Chapter 21 "The Shield of Angel"
Chapter 21
The Shield of Angel
“Night, hurry up!” Tezuka says sternly. “It won’t take long before Ryu leaves for the International Space Station. We will miss each other then.”
“But, but…” Night pouts. “The entire floor is slippy!”
Tezuka is casually strolling without any sign of slipping at all. He stops and turns around to Night without any effort. “So?”
Night looks down at the entire floor, which is completely covered with ice. With a sigh of cold air, he begins to make the first step only to slip and slide all the way through the hallway. He has been yelling in panic for the entire way.
Tezuka easily dodges from Night. He says amusedly and cheerfully, “Well, that's more like it, Colonel!”
He begins to run through the hallway, passing the terrified Volesmashian soldiers who are the victims of being covered in ice.
Eventually, they get to an icy closed door. They spot a keypad with a red flashing light on the top next to the door.
“Now what?” Night carefully gets up, trying not to slip and fall again.
Tezuka shrugs his shoulders and places his palm on the keypad. Two or three lightning bolts flicker across his hand. The keypad explodes, causing the red light to completely turn off and the door to slide open.
They keep running through the next few more doors until they reach a prison all the way down in the bottom of the Volesmashian’s war spaceship.
The cells in the prison are nothing like regular jails back on Planet Earth. Instead of the usual bars, the prisoners are in the white rooms with the wall of unbreakable glass.
“General!” Night exclaims and stops in front of Ryu’s cell after a long run.
Ryu is sitting on a bench against the rear wall, looking clearly bored. “Took you long enough. I was just considering whether I should break out by myself or not.”
“You're hurt.” Tezuka easily destroys the keypad one more time and then opens the door, letting Night get in first so he can heal Ryu right away.
Ryu’s leg is broken at an odd angle; his calf is bent in a weird way. “I'm fine. I had experienced worse than this.”
Tezuka almost twitches at one of their memories where their souls outside their bodies were literally at the door to death more than once back then. Even so… He clenches his fists in anger. “How did it happen? Why did you give yourself up? You're the General, and your division is useless without you. They were supposed to protect you!”
“I have faith in my troops… And also in you guys.” Ryu beams a big grin. “We are much stronger than twenty years ago. That's why I am not worried.”
“It was because of you both…” Night finishes with healing Ryu’s leg and makes a quick wrap around it with the bandage. “You helped us unlock our powers that were granted by Double God, right? It was also because of you that we never let our enemies get a single foot on Earth.”
Ryu glances at Tezuka and gives him a small smirk. “You have always been so overprotective because of Sky but we had made it this far. He would be proud.”
“Hm. Let's go, shall we? I called Dark Team so we'd better hurry. You know how Knapp is when it comes to his little brother being in danger…” Tezuka says almost cheerfully.
Ryu frowns at him. “He's very busy. Why did you call him?!”
“You got yourself in danger, blockhead! What if they overpowered you and killed you?!”
“Look who’s talking; you came here with Night… Without any reinforcements! You’re the Earth President. What would we do if they found you and killed you?!”
“We better go!” Night says nervously, trying to stop the bickering between his superiors. “Sooner or later, the Volesmashian officers will begin to suspect that they are not getting any responses from this spaceship.”
“He’s right.” Ryu shrugs his shoulders. He gets up only to flinch at the sudden pain in his leg. “Colonel, you didn’t fix my leg completely?”
“It takes most of my healing power to heal your broken bone… Compared to the usual wounds which only take a little bit.” Night scratches the back of his blondie head. “I just relocated your bone back into the right place. Please be careful with it, sir. My medical troops are on the way, so they should be able to heal your leg completely. Here is your helmet.”
Ryu does not say anything any further as he takes his space helmet from Night and puts it on right away.
Tezuka checks his watch. “We have five minutes before the Dark Team gets to the International Space Station. I want to get there before they do.”
“You’re going to use the power of rush? You know that it makes me nauseous!” Night whines.
Ever since the world war ended, Tezuka had been learning how to improve his techniques by using his rush power. He has successfully learned how to transport the power of rush into an object or even a person.
“But first… We are blasting the hell out of here.” Tezuka smirks and then points his palm at the ceiling. “Ryu, did you turn on your oxygen tank?”
Ryu grins widely and gives the Earth President a thumb-up.
Tezuka concentrates hard on his open palm until he feels small lightning bolts sparking all around his arm. He quickly directs and sends the bolts right out of his hand.
Before Night finishes opening his eyes after blinking, the ceiling has already exploded into pieces, opening up a new large hole to space. “Whoa! So, that’s why with the powers of rush and lightning… our allies from other planets call you the Stormy Leader! The storms just come and go in an instant… Just like you!”
“What, already? You got a cool nickname just within the first two years of your presidency? Aw, that’s our Tezukie!” Ryu laughs heartily.
