Chapter One Hundred Forty-Nine: Shield

Months ago…

Inside the S-1 Mansion, loud explosions could be heard coming from the training room. Hikari, Luca, and Marachii were on the couch, watching TV.

"Is she still training?" Marachii asked.

Hikari nodded. "Hellbent on perfecting herself. That's Princess Akari Asato for you."

"Could she do it any quieter?" Luca suggested.

BOOM.

"I stand corrected," Luca sighed.

Aoki kicked open the front door, a tired look on her face. Once she stepped inside, she heard the noise from the training room. "One of you tell her to keep it down. I'm exhausted."

"What's got you all sweaty?" Hikari wondered.

"Dachii."

Marachii's eyes widened, Hikari covered her mouth, and Luca just sat there.

"Don't tell me…did you guys kiss?" Hikari blurted out.

"The two of them! Her? With my brother? No way!" Marachii exclaimed.

"It IS Dachii," Luca shrugged. "Maybe he convinced the psychotic swordswoman to finally settle down—-?"

Aoki took the butt of her sword and whacked all three of them in the forehead. "Ow…"

"I was trying to bring him back, idiots," Aoki clarified.

"Oh, makes sense," Hikari realized, embarrassed. "So you two are not a thing! Good! That'd be one nasty couple."

Aoki whacked her in the forehead again before leaving. "Ow!"

As Hikari rubbed her head, Akari walked out of the training room, anger and annoyance visible on her face. Marachii greeted her.

"Hey, Akari, um, everything okay?"

She grabbed Luca's arm.

"Great," Luca remarked. "She's finally going to kill me."

"I need your help, Luca," she insisted, dragging him against his will to the training room.

Once the two were inside, Luca rubbed his wrist before turning to her. "What does the mighty Princess need from me? I was watching a good show."

Akari focused hard, straining her body, but she collapsed. "I need to summon a weapon! If I'm gonna fight against the enemies to come, I need to be at my best!"

"Huh," Luca noted. "Why not just use your magic?"

Akari immediately rebuffed that idea. "No. No. No. It's…too unpredictable. My Elemental Powers are all I need. But since Fujii is out with Saori, I need your help with this."

"If you say," Luca shrugged.

"So, how do you do it, Luca?" she asked. "How do you form your axes?"

Luca casually formed an axe from his hand, unleashing a powerful green slash. "New move. Isn't it cool?"

Akari stared in disbelief. "How? What mechanism do you use to activate it? Is it some pattern you have to drill into your mind? Any trigger?"

Luca thought for a moment. "I mostly just think of doing it, and it happens."

"Think…of doing it?" Akari repeated. "Okay, I'll try that. Weapon!"

She held out her hand, but nothing happened. Then suddenly, an energy bolt fired out, causing massive cracks in the walls. "Damn it! Every time!"

"Maybe you're thinking too hard," Luca pointed out.

"How did you manifest it the first time?" Akari asked.

Luca's mind flashed back to the past, remembering an attack on his Forest by trolls. "I got it while fighting a giant troll. He was hungry for wolves, and he tried to eat my wolf guardian, so I summoned all my strength and formed this axe to slay him."

"Is that the key?" Akari mused. "Strong emotions?"

"Well, Dachii got his saving his mother and who knows how Fujii got his, so I would assume that's the case, yeah."

"But what emotions do I need? Anger? Purpose? Determination?"

"I dunno. You gotta figure that out."

She fired an energy bolt at him, nearly hitting his face. "You're no help, you know that?"

"Meh, I'd say I helped pretty well."

She rolled her eyes as he left, and she resumed all her concentration on her training, continuing for days, weeks, and months.

Present Day…

Hikari was nearly blinded by the dazzling shield that protected her, and everyone around stared at it, speechless. Even Akari was stunned, before breaking out into a fit of laughter that Hikari had never seen.

"Haha! I did it! Finally! My weapon! See, Luca? I didn't need your help after all!"

Luca popped some beef jerky into his mouth. "But you took my advice, Princess."

"I did not. I saved my best friend on my own."

"That shield looks AMAZING!" Hikari gasped. "Great job, Akari!"

"Thanks, after all those months of training, it feels good to finally watch it pay off," Akari stated.

She looked at Runea, who had an unreadable expression on her face. "What's the matter? Jealous?"

"Of a Voltian?" she replied. "You must be crazy."

