Chapter 24 - Awakenings - 2

Rewinding time for a little, deep inside the planet, a single lonely orb floated. It had not gotten any brighter from the last time it was seen. Still dim, it floated silently as if sleeping. While sleeping, it sensed something.....it sensed cries of help from its children. Waking up, the orb glowed slightly.

'....'you' will not harm them this time.....' the orb thought. A wave of deep-seated anger rose from within as the light from the orb shined even brighter. Calling on its last reserves of universal energy, the cave quaked as the light from the orb started to flicker violently. Splitting the universal energy into three streams, the orb sent them towards the locations of where the children were currently in danger.

Right after, the light from the orb died out completely and the orb stopped floating. It fell to the soft ground, completely unresponsive, entering a deep slumber.

----

In the place which looked like hell had been spawned on the surface, the polikinnate leaders were gathered.

"Has the Distortion reported what he found yet?" the grating voice who was the leader sounded out.

"Nothing so far," a low-pitched voice replied.

The leader pondered on what their next move would be when one of his subordinates reported, "Three streams of high-density universal energy. The probability of them being perfect hosts is 99%."

"Split our forces, we must kill them now." The leader's voice commanded before disappearing. It rushed towards the stream which was on the outskirts of the beast's territory. The rest of the polikinnates did as they were told. They split their forces and rushed to the three locations where the universal energy streams were located.

--------

Back in Aster City, Morin was currently monitoring the human domain as best as he could. On the order of his teacher, he had been stretching his sense over the entire human territory for over half a day.

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, a halo of universal energy swirled around him, constantly emitting and receiving the signals he sent throughout the human territory. Sweat could be seen dripping from his face while his clothes were completely drenched. His eyes were closed in concentration as he kept surveying the information he constantly received from his signals. The signals were being transmitted through invisible strings of universal energy that connected Morin's cocoon to the entirety of the human territory.

'Not there.....all normal....no activity...same as usual.....'

Suddenly, an erratic thread of universal energy rushed into his cocoon. Morin opened his eyes and focussed on the thread, dismissing all the others for now. Analyzing the thread, he found it came from the domain of the other Supremes.

"Of all the people, it had to be him..." Morin murmured before creating another thread that contained a simple message. He aimed it and sent it toward the Supreme whom he didn't want to see. Speeding off, the thread vanished in a flash.

'Should I go personally?' Morin thought to himself.

'No, teacher told me to stay here in case anything happens. In any case, I don't have to see him.'

After comforting himself, Morin went back to monitoring the human territory. While he may not like that Supreme, he had complete faith in his abilities. After all, he was talking about the 'Strongest Supreme'.

------

In a lavish room, a man was seen laying on his back. He was wearing only a robe and was currently facing the ceiling and was contemplating what to do for the night when a string of universal energy entered his room through the window and flashed towards him. With an inhuman reflex, the man coated his fingers with his universal energy and caught the thread that had traveled a few thousand kilometers in just mere seconds.

Pinching the thread, it exploded as information was transmitted to him.

'Go to the outskirts of your city. A perfect host needs to be rescued. Teacher's orders.'

The man sighed slightly as he sat up.

'Little Morin is always so cold. No explanation as well.'

The man stood up, his frosty blue eyes glinting coldly as he stretched. A flash of light was seen before he appeared in his 'battle armor. It was a simple set of clothes, which contrasted heavily with the room he was currently in. The armor was a plaid shirt and loose pants which didn't diminish his handsome looks at all. Jumping through the window, the man bounded towards the edge of his city. He didn't need a specific location as when he got closer he could clearly feel the geyser of universal energy.

Finally appearing at the location, he found a torrent of warm universal energy flooding out from the ground and several polikinnates attacking it.

"What are you annoying pests doing in my city?" The man asked with an almost indifferent tone.

"Go back Supreme, or else there will be consequences," a muffled voice rang out from one of the polikinnates.

"Really?" The man drawled coldly. He gathered his universal energy in his hand and formed a small swirl in front of him.

"Supreme....." the muffled voice warned.

The man didn't heed its words. He reached into the swirl and pulled out a...rusted steel sword. Its blade was completely red, not an inch was uncovered. Its guard was chipped at various places, while the pommel was falling apart. The grip was lined with tattered leather. Holding what once was a sword, the man gazed at the polikinnates.

"You have one warning. Get out." The man commanded while twirling the sword slowly.

"Supreme, you have disregarded my words. You will die here. Attack him first. We will kill the perfect host later." The muffled voice ordered.

"Looks like everyone has forgotten what the title 'Strongest Supreme' means," The man murmured under his breath.

Facing the hundreds of oncoming polikinnates, he gripped the sword and then said, "...activate"

A quake of power struck the area as an incomparable pressure descended. The pressure was greater than what Nova had outputted when he revealed himself to the twins. Universal energy struck the man like a violent thunderstorm in which he was the lightning rod.

Several strikes later, the man was revealed. His plain clothes were gone, replaced by an attire worn by kings of the distant past. Complete battle regalia adorned the man, from a crown to a red cape. Shining armor, with guards covering his arms and legs while a chest plate fitted out his front. The broken and dilapidated sword was no longer seen. It was replaced by a shining sword. The blade could be seen, spotless, radiating a heavy power. The guard and pommel looked brand new, while the grip had a sturdy look. On its blade, several inscriptions could be seen. The inscriptions never remained the same and always kept changing symbols.

The polikinnates had momentarily stopped, frozen by the oppressive pressure that descended upon the area. Moving again, they rushed towards the man who just gazed at them coldly.

He gripped his sword and swung it slowly from his lower right to the upper left in a wide arc.

The swing wasn't anything special, in fact, several polikinnates had reached him by the time he completed the swing. The man just stood still, unfazed by the shifting beings right in his face. After the swing, it seemed like time stopped. All the polikinnates in his direct view froze. They were unable to move or do anything.

Finally, time seemed to catch up and the polikinnates simply vanished. They had all died, killed in one simple swing. Only after every single one of them had been erased did the spatial layers show any kind of reaction. The layers were calm one moment, and the next they twisted and deformed. In the visible world, the air seemed to bend light and trap it within itself creating a large turbulent black spot in the sky.

"...I may have overdone it..." The man sighed, eyeing the black spot which seemed to defy all the physical laws of the world. He then turned towards the rest of the polikinnates and proceeded to slaughter every single one of them.

-------

Deep in the domain of beasts, next to a universal energy pillar, a large snake-like creature was curled up. What once used to be a rich rainforest teeming with wildlife and nature was now a barren wasteland. It was the aftereffects of the battle which had taken place not too long ago. It was the polikinnates versus the giant snake-like creature.

Judging by the fact that there was no polikinnate left and the snake-like creature was still there, it would seem like the snake-like creature had won. Now it was just patiently waiting, for the child inside the pillar of energy to awaken its gift.

-----

At the edge of the beast's territory, the murky polikinnate was furious. Not only had he failed to kill the perfect hosts when he had the chance but now the pillar of universal energy prevented him from killing the guardian as well.

".....It will not end.....like this..." its raspy voice sounded out as it started gathering a terrifying amount of universal energy.

"It will not end like what?" a cold voice sounded out behind it. The polikinnate shifted its senes behind and found a draconic humanoid glaring at it from the sky. His wings were unfurled to their maximum length and his tail was swinging to and fro powerfully. The rapidly darkening sky outlined his void purple figure almost engulfing him within.

"....watchdog...." the murky polikinnate spat hatefully.

"My name is Julian Struze," Julian corrected coldly. He lowered himself, facing off against the murky purple polikinnate.