In the nation of Voltiana…
"Nakada? Hello? Nakada? Pick up!"
Fujii desperately tried to contact Nakada on his watch, but she didn't pick up. "Damn, maybe Morino?"
The same thing happened. No answer.
"Crap."
Akari, Hikari, and Saori watched, sitting on the couch. Fujii sighed. "So Luca hasn't told you anything?"
They all shook their heads. Fujii took a deep breath and began to head out the door.
"Where are you going, mister?" Saori asked, curious.
"To go find your teammates. You guys stay here."
Before they could protest, he was already gone. Hikari watched him leave the mansion from the window, before plopping into the couch.
"I really hope they're okay," she said. "Luca, Dachii, and Marachii are not a good mix alone."
Akari began to walk upstairs. "You heard General Fujii. I guess we just leave it to him."
"Saori, are you coming?" Hikari asked.
"Sure thing! Let me get my juice!" she replied.
As she walked to the fridge, she noticed a female figure in a robe walk right past the kitchen, heading towards the hallway.
"Akari?" Saori called out, but the person continued to keep walking. When Saori took a closer look, she saw the Ancient War book in her hands.
"Hey, you!" she yelled, leaving the kitchen and chasing after the girl.
Just as Saori began to get close, a portal opened. Inside of it, Saori could see what appeared to be an arena, but it was bathed in shadows.
The female figure partially turned around, and all Saori could see was one of her ponytails, which was white, and her glowing white eyes.
"Hmph."
Without hesitation, she entered the portal. As soon as Saori tried to follow, the portal closed with a loud BANG, shaking the entire mansion.
Hikari and Akari ran downstairs.
"Saori! What was that?" Akari questioned, in a fighting stance.
"Are you okay?" Hikari asked.
Saori just stood still, in shock. Akari knelt next to Saori.
"Saori, did you take the book?"
"N…no. She did." Saori pointed into the hallway. Akari and Hikari stared at it, confused.
"Who?"
Meanwhile, back in Umego…
"Everyone! Evacuate! Get out of here!"
Shu and some of the Protection and military forces began directing the fleeing civilians out of town, as the fights went on.
A woman grabbed Shu. "My husband! One of those monsters took him!"
"I'll handle it! You just keep running!"
As she took off, various monsters began to stalk towards them. Shu got his gun ready.
"It's a ton of them! Where did they come from?" Shu asked.
A soldier pointed toward a cloud of smoke. "Maybe there, sir?"
Inside the cloud of smoke, Vapron stood, clashing with Nakada, who held her breath to avoid inhaling it.
"Stupid girl! If it took your strongest General and his entire squad to stop Nullus, how can you beat me?" Vapron taunted.
Nakada tried to slash him with her gunblade, but it passed right through his body.
"That Elemental power can render any physical attacks useless, just like mine!" she thought.
She spun her blade again, swinging it at him, but yet again it passed through him as if he was made of gas.
"Don't you get it? You can't win."
He backhanded her in the face, sending her flying out of the smoke and coughing blood. "Kenshi…you're right. They AREN'T like anything I've ever faced…"
Outside of the smoke, Marachii and Atomu were attempting to keep the monsters at bay.
"Keep them away from your brother, Marachii! We have to buy General Nakada time!"
"Okay!" Marachii said. "Elara, activate Advanced Combat Mode!"
"Activating Advanced Combat Mode."
Marachii's body took on its armored form, and he began firing shots at the monsters, which seemed to pierce their flesh.
Sir Triune stomped the ground. "Fight harder, my fellow bandits! Do not let them defeat us, or we won't get our reward!"
Atomu used a glass fist to punch him in the face. Sir Triune stumbled back, glaring at Atomu.
"A failure of a Prince…"
Atomu gave him an icy glare back. "Just as you are a failure of a bandit. And tonight, you and your Zharian allies shall be put down."
Dachii watched the fight, and Nishiyama hid behind him. He turned to look at her.
"Uh…Nishi? What are you doing?"
