As promised, here's the next and final part of Ch 17 draft 1.

Only one more chapter after this and the epilogue before the start of Book Three.

Will post them upon reaching fifty views for this part.

Best wishes to you all.

Chapter 17 - Part II

(Caelum)

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I still dressed in the black training suit when I visited Kaleb in the infirmary.

Simone tagged along behind me, oblivious to the look Caprice had given her.

I believed that was a good thing.

In the infirmary, I found Kaleb awake and faintly annoyed with the attention the medics were giving him. I could see the relief on his face when they finally left him in peace with the warning of ‘no stressful activities for the next few hours’.

For a Regular that might have been ‘no stressful activities for the next few days’.

Through the Kaiser’s Awareness-field – that oddly felt a little stronger and clearer than I was accustomed to – I sensed the Symbiote growing inside him. The little monster was doing its best to revitalize Kaleb and deal with the aftereffects of me striking him unconscious.

I walked up to his med-bed, and apologized by bowing deeply to him.

“If you get on your hands and knees, I’m going to hit,” he warned me.

I straightened slightly and peeked up at him. “Why?”

“This was my fault,” he said. “I underestimated you. I really, really let my guard down.” He shook his head, more at himself than me. “I must be getting old.”

“Kaleb, if I don’t apologize to you, I won’t be able to face you in training again.” I bowed to him one more time. “I’m sorry.”

“Fine, apology accepted. Now stand straight.”

I did so, and stood with my hands behind my back, not quite at attention, but close.

He noticed my posture, started to say something, then stopped. Changing his mind, Kaleb asked, “How are you doing?”

“Oh. Well, I don’t feel like bawling like a baby…if that’s what you mean.”

I felt embarrassed thinking about it.

Even if it did earn me a tight embrace from Simone, I was still rather humiliated by my less than manly behavior.

Kaleb laughed, and I felt even more embarrassed. “All men cry. It’s no big deal.”

“Well, Celica had other opinions.”

“And Celica isn’t here. Besides, I don’t think you should choose her as a role model.”

I swallowed quickly. “I was right. You do resent her.”

Kaleb stiffened, then his expression relaxed. “A little. However, I never shed a tear for her.”

“So you lost your Artifact because of her, and ended up with a Cuirassier instead. Isn’t that a step down from a Grand Chevalier?”

“I’d ask that you don’t remind me.” He raised a hand quickly, forestalling me when I was about to apologize. “Desanto, firstly, congratulations are in order.”

I sighed heavily, and felt my shoulders slump. “It doesn’t feel like a big deal.” Seeing his faintly puzzled reaction, I added, “I was expecting something grander. All I did was strike at something repeatedly with my will until it broke. Then I was blasted back into my body. The next thing I know, I hit you so hard I knocked you out.”

Little by little, I remembered my experience within the realm of the Kaiser’s Core Awareness. It felt surreal, yet there was no denying now that I had broken the seal in a rather odd and anti-climactic way. In other words, it wasn’t how I’d imagined breaking the seal. Then again, I wasn’t sure what breaking the seal would require so maybe it was pointless to feel disappointed.

However, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being let down.

Breaking the seal didn’t live up to the hype.

Kaleb shook his head slowly. “You broke the seal on the Kämpfer form. That is a big deal.”

“So now I have three more to break.” I took a shuddering breath. “Then the moment of truth, huh.”

Kaleb stood up off the med-bed, and nodded subtly as he looked down at me. “That’s right. The moment of truth.”

Somewhat nervously, I uncharacteristically wet my lips. “Kaleb, do you know who Galatea was?”

He blinked then his face fell into a frown. “Galatea?”

I nodded very faintly. “Was she someone important?”

His frown grew puzzled, and after a second or so he gave me a halfhearted shrug. “Sorry, but I just wouldn’t know.”

“Oh…okay.”

“Get changed. Training’s over for tonight.” He clapped my shoulder as he stepped past me, and stopped beside Simone who’d been quietly hanging back. “Watch over him.”

She arched her eyebrows, then dropped into a classic Countess pose, arms folded and her weight on one hip. “Of course. I don’t need you telling me that.”

“Fine. Fine.” With a shake of his head, he walked out of the infirmary.

I was still standing, watching him leave when Simone’s skirt began to sing. Looking embarrassed she fished out her palm-slate and stared at the screen in confusion.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“Well, it’s an unknown number,” she murmured in reply. Tapping the screen, she answered the call. “This is Countess Alucard. Who are you?”

Of course she would answer that way. I should have expected no less.

However, I wasn’t expecting to hear a somewhat familiar voice blare out loudly from her palm-slate. In fact, her slate had switched over to speaker mode, and that took Simone completely by surprise.

“Is Desanto there? Is he with you? Is he still alive? You haven’t smothered him between your giant boobs, have you?”

