Weapon of Choice

-BEEP BEEP- -BEEP BEEP-

-2311 Hours-

-11 hour Hibernation mode: ended-

-Initiating wake-up sequence-

-…-

-Initializing Empyrion OS … initialization complete-

-…-

-2315 Hours. Wake up sequence complete-

-Good evening, Yalda (＾▽＾)-

There was a subtle swaying motion on me as I laid still in a firm bed, like some force was gently rocking me back and forth in a cradle.

Strength began to emerge in me as my tired eyes fluttered open. The first thing I saw was Uncle and Indena staring over me like hawks. Bugged eyed, and very concerned, hawks. It was kinda’ freaky while a bit lethargic, but alright.

I spotted Marek in the corner too, who seemed to be drifting in and out of sleep, occasionally slapping his own cheek to keep attentive.

The team looked a little bruised, but nobody had any major damage from a quick inspection. I was hoping they were going to tell me we won, but it felt a little too tense in here to entertain that thought.

Thank goodness it had only been a little under twelve hours since I went under. Last time I used the mana cannon, I was out for a few days. Uncle must have been tending to my systems, making sure they were recovering more efficiently.

“Oi! Blue Boy!” Indena shouted to Marek, which caused him to jut up and bump his head on the wall behind him. “Wake up. The Shrimp's back.”

I conjured up a little strength to speak. “Where did I go?” I playfully asked.

“We're on a boat, heading for the mainland, Erdareich,” Uncle said, partially catching the humor of my question.

Seeing that nobody was in a panic, I assumed the golden bull was at least finished off, and that we’d managed to stop the troubles at Seaport Blue. But I still kept my assumptions low.

I turned to Uncle with a groggy look.

“Sorry, Uncle. I had to use the mana cannon again.”

He patted my head, letting me know all was good. As he did that, Samael slithered down his arm and coiled up on the pillow next to me as emotional support. Glad he was okay too.

“Melpomene filled us in on the details, and I checked out your memory logs to confirm everything. You made the right choice blasting that thing away,” he said.

“You think it’s okay I used the cannon?” I asked.

“It was reckless, but you saved a lot of lives,” he said. “It’s also probably a good idea to get you training that cannon more efficiently.”

It sure was relieving to know everyone was okay.

“What happened to The Actor?” I asked, remembering he was the reason all that was going on at all.

“The theatrical man you met up there…” Uncle started, “Indena confirmed he is affiliated with the Family of Sai. Unfortunately, it appears he escaped, and his minions have kidnaped Yamin.”

Oh no! It’s horrible that he actually stole Yamin away. I was worried when I didn’t see her here.

This isn’t good at all.

It seemed like Mella’s fears were being realized. Yamin was a target for our enemy, and probably due to some sort of potential she had within her. But what was this dark potential that Mella kept bringing up?

“You know, I remember that actor guy doing plays all the time for kids,” Indena said. “His magic was always for show, not very strong in a fight. How’d he make a mess like this?”

Putting video game terms into play here, he was a summoner. The type to hang back and spawn minions to do all the work while he provided energy for them. Given that he ran away when we had the edge over his demons and ghost pirates, I could at least confirm he wasn’t strong in a physical fight.

The biggest concern was figuring out what he was doing next and where he was taking Yamin. He obviously had connections to demons, but it wasn’t clear exactly what those connections were.

If I had to guess, I felt like he was probably one of many people who were sneaking around the world to steal mana and summon demons. This was the second time I’d seen it now, the first being Janus back in Elysium.

Once is a coincidence, twice is a connection.

“Do we know where he’s heading?” I asked.

“Same place we were always going,” Uncle answered.

Verrenville.

They all came to this conclusion based on a few factors. First was that The Actor made it clear that he was under the leadership of a demon lord named Belphegor. And given how a demon domain was growing in Verrenville, not very far across the water channel from port Blue, it was the most likely spot to start our search.

All of that was supported by the fact that Yamin originally lived in that town. So maybe something was hunting her there.

Why take her in the first place though? Why call her a star of the show? Why did Mella want her dead?

