CHAPTER XIV
A bright morning dawned on Olympus, a day when everyone truly felt a difference. A warming radiance enveloped the hearts of the people, adding cheer to the survivors and serving as a balm for those who were wounded. That morning, those involved in the previous war gathered to pay their respects to the victims—both those who had sided with Kyle and those who had previously stood with Markus. The influence of Kaizo's arrival had truly changed many things; people's outlooks became more positive, and everyone saw a wealth of hope for their future. Once again, Kaizo proved that a handsome face isn't everything; he gained many fans even though, from some perspectives, there was nothing particularly interesting about him. Forgive me for that, Kaizo.
Kyle led the funeral ceremony, which was conducted through a mass cremation, allowing the ashes to vanish into the starlight.
"My brothers and sisters, listen: the happiness felt by our friends, those who lost their lives for us—they are the true heroes," Kyle declared.
Kaizo listened from a distance while sitting on a garden bench. Slowly, Alisa approached him and, without saying a word, immediately hugged him. Amidst the remains of the slightly chaotic city, everyone sat encircling the collection of bodies lying stiff in the courtyard of the president's residence.
"If any of these people have wronged you, I offer my apologies; we do not have the ability to repay it, but you have the heart to forgive. As our friend Kaizo said, 'hatred and anger are a double-edged sword.' That is what we must hold onto during difficult times like these. And today, we will send these warriors to the sky, to unite with the stars," Kyle continued.
Mariabelle stood beside the bench where Kaizo and Alisa sat, sipping a glass of warm tea. She gazed around, seeing many people crying, yet there was no bitterness—only a sense of profound emotion that seemed to caress them from within. Kyle then asked Kaizo to perform his duty; with his power, he could incinerate all the remains and stop the combustion in the blink of an eye. Kaizo opened the glass roof above and held the oxygen in so it wouldn't escape the ship. Everyone watched in silence, including Kyle, who stood upon the presidential podium.
Kaizo circled the collection of lifeless bodies before finally stretching out his arms. Suddenly, a great fire blazed, consuming everything, removing the grief from the bodies abandoned by their souls. Sparks flew upward, climbing through the void until they vanished and merged with the starlight. It didn't take long for the intense heat to obliterate every trace of the corpses down to the bone. Everyone stood mesmerized, watching the dim lights fly away from them. This was a victory, both for those who had lost someone and those who hadn't. Let their loved ones go; at least they had served, and the darkness had vanished from all of Olympus.
The ceremony concluded as Kaizo returned the glass roof to its place.
Meanwhile, in the deepest part of Olympus, Fasilis walked toward the execution chamber. He slowly opened the door and found Markus tied to a post. Fasilis had volunteered to be the executioner. Although Kyle had initially forbidden it, not wanting his friend to suffer psychological trauma, Fasilis managed to convince him and gained Kaizo's approval—on the condition that Kaizo would handle it if Fasilis struggled. For Fasilis, as long as the root of evil was not destroyed, he would persist. Even as Markus mocked him, claiming Fasilis was just like him for having killed so many, Fasilis didn't care. He aimed his weapon and said, "Shut up, you fool."
And so ended the life of Markus Spielberg and the Spielcorp company. All his followers discarded that name and transformed into people far different from before; they all sought out religious figures to persuade them to provide guidance. It became a common sight to see groups of wealthy businessmen chasing after elderly men in religious attire.
The influence of Kyle, Dianne, Kaizo, and Alisa changed many things. The slums that were previously dens of thieves had transformed into entertainment districts with various stalls—ranging from art, culinary, and music, among many others. Fasilis, who had previously been perpetually gloomy, had returned to being cheerful and full of spirit after staying at the rehabilitation center. Indeed, all loss should simply be accepted; forget the sadness and keep remembering the beauty. Not only that, children who lost their parents in the incident began to find great spirit to make their parents proud, who were now resting in peace; most enlisted in security, while others joined community service programs to help the elderly and other displaced children. Many people began to enjoy life more than ever before. It was proof of the wheel of life that reveals "hard times create great generations."
However, this did not mean everything was over. Victory on Olympus did not mean they had nothing left to worry about, because time continued to move and the Earth was still under the threat of the apocalypse.
That night, in Kyle's former residence which had been empty since he was exiled to Earth, the four of them gathered. Everyone agreed to begin discussing what came next.
