Iceflame// Chapter 24: Things Turn

Saya had seen Hikaru come home all beaten-up many times over the years. Far too many. Whenever he came home in such a condition, however, it was always after the fact. She had never actually seen anyone hurt her son.

That changed during the Class Battle and it was the hardest thing for her to watch, let alone comment on impartially. All she wanted to do was go out there and protect him, take him away from the battle and just make sure he would get hurt no more. But she knew she couldn't do any of those things and that only served to bring her more agony. The mother's intervention would only be allowed if her son surrendered to an enemy or was incapacitated, which was something she hoped would happen soon. Anything that could spare her from watching more of this torment was welcome.

The other members of her family also had a hard time watching this, but none suffered more than her and seeing this, Iziya suggested to switch with her at a certain point. That’s how Saya returned to looking at Tokura’s battle with the Hera Trio, which she was supposed to focus on from the start, while her sister monitored the events on the big central field.

As the situation there escalated, the six drones Graid had positioned along the sides of the park were redirected toward the pit formed on that field by the Martians. A bit later three of Rose’s drones monitoring the farthest part of the rocky area were also sent in that direction as more equipment was needed to catch every detail of the destruction.

Just when the monitoring five seemed to have all the important terrain covered, Hikaru, Seiren and King going after Hock, Gorudora and Nepalo on the other side of the Kisdeya River caused another shift of attention for the observers.

(Graid) ‘-Looks like I’ll be seeing some action soon! Mom, be on standby! It’s not clear how wide a terrain the battles that are about to start at the river are going to cover.’

(Rose) ‘-Iziya, no comments on those three leaving the pinewood?’

(Iziya) ‘-I have enough on my plate with the battle at the pit as it is, mom! Yuki, I know you want to watch how Hikaru and Seiren are going to do, but mom and Graid can cover them. I need another set of eyes for the pit, cuz there’re still a few fights happening both inside and outside of it. Come take control of some of my drones and tell me what you see.’

(Yuki) ‘-Got it!’

(Saya) ‘-I get what Hikaru’s plan is by going after the Ares Trio. Tokura still isn’t finished with the Hera Trio, though, so those three may need to hold off Hock, Gorudora and Nepalo for quite a while.’

Even though she wasn’t watching what was happening on the other battlefields within Nebula, Hikaru’s mother still listened to her family members’ comments and remained informed of her son’s current state. Now that he was off to face the strongest members of the enemy class, her heart was gripped by concern for him yet again, distracting her from the battle she was supposed to monitor.

Another distraction appeared when something suddenly cut through the base of the observation tower, this drawing the attention of all five observers. As the tower tipped over and fell to the ground, Graid passed through Saya and Rose with his Daroid, the sprays of scarlet energy being all the fiery mom could see for a bit.

What she was able to discern when those sprays dissipated was that Iziya had formed a sort of cloud of compressed air to stand on above the ground, meanwhile Yuki having landed just beyond the remains of the crushed structure.

As Graid reached the ground with a landing softened by his Reloid, his eldest sister remembered that there was flammable equipment stored at the base of the tower, which was not a problem in and of itself. The contact of the sparks produced by the cutting of the metal structure with that flammable equipment was the problem.

(Saya) ‘-Yuki, get away from the tower!!!’

The moment she shouted that at the white-haired beauty, the remains of the base of the tower exploded in a great blast that shook the area.

Saya and Rose were protected from the following shockwave by the Reloid Graid had enveloped around them, but were still blinded by the explosion, forced to shut their eyes completely. When the head of the Summerbolt family opened her eyes again, all she could see ahead of her were the billows of smoke that had risen from the blast.

And no sign of Yuki.

Iziya directed the cloud she stood on toward the smoke to look for the baby doll, but was hit by a shot of pale green energy before she could conduct a thorough search, the shot smashing her in the grass nearby. Graid let go of his mother and eldest sister then, the three of them following the shot’s trajectory to find out who the shooter was.

