Before the beam could hit her, she disappeared. Her Soul readings were faint, as if her life force was being drained away. But it was just overshadowed by a larger presence.

  "What the-" Kaioshun put his arm down, looking around the area. What happened to her? There's no way she could've outspeeded his beams.

  That was impossible!

  But it was someone else that saved Nanasu.

  It was Sachiel Eria.

  She slowly raised her head up, realizing she was being carried by him. "A... euh... what..."

  "Save your Captain, Miss Valadne. He is in grave danger." He said, looking at Claude who was on the floor, while gently placing Nanasu on the ground. Nanasu nodded in shock. She didn't even realize that she was being carried. That was how fast Sachiel really was.

  "Sachiel Eria... your interruptions really are annoying. Ready for another round, or are you finally going to let me go?"

  Kaioshun said, irritated. He crossed his arms and simply furrowed his brows.

  "You are a special kind of fool, Kaioshun. Toying with the lower levels of combatants."

  "They got in my way, Eria. Do not assume I enjoy fighting them. Even if you do manage to defeat me, it won't change the fact that Jumkou Katatoria is dead. So, you can either let me leave, or keep delaying the inevitable."

  Sachiel's eyes became serious. Without saying a single word, he got into stance, waiting to defeat him and ensure the safety of his planet.

  Kaioshun got angrier but then broke into a fit of laughter. "Right! The Great Kamisword! If you're here to save your planet, then you'll have to fight me!"

  "... I'm sorry..." Nanasu muttered under her breath as she held Claude. "I couldn't... do anything... I'm useless..."

  Claude looked at her, weakly smiling. "Gahk... it hurts... But Sachiel... he's got this... I think..."

  Kaioshun charged at Sachiel, rolling his arm back for a punch.

  Sachiel moved simply to meet his speed, matching his speed to dodge his punch elegantly. This was the work of Raum Kunst, the martial arts of Testharia.

  The most graceful and beautiful form of fighting. To add on top of it, he is the best martial artist in the galaxy.

  He changed his footing used his right arm to lock Kaioshun's right arm and turned around, elbowing his gut.

  "Ghuh-" The elbow landed and he was stumbling back. Sachiel didn't hesitate to follow up with another attack, getting 8 more punches in to the face and kicked him back.

  "Wha-"

  .:. How is he so fast? No... He isn't fast... He just moves in such precision that he doesn't cover a lot of distance... Is that what his martial arts is? When you punch, you reel your hand back before you push it forward. But... he doesn't do that. He moves in such precision that he gets all his attacks in while barely moving... He punches at the same point his hand was before... Just what is he? .:.

  That was Raum Kunst.

  Martial arts specifically for fighting in zero gravity.

  The reason why Testharians move in such short movements is because if there is no gravity, the basic movement to punch, which is to reel the hand back, will push them off balance. The same goes for kicking or even moving their foot.

  They are trained to be more precise and careful, not only in the use of weapons but also in combat.

  This allowed Sachiel to be able to fight without the need to cover large distances. His technique was truly beautiful and unique, making him even more deadly than he already is.

  While Nanasu is stronger than Sachiel in terms of physical combat, Sachiel's technique is much more refined than Nanasu's.

  Sachiel knows that increased speed equates increased strength, that it really doesn't matter if you are the strongest man who ever lived.

  Sachiel is slimmer, meaning that he can move faster than Kaioshun. While Kaioshun has more mass in his punches, Sachiel has increased acceleration and momentum in his punches.

  Which is why his punches and kicks feel like being hit by a whip or a bullet, while Kaioshun's hits are like slow hammer blows.

  Kaioshun rolled and recovered. Sachiel finally drew blood after dealing so many blows. Blood was dripping from Kaioshun's mouth, the blood was purple opposed to being red.

  He stood up fully, considering if it was necessary for him to keep fighting or just flee.

  "Sachiel Eria. I will tell you this now... Even if you do not care about anything that comes out of my mouth. There is an uprising of power. We all felt it. Incidentally, all of it correlates to Flynnigan Shotaro. Do you understand what I am getting it? That Flynnigan Shotaro is going to be so incredibly powerful that he will plunge the galaxy in darkness. He will be the Coming, I want to stop him from being the one that brings the apocalypse. Let me go and I'll make sure that never happens!"

  Sachiel didn't believe a single word that came out of his mouth, not at all. He simply just looked at him. He didn't forget the promise he made to Jumkou, that he would protect her and Flynnigan.

  "Flynnigan Shotaro is not yours to kill, or anyone's."

  "Sachiel... Sachiel! You do not know who he really is. Let him loose and the beast within will destroy everything. You don't even have a clue where he is too, but I do. So go ahead and try to stop me, SACHIEL!"

