Chapter LXII: Operation Llumina
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MASTER FLYER SWIFT grinned at the elemental hero who only gave him a look of curiosity. Swift heard many positive commentaries or stories about the adventures of the elemental superhero from Planet Earth, he was eager to finally see the teenager face to face. From what he had heard, he gets along well with his former student since both of them had special roles to fulfil in this mission. The restorer and the bearer were important people in this operation.
Not only that, both of them can counter and purify dark magic which will be the greatest obstacle to their mission. "Thank you for taking care of her, she's quite a stubborn one isn't she?" Swift continued without dropping his crossed arms, studying the curious expressions of Y/n's friends. "Quite, is an understatement Mr Swift, you see not only once she almost di─" Gopal was cut off by Fang's hand that forced him to stop talking.
"I get that a lot, I know what happened anyway," Swift shook his head to himself, he already knew the near-death experiences of the Glamouran elf after he was told by Commander Kokoci. "Nothing seemed to change, huh? She's still reckless as ever," The Master Flyer let out a deep sigh to escape his lips while closing his eyes. Her friends nodded their heads in agreement, there was no lie to that statement. Y/n on the other hand didn't understand why they were speaking as if she wasn't standing inside the room with them.
And was it just her? Or Swift spoke like a parent more than he did previously when they were still in Aero? Y/n stared blankly at the group, overwhelming them with every second with her lack of emotion and her silence. Her friends and Swift shrank at her gaze, they could swear a dark mist was beginning to cover the room the more she stared at them. "I-I think w-we should return to the main concern of this meeting shall we?" A bead of sweat formed on the side of Swift's head, feeling terrified of the elf.
He's got to admit, Y/n scares him at times, especially with her unsettling silence and stares. "Alright, Neven, how're the backup weapons coming? Are they ready?" Admiral Tarung turned to the young Aeroan who gave the adult a cheeky smile. "Almost, we're working on a few modifications for the special materials you asked for. Dare I say, it will be quite fascinating to use them," the Glamouran researcher smirked, caressing his chin while looking up at the intimidating higher-up. He didn't seem to have fear as he did so, yet he was asking for a death wish.
"I see, then I forbid you from using those. I sense trouble again with your questionable intentions," Admiral Tarung immediately shot Neven down which caused him to pout, an imaginary rain cloud floating above him and pouring water dramatically. "What! Already? I haven't even said anything yet," he wailed in disappointment. Y/n turned to the Aeroan her age, thinking that he was indeed up to something troublesome. Admiral Tarung ignored the whining teenager and turned his attention back to an amused-looking Swift.
"For safety measures? Oh, I know how that feels like when kids..." Swift laughed while glancing at Y/n who already know what he was on about as an emotionless gaze was shot at him. With that, he stopped laughing and fixed his throat, mentally hoping his daughter figure would finally cut him off some slack with her stares. "That was unnecessary, yeah─ about the Planet Aero report. We're holding off the enemies from the South pretty good, the air force has got Glamoura covered," he changed the topic.
"What about the other planets? Any negative news about them?" Admiral Tarung added another question with his hands behind his back professionally. "Good news Admiral, since Planet Aero is doing a good job of keeping enemies away then it's a guarantee they won't invade Glamoura. Well... unless Planet Aero loses which definitely won't happen under our watch," Swift proudly told the TAPOPS member with ease.
"But then... Why are you here Sir Swift? Are you not supposed to lead the Air Force?" Cosmo blinked, tilting his head in confusion which earned a smile from the Glamouran man in question. "Good question, as you can guess I voluntarily joined this mission as the leader of the flight operators. Neat, huh?" He snapped his fingers, pointing a hand towards Cosmo as he revealed his role in this mission. "I'll be under you sir?" Yaya spoke out in wonder, pointing a finger at herself since she was quite confused about how this team operation goes.
