"The additional information you have for us can wait until we have begun to travel to the Blackened Archipelago." Stated Esten. "For now, I believe we should regroup with Schalle and the somewhat useful elf, let them know how heavily the situation has changed, before gathering the rest of the Legion so we can depart following the proper preparations."
Setsuna adjusted his glasses, then crossing his arms. "Speaking of Schalle and Dusk, whatever information they were able to discover doesn't mean much any longer. We can simply ask Kore about the spheres directly." He looked over at Kore. "Well? What has everyone within the entire city been encased within? Don't tell me they've all been killed, have they?"
"They have not been killed. The spheres they are trapped within, I created in order to prevent their deaths. I informed my brethren that their panic upon our arrival would alert you all, and they could instead be killed after we dealt with the main threat, which of course was all of you. Over time, my ability to have objects appear within my hands, slightly evolved on its own to also allow me to have objects appear in nearby locations. That is how I was able to trap your friend during our battle, and it is how I managed to protect the civilians of your capital city." Responded Kore.
"I see. I must admit, that is quite the relief."
"It sure as hell is." Said Resk. "Shit, if all of the civilians in Kuraran were dead, Schalle probably would've gone completely insane. Thankfully I'd be here to take over as king."
Esten slowly shifted her attention toward Resk. "Resk."
"Hey! C'mon, it was a joke! I might be a little less intelligent than you guys but I'm not that ridiculous!"
"With you, it is not possible to tell which of the dumb things you say are genuine." Esten stated.
"Yeah, yeah. Well whatever. Like you said, let's just take care of all this crap so we can get over to the Blackened Archipelago, become strong as hell, and come back here to slaughter the Soarers once and for all." Resk narrowed his eyes, smirked, and clenched a fist in front of his chest.
Noda began to walk away. "And I suggest we hurry the hell up about it, before the Colossal Soarers decide it's a splendid idea to come back."
Setsuna's eyes suddenly widened. Noda noticed this, and glanced back. "What is it, Setsuna?"
A gentle breeze blew through the city.
In the distance, standing atop one of the towering walls of Kuraran, was a Colossal Soarer. It had glowing yellow eyes, that were so bright that the color could be clearly seen even from this distance. It could narrowly be made out, that this Soarer was wearing highly detailed armor. It looked to be worth billions of Yecca, plated with all kinds of different rare artifacts and materials. Its wings were far larger than that of any other Soarer, closer resembling an angels wings.
Kore kept his composure, looking back at this Soarer. "That, is Nare. It is likely he caught onto my strange behavior regarding this situation." He said.
Shifting his attention to Kore, Noda glared at him. "You can't be fuckin serious. You've been with him for seventy years. Could ya not tell what he would and wouldn't catch onto?"
"You see, Nare is unpredictable. What he can and cannot deduce, is difficult to precisely determine even after all these years. I developed the best plan I could come up with, given the current scenario, combined with my knowledge of Nare and his actions in the past. But even then, it seems I miscalculated."
"Yeah. A little miscalculation that might've just gotten us all killed."
Nare steadily raised an arm. The entire limb began to radiate a red color. Soon enough, a beam of red shot from his hand in the direction of Kore and the Elite members. It was the same beam that the lanks had used all those years ago.
It burst past Noda, who just barely stepped out of its way. It came so close that he could feel its heat on his nose.
Behind them, the beam annihilated a heavy number of structures, substantially damaging the ground as well.
Nare swiftly charged up his other arm, however this time, he unleashed several dozen of the same red beams at once. They flew across the capital city, a fraction of a second away from wiping out all of his targets.
Instead, they made contact with, and destroyed a massive portion of the ground that had risen upward, and formed an enormous protective wall. This wall had been created by another Legion of Elite member named Tahara Salvhart. He had the ability to control and morph the form, to a certain extent, of any non living object.
Tahara approached with an incredibly relaxed demeanor. A toothpick rested in his mouth, and he held a jacket over his shoulder. He had his free hand inside of his pocket. "Yo, seems like things have really gone to shit over here."
Lowering an arm he had raised in preparation for the impact, Setsuna displayed a look of surprise. "Tahara... I cannot deny your arrival has come at an excellent time, but why aren't you overseeing the city you were assigned to?"
"I got sick of waitin for nothing to happen over in Torsen. Guess that ended up being a life saving choice, huh?" he responded. "For now at least. What's with this guy? Seems nothing like the regular bugs we've been facin." Averting his attention from Nare momentarily, Tahara noticed Kore. "Neither does this new friend of ours. You know, now that I'm seein this situation in more detail, I've got a feeling I've missed a lot."
