The sky was beginning to turn shades of orange and red as the group continued to move closer to a large mountain. The Amazon jungle was bathed in the last glow of the day, but there was nothing peaceful about the air. All around us was chaos. The place was covered with corpses of Ungalons, their red bodies mingling with the earth, and the group, tired, was still fighting against those who still remained.
My breathing was ragged, my knuckles covered in blood. "These fuckers never end..." I muttered to myself as I threw another punch with all my might, knocking down another Ungalon that was lunging towards me.
"See now, Ryuji?" shouted Tives, smashing one of the apes to the ground with a thud. "They're like cockroaches, you squash one and two more come out, damn beasts!"
Exhaustion was beginning to become evident in everyone. The Amazons were breathing heavily, Stella was throwing small discharges from her antennae to keep the Ungalons at bay, but the group was exhausted.
Finally, Queen Tives sentenced the fight when she grabbed one of the last apes by the legs, lifted it off the ground with an ease that continued to amaze me and slammed it into a nearby tree. The Ungalon's body fell limp to the ground, but before it could make another move, the queen raised her foot and crushed it with all her might. "It's over!" she said with a sarcastic smile as she watched it die.
Stella looked down, exhausted. "At this rate... we won't be able to face them in their nest. We're too tired."
Tives surveyed the scene, thinking of Stella's words. "You're right, star girl. We can't go on like this." He looked around at the scattered bodies of the Ungalons. "We'll camp here tonight. Have the warriors pick up the corpses that aren't in bad shape. We will dine Ungalon tonight."
As the Amazons began to work on collecting the rejects of their enemies, Stella leaned on my shoulder, breathing heavily. "Ryuji... I don't think it's as easy as we thought."
Night fell upon us as we began to light the campfires. The Amazon warrior women had already prepared Ungalon's meat and although it wasn't the most appetizing meal I had ever seen, I couldn't deny that I needed to replenish my strength.
Meanwhile, back at the Star Cosmow station, something grim was going on. Dadora, sitting in her office, remained completely motionless, her gaze was lost, as if she was no longer there. Time seemed to stand still around her as, from the shadows, Mosca appeared, a malicious smile on his face.
The parasite that had left and climbed into Dadora's brain had done its work. "She's probably dead by now..." Mosca said quietly, as he watched Dadora fade into the chair. "And with what I know... pretty soon everyone else will be too."
In another part of the station, Saró and Bedafa were having a private conversation in the medical room. Saró, in a calm tone, reported, "I have erased Ryuji's father's memory and sent him back to Earth. He remembers nothing of what happened."
Bedafa nodded slowly. "It was for the best. Ryuji has his own path to travel. There's no going back for him."
"Do you really think Ryuji can be our salvation?" Saró asked, some doubt in his voice.
Bedafa, with his wise look, answered: "He is not like other humans. There is something special about him... something that could save us all."
At that moment, in the control room, Mosca was busy with a series of keyboards and monitors. As he jumped from key to key, he initiated a transmission with his floating eye which projected the image of Negura, the queen of Cosmomundo tenebroso, sitting on her throne. All the eyes of her body were closed and in her hand she held a pipe, from which she was smoking calmly.
Beside her, a bizarre creature, a black panther with a long neck ending in a woman's head, was running its long tongue over the queen's feet, cleaning them with the utmost care. The servant girl to Negura's right bowed her head and announced, "My queen, there is an incoming transmission from Mosca."
Negura slowly opened one of her eyes and leaned forward. "Show her." She ordered in a calm voice.
Mosca's transmission appeared on the monitor, showing the little spy with a triumphant smile. "My queen, the Star Cosmoworld station is about to disappear."
Negura smiled, interested, as Mosca continued to manipulate the system. "I've managed to access the central power core. If I activate the wrong circuit, the whole station... will disappear in a single explosion."
Negura's eyes glowed with excitement. "Do it." He ordered with a cruel smile.
Mosca leaned toward the monitor, knowing that this would be his last act. With a decisive movement, he stepped on one of the buttons on the panel and in that instant, the central circuit collapsed. A massive explosion ripped through the Star Cosmoworld station.
In the blink of an eye, everything was gone. Saro, Bedafa and the station's inhabitants vanished into nothingness, as if they had never existed.
Negura was silent for a moment. The zmosca transmission cut off abruptly. And then, the queen burst into unhinged laughter that echoed throughout the throne room. "I've won!" she said to herself, as victory seemed closer than ever.
Back at camp, as the stars twinkled in the night sky, Stella huddled next to me, a worried expression on her face. "I have a bad feeling, Ryuji." She murmured, hugging herself to my chest.
I tried to calm her down, stroking her hair gently. "It's going to be okay. I'm right here with you." I whispered, placing a soft kiss on her forehead.
Stella looked up, a small smile on her lips. "You're the most wonderful person I've ever met..." She said softly, taking my bandaged hand and kissing it tenderly. "Thank you for being here."
"You're welcome." I replied with a smile, as Stella snuggled into my chest and slowly began to fall asleep. I, however, couldn't stop thinking about the words she had said. What was really in store for us...?
On the other side of the universe, in the tenebrous Cosmoworld, Negura was organizing a great banquet in the main hall of her castle. Several warriors with a feminine appearance, but grotesquely deformed, sat around the table, waiting for the queen's signal to begin.
Negura, with her stately gait, walked on the table. Her bare feet crunched the banquet food as she gave her speech. "My dear little minions, once again we have crushed our enemies, once again, we once again feel we are in control of everything, now that our only threat has been eradicated our plan can only succeed and no one can defeat us."
The plates were full of strange, disgusting and even living food. As the queen walked, she crushed some of that food under her feet, while the warriors watched her adoringly.
At the end of her speech, she raised a glass of wine. "To our victory!" she exclaimed and then poured the wine over her feet. Two twin, demonic-looking female warriors ran up to her and began to lick the wine and the crushed food, while the rest of the warriors devoured their rations on their plates.
Negura couldn't contain her laughter. "We have won! she said with laughter.
End of chapter 8