"Yaya, right? No need to be so formal, just call me Swift, same goes for the rest of you here. And to answer your question, you've hit the jackpot! We will be the eye of the sky during the war, Llumina has developed battle machines that can be used above and in the air. To prepare for that, we created a special group that will be assigned to go against them," Swift explained to the gravitational hero, enlightening her with every new information. "Battle machines on the sky? What has Llumina been up to these daunas?" Y/n looked down to the ground, deep in thought.
"Yes, unfortunately, you heard me right. They actually had some spies in Aero and took some blueprints which were supposedly future inventions that were for the air force. They were one step ahead surprisingly, clearly King Lunos is not an easy ruler to fool and he's certainly full of wits." The master flyer's mood dropped and his expression turned serious. "To say, he has made our job difficult but no fear, we are prepared," Swift reassured with a stern nod, glancing at the teenagers.
"Eros' paradise! When do you believe the war might begin?" Kaden wondered, walking closer to the silent female Glamouran. "More or less, in a few daunas," He calmly shrugged his shoulders. The casual answer made the team flinch in surprise, they knew it was close but certainly not this close. "Are you serious!?" The group roared in unison, completely outraged by this sudden information. They wondered how he managed to answer that casually as if it wasn't a huge deal.
"Isn't that too fast? We just got here!" Gopal exclaimed while frowning. Like the others, it was hard to take in and process. Many things happened in a single week, it was unbelievable for them. "I am afraid to say that it has already been set. This preparation has been going for septenarias now and we have no choice but to adjust to it no matter what." Swift closed his eyes in defeat, their time was limited and they didn't need to waste more of it. All they have to do was make sure to use it wisely.
"He's right, now that you're here we have no time to worry about those things. You should prepare yourselves, I know you've gotten even stronger ever since you faced multiple Glamouran monsters, you've come this far and I'm certain you can put that strength to use in this battle. 'Till then, I suggest you cooperate with your team members and train with the leaders. It will be a big help to this operation," Admiral Tarung stepped in, earning everyone's attention. "That is the end of our meeting, do your best," He finished.
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"What are you looking at?" Gopal raised a question as he slowly approached his best friend in wonder, a hand sitting on his waist comfortably. Boboiboy got startled at his new presence, flinching slightly once he managed to snap back to reality after a session of pondering to himself. "Oh, Gopal didn't see you there," He sheepishly grinned, scratching his cheek which was an old habit of his. "What's got your head in clouds?" Gopal gently rested his new weapon on his shoulder, stopping in his tracks right beside Boboiboy.
"Nothing to worry about, it's just... "
"This." He turned his body to the molecular hero, showing him a weapon which is a huge sword. Gopal curiously studied the sharp and shiny blade of the sword, with interesting yellow accents and a cool handle decorated with gold, crystals and unknown minerals that seemed to have come from Glamoura since he couldn't recognise what it was made from. It looked surreal, something anyone from Earth would've thought it was from a video game. He guessed that the weapon weighed much more than it seemed, but with Boboiboy having questionable strength despite having a small build, he wasn't surprised he handled it without a problem.
"You see, the leader of the counter department gave me this. According to her, it is a gift blessed by God himself, which is most definitely Eros. It's a legendary sword that's only been used for a little so she gave it to me, she thinks I can make use of it in the battle," Boboiboy informed his best friend, scanning the sword, intrigued. "Woah, blessed by Eros? That's so cool, does it have magical properties then?" The molecular manipulator wondered, watching the shorter boy do a couple of swings with it.
"I think so, although I'm not sure how to use it... That's the problem." Boboiboy laughed nervously, admitting how he was clueless about using it. "I've been trying to see if I can get it to reveal its magical abilities but I'm out of ideas, do I need to use it while I'm in my solar element then?" The boy in a bandana with a symbol that indicated he was in the counter department pondered again. "Who knows? Have you tried it before?" Gopal raised an eyebrow, looking down at the elemental hero.
