence of its ecological instability. While this is not entirely
incorrect, we have gathered evidence to suggest that the severity of the
damage done was caused by an imbalance in the energy force that exists
within the deep and clandestine leylines of the earth sphere. It was a
significant but periodical shift in the sheer concentration of that force.
Which you would know as `Magite'. There is also evidence to suggest that
that concentration of Magite will peak a second time. Considering the
current instability of the Earth... such an event would cause a level of
irreparable damage that might utterly demolish the likelihood of the Greater
Universal Confederacy's facilitation of its renewal. The current aim of the
Whitestar is to prevent that potential incident with the method we have
discovered."

Celena's eyes widened with understanding. But it all went right over Kai's
head. "Uh... could you say that again? This time in English?"

Solon's almost blank eyes stared at Kai for a moment. And then she spoke,
watering down her language. "...The Earth was `mashed up' because of the
`magic' in it. That magic is going to `bubble up' again. We want to stop
that from happening. That way the Greater Universal Confederacy won't be
`put off' from rebuilding things there."

"Okay, I get that much," Answered the older one, "...but what's that got to do
with the Four Horsemen?"

Lucielle spoke up for that one. "Well the truth is, the Four Horsemen are
more than simple terrorists. We think they have financial backing from a
member of congress. Though they claim to hate the Earth and the
Earth-orbital world, they have an interest in the magical force of the
planet. They want to harness it as an energy resource. Because of the energy
shortage in the outer-orbital region, that power would sell for trillions of
credits. But what the Horsemen don't understand is that the Magite is the
lifeforce of the planet. Extracting it would cause even greater problems
than the Earth already has. We've all come together as Whitestar to do three
things. One, is to stop the Four Horsemen before they mine the Magite. Two,
is to stop the Magite from `overloading' again and causing another
ecological disaster. And three, is to convince the Greater Universal
Confederacy to restore civilization on Earth."

Kai stuffed his hand into his pocket. "Okay, but exactly how do we fit into
all of this?"

"We can't take the Four Horsemen down as we are," Lucielle told him, "We
needed a weapon like the Ouroboros to match Garland Lilith and his Qingu.
And more importantly, we needed someone to wield that sword. That's where
you come in. We want someone of your strength to help us."

Celena smiled. "Kai? What's so special about him? He's just an average
college student."

"That's not exactly true, is it, Tensatsukai?" Lucielle said to the blonde
boy.

Celena looked at him also. "Kai, they keep calling you that. What does that
mean? Is there something that you're not telling me?"

"...Damn," The young man sighed, "Look, I don't wanna get into all of that
right now. Let's just clear things up. You guys want me to help you deal
with the Four Horsemen, is that it?"

Lucielle confirmed it for a yes. "That's right. But not just that. He might
not seem like it, but Angel is a big part of stopping the overflow of the
Magite on Earth. His powers are extremely important to us. So he needs to be
protected. We already have Chestnut on that job, as well as another woman
who you'll soon meet, but it's not enough considering what we're up against.
We really need your help, Kai Kisaragi."

"One more question," Kai commented, "What's up with this sword? I can tell
that both you and the Four Horsemen were after it. What makes it so
special?"

Lucielle turned to her helmswoman again. "Uh... Solon...?"

"That sword is named as Ouroboros," Solon answered for her, "It possesses a
Magi-Tech system. Basically put it allows the manipulation of magic through
electrical charges of Magite in specific patterns. Thus that sword you carry
allows its user to wield the power of magics. It is the only weapon capable
of standing against Garland Lilith and his Qingu Halberd in close range
combat. And they are very much aware of that. Now that the DNA Lock is
attached to you, Mister Kisaragi, no other human being will be able to use
it. Ouroboros is built with a security system that activates whenever
someone outside of the registered DNA code touches it. This security system
will generate a Barrier Shield around the sword with an absolute temperature
of 272.6780719 degrees. Which more or less means it will burn off the hand
of anyone who touches it. Anyone other than you. However. If you die and the
Ouroboros sword confirms that, the DNA Lock will be shattered."

"Which means that the Four Horseman will go out of their way to kill you,"
Lucielle added, "I'd really like to make helping us your own choice. But the
Four Horsemen won't stop until they get rid of you, if it means getting
their hands on that sword. And they won't hesitate to kill Celena to get to
you, either. Us much as you may hate to hear it... there is no safer place for
you than on the Sparta, with us. But if you don't wanna stay... I won't force
you to."

Kai remained silent. This was worse than he actually thought it was. Just
touching this sword had gotten him into something big. And he knew for a
fact that the Four Horsemen were no joke. They had been outrunning and
outgunning the Greater Universal Confederacy for years now. There was no way
he could take them on alone. Not even if he did learn to master the
Ouroboros. Still... this wasn't something he could accept on the spot. And
what of Celena? Kai looked over at her. He had no problems risking his own
life. What did that matter? But Celena was a different story. She was his
best friend. If nothing else, he had to consider her safety as a paramount
concern.

Kai tightened his grip on the Ouroboros and closed his eyes again. "...If you
can assure me that Celena will be safe here until I take care of the Four
Horsemen, then, I'll help you out."

The smile of Lucielle's face (as well as Angel's) brightened up. "Alright! I
knew I could count on you, Kai! Well you two make yourselves at home and if
you need ANYTHING, I'll make sure my crew gets it for you. Now that we've
got a few things cleared up, you and Celena should get some rest. We're
heading out to Valhoth as soon as possible but that'll give you at least ten
hours to rest up and get used to everything that's happened so far."

"Thanks," Kai turned to Celena again, "You wanna talk in private?"

Celena nodded to assure him that she did. Angel seemed to take note of the
altercation between the two and stepped forwards to address the blonde boy.
"Is there anything I can do for you now, Kai?"

The Japanese lad exhaled. "Yeah, could you show me and Celena to our rooms?
If that guy's got them ready then I'd like to talk with Celena alone."

Strangely, Angel seemed to be downcast from hearing that. Again, something
that Chestnut picked up on. But Angel just agreed to that and told Kai and
Celena to follow him. The two white automatic leading out from the bridge
open when Angel came forwards. The three of them left, while Lucielle,
Chestnut, Solon and the few others on hand remained.

"Well that went smoothly," Commented Lucielle, "I didn't think he'd take so
easily to joining up with us. Maybe it was a good thing that Celena tagged
along with him."

But Chestnut had other concerns. "You think Angel will be OK, Lulu?"

"...Maybe," Replied the captain, "he's been a little down lately. I can
understand if this might bother him. But I don't think Kai would have agreed
if not for Celena. Just let those kids work things out for themselves. It's
just a crush, after all."

Outside the bridge, Angel showed Kai and Celena to what would be their
rooms. They had already been adjusted for the two by the same member of
personnel that had greeted Lucielle once the shuttle arrived. It was a
standard set up for a civilian battleship. A bed, a table, a bookcase, a
video screen, a computer terminal to access the Galactic Web, and a
reinforced window to give a view of the stars and space. Kai's room was next
to Celena's, with Angel's quarters just a short few dorms down the line.
Kai, Angel and Celena stood outside the door to Kai's room. Angel had
explained the key codes of the door lock so there was no trouble on that
front.

"Is there anything else you might need?" Angel asked of the new swordsman,
"are you hungry? Do you want me to explain more about Whitestar?"

Kai shook his head. "No. We just wanna be on our own for a little while. But
thanks."

With that said, Kai strode through the door and Celena followed behind him.
Angel sighed and watched the door close behind them. But there was nothing
he could do about it. So he resigned himself to returning to his own room.
In Kai's own room, the blonde youth took a seat on the chair next to the
table and computer terminal. While Celena rested herself on the new springy
bed of her friend's. Though her mind was not on the springiness of Kai's
bed. The girl from New Westhampton had a serious look and a demanding new
tone to her voice.

"There's something you've been keeping from me, isn't there?" Celena
prodded, "out with it. What was so serious that you couldn't tell me, of all
people, about it?"

Kai rested the length of the Ouroboros sword on the table and rubbed his
arm. The same arm that his tattoo was on. "...It's not a thing I like talking
about, alright? But being the moron that I am, I've gotten you mixed up in
all this. So I guess I shouldn't be hiding things from you. Have you ever
heard of a man called... Kozue Yagami...?"

"Of course I have," Celena said, "He was the previous minister of defence on
Syowa-oh. Until some scandal concerning military atrocities got out about
him."

The Japanese man sniggered grimly at that. "...`Scandal'. Hmph. Well, if you
wanna call it that. Yagami was a straight up son of a bitch. But he was a
military genius. His family had fought hard in the Cosmos Wars and he made
no secret of telling people about what his ancestors did. He eventually
realized though... that there was a shortage of youth on the colony. It's why
androids do so much work there. Its birth-rate had been falling for years. I
guess it occurred to him that less people meant less soldiers. And androids
have never made it big in the field of attrition. So he came up with an
idea. Instead of having ten soldiers, why not train a guy to be as good as
ten soldiers? It was the perfect plan. He kidnapped more than twenty kids
from their moms and dads, the dickwipe. He took them to his secret training
camp on the edge of Syowa-oh. And from the moment they were able to walk... he
taught those kids to be the worse kind of killing machines you can imagine.
Using muscle and shock treatment he increased their fighting capabilities by
an estimated 885%. They were called the Satsukami. The Murder Gods."

"That's awful..." Celena gasped, "but what does that have to do with you?"

Kai closed his sapphire eyes again, chuckling darkly. "Out of all those
kids, there was one who ranked second behind his best friend, Sho. That
boy's codename was... `Tensatsukai'."

Celena's eyes widened. Now she remembered the tattoo. "...You mean...?"

"Yup," The blonde man looked out through the window, "I was one of those
young boys. I was Tensatsukai. We were all trained to be the ultimate
soldiers. But only five of us managed to survive the training. When I turned
ten, Sho and I were sick of the whole thing. We knew that those damn
scientists would push us over the limit in the end. And we'd end up as dead
as those before us. We didn't wanna be killers and warmongers. We just
wanted to be normal kids. So we made a run for it. But Yagami couldn't just
let us go after everything we'd seen. He sent his lesser soldiers to capture
us. I can still see myself running through those artificial forests to get
away. I can still here the hunting dogs barking. The sound of Sho screaming
for me to keep up with him. And then when we got to the perimeter fence of
the compound, we realized that we didn't have enough time to climb before
those bastards caught up with us. And Sho...decided that me getting away... was
more important than him getting away. I wanted him to come with me. I did. I
wanted him to get away. But he wouldn't have it. He distracted the soldiers
by fighting with them. While I escaped. By the time I climbed over the fence
and looked back to see what had happened... Sho had already been gunned down
by their plasma rifles. I got away alright. But not without seeing them drag
off the corpse of the kid who had been my best friend. The kid who saved my
life. I screwed up. I should have stood my ground and fought them off with
him. But I didn't. And I had to spend the next two years running from Yagami
and his cronies until the `scandal' broke out. Since then I've... tried to
forget about it all."

Celena was left speechless. She would have never imagined that such a thing
could happen to someone like Kai. He seemed so laid back and carefree. From
the day that she had first met him. But to carry a burden like that on his
shoulders everyday... to go through something like that at such a young age...
"Oh God, Kai... I don't know what to say... I'm so sorry..."

"...Forget about it," He said slowly, "I didn't wanna remember those times.
And I didn't wanna have to use these powers I got from those days. But the
past has a habit of catching up with us, doesn't it? Besides. If nothing
else... I wouldn't have made it this far on my own if not for my strength."

"W-what about your parents?" Celena stammered.

Kai sighed. "They're probably on Syowa-oh somewhere. But I have no way of
knowing who they are or what they look like. As far as I'm concerned I'm an
orphan."

Celena didn't know what to say, except, "...Oh, Kai. I'm so sorry."

"I said don't worry about it," Responded the Syowa-oh male, "That was a long
time ago. And I'm not the type to bitch about spilt milk. I made my mind up
about that years ago. All that matters is the here and now. It's my fault
you're mixed up in all this. So I'm gonna do what I can to put it right,
Celena. You can bank on that."

**********

Kai couldn't sleep.

He didn't know why but he just couldn't get himself to lay down. Maybe it
was because he had to relive his past in order to explain things to Celena.
Maybe because he had been thrust into all this madness without much warning.
No matter what the reason, Kai could not get any sleep right now. The
Japanese boy tossed and turned underneath the sheets of his bed. With the
low hum of the Sparta's Leap Drive Engines in the background. His eyes were
wide open though. And moments later he shifted up from that position and sat
up. Lucielle had told him to rest up but he just couldn't do it.

"Damn," He expressed, "Why can't I sleep?"

The topless youth scowled and clasped his lower shoulder/arm joint. The one
that held the tattoo that marked his past. The word and codename,
Tensatsukai. It was then that Kai recalled how much trouble he had sleeping
on his first night out of Kozue Yagami's stinking training compound. That
was now nine years ago. Nine years and it still burned so fresh in his
memory. But whatever his mind was thinking, he couldn't take lying down when
he didn't want to. The young man scowled and hoisted himself off the bed,
standing up on his two bare feet. The clothes he had worn up until this
point, his shirt, trousers and blazer, were still with him. So he went for
the trousers, shifting them up his legs and holding them in place by
tightening his belt. He then put on his socks and shoes and marched over to
the table in his room that had the computer terminal.

"Maybe I can check out what's happening on Syowa-oh?" Kai suggested to
himself.

He sat down at the table and switched on the computer, allowing the
operating system (Kaiser-Ware Mode 204) to run. The characterless voice of
the computer spoke to him soon thereafter. "Welcome to the Phi-Beta Design
Zero-One model, the latest operating system from the Bas Dahlem Foundation.
A voice pattern is required for access to your terminal."

"Is there anything that those Bas Dahlem people haven't built?"

Though Kai said that out of the moment, the computer took that as an
intended voice pattern sample. It soon loaded to produce a desktop and the
many items on it. Funnily enough the guy who had prepared this room had also
set up his computer. It had already been confirmed for `Kai Kisaragi' even
though this was his first time using it. The only thing that had not been
secured was the voice pattern. Kai quickly went to work however. And soon
logged onto the Galactic Web for some news reports. The GW server of this
particular terminal (Green Frog) soon allowed Kai access. On the home page
of this setting, gww.greenfrog.olt, Kai typed `Syowa-oh' into its search
engine. Seconds later a list of details sprung up on another page about
Syowa-oh. Kai saw one link marked as Syowa-oh news reports, and clicked on
it. This opened another page to a news site that had 411 on Syowa-oh's
latest news. Obviously the attack by the Four Horsemen was headline news.
Kai clicked on a link that would provide a recorded feed of the news report
for him. Moments later the visual image of a news reporter came on screen.
He stood with his microphone in front of the ruins of Gerard's Cross
College, which had been burned to the ground by Garland and the Xaphan-type
androids.

"I am standing now at Gerard's Cross College," Spoke the reporter, his voice
magnified by the speakers of the terminal, "a place that would normally be
buzzing with the activities of the young students from both here and abroad.
However... all that you see behind me is this. A result of another terrorist
attack on an Earth-orbital colony. At 4.35 pm this afternoon, a shot from an
unknown ship was fired on the Barrier Shields of Syowa-oh. Because of this,
an estimated twenty Xaphan androids stormed in and attacked the surrounding
districts, killing up to 70 citizens, and injuring a still unconfirmed
number of 200+ people. Over half of district two has been destroyed by the
terrorist group, who still remain unknown to the Syowanese council. Viceroy
Katsuragi has already pledged to work as hard as he can to discover who is
behind this attack. But as we spoke to the survivors earlier this morning,
the concern seems to be far less on the reason... and more on the outcome."

As the news report went on to show some brief interviews with some of the
survivors and witnesses, Kai tuned off. It was just as he feared. Gerard's
Cross was a goner. And worst still, Celena's apartment was not too far from
the college. It might have been caught up in the all the damage. If Celena
were to lose her home, it would be a crushing blow to her.

"Damn that Garland," Kai seethed, socking his fist into his palm, "the next
time I see him, that little bastard is gonna wish he was never born!"

A knock then came at the door.

"At this hour?" Kai blinked, "...uh... come in...?"

The automatic door slid open for the one standing there. Which was in fact
Angel. Still dressed in that schoolgirl-ish uniform of his. The passionately
downcast youth stood at the doorway with a shy smile, his long bangs still
blocking the left of his bottle green eyes with their length. "...Hi."

"Hey," Kai answered, "What's up? Can't you sleep?"

Angel slowly shook his head for a no, making that silver crucifix pendant
hanging of his neck shake. "...Not really. I guess my mind has been clouded
from all that's happened so far. The same goes for you, does it not?"

"What do mean by that?" Kai asked.

"I know it must have been hard," Angel lowered his head, "...to tell Celena
about your past."

Kai narrowed his eyes. "You know about that?"

"...It was a little obvious. She seemed to want to know why we all kept
regarding you as the Tensatsukai. I could tell that it was something you
wouldn't feel very comfortable speaking about. I heard all about what you
and the other Satsukami went through."

The Japanese youth smiled. "Yeah, well, I had to tell her. She's... important
to me."

Angel's shy smile became a soulful frown. "You care for her... don't you?"

"Yeah," Kai nodded, "she's my best friend. No matter what, she's always been
there for me. And if it weren't for her, trust me, I wouldn't be here. But
if you guys are willing to help protect her for me, then... I don't have much
choice in the matter."

Angel looked away. All of a sudden that aura of sadness that Kai first
sensed around him became all to clear. He got the feeling that he had said
something wrong to the feminine boy, so Kai scratched the side of his head
and changed the subject. "Dah, anyways, I can't sleep either. I tried but I
keep thinking about Syowa-oh and Garland. That little dickwipe is gonna pay
the next time I see him."

"...Garland Lilith is very dangerous," Angel looked up again, "you shouldn't
underestimate what he is capable of."

Kai grinned. "And you shouldn't underestimate what I'm capable of. It
doesn't matter how much I wanna ignore it... I am Tensatsukai after all.
Anyways, forget about him. Since I'm gonna be... kind of a bodyguard for you,
lets hear some of your titbits."

"...Excuse me?"

"Come on," The swordsman spread his arms out, "you know what I mean. Who are
you, how old are you, what's your aim; that kind of crap. I'm not gonna
defend some guy I don't even know about."

Angel's smile finally returned, small as it was, and he stepped from the
doorway into Kai's room, sitting down on the unmade bed of his. "...Well my
name is Angel Edelweiss, as I have already told you. I come from the New
Westhampton Colony and I am seventeen. I joined with Lucielle and the
Whitestar crew when I learned of their will to restore the Earth. I really
believe in what Lucielle wants. And my powers are going to help bring those
desires to light. Even if I must use them against the Four Horsemen."

It was then that Kai remember just what Angel was capable of. He had
summoned that great wind spirit, Amot, to allow them to escape from Garland.
The existence of magic was no secret to anyone in the universe. But the
people who could use it were few and far between. In fact, only an estimated
400 people on Syowa-oh could use magic. Which is a very small number taking
into consideration the fact that the populous of that colony was well over
1.5 million. And even confirmed magic users had their limitations. The most
that any average magic user could produce was a brief flicker of power
before they passed out. Angel had a rare and extremely powerful talent for
magic and summoning. Kai could see this now.

"...Garland called you a God Summoner. Does that mean you can call on
spirits?"

Angel nodded as a yes. "Yes. But it's not as easy as I'd like it to be.
Therefore I try not to use that power too much. My sister always told me
that..."

Suddenly, Angel cut off his own sentence, clamming up and reducing his eyes
to look downwards. Kai crossed his arms and looked on inquisitively. "...What
about your sister?"

"...I'm sorry..." Angel mumbled, "...I shouldn't have brought her up. Please
forget about it."

That seemed a little odd. Angel seemed to have issues about his sister. But
Kai chose not to press him about it. Everyone had things about them that
they wanted to keep private. Kai understood that better than anyone.
"...That's fine. There are a few other things we need to talk about before
hand. Case in point. Not to be rude or anything, `cause Celena told me to be
more respectful to you guys, but how come you dress like that? I mean, all
girlish with the pleated skirts and the knee-high cotton socks and whatnot.
Not that it doesn't suit you or anything... but... I've kinda been wondering..."

Angel blushed and looked downwards as his attire with another shy smile. "...I
suppose it is rather unusual for me to dress this way. But... I've become
accustomed to it. You see... my... `Father'... was always passionate about having
two daughters. He said that it would be the way of our family. But he could
never have children of his own. And he adopted my sister and I to be his
children. Though he did not have two daughters... he did what he could to
bring out the woman in me. Which meant pushing me into dressing like this.
While I don't feel like or wish to be a girl, I must admit that I feel...
somewhat... comfortable like this. And I am always told by Captain Lucielle
and others that they cannot see me any other way. It's been a while since I
have had the opinion of someone else, though. Does this really suit me?"

Kai nodded, pointing at his necklace. "Yeah. Especially with that cross on
your neck."

"This...?" Angel pulled up the Celtic crucifix pendant hanging off his neck,
"...It was a gift from my Father... so many years ago."

The Japanese body tilted his head to the side. "So you must be a member of
the Pan-Galactic Orthodox Church, huh?"

"Yes. I know that it might seem strange right now, but they are a group who
truly believe in the same ethic as Whitestar. That the Earth is our true
home. To flee from it denies the will of God. It's part of the reason I
joined with this group."

Kai sniggered rudely. Needless to say he was a bit of a cynic when it came
to religion. The current Pope now was now was Benedict XXXIV. And he was a
hardliner if ever there was one. He was an outspoken member of the Greater
Universal Confederacy and for a man of 78 years he was very politically
active. He unwaveringly opposed the terrorism of the Four Horsemen and the
others like them. Though it struck others as odd that he would ignore the
reasons behind such political zeal. But he was a symbol of resistance in
this day and age, and sat comfortably in his small Italian colony of Vatica.

"So you're a catholic," Said the blonde one, "...your kind are thin to the
ground today."

Angel smiled at him. "We are all in God's grace, you know. Even you, Kai. I
know that it may sound odd, but, I can feel that God has great plans for
you."

"Heh, heh, heh," Kai smirked, putting his hands behind his head, "well
unless he plans on making me rich or something, tell the bastard I ain't
interested."

Angel was not at all surprised that Kai was an unbeliever. Most people were.
The researched percentage of people in both the Earth-orbital and
outer-orbital world who still believed in divine origins were less than 12%.
And that share of religious belief was divided between the few religions and
religious denominations that still existed. Catholicism and Protestantism
were still alive, much as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism were. But
lesser religions like Sikhism had fallen into obscurity. Aside from a few
temples on Syowa-oh, Shintoism was practically extinct. The attitude of Kai
was shared by over 88% of mankind. In fact, the only kinds of religion that
remained in healthy levels were those of the alien peoples, like the
Ungarism of the Effiran race. Even Chestnut was an Ungarist.

Angel ignored Kai's atheism for now and took note of the ripped piece of
skirt that had been tied around the boy's upper arm. He had noticed before
but didn't say anything. That was until he saw blood drip from it. "...What
happened to your arm?"

Kai looked down at his wounded arm. "Oh right, I forgot about this. When I
was down on Syowa-oh there was an explosion. Some debris slashed me across
my arm. Celena tied this to stop the blood flow. But I guess I should have
had the ship's doctor stitch it up when I had the chance, huh?"

The concern on Angel's face was evident. The same kind of concern that Kai
saw from Celena. But that of Angel did not last long. Because there was
something he could do about it. The catholic boy stood up from the bed he
was sitting on, and walked over to Kai, holding his arm gently between his
two hands. Angel slipped his eyes shut and focused. "Try to relax, okay? No
talking."

"...Okay..."  Kai didn't quite understand what Angel was planning to do here,
but it wasn't like he was complaining, "...wow... you've got... a soft touch..."

Angel opened one of his eyes with calm irritability. "...I said no talking."

"...Right. Sorry."

Kai silenced himself with that and let Angel go to work. The brown-haired
magic-user closed his eyes again and let all his attentions remain on that
wounded arm of his newest guardian. Angel started a low hum to himself and
mumbled words of a deeply religious nature, calling on the same force that
had allowed him to summon the spirit Amot from eternity. A bright glow of
green, the glow of Angel's aura, appeared around his hands and around the
wound of Kai's arm. Slowly from the force of the magic, the piece of
Celena's skirt began to unravel and untie itself. It fell to the ground
moments afterwards. And the flesh that had been cut open by debris began to
heal. Angel parted his hands more to give more room for his magic. Kai grit
his teeth as a bloody piece of shrapnel slowly floated upwards from his cut.
The thing that had been embedded in his arm. But soon pain was a thing of
the past as the bloody flesh started to reweave itself and mend. Soon after
it was completely healed. Kai blinked with the realization that his injury
had been fixed. And with magic, no less.

"Whoa!" Expressed Kai, "My arm feels great! What did you just do?"

Angel pulled his soft hands back and smiled. "Just a small application of my
healing magics. I learned this from some of the books of magical casting in
the ship library. But I'm still just a beginner when it comes to that kind
of magic however. I would not class myself as a healer or anything."

"Well in any case, thanks." Kai said gratefully.

The green-eyed God Summoner smiled, shaking his head. "You don't have to
thank me. I'm just pleased that I could help you."

**********

"Alright now. Is everyone ready?"

The ten hours needed to leap from the Earth-orbital colony of Syowa-oh to
the outer-orbital terra-formed planet of Valhoth, passed by smoothly. After
talking with Angel for half the night, Kai managed to get some sleep to his
name. Lucielle had commanded it, after all. And the time was now to finally
start some of the service had had been pledged to do for the group in
exchange for Celena's safety. When Kai awoke he saw a uniform had been left
out for him. It was a standard uniform of the Whitestar. Made of the
material Pyloclos, another rare and alien discovery from the Colis Ur Star
System. It had all the softness of cotton to the flesh, but was as
protective as a bullet-proof vest of the 22nd century. The suits created
from Pyloclos were by no means the most protective form of soft armour but
were relatively suitable for most missions necessary.

Kai, Angel and Chestnut had all gathered together after Kai got cleaned up,
ate a spot of breakfast whipped up by the cooks in the galley, and put on
his Whitestar suit. Also at the bridge were Lucielle and Solon. Lucielle sat
on the main seat of the bridge overlooking to the four helmsmen (including
Chestnut's Effiran brother, Rock Fealton).

Lucielle addressed Kai as he came in with Chestnut and Angel. "...Glad you
could make it, kid. I can I guess from the five minute lateness that you're
fond of the Sparta by now?"

"...It ain't bad." He replied with a smirk.

The captain matched that smirk with one of her own and stood up from her
chair. In the background of the large vidscreen was the sight of the blue
planet of Valhoth, the planet that the Sparta was now orbiting. Kai noted
how quick the Sparta's leap drives were. To exit the Milky Way and reach the
outer-orbital world in ten hours was very fast, even compared to speed of
the Greater Universal Confederacy's chief military flagship, the Asmodeus.

"Well we've reached Valhoth," Lucielle began, "And now we need to do a few
things before we can make it to Earth. Number one, Rock and the others need
to configure the Sparta's Barrier Shields before we even think of going
there."

"Why is that an issue?" Kai questioned, "What's so dangerous about entering
Earth space?"

Lucielle looked over at her Effiran helmsman and winked. "Rock? You're up."

"Yes Captain," Answered the tall alien, with perfect English, unlike that of
his sister, "You see Kisaragi, after the Great Earth Disaster, the residual
Magite left in the air rose upwards and melded with the particles of gas in
the atmospheric make up of the stratosphere. It eventually became a dense
Magite-charged energy field that makes it extremely difficult for a starship
to pass through. That field has been called Magi-Sphere. Our Barrier Shields
need to be routed to maximum efficiency to get through it, but to do that,
much of the power supply of the Sparta has to be rerouted through the ship's
Barrier Generators. And a link-up of that magnitude will not take a short
time. Solon and I will need about twenty hours to do the job."

"Bang on," Affirmed Lucielle, "that's why you're my favourite engineer,
Rock."

The Effiran male smiled bashfully at the computer terminal he was manning.
While Chestnut crossed her arms with a snort. As a devoted Ungarist and
Phoebantinopite, she had not the taste for her brother's technological
know-how. "Hmph! That human word for not-warrior."

Kai shut his eyes from exasperation, of both the fearless Chestnut and the
flirtatious Captain. "Alright, alright, I don't need all the long-winded
explanations. But what do we need down on Valhoth?"

Lucielle enlightened on that. "We need a couple of things. First is some
kind of part for the adjustments that Solon and Rock are gonna make to the
Barrier Shields. But a few of the other crew members are gonna handle that.
The most important thing we need is something that Angel will know more
about. It's a certain item. A book."

"A book?" Kai repeated.

"Yes," Angel nodded to him, "It's called... the Lesser Key of Solomon."

Kai stared at the catholic boy. "What do we need with a book?"

"It's an ancient tome used on Earth hundreds of years ago for God Summoning.
For both the summoning and exorcism of spirits. But it has deeper powers
than that. To quell the Magite that is boiling inside the Earth again, we'll
need the magical algorithms that the Lesser Key of Solomon can produce. It
is a big part of our plans."

Lucielle followed up on Angel's explanation. "We managed to track it down to
a dealer on Valhoth who's agreed to sell it to us for a fixed price. But
Angel's the only one who'll know if it's the real deal. So you and Chestnut
will have to go down with him to Valhoth. And you`ll be accompanied by
Angel's... other guardian."

Kai noticed the tone of Lucielle's voice become a little more... focused than
usual. And when his powerful ears detected the sound of the automatic doors
opening, he turned his head to the left to see who it was. The very same
person that Lucielle had been talking about. A woman stepped through those
doors, walking in short strides with a cold, inhospitable frown on her
frostily beautiful face. A raven-haired woman of Russian descent, dressed in
a tunic-like navy-blue variation of the Whitestar uniform. She was of 24
years in age and had four `sheathed' guns about her person. Each with a 20th
century design. Two of them were pistols (named Sharon and Franchesca, both
attached to either side of her hips). The third was a shotgun (named
Marlene, attached to one side of her back) and the forth was a long sniper
rifle (named Christine, attached to the other side of her back). The
stone-emotion woman gaited into the bridge and rested a hand on her hip,
looking over at the captain.

Lucielle gave a particularly poignant stare at this woman, before
introducing her to Kai. "This is Angel's other guardian. An expert marksman
of the Romanovia Colony. Emilia Maximov."

"So, Captain," Emilia began with a cynical tone, "have you finished
recruiting children yet?"

The American descendant smiled arrogantly at the Russian woman. "I guess.
But I'm not the kind of woman who does something without needing to. By the
way, how's that single bed of yours? Still nice and cold in a solo way, eh?"

"And I'm the only one?" Emilia responded.

"No," Lucielle retorted swiftly, "but I'm so by choice, not circumstance. It
isn't quite the same for you, is it, Emilia?"

Kai, Angel, Solon, Rock, Chestnut and the few Whitestar personnel on the
bridge suddenly felt a little uncomfortable with this. Lucielle and Emilia
glared at each other, Emilia's cold frown matching Lucielle's dirty grin
step for step. Kai leaned into Angel and whispered a few words while the
captain stood off with the markswoman. "...Uh... what's the deal between those
two...?"

Angel replied in hushed tones with, "...You see, the Captain and Miss Maximov
are... well... ex-lovers. You'll get used to it eventually..."

Kai took that all in quickly enough. If nothing else, things certainly were
not dull on the Sparta. Lucielle and Emilia continued to glare at each other
until the articulately spoken child helmswoman, Solon, spoke up. "Captain.
The Transportation Beam is completely prepared for utilization."

Lucielle finally turned her attentions away from Emilia. "...Uh, right.
Anyways. The four of you make your way to the Transportation Room so we can
beam you down to the surface. We won't need to bother with a shuttle, since
the Transportation Beam is fully operational now. You'll be beamed to the
Valhothian city of Adela. Stay focused and be as quick as you can. We don't
want to be orbiting this planet for too long."

Kai nodded to her. "Fair enough. I'll do my job. Just make sure that you
guys do yours."

"Celena is safe, don't worry," Lucielle answered, "oh, and by the way, I
have a little present for you. Something made specifically for you by
Solon."

The captain picked something off from the hand rest of her seat and tossed
it over to the blonde boy. Kai caught it in his hand and stared at it. It
was a NFC (Nexus Frequency Communicator) fixed into a wrist watch shape.
NFCs were communicational tools that could be used for all sorts of things.
It could contact and speak with others possessing NFCs, send distress
signals to a selected ship's computer server from a 200 kilometre distance,
make limited access to the Galactic Web, calculate temperature and climate,
as well as act as a form of ID. But its major purpose, especially when
travelling to separate Star Systems, was to act as a universal translator.
An NFC could translate over 200,000 different languages and dialects, by
assimilating what was spoken into its receiver and translating its message,
replanting that translation into the wearer's ear and brain. The only person
with an NFC who did not use that translator function was Chestnut, who
wanted to learn the language of English under her own merits.

Kai strapped the NFC on his wrist. "Thanks. I forgot that I might need
something like this."

"...Should we all get going now?" Angel asked.

Kai and Chestnut agreed to that with a nod, while Emilia just looked on
irritably and idly. It was time to go check out Valhoth.

**********

The planet of Valhoth, officially terra-formed in the year 2129 AD (63 BED)
was known to most as a resort planet. It had two moons (Virgo and Cancer)
and an axis tilt relatively identical to that of Earth's. The surface of
this almost barren world was completely covered in snow. Because of the
heavy snowfall and the lack of dangerous tundra around the vast majority of
its landscapes, Valhoth had become somewhat of a skiing resort planet. The
major outpost for that was the Queen Anne Leisure Facility. However it
wasn't just seen as a place for the recreation of the upper classes. The
descendants of the planets original terra-formers had settled in a small
city in the north, called Adela City. Named after the young woman who
spearheaded the terra-forming project on Valhoth, Adela Le Croix. Adela City
was built on the snowy upper continent of Valhoth, known as Pangaia. And for
many years, this had been one of the only outer-orbital worlds to retain
somewhat of a distance from the Greater Universal Confederacy. Not an
extreme one. But just enough to make this planet the staging post for at
least three terrorist groups to make their move against the Earth-orbital
world and its sympathisers.

Before they even knew it; Kai, Angel, Chestnut and Emilia had been beamed
down from the Sparta via its Transporters, straight to the surface of
Valhoth. In the bustling Adela City. The four of them suddenly found
themselves standing on a snow-covered side road, surrounded by all the many
people who worked and shopped in this major district of the city. Since this
planet had no previous race settling out it before the incursion of the
human race, it was populated by little less than three million human people.
About 92% of the overall number of people living in Adela City (most of
those humans happened to be ethnically South American in origin, mostly due
to the fact that Valhoth's terra-forming was allocated to Mexican and
Brazilian hands). The smaller numbers were made up of alien races like
Effirans and the native Drydnish (who immigrated from Drydna to Valhoth for
the work possibilities).

Once the group had touched down to the snowy stone pavements of Adela City,
the NFC on Kai's wrist began to flash red. Someone was contacting them from
the ship. Kai pressed one of the buttons on the devise to allow the message
to come through. It was from Solon.

"What is it?" Kai asked.

A small holographic image of Solon popped up. "The person you have been
ordered to meet with is known as Jason Butler. Though the vast majority of
individuals living on Valhoth are South American in origin and Valhothians
by birth, he is a national of New Westhampton. He owns a trading company
which has its station just a few minutes walk west from where you are now.
The building is called Butler Co. Mr. Butler will be there. And it is from
him you must purchase the Lesser Key of Solomon. Signing out."

Solon's little holograph disappeared. Kai smirked and lowered his wrist. "I
swear, that kid speaks and thinks like an android. Are you sure she's not
mechanical in any way?"

"Solon not machine!" Chestnut argued, "Solon is Solon!"

Emilia crossed her arms, frowning. "Can we not wander from the task at hand?
We have a job to do, remember? Can we go?"

Kai and Chestnut closed their mouths as the cold Emilia barged past them to
walk down the pavement. Before she made her way to Butler Co. however, Kai
spoke out to her. "Whoa, hold it a sec! I wanna say something!"

Emilia stopped and turned around to stare at the boy. "...What is it?"

"...Um..." Kai rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly, "...do you think
we could stop at... like...a bar or something... before we go get that book?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Emilia yelled, "Look, we're doing something important
here. We're about to get the tool that's going to help us restore the Earth.
We're not thinking about getting drunk. We have a job to do and as far as
I'm concerned, we didn't need you in the first place. Now either get your
act together or go back to the ship. We don't need any dead weight slowing
us down, little boy."

The irate Russian woman then stomped off with a blinking Kai in her wake.
Chestnut shrugged her shoulders and followed her, with Angel looking over at
Kai. "...Are you coming?"

Kai nodded. "Yeah. But man, that chick's a total grouch. Is she always like
that?"

"...Mostly," Angel said, "but she's like the Captain. Miss Maximov can show
other sides to herself from time to time. Could you just put up with her for
now?"

The half-Japanese youth grinned. "Hey, I've dealt with a lot worse than her
kind. I'm not going anywhere."

Chestnut looked back at the two of them when she realized that they weren't
following she and Emilia. "Angel! Kai! What keep you?!"

The two boys nodded to the proud Effiran and followed her along with Emilia.
The four of them grouped together again and strode through the jostling
crowds of Adela City, admiring all the shops and tall buildings around. It
was not an extremely modern world. Valhoth was almost identical to 22nd
Century (1st Century BED) Earth, and was extremely crowded for the number of
people living in the city. Although the Valhothian Government led a campaign
to expand Adela City, it was still on ice thanks to the trouble associated
with anti-Earth/Earth-orbital terrorism.

