08 / 07 / 2018, 17:53 - Tuesday, Nakagawa City.
The streets were quiet now, eerily so. Smoke drifted from shattered buildings, silver light washing everything in an unnatural glow. The city felt unreal, overturned cars, broken streets, fragments of rubble, and yet, remnants of the chaos lingered: a scorched corpse, a bent streetlamp, the smell of burnt metal.
Alicia pressed a hand to her scraped forehead, wincing as blood stung her skin, but she never took her eyes off the horizon. The calm was deceptive.
"Stay close," Hayakawa murmured, his voice low but steady. Misaki scanned the sky, her eyes tracing every shadow, every movement. Alicia moved warily, matching their vigilance as they continued down the fractured highway.
It's been a minute since they have been walking through the fractured highways, when suddenly Alicia and they notice a strange pulse in the air.
Above them, the sky shimmered unnaturally. A second city hovered, perfectly superimposed over the one they had just passed.
The city stretched endlessly, mimicking every detail perfectly, and even the land itself was not spared. Silver light washing over every rooftop, clouds seemed distorted, refracting like glass.
Along with the appearance of the city, every monster and being that descends from the sky disappears, as if it has been erased or transported; that's the reason for the tranquility that they have now.
Misaki's brow furrowed, and Hayakawa tightened his grip on the brush.
"Command," Hayakawa spoke into his comm-link. "We have a situation here. Requesting HQ analysis and instructions."
Static hissed, then a calm, measured voice responded.
"Team 1, we're observing the same reflections on your side. Sora-chan, use your ability to scan inside the city. Confirm any presence of previously observed creatures."
"Tetsuya reporting: conditions outside the city are identical. Monsters and Descenders vanish when the mirrored city appears."
The Team Leader's voice cut in, firm and precise.
"Maintain observation and continue moving. No engagement unless absolutely necessary. The world's forces remain paralyzed, defensive, uncertain."
Another order followed, clipped and urgent.
"This is your window. Evacuate civilians and secure the city immediately. Move swiftly."
Hayakawa acknowledged, voice tight with focus. "Copy that." The rest of the team echoed in unison: "Received!"
And now back to the present, they have been moving for around 8 minutes on the highway, enjoying this rare moment of silence while also moving as quickly as they can, along with the civilian Alicia.
But, they also need to be cautious as Misaki watches the surroundings, while Hayakawa is watching the situation over another city above them.
As they tread the path, Misaki, who is watching the city above, feels a bit tired, having to raise her head all the time, when she suddenly notices something amiss. Her breathing a bit quick, she quickly walks to Hayakawa and tugs pulled his shirt.
Hayakawa, who is being pulled around, is a little bit annoyed, and with a frown, he said, "What's the problem?", only to see Misaki raise her finger and point above, with an exasperated expression.
He followed her gaze. Cracks spider-webbed across the mirrored city, shards falling as though a second dimension was colliding with the first. The fragments struck the original city below, and with a sharp, resonant thump, the two layers fused seamlessly.
Then… silence.
The silver glow vanished. The sun dipped closer to the horizon, smoke still curling from the damaged skyline, but reality had snapped back into place.
Alicia blinked, stunned. Her chest heaved, mind racing. The calm would not last.
A shadow stretched across the Pacific, blotting out the sunlight as it hurtled toward the Earth with impossible speed. Alicia froze, instincts screaming. Hayakawa and Misaki raised their weapons, scanning the immense darkness above.
Alicia's hand brushed against her cheek, wiping away blood. Her voice was barely a whisper. "It's… coming."
"Brace yourselves," Misaki said sharply. Her grip on her brush tightened, every muscle coiled for action.
Hayakawa's voice was grim, low, and commanding. "And it's heading straight for the population centers. We need to act. Now."
Pain flared through Alicia's legs, her head spun from the minor concussion, but determination anchored her. Home was close. Her child, her husband, they were still out there. She would reach them, even as the world above folded, cracked, and tore apart.
The shadow loomed larger, swallowing the remaining sunlight. Alicia knew instinctively: the battle in the sky was about to descend. There would be no more calm.
