In the peace of sleep there is total absence of light and sound, the wall that isolates a space into absolute darkness and silence. Yet at first it is not an immediately alarming solitude, it is actually restful, tranquil even, for the purpose of the wall is to allow for a safe space of calm during time of recovery.

Yet when the eyes are open, when the sleep is concluded and one awakens to try taking in the environment yet is met by the exact same isolation, then it is no longer a calming serenity but instead a stimuli or lack therefore that warrants concern.

For from sight alone it’s as if one is still in slumber, there is no visible differences in what is and what is not being received. Yet from the silence brings up the sound of gentle breathing, the only sound to be heard which only is emitted by the source. There are no other sounds, nothing else from the environment, and even those breaths seem to simply catch against the black walls and travel nowhere. Pure isolation, not of tranquility, but of entrapment. The inability to see ahead leads to a claustrophobic hold too, further causing the breathing to intensify, becoming more rapid and heavier. An error has been caught, an event that should not under regular circumstance be met, and to that anomaly there is fear that grows.

That fear reflects in the wide green iris that shivers in its sclera, jittering almost as it fails to identify any of its own surroundings. The black pupil in the center of the iris brightens into a golden hue, and emerging from the pupil crawl out golden streaks that curl into circles, rings over the green canvas as further streaks continue to spread out of the iris and cover the white sclera until it reaches the very edges. The streaks appear like veins, a natural shape yet a very abnormal coloration and definitely behavior as the veins appear almost sentient themselves, or at the very least controlled with more of an intention.

The golden streaks provide a gentle gold luminosity that alas allows for sight beyond the darkness in hopes of being able to see further.

Yet in dismay there are no further surroundings made apparent by the golden glow, for instead all that is revealed is the lack of an environment, as the light is immediately met by a black wall completely encapsulating what has now been revealed to be a prisoner. The wall appears to have a material with a texture resembling wood, albeit noticeably with a metallic tint that gives a more rigid sense.

Questions are answered but many more are birthed in the previous place, for while now there is an explanation for the lack of visibility, there is a far greater concern for where exactly the prisoner is. The golden iris darts across the sclera in search for an answer, but it only finds the exact same metallic wooden material surrounding it almost like a shell, some sort of chamber.

While the prisoner could not see, orientation could be derived as there was more weight on the back pressed against the material than the feet, meaning that they were laid down rather than being stood upright. While that information is new and somewhat helps to define certain properties of the situation, it is nothing enough to understand where the prisoner is.

The golden iris returns to the origin of the sclera where it then becomes entirely still, no longer shaking as it has relinquished its initial task of primitive sight, as its only advantages to the utilization of its modificative behaviors was light which has proven to be inadequate in proper determination of the location.

Thusly instead the golden iris begins a different action, one much further from human instead of simply growing veins, as instead the iris itself begins to build additional dimension as the veins in the eye start to grow upwards, crawling out of the soft jelly film and rising up like roots of a tree. Not only do branches grow from the pupil, but the various rings in the iris as well as the streaks along the sclera, growing up as wires that crawl up the air almost like they’re all individually living. While the wires grow, they begin to entangle in one another, wrapping around each other and coiling to create a tube of sorts that is first a thin skeleton but becomes thicker as more coils reinforce the exterior. Soon all of the wires are integrated into this main tube, which crawls as one central component where at the head wires spring up in tiny spikes that form somewhat of a crown at the top. At the peak of each of the many spikes, all the sudden a flash of golden light emits as a disk of energy activates like a lens, sitting at the top of the rising tube.

The light remains persistent with a gentle hum, just in time for it to make contact with the metallic wooden surface, which upon impact with the disk begins to flare up and disintegrate as the disk appears to function similar to a laser, allowing the tube to rise even through the material itself and continue further up. The disintegration causes an uncomfortable screeching sound and triggers sparks to erupt from the material, although regardless of those dangers the tube continues to rise without slowing pace, melting through the wall.

Suddenly a blinding cyan light consumes the tip of the golden tube as it emerges from the top of the black metallic wooden casing, now freely in air with no more material to cut through, and able to rise unobstructed.

