Marcel took a short break from organizing the gadgets he made with the help of Jiksolsen and his utility belts in his personal base of operations and he stared directly at his Crescent heart costume on its display and began thinking deeply about how it's an official law enforcement uniform now, he thought about the meaning of it further. Until he heard the communications system that he built into his right gauntlet ringing, he walked to answer it after five rings.
"Start answering our damn calls starting today!" Marcel heard from Generil's police chief demand loudly with a tone like he's never heard from a woman once he finally answered "Your squadmates have been M.I.A since last week. We haven't heard a sound from them since. There's some type of Antique store that one of my officers reported on Ninetieth Aubrurn that's been emitting unbelievably thick smoke from it that is very likely connected to Lyle or at least another supernatural threat to be taken care of? Investigate it and report back." Aada informed him.
Marcel suited up in his armor, equipped his utility belt, fired up his boosted boots, retracted his R-UY double bladed sword then flew off to the location that she sent him. She and a few officers met him outside but farther away as the Police chief had the entire area blocked off too and taped closed. The antique store was larger than he imagined it'd be but he put on a gas mask and ignored how perturbed he felt to investigate through. It gave him an uneasy feeling but it was worse for his fellow officers and their chief than it was for him. The windows were all open wide letting the smoke out but it seemed to be endlessly flowing. Marcel realized his objective; find the source.
All of the sudden, it began thinning and airing out slowly after thirty minutes of searching around and feeling his way through the store, it brought up questions in his mind, able to see through enough that he found a trap door on the ground in the back room that led downwards that was wide open. It reminded him generally of his building's basement. He questioned whether he should go down before he decided that he should and jumped down ignoring the ladder. He caught himself before hitting the thick and mysterious smoke below with his boosted boots. The smoke was overwhelmingly thick below like it was nearest to its source.
The smoke cleared itself eventually, leading to a reveal of a storage room connected to the store that was filled to the top with shelves of priceless antiques, he saw collectors worthy items that he had no care for whatsoever before his gaze was turned towards three unconscious bodies from above laid out on the ground that resembled the Trio but they looked completely unlike them. The Trio of Evil woke up shortly after it cleared, shortly after the lights went dim, their eyes faintly glowed through the darkness. He ascended higher on one of the shelves and remained quiet, he got a strong feeling that this Trio wasn't the one he came to save.
The first he observed had Lyle's face but wore an outfit that he thought belonged to a Latin dancer with an orange Jasper colored wrap around his waist with the traditional Chinese Kanji that he recognized on his chest that meant "Karma" and a bolt of lightning on his other pectoral. Rather than Lyle's usually short and disciplined hair, he had messy hair with a lengthy Ponytail. Smoke was emitting from his body on an otherworldly level.
The face he recognized as Artus' now wore a similar outfit with the same Kanji but on his left pectoral instead of his right pectoral, unlike Artus' curtains style, his hair was now elegant and the end was down to his hips with a similar coat around him as Lyle wore but it was orange like the minimal pieces of armor they had equipped. He had a natural eye mask that resembled a raccoon's. He had no clue Artus was as muscular as he saw him now, he had a sleeper build.
The hair Marcel secretly loved was now gone, Ember was now skin bald, she wore a black dress that looked like it belonged to a Latin dancer, he's never seen Ember with any skin below the neck showing before, he was surprised by how ripped she was in the dress. Her hands were black as the night alongside her eyes along with her brothers all noticeably glowing golden at the bottom and silver at the top.
The Crescent hearted couldn't help but admit what he saw was far better than the Trio decided to wear
"Dang it!" He heard from Ember with an aggravated tone "Not only did I get a scrawny woman's fragile body but I can't transfer my tenebris onyx past these puny elbows and knees of mine." He heard her finish with the same tone.
"HA!" Marcel heard from Lyle with a far different tone to his voice than before "You're so teeny!" He heard him sound far more lively and that was enough to confirm it.
