Chapter 30 "Nyx: Part III"

Chapter 30
Nyx
Part III

The amused smirk fades away from Nyx’s face. He is looking at Logy who is completely unaffected by the black spores. Dammit…! Out of everyone here, this guy is the strongest…

“Have you realized yet? Your spores will never inflict me. Not as long as the Universe Warrior is alive,” Logy says. He is honestly impressed by how powerful the universe energy is. Knapp’s love for him is so intense and extraordinary.

Then I’ll just use my earth power! Nyx instantly pulls several more large rocks from the ground and then sends them towards Logy.

Logy quickly leaps backward to give himself more distance from Nyx’s attacks and more time to dodge from them without any trouble. 

The warrior from the Second Universe takes off into the air with his own spores until he gets closer to Logy.

The deaf warrior is completely surprised by Nyx’s sudden movement. He does not have time to react as a fist lands on his face hard. He rolls several times across the field until another earth attack in the ball form is suddenly pulled from the ground, hitting him in the back.

Logy coughs out a small amount of blood, trying to regain some air back in his lungs. Even though I can read his mind and know what his next movements are… He’s just way too fast. I need to be faster than he is…!

Nyx kicks him one more time. Logy manages to block it with his own arms but it is still not enough as he gets sent flying through the air once again.

Logy crashes through one of the large rocky mountains. He begins to realize that they are no longer in the city. When did we get out of the city…?

He soon lands on his hands and feet on the rocky black ground. He quickly takes a look at his palm to find that there are spores on it. Sensing Nyx’s fast approaching presence, he is about to brace himself.

“Dragon of Lightning!” 

Nyx shrieks in pain as multiple lightning bolts strike him down, sending him crashing into the ground.

“Clear?” Logy asks, almost exhausted. “What are you doing here?”

“That question should be for you! The nearest city is literally hundreds of miles away!” Clear says. She nods her head at Knapp and his kids. “We were just literally leaving…”

Knapp… Logy is more than relieved to see his partner. He is about to lift one of his hands to use sign language--

“Die!” Nyx screams as dozens of large boulders are being literally ripped out of the ground and then flying towards Logy.

“Break!” This time it is Katja who loudly commands her power. Without even touching Nyx’s attacks, all of the boulders pop into smaller pieces.

“You…!” The former resident of the Second Universe hisses in anger. He trembles in either rage or fear - he is not even sure at all. The enormous powers from not only Knapp but also from the children are freely waving through the air.

“What did you do to the people of this planet?” Knapp asks boldly.

Nyx raises an eyebrow in confusion. As soon as he glances around, he spots thousands of the Anti-Rosa Resistance members lying around. “You… You killed them all. How?”

“We didn’t,” the Universe Warrior says. “They were already dead a long time ago. Their organs were destroyed by your spores but…”

“Your spores were obviously controlling them… even as dead,” Clear says.

Logy collapses to his knees out of exhaustion. Knapp is suddenly at his side in a flash and asks, “Are you OK?”

“Y-yeah. Just a little bit beat up.” Logy is taking a few deep breaths. He suspects he may have one or two broken ribs.

Knapp glances back at Nyx, giving him a rage look in his dark brown eyes. Coming from his universe energy, it feels like heavy pressure is crashing Nyx into obliviousness.

Nyx notices the smallest child with dark blue wings. If I can take him hostage… then the Universe Warrior would have to do what I want!

He quickly launches himself with his own spores, heading straight for Ketsu. He is laughing maliciously. He reaches his hands so he can grab him.

The child dodges. Easily. By simply moving one foot to the left.

“Wha--” Nyx asks as he passes the child and looks back only to get sidekicked in the stomach hard. The strength in that small kick is powerful compared to Logy’s physical attacks. It literally shoots him into the gorge.

“Oops! I’m so sorry… I kicked really hard.” Ketsu scratches the back of his head in embarrassment, making his older sister giggle.