“Let's just go.” Tezuka mumbles, trying to hide the embarrassment on his face.
<3<3<3
Tezuka feeds his rush power into two space jets and then turns to Night. “It’s ready.”
Ryu gets on the space jet, sitting behind Night. “Tezuka, we are ready.”
They blast off into the vast space with the speed of light, heading straight for the International Space Station with Tezuka leading the way.
When they finally get to the International Space Station, they get close enough to see a lot of smoke coming from the docking area. Night cries in panic, “Oh no! They got here first!”
“I don’t think your medical troops made it yet.” Tezuka frowns and glances around until he finds another space station, which is about two times larger than Earth’s International Space Station. There are several pieces of what’s left of an Earthling spaceship floating nearby.
“Shit! Volesmash has been nothing but trouble ever since we got freed from the chains,” Ryu says angrily and releases a small icy mist from his mouth. “When will the fight ever end?”
“They only attacked us because we are Planet Fantasy’s ally… as well as because of our history with them,” Tezuka says softly. “Only if I listened to them… This wouldn’t have happened!”
“Mr. President, you did not want to start another war with Volesmash, so that Earth would be at peace, right?” Night places his hand on Tezuka’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. “But… um…”
“Peace doesn't last forever, you know?” Ryu finishes for Night, who nods in agreement. “But so doesn't war either.”
Tezuka gives them a light-hearted smile. “Let’s go and kick some asses, eh?”
They quickly launch their space jets toward the Earth’s International Space Station. After dodging many firing bullets from the Volesmashians’ warships, they hastily land onto the docking area, arriving in the middle of the battlefield.
“Healer’s Target,” Night says right away, raising his hands. So much green energy is flowing out of his fingers and into every wounded Earthling soldier within his close range.
“So, that’s why you wanted to save your healing power in the first place,” Ryu says approvingly.
Tezuka suddenly takes off running through the battlefield, but that only freaks out Night, who then goes after him fast.
“Siko!” Ryu yells in both distress and anger when he spots one of the Volesmashian soldiers grabbing Siko easily from behind. He quickly leaves Tezuka’s side and runs after him.
It does not take too long before Tezuka takes down the soldier and gets his only son, who seems to be in complete shock, into his embrace.
“Father.” Katuo almost startles Tezuka when he mumbles into his chest. The lavender-haired President almost smiles at the fact that his own son called him father for the first time in years.
He frowns when he realizes that Ryu is not with him and that Siko is nowhere to be found.
“Where is Siko?” Tezuka looks up at Night who is focused on healing Katuo.
“He was taken. Ryu is going after him,” Night responds.
Tezuka can feel that Katuo freezes up in his embrace, holding his breath.
<3<3<3
Siko has never been so scared in his entire life. After he watches Katuo getting shot for the second time, a rough hand suddenly covers his mouth and another arm wraps around his waist, lifting him.
Should he bite into the stranger’s palm? Should he do anything and try to break free from the grip? Should he…
Go into God mode?
“Look who I just caught!” The Volesmashian soldier laughs out loud and pushes Siko, who stumbles and falls to his knees and hands on the floor.
Siko looks back up only to freeze up at several weapons that are aiming at him.
“Hey… Aren't you the son of General Mitsukai? The Earthling President’s sidekick with the godly power of the owl’s eyes?” Another Volesmashian chortles and walks around Siko. “Well, guess what? He is our prisoner now. He won't be able to save you!”
“Dad!” Siko cries, trying to brace his head with his own arms and closing his light green eyes. He flinches at loud sounds of weapons firing, but for some reason, he never gets hit. He feels a sudden chill all around in the air, so he opens his eyes once again.
An icy wall is standing right in front of Siko. Bunch of bullets are completely stuck inside the wall.
“W-what?” He stammers.
At the other side of the wall, Ryu is standing with his folded arms across his chest. He releases a light sigh of mist out of his mouth.
“Ryu!” Tezuka appears right next to Ryu. “Katuo is safe with Night.”
“Good.” Ryu glances at the trembling soldiers. “What do we do, Mr. President?”
“You’re the General of the First Division.” Tezuka flashes a big grin. He raises his fist into the air, creating tiny lightning bolts. “The Volesmashians are trying to invade our planet, aren’t they?”
Ryu gives a light chuckle. “Well, then… let’s kick some asses!”
“General Mitsukai!” One of the soldiers yells, as he tosses a rifle at Ryu who easily catches it. “Welcome back!”
“Thanks!” Ryu exclaims before he gets down on the floor with one of his knees and puts the rifle against his shoulder. The blue light is glowing throughout his rifle.
“Ice Bullets!” Without even looking through the scope, he fires his weapon at the Volesmashian soldiers.
