Rush

Midnight of Rei and Kisaragi’s Full Exaltation

December 12th, 2050

Heaven’s Reach Shrine

“We finally made it, boss!”

As soon as their truck reached the foot of the hill, Ruby jumped out of the vehicle and activated her aether. She had about half a day to rest. More than enough to burn half of Tokyo Sky if she needed to.

She looked up at Heaven’s Reach Shrine and saw the rebels in white swarm its peak like ants on a hill. To think they still had this many members after all the police routed across the city.

“Rei should be up there with the others,” Issei said as he got out of the vehicle. He was covered in bandages, but he insisted to come.

Just then, several more vehicles arrived at the foot of the hill. A few were of Ruby’s security team, while the majority were of the Tokyo Police Department. They were spread thin throughout Tokyo Sky, but they knew to send their best to Heaven’s Reach Shrine. They all heard the conversations that took place up there. They all listened to the microphone Yukari placed on Rei’s jacket and learned of what transpired.

Keisuke was the one behind it all. Ruby’s heart ached at that revelation, but she didn’t have time to process nor mourn her loss. Both him and her grandfather needed Rei for their scheme to save the world. The complexity of that was lost on her but it didn’t matter at the moment.

What mattered was Rei, her responsibility, was up there fighting because of her.

As soon as the police deployed their forces—exalted and human alike—Ruby activated her flames to get ready.

“Are you sure about this?” Detective Miyabi said, walking up to her. The woman held her shotgun with fierce tenacity. “We can take care of everything. You don’t have to go.”

Ruby shook her head. “I have to do it,” she said. And nothing more needed to be.

The police forces charged at the hill. Their exalted units and trained marksmen dealt with the transformed monsters wrecking havoc, while the rest subdued the human rebels in white.

As for Ruby, well, she incinerated everything in her path.

*

Kisaragi loathed how much aether made him feel superior. It went against everything he believed in.

He wasn’t lying when he said he never used aether. Not since the day he ascended nine years ago. He was a relatively new recruit within the Anti-Exalt Faction, building his way through their ranks one meager job at a time.

But that’s when it happened. The cruel twist of fate.

The former leader of the Humanist Consortium wanted him to supervise a weapons deal with a syndicate from the lower wards. Easy enough, he thought. The armament would give them a fighting chance whenever their revolution started.

But out of nowhere, without warning, the heavens chose him. Him. He ascended.

The next thing he remembered, he was dragged half conscious by his comrades to face their leader. He was judged for becoming an abomination. So, he did what he needed to do… and got rid of them using the same power they hated.

But never again until this competition.

The faction never knew his real name, so what did it matter if he created a new one? Kisaragi. With the weak leadership gone, he simply needed to take over. The rest was, as they say, history.

“Now, then,” Kisaragi whispered, eyeing the few remaining people standing at the shrine. “Shall I end this?”

*

Lucia wheezed against the bitter cold. She was beaten and battered, nearly out of aether and on her knees, while Souchiro lay half-dead, parts of his body charred with fire.

Hidenori was unstoppable. With wings fully stretched, he flew like the myth of the fully ascended man smiting his enemies with bolts of lightning. The power was reminiscent of Ayane Kujo’s abilities, though it could’ve simply been based on the many aether weapons the insurgents wielded.

Instead of finishing her or Souichiro off, Hidenori shifted his targets to Keisuke’s guardsmen as soon as they began firing at him. They didn’t stand a chance. Neither did the anti-exalt rebels who happened to be caught in the crossfire.

Lucia didn’t think she’d die at Tokyo Sky when she flew to Japan a week ago. But now that the shrine was devoid of anyone else free to fight back, it was obvious who Hidenori really wanted to destroy. The person Daiki-sensei and Keisuke touted as the key to saving their world.

Lucia didn’t fully believe in the existence of other worlds and realities, at least not yet, but it was common knowledge to any scientist that the chromatic clouds were a destructive force. If Daiki-sensei thought it would one day destroy the land, then she’d at least believe that.

Lucia stood up and reabsorbed the ice shields scattered across the battlefield. This act made Hidenori turn to face her, as if only remembering she still lived.

It was up to her to protect Reiji. Or Rei, was it? She wished she’d gotten the chance to really know the man. For now, she needed to reabsorb the shields she placed to protect him. She could reapply it better if—

When her shields dissipated, she was surprised to find Rei kneeling next to the lawyer and Keisuke's body. His head pointed towards the sky, his eyes fully glazed in gold. Large crystalline wings stretched out of his back.

What happened there?

Hidenori didn’t even seem to notice. She had his attention. 

Instead of smiting Lucia with a bolt of lightning, he dove towards her with his icicle sword. He must’ve thought it was a poetic way to finish her off.

