"Mr. Winston!" Bam's voice reached his ears, echoing through the long hallway.
Winston turned to looked over his shoulder, seeing the boy with long hair coming at him with a smile.
"Mr. Winston, I have a question to ask." Bam spoke, his voice a bit shaky and laced with tension.
"Shoot."
"You... you Saud you were from the outside... so, how are the stars like?" His voice reduced to a mere whisper at the end as if he was afraid to ask the question.
Winston didn't showcase any change in expression as he said, "Stars huh. To me, they were a source of light." He closed his eyes.
He remembered his younger days, when he would travel for days upon days through empty roadways on a stolen bicycle or a bike. The road would lengthen towards the interminable horizons and the night sky would be dotted with stars that covered the darkness so extensively that looking for the dark spots was harder than spotting the stars themselves.
"Their light in the sky propelled me forward during my most vulnerable time. They were so numerous, so out of reach and so beautiful." He shook his head, his lips slowly reaching out to form a smile but stopping just before it.
"They were scattered across an unimaginably huge canvas of black. But the stars were so numerous that they almost blocked out the canvas itself." He opened his eyes and gazed at Bam, who, now stared at him, looking somewhat lost at his explanation.
"I see." He continued. "Do you... do you think Rachel chasing the stars is worth it?" He asked.
His tone was unsure, as if he didn't wish to ask the question in the first place.
Winston adopted a thoughtful glint in his eyes.
"Here." He said and touched Bam's forehead.
And instantly a vision appeared in his mind.
There he stood at plain ground overgrown with grass and sod. The few white flowers that marred the green expanse shook in the gentle breeze and the light from above reached Bam's eyes.
His eyes widened, gazing intently at the infinite cosmic sky.
The stars glistened with a magical allure, pulling him in and not letting go.
It was... beautiful.
Too beautiful to be true.
A magical canvas of otherworldly beauty that surpassed anything Bam had ever seen.
So these are... The stars? Not the imitations made by shinsu... but the real stars...
"The night is beautiful today." He heard a phrase beside him.
He looked to his left and saw Winston standing there.
"This is one of the places I visited. The stats shone especially bright here. I constructed this place in your mind through illusions and invaded the space therein." He smiled at him.
Bam didn't care that his mind had been invaded; for he was too lost, too deep into reverence for the cosmic behemoths above.
"They are indeed... breathtaking..." He huffed.
"So you tell me now." Winton said, gaining Bam's attention. "Is it worth it for Rachel to chase the stars? And is it worth it for you to go up behind her when she alienates everyone to have a chance at seeing this? Do you think it's worth it?"
The surroundings turned quiet, as if to give him time to think.
And then, came his most honest answer.
"I don't know..."
"You should."
And then, the illusion shattered.
~~~
~~~
One month after the Workshop Battle Incident.
Khun family's Main Battleship-
The Khun's battleship was one of the more eccentric ones among the ten families.
It mainly consisted of various housing spaces predominantly featuring the colour blue. Various tower of gigantic proportions were erected at the various sides of the battleship and thousands of weapons laced the outer edges of the ship. At the forefront was a large electric spear.
In the center of the battleship was, as one would expect, a large assortment of superstructures that towered over everything else in the ship; also featuring the various shades of blue.
The people were numerous on the battleship. The Khun family never had the problem of low family members, for there were always more children to go, always more people in the branches or the main family.
As such, the Battleship contained an army of rankers that went about their daily life.
Amidst all of this, atop the superstructure of the battleship stood a peculiar individual.
He had large muscles but had a lean build. His eyes shone with an electric intensity and had dark blue hair that extended down to his waist.
He wore dark blue robes that too burst with strange bouts of energy and a mocking grin plastered his face as his hands held a gourd through which he took momentary sips from.
Khun Eduan; the Leader of the Khun Family.
The Blue Swordfish, ranked 6th on the Tower's Rankings.
The recent happenings in the tower had made him personally take over thr administration of the family. Of course, he was merely a supervisor. The children worked harder when he was personally watching over them. It wasn't too much work in the first place, he just had to stand somewhere or carry a portable floating bed with him.
As he overlooked the ship, he felt a strange shiver travel up his spine.
