《The Dark Star Emperors》Chapter 23: Jack's Clue

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As Jack traveled across the country and killed Light Guardians without a second thought, she eventually came upon Janken City. It was like any other city to her. Nothing special. She had hoped to find any clue relating to Annie. Anything to find out where she was. She carried only essentials in a bag. Food. Water. A cheap blanket. Some bandages. Her hair was all messy, and she reeked of dirt.

In the city, she went to the local gym to take a shower using money that she got from exchanging black coins to the shopkeep. To her, the shopkeep was merely a businessman. He had no desire to help unless there was something in it for him. And she understood that.

In the middle of night, she walked around searching for either a Light Guardian or a Night Demon. As she strolled along the busy streets, she went off towards the local park. From her experience, Night Demons usually don't go out in the middle of crowded areas, but prefer to hunt people who are alone. Of course, there were always exceptions, such as that time with her parents or at the bar. The creatures are vicious, but not overly confident. As she walked down the quiet park, she yawned. She couldn't sense any Night Demon. The full moon illuminated the peaceful park. Jack sat on a nearby bench and sighed. She watched a calm lake filled with serenity. It wasn't too cold nor too warm. The trees and bushes were still.

She worried that at this rate, she would never find Annie. She took a bottle of water and drank a small sip of it. Some couples passed by her on the cobblestone pathway.

It was just a quiet night until she suddenly felt a chill. As soon as she sensed a Night Demon, she jolted up knocking over her blanket. A gust of cold wind passed by her. She looked in the direction from where she was sensing the Night Demon. It was the same direction that the couple had gone to. She quickly took out her mask and transformed in a blaze. She dashed away leaving the rest of her belongings on the bench. She had to stop that couple from getting there. It might even be too late. But she wasn't. She stomped through the trees and bushes. As soon as she saw the couple just walking along, she jumped up and landed in front of them. They both fell back and screamed.

Jack sighed with relief as they didn't reach the monster. She yelled in a loud and threatening manner. "Run!" Jack yelled at them. But they were paralyzed with fear. Her towering red armor and her hockey mask. Her eyes burned with rage, but her anger wasn't aimed at them.

"Run!" she repeated as she conjured a machete out of intense fire.

They both ran away. Away from the Jack, but more importantly, away from the Night Demon.

Jack transformed back and removed her hockey mask. It was full of wear and tear. It looked like it could snap at any second. She looked back towards where the Night Demon was. She needed to get there, but she had no plans of stopping the monster unless she really had to. She had other ideas.

She ran off the trail and went towards the Night Demon. The moon illuminated everything, but she could hide behind the trees and bushes. As she reached the creature's location, she laid her eyes upon it as she remained hidden. It didn't seem to notice her. And it didn't look like it was doing anything. It looked like it was asleep.

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It had the body, legs, and wings of a giant chick with the head of a raptor. The creature was around 7 ft tall. It had plates of black armor around it's body. It didn't try to fly or do anything. It just slept on the empty patch of grass next to the quiet lake. It began to grow more large black plates of armor around itself. When a frog came near the monster, the monster awoke itself and in less than a second, it chomped on the frog with it's razor-sharp, black teeth. Then, it fell back asleep.

As Jack observed the monster, she suspected the monster to not be a direct threat to anybody as of yet. As long as nobody like that couple shows up, then it shouldn't cause any trouble.

And so, Jack had a plan. Wait. She had no intention of killing this monster. If it was something that actively searched for prey, then that would be a different story. She would kill it without a second thought. But since this monster only defends it's own territory, then she doesn't need to kill it just yet.

She sat and stalked the monster as it slept. For a big creature, it's snores were very quiet. It almost looked peaceful. But Jack knew that it was still a demon. Mindless monsters that only like to cause others harm. Annie may not have saved her family, but the Night Demons were just as responsible.

It took a couple of minutes, but what she was waiting for finally appeared. Another Light Guardian.

She was young. Pretty short-statured. She was either beginning middle school or about to, she thought. She had short pink hair. Her costume and dress appeared to be light red. Almost pink.