“Holy shit!” The Volesmashian soldier cries in panic when he watches his comrades who turn icy after getting hit by Ryu’s ice bullets. “You bastard --”
“Volt.” After kneeling down with one knee, Tezuka stomps one of his hands on the floor, sending hundreds of lightning bolts toward the Volesmashian soldiers, who basically run for their lives only to fall into unconsciousness after getting hit.
“You learned how to control the power of lightning.” Ryu gets up only to wince at sudden pain in his leg.
“Hey, you’re not the only one who trained for years.” Tezuka shakes his sore hand. “I had to make sure that I wouldn’t hit our own comrades by accident.”
“M-Mr. President!” Another Earthling soldier cries in concern. “T-the Earth!”
“What is it?” Tezuka asks.
“Tezuka!” Katuo manages to get through a few Earthling soldiers, with Night chasing after him. He stops and glances around at the docking area only to realize that there are not that many Volesmashian soldiers left. All of those soldiers are either dead, unconscious, or wounded. He keeps looking until he catches the sight of Earth through the open hatch door to the entrance of the docking area. “W-what th-the hell…?”
Ryu jogs toward the hatch door but then he stops with a surprised look on his face. He turns slightly to Tezuka. “Did you say that you called the Dark Team?”
“Yes.” Tezuka joins him.
“Where the hell are they?”
The President of Earth follows Ryu’s stare until he looks at Earth only to freeze in fear. “Wh-what in the world…?!”
Earth is completely covered in a complete, pure black orb. It almost blends with the blackness of the vast space, but if anyone looks closely enough, they can still see the lighter outline of the planet.
Tezuka collapses to his knees. As much as he wants to look away, his eyes still stick to the sight of the Earth. “T-the Angel’s Shield… What happened to it?”
“Angel’s Shield?” Katuo asks.
“It’s the power of Dark Angel…” Tezuka answers. “But…”
“Has something happened to Ketsu?” Ryu asks worriedly.
Siko slowly walks over to Katuo and takes his hand. “Katuo… I don’t think Ketsu knows where we are.”
It’s ok. Earth is fine.
“Hikyou-sama?” Katuo and Siko ask at the same time.
It may look bad, but it’s the power of Dark Angel. When Ketsu senses a danger… that’s when his power suddenly escalates into something like that. Take a look at that Volesmashian spaceship.
“Dad… Look,” Siko points at one of the enemy spaceships trying to desperately fire their weapons at the Earth, but nothing can make at least a dent on the black shield. “Hikyou-sama said that it’s Ketsu’s doing.”
“I see… Is there a way to get back into Earth?” Ryu turns to Night. “Have you contacted your medical troops?”
“Actually I recently tried to, but I lost the signal. Probably because of Dark Angel’s Shield,” Night says. “We usually get through the first level of the Shield, but that… that is an absolute defense with multiple layers of the Angel’s Shield. I think… no one can enter or leave Earth. That’s probably why the medical troops have not arrived here yet.”
“Close the hatch,” Tezuka says as he turns away.
“Yes, sir!” One of the soldiers yells before he runs off.
“We still need to get back to Earth somehow,” Tezuka says. “But first…”
He briefly glances at the hatch door, which is now closing. “We need to stop Volesmash from attacking Earth somehow. Or else we will never enter Earth.”
“Hikyou-sama, can you reach out to Ketsu?” Katuo asks.
The further he is from you, the more difficult it is for me to contact him. I’ve been looking for him for the past hour. I got nothing so far.
“Tch!” Katuo frowns.
“Amazing…” Siko says softly. “Has Dark Angel always been this powerful?”
“Speaking of which… we have not seen him in real combat yet,” Katuo says almost thoughtfully.
<3<3<3
“Mr. President! You’re ok!” One of the Generals exclaims when Tezuka and others enter the conference room. He spots Ryu and says angrily, “General Mitsukai… you got to --”
“Many soldiers’ lives would be lost if it were not for General Mitsukai’s sacrifice,” Tezuka says sternly. “Dumbasses like you who hide yourself in your own offices while you send your soldiers off to the battlefield! I should just fire you --”
“That’s enough.” Ryu gets in between Tezuka and the Generals. “It was you who chose them to be Generals in the first place. It was because you trusted them for Earth’s sake.”
“But they were not even thinking about rescuing you at all!”
Ryu places his hand on Tezuka’s shoulder. “It's because they want to protect you. I would have done the same thing. You are the leader of Earth. Our people need you. If I have to die for you, then I’m more than happy to do so.”
Tezuka glances back at the Generals, who clearly have the worried looks on their faces. He grits his teeth and says, “Fine. General Mitsukai just saved your asses… for now.”
He jerks his thumb at Siko and Katuo. “This is my son, Katuo. The one with silver hair is General Mitsukai’s son, Siko. As you can see their wings… they are the new Gods of this universe.”
“What?!” All four Generals cry in shock.
