CHAPTER XV
Kaizo and Alisa were sitting together, gazing at the night sky adorned with beautiful stars. That night looked clear and pleasant, even though everyone knew that tomorrow would be the most historic day for humanity.
Alisa looked at Kaizo while laughing; then, as Kaizo noticed her, before he could react, Alisa jumped and sat on Kaizo's lap, wrapping her legs around him and eliminating all distance. Kaizo was shocked to feel Alisa's thighs resting on his lap, while they were now face-to-face with both of Alisa's hands holding his shoulders.
"How does it feel...?" Alisa said.
"You only dare to do this because all the skin on your lower part has been burned; you won't be able to feel any sensation, right?" Kaizo replied with a mocking smile.
Alisa pouted and said, "What I'm asking is about you, not me!"
"Haha, I know.... Hey, may I ask, what is the point of this circular pattern?" Kaizo pointed to a pattern facing each other on Alisa's inner thigh.
"Ooh, that's a touch sensor; it's useless now, it's broken," Alisa answered.
With full awareness, Kaizo directly touched the inside of that circular pattern, and received an unexpected reaction that shocked him. That part twitched and contracted; Alisa's body leaned back and she accidentally let out a gasp. Kaizo, in a panic, immediately moved his body back intending to escape, but because Alisa was on top of him, he couldn't go anywhere. Alisa, finally regaining her senses, immediately covered her mouth in panic. Slowly, Alisa climbed down and sat leaning the right part of her body against a rock, turning her back to Kaizo. Her knees touched her forehead while her hands hugged her own legs. It turned out Alisa was wrong; the sensor was not broken, but only its sensitivity had decreased. The direct touch from Kaizo's index finger had activated the meta-human mechanism designed to act as humanly as possible. Through the touch, the electrical current inside immediately sent a signal to her brain and provided stimulation that she was experiencing something satisfying.
"I.... didn't know you could be like that..... S.. Sorry, okay.." Kaizo said.
"Same here, I also didn't know it would be like that... I also apologize," Alisa said.
Trying to mend the atmosphere, Kaizo then slowly crawled to approach Alisa. While Alisa was brooding because she felt embarrassed, she suddenly felt warmth from behind her. Kaizo's two hands were wrapped around her neck. Alisa felt warm breath from behind her ear before finally she felt Kaizo's chin on her left shoulder.
"Hey, do you know, maybe I will stay here longer; it won't be forever, but at least I can leave more memories for all of you after this war ends." Kaizo's words immediately shocked Alisa. She felt that now Kaizo truly wanted to spend time for her, setting aside others; Alisa knew that Kaizo wanted to be closer to her. Kaizo thought Alisa would surely jump for joy hearing that, considering what he had known so far, but this time it was different; she only smiled, yet occasionally her back lifted very quickly and hit Kaizo's chest. She was sobbing, but could not produce tears.
Realizing that this once again showed Kaizo, who was a hero to all humans, that for the third time he had become the villain in a relationship. Kaizo smiled and released his embrace. Slowly, Kaizo pulled Alisa's shoulders until she lay on the ground facing the big rock on her right. Kaizo then lay sideways like Alisa behind her and facing her back. Kaizo again hugged Alisa from behind and stated that he always needed a pillow to rest.
Meanwhile, at the location of the soldiers' headquarters where hundreds of large tents were lined up. Kyle was walking around the place with Dianne. Actually, they went there to look for Kaizo and Alisa, because the two of them are the main strength of humanity right now. In the midst of his confusion, Kyle was instead laughed at by Dianne. "Kyle, it's like you don't know; Kaizo and Alisa are similar to us, they have feelings for each other; if they aren't here, it means they need private space. Forget it, let's not discuss the war on this most beautiful night," Dianne said.
Kyle finally gave in. Then he brought Dianne to the work tent, the place where the leaders set tactics. How shocked they were to see a familiar person there. Rahman Oziv, the chief justice of Olympus, was sitting while watching a drama of a CEO marrying a poor girl from a village.
"Rahman!? You... are still alive!?" Kyle asked in surprise.
"Finally you noticed too... even though since you gave the speech in Olympus, I was always near you all! I thought you hated me for failing to save you from those nonsense accusations," Rahman answered in a tired tone.