The tube rises for a few more inches but then comes to a stop, not rising too high from its cover. After ceasing movement, the disk drill at the top deactivates, and the entire top of the tube begins to bend forwards as the crown regresses into the tube and instead the head adopts a new glow albeit significantly dimmer than the laser as the head becomes fully horizontal. Again the tube ceases all movement, now facing forward through a golden lens, the whole contraption resembling a periscope that stares forward, but then very slowly starts to rotate as it starts a reconnaissance.

Although sight through the periscope carries a golden filter, it does now allow for significantly greater visibility of an actual room, specifically a dark room with rings of tabletops accompanied with chairs, however none of them are occupied. There does not even appear to be anyone there, living or not, as the whole room is vacant with the only furniture being the desk spaces. Beyond the rings however is what appears to be a black wall, although little focus is made of it other than the comprehension that there appears to be no door frames visible.

Beside the periscope eye is the other one which is still green with no inhuman additions currently, visible by the faint light of the branches beside it still partly illuminating the case. The green eye expands in surprise to the sight of the strange room finally more than pure darkness, as what the periscope captures is clearly received by the being, as while one eye appears human and the other is something not even considered alien, it is all of a singular being.

Yet even though there is a clear surprise of relief that comes from the sight of an actual environment, the eye then becomes calmer as the iris expands in the understanding to not jump so suddenly to action especially in a situation so eerie. The iris’s movement slows and neutralizes, allowing the other to continue its search.

Thus the periscope continues its reconnaissance, rotating more around the room until it can see the edge of a black box levitating off the floor.

Intrigued, the green eye sharpens more keenly as a natural reaction to the other’s reception, the golden light reflecting off thus brightening the seemingly natural iris.

Continuing the trail, the periscope rotates to get a better view of what the box is, finding a long black box made of the same metallic wooden material. Upon further rotation, the box appears to have a shape resembling a coffin, hovering in silence.

Another reveal met, the green iris shrinks as the whole eye expands in astonishment, but now a greater wave of fear has flooded in, one that has now caused greater concern and called for a needed sense for haste, cautious but slightly faster.

Staring at the coffin, the periscope adds a new filter which now compounds a somewhat red tint mixed with the golden. Most of the image that can be seen remains the same, although the new filter has revealed a humanoid inside the coffin, laying on its back upright with its arms crossed over its chest. The humanoid, although cramped up in the tight space and without very great detail, does seem to have a slender shape and is dressed in an overcoat. It also lacks any hair and has very shallow cheekbones, which is more than plenty of data.

That data puts the other eye in terror as exhibited by its greater expansion and slight jittering, starting to dart around in panic as the condition has started to become apparent, that being one of peril. The breathing becomes heavier and more rapid in the realization, as the eye struggles to remain calm.

After analyzing the coffin, the periscope does a sharp complete turnaround to pivot the other direction while maintaining the filter, allowing itself to find a second coffin right beside it, a coffin that houses another humanoid inside also arms crossed over its chest. This other humanoid is remarkably shorter than the first although with a more normal shape, dressed in a large hoodie that drapes down its thighs. It was the other one.

Shaken up, even the periscope starts to pivot in greater panic, turning back and forth in despair before it then chooses to regress, the radiating golden lens fading away, the head straightening up, and the entire tube starting to make a slow descent down.

Cautiously the tube slides down through the small gap it made in its own coffin, slipping back through and hiding away.

Slowly the tube descends down the hatch where it then begins to dismantle itself, the wires unwrapping themselves and separating into their own branches. In mere seconds the entire tube reverts to a series of wires that then seep back into the eye, returning to the streaks and veins they originated from.

Once the periscope has been fully returned, the golden streaks in the eyes also regress as the veins in the sclera crawl back and the rings in the iris break off and recede into the pupil, which upon doing so blackens once more, removing the light just before the iris jumps to the very edge as if trying its best to get a glance under itself.

Casted in dark shadow, the underbelly of the black metallic wooden coffin hovers stationary over the ground, intense cyan light at the edges. It levitates in complete silence, hovering around the heights slightly lower than that of tabletops.