Her eyes glowed gray, and blades fired out of her body like bullets, bouncing off Akari's shield with the force of a cannonball. After a dozen blades connected, Akari's shield charged up and fired a kinetic burst of energy out, pushing Runea back.

"It can hold kinetic energy too?" Akari gawked. "This thing…is awesome."

She threw the shield at Runea's head, but the Elite sent it flying with a backhand. The shield realigned itself in mid-air and returned to Akari's arm. "Awesome."

Fujii landed beside her and Hikari. "Nice! I knew you'd unlock your weapon in time! And a shield too! That's a unique one!"

Runea lunged at Fujii, but Akari blocked her strike with her shield. Fujii then fired a blast of ice powerful enough to encase Runea inside.

"Use that shield well, Akari," Fujii said. "It suits you."

"I will."

Marachii, Luca, and Saori drove up to them.

"Did we miss anything?" Luca joked.

"It's not over yet," Fujii warned. "Prepare yourselves."

Dachii, basically dragging Kiyota along, caught up to the others. "We made it. This one slowed me down."

He motioned to Kiyota, who was limping and holding onto Dachii. "My greatness…will never be snuffed out!"

Akari looked at him with a mix of pity and disgust. "Kiyota. You look horrible."

"Shove that pride up your ass, Princess."

Hikari put a hand on his chest. "Here, let me help! Those injuries are very bad."

"Hell no!" Kiyota refused. "I will…be a soldier! And soldiers don't need help! Now, I'll finish this disgrace of a woman off!"

He used his remaining hand to form a large comet, but he suddenly stopped as the air turned thick and heavy.

"What's she—-?"

Inside the ice, only one thought filled Runea's mind. "Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. KILL."

The others watched her cautiously.

"Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. KILL HIM!"

BOOM.

The ice shattered, and a large blast knocked everyone away. Dachii, Marachii, Akari, and Kiyota went flying in one direction, and Fujii, Luca, Saori, and Hikari went flying in the other direction. A massive metal hand grabbed Dachii as he flew, and another one grabbed Fujii.

"Dachii! General! Hang on!" Akari called out.

"WEAPON MASTERY: TITAN OF STEEL!"

BOOM.

A large crater was formed where she once stood, and in its place was a massive metal mech that was taller than an entire skyscraper, with a large sword attached to its back. Runea sat in the cockpit inside the head, commanding its every movement.

"Thank you for the idea, Sirena," she said to herself. "I will complete my mission."

The hand brought Fujii right to her face. "Now, you will die."

Meanwhile…

All over the capital, everyone saw the massive mech as it started walking, including Arata, Tsugumi, Nishiyama, Tetsuya, and even Yoritomo.

"The hell?" Arata questioned.

"What power…who…?" Tsugumi wondered.

"Ahh! So scary!" Nishiyama exclaimed.

"Man, how are the Generals gonna stop THAT?" Tetsuya worried.

Even Nakada, Shinjii, Toru, and Naito watched in shock as the giant mech advanced towards the castle. Kia watched from a safe distance, worry on her face.

"Please, children," she begged. "Be okay!"

From the castle, King Ayrad and Queen Ayame watched. King Ayrad began sweating, but Queen Ayame watched in silence, her face intense.

"Mom! Dad! Whatever Ayana's doing, it's way too dangerous to be here! We need to go!" Atomu yelled.

Queen Ayame held up her hand, eyes glowing. "No. This castle is our fortress, it will not break!"

"But—-!"

"General Fujii and his Squad will handle it. Nakada, grab the others and go assist! You go as well, Atomu!"

Nakada nodded. "Right!"

She grabbed Atomu and led him outside. "Come! If we don't assist them, it will be too late!"

"Understood!" Atomu replied.

From a nearby street, Akari, Kiyota, and Marachii got up. The mech approached them, attempting to squash them, but a red card hit its foot, causing it to stumble back.

"Come on!" Aoki insisted. "Get out of its way!"

They all ducked to the next street as the mech continued advancing, largely ignoring them. Kiyota prepared to fire another comet at it, but Akari grabbed his arm. "Kiyota, stop."

"Get off me! This will be my victory, you hear!" he declared. "I will become a soldier!"

"No, you won't," Akari shot down. "But you can be an ally."

"Ally? You expect me to bend over at your feet?"

Akari pointed to the giant mech rampaging across the city, crushing entire buildings underfoot. "You wanna fight that thing alone? In your condition?"