"Kaizo, I am grateful you came here. I don't know what our fate would have been without your presence," Kyle said.
"I wouldn't have thought to come here if you hadn't done what you did. I should apologize for arriving quite late; I only set up one surveillance drone that could only record events in the president's courtyard," Kaizo replied.
"Then how did you two get here?" Alisa asked.
"At that time, I had just returned from exploring the area around our vehicle. Suddenly Kaizo said, 'we have to be heroes!' and then he took me back to that basement to take the documents and the video," Dianne answered.
"Oh, I see... and then, how did you reach this place on time?" Alisa asked again.
"That... Kaizo told me to close my eyes and ears. Not knowing what else to do, Kaizo wrapped my head with this scarf until I couldn't see or hear anything. Then suddenly I felt myself being hugged and lifted very high and very fast; it only took us 2 seconds to infiltrate this ship," Dianne answered.
"So Kaizo can move that fast? Why have I never seen it?" Kyle asked curiously.
"Well, think about it logically: the shockwave could shatter windows, send rocks flying, and burst your eardrums. There's no way I would do that around you. Even then, I had to stay completely pressed against Dianne so she wouldn't get hurt," Kaizo answered irritably.
"I see. And Alisa, what about you? The Symbiote Queen? Hehe," Kyle asked with a bit of a tease.
"My name isn't Alisa, I am Phoenix the hero, hohoho~" Alisa laughed, boasting of her power.
"Whatever you say. We don't need to ponder why you were able to transform completely into a Symbiote without losing your mind; we must prioritize how we cancel the apocalypse that seems to be only days away," Kyle said.
"Really? After our big victory, the apocalypse is still going to happen?" Dianne asked.
"In fact, everything happening now is according to the end-times scenario," Mariabelle suddenly opened the door.
"You can get in?!?" Phoenix asked in a panic.
Mariabelle smiled and showed her special ID card. She truly could open any path throughout Olympus.
"What do you mean by 'according to the scenario'?" Kyle asked.
"Remember the strange story I told you before?" Mariabelle asked back.
"About the liar and the people entering heaven and hell? What about it?" Kyle asked.
"Before the trumpet sounds, there are other events. After several years of the fog event, people return to darkness. But one day the deceiver will be defeated, the truth will be revealed, and people will repent. Then the remaining humans will fight against the monsters, and everything ends; that is when the trumpet sounds and it's all over," Mariabelle explained.
"The fog is nuclear radiation. The evil from the fog is the Symbiotes. The deceiver's hell is Earth, the deceiver's heaven is Olympus—meaning the deceiver was Markus. His defeat and everyone repenting is what is happening now, which means the next thing is the war between us and the Symbiotes," Kaizo theorized, explaining everything.
They all agreed and confirmed the strange story was indeed true and not just a fairy tale. Finally, a decision was made. That night, the five of them would stay at the broadcasting department office to monitor the Earth's condition over the last few days.
Kyle stood up and the others followed, then they joined hands in the center and shouted, "One, two, three—if you're happy and you know it, let's do it!" Everyone departed for the broadcasting office.
On the way.
Dianne spoke to Kyle about the villagers surviving on Earth all this time.
"Captain, what about those in the village?"
"I actually plan to include them in this great war, but only if they are willing to join; I cannot force them," Kyle answered.
"Oh, I almost forgot—we promised to give them the latest weaponry, didn't we?" Dianne said.
"That's true; we seem to need their help in some matters," Kyle murmured.
"What benefit are they to us, exactly?" Mariabelle asked.
"They have a way of surviving in the hell of the world. If they help and fight alongside us, their presence can become a symbol of hope and proof that humanity still deserves to live in this world," Kyle answered.
Meanwhile, between Kaizo and Alisa—who, as usual, were never serious despite both being deeply caring people—they played all along the way as if they had their own world.