“I wouldn’t make it that easy for you,” Lucia whispered. She met Hidenori head on with her strongest creation yet—a shield as big as her. And for what it was worth, it held. It deflected her enemy’s attack. Hidenori was caught off guard.

Lucia quickly reabsorbed the shield and made another creation in its stead—a spear to strike Hidenori in one shot, aimed straight at his head.

Unfortunately, the mythical monster managed to catch the weapon with his bare hand. Hidenori absorbed it even though the aether wasn’t his.

Damn, Lucia thought, I guess this is it.

Hidenori raised his icicle sword and—

It blossomed like a flower made of fire.

*

Ruby was first to reach the top of the shrine, but she was too late to save the people in it. Only Lucia and Rei remained upright.

There was no reason to hesitate. She’d already seen the transformed being that was Hidenori Matsumoto flying in the sky as she made her way up the steps.

Ruby raised her hands and targeted Hidenori’s weapon as he poised to strike Lucia. Her aether exploded on impact.

Recognition passed Hidenori’s eyes as soon as he saw her flames. He turned to face her with a look of shock and elation. “You!” he shouted. “Ruby Tennojima! The root of my suffering!”

Hidenori sent bolts of lightning her way, so she summoned a wall of fire to block every single one. Ruby then followed it with several explosions in the air.

The fool made for an easy target flying like that. Hidenori disappeared in a haze of smoke and fire.

Ruby ran up to Lucia. “Are you okay?” she asked. “I can finally apologize for the gold medallion I lost.”

“I—” Lucia stammered. “What?”

“We need to get Rei out of here,” Ruby said. She offered her hand and helped Lucia get up.

“I’m afraid, I’m finally out of aether…” Lucia whispered in exhaustion.

“Don’t worry,” Ruby replied, “we just need to buy time until—”

Hidenori screeched in the air. “You think you’re better than me?” he screamed. “Is that why he chose you?” The man held out his hands and detonated random explosions all over the shrine, destroying large chunks of the cherry blossom tree and the grounds itself. Was he copying Ruby’s move? He was… but he wasn’t precise enough.

Ruby countered with her own explosions to try and box Hidenori in one spot.

The exalted man flew with ridiculous speed, dodging every crimson flower Ruby sprouted in the air. As it went on, she made each explosion bigger and louder, hoping to disorient Hidenori or have him caught in the shockwave.

As if to avoid her relentless onslaught, Hidenori flew higher and higher until her flames couldn’t reach him anymore. At least not at the speed and rate that she could summon them.

Ruby focused. She could still do it.

But that’s when she noticed Hidenori stopped in the middle of the sky and looked outside the shrine, as if only realizing his situation.

The Anti-Exalt Faction were dropping like flies. The police were quickly gaining ground.

Just go! Fly away! Escape!

Ruby would hate for the faction’s leader to get away, but if it meant more people would survive this predicament, she’d let him go. She trained her eyes on the man but held her flames with bated breath.

Leave! Fight another day! Go!

Realistically speaking, with how much aether radiated from Hidenori, he could still do significant damage to everyone trying to get him. The odds weren’t exactly out of his favor yet.

Please, just—

Hidenori looked directly down in the middle of the shrine. He appeared to have decided on his target.

*

Rei despaired.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, or how many worlds he searched, but an answer simply didn’t exist. Every reality that had the same problem as them were all destroyed by a cloud of bronze. Or about to be a few years in the future.

Perhaps all they could do was hope that theirs didn’t get destroyed tomorrow. Or the day after. Or a year from now. Perhaps one day someone with the same ability as him could rise up to the challenge.

It wasn’t lost on Rei that this was probably how Daiki Tennojima and Satoru Hijiyama felt at the end of their lives.

Rei learned that the reality where Daiki subjected Ruby to harsh experimentation, was a reality where he ascended early in life and his Alter Eyes told him of their impending doom. It was what pushed him to do what he did.

Dammit. Would Rei end up like that too?

No. An answer must already exist out there. He could find it.

Rei continued his search, pushing the last of his mental capacity to find the solution. It was now or never. He could still use his Alter Eyes even after Shinozuka’s drug ran out, but it wouldn’t be this powerful. He was peering into worlds hundreds of times more than Daiki or Satoru ever did.

But eventually, no matter how much he wanted it, his mind couldn’t handle the strain any longer.

His ability came to an abrupt end.

Rei blinked, and found himself back in his own reality, kneeling as he faced the bronze sky.

He frowned. Something was falling towards him. A man followed by a series of fiery explosions, his hand glowing with aether.

Hidenori?

The man threw a lightning bolt his way.

And hit Ruby Tennojima as she jumped in to protect him.

Her body fell to the side with crackles of lightning, and a scorch mark on her chest.