She pointed to his body, bruised and battered. "Fine. I guess you have a point."

Akari looked toward Aoki. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Now you want to listen to me?" Aoki scoffed.

"Well, yeah! You're supposed to be the Vice-General, right?"

"Hmph," she said. "Let me think."

Luca, as a gorilla, crashed down next to them, Hikari and Saori on his back. Saori immediately pointed at the mech. "That scary thing has our friends! What do we do? What do we do?"

Aoki addressed Luca. "Luca. What's the biggest thing you can transform into?"

"A hydra," Luca answered.

"Do that," Aoki ordered. "We'll need some size. Akari. That magic you used. Turn it back on. You and Saori will need to fire every ounce of magic you've got at that thing. Marachii, you use your plasma cannon. I'll hit it with so many cards it'll never be able to recover."

"Just one issue," Akari interrupted. "I don't know if my magic will work right now."

"Well, make it work," Aoki demanded. "This is do-or-die! She wins, Fujii is dead and Dachii is captured, and we'll be complete failures! Come on, Princess! Is that what you want?"

"No," Akari responded.

"Good. Come on, guys, time to chase the metal."

From the mech, Fujii struggled against the tight grip of Runea's mech. Dachii struggled as well, barely managing to pry her fingers apart. "General! What now?"

"Hold on, Dachii!" he shouted. "She's going to crush the castle! I can't let that happen!"

"You will," Runea's voice rang out, through the mech. "Your precious King and Queen will see you die, just as you did for me and my sister!"

"Let go!" Fujii demanded.

Behind her, he noticed Luca's Hydra Form, and the rest of the group was on top of it. "That's my crew! Hit her where it hurts!"

"Now!" Aoki ordered. "Hit her!"

Akari tapped into her magic, using all her strength to fire a light beam at the mech. Saori did the same with her rainbow magic, and Marachii formed a plasma cannon and fired at Runea.

"Now…" Aoki said. "DIE!"

She formed ten red cards in her hand, launching them all at the same time the beams hit.

BOOM.

By the time the dust cleared, they noticed a large hole in the mech's chest, and it slowly turned around to face them.

"It can still move?" Hikari gasped, shocked.

The mech took one step forward.

"Oh hell," Aoki realized. "Luca! Move! Quick!"

BOOM.

The mech quickly stomped on the group, but Akari formed a larger version of her shield, barely managing to stop the foot from making contact.

"Guys…hurry…do something…" she pleaded.

From above, Fujii used his magic and his Element to form his Ice Samurai armor, and he slashed off both arms of the mech, grabbing Dachii and jumping off.

"Everyone! You okay?"

Marachii crawled out from under the shield. "They're not doing too well, they need help—!"

His eyes widened. "General! Dachii! Behind you!"

The mech smashed into Dachii and Fujii, causing Dachii to fly into Marachii's body and both went tumbling down the street.

"Ugh…"

Both of them tried to get up, but Runea smashed into them again, knocking them both into the ground.

"There," the mech said. "That should handle you both."

With a ferocious kick, Luca and the others got booted away, leaving Fujii alone to confront the mech. "Well, isn't this just like the old days?"

The mech drew its sword. "Death awaits you, Kenshi Fujii."

Dachii and Marachii both tried to pick themselves up, but suddenly a searing pain erupted in both of their heads at the same time, causing them to pass out.

…?

Marachii opened his eyes and noticed he was in a shadowy realm, complete darkness all around. He found Dachii next to him, equally as confused.

"What is this?" Marachii asked.

"It can't be anything good," Dachii stated.

There was a figure in a chair, and it turned around, revealing…

"Morino!" they both recognized.

The figure resembling Morino stood up without a word, the shadows around him growing more and more thick until an entirely different figure appeared, one much taller and coated in black armor from head to toe.

"That's not Morino!" Marachii realized.

"That's…" Dachii recalled. "That's…Titan!"

Before they even knew it, the figure was standing right in front of them, reaching out. "Dachii…Marachii…"

And then, just as fast, he touched their heads.

"Rise."

In the real world…

Hikari and Saori shook both Dachii and Marachii, but there was no movement from either.

"Guys, wake up!" Hikari exclaimed.

"Please don't be dead!" Saori worried.

Suddenly, they lifted their heads, and a massive wave of purple energy emitted out of them, pushing the girls away and changing their skin to black.

BOOM.

—-