Cecilius' Successor

"God!" Arius led Dorian toward a nearby armed chopper. "Finally, some darn old sunlight! I thought we were never getting out of that freakshow alive!"

Dorian didn't speak as Arius unlocked the side doors and prepared the copter's controls.

"Alright there, partner. Dorian, was it?"

No answer.

"Dorian? Hey!"

Dorian knelt and hugged her laptop case, weeping. Arius jumped off the chopper.

"Come on," Arius took Dorian's cold hand. "We can't stay here."

She wouldn't budge.

"Hey, we're going to be alright," Arius rubbed her shoulder.

"Everything is wrong!" Dorian wailed. "People are getting killed. My friends are stuck in the game. Nothing is right!"

"I know," Arius adjusted his fedora.

He thought of a way to comfort Dorian. "Hey, I know it seems hopeless, but there's hope."

"How? It's hopeless! There's nothing we can do!"

"Maybe not now, but Cecilius said you're making the antivirus to free the players, right?"

"Y-yes."

"You're helping your friends and so many people!" Arius gave her a handkerchief. "We're getting out of here alive, you hear me?"

Dorian nodded and blew her nose. Arius placed his fedora on Dorian's head.

"Why don't you keep my little lucky charm?" Arius took Dorian to the chopper. "Let's get this beauty going!"

"Captain!" A voice shouted as Arius activated the cockpit's controls.

"Magnus!" Arius hopped out of the cockpit. "Wait, Cecilius?"

Arius helped him carry the UICA President. "You there, Cecilius?"

"C-Captain," Cecilius mumbled.

"Hang in there, Pres! We got you, partner!"

The two helped Cecilius sit in the copter.

"Cecilius!" Dorian hugged him.

"Ah, D-Dorian," Cecilius groaned. "So glad to see you're alright."

"Is there a first aid kit around here?" Magnus looked around the chopper. "He lost too much blood with that kind of cut. My damn coat couldn't cover it up in time!"

Cecilius looked around. "Where's Saitori?"

"Well," Magnus took the first aid kit Arius gave him. "She's fighting that droid creature."

"What? No!" The UICA President felt a surge of pain through his body. "I-I need to speak to her!"

"Why?" Magnus patched up his wound.

"Ugh, something important," Cecilius' eyes kept blinking to stay alive. "Please."

"We can swing around to get her," Arius proposed.

***

Saitori rolled away from Zentroid's man-eating abdomen, jumping to dodge a tentacle slash.

"I smell your exhaustion, Saitori! Hehehe!" Zentroid's baby face giggled as he whipped his three tongues against Saitori's blade. "What fun! What fun!"

Saitori and the monstrous machine stood on opposite sides, face to face. Zentroid opened his three mandibles with hundreds of fangs, lunging to devour Saitori. The General drew a second blade, slashing both swords to cut Zentroid's inner mouth.

The droid squealed and swatted Saitori back with his three tongues. He then floated away with blood spilling out of his abdomen. Zentroid glared at Saitori, who wielded a UICA sword and a Shin-Kaminari blade.

"You sack of organs! You aren't worthy of holding that!" Zentroid shrieked. "You left us, traitor!"

"I saw what Amitonyx wanted to use our creations for," Saitori hissed. "I realized what the Shin-Kaminari had become. It was my fault for helping him make SANDRA and the likes of you. It's time I bury you into the scrap heap!"

Zentroid's veined chomping mouth roared from the screen. "Amitonyx still misses his wife! Why don't you come back? Otherwise, I'd love to chew on your kidneys! Weee!"

"You already know my answer, you freak!"

"Yay!" Zentroid's tentacles thrashed wildly as his screen scrambled with circles and mouths. "Let's play!"

Arius flew the armed chopper by the windows to bombard missiles at Zentroid. The monstrous droid scampered into the darkness from the explosions.

"Come on, General!" Magnus yelled from the copter's side doors.

"Get back here, Zentroid!" Saitori screamed. "I'll kill you!"

"Saitori!"

"It's my fault that I made him and all those machines! I need to make this right!"

"Look, there's no time! The shark ships are almost here."

Saitori looked through the smoke to find Zentroid. The monstrosity already vanished back into the dark hall.

"Please!" Dorian shouted. "Cecilius is dying! He needs you!"

Saitori gasped.

"General, let it go," Magnus lifted his hand.

The General sighed and deactivated her two swords. After she took Magnus' hand and entered the chopper, Arius soared the aircraft away from the Baltimore WARBLER Center and the incoming chimaera battlecruisers.

"Howdy, General," Arius saluted from the cockpit.

Saitori nodded, still frustrated that she couldn't kill Zentroid.

After taking off her tattered coat, she ran to Cecilius, who coughed out blood.

"President Cecilius!" General Saitori cried.

"G-General," Cecilius struggled. "Thank God, you're alive."

"This is my fault. If I didn't help Amitonyx-"

"S-Saitori, it's alright."

"President," Dorian sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't do much!"

"D-Dorian. Oof!" The two ladies stopped him from slipping off the chair. "Hey, you have done much more than you realize. H-how's the antivirus?"

Dorian opened her laptop to check on her antivirus progress.

She tapped a few buttons until she heard a ring. "The anti-program is finished."

"G-good work, Dorian. Now, it's up to Mivangeline to lead the players in beating the game to activate it."

"Rest yourself, Cecilius!" Saitori insisted.

"Saitori," Blood seeped out of Cecilius' mouth. "I-I don't have much time."

"No, Cecilius," Saitori shook him. You will make it! Please!"

"G-General, I must tell you something very important."

"What is it, President?"

Cecilius mumbled vital information to Saitori's ear.

"President," Saitori asked Cecilius. "Can we win?"

"Y-Yes, Saitori," Cecilius nodded. "I trust you as my successor."

"Wait, why me? I made those evil machines."

"But you helped us make our machines to help people live better lives. I-I'm proud of how much you've changed from your old Shin-Kaminari ways."

Dorian and Magnus sat with the dying Cecilius as Arius steered the aircraft.

Cecilius lifted a small teddy bear from his pocket. "S-Saitori, this is for Cyclia. I-I know she betrayed us, but she's still my daughter."

"No! No!" Saitori held the President's shaking hands, bursting into tears. "No, President! You will give it to her yourself! You will make it!"

"President!" Magnus pressed on the wound. "Stay with us! You're our leader! We cannot lose you!"

"You there, old man?" Arius yelled from the cockpit. "You were the one who made the UICA to help others with technology! Hang in there!"

"Please, Cecilius!" Dorian hugged Cecilius. "Don't go! There are people here who want to support your vision!"

"President," Saitori felt Cecilius' hands getting colder. "You and the Niangs found me and gave me a home. Thank you."

Cecilius gasped for a breath as he held Saitori's hand.

"Don't scare us now!" Magnus sniffed.

"Cecilius!" Dorian yelled. "Don't go!"

"Dang it, President!" Arius kept the copter steady. "We can't lose you!"

"H-have faith. G-God will bless you and keep you," Cecilius made a final smile as his vision blurred with bright light. "I-I see the K-King of Heaven..."

"No! Cecilius!" Saitori cried.

A roar of thunder shook the sky as torrential rain fell on the rioting civilians who praised the Federation's invasion of America. The UICA gave the players a chance to escape the Syanic Earth with Dorian's antivirus, but they lost Cecilius. General Lifen Saitori is now the new leader of the UICA.

End of Invasion Arc