All the sudden the same loud screeching sound is visible from within the coffin, which is initially muffled but gradually gets louder and clearer.

In seconds the black canvas is painted with a large golden stroke in the shape of a humanoid, flashing brightly like the laser as it melts itself through the material until soon after the golden light dissipates to reveal a body dressed in black which drops straight on the floor with a soft thud.

That body is none other than that of Dana, who groans quietly after hitting the metal floor below the coffin, instinctively rubbing the back of her head with her eyes shut. She then opens her eyes and looks up, peering with a tight glare.

Above Dana, who lays on the floor with her elbows grounded, levitates the black coffin now with a hole made in the bottom in the shape of her body, as luckily she had capabilities for freeing herself in this type of spot.

Who wasn’t as lucky however are the two that Dana next focuses on, rolling her body to the side before then springing herself up to her feet.

Up now standing, Dana first glances down at her body to brush her suit while taking note of the lack of noises audible beyond the ones she herself makes such as the shuffling and her steadying yet still shaken breaths.

She then turns her focus over to the coffin first beside her, which she dashes towards before then raising her right arm before her face, where she brings her straight fingers together before watching as countless golden wires emerge from her fingers and wrist to transform her entire hand into a golden cylinder, although the part around her palm is wider and the one around her fingers is smaller with there being a transition between the two. At the nose of the cylinder, where the fingertips were, emerges a single bright golden nozzle made of energy, and suddenly the entire cylinder of her hand starts to spin rapidly with a whir as the nozzle flares brighter like a drill.

For it was just that, as Dana then bends forward and inserts her hand straight into the side of the coffin, causing it to creep through the material slowly but surely until making the full calculated distance.

After getting in, Dana then starts to move her arm around the coffin, leaving behind a bright golden trail from the melting process. She drags her arm all the way to one side, then moves closer to the coffin to better reach around the short end and to the far side where she then continues to drill along the side all the way through the far end. Her movements are slow and cautious, but luckily the drill cuts through seamlessly like butter. She makes her way to the other short side, and finally takes a step back to complete the first side where she joins her cut up to her starting point, finishing the golden trace to become a complete cross section.

Upon completing the cut, she pulls her hand out of the coffin and lets the drill stop spinning, causing the whir to die down until silencing and for the golden nozzle to vanish. Her entire drill hand then reverts as the wires start to unwrap themselves and reshape from two cylinders into five different fingers stemming from the one palm, able to reform her hand in a second and recolor them to her skin.

She then moves both of her hands to the coffin as all of her fingertips morph into golden claws, grabbing from the crevice with her right hand going by the point she started drilling from, and her left hand going over the coffin to the other side. She then slides both of her hands in through the rift, and starts to pull, groaning from the weight of needing to lift slowly.

Yet surely she lifts the top half of the coffin up, as it rises and she’s able to gradually pivot herself with it in hand, able to then carefully and quietly place it down on the floor in its original orientation without even a thud, knowing the metal on metal could create quiet the alarm if dropped heavily.

She then turns her attention back to the coffin where she finds the sleeping body of Ekitai, resting with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes shut and restful. Dana leans over the coffin as the claws in her fingers revert to her regular soft fingertips, and with them she grabs both of Ekitai’s shoulders before then gently shaking them as she whispers, “Ekitai! Ekitai!”

At first Ekitai’s body just limply shakes upon the jiggling without resistance, but in seconds the jiggling becomes less intense, and a couple seconds more Ekitai shakes his head with his eyes still closed and mutters in a whisper, “Wait…just give me a couple more minutes….”

Astounded by the utter ignorance of the man she was trying to save, Dana gasps before then muttering to herself, “Has he never been kidnapped before?” then raising her palm up to her sight, and watching as it specifically becomes golden, but more specifically it emits an additional film of energy in the color of frosty blue. The film even starts to give off water vapor from how cold it is.

Without any other option, she then turns her attention back to the coffin as she brings her palm down towards the man’s chest for a faster wakeup, only to find right before planting her hand down that Ekitai’s arms are no longer crossed but instead one is holding his handgun which is pointed right at Dana’s forehead, his yellow eyes open and awake.

