The Novas

Sarah had managed to treat the Novas on the Prometheus hovering overhead in space. Each of them, quickly got up, crowding around Ranesa's body and crying.

She walked up to them, carefully thinking of what to say, as she knew this wasn't the right time. "All of you, I know this must be hard. However, Earth is still in danger. We must focus on the task at hand. Kalista is out there, fighting alone. She can't handle both of them on her own. Work together, use your smarts, and don't let Ranesa's sacrifice be in vain."

They needed to hear it, as some of them were already starting to lose their will to fight. They marched down to the shuttle bay, renewing their resolve. Sarah had tried to get them to as near perfect health as she could, with the limited time she had.

"For Ranesa," Kayed said out loud, as they strapped into the shuttle.

"For Ranesa." They nodded and spoke back in unison.

They descended back down to the outskirts of the city, where they were last and scanned for Kalista, as the telemonitors switched the broadcast to the recovery going on in France and Shanghai. They found three heat signatures not too far outside of the city and landed close by.

The four Nova's rushed over to the clearing to help Kalista. Instead what they found was, Jeraton standing beside Seryn, who was sitting on a rock looking down at Kalista and badgering her.

She was on her back, bloody and bruised, as they sensed her life on a thin thread.

First Ranesa, now Kalista. The Ranesa that made them smile and Kalista who had just started to open up to them. The emotions rushing through the Novas at that moment, as compared to any other point in their lives, had never spiked up this high. With the power they had been granted, they yearned for so much, that still wasn't possible, forcing them to question it.

'Why?'

Some of them collectively asked out loud, as some of their lifespans began to shave away in sync. As if they all felt the same in that moment. By instinct, they began to draw energy from all around them, anywhere they could except each other.

Electricity crackled between Norah and Koji, as large, violent strikes of lightning struck around them, and were absorbed almost instantly. Glowing blue marks raced through their entire body, like a network of veins, marking them. Flames crushed the ground around Simon's feet, as he stared Jeraton down, with absolute contempt. His marks, glowed reddish orange and flowed like fire.

Kayed could not bear it anymore. Ranesa was the third Nova to join and would often give advice to Kayed as well as help with his training and recovery.

She also helped him get closer to Kalista, as she had begun listening to him. Which to him was progress, as he felt they would they could all become great friends, and his family would grow bigger. However now, it was all being threatened to be taken away. He had to do something.

Anything.

Lava creeped up out of the cracks in the ground. The earth around them started to tremble, with low seismic earthquakes, graduating by the second. Then suddenly geysers of lava exploded out of the ground, forcing the rest of the Novas to jump away.

His body was now covered in veins of lava. They looked at him and then at each other, realizing they had all ascended at that moment. Kayed controlled the lava to not touch his friends, feeling aware that he had caused it.

He was terrified of his new power, but quickly threw the thought away. All that mattered was using it to kill Jeraton.

The siblings looked at them, happily and unaware. "Finally, you've come back! We were just here questioning Kalista where she took you, our favorite new toys away..." Jeraton started slowing down, noticing their transformation. "I guess you didn't want to see this, did you guys-"

Norah and Koji leaped, in a blur of electricity and faster than the siblings could react, striking them flying. Kayed lifted Kalista on a platform and took her to the shuttle, as the others joined in against the children of Atlas.

She woke up feeling slight movement, just as he was about to put her in the shuttle. "Kayed... what's with that face you're making? Listen... Don't be sad for me, or her right now"

He looked at her. "Kalista..." A medic android had just rushed to her and started plunging medicine into her arm.

"Ranesa wouldn't want that... Win for us, okay?" She said, giving him, the first smile she's ever given him.

He smiled back softly. "For sure."

The door to the shuttle closed up, as the shuttle went invisible, and flew away. He turned back gathering energy once again. The marks on his skin had remained, however, he now had newfound energy and courage.

He raised up, a platform of magma and flew to the others. Finding Simon and Jeraton striking each other with flames of fury, while Norah and Koji took on Seryn. He decided to place his focus on Jeraton.

A sphere of condensed lava, with a dense magma core formed above his palm. He waited for when Jeraton broke apart from, Simon, then launched it at a frightening speed.

The prince turned, seeing it at the last second, and dodged, jumping far back, as a small dense explosion erased his last position. He looked back at Kayed, who raised another hand as geysers of lava, spurted up all over Jeraton's location.

Frustrated Jeraton jumped up, once again, while avoiding being enclosed by a downpour of lava. Slipping his guard for a moment, as Simon punched him down towards one of the geysers. Kayed closed in while drawing the hammer on his back. A new one that Sarah forged for him. He knew he might regret it, but he reinforced it with magma, hoping it would hold.