I blinked in a hurry. “Lidia?” Realizing I’d blurted out the name, I clamped my mouth shut but the damage was done.

Simone regarded me through lidded eyes.

Lidia answered me through the palm-slate. “Ah! You are there! I hope I didn’t catch in a compromising situation with your GIRLFRIEND did I?”

Simone’s eyes narrowed a little more, and her thumb hovered over the palm-slate’s screen.

I held up both hands to her. “Wait—don’t hang up. She’s a friend. I mean, an associate of mine.”

“A friend?”

“An associate? At least call me a partner-in-crime.”

“Lidia, you’re not helping,” I warned her.

She growled at me through the palm-slate. “Where are you?”

I hesitated. “I’m at an undisclosed location.”

“Ah, so you’re in the training center under the school. Great.”

I swallowed when Simone’s eyes widened sharply before narrowing again. I spoke in a hurry. “Lidia, why are you calling Simone?”

“Because I couldn’t get a hold of you on your slate.”

“So why are you calling me then?”

“Tell me—can you pick up the news channels from down there?”

“I guess so.”

“Then have you heard the news? Has anyone down there heard the news?”

“What news—?”

“About the explosion in Island One.”

Both Simone and I reacted the same way. Our mouths dropped in unison. “What?”

“Apparently something was going down in the Old Docks and there was this huge explosion in the Harbor Tunnel.”

“What Old Docks?” I asked.

“Never mind,” Lidia replied impatiently. “Just listen to this. The explosion was big. Super big. And the Harbor Tunnel is a no-fly zone and all traffic in and out of Island One has been suspended.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Because even if I don’t have a Lorelai, I’m still wired into everything, just not as deeply. Nowhere near as deeply. Wow. The chat rooms, forums, message boards—they’re all going wild with speculation and a lot of people are blaming Crimson Crescent, especially with the annual memorial service just around the corner.”

I swallowed and my chest felt a little tight. Somehow I’d managed to push the thought of the upcoming memorial service out of my mind, or into a dark corner I rarely visited. Better there than weighing heavily on my mind.

I still hadn’t decided if I would attend the service this year.

But leaving that aside, Lidia did have a point. An explosion in Island One this close to the memorial was indeed suspicious. Then again, did anyone suspect it could be an accident?

Simone stepped closer to me and asked, “Who is this girl?”

I took a deep but very quick breath. “I’ll explain later.”

“Hey, are you listening to me?”

I indicated to Simone we should go out into the corridor. The medics were giving us confused and alarmed looks. “Can you give us moment?” I said to Lidia.

Out in the corridor, a few meters from the entrance to the infirmary, I told Lidia to continue.

“Finally,” she complained but didn’t sound particularly annoyed. “Look. Island One is in lockdown. No one gets in, and no one gets out. According the chatter on the Nexus, it looks like the mag-lev services have been terminated between it and the other Islands. No more vacuum runs either, unless they’re Enforcer, Public Security, or Emergency Services craft. That’s got people thinking the explosion was an act of terrorism. Anyway, some of the comm traffic that people are catching from the ships stuck in the tunnel suggests there’s a huge hole in the side of the Harbor Tunnel and a thick cloud clogging up the interior. I have to say, it sounds twenty times worse than the superfreighter explosion six years ago—oh wow! They just announced a lockdown for the other Islands. No traffic between any of them. Wow—this is big.”

Simone snapped, “Can you stop sounding like you’re having fun?”

“No way. This is big. You should see how lit up the Nexus has become. Wow! Look at that data stream. Ah—that message board overloaded and shut down—no wait! It didn’t overload. Someone shut it down. Shit! There goes another one. Crap! That chat room got hammered and went down without a fight. What the Hell is this? Holy Toasts! They’re winking out like stars at night. The Nexus is being taken down.”

“Lidia—calm down,” I urged her. “Just tell us what’s going on.”

“I am telling you. Someone’s systematically cutting off the Nexus. Every gossip channel and board is disappearing. I think they’re trying to censor the Nexus. Only the official news channels are still on air, and they’re all reporting the same thing. This is censorship on a massive scale. This is a denial of the truth. People have a right to know what’s happening!”

“But you said they’re just gossiping?”

“No they’re not. They’re passing word along from the starship crews stuck inside the tunnel. This is really serious—hey, wait a minute…what’s going on out there?”

The abrupt change in her tone – it fell rather low – caught me off guard, and I felt my stomach clench a little in anxious anticipation.

“Uh…Lidia?”

Her voice still low, this time she sounded alarmed. “What’s he doing out there?”

It took me a moment to understand she asking herself and not us.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t remain silent and had to ask her, “Who are you talking about?”

“Shepherd. Klaus Shepherd. He’s outside the admin building. Looks like he’s waiting for someone….”

An anxious thought crossed my mind.

