"ANOTHER ONE?!" I barked.
"Iris get down!" A voice called out before I was tackled to the ground.
A gunshot rang out a split second later, hitting the trunk of the tree I had been hiding behind. I reared back ready to punch the person who tackled me only to see it was Alberto. Another loud gunshot rang out only this time it was accompanied by a rush of heat and the screams of several soldiers. I looked towards the screams and saw three soldiers getting devoured by flames.
Haws came running out of the brush a few seconds later, two manalock pistol in his hands. He was covered in sweat and dirt and panting heavily.
"Haws! Alberto!" I exclaimed. Alberto stood up and yanked me to my feet.
"Thank the gods we found you!" Alberto exclaimed.
"Not that it was that hard thanks to all those explosions." Haws grumbled.
"Fight now, complain later." I said.
"I can do both!" Haws whined.
"Oh-ho, boy can he!" Alberto grumbled.
Multiple loud wet thuds in the forest around us caught our attentions. It wasn't until the bisected body of a flying evo and a splicer fell only a few feet from us and splattered us in blood and gore did we realize what the sounds were. I looked up and saw Titania and Pendragon fighting together to kill the forces in the air, making it look effortless in the process.
"Who is that?" Alberto asked.
"Evo called Pendragon, there is another one called Tori Wukong running around somewhere." I answered. Haws frowned.
"Those two must have been those crystal whatever flashes we saw on the way here." Haws said. I arched a brow.
"He means crystal genesis flashes. We saw two more further east as we were running this way. Those two must be crystal fused beings like Titania." Alberto clarified.
"We sent Nate that way to get Bo and Indy." I said.
"Contact!" A voice screamed from behind us.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw a French solider casting an offensive spell sigil at least twenty yards away. A humanoid figure suddenly appeared seemingly from nowhere and punched the splicer in the head. A explosion rang out from the punch that sent the soldier's head and most of her upper body flying into a nearby tree in blazing chunks.
"Mújo!" Alberto exclaimed proudly.
"Numbers… great!" I said then focused my attention on the enemies that were slowly surrounding us.
The light of the moon, which I had been relying on to see, suddenly vanished. I looked up and saw Grimm-Guard's enormous form coiling and writhing in the air space above us. The deep red glow of his eyes as he looked down at the splicers and evos below him which were no bigger than ants to him were the only lights that made it down to us on the forest floor.
"You attack the star boss and his people and think you will make it out of here alive!" Grimm-Guard chittered angrily. The volume of his voice hurt even with how high he was in the sky.
"Oh they are so fucked…" Alberto said.
"Yep…" I agreed.
Seamus
'Good….little KC is back on ta King's Glaive with his ma and da. Indy's making his way there as well. Judging by the flames and explosions by ta docks I think somebody's making a right scene that there ways. Only one ta worry bout is Reagan…' I thought as I watched the battle going on in forest below.
I was on a mountain path that overlooked both the white willow forest and the a few small villages that surrounded the mountain. Colossus was seated right beside me and was watching the ongoing battle between Starlight's people and the forces trying to kill them. Now that Starlight's massive abomination was there to help along with those fusions, any fears I had were quickly laid to rest.
"Old man are we going to help?" Colossus asked. I shook my head theb turned and started walking down the mountain path.
"No, I cant afford for me secret to be discovered…at least not before I can tell starlight first." I replied. Colossus trotted behind me and huffed.
"But this is a bad situation." Colossus whined.
"This is nothing compared to what Starlight is destined to face." I said softly, then glanced over at the battlefield once more. "If they want to fight by his side this will need to become but an annoyance."
Colossus didn't say anything to that and must followed me as I walked down the mountain. Once I reached the base of the mountain and found I was in another forest, not the white willow forest that the King's Glaive was parked in but a Japanese maple forest, I found traces of a large group of people having crossed the area recently.
"Soldiers…?" Colossus asked me then sniffed the closest tracks. He immediately shook his head. "…no, natives…"
"Aye, a village is nearby. They must have fled from the fighting…" I said. Colossus nodded in agreement as a soft breeze blowed past us, he then stiffened immediately.
"That smells familiar…" Colossus said then sniffed the air again.
"Mr. MacClery!" A familiar voice called out. I turned and looked towards the sound and saw the very soldier that I had been worried about running towards me wearing a strange looking Japanese robe. Behind him was a woman and a child dressed in similar garb.
"Reagan?" I muttered, my surprise evident on my face.
"Mr. MacClery!" Reagan exclaimed then skidded to a stop in front of me. The woman and child stopping a few feet behind him. "What are you doing outside here?"
"I should be asking ya ta same question laddie!" I exclaimed then pointed at his clothes. "I thought Starlight sent ya ta spy on the American's, not play dress up."
"Things got…complicated." Reagan replied then nervously rubbed the back of his neck. He turned halfway and motioned to the two who'd been following him. "Seamus MacClery this is Kaguya Taguchi and Kennedy Taguchi. Kaguya and Kennedy this is Seamus MacClery, Chase Kingston's grandfather."
Kennedy and Kaguya's eyes widened as they looked at me then they both immediately bowed respectfully.
"It's an honor!" Kaguya said as she rose.
"No need ta get all formal on me. I'm just a old man. Not royalty or anything." I said dismissively.
"You are the elder of a Star farm crystal bearer, that alone demands respect." Kaguya said.
'If only she knew me Nan was the last Star farm crystal bearer…' I thought, slightly amused.
"Either way, we need to get to safety." I said changing the topic. On hearing this Kaguya's expression turned serious.
"Yes, but there won't be anywhere for the Star farm crystal bearers enemies to hide. Tsushima is waking." She said. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Waking…you don't mean this island is tied to my Starlight do you?" I asked. She nodded and looked up at the mountain.
"Since the first Shogun bound it to the country." Kaguya replied.
"The first Shogun…ah that bearer from a few thousand years ago. He was from Sullivardic village I think. I remember me grandda complaining about a former bearer that abandoned his duties and fled ta Japan a couple thousand years ago." I said. Kaguya frowned at that as did Kennedy.
"Wait, Sullivardic village is one of the legendary villages, isn't it mom?" Kennedy asked, looking up at her. She nodded and her gaze sharpened on me.
"How…?" She started only to get interrupted by a earth rattling shake that caused everyone to fall, trees to shake and topple over, and the ground to split. The rumbling subsided after a few seconds.
"What the fuck?!" Reagan exclaimed. As he jumped to his feet.
"Tsushima is waking!" Kaguya gasped.
I felt a deep and resounding pit of fear bore into my heart. I had only felt that fear once before in my entire life, on the worst day of my life two years ago. I gripped my chest as I stood then turned to look towards the direction of the Sadamas center.
"No, Starlight is raging…" I breathed.
A pillar of rainbow light stretched towards the heavens originating where the Sadamas center would be. That light seemed cold, blood thirsty, and radiating malice unlike anything I had felt before. The moon, which had been blocked out by Starlight's abomination, seemed to grow larger thanks to the light. Until the moon looked like it more than double in size. The rainbow light bouncing off the moon and raining down on the island.
It was then that I heard it, Starlight's voice on the wind. It started out as a whisper, barely loud enough to be heard. It was definitely his voice but it sounded …broken, mournful. He was singing a song I hadn't heard him sing since his Grandma was still alive.
"Black crescent Moon so high…" His voice whispered.
"I hear a voice." Kennedy said softly, holding a hand to his ear.
"It's Chase's…I think…" Reagan said.
"It is." I confirmed grimly and eyed the rainbow pillar streathing towards the moon. It's pale yet encapsulating light dragging memories that prefered remain buried. 'What happened Starlight?'