Kaito unshielded his face from the screeching wind. Once his gaze laid upon the guardian, a look of disbelief overtook his once cocky face.
Its body slimmed down to that of the shape of a human olympic swimmer, only a foot taller than Kaito himself now, skin snug to its lean muscles underneath. A clear crystal like material covered its chest with large shards spiked up on both its shoulders. Two ginormous grey wings grew out of its back flared outward, each one nearly twice the length of its body. A single crystal protruded from its forehead, glimmering in the red sun above.
Above the planet on the licensing station, Ari'Va stared at the monitor that displayed the guardian and its attributes with a look of utter befuddlement.
Guardian: 1,200,000 CPI
"1–1 million? But how? Its CPI was tanking, but now it has increased to a level higher than before. H–How is that even possible?" She aired out.
"It appears our guardian underwent something akin to a resonance transformation." Astra's half-robotic voice said smoothly next to her.
Ari'Va and every other green worker in the large command room snapped over to her.
"A resonance transformation ma'am? H-how would that be? There has never been a case in documented history throughout this universe that pointed at guardians having the ability to perform such a feat." She asked.
Astra's four eyes studied the guardian evenly.
"Life in this universe does not remain static. It cannot. From the smallest organisms to entire elven civilizations capable of collapsing stars into fuel, everything survives by evolving."
"Evolving, yes, but… that takes millions of stellar cycles." Ari'Va rebutted.
"Correct. True evolution is patient. It grinds away across eras until a species becomes something new. But—" Her four crimson eyes narrowed slightly.
"—there exists a far more violent, far more desperate form of evolution.
Ari'Va swallowed.
"Desperate… evolution? I don't understand ma'am. What is it?"
The lower set of Astra's eyes looked over to her.
"Survival." She calmly uttered, her lower set of eyes locking back on the guardian.
"Survival or forced evolution. Call it what you will. It happens only when a being is cornered so completely that its very essence rejects death. And that guardian was pushed into that corner by Kaito."
Ari'Va stiffened before slowly looking over to Kaito on the main monitor.
"You mean… because Kaito was too strong?"
"Precisely. Kaito's power, brutality, and sheer presence left the guardian with only two choices. The same two choices all life in the cosmos faces when extinction stares it in the eye."
She raised two long porcelain fingers.
"Die… or adapt and survive."
A hush fell over the licensing station.
"And so, in mere moments, not millennia, the guardian's essence shifted, but…"
Her lower set of eyes glanced over to a smaller holo monitor that displayed an unconscious Sylas lying in the rusted soil.
"Unlike with Sylas who properly aligned his essence and soul with his artifact, this was purely a survival mechanism. Not elegance. Not mastery. Merely raw desperation to survive given form."
Ari'Va felt a cold shiver crawl across her skin as her gaze shifted to the guardian.
"If that was partial… then what would a full resonance look like…?" She muttered.
Astra didn't answer. Instead, she studied Kaito's image on the holo-screen intently.
"Just how will you adapt to survive this encounter… my human ascendant Kaito?
Kaito's eyebrows scrunched together.
"Wha–What just happened? It transformed? It looks completely different than before and I can sense its essence grew in size and potency."
Suddenly…
thudTHUDthud
He gripped his chest over his heart, his vision swimming and collapsing in on itself momentarily. His knees almost buckled, catching himself before plummeting to the rusted ground below. His breathing became erratic and sweat covered his body in mere moments.
"My–My heart… the rythm feels weird. Di–Did I over do it? I thought I had five adrenaline boosts. Was Elysia's estimations off?
He looked up to the guardian and his eyes became wide like a deer in headlights. The guardian's lean arm was raised in the air. In its palm, a crystal taking the shape of a long greatsword slowly materialized from nothing. Once fully formed, the guardian's arm fell, the sword slicing through the air.
Kaito dodge to the right just enough for only the ends of his hair to be sliced off.
Before he could gather his balance, the guardian stood right before him.