Nyx is falling deeper and deeper into the gorge. He cannot help but replay his fresh new memory of Knapp’s intense yet rage look that is merely enough to make him shake in fear. The majority of his slaves are dead at his hands. This is not the chaos he wants. “Damn you… Damn you all to hell! You will pay for this, you damn Universe Warrior!”

He slams his hand on the rocky mold wall, literally digging his fingers into it. It slows down his fall until he eventually stops. I’m going to destroy this planet. Nobody will stop me!

Black energy appears engulfing Nyx’s entire body. An enormous amount of black spores are being extracted from him.

”L-look…! Wear your mask!” Clear cries as she tosses one of the masks at Katja. “Put it on or you will die!”

A growing amount of black spores keep coming out of the large gorge. They begin to literally turn the entire ocean into black.

”What?!” Katja freaks out as she hurriedly puts the mask on. Clear does the same thing.

”You don’t have the mask?” Knapp asks in sign language. “You’re running out of my universe energy pretty fast. You know it’s the only thing that’s protecting you from getting infected right now. ”

”I’ll be fine. Go and defeat that sadistic son of the bitch.” Logy places a quick kiss on the Universe Warrior’s lips.

”Ketsu, it’s getting too dangerous. Do you want to stay and fight with me or go with Clear and Logy?”

“I want to fight! He’s the bad guy, right?” Ketsu says, frowning. “He is trying to hurt the planet.”

“What are you going to do?” Knapp asks.

“Stop him. Save the world.”

The Universe Warrior smirks at his son. He looks up at the dark blue sky. Hikyou-sama, is this why you chose him? You knew that a child of the Universe Warrior would be the most powerful defense for the Light and Dark Gods… Is that right?

~*~

Nyx’s purple hair is down. He did not notice it at first until he was taking deep breaths within the deep gorge. He lost his hair tie sometime during the battle and does not have an extra one. Doesn’t matter. They will all die anyway… I’m taking them down with me… Will you be able to save everyone, Universe Warrior?

He then looks down at the black pitch bottom. His smile on his face widens as he thinks, It won’t be bottom anymore… 

He places his hand on the moldy wall with moving black fungus. Brown magic begins to flow out of his fingertips and spreads out the entire earth wall. When he runs out of earth energy, he calls forth the fungus and mushrooms, which carry him all the way to the top.

Knapp and Ketsu are the only people who stay, as Nyx has noticed. Everyone else has fled, probably to avoid getting infected by the black spores. It doesn’t matter where they go… Either spores or world destruction will get to them.

“Are you sure you should be standing around and waiting for something to happen?” The warrior from the Second Universe chuckles softly. He opens his arms widely. “Take a look. I’ve had a great decade of causing chaos upon this planet… I honestly didn’t expect I would go down with it but it has been fun and chaotic.”

All of sudden, the entire planet starts shaking violently. Several seconds later, the gap between two cliffs begins to widen faster and faster.

“D-Dad!” Ketsu cries in concern. 

This planet… is dying faster…! Knapp launches himself into the split until he finds Nyx. 

Nyx has the most evil and twisted grin on his face, as if he loves the whole destruction unfolding in his eyes. It is the chaos that he loves.

Chaos-sama, also known as the God of the Second Universe, destroyed more galaxies and planets in his own universe than all Gods of other universes combined. All species that he created received the pleasure of violence, ruthlessness, and lack of restraint. Even if Nyx was raised or affected by a different culture that provided kindness and peace, nothing could ever change the core of his heart.

“You’re too late!” Nyx exclaims loudly only to get punched in the face really hard. He is falling towards the wall of the cliff and then suddenly gets consumed by a huge burst of hot lava from the rocky wall.

Damn… Knapp is panting heavily with a mix of emotions. Not only rage and frustration but also pity for Nyx. Now what…?

He is looking at the bottom of the gorge only to realize that it is no longer bottom. All he sees is black void with stars. The planet has literally been split in half. “Fuck.” Where is Kawaii when you need him?

