Chapter 9 "The Order of Goddess Kira"

Chapter 9
The Order of Goddess Kira

Segundo Galaxy

“Warning! An unknown object detected! Warning! An unknown object detected!” A computer system goes on loud alarms, making all red alert lights flash continuously.

“What the -- Oh fuck! That hurts!” Ketsu bolts up fast only to hit the underneath of the control panel with his forehead. He had been sleeping under the control panel for the past few hours due to fixing the hallway, building a bar, updating the computer system, and piloting all at once for the past week.

Leaving his hand on his throbbing forehead, he hastily gets up and checks on the detection radar and security videos only to see the rest of the Hoshiko members already waking up and coming out of their bedrooms, thanks to the loud alarms throughout the entire spaceship.

“Is it an asteroid?” Ketsu leans closer to the microphone.

“No,” the computer replies.

“Comet? Debris?”

“Ketsu!” Siko cries as he barges into the bridge. “Another spaceship is heading for us!”

“What?!” Ketsu cries and turns to the large monitor. He hurriedly switches the channels until he freezes at the sight of a large spaceship heading for them.

It is much larger than the Hoshiko spaceship.

“Oh shit!” Ketsu starts typing as fast as he can.

“Turning to the right at 90 degrees now.”

“Brace yourself!” Ketsu pushes one of the buttons fast, turning on the speakers. “We are turning around at high speed right now! Find something to hold on to!”

He and Siko quickly get in the seats and put on the seat belts as fast as they can. Ketsu taps his watch, making a hologram appear hovering above it. It is being fed from the security cameras from the outside, so that Ketsu can keep an eye on the approaching spaceship. “Come on… Come on… Please miss us! Please!”

The spaceship makes a sharp turn, trying to get past another spaceship without crashing, but then a sudden loud screeching noise comes afterward; as if both spaceships are scratching each other at super high speed. The entire Hoshiko spaceship is shaking violently, tossing all of the loose items all around.

When the whole shaking due to the light collision stops, Ketsu gives a relieved sigh just in time he gets startled by another loud alert.

“Invaders detected! Invaders detected!”

“What, someone is breaking in now?” Siko asks nervously.

“Shit! Yes, they are!” Ketsu quickly gets out of his seat, back to the control panel. His eyes shift to several monitors, including the amount of fuel, detection radar, computer security, and the severity of the damage. “Five people other than us are inside. You go and get everyone. I gotta fix the spaceship as fast as possible. We are losing fuel.”

Siko quickly takes off and finds Katuo first, who is in the hallway outside their bedroom. “Katuo!”

“Siko! Please… Please get Gus off!” Katuo yells angrily. Gus is trembling in fear and is hugging Katuo’s entire face. He pulls the scared baby dragon off and lets out a loud gasp for air. “What the hell is going on?!”

“We have the invaders. We need to find them,” Siko says. “Ketsu said he has to fix our spaceship because of the recent collision.”

“So, that collision was an intention?” Katuo asks angrily. 

“There you are!” Roy yells, getting their attention. “I have been looking for --” He suddenly falls through a new hole.

“Roy! Are you ok?!” Siko cries and runs over to the hole, which is way too dark for him to see. “Katuo, I’m going after him!”

Katuo gives him an approval nod and watches the Light God jumping into the hole. He begins running all the way through the hallway until he gets to one of the exit doors at the back of the spaceship. He turns the wheel easily before he opens the door and dives into the dark space.

Because he is Dark God, he does not need air to breathe anyway so he ignores the space helmet in the first place.

He narrows his dark green eyes in anger when a large spaceship gets into his sight. He can see that it is as damaged as the Hoshiko spaceship. He is about to launch himself with his dark energy when Hikyou stops him.

Wait, wait! Can I see that logo?

Katuo raises an eyebrow. He glances at a huge letter H with two arrows crossing on one side of the spaceship. “That one?”

I can’t believe it! That’s the symbol of the Hunters!

“What?! We got attacked by the Hunters?!” Katuo yells. He raises an eyebrow in both realization and confusion. “But aren’t they supposed to be dead for the past ten years? Why are they attacking us now?”

No, you’re right. The Hunters definitely died about ten years ago. This spaceship appears to be abandoned… It was probably taken by someone else.

Katuo frowns, “Are you saying that this spaceship was stolen --” He catches a red glimpse, but it disappears quickly. “What the hell was that just now?”

