✧ Chapter 11 ✧

Styra remembered seeing Amethion strike the ground to affect the core of a planet and stop all time associated around it. With that in mind, she closed her eyes and decided to use her fist to do exactly this. The whole planet shook harder than when she first arrived in Perenorbius. Even though she tried this technique, they heard the laughter from earlier get louder than before. Upon approaching them, the goliath of a being continued to speak to the two of them as they stood fazed by its invincibility.

"The name is Topazion. Guardian Of Energy. You may have had the audacity to make such an outstanding entrance. Unfortunately for you, you are looking at the most powerful gladiator in existence! I've conquered many and left none alive to witness their defeat. Only fools come here to challenge me. The nerve of you to interrupt my glorious audience with your meager antics. For that you shall pay a lethal toll!"

As the atmosphere was heating up, Styra began to interject upon noticing Topazion's armor had an Eternal Light inside it.

"Ok... Listen, we aren't here to cause chaos. Amethion sent me to collect all Ten Eternal Lights. I have one here for proof."

She held out her hand and forced the light particles to transform back into its original design. To go even further in providing evidence, she showed Amethion giving her the power in the form of a time projection. Topazion was in denial at the sight of this Eternal Light being used in the hands of someone other than a guardian, but seeing the replay of Amethion handing the power over convinced her to see their story through. As Styra absorbed the power back into the diamond star once again, Topazion was curious of what exactly was going on.

"I will believe you on one condition. What is the task you are trying to accomplish?" she asked.

Styra began to explain more of what Amethion told her. Topazion, who was learning about all of this, knew exactly how to address her request.

"I see it now. You know, Amethion is our leading commander who is supposed to be getting his orders from Prism. If he made this decision, it is likely he is doing this to save The Omniverse. The Master is just weighing all of its decisions about a lot right now. Here is what I can do. You want this Eternal Light I have, right?"

When Styra nodded in agreement, Topazion guided them over to the arena itself. There, a crowd of the furry green creatures were sitting all around the empty grass field. A large brown stage made of stone was carved with a symbol on the top associated with the planet's traditional customs sacred to this location. From there, a scenic view of the hills and rainbow waterfalls in the distance was also noticeable. These rivers were divided far amongst the backdrop.

"Here on the planet Phiras, RainbowFall Arena is hosted by me as the greatest spectacle for all to witness raw strength. My audience is made up of the Alms which were the ones you saw at the gate. They live on more than one of these floating islands, but currently we are on the most notorious of them all. Spectaria. The reason we are here is to see if you can earn a win against me in battle as a trade for what you seek. If you lose, it is best you inform Amethion. There is no point in trying anymore if you fail. First and foremost, are you experienced in any form of tactical combat?"

Styra thought hard about this because the only thing she had going for her was being chased by Amethion. That didn't turn out to be a real battle since she had been running away more than confronting him. Then an idea came to her. Those four years of training. Flight could give some combat techniques to assist against Topazion's catalyst of moves. She told him about her thoughts on the matter. He partially agreed with the suggestion, but stressed that the requirements to catch up to his level of experience demanded authenticity. That would indefinitely take time to master, even if she had the capacity to know all of the moves. This was similar to how she tried to understand the language of the Alms on Phiras by commanding the Eternal Light Of Time to give her that knowledge. While the power she held was a luxury to the common bystander, the truth was she didn't really feel that same connection like when the Tripedyra taught her how to take care of life.

"Okay, so there was a time where I was on Perenorbius after the asteroid hit. Billions of years in, I tested my powers to a certain degree but am not that experienced with every aspect of my possible abilities. You said I need to know how to fight in order to fulfill what I need to do. Flight is going to show me a few techniques if that's alright?"

Topazion nodded as Styra and Flight went over to a shady part of the arena away from the beating sunlight. Flight found the idea of training her right now like this to be conflicting. He used to do partner exercises with Hisa beforehand and it took time for both of them to develop the fighting skills needed to fend for themselves.

"Alright I'm going to have to go as quickly as possible. This isn't going to be the same but I still think I can improvise a plan that can help us beat her. First let's get the basics out of the way. When I saw you punch the ground, it did seem a bit stiff on the windup. Point is, you have to plan on being more flexible and durable with your attacks. Let's discuss what you know so far."

Styra could understand what he was saying. Unfortunately, this meant she still had to battle with a limited amount of strategy. Reflecting on the last encounter, she thought she could work on dodging because of when Amethion caught up to her.

"Hmm, okay. While we're at it, you don't happen to have a few tips on diverting someone's attention when I fight... Do you?"

Flight smiled, nodding his head in affirmation with a sort of confidence about what he was going to teach her. Twenty minutes of short and intense training later, Styra was still a bit anxious at the audience watching her. She didn't know how they were going to respond if she won or lost. It was quite risky. Topazion was standing on top of the wet grassy field as her strong voice echoed to every corner of the arena.

"What? You weren't prepared to win? That's hilarious since it isn't my problem. This was foolish enough to begin with since you attempted to play me on my own territory. Step onto The Sacred Stage, amateur," she demanded.