He flies back right out of the gap to find Ketsu waiting for him. The young Dark Angel is trembling mostly in fear with tears in his eyes.

I shouldn’t have brought him out here… Knapp clenches his jaw in both anger and frustration. Where the hell is Double God? If a planet is dying, he would have come out here… right?

He takes a deep breath as he begins to take off his scarf. Of course not. As long as Hikyou-sama knows we are here, then there is no reason for him to come out… What a lazy ass. Leaving all work to us.

Large amounts of black and white auras are flowing out of the symbol of the Universe Warrior. He lifts his hand, allowing the universe energy to gather into a baseball-size glowing orb. “Kawaii, what can I do with a dying planet in such a short time?”

The split planet is slowly turning redder with an increasing amount of magma bursting out of the surface.

“D-Dad…” Ketsu says shakily.

The life force of every being, including the Dark Team members, in the world are rapidly fading away. Apparently, after the planet has split, the atmosphere is completely gone. No air for everyone to breathe anymore.

Knapp realizes that Ketsu can sense everyone’s fading presence. He does not blame him for feeling scared. He glances at the orb of the universe energy hovering above his palm. I’ve been gathering it ever since I left Earth. It’s time to give it back.

He drops the sparkling energy ball between the divided planet halves. He closes his eyes bursting with swirling black and white energy. “Heal of the Fifth Universe.”

The sparkling energy ball suddenly extends all over the entire divided planet. Hot lava has stopped emerging from the surface. The temperature begins to return to normal. But it’s not enough.

Knapp begins to fly around the world, giving as much as universe energy back to Planet Rosa. He closes one of his eyes, cringing at the sudden pain from the back of his neck where the symbol is located. Not yet!

The planet halves are slowly moving towards each other until they finally become the whole once again. Black spores and fungus are dissipating into nothingness.

Three sparkling pink streams are floating or rather orbiting around the planet. It’s as if they are keeping it together.

“Wow…!” Ketsu says with his wide eyes, looking at the dark blue sky with a stream of pink energy.

Knapp can barely breathe, trying to keep himself awake. He spots something moving at the corner of his eye. Huh?

It is a burned body trying to limp across the ground. He is beyond recognizable but Knapp knows it is definitely Nyx.

The Universe Warrior draws his Divine Sword from the scabbard and then throws it hard at Nyx. The sword pierces cleanly through Nyx’s back. “Eirian.”

Nyx screams as his purple soul in the shape of a spiky ball is being extracted out of his charred body. It disappears into the Divine Sword, which then returns to Knapp in an instant.

As soon as the Universe Warrior grabs his sword, he lets himself go. He falls all the way from the sky to the ground until he lands his back hard on it. He has not stopped trying to breathe from complete exhaustion. He must have used up all of the power of the universe. If there is an enemy nearby, they can finish him off.

“Knapp.”

Knapp opens his eyes halfway to see a smiling face. “Kawaii.”

Kawaii bends a little to take Knapp’s hand. He sends large amounts of black and white magic into the Universe Warrior’s body. “How long did it take you to accumulate that huge amount of universe energy? Enormous enough to heal an entire planet?”

”Since we left Earth.” Knapp sits up but not without groaning at painful soreness in his entire body.

”Dad! And Kawaii, you’re here too!” Ketsu yells as he lands his feet on the ground. Despite the recent exhausting battle, he is running around Knapp and Kawaii.

”Is everyone ok?” Knapp asks. He can barely sense his friends’ life forces.

Kawaii does not answer at first, but then he turns to the young Dark Angel. “Hey, Ketsu.”

”What?” Ketsu stops running, his feet dragging a little bit to halt.

”Hikyou wants me to give this to you,” Kawaii says as he reaches out his hand. A sword appears on it. It is a little longer and thicker than Knapp’s Divine Sword. Instead of being black, the blade is metallic silver with dark blue handle with an angel wing at either side. “It’s yours.”