"Lahh, sorry! It's not like that, I just had too many thoughts to be able to pay attention to the people around me. Because Mariabelle said I had lost my reputation, so in my opinion Markus had eliminated the people who helped me," Kyle tried to explain in a panic.
"Hahaha! Look at your panic, take it easy, I am not the type of person who easily blows up problems, just relax," Rahman replied without diverting his eyes from his show.
"Mr. Justice, thank you for that time; we were very much helped," Dianne said.
"Don't bother, I didn't help much; my task is to provide justice even if it means the right one must be hurt," Rahman answered.
The three of them laughed because of remembering those times. Because of seeing Rahman who was truly serious watching, Kyle and Dianne became very interested and joined in watching until finally after more than half an hour, the serial ended at episode twenty.
"So, how far along is your relationship?" Rahman asked.
Hearing that, both Kyle and Dianne, both of them could not answer; what happened instead was they smiled to themselves while throwing glances at the ceiling which was clearly just plain white tent cloth. Realizing that, Rahman finally got up from the sofa and stretched his body, stating that he was already sleepy. Making an excuse that a soldier should not be exhausted before the war, Rahman walked out toward his tent to rest, leaving Kyle and Dianne in that small tent alone without supervision.
"Dianne, it seems I have a hunch that everyone is starting to normalize all our breakthroughs even though it has broken the rules," Kyle asked with sweat pouring down his face.
"Should we be as they imagine? Oh~ why did I ask something like that?" Dianne rested her chin on her hands.
Occasionally Kyle turned to his side only to see Dianne also turning toward him. Realizing it was endless, Kyle and Dianne simultaneously exhaled and took off their scarves. But because of that togetherness, they instead became shy again and went back to acting strangely.
"Better, not in a hurry.." Kyle said while leaning his body back to the sofa.
"Yes, we must be more patient," Dianne said while leaning her body to Kyle.
Kyle took a long breath and released it with his mouth before finally he said, "In here... it's hot, isn't it..."
The night grew late, everyone rested.
That morning Mariabelle led all the Olympus crew members to start turning on the weapon systems. Slowly they began to lower the altitude of Olympus so they could aim more accurately. Because it was truly very early, some people who were still half-conscious started working without preparation. One of the girls who tried to make coffee for her grandfather almost got hit by a large box that stored their sugar supplies. An iron box that would not break, which meant it would be very dangerous if it hit someone. Fortunately, Mariabelle was quick to save the girl so she finally woke up and lost her sleepiness. To avoid risk, Mariabelle took a glass of cold water and started going around splashing the water on everyone so that no one would endanger themselves like before. Mariabelle was appointed by Kyle to lead the troops who did not join the fight directly on earth. With her were the chosen youth, the elderly, and some scientists who did not descend because they were too old or were pregnant.
Meanwhile on earth, the largest army that has ever existed in the history of humanity, where around nearly reaching 1.7 million people walked in the same force. Thousands of tanks, hundreds of fighter jets, and hundreds of military helicopters equipped with plasma-powered laser weapons moved together. In a condition this noisy, they should have been attacked by the Symbiotes, but this time the Symbiotes were gathering in the middle of Washington to merge.
At the back row, several people carried flags that symbolized the things they remembered from their world before everything happened. The symbol of the wings of freedom, a skull with a straw hat, national flags, superhero logos, special forces symbols until finally several people lifted the highest flag that fluttered dazzlingly. A red flag containing the symbol of hope, the letter "s" which was white in the middle of that red cloth. In the front row, Kaizo walked full of confidence with his big sword mounted on his back while his blue mantle fluttered because of being blown by the wind. Alisa walked next to Kaizo with her red cloth mounted on her right shoulder like the cloak of a medieval swordsman, while at her waist was a plasma sword handle that could release its blade when activated. Dianne walked while holding both her pistols with a bazooka on her back. Kyle held an assault laser rifle with a costume design made in black with blue light while on his back was a jet-powered thruster to perform maneuvers in the air like when he fought Cthulhu before. The four of them led this large army which made them break the record as the leaders of the army with the largest number of troops of all time in a battle. In the middle of the army, Fasilis enjoyed a cigarette that he had long missed because in Olympus there was a strict prohibition on smoking for anyone. Smoke again puffed from his mouth. Rahman walked with his weapon together with the group of scientists. If seen from close up, not one of them showed fear; all were smiling full of pride and confidence because now all humans from various backgrounds, races, and ethnicities were united—mujahidin, Christ warriors, God's warriors, the dharma protector caste, Bodhisattvas, sky generals, the Sikh holy knight order, world reform warriors, Einherjar, and others united to protect humanity without leaving anyone behind. Their determination was the same, "as long as hope stays alive, then for that long too humanity will live."