Finally, the five of them arrived at the broadcasting office, the place where all networks originated and a gathering spot for researchers observing Earth's conditions from a distance. Kaizo and Alisa prepared their beds with Dianne's help, while Kyle and Mariabelle, who understood the ship's technology best, began to turn on the screens displaying live footage of planet Earth. They detected everything happening there: weather, wind direction, daily average temperature, and the concentration of the radiate virus. Before Kaizo had been under the blankets for even five minutes, they were all suddenly shocked. The virus concentration around the Eastern part of the Earth began to drop drastically. This was not a good sign, because the virus was moving in a synchronized, one-way direction toward a goal. Kyle saw clearly on the display of the American continent—specifically Washington—that the color which was initially red (indicating dangerous status) began to intensify and slowly turned into reddish-purple, indicating extreme status.
"Destructor—it is he who appears if all Symbiotes unite," Kyle murmured.
Suddenly Alisa writhed in pain while clutching her head. Kaizo, who was beside her, immediately held her down so she wouldn't move recklessly and endanger herself. What Alisa felt was actually a very deep horror. In her mind, Alisa found herself in the middle of a dark lake with not a single ray of light shining upon it. The lake said to her, "Come, come, come," a phrase repeated over and over by something of unknown form. Half of Alisa's body inside the lake began to feel like it was being pulled down, until the climax when black hands emerged and grabbed every inch of her body, holding her so she couldn't escape. Kaizo, seeing Alisa becoming increasingly chaotic, decided to take the step that always succeeded in releasing someone whose mind was being taken. By laying Alisa down beneath him while Kaizo sat over her, he then cupped his palms and blew into them with warm breath, and began rubbing his palms together. Not a single person there understood Kaizo's actual purpose. Once he felt the tension, Kaizo raised his right hand that had just been rubbed hard, and in one swift swing, Kaizo landed the hardest, most devastating slap anyone had ever seen. It worked; Alisa snapped back to consciousness instantly, although she had to sacrifice one of her teeth.
"Kaizo, what on earth did you just do!?" Kyle asked, shouting slightly in panic and shock.
"That was an Ottoman-style slap; you didn't know?" Kaizo answered innocently.
Alisa woke up and saw Kaizo above her body; her face turned red and tears began to flow. Alisa sat up and hugged Kaizo right then and there, indicating she was truly terrified.
"What did you see just now?" Mariabelle asked.
"I'm scared, I'm scared, scared... it was so dark..." Alisa said.
"It seems like some kind of call for all Symbiotes to merge down there," Dianne said.
Everyone was shocked again when they saw one of their screens turn into static for a few seconds, after which it displayed something horrifying. A person stood on the screen, showing only half of his body. Judging from his location, he was near the site where all the Symbiotes were merging. The man stared at them with his head positioned symmetrically in the center, slightly bowed. His face was downcast but his eyes glared sharply at them. Half of his face, from the nose to below the chin, was replaced with a prosthetic like Alisa's, this time shaped like a beak. His hair was long and appeared straight, trailing back. The man said, "You humans, bow down to our power." After he finished speaking, the display returned to static before eventually returning to the view of Earth from Olympus.
"We seem to have to start moving!" Dianne said.
"Correct. You and Kaizo, take as many weapons as possible and ask the villagers to help us; persuade them as best you can," Kyle began to command.
"Why isn't Kaizo with me?" Alisa complained.
"Because Olympus needs us to lead. Kaizo is not a government figure; he is a hero, not suited to stay here. Besides, the goal is to let Kaizo and Dianne gain the support of the villagers while the three of us here begin preparing everyone to go to war," Kyle replied.
"I agree," Mariabelle answered.
"In that case, let's go! Dianne, we're off!" Kaizo said, walking out while Dianne followed.
"Kaizo, if we win, does that mean the world will be saved?" Kyle asked from a distance.
Kaizo stopped and, without turning around, he answered, "Let's hope so." Then he continued walking, leaving them all behind.
"If after the battle we see the sun rising in its place, then we are safe; if not, then we are doomed," Mariabelle said, again quoting the story.
Kyle nodded and focused back on the mission.
Kaizo and Dianne walked very fast through all the streets. Dianne guided the way here because Kaizo hadn't memorized the layout yet. The two arrived at the armory; Dianne pulled a capsule that enlarged from the size of a fist into a fairly large crate. Dianne and Kaizo immediately took many plasma rifles and put them into the crate. They would bring them to Earth.
Meanwhile, Alisa and Mariabelle headed straight to the military barracks to wake everyone. In one call, all the soldiers, numbering 500, lined up neatly in front of Alisa. Mariabelle then asked them all to spread a message to all citizens that they were all expected to be involved in the war and requested to gather in the president's courtyard the next day. They all agreed and began circling Olympus that very night.