The prince avoided the pillar of lava, by jetting all of his flames, to stop himself in midair, then flew back up. "It's funny, you all were defeated, yet you came back willingly. Is it to protect this place? This planet?..."

Simon and Kayed both glared at him.

He felt their silence, loud and clear, so he continued. "Well then, do you have another plan, if let's say another ship on standby, were to suddenly show up on the other side of your planet?"

Both of their eyes grew wide. He smiled, feeling more in control of the situation, then he gave the order in his comm.

Koji & Norah vs Seryn...

"Aww, are you really trying to fight me?" Seryn asked the both of them.

Norah growled at her, while Koji braced himself. They had injured her multiple times, but she kept regenerating. Koji had whiplash burns, but he gritted his teeth through them. While Norah had a large cut on her arm, which she cauterized by heating her blade.

Seryn took her whip and whipped the ground between them with millions of volts, multiple times. Breaking it up and kicking up dust, then dove through it.

The Novas braced themselves using their senses to find where she would come from, through the smoke. Norah sensed her coming from the right but was too late to stop the kick to her gut. Sending her hurdling back.

Koji spun around noticing Norah disappear, then blocked another incoming kick from Seryn, just in time. With quick instincts, he made a stab for her stomach, but she caught his sword, before he could pull out, and then shocked him with over a million volts. Koji held on, with spit foaming at the sides of his mouth, as he tried pulling his sword out.

Fortunately, Norah appeared out of nowhere and kicked Seryn flying, leaving a large dent in her face. The Nova dropped down beside him, as he managed to recompose himself. "Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, we need to win." He said, finally regaining his bearings.

"I know." She replied, turning her attention to Seryn, who had already recovered and began walking toward them.

Just then a buzz disturbed their ear, as Sarah spoke to all of the Novas. "Novas, there's an advanced warship heading to America, I don't have any more ships available that can stop them. One of you will need to head there or there will be mass casualties."

Simon wanted to rush back immediately, while Norah looked at Koji. "Koji you need to go, you are the fastest."

"But Norah..." He tried to rebut.

"It's ok, Koji, I can handle her, I'm killing this bitch, no matter what." She said, reassuringly.

He nodded and informed the others, that he would go alone, as Norah turned her attention back to Seryn. He looked back at Norah once more then turned around. "Don't die." He ordered, before launching into the sky and zipping towards America.

Norah smiled without looking back. "As if I planned to."

Over the Pacific Ocean...

Sarah had sent the coordinates of the ship to Koji's monitor. He flew as fast as he could, however, he knew he was still too far away.

He stopped, floating over the ocean and realized, that he had been using his abilities for a while and still didn't have any symptoms of side effects yet. He looked at his hands, finally taking in the blue markings.

"If I've gone First Gear like Osei... maybe I just might be able to do it." He whispered to himself.

Then began focusing on all of the electricity in the air, as dark clouds began to gather and line up ahead of him, building up an immense amount of energy around him. Followed by the largest lightning strike he had ever created, striking him, as he whispered under his breath. "Static: Dan Maku."

Lightning struck him, once more, as he leaped off it, zooming across the ocean with lightning speed. The warship was about to cross into Californian airspace, however in seconds a slice of lightning ripped through it, splitting it in half with rippling explosions.

Koji sheathed his sword, facing Californian land, with his back to the ship, as it collapsed into the ocean. The broadcast had covered the whole incident, sending waves of cheers around the World and boosting morale.

Onlookers on the coast took videos and uploaded them to social media. Koji smiled to himself, happy that he succeeded, and was about to start heading back when a BSF shuttle dropped out of camouflage.

Sarah spoke in his ear. "I sent it for you, but you zoomed off. Save your energy and hitch a ride to get back."

He smiled, once more as he hopped in. "Thanks."

Jeraton vs. Simon and Kayed...

"Screw you, you piece of shit." Simon was furious, that the monster before him had brought his country in harm's way.

However, the prince laughed back, in his face, relishing the pain he caused him. "I won't deny having something to protect, can make you stronger, but what's the point of protecting these weak creatures with no energy or iko."

Simon was enraged, fire was burning in the air around him. He took the first charge, as Kayed followed behind.

Simon struck first, but Jeraton parried and blasted him back point blank, as Kayed came in swinging down his hammer. The prince managed to raise his sword on time, however, the hammer quickly melted through, striking him square in the chest and straight into the ground.

He caught himself before crashing and looked ahead of him, noticing a build-up of energy. Simon had been preparing a sphere of fire between his hands.