Styra didn't like her attitude right now. Sure, being a beginner and just gaining a few moves to work with didn't give much anticipation for her to win this match anyway. Everyone was cheering for Topazion except Flight. He began to stand at the bottom end of the bleachers next to the other Alms, gesturing to make the fighting stance he had taught her earlier. She had to calm down and approach the situation with fierce determination. Playing with the opponent's mind was key. While this wasn't a solution she would have preferred, it was in hindsight the only answer to such a difficult choice. She was the diversion.

At that moment, she declared something that seemed abysmal to say at a time like this.

"Hey Topazion, I give up. Here, have it. The Eternal Light is yours to give back to him. I can't do it."

Most of the crowd looked up at her with pity, laughing at her proposition to stop everything so suddenly. Styra emitted the Eternal Light out of herself and let it fly over into the guardian's hand. When Topazion observed the Eternal Light in her hand, she already knew it was too easy to just be given away like this. It was clearly a fake. As Topazion closed her fist, the projection started to dissolve out of thin air. She chuckled at how vague the attempt to trick her was until she saw Styra with a strange smile on her face as she walked atop The Sacred Stage and put her fist in the air. A softer breeze began to sail through the arena.

In an abrupt amount of seconds, the sky turned dark with thunderclouds hanging high. A large lightning bolt was about to strike where she was standing. In a quick turn of events, Styra's instincts felt the flow of electricity building underneath her before it happened. Out of nowhere, she disappeared as the blast left nothing close to a possible hit. A moment of silence held everyone's anticipation. Topazion could immediately sense something coming from above her head. She quickly tried to body it to the ground like a ragdoll, but the doppelganger dissipated upon contact. Another time projection. Unbeknownst to her, this one consisted of a memory where Styra was landing from jumping over a Sphirvo. As if it couldn't get crazier than that, twenty-three clones of Flight surrounded the arena. Seeing this nearly made Flight himself feel embarrassed. They all were facing Topazion with a pissed look.

Although a weird sight to behold, it did not impress this guardian in the slightest. "So this is my opponent! A cowering neophyte who decides to taunt me with their childish ways. Pathetic!" With her balled-up fist, she punched through the ground hard enough for a small seismic quake to disrupt the time projections so they would once again fade from her view.

Something started to worry Flight when it occurred to him that Styra was nowhere to be found at first. That was until everyone caught sight of four clones of Styra standing equidistant from each other as if they had been standing there all day. The skies became darker. More thunder could be heard charging from up above. Without a care in the world, Topazion shot her largest bolt where these decoys were standing. When it had died down, no one was there. Immediately after that, Styra used the Eternal Light Of Time to teleport in quick succession. She landed multiple devastating punches that blasted Topazion onto the ground.

Her speed became incomprehensible as she proceeded to teleport over there and deliver blows from every direction. Topazion couldn't catch up to what she was doing to coordinate proper combat. Out of anger, she unleashed a powerful firestorm that was even more stronger than the asteroid impact on Perenorbius. It blew Styra past the dark misty air, but that didn't stop her from getting scorched a little. Attempting to recover from the dangerous explosion, Topazion arrived at lightning speed, uppercutting Styra into a mountainous rocky hill within the arena. She started to take her by the throat and slide her head down against the side of the rugged surface until she kicked her straight through the entire island at the speed of light. Styra fell helplessly into the rainbow ocean below while Topazion's eyes glowed a menacingly bright pink, watching her plunge deep inside. The guardian boasted a loud monologue for the entire galaxy to hear after she faded away from her sight.

"For a hundred years, I have fought every single soul that challenged me in that arena and won. None could topple me of my claim to become the strongest. Nearly two million matches in and I still win. Ara laeor. Victory will be mine."

Topazion was ready to go back and fix the damages done to the island until she saw something interesting beneath her. Being submerged in the depths of a suffocating ocean felt a lot like the dive into the Paralysis Portal. This allowed her to absorb all forms of energy into her like a black hole, regenerating her strength with ease. A massive whirlpool developed from the depths, stirring everything inside it. Like a glowstick becoming the beacon of hope in its darkest hours, Styra shot herself out of the vortex and into the foggy sky. An unidentified surge of pure energy started to surround the essence of her entire body.

The two colossal powerhouses charged against each other. After learning from her mistakes, Styra sent an uppercut at Topazion to counter the opposing attack. For the first time in millions of years, the helmet Topazion wore cracked into pieces and her armored suit was wrecked beyond repair. Spontaneously, the guardian flew through three islands before plummeting onto the exterior of a fourth one named Olonan. The impact almost wiped out the surface of the entire island, like a meteor after having been removed from its initial drop site. Styra had her foot on top of Topazion's chest, ready to annihilate this cruel guardian for everything that had happened. That was until The Eternal Light Of Time reminded her about what Amethion said in regards to not killing one of his siblings. The pure energy died down in passive reconsideration as a response.