Kaizo and Dianne departed as dawn broke. Dianne piloted a flying capsule while Kaizo was tasked with carrying the weaponry crate.
Meanwhile, at Mariabelle's command, the president's residence—which turned out to be dynamic—was able to dismantle itself and be stored within the ship's walls. This provided space for over a hundred million people. The rest watched from the apartment balconies. In front of them, Kyle stood giving a speech.
"My friends, we humanity are still not free; we are still colonized—colonized by disgusting monsters. My friends, we succeeded in freeing our world, this ship, from villains! But if we stay silent, then we will never land in our homeland. Are you all willing to be heroes!!!?"
"Ready! Willing!!!"
"Let's start the preparations!!!"
"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Everyone moved in rhythm with enthusiasm. They prepared as many weapons as possible and repaired all the flying capsules to begin the war. Alisa descended to Earth to repair the Babel Tower with Fasilis. Kyle and Mariabelle managed all activities on Olympus in preparing for the greatest war in human history.
Everyone worked. Thousands were sent down to Earth on the island of Papua to mine nickel and other important industrial materials. Children began to be taught to use laser rifles. The weapons industry moved so fast because not a single person was taking a profit from it. Businessmen forgot about money and stepped in to manage administration and all matters of distribution of mining results, while others allowed their energy to be drained without receiving a salary. Kaizo and Dianne returned with news that Ali and his people would consider their participation in the war, but they accepted the weapons as payment for Kyle's promise. Then Alisa and Fasilis succeeded in repairing the Babel Tower to later be used to transport all soldiers to the battlefield. Kyle and Alisa were then taken to the laboratory to develop a vaccine that had previously always failed because researchers could not study how Kyle's immunity could repel the radiate virus, of which a living sample had never been obtained. The robots previously damaged from fighting Kaizo were now being developed and multiplied. With Kaizo's help, Olympus technicians succeeded in modifying their ship into a combat weapon capable of bombardment and rapid fire from the sky. People who were not physically capable of fighting would be trained to operate the weapons mounted on the Olympus ship. The soldiers, with Dianne's help, began training civilians regardless of status so they could join the fight.
On December 10, the first radiate virus vaccine was successfully created; starting then, everyone began receiving vaccine injections and all successfully became immune to the virus. Not long after, the function of the Babel Tower was strengthened. Humanity succeeded in moving heavy equipment through teleportation. From there, military bases began to be established, and all weaponry began to be moved.
On December 20, the entire force consisting of soldiers, civilians, robots, and scientists had arrived on Earth. Meanwhile, youth, children, and the elderly were left on Olympus to operate its weapons.
Finally, December 25 arrived—the most emotional day for humanity. Everyone gathered together and worshipped according to their respective beliefs. Some heads kissed the ground, some hands were clenched, some people wept at a wailing wall, some burned incense, and others. Everyone prayed for the victory of humanity. Kaizo sat silently looking at the sky, while Alisa, who had just arrived, sat down beside him. Without saying a word, the two leaned against each other, allowing their exhaustion to be exchanged and providing a moment of peace.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Kyle and Dianne accidentally crossed paths. Kyle stretched out his arms, letting Dianne do whatever she wished. Dianne smiled shyly until her face truly looked like a fresh apple. Again, they embraced, illuminated by the moonlight.
That laughter wrapped in love warmed the cold night, showing the beauty of love between hurt souls to the rulers observing humans from the sky far above.
"You know what night this is, Kyle?" Dianne said.
"It's Christmas Eve; everyone knows that," Kyle replied.
"Wait a minute, why aren't you calling me captain? Do you want to be punished!?" Kyle realized it.
"Hehe, sure... Kyle~" Dianne said.
"Without realizing it, we've become this close. Who would have thought," Kyle turned his gaze to the moon and smiled.
"On New Year's Eve, take me to the pyramids of Giza, okay..." Dianne requested.
Kyle, touched by her words, began to cry. He knew this was the most difficult moment in his life. Dianne wiped Kyle's face, which was wet with tears, then said, "We will surely get through it, Kyle. Even until the end of time, I am always with you."
"Yes, even until the end of time," Kyle replied.