The group marched through the streets to the place that Solon had told them
of. Butler Co. It was a small business building that meshed in well with the
background of busy Valhothians. The automatic door at the front of the
building opened as Emilia stepped before it. Kai, Angel and Chestnut
followed her inside. But they stopped and froze when they entered and
realized how dark it was. It was almost pitch black. The shutters on the
windows had been sealed up. All Kai could make up (with his super-trained
sight) was the outline of potted plants and the pillars holding up the
ceiling. This was reception area. But why on Earth was it so dark?

"Why it this dark?!" Chestnut bellowed loudly.

Kai sniffed for a second, right after that. Angel heard it. "What's the
matter, Kai?"

"I smell something..." Kai's face twisted with concern, "...it's blood."

Then suddenly someone snapped their fingers in the background. The shutters
shifted open and allowed light to pour in from the outside. When it did, the
group confirmed Kai's fears. On the floor were at least five corpses. Each
one in a mangled pose and covered in blood. All their eyes opened and
lifeless. They had been murdered before they even knew what was happening to
them. Angel gasped at the sight. Both Kai and Chestnut growled with alarm.
While Emilia paid more attention to the long pinpoint needless that stuck
out oddly from the bodies of the slain. Emilia stepped forwards and kneeled
down, staring at the damage done to one of the corpses. She removed one of
the needles from the neck of that torso and blood gushed from the small
wound. It had struck a vital point. With a deadly accuracy that really
proved who had done this. To Emilia at least.

The Russian woman closed her eyes. "...Rose."

"Huh? What you talk about?!" Chestnut questioned.

"It's the work of Rose Liu," Emilia muttered, standing up again, "...She's a
member of the Four Horsemen."

Kai, Angel and Chestnut were stunned. The Four Horsemen had caught up with
them already? The captain had said that their battleship, the Astaroth, was
very fast, but Kai would never have expected such speed in reality. The four
of them assessed what this might mean for them. But could not spend long
doing so. A shadowed figure standing aside one of the supporting pillars
called out to them. "...It's been a long time, Angel."

Angel froze in surprise, knowing full well who's voice that was. And it
wasn't Rose Liu. Chestnut's golden brown fur spiked up with caution, while
Emilia reached down to her right hip holster for Franchesca. Kai leaned
forwards and gripped the handle of the Ouroboros, shifting into a defensive
position next to Angel.

"Come on out!" Kai yelled.

The shadowed woman stepped from the gloom of the pillar and walked over to
the front of the room. Standing a few metres ahead of the group. A young
woman in business-like dress, with long platinum blonde hair and a
melancholic smile that was very much like that of Angel's. She focused not
on the armed guardians but on the young boy himself. And a look of
familiarity passed through his bottle-green eyes.

Emilia's brow furrowed. "So it's you."

"Who the fuck is that?" Kai questioned abruptly.

The blonde woman smiled generously at Kai, knowing him to be Angel's new
guardian. And probably the most important. "You may relax. I am not here to
fight you. My name is Aurora Edelweiss."

"...Edelweiss...?" Kai blinked, looking over at his charge, "...Angel... is she...?"

Angel bobbed her head, moving closer to Kai. "...Yes. She is my sister."

"And a member of the Four Horsemen." Emilia added.

"Correct," Replied Aurora, "I am so. And I must say that I am pleased to see
that Whitestar is taking good care of my brother. He's so very important to
me. And to you, it seems. Although I think I can correctly surmise the
reasons for that. Which was why we made our own bid to track down the Lesser
Key of Solomon. It is in our possession now."

Kai growled in anger. These guys had beaten them to the punch. And now the
book was in their hands. But what would they want with it? Aurora smiled
once again and adjusted her glasses, holding one of her hands on her hip. "I
can imagine that you would want that book for a great number of reasons. But
only one such reason is practical."

"Why do you need the book?" Emilia yelled, "What use could you have for it?"

Aurora shook her head. "I do not need this book. Neither do the rest of the
Four Horsemen. But you need it. Which makes it important to us. Because you
see... we have something that you want. And you have something that we want."

"The Ouroboros?!" Kai suggested.

Aurora shook her head. "Of course not. We could make use of such a weapon
but it is not integral to our plans. What you have of ours is far more
powerful. You have my brother."

All eyes turned to Angel. The God Summoner tightened up and looked over at
his sister with his concerned, almost fearful eyes. "What are you trying to
accomplish, Aurora? What do you and Father really want?"

"You'll soon see, my dear brother," Aurora stepped back a little, "We will
explain things to you and your crew on the Sparta. But I suggest that you
all consider just what we are capable beforehand. Goodbye."

A vaporous energy surrounded Aurora's high heels and rose up her body in an
instant. The twenty something woman was transported from that location via a
Teleportation Beam. One that belonged to the Astaroth. Chestnut, Kai and
Emilia lowered their guards and all frowned with this sudden realization.
The Four Horsemen were around Valhoth just like Whitestar was. And now they
had the Lesser Key of Solomon. This wasn't good.

The red light on Kai's NFC flashed again. The young man released the
Ouroboros' grip and pulled up his wrist to answer the call. "Sparta? This is
Kai."

A small projection of Lucielle came into view. "Are you guys okay down
there? Rock just detected transportation activity from a ship that's more
than certainly the Astaroth!"

"Yeah," Kai replied idly, "Beam us up. We'll explain the rest to you then."

**********

It did not take long for Solon to beam Kai, Angel, Chestnut and Emilia back
up to the Sparta from Butler Co. The four of them found themselves back on
the technological surrounds of the Whitestar's flagship. They quickly rushed
from out the Transportation Chamber and out into the upper level, and
quickly made their way to the bridge of the Sparta. Lucielle, Solon, Rock
and the others on the bridge were still there waiting for them. Kai and the
other stopped running once the automatic doors closed behind them.

Lucielle inspected them on arrival. "You all don't look hurt. Did something
happen?"

"Yeah," Kai answered with the others caught their breaths, "The Four
Horsemen happened. They killed Butler and the guys working for him. They
have that Lesser-whatchamacallit book and they said they'd send us a message
on the Sparta about it."

"So they really are here," Lucielle whispered, "Maybe we should have left
Syowa-oh sooner."

Emilia ran a hand through her hair. "I said that from the beginning. Instead
of picking up this irresponsible boy we should have gone for the book from
the beginning."

"You wanna try saying that to me again, you Ice Queen?!" Kai barked.

"Cut it out, both of you," Lucielle chided, "We haven't got time for that
now."

One of the monitors on the front panel of the bridge began to flash. Solon
tapped a few keys on her section of it and turned around to look at
Lucielle. "Captain. We are receiving a transmission from the Astaroth."

"Patch it through."

A vidscreen flashed into appearance in front of the major one. It showed the
image of Aurora Edelweiss and in the background was the large bridge of the
Astaroth ship. "Greetings to the Sparta. I am Aurora Edelweiss. As you may
well know by now."

Lucielle nodded with a smirk. "Yeah. You're quite the little celebrity. To
think, my friend's sister, the finest hacker and ship commander in the
outer-orbital world. I'm honoured."

"You praise me far too highly," Aurora answered, "but now I can imagine that
you must wish to know what intentions we have for the Lesser Key of
Solomon."

"The thought did cross my mind." Said the Whitestar captain.

"...It is thus. We have absolutely no need for such an item. What we want is
my brother, Angel Edelweiss. So we propose an exchange between us. You give
us my brother, we'll give you the book. Does that sound reasonable?"

Chestnut's fist clenched. "What?!"

Lucielle crossed her arms. "...Where exactly do you want this exchange to take
place?"

"A place on Valhoth," Aurora put forth, "known as the Granos Caves. There is
an abandoned Kyzanthium mine there. We will beam down there in approximately
five minutes with the Lesser Key of Solomon. Hand Angel over to us and we'll
give up this book. Do we have a deal?"

Lucielle nodded to the image of Aurora. "Yes, it's a deal."

The video screen then vanished from sight as Aurora signed off. Solon tapped
a few keys and confirmed it. "Transmission ended."

Kai slapped his fist into his palm. "Lucielle! You're not seriously gonna
hand Angel over to those bastards, are you?"

"Of course not," Lucielle responded, grinning, "We're gonna pull a fast one.
Nobody said that we had to play by the rules."

"So what's the plan?" Rock asked his captain.

"We're gonna beam the four of them down to the Granos Caves to hook up with
whoever they're sending for the exchange. Once you get a hold of the book,
Angel's gonna summon a spirit to cause damage to the nearby area. In the
confusion, you guys make your escape and we'll beam you back up to the ship.
As soon as you're on board, we'll make a break for it."

Kai grinned. "Sneaky! But what about the parts that Rock and Solon need for
the Barrier Shields of the ship?"

"We'll have to pick them up somewhere else," Lucielle said, "Maybe on the
way back to Earth or something. For now we'll just concentrate on getting
the Lesser Key and keeping Angel safe with us. Do you all understand what
you have to do?"

Kai, Angel, Chestnut and Emilia all nodded with understanding. Lucielle
smiled at them and sat back down on her chair. "Alrighty then. Lets get down
to business..."

**********

The Kyzanthium Mines of the Granos Caves were a distance of 2000 metres from
Adela City. Far to the east, where many other mines existed. However the
ones by Granos Caves had been abandoned over twenty years ago. It was known
that much of the Kyzanthium under that particular pocket of ice had been
mined out completely. And more than that, the large mining facility on the
roof of the caves had been attacked by Ice Dragons in the past. It had
happened more than once and the people working on those mines safely
concluded that it was just a spot that attracted them. So they abandoned it.

With the heavy snow pouring down from the blue heaven skies, the
Transportation Energy of the Sparta came down one the rickety steel and wood
foundations of the mining complex. Kai was left behind. Along with Angel,
Emilia and Chestnut. There was no actually sign of the Four Horsemen for
now. So they took the moment to look at the place they had come to. It was
much the same as you would expect to see of any abandoned mining complex on
the Valhoth sphere. A makeshift set up of wood, iron and steel. Old
machinery and equipment littered the floor across the complex. Covered in
snowy build up from the sky. This place was far colder than Adela City
itself (which could be seen in the distance) because underneath that city
were heat generators that kept the area warm. No such technology existed
outside Adela City. Here, above the Granos Caves, it was around 5 degrees
above zero. Emilia and Kai were wearing their personalized Whitestar suits
which gave them warmth and protection against the coldness. Chestnut herself
was an Effiran. Her alien genes could tolerate extreme temperatures for
hours and hours if need be. But Angel was not the same. And unlike the
others, he had not the clothing to put up with it. Kai looked to his left to
see the auburn-haired God Summoner shivering. With his breath now visible
from the cold, Kai undid the buttons of his suit and began removing it from
his torso. Angel looked over at the older boy to see him fit that warm suit
around his shoulders.

"...Kai?"

"Can't have you freezing to death," Said the half-Japanese youth, "Use
this."

Angel smiled bashfully. "But what about you?"

"I'm Tensatsukai, remember? I had to go through a lot of drills to cope with
extreme heat and extreme cold. This is a cake walk."

"...Thank you." Answered the catholic, fixing his arms into the suit and
settling inside it. Kai stood with him in only an undershirt. But it was
enough for him. Chestnut and Emilia still checked out the surroundings and
the machinery that was strewn out around them. Until that grim amber-energy
created from the Astaroth's Transportation Beam came down at a distance of
just thirty metres from the group. Kai, Angel, Emilia and Chestnut were
alert. Two figures were left behind when the energy of the beam faded. Two
of them were more than familiar to the party. Aurora, with a large
inch-thick book in her hand. Which was obviously the Lesser Key of Solomon.
Behind her was the other. That being Garland Lilith, armed with the Qingu
Halberd.

Kai snarled angrily. "Garland!"

The dark-haired demon of destruction waved a hand through his long black
hair and grinned at the wielder of Ouroboros. "So we meet again."

Aurora spoke next. "We all know what we came here for. You desire this book,
this `Lesser Key of Solomon'. And we want Angel. Lets just make this
exchange as quick as possible."

Chestnut and Emilia remained careful around them. Angel's expression of
worry showed his unease about all this. But the confident nod he got from
Kai suggested that he had things under control. With that to reassure him,
Angel stepped forwards with Kai at his side. Aurora came forwards with the
book in her hands. The three walked towards each other with very slow focus.
Their shoes leaving well trodden footprints in the layer of snow over the
flooring. Until Aurora and Kai came face to face. Angel slowly stepped to
his sister's side and stopped. Aurora smiled and presented Kai with the
Lesser Key of Solomon, placing it in his hands. From the instant he touched
it, Kai could feel its ancient power. It had its own aura which was manifest
in a light green glow that simply reflected its strength and the knowledge
that existed within it. This was no ordinary book. Aurora stepped away with
her brother beside her. While Kai nodded to Angel to summon a spirit, as
they had planned. But beforehand...

"Now!" Cried Garland.

Aurora grabbed Angel by the wrist and rushed away from the centre of the
floor. A rumbling sound echoed through the Granos Caves and the mining
facility. The old machinery, which had been suffering for years with lack of
use, began to tremble. The snow on it shaking also. The cross necklace on
Angel's neck did the same. And it became obvious that something was starting
up here. Kai vaulted backwards when the ground beneath him became unstable.
And the steel poles that made up the floor suddenly ripped open, one by one.
Three armoured-type Xaphan androids burst up from underneath, flying up with
their Propulsion Gears and plasma rifles at the ready. Kai rolled away from
the three androids and unsheathed the Ouroboros in crouched position,
scowling.

"Clever bastards," Kai muttered, "They planned for this just like we did."

Emilia reached into her left hip holster and withdrew her second pistol,
Sharon. She quickly took aim at Aurora. "Let him go! Now!"

Garland sniggered. "Fools! You'll all die here. Nobody will ever make it to
Earth before us. And we will not allow you to stand in the way of the
Master's plans. Once we destroy that ship of yours... nobody ever will again."

Kai gripped the Ouroboros and scowled at the halberd-wielder. "...We'll see
about that!"

The blade of his sword began crackling with lightning power. So much so that
it illuminated the nearby area. Kai focused his thoughts, knowing that he
just had to do the same thing he did against the Xaphan androids on
Syowa-oh. Kai brought up the sizzling Ouroboros in a horizontal position in
an ancient Japanese swordsmanship stance. And a vicious wave of electrical
power shot straight forward at the armour-type Xaphans. But it went past
them and was directed right at Angel and Aurora. The older woman could do
nothing but release him to escape from the incoming damage. The Thunder Beam
magic skill crashed into the snowy ground and burned a path forwards,
crackling and writhing. Angel fell to the ground, his loose lower clothing
waving around his thighs.

Emilia was astounded. "That boy has mastered manipulation of Ouroboros
already?!"

Kai grit his teeth and rushed forwards, towards one of the Xaphan androids.
In a two-hand hold, he bolted forwards and gave one powerful swipe across
the waist of the android. In seconds it upper body was slashed clean from
its lower half. Kai continued to run ahead, towards the downed Angel. By
which time Chestnut was grinning one of those ferocious Effiran war-grins.
She pounced upwards into the air like a cat on the prowl. Then drew back her
fist and dove downwards at second armoured Xaphan. The power of her Chi then
burst into effect as she thrust her fist ahead of her during the fall.
Chestnut's punch, the Falling Spiral Hand technique; smashed straight
through the framed skull of that android with one powerful blow. Its head
exploded into clusters wires and metal shards. Chestnut leapt back from it
and the whole robot exploded. The fragments, wires, and oil of its body
splattering over the snowy ground like a real organism.

Kai quickly made it to Angel and tossed the Lesser Key of Solomon to him, so
that he was free to fight. Angel grabbed the book and ran past Kai and over
in Emilia and Chestnut's direction. Garland snarled angrily and readied the
Qingu. There was a loud, violent clash as the long blade of Ouroboros and
steel shaft of Qingu collided with each other. Kai and Garland sneered at
each other as they held one and other to a weapon lock. Both straining to
outdo the other.

Meanwhile Emilia took action against the final Xaphan, loading Sharon with
regular bullets. Three quick shots from her gun buried three of those
bullets in the skull, the weak point of all Xaphan androids. The humanoid
machine stumbled around for a moment, right before its head exploded in a
haze of oil and metal, robbing it of all its possible functions. Thankfully
the armoured-type Xaphans were not built with restorative nanomachines. A
few blows from the right weapon could easily take them down.

Aurora was stunned. "...We underestimated them..."

But there were deeper worries now. The explosions of the Xaphan androids had
made the foundations of the mining complex unstable. The shaking of them was
a dead giveaway to that. Garland and Kai seemed to be fully unaware of this.
The two warriors strained against each other with their weapons. While the
damaged upper level of the complex started to fall apart. The steel and iron
bars that the androids had risen up from were now collapsing back into that
same hole.

"Dammit!" Emilia swore.

Aurora looked over at Garland. "Come, Garland, we have to escape!"

The slight distraction that Garland had from listening to that worked to
Kai's advantage. The Japanese boy grinned and shoved the man of the black
tunic forwards. So hard that Garland stumbled back. His feet managed to get
some traction (though it wasn't easy with the snow on the trembling ground)
and a fearless growl rumbled in his throat. "Damn you!"

Kai sniggered. "Don't you wanna stay and play s'more, dickwipe? I'd love to
pay you back for what you did to the Syowa-oh Colony. In full."

Garland welcomed the challenge. But now was obviously not the time. The
taller, older male lowered Qingu and stepped back from Kai, with Aurora
dashing as best as she could to his side. Giving one last look at Angel, she
cried `Astaroth, beam us up' and she and Garland were surrounded by that
same orange-fire energy. They disappeared there afterwards, returning to the
safety of the Astaroth. But it wasn't over for the others. Most particularly
Kai. The ground itself was beginning to capsize into the Granos Caves below.
And the size of the schism was growing all the time. But there was no where
he could run to. Before he knew it, the ground beneath his feet gave in when
the metal pipes all collapsed into the hole. Kai cried out as he plummeted
into the darkness below.

Angel's jewel emerald eyes panicked. "Kai!"

Though he would have had no understanding of his impulsiveness at that
point, Angel acted on it. And recklessly jumped deep into the chasm, with
the Lesser Key of Solomon, after his guardian. Emilia and Chestnut both
looked on with frightened expressions but were smart enough not to follow
them down there. The chilling snow of Valhoth continued to pour down as the
rumblings of the foundations came to a stop. Easing the danger for now. But
Kai and Angel had fallen into the Granos Caves below. Who knew what would
happened to the two them because of it.

**********

"...Ugh..."

Kai groaned with pain. His body was strewn out over a patch of stone which
was covered in a thick sheet of snow. He was inside the Granos Caves now.
But he was alive. The young man shifted his limbs and tried to ease upwards
onto his feet. First to the knees. One hand gripped his skull. The other
propped up him off the snowy ground in that crouched position. He tried hard
to shake off the ringing in his head. Which was when he noted that he could
feel no blood on his face. The fall had been a hard one. But not hard enough
to cause any serious damage. Nearby he could see the rubble from up above.
As well as the Ouroboros sword, entangled in all of it. Kai stood up on two
feet and walked over to the debris of wood and broken metal pipes. Pushing
some of it to and fro, he pulled out the katana-shaped sword and sheathed
it. At least that was okay. Kai sighed and looked up to the ceiling. The
roof of this cave was a good three hundred metres up. But Kai had fallen
from a section of the mine that was just twenty metres above, in the side of
rocky rise of the caves. Kai then looked to his right. He was more than
stunned to see an unconscious Angel laying across the ground. Next to him
was the Lesser Key of Solomon, already gathering a little snow on it.

Kai's eyes widened. "Angel!"

He instantly jogged over the snow to the sleeping boy. Kai crouched down and
carefully put his hand under Angel's neck and head, while the other hand
held him by the waist. Kai looked for damage. He could see that Angel was
alive and visibly breathing. With nothing more than a few small bruises for
physical wounds. But he wasn't awake yet. Had he fallen through the flooring
as well?

"Angel?" Kai prodded, "Angel? C'mon, open your eyes for me."

There was a slow flickering. His elongated eyelashes fluttered leisurely,
while brief moans escaped his lips. Angel's eyes slowly opened and Kai
breathed a sigh of relief, smirking at the floored youth, "...Finally with us,
eh?"

"...K-Kai...?" Angel shivered from the cold, "A-are you a-alright...?"

Kai became concerned again when he saw Angel shiver once more. The entrance
of this cave from the cliff face was just fifteen metres away. The snow blew
in from the winds outside, which was how the cave floor became as
snow-ridden as it was. The sun was beginning to fall and night would soon be
here. In a planet as cold as this, night temperatures could get pretty
rough. Sub-Kelvin was not outside the realms of possibility. And though
Angel was awake now, it was pretty obvious that he wouldn't be up and around
for a few hours. Thus, unless Emilia and Chestnut found them, Kai had to
face the possibility of them spending the night here.

Unless...

Kai pulled up his wrist-strapped NFC and spoke into it. "Sparta. This is Kai
Kisaragi. Do you read me? Sparta, this is Kai, come in. Lucielle? Solon? Is
anybody getting this?! Dammit! The heavy snow must be blocking the
transmission. Why the hell do these gizmos always screw up when you need
them the most?!"

Then Kai calmed down when he saw Angel shiver in his arms and speak.
"...C-Chestnut... M-miss M-Maximov..."

"Take it easy," Kai suggested, "They'll be fine, wherever they are. You just
sit tight here for a sec, alright? I'm gonna see if I can start a fire."

Angel nodded slowly and Kai released him slowly. Then stood up and looked
around for something dry to burn. With the Ouroboros magic he could easily
get a fire started. But the question was, could he find anything to ignite.
Everything around was so damp and cold from the snow. The only thing that
looked burnable was the debris that had fallen with them from up above in
the mining complex. Kai strode up to the pile of timber and metal and
gathered some of it together. He then brought the blasted remains of the
upper complex and tossed them near Angel's body. Kai withdrew the Ouroboros
sword from its sheath at its waist and concentrated his mind on producing a
small flame. Just enough to set the debris alight but not so much that it
would cause another explosion. This miniature flame appeared at the tip of
the sword. Just the right size for the fire. Kai thrust the tip of the sword
into the debris. And soon afterwards it caught aflame. A roaring fire sprung
up from the pile. Angel was provided with the warmth of it. Just enough to
prevent any conditions arising from the coldness of Valhoth. He was a frail
boy, and not nearly as physically tough as Kai was.

Then Kai looked out to the opening of the cave. The snow was coming in fast.
But magic fire was far more powerful than normal fire. So it wouldn't be
blown out by the snow. That was a given. But there were more pressing
issues. Like what had happened to Emilia and Chestnut. Had they fallen into
the Granos Caves as well? If so, why weren't they here? And if not, where
were they? Kai assumed that they would be okay. But he would have to go
looking for them in the morning if they didn't show themselves by then. And
worst still, they might have to go back to Adela City on foot if the snow
didn't ease up by morning. From there they could at least get a transmission
out to the Sparta. And the final problem was the Four Horsemen.

What would they be doing? Aurora and Garland had beamed back up to the
Astaroth, but they obviously wouldn't be resting on their laurels. It was
then that Kai realized he knew very little about those four. Who in the
world were they? And just what were their plans? It was important to know
that now. Because it was obvious that their plans involved Angel somehow. It
seemed there was nothing more that he could do for the night, so Kai strode
over to the quiet Angel and took a seat beside him. Then withdrew the
Ouroboros sword and held it upright.

"Hmm," Kai mused, "Ai. I need some information."

The talking mini-computer of the Ouroboros sword, Ai, addressed Kai on
command in that mechanical voice it had. "What data do you need?"

"Anything on the Four Horsemen," Kai replied, "And any visual feeds or
images of them would be appreciated."

Ai waited for a moment then replied. "Four files found. Would you like me to
display them?"

"Sure."

Ai instantly went to work. From the hilt of the sword came a projection of
the first Horseman, Garland Lilith. It was followed with the spoken data.
"This is the first member of the Four Horsemen. Named as `Garland Lilith'. A
Valhothian male, age 25, and of Scottish descent. His known weapons include
the Qingu Magi-Tech halberd, a P50-Maxirian laser revolver and a Batch-K407
energy knife. He is one of the most infamous assassins known to man."

"I know that much. Keep goin' with this."

A second image, this time of someone unknown to Kai, came up. It was a young
woman, dark haired and very good-looking, with an Asiatic face. Dressed in a
very luxuriously designed Chinese/Xiantianese dress. "This is the second
member of the Four Horsemen. Named as `Rose Liu'. A Xiantianese female, age
23, and of Chinese descent. Her only known weapons are her acupunctural
needles. Dipped in the right chemicals, these can produce symptoms similar
to paranoia and hallucination."

The third image was another person that Kai had not seen. A young male with
dyed green hair, and a cocky smile. Dressed in brown bomber jacket and
smooth denim jeans. A very casual look for a Horseman. "The third member of
the Four Horsemen. Named as `Gaap Mosaletti'. A Drydnish male, age 24, and
of Italian descent. His known weapons are a dual pair of laser hand guns
known as Orias and Orobas. A skilled marksman."

"And the final one is...?"

Kai already knew who she was but Ai put up the data for her anyway. "The
fourth member and leader of the Four Horsemen. Named as `Aurora Edelweiss'.
A New Westhampton female, age 26, and of English descent. Aurora has no
known weapons to speak of. Unlike the other members of the Four Horsemen,
she does not appear to have any combat capabilities."

Kai smirked. "But she's smart as all hell, right? That bitch tried to double
cross us just like we tried to double cross her. No offence, Angel."

The catholic boy pulled a smile. "N-None taken."

"...Look, can I ask?" Kai lowered the Ouroboros when the projection of Aurora
ended, "...what is the deal with your sister? I know you didn't wanna talk
about it before. But did you know that she was a member of the Four
Horsemen?"

Angel bobbed his head. "You were the only one who didn't know. I'm not...
proud of what she has done. But she serves our father faithfully. And though
I have no real proof... I believe that my father is the one funding the Four
Horsemen."

"Your father?" Kai repeated, sheathing the sword.

"Yes," Angel's eyes lowered, "...my adoptive father. Gernst Mullenhauser."

Kai's face so clearly showed his surprise. "Holy crap! Gernst Mullenhauser?!
THE Gernst Mullenhauser?! The owner of the Bas Dahlem Foundation? That guy's
one of the richest men in the known universe! And a member of the Greater
Universal Confederacy's high council, no less! I had no idea that that guy
had adopted kids. Whoa..."

"That's him," Angel rubbed his arms against his sides, "...my sister and I
lived in high class society on the New Westhampton Colony with our birth
parents until they both died from sickness. But we could not afford to live
that way when they passed on. And so we moved into a small apartment in a
working-class district. I was no more than 6 or 7 back then... my sister took
good care of me for the most part. But she was only 15 and she had a right
to her own life. On the day that we were to be sent to a children's home, my
sister attempted something drastic. She tried to hack into the main server
of the Bas Dahlem Foundation's network. Her plan was to steal a certain
amount of money each month without detection. Large enough to keep the two
of us afloat but not enough to draw too much attention. For around half a
year it worked fine. Until she forgot to put up a blocking program to
prevent her incursion from being detected. She was traced and Father himself
came with his men to kill us. However. When he saw how young my sister was
and how great a hacker she was at such an age, he decided to adopt her. I do
not think that he was very interested in me. Not until he found out about my
magical powers. And at first I was happy, growing up in high society again.
But a year or so ago, I discovered what my Father planned for the Earth. To
extract its Magite. So much so that the planet will be bled dry and will
become barren. It might sound like an impossible task but if he properly
leveraged the resources of the Bas Dahlem Foundation, it could be done. It
was a horrific act of greed. One that I could not allow him to commit. So I...
joined with the captain and the Whitestar group to oppose my Father's
plans."

Kai absorbed all of Angel's story. "I see. I had no idea. I guess this
situation really is a serious one. But wait a minute. If you knew what
Mullenhauser was up to from the start, why didn't you tell the authorities
or something?"

"Because of my sister," Angel responded, "As much as I know that she has
done terrible things, she's my family and I love her. Just as she loves me.
I owe much to her. If I told the Interplanetary Vanguard it would surely
condemn her to death. And more important than that, there is little proof I
have that my Father will do this. If I can't prove it, there's no case that
can be brought against him. And there is the fact of his status. There are
most certainly underhanded people in the Greater Universal Confederacy. Ones
who may choose to ignore the actions of my Father if it means losing his
financial input. It is better that we stop him in secret."

Kai now realized how much Angel really had on his shoulders. Stopping the
overflow of the Magite on Earth, getting the Greater Universal Confederacy
to rejuvenate the Earth, stopping his own Father, protecting his Sister, it
all must have weighed heavily on him. And Kai had grown up the exact same
way. Shouldering a heavy responsibility.

"You don't have to do all this alone, you know," Kai answered, "I'm here."

Angel let off another sad smile. "...But you're only here for Celena."

"Not anymore," A resolute expression was shown on the Syowanese boys' face,
"I might not have come into this thing with the right ethic. But I can amend
that now. I wanna fight for more than just Celena."

"...But why?"

"Because it's important to you," Kai said with a smile, "And for some
reason, if it's important to you, then it's important to me. I can't let you
handle all this alone. I know it sounds stupid, but, I like the idea that I
can help you. We're friends now, right?"

Angel nodded, blushing. "Of course."

"Then it's not a problem. But for now we just have to think about making
contact with the Sparta. If we can't get in touch with Emilia and Chestnut
by morning then we'll have to go to Adela City and find a terminal. Lucielle
and the others are probably looking for us right now, since you and the book
and Ouroboros are here. But with the snowstorm, it's gonna take them a while
to reach us. Let alone find us."

"Can't you use your NFC?"

Kai shook his head. "Nah. The snowstorm is blocking the transmission. If
they can't find us by morning then the only hope we have is to go to Adela
City. I dunno if you'll be able to walk by then. But I can't leave you
behind either."

Angel shook his head. "...I will be fine. I'd just slow you down."

"Still, I wouldn't feel right about it. Part of the reason I'm here is to
protect you. And this isn't  much of a safe place as it is. I guess I'll
just have to carry you or something. As long as the Four Horsemen don't
attack us again then it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

To be perfectly honest, it pleased Angel to know that Kai wasn't willing to
leave him alone. Even if it meant a tougher journey to Adela City. Angel was
a light person by weight but with the snow and the cold, it would be extra
tough to make it to the city. Kai just forgot the issue for now and leaned
back, lying alongside Angel with his hands tucked under his head. The sword
was rested next to him. And he tried to close his eyes to get some sleep.
Then a few moments later, his stomach growled. Very loudly in fact. Kai
turned a peachy red and held a hand to his stomach, while Angel stared at
him for a moment. Right before bursting out with erratic laughter.

Kai growled with embarrassment at first, but this eased when he saw Angel
laughing like that. And that frown became a smile. "...You know, I think
that's the first time I've heard you laugh out loud."

Angel stifled his giggles. "Sorry. I don't mean to make fun of you."

"Ah don't be," Kai said, "It's nice."

"Are you hungry?"

"...Kinda," He replied, "...I haven't eaten anything since that breakfast I had
on the ship, dammit. And I can tell there's a lack of food in the snow of
Valhoth. Nothing out here but wind, snow and Ice Dragons ...wait. Dragon meat
isn't edible, is it?"

Angel smiled generously. "Nope. It's actually poisonous. No matter how much
you cook it. Well, accept to Effirans, that is. Chestnut loves that sort of
thing. But I'm not sure how partial Rock is to it."

"Those Effirans are something else," Kai claimed, "Kinda surprises me that
that Rock guy's a computer geek. His sister is such a hardnut."

Angel giggled again. "Chestnut is unquestionably distinctive. I just... hope
that I will get to see her again."

Kai shut his eyes again, with a smile. "Of course you will. You've got me."

**********

"It look like we find them..."

Kai groaned when he felt pale sunlight touching him. And when his
super-hearing picked up on the familiar broken English of a certain Effiran
warrior. The youngster stirred for a brief moment then completely opened his
baby blue eyes, looking up above him to see two female figures bathed in the
light of the sun. Those people happened to be the Effiran martial artist,
Chestnut, and the Russian markswoman, Emilia. Tucked under Chestnut's arm
was the tomb of legend, the Lesser Key of Solomon. Kai leaned up from his
sleeping position and looked over to his side to see Angel asleep on the
ground next to him.

Kai rubbed the matter from his eyes, yawning. "...Damn. You guys... sure took
your time."

"We couldn't trace you via the NFCs thanks to the snowstorm," Emilia
answered, "but when morning hit and the snow calmed down, the transmissions
managed to get through again. We tried to alert you, but, it seems you were
both asleep. No matter. The Sparta is in orbit, ready to beam us up at a
moment's notice."

The Japanese lad nodded and looked out the cave. When he saw the entrance to
the cave he realized that the sun wasn't all that bright. But the snowstorm
of last night had been so strong that it blocked out all the light from
above. It went to show how strong Valhothian chill could be. In climate
terms, this would have been classified as the `summer' period. But in
reality, winter was almost eternal on Valhoth. Seasons were determined by
the strength of snowfall. And by all accounts, this was light weather. Had
it been the `winter' part of the Valhothian climate cycle, Kai and Angel
would have frozen to death hours ago.

"How's the Sparta?" Kai asked, standing up slowly, "did the Astaroth attack
it during the night or what?"

Emilia shook her head. "No. Solon informed us that the Astaroth fled
Valhothian orbit as soon as their plans failed. We have no idea where
they've decided to go, but most people, including Solon, think that they are
on their way to Earth."

"Then we better get moving," Kai looked down at Angel, "Angel? Wake up. The
others are here."

He was already stirring thanks to the discussion between the awakened three.
The brown-haired boy yawned femininely, still clinging to Kai's Whitestar
suit as a source of warmth from the coldness of Valhoth. "...Hm? Chestnut?
Miss Maximov?"

"Angel okay!" Chestnut yelled victoriously, "Comrade Kai did good job!"

Kai grinned. "You expect anything else from the likes of me?"

"Alright, alright. Enough of the flattery. We all need to get back to the
Sparta. I've had as much of all this snow and ice as necessary for a
lifetime. Besides. We don't want the Sparta to be lingering in Valhoth orbit
forever." Emilia put forth.

The others all nodded and Angel stood up from his body print in the snow.
They all grouped together and Emilia pressed a button on the NFC of her
wrist, speaking, "Solon? We've got them. Transport us back up to the Sparta
when ready."

Solon's articulate voice replied through the receiver. "Roger."

Three seconds afterwards; Kai, Angel, Chestnut and Emilia were surrounded
with the wraithlike energies of the Sparta's Transportation Beam again. The
four were sent straight from the cold, snow-infested caves of Granos to the
technological advanced layout of the Whitestar flagship, high up in space.
Angel breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived in the Sparta's
Transportation Chamber with the others beside him. But the group made their
way straight for the bridge upon arrival. The automatic doors of that
control room shifted open again when the party stepped through and entered
with both Angel and the Lesser Key of Solomon intact.

"We're back!" Kai said in a sing-song manner.

Lucielle was the first to react. The American Captain was off her seat
before any one knew it, with her eyes firmly set on Emilia. Kai, Angel,
Solon, Chestnut, Rock and Celena (Who happened to be on the bridge at that
time) all sweatdropped when their leader threw herself into the strong arms
of the Russian gunfighter. Lucielle giggled school-girlishly whilst Emilia
settled into the embrace with surprising comfort. "I'm so glad you're okay,
Emilia! I just knew you'd be!"

"Well... I am a Romanovian national after all..." Emilia boasted.

Kai's eyebrow ticked. "...Uh... are these the same women who were glaring at
each other yesterday? Or am I just imagining this?"

"Yes, well, the Captain and Miss Maximov do have an... odd relationship..."
Angel said.

"...Stop being insubordinate, you two!" Lucielle said to them, her arms
wrapped possessively around the neck of Miss Maximov. She then looked over
to the main terminals of the bridge where Solon and Rock were, "Hey, Solon!
I'm gonna be occupied for ten minutes or so. While I'm gone, set a course
for the Victoria Lake Colony, alright? I'll explain why when I get back.
You're in charge for now."

Solon nodded. "Affirmative."

Lucielle gave off one of those schoolgirl giggles and marched off with
Emilia's hand in her own, towards the automatic doors of the bridge. When
they were gone, Kai put his hand up against his waist and sighed. "I said it
once and I'll say it again. This entire crew is made up of lunatics."

>From the terminals, Rock looked over at Solon with confusion. "Hey. How come
you just let the Captain walk off that way? Don't you object to being dumped
on like that?"

"No. I do not believe I do."

"And why is that?" Rock wondered.

Though her facial expression was solid and emotionless as usual, there was
an unmistakable blush on the redheaded Solon's cute young cheeks. "...Because...
I am fond of the Captain."

Rock turned back to his panel, grinning. "Yeah. I think we all are."

While Rock and Solon went to work on plotting a course for the American
Colony of Victoria Lake, Lucielle's home colony, Celena stepped from the
side area of the bridge and came up to the wielder of Ouroboros with a
cheerful smile. "I'm so glad that you're okay, Kai. I got a bit worried when
I heard that you and Angel and the others had gone missing down there."

"Worried about me? Nah. It was okay." Kai scratched the back of his head
with a chuckle. Then took notice of what Celena was wearing around her waist
and neck, "What's up with that cooking apron?"

Celena winked. "You're looking at the newest cook of the Whitestar crew!
Lucielle hired me as official personnel once she heard that I can whip up a
mean blueberry pie. I guessed that I should be making myself useful around
here anyway."

