Golden fissures spread across the guardian's crystallized body. From the feet upward, its mass broke apart into shimmering dust, particles lifting into the air as if answering a silent call from the heavens.
Finn leaned heavily against Kaito, both of them barely standing as they watched it fade.
"…We did it…" Finn breathed, his voice raw.
Kaito chuckled at first before it tore out of him in a full-throated scream. Finn joined in a heartbeat later as the two of them howled into the sky like feral beasts who refused to die. When they stopped, they leaned into each other and bumped fists weakly, grinning like idiots through blood and tears.
Above the planet, the licensing station erupted in celebration.
"They won!" Ari'Va shouted, slamming her hands against the console.
"The guardian's essence is destabilizing!"
Cheers exploded across the control room. Green workers hugged each other, some laughing, some crying, others collapsing into their chairs in disbelief.
All except Astra.
Her four crimson eyes never left the battlefield.
She watched as Kaito carefully lowered Finn's now-limp body to the ground, easing him onto his back with a gentleness that felt almost out of place after the carnage. For a brief moment, something flickered behind her gaze.
"That posture… That look… There's no mistake. He's just like that idiot long ago… my old captain."
On the ship floating in space, Valentina slumped forward in her chair. Zeek caught her just before she hit the floor, resting her on the ground before passing out himself. Rikona collapsed to the dirt a few meters behind Kaito, her drones clattering lifelessly to the ground. Luis, Livia, and Lorian dropped beside each other, the glow of Kaito's essence finally leaving their bodies. Even Nara only lasted seconds longer before her wings sagged and she crumpled near the three thalorians. Yet her stubbornness refused to let her fall unconscious.
Sylas watched quietly as Kaito sank down beside Finn, chest heaving as he tried to steady his breath.
"They'll be out for a while." He muttered hoarsely.
"Most of their essence went into that last push."
He tilted his head slightly toward Nara's distant body.
"She's barely hanging on… but that's not surprising. She's stubborn." A faint smirk tugged at his lips.
"Kinda like me and the captain."
Sylas glanced around at the fallen, then back at Kaito.
"I'm surprised you're still conscious after pushing yourself that far." He said casually,
Kaito blinked and looked up at him.
"Yeah… actually—why aren't you passed out?" He frowned.
"Rikona said you supplied the second most essence. Only Valentina gave more."
Sylas shrugged, hands in his pockets.
"I'm just different."
Kaito stared at him for a short moment.
"…You're definitely kinda weird." He muttered
His gaze lingered on Sylas's long pointed ears, the carved musculature of his battered, shirtless body, the way the air around him felt… heavier.
"He's no joke. I get why Finn and Nara made it through the exams so easily with someone like that." He thought to himself.
Sylas, meanwhile, studied Kaito with equal intensity as he recalled Nara and Finn's mention of him.
"Nara didn't understand why Elara chose this human as her rival. But Finn… he saw something else. Not a rival nor a tool… instead a brother."
Sylas broke the silence.
"Kaito right? Forgive me for the sudden question given our circumstances, but if you'd want to share, I'm curious to know what is your dream?"
Kaito didn't hesitate.
"I want to make worlds where anyone no matter their race, shape, color, or beliefs can live together. Where everyone gets a chance to chase their dreams."
He smiled, tired but sincere.
"My dream is to become the King of the Stars."
Sylas's eyes widened just a fraction.
There was no lie in his brown eyes.
His words, his aura, his reckless confidence that refused to fold—all of it reminded him of someone. His brother. The man who smiled through impossible odds. Carrying the weight of their worlds like it was nothing.
"So that's why she chose him… Nara may not see it yet, but Elara's decision to make him her rival wasn't as short sighted as one may believe." He thought to himself.
Then—
thudTHUDthud
Kaito froze mid-breath.
His hand flew to his chest and that smile of his vanished.
He collapsed.
His body convulsed violently against the rusted ground, muscles locking as white foam spilled from his mouth and nose. His eyes rolled back, breath hitching in wet, broken gasps.
"Kaito!" Sylas dropped to his knees instantly, pressing two fingers to his neck. His expression hardened.