"That's you guys, Lucretius, Elata, it's you guys?!" He heard Artus ask with an unusually aggressive tone than he ever heard from Artus' voice as he stumbled around and swung. He had to ask himself what he should do and what was going on after hearing him call them different names. He refused to believe what came to his mind.
"It's us!" Lucretius called out as he went to calm him down and lead him to sitting down until his blindness went away like theirs, "What happened to us and him?" Elata asked as she continued trying to fix her gifts and holding her back.
"What's the last thing that you can remember from before I sealed our spirits into the tea?" Lucretius asked Elata with his tone continuing to mess with Marcel above him, "We were in the middle of destroying an army of heroes and another world maybe but some… five foot man… heroic and human… handed our asses to us effortlessly?" She answered him with a foggy memory after an uncertain number of millennia inside of Lucretius' tea cups.
"Your memory has always amazed me." Lucretius admitted with wonderment in his tone "If he shows up now out of the blue like before, we'll stand somehow less than zero chance while nerfed in these pathetic bodies, though." Lucretius finished with an unusually pessimistic tone Marcel's never heard from Lyle, "Their bodies look absolutely incredible and full of potential. We all almost got perfectly matching bodies." Elata thought to herself as she was checking out Lucretius' body.
"All the better that we've been brought down, he was our only challenger standing in the way of us conquering whatever we wanted but we were no challenge for him. How I'd enjoy skinning him once we get our strength back!" Marcel heard from Artus with his voice raspy "Promise me that we'll enjoy the hunt and the murder this time!" Marcel heard how sadistic his tone was while saying that were and didn't like it.
Marcel didn't like how they spoke about their past and the stories they were reminiscing, he didn't believe in the supernatural but what Elata described about this Trio terrified him while reminding him of something that he could find H.P lovecraft's stories that he used to read. It was tough as the slim possibility it was real froze him an iceberg on land. He soon thought of the first part of a plan on the fly, he knows he's trash coming up with them on the fly but didn't think so low of this one. He has no choice, he might not be able to stop them alone but they'll find their way out of the basement storage sometime.
As Lucretius and Amaro were light sparring with each other, Elata was stretching after realizing they've been paralyzed for a week, the Trio of Evil were surprised when Marcel released his boosters and landed in front of them with a brave face on him that excited Amaro.
"How long have we been out of it?" Asked Lucretius as he squared up with pessimistic thoughts in his mind, "Remember that you promised me, Luc." Amaro reminded his leader that he could take in a battle now, "Alright, fine, who are you then?" Lucretius replied to Amaro before asking the man with the loud armor in front of him.
"Name's the Crescent Hearted!" Marcel introduced himself as he grabbed the handle of his sword "I'm a hero, the complete package like your old days. I heard you ancient fools used to make challenges to a hero that you defeated but now I'm making challenges to you three." Marcel continued with a demanding voice "Do you accept?" He asked and finished with an out of character himself, a smug grin.
"Aw, pretty fascinating. I love it, go ahead and give us your desired challenge and its rules." Said Lucretius with a tone filled with respect, "You hunt for sport. The morning is young, kill only me before midnight hits this side of the world, anybody else and you lose. The entire city is our playground. Do you accept it?" Marcel stated with emphasis on what he thought was the important rule "What if we lose?" Lucretius asked as he squinted.
"Well, fair stakes, right?" Marcel asked rhetorically and with a smug tone "You tell me what you are and how to defeat you and allow me to without a fight." He demanded.
"Can I compliment your confidence and enthusiasm? You must be a brilliant strategist too!" Said Elata with the friendliest tone he couldn't believe came from Ember's voice "Your beautiful blue eyes have me mesmerized too." Elata finished with the same tone, Marcel shook his head at the realization that was the first time he heard a compliment from Ember and it wasn't her "We accept, we'll give you a five minute head start!" Elata finished and answered for her team.