It was hard to tell, because in the present a company of at least 200 people was approaching the monitoring group, having a wide arsenal of high-tech weapons, all of which seemed to be powered by pale green energy. Their attire was identical: black uniforms with partial gray armor over them with dots emitting pale green light here and there and gray helmets that had a symbol on them. The symbol consisted of the following: a white ring within a black rhombus that had a pale green dot in its center with thin white kites coming out of the ring in the four cardinal directions.

Saya knew that symbol. She knew that attire. She knew those weapons. And there wasn’t a thing in the world she hated more and never wanted to see again.

Her focus on this coming group of attackers had left her vulnerable to an attack from the back, however, the moment she felt something was coming at her and turned around, realizing it was too late to respond.

Ten nails made of green lasers were aimed at her face, something standing in their way before they could reach their target. The nails were formed around the fingers of Ulura Nightsong and the thing that had stood in her way was the lower half of Yuki’s right arm, now armored in many layers of ice. The white- and black-haired warriors pierced the other with a lethal gaze that was full of hostility as Miss Iceflame pushed the former high-school tyrant back with her superstrength.

The violent nurse was certain Yuki couldn’t have possibly been killed by a thing as simple as the base of the tower exploding, but it was still a relief to see with her own eyes her family’s newest member was alive and without a scratch on her. She had already seen enough suffering from one Summerbolt on that day and didn’t need any more of the same. Yet while being happy, Saya couldn’t relish the relief to its full extent, because it was mixed with another feeling – anger.

(Ulura) ‘-And here I was hoping that blast had finally rid me of you, Iceflame.’

(Yuki) ‘-You’ve fought me once already. You should know killing me won’t be that easy. Nor will it be that easy to hurt any of the members of my family while I’m here.’

(Ulura) ‘-You’re still as stupid as ever, I see. I didn’t say I knew for certain the blast had killed you. I was simply hoping for it. (an idea seemed to have dawned on Ulura as she looked away for a moment before returning her attention on her old enemy) You said something about being pessimistic and not believing in miracles during our last fight, right?’

(Yuki) ‘-So you’ve become a believer after your defeat?’

(Ulura) ‘-I still don’t believe in miracles. But you’ll be glad to hear I believe in something other than myself now. (the villainess swung with the index fingers of both her hands, which led to the formation of two wide green laser beams in an ‘X’ shape in front of her, sent straight at the quartet) I BELIEVE IN ANNIHILATING YOUR WHOLE FAMILY TODAY!!!!’ (crescents of compressed air cut through the X-shaped laser beams before Yuki or any of the Summerbolts could counter them, Iziya coming up behind the young Nightsong with many more crescents of the same type)

(Iziya) ‘-Bold thing to say when your back is open to attacks by one of the members of that family, brat!!’

Ulura teleported behind the wind lady and her wave of attacks, Hikaru’s aunt still sending the crescents to her original target as she landed next to her family. They didn’t reach, though, as a number of thin green lasers cut all the crescents preemptively, the black-haired beauty grinning with evil joy now.

(Ulura) ‘-I see that shot you were hit with didn’t make you stay down, either, Iziya Summerbolt. All of you are such persistent scum that one can’t help but enjoy the thought of killing you.’

She raised her hand, this signal making all the troops on the other side of the monitoring five stop their advance about twenty meters from them, Yuki stepping closer to her old adversary at the same time.

The anger in Saya swelled more and more, her fists now clenched so hard it hurt. Her suspicions were confirmed by the fact those soldiers heeded Ulura’s command – the Nightsongs were in league with the ones who had attacked Yuki, Hikaru and Seiren two weeks back. And this Class Battle – all of it – was just a set-up to gather all the villains’ targets in one place, so they can finish the job.

(Yuki) ‘-Holding a grudge against me is fine. Bringing those men here to capture me is something I can also understand, even if not entirely. The one thing I don’t understand is why you have to involve the Summerbolts in this. If it’s me you want …’

Ulura frowned upon hearing the ice maiden’s words.

(Ulura) ‘-You really piss me off like no one else can, you know that? It’s always about not involving others with you. (she started wrapping her body in green lasers that twisted around) I’m not here for what happened between us last week. And my men don’t have capturing you in mind. (the lasers around her lit her face in poison green as she said the next sentence, making her appear even more terrifying than usual) We’ve simply come to ensure none of you will leave Nebula alive.’