"Severe irregular rhythm. This is heart failure. Same signs elves show when they push past their limit."
"This is bad… Really bad." He muttered.
Above the planet, alarms screamed.
"What's happening!?" Astra demanded.
Ari'Va's voice shook as data flooded her screens.
"His heart—its aggressive arrhythmia! Multiple organs are entering failure! He needs immediate treatment, now!"
"Dispatch a medical team and send one of my clones!" Astra ordered sharply.
But she received no response.
She looked over only to see Ari'Va frozen, her large eyes trembling as she stared at the holo-monitor.
"…Ma'am…" She whispered.
Astra followed her gaze until all four of her red eyes shot open.
Every remaining examinee had a white silhouette displayed beside their vitals and Kaito's burned red… But it wasn't his vitals that made her breath still.
It was his CPI.
Kaito: 15,000,000…20,000,000…25,000,000…
And rising.
"That's… impossible." Her voice was barely audible.
She overlaid the scans, dissecting every data stream until she noticed something wrong. Kaito's silhouette… was shrinking. The further she zoomed out, the smaller it became. Smaller and smaller and smaller—until it was nothing more than a single pixel.
And then she saw it.
His essence… their essence.
The amount of it was so vast it dwarfed the planet beneath it.
Astra's breath caught.
"This amount of essence…" She whispered.
The guardian's words from earlier echoed in her mind.
"You are a guardian—just like me."
Her eyes widened in realization. The guardian hadn't been lying. They had simply been looking in the wrong place and now something inside Kaito was beginning to wake.
Back on the planet below, Sylas moved on instinct. He rolled Kaito carefully onto his left side and pressed a hand between his shoulder blades. A faint shimmer of clear essence coated his palm as he exhaled sharply through his teeth.
"…Tch."
"My essence hasn't been this low since training with my brother, but it should be enough until he receives medical attention from the organizer." He thought grimly.
He closed his eyes.
"Now I just need to find his essence…"
Before he could, a muffled sound echoed inside his head. Like a voice speaking through water.
"Atlas?" Sylas murmured inwardly, nerves easing slightly.
"Is that you? I need you to—"
Then Atlas's voice came through his head loud and clear like a blade driven straight through his skull.
"SYLAS! GET AWAY FROM HIM NOW!"
Ice flooded his veins. His eyes snapped open before looking down only to see Kaito was no longer convulsing…
He was staring at him.
Eyes wide and soulless as if death already claimed him… but death did not. Something else had climbed behind those eyes… and was staring back at him.
Sylas leapt back several meters on pure reflex, boots skidding across scorched ground.
The moment he did, Kaito's body ignited. Not in flame, but essence.
A vast, shifting spectrum of color burst outward, swirling around him like a living nebula. Blues, violets, golds, crimson streaks folding into one another, twinkles of stars blooming and collapsing within the haze. The air screamed as pressure warped space itself.
Cracks in Kaito's shattered limbs sealed instantly. Burned skin restored itself. Bruises vanished. Bones realigned with wet, unsettling snaps.
Sylas felt his breath hitch.
"…What is happening?" He whispered.
"Atlas—what's going on?"
Atlas's answer came slower this time.
"He's a yoki…"
Sylas's pupils shrank.
"…A yoki? Like me?"
"That's not all." Atlas cut in sharply.
"This essence… it isn't like any high-grade celestial guardian. It's far beyond mine or any other A-rank I've ever sensed."
Sylas's heart skipped.
"…You're saying—"
"I'm unsure but it's likely he houses an S-ranked celestial guardian."
Sylas swallowed hard but Atlas wasn't finished.
"I've fought S-ranked yoki beside your brother before, but this… feels different.
Overwhelming. It's as if the very essence of my being is warning me not to be near him. There's only a specific type of guardian that can make a celestial of my caliber feel that way."
The pieces slammed together in Sylas's mind.
"…One of the twelve wells of those artifacts?" He whispered.
His question was met with silence. Atlas didn't confirm nor deny it. He didn't need to.
Sylas stared as Kaito's body slowly lifted itself from the ground like a corpse remembering how to stand.
