CHAPTER XII
Kaizo and Dianne sat facing a campfire. The night felt quieter than usual. For some reason, conflicts between humans seemed more complicated than the threat of the Symbiotes. Right beside them lay the Grand Canyon, one of the world's largest natural wonders. Kaizo manifested two pieces of meat ready to be grilled, though the process was slow due to the immense complexity of forming biological matter.
"Can you create biological elements too, Kaizo?" Dianne asked.
"Technically, yes, but it takes a lot of time. I usually say I can't because it's almost useless in a fight against opponents on my level, where split-second attacks are required," Kaizo explained.
Using a simple makeshift grill he created, Kaizo began cooking the meat for them. After a while, the food was ready. Dianne could eat immediately, while Kaizo had to wait a moment as the heat still stung his hands.
Feeling awkward eating first while Kaizo waited, Dianne tried to strike up a conversation. "What's your plan regarding Kyle?"
"I'm still thinking about that. My power is actually dangerous for ordinary people like you, especially since I often activate an automatic parry that releases violent vibrations. So, up there... what's it called? Olympus. Is there a large enough open space?" Kaizo asked back.
"There is, but it's not very big. It's the courtyard at the entrance of the President's residence—a field about 10x10 meters," Dianne answered.
"That's still dangerous. What's surrounding it?"
"It's encircled by apartments where the citizens live."
"Good grief, that's a major problem. The peak of the great war will likely happen there, considering Kyle's goal is to topple the President. If I interfere, every bullet I deflect could harm the people living nearby." Kaizo checked his meat again; it was still searingly hot.
"Is it true that we can't do anything?" Dianne grew somber hearing Kaizo's concerns.
"Oh, no... don't worry. I know what to do. For now, this is what we can manage," Kaizo replied.
"How?" Dianne's spirit instantly returned, her eyes sparkling.
"Simple..." Kaizo said before walking a distance away to begin assembling something. By creating a ferrite outer layer, a super-powered dynamo, and an ultra-effective energy combustion engine, then adding solar panels and coloring the whole thing black to maintain temperature, Kaizo created a surveillance drone. He also fashioned a screen to display what the drone recorded. Dianne watched with rapt attention.
Kaizo placed the drone on the ground and used a remote control to power it up. The propellers began to spin with a speed that made them look stationary. A massive surge of lift sent it upward, reaching an altitude of 50 meters in no time. Due to the wide propeller blades, it could still climb even in the thin atmosphere. Kaizo and Dianne smiled as they watched the device disappear from sight. Before long, the drone arrived above Olympus. Finding the courtyard of the President's house was easy because the area was covered by a thick glass roof displaying the stars. Olympus, currently 25 km above sea level, could now be monitored without detection.
"Now we just wait for the next move. Until then, we must chip away at our mission to save time," Kaizo stated.
"It's getting late. For now, we should rest," Dianne stretched and headed back to the car.
Kaizo agreed but stayed outside to keep watch. He lay on the ground, staring up at the starlit sky. "The universe is so vast... it's impossible that this is the only world on the brink of destruction." Kaizo, who had connections with Hyper-Cosmic rulers, knew much about the cosmos. Sometimes people thought magic connected the realms, but that was just a cheap secret of the rulers. The star systems lighting the sky functioned logically without the help of magical powers. People often compared realistic strength to miraculous power, when in truth, the ultimate authority was the Law—and that was what they always tried to defy. Humans, as floating specks of dust, were technically insignificant, yet that was where all stories unfolded.
Thinking too deeply gave Kaizo a headache. Before closing his eyes, he hummed a song of self-praise to put his mind at ease:
"This is the time to defy fate,
With true power,
From here on, I carry the light,
I will plunge through the darkness,
Far away—
I hear someone waiting,
From a galaxy far, far away~
I swear by the blue light
Shining on my arm,
Your name is Kaizo Dantarona..."
The next day.
Dianne was inspecting the second Arkae Tower. The interior looked much the same as the previous one, but the throne was empty. The scent wafting through the air was foul—a mixture of carrion, fresh meat, pandan, durian, and rotting fruit. The previous Arkae Tower didn't smell like this; Dianne remembered the sharp scent of rusted iron. A thick, yellowish-white fluid seeped slowly from the walls like lava from a volcano.
Dianne turned to leave immediately, but just as she stepped out of the entrance, someone landed right in front of her. A familiar face—the woman whose child Kyle had helped deliver.
