Chapter 23 "Emperor Phoenix"

Chapter 23
Emperor Phoenix

By the time they arrive at the front line of the battlefield, Tezuka, Ryu, Night, the Generals, and their troops can clearly feel the vibrations coming from the destruction of the first two layers of Dark Angel’s Shield.

But it is the least concern for them. It is the enemies that they are facing at this moment. Several Volesmashian soldiers have their weapons loaded and ready to fire anytime.

“Whenever you are ready, Mr. President.” General Matthews of the Fourth Division calmly releases a breath of purple mist inside his space helmet, but that does not seem to affect him at all, as if it is completely normal for him.

“Don’t be impatient. Wait until I give you my signal,” Tezuka says as his fist is burning with red energy.

Every single Earthling soldier, except Ryu, quickly gets into their positions just in time when one of the Volesmash generals has instantly moved and is already standing right in front of Earth President with a gun barely touching his forehead.

“You could have shot me if you wanted to finish me off...” Tezuka says calmly and checks the name tag, “General Tyson.”

“Oh, Mr. Earth President, I would have done that if it wasn’t for that annoying icy barrier.” General Tyson briefly shifts his eyes toward General Mitsukai whose eyes are glowing in a white color and hand is pointing at him.

As soon as the Volesmashian general mentions the icy barrier, the Earthling and Volesmashian soldiers can barely see it standing between General Tyson and President Kejinto.

Tezuka gives a light chuckle, making General Tyson raise an eyebrow in confusion. “Actually, that’s a if. I already landed a few of my own attacks on you before this barrier even protected me.”

Before General Tyson can react, he feels four powerful impacts on his chest. He bends down a little as he throws up his own blood. He scowls deeply at the thought of getting beaten by a leader of such a weakling planet. “T-this is nothing like our Emperor! He will destroy all of you anytime now!”

Tezuka narrows his blue eyes at the mention of the Volesmashian Emperor. “Emperor Phoenix is here?”

“Charge!” General Tyson commands loudly. By using their air pressure devices attached to their feet, the entire Volesmashian army begins rushing toward the smaller Earthling army. Some of them have already begun firing their weapons.

“Monumental Reflect!” Night quickly moves past Tezuka. Without even lifting a hand, he creates a nearly invisible reflect barrier that stretches all over the Earthling army of less than five hundred soldiers. By the time the defense shield is complete, thousands of the Volesmashian soldiers begin firing their weapons only to get the bullets reflected back to themselves, getting severely wounded.

Other soldiers who have not fired their weapons quickly go through the barrier easily, and the battle between Earth and Volesmash breaks out.

“Where is your Emperor?” Tezuka asks, not even bothering to look back at his own army.

General Tyson lifts his gun one more time and gives a few more chuckles before he stops when he realizes that the leader of Earth is completely gone from his sight. 

“Tezuka!” Ryu yells angrily but even though he uses the power of aguila in his eyes, he can barely see him zooming through the enemy army. He quickly turns to Night before he creates a new icy narrow bridge to slide on. “Keep the troops healed! I’m going after Tezuka!”

Using the power of rush in his feet, Tezuka launches himself toward the army of Volesmash and dodges as many soldiers as possible. Ryu quickly goes after him.

“Oh, my. Mr. President has always been reckless, isn’t he?” General Suarez gives a light sigh of annoyance as she takes off her white gloves. She erects one of her arms, her palm facing the army. A small amount of clear liquid slowly comes out of her palm gently. “Boil.”

A few unfortunate soldiers shriek in pain when they get splashed with General Mary Suarez’s boiling water, making the others leap away as far from the dangerous attack as possible.

“Showoff.” General Wade gives a light-hearted chuckle. He takes off his neat black uniform jacket and tosses it into the vast space. He runs both of his hands through his short blonde hair, combing it all the way back to show his entire forehead.

He takes out a katana out of his scabbard strapped to his black belt. The blade of his sword suddenly bursts into flames as he commands, “Fire Sword.”

He is just hovering in space as some of the Volesmashian soldiers are approaching closer and closer with the desire to kill.

Suddenly, General Wade’s entire body also bursts into flames, making the enemies stop before they can get closer to him. Soon, the flames dissipate into nothingness. The soldiers in orange uniforms are looking at each other in clear confusion.

“He was never here.” General Matthews flashes a big grin on his face, as he places his hands on his space helmet. “But, you see... you ran into our trap.”

He takes a long, deep breath and then takes off his space helmet. He quickly releases a large purple mist from his mouth. As soon as he places it back on, he calls out, “Poison Flames!”