"So you're a cook, now?" Kai smirked, "Well you've always liked that kind of
stuff."

While Kai and Celena went over that between the two of them, Chestnut handed
the Lesser Key of Solomon over to Angel while the others on hand at the
bridge finalized preparations for making the ship's way towards Victoria
Lake. Outside the automatic doors of the bridge stood Lucielle and Emilia.
With her back against the wall, Lucielle kissed desperately with the
normally cold Russian woman. Her arms were wrapped around Emilia's waist,
holding her passionately. While Emilia herself clutched at Lucielle's
cheeks, tilting her head to one side and moaning lightly the other woman's
mouth. The two kissed each other deeply with lusty zeal, their light moans
and sighs melding with those of the other. Until Lucielle pulled back with
one loud smack of the lips and a satisfied smile on her face.

"...I'm so glad you're okay." She admitted.

Emilia shook her head. "You didn't have to worry. That boy his tougher than
he looks. And Chestnut and I had things covered until we found him and
Angel. There was nothing to be concerned of."

"...Yeah," The young American woman ran her hands through Emilia's long black
tresses of hair, "but now I'm really psyched `cause things have finally
gotten better between us."

"...In what way?" Emilia questioned.

"Well, you know," The schoolgirl-like giggles made a return, "the two of us...
know what we really want. And what we want... is each other."

Emilia looked away. "...Is that what you think?"

"Of course!" Then Lucielle took a deeper look at Emilia and frowned, "...it's
the same for you though, right? ...Emilia?"

"My major concern is, and will always be, for my revenge. You know that. And
I've never made any secret of it either."

Suddenly Lucielle's frown became a scowl, and she instant pushed Emilia away
from her, leaning off the wall. "You mean to tell me after all that,
nothing's changed?!"

"Yes."

"Then why the hell did you kiss me like that?!"

Emilia finally looked back at the American girl. "...It seemed to be what you
wanted."

A loud and seething cry surged from Lucielle's throat as she drew back her
hand and then swung it around, slapping the Russian gunslinger right across
the face. Emilia's cheek turned an instant red but she did nothing other
than look away despondently. While Lucielle fumed at her with harsh scowls
on her pretty `western' face. "You know what?! You can just go to hell! I
don't know what I was thinking when I involved myself with a woman of ice
like you!"

The captain of the Whitestar then stomped off back towards the doors of the
bridge, leaving behind a silent and motionless Emilia. Once the doors to the
bridge opened once again to reveal Lucielle, everyone looked over at her.
And took note of the angry expression that was on her face. None had heard
what had been said but everyone could see that she was not in the happy mood
she been in five minutes ago.

Rock was the first of the group on the bridge to address it. "Captain, is
everything okay? Did you amend things with Emilia?"

"Emilia who?!" Lucielle barked, crossing her arms, "...Solon. Have you set a
route for the Victoria Lake Colony, yet?"

"Roger, Captain," Solon answered, "We are all set to depart when the word is
given."

Lucielle shut her eyes. "Alrighty then. Take us away. But at a quarter
thrust, without use of the Leap Drive. We're going to make a quick stop on
Sy Cyrus while we're on our way."

**********

"...Hmm. Sy Cyrus, huh?"

Back in his own room on the ship, Kai sat at the desk in the corner. Staring
into the beaming screen of his computer monitor. It had been a more than few
hours since he and Angel had been retrieved from the Granos Caves by Emilia
and Chestnut. The ship had been moving in slow speeds towards the
Earth-orbital colony of Victoria Lake. The Captain's home. And the reason
that the Sparta was moving at a relatively slow rate was because Lucielle
wanted to make another stop beforehand. On a distant settlement from the
planet of Valhoth. This `little' settlement itself was on another planet
that Kai had no idea about or knowledge of. Thus he was a little curious.
Nobody had asked Lucielle just what they were going to Sy Cyrus for, mostly
because they were too intimidated to do so. Apparently she and Emilia had
had a bit of a barney. And everyone, including Kai, was nervous about
talking to either of them about it. And since Solon was occupied on the
bridge, Kai decided that he would find out more on Sy Cyrus himself via the
Galactic Web.

By now Kai had undressed from the remainders of his Whitestar uniform and
had redressed in a white string vest and a pair of black trousers. He was in
no mood to get dressed up for anything and was intent on figuring out what
Sy Cyrus was. And that did not take long. Kai accessed a website on the
Galactic Web known as the Grand Lexicon. But far from being some glorified
dictionary, it was a large collection of all the information gathered as a
result of the space boom. This included details of colonies created after
the Great Earth Disaster, new minerals discovered on new planets, alien
species, etc. Sy Cyrus was a new city built just 50 or so years ago. Kai
knew that much. He wanted to know more. And eventually he came to see a part
of the web page which had a search bar. He quickly typed `Sy Cyrus' into it
and a new page came up with the results. Kai clicked on the first one and
got the information he so desired.

"Sy Cyrus," Kai spoke, as he read from the page, "the multi-national
pleasure city created on the Earth-like planet of Faandolta. Due to the
closeness that Faandolta has to the sun of its galaxy, the heat of the
Faandolta Sphere is sweltering. However the surrounding atmospheric ozone
diminishes the strength of the sun's rays, giving the Faandolta's surface a
constant temperature of over 38° Celsius. Thus making it more than habitable
for humankind. Because of the heat of Faandolta and the vastness of its
oceans, it has become a popular recreational resort. However unlike the
planets Valhoth and Mycelia, Faandolta has very little in the way of natural
resources. Thus its only real financial worth is as a resort planet. Its
capital city being Sy Cyrus. This is the hub of all business and commerce on
Faandolta and remains as the only pleasure city in the outer-orbital world.
In recent years there has been an influx of alien immigration into Sy Cyrus
as a result of the Faandolta government's pledge to spread across the
surface of its only continent. Because of this, alien populations (with the
majority being of Effiran racial identity) are high in the new settlements
that surround the city of Sy Cyrus."

Kai rested his chin upon his fist and whistled with awe. It seemed like
after all the coldness and ice of Valhoth, the crew would be heading for the
sun-kissed beaches of Faandolta. But what was it that Lucielle was after?
Kai still wondered about that. She seemed like an open person most of the
time. But she was sure in one bad mood right now. Not even Solon had the
courage to press the Captain about it.

The blonde youth was just about to log off, until he heard someone knock on
his door a couple times. "Come on in."

With the vocal command given by Kai to allow access, the automatic door
shifted to one side to allow the knocker in. The one standing in the doorway
happened to be Celena Avalis herself. The young woman had fresh new stains
on her white apron. While in her hands was a silver tray. On it were three
slices of blueberry pie. The very same pie that Lucielle had hired Celena
for.

Kai smirked at her. "...You're settling into this cook thing well, huh?"

Celena scowled and rushed over to him, pushing the tray at him. "Just try
one of these!"

"...Geez, what's the big-"

"Just try one!"

The Japanese lad sighed and picked up a slice of pie from the tray. Then
took a bite out of it. With a munch Kai judged the taste of the pie. Celena
waited for his reaction. A smile when chewing. Just the one she wanted. "You
like it, right?"

"...Well duh," Kai swallowed then answered her, "why do you think I'm
constantly pestering you to cook for me? So what's the big deal?"

"I've given a piece to everyone except Angel and the Captain," Celena
answered, "I wanted everyone to try it but I have to be quick. Me and the
other girls in the galley have to prepare lunch for the entire crew and we
don't have much time. So could you do me a REALLY big favour?"

Kai heaved a sigh. "...What is it?"

"Give this to Angel," Celena took a piece of blueberry pie (which was on a
separate plastic plate) off the tray and handed it to Kai, "...I'm going to
give this one to the Captain. I think she could do with some cheering up."

"Is that why you baked this pie?" Asked the Syowanese boy.

Celena nodded, restlessly. "Partly. Solon asked me to do it for her."

"Solon, huh?" Kai smiled to himself, "That kid likes to make out that she's
some kinda brain machine... but she's pretty partial to that captain of ours."

"Yeah, well, whatever. I have to go. Make sure Angel gets that piece of pie
like I told you. If you do this for me, I'll give you a little something
extra the next time you come down to the cafeteria, alright?"

"Leave it to me."

Celena nodded smiling to her friend and quickly stepped outside with her
tray in hand. She turned to the left, obviously heading for the bridge.
Which was where Lucielle would be. It seemed that even Solon was willing to
push the boat out to get that woman smiley-faced again. It struck Kai that
Lucielle meant a lot to the people of this ship. It made it easier to
understand how someone as... unusual as her could remain captain. But he
didn't need to think about that now. Kai stood up from his computer desk
with Angel's pie in hand. Then he walked out his room into the right
corridor of the living quarters. Angel's room was just a few doors down from
his own (which shows how much of a rush Celena was if she couldn't spare the
time to walk that far). Kai shook his bangs with a jerk of his head and
strode down the pathway to the door of the boy in his charge. But to Kai's
surprise, the door to Angel's room was already open. The Japanese youngster
shrugged his shoulders and walked inside to see the layout of Angel's room.
It was a lot better decorated than his own. Mostly because Angel had spent
more time on the Sparta than he had. The walls were covered in oriental
tapestries from Xiantian Colony, African masks from the Nbogo Colony,
Effiran poetry scrolls from Phoebantinople, landscape paintings from New
Westhampton, as well as an ornamental Naginata from Syowa-oh. The ground was
carpeted with a soft cotton-like substance from Drydna and Angel's bed was
richly decorated with a large fluffy bedspread from Romanovia. Everything in
Angel's possession proved that he had been all over the known universe, and
the richness of it all demonstrated the kind of background that the boy came
from. Kai wasn't too surprised to see this in Angel's living dorm. But only
because it was him. From anyone else, it would have seemed... very
extravagant.

"Yo, Angel!" Kai yelled out, "Are you here?"

Angel's gentle voice replied from the side bathroom of his room. "...Yes. I'll
be there in a minute, okay?"

Kai shrugged and sat the plate with the blueberry pie down on Angel's chest
of drawers. He then looked over at the English descendant's bed. Resting on
it was that book. The Lesser Key of Solomon. Kai and Angel had spent a night
in freezing cold weather for that book. He just hoped that the old thing was
worth it. The aura of the tome certainly seemed to indicate so. Even now it
smouldered in a vivid emerald which was as bright as a newly polished jewel
shining in the sun. What ancient secrets existed inside that book, he
wondered.

Just then Angel stepped out of his bathroom. "...What can I do for you, Kai?"

"Nothing, it's just that Celena-"

In that instant, Kai was stunned into a silence from nothing more than the
sight before him. The Japanese boy went wide in the eyes and fiery in the
cheeks when he saw the young Angel saunter into his bedroom on small, dainty
bare feet. He then stood prone wearing nothing more than a thin towel. Which
had been wrapped tightly around his upper thighs, stomach and chest in a
very feminine manner. It was obvious that he had just come out of a bath.
His whole body was damp from wetness, little droplets of lukewarm water
still clinging to his milk-white flesh. Leaving his long, thin legs in full
view. Angel's short chocolate hair clung to each other in wet strands, still
dripping, while his silver crucifix dangled from the nape of his neck. It
was a startling sight to behold. Especially for Kai. Right now this
beautiful boy, Angel Edelweiss, looked like the moist teenage reincarnation
of some ancient Greek Goddess (notwithstanding flatchested) whom had freshly
arisen from a sparkling blue lake. Totally lacking in almost all points the
masculinity that would have defined Angel as a male.

Kai was literally stunned. "...I... uh..."

"...Is something wrong?" Enquired Angel, in that melodic voice of his, "...you
seem quiet."

The Japanese man looked away, blushing harder. "...Um... Celena."

"What about her?"

"...She told me to give you a slice of the pie that she just made..." Kai
retained his new and stark awkwardness that Angel did not seem to be picking
up on. But it didn't matter. Angel's large bottle green eyes looked over to
the chest of drawers and saw the plastic plate with his blueberry pie on it.

His lips pulled a small smile. "...I'll have to thank her later on."

"...Uh, yeah..."

Angel's inquisitive glance returned again. And he stepped forward whilst
looking deeply at his guardian. Kai's body jerked when he realized that
Angel was moving closer to him. Now noticing the beads of bathwater that ran
down the crux of his throat, all the way to line of the bath towel under his
arms. "Are you sure that you're okay, Kai? You're all red in the face. It
was rather cold on Valhoth. If you caught a fever then you should go to the
infirmary."

"...Uh, I'm fine," Kai decided that he better change the subject to something
else, "uh... have you read that Key of whatshisface yet?"

Angel stepped back to his bed and sat down next to it. "It's called the
Lesser Key of Solomon. It's divided into five chapters that contain lots of
information. Those chapters are Ars Goetia, Ars Theurgia Goetia, Ars
Paulina, Ars Almadel and Ars Norotia. I've skimmed through it a bit. But it
is written in Latin, an old language of Earth, and I'm not completely fluent
in it. The book is hard to really sit down and read. Want me to show you?"

Kai didn't know whether to say yes or no. A little twinge in him was
screaming 'yes'. But for as yet unknown reasons. The Japanese guy stepped
slowly over to Angel in almost careful strides and sat a small distance from
him on the bed. Angel picked up the Lesser Key of Solomon and opened its
ancient covers to reveal its detailed innards. He soon started to explaining
what he knew from the book thus far, but Kai wasn't really digesting what
was coming from his mouth. But rather the way Angel's pink lips looked when
he spoke those words. Though he had no idea was causing it, Kai couldn't
stop seeing Angel in this way at this point in time. All he managed to focus
on was the thin, feminine torso of the boy next to him, and the curious
fragrance of wildflowers and strawberries that adhered to his wet skin.

"It's a fascinating book," Angel commented, staring down at its pages, "if
what I'm reading is correct, then the fifth chapter, Ars Norotia, seems to
speak of some kind of spell that can bring back the dead. Unreal, is it
not?"

Kai shook his head, still absorbing Angel's forest fruit-like scent.
"Y-yeah..."

A low, crackling growl then rung in the four walls of Angel's room. Out of
the blue. The sudden Angel-induced reverie that Kai had been thrown into was
finally broken when he heard it. And it grew louder. Though Angel did not
seem to be effected by it. Then at that point, something mildly large
stepped out of Angel's bathroom on four legs. Kai went from red in the
cheeks to blue, as an ebony black panther stepped out slowly with a rumbling
snarl in its throat. The large cat bore its huge pearly teeth and fangs at
Kai, while the Syowanese swordsman leapt up defensively and bolted ahead of
Angel.

"Angel, look out!"

The green-eyed boy looked on curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Are you blind?!" Kai howled noisily, "There's a fucking panther in here!"

"...You mean no one told you?" Angel asked, blinking.

"Told me what?!"

Angel pulled a gentle, melancholic smile and stood up from his bed, closing
the Key and putting it down. He then stepped over to the midnight black
panther in front and kneeled down, petting it slowly across the head. It
gave the boy an appreciative purr for his efforts and nuzzled its head into
Angel's touch. Kai watched this in total perplexity. Not knowing what the
hell was up with it. Until Angel looked back at him and said,

"I assume that no one thought to tell you about it. Maybe they thought I
would. Perhaps I should have. But you have no need to fear her. This panther
is my pet. Her name is Keela."

Kai's eyebrow ticked. "...You have a pet panther?!"

"Well, strictly speaking, Keela belongs to my sister. By when I ran away
from home to join with Whitestar, this bundle of love saw fit to follow me.
In the end I managed to convince the captain to allow me to keep Keela as a
pet. It took some time but in the end I won her over with patience."

"...Jesus..." Kai watched as Keela growled once more and settled down on Angel's
soft carpet. She really was his pet, "...this ship just keeps getting weirder
and weirder..."

**********

"We are in orbit of Faandolta, Captain."

Lucielle nodded to Solon as she watched the image of the brownish-red
planet, Faandolta, on the video screen of the bridge. It had taken at least
three days to make it here. And Lucielle had made a point of not gunning the
journey very fast. Probably to give Kai, Angel, Chestnut (and maybe Emilia)
the chance to recover after the night they had spent separated on Valhoth in
the Granos Caves. But this was different. This was somewhere that did not
seem connected to the mission. Not in the least.

The majority of the foremost members of the Whitestar crew had gathered up
on the bridge by now. Kai was there, fully redressed in a less battle-ready
Whitestar uniform. Alongside him was Angel. Chestnut and Emilia stood next
to those two. While Rock and Solon manned the front consoles with one other.
Lucielle smiled at the resort planet, nearly three times smaller than Earth.
"So I've finally returned, eh? It's been nearly three years now..."

"Does this hold some significance with you, Captain?" Angel asked.

Lucielle bobbed her head, avoiding eye contact with a certain Romanovian
woman. "...Yup. I probably should have explained before this, but I'm going to
visit a friend of my Father's. I need to ask a favour of him."

"Who is it?" Kai said.

"A friend of my Daddy," Lucielle replied, "his name is Frank Anselm. He's a
retired archaeologist and he and his granddaughter are friends of my family.
Mr. Anselm is the one who actually drew up the blueprints for the Sparta
alongside my Daddy. I want to go see him to ask something of him."

Kai just shrugged, spreading his arms out. "Fair enough. I guess this is a
personal thing."

"Sort of," Lucielle replied with a smile, "but you're gonna be coming with
me, Kai. And so are you, Angel."

"I am coming as well?"

"Sure," Lucielle stood up from her Captain's chair, "you're always talking
about how much you wanted to see what Faandolta looks like, right? Now's
your chance. Rock and Solon are in charge of the Sparta while I'm away.
Chestnut, you'll be on standby in case something happens down there,
alright?"

Chestnut nodded to her captain. "Yes, Lulu!"

"...What about me? Where will I be stationed?" Questioned Emilia.

Lucielle snorted and crossed her arms in a huff. "I don't give a damn what
you do."

Another awkward silence usurped the bridge of the Sparta when that was said.
Lucielle opened her eyes and walked away from her seat over to Angel and Kai
saying `shall we go' to the pair of them. They left, with a quiet bridge
duty crew and a somewhat chastised Emilia. Chestnut, being the kind of
abrasive woman that she was, ignored the climate of the room to say
something to the Russian markswoman.

"Is Emilia all right?"

The dark-haired one said nothing in reply. "..."

"Not get worry," Chestnut said in her squeaky, unusually high-pitched voice,
"Lulu is like big child! Once Lulu get over grumpy mood, all and all is
good! You don't worry!"

Emilia's eyes remained as expressionless as stone. And she stomped out
through the second set of automatic doors on the left side of the bridge.
Chestnut blinked in confusion, while Rock, her well spoken brother, slapped
his face. "...Little Sister... I think we need to go over the human language one
more time. There's a certain word I need to teach you."

"What that?" Chestnut asked curiously.

"Tact."

By now, outside the drama of the bridge; Lucielle, Kai and Angel had entered
the circular Transportation Chamber. There images were beamed from that room
straight down to the surface of Faandolta with the lightning speed that the
Transportation Beams were famous for. When the eyes of the three were
adjusted to something other than light, they took in what they did see. A
huge, expansive beach of golden sand that stretched for over a mile either
way of them. Beautiful crystal blue waters lapped at the edges of that
beach. While hundreds of young men, women and children were strewn out
across it. Either sunbathing, building sand castles, eating ice cream, or
flirting with others. Laughter and chatter was abound. As well as the
soothing sound of waves crashing softly into the beach front. While the
seagulls chirped in the air. Above the setting of the beach were the
beautiful crimson red skies that Faandolta was equally famous for. While it
looked like a sunset, it was the height of the day's shine. The rays of the
sun's heat pelted down heavily on the Faandolta Sphere. But the thick
atmosphere surrounding the planet (which unlike Earth had not been weakened
by pollution in pre-AED years) protected the surface from the brunt of that
heat. The mix between thick clouds and bright sun contact gave the skies
above Sy Cyrus a wonderful shade of red. Something that the captain of the
Whitestar could recall from her last time here.

"Just as pretty as I remember it." Murmured the American girl.

Angel looked around also. "...So it is."

"...There's a lot of people around here. Is this a popular place?" Kai
wondered.

Lucielle winked at him. "Well duh, smart guy! This is called the Red Beach.
They named it that because the red skies are the brightest from this point
in Sy Cyrus for some reason. It's also very close to the place at which Mr.
Anselm lives. I gave Solon the coordinates and she dropped us here
precisely. That girl's a miracle worker."

"Shall we go?" Angel asked, hands at his sides, "I'd like to have a look
around."

Lucielle nodded and lead the way for Kai and Angel to follow. The three of
then cut a path through all the vacationers that stood and lay across the
Red Beach, enjoying the sun as well as the setting. As she had said, the
beach house of the Anselms was not that far from the beach itself. Lucielle,
Kai and Angel walked up a metal set of sandy steps that led back up to the
peer from the wide beach front. The three of them walked down a quick
stretch of road that curved into a secondary area of the beach. One that was
a little more secluded than the rest. It was fenced and there wasn't a
single person on that part of the beach. Kai found that a little odd at
first. But then he noticed a sign on the wired fence. It said `private
property'. And he guessed that the one who owned this smaller section of the
beach was Lucielle's friend. The American captain strode down a second set
of stairs from that part of the peer and turned around to see the small
mansion-like home of the Anselms.

"This is it." She said.

Angel and Kai stopped in their tracks to look at it. In the technological
world of 204 AED, a residential building built purely of brick and wood was
rare. There were many planets out there who had not seen the expansion of
space age technology. The recently discovered and named Planet Fol. It was
considered underdeveloped when put into comparison with the progress of
nations inside the Greater Universal Confederacy. As were many of the other
new planets being discovered deeper in space. It seemed that the further you
stretched out from Earth, the more alien and underdeveloped the technology
would be. But there was a sense in both the Earth-orbital and outer-orbital
worlds that lesser progressive cultures were rich with noble quaintness.
There were some that respected worlds who retained pre-industrial climate in
this era. One of those people happened to be Frank Anselm. Which showed in
his Georgian-style mansion home.

Lucielle turned to Kai and Angel a moment later. "You two. Stay here for the
moment. I just have to make sure Frank is home. Try to stay out of trouble,
alright?"

Kai and Angel watched the young woman as she strode up the sand-laden steps
to the mansion of the Anselm Family. The door itself was open. Lucielle
somehow seemed to be aware of this so she just opened it and walked inside
without any introduction whatsoever. Which left Kai and Angel alone in the
sweltering heat of this Sy Cyrus beach. Angel seemed to be just as
uncomfortable in heat as he was in coldness, as shown by the beads of sweat
that were now gathering at his bangs, teasing his forehead. They both stood
silently whilst waiting for Lucielle to return. But Kai couldn't help but
spare a glance for the boy. At the moment Angel was dressed in something
that so clearly showed off his unusually feminine looks.  Clothes that
seemed somewhat casual for someone as bourgeois as Angel. Designer denim
shorts, slashed at the legs holes for that trademarked car wash look. As
well as a shoulder-less white blouse/shirt that didn't so much cling to his
flesh as it did `hover' around it. Even now in this warmth, Angel was as
graceful and delicate as any woman would be. Something that Kai couldn't
stop taking notice of. And eventually, Angel noticed that Kai was staring at
him. Again.

"...Is something wrong?" He questioned.

Kai's face jerked and a shade of red coloured his cheeks. "...Uh... nothing... I
was..."

"Kai, you seem a little tense," Angel stated in concern, "please tell me if
something is wrong. I'd like to feel that I can help you get through it.
Whatever it is."

The Syowanese youth looked downwards at his smooth leather boots with a
smile. "...It's nothing like that. It's just that..."

And then, just as Kai was about to speak, a third voice, that of a young
female, yelled at the two right before Kai could finish that... " Hey you two!
This part of the beach is private property that belongs to the Anselm
Family! You can't come here whether you're rich tourists or not!"

Kai and Angel silenced themselves. Then looked forwards to the edge of the
beach. Standing there, with both of her small hands pressed hips, was a
young girl. No more than 5'2" feet in height. Beaming with a cocky, superior
grin and long platinum blonde hair that danced around her small shoulders in
braided tresses. The young girl (looking about 15 in her years) stomped
forwards on her sandaled feet and marched right up to Kai and Angel.
Instantly her wide brown eyes probed them with suspicion, eyeballing them up
and down. Exchanging her gaze between Kai and Angel. Finally settling on
Kai.

"The two of you can't be here," She said sternly (or as sternly as she could
sound in that little high pitched voice of hers). Her glance went back to
Angel, "could you tell your boyfriend that you and he have to leave, ma'am?"

Both Kai and Angel went red in the face when they heard this child refer to
them as boyfriend and girlfriend. Kai covered his face from embarrassment
while Angel kneeled down to look at the girl at eye-level. "...I'm sorry if it
seems like we are intruding. Forgive us for that. But a friend of ours
apparently knows the owner and she wants to speak with him. As soon as she
is done, we'll leave. And... this isn't my boyfriend. He's... just a friend."

The young girl ignored that last part and thought of the former. "Hmm.
Someone you know wants to speak with my Grandpa, huh? I guess I can allow
that. But what are your names? I can't let you go without knowin' who you
are. In case I have to find ya."

Kai, still flustered, crossed his arms. "What? I'm not telling you my name-"

And then Kai was silenced when Angel put a hand against his mouth to keep
him for saying anymore than he already had. Kai didn't say anymore. But only
from feeling the cool softness of Angel's fingertips against his lips.  The
English boy soon spoke for the Japanese one. "I`m Angel Edelweiss. This
`charming' young man is Kai Kisaragi. It's a great pleasure to meet you,
Miss...?"

"It's Karen!" The girl known as Karen brightened suddenly. It seemed that
Angel's polite tone of voice showed how trustworthy he was, "Well actually,
my full name is Karen Fa'lea Anselm! But you can just call me Karen! `Cuz I
like you, Angel!"

While Angel giggled lightly at the childish enthusiasm of his newest friend,
Kai grumbled at it under his breath. "Man, I hate kids."

Karen's happy smile melted into a frown of annoyance, when she glared at
Kai. "...Hm. Angel, your boyfriend's kinda handsome, but he's got a lazy look
about him."

"Lazy? Listen kid, I am in no mood for this." Kai stated.

"That's `cuz you're lazy." Karen responded.

"Stop calling me lazy."

Karen sniggered vibrantly. "Heh, heh, heh! Lazy, lazy, lazy!"

Which is when Kai growled petulantly, uncrossing his arms. "I said stop
calling me that, you stupid brat!"

"Brat?" Karen's menacingly cute frown made its comeback, "So you're rude as
well as lazy?!"

"Kid, if you call me that one more time, I'll spank you so hard your ass'll
look like an apple!"

"Oh yeah!?" Karen then stuck her tongue out at the older blonde and pulled
her eyelid down with her index finger, "Just try it, you big, dumb, lazy
moron!"

Angel sighed, holding his head in his hand. "...Can we all just try to calm
down...?"

The two blondes glared angrily at each other, but Karen was the first of
them to speak in reply to that one. "I'll calm down as soon as this guy
admits he's a rude, lazy jerk!"

Kai swiftly rolled his sleeves up and stepped forward toward little Karen.
"That does it! I'm gonna ring your little neck, you loudmouthed rugrat!"

And so began the bout of run and chase. Karen giggled whilst running away
from an irate Kai, who struggled to keep up with her on all this sand. Karen
yelled `you can't catch me!' while Kai screamed `slow down, damn you!' at
her. It seemed that even the great Satsukami of the Syowa-oh Colony had not
been taught how to move around on uneven surfaces like sand. Angel let of a
breath of irritation and Karen and Kai ran around the beach as they did. It
was so surprising how Kai could let a fifteen-year-old girl get him all
riled up like that. But, as the saying goes...

"Boys will be boys..."

It was then that Lucielle returned from the innards of the mansion, now
standing with an much older adult male aside her. Which Angel knew to be
Frank Anselm. "What's the ruckus out here? Geez, I thought told the two of
you to stay out of trouble."

Karen gracefully came to a stop. Just as Kai tripped up and crashed into the
sand face first. The eager blonde girl ignored the fall of her chaser and
looked over at the doorway of the Anselm mansion. Her normally bright eyes
then exploded with happiness when she caught sight of the Captain of
Whitestar, Lucielle. "...Big Sister!"

Lucielle pulled a grin of her own when Karen called out to her. "Hey,
Karen!"

The young blonde laughed happily and rushed over to the steps of her
family's mansion, throwing herself into Lucielle's waiting arms with a hug.
Lucielle chucked as Karen gripped her tightly and giggled into her shoulder.
"Big Sister! It's been ages since you came to visit me and Grandpa! Where've
you been all this time?"

"...Well, that's all a long story, Karen. But look at you! You're practically
a woman now. The last time I saw you, you weren't nearly this big. You've
certainly been eating right..."

Kai (who by now had picked himself up off the sandy ground and was now in
the process of dusting himself off) spoke. "Lucielle... this kid is your
sister?

"Not biologically," She answered, "but Karen's been calling me that ever
since she knew how to talk. I've known her since she was a baby. Just like I
call Mr. Anselm `Uncle'. You see it's because my Daddy and Mr. Anselm are
friends from way back. Our families have been connected for years."

Frank leaned on his walking stick and eyed Kai and Angel. "So those two are
the ones you have been telling me about, Lucielle?"

Lucielle nodded. "Yup."

"Alright then," Frank turned around slowly and made his way inside, "all of
you, follow me. I'll prepare some tea and then we can have a nice long
chat."

With that said, Karen released Lucielle from her hug so she could stand up.
Then the two of them walked inside the house side by side. Kai and Angel
looked at each other and shrugged, then followed the two girls into the
mansion. Kai closed the door behind him but took much better notice of what
the inside of the Anselm Mansion looked like. It was just as large as the
outside suggested. Decorated various ancient relics from both humanoid and
alien cultures. All over the walls and the doors and the ceiling were all
the items that Frank Anselm had managed to salvage in his exploration days.
Angel was astounded. Even more so when he saw a long pipe made of bone
attached along the frame of one of the surrounding doorways of this
lower-floor lounge.

"My God," Angel spoke, "Is that a Valhothian Flute?"

Frank beamed, taking a look at it as he walked. "Yes. Quite a fabulous piece
of work if I do say so myself. It took the windpipes of over thirty dragons
to make that. We found it during an archaeological dig on the lower surface
of Valhoth. But there are some rather deadly and powerful Ice Dragons there
so... it was not easy."

"Isn't Grandpa amazing?" Karen suggested to Angel, "He's been all over the
known universe for his digs. All this stuff you see around you was found by
him."

There were six chairs surrounding a large pine wood coffee table in the
lounge. Frank took a seat on one of them, resting his walking stick. Karen
flopped quickly onto the one beside him, while Lucielle took the one on the
other side of the old man. Angel and Kai sat down on their own chairs on the
opposing side of the coffee table. Soon afterwards a Martha-type worker
android (the only piece of modern tech in this mansion) came out from one of
the side rooms. It had, as Frank promised, a tray in its hands. One with a
hot kettle and five separate cups for the tea. The Martha android poured
some samples of that tea into each of the five cups and then vacated back to
its room.

Frank clasped one of the cups. He sipped some of it and sighed. "...Hmm. I'm
not a big fan of androids. But that new model we bought is a wonder in the
kitchen."

"Bit of a techno-phobe, eh?" Kai prodded.

The older man smiled at him. "I suppose you could say that."

"Well, forget about all that for a minute," Lucielle said, "Uncle Frank, I
know I should have told you beforehand that I was coming but I didn't wanna
waste too much time. I need a really big favour before we move on."

"What might that be, my dear?"

Lucielle ran a hand through her hair. "I'm planning on making a little trip
to Victoria Lake. And then Earth. But like you know, the Victoria Lake
government doesn't allow civilian ships to just pass in and out their
sectors as they choose. I need a letter of authority from you, if that's
okay?"

Frank chuckled. "Of course it is, Lucielle. What kind of `relative' would I
be if I said no to your request? You will have your letter of authority."

"...Letter of authority? What's that?" Kai asked.

Karen sneered at him. "Bonehead. A letter of authority is like a checkpoint
pass. When an esteemed individual like my Grandpa is given the right to act
as a judge of ship travellers, they're called Judges. A Judge can approve a
person's space travel rights into restricted sectors and colonies like
Victoria Lake and Drydna. That approval is written down on a piece of paper.
And that's called a letter of authority. Get it?"

Kai exhaled, chin on his palm. "Well, well. Aren't you a little
know-it-all."

As before, Karen found herself glaring at Kai, whilst Angel addressed his
captain. "Captain? Didn't you get a letter of authority from your father
when you last left Victoria Lake?"

"Um... yeah, but..." Lucielle giggled sheepishly, "...I kinda lost it..."

"Typical Lucielle." Frank muttered.

Lucielle herself picked up a cup of tea. "Dah well. What can you do, right?"

"Very little, I suppose," Frank set his cup down, "by the way, how is James
doing? It's been a while since I last saw that old friend of mine. Is he
still building ships?"

"Daddy? Oh, he's always working on new ships. I hear that he was
commissioned by Viceroy Katsuragi of the Syowa-oh Colony to build a new
battleship for the Japanese section of the Interplanetary Vanguard's fleet.
It's supposedly called the Katta-Shinbungai. I dunno if its finished yet,
but..."

Just as Lucielle was speaking, a horrible chill passed through the air.
Angel, Kai and Lucielle shivered from it. And over by the mantelpiece
overhanging the fireplace, a vase fell. It smashed into tiny fragments on
the stone surface surrounding the fireplace, some of it tossed into the
flames themselves. Kai and the others were startled. But Karen and Frank
stared at each other with looks of both understanding and annoyance.

"What was that all about?" Lucielle questioned.

"...The spirits of the Procell Shrine..." Frank said warily, "...are becoming
restless again."

Kai narrowed his eyes. "Procell Shrine?"

"I will explain. You see, I didn't move into this mansion. I had it built
specifically for Karen and I. But back in those days... I was still too much
of an explorer at heart. Even after the deaths of Karen's parents, I could
not shake my will to discover. So I spent much of my money on building the
Anselm Mansion here."

"What's so special about this particular place?" Kai asked.

"Beneath this mansion," Frank began, "are a set of ancient ruins that I have
called the Procell Shrine. I discovered them over two years after the birth
of Karen. But I could not finish my exploration of them because of the
intensity of the spirits locked within its halls. For a time, when she came
of age, Karen managed to quell the rage of those souls with her abilities as
a Spirit Dancer, but it seems that she will need to do it again."

Kai blinked. "Spirit Dancer?"

Karen sneered at him once again. "Don't you know anything you lazy moron?!"

"Mind your manners, Karen." Frank chided.

The blonde girl calmed herself, taking that on (even managing to ignore the
sniggers of Kai) and answering properly. "A Spirit Dancer is someone who can
calm the anger of lost souls through dancing. I have that power. And I did
it the last time the spirits in Procell Shrine got out of hand. But now it's
kicking off again. I guess I`ll have to go down there."

"On your own?!" Lucielle yelled.

Karen shrugged. "I've done it before, Big Sister."

"Nonsense!" Lucielle turned to her two crewmembers, "Kai! Angel! You're
going with her!"

Kai frowned. "Are you kidding me? I'm not sticking my neck out for that
little-"

Again, Angel was forced to silence Kai by pressing a hand over his mouth.
"...We'll do it, Captain. It will give Mr. Anselm the time to write the letter
of authority. Karen will be safe with us."

"Thanks, guys." Said Lucielle.

**********

"This is the door to the Procell Shrine. I have to go down to the main
chamber and do my Ghost Dance from there, otherwise it won`t work."

Kai, Angel and Karen found themselves standing in the basement of the Anselm
Mansion. A large lower room that unlike the upper levels, was completely
unfurnished. The floor was covered in patches with a chalky sand. And in the
centre of the floor was a very large iron door. That was the way into the
Procell Shrine. It looked like a heavy thing to have to open so Kai was the
one to do it, using his enhanced strength as the Tensatsukai lift the iron
door open with the ring handle of its centre. Kai strained but managed to
lift the hefty slab of metal for Angel and Karen to walk through. It opened
up a set of stairs, made out of stone, that descended deep into the
underground. From the specs given to them by Frank, Procell Shrine was at
least 200 metres under the surface of Faandolta. Thankfully the Regeneration
Wheels had oozed their way down there years ago, so oxygen was not an issue.
Karen and Angel marched down the long flight of steps with Kai taking up the
rear; leaving the iron door open for them to return through.

Karen spoke to the two and she walked down the steps. "My Grandpa found this
shrine by accident. He was on vacation here when he heard that some locals
were doing a dig on the beach because they found some rusty weapons of a
previous humanoid civilization there. My Grandpa got excited about it and
they let him join in. He told me that on the fifth day of his dig he broke
into these exact set of stairs. Which led him to the Procell Shrine."

"Why do they call it that?" Angel asked the girl.

"Beats me," Karen answered, "My Grandpa says that much of the Shrine is
still unexplored, so he can't be sure of its true purpose. But the fact that
souls still cling to this place makes him think that it's more than just
some dusty old temple."

The three of them finally made it to the bottom of the steps by the time
Karen was finished with that last comment. There was no door at the bottom.
Just an open doorway. But a field of energy was in the way. It was a thin
layer of golden translucent energy that seemed to be some kind of obstacle.
Angel and Kai were cautious about it, but Karen...

...walked right through the thing. On the other side she yelled, "Come on,
it's not harmful!"