She gripped his shoulders. "Hiding, idiot! I'm not like your friends, I can't fight THIS!"
"Well I can't fight either, so SOMEONE has to do it!"
"You're lying!" she snapped back.
Just then, a huge plume of smoke came for them, and Nishiyama pulled Dachii out of the way.
"Don't just let him HIT YOU!" Nishiyama exclaimed.
"Children…" Vapron slowly walked out of the smoke cloud. "Come and play!"
In an instant, he appeared behind Dachii, and just as Dachii put his hands up to block, he got knocked back.
"Ow!"
Nishiyama grabbed Vapron's arm, but her hand passed right through it. "What?"
"Your power requires physical touch, doesn't it? Too bad for you."
He released another cloud of hot smoke, and Nishiyama had to back away. "It's so…agonizing!"
Nakada stood up, gripping her blade. "I won't fail. Not Sir Morino, not Mother, nor these young soldiers!"
Vapron looked at her. "Idiotic girl. They just let anyone become Generals now."
He released more smoke in her direction, but she dodged it and slashed his head, and yet again, her blade passed right through.
"How does his power work? How can I counter it?" she thought.
Behind her, a giant black and red gorilla monster grabbed her.
"Good," Vapron said. "Now kill her."
The monster began to squeeze her in an attempt to crush her, but Nakada used her magic to phase through, and in less than a second, she sliced it to pieces.
Dachii took notice. "Wow, no wonder she's a general. And hot too."
A couple of monsters appeared in front of Dachii, attempting to grab him, but he used his power to punch them all back.
"Okay, shouldn't be too hard," he thought. "Handle the monsters, let General Nakada handle Vapron."
Just as he turned around, he saw Marachii and Atomu trapped in the arms of Sir Triune.
"Look at you, worthless runts! Stuck in a hard place now, aren't you?"
Marachii ripped off one arm, but it regrew two more in its place.
"Atomu! He can regenerate! What do we do?"
Atomu elbowed Sir Triune in the head, but all it did was annoy him.
"Stay focused! We got this!"
Dachii looked between them and Nakada, who was furiously attacking Vapron.
"Hahahaha! Do you think YOU can beat me alone?"
He unleashed a wave of smoke, and she attempted to phase through it but it reached her before she could, forcing her to jump back.
"Who am I kidding?" Dachii thought to himself. "She can't hold him for long!"
Nishiyama slowly walked behind him. "This is so bad! We're all gonna die! We're all gonna DIE!"
"What happened to you being so angry and confident?"
Nishiyama looked around at the battle. "That was before I saw THIS!"
Nakada, still battling Vapron, looked over. "Dachii! Nishiyama! Look out!"
A swarm of monsters surrounded them, all drooling and laughing. An octopus monster emerged from the swarm.
"Remember, we can eat the girl, but not the boy!"
"AHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Nishiyama nervously raised her fists. "If you come at me, I'll drop you!"
Dachii looked around. "Gosh, I just wanted to go HOME!"
Nishiyama and Dachii got backed further toward each other, to the point their backs were touching.
"Dachii? What do I do? What do I do?"
"Why ask me? I don't know!"
"You think I WANT to ask a human for help?! Why don't you just punch them?"
A frog monster jumped at Dachii, extending its tongue, and Dachii reflexively grabbed it and tossed the monster away.
"That's…not a bad plan…maybe?"
The monsters all growled and jumped onto the pair, making them both scream.
"AHH!"
"Dachii, do SOMETHING! They've got my leg!"
Atomu and Marachii watched as more monsters continued to pile onto the two.
"I need to escape! Nakada can't do two things at once! I've got to help!" Atomu thought.
Atomu pulled his arm back and punched Sir Triune in the head, but his head snapped back into place. "Hahahaha! And you call yourself a Prince?"
"Elara! Can you make my Advanced Combat Mode even more Advanced?" Marachii asked.
"Yes, but it will require tapping into your energy reserves. It may put significant strain on your body. Do you wish to continue?"
Marachii looked around at the battlefield, and just as Sir Triune began to squeeze them harder, Marachii made up his mind.