Seeing an opening, Topazion shape-shifted into a flat shadow. She moved freely across the ground and spawned in front of Styra, giving her an oblique kick on the right knee that caused her to fall backwards as the injury nearly dislocated those joints. Topazion dove down with merciless low punches and hard stomps that made Styra somersault around with the intent of dodging these attacks. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to avoid being thrown sky high before getting flung all the way across the edge of Olonan. Sliding across the jagged ground, an unexpected seething pain struck up through her right leg which felt bruised during recovery. Feeling this overwhelming anxiety, she was having a hard time focusing on the current situation.

Out of the blue, The Flails Of Energy appeared in Topazion's hands. They were a powerful pair of spiky hammers dangling at the end of these long flowing chains that remained attached to their handles. The ancient marks carved on the weapon also amplified this Eternal Light's power. She began to spin them around excessively at her sides, causing the ground to burn like melting snow. Staring at the danger coming ahead, Styra calmed herself down as the thought about how to activate her powers came to one sudden realization. Holding her breath was helping short bursts of pure energy appear. Of course. She now knew what to do. Topazion charged her attack to allow for a faster leap at lightspeed. Upon landing, the first swing that lunged at the head was stopped by two fingers in immediate succession. They took the flails and formed it into a white crust that dissolved the weapon out of thin air.

Styra had gained her powers back, along with a hyperactive sense of foresight to boot. She struck a hard kick that made Topazion's Eternal Light come close to turning into sparkly particles. Desperate to keep her from winning, the guardian flew backwards, creating Energy Bubbles to capture and send heavy rubble that was the average size of large scale mountains in that world. Rock after rock, each one was blown out of the way before a horizontal spinning quadruple kick was used to break Topazion's entire suit by deflecting her aggressive attacks.

She was finally outmatched without a doubt. The Eternal Light Of Energy floated into Styra's grasp. Topazion laid silent, withering from how unbelievable everything was.

"I suppose there is no denying it. What else can I say? No one has beaten me like this. What are you, really?" she asked in skeptical dismay.

As Styra was absorbing her new power, a different voice could be heard whispering the word "Aviatopolis" inside of her mind. The place sounded similar to Mechatopolis for sure. While this thought crossed by, defeating Topazion made Styra see just how incompetent a few of these guardians were so far, considering that their assigned roles were supposed to be important. This all started because of Prism, she knew that. It came to her that whatever would happen, she may have to take up the responsibility. Just like how Perenorbius needed her. She couldn't fail this time. Not for those she cared about.

"Topazion, hopefully we can come together on equal terms. I may have started knowing nothing, but I learned a lot about what losing something you love the most is like. I have to fix what I did wrong and discover my true origins," she replied.

Topazion could see the error in her ways. To fix their previous encounter she decided to admit to her flaws.

"I apologize for the insincere greeting. You have a heart of burning modesty to admit you will fix your wrongdoings. I am no different in having to accept it in this case. You know, I was a lot like you back then when it came to fighting against my brothers and sisters who outranked me in skill. At first I hated them and constantly wanted to become Heptarion Commander to prove them wrong. Later, my obsession of breaking down why they beat me actually helped me see what made them unique. I now wish for those simpler times. Things have truly changed since then."

Styra was touched by this. She wanted to stay longer and sympathize with her but she knew that Flight was still waiting. She closed up her final remarks on their battle.

"Well you were pretty intense as an experienced fighter. I never liked the attitude you had beforehand but, I can understand why you acted the way you did. I am just as on edge about this quest but I must try to keep going. A friend of mine is awaiting our next location. I will reverse the destruction of this place to its normal state before I go though. It's beautiful. Like Perenorbius, but in a special way. Something about it reminds me of home."

As promised, Styra turned back time to fix the islands and their possible casualties that came from the fight, restoring everything to its peaceful nature. She finally nodded her head at Topazion to assure that they were on equal footing. Upon teleporting back to the arena, Styra saw that it had been deserted and barren of an audience with only Flight sitting alone with a weapon of his pointing the ground in aimlessness. She started to address him on the recent details of what had previously happened.

"So, apparently Topazion and I came to a truce. Because of that, she allowed me to use the Eternal Light Of Energy. The voice that came from it told me where we needed to go next. Aviatopolis. It has something to deal with Mechatopolis for sure. Is there anything you know about it that can help us retrieve it?"

Flight knew she was onto something. He put his weapons back inside his cloak pockets and stood with diligence about traveling to the next location.

"I think while we're finding the next one, it's about time we figure out what really happened to StarSpace's rival. There is much I can show you. I've been on Mechatopolis before. That was years after we won. It has a rich history for sure. We'll have to see."

Styra grinned with determination at the thought of this. StarSpace could be part of her ancient DNA, but that idea remained as insignificant as a grain of salt. There were barely any clues to signify what she was yet. Especially with the new pure energy that flowed throughout her body. Aviatopolis had to have held some sort of secret to her past involving StarSpace, so going there would possibly reveal some merit behind it. What would be shown by the end of it however wasn't necessarily going to be what anyone could have expected.

Not even Styra.