✧ Chapter 67 ✧

During Solar Ninja’s mountainous descent, Styra and her other friends appeared on another side of the terrain that was even more distant than where Kade had spawned from.

Eternika created a Kra Forcefield that gently floated them down towards the ground level where a huge ocean blocked their path.

Upon landing near the coastal area, Eternika delivered the message it had been told from Compass about the change of plans concerning their heist.

Flight and Hisa agreed with the change in plans and were immediately sent to Wisteliah to board the STS-0 and learn about its new upgrades with Compass so they could drop in as part of the team’s escape plan.

All the while, Cherry, Styra, and Voltaze would serve as distractions for the gothic townspeople and vampire wizards inhabiting that place.

“That seems pretty simple. For us to really distract them is also really risky now that I think about it. Where even is the scroll supposed to be?” asked Styra.

“I have heard it was located in the largest building known to the public there as the Phantom Eclipse Watchtower. His guards watch it without rest. We will let Kade sneak in and take the scroll with him to the spaceship. Our getaway plan will lead us right back here, where we are right now,” explained Eternika.

“Okay… So what sort of distraction are we even going to create here? All I know is that it has to be something that will trigger this Vladie guy.”

With most of the team invested on figuring out what they could do, Voltaze brung up an idea after staring at the murky waters for awhile in interest.

“We destroy their blood supply.”

Cherry started to strike her fingers with her chin before coming to a conclusive answer about the whole plan.

“I could try to fly to the middle of the ocean and then create a swirling waterspout using my Cherrirang. It will take a lot of wind force to propel it into the air, but if I can get it high enough, I can completely vacuum it high up into outer space.”

“Hmm… Y’know Cherry, I do remember doing something similar to that in Phiras when I was fighting Topazion. How did you even come up with that idea?” inquired Styra during their conversation.

“Black holes. From the space show…”

“Oh okay… Kinda figured it. I mean this water does look and smell pretty bad so we’d be doing them a favor. From the sounds of it, we could really help you make that waterspout happen though. Are you sure you’re okay with doing this yourself?”

Breathing in and out with a completely re-energized feeling coursing through herself, Cherry looked across the large body of water as she prepared for liftoff.

“The only way I can get better at this is if I do it myself. You three wait over at the other side, okay? Tell me how I did afterwards.”

Immediately into this, Cherry began to fly at high speeds over the ocean, visualizing the use of her powers back at Sparkleshine Valley to try and boost her confidence.

Meanwhile, Styra stood there biting her lip while pondering about Cherry’s change in attitude.

“Mhm… I don’t know about anyone else, but she sure has been acting different lately. Oh well… I guess all we have to do now is w—“

In the middle of her statement, Voltaze suddenly picked Styra up with both of his arms as he flew her all the way to where the Phantom Eclipse Watchtower was located.

Dropping her off to soon witness the spectacle that Cherry was willing to cause, Styra blushed out of confusion.

“Voltaze, why did you lift me like that?” she asked.

Staying silent with a firm frown on his face, Styra’s eyes widened until she remembered that it made no sense for him to be thinking like that.

“Oh right, of course… I took too long to do anything, didn’t I?”

Voltaze looked at her without saying anything again. He then focused his attention back at the waterspout that was beginning to form into the air.

“A force of nature is often viewed as one that protects the environment. And yet, here I am seeing its impact cause destruction to everything around itself. It’s intriguing,” said Voltaze.

Upon reconsidering his words that were being said with a certain level of thoughtfulness put into them, she attempted to try and delve more into understanding Voltaze’s motives.

“Say, what is it really like to be a Zethyrian? Like when you were born, did you ever feel loved at least once? I’m only asking this because I saw a strange vision. Maybe a memory? I believe my parents were taken away from me in this very world now. It feels so familiar to another nightmare I had. It’s not one I necessarily fear. I feel like it was a call for help from someone that I never remembered meeting…”

“All I can recall is a pain that remains as a distant experience. What I know supersedes any semblance of comfort that anyone tries to give me. Being caged of my own choice from birth will never leave my mind, no matter how numb I have become to it.”

Hearing the clearly distressing truth behind Voltaze’s despair of being who he was made Styra want to genuinely hug him.

The only problem was, she still couldn’t trust Voltaze.

Underneath the exterior of a creature with a broken past was also someone who couldn’t easily be moved out of his damaging decisions. They had concerning consequences attached and that seemingly would never change.

Just as the both of them were becoming moody with the situation at hand, Eternika popped up to inform them about the plan’s current status.

“An urgent matter has come up. Cherry’s distraction is working, the StormStrike Zero is ready to board, and Kade is approaching nearby. It is time for the second phase of our heist. You two must keep up with tracking Vladequin’s whereabouts. I will be heading over to Cherry so she can fly back to our escape route.”

Styra and Voltaze nodded in agreement, running towards the watchtower which was heavily populated in that part of the town.

Reaching the entrance proved to highlight the chaos that was unfolding between the gothic townsfolk. Vladequin and his guardsmen were coming outside with the full intent of handling what was harming their empire.

“Secure the watchtower and kill whoever is responsible for this by any means necessary!” shouted Vladequin in extreme anger.

With nothing left to lose, Voltaze could see his ulterior purpose darkening through his senses. It was reminiscent of what happened all those years ago. The clamoring of individuals matched what had happened to his species when they were completely wiped out from the world.