Frantically Dana staggers backwards as Ekitai sits upright, facing her and whispering in bewilderment, “Dana?? Shit I almost melted your head.”

Dana stumbles to her feet again and shakes her hand, relinquishing the frosty energy film and letting her palm revert to its natural skin tone. She shakes her head and mutteringly reprimands, “Look where you point that thing, I’m trying to save you.”

Still perplexed, Ekitai then pivots and glances around while still sitting, glancing first at the tables and chairs as Dana then turns around and sprints around her own coffin to reach the final closed one, morphing her right hand back into a drill once again and starting the same process to open the chamber up. Ekitai meanwhile turns his head the other way in the direction that casts the great cyan light on his face, to which his yellow eyes expand in incredulity, his lips parting as his jaw drops.

While Dana inserts her drill into the coffin and begins sliding it across, Ekitai gently inquires in a curious tone: “Dana…why is the sun eating me?”

Instantly Dana pauses, pulling her drill out of the coffin and standing straight to glance at Ekitai before then trailing his line of sight while muttering somewhat disgruntledly, “What are you even sayi-...oh-.”

For Dana fixates on the same sight as Ekitai, that being of the window screen that exhibits the image of the ginormous cyan supersun completely covering the entire side of the room’s screen, the bright white flares and flames close up uncomfortably so. In front of the sun however are the networks of huge metal rings that seem to form passages to the supersun and from a distant field of large buildings shaped like nuclear power plants.

As the two take in the full image, they find the grand telescope mechanism standing almost as tall as them, facing the sun made of the many titanic cylinders, specifically pointed at one of the ring networks. But even closer, there are a few colossal albeit shorter white buildings in the shape of spikes, lacking any exterior detail with the only unique attribute being a black ballpoint at the tip.

Dana specifically lowers her head to find an entire field of many smaller buildings the shape of spikes, an entire campus of them all across a field of gray rocks, although not rocks that seemed to come from Earth. Among the buildings are also several contraptions that resemble railguns and other large scale missile systems, which just sit still, almost as if asleep.

As the two continue to stare speechlessly, there is also a distant sound different from the ones they emit, a gentle hum that sounds like the one an elevation pad would make, which Dana trails the origin of to find it coming from below her.

From wonder to terror, Dana gasps in panic and blurts out, “Someone’s coming!” before she then turns around and dashes back to the last coffin, inserting her drill hand back in the crevice and continuing to cut out the cross section but now with hastier motions.

Concurrently, Ekitai throws his legs one after the other off of the coffin, and comfortably slips out of his container while critiquing, “Would’ve been nicer if it was softer in there, I mean it’s not the worst bed I’ve slept in but that’s not an excuse,” as he shakes his head, clearly still in the process of waking up.

Dana finishes the first short end, shuffling against the coffin to reach the other side as she quietly but angrily orders, “Ekitai, get ready! Actually help me over here, come on!” as the elevator hum continues to grow louder, closer.

Ekitai sighs and shakes his head before then strolling past the two coffins and reaching Dana just as she completes the far long side and wraps around the short end before then glimpsing down at the floor to hear the hum keep loudening, further putting her in a panic to return her focus on the coffin and bring her drill back to the starting side where she then is able to complete the cross section.

With the cut finished, she pulls the drill out of the coffin, transforms it back into her hand, and after sharpening her nails into golden claws again she grabs each long end of the coffin and pulls with a groan, steadily pulling it out and gradually moving it down with a slow pivot and bend.

As Dana slowly turns around and places the coffin top on the floor, Ekitai steps to the coffin where he finds the sleeping body of Kokei, her arms also crossed over her chest in peaceful slumber.

With his unarmed hand, Ekitai grabs Kokei’s shoulder and starts to shake it although significantly more violently than Dana did to him, causing Kokei’s entire body to jolt as Ekitai whispers, “Hey Kookie, wake up! Wake up! Come on you uh…you…you have a meeting now! You’re late for work! You’re going to get fired!” Yet Kokei still remains in deep sleep, not nudging at all, not even slipping a single word.