"Nice, it'll give you guys time to check out the city and find out how long you've been wherever the hell you were!" Marcel replied with as ecstatic he could muster, "You guys will have all day to explore actually." Marcel finished before he flew out.
"This human's going to be perfect for our first murder, just watch." Elata spoke confidently "I can respect the warrior's heart that he possesses." Lucretius replied as he kept his hands at his hips "I'll eat the bastard's heart as my dinner." Amaro threatened as he got himself excited thinking about the hunt and refining his swinging form a bit.
The crescent hearted boosted out of the store, his adrenaline was pumping and heart racing worse than when he thought the hero that invaded his home caught him like the others "Evacuate the area, now!" Marcel yelled before he continued soaring with the next part of his plan figured out and flew high above the bustling city with maximum speed. On the way, he thought to himself and decided to hide in the Trio's apartment and find something that might help him if he ever has to face them in brutal combat.
"Hey, guys, how are ya?" Lucretius asked as the Trio of Evil were exiting the abandoned antiquities store "This sun. So bright with these human eyes!" Amaro whispered to himself.
Aada and the officers that were there recognized the Aluin Trio but they couldn't at the same time, Lucretius had a smile on him that Aada never saw on Lyle's face before, Amaro's voice were raspy and aggressive, "They're not our team, they're monsters, fire away!" Aada ordered her response squad of ten other officers while pulling her own firearm, the others blasted the Trio of Evil to smithereens.
Marcel tried calling one of the other Gen-Oath members in the other cities. He didn't waste time overthinking and tried every member in no specific order, nobody picked up or answered his calls though, he attempted to reach everyone's communications multiple times. He threw the handle of his sword out of frustration but thinking it was fair and how they very likely have their own hands full with problems and cases in their cities.
He held in his hands from his search in their apartment for a clue or a solution that he was fresh out of but had a glimmer of hope they held, a gaudy book of some kind he vaguely remembered being told had a supernatural ability by Artus. He couldn't remember what kind he claimed it had but remembered being told to aim the pages within at least five feet of something living. He decided to test it with no other choice given. Marcel grabbed their toaster and placed the book with its cover against it then lined himself in front of it and after the pages glowed for a few seconds which amazed and disturbed him, an image of himself appeared and the entire page began to get filled with information regarding how to defeat him with physical and mental strategies. He disagreed with most of it and realized he couldn't rely on it.
"It Feels way too good to wander where we want once more." Said Lucretius as they wandered down a road they had no clue about or where they were "Feels spectacular to enslave these inferior human beings once more!" Amaro replied as he used one of their powers that transforms their victims into beings made of Jasper and gives them control over their vessel and he was forcing them to march behind the Trio of Evil as they walked. Every citizen they passed that got next to Amaro was behind them including Aada and the response squad.
"We feel hunger in these fascinating bodies, Luc, can we find a bite?" Elata told the other two, "Yeah, let us. Let's do that and if there are still public places to eat, I'm curious to find out how fascinating humans have become by now." Lucretius replied with deep excitement and anticipation in his tone.
The Trio of Evil couldn't remember what restaurants looked like or if they even looked the same as they did prior to their defeat, they entered a few places, asked and found out they were wrong. Amaro got a few more under his rule when they left.
"Excuse us, is this a place of public and sustenance?" Lucretius asked the host as the Trio of Evil entered, the host nodded his head but was frozen and amazed by what he thought was the Trio of Evil cosplaying characters from his favorite anime.
They finally found a suitable restaurant. A decent sized place to eat with a strange name for the three.
"Amaro, hold off on collecting these guys for a moment, there's so many pretty and beautiful people here, Luc has a great idea." Elata asked of Amaro, "Mediocre. All of'em at best. Fine, but eventually they're mine." Amaro responded to her request.
Lucretius had seen a poster of a man that resembled his great uncle who he vaguely remembered from his days before his corruption and murder spree when he was the wealthy rich boy. A beautiful woman walked past him and distracted him.