General Wade literally appears out of nothingness from behind the group of the Volesmash soldiers. He quickly swings his flaming sword, sending the flames. As soon as they connect the purple mist that came from General Matthews’s mouth, it instantly blows up into a small explosion.

“That’s awesome!” General Matthews gives another General a casual salute. 

“Hey, hey! You’re letting other enemies pass us.” General Yasai crosses his arms with a scowl on his old face, watching the Volesmashian soldiers passing the Earthling army. “You call yourself Generals?”

“Please enlighten us.” General Wade gives General Yasai a smirk. “I don’t think we have ever seen you using your powers on any battlefield.”

“It’s because there was no need back then.” General Yasai pulls his hands from behind, as bright white energy begins to surround his hands. “Ancient Summoning… Styracosaurus!”

A gigantic reptile with spikes on its head appears out of General Yasai’s glowing hands and roars so loudly that some of Volesmashian soldiers’ space helmets break. Styracosaurus begins to run toward the enemy army in space, as if there is ground under its feet. It forces itself into the Volesmashian army and then swings its head around successfully hitting at least a decade of the soldiers with every swing.

“So, that’s why you never used it before,” General Wade says. “Otherwise it would ram into every building on Earth.”

<3<3<3

“I knew you would come, Earth President.”

“Emperor Phoenix, I did not think you would come. You have always been sending your people to do your dirty work,” Tezuka says sternly. He is hovering in the front of the idle large mothership. “Why did you attack us? Is it because of Planet Fantasy? We never agreed to join their side --”

“But eventually, you would have. That’s why we are here to take you out first.” The flaming wings open widely on his back as Emperor Phoenix floats away from the mothership. He takes off his long yellow jacket with the Volesmashian symbol on the back, leaving himself shirtless. He tosses it away into the vast space. He grins widely at Tezuka. “As for you… I want to have the pleasure to defeat you by myself!”

“That’s a new low - really for you, Volesmashian Emperor. Attacking us even though we had done nothing.” Tezuka unbuttons the first few buttons from the top on his sleeved shirt. He frowns when he looks up and down the Emperor. He asks, “Why do you still look young? I thought you have been the Emperor for decades?”

“Why, I’m glad you asked.” Phoenix pushes back his long, spiky red hair that stops at his waist. His orange eyes are so piercing that Tezuka thinks they may have a laser power. “Hikyou-sama has granted me immortality.”

“Bullshit. Why did you hide until now?”

Phoenix scoffs. “I used to look old but then one day, thanks to Hikyou-sama, I gained immortality and got my youth back!”

“Hikyou-sama would never give you such a thing,” Tezuka says. His fist is sparking with small lightning bolts. He briefly glances at Planet Earth, which is still covered in the darkness before he turns back to Phoenix. “It’s because you are stealing the power of your own planet.”

Phoenix flashes a big grin on his face as he opens his arms widely. “Stealing is a strong word! I am just… borrowing it. You… on the other hand… cannot rely on the power of Earth, seeing as that black shield is still active and preventing you from getting in. That’s the power of Dark Angel - the Angel of Double God. It’s clear who Hikyou-sama favors at this moment.”

“I may be at a disadvantage right now…” The Earth President gives him a half-smirk as he places his hands on his narrow hips. “However, even if I am defeated today, there will always be someone who will take my place. I am not talking about Light and Dark Gods. Not even Dark Team.”

Phoenix frowns in confusion.

“That’s why I have faith in my people… The people of Earth,” Tezuka says light-heartedly, as he begins to unlatch his space helmet, which proceeds to make loud hissing sounds. “You may assume that the Dark Angel’s Shield is preventing me from getting back into Earth… but the true reason is to protect us from real threats like you and your army.”

Something is glowing underneath his work shirt. It is being shaped into a circle with a cross inside. The glowing symbol of Earth.

“From the moment the people chose me to be the leader… I gained the trust from the planet itself,” Tezuka says as he takes off his space helmet.

“Won’t you die from the lack of oxygen without that helmet?” Phoenix scowls deeply. “Unless…!”

“Earth has been with me the entire time,” Tezuka says. Blue aura reveals itself clinging to his entire body. “Just as Volesmash is with you right now.”

Phoenix is also glowing in the orange aura. He scoffs and shrugs his shoulders. “Either way, as long as Earth is trapped with the power of Dark Angel, you will never defeat me! Eventually, that weak planet will run out of energy, and you will die here!”

He quickly raises up his hand. Immediately, dozens of flaming balls appear surrounding the Volesmashian Emperor. He laughs out loud as he swings his arm, sending the flaming balls toward the Earthling President. “This is the power of Volesmash!”