"Well... No, should I? I do need to unlock the magical attributes of this sword, it's surprisingly comfortable to use too," He practised a few swings, completely concentrated. "Heh, look at mine. I have this cool gun, the researchers said if I use it, the bullets will become one with my powers and will become a molecule manipulator gun!" Gopal aimed it towards a poorly-made dummy before pulling the trigger. A glowing green bullet shot out of the gun and hit the dummy, transforming it into a biscuit dummy.
Was it illegal? In Earth yes, in Lluminaria? Not that he know of, at least he's cool.
"Hehe, cool right? It doesn't need magical abilities to work," Gopal grinned, turning to an impressed elemental hero beside him. "Woah, so this is what the shooter department has been up to. That's awesome, Gopal!" Boboiboy smiled, giving his friend a thumbs-up of approval. "Speaking of which, you said your leader is a 'she,' who is it then? She's the only leader I haven't seen," Gopal asked in curiosity, he's been hearing all about their leader since yesterday but he didn't know who it was.
"Oh, you must be confused about how she got her hands into a weapon like this?" Boboiboy's irises darted to the weapon in his tight grip. "Yeah, plus, is your light element still working? We don't know if the artefact is still pure or not, that's a dangerous sign right?" Gopal caressed his chin, humming while he was deep in thought. "You're right about that, I think should see if my light manipulation powers still work," Boboiboy backed away from the molecule manipulator to prepare his transformation.
"Alright, elemental power!" He started, pulling his arm and raising it before him.
Light particles appeared out of nowhere, each one got absorbed by his power watch to get enough energy for him to transform into his light element. The area around him illuminated greatly before dying down once a flash revealed the newly-transformed Boboiboy element before Gopal. "Boboiboy Solar!" He exclaimed before the bright light disappeared. The elemental superhero's eyes darted at the sword that he was holding, scanning it while he was deep in thought.
"Hmm, I think I need to activate the lost light energy that this weapon once possessed. I think that's the reason it's not working," Boboiboy Solar included, informing Gopal about his insights and opinion. "With that, I can also find out if the artefact is still alright," He looked back to Gopal with his usual serious expression. "If your powers work, that means the light sceptre is still safe from dark magic, correct?" Gopal tilted his head, looking at Solar who was deep in thought.
"I cannot entirely confirm if it is safe, it might be surrounded by dark magic and it could be still resisting it. Unless King Lunos makes direct contact with it then we are doomed. There's a higher chance that it might not work because the light sceptre is residing in the castle of Llumina, where Lunos is from," Boboiboy Solar let out a frustrated sigh, they wouldn't know unless he tries to do something. And since he was training to get his sword to unlock its magical attributes, he might as well try and see if it does work.
"Hope is still there and as science enthusiasts, we shouldn't underestimate the smallest probabilities. It needs to work, it has to," Solar announced in determination before standing in a battle stance. "Gopal, try and shoot me," He demanded, giving his best friend a stern look behind his light orange spectacles. "W-what? Are you insane?!" Gopal almost stumbled from that sudden request. He didn't want to shoot Boboiboy with his molecule manipulation powers, it was a dangerous request.
He didn't know Solar would go all out just to test out a hypothesis, or maybe because that's just how a scientist is. He couldn't believe they would risk their lives just for an answer. "If that makes all the other Science enthusiasts sound insane, then maybe I am. Now do it, try and shoot me until we get this thing to work," Solar did a few swings before getting back to his battle stance again. Gopal was dumbfounded at this but since it was what Boboiboy wanted to do then, he will reluctantly do it.
"A-alright, get ready," Gopal shakily gulped before bringing his gun to aim at the serious elemental hero. He knew Boboiboy wouldn't transform into anything else but he was just afraid that he might hurt him, the impact of his new weapon was strong despite that.
"In three."
"Two."
"One."