”Cool!” Ketsu exclaims excitedly. He carefully takes the sword in both of his hands since it’s a little heavier.

”What are you trying to do?” Knapp asks.

”Half of the population are dying,” Kawaii says. “But I don’t know how many souls Ketsu can save. As you see, all Angels are also known as Soul Controllers. They can command all souls in this universe to do what they want. I wanted to hold on to it for a little bit because he’s too young but he can learn how to tell the souls to get back in their bodies.”

”What?” Ketsu asks, tilting his head a little bit. 

Kawaii is staring at him with a stoic look on his face, but Knapp can tell that the child form of the Fifth Universe is trying to figure out how to explain to a 6-year-old child.

”You just tell the soul to go back to their person. With your sword. Just like what I did with mine,” Knapp says as simply as possible. But Ketsu shrugs his shoulders.

”I don’t know how to,” the Dark Angel says.

“That’s a real problem,” Kawaii says, starting to lift himself into the air. “He doesn’t have the previous Dark Angel’s memories. He needs another Angel to teach him, but Double God banished Light Angel to a planet where he can’t leave. Let’s find someone that you can practice on.”

Knapp and Ketsu follow Kawaii into the sky without any trouble. 

“Here he is,” Kawaii says, suddenly descending until they reach a large elf lying lifelessly on the ground but they can see that he is still breathing shallowly. “Can you see his soul?”

”Y-yeah,” Ketsu says shakily. “I-it’s a ghost.”

The soul of the elf is just standing around until he notices Ketsu. “A-are you an angel? Are you here to take me to Heaven?”

”Yikes!” Ketsu cries as he dives behind Knapp. “He’s scary!”

”I’m here in case anything goes wrong, okay?” Knapp says.

“You need to get used to it because you will handle a lot of souls in your lifetime,” Kawaii says. “All Angels have this power called control energy. You can control, adjust, move a soul, and many more… whenever and whatever you want. Unlike the Universe Warrior who can only do three commands for alien souls from different universes. What you have is pretty much unlimited.”

“Umm, okay. What should I do?” The Dark Angel has not moved from his father yet.

”Guide the soul back to his body. He probably can’t see and… or find it.”

“Will it hurt him?”

Kawaii takes a quick look at the elf’s body and then says, “As long as he doesn’t have any wounds, it shouldn’t hurt at all.”

He checked to make sure that the elf wasn’t injured in any way…? Knapp sweatdrops.

Ketsu takes a minute to think deeply before he hops over to the soul. He takes the elf’s hand. “Come, okay?” 

He brings the soul to the body. He holds up his new sword and then proceeds to say his first command ever, “Soul Return.”

The chain between the body and soul suddenly becomes shorter and shorter until they get together as one once again.

“Not bad,” Kawaii smiles.

“Is he still dead?” Ketsu pokes the unconscious elf’s waist with his sword handle.

“He will wake up soon. Now, let’s get the remaining souls back to their original bodies, should we?” Kawaii says.

~*~

“Is everyone ok?” Rosalie shouts. Everyone has woken up, except the Resistance members.

“All good!” Blossom yells back. “It’s so weird that the enemies suddenly died. But they were controlled by Nyx, right…?”

“Does that mean he was defeated?” Petunia asks as she takes a look around at the Resistance bodies starting to fade into black spores which then dissolve into nothingness. “Is it over…?”

Ambrose gives a loud sigh as he sits down on the floor. “But what about black spores? And what just happened? I blacked out and then woke up…”

“Same.” Clear nods her head. “Perhaps the Universe Warrior defeated the Nyx, but how did he save this planet?”

Several military aircrafts and helicopters have arrived. They have also brought a few medical specialists, so they rush over to Daisy who is heavily pregnant first.

After Rosalie speaks with the soldiers, the elf citizens and the Dark Team are being taken in one of the aircrafts and fly to a city further west. 