Kai stepped ahead of Angel and stuck his arm through it. Karen was right. It
wasn't harmful. He then walked through it entirely, seconded by a slightly
reserved Angel. The two of them came into the halls of the Procell Shrine.
And were possessed with awe at the place. A huge selection of chambers with
interlocking corridors. Made of sandy stone and lime, an actual temple
underground. Never before had Kai or Angel seen such a place. All over the
walls were ancient carvings of numerous things. Animals, humanoids, nature.
Like a tapestry in the stone. But those carvings glowed with ethereal green
light. Those glowing carvings provided the light that was necessary for the
three of them to see in those dark chambers. It was an ancient but eerie
place. Even in the background, Kai (with his super-hearing) could pick up on
the wailing and screaming of women. As if being tortured. But there was no
one down here other than the three of them. It had to be the wailing of the
lost souls of the shrine.

Angel moved closer to Kai out of instinct. "...Kai, I don't like this place..."

"It's okay," Kai said reassuringly, "There's nothing to be scared of,
alright? I'm here."

Karen skipped forwards down this major corridor of Procell Shrine, just
looking back when she realized that Kai and Angel were remaining as they
were. "C'mon, you two! Time's a wasting! The sooner we do this, the sooner
we can get outta this creepy place!"

Kai and Angel nodded, then followed her. Karen led the way and the small
group strode their way through the many halls and chambers of Procell
Shrine. Angel remained as close to Kai as he possibly could, the bare flesh
of his arm pressing against the bare flesh of Kai's arm. Karen remained
ignorant of Angel's fear. But she had felt the same herself the first time
she came down to the shrine. And from her Spirit Dancer powers she could
feel the savage levels of hatred boiling in the lost souls in this domain.
Karen guessed that Angel could feel it too, but on a hidden, subconscious
level. Something that might have provoked this abrupt fear in the catholic
boy. Eventually Karen led them to a room at the very centre of the layout of
the temple. The main hall. The walls of this room were adorned with
carvings. But unlike those of the other halls and rooms, these carvings
seemed to tell a story. But the written passages were all engraved in some
alien language that none of them really understood. Not even the NFCs on
Angel and Kai could decipher them. In the centre of the main hall was a
stone podium. And on that podium was a crystal. Glowing of bright crimson.
The screams of the lost souls were at its peak around its energy.

Kai stared at the surrounding walls. "...What do those mean...?"

"They tell a story," For the moment, Karen forgot her overt distaste for
Kai, "that my Grandpa managed to figure out a little bit of. It says that
lots and lots of years ago, an alien race of great power and culture lived
in settlements all over the universe. Including Faandolta. They discovered a
source of energy called magic. Then they found most of that magic inside a
planet of amazing beauty. But to keep the magical force from getting too
strong, they made lots of temples across the galaxy that the planet was in.
They somehow kept things under control or something. The Procell Shrine is
supposed to be one of those temples. My Grandpa said that there's probably
more to the story than just that... but the rest of the language is so hard to
understand that he couldn't figure it out."

"What about the murals?" Angel asked, "Don't they tell the rest of it?"

Karen shook her head as a no. "Nah. They get cracked the further you go
along."

"Whatever, whatever. They're only drawings by dead guys. Just do your thing
so we can get out of here." Kai ordered.

Karen growled lightly but said nothing. Now she remembered her distaste for
the Syowanese boy. But she did have a job to do. The blonde girl stepped up
to the podium with that large red crystal on it. She stopped for a moment.
Then caught her breath. A few moments later, she began to dance. The
legendary waltz of the Spirit Dancers, the Ghost Dance technique. Karen
spread her arms out then thrust them forwards, moving in in slow circles.
Her little hips wiggled in and out while her small sandaled feet moved her
around with an agility that most girls her age would not have. Kai and Angel
stood next to each whilst watching this display of the Ghost Dance. She
glided swiftly from one place to the other. Always taking care not to be a
hair off target. While she pranced around like this, Karen soon started
mouthing silently in a Latin tongue. The same Latin that the Lesser Key of
Solomon was written in. Angel took note but said nothing of it. Soon, during
the dance, a set of bright blue runic symbols appearing in a large ring.
When Karen caught onto that, she stopped dancing.

Kai tilted his head. "...Is that it?"

"Nope," Karen replied, "...now comes the fun part."

The centre of the ring of symbols just ahead of Karen pooled into a
liquid-like substance. The glow of the wall murals shone on that watery
substance. Then something began to rise out of it slowly. A figure of a
living thing. A grotesque manifestation rose up from the wet `portal'
created by Karen's Ghost Dance skill. A malformed and demonic creature,
shaped like a fusion between an ape and a sabre-tooth cat. Its flesh rotted
away in repulsively pale, blood-covered scraps, while its lizard tail
thrashed around behind it. The being extended its long neck and parted its
wide jaws, bellowing out a loud and furious roar that echoed throughout the
Procell Shrine. Angel cringed and tightened up against his guardian, burying
his face into Kai's shoulder. Kai himself acted swiftly and withdrew the
Ouroboros. While Karen stood almost fearless in front of the towering,
hideous beast.

Kai yelled out to her. "You stupid brat! Get out of its fucking way before
you get hurt!"

"Stop worrying so much," Karen answered, "It's alright."

"What the fuck are you talking about?! What the fuck IS that thing?!"

Karen stepped back a little, reaching into her pocket. "Geez, would you stop
swearing? It's just a monster. You must have seen worse animals on other
alien planets, right? Don't you know anything, you lazy jerk? When a Ghost
Dance is performed, the malice of the spirits that we calm is bled from
their souls and fused into one form. That form is usually some kind of
monster. It's a pushover really. I can handle it. I mean, if you wanna help
me, then fine, but try not to slow me down, alright?"

The Japanese lad stared oddly at Karen. From the way she was talking, it
sounded is if she could actually defend herself. The girl fished around in a
pocket on her skirt and pulled out something. Kai looked at the object with
total surprise. It was an orb. But not just any orb. This one was a
transparent sphere made out of a yellowish substance. Which Kai knew to be
crystallized Magite. At first it looked like some kind of ornament. But from
the battle thirsty look on Karen's face, it was intended as a weapon.

And Kai was very right in that belief. Karen grinned and extended her hand
with the Magite orb in it. "Alright! This one's for Big Sister! Sword!"

Once Karen called out `sword' the orb reacted and took on the shape of a
curved scimitar. Almost in the blink of an eye. The teenage Spirit Dancer
then jumped straight into the air with more of that athletic ability and
descended at the Zombie Demon. With one quick swipe she slashed down at the
neck of the creature, causing it to screech loudly in both anger and pain.
The hulking Zombie Demon swung one of its massive claws across to try and
slice Karen in two. Karen darted backwards in a flash, avoiding that strike.
Then slashed at the arm of the Zombie Demon when it was being retracted. The
monster shrieked again. And Kai and Angel were left speechless. Well,
almost.

"...Holy shit." Kai said, watching Karen, "I thought that girl was just a
loudmouth brat. But she moves like a... how the hell is a fifteen-year-old
girl like that so agile? She's no ordinary kid, that's for sure."

Karen leapt away from the Zombie Demon and landed just a short ways away
from Kai and the still intimidated Angel. "Hey! Are you going to help me or
not, Kai!? I knew it! You're just a lazy, good-for-nothing bum!"

Kai ignored that one for now, turning to Angel. "I'm gonna need to take care
of that thing. Stay back, alright?"

Angel nodded, releasing Kai from his hold. The Syowanese boy gripped
Ouroboros with both hands and darted forwards, toward that bestial entity.
The Zombie Demon thrust out its right claw to nail Kai frontward. Kai
sidestepped that thrust on his quick feet, pulling the sword back to strike.
Then came the blow. One hard power slash that Kai made, slicing upwards
through the very arm of the Zombie Demon. It screeched in sheer agony as the
Ouroboros hacked its right arm clear off, its green blood spurting
everywhere. Kai dashed out of the way as the Zombie Demon made a reprisal
swipe with its left claw, mumbling 'dickwipe', to himself while dodging.

Karen smiled at him. "That wasn't half bad!"

"Hmph!"

The Zombie Demon growled loudly. Then parted its jaws to bare those long,
sabre teeth in its thick black gums. A powerful stink of sulphuric acid and
carbon monoxide was what it had for breath. And blue flash of glowing fire
gathered in its mouth. The Zombie Demon stuck its neck forwards and breathed
out a huge wave of smouldering sapphire flames. Kai and Karen vaulted out of
the way to avoid the noxious heat of the Zombie Fire, which burned a path
over the stone floor of the grand hall. Angel ran away from the attack but
could not stand to do nothing while Kai and Karen fought against this beast.

He spread his arms and closed his eyes, focusing his own ancient power. The
power of God Summoning. "By the ancient spirit of the Cloud People, bless
this holy blood with thy divine strength. Bestow upon me your power and I
shall give you all my heart. In the name of God and righteousness, I summon
you to the realm of the living. Awaken now, o Duchess of Water and Life,
awaken Oshe!"

A bright flash of blue surrounded Angel and illuminated all of the grand
hall. Catching the attentions of Kai, Karen and the Zombie Demon. The
eruption of sparkling azure intensified at the space before the boy himself.
The light there began to form into the graceful, water-borne shape of a
woman. Though its whole body was made up of water, this deity so clearly
showed itself for what its was with the contours of its body. The African
goddess of water and life, Oshe. Oshe pressed her left arm forwards, its
watery bangles jingling over her wrists. A frosty chill usurped the room,
completely overshadowing the Faandoltan heat. A freezing cold burst of ice
surged forwards from her hand. Directly heading for the Zombie Demon. It
froze the ground straight ahead of it. The ice forged itself into a javelin
shape. And rushed across the room until it directly impaled the Zombie
Demon. The creature shrieked violently. Green blood burst from its mouth and
body when the ice spike skewered the monster right through its belly. It
proceeded to wail and shriek, while Karen herself stood silently and watched
this all go down.

She was astounded. "...Angel's a God Summoner...?"

"Karen!" Kai yelled, "It's not dead yet!"

"R-right..."

Angel stood behind the defensive Oshe, while Kai darted forwards to finish
off the Zombie Demon. Karen got her head back on the job and yelled `whip!'
at the orb in her hand. It then transformed from a sword into a whip-like
shape. Karen swung her arm back and forward, causing the energy whip to
extend all the way to Zombie Demon's remaining arm. The whip wrapped itself
around the putrid arm and wrist of the monster. Binding it. Karen strained
to hold on, as the Zombie Demon tried to move its arm to strike down Kai.
And so she yelled to him, "Kai, hurry!"

The Japanese boy nodded, mid-run, then jumped upwards. With one of its arms
cut off, the other arm bound and blood gushing from its mouth, the Zombie
Demon had no means of attacking him. Kai darted ahead and gripped Ouroboros
in another two-handed hold. Then gave another of those powerful, bullet-fast
slashes across the neck. Moments later, the head of the Zombie Demon was
three metres behind the corpse. Blood gushed from the severed neck like a
geyser, splattering all over Kai's shirt and sword. He jumped backwards and
the body of the malevolence-borne being collapsed. Once it toppled over, the
torso dissolved into tiny bits of blue light. The ice pillar it had been
impaled one fell to the dusty ground, shattering.

Karen breathed a sigh of relief, and the whip regressed into its normal orb
shape. Kai exhaled and sheathed the Ouroboros. Angel rubbed his arms from
the sudden chill caused by Oshe's presence. The spirit of water and life
evaporated into nothingness, just as the Zombie Demon had done. The fight
was over. And the rage of the spirits existing in Procell Shrine had been
quelled. For now.

Kai strode up to Angel and held his cheek in a surprisingly caring manner.
"Angel, are you okay? Were you hurt?"

"No," Angel looked up at his guardian with a smile, "I'm fine. Thank you."

Kai smiled cheerfully then looked over at Karen. "Hey, you little squirt.
You're a pretty good fighter."

"Heh," Karen rubbed the underside of her nose with her fist, "of course.
You're not so bad, yourself. Well at least not for a lazy guy."

Angel then addressed the orb in Karen's hand. "...Karen? What is that?"

"This? This is the Gaeki Crystal. It's a present from my Grandpa. He picked
it up on one of his digs. It's supposed to be hardened magic or something.
But it has this weird power of transforming in any weapon I call it. Pretty
cool, huh?"

Kai shook his head. "Whatever. Lets just get out of here."

**********

"Ah. So the rage of the spirits in Procell Shrine has been suppressed, eh?"

Kai, Angel, Lucielle and Karen stood before Frank at the front of the Anselm
Mansion. On the private beach that belonged to their family. The sun was
beginning to set in the sky. It had taken longer to navigate through the
Procell Shrine than either Kai, Angel or Karen would have predicted. The
ruby red skies of Faandolta were at their most grand. But now it was time
for them to leave.

Karen smirked at her grandfather. "I told you I could handle it, Grandpa!
But it did help to have a little extra muscle down there. Angel was just
amazing. Kai was... okay... I guess."

"What was that?" Kai remarked, "I was the one who finished it off!"

Karen crossed her arms and looked away. "Oh stop bragging, you lazy moron."

"Well, regardless," Frank smiled and pulled out something from his back
pocket. It was a white letter. A letter of authority. And he placed it in
Lucielle's hand, "here is the thing you came for, Lucielle. You it well. But
try not to lose this one, alright?"

Lucielle giggled again, taking the letter. "I'll try, Uncle. I`ll repay the
favour some day."

"You three have done much in helping Karen quieten the fury of the spirits
in Procell Shrine. For that I am grateful. But... I do have another request.
One that is of the utmost importance."

Angel was curious. "What is it, sir?"

Frank Anselm looked at his granddaughter. "I want you... to take Karen with
you."

Everyone, including Karen herself, was surprised to hear that. None the more
so than her `Big Sister', Lucielle. "Hold on. You want Karen to come with
us? To Victoria Lake? Are you sure about that, Uncle?"

"Yeah, do you mean that, Grandpa?" Karen wondered.

Frank bobbed his head. "Of course. Karen, you are a Spirit Dancer. There is
a huge path ahead of you. You have only walked along a small portion of it.
Thus I want you to go with Lucielle and others so you can discover the rest
of your path. At your young age, you have proven yourself to be a
strong-willed, powerful warrior. I want you to see what the rest of this
immense galaxy has to offer."

"But what about you?" Karen asked.

"Do not be concerned with me, child. I might be old, but I'll still be able
to take care of myself. I would not like to think that I am holding you
back. Lucielle will take good care of you. And when you come back... if you
should choose to... you will have a new set of experiences. I will look
forward to hearing about them."

Karen's eyes were close to watering. That was just like her Grandpa. Putting
her welfare first, over his own. The young girl smiled generously and gave a
big, warm hug to her guardian, who himself couldn't help but laugh a little.
It was that kind of zeal that made Karen the bubbling wonder that she was.
It was right to allow her to see more of the universe. Karen pulled away
from her grandpa a second later, and stepped back to Lucielle, Kai and
Angel.

Frank looked over at Kai. "Take good care of my granddaughter, please."

Kai grumbled a bit, but answered him with, "...She's in good hands."

"Alrighty then," Lucielle lifted her wrist and spoke into the receiver of
her NFC, "Solon? Do you read me?"

The voice of Solon replied through the NFC. "...Yes, Captain."

"Good. Transport us up. We have an additional person with us, so be sure to
configure the Transportation Beam for use without wearing an NFC, alright?"

"Understood."

Frank waved to the four younger ones when Lucielle lowered her wrist. Karen
waved back, even when the swirling energy of the Transportation Beam
surrounded them. Then moments later the four of them were gone. Leaving
behind Frank, the Anselm Private Beach, and the sunny resort city of Sy
Cyrus.

The four of them immediately found themselves on the flagship Sparta, in it
compact but effective Transportation Chamber. As usual, the moment they got
back on the ship, their first action was to head for the bridge. Karen
followed them with awe, staring at the technological wonders of the civilian
ship that had been designed by her Grandpa and built by her `Uncle' James
Howard. The automatic doors of the bridge opened swiftly as Lucielle, Karen,
Kai and Angel returned to the bridge of the Sparta.

Chestnut was the first to greet them. "Angel! Lulu! Comrade Kai! Everything
go okay?"

"Yup," Lucielle responded, "but now you guys, let me introduce you to the
newest member of the crew. Her name is Karen Fa'lea Anselm. She's kinda like
a relative of mine and she'll be joining us on future missions. So try to
make her feel welcome, alright?"

Emilia (who happened to have returned to the bridge by now) was thrown for
six. "...Are you kidding me? You're bringing another child onto this ship?
Have you lost your mind, Lucielle?"

Lucielle looked ahead, walked over to her Captain's chair and took a seat,
not sparing the Russian woman a second glance. "If you don't like the way I
operate, then get the hell off my ship. Nobody is forcing you to stay."

For a second time, Emilia had tried to say something to Lucielle. And for a
second time, the Captain of the Sparta had shot her down. Rock, Angel and a
few others bit their tongues and tried not to address the tension between
Emilia and Lucielle. For it seemed that Lucielle was more than unwilling to
resolve it. And considering that she was so well liked by her crew, nobody
was really prepared to argue with her.

Lucielle said something else a moment later. "Has anything happened while I
was away?"

"Yeah," Rock tapped a few keys on his panel to bring up a vidscreen, "two
things, actually. Take a look at this, Captain."

Everyone including the Captain turned to the front to look at the video
screen at the helm of the ship. Everyone except Emilia. The gunslinger
turned away in a huff and walked out through one of the automatic doors. The
Captain took better notice of that than the others seemed to realize but
nothing was spoken. Then the image of one of the news feeds that Rock had
spoken of came up. On it was a man dressed in a long black tunic, armed with
halberd. On his back was a Propulsion Gear, shaped like a set of demon
wings. He flew around a certain urban area of a colony, blowing things up
with his magic. Obviously another terrorist attack. By none other than...

"Garland!" Kai seethed.

Karen blinked. "Garland...? Who's that?"

"A powerful enemy of ours," Angel said to her, "a member of the Four
Horsemen."

"Four Horsemen?"

Lucielle's face was now quite serious. "I'll explain everything to you later
on, Karen. But for now... Rock. What was the other news feed about?"

"Just a moment. I'll put it on screen."

And so he did, just moments afterwards. The second vidscreen overlapped the
first. And it showed a press conference between leading diplomats of the
Greater Universal Confederacy. It was a meeting being conducted on the New
Westhampton Colony. And standing in the centre of the stage, surrounded by
other diplomats and the photographic flashes of those in the crowds, was a
certain Germanic male...

Angel's eyes widened. He'd know that cunning face anywhere. "...Father..."

"Huh?" Kai looked at his charge, "So that's... Gernst Mullenhauser...?"

Rock nodded, looking at the screen. "Yup. That's him. He just recently
announced a business trip to the Victoria Lake Colony. Apparently, he's
claimed that he wants to expand the influence of the Bas Dahlem Foundation
into the American colonies as well as the Eurasian ones. Pretty convenient,
I'd say."

"I guess he must be stepping up his plans," Lucielle crossed her arms, "he's
a tricky bastard, that's for sure. Tell me, what colony was Garland
attacking?"

Solon replied to that one. "Xiantian. The Chinese-originated colony."

Lucielle put some thought into that. "Hmm. Xiantian's quite a few light
years away from Victoria Lake. He must have attacked it to distract us from
Gernst's new destination. Or maybe as a trap to lure us in and re-capture
Angel."

"That can't be right," Kai claimed, "If they wanted to lure us into a trap
to get Angel then why didn't they do it before we left Valhoth?"

Lucielle shook her head. "They couldn't attack this ship with the Astaroth
knowing that Angel was on board. They want him alive, obviously. No, I think
they're using Garland as a beacon. Something for us to fight against so we
can get stuck in some bitch of a situation. But I'm not falling for it.
Solon? Take us straight to Victoria Lake, full-speed ahead, no delays."

"Roger." Solon replied, her fingertips tapping the keys of her console.

Lucielle spoke up again. "Once we get there, we'll pick up the parts
necessary for the upgrade that Rock and Solon need to make to the Sparta's
Barrier Shield generators. That way we can get through the Magi-Sphere
without being torn to shreds."

While Lucielle gave out her orders to her crew and the engines of the Sparta
began to kick into action again, Kai was a little thrown. He looked over at
the elevated captain's chair and smiled with disbelief at Lucielle. She
really was a good captain. She seemed too spacey and affectionate sometimes,
but, Lucielle was really taking charge of things now. Maybe he had actually
underestimated her a little. But still there were other things to think of.
Once they stopped on the Victoria Lake for the upgrades to the Barrier
Shields, they would be going to Earth. It was the site of mankind's past...

...but would it be the site of mankind's future...?

**********

Kai gazed out through one of the rectangular windows from the right wing of
the upper level of the ship. From here he could see the Sparta's movement
through space. The ship darted at great speed to traverse the huge gap
between Faandolta and Victoria Lake. By looking at the constantly flashing
stars trailing behind in lines (or at least that was the image presented)
Kai could tell that the Sparta was laying the boat out to reach the American
Colony. By Solon's skill and under Lucielle's command, this ship could do
amazing things. Kai just wondered what would happen from now on.

Which was one of the reasons he was heading towards the Training Room. It
had been about an hour since Lucielle had ordered Solon to take then over to
Victoria Lake at full speed. And everyone was preparing for what was to
happen next. As soon as the adjustments were made to the ship's Barrier
Shield Generators, they would be making their way towards Earth. Kai didn't
really know how he felt about that. It was a ruined, bio-hazard now. The
severe radiation from the Magite overflow (to which the Earth-orbital and
outer-orbital world remain ignorant) had transformed the landscape beyond
what it had been, according to most geo-analysts. Was it really able to be
saved? Was the Earth even worth saving? It seemed that those questions would
not be answered until the Sparta actually went down there.

Kai descended the flight of stairs at the end of the upper wing and made his
way down to the second level. From there he began counting the numbers of
the many rooms of the Sparta until he came to the one place he was looking
for. The Training Room. Kai tapped the keys of the entry code onto the small
panel beside the door and it slid open for him. The Syowanese body walked in
with the Ouroboros swinging at his waste. He felt that sharpening his skills
over once or twice would do him some good. Maybe because he felt a stronger
need to protect Angel. Maybe because he feared what might find on Earth.
Maybe because he wanted to show up that brat, Karen. Who knew? But it was
what he wanted right now. The training facility of the Whitestar's flagship
was large. It held not only a huge stock of armaments for it members, it
contained four separate rooms for four separate purposes. The first room was
the Dojo. Which was basically a padded practice room for martial
arts/hand-to-hand combat. A place that Chestnut frequented often. The second
was an Obstacle Course. Which was basically just a hyped up name for a room
of practice with polearms and swords. Such a place was suited to the likes
of Karen and Kai. The third was the  Firing Range. A specially soundproof
room for firearms training. Last but not least was the Holographics Chamber.
Unlike the other rooms there were no specialized settings for a certain
weapon. This was a hall where all were expected to train at some point. The
Holographics Chamber produced Fighter Androids (Forcas-type, mobility over
strength) and covered them with Holographics to give them the appearance of
normal people. The visual image of the surrounds would change as well. The
room had everything from desert to swamp. And that was where Kai was heading
now. Just until he heard gunshots in a room that was supposedly soundproof.

Kai stopped in front of the Firing Range and heard the sound of stone
shattering after a compressed blast. Not something you'd expect to hear from
a gunshot. He could accurately guess who it was in there. The blonde boy
opened the door and strode inside. To see Emilia. Standing beside a thick
screen of unbreakable plastic, ear muffs over her head. She pointed on of
her pistols through the gap of the plastic screen and aimed it at one of the
far off targets behind that same screen. They were moving on a conveyer
belt. Three of those targets had been blown to pieces. A new one was moving
into position for Emilia to blow up.

Emilia didn't take her eyes away from the target. "...Did you come in here for
a reason? Or are you just going to stand there and stare at me like a
pervert?"

"Uh..." Kai scratched the back of his head, nervously, "...sorry. I just heard
loud gunfire and I remembered that this place is supposed to be soundproof.
I guessed that something must be happening in here. So... how come you can
blow up stone like that? I mean those are just ordinary bullets and that has
to be the oldest gun model I've ever seen. Most people don't even use
bullets in this day and age."

Emilia said nothing to that right off the bat. She aimed her gun
(Franchesca) at the stone slab. She fired a second later, her arms jerking
back from the force. A bullet was fired into the grey erection of stone. But
to Kai's disbelief, there was a loud but very compressed explosion that
followed. A sphere of force spread outwards and shattered the stone slab
like never before. The shards of the stone were blown far and wide. One even
hammered the plastic screen. But by the time the dust and smoke settled,
there was nothing left of that slab but jagged pebbles.

Emilia then brought down Franchesca, looking towards Kai. "These might be
old guns. Or at least replicas of such. But they run on highly modern
bullets. They are called Disintegration Rounds. The matter of the bullet is
packed with nano-explosives. When the bullet is shot it  dissolves into an
untouchable form and sinks below armour, reforming after a second of
penetration. Then it delivers its payload. There are two types of
Disintegration Rounds. Standard and Phase Wave. Standard relies on normal
explosives. While Phase Wave relies on pressurized energy. But the results
of either form of bullet speak for themselves. Solon's own creation, no
less."

"You mean that kid makes weapons, too?"

"You'd be surprised at the things Solon is capable of." Answered the
Russian.

Kai smirked. "You know, that's the first time I've ever heard you compliment
someone. I guess you like it here more than you let on, eh?"

"If I hated the Sparta I would have left it months ago."

"But that's not the reason you stay, is it?" Kai asked.

Emilia slotted Franchesca into its holster and pulled out her second pistol,
Sharon. "I am here for only one reason. Revenge."

"Against who?"

"...A member of the Four Horsemen," Emilia pulled Sharon up and aimed it at
another one of those stone targets, "...the one known as Gaap Mosaletti. I'll
make no secret of  telling you that he killed both my parents. They were
assassinated by him because of their political stand point. I swore my
revenge by use of the very same weapon he used to kill them. That was why I
joined Whitestar. Our final confrontation with Gaap and the other Horsemen
will happen soon. I will be there to kill him."

Normally Kai would have offered his apology for hearing that Emilia's
parents were killed that way. But Emilia did not strike him as the kind of
woman who took well to pity. "You seem more talkative today."

"Maybe," Emilia fired another round and blew up another stone slab. The very
walls of the room juddered with the action, "I find that I'm more willing to
be open when I'm in a bad mood. For most people the reverse is true. But
then... I am not like other people."

Kai smirked. "...Sure this hasn't got something to do with the Captain?"

"...She's too self-centred," Emilia remarked, "she only thinks of what's best
for herself."

"Not to throw a spanner in the works of that comment, but... isn't she putting
her life on the line against the Four Horsemen for the revival of Earth?
Something that any normal hot and rich American colonist chick like her
wouldn't even worry about. I wouldn't call that selfish."

"So it's okay to risk the lives of children to do that?!" Emilia retorted.

Kai shrugged. "Nobody's here that doesn't wanna be. She hasn't forced anyone
to fight for her to my knowledge. Not even me. And for the record, the
reason Karen is here is because her Grandfather asked Lucielle to take her
with the crew. And don't tell her this, but if you saw how that little brat
fought in the Procell Shrine, you'd know that she's more than able to defend
herself."

Emilia sighed. "I still don't like the idea."

"Oh, come on," Kai expressed, "lets not wade through the shit here. You know
a big part of you staying here has something to do with Lucielle. The two of
you are crazy about each other. It's so damn obvious. If you didn't care
then neither of you would be so angry about it."

"...Is that any of your business?!" Emilia barked.

"Ah, maybe not. And I'm not the kinda of guy who likes stickin' his nose
into on-ship drama. But as much of a weirdo as Lucielle is... I kinda like
her. Nobody likes to see her unhappy."

Emilia smiled grimly. "Funny. I didn't think you were such a considerate
person."

"Neither did I." Kai replied.

"...I find that interesting," Claimed the Russian woman, "since you haven't
made that pledge to the one you want most to protect."

Kai blinked, crossing his arms. "What are you on about? Celena and I are
just friends."

"I'm not talking about her."

"Then who are you-"

The blonde boy cut himself off when it sunk in. The person that Emilia was
speaking of. The Russian markswoman looked over at Kai with a probing frown,
seeing to confirm what she was hinting at. And in his eyes the signs were
all there. Kai looked away, his heart suddenly springing to life in rapid
beats, as well as a nervousness in him that he couldn't quite shake. It was
not unusual for someone to guess something like this. Kai knew himself that
he was not good at hiding his own feelings. Maybe from himself... but never
from others. But still... The Japanese colonist shook his head and looked
back up again, saying,

"It isn't like that. Not at all."

Emilia `sheathed' Sharon. "Is that so? One day the God Summoner will be at
risk. His life will be on the line. As his guardians, it'll be our job to
make sure that he comes out of that in one piece. When that day comes, when
you're forced to face the prospect of losing him, you'll know for yourself
just how true or false those feelings of yours really are. And until then...
I'd appreciate it if you didn't lecture me about my relationship with
Lucielle. As much as I hate the phrase, it would really be a case of the pot
calling the kettle black."

Kai stood motionless while Emilia took off the pair of earmuffs and hung
them on a wall hook by the plastic screen. She then walked out the door and
left the Firing Range. Leaving Kai behind to weigh what she had just said to
him. As much as he hated it when he lost an argument to people as smug as
Emilia, what she was staying stuck to him like a very cohesive glue. Before
the door to the Firing Range began to close with Emilia's exit, a loud and
familiar Effiran voice yelled out to the swordsman.

None other than Chestnut herself. "Comrade Kai!"

Though he was in no mood for another Effiran Greeting, Kai replied. "...Yeah?"

"What you doing in here?" Chestnut asked, standing at the doorway, "You
fight with sword! This place for fighter with gun! Like Emilia!"

Kai smirked idly. "Yeah. I guess you're right. My mistake."

"...Comrade Kai...?" Even someone as emotionally gormless as Chestnut could see
that there was something up with the Japanese boy, "...is something wrong?"

The young man took a deep breath and gathered himself. "It's fine. Don't
worry about me.  I'm just hungry or something. You wanna go grab something
to eat?"

**********

In the lower rear of Sparta was its engines. Those in the Engine Room, which
also contain side rooms leading to the Barrier Shield generators. However on
the second floor above Sparta's the Engine Room was a small, compact chapel.
It was nothing extreme.

It had a few benches, enough to seat thirty people. It had an altar, over
forty copies of the Bible and a large window that framed the back of the
room. The ship travelling through space allowed the stars to seem as if they
were moving. And that was as surprisingly nice sight to see. It had a
calming effect on Angel, as he had come here for just that. Calm. The ship's
pastor, Priest Jacobson, was not here at the moment. So the God Summoner was
alone in the mini chapel. He sat on one of the middle benches, his head
bowed, hands locked together, deep in the midst of prayer.

"Our Father, who art in heaven," Angel whispered softly, "...I know that from
now on... things will never be the same. We have the Lesser Key of Solomon.
And soon we will be ready to enter the Magi-Sphere. We will be the first
people in years to enter the Earth's atmosphere. To do your work, to restore
life to the Earth, by preventing its destruction. But as much as I seek to
do this in your name... I cannot help but find myself distracted. By what I
feel. I know that my feelings go against your will. And it tortures me each
and everyday to think that is does. But such feelings are so hard to escape.
Be it the devil's tail hiding behind the virgin's veil or not, I cannot
mistake how deeply these emotions run. Or how happy it would make me for the
one I love... to reciprocate what I feel. I am so torn. Please, O Lord, help
me understand myself. Help me understand what I should be doing... feeling.
Please offer me your guidance. Amen."

Angel leaned upwards and unclasped his hands. His long bangs of chocolate
hair fell over his left eye again. And he remained silent for a few moments.
It helped a lot to air out his worries to God. And he was on the horns of a
dilemma this time. But it was something he had been struggling with for a
while now. It just didn't seem to be getting better or even easier. While
Angel remained seated on one of those thin benches, just soaking up his time
in the house of the Lord, the entrance into the chapel opened. Celena walked
through the doorway and looked to her left to see a pensive Angel, silent
and deep in thought. She smiled generously and walked up the pew. Then
turned and shimmed up Angel's bench. A few moments after she was sitting
next to him. But the magic-user didn't even notice it until the shift of
weight made a creaking sound in the wooden bench.

"Are you okay, Angel?" Celena whispered, "you seem troubled."

Angel pulled a small smile. "...Don't be concerned with me, Miss Avalis. I'll
be alright."

"You don't have to call me that, you know. Everyone else just calls me
Celena. You can too."

"Okay. Thank you... Celena." Angel said.

Celena smiled. "That's better."

The two of them fell silent for a moment. And in such a moment it really
became obvious that they had little in common except a shared affection for
a certain Syowanese boy. It went as an unspoken fact between the two of
them. Angel could see it all over Celena's mannerisms towards her best
friend. And Celena had seen it every time the God Summoner dared to look
with those large bottle green eyes at the swordsman. Celena, naturally being
the more talkative of two, spoke first, with,

"...So what did you come to the chapel for? Just prayer?"

Angel pressed his hands into his lap. "...Clarity, mostly."

"...I see," The beach creaked as Celena leaned forwards, "...about Kai...?"

If there was a part of Angel that didn't seem to realize that his feelings
for Kai were common knowledge to everyone on the Sparta aside from Kai
himself, that part of him made a manifestation right there and then. Angel's
big jade eyes widened even further and he turned his head at Celena with
utter disbelief. But Celena just smiled at him, nodding.

"...You don't need to worry," She offered, "I don't have a problem with it. No
one here does. They all love you so much on this ship. Just like they do the
Captain and Solon. And I don't blame you for feeling that way, either. I
love him, too. He's rude, whinny, unmotivated, ignorant and inconsiderate.
But he's got a good heart. I've seen it so many times in so many ways. If it
means either staying up all night to help me work or risking his life in
order to ensure my protection, he'll always prove how good of a person he is
when the chips are down. I suppose it was his willingness to protect me that
made me fall in love with him."

"...So you love him, too..." Angel offered, downhearted, "...and... how...?"

Celena finished Angel's sentence for him. "How does he feel about me?
Honestly... I don't know. We've been best friends for a while now. I've tried
to tell him how I feel but I've never had the success. That's pretty funny,
huh? I can't tell Kai how I feel about him... but I can tell you, the one
other person who feels the same way. What a funny old trick God has played
on us."

"...My feelings go against God's will. I hate that they do..."

"I guessed that's why you came here," Celena said, "but you have nothing to
be ashamed of."

Angel just looked downwards.

Celena shook her head. "I'm serious, you know? Some forms of love are wrong.
I won't deny that much. But I don't think that case applies to your feelings
right now. You're a Pure Soul, Angel. I can feel it. And if I had to lose
him to anyone... I'd want it to be you. I don't know why... I mean... I should be
thinking of you as some sort of rival. But that's what I believe."

"You are a strong woman, Celena." Angel complimented.

"...Well... maybe," She said smiling, "...or maybe I just want to see that little
slob of ours happy. And I think... that you and I are the only ones who can
really do that. Or does that sound kind of idiotic?"

The brown-haired boy sighed. "It seems to be fate's cruel joke on us.
Respecting each other. Loving him. Wanting to be with him. Not being able to
tell him."

"Yeah..." The older woman leaned her back and looked up at the
ambiance-building rafters above of the ceiling of the chapel, "...I guess
we're both idiots."

**********

"Alrighty gang. Do I need to explain again?"

Over three days had passed since the events on Faandolta. The Sparta had
crossed the gap back into the Earth-orbital world. And were now in orbit of
the first and largest of all the colonies, both Earth-orbital and
outer-orbital. That colony was Victoria Lake. It was in the background of
the vidscreen of the bridge. It could be seen, hanging in space, housing
over 9.3 million lives. The chief American colony was not the hub of the
Greater Universal Confederacy. That title belonged to Romanovia, the richest
colony of all. But Victoria Lake was a huge contender to Romanovia. And that
could be seen in the vast size of it.

Many of the Whitestar crew had gathered together in the bridge for the
announcement to be made in person, from Lucielle. And most of them were
dressed quite formally. The men (excluding Angel) were dressed in stately
tuxedos and neck ties. Including Kai (who felt very uncomfortable dressed
like this, even with Ouroboros in his hand). The girls were all wearing
long, elegant dresses in varying colours. Even Chestnut had been forced to
adopt that style of dress, though she felt it didn't suit a `Fearless
Effiran Warrior'. Angel was the only one to buck that trend. His form of
dress was a little different to the rest. He was in (though not completely
by his own direction) a shoulder-less white blouse, a thin white mini-skirt,
thigh-length nylons and club heel white shoes. Angel was a feminine boy but
was completely unprepared to wear a dress, regardless of what his father had
groomed him for. So Lucielle and Karen prodded him into wearing that outfit.
Which seemed to gather attention for him from the rest of the crew, as did
Lucielle and Celena.

Lucielle, Kai, Angel, Karen, Solon (yes, Solon), Chestnut, Emilia and Celena
had all dressed up for the occasion. Because they were not only stopping for
the acquisition of the parts needed to upgrade the Barrier Shields, they
were also going to attend a party hosted by none other than Lucielle's
Father, James. She had told certain crewmembers that they would be joining
her. Including Celena and Solon. Though Solon was needed for the upgrade, it
was of great importance that she got out of the ship and enjoyed herself
from time to time. At least in Lucielle's opinion. But it was not a
completely social visit. The party was taking place because James was about
to unveil his newest ship, the Katta-Shinbungai. And though Lucielle
expected no real trouble... Gernst Mullenhauser was said to be in attendance
of this party. If Angel's suspicions about him were correct, then Lucielle
considered her Father to be in danger from the Four Horsemen. She had to
make sure he was okay. So the group would be coming armed.

