Agito had reminded him that his
only chance of getting all of them out of this place alive was
to use the Relic. Sho mentally berated himself for forgetting
that, even if it had
been in the heat of battle. He could still feel his connection
to the Relic, but most of his attention was admittedly taken up
by the four Zoalords that were hot on his heels. The one who had
been throwing ice at him and freezing the floor out from under
him was the worst as far as Sho was concerned.
He still couldn’t quite bring himself to
believe that Mr. Murakami was dead, even after having seen and
held his body. Sho knew that he would only begin to really feel
the pain of that loss when he was out of this battle, but for
now it just didn’t seem real to him. Although, there was the
fact that Mr. Murakami had probably been reunited with his son,
but that didn’t make it any easier for Sho to think about it.
Now wasn’t the time for mourning Mr.
Murakami, though, now it was time to make sure that none of his
other friends ended up like Mr. Murakami.
+Agito, are you all right back there?+
+I’m fine, Fukamachi. Just get to the
Relic. I’ll hold them off.+
Sho almost looked back to see how Agito
was doing, but then thought of Mizuki, Tetsuro and the others.
All of them were counting on him to get them safely out of this
place. He had been the one to involve Tetsuro and Mizuki in all
this fighting, it was only fitting that he be the one to get
them out of it. Running at the Guyver’s top speed, Sho made it
back to the top of the Relic and willed the ship to open for
him.
The ice-throwing Zoalord, who looked
like a cross between a humanoid dragon and some kind of ice
demon from an anime, was freezing the ground underneath him
again. The Relic, though, managed to force open the ice long
enough for Sho to jump inside. Closing the ship behind him, and
hoping that Agito would be able to get away from the Zoalords
who were after him long enough to get safely inside the Relic,
Sho headed back to the cockpit.
The Relic obligingly made his trip as
short as possible, opening and closing itself with speed that
Sho hadn’t even known it was capable of. Sho was thankful for
it, though, since he didn’t have the time to waste waiting for
the Relic to open and close with its usual slowness. Even the
liquid inside the Relic didn’t seem to slow him down as much as
it usually did. Bursting out of the liquid once he reached the
cockpit, Sho didn’t stop until he had reached the pedestal in
the center.
All of the others were secured inside
some kind of transport pods that Tetsuro had been the first to
notice. Sho saw them out of the corner of his eye as he took his
place at the navigation station. Fully connecting himself to the
Relic again, Sho found that he felt as if someone with a
malicious sense of humor was digging some kind of hot, burning
blades into his ear, neck and shoulder.
He saw that the Zoalords who had been
chasing after him when he was outside the Relic were now
standing on top of it, trying to cut their way through with
bursts of concentrated energy. Sho knew, from his connection to
the Relic, that the ship’s only real weapons were its
passengers. The Relic had been intended as a transport, not a
battleship. Disconnecting himself from the Relic enough to be
able to function as a separate entity, Sho flew out the top of
the spacecraft.
XxXxX
Alkanphel was annoyed. He knew that the
emotion served no real purpose, and yet he could not stop
himself from feeling that way. He hated Guyvers. It had, after
all, been a Guyver that had cost him the favor of the Advents,
in addition to almost getting him terminated by them. And now,
two of them were making a nuisance of themselves by destroying
one of the older and more useful branches of Chronos.
It was aggravating in the extreme.
Slicing another piece out of the Relic where the teal Guyver had
managed to hide himself, Alkanphel was mildly surprised to find
that the Guyver came flying out of the Relic to challenge him
and his three children. Surprised, but pleased as Jearvill and
Luggnagg started their assault on him again. Kaburaal, having
reached the end of his endurance, had retreated back to the
Arizona outpost.
Still, even two of his children would be
a match for this Guyver. When the black Guyver joined them at
the top of the Relic, Alkanphel was surprised that the second
Guyver had managed to retain so much of his mobility with his
obvious injuries. The Guyver’s right leg showed obvious signs of
hasty reattachment, his left arm was a barely-moving stump, and
Alkanphel could clearly see the burns and scorch marks from
either Edward’s or Tuarhan’s attacks.
-Focus your attacks on the Guyver gnats,
my Zoalords, I will see to the Relic.-
Alkanphel, sensing the agreement of all
of his children, stepped backwards and let them fill the gap
where he had stood. Levitating into the air above the Relic,
Alkanphel moved out of the way of the battleground atop it. He
did not want to chance catching any of his Zoalords in the blast
he was about to unleash. Evidently, the teal Guyver noticed the
buildup of energy, and just as obviously the black Guyver was
too absorbed in his battle to notice.
"No!"
The teal Guyver’s voice sounded
oddly young. Possibly this was the reason that he did not seem
as able to focus as the black Guyver. In Alkanphel’s experience,
the young were more prey to their emotions than those who had
matured. Humans, being such a short-lived species, were of
course more prone to be rash even when they
had
matured. But maybe that was the reason that this Guyver-child
had at first been more concerned for the dead Proto-Zoalord than
for his fellow Guyver.
It was as reasonable a hypothesis as
any, and it was also the only one that Alkanphel was going to
take the time to make, since he was going to make sure that the
Guyver-child and the black Guyver did not make it out of Mt.
Minakami alive. Amid the battle, the black Guyver was trying to
deal out twice as much damage as what he received from the
Zoalords attacking him. At this he was failing utterly, but
Alkanphel still had to admire his tenacity.
The black Guyver would have made an
admirable Hyper Zoanoid. But now, regretfully, he would have to
die along with the Guyver-child. After all, there was nothing to
be done for those who fought against Chronos as Guyvers. The
buildup of energy from the attack that Alkanphel was about to
launch did not stop him from noticing the Guyver-child flying up
toward him.
The Guyver-child’s intent was clear to
Alkanphel: to attack him and prevent him from destroying the
Relic. Feeling no need to waste his time battling against the
Guyver-child, Alkanphel teleported to the other side of the
Relic and continued preparing his attack. The Guyver-child
followed him to the other side, and Alkanphel started to wonder
just why none of his Zoalords were attempting to stop the
Guyver.
Looking back down at the Relic,
Alkanphel saw that the black Guyver was somehow managing to keep
all of his remaining Zoalords occupied. Alkanphel found himself
somewhat impressed by the black Guyver again. The battle was of
course not going well for the black Guyver, but the fact that he
was even attempting to stand against six Zoalords was at least
worthy of some recognition.
The Guyver-child abruptly darted
downward, into an opening in the Relic that had not existed
before. Alkanphel realized then that the Guyver-child was linked
to the Relic. It was not such an odd thing to think about, since
the Advents themselves could link mentally with their spacecraft
to operate them. At least now it made some sense why the black
Guyver would protect such an ineffective warrior as the
Guyver-child.
However, perhaps attacking the black
Guyver would once again cause the Guyver-child to leave his
assigned task and attempt to rescue his comrade. It had, after
all, worked once before.