Chapter One Hundred Forty-Eight: Empowerment

"Hurry! All of you, evacuate, quickly!"

The Generals spread out across the capital, helping citizens flee the terror. Nakada and Atomu were stationed near the castle, and as they helped scared nobles escape, they saw a devastating slash hit the castle, severing it in two.

"What on earth—-?" Nakada gasped.

"My home!" Atomu exclaimed. "Who could do such a thing?"

"Come, Atomu! We have to make sure the King and Queen are alright!"

Atomu nodded, and they headed inside the castle, navigating the hallways and jumping over the gap that had been made by the split. They entered the throne room, which was still mostly intact.

"They aren't here…" Nakada noted. "Could they still be in the Ballroom with everyone else?"

"It's likely," Atomu agreed. "They might be having everyone else evacuate."

The two hurried over to the Ballroom, where sure enough, they found the King and Queen in the garden outside, analyzing the chaos unfolding within Aleora.

"Mom, Dad!" Atomu shouted. "You need to leave, immediately!"

Queen Ayame turned around. "Son, you're supposed to be out helping with evacuation!"

"Never mind that," Atomu stated. "Why are you still inside? The castle has been split in half!"

King Ayrad looked Atomu in the eye. "We cannot abandon our home in its time of need, son. If we flee and run with our tails between our legs, then the enemy has won."

"Won? This isn't about winning, it's about survival!"

"We'll survive," Ayame assured him. "Squad S-1 is on the case, and we've got all the other Generals gathered here too! Ayana made a foolish mistake attacking our capital, one she WILL regret!"

"Mother…"

Queen Ayame noticed the destruction of the capital, the bodies lying on the floor, and the ruined buildings all over. "The destruction she caused…this massacre…she WILL atone."

From inside the Ballroom, Kia watched as the building began to crumble. "My kids…I hope my kids are safe."

Xar grabbed her arm, leading her outside. "Come on, we must get you and everyone else out of here!"

"But what about my kids?"

"They're with Fujii! He'll watch over them!"

"You'd better be right," Kia warned. "Or this building will be the least of your worries!"

He led her outside the Ballroom as various other guests hurried to leave. Nishiyama and Tetusya watched the chaos, in utter disbelief.

"Hey, Nishiyama…" Tetsuya muttered.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"I don't know…" Nishiyama admitted.

As everyone panicked, a sudden bright light stopped everyone in their tracks. Queen Ayame and her husband immediately paused when they saw it, which appeared to be a bright white beam, shining into the sky. Even Atomu watched, wide-eyed.

"It can't be…" he realized.

The beam of light nearly blinded everyone in the Ballroom, enveloping the entire district in a white aura before disappearing.

"It's happened," Queen Ayame stated. "She's awoken."

Even from across the capital, Hikari, Luca, Marachii, and Saori all noticed the beam, each of them equally stunned.

"What is THAT?" Marachii asked.

"Nothing good…!" Hikari answered. "Come on! We need to head over there IMMEDIATELY! Marachii, can you form your car?"

Marachii nodded.

"Okay, let's grab everyone and go! Quick!"

Meanwhile…

Dachii opened his eyes, expecting to be dead, but instead he felt himself being held by hands both soft and cold at the same time. "…Ugh.."

But the moment his vision cleared, there was a girl. A girl with long, flowing hair that was floating upward. A girl with glowing, white eyes, hovering just a few feet above the ground. The moment Dachii noticed her, she landed on the ground.

"What the—-?"

Her voice came out awfully familiar, and it immediately dawned on him who it was. "Dachii. Did she hurt you?"

"Akari? What happened to you? What are you? Some space goddess?"

She set Dachii down, and this time, she actually managed a laugh. "Not quite."

Both Fujii and Kiyota noticed her as well, equally as shocked as Dachii. Even Runea watched with a surprised expression, pausing her attack as she studied the destroyed remains of her soldiers.

"Akari!" Fujii called out. "I've never seen you use your Magic! You never told me it was that powerful!"

Kiyota was left speechless. "But…what…how…this isn't FAIR!"

Runea landed on the ground in front of Akari, whose face immediately shifted to anger.

"What is this?" Runea inquired. "Some new power-up?"

Akari glared at her. "You've torn apart my home, you've murdered dozens of my people, you've attacked my friends, and you've ripped my CASTLE in two. Do you know what we call that in this nation?"

Runea lifted an eyebrow.

"UNFORGIVABLE!" Akari snapped.

She relaxed a devastating well of power, causing every building in the area to go flying. Bringing her hand down, white bursts of power sent the buildings flying at Runea, who watched them with an almost trivial look.

BOOM.

With a slash of her blade, she slashed the buildings into pieces. Akari didn't waste any time before holding her hand out, firing a blast that seemed oddly different from her Energy.

BOOM.

Runea leapt over the blast, which utterly decimated the street that it hit.

"Woah," Dachii thought. "Did she just get more powerful…and beautiful?"

Runea landed on her feet, summoning her blade. Fujii walked up to Akari, wrapping an arm around her. "That was totally awesome! What Magic is that? And why have you been holding out on us for so long?"

Akari's face turned red. "Well…it's called Empowerment. It's super dangerous and rare…and after an accident when I was 9, I stopped using it for good."

"Empowerment, eh?" Fujii remarked. "Well, it packs SOME power, alright!"

Akari looked at her hand. "I don't know if I can use it for long…"

Fujii formed a pair of katanas, shifting back into his Ice Samurai form. "Don't you worry. This won't take long. Follow my lead."

Akari nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Cute," Runea mocked. "You're both getting along so well. Now die."

