Chapter 10 : An Uncertain Future

About one week later.

Nameless is sitting on the ground.

She has erected a small fire, using some nearby desert bush she found plus some of the wooden logs she placed inside of her TecStorage cube.

Right now, she was quite thankful to have packed that thing to the brim. Most of her belongings were inside her cube. Her sister, Divine flash, had another cube. Her sister luckily had gathered most of the other things in their home, earlier during that day, before their village was raided.

A day she would soon not forget.

The agonizing screams of her foster mother had cemented a place in her mind.

As well as her desire for vengeance.

Luckily, they did not see Nathan’s body among the dead. He was probably the only remaining adult male left from the village. Assuming they didn’t torture him, but...

So many innocent men and women were slaughtered for seemingly no reason at all. Her sister was doing her best to keep their moods from souring but Nameless could tell. As any sister could.

The last couple of nights, she was crying in her sleep.

A deep wound was borne in her heart, as well. From watching her friends, her family, be slaughtered. And from being unable to properly bury their bodies, as well.

Not that they could go back to the place they used to call home, anyway.

Each day, after they escaped the menacing Chaos Knight, they were being hunted down by her minions.

Humanoid machines, suited in black armor. They traveled in groups of 3, along with several battle drones to assist them.

Yesterday, the two just barely managed to fight off one squad of them.

They escaped further into the wilderness of the desert to avoid being flanked by reinforcements that were approaching from a distance.

For now, they were resting in an empty area, near some natural rock formation. It was quite close to the center of the desert.

A place that was home to the most ferocious of wild beasts.

But perhaps safer than anywhere else. Divine flash had escaped north towards the city, as she escaped the knight, but she saw trouble. Those same machine knights that attacked the village were now all around the capital.

Forcing her to take drastic measures.

At least based on what she told Nameless, after she woke up the next day. She was run ragged and honestly isn’t faring much better at the moment. Divine flash is sleeping while nameless remains on lookout.

“Can’t be too careful, especially by ourselves.” Her thoughts return to the real world.

The two found a natural defensive position in this canyon, so that does aid in their protection. Their fatigue does not, however. She quietly keeps watching, eyeing the dark sky above them.

She can’t see or hear anything, except for the rustling sound of the wind, which is snapping against her neck. She shivers.

“Getting chilly.” She moves slightly closer to fire, feeling some slight relief from the sheer cold of the night.

She again recounts the events of the last week. Her mind wanders out of focus, again.

Nameless recalls the moment when the Chaos Knight was attempting to “fall into Chaos,” as she says. She found it strange. How a person she hated could easily have such a strong influence on her mind.

Clearly, this Chaos knight had more knowledge than she did. Of how this realm worked. Of this “Chaos.” And she also seemed to even know how she and her sister were, even before they spoke. Nameless is convinced. She believes that the Chaos knight must be someone they know, someone who had visited them before. Knew of the village, had knowledge of when they sleep.

She greatly suspected a certain person.

But she had no proof. Not like they had any time to even gather any. She sighs, grumbling.

All she had was a hunch.

And generally, her hunches were correct. Since she was young, people said that Nameless had great insight. She could perceive things other people could not, notice things with her intuition.

Nameless could feel when someone was lying to her. It was simple for her to tell.

She had to find out the truth. Why did this perpetrator attack her and her family? Until she figured it out, this would be yet another plague upon her mind.

The young girl has too many questions, none of which can be answered easily. The more she thinks, the more frustrated she is becoming.

“Enough. I’ll just have to be patient...until I can learn the truth. Then, we will be able to put things right. For now, I’ll have to endure. Endure whatever the realm wants to put me and my sister through.” She still doesn’t see anything. She gets up, moving her body slowly. Slightly further from them, they have a rudimentary detection system in place. It will alert them if any gets too close with loud sirens. She walks over the mechanical system, giving it a full check through.

Some of her back dealings paid off, it seemed. She managed to nab this thing about a month ago from a shady merchant in the heart of Lunace. Lucky for them, she thought.

After finishing her inspection, she walks over towards the fire. She picks up some of the food they cooked earlier. The smoky husk of some flying birds divine flash killed.

Not that great, but better than nothing. They didn’t want to waste their seasoning or water, at least for now. She chews on the leftover meat, sitting next to her sister who is still fast asleep.