A grey fist buried in his gut, lifting him off the ground high in the air above the both of them. At the same moment, the guardian's same arm glimmered before four crystals grew from each of its knuckles in a blink of an eye, piercing through his torso, each of the bloody tips protruding from his lower back.
Pain instantly rushed Kaito's body, but the guardian wasn't going to give him time to register it.
It retracted the crystals, removing its hand from his gut. Before gravity could bring him to the ground, it grabbed him by an ankle out of mid air and slammed him into the ground, the force sending small tremors throughout the nearby area.
Blood oozed out of Kaito's mouth and he flashed in and out of consciousness for a short moment before he was thrown over the guardian's head into the ground again smashing into the ground on the other side.
The guardian raised its crystal sword in the air, preparing to bring it down to finish the fight but was blinded with rusty soil that Kaito threw in its black eyes.
It eased its grip on his ankle just enough for him to break free.
His purple essence exploded outward once more.
THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!
He brought his knee to his chest and kicked the creature in its smooth groan area.
The force sent it skidding backwards several dozens of meters, its grey feet leaving long trails through the rusted dirt the entire way.
Kaito stood from the ground, his breath raspy and erratic.
thudTHUDthud
His face grimaced and he clutched his chest once more. Blood dripped from his mouth and nose and his vision blurred even worse than before, seeing multiples of everything around him.
"This… This isn't good. I don't know if my body can handle one more adrenaline boost. That last one felt weaker than the first three and my heart feels like it's going to burst."
He looked up to the guardian as it gathered itself from the blow and slowly walked towards him. He gritted his teeth.
"I have to end this now or that thing is going to kill everyone else here. I have no choice. I have to use that ability Elysia pointed out to me. But… I barely had any time to practice with her before the exams and it takes a long time to charge it up."
He raised his mostly good left arm, index finger pointing directly at the guardian. White essence flickered around his body for a moment before disappearing.
From a distance, Finn's eyes perked open slightly at the familiar sight.
"That white essence, it's just like the tournament against Myzen… Just like Kaeline sensei mentioned." He thought to himself.
Next to him, Rikona looked down to her tablet.
"Two minutes left." She stated before looking back up to Kaito with a worried expression.
Her grip tightened around the tablet. The reality of the situation was slowly settling in for her… Kaito didn't have that time.
The guardian closed half of the distance between them. Each step seemed deliberate and multiplied the anxiety and stress in Kaito's body.
"I don't have enough time…"
He bit his lip until blood rolled down and off his chin. Veins bulged from his temples.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HUH? WHY ARE YOU JUST LAYING THERE!? GET UP!" He shouted with all his might.
The change of emotion was so sudden and shocking that even the guardian paused its advance momentarily, tilting its head to the side.
Near the destroyed and mangled ships, Nara struggled to her feet. Her body was broken and bloody. One was forced shut and swollen.
"Stop… yelling you idiot. I'm trying." She grumbled.
"COME ON! I NEED YOU!" Kaito shouted again.
"Can't you see… I'm trying." She muttered out, limping towards the distant fight.
"DON'T TELL ME YOU GAVE UP NOW! WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR PROMISE!? YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE UP ON THAT TOO?"
"Wha-What promise are you even talking about?" She questioned weakly.
She believed Kaito was talking to her—asking for her help. But she was wrong.
"I CAN'T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU…..FIIIINNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!"
At that moment, all time seemed to freeze and reality cracked. The guardian's black eyes shot open with surprise at the sight before it. Standing between it and Kaito was Finn with his head facing the ground below. Green essence with golden streaks blazed around his body.
"When did he get there?" The guardian questioned bewilderedly.
Finn slowly raised his head, meeting the guardian's intense gaze with his own. His brown eyes were no more and now glowed emerald green with a golden spiral-shaped pupil, broken into twelve interlocking segments like the hours on a clock.
He raised both hands in front of him, his left holding a kunai with a reverse grip and the other forming a hand sign—both index and middle finger extended to the sky and the others forming a partial fist.
"Sorry for the wait. Let's finish this… captain!"