...04/10/2009 Sunday; Dark Hour...
...FULL MOON OPERATION...
The edge of the kukri sliced through the air with a sharp whistle.
Hiro charged forward, eyes locked on the Arcana of Fortune. The distorted shimmer of that Shadow flickered before him, about to be split in half.
Then—
"Watch out!" Minato's voice tore across the battlefield.
Hiro turned instinctively.
But it was too late.
The Arcana of Strength's metal bars twisted through the air like serpents, striking with violence. Their sharpened tips came down on him at a brutal angle.
The impact was harsh.
One of the spears pierced the right side of his chest, tearing through fabric and flesh—lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing.
"Hiro-san!" Aigis shouted.
Aigis leapt off the Arcana of Fortune—leaving the Shadow free.
The Arcana of Fortune slid backward, seizing the opening.
Beside them, a sphere of green energy began forming.
The glowing mass pulsed near Akihiko, who widened his eyes and took a quick sidestep, dodging the orb that tried to hit him.
Suspended above, impaled on the metal bar, Hiro felt blood sliding down the structure.
He braced his feet against the bars, trying to relieve the pressure and use them as support. But the tip was lodged too deeply.
When he tried to pull himself free, a violent jolt shot through his body.
It was stuck.
"Let go of me!"
Without hesitation, he pulled out his Evoker and pressed it to his head.
"LUCIFER!"
The trigger snapped.
A burst of light exploded beside his skull, scattering blue fragments through the air.
Above him, Lucifer's silhouette appeared, wings spread, glaring down at the Arcana of Strength.
Lucifer spun in the air and dove with full force, tearing through the metal bars and smashing them apart—sending Hiro crashing toward the ground.
Hiro hit the pavement with a choked groan, the broken tip of the bar still jutting from his chest.
Lucifer arced upward, then plunged in a brutal dive.
The bars holding Hiro shattered midair, twisted fragments spraying in all directions. The pressure of the descent cracked the ground beneath the force of the blow.
With the bars destroyed, Hiro fell.
When he hit the ground, a low groan escaped between his clenched teeth. The metal tip was still lodged in the right side of his chest.
Blood seeped across his coat, spreading darker shades into the fabric.
Above him, Lucifer beat his wings once.
A second later, he charged the Arcana of Strength.
His fist reared back, descending like a meteor.
The Shadow barely slipped aside—the punch ripped through the space her head had been a moment earlier and struck the side of a nearby building.
Explosion.
Concrete and steel burst apart. A gaping hole tore into the structure, debris raining down in a violent cascade.
The Arcana of Strength recoiled.
From within her warped form, metallic, trembling noises escaped—sharp, uneven… almost fearful.
Lucifer tilted his head.
And laughed.
A deep, unhinged laugh, vibrating like an omen.
Then he lunged again.
Claws sliced through the air in a vicious flurry. The Arcana dodged in abrupt motions, contorting her frame to avoid the strikes.
But not all of them missed.
One claw ripped through her side.
A burst of black energy erupted.
The Arcana screeched—pain and fury intertwining in the sound.
Another slash tore through her surface. And another.
Until—
Lucifer surged forward in a sudden burst of speed and clamped his hand around the Shadow's neck.
His fingers dug in.
The Arcana thrashed, scratching desperately at the massive arm restraining her.
With a guttural roar, Lucifer twisted his body and hurled her.
She rocketed through the air like a projectile.
The station wall took the hit.
Concrete caved inward. The ground trembled. A crater split open where the Arcana slammed into it, fragments of stone scattering like rain.
A cry of pain echoed from within the crater.
For a moment, the Shadow lay still, her form flickering, disoriented.
Then her outline stabilized again.
She lifted her gaze.
And saw—
Lucifer high above, wings spread, plummeting in freefall.
His body rotated midair, leg stretching out for a crushing kick.
The blow struck dead-on.
The impact forced the Arcana even deeper, punching her through the station floor, swallowing her into concrete and steel as if the ground itself collapsed under the violence of the strike.
Hiro, still lying on the ground, grabbed the metal bar lodged in his chest, his fingers trembling as he tried to pull it out.
Aigis rushed toward Hiro. She knelt beside him, her eyes filled with concern.
"This damn thing is stuck!" Hiro grumbled, his voice muffled by effort and pain.
Aigis looked at him, her expression gentle but determined. "Hiro-san, I will assist you."
Hiro frowned, sweat dripping down his forehead. He met Aigis's gaze and nodded. "Okay… on three…"
Aigis's metallic hand rested on the bar, next to Hiro's.