Sleeping so peacefully. Something she deserves, Nameless thinks.

“Without her, I would be dead. Or turned into whatever that damned knight wanted me to become.”

“She is truly irreplaceable to me. I don’t know what I would do with ya, sis.” She whispers to herself but apparently, it was loud enough to make Divine Flash stir from her sleep. She opens one eye groggily, smiling at her sister.

“I know. You always act tough but...Nam you are so strong. Acting so strong even after what just happened.” She yawns.

“You’ve done enough for tonight. Sleep.” Nameless wants to object but is denied. Divine Flash gives her a certain look, then motions her to get closer to her.

They have always slept together, since they were young.

And tonight, it will be no different. Nameless lays down on the sleeping mat they laid out, next to her sister. She embraces her slowly. Letting her wandering thoughts fade into the air.

Finally, the red haired girl relaxes. Sleep quickly overcomes her fatigued body.

She dreams blissfully, thinking fondly of the people she loves.

Maggie. Granny. Those little shitlets that always nagged her.

Things she took for granted were taken away from her in an instant.

She continued sleeping undisturbed. The morning sun rises. The glimmer of the sun begins to wake up Nameless.

Refreshed and full of energy, she finally got some proper rest. Every previous night, something kept happening that was preventing them from getting sleep. Groggy, she rubs the dirt out of her eyes. She rolls gently away from her sister, slowly rising upwards. She can see the sun high in the sky. It is now morning, perhaps some time before noon.

Nameless would never wear a watch, it was a waste of money, she thought. She walks over to the now small fumes of flame and snuffs out the fire with some dirt from the ground.

While Nameless does this, she begins eyeing something in the corner of her eyes. A figure or shadow, maybe?

She turns around, looking at the wall of rocks behind them. On top, she can clearly see a person.

A woman in blue and gold armor. The figure, which appears to be female, has a long mane of red hair, flowing downwards past her hips. She cannot see her face or skin, since the armor she is wearing is covering every inch of her skin. Some kind of material is covering her hands. On her face, a helmet made out of the same material as her armor. It is completely obscuring her eyes, mouth and face. Only the back has an opening for her long hair to extrude outwards. Her boots are similar, as well as the shin guards she wears. She does not have any weapons or tools on her.

Yet, every fiber in Nameless’ being screams danger.

Something was extremely dangerous about her. Far more dangerous than the Chaos knight.

She did not feel like she belonged here. This being was somehow out of place.

Her armor, though at first, looked like the commonly used star steel. It was forged from Starore that came from mining planets, but with closer inspection, it did not resemble the steel at all. It was made from some foreign material. Strange symbols and patterns were etched into the armor. As well as numerous crystals, one on the chest, two on each shoulder. They seemed to be emanating some kind of energy.

Whatever it was, Nameless had no idea. This was not the Chaos knight or her minions.

This was someone or something far different.

Almost alien, she felt.

The woman, or she thought was a woman, had been watching the two of them for who knows how long.

Nameless was stunned.

Her detection system was supposed to detect the energy of any life forms within a twenty-five-meter radius then send out an alert signal when one gets closer than ten meters.

This person was only about six to seven meters away, up above them, yet had been here since last night?

She stands perplexed then stares back at the red-mane knight. Nameless speaks loudly, wanting some answers from this strange being.

“Well, going to tell you who you are! Or why you are being a fucking creep? Watching young sleeping girls, such disgusting behavior. Fucking hell, who are you!” She yells slightly angrily, frustrated that someone could easily sneak up on them so easily in the night, despite their preparations.

Instead of getting an answer, the woman merely jumps high into the air. She lands on the ground next to Nameless. Before she can react, she quickly jumps high onto another, higher, rock wall, then quickly begins hopping away.

Ignoring her questions. Clearly, she did not care at all.

This only served to frustrate her. She begins to run off, then stops. But for a moment.

She quickly opens her storage cube. She grabs an item that looks like some kind of flare and puts it on her waist belt.

This flare would naturally decompose over time and leave a trail of sparks behind her as she moves. Great for keeping track of yourself in these windy, maze-like canyon routes. Nameless didn’t have time to wake her still sleeping sister, so this will have to do.

“I am not keen on running off without my sister again, especially based on what happened last time I did but...fuck it. I want some answers.” Perhaps foolishly, she begins dashing off towards the east, chasing after the mysterious blue knight.