Underneath Emilia's dress, attached to both of the garters on her thighs,
were her twin pistols Sharon and Franchesca. Kai had Ouroboros in his hand.
Chestnut had her knuckle guards in a compartment pocket on the side of her
dress. And Karen had the Gaeki Crystal in one of her own pockets.

Kai closed his eyes as he stood between Celena and Angel. "We get it,
Lucielle. We're gonna go down to your Dad's party and watch him unveil his
new ship. During that time some of the other guys on the ship will pick up
the parts for the Barrier Shield Generators. When we get back to the Sparta,
Solon and Rock will set it all up. Then we'll blaze a trail for Earth.
Right?"

Lucielle clapped her hands together. "Right! I knew you weren't as dense as
people said, Kai!"

"...Dense? Who's been calling me dense?"

Karen smirked, crossing her arms. "Hmph! I'm not arguing with that."

Kai sneered at Karen but said nothing. For the most part, Lucielle was
pretty excited and he didn't want to ruin that. Even if he couldn't stand
being dressed like this. The Captain made one last check of everything,
looking around to see how everyone was doing, in particular Rock, then
pulled a big smile for those who would be coming with her. "Alrighty then!
Here it is. Since Transportation Beaming is illegal on Victoria Lake we're
gonna have to get down to my Daddy's party via shuttle. We'll spend a little
bit of time there, see if we can catch a glimpse of Gernst Mullenhauser
before he leaves. Once it's assured that my Daddy is okay, and the extra
parts have been picked up, we'll go. The parts collectors will go down to
the colony on their own shuttle while me, Kai, Chestnut and the rest of our
group head down to the party. Now lets get moving."

The two groups (the three Whitestar personnel collecting the parts and
Lucielle's group) said their parting words to the folks on the bridge and
then made their way back down to the shuttle/hanger bay. The Sparta had
three shuttles to its name. The Dandy Bell (the one that Kai and Celena had
been picked up on from Syowa-oh), the Little Goddess (the one that
Lucielle's group would be taking) and finally the Sky Trigger (the one that
guys from the Whitestar's engineering crew would be using to pick up the
parts for the Barrier Shields). Once at the hanger bay, Lucielle and her
party entered the Little Goddess and being the great pilot that she was,
Lucielle took the controls while the others sat it back. She tapped a few
keys on the control panel and opened a video link with the bridge. Lucielle
quickly requested Rock to let the hanger doors of the Sparta open for the
Little Goddess and the Sky Trigger. He confirmed that and both mechanical
gates opened up to reveal the darkness of space. With everyone buckled in
tight, the Little Goddess pumped up its engines and shot out of the Sparta's
hanger bay. A trail of blue energy followed it as the little white shuttle
cut out into the void of space. It was followed shortly by the Sky Trigger,
which moved at a slower speed than its sister shuttle. But while both were
moving at different speeds, both descended towards the Victoria Lake colony.
And the American space city had enhanced its security since the last time
Lucielle had been here. It was probably a result of the attack on the
Syowa-oh colony just less than a week ago. Relations between Victoria Lake
and Syowa-oh were very tight. So it seemed natural that if Syowa-oh were on
alert, that Victoria Lake would be too. When the two shuttles entered into
V. L. Colony space, they separated. All colonies were protected by Barrier
Shields (which also acted as visual representation for day and night on the
inside) and ships could only get through those shields at certain points
along the colony. The engineers would be heading for an industrial district
and so it separated from the Little Goddess (whose passengers would be
flying to a business district). The Little Goddess cleaved a path through
the colony's space and Lucielle made contact with a gate controller as her
shuttle encroached on one of those colony entry points.

A video screen appeared before Lucielle`s control panel as the Little
Goddess slowed down to enter the gate. The image was of one of the gate
controllers. And so she spoke to it. "This is Lucielle Howard, captain of
the civilian flagship Sparta. I request entry into the colony in accordance
with protocol... um..."

When the number of the protocol left her mind, Lucielle turned around to
Solon. "Solon, what protocol is it again that allows us entry into a
colony?"

"...23-45." She replied.

"R-right!" Lucielle then turned back to the video screen, picking up where
she left off, "in accordance with protocol 23-45 of Greater Universal
Confederacy Law."

The gate controller nodded. "Confirmed. Do you have a letter of authority?"

"Yup."

"Alright. Prepare your shuttle for docking."

The video screen then signed off when the exchange was over. The grey steel
gates of that entry point slowly opened for the Little Goddess. Lucielle
guided the shuttle into the opening with the kind of precision that the
likes of Kai didn't think she was capable of. It then came inside the
buzzing shuttle hanger of the colony, full with others just like it, as well
as the security and personnel working to prevent any kind of terrorist
activity. The Little Goddess landed thereafter. The group began unbuckling
themselves from the chairs of the shuttle and ambled for the exit out.
Lucielle was the first in line to leave, being that she was the one with the
letter of authority. The crescent-shaped door of the shuttle shifted open
and the group came out of the Little Goddess, following Lucielle's lead. One
of the security men, armed with a small plasmatic pistol and dressed in
grey, strode up to the group before they could pass.

"Hold it," He said, "I need to see your letter of authority."

Lucielle winked at him and handed the letter over. "Read it and weep, cute
stuff."

The security guard took the letter and checked it over. The letters had
stamps of authority that were only in the possession of certain important
people. Like Frank Anselm, for instance. The security guard checked the
stamp and knew that the letter was authentic. Then he looked at the crew
members behind Lucielle. In particular, Emilia.

He blinked from behind the visor of his helmet. "Wait a minute! Some of you
are armed!"

"Well duh," Lucielle commented, "we also have that right, son. Check the
bottom statute of the letter. It authorizes us with the right to carry
weaponry as a means of self-defence. And we all have NFCs. They do act as a
method of monitoring colony-dwellers while under the vicinity of the
Victoria Lake Central Nexus, right? If one of us acts out of turn, then
you'll know about it."

The security man suddenly looked a bit embarrassed when he realized that the
seemingly ditzy Lucielle was really on top of things. He handed the letter
back to her and nodded. "...Uh... okay. You all check out."

Lucielle, Emilia, Kai, Angel, Celena, Chestnut, Solon and Karen all walked
off from the security guard and the Little Goddess towards one of the
transporters on the other side of that very large hanger bay. While walking
to the transporters, Karen turned to Solon and asked, "Hey Solon, what's the
Victoria Lake Central Nexus?"

"It's an extremely large server that operates from the central tower of the
colony, the place where the processors of the Holographics of the sky are
monitored. It's also where electricity is produced and distributed from. The
Central Nexus is more or less the system that governs over 82.017% of the
computer electronics on Victoria Lake. Akin to a mainframe of a computer on
any normal level. But limited in that it only operates with machinery that
is not interrelated with the Bas Dahlem Foundation."

Karen sweatdropped. "...Thanks."

The whole group walked up the transporters while discussing the layout and
size of this colony. Most of the group, including Kai and Celena, had never
seen the place before. It was just as large as people said it was. Everyone
got on the thin steel pad that acted as transporter  for them. A beam of
light surrounded them and the eight young men and women were all relocated
through time and space to a separate part of the colony, based on the specs
that Solon had programmed on all their NFCs. The gang were relocated on
another transporter in a separate location inside the colony. One on the
edge street of the business district. When the group stepped off the
transporter, they could see all the wonders of the Victoria Lake Colony. The
towering skyscrapers, the hover cars, the beautiful holographic sky, the
cool freshness of the air provided by the Regeneration Wheels, the fresh mix
of ethnicity in the people. The major ethnicities of Victoria Lake were
descendants of White Americans, African Americans, Native Americans and
Latin Americans. But the scope of people went as far as Mongolian to the
Australian Aborigines. Everyone else was caught up with the size and scope
of Victoria Lake, but Lucielle just sighed and grinned a cheerful grin.

"Man, there's no place like home... that's for sure."

Solon, who made a point of sticking as close to Lucielle as possible, spoke,
"Should we be going now, Captain?"

"Sure, Solon." She said, roping her arm around the younger girl's shoulders.
Solon, whose face remained still as ice, blushed a little and moved closer
to her captain. It was no real secret that Solon felt safest with Lucielle.
But it was something that Karen and Emilia were just now taking note of.
Lucielle and Solon walked ahead down the street towards a large hall
building that sparkled with lights and light music. It was just down the
street from them. And the sky holographs were projecting night by now, so
the light of that functional building stood out in the quiet business
streets of Victoria Lake. The others followed the two of them. While Kai and
Angel brought up the rear.

"Dammit!" Kai expressed with annoyance, "This damn suit is killing me! It's
so frickin' tight! Why'd I let that scatterbrained Lucielle talk me into
coming to this stupid party?"

Angel sighed. "Stop fussing. I think you look quite handsome."

"...Really?" A cherry-bright blush appeared over Kai's cheeks, "...um... thanks..."

The two walked with each other behind the rest. Under the watchful eye of
Celena. But the group gathered up again when they came to the doors of the
hall for the party. It was already underway, with around thirty people
inside with light listening played by a classical band in the background.
Kai scoffed when he heard the sounds of violins and harps in place of drums
and bass. Truth be told he was more of a rock fan, in particular his
ultimate band, Suicide of Claire. Three security guards stood before the
doors to check who and who not to come inside for James Howard's party.

"Hold on," One man said, blocking the group's way, "Do you have an
invitation?"

Lucielle sniggered, her arm still wrapped around Solon's neck and shoulder.
"Do I need one? Do you know who I am? Or should I have my Father vouch for
that?"

The first guard didn't have a clue. But the second one was not so ignorant.
His eyes widened with surprise and he spoke on it. "Miss Howard? You are
back?"

"Well it looks that way, doesn't it?"

The second security guard nodded. "O-of course, Miss Howard! Please, come
in. You and all your friends are more than welcome. Mister Howard will be
very pleased to see that you have come tonight."

The group then stepped in as they were allowed access. While walking inside,
Lucielle leaned down into Solon's ear and whispered, "Remember that, Solon.
A wise woman once said that all it takes is dropping the right name at the
right time and everything's hunky-dory."

The faintest hint of a smile past the smart helmswoman's face from hearing
that. And they all strode into the large hall where the great shipbuilder
and Father of Lucielle, James Howard, was hosting the unveiling party of his
newest and arguably most powerful ship ever, the Katta-Shinbungai. Kai,
Angel, Celena, Emilia, Chestnut and Karen were now faced with the very
difficult prospect of blending into this small but upper-class group of
people. All richly dressed and perfectly-spoken. Many of the people here
were diplomats and delegates from over nine colonies and planets. All people
on the upper echelons of their professions and organizations. Even a couple
Viceroys had been invited to attend the bourgeois bash, even Yuri
Halmyonovich, Viceroy of the Romanovia Colony. But more important than that
was the presence of the shipbuilding critics who would oversee the unveiling
of the Katta-Shinbungai. This party was a meeting place for the upper-level
ambassadors to converse at, but James Howard's primary concern in this party
was for his ship and nothing else. These people were in most cases, a sample
of the `nobility' in the Earth-orbital world.

Lucielle finally let go of Solon and went in search for her Father. While
Karen followed her. Solon wished to do the same, but noted that Lucielle and
Karen probably wanted to be alone when they caught up with James. While the
others, Kai, Angel, Celena, Chestnut and Emilia, were forced to have to
`blend in' with this group. Angel and Celena had the easiest time of it. By
nature, Angel had been born into this society and had grown up in it as
well. He knew how to conduct himself and knew what buttons to press. Speak
softly, nod often, laugh at any joke (no matter how corny) and then mingle
with others in the same way. The brown-haired God Summoner instantly found
himself in conversation with a ship critic. A moment later a young maid came
up and offered him a glass of sparkling white wine. And while Angel was not
much of a drinker, he took it anyway. Celena did the same, but while she
lacked the refinement of Angel, Celena made up for it her polite and genuine
personality.

It was Kai, Emilia and Chestnut who were having the most trouble. While
Emilia was not an unrefined woman, she was dreadfully unsociable, often
marching around aimlessly, avoiding the stares and whispers she was getting
from such actions. Chestnut had a similar problem but in an opposite way.
Her overly-friendly nature and broken English served to embarrass and
intimidate the people she spoke to, and it was no surprise that she was the
only alien there. In this age, the things that had divided humankind before;
race, religion, sex, sexuality, all were very rare to be held with scorn
now. A special kind of prejudice was now reserved for alien races, who were
considered by some to be uncivilized, backwater beings with crazy belief
systems and little moral ethic. Chestnut remained blissfully ignorant of
this bigotry. But things did not go smoothly for her. In fact, security was
almost called when she exchanged one of her famous `Effiran Greetings' with
a Xiantianese diplomat.

Kai was stuck in the middle between the success of Angel and Celena, and the
failure of Emilia and Chestnut to blend in. The way he was dressed, he truly
looked like a gentlemen, and was greeted by a few who assumed he was a young
businessman. Thankfully the sheathed Ouroboros had a sleek, thin design that
made it look more like a walking staff than a weapon (A/N if you can't
visualize what the Ouroboros looks like then picture O-Ren Ishii's sword in
Kill Bill Vol. 1). But when he spoke to them in his violently commanding
young voice,  it became clear to others that he was nothing more than a
well-dressed/groomed street punk. Thankfully he was the youngest man here
(next to Angel) so he was a lot more popular with the young and beautiful
female daughters who had been dragged here with their Fathers. He was
pleased with the attention, if not a little bashful about it, but even so,
his major concern was for the man who would attending the party alongside
them. Angel's adoptive father, Gernst Mullenhauser.

One of the serving girls came up to Kai holding a silver tray with glasses
of wine. "Would you like a beverage, sir?"

"Thanks," Kai took one of the glasses off the tray and asked, "do you happen
to know if that German guy, Gernst Mullenhauser, is here yet?"

The cute young maid shook her head. "I do not have any information on the
guests, sir."

"Really? Dah well. Forget it."

Over to the left of the room, by the dining tables were a few people who had
seated themselves to drink their glasses of wine and listen to the beautiful
operatic music being played by the classical band behind the stage. Next to
those people were Lucielle and Karen. They looked around for James Howard
throughout all the snobs and delegates that happened to be attending the
party. They managed to catch eye of a medium-tall American man in discussion
with someone else at the party. Once that conversation was over, the man
turned to his right and his eyes widened when he saw the two girls standing
before him.

"...Lucielle? Karen?"

"Uncle James!" Being the affectionate girl that she was, Karen rushed over
to her `Uncle' and leapt into his arms. James laughed and stumbled back a
little as Karen hugged him dearly, "I haven't seen you for so long!"

James smiled. "My, my Karen. Look how much you've grown. Why, you're
practically a young woman now."

"Uh huh! Grandpa says so all the time!"

Then the shipbuilding, still holding Karen, looked over to his daughter with
warm, happy eyes. "So you came after all. You have no idea how much it means
for me to have you here, Lucielle."

Lucielle waved him off with a smile. "Oh Daddy, you didn't really think I'd
pass up your big day, did you? I had to be here. But I have to admit... your
choice of guests aren't really my cup of tea."

"...I know what you mean," James whispered, "but my hands are tied. A lot of
money was funded in the Katta-Shinbungai. These guys are here not just to
oversee the result, but to mix with the head honchos of the other colonies
without a political background. Just try to deal with it for now."

Lucielle nodded and Karen finally released her Uncle James. The shipbuilder
then adjusted his tie and suit. "Okay then, girls. I have to continue
mingling with the other guests, making sure I greet everyone. I'll be
unveiling the ship shortly, so sit tight. Once I am finished with this, we
can catch up. Okay?"

Both Lucielle and Karen bobbed their heads. James then continued to greet
and shake hands with the others. Over on the other side of the room, the
situation had changed a little. Emilia and Solon sat together by a table,
wordlessly. Chestnut was still trying in vain to connect with the people
here. While Celena was in discussion with an older woman about the
capabilities of the ship to be unveiled. Apparently she was one of James'
fellow designers. But on the other hand, there was Angel. He stood bashfully
in the centre of a ring of young men, all about three years older than Kai
was. Angel giggled bashfully as they discussed things with him and
complimented him in certain ways. The group of young men were obviously
quite taken by Angel and his exquisite looks, not knowing that he was in
fact male. But that was quite understandable. The magic-user was
inexplicably feminine. He looked just like a flatchested teenage girl. Which
gave him his fair share of suitors in this crowd. Kai gulped down his wine
swiftly whilst watching those men gas on and on about themselves around
Angel.

It bothered him.

It really bothered him.

And it bothered him that it bothered him.

And Kai kept thinking of ways he could get over there and break it all up.
Maybe sending Angel a message through his NFC to get him to leave and answer
it in private. Or he could just grab the chicken by the neck and rush over
there, declaring that Angel was a guy. That'd get those horny little eyes
away, quick-sharpish.

In the end Kai couldn't bring himself to do either. He only stood there,
watching Angel be surrounded by those men like hungry vultures ready to
swoop down and pluck at the flesh of a tasty-looking carcass. Then Kai shook
his head and looked over at the left of the hall. Lucielle and Karen were
coming back into view. Karen grabbed herself two cups of orange juice from a
buffet-like table of refreshments and marched over in Solon's direction.
While Lucielle stood in front of the hors d'oeuvres with a glass of wine in
hand. It was not long before a couple men encroached on her with
conversation. But Lucielle didn't shy them away. She let the two
suit-dressed men speak with her. Alternating between sips of her white wine
with nods of understanding to their many comments. As well as the odd
stifled giggle when one of them cracked a joke. It was obvious that Lucielle
was bored to death by those guys, but they didn't seem to pick up on it. And
neither did Emilia. Kai gazed at her to see her reaction. It was completely
predictable. A severe expression of sheer enraged jealousy was painting the
Russian woman's features.  She might have been able to hide her feelings for
Lucielle away from everyone else, but her jealousy was something she could
not shake. It actually pleased Kai to know that the high and mighty
markswoman could get flustered in such a jovial way, but he himself knew
what that was like. Maybe more so than Kai even realized.

Then, on the stage, the classical band began to change the tone of the music
a bit. The violins kicked in with firm but steady rhythm in a background
drop, but the focus now turned to the piano piece. It was a change in mood
and tempo that signified that it was time for the `dance' part of this dance
to begin. People soon began pairing of with both strangers and spouses. A
young man offered to dance with Celena. She accepted. The same went with
Emilia, but she frostily turned that guy down, staring with daggers at
Lucielle and the men flirting with her.

When people started moving with each other in slow, composed waltzes on the
dance floor, Karen extended her hand to Solon with a bright smile. "Wanna
dance with me?"

"...I..." Solon tightened up, "...I am... not a... great dancer."

"You don't have to be, Solon! C'mon, dance with me!"

It didn't seem like she had much of a choice, Karen was already too excited
about the idea to be dissuaded now.  So she took Solon by the hand and lead
her out to the dance floor. The two stood in front of each other and Karen
spoke up again while some other couples danced around the two of them.
"Okay. Now put your hands on my hips, alright?"

Solon nodded and did that, placing her young hands on the year younger
girl's hips. Then Karen worked her hands just around the back of Solon's
neck, her wrists upon her shoulders. "There you go. Now just slowly move
with me. Don't think about dipping or feet or whatever you're worried about.
Just follow my lead."

And so Solon and Karen danced together. The helmswoman of the Sparta was not
so graceful when it came to that sort of thing. And even now, her mind was
on Lucielle, not Karen, but she found herself accepting the movement between
herself and the Anselm girl with slow pace. Chestnut (who by now had given
up on trying to assimilate herself into this party) smiled at how cute the
two of them looked together, the eager Karen meshing well with the serious,
slightly clumsy dancer Solon. While those two danced, there was an immediate
reaction with the group of men who stood with Angel at the side of the hall.
All of them were in a hurry to ask the God Summoner to dance with them, but
the youngest of them (21) got in there first.

"Would you do me the honour of having the first dance, Angel?" Said the
youth.

Angel put his glass of wine down on a table of  hors d'oeuvres and threw a
longing glance over at Kai, who appeared to be distracted by something,
"...I'm not sure..."

"It would be a great pleasure, if I may?" He prodded.

"...But still, I...um..." Eventually the indecisive expression on Angel's face was
taken as yes by the man asking to dance with him. He clasped Angel's hand
and carefully pulled him forth, into the groups of couples who had paired
off with each other. The English boy was swung artistically into the arms of
this older, taller male, both of his larger hands positioning themselves at
his hips. Angel rested his hands on the young man's shoulders out of nothing
more than reflex action. Thus finding himself dancing with this guy who as
yet remained nameless. Angel moved slowly along with the man on the dance
floor, whilst looking over his shoulder at Kai. The taller guy leaned in and
whispered into Angel's ear, "you are the most beautiful woman in the room,
tonight."

Angel squirmed uncomfortably. He may have dressed in a feminine way but he
actually disliked it when people called him a woman. But he said nothing. It
was in Angel's nature not to upset people. Kai by now had finished catching
up with what the others were doing and turned to look at what was happening
with Angel and his fanboys. Only to realize that Angel wasn't with them
anymore. The group of men looked ahead into the dance floor with envy. And
Kai followed their gazes. He was stunned to see Angel, locked within the
arms of the youngest member of the newly founded Angel-groupies. Kai's eyes
hardened in a way that he hadn't expressed for years, his empty fist
tightening. One of the maids came by with another glass of wine. Kai rudely
grabbed the glass, downed it, and handed both empties over to the serving
girl. All the while his eyes never left the sight of Angel dancing along
with that random guy. But in the end he couldn't take watching it anymore.
Kai scoffed loudly and stomped to his right, towards a fire door, one to be
opened by hand. The Syowanese youth roughly yanked the door open and stepped
outside, getting a breath of fresh air. He looked up into the night sky and
exhaled, calming himself. Kai was still in the dark about what he was
feeling. But the severity of it didn't leave without a mark. Ever since that
night on Valhoth, things had been strange between he and Angel. But why?
They were friends, right? What more was there?

Kai sighed and rested his arms on a nearby pavement railing. It was a cold
night out. But he liked it that way. The fire door suddenly swung open
again. Kai didn't look back. Until the woman who exited the hall moved up to
him and leaned her back against the railing.

It was Lucielle. "...So, how come you're not inside there, dancing?"

"Same to you."

"Ah, none of those guys were my type," Lucielle commented, "being the
gorgeous bisexual vixen that I am, I get a lot of choice in life. None of
them really fit the bill of what I'm looking for, you know what I mean?"

Kai shrugged. "I suppose."

"...Well somebody's sure in a bad mood," Lucielle commented with a smirk,
"this wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the amount of attention
our young God Summoner is getting, would it?"

"..." Though he said nothing, the jerk of Kai's body and the fiery blush on
his cheeks seemed to speak volumes.

Lucielle's grin widened. "Heh, heh, heh. Bingo!"

But yet again Kai remained silent.

"...Geez, you know, I'm starting to think that it's true. You are completely
dense."

Finally Kai spoke again. "What the hell are you driving at, Lucielle? And
who in God's name is it that's been calling me dense?!"

"Oh wise up, ass-hat," Lucielle answered, "Stop feeling so threatened. Don't
you see? Angel's crazy about you."

"Then why the hell is he dancing with that limp-wristed, apple-a-day
bastard?!"

The Captain of the Sparta closed her eyes. "I didn't see YOU in any hurry to
ask him. And not only that, you still can't seem to understand how you feel
about him. Is it that hard to accept? That you could really love Angel?"

Kai eased up again. "...Love...?"

"Yup. Even you're capable of it, Kai. And I don't think anyone else on my
ship is more deserving of it than you. Do you know that we've been
monitoring you for over two months? Just so we could find a way to get you
to help us. But from the second he saw you, Angel's been head over heels for
you. And it's only taken a week or so to make you see how much you return
that feeling. So what's stopping you, Kai?"

"...I don't know," Kai lowered his head, "...I just don't know..."

Lucielle smiled at him. "Well get it together before Angel gives up on you.
It's not like there's a shortage of men and women who wanna be with him."

"...Well what about you?" Kai responded.

"What about me what?"

"You and Emilia," Kai offered, "there's no secrets there. One minute you're
glaring at her, the next you're all over her, then the next you can't stand
her. What is it with you two?"

Lucielle looked downwards. "...Ah. `Tis the greatest riddle of love,
fledgling. You fall for someone, you wanna be with them, you wanna start a
life with them. But then you figure out that that person has a deeper
preoccupation that prevents you from really getting close to them. Then you
realize that your place in that person's heart is... secondary to that
preoccupation. I dunno if you know this, but Emilia's parents were killed by
one of the Four Horsemen. And she's made it her personal quest to finish
that guy off. That was the real reason she joined Whitestar. But at the
time... I didn't care, you know? Just as long as she was with me... around me... I
was content. Then the arguments started. And they started when I realized
that I couldn't live my life in second place to her dream. It's that
simple."

Kai shook his head tiredly. "That's not simple. But does it have to be?"

"What's that mean?"

"Why not just go along with it? It's obvious that she's in love with you.
She couldn't stop staring at you and those guys. Not that I really give a
rat's ass."

Lucielle grinned at him. "That's crap. If you didn't care you wouldn't have
brought it up. You know, as macho as you act, you've got a beautiful heart,
Kai Kisaragi."

"Geez, would stop talking like that? It's embarrassing!"

The Sparta's captain sniggered at how easily Kai got flustered. "Alright,
alright. I'll stop. We should be heading back inside, anyway. I think my
Daddy's about to unveil his latest work."

Well Kai understood that much. The blonde boy nodded and followed Lucielle
back inside the hall to the party. By now the couples had all stopped
dancing but had not left the dance floor. Emilia and Chestnut were sitting
astride each other on the tables to the left of the hall. Kai and Lucielle
stood by the edge of the large building, looking up at the stage. The
classical band had stopped playing and James was on the stage.

All fell silent when he spoke. "Welcome, one and all. I am so very pleased
that you all could attend this party. And I hope that you have all enjoyed
yourself so far. Now. Many years ago I had a dream. A dream that showed me
my future and that of starships. I imagined a ship with a total three-way
fusion between power, speed, and efficiency. The ultimate ship of any class,
able to carry mankind into the future. My friends, I believe I have created
that ship. Behold! The Katta-Shinbungai!"

The black curtains behind the stage swiftly opened to reveal a video screen.
And on that screen was the image of the battleship itself. Docked in one of
thousands of hanger bays on the Victoria Lake Colony, it was gigantic. More
than four times the size of the Sparta and little less than twice the size
of the Asmodeus, the main battleship of the Interplanetary Vanguard. On both
its side were large cannons that were clearly running on an energy source
different to anti-matter. The white and blue finish of the Katta-Shinbungai
glistened in the light of hanger. This was the future of the battleship.
There were collective gasps at the size and looks of the Katta-Shinbungai,
but all felt esteem for it. James smiled at their reactions and spoke again.

"This ship is truly the future," He said, "but it would not have been
possible without the Bas Dahlem Foundation's time, money and resources. So
let me introduce to you... the owner of the company that made the
Katta-Shinbungai possible, Mister Gernst Mullenhauser!"

Lucielle, Kai, Angel, Emilia, Solon, Chestnut and Karen all became alert
when that name was spoken. And then the man himself stepped out from the
shadows of the stage to greet the people who gave him brief applause.
Mullenhauser stopped at the head of the stage. And Kai evaluated him from
head to toe. Mullenhauser looked about 49 years in age. His silvery-grey
hair descending upon his shoulders. He was dressed in black and white suit
like the rest of the men at this party, but he had a cape around his
shoulders that extended all the way down to his ankles. Angel was the one
most influenced by his presence. A haunted look was reflected in his eyes.
So strong that the guy dancing with him noticed it.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Angel looked away. "...I'm fine..."

Mullenhauser spoke soon afterwards. "It is good to see you all here. As you
may well know, I have desired to expand the business of Bas Dahlem into the
American colonial world as well as the Eurasian one. I believe that the
Katta-Shinbungai is the first step towards making that aim a reality. The
finest of all battleships, a testament to the capabilities of my company,
will echo throughout the ages as the next step in the field of space
exploration. Thank you."

He was given an ovation when he stepped off the stage Everyone in the
Whitestar group,  including Angel and Lucielle, forced themselves to clap
for the man. But their faces could not have been more serious. If Angel was
correct then that man was the benefactor of the Four Horsemen. And where he
was, they were sure to be following. A sentiment that was soon to be
confirmed. Gernst nodded to James and stepped around the back of the stage
to a door which he went through. Then approximately 58 seconds later, a
small but furious explosion tore through the right wall of the hall. Screams
of shock were prevalent when combustion blew the hors d'oeuvres table into
the air, scattering it contents, as well at the rubble of the blasted wall.
The people standing near it were killed instantly. And those close were all
knocked off their feet from the impact. A pillar of flames shot up from the
blast point. Spreading smoke and embers across the hall. James was shocked.
But with all his guests screaming in panic, his first thought was of his
daughter.

"Lucielle!"

Chestnut and Emilia scrambled up from their seats and rushed over to
Lucielle and Kai. Solon, Celena and Karen did the same. The only one who did
not join them was Angel. Still staring lifelessly at the door his `father'
had walked through. James caught sight of his daughter with her friends and
quickly ran to her. Once he was they he stopped and coughed a little from
the smoke of the fire. "Lucielle... Karen..."

"I'm fine, Daddy!" Lucielle looked around, "Is everyone okay?"

Karen coughed on the smoke also. "...I think so..."

"Wait! Where Angel!? Angel not here!" Chestnut yelled quickly.

Kai's eyes scanned the dance floor, where people were lying grounded,
bloody, dusty and unconscious. "Where is he?!"

Emilia caught sight of the young boy running towards that far door beside
the stage. He was surrounded by the other party goers who were now rushing
to escape the building through the fire exists. As he ran, Angel yelled
something out to them but none could hear it. Not even Kai could. But it was
obvious what he was doing.

Lucielle guessed it. "He's going after Mullenhauser! Kai! Quick, go and
catch up with him! We're gonna go back to the Little Goddess and get the
hell out of here, as soon as we drop off my Father! Make sure you protect
him!"

Kai nodded sternly and dashed to the north of the hall in pursuit of Kai.
Which was when Lucielle gave the rest of her instructions. "Alright! The
Constabulary will be here soon to help the wounded! For now we just have to
get back to the hanger! The others should be done by now! Stick together,
alright?"

The group nodded to Lucielle's commands then rushed for one of the separate
doorways. Lucielle was the last to run, until she noted that her Father was
standing still. "...Daddy?! What are you doing?! C'mon, haul ass!"

"...You've grown up, Lucielle," James commented, even in this panic, "you're
so much like your Mother. Inside and out."

Lucielle scowled and grabbed James by the wrist. "This is no time for
emotional realizations, Daddy! We've got to get out of here!"

The two soon followed after the others in escaping the now flaming building.
  Kai, who was barging his way through the other fleeing members of the
public, made it to the far door. He kicked it open and ran into carpeted
corridor. He followed his instincts and ran down the left side of it. Which
was where an open door to the outside was waiting for him. Kai ran through
the doorway and it led him out to the streets. By now the smoke from the
blast was seeping through the windows of the building to the outside. The
few people hanging around could see the glare of the flames through the
window. But Kai ignored them and tried to figure out which way Angel had
run. To the north of the street or the south? It occurred to Kai that he
could track Angel with his NFC. And he pulled up his wrist to use it. But he
didn't get the chance. A second later he heard the sound of thin steel
descending at him at bullet-fast speed. Kai leapt out of the way and jumped
across the pavement. Something spiked the ground where his feet once stood.
And Kai noted that that something was an acupunctural needle.

Then a voice followed the attack. "Ah! So the Satsukami were agile as well
as strong, eh?"

Kai looked up to the roof of the building nearest to the one on fire.
Standing there was a member of the Four Horsemen. Rose Liu. The Xiantianese
female whom had slaughtered the workers of Jason Butler on Valhoth. Kai
growled and unsheathed Ouroboros.

"Look, bitch," Kai seethed ominously, "not only am I in a rush... I'm in a bad
mood. Fuck with me and you die!"

Rose giggled. "You are quite the rude one. I can see why Garland is so eager
to defeat you. But know this. To me and my power... you are truly outclassed.
Now you'll know why they call me `Rose the Bewitcher'."

The Chinese descendant wasted no time and spread her fingers apart. Eight
steel needles appeared, four on either hand. Then Rose twirled her arms and
flung the needles down at their target. Kai quickly took action and slashed
at the incoming needles. He pelted them away one by one, until the final one
slipped through his defences and stabbed him straight in the neck. His whole
body tightened up, flexing muscle and bulging veins. "...D-dammit..."

Rose grinned at him from above. Only one needle had sunk into his neck but
now Kai was knee deep in her power. The strong-willed warrior tried to hold
on. But he felt his senses leaving him. His eyes felt extremely heavy. And
seconds later he toppled to his knees. It was then that Kai remembered the
information Ai had given him. That Rose coated the tips of her needles with
chemicals to bring on certain effects. The chemicals on the needle had
gotten into his system. Kai collapsed to the floor and dropped his sword,
passing out. While Rose just grinned, her arms now crossed.