Not enough pieces of the puzzle were fitting together yet, but this was our only shot in the dark, no pun intended, to save her and everyone else too. All roads were leading to Verrenville, which may have housed a demon lord within its walls.

Demon lord… It sounded like something straight out of a light novel. Was I really going to have to fight a thing like that? I guess that’s what I was made for and all…

Beyond the demons, there was also another problem. That gold seed that The Actor had.

“Uncle, did Mella tell you about the golden seed?”

“Afraid so. It’s nothing but trouble.”

He wasn’t familiar with what it was, but his disgruntled face told me that he wasn’t completely clueless. It was some sort of power up or drug that made that demon stronger by orders of magnitude… No, it transformed completely into something else. I never got the impression that the golden bull reached his full power though, so who knew what would have happened had its powers got to that point?

“If you ever encounter anything like that again, initiate Containment Protocol 596,” Uncle ordered. “But use your own discretion. If it’s better to kill it, do it.

*Beep beep*

“Okay, Uncle.”

Containment Protocol 596-A was as follows; Any unknown parasitic/viral/supernatural lifeform, especially the likes of which from unknown origins to the operator, must be contained within an established quarantine zone and studied for complete eradication.

There were three other tiers to this protocol, finally ending in a scorched earth policy if a mass contamination or outbreak were to happen. Not something I wanted to deal with personally, but Uncle likely wanted to catch whatever that was to study it. We had the facilities back home to do it, if need be.

What the heck are we up against that we needed to use that sort of protocol? Oh my gosh...

Anyways, I noticed Mella wasn’t here either. She was off preparing to go to Verrenville as well, but apparently it wasn’t exactly to help us out, it was to defeat Indena so she could finish off Yamin.

Not only a demon, but a cult, and a witch… Things were about to get very busy for us.

-☆☆☆-

It was late into the night. The others were sleeping in their temporary quarters on the boat, preparing for the coming day and its many promises of difficulty. I was well awake since I’d slept for 11 hours straight and couldn’t shake off enough of the edge to close my eyes again.

I found myself on deck, looking up at the open sky as if it would inspire me to be productive with my time. It was so twinkly and full of bright stars. More than I’d ever seen since I’d been on the surface world.

So pretty…

A twinkling cloud of white and green light controlled a large portion of the sky. That was our galaxy, Seresta Majoris. This was the first time I’d ever seen it myself, and it was something special to behold.

Two big moons traveled across the apex of the air. One gray as stone, known as Darmos. He was named after the god of destruction and chaos. The second moon was bright yellow, known as Ecla. She got her name from the goddess of fertility and harvest. Two very different stories, polar opposites even, but both gave their names to a very beautiful sight.

Beyond those immediate satellites, there was a host of other stellar structures that dotted the background. Distant galaxies so big that they lensed light around them. Comets that just barely peeked at luminosities that made them visible to my sensitive eyes. And a just barely visible ring around our world, gifted by the sulfuric volcanoes shooting clouds out from Ecla.

Wow… God made space so pretty.

I’d only gotten a few good glances of the night sky since I got here, but it still felt so familiar and warm to me. I was really hoping I’d get to share this view with Yamin, since she was just as big on stargazing as me, maybe even way more.

While concern for her kidnapping stole my attention, I summoned my spear and held it up like I was ready to attack something at the drop of a pin. It was going to be the way I set her free from her captivity.

“Look at that… Inspiration finally struck.”

The stardust spear was normally bluish white, but tonight it looked a lot more clear and rainbowy, sparkling with vibrant speckles all over. It was pretty cute, actually.

I swung it around a few times, hitting imaginary targets, simulating demons within my sight. But without my combat mode engaged, I toppled over from the weight of the thrusts.

“Oof!” I hit the ground hard. “Dang it. That hurt.”

The combat mode was a power up that increased all my stats. I was smarter, stronger, faster… But for all that it kinda’ took a toll on me in a few ways. I acted like a robot only focused on a particular task, plus it was hard on my body, since I had such little training with it.

It was great, and I saw the potential with it. But that wasn’t much of an excuse to be so bumbling in my base form. Indena didn’t call me ‘Shrimp’ for nothing!

“I gotta train more…” I concluded.