The group stopped in front of the most horrifying sight that has ever existed; the Symbiotes began to pile up and grow new limbs to start merging into one whole very large body. From Olympus, Mariabelle reported that now the diameter of that creature was already more than 5 kilometers long even though it looked like just its roots.
Razorbill, Secretary, and another one, namely Shoebill, stood on top of it, leading all the Symbiotes.
"Phoenix! You finally came, we need you!" said Razorbill.
"I am with humanity, so be quiet!" replied Alisa.
Kyle realized very well about how big their opponent was this time; the number of Symbiotes of various types was there; even though many had already merged, the Symbiotes that had not yet gotten a place would become a tough enemy, especially considering their number was estimated to be more than 5 billion. Kyle gazed around ensuring the situation, until finally he caught the fear seen in several the crawlers. Kyle looked around and found a capybara standing still brooding near the human army. One of the soldiers shouted because of seeing a group coming from behind the human army. From the clouds of dust, finally they came. The group of villagers led by Ali who now had more modern weapons had come. With them, hundreds, almost a thousand capybaras ran together in rhythm. A funny sight for humans but terrifying for Symbiotes until it made Alisa feel a little amused. Capybaras the size of wild boars, ridden by capybaras the size of dogs, which were ridden by capybaras the size of small dogs which were also ridden by small capybaras the size of house cats; they were the four-stacked capybaras full of aura.
"Sorry everyone, Superman cannot attend, but you have a greater replacement," said Ali.
That sight truly triggered the emotions of the three alpha Symbiotes, making them finally start the war.
Razorbill released his wings and immediately flew charging. Secretary jumped very high while Shoebill walked down with a sharp and cold gaze. Along with that, the Symbiotes began to scream and move forward by running in a large noisy crowd. Breaking the peace at that very moment, Kyle initiated by shouting, "Offer up your souls!!!!!!!" which echoed through the entire army while flying himself with his jet thrusters.
Armageddon started.
The war looked from above like a battle between a colony of ants against a colony of termites; both met and swung attacks to destroy each other. Blood and flesh flew, spreading the smell of blood mixed with rusted iron and charred meat. Laser beams flew accompanied by explosions. Tanks fired plasma balls that could obliterate the Symbiotes in one attack; likewise with helicopters that continued to fire at sky pierchers in the air while fighter jets maneuvered gallantly in the sky like steel birds eyeing their prey. The inhumane ratio of numbers had added to the chaos. Shoebill, who apparently has necromancy abilities, could resurrect the Symbiotes that had fallen as long as their bodies were not scattered out of shape. Causing humanity to face difficulty. But it did not mean absolute victory for the Symbiotes, because the presence of capybaras in their midst immediately destroyed the formation and made it easier for humans to finish them off. In the sky, Kaizo fought with Razorbill while Alisa (Phoenix) with her wings and her heat control ability faced Secretary who could fly wind and soil with just one kick.
The ship Olympus continuously fired a barrage of shots toward the combined formation of Symbiotes that were merging. With his skill, Kyle spun in the air and shot at many Symbiotes with his rifle that would not run out because it was solar-powered. Kyle glided and broke through while continuing to shoot until messing up the enemy's rear line. Responding to that, Shoebill raised his hand and began to move the remains of the Symbiotes that had fallen. With a very large number, he succeeded in creating a horrifying giant creature with a shape like an elephant with very long and large tusks; Behemoth was its name. Behemoth screamed and began to mess up the human formation, making the war that was previously orderly now become chaotic and very brutal. The villagers who turned out to be given jet thruster equipment like Kyle finally started their action. They all flew like birds and started shooting at the Behemoth with their rifles. With that diversion, finally the tanks succeeded in shooting at the Behemoth until forcing it to retreat.