She is not as fast as her sister but she quickly catches up to the woman. She is running towards the center of the canyon, moving towards where the worst kinds of cyber beasts usually live.

“Great. No one lives here for a reason, and I am about to find out. God damn it!” She quickens her pace, running down the path in front of her. The other woman continues hopping forward, glancing backwards to see the youth following her.

She quickly reaches the heart of the canyon. The imposing knight sees a bunch of paths leading towards the center area. She grinds her feet into the ground, breaking it. The woman launches forward. moving over one hundred meters in the span of a few seconds.

The sense of danger only grows within Nameless. She loses sight of her, after watching her jump so high in the air. She hears a loud sound several moments later and continues running forward.

About twenty minutes later, Nam arrives at the central plateau. Nameless and her sister weren’t that far from the center to begin with but chose to camp out a bit west from it. It was safer, after all.

Here, there was no safety. This area was known for the ruthless cyber beasts that typically lived here.

Only a fool would walk into this den of these monsters.

As Nameless walks forward, breathing hard. She can see the blue armored knight standing on a pillar of rock. Almost like she was waiting for her. But why did she lead her here, Nameless wonders. Before she can think further, loud screeches can be heard.

About fifty cyber beasts emerge, awoken from their slumber by the loud landing of that knight. A mix of large scorpions, snakes, wild large Ostrich and desert birds, the size of Nameless body, gather around them.

They quickly positioned themselves, blocking the exits. They were trapped.

As Nameless expected, unfortunately.

“Fantastic! You woke them up! Trying to get us killed?” Nameless yells at her. Surprisingly, she finally gets a response out of her, though not one she was expecting.

“You should not be worrying about such worthless beasts. These things are only a symptom of the problem, not the root cause. Small little fragments exist everywhere.”

The woman does not move. But in the next moment.

Many excruciating screams of death can be heard.

Every single beast here was smashed into a goo of disgusting red blood, guts and turned into a nasty, unpleasant looking paste.

The beasts did not even have time to react, they were completely, and utterly, annihilated. By some unseen force. Nameless thinks, confounded as the blood splashes over the two of them.

She could not even see a weapon. How did she kill them without a weapon or moving? She wonders.

It didn’t even look like she even moved her muscles.

The knight’s body had remained still as she somehow killed these beasts in an instant. A feat she definitely could not pull off herself. The knight stares at her, then gently jumps down landing on the ground. She begins walking over towards her, slowly. She reaches about three meters away from her.

Nameless, instinctively, starts backing up. Whoever this is, it is not someone she should fight.

The blue armored woman speaks, almost mechanically.

“Monitoring of selected human ‘star warrior’ is continuing, as planned. She is exhibiting distress, confusion and fear from our first encounter.”

She is talking to the air, it seems. Nameless is simply confused even further but the woman ignores her, prattling on.

“Reinitialization of the proctor unit will automatically occur within four weeks...results will be pending.” As she speaks, some kind of strange screen appears before her.

Something with information the young girl can’t understand.

Nameless, still confused, simply moves her hand on top of her scabbard, though her hands are shaky. Unsure if she should use it. This long sword was forged by that damn bastard blacksmith. Only thing he was good for, Nameless thought. Having enough, she begins speaking her mind.

“I have no fucking idea what you are talking about. Can you speak in stollva, please!” The knight continues onwards, quickly responding to her.

“It is a problem not for you now but the ‘you’ in the future. Hopefully, you and the others will actually defeat her...well that’s our hope anyway.” She sighs.

Previous star warriors had failed, mostly. Too many. Far too many.

The perpetual cyber machine system, built from the demon lord’s helmet AI, was a functioning higher dimensional god. Second only the demon lord herself.

It could create many different beings.

It effectively could create infinite, parallel universes that could not easily be traveled between. This was necessary to find the most optimal route to success.

This was essential to create star warriors.

Warriors of the Stars that could become stronger through the power of evolution.

They had the potential to completely defeat their nemesis. The being that had thwarted them for billions of years.

The Ouroboros. The snake god that wanted to consume their reality.

Time was starting to run out.

The great Cyber devil herself could barely maintain the seals on that damned beast.

Overcoming the miniature, failed copy of the great Demon lord was the first step towards their final goal.

