Lyla didn't hesitate. She slammed the base of her metallic stick into the cracked earth, and with a sharp *clack*, it elongated and curved into a massive, jagged scythe. Her eyes, usually a calm hazel, turned a predatory red, her pupils sharpening into slits.
"You leave me no choice, Jane," Lyla hissed, her voice vibrating with demonic energy.
Jane had already begun her swing—a move so fast that Lyla's enhanced senses barely registered it. But before the blades could clash, a figure blurred into the space between them.
"JANE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Leo's voice tore through the tension like a physical blow.
The blue light in Jane's eyes flickered and died. The terrifying aura she had been radiating vanished instantly, leaving her looking small and fragile in the middle of the ruins. She dropped her sword, the metal clattering against the stone, and ran to Leo.
"Leo? What are you doing here?" she gasped, her hands trembling as she reached for him.
Leo caught her by the face, forcing her to look at him. "Jane, I'm okay. I'm right here. But look around you... look at what you've done."
Jane turned her head, and for the first time, she truly saw the aftermath of her fury. Base 115 was gone. The reinforced walls had crumbled into dust, the ground was carved with thousands of deep, glowing sword slashes, and the air was still thick with the static of unstable spiritual energy.
She began to sob, the tears carving tracks through the soot on her face. "I... I just... I wanted to protect you," she whispered, her voice breaking.
The realization of her loss of control hit her like a physical weight. She fell to her knees in front of Lyla, her head bowed in shame. Lyla's eyes returned to their normal state, and she collapsed her scythe back into its compact form.
"You killed Caspian, Jane," Lyla said, her voice devoid of emotion.
Jane couldn't move. She couldn't even find the words to beg for forgiveness. The silence that followed was broken by a familiar voice from the shadows.
"Lyla? Where is he?"
Lyla didn't act surprised. She turned to see Velora stepping out from the wreckage. Velora was radiating a calm but immense spiritual pressure. She carried a curved blade that seemed to hum with its own frequency, and her eyes were glowing a steady, piercing blue. She looked like a warrior prepared for the end of the world.
"Where is Caspian?" Velora repeated, her gaze shifting from the kneeling Jane to the ruins of the base.
Lyla remained silent, unable to meet her friend's eyes. Leo stepped forward, his expression solemn. "Nova wants to bring him back."
Lyla snapped her head toward him. "What the hell are you talking about, Leo? He's gone. He exploded!"
"She can reverse his death," Leo explained, his voice sounding distant, as if Nova were speaking through him. "She can do it without causing any temporal ripples on the rest of the planet. But she said this has to remain a secret between us. No one else can know what she is truly capable of."
Velora narrowed her eyes, her hand tightening on the hilt of her blade. "Who the hell is Nova?"
Lyla didn't answer Velora. Instead, she looked at Leo and felt a spark of hope she hadn't felt in years. She stepped forward and hugged him tightly. "Thank you. Tell her... thank you. What do we need to do?"
"Just stay behind me," Leo said.
Jane stood up without a word, her face a mask of grief, and took her place behind Leo. Velora, sensing the shift in the air, deactivated her combat form, though she remained wary. "What is going on, Lyla?"
"Just watch," Lyla whispered. "I'll explain everything later. Just let her work."
Leo's body began to change. His hair lengthened, turning into a shimmering, feminine mane that seemed to glow with its own light. His frame shifted, becoming more elegant and ethereal. No one could see his eyes—they were shielded by a veil of pure celestial energy—but the light emanating from them was blinding.
Velora instinctively reached for her sword, but Lyla caught her wrist. "Don't," Lyla warned. "You really don't want to challenge her. And you definitely don't want to stop her."
Velora looked at the intensity in Lyla's eyes and slowly let go of her weapon. Then, Nova spoke. Her voice didn't come from her throat; it echoed from the very air around them, sounding like the chorus of a thousand stars.
