3
From the front, passengers ran to the back. Behind them was the conductor, pieces of his skin tore off, revealing him to be a Crystle. Beside him, several Gemis slaughtered some of the passengers, leaving a scene of carnage at their wake. Some of the bodies turned into Gemis and assisted their comrades in making more of their kind.
Immediately, Nicholas took Charlotte’s hand and rushed for the storage carriage. In there, the boy checked his bracer as he told Charlotte to stay put. Then, he returned into the passenger carriage. In there was pure carnage. Bodies were littered everywhere, staining the carriage with blood. However, there was no sign of neither the Crystle nor Gemis. Hidden blade extended, Nicholas walked across the carriage. As he reached the centre of the carriage, Gemis burst in all directions through the window. This caught him by surprise as he tried to parry one of the Gemi’s attack with his hidden blade but the blow broke it. Another Gemi attacked and Nicholas stabbed it with his sword but there wasn’t any time for him to withdraw it as the other Gemis attacked. This forced him to abandon it as he dodged the other Gemis.
He checked his bag. The only thing left in his arsenal was a smoke bomb. Having no choice, he threw it to the ground. As soon as it hit the ground, thick black smoke covered the entire carriage. As the Gemis tried to search for the boy, Nicholas dashed towards the storage carriage, pushing aside the Gemis in front of him. He quickly slammed the door and pushed several cargoes to the door, blocking it. “It’s official, we’re screwed,” he said. Nicholas took out his left bracer and put it into his bag. “With my only weapon broken and abandoned, we’re defenceless against them,” he continued as he took out a wristwatch from his bag and wore it. Although it resembled a wristwatch, it looked more like a bracer.
“What’s that?” asked Charlotte.
“Just a memento of my father. He spent many hours developing it. I’ve no idea what it does but he said it has countless potential to save humanity in any crisis. It used to compose of two pieces. One of them is this watch here. The other one is currently missing.”
“DETECTED.” Nicholas and Charlotte looked at the source of the voice, the watch he was wearing. The watch’s dial turned and shot put a beam of light at Nicholas’ bag. He took out the thing the beam was aiming at: the parcel he was supposed to deliver. Curious, he opened it, revealing it to be a box. Nicholas read the label. “KryGear. This is…” before he could continue his line, he opened the box, revealing its content to be a flip-phone. On one side was a symbol of a shield with three pair of wings. For a moment Nicholas was speechless. Then he spoke, “Charl, when I give the signal, clear the cargoes and open the door.”
“But that’s suicidal,” she replied.
“Don’t worry, I’ll give you one-hundr…no, one-hundred and ten percent guarantee that we’ll get through this,” said Nicholas with a smile, followed by a wink.
“Before that, answer my question. Who EXACTLY are you?”
“To be honest, I’ve been wondering that for a long time. For now, I’m just a wanderer, remember that.”
Smiling, Charlotte replied, “Fine, at least help me clear the cargoes. You did pushed it first to block the door.” As she finished her sentence, she gave a wink at Nicholas.
Meanwhile, the sound of a ‘ting’ was heard from the oven. The man put on his mitt and took out its content. Using many foreign materials as ingredients, the content was gold in colour. Music could be heard as he decorated it and sang along, “Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to…”
The Crystle and Gemis responded to the sound of a door opening from the storage carriage. From there stood Nicholas, the KryGear in hand. He flipped open it and dialled the code ‘000’ at its numpad before pressing ‘Enter’. “STANDING BY,” announced the phone. “System…Engage!” Nicholas said as he closed the KryGear and inserted it into the watch. Then, he raised his left arm to his left.
“COMPLETE,” announced the watch. A belt formed around Nicholas’ waist as crystal slowly formed around his body starting from his left wrist. Soon, He was covered entirely in crystal. The Gemis took this chance to attack him. “CYCLONE, READY,” announced the watch as the crystal formed into armour and with gust of wind circling his body, cast off from Nicholas in pieces. Some of the pieces hit some of the Gemis, shattering them into pieces. When the other Gemis revived, they found themselves no longer facing a mere boy but an armoured warrior in green.
The music stopped once again as the man finished decorating his cake. Unlike his previous creations, this one was gold in colour and seemed to be emitting an aura. Surrounded by candles was a symbol of a shield with three pair of wings. The man scorned as he announced what he had written on it.
“Kryst.” Soon, the music resumed as he continued singing. “Happy Birthday to you!”
Behind the door of the storage carriage, Charlotte witnessed Nicholas’ transformation. Holding her hands together, she prayed, “Great Spirit Aestheria, please give him the power to win this battle.”
“Now, let’s settle this,” he said as he took out a crystal from the pouch on his belt. With a symbol of a sword on it, he inserted it into the slot underneath the KryGear. “AIR SLICER, READY,” announced the KryGear as crystal form around his right wrist. Soon, Kryst was equipped with a bladed gauntlet.
“Not what I’ve in mind but it’ll have to do,” he said as he used it to block one of the Gemis’ attack. Kryst looked down at its chest and noticed that it still have his sword stuck on it. “Thank you for holding it for me,” he said as he took its handle with his left hand. Mustering his strength, he moved the sword upwards from chest to the top of its head, slicing the Gemi into half. The Gemi shattered but its thick skull broke the sword.
“Oh, bullocks,” he grumbled as he kicked another Gemi in the shin. As it dropped to its knee, he slashed across its chest with the Air Slicer. The Crystle looked on as its henchman shattered. It growled as it ordered the Gemis to attack.
“Come on, don’t be shy and form a line. There’s plenty of punches for everyone,” said Kryst as he flipped open the KryGear. On the numpad, he dialled the code ‘4528’ before pressing ‘Enter’. “HEAT, READY,” announced the gear as crystal form around Kryst’s armour once again. “COMPLETE.” With flames bursting out from within the armour, the crystal shattered, revealing the red armoured Kryst Heat Form. “HEAT TRIGGER, READY,” announced the KryGear as Kryst was equipped with a peculiar gun.