Their goal is to obliterate the Ouroboros from existence.

They would need five powerful, trained warriors in order to execute their plan.

Ones that could evolve in the ways they wanted to. Or at least, something practical.

The demon lord and her creations, her machines forged from magic and technology, could not wait much longer. The previous batch of them had well, failed, the knight thinks.

Perhaps these won’t. Or perhaps they will. It was too early for her to say.

Thus, she could not say much to the red-haired girl in front of her. So desperate for answers. And rightfully so.

But those answers won’t come from her. At least, for now. She returns her thoughts back towards the youth, a girl she knows far more about.

Far more than Nameless could even imagine.

“I must be getting old and sentimental.” Her tone of voice shifts.

“Anyway, this conversation between the two of us, at least at your current level of evolution, is pointless. I won’t tell you anything else.” She returns to her cold, monotone voice.

This only angers Nameless.

Nameless, prepares to move forward, despite her instincts screaming at her not to do so. She draws her blade, her hands shaking in fear.

The knight facepalms in response.

“Bold, but stupid. You think you would have used your brain, after seeing me dispatch those beasts but...” A powerful energy barrier extends from her body, smashing into Nameless’s body, even before she can move an inch.

She gets sent flying backwards, smashing into a nearby wall of rock. She screams in pain as the rocks pierce her back, falling down in agony. She gets to her feet only to feel herself being grabbed from behind.

The woman teleports behind her and grabs her by the neck.

“I am here to observe you and the other star warriors. But I will not tolerate such foolishness.” She emotionlessly picks her up by the neck, then tosses her easily up into the air. Nameless can feel her body being pummeled by some kind of blunt, powerful force. Even though her attacker wasn’t even moving, at all. Her energy barrier has changed form, it has become more solid.

Each strike from it feels at least one hundred times stronger than the Chaos knights’ ones.

She can only scream further in pain as she is being ping ponged into the air.

Something hits her from behind, sending her crashing into the ground. Back in front of that knight. The powerful warrior begins to outstretch her right hand, getting ready to grab the wounded girl again.

Then suddenly, something approaches from behind. An energy beam appears out of nothingness.

The knight reflexively dodges without even looking towards the attack.

She turns quickly, then she can see him.

The Omni Knight. He is boldly standing behind her, a hole in space closing behind him. Seems like he waited until this moment to execute a sneak attack, she thinks.

“Ah. It is you. Surprised me a little; I thought you were only in that giant form all the time.” The Omni knight’s left hand is outstretched. He continues shooting another energy blast at her, which this time, she simply deflects with her hand. He runs forward, his hands are prepared to fight. She almost laughs a little.

“You must be courageous to fight me here. Even when we are here, in this world.” The Omni knight runs towards her, twisting his body backwards. He spins forward, putting all of his body weight into a powerful straight punch from the right.

His fist collides with the now deployed auto defense field, resulting in a thunderous clash. The shockwaves from the collision shake the earth beneath them, causing energy waves to disperse from them. Some of them fly towards the rock pillar the knight was on earlier, causing it to shatter into pieces. The omni knight is pushed backwards a bit but then continues a flurry of powerful punches and kicks, each causing a similar effect.

The ground beneath them starts to crumble from their fighting.

Soon the paths of rock that lead to the center of the canyon were collapsing from the onslaught of their combat.

The Omni knight, despite his best efforts, couldn’t even scratch her.

He knew this from the beginning. The gap between them.

But he didn’t care anyway.

He didn’t like the way she was treating Nameless. He moves backwards, softening his combat stance.

“War goddess. You didn’t have to show yourself to her. This soon.” The War Goddess simply shrugs.

“She chased after me. That was her problem, not mine. Maybe if she had her sister around...but she didn’t. Just as reckless as she was in her previous fight.” The war goddess, naturally, has been observing Nameless for a long time.

It was just that she wasn’t noticed till today.

This is what Omni knight thinks she might tell him, but he wasn’t stupid. He knows she intentionally showed herself on purpose.

All according to that plan, he thinks.

“I know better. You did this on purpose. Do you have to give the poor child more—” The war goddess interrupts him, stopping him before he says something she doesn’t like.

“That is the path she chose. A hard life is the best one for her, after all.” She shrugs. The war goddess walks towards the Omni Knight, patting him on the shoulder. In the most patronizing way possible.

