Saya’s surprise from Tenji Line siding with Ulura
Nightsong had hardly passed when more shock was added to the mix, preventing
the pain from her wounds to overtake her completely. The source of that shock
was the great burst of Flexoid that had formed near the remains of the
observation tower, out of which fell the members of her son’s class. Even from
this distance it was clear they were in a horrible state, guessing by the
medium used for their teleportation that Tokura had sent them here.
And he had sent them to be saved. To be healed. To be
protected. Given how busy Yuki, Iziya, Graid and Rose were with fighting the
soldiers the young Nightsong had brought with her, the only one capable of
doing these things was Saya. But she wasn’t even given time to think how to
help the brats because Ulura and Tenji’s attention was still focused on
ensuring her death.
To do that, Earthling Class #1’s homeroom teacher took
out gray brass knuckles with red spikes on them from one of the pouches on his
belt, putting them on his hands and attaching equipment of a similar type to
his bare feet. At the same time the former Queen of Sunbird wrapped
strings of green lasers around Saya’s wrists, ankles, throat and waist.
As the
lasers cut through Mrs. Summerbolt’s clothes and then her skin to make her
bleed more, those strings were connected to two nearby trees so she could be
stretched. Ukris’ daughter strolled toward the quartet fighting the soldiers
then while Mr. Line got into his battle stance.
(Ulura) ‘-Hit her with full force, so she can die
faster. I’ll go and finish off the others.’
(Tenji) ‘-I’ll be right with you, Ulura!’
The fiery mom was half-dead, had no idea how her son
was doing, his classmates were about to die and Ulura Nightsong was on her way
to kill the rest of her family. So many problems had piled up for her all at
once. And there was only one solution to all of them. A solution she hadn’t
used since before Hikaru was born.
The pummeling by the elastic whips Tenji had
transformed his arms into started, due to his speed being able to quickly
switch between hitting her face and hitting her torso. He did that so fast that
it felt as if her whole being was battered at the same time. And all she could
see between the streams of blood coming out from the wounds on her head was the
sadistic teacher’s grin and Ulura walking further away behind him.
A moment later a blaze of bright yellow flames
incinerated all of the black-haired beauty’s laser strings and burned the fists
of her ally which forced him to return his upper limbs to their normal length
with a mixture of pain and surprise on his face. Out of the flames in front of
him came the head of the Summerbolt family who had undergone certain changes.
Firstly, her pupils had become yellow. Secondly, the entire
sleeves of her tracksuit jacket were blasted into oblivion by the fire, the
intensity of which was highest around her arms. As the sleeves burned away, the
single lines of bright red symbols that had formed on the skin along the sides
of Saya’s arms were revealed. Her opponent’s shock increased further as he saw
how more flames focused on all the wounds on the woman’s body, turning
blood-red and sealing each wound. He immediately took a step back while she
stepped closer and closer to him, burning the entire upper layer of the ground
with every step.
The heat exuded by the bright yellow flames must have
caught Ulura’s attention as well because she stopped her advance to turn and
look at the enemy she had defeated, that enemy glancing at the Earthling group
in the mean time.
(Saya) ‘-Three minutes. They’ve got about three
minutes before things turn truly critical for them.’
(Tenji) ‘-Wh-what is this? How are you sealing your
wounds like that?! I wasn’t told about such an ability!’
Ulura ran past him then and right back at Saya with a
face full of utter annoyance.
(Ulura) ‘-It’s probably some trick, Line! Don’t get
scared by this hag now! What can a half-dead bitch like her do to us?!!’
(Saya) ‘-I can show you how deviants fight.’
She lunged at Ulura who now swung with the laser nails
she had formed around her fingers again, creating sets of five beams in quick
succession to cut up the violent nurse once and for all. Hikaru’s mother didn’t
even bother to dodge that attack, flames forming around the new wounds to seal
them in the same fashion as the ones she had sustained before.Just as the
wounds were sealed, the two women reached the other, Ukris’ daughter being too
shocked by how unfazed her adversary was by her attack to respond to the
counterattack fast enough.
A number of orbs of bright yellow flames that looked
like miniaturized versions of cosmic stars were smashed in the villainess with
the same speed as the one with which her series of cutting beams had hit Saya. The
sun-orbs threw her quite a few meters aside and set the grass around her on
fire when she hit the ground, Tenji having regained his composure by that time and
launching his elastic whips forward for another attack.