Marcel was filled with anxiety and fear from the pressure as he paced in his home base, the safest spot for him when he thought of the different possibilities, not even the Aluin Trio knew much about his base. Marcel felt like he could rely more on his tech and arsenal before the book but it would be worth a try.
The lights went dim like at the antiquities stores as he heard loud destruction below like someone was kicking his doors down and busting through his walls. Recklessly destroying what they wanted to reach him Marcel thought and was afraid. He ran to gear up and think about what weapons and gadgets could help him best. He grabbed his defensive force gauntlets, kept his retractable double bladed sword, stun grenades, checked from his computer that his camouflage software was active, then initiated the closed right guard stance with his sword readying himself mentally to face them.
He held his composure after they appeared with their gold and silver eyeballs first through the dimness in front of him, their charming grin, beaming smile and terrifying scowl appeared secondly before the rest of their body appeared. The Trio of Evil stood directly in front of him in a calm manner, Marcel realized now was the perfect time to try the book. The pages glowed for a couple of seconds, filling Elata with curiosity, but when he turned it around to read the pages were blank.
"We see this world isn't as fascinating as it used to be in our time." Lucretius muttered after his hours of fun while Marcel held the book in front of him, "Except for you, we wouldn't have been able to find you if your Kiya-Eal didn't reek so wonderfully!!" Elata added after he was finished with an overwhelming crush on Marcel.
"Give us a great fight so we're allowed to enjoy our first murder back." Amaro demanded with a fierce tone as he summoned large shards of sharp Jasper but Marcel halted him from firing by throwing a stun grenade faster than him, as Amaro stumbled around holding his eyes and out of sight, Marcel boosted towards him and threw his sword handle that he retracted the second blade in mid-air and removed one of his arms.
Lucretius and Elata having been standing next to Amaro, they also got hit with the full stun and reacted the same, Marcel boosted towards Lucretius aft wards and delivered a flying knee to his face that he blocked. He was slightly feeling bad and thought about Lyle but he got over his short lived guilt while Lucretius was sent flying through the wall behind him.
He boosted towards Elata but she was able to block his boots with her arm covered in her Tenebris Onyx and anticipated he'd go for the face from the past attacks by humans they've terrorized. She guarded her face but was still knocked back similar to her boss.
Marcel caught his R-UY handle that he called to return to him as he landed on his feet. Marcel looked behind him, saw Jasper shards soaring towards him, he ducked right in time before being decapitated, he rolled to the side as a gigantic shard from above almost fell on him, a shard from below almost impaled him but his body armor stopped it, however the shard still hurt like hell. It put him on his knees.
"You're a terrible fighter!" Amaro opined as he stood above Marcel while he was on all fours, hurt like he'd been blasted by a wrecking ball "Didn't ask!" Marcel yelled as the code word Jikolsen set. He didn't waste any time letting Amaro feel any satisfaction. In a trice, Marcel threw up both of his forearms above his head, both actions necessary for activating his defensive psychokinesis gauntlets that helped create space between them, blowing away Elata as he kept his forearms up as he slid back but brought them to side like he was flexing. Lucretius appeared in front of him using Lyle's power and delivered two swift 360 turning kicks that Marcel felt, following it up with a side flip kick that made him perform a backflip while bloodying his nose. It thoroughly knocked him out.
"I wanted to test how much farther these bodies could go, what are the odds we'll stumble upon the most fascinating human we might ever meet from this era and he's this soft?!" Said Lucretius as he stood above the unconscious Crescent hearted with disappointment in his tone "We were freed only to be trapped in a world of boredom." He complained.
"C'mon Luc, don't be such a pessimist, the world could still be filled with Authority keepers besides the kids that owned these bodies and mister badass." Elata replied as she lovingly patted his right shoulder. Amaro didn't think that Marcel was worth killing, he'd get more use out of him if he forced Jasper on him and so he did as the other two spoke.