---
The air above Japan trembled with tension. The endless dependants of the jellyfish floated silently, a gray river of distorted forms descending through the upper atmosphere.
Aldean moved through them like a blade through fog, his jian slicing, empowered by the force of "Authority of Layer: Exile", each strike severing their malformed forms before they could reach the surface, each strike seems to cleave through space as black cracks resound in the sky and its path.
He raised his other hand, two fingers pointing, reshaping and folding the layer of space. The very air hardened beneath him, each step like wading through an ocean a thousand times denser than normal.
Muscles screamed under the strain as he was also affected by it, his skin cracked, blood running down his arm, his face frowning as pain flared, but still he pressed on, driving the slash of jian through one of the jellyfish's massive heads.
For a moment, victory seemed possible. But then, Desolation. The brown energy flared up under the hood of the jellyfish's head, a withering force, draining vitality from everything his slash had touched.
Half of his strike's effect weakened instantly, the jellyfish shrieking in defiance, as it's the weakened slash still went through its head.
Roaring, the air trembled, and even a faint effect of distortion as the space around the jellyfish lost color, angered by the slash and pain that it felt, its tentacle danced around.
"Tsk, for now, do you reveal some of your cards, huh?" as Aldean said while blinking away from the dependent's attack.
That's one, I guess. Normally, for this level onward, they would receive two Authorities. This withering effect energy is probably the 'quantity' that is exuded by one of the jellyfish's head Authority. As Aldean thought inwardly and continued blinking through space.
Aldean then staggered, forced into a brief pause by the sudden strike of Life Reflection, a probing attack that confronted him with his own weaknesses.
For a few crucial seconds, his perception faltered, his blink halted, his body frozen. The jellyfish seized the moment, casting Desolation directly toward him, attempting to sap the very life from his body.
The monster dove downward, approaching the sky over Japan. Aldean acted on instinct. Abandoning reliance on his physical form, he poured Authority into perception itself, creating a torrent of energy to shield his essence.
But the jellyfish's sheer magnitude outpaced him slightly; a trickle of Authority escaped, drying his left hand.
He then quickly severed it in response, then called upon the draconic energy within him to restore what was lost.
"Ah shit… this head is nearing the level of that being in this universe. Gotta be careful," he thought, savoring the pain and the lesson it brought.
The creature didn't wait. Its intent was obvious: to absorb every vestige of life in Japan and regenerate, then dive headlong towards the island below that is visible.
Even if you are smart, your use of Authority is very rough; you don't even know your own Symbolism you present by your own power…
That moment you use some kind of desolation from before is just an instinctual reaction, right? how terrifying, if you can even adapt to your own power this quickly…
Aldean realized, for the first time, that subtlety alone wouldn't suffice. He reached deeper, invoking Symbolism.
But, in the end, you can only do a simple usage of Authority to create a quantity that is generated by quality.
"Let you taste the power of Symbolism, a baby with a gun will never be able to overpower an adult with a knife!"
"Symbolism: Stars Incarnate!" He drew the power of dusk into his sword, borrowing myths and celestial archetypes, layering it with his own Authority. His grey eyes reflected the River of Time, history, and cosmic patterns flowing through his vision.
Standing in the atmosphere, he took a stance. The weapon became the twilight incarnate, an eruption of dawn-like light cleaving the skies red and orange.
The jellyfish shrieked, halting mid-flight. Gray, brown, and black eruptions spun around it like venomous stingers. It tried to absorb and negate the slash, but its crude Authority couldn't match Aldean's precision.
It attempted to slow, absorb, and negate the slash, yet its limited sophistication allowed Aldean to layer his attacks with precision, combining Authority and Symbolism.
The strike traveled instantaneously, landing, tearing half of the monster's massive head away. Blood oozed along sinews and flesh, yet the jellyfish ignored further attacks despite the aura around its body growing more turbulent as it had angered the jellyfish further, fixating on life beneath.
The influence of the lingering silver glow from its core still clouded Aldean's perception, but he caught glimpses of its intent: it would drain Japan itself and the surrounding lives to recover.
