A Heart of Darkness - Finale
Frank Mayhem
Yeah, I was correct that last time. Something
was going on with Itaku.
As I set my strained eyes towards the supposedly dead girl, I noticed that she had changed dramatically since the last time I looked at her back in the Aistii Cathedral. Well, first of all, the body was glowing. And not as faintly as you might think. Before my very own eyes, the snow around her meltdown, forming a wide circle of greenery in what Earthlings might even consider the Arctic. Even though the permafrosted ground should have been basically dead and lifeless, but it immediately sprung to life and greenery as if this was late spring. Shaytan was just as confused by all of this as me, especially when the injuries on his body started to fix up and get better in accelerating speeds.
What can I say, all of this was truly a surprise. If it's what should have happened down below, then... well, I pretty much sentenced the people who unlocked it to death by alerting the Celestial Army of their presence. Ouch. I hope they didn't curse me or something before they lost their lives in the most brutal way imaginable.
Itaku's hair, that flushy, disorganized and wild collection on her head, started to rapidly radiate light and fluctuate in color, as if it were trying to make a light show - changing from red to orange to green to blue to whatever, rinse and repeat - but soon it calmed down and settled down on a bright aquatic blue. Huh. That's not a color you'd associate with the Herans - almost a complete opposite of the standard orange-red. Though, it blended quite nicely with the now bright, barely noticeably green-ish skin, so I suppose it checks out. Though still, it's a really odd look for someone of her race...
But the weirdness train had just begun rolling down on us, as it seems, as merely a few moments layers the supposedly dead Itaku slowly opened her shut eyes, first slowly, then suddenly starting to blink, as if having regained awareness of being in a storm with the last Herans being executed a dozen miles below her. As I watched the miracle unfold, still speechless, the First Angel, as they called it, started to move, using her hands to lift herself up from the ground, then standing up, until she was finally back on track. Her expression... was impossible to define. She wasn't angry or furious, that's for sure. Nor confused, or even really happy, to be honest. The best I could say, with my knowledge of "being alive" being limited enough as it is, would be "blissfully innocent".
"...Why are you looking at me like that?" The transformed Itaku asked us. We were certainly staring at her, that's for sure, but definitely not with creepy thoughts. I desperately searched my database for anything even remotely similar to this form. Nope. No info. Like most Heran lore and legends, this one's a mystery to me.
"You... feeling any different?" I barely managed to mutter out.
"Eh?.." Is she even aware of what just happened? "Say, was the transformation successful?-"
Itaku leaped back and charged towards something behind my back. Huh? What's happening? I turned around to see the threat, but I was too late - way too late. There was only the girl, covered in a multi-colored aura, smoke and ash covering everything up to the horizon and chips of graphite alkaline raining from the sky. Did she just...
"What was that?" I exclaimed. Itaku smiled, landed in front of me, ...Something. She touched my forehead... and then I saw everything. It was a huge cluster of Androids seeping from the ground, which she immediately took down by charging into the center and using
something. Looked like a spell, or a ki attack.
Obviously, this raised even more questions. What? How? Where did she learn this from? How can she be so powerful? I decided to just shelve them all, though - no point in asking all this stuff.
"The First Angel was prophecized to be able to master a form of Divine Magic," Shaytan decided to drop exposition for some reason. "It looks like you didn't take long to make that prediction correct, Itaku."
Divine Magic, you say?
"So, how do you feel like
now?" I asked the First Angel again.
"I feel like I know everything. Feel everything. Control everything."
"That's what the First Angel transformation is - it's everything."
Sounds like a formidable opponent.
"Mind if I test something out, Itaku?" I spoke.
"Uh, sure?" That was a yes to me. I did a quick backflip, clenched my fists, flared up the aura, transformed into Influx and charged forward, sending my right punch to strike her. Let's see if everything is enough to beat me-
BOOM!
I didn't even get to move even a few feet before I noticed Itaku's eyes suddenly flash. A few milliseconds later, I stopped moving against my own will. I was just... floating. With no sense of up or down. Any signal to flight modules to move was met with an encrypted block message. What in the love of God is going on?
"Itaku, let him down. Let him actually reach you."
With these Shaytan's words, I immediately dropped to the ground like a rock, but quickly propelled myself forward, head first. She's just standing there, unyielding, moveless... I crashed into her, sending my right fist towards her face, but all that happened was... nothing. Actually nothing. It just stopped right at her cheek with no damage. What. So. Ever. A few attempts at kicks and punches followed, but the result was nonetheless the same.
How about less games and more actual damage. As such, I slided a meter back, clenched my fists once again, opened up even more Influx energy and... up a notch. Influx Level 2. Haven't used this one in a while. I immediately opened up with a powerful star-busting energy wave...
She. She just freaking caught it. As the dust settled down, I saw the entire energy of my attack not equaling damage on Itaku's body, but rather all being held in her palm. And she just threw it back at me! I barely managed to leap over it, turning around to watch it shoot up towards the sky, exploding in a miraculous fashion in the upper atmosphere. The explosion's tough winds licked the surface of the planet, blowing past us violently. I-how? I went back into my base form, but the shock stood.
Keep it together. No Heat Blade. Keep it together. Calm down.
...
BASTARD!
"I can't believe it..." I spoke out as calm as I could, which still wasn't calm. "To think that there could exist such a power between mortals..."
"It's great, isn't it, Frank?" Yes, yes it is, Itaku. I pulled out my teleporter capsule out of my pocket and threw it at the ground. It blew up and formed my escape pod. Itaku's facial expression immediately soured. "Wait, you're leaving? Now?"
"What's the point of staying? I'll just be a nuisance."
Itaku ran towards me and pulled onto my arm. She could've easily thrown me to the other side of the galaxy if she wanted to, but that obviously wasn't the aim.
"You-you'll be great help, don't lower yourself! You... uh... could give us information about their anatomy!"
"Strike them hard, preferably in the chest. That's all the information you need."
"Well, then you'll be great help in the battlefield!"
"You're as powerful as your race needs you to be - that's not a concern."
"Oh, come on! I'm not
that strong! You will still be useful!"
I placed my hand on the fresh First Angel's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but this is no longer my fight. It's yours now, and I'm sure you can do it."
The fact that I'm still furious about being beaten and overshadowed so easily was to be left untold.
"So you're really going back? You going to return sometime later, right?"
"Who knows... I should be going, though. So, goodbye, Itaku..."
Suddenly, something... unexpected happened. Instead of simply walking away and waving her hand like the usual, she grabbed by arm, pulled me up and tightly hugged me. And so tight as if she never wanted to let go. Stop... please... this is getting weird... why are you not letting go... I don't understand...
Finally! She moved her hands back, then walked back.
"So, I suppose that's it then," Shaytan, already fully healed, spoke from the side and extended his hand for a handshake. "I can finally see it - you truly are a warrior of noble blood, even while still being a machine without a soul."
"Uh, thanks." I didn't keep the shake up for long, and quickly walked back. They said their last goodbyes with their eyes, following me to the teleporter, until...
Finally. Alone for a moment. Coordinates 1FF6789.
Earth.