The taller teenager was soon on the move, rolling down from a nearby rock to hide from Solar and attack from long range since the former was a short-range attacker because he had a sword as a weapon now. "Molecule manipulation shooter!" Gopal activated his ability and peeked his head to see if the coast was clear for him to begin shooting. "Don't make me regret this, Boboiboy, " He huffed to himself, searching for his best friend. "This better work," Gopal grumbled, loading his ammo before positioning himself.
Since yesterday, the two spent on training under their leaders. While they were away training, they managed to learn many things and improve some of their battle skills. With this 1 on 1 battle with the use of their weapons, they'll make sure to showcase what they picked up from their mentors. "Positioning and aiming for the sword," Gopal mumbled to himself, shutting his left eye close and adjusting his aim to perfect it.
He pulled the trigger while murmuring. "Multiple Lollipop transformation blast." Boboiboy Solar knew the attack was incoming and so he dodged the first one. It wasn't an easy task, he didn't want to rely on his teleportation ability and jump right behind Gopal, he needed to test his reaction time. He was fast, but he needs to work on his defence. 'Now this is a challenge,' Solar thought to himself before sliding down to the side to avoid another bullet. 'Not bad, Gopal. Your aim really is getting better,' He smirked under his breath, before tightening the grip on his sword.
"Counter reflector!" He began, a new attack that he just came out right on the spot. Boboiboy Solar's hand glowed before raising the sword to his face, the yellow accents of the blade began glowing suddenly, earning a triumphant huff from the sword user. 'It's working! It seemed as if I have activated its magic. Now, to know if my abilities still do work,' He thought to himself. 'And to know if the artefact is infected or not,' he internally spoke before swinging the sword once again.
With his reflexes, the blade of the sword sliced through one bullet, surprising Gopal at what he had witnessed. 'That's amazing!' He marvelled at how Solar could slice through the bullets drawing closer to the latter. 'It really is working, that smart midget lamp...' Gopal smiled, proud at the outcome of their experiment. 'Another attempt,' the molecular superhero settled himself into another position, still aiming for the sword. This time, he will do a quicker one.
A bullet passed beside him in a flash, catching the light element off guard. 'That's surprisingly fast,' Another smirk played on Solar's lips, heavily impressed by Gopal's improvement. 'No time to waste, let's see if my powers will work,' He snapped himself back to reality before gripping the hilt of the sword with two hands this time. He began creating a picture in the air, drawing what seemed like the symbol of a four-pointed star, the area around him began brightening with the light particles.
"Luminous laser!" He exclaimed, a small beam of light escaped from the tip of his weapon, countering the molecular attack before he flipped to the side to avoid the second bullet. Once he managed to land, his sword was now glowing a bright colour of yellow. As if adrenaline rushed to his veins, he sliced all of the bullets at a surprisingly quick pace to the point Solar himself was surprised. 'This ability... The artefact is still pure!' He internally exclaimed while Gopal stopped shooting, utterly impressed.
"Hey what was that dude, that was so cool!" Gopal soon ran back to Solar, sparkles appearing around him. Solar just stared at his sword for a second, unable to comprehend what had happened that very last minute. "This leads us to one thing. The artefact is still unaffected by the dark magic, but I've got to say, your shooting skills have gotten better," Solar turned to his best friend, admitting his observations earlier with no hesitation.
"Hehe, thanks! My leader taught us well," Gopal grinned proudly. "There's one question I want to raise, even though I'm surprised by how this was working well," The light element added, watching the glow of the sword fade away.
"How is the light sceptre still pure if it resides in the same place my brother does, correct?" A familiar voice joined them, earning the duo's attention.
They turned to the owner of the voice, and from there, they were dawned upon the new appearance of the female Glamouran. She had a black long-sleeved uniform dress that reached down right above her knees with white ruffles at the end, a brown belt wrapped around her waist while a portion was hanging, hooked to the main belt. Her uniform was adorned by yellow accents with yellow buttons above her chest running down to her abdomen. The counter-department symbol was printed on her shoulder. Below, she was wearing black knee socks and black mary janes.