  Kaioshun summoned lightning and supercharged it, firing it where Nanasu and Claude were.

  "Oh fuck!" Nanasu cowered, holding Claude close to her.

  "HM!" Sachiel moved at supersonic speeds, forming a large Soul-Barrier enough to hold it for 5 seconds, enough time for Nanasu to grab Claude and run away.

  With this, Kaioshun took advantage of the distraction and fled. Sachiel could've chased after him but he couldn't leave Nanasu and Claude like this. If he engaged Kaioshun, Nanasu and Claude would've died.

  "Go! Now!" Sachiel said.

  Nanasu nodded, taking Claude and running back towards Tristate City. It was hard with such heavy armor but she was able to carry him. She hoisted him over her shoulder and ran as fast as she could. "Mikael, Mikael can you hear us?"

  {C} "Loud and clear."

  Mikael Asger said on the comms. Where the hell was he all this time?

  "Captain is injured, pick us up!"

  {C} “Roger that!”

  "C-cowar- NGG!" Claude clenched his chest even more, grunting.

  "Preserve your energy, Captain! We'll get help soon, hang in there!" Nanasu told him as she continued running.

  Sachiel saw Nanasu and Claude hop into the ship and fly off back to the Soul-Core Space Station. The Soul-Barrier that he had put up moved the lightning next to him, taking minimal damage.

  When the smoke cleared, he saw that Kaioshun escaped. He was gone now. Jumkou Katatoria's death was in vain. He sighed in defeat. But now, he had a different objective to focus on. Flynnigan Shotaro. However, where he was, in any way, Sachiel had to find him.

  He had to continue what Jumkou started. She was dead, and now Sachiel had to fulfill her last wish. He closed his eyes, holding his hand close to his chest.

  "I will make sure that your wish of a peaceful future comes true, Jumkou."

  He opened his eyes again, only to meet Jumkou Katatoria in the eye. Sachiel's eyes widened in shock. Jumkou Katatoria, stood in front of him. How did she appear? Is this a ghost?

  Moreover, why is Sachiel looking at me like that?

  "A... a... W-what..."

  "Oh goodie, he's gone..." Jumkou simply said, realizing that Kaioshun was gone.

  "Oh, Sachiel! Sorry if I startled you! I had to save you from that explosive attack that the terrorist did at the cost of my own life." She smiled weakly.

  "W-what... J-Jumkou... I'm not sure... I quite understand-"

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  "Oh yeah!" Jumkou simply cut him off there. "Technically, I did die, didn't I?"

  Sachiel nodded slowly, still shocked that she's alive. She wasn't a ghost, nor an illusion or hallucination. She was real. Standing right in front of him.

  "Heh... It's a bit complicated, sorry. Basically... I can pretty much create an origin point where I last used an attack... It's like a checkpoint in a video game! As long as my source... my Soul in this case, remains intact... I can come back! Of course, there's the possibility that I can get stuck between the origin point and death forever... The intangible realm like I told you!"

  She chuckled. This woman was either crazy or just insanely smart. "So that's it! You won't have to worry about me being dead anymore!"

  Sachiel walked up to her without saying anything and bonked her head with his fist. Jumkou held her forehead, tears almost coming out. "Ow... Why would you do that for...?"

  "You're a fool for trying such a dangerous ability! You even fooled Kaioshun into thinking that you died! You are truly something else..."

  "Heh... Well, did you beat him?"

  "No." Sachiel sighed. "He got away after injuring Claude Magami and my sister. He took advantage of the distraction."

  Jumkou crossed her arms and sighed. "Well, that's not good..."

  Sachiel looked at Jumkou. "Now, you said that someone followed you into the past. Could Kaioshun be that person? He is especially adamant on finding Flynnigan Shotaro and killing him. Back in the tower, you spoke about how you were followed. Is he the one?"

  Jumkou nodded, looking down "... He could be..."

  "We've all felt a strong surge of power recently, and it all correlates to Flynnigan, he said. But how would it be possible to tell who it is that is responsible for the sudden surges of power? Only someone with a Soul allows him to know everything... or he knows who Flynnigan Shotaro is, further solidifying the fact that he is the one that followed you back."

  "Well..." Jumkou rested her arms behind her head. "The only way I discovered the existence of Flynnigan was because my Soul envisioned it for me. The only way Kaioshun would know about him is for the Dark to know as well... But how did the Darkness even know?"

  .:. Just who even is the Dark? .:.

  Jumkou tread into a territory Sachiel wouldn't have any ideas about. She told Sachiel nothing about the Dark. That was something only she knew about. Sachiel just looked her in the eye.