The fiery mom took the fists and then the kicks head-on
as well, grabbing one of Mr. Line’s arms and one of his legs before he could
retract them, pulling the torso those limbs were attached to closer to her.
Eventually the two were close enough for the sadist to receive a headbutt, but
he managed to evade that by elongating his neck, twisting it to use like a
chain that had a mace at the end, his head acting as the mace.
Saya received a really hard hit to the side of the head
by the enemy’s organic mace, blood bursting from her forehead, but being sucked
back in and the wound – closed off with more blood-colored flames. Tenji’s neck
returned to its normal length, his arms and legs lengthening in its place so he
could wrap them around the lady on fire. While hurt by the new set of burns the
contact with skin brought enough to squint his eyes, he managed to keep a tight
grip on her. As the two rolled on the ground, his legs were stretched enough to
closely wrap around her whole body while his arms were twisted around her neck
in an attempt to choke her.
(Tenji) ‘-You may be able to heal any wound that
bleeds, but how will you survive being choked, I wonder?!’
The homeroom teacher gave it his all to deprive his
student’s mother from any air as soon as possible but wasn’t able to do it fast
enough. A ray of Saya’s flames suddenly exploded from under the combatants, the
burns her foe suffered from that attack being sufficient to force him to
release her and crawl aside.
Ulura made her return just then, swinging wildly using
only her index fingers with the highest possible speed while roaring in a fit
of rage, evidently the burns from the sun-orb barrage having infuriated her.
The swings and roars continued until she exhausted herself enough to stop doing
both, Tenji standing next to her when she was finished.
The moment the last wide green laser beam disappeared,
Mrs. Summerbolt was revealed again to astound the villainous duo once more. Her
whole body was covered in blood-colored flames now, the pupils and irises
having disappeared from her eyes that had burst in yellow light, the symbols on
her arms being lit in the same color.
She held her hands together in a prayer-like fashion, closing
her eyes and standing perfectly still as the two in front of her prepared to
move again.
(Saya) ‘-Solaris Flame Deva: Half-Star Prayer.’
Within a second a hemisphere with a wide diameter that
looked like half of a cosmic star formed around Ulura and Tenji. As both screaming
monsters were consumed by the flames within, the final victor of this clash
teleported in the midst of the other battle being fought nearby.
She blocked the pale green energy projectiles shot
from the one of the soldiers’ miniguns and aimed at her younger brother,
grabbing Graid by the neck before he could ask her anything and teleporting
away. The two Summerbolts appeared in front of the remains of the observation
tower next, judging by the reaction of Hikaru’s uncle, he clearly hadn’t
noticed the brats had even been teleported there.
And he also hadn’t initially noticed what his sister
looked like at the moment. Once he managed to take a look at both her and the
students, he couldn’t decide which of those terrified him more. A normal
reaction given that the last thing he had expected to see on that day were his
sister in that form and so many mangled kids gathered in one place.
(Saya) ‘-The girls will be fine without you for a bit,
Graid. I need your help to save these kids.’
(Graid) ‘-They … what about you?! You’ve activated
Merutera’s Bloodless Covenant? Are you sure that’s …’
(Saya) ‘-Let’s discuss that after we’ve stabilized
them, OK? You may not remember because it’s been a long time, but my flames
heal only me. In order for them to have a healing effect on someone else, they
need to be applied on them through a separate medium.’
(Graid) ‘-You want me to run my Daroid and Reloid
through the brats?’
(Saya) ‘-And quickly, please. They’re running out of
time.’
A blanket of scarlet and jungle-green energy spread
across all the Earthlings right after that, solar flames being mixed with that
cover, a combination of both devas passing through the hot heads’ skin. As the
flames started circulating inside their bodies, the nurse could now fully
understand the extent of the damage they had all suffered.
It was pretty severe, especially for some. That kept
her very tense, but after a minute or so she could feel all of them were
stabilized and took the biggest possible sigh of relief.
(Graid) ‘-They gonna be alright?’
Saya nodded to her little brother, having smiled as
well now.
(Saya) ‘-They’re going to be just fine. We somehow
managed it in time.’
(Graid) ‘-Great. (as happy as he looked after learning
the good news, his sister could still sense a bit of worry in him, especially
when their eyes met again) Don’t stay in that form a minute longer than
necessary, then, OK?’
(Saya) ‘-Roger that. Now go and help those three to finish
off the remaining bastards. We’ll question them after we find Hikaru and the
other members of the class that are still missing.’