"The Secretary?" Dianne recalled her name instantly.
"How are you, oh kind one?" the Secretary replied.
"I'm fine—"
Suddenly, the Secretary kissed Dianne squarely on the mouth, and a strange liquid slowly entered Dianne's throat. The Secretary released her and began to laugh as Dianne fell to her knees in agony. She felt excruciating pain because her body was no longer synthetic. Something squirmed and began to grow in her lower abdomen. Dianne's stomach bloated, and she felt herself growing weak.
Kaizo, returning from a bathroom break, was shocked by the sight. He saw Dianne writhing in pain on the ground while someone stood over her laughing. Enraged, Kaizo dashed forward, drawing his sword. The air pressure from Kaizo's rapid movement was so great that the Secretary sensed the sudden attack and leaped to dodge. Kaizo stopped, his slash having been evaded, but the fight was far from over. The Secretary dove from the clouds with her right leg raised high. Kaizo, seeing the incoming strike, countered with an absolute parry to ensure the shockwave wouldn't hit Dianne. He took a martial arts stance and deflected the kick with ease. The Secretary was sent flying back.
However, being cunning, the Secretary did not stop attacking Kaizo, who remained near Dianne. She knew she would only lose if Kaizo fought seriously, which would in turn endanger Dianne. Thousands of kicks lunged toward Kaizo. Though he saw many openings to kill her, he could not drop his absolute defense, because Kaizo's defense was a deadly attack. A powerful attack parried would transfer its energy to Kaizo; if he stopped defending, that energy would be released entirely. As long as Dianne was near, Kaizo had to remain on the defensive.
Dianne realized the danger. Even semi-conscious, she tried to drag herself away. A sharp, stinging pain remained in her stomach, but for Kaizo to win, she had to get as far away as possible. With a groan, she clawed at the ground with both hands, pulling her weak body with all her might. The Secretary continued her relentless assault, unaware that the distance between Kaizo and Dianne was now sufficient. On the next kick, the Secretary caught a glimpse of Kaizo smiling, and her vision was instantly filled with blinding white light.
The Secretary woke up and saw Kaizo running toward Dianne in the distance. Realizing her defeat, she chose to flee. Only her head remained, but it could still move; she regenerated instantly and leaped away into the distance.
Kaizo calmed Dianne and gently laid her down. He removed her outer clothing to help her expel whatever was inside her. He extended his index finger, which glowed with a blue light, and touched it to Dianne's abdomen, which completely neutralized the pain. Dianne began to breathe slowly and calmly; she covered her eyes with her hands, surrendering completely to Kaizo. Slowly, Kaizo extracted a strange-looking creature—a human-headed squid. The infant was not breathing; it seemed the pain-neutralizing energy had been toxic to it. Kaizo then buried it.
After the ordeal, Kaizo took off all his outer clothes—his shirt, pants, shoes, gloves, and coat—piled them up, and burned them. He had spare clothes in his portable pocket (a special spatial-control ability from his home world). He dressed and looked like his usual self again. While Dianne was still asleep or unconscious, Kaizo burned her clothes and created new ones for her, except for her scarf, which he removed before cleaning her with a spray of fresh water and disinfectant. Kaizo then destroyed the Arkae Tower in retaliation before carrying Dianne back to the car.
Dianne woke up in the car with a thick blanket over her. Kaizo sat in the driver's seat, watching the live feed from his drone.
"You're awake," Kaizo said, noticing Dianne peeking at him from the back.
"What happened?" Dianne asked.
"You fainted because of the foul smell in that tower," Kaizo replied, chuckling at her.
"Good grief, you're right. That place was horrible," Dianne said, complaining about how disgusting the Arkae Tower was.
Dianne had no memory of the previous events. This was because Kaizo had injected her with a special medicine he had learned about from a giant aquatic creature in another world. The creature produced a fluid that, if inhaled or touched, caused a person to faint and forget what they had seen. Kaizo had carefully measured the dose so that Dianne only remembered exploring the tower.
"So, what's the condition of the tower now?" Dianne asked.
"I destroyed it. Nothing's left," Kaizo answered.
Dianne mentioned she was sleepy and felt a bit under the weather. She excused herself to go back and sleep. Kaizo let her rest and returned to watching the drone footage.
The night returned to peace. A breeze blew, sending dust into the car through the window, slowly lulling Kaizo into a nap. However, he suddenly snapped awake, his instincts sensing something. Once again, he felt someone watching them from the distance.