His eyes drew towards the main square of the complex, feeling the source of the chill coming from there. It was strange that he was feeling such chill in the first place.
He narrowed his eyes that blazed with an electric intensity.
There was nothing wrong with it.
The people went around the square, going to their usual workplaces. The adults followed their usual routines while the children either headed off for training or for loitering around.
But then, suddenly and out of the blue, everyone stopped.
It were as if a switch had been flicked. Everyone simply stilled, as if frozen in time.
Eduan's eyes widened a bit as the strange, creeping sensation strengthened.
"Curious..." He muttered unconsciously.
Just then, as he was focused on the frozen people and was about to leap ahead to check it out, they all turned to looked at him.
All 300 people in the square and even some beyond that turned to look up at the top of the superstructure.
And then, holding clear and serene smiles on their faces, they all collectively put their hands into pockets or under their clothes and pulled out a small object.
They extended their hands and donned crystal monocles on their right eyes, each of them holding eye contact as they did so; eerily calm.
Eduan's blood chilled instantly and a shiver went down his spine.
And then, a sound.
Caw!
He looked behind him. He had felt something coming towards him. It was a strange crow with gigantic proportions.
The existence of a crow in the battleship was surprising. It was not supposed to be here, neither was it supposed to be anywhere near 100 kilometers from the ship.
Eduan narrowed his eyes and the shinsu around him turned restless.
The crow held a tuft of feathers over it's right eye.
His eyes instantly widened as lightning exploded.
Shaaaaaaaa!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!
Booom!
Booom!
Booom!
Booom!
Booom!
Booom!
Explosions suddenly riddled the entire square as lightning smashed down on the entire thing like the wrath of God!
The blue plasma tore through everything in it's path, scorching the land and melting the metal in the blink of an eye!
Instantly, screams filled the entire battleship.
They felt it all. Their family leader's power.
The entire square along with all the people inside were obliterated without any chance at resistance. As did the crow.
"Who the hell did this?!" He yelled into the air, an electric boom rushing out into the entire battlefield, momentarily stunning the machinery which was especially made to tackle electric type shinsu.
A bunch of High Rankers appeared in the air beside Eduan, "W- what's the matter?! Father?!" The man spoke in a shaky voice.
Eduan spared them a glance filled with rage in his eyes and bloodlust suffusing out of his entire body. He turned ahead to look at the battleship again and spoke.
"Someone is attacking the ship." He said, his voice suddenly unnaturally calm.
"Find him."
Just then, one of the High Rankers behind him spoke.
"But family leader, we already have." Eduan glanced behind him, and instantly, his eyes widened.
All of the High Rankers that arrived, 7 in number pit their hand into their pockets. Then, pulling out a crystal monocle, they all donned it on their right eyes.
"We're right here, Father..." They all said in unison.
Skrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!
Lighting blazed once again, blowing off the entire top of the structure as if it were made of paper!
"Forget it..." Eduan's chilling whisper echoed in the entire battleship. More High Rankers began to float up to stop him somehow, but they stopped. Nay, they were forced to.
Eduan extended his hand and pulled out an orb made out of electricity. The orb was gigantic, almost ten times as big as Eduan. Then, taking the orb in his hand, he stretched the orb ahead to form a spear!
A shinsu black hole, taking the form of a sphere.
"Destroy every single invader..." He said, not to himself or anyone else, but to the shinsu.
"Leave none alive." And so, he threw the spear.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
SHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
Huuuuuu~
Eduan calmly breathed out in the air as he watched the state of the battleship.
Half of it had been obliterated under collateral.
The superstructure was still intact, but the residential areas were scorhed like the deepest pits of hell.
Most of the intruders stepped from that very space.
Eduan looked down at everything and looked at his hand.
~~~
One of Winston's avatars which was orchestrating the entire thing looked at the direction of the ship and snickered.
Eduan just had the most significant, generational and century defining crashout in the history of irregulars.
Which was understandable to some extent. He was sure anyone that saw Amon would react like that and get rid of the problem asap.
Although he was disappointed that he didn't get to even say most of the lines which he had prepared for the performance, he was happy nonetheless.
All Winston could think was...
What was that strange orb?
~~~
A/N: Throw some stones.