  "S-Sorry... I got ahead of myself." She laughed nervously. "I'll have to go off-world real soon if I want to find Flynnigan Shotaro before he does. If he gets ahold of Flynnigan Shotaro, it's all over. But if we get ahold of him first and unlock his power, then the galaxy will retain peace."

  "Hold it there, Jumkou. Kaioshun said that should the beast within Flynnigan awaken, it will bring about the apocalypse. So how exactly is this Flynnigan going to save us?"

  Jumkou smiled, nodding. "... Well, he's lying."

  Sachiel raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

  "He's making it sound like Flynnigan is going to be some sort of destructive force, but that's not true at all! He's the Call of the Gods, not the Coming! He will vanquish the hearts of the impure, the evil!"

  "We will make sure that happens, no matter what. All evil must be vanquished and we will help Flynnigan unlock his latent abilities."

  Sachiel kneeled in front of Jumkou, which caught her off guard.

  "Uh..."

  "Allow me to continue along with your endeavour to protect the galaxy from the incoming threat. It would be my greatest honor to serve alongside you, Jumkou Katatoria."

  Jumkou scratched her head, looking around. "O-Okay..."

  = = =

  The endless desert that encompasses most the planet, the Dunes of Sangria are a sparsely populated bad lands made up of lavender sands and dunes.

  Littered with the mechanical corpses of Eukaronic ships - it is a hub for scavengers based in Amarill town, and a source of Cyrilum - a unique fuel only found on Eukaron.

  Amongst the Dunes of Sangria, Vincent Sparks finds himself treading across the lavender bad land.

  “What a shithole.” He looked around. “That will be the last time I jump into a literal garbage compact ship."

  He continued walking. His ship had been destroyed after escaping from space bandits, resulting in him crashing down on Eukaron. Nobody really knew this planet, especially him. Being a former associate of a high body, he thought he knew this place.

  But it wasn’t on any high records, just like Testharia. Guess the galaxy’s vaster than people thought.

  In the sky, large lines of ships and transports hovered in a form of space traffic, floating buoys guiding them as to not get lost in the desert.

  They all pointed towards the same place – an amalgamation of skyscrapers, walls and ships barely visible in the distance. Hennafell City.

  Before Vincent was a large Mesa to his left, comprised of small settlements visible on the top. This suggested bandits or scavenger setting up camp.

  Ahead of him was a large canyon and a forcefield blocking unrestricted entrance.

  “Well now... I can still find a way to get off this rock.” Vincent said, smirking.

  Alternatively – to the east, the gleaming lights of Amarill shone like a spotlight. It wasn’t saying much, as any lights were scrapped from the crashed ships in the sand.

  He had the choice of going through the mesa or crossing the canyon to Hennafell or going to the town of Amarill.

  “Hm...” Vincent thought long and hard and eventually decided to turn east, making his decision to tread his way down to the town of Amarill.

  As Vincent begun walking, he could see something he would most likely have never seen since crashing on the planet. People. Humans. Life forms.

  They were dressed in baggy clothes that blended into the sand – a giveaway being carried scraps and heavy backpacks. These were some of the many scavengers who used the area around Amarill to provide for their families.

  In the city itself – ships could be slowly seen through the sun’s glare, leaving and entering the town. There was life – but more importantly to Vincent, there were ships.

  From small speeders to large corvettes, they had them all.

  Vincent smirked again, eyeing the ships. “Finally... Now we’re talking."

  As he edged ever closer, the abundance of crashed fighters and shuttles slowly began to dwindle. Anything that would be remotely close to the town being tapped and taken long ago. By now, all the crashed ships were picked clean or completely gone.

  Vincent approached closer to the town, slowly realizing where he was. In the backdrop of the town, he could see pink and purple smoke. Behind the walled town where it was visible, there was a large refinery covered in pipes and storage tanks.

  This was one of many in Eukaron, however it was the only one that seemed properly defended beyond a small militia.

  “Ah... I’m on Eukaron.” He picked a rock from the ground, looking at it.

  Eukaron, a world of purple and blues, was a desert world with over 80% its population within a 50km radius from it's Capital. The area around it being very dense and industrial.

  It holds a special fuel, Cyrilum, that is often heralded as the best in the galaxy. Its authoritarian government had recently faced a Civil War - making the area uninhabitable and is the reason a shield has been placed in Hennafell.

  Temperatures were surprisingly cold, however due to the incredible density of the capital region this was flipped on its head, as anywhere beyond Amarill averages 30 degrees Celsius.

  The relatively quiet desert would almost be instantly replaced as soon as he passed through the scrap walls of Amarill. Buildings were relatively small to Eukaron standards - only standing around three stories tall, covered in barricades and nails. Crime was incredibly common in the town, with gang violence being a major problem.