Unease rippled through him. Fear, subtle but unmistakable, forced him to accelerate his pace. The jellyfish hovered above the country, its shadow stretching over mountains, cities, and seas.
The battle had escalated beyond calculation; now, Aldean's every move was measured against both the monster's power and his family below.
Aldean muttered under his breath, a smirk breaking through the grim tension. "Come on… show me everything you've got."
---
The streets below were a ruinous blur, smoke curling from burning buildings, glass shards reflecting the dying light of the sun. Alicia's legs trembled as she clutched at bleeding part of her legs, her breath ragged.
Ahead, Misaki and Hayakawa moved with calm efficiency, guiding her through the debris-strewn road. But all their training and instincts could not shield them from the sight above.
The sky itself seemed to fracture. A massive shadow, impossible to ignore, descended at a speed that made the horizon tremble.
The air vibrated with pressure, a subtle hum that resonated deep within Alicia's chest. And then, for the first time, she saw it clearly: the jellyfish. Its enormous, translucent body blotted out portions of the sky, its tentacles stretching downward like sinister rivers over the city of Fukuoka.
One of them dangled perilously close, swaying slowly, as if testing the ground below.
Her heart sank. Despite herself, Alicia felt awe and terror in equal measure. Somewhere above, a second silhouette appeared, a lone figure moving against the descent of the monster.
He wore a bloodied kimono, the left sleeve torn up to his shoulder, but his hand remained intact, gripping a weapon with an unnatural grace.
His form was barely discernible, yet Misaki and Hayakawa, with their enhanced vision, could trace the outline with startling clarity. Even from this distance, they felt the weight of his presence: precise, calculating, and devastating.
The figure struck at the jellyfish with blinding speed. Each motion sent ripples of energy across the sky, the air bending unnaturally as he folded space and layered Authority like threads of a cosmic tapestry.
Waves of distortion ran along the jellyfish's surface, slowing its descent, even halting its advance momentarily. Alicia's eyes widened. He was fighting it alone.
Misaki muttered under her breath, her voice tight with tension, "And here I thought that we are doomed, no human, maybe could ever fight that."
Realizing her limitation, that above the sky there is still another sky.
Hayakawa didn't respond immediately, his eyes tracing the bloodied kimono and the motion of the jellyfish. "That man… extraordinary," he finally said, tone grim. "No ordinary human, or even extraordinary force, could move like that."
Alicia's grip tightened, knuckles whitening. The jellyfish hovered above, its massive tentacle swinging like a pendulum over the city, stirring the smoke and debris below.
Even suspended, the creature radiated menace, its translucent form pulsing slightly, as if aware of every living thing beneath it.
She glanced at Misaki and Hayakawa. Their faces were tight, resolute, but the tension radiating from them was unmistakable.
"We're almost there," Alicia whispered, though the words barely reached beyond her lips. The city of Fukuoka lay just ahead, but the shadow above threatened to crush everything in an instant.
For a fleeting moment, all three of them, Alicia, Misaki, and Hayakawa, stood frozen, watching the bloodied silhouette battling the incomprehensible jellyfish. Time itself seemed to stretch, each second a suspended note of terror and awe.
And then, with a barely perceptible exhale, the jellyfish finally stopped. Suspended in the sky above Japan, it loomed like a living mountain. Its tentacle dangled directly over the city, a silent threat poised to fall.
The bloodied figure hovered above it, small against the enormity of the monster, but the energy emanating from him made the impossible clear: he would not let it strike.
Alicia swallowed hard, eyes wide, and muttered under her breath. "Aldean?"
The wind whispered through the ruined streets, carrying a hint of heat, smoke, and tension. And in that suspended silence, the weight of what was coming pressed down harder than any debris around them.
---
The jellyfish hovered, suspended above Japan, its immense body blotting out the remnants of the sunset. Its tentacles swayed with intent, the sheer weight of its presence pressing down on the cities below.
Aldean's chest heaved, sweat and blood mingling on his skin, but he did not falter. The creature had stopped, yes, but that pause was only temporary.