A second red flash zooms past Katuo, leaving a sudden breeze behind. Another flash goes afterward.

Before he knows it, three red lights keep circling the Dark God at high speed. He can sense three presences, but he cannot see anyone at all. He scowls, “Dammit. This energy feels so familiar… It reminds me of my father --”

He widens his eyes in shock and looks back up at three flashes continuously circling him. “The power of rush? Three of them have the same power?”

It’s possible that they belong to the same species who use the same power. Because there are trillions of species in this universe, I have no idea which species they are from. Heheheh!

Katuo mentally rolls his eyes at the Double God. He takes his headband off, feeling the boost of his dark energy. His dark wings flap at once. With the increase in his power, he can now barely see the figures who are coated in red magic. At least, Tezuka is much faster than they are.

He quickly launches himself toward one of the invaders and finally lands a punch, stopping him completely. He takes a good look at the attacker whom he has stopped. He is wearing a complete black outfit along with a black mask.

Two other men quickly stop, completely shocked at the fact that their comrade had been hit while they were in high speed.

“H-how did he hit one of us?!” One of the strangers asks in shock. “Who are you?!”

“I’m Katuo… the Dark God,” Katuo jerks a thumb at himself. He glances at the Hoshiko spaceship in anger. “You damaged my spaceship. You gotta pay for it!”

“Dark God?” the second stranger glances at one of his comrades. “I thought he was dead?”

“Well, I’m here!” Katuo yells in anger. He takes a deep breath before he asks, “What are you trying to do…?! Why are you attacking us?”

“We are looking for the Ultimate Weapon,” the first stranger answers. “If you are the Dark God… then you must have it somewhere!”

Ultimate Weapon?

“Ultimate Weapon?” Katuo asks, as if he is speaking for Hikyou. “What are you talking about?”

“It is a weapon that either saves… or destroys the entire universe.” The third stranger grins widely at him. “The Order of Goddess Kira must have it no matter what!”

“Hmm?” Katuo narrows his eyes at the mention of the Order of Goddess Kira. “You’re the ones of them? You have been causing trouble for the Dark Team for the last few years, haven’t you?”

“Dark Team is nothing to Goddess Kira,” one of the members laughs cockily, “She defeated them.”

Defeated?!

“Dark Team was defeated?” Katuo asks calmly, trying not to show his reaction.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. ‘Defeat’ is the wrong word. They were annihilated.” The other intruder beams a big grin on his face. “Goddess Kira fought and killed them… six months ago, isn’t it?”

“I don’t believe you,” the Dark God says firmly. 

“Well, who do we have here?” a calm female voice asks, making Katuo turn to her. She is wearing a top black tight shirt, only showing her belly. She tugs her non-fingered gloves tightly and then places her hands on her hips, covered by a few small belts. One of her black jeans is cut into short, and a dagger holder is wrapped around her bare leg. She runs her hand through her short red hair before her two long dark red bangs settle down at her chest level. Like other members, she is wearing black mask, as Katuo has finally figured out, to breathe.

“Shit,” Katuo curses at himself, now that he is facing four members of the Order of Goddess Kira.

“Captain Teufela!” one of the members exclaims, “This is the Dark God!”

“Dark God, eh? So, then… you have something we want.” The female warrior smirks at him. She pulls her dagger out of the holder. “The Ultimate Weapon.”

“Tch!” Katuo scowls. As he expects when he looks back down at Teufela’s feet, they burst into a pair of red energy. So, that’s rush energy… It looks like she has not mastered it completely yet.

Hmm?

“What is it?” Katuo whispers.

Teufela… Is she Teufela Slayna? The universe’s most infamous and fastest thief?

“So?”

I want her in the Hoshiko team.

“You can’t be fucking serious!” Katuo throws his arms up, but before he makes another move, Teufela disappears from his sight. She has instantly moved from her position to another place right behind the Dark God. At the same time, three thieves leap toward Katuo, also using their own rush energies.

A second has passed, and all of the OGK members have clear confusion on their faces. All of their weapons have been blocked by Katuo’s only one black sword, which comes out of nowhere. What has surprised them the most is how fast Katuo was able to block all of their simultaneous attacks. They quickly leap away from the Dark God, who chuckles in return.

“You’re not the first people with the power of rush that I had ever fought." Katuo points his black sword at his enemies. “I grew up with a certain man who has the same power. I still have not beaten him in any competition before I left my home planet.”