"Yes! Do it!"
"Activating Advanced Combat Mode 1000%. Please do not use it too long."
Marachii felt a rush of energy within him, and he was able to break free and blast Sir Triune in the face with his plasma cannon, knocking off his head.
"Amazing, Marachii!" Atomu said, just as Sir Triune released him.
"Yeah! After seeing the Expo today, I realized technology has no limits!"
Just as Atomu turned his attention toward Dachii and Nishiyama, the monsters on top of them began to fly back one by one.
"Dachii?" Marachii called out.
The octopus monster realized what was going on, and it jumped off as soon as the other monsters got knocked away.
Dachii got up, helping Nishiyama up. "Nishi, are you alright?"
"Yes! Where was this BEFORE?"
"I don't know!" he replied. His head began to ache again, and he looked at his hand, which was twitching.
"Just great, it's happening AGAIN! Why now? Why can't it just go away?" Dachii thought.
"Dachii!" Nishiyama yelled.
He looked up to see the octopus monster attempting to jump on them, and he instinctively punched it away.
"What is wrong with me?" Atomu said to himself. "I should be at the forefront, not watching!"
Nearby, Nakada was still going toe to toe with Vapron, but he was starting to become too fast for her.
Atomu slammed his fist into the ground. "If my sister was here, none of this would have happened! She'd be fighting Vapron, not these low-level monsters!"
He began to remember.
"Yes, that's right. It's never been an enemy. It's been her. She's always been…"
Dachii and Marachii continued to fend off monsters, while Nishiyama watched.
"…my insurmountable obstacle."
One year ago, inside the Castle of Voltiana…
After Princess Akari won the Voltian Tryouts, she went home, sulking. Atomu followed her into her bedroom.
"I can't believe you have to be fifteen to be selected! They let humans try out at ANY age!"
Atomu shrugged. "They value human lives less than our own, is that so hard to fathom?"
Akari kicked over the chair to her mirror. "I know, but still! They know I'm the best, so why wait? Why even let me come?"
Atomu tapped his chin. "That's what I've been meaning to ask you. Why do you care so much about joining the military anyway? Is it your Element?"
"No. It's because I'm not going to sit in this house all day and become some pretty little princess. I'm going to be something much greater."
Atomu lifted an eyebrow. "Much greater? Like what?"
"Brother, think! Do you really believe General Morino got to where he is by staying in Batango? No! Otherwise, he'd be a normal human, and treated like one."
Atomu folded his arms. "Your point is?"
"That I'm going to be the best warrior and leader in this nation. Even if I were to remain here, I'd just be second to you, since you're the firstborn."
She pointed at Atomu, smiling. "So, I'll just be better than you."
Atomu gasped in shock. "So, all this, all of this rivalry and competition and aggressive training, is so you can surpass me?"
Akari laughed. "No, brother. It's so I can CRUSH YOU. By the end of this year, I'll be so much better than you, you'll just be the 'weak' sibling."
She left the room. "Now I'm off to train. Bye, brother."
Atomu clenched his fists. "Damn her, she's gotten way too cocky!"
He took a deep breath, calming himself. "But it's fine. I'll just do my best to beat her instead. Whatever the cost."
Later that day, while writing in his journal, he looked out of the window of his room and saw Akari lifting 30 cars on her back at once, and he crushed his pen in anger. "Whatever the cost…"
Present day…
Atomu softly laughed. "She's right. No one gets where they are by staying in one place."
He turned his attention towards Nakada and Vapron. Nakada had begun to take a breather, and Vapron was preparing to attack her.
"Little girl, this is the end for you!"
Just as he prepared to summon a large smoke blast, he got tackled.
"Hmm?"
"I'll beat her, whatever the cost!" Atomu declared.
"Atomu! No!" Nakada exclaimed.
Vapron launched them both across the street with a powerful smoke black, as he laughed.
"So the Prince has got his nerve back? Good! I was getting bored!"
They both crashed into a skyscraper with a loud BOOM.
—-