Klaus Shepherd was here—I mean up above? Why? Wait—could he be waiting for—?

“Hey Desanto, your friend Steiner just walked out of the building.”

My innards were spiked with steep worry. “What was that?”

“I think Shepherd was waiting for her. I guess he knows about the training center too. Damn that stalker.”

I stepped closer to Simone who was holding the palm-slate up between us. “Which entrance? Which entrance, Lidia—north or south?”

“South. I can’t hear what they’re talking about but they both look pretty serious. I don’t think they’re discussing the double-date.” Lidia paused for a short while. “Desanto…I got a bad feeling about this…what with the explosion and all.”

“You mean—?”

“Well, we both know she’s uber important so I wonder if something’s going down. And we both know Shepherd has been hiding the fact he’s a Special lugging around a powerful Artifact like the Lucifer.”

Simone’s eyes widened and her head jerked back. “What did she say?”

Lidia sounded displeased. “Tsk. I thought you’d told her by now. What have you been doing all this time?”

“I have been rather busy,” I retorted as I turned and ran down the corridor for the nearest elevator that would take me up to the ground floor lobby of the Administration Building.

However, in my haste I got lost and arrived at Tee junction without a clue which way to turn.

Simone yanked my arm. “This way.”

“Huh?”

Pulled along by her enormous Aventis strength, I picked up my pace and soon overtook her once I regained my bearings within the underground maze of the training facility.

Too many damn corridors to this place.

I wondered if I should have relied on the Kaiser’s Blessing to guide me.

No. I should have learnt the layout by now. I’m really not thinking straight. Clenching my fists as I ran, I scolded myself. Get it together, you fool!

Why was I so rattled now? When I’d first learnt of Caprice dating Shepherd it had bugged me—really bugged me. But then I learnt she was using it as a means to learn his true intentions toward her, and my emotions had settle down, though I was still worried for her.

Even if Shepherd’s purpose was honest, I still worried for her.

Then again, perhaps I was just lying to myself.

Perhaps I was just coming up with excuses for not speaking out and holding my peace.

I slowed quickly as I arrived at the elevator, and slapped the panel to summon the lift car.

Then all I had to do was wait impatiently for it to arrive.

Simone arrived a handful of seconds later. I noticed she was holding onto her breasts, but chose not to say anything. Instead, I kept my gaze on the closed elevator door.

I guess she’s really not built for running.

I scratched a cheek.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

When the lift arrived, I hurried inside and pressed the button for the lobby. Unlike when I headed down to the training center, I didn’t need to swipe my identity card against the scanning panel on the way up. That was fortunate as I’d left my school ID card with the rest of my belongings in the change room. The problem was how was I going to get back down there.

I cast a sidelong glance at Simone.

I’d better ask her for her help.

When I looked ahead at the closed doors, I wondered if I should even be thinking that far ahead. After all, I had no idea what was about to happen in the next few minutes.

Simone broke the silence in the elevator car. “What did she mean when she said Klaus Shepherd has an Artifact?”

Back in the Student Council meeting room, I’d skipped past telling her about Shepherd’s Lucifer Artifact. It was probably a subconscious decision, seeing that she was disturbed by not having any memory of the encounter she’d shared with Shepherd in the storage room. But now I couldn’t see a reason for holding it back from her.

Yet the thought of Shepherd with Simone alone in the storage room was making my blood boil.

I noticed my hands were clenched into fists.

What happened between him and Simone? Why did he wipe—no, not wipe—restrain her memories? Why? Why? Why?

The tendons in my hands ached, and my arms trembled in restrained fury.

If he did something more to her I swear I’ll tear him apart. I’ll rip him limb from limb and scatter them into the nebula—!

“Caelum…are you alright?”

I blinked and stiffened sharply, my thoughts coming to a sudden halt, though my emotions roiled within me.

Damn it—what was I thinking of doing just now?

Swallowing quickly, I turned my head slightly toward Simone but kept my gaze averted and focused on the elevator doors.

Shit! Why am I letting him get under my skin? I’m jumping to conclusions, but I can’t help thinking he did something to her.

I had to swallow again before I could trust my voice would sound normal.

“It’s just like she said. Klaus Shepherd afil Raynar has a Celestial Class, Lucifer Type Artifact.” I hesitated for a long moment before pressing on. “His Artifact allows him to Influence and possibly Imprint the minds of the Aventis. He doesn’t have to drink their blood to use Influence upon the Symbiote inside the host he wants to control.”

I waited for Simone to respond, but she was silent the remainder of the trip up to the ground floor lobby.

I guessed she was thinking through my grand reveal of Klaus Shepherd’s Artifact.

When the doors opened, I started to step outside at a run, but reached out and held me back.

“Caelum, please calm down. We don’t know what his goals are. Despite what may have happened between him and I in the storage room, we could be wrong about him. We could be making a mistake.”

