Within a minute, Iris and Memphis had used up nearly all of lifeforce. They lay in the rain, panting, their armor broken and cracked. Iris had tried to keep the destruction to a minimum but if she held back Memphis would've kill her.
Iris could hear the battle to get the civilians to safety and protect the barrier still raging on some ways away as she lay on a chrome rooftop. The rain soothed her skin. She could also hear sounds of Kaden pounding against her Prison. It wouldn't be long before he would break free. It broke her heart to hear those screeches of rage and hatred.
"Dammit!" Memphis spat blood from a pile of rubble. "Damn you, Iris! Keeping such power for yourself!"
Iris said nothing. She'd never kill Kaden even if it meant her life. Her love for the boy was like a mother's to her child. She promised her best friends she'd to look after him.
Suddenly a black and grey blur flew across Iris's vision and crashed into the side of a taller building.
"Master!" Said a familiar voice.
Iris sighed in relief.
Aya warped next to her, blue rings around her ankles, arms, and crown visible as well as an arsenal made of Stardust.
"Master!" Aya repeated as she knelt down beside her, concern deep in her face. Iris noticed the fresh wounds on her face and arms. She must've been fighting powerful foe for her to be in Stardust mode and be accompanied by such injuries. Through the rain, Iris noticed her eyes were puffy and red and Iris guessed it was about to cry at seeing her in such a state.
"Memphis..." Iris said and pointed weakly.
Aya's head followed and hatred twisted her beautiful features upon laying eyes on her father.
"Monster!" The younger woman yelled in rage.
She moved, but Iris grabbed her ankle.
"You are not ready, my dear," Iris said evenly. It hurt just to breath let alone talk.
"Master!" Aya exclaimed. "That man killed my mother! He hunts you and Kaden like game! This is our chance to be rid of him! Even in the premature stage, my Stardust is more than enough to finish him off in his weakened state!"
Iris coughed up a bit of blood before shaking her head. "My dear Aya. If you kill him with that hatred in her heart, you will surely enter the Fallen Place. What do you think will happen to Kaden if you weren't around?"
Aya gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. The traitor she was forced to call father, was right there. One bullet from her Stardust. That's all it would take, but she knew her master was right. The hatred for that man raged in her heart like a tsunami.
"What's wrong, princess?" Memphis called over. He paused, coughing up blood before continuing with a smirk. "Don't have it in you to kill daddy dearest?"
"Fuck you!" Aya screamed. She snatched her ankle away from Iris who shouted for her to keep a level head.
Aya snapped back to reality once she heard the familiar mix between a cry and a roar. It chilled her bones every time she heard it.
"Kaden?" She remembered. "Master where is he?!" She asked frantically.
"Below," Iris answered. "Hurry, before he breaks free."
Aya nodded, all thoughts of her father flying out the window. She leaped over the building, falling slowly as she scouted the area for her friend. She quickly found him not too far from a battle.
Mar-Gin held Kariah-Belle in his arms as Akio carried Mae Lu, while Lax-Rim carried Jet on his back. The Knights that defended them couldn't seem to create a safe passage. The group of injured Knights appeared to be pinned down for the moment.
Aya cursed under her breath. She couldn't help them now. She had to get to Kaden before he freed himself.
She warped next to the stardust spear, then her instincts kicked in...
Stardust formed right in front of her as a bolt of lightning smashed into it, shattering it completely. Aya cursed again. This young man was really giving her a hard time.
"Hey, hey, hey, Frozen Gun!" Yelled Rygilya Semteck. "If you aren't careful, I'll claim your head!"
Rygilya had been what Iris saw flying across the sky moments ago. He and Aya had been engaging in battle previously. He'd gotten formidable since last they fought. Not many could match her Stardust even though it wasn't completely developed.
The olive-skinned young man smirking at her. His red and golden eyes shone with dangerous mischief, though he looked just as beat up as Aya. One could see a midnight black gauntlet that looked like the night sky with clouds that resembled a storm and a single far away sun floated across his armor, indicating that he had entered the Fallen Place and escaped with his consciousness.
The young Darkness Tamer jumped down from the building then shock showed on his face. "Is that Kaden?" He asked, almost in disbelief once he saw the dragon-like being pounding against Iris's Stardust Prison. He was breaking free slowly but surely. Anger painted itself on his face. "Tch,
that power. How does trash like him acquire such mana time and time again?!"
"Get out of here, Rygilya," Aya warned. "I don't have time for you. If I don't do something fast, Kaden will-"
"Screw Kaden!" Rygilya argued as a spear of lightning formed in his hand. "You're going to die today, Frozen Gun!"
Aya stood ready.
"Boy!" Boomed Memphis, still laying on some rubble. "Forget Aya and kill the girl in Mar-Gin's arms! The brown haired one! Do it now, before she's inside that barrier!"