“It’s your job to help these little shits reach their full potential. Mostly. I don’t care about them that much, until they prove their worth.” She smacks him on the shoulder, then continues walking away from him.

“I’m busy.” She continues.

“Unit #003, War Goddess, requests a secure line of communication to Unit #008, Phantasmal Blade.” A booming voice from the sky replies, even more machine-like in response. It is a feminine, robotic voice.

“Unit #003 identity has been confirmed. A secure transmission data line is being created. Please wait.”

The war goddess merely vanishes from view, hiding her presence. Her cloaking device has become operational, once again. Her energy signature vanishes, making Omni Knight unable to sense her any longer.

With her gone, he relaxes his shoulders.

“Interacting with her is a pain in the ass as usual. Her mind is always focused on the plan and of course, waging warfare...just what I’d expect from a goddess of war.” He sighs. He walks towards Nameless, who passed out from the pain, but is slowly coming too.

She can see the Omni knight kneeling in front of her, watching her curiously.

He stretches his right arm out. Green energy starts to surround his hand. Omni knight begins to heal her with the green orb that has formed in her hand. Her deep bruises and the cuts on her head rapidly begin to disappear, replaced by a warmth and surge of energy.

“At least you aren’t trying to kill me. Unlike that bitch.” Nameless groans, lying on the ground.

Most of her wounds have been healed. She still feels stinging pain all through her body, the most pain she feels is in her stomach.

Nameless slowly gets up, attempting to stand up. Her legs are wobbly; she has little strength in them. She falls back down on her butt, making her frustration grow further.

“Aaaaah! Today sucks. It sucks so much!!!” She complains. Omni knight simply laughs.

“Count your blessings, O’ young one. She could have done far worse to you, you know.” Omni knight knows all too well.

The terror of Unit #003, one of the one hundred machines of their god, the Cyber devil.

Being one of ten original units, she is quite strong. As far as Omni knight knows, she is the strongest combat unit created by the Demon lord, being 2nd in strength only to the cyber devil herself.

Lucky for them, she is unable to use her full strength in this realm. Or more accurately, this universe.

The system greatly restricts their power in this universe. Omni knight sits down, resting on his hips. Nameless just kinda stares at him blankly.

“Gonna tell me yer name? Mr. Steel man.”

“I am the Omni knight. I am the support unit designed to aid the star warriors...and you are one of them. I have been chosen to aid you.” Nameless looks at him curiously, then looks around noticing the ground around them smashed to bits. The two are simply on top of the pillar rock not destroyed in their early bout. Nameless wants to ask him about it but decides against it wisely.

She had a hunch who he was fighting against while she was passed out for several minutes. Instead, she begins asking more questions.

“I see. The Omni knight. Guess you know that menacing women, huh?” He nods.

“Where do I even start with questions? Ugh. I woke up, this woman is stalking me, then she says she knows me, she kills a bunch of wild beasts, bullys me, then you show up! Then she fucks off!” Nameless has clearly had enough. And the Omni Knight can’t blame her. Any other person would have a similar reaction after all.

But, he must tell her what she wants to know.

It is his duty. To tell her as much as he can. She needs to know why she is so important, why he is her guardian. What his purpose is. Omni knight raises his hand, stopping her from speaking. He wants to ease her frustration as much as he can.

“I know. I understand how you feel. So, I will tell you, as much as I can.”

“You would? Really?” He chuckles.

“As much as I can. There are things I know that I cannot tell you. And there are some things you must experience by yourself to understand.” He continues onward.

“Life is all about learning, a lot of it is self learnt knowledge.” Nameless slightly grumbles. Reminds her of listening to Maggie’s lectures when she was younger. But she knew, deep down, he was right.

“Yes, yes. I get it.” He nods, continuing to speak.

“Mmmm. Where do I...oh! I know. Let’s start from the beginning. Do you know of the tale of the Cyber devil? The rampaging demon lord that fought a giant snake for an eternity?” Nameless looks at him strangely.

That was the first story she learned about as a child from Granny. Her sister had borrowed the book that told the tale in great detail from Granny.

Apparently, she never returned it. Another reason to find Granny, she thinks.

“Vaguely. Why? What about it?”

“That story, that myth, was based on real events. The great Demon Lord was, and is, still alive.”