~*~

“40% of the population was wiped out… Not 25%...” Rosalie mumbles sadly, mostly to herself. She shakes her head.

“It’s not your fault,” Gules says as he pulls Rosalie into his embrace. “It was all Nyx. What he did was unforgivable…”

“I agree.” Ambrose nods his head. 

As soon as Jade sees Gules hugging Rosalie, he leaves the room to find Logy and Johnny talking in sign language in the hallway.

“How is Rosalie?” Johnny asks after he notices Jade standing outside.

Jade carelessly shrugs his shoulders. “She was very upset that more people died than she thought. Have Knapp and Ketsu come back yet?”

“Not yet. I sent a message to Knapp.” Logy points at his own head. “But nothing from him yet.”

Jade nods his head in response. He has a noticeable frown on his face as he crosses his arms. Why… It was only a hug, right? Why… Why does it bother me? He’s the most annoying person who only cares about himself. I’ve hated him for the past two years.

“I’m going to nap.” Johnny yawns sleepily, stretching out his arms as he returns to his room.

“Is everything ok?” Logy asks as soon as Johnny is out of their sights. When he does not get any answer, he begins to wave his hand.

“Oh, sorry! What were you trying to say?” Jade asks after he looks back at the deaf warrior, who raises an eyebrow.

“I was asking--” They get interrupted when Gules steps out of the room.

“Oh, hey! I didn’t realize you were still waiting for us.” Gules gives them a smile. “Anything from Knapp yet?”

“Nothing yet. I’m hungry so I’m going to grab something to eat.” Logy half-smiles after he notices an obvious blush on Jade’s face. “When I get a word, I’ll let you all know.”

“What the hell is Knapp doing?” Gules gives a light sigh as he closes his red eyes in deep thoughts. “Well, it doesn’t matter. We don’t have a spaceship so we aren’t leaving anytime soon, right?”

“I guess so,” Jade says. “But didn’t you say that they would give us a spaceship?”

“In their current condition, I think we need to give them time. I did not expect that so many people died, and this planet was almost annihilated,” the former elf prince says.

He is not looking at me like he used to. Is that woman distracting him? I don’t like this at all. Jade resists an urge to smack himself in the face. What the hell am I thinking? Wasn’t I supposed to hate him?

“I’m going to find Clear. See what exactly she wants for a spaceship,” Gules says. He takes a few steps only to be stopped when Jade grabs his hand.  He turns to him. “What?”

“I-I…” Jade turns red as he looks down at the floor, suddenly finding it to be more interesting. Fuck, I don’t know what to say…

Gules strokes Jade’s knuckles with his thumb. No matter how much he wants it, he manages to resist his urge to kiss the gravity controller’s hand. He notices the redness on the other’s face. Wait… Does it mean he…?

“Um…” Jade pulls away his hand. And he regrets it immediately. He already misses the warmth of Gules’s hand. He says quietly, “Your shoe is untied.” 

Gules is staring at him. He checks his black laced boots and then says in confusion, “It’s not untied?”

Goddammit! Why did I ask that stupid question?! One guy likes me, and then I just fucked everything up! Jade swears his head is about to explode. He says loudly, “Never mind!” 

He leaves Gules in dust. The former prince of Planet Alfur cannot help but chuckle lightheartedly at Jade’s adorable reaction. He is not sure what exactly Jade is trying to do, but he is willing to wait until he is ready. Even if it takes forever, as long as Jade takes no interest in anyone else.

~*~

When Knapp and Ketsu arrive in the busy city during the sunset, it takes a while for them to eventually find the Dark Team in one of the large hotels. Gules is not with them this time.

”Ketsu!” Katja throws herself at her younger brother. “I was so worried!”

”Yeah, we were all worried! Not even Kawaii showed up,” Clear says, using sign language for Logy. “Where have you both been?”

”I helped!” Ketsu says, trying his best to use sign language as clearly as possible. How he uses his hands makes Logy smile.