On the other side, Alisa whose strength was fire-based became very advantaged against the Secretary so that all her attacks actually became stronger. But it did not mean the Secretary gave up; she used speed to trick Alisa until she succeeded in kicking her until she was thrown back. Fortunately, before she succeeded in giving a fatal attack, Dianne fired a bazooka that succeeded in destroying the left part of her body until the Secretary fell and hit the ground very hard. Alisa came and was about to behead her, unfortunately the Secretary who was immediately aware of the danger soon jumped away to heal herself. Regrettably, Alisa and Dianne couldn't chase because they started to be surrounded by the Symbiotes.
Kaizo on the other side was taken flying away by Razorbill from the battle so as not to disturb Shoebill. Kaizo jumped and danced following the rhythm in his head and gave a direct challenge, "c'mon let's rock!" with the battle between these two cool men, the war became more lively. From a distance they looked like they were dancing while continuing to attack; blue slashes clashing with freezing shots until both looked to be enjoying their fight. Blood heated up and souls struggled; Kaizo immediately charged with his sword to give an attack, but it was successfully avoided by Razorbill; likewise every attack from Razorbill whether ice breath, ice sword slashes, until a barrage of ice bullet shots were all miraculously parried by Kaizo. Kaizo realized that he could not continue playing around and immediately released his actual combat skills. Kaizo slammed his sword into the ground until it was stuck and caused a great vibration until the ground lifted and sent Razorbill flying, who immediately could open his wings so as not to fall, but Kaizo disappeared because of moving very fast. Each of his steps truly could not be detected because he jumped very fast while stepping on the space itself. Kaizo felt it, everything weakened around him because this was his power that was like a demon. Kaizo caught Razorbill's leg and slammed him to the ground. Before having time to realize what happened, Razorbill was immediately made to spin vertically because Kaizo also spun around while holding his leg. Rocks flew when Kaizo again slammed Razorbill to the ground and hit him with a giant iron hammer that he created until making Razorbill stuck to the ground with his head as his root. Kaizo took his sword and slashed Razorbill's body from above vertically and made him split into two. Kaizo flew back with acceleration to help the battle.
Kyle again maneuvered low and increased the combustion of his jet engine until making all the Symbiotes he passed through suffer severe burns and could be defeated easily by other human soldiers. Even though blood splashed and flesh broke as Kyle continued to shoot around him, he was undaunted and kept going until facing directly with the Behemoth that had just recovered. Kyle hard-hit that pile of meat and pushed it with full strength. Kyle moved the Behemoth away from the battle until finally he flew to the bottom part of the Behemoth and started lifting it flying very high to the sky. Realizing that, Mariabelle ordered a destructive shot toward the Behemoth. All Olympus weapons were aimed toward the Behemoth until the energy was fully charged. A powerful shot was released again and destroyed the Behemoth until nothing was left. Fortunately, Kyle was saved by Kaizo who happened to have just arrived. Both of them returned to the battle arena.
Meanwhile Dianne who felt it would make it difficult for Alisa if she was near her immediately asked Alisa to leave. Because there was no way to refuse and also in a hurry, Alisa flew and lifted Dianne before finally dropping her and flying back to chase the Secretary. Dianne who free-fell immediately fired the bazooka again right below her where it was seen the Symbiotes were climbing each other to chase her. A huge explosion occurred and Dianne landed safely before finally she moved forward again and fired both her pistols in all directions to destroy the Symbiotes that were endless.
Realizing this would be long, Kaizo joined in chasing the Secretary while Kyle immediately hunted Shoebill. It didn't take long, Kyle met Shoebill and started chasing him by flying fast while avoiding giant meat and bone slashes which turned out could also be controlled by Shoebill. Kyle spun to the right because a giant bone flew toward him which at that time missed; the bone immediately exploded because it was shot by a tank. Kyle avoided the wave of Symbiotes thrown by Shoebill until shooting every meat bullet fired by Shoebill and at the most perfect point, he succeeded in aiming and firing his weapon right to Shoebill's head until it shattered into pieces. Not only Kyle, Alisa and Kaizo succeeded in finding the Secretary who tried to run but was immediately caught by Kaizo who then threw her toward Alisa until finally she was beheaded.