"Ignite: Flamen!" He yelled, shattering the sphere forward, as a beam of fire, rushed at the prince, burning apart the path between them.

Jeraton took it head-on and in moments appeared through the blast, grinning as he grabbed Simon by the throat. Then flew up towards the city, while his burn marks began to regenerate back to normal.

Simon struggled to get himself free, however, he was granted his wish pretty quickly, as he was thrown through a glass sky-rise building. Simon landed in an office room, with flames blazing the entire floor. Luckily the part of the city they were fighting in, had already been evacuated.

He got up but didn't get a chance to breathe, as Jeraton flew through the window and followed up by punching him through the rest of the building, then out another set of glass windows. He felt disoriented and freefell with Jeraton appearing above, striking down once again with a flaming kick.

However, just in time, Kayed had managed to get near them and block it, then began to engage him in hand-to-hand combat. Burning Jeraton's hands in return, as he blocked and returned back his strikes.

Simon appeared behind him, finally regaining his composure, and beamed a sphere of fire into Jeraton's back, forcing a yelp out of him. Without giving him a moment's rest, Kayed followed up by striking a magma-covered fist into Jeraton's gut, pumping him full of lava.

He coughed up blood, grunting as he grabbed hold of Kayed's arms before he could try and pull it out. Then, dragged him across into Simon and sent them both crashing back. He held his stomach, as he regurgitated the lava out, as best as he could.

The hole had started forming back slowly, as he glared at them with pure malice, making up his mind. "I have used too much of my lifespan on you guys, I think it's time to end this. I no longer want to keep any of you!" He shouted before he turned around and rushed back towards Seryn.

Norah vs. Seryn...

The dent on Seryn's face had just finished reforming, as her sword, once again, collided with Norah's. "I'm going to carve up that cute little face of yours... I can't wait." She sneered.

Norah grimaced, at the impacts of Seryn's strikes, She was able to keep up, but Seryn was still stronger than her. However she knew, she could go faster, just like Osei and Koji. She desperately wished to defeat this stuck-up princess.

Clouds began to gather overhead. She had always been afraid of using lightning, like the others, and had always opted for electricity around her instead, but now wasn't the time to be picky.

She jumped back after another brief exchange with Seryn. Then Norah pointed her sword to the sky, as a massive blue bolt of lightning struck her, with intensity.

She screamed but bared it and started absorbing all of the electricity, swinging her sword down as it ended. "Static: Berserker." She whispered.

Blue lightning streaked all around her, as her cobalt blue veins glowed even harder. Faint light streaks of silver dripped down her hair, as blood dripped down her nose.

Seryn braced herself, feeling something dangerous incoming, and, started whipping her whip all around her at sonic speed, making it impossible for Norah to get near. "Once I knock you out again, I won't let you go!" Seryn called out to her amongst the whiplashes.

Norah found it hard for her to speak, it took all she could, just to contain the entire force of the lightning strike, within her body. "I'll rip you to shreds before you can even try." She replied, back with difficulty, then leaped from her position, breaking several sound barriers, as she cut apart the whip, like a whirlwind, to pieces. Then proceeded to slice away at Seryn, as she tried to keep up with her, only catching glimpses of the flashes of electricity trailing her.

Seryn struggled for a good moment, trying to get a hold of her, to escape, or do anything, instead, all she could do, was bleed away as cuts opened up all over her body. At the last strike, she noticed Norah going for her neck, with less than a second to go, she put up her short sword and countered her strike.

Norah jumped back panting, as her hair dropped lower and the static electricity around her calmed down, with her glow going back to normal. She watched Seryn screaming from the pain of her wounds regenerating and smiled. However, she could feel her hands trembling and knew she was reaching her limit. Instinctively she reached into her belt, grabbed the booster, then plunged it into her arm, as her armour made way for it.

Seryn dropped to her knees, going into shock from how much pain she had experienced and the life draining away from her. She glared at Norah, thinking of how many ways she wanted to kill her.

Suddenly Jeraton dropped out of the sky, down beside her, worried. "Seryn, what happened to you, why has your energy dropped so low?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"It was that bitch." She replied.

"I'll give you some of mine, here." He touched her shoulder.

Norah braced herself, worrying about the others, but luckily they had just appeared, flying just above her. Suddenly their comms went off, with an emergency call from Sarah. "Evacuate immediately! The Chinese military has asked us to step aside for an attack that's already inbound. I repeat evacuate immediately."

They turned around quickly and began retreating. The siblings looked up at them wondering why they were running. Then their senses forced them to look up, hearing something that cracked the sky. Way too quick, as the missile landed right beside them, exploding a gigantic cloud, that soared into the sky.