Realizing the futility of the attempted wakeup, Ekitai lets go of her shoulder and turns to Dana, who places the coffin lid down and rises up to meet his gaze with one of anxiety, which only worsens upon hearing Ekitai explain, “She must’ve drained a lot of energy before, I mean usually after she does it’s hard to wake her up but…I guess usually she can do the job a lot faster than what happened back there.”

“Here, don’t worry, I’ll try to get her awake with something,” assures Ekitai upon seeing Dana’s distress, and he then reaches into his overcoat’s inner pocket just as the elevation hum suddenly clarifies perfectly, but not just that it soars right above them, which immediately causes Dana to turn around and face up before whispering frantically, “Grab her and get under the table!” before she takes off and leaves Ekitai who pulls his hand out of his overcoat after the quick switch of plans. He slips his free arm below Kokei’s back to wrap it around her body before then pulling his arm up, hoisting her body off of the coffin although slowly and with heavy grunting mixed in with the comment, “Damn Kookie you got heavier, oh good thing you’re asleep,” before he succeeds in throwing her against his shoulder and follows Dana who’s below one of the ring tables right as the elevator hum comes to an abrupt halt of silence.

He then slides down the sleek floor and under the table beside Dana, where he then carefully places Kokei’s body on the floor and immediately returns his hand in his overcoat pocket, having the other one hold his handgun tightly which he aims forward with sporadic shifts in rotation. Beside him, Dana has her knees bent in front of her to conserve the most space, her head straight up with horror in her eyes, making the most sound from heavy breaths which she then quickly realizes to which she covers them with her hands to conceal herself.

It takes a few seconds, but eventually Dana manages to quiet herself down, and after that there is total silence in the room just like before.

Total unobstructed silence, a hollow of sound, an isolation of surroundings. Yet even more so than before there is a terror, now of the known unknown, of who is there but not knowing where. All they can see is the dark gray table above them, there is no sight of the enemy, nothing to tell them how endangered they truly are.

The only actions that can be done is sitting under the table and waiting, as Dana just keeps her eyes up at the table, and Ekitai aims his handgun out for any sudden attacks. While he sits and scouts, he finally pulls out a flask from his overcoat’s inner pocket, a flask that carries a strange hot pink liquid that bubbles as though it’s carbonated and has a glow that pulsates ominously. He swishes the flask a couple times, watching the liquid move from one side to the other as a quick check, and nods to himself. He then begins to move the flask towards Kokei’s body, specifically her face, more specifically her mouth.

The flask just by Kokei’s lips, Ekitai begins to tilt the container as Dana lowers her head and watches in silence, agitated by the strange liquid coming from the same container that has been housing the chemicals used to warp the bodies of targets in so many yet all disturbing ways, now being poured into the sleeping girl’s mouth. Yet while Ekitai is certainly a strange man with a strange moral compass, the one aspect of his morality Dana understood was the one revolving around his relation to Kokei, and that when it came to her: she could trust Ekitai with how he went about trying to help. He might’ve had unorthodox methods, but they somehow always worked in his friend’s favor.

With just enough tilt, the pink liquid is drawn to the opening of the flask and manages to escape, being poured directly into Kokei’s mouth. A couple seconds after pouring the liquid however Ekitai tilts the flask upright again, not using the entire container but just enough by his calculations. He then moves the flask back into his overcoat’s inner pocket while glancing over at Dana and nodding towards Kokei hastily, to which Dana tilts her head in confusion to the strange gesture.

Then the translation comes to her, to which she immediately jumps her hands towards Kokei in the realization of Ekitai’s request just as Kokei’s eyes open with a bright pink glow and she yelps as if awakening from a nightmare. Her yelp is cut off just after it happens, Dana’s hand cupping her mouth as the glow dims away, and Kokei glances at Dana with utter bewilderment, although Dana’s gaze is exchanged instead with Ekitai who both stare in dread.

After an exchange of despair, Ekitai’s disturbed gaze immediately sharpens into a desperate aggression which he turns to the side where the dark silver boots stand with the three dark crimson buckles.

Instantly Ekitai aims the handgun at the legs and pulls the trigger, firing a deep green radiating bolt for a point blank shot which does hit its target, that being a transparent wall in between the gunner and the legs. The wall does begin to start dissolving as the green acid spreads over the material, but it doesn’t have enough time to spread before the entire wall evaporates in red flames.