“So, that’s the power of Dark God.” Teufela frowns before she gives a light chuckle. “It doesn’t matter. All we need is Ultimate Weapon… and we intend to find it soon!”

Right behind Katuo, the fifth member of the Order of Goddess Kira carefully moves closer with a blade in his hand. He pulls his hand with the blade back a little before he lunges his weapon at the back of Katuo’s neck. 

Suddenly, his blade gets knocked away from its owner’s hand by another member of Hoshiko. 

“Not so fast!”

“Shonn?” Katuo turns around fast.

“Go!” Teufela commands, as she and three other men quickly disappear from both Katuo's and Shonn’s sights.

“Shonn, you go after those three! I’m going over the woman!” Katuo yells before he glides through the vast space.

“Yes, sir!” Shonn gives him a quick salute before he turns to three members. He creates two fireballs above his hands. He then slams them together, merging them into one larger fireball. He flashes a big grin at the thieves. “Who wants to go to hell first?”

“Why you…!” One of the members shouts. They quickly charge at him, but even with their rush power, Shonn manages to vanish from their sights. Before they even know what is happening, Shonn easily gives each a chop to the back of their necks, pressing the exact spots to cause them to pass out.

“That was easy.” Shonn briefly adjusts his space helmet with a pout on his face.

~*~

“Here.” Siko pulls down a space helmet on Roy’s head. “Can you breathe now?”

Roy takes a deep breath and answers, “Yes. If it weren’t for you, I would have died in space!”

Siko laughs lightheartedly, “We asked you to join in the first place, didn’t we? We will always owe you - after all, you are one of us.”

Roy blushes a little. “N-no! No need to owe me! It was what I wanted.” He turns to the external hole on the spaceship and covers it completely with ice. “There. It’s just a temporary fix.”

He is about to say another word when he turns to Siko only to stop. He notices that Siko has an unusual frown on his face. He asks softly, “Siko?”

Siko is staring at the Hunters’ spaceship for a few more seconds and then turns away from Roy. “Nothing. Let’s get back inside.”

He easily glides over to the entrance door and places his hand on the touchpad. When he receives the access, the door slides open easily. As soon as he senses an unfamiliar presence, he quickly ducks down, avoiding a kick completely.

“Oh no, you can’t do that!” Roy yells as he shoots an icicle from his bare palm at the blonde-haired stranger, who barely dodges from it. Immediately afterward, Siko gives the enemy a hard sidekick, sending him crashing through three walls.

“Oh shoot! I didn’t mean to do that! Ketsu isn’t going to be very happy!” Siko laughs nervously, as he scratches the back of his head.

Clenching his jaw in anger, the blonde-haired thief takes out his own blade and zooms through the new holes using his rush power in his feet. Before he can swing his weapon at Siko, Roy already has a hard grip on his arm, spreading ice all over it.

“Fuck!” The thief cries in panic and jerks his arm away from Roy. He stumbles backward until he falls to the floor. Before he can get away, Siko suddenly jumps in front of him. “P-please spare me!”

Siko squats down, his face a little closer to the enemy’s trembling face. “Why did you attack us?”

“B-because we heard that there are Gods onboard!”

“Oh. Like this?” Siko asks innocently, as he takes his white headband off, revealing his white wings.

“Y-you’re Light God…!” The enemy tries to get up only to get pushed back to the floor with Roy’s foot on his back.

“We didn’t tell you that you could get up!” Roy snaps. “You damaged our spaceship really badly. You know it’s not cheap to fix!”

“I’m just doing what I was ordered to!”

Roy and Siko look at each other in puzzlement. The Icy Warrior asks, “Who ordered you?”

“We are supposed to find the Ultimate Weapon! If the Gods are here… then it must be here! We must find it and get it to the Order of Goddess Kira!”

Colors are being drained from Siko’s face. “W-what?”

“What is this ‘Order’?” Roy asks.

Let him go.

Siko blinks in surprise. “Why, Hikyou-sama?”

He is no match for you guys anyway. Not even his friends are a match for any of you. Why should we waste our time with them?

Siko glances at Roy. “Hikyou-sama said to let him go. He said that it’s pointless to keep fighting.”

Roy rolls his eyes in annoyance. As soon as he lifts his foot, the enemy hastily gets up and laughs nervously.

“Goddess Kira will make you pay for sure!” The OGK member bursts into loud laughter. He then turns and leaps through the exit door. By using rush magic in his feet, he flies through the space until he is gone from their sights.