Noda nodded. "That's right. Everything's changed. We'll give you the details if we actually survive this shit. For now, let's focus on-.."
"On what exactly?" With complete silence, Nare had almost instantly traveled to where everyone was standing. They all froze, adopting defensive stances.
"The fact of the matter is, you can't do anything at all. Try as much as you'd like, but sometimes.. there are threats that are impossible to overcome." He continued. "But I understand. I've been in your exact position before. Numerous times, in fact. Doing everything I could to take down an enemy, who at one point seemed completely impossible to overcome. And we've been successful every single time. To the point where now, we are the ones who seem unbeatable."
Nare paused for a moment, scanning his eyes across everyone present. Gently twitching his wings. "The difference is, we don't just seem unbeatable. We are. This is by far the strongest place we've been to. If I were to put Obliviana against any other location we've wiped out, I'm pretty confident you'd win every time. And even with that being the case, I alone could kill all of you right here and now. None of you would stand a chance. As an example..." He shifted his gaze over toward Esten.
Seeing the subtle movement, Noda immediately went into a state of enragement. His expression was filled with emotional distress. The ground under his feet cracked, his eyes pulsed red, and his veins began to throb. Before Nare made any further movements, Noda had bursted in his direction, and bashed his fist against Nare's head.
The force of the punch heavily damaged the surrounding environment. Once things had calmed down, Noda said. "No. We aren't gonna lose anyone else today...." He then looked up, and saw that Nare himself, had taken no damage whatsoever.
Nare's eyes again shifted focus, this time glancing to the side at Noda. "Killing off all of these species and wiping out civilizations isn't something I like to do. But, in order for us Winged Warriors to live freely in this world without risking harm, it's what has to happen. So, like it or not, you're going to have to lose everyone eventually." He stated. "Although I will say, things have taken a turn. Something that puts a tear in my ideals has happened. And that something, is the actions of Kore."
He began to walk in Kore's direction. Each step he took was filled with an extraordinary amount of presence. "For the first time ever, one of our own has betrayed us. I've lived for so long, believing in and spreading the ideology that a perfect world would exist as long as we could rid the planet of all species other than our own. But now that one of our own has become the enemy, that has proven to not be the case. Even those closest to you... even our own kind, can't be trusted fully."
Stopping once he reached Kore, Nare locked eyes with him momentarily, before returning his attention to everyone else. "So as easy as it would be, and as much as I'd like to eliminate you all right now, I can't. I need to have the others do it so they can definitively prove they are with me. Their loyalty will from now on, need to be tested constantly. And if they somehow fail... well, at that point I guess I'll have to fight against you all alone. You're all incredibly lucky to have been strong enough to be used as a sort of experiment to test how much I can trust my comrades. Otherwise, you'd all already be dead."
Falling deep into thought, Nare didn't say anything else for the next while. Leaving everyone to take in his powerful ambience.
Gritting his teeth, Resk thought to himself. "This son of a bitch. We're the Legion of Elite, and this bastard thinks he could take us all down by himself? What a joke. He has no idea how many adventures we've gone on, creatures and entities we've taken down, the amount of times we've protected and saved this land. I'll give him one thing, him and his buddies are nothing to take lightly. But to say he could take us all out single handedly...? No.. screw this disrespect. We won't just tuck our tails between our legs and listen to your crap, asshole."
He finally blurted out. "We'd already be dead, huh? Is that a fact, you cocky little bastard?"
Nare looked at him, breaking away from his state of thought. "Of course it is. You need to put in a substantial amount of effort just to kill off our most ineffective members. You were hardly able to even defeat Kore in a four on one fight, who is several mutations behind many of us. I'm not being cocky at all. I'm being realistic. If I were to step in right now, killing every last one of you would be as easy as stepping on an ant."
"Resk. Don't speak another word. We have an exceptional opportunity to potentially come out of this whole ordeal as the victors. Put your ego aside." Setsuna sternly claimed.
Ignoring Setsuna, Resk continued. "Tch. I'll give you one thing, your Soarer buddies are pretty impressive. But if you and some of your other comrades are really that much stronger than who we've faced so far, then all we'll have to do is step up our game a little and we'll be perfectly fine. Isn't that right guys?"
Esten gently closed her eyes, responding. "Not at all. More than a simple improvement in our capabilities will obviously be necessary. Now please, keep your mouth shut so we are able to take action and improve ourselves to a point where we stand a chance."
"More than a simple improvement..? C'mon.. we're not that weak!" Resk said.