Even if I couldn’t access my combat mode for any reason, I needed to be capable of doing something in my base. In the best case scenario, the power up would multiply my base states enough to overcome anything. And at worst, I’d at least be able to hold my own without that boon.

Exceed had muscles similar to humans. We had to work out and grow up the same too. So that meant I had to get my arms used to the weight of the spear. It was a surprisingly heavy thing, but had really good balance when I was holding it right.

Working out wasn’t the only way to improve though. In my attempt to recover, I remembered I leveled up a little bit, which meant I had some skill points to spend. Once I hit a particular ceiling of strength, those skill points would push me past my limits.

I got a little distracted while looking through all the things I could upgrade. The list was pretty long, and there was quiet a few powers I had yet to unlock hidden within myself.

Let’s see… I used Lesser Heal enough to where I could give it a slight boost. It for sure needed to be a priority. The earlier in a game I could have a decent healing ability, the better off my party will be. That's the way I saw it.

Now it was Lesser Heal +1. If I get it past +5, it seemed like it would reach its next major milestone of power and become Moderate Heal.

“This is a gonna’ be long term system…”

Like, when I say long, I’m talkin’ five dollar foot-long. I wasn’t going to get it down all in one night.

I really wanted to upgrade my spear though, but that still required me to use it way more than I was. Which was a great excuse to keep swing it around, if I didn’t have enough of a reason already.

I tried swinging it again, but the weight of its force was hard to overcome.

Meanwhile, I didn’t realize Uncle had been watching me until I spun in frustration.

“Hi, Uncle,” I uttered with a slight grumble as I noticed him.

“Yalda, you’re still awake?” Uncle asked.

He flew up to my side in his crystal bee form. He hadn’t used that in a while.

“Sorry, Uncle. I couldn’t sleep.”

He didn’t blame me, since he couldn’t sleep well either. Stress was a contagious today.

“I noticed you're working hard up here,” he transformed back into his human form and took up my spear. “Hmm… Spear of Destiny?” He raised his brow. “What a curious name.”

I shrugged in response. “I don’t know where that name came from.”

Kinda’ cool name though. It made it sound super powerful. Like, it controlled destiny or something silly like that.

“Did you come up with that term, or did you hear it somewhere?” he asked.

I shrugged again.

“It was just the name it came with.”

I was new to how things were named in my systems. All I knew was that I saw an old spear head in the Urnan church, and my head made a copy of it out of stardust. In theory this should have just been a simple copy of that weapon, but my systems treated it like it was the real thing.

“Well…” he handed the weapon back to me, “it appears you have a W.O.C.”

“A wah…?” I tilted my head and made a funny face.

"W.O.C. Weapon of Choice.” He had a silly smirk on his face, which was so adorable I snickered.

“Isn’t a woc a big frying pan for cooking?”

Or was I thinking of a wok? Hmm…

“Every Exceed has a personal weapon they favour, which means they get bonuses from it to their stats,” he continued. “It seems you’ve chosen the spear.”

I wondered if any Exceed ever favoured a frying pan as a weapon. Wouldn’t that be silly? No wonder we were going extinct.

Anyways, I liked using my spear. Despite the difficulty, it felt pretty good to hold. I still wasn’t very good with it, but it was cool.

Uncle wasn’t proficient with a spear, so he didn’t consider himself an expert on that style of combat, but he offered to help me train with it. Some skills were universal, as he said.

“I really need to learn how to use this thing,” I said, trying to hold it up on my own. He adjusted my stance a little bit with a precise touch.

“You’re not the only one.” He spawned a fancy longsword in his grip, which immediately started burning with white flames.

That thing looks like an endgame boss weapon.

“Uncle, where’d you get a cool weapon like that?” And why wasn’t he using it this whole time?!

“I’ve had it for a long, long time. You could say it’s my W.O.C, but I’ve lost some skill with it over the years. I think we’ll be on equal footing if we spar,” he winked.

He looked awesome holding it up! Now all he needed to do was equip his armour, and he’d look like a real stardust crusa… Wait, am I allowed to say that?

“Uncle, can you train me a little?” I asked, getting inspired by how cool he was.

“Sure. Why don't we pick up where we left off before in the garden?”