Chapter 17

Before them rose the abandoned city, a maze of streets and buildings viewed through the grimy glass of the front doors. The map given by the village chief led Luca and Aiko through its empty heart. Everywhere was a reminder of the destruction brought about by the surface Naxons: each building reduced to rubble, each street silent and devoid of life.

Aiko looked over the ruined city and said, "This it, huh?"

Luca simply nodded. "Let's check it out."

Aiko seized Luca's hand before he could take one more step and whispered urgently, "Wait. I hear something. I hear a kid running."

"A kid? What is a kid doing here?" Luca asked, puzzled.

Aiko's face turned grave. "He's injured too. We've got to help him."

Luca and Aiko ran toward the noise without any moment of hesitation. Soon, they saw a small child, his face streaked with tears, stumbling through the wreckage. "Hey, kid! Are you alright?" Luca called out.

It stopped and turned to them, its eyes full of fear. Luca made a step forward, but in that very moment, a flash of memories exploded in his mind as he remembered how a girl had become a Naxon in his village. He recoiled.

Aiko saw Luca's reaction. "What's wrong?"

"That is not a human," Luca told her strained. "That is a disguised Naxon."

"What?" Aiko exclaimed in surprise.

"I've seen one of these before in the village," Luca explained. "I got tricked. I'm not sure but I have a feeling."

Luca shouted at the kid, "Hey kid! What's your name?"

The kid just kept crying and pleading for help without noise.

Aiko asked again, "What are you doing here? Where are your parents?

Still silence, and the child's whimpers grew desperate. Luca moved closer with care. "Chill, kid. I'm here to help. Just tell me your name."

The child was slow to do so, then began struggling to stretch in Luca's direction. In a flash, Luca snapped his fingers and barriers of sound enveloped the child.

With an earnest look, he asked, "Who are you?

The childlike figure glitched, distorted, and finally took form as a small Naxon. Luca's face hardened. "It's a baby Naxon. It's weak."

Aiko turned her head away in distaste. "Perhaps we should just let it go, so that we don't call attention to ourselves."

"Are you joking?" Luca said. "They eat and kill humans." He drew his sword and quickly beheaded the Naxon.

Aiko turned away, not looking. "Gross."

Suddenly, Aiko came to a dead stop, shaking. "L.L.Luca, we have to get out of here."

"Why?" Luca asked, surprised.

"There are tons of Naxons running in our direction!!" Aiko's voice was quivering.

There was barely enough time for Luca to confront the situation when Naxons appeared from every other direction: one in front, one to their right, one to their left, and one from behind. In the blink of a second, Luca snapped his fingers, entombing Aiko in a barrier cage.

"I'll make it wear off in a minute," Luca said urgently. "Once it does, run to the village."

Aiko protested, "I'm not leaving you."

"You'll leave me if you don't want to die!" Luca shouted. "Now go!"

For that, Luca unsheathed his sword, ready to go into battle. He darted in front of the leading Naxon and began to slash at it, sending it into flight. While he fought, three more Naxons then emerged from the sides and attacked him head-on.

The smoke cleared, showing Luca was standing with his hands out, blocking the attacks with his sound shield. He snapped his fingers again, making a huge barrier that sent the Naxons flying.

But before Luca could even catch a breath, one of the Naxons charged at him, swiping across his abdomen. In an instant, Luca had placed a barrier around himself and regenerated.

Four Naxons ran right at him. Luca braced himself, then suddenly launched out in front of them. In a strong tone of voice, he yelled, "Die!" and, with his powers, grasped the Naxons by their throats, squeezing their throats under his strength.

Aiko, now on top of a roof, looked upon the battle in both astonishment and concern. "Good job, let's get out of here."

Luca leaped onto the rooftop. "I thought I told you to go!"

Before Aiko could respond, she suddenly got morphed into a Naxon and impaled herself through Luca's body. Seized by this realization, in an instant, Luca grasped the Naxon's hand, which he broke and made into a spear. He pierced the Naxon's head and killed it.

"That was close," Luca said, his voice tight. In an instant, he had regenerated and heard a deafening roar from the city-no, hundreds and thousands of roars.

He jumped down to the streets, only to find hundreds of Naxons converging on him from all sides. Luca created a huge barrier around himself, but the Naxons tried with all their might to pierce through, continuously slashing and clawing at the barrier.

And as Luca stood there, tired but determined, a new and stronger aura emerged from the sea of Naxons. A huge Naxon unlike any of the others appeared and shook the earth with each of his footsteps. The nerves rang in Luca's brain as Psyros yelled, "Kid, this is bad news. You need to get out now."

"It's all good, right?" Luca's voice was shaking. "My barrier can hold, right?"

"I don't know," Psyros replied. "You need to go out and run."

Luca was somewhat irresolute, with a lot of problems letting go of abandoning the village. "Can I outrun this monster? I need to stand my ground."

The giant Naxon walked towards him; its face showed a malevolent grin. Luca made a spear and tried to strike the Naxon. It just caught it and snapped the spear like a toothpick. He tried a few other attacks-snapping his fingers to make a few different objects-but none did anything.

The Naxon mocked him, calling him a "weak human."

Desperately, Luca created a barrier in front of his face and tried to choke the Naxon with it. The Naxon tapped the barrier with one finger and it shattered. Luca was in shock at just how screwed he was.

The Naxon tapped Luca's barrier, which cracked under the power. Seizing his chance, Luca created several thousand spears and threw them back at the Naxon. He sprinted away as the Naxon started regenerating and shaking off the spears.

Luca soon found Aiko, who was concealing herself in the woods, and he briefed her in a hurry. "We need to leave. This Naxon is something else. It is ten thousand times stronger than a normal Naxon."

The next morning Luca wakes up to the ringing of the village bell. It was the village chief, telling him that hundreds of thousands of Naxons were coming their way, wanting everyone in the bunker.

Luca runs through the village, begging the chief, "This Naxon is different. It's powerful enough to find us and break the bunker. We have to leave We have to run!"

The head looked over at him and persisted, "This bunker can handle it. Trust me. Get inside."

Luca also kept himself outside, knowing his actions would keep the village safe. Psyros looked over to him and said, "Kid, this was a great ride. But you know you're going to die here with me."

"If we die, Pyros, we die together," Luca answered undaunted.

As the Naxons closed in, Luca snapped his fingers and created a big hammer with his sound manipulation powers. Jumping high, he struck the village bell with the hammer, extremely loud and resonating; he then lifted his hands and created a colossal barrier, circling the village.

The Naxons slammed onto the barrier but could not break it. The village chief watched from the bunker as the Naxons tried hard to get through. Then, out of nowhere, the giant Naxon appeared and caused the earth to crack from his presence. He approaches the barrier and taps it with his finger, but this time that does nothing. The louder the sound, the stronger the things Luca creates. Then, Naxon gets angry and punches through the barrier. He manages to crack it and smile proudly. 

The battle was far from over.