“Are you sure we should have let him go like this?” Roy asks worriedly. “It sounds like we are going to have trouble with the Order of Goddess Kira…”

“It’s going to be ok.” Siko smiles at him. “There should be a few more invaders inside. Let’s split up, shall we?”

“Alright!”

~*~

Gus cries loudly when he barges into the bridge only to startle Ketsu.

“Fuck! You scared me, Gus! I could have killed you!” Ketsu already has his hand on his chest, feeling the fast pace of his heartbeat. 

Gus whimpers apologetically, still hovering in the air.

Ketsu smiles at him and reaches out his hand. “It’s ok. Come here.” Gus quickly comes over and sits on his shoulder.

“Ok, then…” Ketsu turns back to the control panel. He mumbles to himself, “What the hell was that spaceship…? Why did it run into us on purpose?”

“Activate the defense system,” the computer system says. Soon, the entire Hoshiko spaceship gets completely coated by a black barrier, also known as Dark Angel’s Shield, which is similar to the one for Planet Earth.

“Here we go.” Ketsu turns around and checks his watch. He taps it and begins speaking to it, “Hello? Anybody there?”

“Here,” Siko responds.

“Me too!” Shonn says cheerfully.

“Hiya, Roy here!”

“Where is Katuo?” Ketsu asks.

“No idea. Roy and I are looking for any more invaders inside the spaceship,” Siko says.

“I just kicked three enemies’ asses. Now, I’m bored!” Shonn whines.

Ketsu ignores Shonn’s complaint. “Siko, do you know what’s going on?”

“Not much… Actually…” Siko begins explaining that the invaders may have been sent by the Order of Goddess Kira in search of the so-called ‘Ultimate Weapon.’

“Ultimate Weapon? We don’t have such a thing like it.” Ketsu raises an eyebrow and glances at Gus, who shrugs his tiny shoulders in return as if he somehow understands the entire conversation.  “Okay, I’m going to see if I can find Katuo.”

“Ok!” Siko, Shonn, and Roy say almost at the same time before they cut off the communication link on their own watches.

As soon as the Dark Angel opens the sliding door, he already has his sword out at an invader’s neck. He says bitterly, “I won’t forgive you for what you did to my precious spaceship!”

Gus blows loud raspberries at the trembling member of the Order of Goddess Kira.

“Get the fuck out of here. Before I hurt you.” Ketsu nearly hisses at him. When he lifts his sword, the invader is already gone from his sight. He takes out his tablet and begins tapping and swiping on the screen while he is calmly walking through the hallway. He opens a GPS application and taps on Katuo’s name. A green dot appears on the screen, and keeps moving around.

“He’s outside?” Ketsu blinks. He carefully grabs Gus and places him down on the floor. “Gus, you need to stay here and hide, okay? I’m going outside to look for Katuo.”

Gus lets out a fearful whimper.

“It’s ok. Siko and Roy are taking care of the invaders.” Ketsu smiles brightly at him. “Go.”

Gus begins running into one of the rooms and gets under one of the couches.

~*~

“Where the hell are you?!” Katuo yells angrily. He has been chasing Teufela for the past ten minutes, but the moment Teufela turns around the spaceship, Katuo loses sight of her.

She may not be as fast as your father is, but she still beats you in speed.

“Fuck you!” Katuo yells angrily, as he keeps flying around sticking to the external wall of the spaceship until he finds an open door. “Oh?”

He makes sure to poke his head inside first and determines that the area is clear. He carefully gets into the hallway and looks back and forth in two opposite ways.

He is about to make a step when he hears his name being called. He quickly turns around to find Siko jogging toward him.

“Ketsu was looking for you! We were so worried about you when you did not answer us!” Siko says with a little concern. “The others are trying to chase the invaders out.”

“A woman is still here… She called herself Teufela,” Katuo says. “I guess she is still looking for the Ultimate Weapon.”

“I… I see.” Siko frowns. “But what exactly is the Ultimate Weapon? It’s not like we have it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Katuo says, as he places his hand on the back of Siko’s head, pulling him closer. “Our love is the universe’s most powerful weapon, remember? That’s what Hikyou-sama told us before we left Earth.”

Siko smiles at him and places a light kiss on Katuo’s lips. “Yes.”

“If you came this way and didn’t see the woman… that means...” Katuo turns around in the opposite direction. “She must have gone this way!”