It was her counter-department uniform she recently just got today. These days she was looking more like a female which Gopal was starting to get used to, this is the 3rd time they saw her wear a dress. But for some reason, every time she wears one, she is either required to, had no choice or it's just because of a mission. "Hey, Y/n, " Gopal began, turning to the female Glamouran. "The question is... Spot on..." Solar silently commented about the question she raised, trying to take in her appearance.
"You look neat, that's your uniform huh?" Gopal complimented her, he found that the style suited her proper appearance. "It is a modernized military uniform from Aero, it is quite comfortable to wear than the Lluminarian ones." She smoothed out her dress before approaching the two. "What do you think?" She questioned, eyeing Solar who slightly gaped.
"It's good." Solar immediately snapped himself back to reality, shaking his head lightly while scolding himself internally. "I saw what happened. It was very impressive, Boboiboy," She complimented him with a small smile playing on her lips. "Yeah, uh thanks, I had an interesting hypothesis which turned out to be true," Solar fixed his throat and composed himself before turning back to her with a serious expression. "Hypothesis?" Y/n blinked, never had she heard of a word before.
"In science, it is an idea which is suggested as a possible explanation to a particular situation or condition which isn't proven yet. It can be a starting point for conducting a scientific investigation," Solar looked up to the curious Glamouran elf. "You are intelligent, you know a lot," Y/n complimented him again which was the reason he couldn't help but feel flustered, he was trying to keep that down for a while since she arrived.
"O-of course! I study a lot and enjoy Science." Solar tried to keep his blush down, he still wasn't used to being complimented by her since she usually just argues with him. "Dude you're blushing," Gopal pointed that out unfortunately which irked the light element. "I know that." Solar looked away from Y/n who just stared at him in bewilderment, concerned about his sudden change of behaviour.
"A-anyway, your question is spot on. I wonder how the light sceptre is still okay despite being in the same environment as Lunos, this means he hasn't made direct contact with it." Solar fixed his throat once again. "Is he getting ready for something then? He can just infect the sceptre whenever he wants to, it's the closest to him!" Gopal exclaimed, resting his gun on his shoulder while his eyebrows furrowed. "That is correct, he is waiting for something. Which I do not know what, I lived in the Llumina castle all of my life and I was never allowed to see the sceptre," She placed a hand on her chest.
"Mother and Father never spoke to me about the sceptre, I have no information I can give you about it. My deepest apologies," Y/n frowned at them. "No, it's fine. We can unveil more of this soon, especially when we arrive in Llumina. Something tells me, there is more of this that we have to talk about. I want to know what King Lunos is planning," Solar ruffled his hair, turning back to Y/n but without making eye contact.
"Well at least you finally activated your sword," Gopal pointed out, bringing the attention back to the magical weapon. "Yes indeed, you have been trying to work on that since yesterday. Well done, Boboiboy Solar, I know you could do it," Y/n smiled down at the light element who grumbled again out of embarrassment. A compliment three times a in a row from the Glamouran elf is a record. "It's nothing, now I know how I get this thing to its full potential. I can make use of it just like as the leader had said," Solar added.
"Hey, you didn't tell me who is your leader?" Gopal raised an eyebrow, Boboiboy never told him who it was. "Well interesting story, we would have never guessed," Y/n raised a finger.
Sounds of clicking shoes suddenly entered the picture, a new presence joining them. "You have done a great job, young man. Your training was worth it, is it not?" Gopal flinched at the voice that he recognised before turning reluctantly to its source along with the others. "Gopal, meet the Counter team leader," Y/n began to introduce the woman.
"M-Mayumi!?
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Fanarts Section
Mini Comic by moqchee
from Chapter XXXV
(I witnessed her pain making this)
According to her, she almost jumped off the roof because of this. Good thing I pointed out the mistake.
Disclaimer: The illustrations above aren't mine. They belong to their original artists.