Turning only my head toward her, I faced Simone.

Her eyes were steady, and her face was calm as her gaze held onto mine. “Please, Caelum. Don’t do anything rash.”

I swallowed hard, feeling faintly chastised. “I’ll try not to….”

“Promise me.”

I shook my head. “No, I can’t do that.”

For a heartbeat she looked pained, then resigned to the fact I truly couldn’t make that promise to her. After a gentle sigh, she released my arm. “I should have known you’d say that….”

“Simone—”

“Would you feel the same way if it was me out there, and not her?”

“No,” I admitted, surprised that was the truth.

She glanced away, fleeting anguish flickering across her beautiful face.

“I’d feel worse.”

Her eyes turned toward me, widening slightly.

I shook my head slightly. “Either way, I don’t think I’d be able to hold back if he made you cry.”

Turning quickly, I ran for the glass entrance.

Through the transparent doors, I saw Caprice fall to her knees.

Then I saw Shepherd climb quickly and crouch before her.

By then I was at the entrance, and I slapped my palm over the switch in the metal doorframe around the sliding glass doors that briefly unlocked the doors during afterhours.

With a faint swoosh, the glass doors parted aside and I rushed outside onto the landing beyond the entrance.

On her knees and embraced by Shepherd, Caprice trembled visibly, her face pale as though drained of blood.

Holding her tightly, Shepherd whispered into her ears.

I didn’t need to know his words.

All I needed was the sight of her shaking in fear while in his arms, and a sudden white rage rushed through me.

It was only a heartbeat later that I realized much of it gushed forth from the Kaiser’s Blessing.

Helplessly gripped by its fury and mine, I rushed at Shepherd.

“Get away from her!”

I leapt at him, summoning the Kaiser’s Blessing in the blink of an eye.

Unsurprisingly, Shepherd did the same.

Before being enshrouded by the black mist that rushed out of the Pocket Space breach, I saw Shepherd leap backwards with unexpected speed, and touch ground a few feet away from the foot of the steps.

As soon as the Kaiser’s Blessing had solidified around my body, Skin-Regalia and all, I jumped at Shepherd, barely taking the time to study his Lucifer type Artifact.

With a downward slash, my right Gauntlet-Blade met his forked spear, slamming it aside. Though my body was out of balance because of the strike, I still thrust my left Gauntlet-Blade at him, aiming for his chest.

There was no doubt where I wanted the blade to pierce through.

Yet part of me was horrified that I was aiming at his heart.

At the last moment, I managed to shift my aim by a degree, enough for him to dart aside and take the cut across his chest armor, rather than through his heart.

My body flew past him, and I landed on my armored tapered feet, not unlike those of a Valkyrie Maiden, and quickly spun around toward Shepherd.

By then he’d jumped back and put around a dozen meters between us.

Anger, fury, call it what you like, roiled within me, making my body tremble. The Kaiser’s anger had pushed my heated feelings through the roof, and I was nearly helpless to keep it lidded. I say nearly because somehow I was still holding my ground, and hadn’t charged at him again.

I was like a car spinning its rear wheels while simultaneously applying the front brakes.

Sooner or later the brakes would burn out, and I would be launched forward into Shepherd.

However, while I was barely holding firm and reining the Kaiser back, I could do little about my voice that truthfully sounded monstrous even to my ears, forcing me to wonder if this too was by the Kaiser’s hand.

“Bastard—what did you do to her? Why did you make her cry?”

Inwardly, I thought, Why—why the Hell is it reacting this way? Is it the ghost? I can feel it—I know it’s there—but it feels different this time.

Surprisingly, despite gripped by the Kaiser’s fury, I could see Shepherd quite clearly.

There was no red haze of rage, and my Awareness-field was unnaturally sharp.

Shepherd looked remarkably calm, practically unreadable, yet I had the oddest impression that he was surprised to be facing me like this.

Could it be he wasn’t expecting me to show up?

He shifted his stance, widening the placement of his armored feet, and then smoothly broke into a wide eager smile.

“So that’s the Kaiser’s Blessing Kämpfer Form.”

He slide his hands along the shaft of his wicked forked spear, and smoothly settled into a stance I’d seen Kaleb perform just recently.

Shepherd gave me an almost imperceptible nod. “I’d heard you were having trouble summoning it. But it looks like you’ve broken the seal already.”

His smile grew fearless.

“In that case, Pervert Desanto, show me what you can do.”

The Kaiser’s Blessing didn’t need a second invitation, or a moment to think about it.

It ripped free of its reins in the blink of an eye.

Overwhelmed by it, I launched myself at Shepherd with more power than I’d ever demonstrated before, and this time I knew there would be no holding back my blades, or shifting their aim when the Kaiser targeted his heart.

Somehow, I needed to regain control, or Klaus Shepherd wouldn’t live to see the morning.