Saya came out of a burst of bright yellow flames right in front of the young Nightsong then, having increased the intensity of her deva to such an extent that the black-haired warrior was blinded by those flames. Blinded long enough to have an uppercut smashed in her chin and be thrown aside amid a miniature firestorm.

The head of the Summerbolt family just couldn’t listen to any more of that and had finally stepped in. Ever since the arrival of Ulura and her company the fiery mom had been brimming with rage. She had tried to contain it up to this point to receive all the necessary information to confirm her theories and the last words of Ukris’ child had given her that confirmation. It was clear that talking any further with a group of people who were hell-bent on killing her and her loved ones would be a disservice to both sides.

Straight-up annihilation was a much better option.

(Saya) ‘-It seems we have nothing further to discuss, then. (she stepped toward the firestorm, speaking to her family members without turning to look at them as many green lasers destroyed her mass of flames) You four deal with the soldiers. And regroup with Earthling Class #1 after that. I’ll take care of Nightsong.’

(Yuki) ‘-No matter what she says, Saya, I know I’m the one she wants! Let me deal with her!!’

The selflessness of this girl sometimes appeared baffling to her unofficial mother. And just like every other time she had seen that selflessness manifest, a smile found its way to her face. She didn’t turn to Yuki to show her that smile this time, though. Her focus needed to be only on her opponent, especially considering she hadn’t fought a deviant one-on-one since before Hikaru was born and in this case she was dealing with a Nightsong.

(Saya) ‘-You saved me from her just now, Yu. Let me return the favor. This one is clearly able to use more than the standard 15% output for someone not participating in the Class Battle and you’ll have to overexert yourself a lot to stop her now. (Saya narrowed her eyes, deciding to use the fact that Yuki couldn’t see her face to further mask her intention that was to not fighting against any of the ordinari soldiers) At the same time, you have experience dealing with soldiers like the ones back there, right? So do me a favor and take them out.’

The baby doll didn’t say anything more, but as she didn’t hear her come any closer, Saya felt assured she’d gone to join Iziya, Graid and Rose. That meant she was now free to turn her full attention to her enemy who had just come out between the remaining tiny flames from the firestorm as they died out.

The violent nurse could clearly see what Ulura wore now, recognizing parts of it as traditional Nightsong armor. 

Her dark purple chest armor bore her family’s insignia, only the crescent inside the circle was dark gray while the quaver note was green. The three green spikes that usually came out of the left side of the circle were coming out of its right side for the former high-school tyrant and were longer than usual while a dark gray bat wing came out of the circle’s left side. This wing was quite big, covering her middle trapezius along with the whole shoulder and part of the left arm, the rest of that arm having a black sleeve over it. That sleeve was most likely connected to the black uniform that covered the young woman’s torso beneath the chest armor, meanwhile her right arm being left with no protection at all.

For the lower half of the body Ulura had put on black leather pants with a gray belt and gray boots that reached over the knees, the Nightsongs’ insignia in its original form being placed on the belt’s buckle. That wasn’t the only thing attached to the belt, however, a dark purple piece of cloth with horizontal green crescents on it that reached just under the knee hanging from that belt on the right leg’s side.

As to the laser tormentor’s expression, it looked as twisted as Yuki had described it had become at a certain point during her first fight with Ukris’ child, neither pupils, nor irises being visible within her eyes at this point. Instead Saya found only two orbs of infinite poison green staring back at her and carrying the promise of a painful death for all who stood in the wrathful warrior’s way.

(Saya) ‘-I suppose your class is in on this, too. Is that why they made the battle at the central field so chaotic? So we could focus our attention on it while you move your forces to this position unnoticed?’

(Ulura) ‘-Even if you’ve figured that out, nothing will save you now.’

She lunged at the head of the Summerbolt family with many new laser beams and bullets forming around her along the way to hit her enemy, all of those being incinerated by the curtain of bright yellow flames Hikaru’s mother put up. That curtain was in turn sliced in half by a very wide beam, Saya noticing Ulura was using only the nail of her index finger for that attack, realizing that this technique was her trump card – and the thing to watch out for the most.