Before Ekitai could even process what had happened, Dana bellows a battle cry and thrusts herself from out below the table, reaching for the legs with completely golden clawed hands that have glowing tips imbued with cutting heat. She makes her swipe at the right ankle just as her own is penetrated by a hook which causes her bellow to become a pained shriek as her body is then yanked away in the opposite direction.

She then turns back to find that the hook connects to a chain that leads to the far other side of the room where a cannon functioning like a fishing rod sits behind a square of four rods jutting from the ground, all of them sparking with red electricity similar to the one that took Ekitai down prior.

Hastily Dana’s entire left arm morphs into a long needle blade which she slashes through the chain to cut it off, and then releases a myriad of golden tentacles out of her body which latch onto the ground to kill the momentum that’d send her into the electric field. She then promptly faces the table she was hiding below to find it flying straight at her like a frisbee, right for her head. She instinctively crosses her arms over her neck as her tentacles move to grab the table, succeeding in holding it back but sacrificing stability which causes the table’s momentum to push her in the center of the four rods which instantly discharge red arcs straight into her body, causing her to yelp in pain and hit the ground, paralyzed in a second.

Across from Dana where the table was stands Kokei, her eyes wide in disoriented terror as beside her Ekitai aims his handgun at the crimson devil and pulls down the hammer to fire another shot point blank when the handgun suddenly slips out of Ekitai’s fingers and flies straight up, causing all three to stare up to watch it fly straight into a magnetic disk sitting under the bridge.

Completely unarmed, Ekitai’s eyes shoot wide open as he instinctively reaches for his overcoat and pulls out a flask containing a orange-red sizzling liquid which he primes his arm to throw as though it were some sort of molotov as Kokei in her disorientation glances up after hearing a creek, which comes from a small cannon the size of a machine gun mounted also on the bridge aiming straight at Ekitai. Her eyes expand and she turns to her friend, aiming her hand at him and shouting: “WAIT EKI, MOVE!”

Yet the mounted cannon flares up and fires a red bolt straight at not specifically Ekitai but the flask in his hand, which causes it to erupt in a small explosion that Kokei immediately tries containing with a flurry of pink arcs from her hand, which do in fact meet the explosion, only to cause it to discharge with greater intensity that throws Ekitai further back and whiplashes straight into her too, tossing her body back into the ground.

In the back all Dana can do is watch as her own body is constantly zapped with red bolts, causing her to tense up in agony, unable to do anything as she watches a bundle of chains shoot down from above, one at Kokei and another at Ekitai, wrapping themselves around the two’s bodies tightly before suddenly pulling them up.

Gritting her teeth from the combined pain of the hook’s penetration and the constant electrocutions, Dana can only lay and stare with anguish.

Through her eyes, Dana stares at the crimson devil who simply stands in place with its jagged cape sitting still behind as are the chains wrapped around the neck, the crimson streaks poured down its body the same color as the demonic eyes that glare straight back. Not having to move a muscle to best the three of them, it just had to simply watch as the third set of chains drops on Dana’s body and tangles her in them, to which she groans in an attempt to throw them off and free herself, but the electricity had so quickly drained her energy. All she can do is just let the chains pull her body off the floor and slowly up towards the ceiling.

As she’s slowly pulled up, Dana’s focus shifts to below the bridges, finding several cannons mounted as well as the magnet that still holds Ekitai’s handgun.

The chains raise her to the upper level, higher until her feet are just slightly too far from reaching the bridge, and that is when the chains stop pulling and let her halt. Her body then begins to move forward, slowly being dragged towards the other side of the room where the table was, towards the side blazing bright from the supersun. As she’s dragged forth, she can see both Ekitai and Kokei already strung up in chains, their bodies spinning slowly as they grunt and groan tiredly from the explosion that so luckily didn’t injure their bodies too greatly. They remain stationed in the air by the far wall, their heads low as neither of them have the strength to fight.