Tezuka shifts his blue eyes briefly before he glances back at the approaching fireballs. He gives a small smirk just a few seconds before a large icy wall appears in front of him and takes the impact of all of the flaming balls.

“Eh?” Phoenix blinks in confusion as the icy wall dissipates into nothingness. He has not heard anything about the Earth President having an ice energy… unless --

“Really, Tezuka? You didn’t even bother to dodge?” 

“You’re way too slow, Ryu,” Tezuka says almost cheerfully before he gets serious again. “That is the Emperor of Volesmash.”

“Ah, General Mitsukai.” Phoenix chuckles softly. “I thought my army captured you? You should have been on my planet by now. With your power alone… we would have invaded both Planet Earth and Planet Fantasy! My reputation would be even greater if you were the Vice President of Earth, but a famous General should be sufficient now.”

Ryu takes off his space helmet as his eyes suddenly light up in a bright white glow. “Too bad you can’t get the Vice President anyway. He’s not out here with us.”

“Hm? You can survive without the oxygen too?” Phoenix raises an eyebrow in surprise. He recognizes the dim white glow clinging to Ryu’s body. He gives a light chuckle and says, “So that’s why the Vice President isn’t out here. Do you seriously think that the power of that tiny moon will boost your strength?”

“We did not expect that either... instead of the Vice President, General Ryu Mitsukai is the one to use the power of the moon.” Tezuka smirks. “But it still makes sense because he saved the world with me a long time ago.”

“You will never get past us now,” Ryu says.

Phoenix suddenly roars into laughter. “You have to be kidding! You dare to look down on us… me! The Emperor of the all-time powerful Planet Volesmash --”

He does not finish his sentence when he gets the hardest punch ever in his entire life. The next thing he knows is that he is even further away from Earth, with the ice covering his entire body except his head.

He yells so loud until he breaks the ice into pieces with his own muscles alone. He looks up only to realize that Tezuka is completely gone and that Ryu is still coming this way.

“You’re way too slow!”

Phoenix flinches at Tezuka’s voice from behind. He feels his enemy’s hand barely touching his own back. Oh fuck --

His entire body, even with the organs inside, gets shocked by Tezuka’s lightning bolts. He keeps screaming and screaming in pain.

“We are not looking down on you… You just underestimated us,” Tezuka says almost dangerously with his cold yet piercing blue eyes. “If you ever harm my home, I will not stand by. We never wanted to be part of the war in the first place. If you and your planet had not attacked us, we would never get involved.”

“Why you…!” Phoenix roars. Even with the thousands of lightning bolts spreading throughout his own body, he quickly turns around and throws a fist which bursts into flames. But he is stopped with his fist only a few inches away from Tezuka’s face when two large icicles have pierced through his chest from behind. But that is not all.

Tezuka’s foot is still up in the airless space in the high sidekick position.

Phoenix realizes that even before he gets stabbed by the icicles, he has already received three powerful kicks from Tezuka. One to his shin, second one to his lower stomach, and the last one to his face.

His kicks hurt much more than the icicles do. He is pretty sure that his leg is fractured because it is now throbbing. He painfully glances back up at Tezuka who puts down his foot only to realize that it is emitting red energy.

Tezuka had planted the power of rush into his foot just right before using it to hit the Volesmashian Emperor. He is displaying nothing but a confident look on his face.

Phoenix grits his teeth in frustration at first and screams, “You fucking weakling!” 

His clingy orange aura is getting brighter and brighter. A huge evil grin appears on his face. “I get it. They didn’t call you the Stormy Leader of Earth for nothing. The powers of lightning and rush… But they are nothing compared to the Elixir of Volesmash!”

Suddenly, a bright orange orb appears in front of Phoenix. He then grabs it and crashes it into pieces with his bare hand. A painful cry echoes throughout the space. He ignores the annoying noise and easily pulls the icicles out of his chest, which is being healed rapidly. Two wounded holes get closed easily, as if he has never been pierced by the icicles.

“Elixir of Volesmash?” Tezuka asks.

The large symbol of fire comes off Phoenix’s chest and then grows larger in size. It then moves around until it stops and hovers idly behind him. The evil grin does not go away from his face at all as he lifts his open palm facing upward. “I would love to see if Dark Angel’s Shield can protect your weakling planet! Destroyer!”

A small fireball with the size of a golf ball appears above his palm.

“That’s the Destroyer?” Ryu raises an eyebrow.

Phoenix keeps laughing and laughing as the fireball grows larger and larger into a meteor.