“I’ll get to the point for now. Now that Dark Angel thinks not only that he has lost the Gods… but Earth is also getting attacked by Volesmash. He’s probably freaking out right now.” Tezuka takes a remote from the long narrow table and uses it to turn on the projector. The Generals are looking at the live feed video of Earth, which is still engulfed in pure darkness. “As you can see, we can’t get back to our home planet.”
“The Dark Angel can sense a great danger,” Ryu says. “See how Volesmash is trying to break through the Shield of Dark Angel? All we need is to get the gods back to the Dark Angel, and he will let us get through the shield once again.”
“Can you still fight back?” Tezuka turns to the Generals. “Most of your soldiers are still recovering from the recent battle. We would take care of the Volesmashians by ourselves, but…”
“The more, the merrier!” Ryu says almost cheerfully. “We have been at peace for almost twenty years, yes? It’s because that we still have and will always have the Dark Angel on our side. It’s time to kick the Volesmashians back to their home planet!”
“I want to fight,” Siko says suddenly. “The Earth… It is one of the balances of the entire universe. Without it, we are dead.”
Katuo smirks at Siko. “I’m joining as well.”
“Well, then…” General Matthews of Fourth Division gets up with a smirk. “I'm in.”
The rest of the Generals mumble something about how President Kejinto and General Mitsukai never changed at all and then nod their heads in agreement.
“Mr. President, you have always been reckless, but please allow us to take care of it this time.” General Wade of the Second Division says.
“I may be a woman, but I’m also a soldier. I'll fight for you and Earth.” General Suarez of the Third Division bows her brown-haired head.
“...I have no choice, don’t I?” General Yasai of the Fifth Division sighs in both annoyance and tiredness. He begins to play with his white mustache. “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
Ryu turns to Tezuka. “Let’s do it, shall we? Has the Dark Team arrived yet?”
Tezuka checks his watch and shakes his head. “No. They are late.”
“That’s unusual.” Ryu frowns in concern.
“We have been here for the entire time.”
Every single person in the same room all screams in fright at the sudden voice coming from the darkest corner.
“Fuck, Knapp! You gave all of us heart attacks!” Ryu yells in anger.
“Sorry, sorry!” Laughter echoes throughout the conference room. “I was waiting for your next order. You asked us to come here because of the Volesmash’s attack, but what I also heard is that the Dark Angel is also in trouble.”
“Uncle!” Siko exclaims in excitement.
“Knapp.” Tezuka takes a deep breath. He has not screamed like that in a long time. After all, he is not the one who gets frightened that easily. “Why didn’t you show yourself in the first place?”
Knapp comes out of the shadowy area along with light chuckles. He glances at the projector’s screen of the darkened Earth. “Ketsu is really something, isn’t he? Sometimes he doesn’t know that he is capable of doing this.”
“He will kick your butt if he sees you again.” Ryu crosses his arms with a worried look on his face. “You were gone for two years.”
“I… We have been so busy lately.” Knapp shakes his head. “There’s a troublesome organization, but they are scattered all over this universe.”
“Are they anti-Double God?” Tezuka asks with concern in his tone. “I heard about them a few years ago, but I thought it was only just a rumor…”
“I thought it was a rumor at first too… but…” Knapp frowns, “We ran into one of the followers a few years ago, so since then… we had been searching for the other followers of the organization. The number of followers is growing faster than we expected. The aliens from different universes aren’t the only problem here.”
“What is this organization?” Katuo asks.
Knapp glances at Katuo and spots the black wings. He flashes a huge grin on his face. “Ah! You’re finally Dark God?! It’s about time! And you too, Siko? You’re Light God now?”
“Yeah, whatever. The organization you were talking about… what are they called?” The Dark God asks again.
“They called themselves the Order of Goddess Kira,” Knapp says. He shakes his head. “But for now… Earth is our first priority, seeing as it’s in great danger. I don’t know how long the Shield of Angel will last. Sooner or later, the Volesmashian troops will break through the barrier.”
“Order of Goddess Kira…?” Siko asks. “But… why? Why don’t they believe in Hikyou-sama?”
“Let’s just say…” Knapp shrugs his shoulders. “Hikyou-sama might have done a few stupid things a long time ago, so that made some people angry at him.”
Hey! Fuck you, Knapp! You were not supposed to tell them!
“Back to ya, Hikyou-sama!” Knapp flashes a big grin. “I was wondering when you would say something.”
“You can hear him too?” Siko asks in surprise.
Do something about your son, Knapp! He’s doing something stupid right now, like locking you guys out of Earth.
“You just reminded me about why I have never liked you, Hikyou-sama,” Knapp says coldly before he turns to Tezuka and the rest of other people in the same room. “Let’s go and save Earth, shall we?”
“I was waiting for you to say that.” Tezuka gives him a small smirk.