The gathered energy was poured into the slumbering emperor and like as usual, the Great Shadow Defenders waited in anticipation for a result. But just like before, Emperor Darshao remained asleep, and not even a single effect could be seen after that. Alvre growled in frustration and faced Motross rashly.
"How come you gathered only this much? Were you only out racing again? I thought I gave you a clear order of gathering energy!"
"B-but Alvre-sama! I've done the job just as you asked. And yet there are humans these days who aren't even afraid of what I can do and have even the guts to mock me and my speed," Motross reasoned, trying not to stammer in fear for its boss.
"Who cares about those humans? You should've just taken their energies and made them suffer endlessly!"
"Alvre-sama..."
"If you ask me, even I would sympathize with your Triske Monster, Alvre," Siriso interjected before Alvre could even get frustrated and take it all out to Motross. "Especially with those damn Seitenger brats!"
"One of them put up a fight with your monster's speed, Alvre," Karkino soon said.
Alvre could only heave a sigh just to calm herself down. With two of the Great Shadow Defenders saying things like this, perhaps she should've looked at the situation first before getting frustrated. Patience was supposed to be one of her virtues.
But because of the Seitengers, she was truly losing it.
"Alright," Alvre said soon after. "For Siriso and Karkino's sakes, I'll let it go for now. But give me a better result next time or else!"
Motross raised its head in surprise before bowing down deeply once again. "I'm grateful, Alvre-sama. I'll set out to the surface again and do as you command!"
With that, the Triske Monster left the room where the emperor's sleeping chamber was.
But despite all the commotion, Orcus remained silent Nemia soon noticed. As inconspicuously as she could, she approached her fellow Great Shadow Defender who was still silent and appeared to have not noticed her approaching.
"You noticed something about the previous battle, didn't you?" Nemia started but said in a form of a statement.
Orcus just sighed before facing the shinobi. "Can I even hide anything from you, Nemia?"
"I'm just observing you. The others are busy ordering people around when they should think of a proper plan to defeat the Seitengers. As long as those brats exist, we won't be able to leave this damn place and conquer the world."
The strategist didn't say anything after that. He just stayed there on his spot watching his comrades thinking of other plans to destroy the only enemy that had ever gotten in their way.
"One of them is about to gain more power," Orcus uttered that only Nemia heard before leaving the room.
xxxxxx
Night time was supposed to be the time for the Vessels to rest their immensely tired and injured bodies for them to have the energy to deal with Motross should that monster begin attacking again. But Shuichi wasn't in the mood to do something like that.
He might use the reason that his body was moving on its own, that was why he was currently heading to the garage where he was told that his motorcycle was placed there. He made it sure that the others were asleep by now so he had no worries about disturbing them at the moment.
Shuichi turned on the light as soon as he reached the garage. On one side was the car that Hideoki would usually use and even Eichirou. But the one occupying a larger part of the area was his damaged motorcycle. He heaved a sigh--albeit ragged--as he approached it. He couldn't help feeling weak at the sight of the damage that the vehicle had sustained.
He wanted to regret ever deciding to use his favorite motorcycle just to deal with Motross' challenge. But his comrades' lives were more important to him at the time. Besides, he said that he'd deal with the consequences later on.
But how was he supposed to deal with this now?
His teammates knew how precious that motorcycle was to him. It was one of the most important things he possessed that connected him to his dead father. And now...
'Dad... I'm sorry...' Shuichi wanted to utter those words but it seemed that it was blocked from his throat. Furthermore, he already lost the strength to even utter them.
Before he could even stop himself, Shuichi collapsed to his knees and cried in front of the damaged motorcycle.
"Dad... I'm sorry for not being careful. This shouldn't have happened to the last gift you gave me if I managed to think calmly at the time. I'm sorry," he uttered in between silent cries as his head was down, unable to look at the motorcycle.
He had always been careful about this particular vehicle ever since he got his license and Hideoki finally allowed him to ride it. But he wasn't able to stop himself at the time. He could've used another motorcycle to deal with Motross' challenge. However, he couldn't recall at the moment why he ended up using his motorcycle for that situation.
Shuichi looked up, tears still flowing.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to let everything that had happened to you be put in vain, Fang," he said after a few more moments of silence as he eyed his motorcycle. "Fang" was the name he gave to it as soon as he laid eyes on it 11 years ago. It was when he received it from his father. "I'll defeat Motross, just as Amuro was pointing out before. The Fire of the Fang will put an end to his senseless racing challenge."