"Pathetic," She jabbed, "Now your mind will be ripped apart. From the inside
out."

~~~~~~~~~~

Kai opened his eyes.

And he was surprised to find himself inside a park. A beautiful park full of
lush greenery and sweet, fragrant flowers. Completely unlike the artificial
parks created for the colonies, all to add to the little beauty those steel
contraptions could muster. The young man looked around to see what was going
on. The sun was high in the sky. Beaming down bright light from the heavens.
The sky was a clear sky blue. Not a cloud in sight. While the grass below
felt so soft and warm from the heat. Well trimmed and kept. Growing out of
true soil. Possessing true life. Kai could feel the grass under the white
blanket he was sitting on. And then he looked down at himself. At the
clothes he was wearing. A string vest and some loose combat jeans. His
favourite form of recreational wear.  On the blanket was a picnic basket.
Loaded to the brim with some of his most treasured foods and snacks. While a
bottle of wine chilled in an ice bucket right next to it.

Kai was still confused. He tapped his neck but did not feel the needle that
Rose had stabbed him with. This was completely unlike the setting of
Victoria Lake. "...W-where am I...? Where's Rose...?"

A familiar and sensual voice whispered into his ear. "You are exactly where
you belong."

Kai felt a chill pass down his spine. Knowing that to be Angel, kneeling
behind him. The boy was clad in nothing more than a pair of tight jeans
shorts and a yellow shirt that read the word `love'. He shuffled around to
sit side by side with Kai, nudging himself against the older youth with a
sigh.

"It's such a beautiful day, isn't it?" Angel said dreamily, "I'm glad we
came out together."

Kai remained puzzled. "Angel?"

"That's my name..."

"This," Kai shook his head as if to work off a brain freeze, "isn't right.
Not right at all. I was in Victoria Lake. There was Rose... and an explosion...
your Father... you... me... I..."

Angel closed his jade eyes and smiled. "That sounds like quite a story you
were dreaming. But then you always have such odd dreams. As do we all. But
the bizarre thing is... we tend to think of dreams as windows to a truth. Like
a gate. Or a signpost. But the truth of the matter is simple. Dreams are
nothing more than certain scraps of imagination tossed together to create an
illusion. As pleasing as they are... dreams are no more than illusions. So.
Just what illusions have you been subjected to? Hmm?"

"...I was fighting..." Kai muttered, looking ahead at the landscape, "...in a
world... in space. A steel city. In orbit."

Angel smiled at that. "A city in space? How preposterous. You live on Earth.
With me."

"...This is the Earth...?" Kai gazed at the beautiful landscape. The kids
playing on swings, the adults talking with each other, while others
sunbathed and played games, "but... Earth is... destroyed..."

The sweet young voice of the brown-haired boy whispered again. "Destroyed?
Maybe in your dream world that's a possibility. But in the real world, all
is well. You don't have to fight anymore like you did in your illusion. You
may spend the rest of your life... with me."

Kai's eyes lulled, as if he was tired. "...I was fighting... to protect you..."

"...And it is because of such things," Angel suddenly appeared directly ahead
of Kai, their faces inches apart, "...that I love you as much as I do..."

Then Kai felt his heart skip beats, his breath quicken, and his cheeks burn
when Angel leaned in and kissed him. Passionately. Affectionately. Angel's
soft hands latched onto Kai's hot red cheeks while his head tilted to one
side. And the Japanese boy, his eyes so large from shock, could only sit
back and absorb this kiss from one he loved. Feeling Angel's warm, slightly
damp lips up against his own. Feeling Angel's soft breathing mingling with
own. Feeling Angel's tongue massage his teeth. And when the kiss ended, the
scene around the two of them had changed completely. The two of them were
now in a small apartment bedroom. Along the walls were posters and
paintings. And on the carpet floor Kai's string vest was rested. Kai blinked
again when he realized that he was on a soft, comfortable bed. Angel was
also there. Mounting Kai from the waist. His long legs and bare feet nestled
next to Kai's thighs.

Angel breathed heavily and he leaned down, his brown bangs blocking his eyes
from view, but doing nothing to hide the lusty smile on his face. "...Kai...
from the first moment I saw you... I knew that you had to be the one... to take
me. To rob me of my virginity. To truly consummate my adulthood. Take me..."

More chills passed through Kai's spine when he felt those soft lips descend
upon his neck. How could something he truly wanted feel so... false? Angel's
hand slid against the muscled frame of Kai's stomach and inched its way
towards his belt. Until one of Kai's hands grabbed the younger boy's wrist
to stop him.

"What's wrong?" Angel questioned, voice reeking of passion, "Don't you want
me to please you? Isn't that what you've always wanted...?"

"...No..." Kai said weakly, "...this isn't right... this isn't right... this isn't
right..."

Angel chuckled softly and butterfly kissed Kai's cheeks and neck. "You silly
boy. You can't deny it. Human passion is the most intense and wonderful
thing you can ever experience. All the emotions and the expectations and the
fear and the nervousness. It all equates to the highest possible pleasure we
can attain without use of drugs and science. A man by the name of Grigori
Yefimovich Rasputin once surmised that the only true way mankind can
absolved from sin is to embrace it. Doesn't the idea of feeling yourself
inside me appeal to you? Don't you see? When you make love to me... you'll be
doing God's work... you'll be doing the one thing... that separates mankind from
the animals...even if it means proving..."

Angel's free hand slipped under Kai's belt. "...that you're nothing more than
a dirty little pervert..."

Whatever was going on in Kai's mind, he could feel that something was odd.
And he acted on it. When Angel grasped his throbbing manhood he hesitated,
but acted soon enough and pulled the boy's hand out of his jeans. "...Stop
this... just stop it!"

Angel pulled back with that same dreamily, lusty smile and got off the
Japanese boy's waist. Kai scrambled off the bed and backed up, away from the
image of a waiting Angel on that bed. Waiting for Kai to make love to him.

"No..." Kai shook his head in disbelief, "...I dunno who or what you are but
you're not Angel! He would NEVER talk to me like that! And he would never
act like this, either! You're nothing but a cheap fake! And I'll be damned
before I fall for this bullshit!"

Angel stepped off the bed with that smile again, walking up to the tense
Kai. "Silly boy. You cannot run from what your heart wants. I would not be
here now if your heart didn't want this. You want me. You know you do. And
you know that I know you do "

Kai closed his eyes. "...Just shut up..."

"You can say what you will. But the Eyes of God are upon you, boy. And you
cannot forsake such a will. Nor can you mask your true self from it. Because
you see... no matter how much you fight it..."

"...Shut up..."

"...your mind, heart and soul will always return to the fact..."

"...Shut up..."

Angel's smile brightened. "...that you will always love me."

"I said shut up!" Kai roared.

The footing that Kai thought he had vanished when he yelled his out burst.
And he fell backwards, landing on hard ground. His eyes closed once he
slammed into the floor. But when they opened he was in a whole new area. The
skies above were grim. Almost of a smog-like grey. Hanging in the distance
was a sunset of red and black. While the hard rocky ground was blown at by
soft, frequent winds. Angel was nowhere to be seen. Kai breathed in and
shifted himself off the ground. And he was now dressed in dark green, brown
and black combat gear. Kai stood upright and looked at the gun he had in his
hands. Then his eyes adjusted to the thousands upon thousands of bloody,
broken corpses that littered the grim land around him. Each lifeless body
killed in an individual and horrific way. Their eyes still open. Their lips
busted open. Their ribs shattered. Their faces bruised and limbs broken. Kai
stared, utterly horrified, at the scene. Until a certain young boy, who
looked no more than nine years of age, dressed in the same combat uniform as
Kai, rushed up with a gun in his hand and a smile on his face. The boy
codenamed... Daichakusho.

This was a boy very relevant to Kai's past, you see.

"...It can't be..." Kai's voice trembled, "...S-Sho...?"

Sho skidded to a stop, ignoring the gory corpses at his feet. "Hey man, what
are you lagging around for!? We've got a lot more people to kill before that
bastard Commander Yagami gets back here!"

"...Sho..."

The boy growled at Kai. "Dammit, Tensatsukai! You know that when we're on
missions we only regard each other by codenames! You call me Daichakusho
here, remember? Damn kid, you're never gonna be a super soldier at this
rate."

Kai shook his head. "No... I saw you die... this isn't right..."

"Die?" Sho sniggered, "don't be stupid, kiddo! You're the youngest of us so
I know that its hard on ya. But we're the Satsukami. We're never gonna die!
Because we're under the Eyes of God, you see? We're all just gonna keep on
killing and killing and killing until every last motherfucker in the
outer-orbital world is as dead as the Earth. `Cause that's all we exist as.
Tools for our masters. Tools for the will of God. But most of all... we're
just tools for killing and destruction. That's reality, isn't it? That's
what it means to be alive!"

Tensatsukai shook his head with a frown. "...No. That's a lie. This isn't
God's will. This isn't right! This isn't right! I am not that kind of person
anymore! I swore a long time ago that I would never fail myself by believing
that again!"

"Fail, huh? Just like you failed me?"

When Kai looked at Sho again, the flesh was rotting off his skull. While he
still spoke, holding up his gun, worms writhing inside his eye sockets. "If
what you say is true... then I'm dead because of you, Tensatsukai. I helped
you get away from the compound to safety. But instead of sticking by me and
fighting with me till the end... you ran like the coward you are. And yet you
have the nerve to think you can protect the ones you care most for?"

Ghostly images of Angel, Celena and Lucielle suddenly appeared around Kai in
a circle. Taunting and pointing at him with their ethereal hands.

"Weakling!" Yelled Lucielle.

"Liar!" Cried Celena.

"Coward!" Shouted Angel.

Kai dropped the gun and scowled, falling to his knees. While the spirit
forms of his friends yelled at him. But though his will seemed to be
breaking, his resolve was standing strong. "No. I'm not gonna fall for any
of this! None of it is real! Do you hear me, Rose!?"

Tensatsukai launched himself back up to his feet again. "I'll never accept
this!"

~~~~~~~~~~

With the burning of the hall behind her, Rose snickered at the fallen
Satsukami. Until she saw his foot twitch. Rose's smile fell when that twitch
was followed by a groan. Then all of a sudden, almost as soon as he had gone
down, Kai gathered up his strength and strained to lift himself off the
ground.

Rose was completely bamboozled. "It's impossible! I hit him square with one
of my strongest chemical needles! He should have been rendered unconscious
for days; if not weeks!"

"...Ugh..." Kai gripped his head and tried to shake off the influence of the
chemicals on Rose's needle. He picked up the Ouroboros from the ground and
grabbed the needle sticking out of his neck. Kai tossed it to the ground and
grit his teeth, "it'll take more than that to keep me down... you little
bitch."

Rose clutched her fist in anger. But knew now that she was in a tricky
position. "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all. The next time we meet, I'll make
sure that the result is a lot different."

The Xiantianese female then jumped swiftly from the top of that roof to
separate ones to make her escape. Kai would have gone after her, but he had
more important things to worry about. The boy brought up his wrist and
fiddled around with his NFC. To track down Angel. Kai had no idea how long
he had been out of action, but it couldn't have been that long. A video
screen was brought to life in a projection from the NFC. One of a map of
this area. It showed a moving blip. That blip was climbing up a building.
And that blip was Angel. Kai turned off the projection and sheathed the
Ouroboros, whilst looking around for the building that the God Summoner
happened to be in. And he caught sight of a clocktower down the street. That
had to be the one. And it wasn't far. Kai dashed down the road to get to it.

Inside that clocktower, ascending the steps of the moderately tall
structure, was Angel. He ran as hard as his legs could, knowing somehow that
Mullenhauser was here. When he got to the top of the steps, a door came his
way. Angel jiggled with the handle and it opened. And when he walked through
it he found himself on the roof of the clocktower itself. Above the streets
of the district. Wind blew from the Regeneration Wheels. Which made the cape
of the German man across from Angel flock. The man that Angel had come here
solely to see.

"...Father."

Mullenhauser turned around. He smiled at his adoptive son. "Angel. It has
been a while. And yet for some reason I believed that I would finally
re-encounter you today. I was right to think that. It pleases me greatly to
know that you still think of me as your father."

Angel caught his breath and spoke at the same time. "...Tell me... why..."

"...Why?"

"Is... it true...?" The boy questioned, "are you really... funding the... Four
Horsemen? Are you really allowing my sister, your daughter, to be involved
with people like that?!"

Mullenhauser stuck one his hands into his pocket while the wind blew at his
cape. "Why do you seem so surprised? The fact that you would guess this
shows that you know in your heart what the true answer is. I am funding the
Four Horsemen. I helped to design the battleship Astaroth myself. And I was
the one who ordered the attack on Syowa-oh. As well as the capture of you.
Yet both plans ended in failure. Heh. It's pathetic, really."

"I knew it!" Angel yelled, "What madness has possessed you, Father?! Don't
you know what will happen if the Magite on Earth is extracted?!"

Mullenhauser chuckled. "Oh, Angel. If only you knew. I am aware of a lot
more about the Earth and its destruction than even you are. Now I have
dedicated my life to undoing the work of the Eight Prophets at any cost. To
unbind the force of the Ashma. Events which will take place sooner or
later."

"...Eight Prophets...? Ashma?" Angel said curiously.

The German billionaire chuckled lightly and walked up to Angel step by step.
Once the two were in close proximity with each other, Gernst brought out his
hand and held his son's cheek with cold affection. Angel's eyes looked
startled when he saw that his father's hands were now made of black steel,
all the way up to his elbows.

"...W-what...?"

"Cybernetic replacements," Mullenhauser commented, "...to cut a long story
short... I have done much since we last met. There are still things you do not
understand, Angel. The power boiling inside the Earth must be harnessed. By
my hands. And this is not the time for your childish sentiment. A vortex is
swirling all around us. And you are the eye of that hurricane. It is time
for you to accept the role fate has appointed you with."

Then a third voice called out. "Step back, Mullenhauser!"

Angel and Mullenhauser turned around and saw Kai himself, standing in the
doorway with Ouroboros in his hand. Angel's smile returned. "...Kai..."

The Syowanese boy stepped up, his hand inching down to the hilt of his
sword. "Didn't you hear me, dickwipe?! I said step back!"

Mullenhauser smiled and moved away from Angel as Kai asked. Kai then walked
in front of his friend in a protective manner and withdrew Ouroboros from
its sheath, aggressively. But the German man showed no fear whatsoever. "...I
know that you're the one behind the Four Horsemen. The fact that they just
suddenly happened to be here with you now proves it. But I don't give a damn
about the details. Just make it easier on yourself and give up."

The black-suited man closed his eyes and chuckled again. "So you are the one
who now wields the Ouroboros. You are the last of the Satsukami;
Tensatsukai."

"How do you know that?"

"I know many things, young one," Mullenhauser commented, "and I know this.
Whatever power you think that sword gives you, it is nothing the face of my
capabilities."

Kai scowled. "You think money makes you powerful?"

Mullenhauser laughed again. But this time it was louder and more amused,
ringing in the echoing heights of that grim clocktower. "You think I speak
of money? Such a comment truly shows how little your awareness is of my true
aims. My power is limitless. And it goes far beyond any scraps of paper! Do
you wish to see it for yourself?"

"...Bring it on!" Kai provoked.

Mullenhauser laughed once again in a lighter tone. Then pushed out his
metallic hand and opened his palm, pointing at Kai. The Syowanese boy
shuffled for Angel to get out of the way, which he did, leaving Kai alone to
face whatever it was that Mullenhauser claimed he could do. But then both
Kai and Angel looked on with shock when they saw magic glowing at the hand
of the German aristocrat. It was a glow that emulated a warp in space. Then
it was fired straight from Mullenhauser's hand. Though it seemed harmless
enough Angel sensed tremendous power from it. The small wave of motion
zoomed through the air, exploding the microscopic Regeneration Wheels. And
then it nailed Kai straight on. The boy cried out when his body was
bombarded by a force of motion so strong it ripped apart the fabric of his
suit in an instant. His tie, trousers, shirt and shoes were all shredded
like paper. Blood sprung from wounds cut into his flesh. Until Kai could no
longer withstand it. He was thrown backwards and his body slammed into the
wall of the doorway, knocking him unconscious.

Angel was distraught. "Kai!"

Mullenhauser lowered his hand and closed his eyes with a grin. "...You see? My
powers have gone far beyond knowing the right people and possessing enough
money. My will is absolute and uncontested. Or at least it shall be. Those
of mankind who dared to leave Earth for the stars shall descend upon it
again. That is our fate. We shall conclude this on Earth. Be sure to come to
us in Northern England, Angel. Your homeland of descent. Then you will learn
the truth."

Angel watched his father with disbelief. Then a second later he was gone.
Angel knew it to be some kind of teleportation based on magic. It had
nothing to do with technology. Now his father had tapped into the power of
magic... and the stage was set for them on Earth. But that was not Angel's
concern now. The brown-haired boy rushed over to Kai and crouched down to
see the damage done.

"Kai?! Kai! Please, Kai, say something!" Tears leaked from his eyes, "...I
can't lose you. Not now..."

Angel truly became worried, until he heard Kai cough, blood seeping down
from the corner of his lips. He was alive. Beaten, but alive. "Oh, Kai..."

The NFC on Angel's wrist then flashed. He clicked on it and a visual image
of Rock came from it. "Angel? Are you alright? Is Kai with you?"

"...I'm fine. But Kai has been hurt."

"Don't worry," Rock answered, "The Captain informed me of everything. I'm
going to hack into the Victoria Lake Central Nexus to de-stabilize the
program that prevents us from using the Transport Beam. It'll take about
three minutes. Be ready, okay?"

"Okay."

The visual image of Rock disappeared. They would be leaving Victoria Lake
soon. But now the situation had taken a turn to the unexpected. Somehow
Mullenhauser had gained the power of magic, just like Angel. And he was
determined to use that force to gain even more power from the Earth. If he
mined the planet out of the last of its Magite, not only would he prevent
life from ever existing there again, he'd gain a stranglehold over an energy
resource  that would make him even more powerful in the outer-orbital world.
  No matter how Angel looked at it...

...the Earth was going to be the field of either their failure... or their
success.

**********

"Dammit! They've beaten us to the punch, alright!"

It had been ten hours since the attack on the unveiling party of the
Katta-Shinbungai. The Whitestar crew had managed to drop off James Howard at
his large mansion home. Then Lucielle, Solon, Emilia, Chestnut, Karen and
Celena returned to the Little Goddess. They took that shuttle back to the
Sparta. Kai had been able to fend off the attack from Rose Liu and he caught
up with Angel, only to come into confrontation with Gernst Mullenhauser. Who
had defeated him squarely. Thankfully Rock had the hacking skills to `bend'
the program in the Victoria Lake Grand Nexus that blocked Transportation
Beams. At least for a short while. It was enough time to beam Kai and Angel
back up to the Sparta. The team that had been sent down to Victoria Lake in
the Sky Trigger had come back from their mission with the parts necessary to
upgrade the Barrier Shields. Right now Rock was hard at work with the
shields while the Sparta remained in orbit of the American Colony.

Lucielle, Emilia, Chestnut and Solon sat alone at the bridge. Everyone else
was busy making preparations for the trip to Earth. Kai was in bed,
recovering from Mullenhauser's attack on him. Everyone was nervous and
annoyed about what had happened and what was going to happen when they
reached Earth. But none more so than Lucielle. The Four Horsemen had
actually put her Father's life at risk. Now the resentment between the two
forces was personal in the worst way.

Emilia crossed her arms. "Calm down, Lucielle. Getting riled up now would
just serve to help them. We need to think about how we proceed from here."

"...I know..." Lucielle said, downhearted, "...I know..."

"So what we do now, Lulu?" Chestnut asked.

Lucielle ran a hand through her hair. "I guess we just have to keep moving.
Our next stop is Earth. And we have a job to do there. Now that we've got
the Lesser Key of Solomon and Angel is willing to go through with the
process, we have to act. But there's something that concerns me. Angel said
that Mullenhauser himself defeated Kai with magic. But I know for a fact
that he's not a magic user. So how...?"

Solon turned around in her seat from the panel of the bridge. "...I think I
may have a theory on that, Captain."

"You do? Alrighty then. Go for it, girl."

"I was just going through certain data files belonging to the Bas Dahlem
Foundation," Solon claimed, "and I came across a file entitled `New
Magi-Tech Project'. I couldn't break into the file. I do not possess the
hacking skills of Rock. But I have a thesis. The Magi-Tech systems in the
Ouroboros and Qingu were miniaturized for those weapons, were they not? It
is possible that they miniaturized it even further. Into nanomachine size.
In which case Mullenhauser could have injected them into his bloodstream. It
would give him magical powers."

"Hey. You might be right, Solon," Lucielle winked at her, "that's my little
genius."

The innocent helmswoman blushed at that, while Emilia spoke in reply to the
girl's comments. "If what Solon says is true then we've got an even bigger
fish to fry now. Not only the Four Horsemen, but now Mullenhauser. And to
think that he defeated Kai so easily... I'm not that boy's biggest fan, but..."

"You not think we lose, do you?!" Chestnut yelled, "we not lose!"

Lucielle scratched her head. "Nobody wants to lose, Chestnut. But I think
from now on we have to go at this thing with everything we have. We'll have
to take out the Four Horsemen first. Then concentrate on stopping the
overflow of the Magite in the Earth. The major thing we have to ask
ourselves now is... where on Earth do we go to stop them?"

"Angel said that Mullenhauser told him to come to Northern England," Emilia
replied, "I think we should begin our search for them there. I'm guessing
that if they're making a point of going there, then there must a strong
leyline of Magite somewhere underneath. Solon. Do you think you can figure
out if that is the case?"

Solon nodded. "I already have. The strongest leyline in Europe is in
Northern England. Under a set of mountainous hills called the Pennines. I've
pinpointed the strongest point of concentration to be under a peak known as
Cross Fell. I assume that if Mullenhauser and the Four Horsemen are going to
a place in Northern England with a strong Magite flow, then, that will be
their target."

Lucielle accepted that. "Good work, Solon. So it's off to Earth then, huh?"

**********

Kai groaned tiredly when his eyes began to open. He blinked a couple of
times then stirred, finally shifting himself upwards in bed, to allow his
back to rest on the headboard. The young blonde groaned once more and looked
down upon himself. There were bandages around his stomach and arms. And he
could feel them on his head as well. When he thought of himself in this
state, it reminded him of that which had caused it. Gernst Mullenhauser.
That guy who had somehow unlocked the power of magic. Angel and Aurora's
Father. Kai shook his head to rid himself of a throbbing, only for him to
notice someone else in his room, sitting on the chair by his desk/computer
terminal.

"Don't move around too much," It was Angel, "you'll hurt yourself if you
do."

Kai looked into the eyes of the God Summoner, remembering the visions that
he had suffered through because of the chemicals on Rose's acupunctural
needles. But that was nothing more than one of Rose's tricks. This was the
real Angel. "...Angel. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. After... what happened to you, my Father fled. He said that he will
be waiting for us in Northern England. Right now we're back on the Sparta.
Rock and the other engineers are working on the Barrier Shield Generators as
we speak. They said they will be finished soon enough. Then once we all get
some rest... we're going to Earth."

Kai stroked the side of his face. "Earth, huh? So it's time. We're finally
goin' to the orb."

"Are you nervous?"

The blonde boy smirked idly. "A little. But not about that."

"Then what?"

Kai tightened up. He and Lucielle had talked things over during the party,
which helped. And though the visions he had been subjected to under Rose's
power were... disturbing, it did help Kai to realize that there were certain
things he was clinging to. His guilt over the death of Sho and his
unwillingness to admit his feelings for Angel. But all that was changing
now. Angel was here. Waiting. Looking after him. If what Lucielle was saying
had been true, then Kai could afford to procrastinate no longer.

Kai blushed and looked downwards. "...Could you come over here for a sec?"

"Certainly," Angel stood up from his chair and walked to the bed. Then sat
down on its edge, next to the half-covered Kai, "what's the matter?"

"...Look. When Garland attacked Syowa-oh and I came with you and Lucielle to
the Sparta, I had one thing in mind. To make sure that Celena was safe.
That's still really important to me. She's my best friend. But since that
day... there's something else that's become important to me. That thing... that
person... is..."

Angel hung on curiously. "...Yes?"

There was no way Kai could say it in the way he would of wanted it to sound.
So rather than just saying it, he showed it. His hand swiftly reached for
the back of Angel's head. And the God Summoner gasped as Kai brought him
close and instantly pressed their lips together. It was a sudden action that
caught Angel right off guard, but his gasp of surprise faded into the sighs
of delight. He tilted his head on one side and parted his lips, feeling the
weight of love and exchange presented in their kiss. Angel pressed his palms
into Kai's chest and let himself melt into Kai's quick (albeit clumsy)
expression of caring and attraction. And so the two remained that way as
they kissed, enjoying each other, their newfound closeness, the relief that
came with knowing that their feelings were so readily received. Just until
the both pulled back carefully, whilst staring into each others eyes with
bashful smiles.

"Is... it alright for me to kiss you like that?" Asked Kai (unusually)
timidly.

"...Uh huh," Angel responded just as shyly, but asked, "...but I thought that..."

"You thought what?"

Angel's blush grew, looking downwards. "You and Celena. You two seemed to be
so close. I thought that there was only room in your heart for her."

"Is that why you didn't say anything?"

Angel bobbed his head. "Uh huh."

"She's just a friend," Kai assured, "she means a lot to me but only as a
friend. There was a time when I might have thought that there was more
between she and I. But those days are long gone. I think I realized that
when I met you."

Angel's eyes glazed over. "I'm so glad, Kai."

The older boy smiled and began a slow caress of Angel's cheek. To which the
younger boy sighed and shut those large lime-green eyes of his. It was a
caring and tender action that no one other Angel would have known that Kai
was capable of. And Angel had been waiting so long for it. "So where do we
go from here?"

"...Well, I was kinda fond of the kissing," Kai replied, "why don't we start
with that?"

Angel giggled softly and leaned in, kissing the young man who had stolen his
heart so effortlessly. And so the two remained, kissing and holding each
other with all the passion they had bottled up in such a short time. The
beginning of their deepest love, sealed with a kiss.

**********

The time had come.

Twenty hours had passed since the Victoria Lake incident. The upgrades to
the Barrier Shield Generators had been finished off. Rock and Solon had
worked around the clock with the other engineers to get the job done. Now
the shields were prepared to get them through the Magi-Sphere. After
everyone got at least seven hours of sleep to their names, the major group
gathered up in the bridge again. Namely Lucielle, Kai (who was now fully
healed), Angel, Emilia, Karen and Chestnut. Solon and Rock manned the
control panels of the bridge like usual. While the others  stood behind
looking through the rectangular video screen ahead of them. It showed the
planet that the Sparta was now orbiting. The planet of mankind's origin. The
Earth. From here, the blue planet was surrounded entirely but that huge
layer of Magite - the Magi-Sphere. It coursed around the planet like a
shield from the outside. So large and thick. Loud bolts of mile-long
electricity streaked around the surface of the Magi-Sphere. But from the
immense size of the sphere, they looked like nothing more than little dots
in a sea of amethyst energies.

Kai was firm, though Angel stood very close to him. "So that's the Earth,
huh?"

"Yup," Lucielle answered, serious in expression, "that's the planet we're
trying to revive. Now. We've got to get to work. Rock? Punch up the Barrier
Shields. Solon? Once the shields are up, plunge us straight through the
Magi-Sphere at half thrust, understand?"

Both Rock and Solon answered with the same affirmative words. "Roger,
Captain."

The large civilian flagship, the Sparta, was soon enveloped in the circular
Barrier Shields that were produced from its generators. The wave of
protective green energy surrounded the ship in an oval-shape. Like an egg.
But its force was not nearly as fragile as such. Once Rock had finished
tapping in the commands for the Sparta's defences, Solon plotted the course
of entry through the panel she sat at. Moments later the powerful engines at
the rear of the ship kicked off. The surge of energy propelled the Sparta
into movement and sent it straight for the Magi-Sphere ahead. On the bridge,
everyone waited with baited breath to see what would happen. Especially
Lucielle. The Sparta surged ahead. Then a loud and echoing sound of force
smashing into force reverberated around the ship. The entire crew on any
level or room felt the weight of the collision as the Sparta plunged itself
head-first into the Magi-Sphere. Rock, Solon, Lucielle and everyone else on
the bridge held onto something in order to keep standing. Angel grabbed onto
Kai as tightly as possible and the Syowanese boy returned that hold
protectively. The nose of the Sparta had the hardest time getting through.
And so it was the bridge of the ship that was taking most of the flack.
Though the newly improved Barrier Shields maintained against the force of
the Magi-Sphere's repelling energy, they still took a very heavy battering.

Lucielle closed one of her eyes and gripped the chair she was sitting on.
"S-Solon! N-now! M-maximum t-thrust!"

The helmswoman shoddily affirmed that. "R-roger!"

Solon tapped the commands into her section of the computer panel and the
engines of the mighty Sparta reacted. The blue flaming exhaust of the rear
was magnified to its fullest and the ship forced itself ahead through the
thicket of the Magi-Sphere. The repelling force of the Barrier Shields and
the increase in both speed and power from the engines served to both push
the Sparta ahead and ease the vibrations caused by the thickness of the
Magi-Sphere. With much effort, the Sparta cut through the layers of the
Magite force and stayed a heavy course. Right until it broke out of the
Magi-Sphere and darted into the skies of the old world. The skies of the
Earth. Lucielle, Kai, Angel, Emilia, Rock, Solon, Karen, Chestnut and the
other few Whitestar crew members on the bridge all gasped when they saw the
Earth for the first time in their lives. Through the video screen at the
head of the bridge they could see what they were flying over. The beautiful
white clouds of the sky and the rolling blue oceans below them. Natural air,
natural sunshine, natural everything. The place that had been mankind's true
home more than 200 years ago. The Whitestar crew had become members of a
handful of people who had come down to the planet from space since the
destruction of the known human civilization on it.

"...Amazing..." Lucielle commented, "...it's just as wonderful as my
great-grandfather said it would be."

"It's truly beautiful." Said Angel.

Lucielle then looked over at her helmswoman. "Solon. Where are we now?"

"We are currently flying over the North Sea," She replied, "around six miles
away from the eastern coast of Northern England/Southern Scotland."

"Alrighty then. Set us a direct course for that hill-mountain set you were
talking about. Those pen-things." Commanded the Captain.

"The Pennines."

"Y-yeah, those are the ones."

Solon tapped in the right commands. The Sparta's engines slowed down a bit.
Then it slowly turned around and gunned it in the opposite direction.
Straight for the Pennines. Thanks to the speed of the Sparta and the
accuracy of precisely where and how they dove through the Magi-Sphere, they
had gotten themselves relatively close to their intended location. The ship
of the Whitestar streamlined through the cold skies of Northern Sea and
further on into mainland England. Angel's heartbeat  increased when he
looked upon the vast green hills of his homeland. Though he had not been
born here, he felt a special connection to this place. Just as anyone else
would have felt about their country of origin. Eventually the ship itself
reached its destination and was hovering over it. Cross Fell. It came off as
a short, slightly rocky and grassy mountain rather than an oversized hill.
But it was apparently where the strongest European leyline existed.

"We are at Cross Fell, Captain." Informed Rock.

Lucielle nodded with her crossed arms. "Okay. Let's not waste too much fuel
on maintaining hover-flight. Dissolve the Barrier Shields and bring us down
slowly, guys. Once we touch ground-level, we'll be heading out."

Rock and Solon agreed to that and started the process. Rock lowered the
Barrier Shields, which quickly vanished from sight around the Sparta, and
Solon let the ship come down to a slow, easy rest on the grasslands below.
Cross Fell and the surrounding mountainous hills were too uneven for a ship
the size of the Sparta to land on. So it was forced to land at the foot of
the mountainside. The ship came down easy on the surprising soft grass
beneath it. One part of the plan was now over. Part two came with the
actions of the crew. Lucielle stood up from her chair and turned around,
staring at Karen, Emilia, Angel, Kai and Chestnut.

"Okay guys. We're heading out. Are we all ready?"

The group nodded to confirm that. And just as they were about to leave, Rock
called out to Lucielle. "...Uh, Captain? I think we have a situation, here?"

"What's wrong?"

A vidscreen popped up in front of the panels. It showed a group of rag-tag
villagers  standing at the foot of the Sparta. Around twenty of them. They
all whispered amongst themselves at the celestial ship that had just
descended from the skies. They were all understandably afraid. It was
probably the first time that any of them had seen technology of this kind in
their entire lives. They had been born in world in which such ships only
existed in folk stories.

"Locals." Lucielle said with a sigh.

Kai was confused. "Wait. I thought that all the people on Earth were
killed."

"No," Emilia answered, "the population was cut down to less than 2.4% of the
seven billion people that lived here in 2202. There's an estimated number of
66-70 million people left on the planet after that year. But that's a very
small number, all things concerned. And its probably shrunken even further
down since then."

"We tell them we friend, okay?" Chestnut asked.

Lucielle agreed. "Yup. Come on, guys. Solon, Rock? You two are in charge of
the Sparta until I come back with the others. Keep a lookout for any
problems."

Rock and Solon accepted that. And the Captain and her team left from the
automatic doors of the bridge. The group marched through the long steel
corridors of the ship all the way to the Transportation Chambers. Now that
they had passed through the Magi-Sphere it was safe to use the Transport
Beam to move in and out of the ship. The six crewmembers stood on the
circular pad and were transported straight from the innards of the Sparta
down to the grassy lands it had `parked' on. Which put them right in front
of the crowds of local people that had gathered at the Sparta. Chestnut,
Karen and Kai marvelled at the landscapes that were all around them. But
Lucielle, Angel and Emilia were more concerned with the crowds of Earthlings
they were confronted with.

One of them, a scruffy adult male, piped up. "W-who are you people?! Do you
come from the Star Empire?!"

"Star Empire?" Kai repeated absently.

Lucielle shook her head and stepped forwards. "Listen to us. We come from
space. From the colonies. But we mean you no harm. We came here to stop the
overflow of the Magite in the Earth. To prevent another tragedy from
happening here."

The scruffily-dressed people did not seem to understand what Lucielle meant
by `Magite' and she realized that they probably didn't use that terminology.
But at that moment, someone a little bit more significant peeled out of
those crowds. He was a short old man. Wrinkled, aged, and of crown-balding
grey hair. His clothing was slightly less rough than those of his fellow
people, they were the brown robes of a monk. In his right hand was an oak
staff which he walked ahead with. The crowds began to whisper to each other
his name, `Elder Oro'.

Elder Oro stood between Lucielle's group and his own and looked into her
eyes with years upon years of knowledge reflected in his own. "I am Elder
Oro. I am the leader of the Cloud People and of Cloud Village. What is your
business here?"

"The tragedy that occurred here 200 years ago," Lucielle said, "we have
proof that it is about to happen again. We have come to stop it, sir."

Elder Oro ran his free hand through his beard. For some reason he did not
seem surprised to learn that the Magite was about to overflow again. "...So
you people have come down from the colonies to stop the rage of Ashma, have
you? And what makes you think that you have it in your power to do such a
thing?"

Angel had now come to realize that the Earthlings regarded Magite with the
term `Ashma'. Mullenhauser had also used that term. It made the God Summoner
think that there was more to this Magite situation than he and the others
knew, but for now he would concentrate on getting the Elder to trust them.
Angel had a satchel over his shoulder. He pulled it off and then took
something out. A book. The moment Angel lifted the book into the air, Elder
Oro's face widened with shock.

"The Lesser Key of Solomon..." His expression mellowed slightly, "so then you
people are serious in your claims?"

Kai held his hand at his side. "Well it seems that way, doesn't it?"

"I see. If you possess that book then it seems you may actually know what it
is that you are doing. At least partially. Very well then. All of you, come
with me."

Elder Oro then turned his back to them and began walking into the crowds.
They parted for him and allowed him to walk ahead. Leaving a path for the
six star travellers to follow. The group all looked at Lucielle for
conformation to follow him. She was more than happy to do it. This old man
seemed to command a lot of respect with this group; which lead Lucielle to
believe that she could trust him. She was the first to walk with the old
man. Karen and Emilia caught up with her. Then Angel, Kai and Chestnut
tagged along too. The six of them walked behind Elder Oro as he and his
followers led them around the hillock that the Sparta was rested against.
Which showed to them something they had not seen from the bridge. Behind
that hill was a small but tight knit village. The one called Cloud Village.
Men, women and children of all ages were dotted in and around the small
local. Which was made up of rickety wood and stone buildings, completely
lacking in the technological advances of the colonial world up in space.
When the group entered the streets of Cloud Village, headed by Oro, they
turned many a stare with their futuristic clothing and weapons.

Elder Oro spoke as he led Lucielle and the others through the streets of his
village. "Please do not be offended by their stares. These people have been
born into a world were contact with the colonies is completely non-existent.
Which is one of the reasons we simply refer to them as the `Star Empire'.
Plus. From what their parents and grandparents have told them... they feel
that the colonies abandoned them after the great disaster."

"But you seem to know better," Emilia observed, "just how much do you know?"

Elder Oro chuckled. "I will explain it all to you."

The group kept walking with Oro. The villagers behind them all began to
disperse and go back to their ordinary lives, even if a little suspicious of
the denizens of the Star Empire. It took about half an hour but they made it
to the place Oro hoped to take them. His own home. The largest building in
the village. The residence of its leaders. The gang followed Oro inside the
house and past the spear-armed guards at its front doors. Which brought them
into the main hall of the mini-mansion. There was a large table in the
middle. A conference table. One large enough to seat twenty people. Elder
Oro brought himself to the head of that table and sat down. Then motioned
for the others to do the same. Kai, Lucielle, Angel, Emilia, Chestnut and
Karen all took their seats and relaxed for a moment.

Elder Oro rested his staff against the table. "Welcome to Cloud Village. We
of this village are the descendants of the original Cloud People.
Magic-users who shunned the space boom and retreated to the Pennines for
safety and seclusion. All except me."

"You're not a descendant of the original Cloud People?" Karen wondered.

"No," Elder Oro said, "I am one of the original Cloud People."

Kai blinked. "That can't be right. Wouldn't that make you...?"

"Yes. I was born before the Great Earth Disaster, as you call it. I am over
300 years old. Which is how I know of your world and its technology. I am
the youngest son of the man who built this village you see around you. I am
not a blood relative of its previous leader, but I rule here in place of
that bloodline as the Elder of Cloud Village. Now if you will all be so kind
as to introduce yourselves."

Karen went first. "Okay then. I'm Karen Fa'lea Anselm."

"I'm Kai Kisaragi." Said Kai.

Emilia grunted. "Emilia Maximov."

"I called Chestnut Fealton!" Answered Chestnut.

"Lucielle Howard," Lucielle informed, "leader of the group."

And finally came the God Summoner. "My name is Angel. Angel Edelweiss."

Elder Oro seemed to take special note of Angel but didn't show it much to
the others. He then clasped his wrinkled fingers together and lowered his
head slightly. "I see. And you have all come here together to stop the Rage
of Ashma, have you?"

Lucielle was confused by that one. "Rage of Ashma?"

"Hmm," Elder Oro closed his black eyes, "it seems that you follow different
terminology for certain things in the colonies. Ashma is the name we
associate with the throbbing magical force inside the Earth. The force that
obliterated the previous civilization on this planet."

Kai crossed his arms. "You gave a name to some mass of energy?"

"The Ashma is more than a simple `mass of energy', as you call it," Oro
corrected, "it is a brutally strong force of fused magical energies that
boils within the centre of the Earth and leaks to the surface through
certain leylines. That force reaches a peak every 100 years. If allowed to
take place, Ashma ruptures can devastate nations in an instant. The Ashma
rupture that un-shook the fabric of the world 200 years ago was one of the
worse cases of such a phenomenon in the Earth's history."

Angel narrowed his eyes. "I am afraid I do not understand, Elder. If the
Ashma ruptures take place every hundred years then why hasn't it happened
again since the Great Earth Disaster?"

Elder Oro smiled at Angel's perception. "I will explain that. You see, the
Cloud People have existed for thousands of years. Travelling the globe to
prevent the Ashma Ruptures. In the past you might have referred to us as
`gypsies'. But it was our duty to protect the world by stopping the overflow
of the Ashma energy. Mankind believes that a comet brought an end to the age
of the dinosaurs. It was actually the first overflow of Ashma that did it.
To stop such a surfeit from happening in our own time, the blood leader of
the Cloud People, known to us by the title of Cloud Dancer, must sacrifice
himself or herself by throwing their own body into the fissure. The blood
properties of the Cloud Dancer has a soothing effect on the Ashma. One that,
to this day, remains unexplained. But it has been our way for centuries.
Until that day, exactly 204 years ago by tomorrow. It was becoming known to
us back then that the Ashma was ready to burst into the surface of the world
again. But... before we could even plan on dealing with the issue... our leader,
the Cloud Dance of that time, the one fated to stop the overflow; was
killed. And his body was burned into ashes by unknown forces. His
descendants, the ones who would have had to take his place, vanished. Some
argued that the murder of the leader was instigated by his own family; who
were too afraid to sacrifice the lives of their loved ones for the greater
good. I do not know what to believe. And when the Ashma Rupture did occur, I
truly believed that it was the end of the world. Much destruction was weaved
into the land. Just as we all had always feared. But before that Ashma
Rupture threatened to destroy the Earth itself, as well as its
civilizations, a band of mystics appeared. They were called the `Eight
Prophets'. They called themselves by the names Onreld, Aeraph, Nai, Zaiki,
Divinity, Serene, Necros and Ishu. No one knows what their real names are,
or even where they came from. But we do know that they brought with them a
book. An ancient tome that was thought to be lost, centuries ago. The Lesser
Key of Solomon. And they used that book to cast a seal on the Ashma flow.
One that stopped the rupture. Though humanity's life on Earth was ruined,
the Earth itself was not destroyed. It lived. The Eight Prophets then
disappeared as soon as they had arrived, taking the Lesser Key of Solomon
with them. All that remains of them is a picture that one of our group
managed to take. A picture of Zaiki. However what the Eight Prophets did was
beneficial. They saved our world.  And the seal they placed on the Ashma has
maintained for centuries since. Only now... it has begun to weaken with an all
new serge in the force of the Ashma."