Even though the three alphas were defeated, the Symbiotes were not yet defeated. Their number was truly endless and humans were impossible to retreat to give room for Olympus so it could attack because the movement speed of the Symbiote was hundreds of times the human speed.
All-out battle.
Somehow the Symbiotes developed a new ability; they could regenerate in a relatively very short time. Defeating them became increasingly impossible considering now humanity must be able to finish them in one attack which only tanks and bazookas could do. Both Kyle, Dianne, Alisa, and Kaizo as well as all the human warriors who were still alive started to be exhausted. Several times Kaizo felt sick of it and wanted to release a supernova but it was impossible because it could destroy the earth easily along with all its contents. Kyle had also run out of energy while Alisa had started to have difficulty flying because of exhaustion. The battle continued until night time where humanity was truly at a disadvantage because their weapons could run out of power. For that, Kaizo retreated and received a large amount of energy shots on Olympus so that he could create an artificial sun to cover the lack of humanity's power on the weapons of humanity, making him unable to join the fight. The number of humans remaining was not much anymore, truly only thousands of people left including Fasilis who lost his right leg, Rahman who was already panting, and Ali along with the villagers who were no longer able to fly because of catching a cold and starting to feel nauseous. Dianne, seeing Kyle still standing with a body full of wounds, started to feel guilty; why was she too weak, why couldn't she do much for the people she loved.
Dianne stood up and started to release the virus barrier to get new power like Alisa, but Alisa who saw her immediately rushed to stop Dianne because she knew that her case was only lucky and not necessarily successful for Dianne. But she was too late; Alisa was thrown back when a very strong wind appeared from Dianne's body. That wind was so powerful that it split the Symbiotes around it along with the people who were near Dianne.
Dianne started to lose control and made the battle stop. A big hand appeared and caught Dianne. Kyle tried to chase but he stumbled and fell, only able to see Dianne starting to be devoured by that giant root. The Symbiotes stopped attacking and immediately merged again faster. It didn't take long, along with a voice like a horrifying verse heard, the creature rose.
O silentium mundi…
(O silence of the world…)
Audi… audit venire.
(Hear… it is heard coming.)
Ex abyssis surgit nomen non scriptum,
(From the abyss rises a name not written,)
Umbra sine lumine, rex sine vultu.
(Shadow without light, king without face.)
Terra tremit sub vestigiis eius,
(The earth trembles under its footsteps,)
Tempus ipse genua flectit et tacet.
(Time itself bends its knees and is silent.)
Sanguis caelum pulsat ut pluvia ferri,
(Blood pulses the sky like iron rain,)
Stellae cadunt quasi oculi mortui.
(Stars fall like dead eyes.)
Ubi eras, homo, cum veritas vocavit?
(Where were you, man, when truth called?)
Ubi eras, cum animam tuam vendidisti?
(Where were you, when you sold your soul?)
Venit Destructor.
(The Destroyer comes.)
Finis est donum.
(The end is a gift.)
Clamat mundus—sed nemo audit.
(The world screams—but no one hears.)
Venit Destructor.
(The Destroyer comes.)
Nullus effugit.
(No one escapes.)
In fine… tu solus te iudicas.
(In the end… you alone judge yourself.)
Templa vacant, deos nemo invenit,
(The temples are empty, no one finds gods,)
Preces putrescunt in ore fidelium.
(Prayers rot in the mouths of the faithful.)
Mater plorat, sed infans non respondet,
(The mother wails, but the infant does not respond,)
Spes strangulata sub pondere peccati.
(Hope strangled under the weight of sin.)
Memento, homo, quid es:
(Remember, man, what you are:)
Pulvis, mendacium, memoria brevis.
(Dust, lie, short memory.)
Quod dilexisti, ardebit.
(What you loved, will burn.)
Quod timuisti… veniet.
(What you feared… will come.)
Venit Destructor.
(The Destroyer comes.)
Caelum claudit oculos.
(The sky closes its eyes.)
Lux fit crimen, vita fit reus.
(Light becomes a crime, life becomes a defendant.)
Venit Destructor.
(The Destroyer comes.)
Non est salus.
(There is no salvation.)
Mors non punit—
(Death does not punish—)
Veritas punit.
(The truth punishes.)
The Destructor has risen.