While being moved forward a curiosity sparks, so Dana glimpses straight up to find that the chain she’s tied by leads all the way up the spherical ceiling to a metallic drone designed like a spider, the chain its web, able to walk upside down and thus reposition the prisoners individually while surveying them with an array of glowing red eyes. She watches as the spider approaches other two spider drones presumably holding the allies, and her spider walks in between the two.

Spinning slowly after the motion, Dana lowers her head to her left, finding the bruised Ekitai who has no major injuries but his coat has a few burns and tears. She then turns to her right to find Kokei who has less physical injuries, but is very exhausted after the misfire, her head low as she’s still drifting between consciousness.

Knowing the source of their restraints but without the energy to contend against it, all she can do is return her gaze back down to the bridge, exactly where the crimson devil now stands still like a ghost appearing at will before the black void of the infinite cosmos. In that void are faint glittering white stars among the purple blue nebulas, but most prominently visible through the screen is the large blue and green globe frothed with white clouds, lit up bright on their side. The globe was so close that even intimate details of the brown mixed with the green lands can be distinguished, a view magnificent yet at the same time isolating in knowing how far civilization is from reaching a helping hand.

The devil holds in its left hand Ekitai’s handgun, which it then brings up to its red eyes, inspecting the sole main weapon of one of the fighters who had used it to battle their way through a long life of adventure across many worlds where he fought against many foes, one capable of nearly infinite possibility as it could do just about anything the gunman could think of.

The devil tosses the handgun forward uninterestedly, letting it slide on the floor just below Ekitai’s feet, so close yet just too far for him to hit it with his shoe. It was of no use to it, nor was it a perceived threat.

Instead, the devil just turns around, away from the three fighters only restrained by breakable chains and monitored by passive robots, and it just strolls towards the other side of the large control room with steady steps that sway its jagged cape and clang the chains around its neck.

Even after the three had just proved themselves rebellious to restraint, having broken out after it had first put them in their cages, the devil still sees little reason to fret over those who had just tried launching an assault on it seconds prior. Instead it just paces towards the other side of the control room away from the supersun, as though there was something more valuable to keep an eye for than the prisoners right behind.

Fatigue riddled in her sickened voice, the voice of Dana murmurs quietly: “I’ll…reach you….”

After hearing the murmur, the crimson devil comes to a stop about halfway down the bridge as behind it Dana’s right ankle detaches off her knee and falls to the ground, the hook striking the metal floor with a clang that pulls the devil’s attention back the other way to watch the golden wires expel out of the open wound, first spilling out before they begin taking the shape of a foot and materialize into a replacement that then colorizes to fit the look of her black shoe.

Strung on chains, hardly able to breathe as both Ekitai and Kokei glance at her with concern, Dana mutters slightly more audibly: “Even if I have to regrow my body ten times…a hundred times…I don’t care. I’ll stop you…you heartless ravager.”

Frozen the crimson devil stands, staring straight up at Dana, now having focused its attention on the three after seeming to not even acknowledge their presence. It glances down at the detached foot on the floor still pierced by the hook, and then up at Dana, before then taking two steps towards her.

Its jagged cape sways to the side as its crimson lenses glare straight into her soul, and in its demonic inhuman voice it examines, “And yet you still owe your life…to him….”

Chained up and having just depleted the little energy she had left from the regeneration, Dana coughs and coils forward before then straightening herself and glaring with sharp green eyes that could pierce metal.

Her voice slightly clearer yet with the same fatigue causing it to come off almost more menacingly, she retorts back with: “You think…you…the mass murderer…are comparable…to him…?”

In steady steps the devil approaches the group, causing Kokei to coil up in fear from the aggression they may have caused, only to find the devil stopping short to bend down and pick up Dana’s severed foot off the ground. He then stands up and brings the foot to his face, inspecting the open wound and the mess of golden wires that can be seen peeking inside.

“I realize you are no longer fully human…so in a way perhaps you are more like him than some…but even then…you are still nothing like him at all. No…he is nothing you know of…he is nothing he knows of. He bathes in his own bliss…to feel the dream of a hero…someone who ignores the collateral damage in service for their own ego,” reflects the devil before the foot suddenly melts into a golden liquidy substance that spills off of his hand, leaving him only the hook which he then relinquishes in a burst of crimson flames.