"**Spiritual Energy Conception Manipulation.**"
She paused, and the world went silent. Two small, glowing eyes formed in the air behind Nova. Before anyone could react, the sky above them turned a deep, obsidian black.
"**Time Reversal.**"
Suddenly, the two small eyes expanded, becoming massive, legendary orbs of blue light that formed behind the Earth itself. From space, it would have looked as if the planet were being watched by a celestial god. The world was plunged into darkness, but the eyes provided a brilliant, ethereal blue light that illuminated every corner of the globe.
Nova raised her hand, her fingers poised. Then, she snapped.
A beam of brilliant blue light erupted from the spot where Caspian had fallen. Slowly, agonizingly, his body began to reconstruct itself from the mist of energy Jane had left behind. Every cell, every drop of blood, every memory was pulled back from the void.
As soon as Caspian's form was complete, the massive eyes in the sky vanished, and the sun returned. Nova turned around, her voice sounding exhausted. "I am not doing that again."
She collapsed forward, her hair shortening and her body shifting back into Leo's frame. Jane caught him before he hit the ground.
Caspian, lying in the center of the crater, suddenly gasped for air. He sat up, clutching his chest. "Jeez... what happened? I feel like I just got hit by a freight train."
Velora stared at him, then at the unconscious Leo. She turned to Lyla, her voice trembling. "Explain. Now."
"Let's get back to the base first," Jane said, lifting Leo into her arms. She didn't wait for an answer; she leaped into the air, clearing the ruins in a single bound and disappearing toward Base 105.
Caspian stood up shakily, looking at his hands. "How... how am I still alive?"
***
**[Base 105 - The Lab]**
"You know that's against every rule in the book, Lyla," Velora said, leaning against a worktable.
Lyla looked down at her hands. "I know. But what about Akira? What was I supposed to do?"
Velora smirked, though there was no humor in it. "Don't tell me Akira is here too. Lyla, you're in more trouble than you realize."
Caspian, who had been resting on a nearby cot, sat up and stretched. He looked at Velora and offered a tired grin. "Long time no see, Vel. Don't be so hard on her."
Velora shook her head. "Come on, Caspian. She saved your life, I get it. I saw what she did. But the High Commanders already know something is up. You sent a worldwide distress signal for help, and they sent me to fight a demon—only for me to find... whatever that entity was."
She paced the room, her expression turning serious. "Keeping an entity like Nova in your custody is a violation of international protocol. And Akira? He wasn't even supposed to be with you. He was scheduled for a tribunal to decide what to do about him keeping a demon girl in his care before the invasion even started."
Lyla sighed, rubbing her temples. "When is the meeting?"
"Tomorrow," Velora replied. "I'm actually here to escort you. So get some rest while you can. You're going to need it."
Jane walked into the lab, her expression calm but determined. "Sorry for interrupting," she said, looking at Lyla. "I want to go with you to the meeting."
Lyla looked at her for a long moment. "Fine. But you have to control yourself, Jane. No outbursts."
Jane managed a small, sad smile. "Don't worry. I won't lose control again... unless they give me a reason to."
Unseen by the others, a figure peeped through the lab door, watching the conversation with a pained expression. *She forgot about me,* the figure whispered. *How could she?*
***
[The Celestial Void - Realm of the Harbingers]
Xyne sat on a throne of dark energy, a cold smile playing on her lips. "They finally did it. They killed my sister."
She turned to the shadowed figure standing beside her. "Your sister, Rin, is on Earth, by the way. Aren't you going to go get her?"
The figure didn't move. "No. Let her enjoy her little game for now. I can't believe she's actually wasting her time with those pathetic beings."
Xyne stood up, her aura flaring with a dark, red light. "Whoever killed Skye must be strong enough to rival me. I think I'll go see for myself."
The figure let out a dry, mocking laugh. "That's a great joke, Xyne. Just make sure you don't end up like your sister."
To be continued...