"Tch. Very well, master," Rygilya answered.
Lightning formed around his body before he zoomed into the air as a lightning bolt. Took human form once more ro search for his target but Aya was above him. She slammed her heel hard on his shoulder, sending him hurtling downwards.
Rygilya got up and shook off the grogginess.
No doubt she was stronger than him, even with his training from Memphis and the added boost one got from becoming a Darkness Tamer. However, her strength didn't trump his by much.
"How about this then Frozen Gun!" The black-haired young man yelled out as multiple spears of Lightning formed around him.
Oh no. Aya thought, instinctively knowing what Rygilya was planning.
She warped in front of professor Mar-Gin. The man was completely unaware that he was being targeted. The lightning spears took off, all aiming to skewer Mar-Gin and Kariah-Belle. Rygilya laughing manically as if the battle had been won.
"Don't underestimate me!" Aya said through gritted teeth. Blood ran down her nose.
The guns that floated behind her began to fire. All twelve of them unloaded a barrage of Stardust bullets that hit Rygilya's spears, canceling each other out.
It was only a few seconds before all of Rygilya's spears had been destroyed.
It was then that Aya heard Rygilya's laugh from behind her.
Danm! She tried to turn and stop him but the effects of the stardust caused her to double over in pain. She saw the young man as he went from lightning bolt to human, taking off the heads of two knights upon changing.
He was a few feet away from professor Mar-Gin who was focusing on leading his students to safety. They were hunkered down just a few yards away from the barrier of the safe center.
Aya couldn't warp. She had hit the limit. She wouldn't make it...
"No!!!" She yelled out as he struck, planning to pierce Mar-Gin with his arm to kill Kariah-Belle.
Blood splattered on the pavement street but it wasn't Mar-Gin who'd been pierced.
It was Jet instead.
Somehow the young man had noticed what was going on and pushed Mar-Gin away in the nick of time.
"You trash!" Rygilya spat. "Don't get in my way!?" He yelled as he shocked Jet with a powerful current.
"Damn you, Rygilya!" Aya screamed, running up behind him.
Lax-Rim noticed what had just transpired and attacked Rygilya in a fit of rage. Rygilya chuckled smugly as he pulled his bloody gauntlet out of Jet's torso.
He dodged Lax-Rim and kicking the redhead into Akio, who rushed over to help.
"About two hundred years too early, trash!" He mocked.
His arrogance left him off-guard to an enraged Mar-Gin. "What have you done child!" He bellows and created a large spike to which Rygilya dodged but was then met with a large iron fist that slammed into his side, sending him straight at Aya, who had grabbed her Stardust sniper from behind her. She readied herself to smack him with it but the young Darkness Tamer turned into a current of lightning and evaded her swing.
He'd zoomed across the sky, landing next to his master.
"Memphis," He began, is breathing heavy. "I don't have much lifeforce left. If things continue, we won't have a means of escape."
Aya landed on the rooftop next to her master, glaring at them as she tried to control her ragged breathing. Her head pounded and she once again clenched her teeth to keep her from crying due to the physical pain. She had reached her limit and every cell in her body felt as though they were on fire. She knew she needed to bluff this form a little longer.
"Very well, boy," Memphis said to him. He yelled over to Iris. "Until next time, Iris! I'll get that boy one of these days."
Aya cursed as Rygilya coated his master in Lightning, then he zoomed upwards and away from the capital. She wished she could have stopped them, but there was someone more important who needed her.
"Master, I shall return," she said before taking off in Kaden's direction.
She landed next to him. She'd made it just in time. Kaden was almost free. She had to calm his heart, and do it fast. Luckily, Memphis was no longer around to influence him.
Aya reverted to normal, her Stardust rings and guns burst into dust scattering to the wind. The white-haired young woman began to sing. She sang in words that would only be known by dragons and those rare few who could speak their language. One did not have to understand the words to realize the song was beautiful.
Suddenly, the enraged dragon stopped its pounding and roaring. Instead, it started to sway left and right as if it was getting tired.
Sleepy. Kaden thought inside the Fallen Place. So sleepy.
Normally, in the Fallen Place, Kaden could just barely hear the outside world, but whenever Aya sang to him, he could hear her words. She was singing him a lullaby.
Aya? Kaden thought. Trying to remember his best friend, his mind drifting off. That's her name. I'm sure of it.
Damn you! Darqus yelled in Kaden's mind. He too was starting to feel sleepy. Damn you Aya! Curse you and your mentor!
The young man closed his eyes and Aya's face appeared in his mind as he remembered his promise to her the first time she'd witnessed his transformation.
"Promise me you won't let it take you." A memory painted itself in the blackness of her sobbing. "Promise me Kaden!"
"I promise." He told her.
Everything went black.