She ran head first at the Night Demon. As the sound of her footsteps woke the monster, it's eye locked itself to the girl.

"Don't worry. I can do this," the girl said to reassure herself.

Jack continued to watch. She didn't want to reveal herself just yet. If more Light Guardians appeared, then she would have to adjust her plan.

"Hanchen," the Night Demon said and then cried a deafening screech. Jack and the girl both took their hands to close their ears. It kept screeching as it's neck extended itself. Jack watched and knew that if the girl didn't move her arms away from her ears, then she would most certainly die. Jack knew that she couldn't let that happen. She was about to transform and jump in, but stopped herself as she looked at the girl. She was young and confident. She made a smile as two orange portals appeared next to her. One on the right. And one on the left. An arm came out of each. A right arm and a left. They were each bigger than the girl herself. It looked like it was made of obsidian and streaks of lava. The conjured arms uppercut the demon's jaw with haste and power. It left a burn on where she punched. The screech instantly stopped as it retracted it's long neck. The girl removed her hands off of her ears and was ready to finish the monster. She charged in as the creature looked dazed. But it as quickly as it was uppercut, it quickly snapped itself out of it. The girl tried to end it with one more punch from her obsidian arms.

"Take this. Obsidian Strike!" she yelled like a child playing as a hero. Even made up names for her attacks. Her right arm that she summoned was about to go in for a clean hit towards the monster's face, but she was too late by a millisecond. It created a pristine black metal dome to surround itself. It looked almost like ice. Her arm crashed right into it. A loud thump.

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"Huh?" the girl wondered out loud. She tried to keep punching the metal dome with speed and power, but they wouldn't even make a dent. Then, as soon as she noticed some parts of the metal begin to liquidize on the sides, she instinctively jumped back as black spikes popped out of it like a porcupine. She knew that it was planning to attack.

Jack noticed as well and realized that she may have been very young, but she was still very experienced as a Light Guardian. It was a very subtle change to the black metal, that not even herself would even think about.

The girl breathed heavily. She began to tire out. Controlling those two arms must have put a lot of strain on her, Jack thought. The arms went back inside their respective portal and it closed.

The monster maintained it's position.

"What should I do?" the girl asked herself, and before she could think of a way to penetrate that dome, the monster went on the offensive. Feathers coated with the black metal slowly grew out of the dome. In a couple of seconds, it started to shoot out a barrage of razor-sharp feathers at the girl. A portal appeared in front of the girl and half a golem made of obsidian and cracks of lava appeared out of it. The conjured golem was around 6ft tall. It had arms, a chest, and a head. However, it had no neck. You wouldn't even tell that it was a head except for the curvature on top. It had one mark on where Jack thought it's head was. It looked like an eye made of gold. The golem blocked the feathers from harming the girl with it's own body. The feathers merely bounced off of the golem. But some of the sharp feathers went past the golem and scratched the girl. She yelled in pain, but still held together.

When the barrage of feathers stopped, it took a couple of seconds for it to load up another. The girl, seeing the opportunity, rushed for it. She kept her golem to her side.

So, she can only attack close-range, Jack surmised. As another barrage of feathers was about to shoot out, the girl began to defend herself with the golem. However, the Night Demon stopped it's feather attack. The golem blocked the girl's view, so she didn't realize that it stopped.

A hole within the metal dome formed on it's right. It's head peeked out.

The girl wondered why it didn't attack, and so she peeked to the side of the golem. Her eyes locked onto the reptilian eyes of the Demon. In that instant, it screeched a bellowing cry. She had to cover her ears with haste and within that moment, a huge gust of wind came by. It fired it's sharp feathers, but it's aim seemed to be off. Jack watched as the feathers were aimed to the side. It missed, she thought. But no. Jack quickly put on her hockey mask and prepared to transform. While the girl watched the Night Demon, the sharp feathers were being carried by the wind. They flew right back towards the girl from the sides without her even realizing it. The creature made a smirk, and that is when she realized that something was wrong. She looked to her side and the sharp blackened feathers were about to cut her into pieces.

