Don't Swear By Your Head

Indena and the fake Sasha, who was actually The Actor, both did a bow, customary of two martial artists, just like in the movies.

Frustration was growing on Indena’s face, while the fake Sasha seemed pretty relaxed about this whole ordeal. She had a big smile. Maybe this was just the Actors improvising, but I couldn’t imagine someone looking so calm while facing down a fiery Indena.

CRASH!

Mella tossed a potion at the ground and suddenly Indena’s elemental magic power increased.

“Let’s just skip the simple stuff and get to the action,” fake Sasha suggested.

“You see me turning down this fire? Let’s get this started!”

BOOM!

An explosion rocketed behind Indena, she drew her fist back and shot it at fake Sasha.

But her punch connected with an orbiting rock, causing it to burst into molten pebbles.

Indena had the time to retaliate, but as she went for a kick a crusaders sword swung down on her. She just barely evaded.

BANG!

Emily backed up Indena by firing her gun at the orbiting rocks. It was quickly clearing up space for more attacks, but those crusaders were going to be a tough wall to break through too.

As Emily chipped away the rocks, a threat quickly spawned behind her, a shadowy being looking for a little payback for a bullet wound.

The shadowy arm of the Nephilim raised against the gun girl Emily, slapping her aside. Once she recovered she fired a few bullets its way.

Bullets dipped into the shadows of the Nephilim’s body, but hardly stopped it from continuing to attack her.

Meanwhile, Indena and the fake Sasha were skillfully duking it out. I’ve never met the real Sasha, but with how good the Actor was at martial arts and magic, I feel like she was the real deal.

“You’re good, but not like Sasha.” Indena said, twisting her enemies arm around behind her.

“Oh come on, I haven’t even gotten started!”

Rocks from all around the building suddenly rose from their resting spot and glided through the air toward Indena. When she dodged, the rocks burst into dust and covered over fake Sasha’s arms, giving her leverage to free herself from Indena’s hold.

Those rocks also worked well to reinforce fake Sasha’s fists, making her punches deal more then twice the damage.

Indena had to block with her forearms, but the bone breaking pressure put strain on Indena’s flame aura.

Things were heating up as Indena’s fire’s started growing in response to the damage. Fire energy dazzled the air as arms of flame blasted fake Sasha backwards.

Fake Sasha then used her magic to raise up two support beams of stone, forcing them to fly up and crush Indena between them.

“Now I’m going to kill you!” The two stones crashed together, causing a massive shockwave that almost collapsed the building.

Indena just barely rolled out of the way in time.

“Sasha wouldn’t say something like that!”

“Oh, wouldn’t I? Tee hee…” she struck a cute pose. “I’m just getting started!”

The Actor really was good at playing this up. It really felt like he was a completely different person.

Uncle had been watching the fight very closely, examining The Actors abilities. “It’s incredible that he not only takes on people’s appearances, but can mimic their powers so well,” he said.

“You think that’s the power the crystal heart give him?” I asked.

“No. This is a different magical art called Mimicry. It’s hard to learn, but very powerful.”

It kinda' reminds me of my Copycat power. Although I wasn't just mimicking, I was learning.

I wonder what his crystal heart was for then. Janus’s crystal heart had the power to manipulate and create radio waves, while also being able to hack things. But what was The Actor's?

That power he had to make historical figures come back to life must have been the power. It was the only other odd thing he was able to do.

"Uncle, are crystal hearts able to actually manipulate echoes of history?" I asked, still not really understanding the concept.

"There are as many powers as their are atoms on this planet. Each of these crystal hearts are unique in that way."

So we'd really just have to take them each on a case by case basis. I'm wondering if their may be a database for these somewhere.

“How do we beat him then?” I asked Uncle.

“We don’t have many options…not from behind this energy barrier.”

Uncle and I both were looking for any sort of inspiration that might help us win this fight, but ideas were pretty spars.

As if suddenly seeing the answer, Uncle kneeled down and put a hand on my shoulder.

“You think you can shut down your stardust radiation for a minute?”

If I did that, then everyone would return back to their dream state. I trusted him enough to give it a try if he had an idea.

“Once it goes down, I need you to pull a page out of The Actor’s playbook,” he said.

His plan was actually pretty creative, involving the crusaders fighting alongside The Actor.

“Those crusaders come from the Ecclysian church. And who is one of the most important figures of that religion?”

“God?” I suggested. How could you get any more important than that?

“Well…yes. But there’s someone else who has a spotlight.”

The only other person I could think of that the Ecclysian church emphasized was the Eighth Star Angel. And guess who in our group claims that title?

If I could convince those crusaders that I am the Eighth Angel, they’ll absolutely turn against our enemy. As a little kid, that would be a bit difficult, but as a grown up it would be much more convincing.

I shut down the sensor systems and retracted my antenna. Suddenly we were back to our dream forms, including Indena becoming a child again.

“What the...!?” Indena panicked and took the full force of a rock filled punch. It took her a few seconds to recover. “Oi, Shrimp! You better have a good reason for that move!”

I probably should have prepared her for that part. My bad…

Anyways, I had to figure out a way to get those crusaders to buy that I was the Eighth Star Angel.

I cleared my throat.

Before speaking, I felt a pressure in my stomach stop me from talking. Uncle noticed that I’d paused, but I tuned him out.

This feeling…it kept coming up the more I wanted to speak. It was like what I was about to say wasn't right, or missing something important.

A spark of white light danced through my crystal heart. The warmth was familiar, as I’d felt it a few times now.

-LET THY 'YES' BE 'YES,' AND THY 'NO,' BE 'NO.’ SWEAR BY NOTHING MORE, FOR IT WOULD BE OF EVIL.-

Let yes be yes…and...no be no. What did the voice mean? And what did it mean by it being of evil? At least I don't swear, so I had that part covered.

Was it trying to tell me to be honest, or to just simply say 'yes' or 'no' when asked a question? Maybe a little of both...

“Yalda, what are you waiting for?” Uncle forced me out of my mind. “Get their attention!”

“Oh…sorry.” I focused myself back on the situation.

My wings spawned and stretched out as far as this energy barrier would allow. I floated upwards to appear more angelic.

There was a certain way I’d read that angels would address people, so I had to try and copy that to look more convincing.

“Children of Deus, be not afraid!” I announced.

The crusaders immediately turned to me. I got their attention perfectly.

“I have come to deliver you a message! The one you have allied with is evil. Do not trust him!”

Maybe I was the real actress here, because I sure was able to pull off a decent angel.

Indena and the other two were picking up on what I was doing. Fake Sasha seemed extremely confused.

“There she goes again…” Indena mumbled while she shook her head. “That angel voice thing.”

Both the crusaders kneeled down, keeping their heads low.

“We are unworthy to be in such a hollowed presence…forgive my questioning...but are ye a Star? Perhaps the Eighth Star of Heaven?”

“Verily?” the other crusader sounded young and hopeful.

I was tempted to play up the role, really hitting home how I was a real angel sent down from heaven to save them...

“I am.”

...but I remembered what that voice in my heart said. I just had to tell the straight truth, nothing more. I am called the Eighth Star of Heaven, so that is a name I go by, but I wasn’t actually sent by God, nor was I a real angel. If I lied and came up with a story about how I was either of those things, I feel that the dishonesty would show.

That must be what the voice meant by anything else being of evil. Lying to people isn't something I wanted to get into when angelic things got involved, or maybe even at all.

It was then that the crusaders immediately turned their weapons on the fake Sasha. We had a new pair of allies on our side. My plan worked wonderfully well.