The ultrauncle darted back and cut in the nearby enemy
ranks, the fiery mom noticing Exo who was lying closest to her had opened his
eyes now, smiling at him with the hope that would calm the boy who was
obviously stressed beyond words.
(Saya) ‘-Welcome back, kid.’
(Exo) ‘-I’m still alive?’
(Saya) ‘-Yep, quite alive. So are the others that were
teleported here with you. Can you tell me what …’
Exo tried to get up without saying anything but Saya
pushed him on the ground again, the techno-genius looking around frantically as
if in search of something.
(Exo) ‘-If I’m not dead … then what I saw earlier … is
Line-sensei here? On this field? Was he really … was he helping Ulura hurt
you?’
Mrs. Summerbolt looked away for a moment, knowing she
would still not be able to hide the sadness in her eyes. Maybe she just didn’t
want to look at the young man’s face when she confirmed his suspicions.
(Saya) ‘-I’m sorry, Exo. I’m afraid it was him.’
She told herself she wouldn’t look at him at that
exact moment, but she still did. His expression had turned into a mixture of
surprise, disbelief and sorrow.
(Exo) ‘-B-but he … he … sensei … I don’t understand
it. I don’t understand any of it!’
(Saya) ‘-I myself don’t know what exactly is happening
here. What you need to focus on now, however, is to rest. And rest really well.
(she put her hand on his shoulder) I promise you we’ll uncover this whole plot
in no time.’
(Exo) ‘-Sensei was beating you until recently. I don’t
see him around and yet you’re here. What … what did you do to him?’
(Saya) ‘-He and Ulura were in the way of me getting to
you guys. I had to make sure he wouldn’t delay me until it’s too late to help
and I hurting him was the only choice I had left. He’s definitely alive,
though, so don’t worry. We’ll be able to ask him about his connection to the
attack against us.’
Exo suddenly goggled his eyes as if due to a sudden
realization, looking at his body before his gaze returned to the medic’s face.
(Exo) ‘-You’re healing me, right? You’re healing all
of us?’
(Saya) ‘-Yes. And as I said, you don’t need to worry
about any of the others. Even King will be fine once I …’
(Exo) ‘-I’m so sorry, Mrs. Summerbolt! I should’ve
thanked you earlier! There was just so much going on that I couldn’t think
straight and …’
The fiery mom patted his shoulder again.
(Saya) ‘-I told you to calm down, didn’t I? The calmer
you are, the faster I’ll be able to heal you.’
(Exo) ‘-Still, I … thank you so much.’
(Saya) ‘-No need for that, Exo. You’re all good kids.
I couldn’t forgive myself if I let you die right in front of my eyes.
Especially over something none of us understands.’
(Exo) ‘-So your group was attacked by someone? (he moved
his eyes away from her now, looking like he was in deep thought about something)
That explains why none of you intervened earlier.’
(Saya) ‘-We couldn’t keep track of the Class Battle
after Ulura and co. attacked us. Can you tell me what happened at the central
field after Hikaru, Seiren and King left to face the Ares Trio?’
(Exo) ‘-We were close to defeating all the Martians in
the big field area when Nepalo showed up with King whom he had already beaten.
We tried holding him off until Tora got to the field and we made it just
barely.’
(Saya) ‘-So Tokura teleported all of you back here
after he found you?’
Exo responded to that question with a weak nod.
(Exo) ‘-He’s probably fighting Nepalo right now back
at the field.’
(Saya) ‘-And you don’t know anything about what’s
happened to Hikaru and Seiren after they left the big field?’
‘-They’ll soon be dead. Just like the rest of you.’
Saya recognized that voice, but still looked in the
direction it came from, Exo doing the same.
The one speaking was Rale Nightsong, looking furious
as he held his partially burned daughter in his arms, over a hundred more
soldiers like the ones Yuki, Iziya, Graid and Rose were fighting standing
behind him. Tenji Line was also back on his feet despite the newest burns he
had suffered, joining the ranks of that group with an expression that was just
as angry as that of Ukris’ husband.
(Saya) ‘-I would say I’m surprised to see you here,
but that’d be a lie.’
(Rale) ‘-Then you won’t be surprised by what I’m about
to do to you for hurting my daughter.’
(Saya) ‘-That was payback for whatever any of your
thugs has done to my son.’
A smirk of pure evil lit Rale’s face now as he and his
troops stopped walking.
(Rale) ‘-The difference between our children is
my daughter is still alive. Your son, on the other hand … with the soldiers
I’ve ordered to spread out through the park and kill any survivor they find …
you might as well start mourning him right now.’
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