As Shuichi gave that promise to the damaged vehicle, it appeared that it was the reason why he became unaware of the other people's presence around the garage. Erika, Itsuki, and Eichirou were leaning outside the first door of the garage. Using the Hoshiyama siblings' abilities in both earth and sound, the three of them were able to hear Shuichi's words. As for Misae, she used her powers over the wind to listen to Shuichi's monologue. She was together with Akira, Kanako, and Natsume.
"Now I could understand why Amuro-san doesn't even want to race with a pissed-off Shuichi," Misae commented with a sigh. Soon after, she faced the three Vessel Supports. "You think you guys can do something about this?"
The three just stared at each other for a few moments, before nodding determinedly. Kanako stepped in to say something.
"We're able to think of a way. But do you think Skylon can lend us a hand with what we're planning?"
Misae frowned as a response.
xxxxxx
The next day, the Vessels felt that the day would turn out good somehow if they were to base it on the news that Akira had brought to them.
"Really? They're all awake?" Erika asked just to make sure.
Akira nodded rather vigorously. "Yes, they are. Though Motross' attack drained their energies and had caused them to collapse that day, there's no other damage done to them."
The rest couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief upon hearing that.
"That's good to hear," Itsuki commented. "But I think we should focus on thinking of a way to deal with Motross and defeat it. We can't let that monster do something like that again."
"That's true," Eichirou responded. "There's a possibility that the racing stadium won't be the only stage that Motross would target."
"So you're saying that it could even include other motorists in the area?"
The photographer nodded grimly in response to Erika's question. "Before that could even happen, we have to stop it. But right now..."
"The only one among us who could up a fight to its senseless racing challenge will be Shuichi-san."
"But I doubt you could calm him down to do that, Itsuki," Misae said, speaking for the first time. "Unless we could do something to reason with him and let him accept Motross' challenge regardless of the consequences, I doubt we could let him fight for us."
No one was able to say anything about that. The archer had a point, though. It might be pitiful or frustrating for the others to see Shuichi fret over a damaged motorcycle. But they knew full well how much Shuichi had treasured that motorcycle. They didn't have any right to say something that would mock the biker's attachment to that vehicle.
It was when Eichirou finally noticed something that made him look around the room. "By the way, where is Shuichi?"
The others finally became aware of the biker's absence. Come to think of it, they didn't see him come out of his room so they assumed that he was still sleeping. But it seemed that it wasn't the case at all.
"Don't tell me he went out again without telling us anything," Eichirou speculated.
"Don't lump him with you, Eichirou-san," Itsuki nonchalantly pointed out.
Eichirou rashly faced the composer. "Hey! I don't always do that, Itsu-chan."
"We'll find him," Kanako volunteered, making the Vessels' attention fixate on her. "Only four Shifters are giving off a signal around the area of the mansion so it means that Shuichi-kun brought his Celestial Shifter with him."
"We can find out where he is using that," Natsume added before facing Akira. "You can start the preparation for that. Once we managed to convince him, we'll head straight to the lab so we could finally set it."
Akira smiled as he did a two-finger salute to his mechanic partner. "Leave it to me."
Soon after, the cousins went out of the mansion to track down the biker and talk things with him. But before they could finally leave the area, they stopped when they heard their names being called. Upon looking around, they frowned when they saw Helen approaching them.
"Tennouji-san?"
Helen took a deep breath as soon as she managed to reach Kanako and Natsume before speaking. "Are you going to find Hiwara-san?"
Kanako nodded. "We still need his permission to proceed with the plan we're thinking so he could defeat Motross. Is there something you need?"
The girl didn't say anything. Instead, she took out a brand new book still sealed in plastic. To their confusion, it was the one titled Phoenix Knight---Hanasaki Kikue's first novel that debuted four years ago.
Natsume was the one who decided to ask the question. "Why are you handing us this book?"
"I think it's something that Hiwara-san needed right now. Let's just hope he hadn't forgotten something important. Or else, it'll be impossible for him to deal with Motross, especially on his own," Helen replied gravely before smiling, which startled the teenage boy. "It's something that might remind him of that important thing in some ways."
Though confused, the cousins agreed to deliver the said book to Shuichi. Whatever it was that the book was holding, they could only hope that it could help them talk things out with the biker.