And despite the current plan in action…

He was already five steps ahead.

A sharp blade quickly formed that pierced through Styra’s heart before she could even react to it.

While The Eternal Light Of Reality being fractured loosened the bond between its wielder and itself, this worsened the pain swelling through her heart more effectively when it let go and absorbed into Voltaze’s birthmark.

“You fail to realize that I have no intention of making amends in order to satisfy the crave you creatures become susceptible to. You’re blinded by a sheer lack of intellect to see that this is the only way for any of this to work.”

As Styra was being talked down to, her transformation was reverted back to being a human. During this debilitating moment, she saw Kade getting tossed across the ground by a clone of Voltaze who was trying to kill him for the scroll.

Thankfully, because Eternika could hear Styra’s grieving, it was able to remove Voltaze’s invisibility. This ended up exposing him to the Deveurxans who were frightened by what they saw.

However, this was also exactly what Voltaze wanted to happen.

Coming face-to-face with one of the main causes for his problems as an infant, Voltaze examined Vladequin up and down who spotted him straight away.

Characterized by his long quiff hairstyle dyed of black and garnet, it matched this tailcoat jacket he wore. Vladequin’s eyes were filled with the colors of a dark autumn harvest. Lastly, the dress pants and shoes on him were also a deep pitch black.

“How quaint is that? A Zethyrian creature is still alive. Unfortunately, you’ve come at a rather inconvenient time. Now if you’ll excuse me… Guards, kill him!“

With relative ease, Voltaze teleported around the town, becoming more aggressive and deadlier against each guard that tried to stop him.

Once he was done knocking every single one of them out, his attention turned to Vladequin who was now with a team of six other vampire wizards that were staring him down.

“Last warning!” yelled Voltaze as he noticed his clone was still chasing after Solar Ninja violently for the scroll.

“The Wizards Of The Phantom Eclipse don’t heed your warnings. You have no authorization to make such dema—“

Effortlessly, Voltaze interrupted Vladequin’s speech by using The Eternal Light Of Life to reverse their reanimated corpse into a living one, only to then completely use The Eternal Light Of Death to sever their body parts and burn them wholly into pieces.

“I’m done listening to you talk,” said Voltaze as he immediately intervened into the fight with his clone against Solar Ninja.

Kade, on the opposite end, was flying with ‘The Whisper Of Eagles’ power until the real Voltaze used The Eternal Light Of Time to stop him in midair. He then switched to using The Eternal Light Of Space to cause Kade’s gravitational pull to the ground to be inseparable.

Before he could even grab it however, Eternika came to the rescue and teleported both Kade (with the scroll in hand), Styra, the STS-0, and itself back to Wisteliah.

Voltaze looked around at his hometown which was scorching in flames. He knew that, while they technically did have the scroll in possession now, he wasn’t going to let that stop him so easily.

“They may have ran away with The Scroll Of Scarlet Spades, but I have a bigger threat that they will not be able to defeat,” he said whilst flying out of Deveurx’s atmosphere.”

Once he could view that world from outer space, Voltaze used The Eternal Light Of Darkness to summon what was now a chaotic Creperus that loomed over the planet like an apocalyptic nightmare.

“It’s time to unleash havoc across this Omniverse,” he told himself before Creperus destroyed Deveurx with one of its cosmic tentacles.

∗ ∗ ∗

Meanwhile, in the world of Wisteliah, Styra woke up feeling extremely dazed as she tried to sit up. Looking at her hand, she saw the red stains of blood that had come from the wound Voltaze inflicted.

As the pain punched its way through her heart as she was struggling to stand, she realized that her suit had been busted through with ease when she got stabbed.

The rest of her friends returned to assist both Kade and herself as they laid there, helplessly tormented by their own inabilities.

“Styra, what happened? Are you hurting anywhere else?” asked Chelbie who ran over to her.

“Chel-bie, I…”

Her words started to fade, trying her best to speak while losing consciousness in the same breath.

Although everyone else was starting to become more and more worried for her, Cherry was beginning to feel a deep hole within her heart as tears streamed down her cheeks. She shook all over, knees collapsing towards the ground while her mind was throwing insults at her from every direction:

You don’t deserve friends…

This was the last straw and you just stood there…

How many more promises are you going to break? I lost count…

You don’t really care about her…

How heartless of you…

Selfish…

You’re the real liar…

First you let Ararima die, and now Styra? You were never going to save anyone…

Imagi was right to call you a freak…

Just give up…

You don’t deserve to live…

Kill yourself…

You never do anything right…

The rush of emotions flooding her mind became unbearable. Huddling into herself didn’t make her feel any better. She was starting to feel the darkness cloud her judgment. That was until heavy wind started rustling through the grass and the trees.

“Oh great, what is going on now?” asked Hisa as the weather seemed abnormal for how peaceful it was supposed to be.

Then a sudden earthquake began to gradually erupt throughout the entire world of Wisteliah as a strange variation of colors began to bleed across the sky.

“It’s a geomagnetic storm! Everybody into the ship now!” yelled Flight.

Cherry looked up at Styra who was still laying there and started to dig her hands into the grass as she thrusted herself forward to do the very thing that her mind was not expecting her to do.

Keep her promise.