"Maybe. I could consider you might be right." Lucretius replied to Elata, past memories that were returning to him had him remembering how adaptable humans were "Do the math though, Ela, we met about a hundred different humans and have a ton under our control but not a single one was a hero or possessed it but this one man. The other creatures we enjoyed eating are gone too." He reasoned for justifying his pessimism. She had no choice but to nod and agree.
Marcel woke up in his old dojo in Aeronhaven slightly nauseated and on sitting up on his elbows, one of the old places he used train with his fellow traveling fosters that possessed the same powers as him with varying strengths, he remembered how some could have their blades soar faster than most people could react to, how others could spin them fast enough to deflect bullets, a level of talent that took an eternity for him to learn, and nobody could retract the ancient R-UY blade that he was holding in his hands and he looked at, that he relied on.
Suddenly each of the kids and teens he lived with and recognized ran into the dojo panicking and screaming, Marcel immediately recognized what they feared. He had two of his own mentors held up and bloodied by their collars as he sauntered in with an arrogant and devious smile.
"You were my hero, stories of you stopped me from following the others that were stealing, assaulting others, and abusing our powers for whatever we wanted." Marcel admitted with an infuriated low tone and slight stutter as he spoke as he stood in a firm stance.
Marcel felt his hatred boiling, he called his blade out and initiated his stance as the hero in front of him stood arrogantly in a careless stance. Marcel swung his blade, switching between double and singular as the hero effortlessly dodged these attacks. Marcel dodged the hero attempting a 540 kick as a counter, he attempted a counter to that by tossing his sword with both blades out horizontally. The two clashed in hand to hand as the double bladed glaive were soaring above their heads until it flew down and removed an arm of his hero's. He felt weird and looked over and saw that he lost the same arm as well. He was alarmed and began asking questions.
"What continent are we even on?" Lucretius asked his guards as they were walking out after their brief discussion about what they were going to do with their new found freedom "Feels like Zjeel-bolzjee but after everything that's changed, I doubt they'd still call it that now. If only we had a look from the stars." Elata replied with her honest thoughts.
Elata rode on top of Marcel led their human collection, he was currently encased in gray gemstone and under the Trio of Evil's total control, Elata noticed The fallen Crescent Hearted beginning to shift colors as they were going up the ladder then used Ember's nimbleness and agility to perform a great leap from the top of his hardened head to the side of Lucretius and Amaro when they got outside filled with proudness. She moved the humans in their collection away from Marcel and themselves knowing what was about to take place.
"Oh, he's special special, huh?" Said Elata in response to him becoming gold "Absolutely incredible, he truly let go of almost all of his demons and Trauma, somehow, that swiftly…?!" Lucretius asked rhetorically, surprised by this feat with a hint of feeling gruntled.
"Only a hundred beings were able to figure it out." Elata reminded Lucretius and Amaro as they prepped themselves alongside her "We get to see if these bodies are actually worth anything of real potential now. I was hoping he wasn't as pathetic as he seemed from this entire day." Amaro pointed out as he charged up his Grey Jasper shards. Lucretius squared up with an ancient martial artist's stance, Elata readied her Tenebris onyx claws as Amaro initiated a stance of the marksman of their ancient home.
Marcel realized he had his arms and legs back then immediately checked to be sure his sword was around but realized it was back at his home base, he felt around to make sure he was still alive secondly, he felt relieved that his theory proved to be true but he felt stronger, faster and his mind clearer than it has ever felt. He dodged a leaping slash from Elata without knowing she was on her way, he felt like his body was moving on its own entirely. She swung her claws about forty times utilizing Ember's incredible speed and agility as she used the claws on her feet as well but he blocked or dodged every time before he blasted her away with a single punch. Amaro blasted twenty shards his way without hesitation once Elata was out of danger of them, without flinching or dodging the wrong way, they all missed the gold and white Jasper hearted hero, as far as only coming in as a close call but Amaro's temper was worsening the more he saw him making him look like he was a blind man as he approached him. Lucretius fought with style and talent as he sent jabs, high kicks and crosses utilizing Lyle's powers of enhancing physical limitations with his smoke hoping to land his blows only to no avail. Marcel landed a sweep then a knee.