“Looks like a good time for target practice,” he said as he fired at the Gemis with shots of concentrated heat. This manage to repel the Gemis as they backed away but Kryst suffered from recoil as he slammed against the storage carriage door.
“Okay, ouch. What if I do this?” he asked. Removing the barrel from the Heat Trigger, Kryst pulled the trigger. Although the shots are not as concentrated as they shot from the gun’s default mode, the rate of fire increased and he no longer suffered from a recoil. “This should suffice.”
He continued firing until all the Gemis were backed down to the other end of the carriage. “Finale,” he said as he pressed ‘Enter’ on the KryGear. “EXCEED CHARGE: MAGMAM CONSUMES.” With the announcement from the KryGear, Kryst reinserted the barrel back into the Heat Trigger. As he aimed the group of Gemis, the Heat Trigger absorbed the heat from its surroundings. Soon, the heat from the entire carriage was absorbed into the gun, freezing it along with Gemis. Kryst could feel the sheer concentration of heat from the gun as he pulled the trigger. A giant ball of flame was shot, incinerating everything in sight, including the Gemis. The Gemis screeched as they were consumed by the fireball. When it was extinguished, the entire carriage was nothing but ashes.
Entering the code ‘2925663’ and then ‘Enter’, Kryst transformed back into the green Cyclone Form. He noticed that the Crystle was escaping through the window. Jumping through there, he climbed onto the roof.
“You lied to her, didn’t you?” Kryst turned to the source of the voice, another Crystle beside the escaped one. However, it was different than the other. It had more armour on its body and could talk in his true form.
“About what, Level 2?” he asked the talking creature as he readied himself for an attack.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Fated One. You told her that the Crystles’ host is killed after being taken over by his Inner Crystle.”
“She probably won’t accept that the host’s soul will be trapped inside his ruined Heart Maze even after being taken over by his Inner Crystle. What’s worse is that the host will suffer until his body, which turned into a Crystle’s, is destroyed. Destroy you and I’ll free his soul.”
“Such bold words from a half-breed but your effort will be fruitless. Like our King said, you’re the Fated One. No matter what you do, you’ll lead us to victory against humanity. We’ll create a new world, a world perfect for us. It’ll be as if we’re at the top of the food chain. As for the surviving humans, they’ll either agree to be turned into one of us or spend the rest of their putrid lives pleasuring us. If any one of those monkeys try to rebel, we’ll destroy them. With their inability to reproduce, the entire race will be wiped from the surface of our perfect world eternally.”
The Crystle was too focused in his talk to notice that Kryst rushed towards it. With boy and creature saw eye-to-eye, he gave it a punch at the face before retreating. The Crystle took a step back due to the hit.
“Fool! You’ve no idea what you’re doing right now. No matter what you do, you’re already aiding us in our conquest. In time, we’ll take control of this world and the humans will be nothing but zoo animals to us. They’ll have no choice but to submit to us, furfilling our deepest, darkest desire, starting with that blond girl who was with you.”
“Don’t involve Charl in this twisted scheme of yours. Plus there’s no WE in this. There’s only you and your kind. Even if I’m what you called ‘Fated One’, I’ll defeat you,” said Kryst as he charged towards the Crystle, Air Slicer equipped. He attacked but the Crystle dodged it. He attacked again but the result was the same. The creature kicked him in the stomach and he backed off a few steps. Reaching to his belt, Kryst picked out a crystal with a crescent shaped symbol on it. “ATTACK FUNCTION: CRESCENT” announced the KryGear as the Air Slicer’s blade was charged up with the element of wind.
Kryst swung his right arm to his side and the gauntlet blade produced a crescent-shaped energy blade which sliced through the Crystle’s body before returning to the Air Slicer. Then he slashed at the Crystle. The blow hit the creature as bluish blood flowed out from the healing wound. The boy then punched at its chest, each blow concentrated with the power of the wind. The attack was also so fast that the Crystle didn’t have time to react. Soon, the heart-light of the Crystle started to blink rapidly.
“Impossible, how I could possibly be defeated by a monkey, a half-breed no less?” asked the retreating Crystle.
“Why, you ask? It’s because I made a promise to destroy all Crystles and release their hosts’ souls. I’ll bring them salvation. Now, it’s time for the finale,” replied Kryst as he pressed ‘Enter’. “EXCEED CHARGE: CYCLONE KICK,” announced the KryGear.
Gusts of wind encircled the bracer on Nicholas’ right leg. When the chains on the bracer broke, it revealed a gold-coloured and bladed piece, the Hurricane Breaker. Then, a cyclone blew around his body, slowly lifting him up into the air. Luckily for him, Cyclone Form had a certain control over the element of air. As long as he locked on his target, he wouldn’t be affected by his own inertia and the train won’t sped past him as he slowly rose into the sky. When he thought the time was right, he extended his right leg as he dropped towards the Crystle, delivering it a kick exceedingly charged with the element of wind.
The kick struck the Crystle at the chest. Kryst then used his left leg to jump himself from it. As he had his back turned, there was an explosion. However, he felt something was not right. There was no sign of the Level 1 Crystle. He turned back to the Crystle who emerged from the flames from the explosion. Grasping at its throat, Kryst asked, “Where is that Level 1?”
“Doing what it is ordered to do: Killing everyone inside that train. As we speak, it is heading to the only place left uninspected, the storage carriage.” As it spoke, the Crystle laughed maniacally. Then, it shattered.
“May your soul found salvation. Requeiscat in pace,” Kryst said as he went back into the train.