"I get it," Karen said, "the reason the `Ashma' didn't overload again was
because of the seal that the Eight Prophets cast on it, right?"

Elder Oro nodded. "That is correct, miss."

"But now that seal's being overstretched," Emilia added, "twice the amount
of force than usual is now ready to explode. Which means that twice the
damage will be done to the Earth if all that Magite is allowed to burst into
the surface again."

Again, Oro confirmed it. "Yes. I fear that this time, it will not simply be
humankind and the wildlife of the planet that suffers. The Earth itself
could be destroyed."

"Then we have to reinforce the seal," Lucielle said, "as soon as possible."

Elder Oro opened his eyes. "Exactly. However. The time to cast the seal is
not now. I am at least partially familiar with the sealing spell of the
Lesser Key of Solomon. It can only be used during the early summer solstice.
June 21st. The day the Ashma overflow will take place."

"But that tomorrow!" Chestnut shouted.

"Then we'll have to do it early," Lucielle turned to Elder Oro, "Elder, is
there a special place that we might need to go to so we can perform the
sealing spell?"

Oro bobbed his head. "Yes. You will have to go to a certain building inside
the mountain of Cross Fell. It is an ancient temple built before even the
existence of the Cloud People. The concentration of Magite will be at its
peak there."

"What is this place?" Angel asked.

"It is called," Oro began, "the Underground Palace. It is an ancient
structure that is very sacred to our people. But it is where we must go. By
the way, Mr. Edelweiss?"

Angel (and Kai) drew attention. "Y-yes?"

"Might I speak with later on?" Asked the Elder.

"...Um... of course."

**********

When Elder Oro announced to his people that the `folks from the Star Empire'
could be trusted, the mood towards them changed in Cloud Village. And they
were immediately offered a place to stay for the night. Most people,
including Emilia and Kai, would have preferred to have just gone back to the
Sparta for the night. But both Angel and Lucielle said that refusing the
Cloud People's offer for accommodation would have been rude. So they stayed
put. The building selected for them was Elder Oro's own residence. The
mayoral abode in the centre of town. Everyone had been given their own rooms
(aside from Angel and Kai, who agreed that they could share their own room).
And after a wonderful all-natural meal prepared by the cooks of Cloud
Village, it was time to retire. Night had fallen swiftly on the village. And
tomorrow would be a hard day.

Kai and Angel walked together up a set of stairs that led to the many
bedrooms of the large mayoral mansion that belonged to Elder Oro. They tried
not to give away the fact that they were now in a relationship, but it was
becoming a little obvious to the others. Especially Lucielle. She had this
amazing power to de-fragment any looks that two people happened to exchange
with each other. Thankfully she had kept silent about her suspicions for
their sakes.

The two love-struck teenagers strode down the hallway leading from the
stairs and all the way along to their own room. Angel pressed his hand to
the knob and opened it, all the while a little unfamiliar with the fact that
it didn't open for him automatically (an after effect of the lazy youth
space-culture). Angel opened the door and went inside with Kai taking up his
rear. He then locked it as the two of them had entered. Then less than
seconds later, Angel felt himself being swung around firmly by the
shoulders. His back slapped against the wall as Kai took a hold of him
firmly and stole a kiss from him right there and then. Angel gasped shortly
out of surprise, but that dissolved into one of passion and desire, and he
simply let himself be swept away in Kai's ardour. Kai parted his lips and
pushed his tongue outwards as they kissed. Angel felt his soft lips be
prised open by that lengthy tongue. Which snaked into his mouth and flicked
against his own. Angel loosened up and let his arms curl around the
Syowanese boy's head. Kai's hands settled on the delicate hips of his lover
while they kissed, then slowly moved around the sides of his hips to settle
on the small, soft, perfectly rounded globes of Angel's ass. The God
Summoner breathed a sigh from feeling Kai's strong hands grope and grasp at
his hind quarters. Kai had such a possessive touch. It thrilled Angel in
ways he could never have imagined possible. After a slow, longing exchange,
Kai lazily dragged his tongue out of the English boy's mouth, eliciting
another breathless sigh from him.

Angel half-opened his eyes, as if he had seen stars. "...Kai..."

"Man," Said the swordsman, "I've been waiting all day to do that. I think we
should tell the rest of them soon. I can't stand all this sneaking around
all the time."

It was a fact that they had to accept, but that was not on Angel's agenda at
this point. The chocolate-haired youth worked his hands into the back of
Kai's blonde hair, staring deeply into the taller boy's eyes. "...Kai. This
could be the last time that..."

"No way," Kai said haltingly, "there's no way I'm gonna hear that crap from
you. We're gonna beat this thing and then head back to the Sparta. You hear
me? We're gonna win this."

Angel lowered his head. "...Still... I just... wouldn't feel right... if we went
into battle with a false idea... or without showing you how I really feel.
I've had much in life and its never brought me the kind of happiness I have
now. Just from being with you. You make me so happy, Kai... and I... I want you...
to be my... first."

"...Angel..." Kai knew exactly what he was getting at, "are you sure? I mean, I
know what your religion thinks of..."

Angel shook his head. "...No. It's fine. If such a relationship makes me this
happy, then... I can't honestly call myself a Christian. But I'm okay with
that. As long as it's you. So will you be with me? Will you be my first?"

That question didn't have to be answered for Angel to know what Kai's reply
his request would be. His sweltering sapphire eyes, sodden with both love
and lust, spoke volumes. The two smiled at each other. Kai took a hold of
both of Angel's wrists which were perched on his shoulders, leading him from
the door. The two of them ambled backwards to the double bed. Then Kai
stopped and grabbed Angel's cheeks. The youth from New Westhampton sighed
into his lover's mouth as they kissed again. Knowing what was about to
happen between the two of them. Kai's lips smacked with Angel's, while his
hands went on the move again. They slinked down Angel's smooth, nubile form.
Down the outline of his cream white shirt, then down the soft flatness of
his stomach. All the way to those jeans shorts. Kai, maintaining his kiss
all the while, started to unbutton them. He fumbled to do so but eventually
got them out of the way. Afterwards he pulled down the zipper behind the
flap of denim fabric. Angel broke the kiss and hooked his thumbs into the
jeans shorts. Then quickly brought them down his long legs. Angel kicked off
his heel sandals to allow the shorts to come off. Kai then pulled that white
shirt off Angel's body. The younger boy lifted his arms and his long bangs
rose and fell when the snow shirt came off of him. Which left Angel in only
his underwear and socks.

The bottle green-eyed boy smiled at Kai and then solely walked around to the
edge of the double bed of their room. He descended upon it, laying upon his
back. And Kai, for one single second, stood dumbfounded at Angel's gorgeous
feminine beauty. He was such a beautiful person. And entirely un-masculine.
Each part of him was perfect. His long legs, his thin waist, his tight
little ass, his long fingers, his chestnut-brown hair, his rosy lips, his
small dainty feet, his pink nipples, his harmonious voice, his pale cream
skin, his big emerald green eyes; everything. Aside from the small giveaway
bulge in his `panties' there was nothing about Angel that would ever cause
someone to believe that he was a boy. It dawned on Kai how much attraction
he bore for Angel. And that body of his that just begged to be `despoiled'.

So the Japanese descendant quickly began undressing himself. Keeping his
eyes on Angel and Angel alone. Soon enough the Whitestar uniform came off
his body bit by bit. He dropped the Ouroboros as well, until he had stripped
to his naked, muscular yet lithe form. The only piece of clothing left on
his body was his boxers, which constrained a larger erection than Angel had
been expecting. The boy blushed vividly and smiled as Kai walked up to the
bed and climbed on top of him. The tow stared at each other, bright blue
eyes gazing into sultry green ones. Exchanging words that did not need to be
spoken. Then Kai leaned downwards. Dipping his head between Angel's neck and
shoulder. Angel's eyes rolled into the back of his head when he felt Kai
kiss and nibble at the flesh of his neck. Biting softly at that milk-tone
flesh. Dragging his tongue in circles over his collarbone and throat. Slowly
Kai brought his tongue in downwards movement, leaving behind a thin trail of
saliva, just past his crucifix necklace. First from the throat down to the
chest of the catholic boy. Which rose and fell from the quick and rapid
intake of breath that Angel was experiencing. Kai grinned childishly and
made a right turn. Then bit at that rubbery and erect right nipple. Angel
gasped lightly, feeling Kai's pearly whites baring down on his pink nub. The
older man then proceeded to flick his tongue over it, again and again,
massaging the nipple with firm strokes. Each one caused Angel to tense and
un-tense at the same time. And while he continued to do that, Kai lowered
his hands along Angel's sides. All the way down to the white cotton
underwear his was wearing. Kai grabbed at them and pulled them down slowly.
Freeing his smaller erection to the light of day (or the moonlight of night,
as it were).

Kai then straightened his body out and leaned upwards, tossing Angel's
underwear away. His own crotch ached for attention, and he would answer that
soon enough. Kai pulled down his boxers and quickly got rid of them. Freeing
up the length and thickness of his cock. It was something that Angel
couldn't help but marvel at. Thankfully Kai seemed to be more sexually
experienced than he was, because the swordsman made a point of being as
gentle as possible. One of his hands held Angel by the waist to keep him
steady. The other one clasped his cock to line it up with the cheeks of
Angel's ass. But before he did anything, Kai asked,

"Are you sure you wanna do this? We can always wait."

That was said out of consideration only, as Angel could see that Kai was
just as driven to go as he was, but all the same it was needless. Angel
wanted this. And his quick breathing managed to come out with a reply.
"...Yes. I do."

That was all Kai needed. "Okay. Just try to relax."

Angel nodded slowly and managed to keep his breathing under control. While
Kai released his waist with his free hand and used it to spread open Angel's
cheeks as best as he could with one hand. Which revealed that tight, small
opening of creased pink tissue. Like a flower bud of wrinkled pink in a sea
of white. Completely clean and fresh, boasting the hint of Angel's scent,
that of wildflowers Angel closed his eyes and tried to relax as Kai had
asked of him. Then those eyes of his opened up again when he felt the head
of Kai's dick press into his anal passage. Angel gasped at the hot feeling,
instantly gripping the bedding into balls in his fists. Kai stopped when he
saw Angel's reaction.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Angel nodded again. "...Yes. Please don't stop."

It would take some adjustment for him, but Angel wanted this so very badly.
And Kai could see that. The older youth took a deep breath and tried to do
this as softly as possible. Angel grit his teeth and clenched his eyelids
shut as Kai resumed pushing the head of that thick rod inside his asshole. A
burning sensation took over Angel as it happened. Kai's cock slowly pushed
its way into Angel's opening. Edging its way through the tight virginal ring
of flesh. After a bout of effort, Kai's head finally penetrated Angel's
crack. The God Summoner sighed aloud while his hands gripped the bed sheets
tight. His throat and chest bobbed up and down from his heavy breathing. Kai
gasped at the tightness of Angel's hole, clamping around the head of his
prick, but the mild look of discomfort of his lover's face prevented him
from truly enjoying it. But the harder part was over. Kai gave Angel a few
moments to adjust to his size, allowing him to relax for a moment. Then he
looked into the English boy's eyes to confirm that he could continue. Angel
nodded again. And so Kai pushed in further. Angel's eyes were wide open when
he felt Kai's cock slowly inch its way inside him. Prising into a passage he
barely even knew he had. It elicited a loud and breathless gasp from him.
And it continued until he felt Kai's hips and pubic hair against the cheeks
of his butt. Kai had buried himself as far in as he could go. Angel
controlled his breathing as best he could and looked up at that expression
on Kai's face. His eyes were closed briefly, his mouth open partially. Kai
sucked in breath and sighed. Angel's anal track was, in his current
experience, sublime. The feeling of being so close to him, being inside of
him, experiencing Angel's tight, hot, moist corridor  squeezing at his cock.
So tightly. Kai took another breath and leaned back downwards to gaze eye to
eye with Angel. From this moment they had stopped, he was slowly becoming
accustomed to the feel of Kai's thick 8 & ½ inches buried so far inside of
him. The blonde settled his hands around Angel's thin waist. The two of them
kissed a second later. Their lips caressing each other once more. Assuring
Kai that this could continue. He took his time but slowly began to drag his
dick back out and then in, with elongated strides. Angel moaned effeminately
into Kai's mouth from the feeling, that hot sensation of thrusting inward
and outward. It was a slow motion at first. Kai's thighs pushed in and out
between Angel's legs in an unhurried and deliberate rhythm, with
consideration for Angel in mind. It continued with Angel's light gasps of
discomfort changing, over time, into drawn-out sighs of pleasure. Kai
noticed the switch in reaction from the expression on his lover's face.
Angel's eyes were closed but not forcefully so. His mouth now hung wide
open, but with the slight form of a smile, as best a one as Kai could
detect. Which suited the Syowanese warrior well. He himself groaned lowly
with delight as his cock thrust into Angel's rose-like opening. His innards
were so warm and tight, no one could have resisted it.

Then the tempo started to pick up. Gradually. Kai retained the precision of
his thrusts but enhanced the speed of them. Using his arms to balance
himself on the bed, he broke his kiss with Angel and forced more strength
into the strokes of the younger boy's anal passage. Until his hips started
slapping against Angel's ass cheeks. Angel's little gasped now became dented
cries, each one brought on by the forward plunging administered to his tiny
asshole and its warm, wet corridor. Angel's hips jerked with each thrust,
his hair shook, his bangs bounced, and his own erection flopped from one
side to the other from the increased speed in Kai's actions. Kai's own low
growls of fulfilment joined in with Angel's loud pattern of moans. The
headboard of the bed clattered against the wall it was positioned next to.
Angel grabbed the bed sheets again, but this time out of pleasure and
momentum. His toes (by now both of the socks he had been wearing had somehow
come off) curled up and Angel unconsciously wrapped his lengthy legs around
the muscled and lithe body of his love. Kai Kisaragi.

Kai evened himself out over Angel's body again, pressing their chests
together. While Angel joyfully curled his arms around the older boy's back
and kissed him desperately, the two now moving in unison thanks to the
actions of one. The moans of Angel and the grunts of Kai soon filled the
room. Alongside the sounds of flesh slapping against flesh and a headboard
which clattered against a wall. Kai broke their kiss again while his hips
continued to batter his lover's anal passage. The swordsman went back to
nuzzling his lips and teeth against the milky skin of the God Summoner's
neck. Angel opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling while his whole
body jerked backwards and forwards from the intensity of the sex between
himself and Kai. And at that point he couldn't imagine himself being
happier. Knowing that he was so close and intimate with someone he truly
loved. Such a revelation took its toll. As a result of that Angel cried out,
physically shaking. His cock gushed out long spurts of hot white cum that
splashed against Kai's chest and his own stomach. The reaction of his body
to his first ever orgasm was to tighten all in one instant. And the feel of
Angel's anal track clamp harder than ever on his dick brought Kai's own
drive to a maximum. One hard thrust inward and his cock suddenly shot warm
jets of cum deep into Angel's ass. Kai groaned leisurely from the feeling,
Angel's innards still tightening around him. The brown-haired boy lowered
his head back down to the pillow of the bed and sighed heavily. Both from
sweet release of his first climax, as well as from the sensation of Kai's
cum being sprayed against the warm, moist tissue of his anal channel.

Kai slowed his lunges down in a gradual pace, still riding off the heights
of his orgasm. Until he came to a peaceful stop. Angel's hips stopped
jerking back and forth because of that. And Both Kai and Angel breathed
heavily, sheens of sweat glistening off their bodies via the moonlight
seeping through the windows of their room. Angel relaxed his body with Kai's
cock still inside of him, spreading his legs out after unwinding them from
his lover's back. The two stared at each other, both of them still reeling
from what they had just experienced between the two of them. Then Kai grew
concerned when he saw a different kind of wetness dripping down from Angel's
eyes.

"...Angel, you're crying."

He nodded. "Uh huh."

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"No," Angel wiped his eyes, "I'm just... so happy... that this is happening."

Kai smirked cheerfully, running his hands through his lover's hair. "This is
just the start. I wanna make you this happy forever, Angel."

And Angel replied to that smirk with a tearful one of his own. "It's funny.
Just a few days ago... I would never have imagined that you could express
something like that, Kai."

"Yeah, well," The Syowanese youth continued to run his hands through Angel's
smooth brown hair, marvelling at his crystalline-jade eyes, "a lot of things
have changed since I met you. A lot of things."

**********

"Geez, why don't those two keep it down?!"

Lucielle stared out the window of her bedroom in a thin nightdress supplied
to her by some of the maids on attendance here. She had decided to crash
just a short few moments after Kai and Angel had made their decision to do
so. Then by the time she came into her room, the two of them were going at
it like bunnies. The walls of this place were rather thin and those two
probably didn't know that little fact, but, Lucielle was happy for them in
either case. She had known for a while that Angel had feelings for Kai.
Practically everyone else in Whitestar did, with the slight exception of Kai
himself. All that had obviously changed now. Although she had no idea when
the two of them got it together, it was obvious to Lucielle that Kai and
Angel were now a couple. It was only a matter of time before they announced
the details of their relationship to everyone else.

While sitting beside the window, Lucielle heard someone knock on her door.
Her mind was preoccupied with thoughts about... everything, really. But
someone wanted to speak to her and she wasn't about to turn them away.
Whoever it was. "Come on in."

The door clicked and opened up. Lucielle didn't look away from the window so
she could not see who it was, not even from the reflection provided from
that same window. And it wasn't until the person spoke that Lucielle
realized who it was.

"It's a nice night, isn't it?"

Lucielle looked back. "...Emilia?"

The Russian woman stuffed her hands into her pockets, still armed with all
four of her guns, and then strode up to the window, standing beside
Lucielle, looking out into the night sky that overhung Cloud Village. "...It's
a makeshift town. But the landscape around it is beautiful, isn't it? The
hills and the water of the lakes. And the sky. It's just breathtaking.
Especially at night."

"The stars always do look good from the ground level of a planet," Lucielle
claimed, "the projections over the colonies aren't that bad... but they're
definitely not the same. I think the fact that people like us,
colony-dwellers, still look up at the stars from the surface of a planet is
a sign. That we still feel attached to planet life. And there's only one
planet we belong on."

Emilia crossed her arms. "The Earth?"

"Got it in one."

"Are you that sure of it?" Asked the markswoman, "and yourself for that
matter?"

Lucielle pulled a grin. "Oh, I have faith. My Father always told me that
mankind can't run away from the Earth forever. Seeing it today makes me have
new belief in that one. It's up to us now."

"That's a interesting comment coming from you. From the way you've acted
recently, I had assumed that you got a kick out of running away."

Though that snappy comment was somewhat ambiguous, Lucielle knew exactly
what her Russian counterpart was referring to. Typical Emilia. "I'm not the
one running away. I gave you the chance to put your life into perspective
and guess what? You screwed up again. I'm apologizing for shit-all."

"I call that running away." Emilia prodded, looking out the window.

"And I call it rational," Lucielle retorted, "I don't play second-fiddle to
anything when it comes to relationships, babe. Especially not to some
suicidal quest for revenge."

Emilia sighed. "...I don't think you'll ever understand me."

"Nobody understands you, Emilia. But that doesn't mean we don't care about
you. I may not understand why you feel this desperate to kill Gaap
Mosaletti, but I can understand why you feel that way. That became all too
clear at the thought of losing Daddy and Karen on Victoria Lake. It's never
easy to be parted from the people you care about."

The expression on Emilia's face darkened. "...Then why is it that you refuse
to be with me? Knowing just how I feel about you?"

"You know why," Said the Captain of the Sparta, "whether they care about
someone or not, how many people do you know out there who would standby and
watch as someone just destroys themselves inch by inch for which ever
reason? I don't love you enough to standby and do nothing while you ruin
your life with this obsession for revenge. I'm not strong enough to do that.
Not even for you."

It was then that Emilia's frown became a miserable smile. "Hm. I don't know
if I should be flattered because you care that much about me... or
disappointed that you don't care enough to stop me."

"What does your heart say?"

Emilia pressed her hand against her chest. "...It tells me that I want to wake
up in bed with you tomorrow morning."

"Does it now? You wanna know what my heart tells me? It tells me that I've
been in love with this grouchy, stone-hearted Romanovian chick for ages now.
But my head says that I can't trust the fact that you'll be next to me when
I wake up tomorrow morning."

With the moonlight glowing down on the two of them through that window,
Emilia sat down on the same windowsill that Lucielle was rested on, and
looked deep into her eyes for what she was about to say to the Captain.
"...And which one are you prepared to listen to?"

"Dear God," Lucielle grinned hopelessly at Emilia, "that's a bit of a stupid
question, isn't it?"

And sure enough, moments later, the two of them were at each other. Lucielle
and Emilia clasped each others cheeks and thrust their lips together,
instantly displaying their love and passion for each other. Their problem
hadn't quite been resolved yet. And until Gaap was as dead as a dodo, it
probably never would. But that didn't matter to either of them right now.
Lucielle sighed gently from the kiss, knowing how much she wanted this for
the past few days. But it was Emilia who had been the most frustrated.
Thusly her kiss was desperate and overtly eager. The Romanovian national
thrust her tongue straight through the increasing gap between Lucielle's
lips. So swiftly that the American descendant barely even registered it. A
second later and she felt Emilia's tongue brushing past her own, deepening
their kiss. While the hand of the gunwoman reached down to Lucielle's long
left thigh. Emilia's hand took a firm grasp of it, stroking it up and down.
While the other still lingered at Lucielle's cheek, flicking the softness of
it with her thumb.

Then the two scrambled to undress each other. Emilia, wearing all that she
was, was the most difficult, so by instinct they both focused on her
clothing. Lucielle broke their kiss quickly with a gasp and hurriedly undid
the straps securing the holsters of Sharon and Franchesca to Emilia's waist.
The belt with the two archaic-in-design guns fell to the floorboard ground
by the windowsill. Emilia quickly worked the straps for Marlene and
Christine off her shoulders and arms. Then came the Whitestar uniform.
Lucielle helped peel the suit off, stealing light kisses from Emilia
everyone now and again, until the Romanovian woman was left only in the
black bra and panties that blended well with her icy milk flesh. Lucielle
then worked her hands around and unhooked the bra off Emilia's body. While
the haste-ridden Emilia peeled (or more accurately, ripped) the nightdress
that was guarding Lucielle's buxom body from her touch. The American
descendant shimmed out of it, letting the shredded article drop off her
torso. Though she normally would have felt guilty about ruining something
that didn't belong to her, Lucielle was too focused on Emilia right there
and then to care.

With Lucielle utterly naked and Emilia effectively in the same condition
(save for the panties) the two resumed the elongated, heavy kiss and grasped
each other confidently. The two women fumbled on bare feet and boots to make
it over to the bed (which was unfortunately a single). Eventually they did
reach it. Lucielle handed on her back while Emilia mounted her in a
commanding manner. Then Emilia broke their kiss again and lowered her head.
Right down to the rounded flesh of Lucielle's heaving left breast. It had
been noted by Emilia long ago that Lucielle's breasts were, in no small way,
larger than her own. Probably part of the reason she loved them so much. The
Russian descendant extended her tongue and dragged it up the outline of
Lucielle's globular left mount, peaking at the stiff, light pink nipple.
Emilia bit the nub and sucked on it, hard and fast, exchanging momentary
nibbles for momentary suckling every few seconds. Lucielle, with her head
rested on the pillow, moaned softly at the feeling of Emilia chewing on her
sensitive and appropriately erect nipple. The markswoman's free hand reached
around and grasped the other, taking it into her hand as best as she could.
With her mouth and tongue she pleased one breast, and with her right hand
she groped and fondled the other. Emilia's remaining hand slowly rubbed up
and down Lucielle's side. She paid special attention to the nipple that she
now had in her mouth, biting at it, sucking at it, flicking at it with her
tongue. Which reminded Lucielle of Emilia's fascination with her bust. A
trail of saliva trickled down the side of the breast, while the nipple of it
became coated in such. By the time Emilia pulled her mouth away from it,
Lucielle's aureole was in a shade of red.

Emilia breathed lustfully and stopped her caress of Lucielle's right breast.
That hand slipped down along her body, exploring all its curves, until it
lingered around before her stomach. Lucielle worked her hands into Emilia's
raven black hair and smiled passionately at her. So the gunner work her hand
so that her index and middle finger stuck out. Sort of appropriate for
Emilia. Those two long fingers traced their way down the curve of Lucielle's
labial region, which was already damp from the younger woman's wetness. Then
with little more than a few moments of wait, Emilia thrust those two fingers
straight into her lover's wet opening. The Captain of the Sparta cried out
brilliantly when those two finger pushed inwards, prising apart her soft
vaginal walls. Her back arched, her heart raced and her eyes swiftly shut.

The loud cries of Lucielle rang out across the room as Emilia gave to her
the night that they had both been waiting for. But as it was said, the walls
of Elder Oro's mansion were not soundproof. Directly below the bedrooms was
the hall that everyone had gathered up to for the discussion on the
Ashma/Magite overflow and the Eight Prophets. Only one member of the group
was still awake/outside the bedroom. That person was Karen. She sat at the
large table alone with a mug of warm milk in one hand and an irritated look
on her face. Not only could she so clearly hear the moans of her 'Big
Sister', but it seemed that Kai and Angel had resumed their lovemaking.
Allowing for a lot of noise to be travelling down to her level.

"...Horny perverts." She remarked cantankerously.

**********

The new morning had come.

Angel moaned softly to himself as the rays of sunlight now began to peer
through the windows and splash upon his face. He slowly awoke to the sound
of clothing and metal being shunted around a body. When he turned over on
his side of the bed and noticed that Kai was not there, he fully opened his
wide emerald eyes and looked ahead of the bed. Kai was there alright. But he
was now fully dressed. Right in that Whitestar uniform. But there was a new
addition to Kai's garbs. Attached to the back clasps of his one-piece
uniform was the steel pack-shaped device known as a Propulsion Gear.
Attached to the Propulsion Gear were a set of mechanical `wings'. They were
of a rigged V-shape, with openings on the end tips of the wings, acting as
exhaust pipes for the Gear. It was of a similar design to the one that
Garland Lilith had been wearing. And now that Angel thought about it, Kai
desire to wear one of those probably had something to do with his rivalry
with Garland.

Kai looked over at the bed when he heard shuffling. Angel was awake,
alright. The young man walked up to the bed and leered over Angel's naked,
bed-sheet hidden form. Then quickly took a kiss from them, the contact
between their lips drawn out as much as possible. They had no problems being
intimate now. Kai then pulled back with a proud smile.

"Morning."

"Morning," Angel repeated, right before pointing at Kai's Propulsion Gear,
"what is...?"

Kai looked around his shoulders at the wings of his Gear. "You mean this? I
made a little trip back to the Sparta this morning to pick it up. After I
saw Garland attack the Xiantian Colony, I decided that it was best for me to
have one of these contraptions. Thankfully that Solon didn't mind hooking me
up with one."

"Solon made it?" Enquired Angel.

Kai grunted a yes. "Yup. I doubt there's anything that little kid can't
make. I swear, she's like the Hand of God. But enough about that. You need
to be getting up soon. The Captain came in here a while ago asking about
you."

Angel smiled at his boyfriend. "I think that that's the first time I've ever
heard you refer to her as the Captain."

"Yeah, well, that Lucielle might not be all there in the noodle, but she's
pretty cool when she needs to be. Unlike that girlfriend of hers."

Angel slowly leaned upwards from the bed, clutching his bed robes to his
chest. "You mean Miss Maximov? I suppose she can be rather... difficult at
times, but the Captain loves her dearly. Not unlike you and I, really."

Kai smiled, without a word. It was the first time the word `love' had been
exchanged between the two but the both knew that they felt that way about
the other. And they both knew how the other felt about them. The look of
understanding shared between them was proof of that much. But they couldn't
stand around forever thinking about that. Their nights together would come
in time. Now they had to think about what was to come today. Which was when
Angel decided to get up and get dressed into his clothes (after having a
quick shower). Soon he was just as ready as Kai was, but before he left his
room he took the sacred book with him. It was the key element to their plans
after all. Angel slotted the magic book into his satchel and then swung that
satchel around his shoulder. With the two ready to go, Kai and Angel left
their room and walked through the hallway then downstairs. As they came down
they noticed that everyone else was waiting for them. Chestnut, Karen,
Emilia, Lucielle (who stood next to Emilia with a very pleasant grin) and
Elder Oro were all dressed and ready to depart.

Karen crossed her arms with a scowl. "Geez, what took you two so long?"

"None of your business, brat," Kai barked, "that's grown-folk's affairs."

Lucielle pulled a devilish grin and strode up to Kai from her position next
to Emilia. The Captain of the Whitestar group leaned into his ear and
whispered, "I hear that Syowanese guys are amazing in bed. Did our little
magic boy over there get a piece of that last night?"

Kai blushed and whispered back. "The same goes for you and Emilia, doesn't
it?"

"Thin walls?"

"Thin walls."

Elder Oro, who knew everything that went on in this house, coughed into his
fist. "I do not wish to disturb such moments. But I was under the impression
that you all had plans to save the world? Can we focus?"

"Ignore them," Emilia replied, her firm voice as cold as ever, "maturity and
`Whitestar' are two words that don't often mix. But all of us are ready to
leave now. Just lead us to that place you called the Underground Palace."

Elder Oro nodded. "Alright then. Follow me."

With the old magician leading the way, the crewmembers all followed him to
the door. The only one that didn't follow was Lucielle. Kai stopped walking
and paused when he noticed this. "...Lucielle? What's up with you? Haul ass."

"Hmph. They also say you Syowanese boys are a little thick. I'm not a
fighter, remember? As much as I'd love to come with you... I'd just be in the
way if I did. Once you guys leave I'm going back to the Sparta. We can keep
in touch by NFC and once the job is done, we'll beam you back to the ship.
Good luck, you guys."

Emilia frowned. "We'll be fine. Just take care of what you have to do."

Lucielle bobbed her head to that. Then the group said their goodbyes and
left through the main door. The place that Elder Oro was leading them to was
directly under the upper levels of the mountain of Cross Fell. Not too far
from Cloud Village itself. The Elder of the village walked with Kai, Angel,
Emilia, Karen and Chestnut around a stone path that led out from his archaic
homestead and into the shadow of a nearby hilly section of the mountain. The
path brought the group directly to a stone slab pressed into the face of the
hill. One that was over twenty metres in height. And heavy as all hell. The
group took this as the entrance to the Underground Palace. But they were
confused as to how anyone of Cloud Village could get through it without
destroying it. Elder Oro then showed his hand. The old wizard stuck his arm
out and pointed it at the large stone door. He mouthed an ancient chant from
his aged lips which the group's NFCs (minus Chestnut) confirmed to be in the
language of Welsh. No physical energy appeared from the use of Oro's magic.
But the large stone door that blocked entry into the Underground Palace
began to move. Sluggishly at first, considering the weight, but soon enough
the entire door was out of the way. Enough to provide the group with access
to the Palace.

Elder Oro lowered his staff, breathed a sigh of effort, then motioned for
the group to follow him into the newly unveiled corridor. They all did. And
the six-strong group descended into what was a long set of stairs. The
corridor itself was short. What followed was an extremely long flight of
stairs. Over three thousands steps downwards. Now it became obvious that the
`Underground Palace' was more than just a name. They all walked into the
crevice and down those long sets of steps that inched further and further
into the darkness. On the way in, Oro held up his staff and ignited it with
magical fire. That brightened the stairwell more for the group. When it
became easier to see what was going on around them, Karen's eyes looked
around suspiciously. To her, this place felt oddly familiar. Almost like...

"Wait a minute!" Karen said quickly, "this place is just like Procell
Shrine!"

Angel looked around also. "...You know... you're right. It does look a lot like
it."

Karen mused. The story that her Grandpa deciphered from the wall murals of
Procell Shrine did suggest that there were more temples like it in the
galaxy. The Underground Palace was probably one of them. It was something
Frank Anselm would have been very interested in investigating. But for now
Karen left that issue as secondary. And thought it took at least half an
hour to do it, the group descended all the way to the bottom of the steps.
To the opening of the Underground Palace. It was a huge stone archway. But
possessed of a thin veil of magic energy, not unlike the one at Procell
Shrine. But by now Kai, Angel, Karen and Oro knew full well that the energy
wall was harmless. And so the group walked through it. Which led them into
the vastness of the Underground Palace.

Kai, Angel, Karen, Emilia, Oro and Chestnut all bathed themselves in the
setting of this ancient structure. It was similar to Procell Shrine. But in
some ways very different. The stone of this shrine was not sandy. The
carvings and wall murals seemed to depict certain winged beings with great
reverence. The screams that were a background sound of Procell Shrine were
replaced with the hollow chime of wind blowing through stone. It was an
eerie sound when heard in such darkness. And this place was not possessed of
lost souls. No. They had all passed on to the afterlife centuries ago. All
that was left of them was their deep seated evil. So deep and so thick that
it was manifest physically. In a smog-like wisp of thick air that simply
hung around the many corridors and halls of the Palace. Though this place
was less menacing than Procell Shrine, it was clearly more significant.
Chestnut felt threatened just standing in it. Effirans were a race who felt
things out through aura and spirit. With the exception of Effirans like
Rock, who had taken on human customs, they all determined things by how they
felt. And Chestnut felt nothing but ancient evil and misery from this
construction.

"This is the Underground Palace," Oro explained, "it was discovered by our
people over 300 years ago. We managed to exorcise the spirits that
terrorized the shrine for so many years, but the evil they conjured still
remains here. So thick and dense that you can essentially see and smell it.
And considering that other life forms exist in the colonies now, I think I
am right to believe that it was not humanity that created this temple."

Chestnut growled heavily. "I don't like here. Underground Palace full of
evil."

"Regardless," Emilia said, "we'll keep moving."

And that they did. Elder Oro led them through the many hallways and
corridors that the Underground Palace had to offer. Until they came to a
certain hall. A very large one. More than 450x450 metres in size. Hundreds
of thick pillars supported the foundations of this hall. When the party came
into it, it seemed quiet enough. But there was someone else here that was
waiting for them. And for one of them in particular.

The voice of that one called out to them. "...I thought rats usually jump a
sinking ship?"

Elder Oro looked from side to side. "Who was that?"

Emilia's face hardened. She had a suspicion. And soon the suspicion was
confirmed. A young man walked out from behind one of those tall pillars. A
man of dyed green hair, a brown bomber jacket and a pair of blue jeans.
Attached to his belt were a couple of laser guns. Also shaped like pistols,
just like Emilia's twin pair (Sharon and Franchesca). This man sneered at
the group, but his eye was firmly on Emilia.

Kai eyeballed him. "Who in seven-shades of shitting hell are you, dickwipe?"

Emilia ruminated. "...The five of you. Keep moving until you get to where you
need to be. I will handle this one."

Angel blinked. "Are you sure, Miss Maximov?"

"I'll be fine, Angel," She replied, "you have important work to do. So be
about it."

Though he didn't like the idea of leaving Emilia to deal with whoever this
was, she was right in that Angel had a job to do. Elder Oro bowed his head
in thanks to the woman and rushed off as quick as he could towards their
destination. Which was the centre of the Palace. Angel, Kai, Karen and
Chestnut followed him through a separate corridor to the far wall. Leaving
Emilia alone to deal with this fellow gunner. The Romanovian woman growled
aloud and frowned at this man.

"I was wondering when you were going to show your face, Gaap."

Gaap Mosaletti, the Italian descendant from Planet Drydna, the man who had
assassinated Emilia's parents and joined the Four Horsemen to become its
third member. The thuggish punk sniggered, stuffing his hands into his
pockets. "Well, well, well. Emilia Maximov. The innocent little daughter of
the diplomats. Isn't this a stroke of luck?"

"I've been waiting a long time for this," Emilia seethed, "I'm going to kill
you."

Gaap sniggered. "Heh, heh, heh. If that were possible I'd have been killed a
long time ago, hot-stuff. You know? I still remember killing your parents. I
was only eight at the time. Imagine that, a young rookie like me, knocking
off two Romanovian big wigs. I guess that was the point where I realized
that this was my calling. And you know what? If I could go back to that day,
I'd savour it again and again and again. Your parents gave me a very, very
wonderful gift back then. They made me realized the truth. That this man you
see before you, Gaap Mosaletti, is an unstoppable killing machine. Now. The
only gift I can give to my dead benefactors... is to allow them... to see their
daughter again... see you in hell, Emilia..."

Gaap then instantaneously reached for his left pistol, Orias, and aimed at
Emilia. A blast was fired swiftly. Emilia darted to one side, rolling along
the ground till she got herself behind a pillar. The young woman pulled out
Franchesca and loaded it with three normal bullets. She inched back up into
a standing position and swung back around the pillar. Straight away she
fired a bullet at the position that Gaap had been at. But he had already
gotten himself behind a pillar to escape. Emilia's bullet chipped the side
of the pillar that Gaap stood behind. He was quicker than he looked. The
Russian gunner slotted Franchesca back into its holster then unattached her
shotgun, Marlene, from her back. The belt of ammo around her waist was now
coming in handy. Emilia clicked open the gun and loaded two normal shotgun
bullets. When it was ready, Emilia peered around the pillar to see if she
could catch a glimpse of Gaap. She couldn't see him, but she could hear him
speaking.

"Hey, Emilia!" He yelled aloud, "ever wondered what death is like?"

Emilia whispered under her breath. "...You're going to find out soon enough..."

