"…You managed to kill one of my evos and by doing that…YOU MADE ME MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, reverb attribute mana channeled into my vocal cords without me willing it too. Making my voice echo so loud it sent the soldiers and splicers nearest to me flying back several yards.
"Don't falter! He's alone now! We can kill him!" Logan yelled, trying to be heard over my echo.
I looked to the Ascended thrad still flailing on the ground. My farm crystal still glowing golden released a pulse of mana. The ascended's eyes glowed with the same golden light and it stilled immediately. I felt tens of thousands of minds press against my own through the ascended and breathed an order in response.
"Kill all Americans, English, Divine Chinese, French, and Scottish soldiers." I ordered, my voice hard and undeniable. The ascended immediately jumped up from the ground and swung its remaining fist at the nearest Americans, knocking several of them in the air then letting out a ear piercing roar.
The sounds of panic and slaughter filled the air as soldiers struggled to get some distance between them and the ascended while splicers tried their best to wrestle control from me. I stood in the center of everything, watching without a shred of mercy as the very people that had planned to kill me were getting killed by the very thing that Beaufort had been willing to kill me for to keep secret.
'Never again…Grandma Lulu, Fours…I will not let anyone take anyone else else from me!' I thought clenching my fists as I felt the rage take over my reason. And in that space between oblivion and insanity my mind drifted to a memory.
It was a old memory, feeling like a life-time ago. Grandma Lulu was sitting on the steps of the porch at her house with me sitting in her lap. We were looking up at the stars while a bright full moon shined hauntingly in the night sky. I was only four years old at this time and it was the first day that Logan had physically rejected me.
The moon looked so full and bright, much more so than it had in previous full moons. I was captivated, unable to take my eyes off it. Grandma Lulu chuckled at my captivation and grabbed my hands, pulling off the leather gloves I wore to hide my farm crystal.
"In my old village people believe that the moon has a deep connection to humans and splicers especially." She said taking the hand with my farm crystal and holding it up to the moonlight. It glowed with the same haunting light the moon unabashedly shined with.
"Even me…?" I asked softly.
"Even you, especially you. You're special Chase and not just because you're my grandson." Grandma Lulu said and hugged me tighter. "You're just like the moon."
"Just like…the moon?" I muttered then looked up at her. "How can I be just like the moon?"
"The moon doesn't create the light that shines down on us during the night. It reflects the light given off by the sun, softening it so we can enjoy the beauty of nature even in the darkest night." Grandma Lulu said. She turned my hand so my farm crystal overlapped with the moon which had gone black through the reflection. "You are just like the moon, reflecting the light and majesty of times gone by."
"What does that mean?" I grumbled, feeling more frustrated. Grandma lowered my hand and kissed me on the forehead.
"You'll understand one day. And when you do just remember…"
I was yanked from the memory with my lips already moving to speak. My mind felt at odds with itself, a raging inferno of rage in one corner and calm lagoon in another. Each extreme caused by the death of Fours as well the attacks that caused it and the peaceful memory of my grandmother respectfully. Her memory and forgotten words spurring me on as I let go and listened to my instincts.
"Black crescent Moon so high in this dark and lonely sky…" I started to sing in Torapos. Feeling a sharp tug on my connection to Hoshi I raised my right hand up and saw its scabbard fly from under a pile of corpses into my hand. "…This ocean of obsidian tangled in your light. So make a wish now upon this shoot star and wash us fly across the night, into heavens arms…"
I grabbed the hilt of Hoshi with my left hand and drew the blade. The moment the blade was freed from the scabbard it felt as if time stood still for a moment. Tendrils of golden light spilled from the hilt of the blade and flowed onto the battlefield, washing over soldier and splicer alike. Hoshi's blade was not shining the usual shifting rainbow colors and was now a solid golden color.
I raised Hoshi skyward and a golden sigil formed around the hilt of the blade and appeared on the ground below my feet. The sigil expanded until it encased the entire courtyard and a pillar of rainbow light appeared around me and surged skyward. It was at the moment that the golden tendrils did their job, sucking all the mana out of the splicers instantly and leaving them as nothing more than lifeless husks then collapsing on the ground. This didn't shock me or make me falter, instead I felt spurned onward to keep singing.