His bare feet pressed into the charred soil, cracking it. The nebula-like essence coiled around him like a cloak as he flexed his fingers, staring down at his hands with mild curiosity, as if they didn't quite belong to him.
Sylas took a cautious step forward.
"Kaito?" He called out.
"You alright?"
His… Their head turned.
Sylas froze.
Kaito's eyes were gone.
In their place were pitch black sclera.
Their right pupil had become a radiant white star with twenty-four points.
Their left pupil had become a near perfect black void with a miniature singularity, rimmed by a slow-spinning white accretion disk.
Before Sylas could even draw breath, they were inches from his face.
No wind.
No motion.
Just there.
Sylas's blood ran cold.
"I didn't see him move… At all."
Their lips curled upward into a smile that didn't belong on a human nor elf face.
Then, they spoke.
Kaito's voice overlapped with another.
"Ohhh…" They purred softly, tilting their head.
"You look familiar."
Sylas stiffened.
"That voice… It's a woman."
"When did you—" His word were cut off as they leaned closer.
"You look just like him."
Sylas swallowed.
"…Him?" He asked cautiously. "Who is him?" He asked as his hand tightened around his sword hilt.
Atlas's voice roared inside his skull.
"SYLAS! DO NOT ENGAGE! Whatever she is—we are not her target."
They chuckled. A low, delighted sound.
"It seems your filthy little pet is smarter than you, blonde brat."
Their smile widened.
"Smarter than your foolish brother too."
Sylas's world tilted at those words.
"…My brother?" His voice cracked.
"How do you know about my brother? What do you know?"
Their eyes gleamed.
"Oh, quite a bit." They hummed.
"I know he used your foolish brother just like use your precious elven race like the pathetic puppets they've always been."
Rage surged violently inside Sylas. Atlas felt it instantly.
"Calm down Sylas! Do not provoke her—if you do, we die!"
They watched the conflict play across his face with open amusement.
Then, their attention shifted.
Slow and casually, they leaned back, tilting their head just enough to glance over their shoulder with one eye.
A few dozen meters away, the dying guardian lay half-faded into golden dust. Its lower body was already gone, essence unraveling into the ether.
Their smile softened.
"There you are…"
Without warning, they were gone.
No burst of wind. No distortion. Nothing. The space between them folded as if distance itself had decided it no longer mattered. One moment they stood inches from Sylas, the next they stood before the dying guardian.
The guardian's upper body twitched as the presence washed over it. Its remaining eye widened, unfocused, unable to comprehend what stood before it.
They tilted their head slowly, nebula essence rolling off their body like a living cosmic being.
"So…" They murmured, voice soft, curious—almost disappointed.
"It seems his little plan to flood her universe with chaos has finally begun."
The guardian tried to speak. Tried to move, but its body refused. It had faced death before battling Kaito. Felt fear for the first time with Sylas.
But this… this was something else.
They stepped closer.
"You're not supposed to be here." They said gently.
The words weren't a threat, they were a statement of fact.
The guardian's last bit of resolve shattered. Tears streamed freely down its face as its voice broke into a trembling whisper.
"I—I didn't know… I was chosen… I thought—"
"Oh." They said softly.
A hand reached out and two fingers brushed beneath the guardian's eye wiping its tears away.
"Don't cry." They whispered.
Their touch didn't burn. It didn't hurt. Instead, it felt like gravity letting go.
"I'll make sure you return home." They continued, their voices almost… kind.
The guardian stared up at them, fear and awe blending into one. Its lips trembled.
"W–Who… who are you…?" It whispered.
They smiled.
A slow, knowing smile that didn't belong to mortals.
"You still haven't figured it out?" They asked, amused.
The black void within their left eye began to glow. Not with light, but with depth. The accretion disk spun faster. Space bent inward. Sound vanished.
They leaned forward and spoke a single word…
"God."
The guardian didn't scream. It didn't resist.
It was pulled forward, compressed, stretched, reduced to nothing more than golden light as if a planet had crossed an event horizon. Essence, body, will… all swallowed whole into their eye.