Hiro took a deep breath, trying to ignore the throbbing pain. "One, two—"
Before he could finish counting, they both pulled. The metal groaned, slowly giving way.
Hiro's blood dripped down, staining his coat and his hands.
With one final effort, the bar came loose. Hiro let out a rough groan, relief mixing with pain. He let himself fall back, breathing heavily.
Aigis tossed the bar aside, her gaze still fixed on him. She knelt at his side, her voice full of worry. "Hiro-san!"
Hiro raised a hand, trying to reassure her as he caught his breath. "Don't worry, Aigis. I'm fine."
The Fortune Arcana had been thrown by the earlier impact and slid across the metallic floor, sparks tracing the air as its chassis spun until stopping.
Its golden surface was cracked, marked by Akihiko's punches, Aigis's gunfire, and Hiro's strikes.
A harsh sound escaped it — a distorted metallic snort.
Its blue mask tilted slowly in the direction where Lucifer had thrown the Strength Arcana. Everyone was still staring at that point, tense, waiting for the next move.
That was when it felt a presence behind it.
Silent. Precise.
The Shadow turned around and saw Mitsuru.
Mitsuru raised her rapier and assumed a fighting stance.
Her red eyes fixed with a penetrating glare.
"Got you!"
She advanced.
The sound of the blade slicing through the air echoed across the station. Thrust after thrust, quick as gunshots. The Fortune Arcana retreated, dodging by mere inches, the metal ringing with every grazing strike.
Until the rapier's tip found its metallic body.
The blade pierced the Shadow's leg.
A sharp noise reverberated through the air.
Mitsuru slid back lightly, feet steady. She brought the rapier to her chest, the blade aligned with her heart, as if performing a movement rehearsed countless times.
She breathed once.
Advanced.
The final thrust tore through the air and stabbed into the metal plate that formed the creature's head. The impact rang like a broken bell. The tip nearly hit the blue mask.
A scream burst from the Shadow.
The next instant, the pressure came.
The ground shook. The air grew heavy — thick like liquid concrete.
One by one, the members of S.E.E.S. were crushed against the floor.
No one could move.
The wheels behind the Arcana began spinning again.
The symbols turned into blurs of light.
The Shadow let out a low growl as it noticed that, even under that crushing gravity, Mitsuru still moved.
She was kneeling.
Her hands pressed against the ground trembled, but did not give in. With visible effort, Mitsuru stabbed the rapier into the metal beneath her, using it as support to avoid being fully flattened.
She lifted her face.
Her eyes met the blue mask before her.
There was fury there.
But no fear.
Her lips curled.
A smile formed on her face, as if she had been waiting for this.
Footsteps echoed behind the Shadow.
Heavy. Dragging.
The Fortune Arcana turned.
Minato was standing.
His shoulders trembled. His muscles burned as if every fiber were being torn from the inside. Air refused to enter his lungs. It felt like walking with tons strapped to his back.
Even so, he kept moving.
The wheels spun faster and faster.
He raised his sword. His hands trembled, but did not falter.
His eyes were fixed on the mechanism.
"Not this time!"
With a shout that mixed frustration and defiance, Minato charged forward and drove his sword into one of the wheels with all the strength he had.
Minato's blade sank into the center of one of the wheels.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then—
A metallic boom tore through the air, loud and brutal, like a colossal engine exploding from the inside.
The wheels shuddered.
Cracks of light began leaking through the gears. Thin beams shone through the gaps, pulsing irregularly.
Bolts shot out. Plates came loose. The entire mechanism started falling apart before the Shadow's eyes.
A shrill scream echoed across the battlefield.
It wasn't just pain.
It was loss.
The wheels disintegrated into fragments that turned into black mist before even touching the ground.
Whole chunks evaporated into the air, as if they had never existed.
And then—
The pressure vanished.
The invisible weight crushing S.E.E.S. dissipated like smoke in the wind.
Minato felt the relief first.
His body nearly collapsed, but he forced himself to remain standing. With a quick tug, he pulled the sword free from the destroyed structure.
The blade snapped in half.
The broken metal reflected the bluish light before falling to the ground with a hollow clink.
Without hesitation, Minato leapt back.
A high-pitched sound began to echo from the wheels — a growing, unstable noise, like something overloading past its limit.
The gears stopped.
Silence.
And then they exploded.
A dense mass of black mist spread across the field before dissipating completely.
The wheels were gone.
TO BE CONTINUED...