  “Huh. Must suck to live in.” He looked at the buildings, being mostly run down and disgusting from the outside.

  The town was incredibly crowded with market stalls and bunkhouses. Near the edges of the wall were a lot less claustrophobic – the rich typically living there. A large amount of bars was also near the rich areas, to attract customers.

  It was also easier to repair buildings without the risk of a stray wall crushing someone.

  In the east of the wall, a rundown bar with a ship park stood there, with two ships still remaining.

  “Bingo.” He snapped his fingers, making his way to the east wall. However, it would be difficult to get there.

  People were bumping into Vincent and into each other, and the constant yelling and the banging of metals were disorienting. However, eventually, the crowds faded away and the bar stood in front of Vincent.

  It was a square building with purple walls and black supports. A small fence was to the right in which outside tables and bikes were parked. On the left, the ships landed on white-painted scrap to be shaped like landing pads.

  Vincent Sparks thought about something else. He was on the galactical wanted list. He was one of the most wanted criminals in the galaxy. If anybody got their hands on Vincent and turned him in, they were rewarded with a handsome price.

  Judging Amarill was often a safe-haven for criminals – little to no authority besides a few guards on the walls were there to attempt to collect him.

  “Heh. Takes the weight off my back.” He kept shoving people as he made his way to the bar.

  Outside the bar, he could see two men arguing. Notably, they were the first people he'd seen without thick face coverings.

  People on Eukaron had a plum-like skin with elf-like ears, however what separated them from the north region being - obviously their skin, but also that their ears had a 'double point'. Their sclera's were a deep black and their pupils a glowing magenta, a side-effect from evolution on the world.

  One was morbidly obese, wearing a sleeveless jacket and trousers. They had a gun that looked as if made out of bent pipes and dials stuck in one of his trousers belt-loops. The other was skinny, wearing a black poncho with goggles and boots - something only described as a metal stick holstered on their back.

  As he walked past, he heard the obese man yell something in Eukaronic and the sound of a gun cocking. However, before a gunshot - the obese man would scream and drop on the floor.

  The skinny man's stick vibrated so fast that it was as if a pure rod of purple lightning. The idea behind the weapon was that it vibrated so hard that it formed a magnetic force, allowing it to separate atoms and essentially cut through anything. The downside was that it was a very limited effect - making it useless if the first strike didn't kill.

  Meanwhile - before Vincent, he had two ships he could take. One was small with no markings while the other was around the size of a shuttle and had strange gang symbols painted onto it. Staring at the one with the gang signs, he shook his head. “No... fuck no.”

  Then, he looked at the smaller ship. It was covered with bullet holes and subpar repairs. It would most likely fall apart if he tried to go off world with it – essentially forcing him to go to a bigger city to get a better one.

  Given the recent lockdown for civilians on Eukaron, many ship-owners were forced to sell parts of their ship in the inflating currency. It also, obviously meant, that they were barred from leaving off-world - so why bother repair anything to make it possible?

  The lockdown was caused by a recent civil war on the planet – the rebellion behind it still being around and under active siege in the Amethyst Mesa.

  “Tsk...” He tapped the ship with one finger, finishing it for good. It instantly began to crumble down into ashes. This was the power of his Soul. Destruction.

  The ashes blew away into purple sparks before completely disappearing. Because of this action, he was left with the ship filled with gang symbols. Hopping into it, he smirked.

  “Heh. It’s time I properly send a message to every faction body out there once I figure this out.”

  Almost instantly he heard alien yelling behind him, the owner of the ship seeing from the window of the bar. Running out - they yelled to a few members of the gang in the bike park.

  "Ugh." He'd reach into his pockets and throw a single Plutonian currency at the owner. Though he assumed the currency had no value on Eukaron. "Thanks!" He quickly fired up the engines on the console, taking lift off.

  The few of the gang members crowd the owner and looked at the coin. It was in decent condition and not rusted beyond recognition, a gang member tried to grab it, his sand slapped away by the owner.

  The one who tried to grab it got mad, yelling at them before another tried to take the coin again. The owner pulled it away again, now yelling too. For a few minutes they argued over who would get the shiny metal before the owner had enough and pulled out his pistol, a shootout beginning outside.

  Amarill was almost entirely made of scrap. Anything that wasn't rusty or even on-world could be sold for a high profit by con artists.

  A few of the patrons in the bar would see a few of the dead bodies. Seeing potential money and things to sell - they would join in. The poverty in Amarill was incredibly high, meaning any money could mean life or death.

  After around a minute, the entire bar and a few citizens inside had gotten into a straight brawl and shootout - guards and militia failing to stop it and instead simply closing off the east side of the town.

  While Vincent Sparks exited the atmosphere of Eukaron.