It does not take long before they reach a room with an open door, which is pretty unusual, especially when it comes to the automatic sliding doors.

“It must be broken,” Siko says, his hand caressing the doorframe. Something appears and disappears in the corner of his left eye. “Eh? Is someone here?”

“What?” Katuo asks. “I don’t see anybody here. Let’s go before she gets away!”

Siko narrows his light green eyes, as if he is trying to see something. Thanks to his father who used to be a sniper and used to train him how to use his eyes in an effective way, he barely catches some kind of red energy, which feels so familiar. “S-she is here!”

Before they can even move, Teufela suddenly appears going past Siko, into the hallway. She is laughing loudly, “No matter how fast you are… You can’t catch me at all!”

“Teufela!” Katuo yells angrily and turns around to begin chasing her once again, being followed by Siko.

They eventually get to the dock but Teufela is nowhere to be seen. They quickly split up and begin their searching.

“Looks like we are missing a space jet.” Siko checks the nicely-parked space jets.

“Shit!” Katuo yells angrily and then kicks the metal wall, making a large dent. “That bitch! Who the hell does she think she is?!”

That’s interesting… She proved that the rumor was true… She is truly the universe’s fastest thief, after all. The problem is… she is a member of the Order of Goddess Kira, so it will definitely be difficult to get her to join us, eh?

“Hikyou-sama, this is the third time that you wanted someone to join us!” Katuo yells angrily. “Icy Warrior used to have problems with money. A fiery werewolf has some kind of ADHD. But this thief? Seriously? Are you making us turn into a group of misfits?!”

“Katuo!” Siko cries in panic.

“What’s wrong?” Katuo asks.

“My Ai necklace… it’s gone!” Tears are filling up Siko’s eyes. “She must have stolen it!”

Gus chirps happily, as he flies toward Katuo and sits on his shoulder. Afterward, Roy, Ketsu, and Shonn enter the dock.

“It looks like everyone is ok… except Siko?” Ketsu blinks in confusion.

“His necklace was stolen.” Katuo growls. “Next time I see Teufela… She's dead meat!”

“Oh no!” Ketsu cries, as if he is in sync with Siko’s emotions. The way he bursts out startles everyone. “That necklace is very important!”

“Why is it so important?” Roy asks.

“I… I gave it to him for his birthday.” Katuo quickly looks away, trying to hide the blush on his face.

“Oh..? Ohhhh!” Roy scratches the back of his head nervously. “So, what now? Should we go after them?”

“Actually… I caught one!” Shonn beams a big grin and gives them a thumb-up.

~*~

The black-haired thief hits his head on the floor harshly with Katuo’s hand still on the back of it. 

“Where did you come from?” Katuo asks harshly. “Why did your captain take Siko’s necklace? Is it that important to you?”

“I-I have no idea!” The thief whimpers in pain. “We were just ordered to look for the Ultimate Weapon! Not the necklace!”

Katuo lets go of the thief, who sighs in relief but that does not last long. Ketsu quickly grabs the thief’s shirt and lifts him easily.

“Where can we find Teufela?” Ketsu asks.

“N-no idea! I was a-alone when Shonn caught me! My co...comrades abandoned me!”

“I see.” Katuo frowns. “So, is that how the Order of Goddess Kira treats you? Leaving you alone to die?”

“I-I don’t care! Kira is our only one true Goddess who will save the universe, no matter what! We have… We have to do everything we can to help her! The Ultimate Weapon will definitely…!”

Katuo suddenly drops him and turns away. “I’m done with him.”

“What do we do with him?” Roy asks.

Let him go. He was abandoned. His so-called friends are nowhere to be found anyway. They took the space jets from the abandoned spaceship… that is still lingering outside.

“Tch!” Katuo frowns. “Fine. We’re letting you go but don’t ever come here again… unless you have information on Teufela.”

The thief quickly vanishes from their sights within several seconds.

“So…” Ketsu begins to kick at the floor lightly. “About that abandoned spaceship…”

“You can have it,” Katuo says.

“Whooooo!” Ketsu says cheerfully.

Katuo turns to Siko. “Don’t worry. We will get your necklace back. We need to find Teufela as soon as possible.”

Siko smiles back. “Ok! It’s not like it’s the end of the world, right?”

“I’m going back to bed.” Shonn yawns loudly.

“Me too. It’s been a long night. Good night,” Roy says sleepily.