(Saya) ‘-So first you launch a wide-range attack to distract the enemy and then you use one of those wide beams your nails can create to finish them off? It’s a nice tactic.’

As the violent nurse managed to teleport beyond the reach of that beam fast enough, Ulura became even more aggravated.

(Ulura) ‘-In case you haven’t realized, this is your execution, not a Class Battle!! Making comments about the participants’ tactics is irrelevant at this point!!!’

Saya appeared behind Ulura now, her foe responding by cutting the fireball Hikaru’s mother was preparing to crush in her with another one-finger swing. She then teleported with very high speed around the head of the Summerbolt family again and again, swinging with just her index finger every time. This led to the formation of ten wide laser beams within seconds that moved so fast and at such close range that it was impossible to dodge all of them.

Fortunately, the ground had already been damaged plenty by the swings of Ukris’ daughter, so there was no need to dodge all the beams. A wide cut was left on the earth right under the fiery mom’s feet, so she teleported inside it, leaving a fire clone in her place. As the beams cut the clone, it burst in bright yellow flames, fooling the young Nightsong long enough for Saya to sneak up behind her again with another teleportation.

This time she grabbed Ulura’s arms before she could swing, running her fire deva over the laser deva inside the body of her opponent to ensure the former high-school tyrant would not be able to teleport or counterattack in any way.

(Saya) ‘-Did your mother teach you that technique, perhaps?’

(Ulura) ‘-What’s it matter to you?!’

The response to the black-haired beauty’s question was a head-butt that lit her on fire from head to toe, Saya proceeding to hammer her burning body in the ground.

(Saya) ‘-I’m the one who first thought of a way to counter this technique. (she leaned in closer to Ulura, who was trying to destroy the flames on her body by releasing as much of her green lasers as possible, the anger on her face now being replaced by panic and pain) As you’re still young, using an attack like this repeatedly over short intervals would take a toll on you. The key therefore is to dodge those beams enough times for the opponent to wear themselves out. Once that happens, sneaking up on them to deliver a finishing blow is easy.’

Before she could continue with her explanation, she barely registered something moving nearby from the corner of her eye, a heavy blow similar to the crack of a whip suddenly being dealt to the side of her face.

The force of that strike twisted her neck and rattled her head so much that she lost balance, a second later finding herself lying on the ground, the whole left half of her face burning with pain, something liquid forcing its way out of her mouth.

When Saya got up halfway and looked at her hand, she saw a few drops of blood. There was also a bloody streak that had run down from her lips to her chin, wiped by Mrs. Summerbolt upon regaining her focus and getting back on her feet. She looked around for Ulura and as was expected, the laser tormentor was nowhere in sight.

That attack had definitely not come from the young Nightsong. And it was unlikely that one of the ordinari soldiers had slipped past Yuki, Iziya, Graid and Rose to reach the head of their family and attack her like that.

No. This was the work of a deviant.

That deviant came at the fiery mom with another attack of the same type, but this time around she was ready and deflected it with a swing of her flame-clad arm. What she wasn’t ready for was the discovery of the identity of this new attacker: Tenji Line, her son’s homeroom teacher.

(Tenji) ‘-It appears you’re the one who got sneaked on, Mrs. Summerbolt.’

Moments after Tenji’s reveal a laser cut the back of Hikaru’s mother, Ulura, who was now free of the bright yellow flames and had sustained almost no damage, teleporting in front of Saya next. A cut identical to the one on the woman’s back appeared on her chest with another swing from her original opponent, this making her fall to her knees amid a spray of blood. The flaming warrior was too numb by both the shock and the pain to do anything else but stare at the teacher and the student as they smiled at the other.

(Ulura) ‘-Took you long enough.’

(Tenji) ‘-My timing was perfect, though, right? I had to make sure all the monitoring equipment here is destroyed as well before joining you. As was planned.’

(Ulura) ‘-Never mind that. (they both looked at Saya) Let’s kill this one already, so we can finish off the others as well. I want to make my father proud by showing him all the targets here have been disposed of by the time he arrives with his company.’