"I will not allow you to advance even for an inch, you bastard!" he roared, voice echoing across the trembling sky.
He clenched the hilt of his jian with one hand, the other weaving the invisible threads of Authority through the air. Fukuoka. My family. Nothing else matters.
The resolve hardened within him. Lives could be lost, but not theirs. Places could crumble, but not for them. As long as I breathe, I will endure. Every shred of my power will be poured into protection.
With grim determination, he launched his Authority again, folding space, compressing layers, and layering Symbolism upon it.
The strain tore at his body; every fiber of his being screamed in protest, but the energy poured out regardless, flowing into the attack as naturally as blood through veins.
The jellyfish was not idle. It had already assessed him, and while its use of Authority was rough, its intelligence was undeniable.
With deliberate calculation, it realized that something vital must reside in Fukuoka, something Aldean was desperate to protect. Its target: likely the Destined Serpent, the focus of its invasion.
Roaring, the jellyfish tentacle danced above the sky, ravaging various lives that were left on the ground, buildings, and debris flying in the sky.
With a subtle pulse of energy, it activated Reaping. Streams of radiant glow light radiated from its body, probing every life form below and even launched to the distance, measuring potential, harvesting karma, twisting the fate of every being caught in its glow.
The beams moved like serpents, seeking the most vital, the most fragile, the most precious.
Aldean's grey eyes caught one beam, streaking toward Alicia's position, her surprised eyes, sky-blue eyes, and disheveled white hair. His eyes widen and his breath quickens. Why is she here?!!
"Aldean?", she mutters quietly.
Without a pause, he twisted his body, weaving Authority and Symbolism into a protective shell around her. Space bent, the air thickened, and the silver ray slammed against the barrier, scattering into fragments like shards of glass.
"I must protect her!" he growled, teeth clenched.
Each motion tore at his muscles, made his blood run, and chipped at his stamina, but he did not slow. Every strike of Authority, every shift of space, every infusion of Symbolism was calculated, precise, unwavering.
Burning smell of ozone, energy, and radiation filled the space of Fukuoka, as the collision of every Authority worsens the conditions.
I cannot fail!
The jellyfish shrieked, the sound vibrating through the clouds and into the earth below. It was learning, adapting, refining its use of Reaping.
The jellyfish shrieked, a sound that made the clouds ripple and buildings tremble below. Its beams adapted instantly, curving around barriers, shifting trajectories.
Aldean blinked as the ground beneath him split from the force of Reaping. He lashed out with his jian, slicing a tentacle cleanly in two. The creature recoiled, but its core, an all-seeing, glowing eye, never left the place it had been aiming for; it had fixed its hunger on the world below, not on him.
He felt the surge of intent then, the cold calculation behind the beams. This thing wasn't a mindless devourer, it knew what mattered.
So he answered in kind. He reached deeper into Symbolism, drawing a different image this time: the Midday Sun, a purifying, searing light that burned everything to ash.
"Symbolism: Stars Incarnate!" he shouted. The universe slid across his vision: rivers of history and constellations through his sight. The twilight sky folded like a curtain, the sun's glare funneling into the blade. Light punched outward from the jian, blinding, focused, surgical.
The sun-fire struck the jellyfish's crown. Half its massive head sheared away; flesh hissed and smoked where searing heat met sinew and metal. Hot, steaming blood ran along exposed veins and machinery, the scent of burnt flesh thick in the air.
Still, the creature ignored the wounds, its core locked on the lives beneath that Aldean had protected before.
Time favored it, but Aldean was not idle. Every movement of the creature, every pulse of light, every sweep of its tentacles was mirrored by him, countered, mitigated, redirected.
"Fool," he muttered under his breath, gripping the jian tighter. Even at the apex of power, the lesson is clear: subtlety alone won't win this. But if I fail, they die. Everyone I love dies.
Every pulse of Reaping and Desolation, every sweep of a tentacle, every distortion of the silver sky met resistance. Aldean became a bulwark, bleeding, battered, but unyielding. And through it all, his focus never wavered: protect Alicia, protect his family, even if the world burned around them.