"Yeah. We are." Noda jumped in. "We've lost Gahn, Cindra, and Naiken in a single day, to the fuckin Soarer grunts. Listen, Resk. I know you've got a shit ton of pride and confidence in us all, and rightfully so... normally. But we keep tellin ya over and over again. These things are on another level. Don't get me wrong. Every last one of the fuck heads are gonna be killed. Even the shit brain right in front of us. But makin that happen is gonna be a hell of a process. It's not somethin a little bit of training or a tiny ass boost in strength will fix."
Tahara shook his head. He stepped forward and approached Nare, standing against him face to face. "Yo, king of the bugs. You're the overlord or whatever of the bastards who've been messing up my home, huh?"
Nare looked right into his eyes. "Yes, that's right. It won't be long until your home and everything within it is wiped out completely. And it's all because of me. Like I said earlier, it's not something I want to do. But simply put, we have to."
"Is that so? You have to..." Tahara put on the jacket he had over his shoulder, leaving it unzipped. He stared directly back into Nare's glowing yellow eyes, and spit the toothpick he had in his mouth into his face. "C'mon buddy. Just shut up. You really think wipin out every species other than yourselves is what'll bring you salvation? You aren't any smarter than a regular damn fly then."
"I think you just don't agree with our actions, and aren't too thrilled now that you know you're going to die." Responded Nare. "Because in reality, wiping out every other species is exactly how we can make sure our species stays safe. Even if one day we turned against each other, it would still guarantee that Winged Warriors would be the ones alive in the end. How isn't that salvation?"
"Natural disasters, disease, extra terrestrial threats, you name it. The other living things in this world are a long shot from the only thing you need to worry about. As a matter of fact, those other living things are exactly who'll be your saviors at times. Kill them all off, and it'll be the exact reason your species fizzles out and disappears for good. If you were smart, you'd be makin connections. Developing relationships with the species you meet, so they've got your back when shit gets rough. But you aren't smart. You killed everyone you've met, and now that you're in a situation where you'll need help, you're all alone. It's gotta be rough. But it's your own fault. Can't say I'll have any sympathy when you're begging us to spare the last few soarers." From his jacket's pocket, Tahara pulled out another toothpick and placed it into his mouth. "Here's another piece of advice. Wiping out every other species wouldn't bring you salvation anyway. But really, it doesn't matter all that much. Because it isn't possible. There'll always be somethin stronger than you are. We'll prove that to you, be the ones who open your eyes. Even if my friends aren't too confident we can do that with much ease, I am."
After hearing Tahara's words, Nare's muscles and eyes twitched. His rate of breathing increased, before he finally looked away. "Heh. You know, the ignorance you and the other guy have, somehow gives me even more confidence in our already guaranteed victory. But, it doesn't matter what you say. I've heard it all before. In the end, even though you're stronger than the others I've wiped out, you'll still end up just like them. As nothing more than a memory of something that no longer exists." Upon making that statement, Nare left. Moving so quickly that it seemed as if he had disappeared.
"Ignorance, huh? Eh, whatever. The guy's gonna learn that his grand plan isn't so hot. It'll fail and Obliviana'll be fine. Other than some deaths here and there." Tahara calmly said.
Noda glared at him. "Yeah. Guess the deaths of our comrades doesn't mean shit to someone who doesn't see 'em that way."
"Can't say it does. As long as I'm alive, and our home's still overall in tact, that's all that matters to me. Get caught up on a few deaths, and it'll lead to the downfall of Obliviana as a whole."
"Whatever ya say, numb hearted shithead. Tch... anyway, we should get our asses moving toward the Blackened Archipelago as soon as possible. Nare's little insecurities about getting betrayed have worked to our advantage perfectly. The dumb fuck could've ended things right here and now, but he's gonna sit back and let his buddies take care of us instead to test their trust. We couldn't have asked for a better situation. So let's not wait around for him to realize how god damn dumb that is."
"Hell yeah!" Resk threw up a hand in triumph. "Heheh, the Colossal Soarer guys may be strong but man are they idiots! Well? What's there to wait for? I'm ready if you all are!"
Setsuna nodded. "I'm certain Schalle and Dusk are as well. After we regroup with them, it shouldn't be long until a vessel can be prepared."
"Then we shall regroup with these comrades of yours, and be on our way." Stated Kore. "Noda is correct. It would be ideal to get moving as soon as possible. Not due to the potential for Nare to realize the foolish mistake he is making, however. But because the journey toward the Archipelago... is one that will be beyond difficult for us alone to survive."