As the Trio of Evil regrouped while realizing that their stolen bodies wouldn't be enough to win, they hugged each other for the final time in who knows when their next release would be...
"I've only known them for so long, yet, they were able to guide me through." Said Marcel as his whole body were wrapped in a mixture of white and yellow jasper unlike everyone else who was sealed into gray. Marcel held a golden Jasper crystal in his hand that he released into the air that floated beside him. Pulsating with golden energy.
"I don't think anyone asked, you pediculus and worthless human!" Amaro yelled out with a wrathful tone "Let's hear him out, I've always wondered what it was like when we did that to others." Elata admitted as she was engaged in his words by his tone.
"Personalized hell. There's only one way out and that's to realize your flaws to become worthy or accept those as yourself and suffer because of them. I've seen the truth, true nature exists despite free will-- it only blocks us from realizing our own, we deviate from it. To realize our own is the key to defeat you but you're our predator since it's humanity's greatest struggle. Yourselves are now your own." Marcel enlightened them with a sorrowful tone as he charged up the Jasper crystal with both of his hands and the energy the Trio of Evil gifted him "Whatever you are, whoever you've upsetted, this is your karma and hell." Marcel asserted as they charged him in one final attempt alongside their collection. He blasted a wave of unfamiliar and unknown energy sourced by themselves in a wide wave that reverted everyone back into human beings and broke their control including himself. It sent the Trio of Evil out of the Aluin Trio's bodies and back into the tea they were imprisoned inside that was teleported elsewhere.
Marcel dropped, panting and out of breath, he felt weak as all the strength in his body left all at once.
"Oh my god!" An officer screamed out before ah immediately soon after called an ambulance for the Trio, Lyle and Ember were bloody and had broken bones but especially Artus who was missing an entire arm of his and bloody. Police chief Aada had questions for Marcel for why there were far too many traumatized officers and citizens behind them.
"How's he holding up?" Marcel asked Lyle as he walked out after being healed.
"Fine. Thankfully." Lyle answered with his arms crossed and an exhausted tone.
"I thought—!!" Marcel yelled urgently "We were possessed, he knows what you thought, we know what you thought, the scars these people have and what they could've done in our bodies, we'd all prefer you cut us down before we're used as weapons against everyone like these sick spirits planned." Lyle replied as he interrupted Marcel from explaining himself.
"I think… I'm going to work way closer with you three from now on." Marcel responded with his own exhausted tone "Hearing this would make your victim's day, not mine exactly, still the way you kept it together today, respectable." Lyle responded with his rarely changing tone.
"I'm curious, this whole— so, how did this happen to you guys at all?" Marcel asked with genuine curiosity about the situation. Lyle thought about his question with a moment of silence.
"Art had received info, an anonymous tip he called it that led us into investigating the owner of that shop in illegally smuggling dangerous items, I had deduced he thought nobody would suspect Generil since it's incredibly tough to do here—" Lyle answered his question "It certainly is— continue." Marcel interrupted before apologizing.
"We investigated the store thoroughly, Artus went to get a snack and Ember went off somewhere? I stayed but saw something, ghosts maybe, that led me to something that was underneath a very hideous rug. I called it in to my siblings when I finally discovered the building had a basement storage. We investigated together when they arrived but Artus had just told me while Ember and I were on the other end clue searching, he lifted a glass box that held the tea cups that he believed released the spirits and let them out. I remember that we felt strongly drawn to drink. He blames himself heavily for this, man." Lyle informed Marcel, the Crescent Hearted had to process all of what he was told.