"…In this fairy tail without a single word, you'll somehow own the night, without a single word. The moon only a blur. A hidden masterpiece, displayed where none can see. Key shapes designed to show you are free…"
As I sang one of the Americans tried to be a hero and rush me with a army knife. I didn't order the ascended to kill it or use any mana channeling to kill him with fire or electricity. I simply dodged the wild swing of the soldier's knife, then as if my hands were guided by another I swung Hoshi and cut off the head of the soldier. All without missing a verse of the song I was singing.
"Retreat!" I heard Logan yell. I looked in his direction and saw he was already running out of the courtyard with several of the few remaining soldiers close behind.
"…Tomorrow you'll spread your wings and find how you belong. Your dreams will free the world someday, as the gods sing your song. Listen close, and you can hear as the silence draws near. Your purpose calls to you!" As I sang I started walking towards the white willow forest. Power zipped through my cells that only grew as I walked. "Black crescent Moon so high in this dark and lonely sky. This ocean of obsidian tangled in your light. So make a wish now upon this shooting star and watch us fly across the night, into heavens arms…"
Seamus
'What happened Starlight?' I thought as I looked at the waves of rainbow energy washing over the island.
"Is this normal for Chase?" Reagan asked as he looked at the quickly approaching rainbow waves.
"Not in the slightest laddy." I replied.
I looked down at Colossus then over at the rainbow wave. Based on what I knew about Star farm crystal bearers I knew Chase had to be experiencing and id overload. Those only happened when a bearer was experiencing an overwhelming emotional stress, like the death of a cherished one. What worried me was that id overloads sends all of a Star farm crystal bearers powers into overdrive, including their ability to drain other splicer's mana when angered. If it was raging out of control then Colossus and all of Chase's evos could end up having their mana drained, as well as me.
"This feels like when Chase saw your wife die but…worse." Reagan said.
I gritted my teeth at the comparison but agreed internally. While I hadn't been nearby when Lulu'Nala died I felt Chase go into id overload from the military base. That's just how strong the mana pulse was from him that day, and he's much stronger now that he was then.
"I feel like we should run…" Kennedy said, his eyes also locked onto the rainbow wave.
"No point in running. Those waves seem to be covering the whole island. There is no escape from it…" Kaguya said softly then pulled her son close. The wave was close now, there was no outrunning it.
"Chase wouldn't hurt us…would he…" Reagan asked, his whole body tensed in expectation of the wave.
"Starlight would never!" I said sounding sure of that fact.
The wave washed over everyone, bathing everything in a myriad of colors. Drastically changing the look and feeling of the island. At first I felt nothing, this was a brief moment. Then all at once I felt an immeasurable amount of mana slam into my body, overfilling the mana core behind my heart and making me fall to my knees in pain.
I wasn't the only one either, Colossus, Kaguya, and Kennedy all fell to their knees. Meanwhile Reagan was covering his ears and screaming.
"Too loud! TOO LOUD!" Reagan screamed as he fell on his back and started kicking the air.
"So…much…mana…" Kaguya gasped.
I laughed despite myself as that was an understatement. Even in Sullivardic village I had no doubt there was nowhere near as much mana flowing through the manacite domes as their was flowing through us right now. Surprisingly no one was going through mana overload, Kaguya and Kennedy's mana crystals were glowing golden now, if mine and Colossus mana cores were visible I'm sure they'd be glowing golden as well.
"CHASE STOP FUCKING SINGING!" Reagan yelled while he rolled on the ground. I gasped as I heard Reagan.
"Singing…! Of course!" I exclaimed then forced myself to stand and took a deep breath. "Black crescent Moon so high in this dark and lonely sky…"
As I sang the overwhelming waves of mana lessened, no longer crashing into my mana core and simply flowing through it. Colossus, Kennedy and Kaguya all seemed to relax as well. Reagan stopped flailing around on the ground and looked up at me.
"…an ocean of obsidian tangled in your light. So make a wish now upon this shooting star and watch us fly across the night into heavens arms!"
"The singing…is not loud anymore…" Reagan muttered, slowly lowering his hands.
"Black crescent moon…" Kaguya gasped.
"Isn't that the lullaby you sang to me when I was little?" Kennedy asked. Kaguya nodded and looked at the rainbow colors around us.
"Chase is singing it right now…" Reagan said.
'Because this is what that song was meant for…' I thought while I continued to sing. '…a hint towards your real purpose Starlight…and a rallying call for your allies…'