She rushed at Fujii, but Akari fired a blast at her, forcing her to jump out of the way. Fujii went in for a strike, but she easily ducked under his swing, forming a spear from her mouth which pierced him in the eye.

"The mouth, really?" Fujii moaned. "What, are you gonna pull a blade out of your ass next?"

Runea severed the left side of his face with a precise strike, but he responded by slashing her torso deep enough to cause bleeding.

"Damn, missed her heart!"

Runea prepared to go for his heart, but Akari lifted her hand, and Runea had to duck as another building went flying at her. "That Magic is starting to be a pain in my ass. Fine. You can go FIRST!"

BOOM.

With an explosive burst of force, Runea went for Akari's neck, but Akari slammed her hands on the ground, launching both of them into the air, where they attacked each other at speeds that caused sonic bursts. Akari's body began flowing.

"Empowerment: Bane of the Goddess!"

BOOM.

The same powerful eruption of light shot out from her body, hitting Runea head-on and sending her flying back to the ground as a massive ball of pure light formed in the air around Akari.

"Are we seeing the same thing?" Kiyota asked Dachii.

"Yes," Dachii replied.

Akari descended back to the ground, but to her surprise, Runea was still standing, her chestplate only mildly burned. "That hurt."

In the blink of an eye, she slashed through Akari's chest, but Akari stopped her before she could reach the heart, grabbing Runea's blade and melting it with her light. Runea formed a spear and sliced off Akari's arm with clinical precision, before kicking off and creating enough space for her to form a rifle and fire it at Akari.

"Weapon Mastery: Rapid Fire!"

More guns formed from the first one, launching bullets faster than the speed of sound. Fujii jumped in front of Akari, deflecting the bullets, which seemed to keep coming back again and again.

"ANNIHILATE!"

Fujii formed a large ice wall in front of himself and the others, and the bullets got lodged in the wall. Runea formed a hammer to break it, but before she could, Akari burst through the wall herself, grabbing Runea and dragging her along as she threw her through an entire shopping district, littered with bodies.

"Look at what you did!" Akari demanded, as Runea recovered. "How does all this make you feel, Ayana? Tell me!"

"You want my honest answer?" Runea asked, forming a glaive between her hands. "Good."

And the ground began to shake. "Weapon Mastery: INFINITE CHAINS!"

BOOM.

The chains burst through the floor, tearing apart everything in its wake. Dozens of them targeted Akari, who threw out her hands, vaporizing them all in the blink of an eye with a powerful aura of light.

"Empowerment: Armor of the Fallen!"

Her entire body shifted from her squad uniform to glowing white armor, and she swung a fist at Runea's face, managing to stagger her.

"Nice hit."

Akari rose into the air and fired a powerful blast of light at Runea, who deflected it with the edge of her blade, sending it flying out of the roof.

"Does she have a counter for everything?" Akari snapped. "Damn it, I think my time's running out!"

Her body began to shift back to its normal form, and Runea swung her glaive in a wide arc. "Weapon Mastery: Form Duplication! SEVER!"

A large vertical slash carved through the ground and came straight for her, but Fujii grabbed her and put her on his back, saving her.

"General!"

"You did great, Akari!" he complimented. "But she's tough. She won't go down so easily!"

"How do we beat her?" she asked. "She blocks every attack we throw at her!"

"We'll need to give this all we got," Fujii answered. "Everything, everyone, this is an Elite. The only way to beat an Elite, is to become an Elite."

"SEVER!"

Another vertical slash fired at them, and Fujii formed a large ice pillar to evade it.

"I can't use my Magic right now," Akari explained. "I wasted it! And I don't know how long it will be before I can use it again!"

"That wasn't a waste!" Fujii corrected. "You gave her a run for her money! Now we just need to take it."

"What if I could mix my Element and my Magic, like you do?" Akari wondered.

"Perfect idea! It'll allow for you to boost both your respective abilities!"

"But that'll take a lot of effort to perfect! Do we really have the time?"

"Only one way to find out," Fujii said. "ICE DRAGON!"

He formed a large dragon of ice, getting on the back with Akari. The dragon flew high into the sky, circling Runea from above. She prepared to jump into the air after it, but an axe narrowly missed her head.

"Intruders," she scoffed.

Marachii's car swerved and parked a few feet away from her, and he, Hikari, Luca, and Saori jumped out.

"You guys are okay!" Fujii called out from above. "Nice work! Give her hell! We'll back you up!"

"Will do!" Hikari replied.

Luca ran at her in gorilla form, swinging repeatedly at her head. She ducked, jumped, and side-stepped his attacks, only stopping when Marachii attempted to run her over with his car.

"Pitiful."

A chain emerged from below her feet, lifting her well above the two as she threw a spear at Fujii's dragon, which froze it in ice.

"Leave them alone!" Hikari ordered, pink energy forming on her hands. A wave hit Runea, temporarily slowing her, but within seconds, she was fine. Runea turned to face Hikari, forming a bomb in the tips of her hands.

"You know, you're pretty nice, Hikari," Runea admitted. "I apologize for this."

The bomb in her hands got bigger and bigger, until it was well above the size of a nuke. "Hey, wait, wait!"

Without a second thought, Runea threw the bomb at her. Akari watched from above, concern for her friend on her face. Before Fujii even knew it, she jumped down.

"Stay away from her!"

Before the bomb could hit, a brilliant flash of light emerged out of thin air, and the bomb, in turn, hit something else.

BOOM.

Runea's eyes widened as she noticed Akari and Hikari, completely unharmed…

…and a large shield on Akari's arm, her Elemental Weapon finally having formed.

—-