She quickly rushed from the pillar and fired at Gaap's pillar. One bullet
from Marlene and a huge chunk of it was blown off amidst dust. Gaap then
peeled out of the pillar's safety and rushed forwards in the same gunning
movement as Emilia. As he ran to the next pillar, he pulled out Orobas and
fired at his Romanovian counterpart. Three chains of laser blasts came in
Emilia's direction. Though she dashed ahead to the safety of the pillar.
Gaap's shots hammered the closest pillar to them. All the while, Emilia
readied Marlene in one hand. Normal bullets were going to be useless against
him. It was time for Solon's Phase Wave Disintegration Rounds. Emilia
removed two DR-PW bullets designed for Marlene, and loaded them into the
shotgun.

If there was one thing she knew about Gaap, it was that he was brilliant at
drawn-out gun battles. "...Hm. This is gonna be a long one."

With that in mind, the markswoman turned the pillar again and fired in
Gaap's direction. Moments later there was an echoing explosion from the
pillar he was closest to. One that caught the gunner punk by surprise. The
compressed explosion blew fragments of the pillar in every which direction,
forcing it to crumble from the centre. Gaap growled and run out of the way.
An action to which Emilia replied by removing Sharon from its holster with
one hand and firing swiftly with regular bullets. The green-haired man
dodged most of them in his run. Aside from the last one. Which grazed him
across the shoulder. Gaap yelled in pain as Emilia's bullet blew off the
shoulder guard of his bomber jacket, cutting through to the flesh. Blood
spurted in short jets. Not a serious wound, but one inflicted at the end of
the day. And one was too many for a man like Gaap. He pulled out of the
firing line, blasting at Emilia with Orobas to get here out the way. And so
he slinked behind a second pillar, bleeding from his shoulder.

"...Bitch..." He seethed.

Emilia, who remained calm and collected, pumped the handle bar of the
shotgun up and down. The used DR-PW bullet dropped out of the barrel. And
she loaded another one. Only one PR-PW could be fired at a time, though two
had to be loaded to fire. It was the one and only flaw in the ammo that
Solon had created. But nevertheless, the Disintegration Rounds  were
Emilia's only hope in stopping the menace of Gaap Mosaletti. Then Emilia
quickly ran around her pillar and made another side running shot at the one
that Gaap stood behind. The Italian descendant was quicker off the mark this
time around and dodged away just as the explosion took place. The second one
was just as violent as the first, and it smashed through the pillar,
breaking open a second cloud of dust and fragments. Gaap growled and locked
eyes with Emilia who ran past the pillars at the same speed as he did. He
fired Orobas in a continuous stream of shots, which Emilia got past thanks
to her quick running. The woman then pulled out Franchesca, mid-run, and
fired. Gaap sneered and dropped to the ground a few moments beforehand. His
body rolled across the floor, while his hand extended Orias. He then shot a
blast. But ahead of point, purposefully off in aim. Which was bang on target
for a moving object. Emilia scowled with a yell when her thigh was grazed by
the blast of laser energy. Her run ended in an abrupt stop behind a pillar.
She was bleeding from the thigh now, and it was no surprise that such a
wound would slow her down.

Gaap rolled behind his new pillar and sniggered. "Heh, heh, heh! You've made
me bleed, now I've made you bleed. It seems that we're even now, doesn't
it?"

Emilia breathed in heavily, loading Marlene with another DR-PW bullet.
"...Bastard."

**********

Towards the centre of the Underground Palace was another stairwell like the
one leading to the entry point. It was a tall set of stairs that spiralled
upwards in the opposing way to first set. Elder Oro, Kai, Angel, Chestnut
and Karen ran up those stone stairs as quickly as they could. There was no
time to waste now. The five of them ascended as fast as they could, knowing
that the world was at their hands. And eventually they made their way
straight to the top. The stairs led into a new level in that circular room.
Into a new room. Which, as Elder Oro knew, was the highest point in the
Underground Palace. A hexagonal-shaped room which stretched over 80 metres
across from one side to the next. A gigantic face to top off a gigantic
structure underground. Carved into the floor of the large chamber was a
perfectly symmetrical, six-pronged star. The star glowed in the light of
azure. So radiantly that it completely illuminated that room all by itself.
Kai and the others stopped when they came to this part of the Underground
Palace. The point at which all the spiritual energy of the edifice was at
its strongest. And standing in the centre of that enormous carving of a star
were the three people that the Whitestar had been battling so hard with.

Gernst Mullenhauser, Aurora Edelweiss and Garland Lilith.

Kai, Angel, Karen, Chestnut and Elder Oro stopped moving when they got to
the main hall of the Palace. Only to see those three across from him. And
aside from Oro, all reacted. Kai held on the hilt of Ouroboros with his
attacking hand, ready to unsheathe. Karen took out the Gaeki Crystal from
one of her pockets and Chestnut assumed a fighting stance. The young Angel
tightened up at the sight of his sister and his adoptive father. The two
people who had cared for him. The ones he now had to call his enemies.

Kai grit his teeth. "Well, well. Look at all the bastards who've come to
join the party. Where's your little friend, Rose?"

Garland smirked at Kai, his Qingu Halberd and Propulsion Gear ready for use.
"...She is aboard the Astaroth waiting for us to bring back news of our
victory. This time there will be no running away, boy."

"Who's running?" Kai retorted, "I've been waiting a long time to settle
things with you."

Elder Oro narrowed his eyes. "...Who are they?"

"People who want to use the Magite-Ashma stuff for the wrong reasons." Karen
answered.

Mullenhauser now spoke. "So you have all come to stop me, eh? What
foolishness. Did you not learn your lesson on Victoria Lake? I have long
suspected that you Whitestar members would try something like this. But I
never thought you would actually have to courage to attempt to stop me face
to face. Know this. You have all made grave mistakes. And now that
transcendental force known as Ashma will be mine for the taking. Behold!"

Kai, Karen, Angel, Chestnut and Elder Oro froze in point and watched
Mullenhauser uncross his arms and spread them apart. His thin eyes flashed a
dark lavender and the black cape flocking behind him rose up into the air.
Streaks of electrical energy began course all over his body. Over his legs,
his metallic arms, his face, his chest. The dark lavender in his eyes faded
when he shut them. But his body shook from that point on. Angel and Elder
Oro both looked alarmed when Mullenhauser's artificially produced magical
powers started to coalesce with the evil lingering in the Underground
Palace. Thus the whole structure shook along with him. The brightness of the
six-pronged star increase. Till that light rose up in small pillars. The
hair and clothes of everyone around rose up as if the gravity around them
had been effected. As did the traces of dust and loose rock that littered
the ground from place to place. Even down below, Emilia and Gaap could feel
the shaking of the foundations of the Palace. Cross Fell itself felt the
weight of those tremors. Over in the bridge of the Sparta, they too could
detect that something was awry. Rock and Solon tapped information into the
panels and a huge video screen of Cross Fell appeared over them.

Rock turned to Lucielle from his chair. "Captain! Something big is
happening!"

"What is it?" Lucielle (who by now had returned to the ship) wondered, "has
the overflow of the Magite started already?!"

"Not quite," Solon answered, "it seems that the `Underground Palace' as you
call it, is being raised from underneath the face of the mountain."

Lucielle blinked. "What?!"

On the video screen, a clear image of Cross Fell could be seen. The animals
that normally grazed on its fields of grass were now scattering. The birds
flocked away as quickly as possible. Thick rock started to crack and
separate in the droves. A thick aura of purple was soon surrounding the
entire mountain, including Cloud Village. The tremors caused by the magic of
Mullenhauser could be felt by the citizens of the village itself. The glass
windows of their homes shattered. The wooden beams that made up their housed
also shook. The woman and children screamed while the men all gasped,
looking up at the peak of Cross Fell from their locations. The side of the
mountain was cracking in one particular place. The rock and earth that had
gathered up over the years was now being ripped apart from below. The
rumblings over Cross Fell did not end. Until something gave way. That thing
happened to be the side of the mountain. The ground that made it up was
tossed into the air when the very building beneath it began to arise. The
Underground Palace itself was raised up from the face of the mountain,
climbing upwards level by level. The gigantic column-shaped shrine rose up
from the depths of darkness. Each section of its outwards shell covered in
thousands upon thousands of years of soil and earth. And it kept rising
until its bottom (3900x4550 metres long) finally came up from the ground of
the mountain. It kept rising until it was so high in the sky that gazing
down from it would make Cross Fell mountain look like nothing more than a
slightly broken mound.

The Whitestar crew on the Sparta and the people of Cloud Village looked on
in terror and awe as the Underground Palace now hovered less than a mile off
the ground. Suspended in the air by nothing more than the force of
Mullenhauser's magic, mixed with the evil of its long lost spirits. The top
section of the Underground Palace, the roof, started to crumble away bit by
bit. Also a result of Mullenhauser's magic. Because of this the stone walls
surrounding Kai and the others inside the palace were gone. Which now put
them directly on top of it. Everyone aside from Mullenhauser gasped when
they saw that they were now in the air. Able to gaze upon the many
mountain-like hills of the Pennines for as far as they could see. With the
blue sky above and the rocky greenery below. All a result of Mullenhauser.

Angel was startled. "...Dear God... what have you done...?"

"Heh, heh, heh," Mullenhauser smirked, lowering his hands, "do you now see
that standing against me is utterly useless? My powers have grown to a level
that none of you could ever hope to attain. Not even you, Angel. It is time
for me to take my place in the analogues of this world's destiny. Why bother
to manipulate Ashma as an energy source? And then let some fool find a way
to synthesize it? This power is for me and me alone. I will use Ashma's
force to strengthen my own a thousand-fold. I will ascend! Into divinity
shall mankind once again arise, to overthrow God and become the almighty
master of existence!"

"You speak madness!" Elder Oro chided, "Frail human beings such as ourselves
cannot control the Ashma! Nor can we peer ourselves with God! Your ignorant
plan risks the stability of the Earth!"

Mullenhauser grinned. "Quiet, old man. You dare to contradict your new God?"

But Oro was not the only one with reservations. Aurora had a chilled look in
her eye. And she turned to her adoptive father in her confusion. "Father,
when you asked the Four Horsemen to help get you to Earth, you said that you
would extract the Magite for financial gain. You said that you would build
an empire in the colonies where you, Angel and I could rule. What is this
you speak of now?"

>From hearing that one, Mullenhauser growled. And then pressed his hand to
one side. Aurora was roughly blown back by magical force that extended from
Mullenhauser's hand. The master hacker fell to the ground and coughed,
feeling only a small sample of what her adoptive father was capable of.

Angel gasped. "No! Sister!"

"Mindless vermin!" Mullenhauser yelled at her, "What does money mean to a
god? Or family for that matter? I have gone beyond such petty human desires.
Very soon the old work of the Eight Prophets will be undone. The Ashma will
burst from the leylines of the Earth just below us. I will absorb all its
power with my magic and become unstoppable!"

"We'll see, you cocky bastard!" Kai growled menacingly and unsheathed
Ouroboros, "we have to stop this maniac right here and now! Are you guys
with me?!"

"Sword!" Karen's Gaeki crystal transformed into a sword-shape, "I'm with
ya!"

Chestnut spread her legs and pulled up her fists, "I will do it!"

Elder Oro brought up his staff. "No evil shall threaten this world again!"

Even Angel, a pacifist by nature, knew what he had to do. "We have no other
choice!"

But unlike Aurora, Garland was very loyal to Mullenhauser's new plan. And so
he acted. A devilish grin passed on his face. The engines of his Propulsion
Gear kicked in. The Valhothian male then zoomed straight into the group. Or
more specifically, Kai. The swordsman quickly gripped Ouroboros in a double
hold and blocked the slash from Garland's Qingu. The two weapons collided
once again with an echoing rumble. But the force of the strike pushed Kai
backwards. So quickly (with the driving force of the Propulsion Gear) and so
swiftly that the pair of them went flying over the edge of the roof of the
castle.

Angel's heart raced. "Oh God, Kai!"

Half of Angel was prepared to chase after the two in any way he could think
of, until he felt a restraining hand touch him by the shoulder. It was the
furry hand of Chestnut. "Do not worry for Comrade Kai. He fine. We must beat
big nasty man to save Earth, right?"

Though his worry was not eased, Angel tried to focus on what mattered. The
Earth. And the one threatening that was the man standing across from them.
Gernst Mullenhauser.

**********

With their weapons locked, Kai and Garland descended from the roof of the
newly arisen Palace, with the background of the skies behind them.
Thankfully the Propulsion Gears were thought activated. Kai's PG ignited and
came to life with just a moment in the air. He and Garland scowled at each
other in the weapons lock between the Ouroboros and the Qingu. Then they
repelled each other. Kai and Garland zoomed away from each other, circling
in the air around the western side of the floating Underground Palace. Kai
drew back Ouroboros into a rather defensive stance and spoke, yelling to be
heard at this height thanks to the wind.

"Are you completely insane?!" Kai cried out, "you'd let that maniac wipe out
the this entire world just so he can become even more powerful than he
already is?!"

Garland sniggered, his ponytail and tunic waving in the wind of the skies.
"Stupid boy! Do you think I really care about what happens to this pathetic
planet? All I care about is proving myself as the strongest warrior in the
universe! Once I defeat you, no one will presume to be a greater warrior
than I!"

Kai growled as Garland zoomed towards him again. The blades of their weapons
clashed once again. Garland swung his halberd around and aimed to strike
down Kai with a swipe. Kai flew backwards to avoid the slashing half-circle
motion. Then pushed forwards again while the other man's guard was done. The
Horseman evened out Qingu in front of himself and blocked the strike dead
on. Knowing that a direct assault with Ouroboros was useless against
Garland, Kai flew back with all the juice of his Propulsion Gear. Then
levelled out the sword before him -- not unlike what Garland had done to
defend himself. A vivid blue light came to the blade of the sword as he held
it that way. One that, when ready, converted itself into a freezing cold
beam of pure ice. The Ice Blast magic skill chilled the air whilst moving
forwards at great speeds towards Garland. The assassin grinned and pointed
Qingu outward. The Magi-Tech system of the Qingu created a magical shield of
defence just as the Magi-Tech system of the Ouroboros created the Ice Blast.
The frosty beam blasted the shield thoroughly, the energy of the blast
splashing outwards from the point of collision like half-solid water. While
Garland held off the magical attack with his shield, he laughed, saying,

"Level 2 magical attacks will not work on me, boy! Now let me show you what
these mighty weapons of ours are capable of doing when used in the right
hands!"

He maintained the shield but his body altered in position. He held the Qingu
vertically and a glow of purple encircled his entire body. Including the
length and blade of the Qingu as well as the wings of his Propulsion Gear.
Once the Ice Blast came to a end, the shield protecting the glowing Garland
did as well. But then Garland vanished in the blink of an eye. Kai was
startled by this. And looked from one side to the other. He could see
nothing. Until he felt the reply attack firsthand. Kai cried out at the feel
of cold steel slashing along the back of his waist. The steel of Qingu.
Blood seeped from the shallow wound which had cut through the fabric of his
Whitestar uniform. Kai turned around with a slash but didn't hit anything
but air. Kai was again confused. And then he was subjected to a second
slash. Fresh blood was cut out when the blow chopped at his leg from behind.
Kai grunted and tried to catch sight of Garland this time. But by the time
he turned around he was gone again. Then moments later, the dark warrior
appeared directly in front of Kai in the blink of an eye. The Syowanese boy
was too startled to do something about it. And garland slashed gleefully in
a downwards motion. The front of Kai's armour-uniform was slashed open,
drawing a new cut into his skin. Kai grit his teeth and flew backwards to
escape further blows.

"...Dammit..." He cursed, "...teleportation...?"

Garland laughed. "Aha, ha, ha, ha! Correct! The master of Magi-Tech weaponry
now stands before you, child! From the moment I first saw you on Syowa-oh I
know that you were an unworthy creature. When my master attains his ultimate
power, worthless scum like you will become nothing more than bitter
after-notes. But in the name of that glorious future of death and
destruction, I shall serve you up as a blood offering!"

Kai sighed, lowering Ouroboros. "...Last night... I found true happiness with
the one I love. It goes without saying that I fight for his ideals. They
were just important to me when they were important to him. But no more. I
know that I have to give myself fully to this. Even if it means breaking a
few rules. "

"...What are you getting at?" Garland snapped in suspicion.

"I'm saying..." the blonde boy looked up with a dirty grin, and the blade of
the Ouroboros now brimmed with golden light, "that it's a new ball game now,
motherfucker."

"You fool!" Garland growled with venom and blasted himself ahead on full
power of his Propulsion Gear. Kai retained his grin and waited for the
Valhothian man to come at him. There was four small lights on the grip of
the Ouroboros. One was blue, the next one up was yellow, then orange, and
then finally red. Each light represented the level of magic used by the
sword. Blue was the lowest (Level 1) and red was the highest (Level 4).
Right now as the blonde swordsman initiated his newest attack, the light
that was glowing was orange (Level 3). Though Ai had recommended him not to
use anything above Level 2, this had to be done. The golden light of the
sword increased the closer that Garland came to him. And when the other
winger lifted Qingu to strike, Kai struck three seconds earlier. When Kai
swung the long blade of Ouroboros it was followed by a huge trail of waving
golden light which simply cleaved through the air like nothing before it.
The Seraphim Cut Magi-Fusion art swung around with its dazzling power and
repelled the charging strike of Garland. There was a loud bang of force
battering more force and a bright flash of light to accompany it. When the
light faded away, Garland had been tossed right out of Kai's way. The right
wing of his Propulsion Gear had been blown off.

And the Qingu had been cut in half.

"Damn you!" Garland yelled, plummeting out of the sky in disbelief, "you
haven't seen the last of me! I swear it! I`ll come back and destroy you!"

Kai breathed out whilst watching Garland fall to what would likely be his
death. But he was even more concerned with the tiredness he now felt. Using
skills above Level 2 seemed to drain energy. But it didn't matter to Kai.
The young man flew upwards and ignored the pain he was feeling from his
wounds for now. He had to help Angel and the others defeat that slimy
Mullenhauser.

**********

While on the roof, Karen, Chestnut, Elder Oro and Angel were doing their
best to try to stop him. The wild Effiran was the first to act, using her
Alien Martial Arts Skills of Bajyam. The furry woman dashed across the roof
with powerful strides and jumped upwards. Her powerful body bounded into the
air and sailed over the stone of the floor to descend at Mullenhauser.
Chestnut stuck her fist out just at the point where savage flames of burning
Chi sprung to life around it. Chestnut's Flaming Spiral Knuckle technique
came down into Mullenhauser's proximity. But didn't land. A shield of
transparent energy blocked the attack. Chestnut's fiery hand pounded the
shield but couldn't break it. Not even dent it. Chestnut somersaulted back
with her hand regressing its spiritual fire. She landed on the ground from
the flip and rushed forward again at Mullenhauser. She tried to punch the
man again and a second barrier appeared as a defence. The Effiran's fist was
literally blown back by it. Chestnut tried again with a swift kick from the
right of her hips. The kick was blocked again by the force of the German
man's shield. Chestnut growled and stepped back, reassuming herself into a
fighting stance.

Mullenhauser smiled at her with arrogance. "Is that the best you can do?"

"I just getting started!" Chestnut yelled defensively.

"That's funny..." The hand of artificial magic user started to glow, "...so am
I!"

And then he swung that arm right at the alien girl. Chestnut crossed her
arms over her face to protect herself and her sight from the incoming blow.
>From Mullenhauser's hand came a violent and forceful gust of wind. The
Hurricane Ball magic skill. One stronger than anything Chestnut could have
dealt with at close range. The Effiran yelled aloud when the gusts of wind
from Mullenhauser pushed her back effortlessly. Her frame was hurled through
the air and it landed into the dusty floor of what had now become the
Underground Palace's roof.

"Chestnut!" Karen scowled when she looked at Mullenhauser, "Oh, you are SO
asking for this, pal! Axe!"

The shining Gaeki Crystal transformed from a sword-shape to an axe-shape.
Then the unusually agile Karen ran forwards to attack her enemy.
Mullenhauser smirked at this little girl with a big toy. But he could make a
weapon of his own to deal with her. In a manner of speaking. Mullenhauser
extended his hand and opened the palm. Glittering sparks of fire arrived.
Ones that grew in size and took a long shape. Those waves of fire
transformed into a cluster of molten flames that assumed the shape of a
Scottish double-edged broadsword. The Ignis Sword magic art. Karen swung her
axe at the taller man but was startled when the Ignis Sword repelled the
strike. Those flames were as solid as actual steel.

But Karen Fa'lea Anselm wasn't prepared to give up that easily. "Staff!"

With that command given, the Gaeki Crystal transformed again into a staff
form. Karen twirled the long rod of crystallized energy around her body to
invoke intimidation, then took a swipe horizontally. Mullenhauser growled
batted Karen's strike away with the Ignis Sword like it was nothing. The
girl yelped when the sword of the German magician burned the back of her
hand. She lowered herself to her knees and the Gaeki Crystal reverted to its
spherical form. Mullenhauser sniggered at the teenager and simply kicked her
across the face. Karen cried out from the strength of the kick,
Mullenhauser's boot battering her jaw. She rolled away with a line of blood
dripping down from the corner of her mouth and a bruise the colour of a plum
immediately wrought over her cheek.

Elder Oro said nothing to voice his outrage. Rather he just acted on it. The
old man pointed his staff at the vile man known as Gernst Mullenhauser. His
staff remained in place and he focused his mind and all its thoughts on
doing this one. The air around his body, particularly before the staff, grew
hotter. His free hand joined it in place, curling into a fist. The cause of
the hot air around the old wizard was shown when a flicker of flames burst
into life in front of him, starting at the head of the staff. The
smouldering flames of magic extended in length and snaked around the torso
of Elder Oro, then rising upwards. The front of line of fire morphed into
the shape of a Chinese dragon's head, which roared into the early morning
sky. The entity of fire, the Dragon Tongue Sage magic skill, swiftly darted
ahead from its conjurer to its target, Mullenhauser.

"Not bad, old man!" He commented.

Mullenhauser brought up another of those shields to guard himself from the
flames of the Dragon Tongue. The flaming entire dove into the shield and
dispersed into a cloud of fire on contact. But that was not the end for the
older man's action. Angel and Aurora's father pointed his hand down at the
ground. Behind him. He fired a simple magical shot. Nothing impressive by
his standards. But though it was aimed in the opposite direction to Oro, it
curled around mid-flight and came right back around to deliver. Elder Oro
scowled and conjured one of his own shields. The magical blast fired by
Mullenhauser went straight through the defensive barrier, shattering it like
glass. Elder Oro shrieked horribly when the magical blast hit him. He was
nailed deftly in the stomach. He held a hand to his mouth and regurgitated
blood violently, dropping to the floor. Even the magical master was no match
for what Mullenhauser had become.

Which left only Angel.

Mullenhauser smirked at the boy, who he had worked so hard on. All through
his youth, the German billionaire had tried to turn and model Angel into the
second daughter he never had. Now both had stood against him. Yet Angel was
the only one who could truly stand in the way of his plans. Especially with
the Lesser Key of Solomon in his possession.

"Stop this now, Father," Angel commanded, "you don't know what you're doing.
Not only are you incapable of controlling such force, if you allow the
Magite to break free you'll put this entire world at risk."

Mullenhauser smiled at his son. "I am afraid that you do not understand what
has happened here. Boy, this is the last day that you will ever know the
world as it is. From this moment onwards I shall carve the Earth-orbital and
outer-orbital worlds to my own image. Ultimate power. Power over the entire
universe... it will all be mine. Now that hold the key to that force, you and
your sister are no longer needed..."

Angel could not deny that it hurt to hear such words from the man he had
come to consider as his father. But he showed none of that sadness here.
Only the determination he had stop this madman before he caused an even
worse tragedy than then Great Earth Disaster. The God Summoner held his
hands to his chest and mouthed the chant that would unleash one of the
spirits to do battle.

"By the ancient spirit of the Cloud People," Angel uttered desperately,
"bless this holy blood with thy divine strength. Bestow upon me your power
and I shall give you all my heart. In the name of God and righteousness, I
summon you to the realm of the living. Awaken now, o Lord of Fire and War,
awaken El!"

The sound of war drums pounding monotonously in the background could be
heard all around the roof of the Underground Palace. Then a huge pillar of
fire burned upwards in front of Angel, blowing his hair and clothes back.
The smouldering wall of fire burned at the molecules of the air had had been
called to. And something stepped out of that wall of fire. A spirit of
ferocious nature and strength. The entity that walked out of the flames was
covered in flames himself. Cinders flickered around his body. The image of
his legs, arms, body and head could only be made out by form. Not seen for
what they were. Given that the strength of the fire that surrounded him was
as hot as lava. This was El. The Lord of Flame and Warfare. His feet burned
into the ground whilst standing on the floor, smoke rising from them. While
his large and spiky ponytail of hey-like hair thrashed behind his head. El
lifted his right hand and opened his palm. Then lifted his open palm all the
way into the air. Mullenhauser watched this intently, knowing full well that
Angel was a God Summoner. In certain points above Mullenhauser, in the air,
large balls of flaming force appeared. One after the other. Until there were
at least twenty of them dangling with flair in the sky. Then El lowered his
hand down like a command for attack. The twenty spheres of fire and
brimstone came screaming down towards their Germanic target. Mullenhauser
growled and brought up a full body shield to defend himself. This was much
more than what Oro, Karen or Chestnut could do. And he felt the weight of
that when El's flaming orbs crashed against the protective magic shields he
conjured. One after the other they battered the shields, crashing into them
and bursting into embers. But with each one, Mullenhauser's body jerked from
the strain put on him. Resisting the power of a spirit like El took more
strength than most magic-users could ever hope to gain. But Mullenhauser
guarded himself against all of them. Fire surrounded the area around his
feet for five metres but his body was unscathed.

Angel clutched his fist in frustration and lowered his head. "...I can't do
this alone..."

"...Do you see it now?" Mullenhauser dissolved his magic shields, "how
hopeless this is? If you have any sense you'll bow to me now. And beg for my
mercy."

"I'll never bow to someone like you!"

Mullenhauser closed his eyes and chuckled. The air above him grew cold. Then
in an instant two twin ice spikes, both jagged and sharp, materialized above
his head. One for El, the other for Angel. "...Then you will die."

The two ice spikes then thrust themselves towards Angel and the flame spirit
El. Then a bullet was fired at one of them. The gunshot crushed that
particular ice spike into tiny scraps of frozen water. The second one
continued on. Until a bird-shaped wave of flames flapped through the air and
collided with it. The ice spike and the Phoenix Wing skill destroyed each
other upon contact. Ending the threat on Angel's life. Neither of those
attacked had come from Angel or El. But the God Summoner had a good idea who
they did belong to. Standing at the steps from the lower levels was a
wounded but able Emilia, carrying her sniper rifle Christine in her hands.
By the edge of the roof was Kai, holding an unsheathed and smoking Ouroboros
in hand. He looked equally wounded but was still alive and kicking with that
arrogant smile on his face. Angel's heart leapt to know that his love was
okay.

"Kai... Miss Maximov..." He said.

Mullenhauser frowned. "So my servants were not enough for you?"

"Lets just say that I've gotten my revenge." Emilia answered.

Kai offered a little of that, too. "Yeah. And if I were you, I'd consider
that little psycho bastard of yours to be a dead man. From the looks of
things... the Four Horsemen have bitten the fucking dust. How sad for you."

"The Four Horsemen are nothing to me," Answered the pseudo-wizard, "so
unless you wish for the same battering you received on Victoria Lake, I
advise you to walk away, little boy."

"And I advise you to kiss my ass, dickwipe!" Kai pointed the Ouroboros at
him, but looked at the others when he spoke again, "Everyone?! It's time we
give that guy everything we have!"

And it was Kai's determination that brought them all back from the brink.
Elder Oro, Karen and Chestnut all stirred and stood upright. Much to the
surprise of Mullenhauser. They all gathered together, Angel, Emilia, Elder
Oro, Karen and Chestnut; with Kai at their head. All their eyes locked on
Mullenhauser. The one they had to defeat.

Kai grit his teeth and yelled, "Chestnut! Karen!"

The two nodded and rushed ahead in unison to attack Mullenhauser. They came
up to him quickly, not sparing a moment to chance. Karen transformed her
Gaeki Crystal into a sword and slashed at the left while Chestnut extended
her leg for a kick at the right. Mullenhauser growled at the two attacks.
But used common sense and shielded himself to the left. Karen's sword
bounced off the shield. However Chestnut's kick got through because of that.
The German descendant grunted when Chestnut's blow landed forcefully on his
back. He then stumbled ahead. At that point Karen slashed at him again,
unguarded. Mullenhauser sucked his teeth when the blade-shaped Gaeki Crystal
cut him across the face. Mullenhauser's blood, which was now blue thanks to
the Magi-Tech nanomachines pumped around his bloodstream by his heart,
splattered over the floor.

Kai called to the gunwoman of their team. "Emilia!"

She nodded back and lifted up Christine to aim. She fired, a normal bullet,
but it was enough with Mullenhauser distracted by Karen and Chestnut.
Mullenhauser yelled outwardly when the bullet was buried right into his
shoulder. His blue blood burst out into sight again, and he grabbed his
shoulder in agony.

"So even Gods feel pain, eh?" Kai turned to the remaining two, "Angel?
Elder? All together!"

Angel and Elder Oro understood what they needed to do. Oro lifted his free
hand and staff and held them before his body. His wrinkled lips began
muttering a Welsh chant to gather up his strength for his next and most
powerful skill. Angel pressed his hands against his heart and shut his eyes.
To concentrate for contact with the strongest spirit he could summon. The
flames of El regressed and that entity returned to the spirit world while
Angel did all that he could to call on his strongest of all. A lingering
glow of silver surrounded his body. A holy light. A representation of divine
power.

"...By the ancient spirit of the Cloud People, bless this holy blood with thy
divine strength. Bestow upon me your power and I shall give you all my
heart. In the name of God and righteousness, I summon you to the realm of
the living. Awaken now, o Maiden of Light and Love, awaken Branwen!"

White light exploded before Angel's feet. A throbbing white light that
radiated the same holy essence that Angel Edelweiss had been blessed with
his entire life. That white circle of light expanded somewhat and an even
brighter form of light arose from it. One so strong that it actually caused
fright in the evil that lingered in the palace. The celestial luminosity
that came up from the ring of light was produced by a shining image of
purity and faith. A beautiful woman in a simple white dress. But one that
shone with the light of a true goddess. She opened her mouth as if to sing
and produced silent words. Instantly a pair of feathered wings spread out
from her shoulder blades. A true angel, summoned from the very seat of
heaven itself.  Kai by now had gathered power for his own attack. The
Ouroboros glistened brightly from its slightly curved blade. In the aura of
a bright blue. The three of them, Kai, Angel and Oro, looked at each other
in understanding. Karen and Chestnut dashed out of the way leaving the now
wounded Mullenhauser primed for the strike.

Kai growled. "Now!"

Elder Oro shot out a huge beam of force that engulfed his hands and body
with its light. The Strataga Sage magic skill. The heavenly angel Branwen
opened her long feather wings to full extension and placed her two hands
together. From those gentle hands came the sheer fury of God's wrath, a
vigorous and almost savage explosion of white holy power that joined with
Oro's attack toward the fake warlock. The force of Kai's Ouroboros reached a
peak. And a thin but powerful beam of azure energy streamlined ahead with
the other two attacks. The wounded Mullenhauser finally caught sight of what
was going on and struggled to assimilate more shield to defend himself.

Moments later, a gigantic explosion rocked the upper roof of the arisen
Underground Palace. One so bright that it could be seen from both Cloud
Village and the Sparta. White light and streaks of blue overtook the roof of
the structure. Kai, Angel, Karen, Oro, Chestnut and Emilia dove to the
ground and looked away, covering their eyes. The almighty light created from
the combination of the Strataga, Branwen's Assault and the magic of the
Ouroboros' enveloped absolutely everything on top of the temple. The stone
floor cracked from the strain of the power conjured by the fusion of the
three attacks. The very foundations of the Underground Palace were weakened
by the explosion. The conjoined light then erupted and scattered itself over
the temple and the lands and skies below it. The rumblings of the explosion
then faded. And the brightness dimmed down. Enough for everyone to open
their eyes. The group all stood up from the ground they hit and turned
around to see the result. A shallow but wide crater was left in the ground.
Cracks spiralled outward from its centre. And it still burned with light
from place to place. Stained black by the burning of holy judgement.
Mullenhauser was standing weakly in its centre. Blue blood stained his
clothes everywhere. His cape had been burned off. As well as most of his
metal arms.

Mullenhauser coughed up more of that sickly blue blood as he tried to speak.
"...So... in the end... I am the one who dies... as... do... my... dreams..."

The bloody corpse of Gernst Mullenhauser then fell to the blackened stone
ground around him. Dead. Angel shut his eyes and looked away. And Kai moved
to hold him, out of instinct.

Karen looked over at the corpse, her jaw still hurting. "...Is he dead?"

Chestnut confirmed it with a grunt. "He's dead."

It was then that the little red light on Kai's NFC began to flicker. While
Angel sobbed lightly into his chest, Kai lifted his wrist to receive that
message. "What's up?"

"What the hell are you doing down there?!" Lucielle yelled through the
receiver, "Solon says that the Magite is gonna blow in less than ten
minutes! If you guys don't stop dragging your asses then the Earth is
finished!"

"You know, for some crazy reason, I'm actually glad that I'm still able to
hear you scold me. But," Kai looked down on Angel, holding him by the
shoulders, "you have one more thing that you need to do. The Seal. You have
to reinforce the seal now. Do you still have the strength to do that,
Angel?"

He nodded. "...Yes."

It was what they had come here for at the end of the day. Angel sighed, took
a deep breath, then took off the satchel on his back and shoulders. It came
to the dusty/smoky ground and he swiftly pulled out the book inside. The
Lesser Key of Solomon. Angel quickly opened the thick book and read from it,
from the second chapter, Ars Theurgia Goetia. The pure-hearted God Summoner
parted his lips and spoke the passage in almost silent Latin. Kai, Elder
Oro, Karen, Chestnut (who now held an unconscious Chestnut in her arms) and
Emilia gathered together around the boy. And the bright green aura of the
book grew in size. Enfolding them all. Angel's words were carried across the
winds into every direction. To be heard like a song on cold spring morning.
And the magic that those words invoked began the process. The restoration of
the seal that the Eight Prophets had cast more than 200 years ago.

"It's a miracle," Elder Oro could feel it. Deep in his heart he could feel
that the enormous power of Ashma was being held back by a re-strengthening
seal, "...the true will of God is being done... if so... his embrace of his
children... might once again be achieved."

**********

And that was how the Second Great Earth Disaster was prevented.

It's seems kinda strange looking back on those days from where I am now. But
I do remember that day to be one of the most memorable in my life. The
ambitions of a madman threatening to ruin the world were stopped by the
hands of the people who dedicated their lives to saving it. To think that I
was one of them is surprising. Though Angel often says I'm ten times more
courageous than I give myself credit for, I think he was too. But meeting
him really did a number on me. Just as it would to anyone who had the
pleasure of knowing Angel Edelweiss.

That was all I could ask for.

Him.

And it was all about he and I when that day ended. Things, in most ways,
went back to normal. Elder Oro returned to Cloud Village shortly after the
Underground Palace crumbled into the dust. He brought the good tidings of
the end of the risk of Ashma. And the Lesser Key of Solomon, which I finally
learned to pronounce, is in his care. He'll look after it for sure. It will
be the duty of his people to stop the next Ashma overflow now.

As for the crew on Whitestar? With the Earth saved and the Four Horsemen
finished, we had only one task left. Getting the Greater Universal
Confederacy to invest in the resurrection of civilization on Earth. It's the
hardest job of all. But none of us are going to quit. And everyone seems to
be going about it in their own way. Which for them is always the abnormal
way.

Our `wonderful and quirky' little Captain is making the biggest effort. But
that always changes depending on what's shaking with Emilia. You don't need
a crystal ball to see that all ain't rosy there. After we all came back from
the Earth, Lucielle and Emilia officially announced that they were a couple
again. Then two weeks later they officially announced that they hated each
other's guts. Then three days after their break up, a member of the crew
caught the pair of them screwing each other in one of the training rooms.

Y'know, I don't think those two will ever have a normal relationship.

Karen Fa'lea Anselm, that noisy little brat from Faandolta, returned to her
grandpa's mansion in Sy Cyrus. It's just a visit and she'll be coming back,
though I hope to God that the old man finds a way to keep her there.

Rock and Chestnut, the alien geek and the alien shit-kicker, went back to
what they did best. Computing and fighting. Just like Solon's still
inventing and Celena's still cooking. Yup, those guys aren't the most
original bunch out there... but I guess that's why I think of them as... my
family. When you spend three months with a group as kooky as this, you learn
to love `um.

And Angel?

He and I have just told everyone about what's going between us. He was
desperate for all the crew to know. Since his sister Aurora gave us her
blessing, he's been more excited about our relationship than ever. And I can
understand how he feels. Celena didn't seem too overjoyed about it for some
reason, but I'm sure that she's just feeling under the weather. But all that
matters now is our new lives. And for the first time I really feel like a
member of Whitestar.

I have everything I ever wanted. My Family; Lucielle, Emilia, Karen, Rock,
Chestnut, Solon and Celena. And my Love; Angel Edelweiss.

You didn't die in vain, Sho. I'm living this life that you gave me for the
right reasons. Living the life that you deserved to have. Finally, the
shadow of Tensatsukai and the Satsukami can rest with the past. And my soul,
the soul of Kai Kisaragi...

...is free.

**********

END OF THE LAST SAGA

**********