"No way," she panicked. She moved her golem to block the oncoming wave of black feathers form the side. But now she was exposed from in front. The Night Demon shot out another barrage of feathers. The golem couldn't block both place.

The girl would have lost if she hadn't been saved.

Another Light Guardian jumped out in front of the girl with a blaze of fury. A giant with red armor and a hockey mask. She created a wall of fire in front of her melting some of the feathers and turning them to ash. She roared loudly like a lion. However, most of the feathers went straight through the flames. Those that scratched Jack's armor did no damage, but some went through the cracks and openings. They spilled blood, but Jack didn't feel a thing. She roared once more with a mighty temper.

The girl was astonished at this power, but was more relieved for the aid.

When all of the feathers melted away, the Night Demon began to form more, but Jack quickly dashed straight through to the monster. She formed her weapon with fire.

She reached the Night Demon and started bashing the creature with her machete. It did nothing. Jack began to calm herself and instead tried a different approach. She knew that she could manipulate fire. She could expend heat out of anywhere throughout her body. Her machete disappeared and she placed both of her palms onto the metal dome. She began to send as much heat as she could into her hands. The dome began to turn red. The creature inside began to cower. The inside of the dome turned into an oven. The creature tried to screech, but it's lungs were all fried. The dome itself began to bubble. And then, without warning, the dome collapsed in on itself. The creature tried to flee, but Jack grabbed it by the neck and snapped it with one motion of her hand. The Night Demon faded into nothing. A black coin dropped to the floor.

Jack's breath was uneven, but she tried to control her rage.

"Wow! You saved me, miss!" the girl congratulated happily. Her demeanor turned back to that of a normal child.

Jack took off her hockey mask and looked at the girl.

"Woah. You're so tall," the girl exclaimed.

Jack didn't care for small talk. She just wanted to get some answers.

"Tell me. Do you know anybody by the name of Annie? Annie Weldsfield," Jack asked.

"Annie? No. I don't think so. There is a girl I know called Anne. That's pretty close," she replied and with that answer Jack suddenly became more aggressive.

"Anne!?" Jack yelled wanting to know more.

"Uh-uh-uh, yes. Anne. That's her name. Is she your friend or something?," she replied with a step back from the sudden outburst.

Jack began to calm herself down. She didn't want to scare the girl as she could have some more information.

"Yes. I'm looking for my friend. However, I'm sure there are many people with the same name. She has long blonde hair. Likes art," Jack said.

"Oh," the girl said with disappointment, "I'm sorry. Then, maybe, it's not the same one. The Anne I know likes martial arts. And she usually keeps her hair short. Although, I wouldn't know if she ever dyed her hair blonde. We're not very close, although I would like to be."

Jack thought to herself. She could have changed her appearance, but I don't think she would change her interests, Jack thought, but in reality, she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure at all what Annie was like.

"Where can I find this Anne?" Jack asked.

"You can find her at the martial arts dojo. She goes for her karate club every day after school ends. I go there, too. For such a big city, I'm surprised there aren't many schools around," the girl replied.

As Jack began to put her hockey mask back on, the girl saw some cuts and burns on the girl's face and began to worry.

"Are-are you alright? It looks like you got hurt. Maybe, we should go to the doctor," she said worryingly. She really did want to help her. Not because she felt indebted, but because she was just kindhearted.

When Jack put the mask back on, she smiled behind it. She was finally happy that she had some clue to finding Annie. But that wasn't what she was smiling about. Her heart beat faster. The feeling of the hunt that she had acquired from her travels. Even if she liked the Light Guardian, she just couldn't help herself.

"No. That's okay," Jack said.

The park was quiet. Only the sound of the wind. The girl was worried, but not for herself.

"Is everything alr-"

And without even finishing that sentence, the girl had a machete lodged into her clavicle and down until it reached her stomach. The light in her eyes died out in seconds. She couldn't even feel it.

The machete was stuck there for a moment, and then it was yanked out. There wasn't even any blood coming out. The wound was completely cauterized from the heat of the blade.

It was so clean. Not even a drop of blood. Not when the machete slashed her. Not when the girl fell to the ground. Not a single one.

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