”Yeah, sorry. I used up almost all universe energy to put this planet back together and to clear out the black spores. Kawaii was with us but I think he could barely keep himself together so he’s not here right now. He was helping Ketsu with putting the souls back in their bodies.”

”…Huh?” The rest of the Dark Team say at the same time.

”Yeah, I helped ghosts! They’re still scary!” Ketsu shivers as he only uses a few broken words for sign language. “People woke up again!”

“Kawaii was teaching him how to command the souls. It took him a while to get a grip of it because there is no other Angel to help or train him,” Knapp says. “There are still thousands of souls left who are wandering. They either need to get back into their bodies if they’re still connected to them… or get sent to Hell or Heaven. We will continue tomorrow.”

“Ohhh, what’s that?” Katja points at the sword that is sitting on Ketsu’s back. It’s in a light blue scabbard.

”New sword!” Ketsu is about to take it out of the scabbard, but his father stops him.

”That’s not a toy, okay? Let me take it…” Knapp sweatdrops at the thought of Ketsu accidentally slicing someone.

”Isn’t he a little bit too young…?” Jade asks in concern. “I mean, I know he and Katja are pretty strong mostly because they often played with us but taking them to a battle? Asking him to guide the souls? Come on, they are just kids.”

”Nothing we can do. Double God chose him,” Johnny says but this time his tone consists of annoyance and upset. “Why does he always leave the work to us?”

”Agreed,” Logy says with a light scoff. “Hikyou-sama left at one point. Then, he came back to this mess. He might have tried to take care of the mess himself, but he also needed us to clean it up for him. And then there’s Kira—”

”Look, I know you don’t like Double God. Neither do I. But what we do is for Kawaii’s sake. His safety, health, and happiness.” Knapp ties Ketsu’s new contained sword to his own black one.

“Is Double God bad?” Ketsu asks sadly. “You told me that he saved my life when I was a baby…”

”No, you’re right.” Knapp squats down to Ketsu’s level. “Are you hungry? We can eat and then get some sleep, okay?”

He turns back to the Dark Team only to notice that someone is missing. “Where is Gules?”

~*~

“Hey there.”

Gules has been staring blankly at the view of the half city along with thousands of moving vehicle headlights, flashing billboards for advertising, and several buildings with light still on. Until he hears a familiar voice right next to him.

Knapp is hovering in the air just a foot away from the balcony. As soon as he grabs the rail, he hops over it. “How are you doing? The Dark Team was a little worried about you when you did not show up.”

”I’m fine,” Gules mumbles.

”Didn’t expect how this would turn out to be? That all of us would be in danger? I thought Jade did warn you…”

”I know. He did tell me that half of the team perished before I joined. He even said he wouldn’t blame me if I changed my mind and wanted to leave…”

”So, what do you… want to do?” Knapp asks hesitantly. 

Gules does not answer right away as he frowns with deep thoughts.

”You know… I was like you when I first became the Universe Warrior. I thought traveling and meeting new people would be fun.” Knapp crosses his arms with a light sigh. He looks up at the sparkling black sky. “We won’t blame you if you want to stay here.”

Gules gives a light chuckle. He barely glances at Knapp with the corner of his scarlet eyes. “Even if being on the Dark Team will eventually get at least one of us killed?”

Knapp does not answer his question right away.

The small smile fades away from Gules’s face when he notices sadness in Knapp’s eyes. It reminds him of how Jade looked sad or depressed some of the days but he did not expect to see it on the leader of the Dark Team… the one who is the most powerful being in the universe besides Double God.

“Maybe you’re not meant to be on the Dark Team. Maybe joining us was meant to have brought you here to help out your longtime friend,” Knapp says. “Well, either way, we don’t have the spaceship anymore so we won’t be able to leave anytime soon. So if you ever change your mind, please feel free to talk to me.”

“Damn,” Gules mumbles after Knapp takes off. He looks up at the dark sky. What should I do, Beryl?