“You think HE’S the one with the ego??” exclaims Dana before coughing again, expelling more of her energy which Kokei shows worry to but is unable to find any words to hold her back with, nothing to stop her from continuing to further put them in the demon’s eye.

“After everything you have done…after everyone you have killed…how could you live with yourself…if it wasn’t for an ego…?” demands Dana with a voice slightly raspy now before she yet again coughs.

Standing by the center of the bridge is the devil, and on the other side floats Dana beside her two allies, the two glaring at each other. They glare in silence as the other two just watch in consternation, uneasy of the tension growing given they are the ones shackled.

Another step is made forth by the devil, inching closer to the group, and it then retorts callously: “‘Everyone?’ You mean those lowlifes…do you expect me to feel guilt for them?”

“You’re one of those Exhumans, the ones that see humans as lesser?” confronts Kokei spontaneously after having tried staying quiet as to not draw attention to herself, and immediately after her exclamation she realizes what she had done and shuts her mouth with horrified eyes, trying to close her mouth with her hands only to be reminded that they can’t move anyways.

Although the words have been spoken, and the devil glances from Dana to Kokei, now eyeing her with those same hellish peripherals.

“You take me as an Exhuman extremist…no…I could care less about their quarrel. Humans…Exhumans…they’re equally worthless…they’re all insects, they’re born to serve and die soon after. I understand who I am…I am neither…but ‘he’ chooses to neglect that fact. He chooses to identify himself falsely…he chooses to see himself as an insect…so he can forget about what he is. It’s ironic…he was the one to receive everything for who he was…and yet he chooses to act like he isn’t it at all. You think of yourselves as his friends...but truthfully…his only purpose with you insects is to perpetuate his egotistical illusion of heroism…but the one part of him he will never share with any of you…is his glory,” the devil eerily calmly explains.

“You are all toys to us…all of you are toys…but he has named you,” creepily speaks the devil, only for Ekitai to inexplicably release a chuckle which garners the attention of Kokei, Dana, and even the devil itself, all eyeing the strangely humored old man.

Ekitai then shakes his head and apologizes in between laughs, “Sorry I just, I mean damn I’m not going to lie as far as monologues go this shoots pretty hard if I do say so myself, we’re really in it now aren’t we?”

“You are…you’ve crossed beings beyond your comprehension…and for that you’ve found yourself in the crossfire of an unholy war. But I will bring an end to it…I will be the monster if it means stopping the other one…because if you believe that in any capacity you are equal to him, you are so very mistaken,” warns the devil before it then turns around, and starts to walk down the bridge once again after seemingly adjourning the discussion.

As the devil strolls down the bridge, Dana raises her head and with all her remaining energy she vocalizes in a near shout: “Maybe, but the furthest one from equals to him here is you!”

Instantly the devil halts and turns his head the other way, the side of his right eye glaring straight at the three as he lets out a devilish, almost animalistic growl.

Just when it seemed there was nothing left to speak of, the devil fully pivots around to face the group, and begins pacing towards them as he mutters with a greater hint of aggravation, “You don’t think he’s made that clea-,” just as a sudden beeping sound comes from his dark silver gauntlet, to which he stops at his tracks with a straight posture and pivots just the other way, staring straight at the far side’s window screen as do the three strung allies.

All four of them suddenly come to find that deep in the cosmic landscape before them, above the first Earth amongst the stars in the abyss, is what looks like a star but noticeably brighter.

Frozen in place, the devil just stares at the light before it then begins to march towards it, its chains clanging around its neck as the three allies behind can only remain in place and stare with disorientation, not entirely certain of what they were faced with.

Yet as the devil approaches the far other side of the bridge, the distant star has become brighter, almost as though it is moving at incredible relative speeds just above the Earth.

Down on the gray rocky lands of the moon, devoid of a natural blue sky although given a similar atmosphere by the overwhelming cyan sunlight from behind, many of the large railguns sized magnitudes greater than the height of a man rotate on a disk pivot that sits on the surface, letting the guns turn towards the approaching star.

Past the railguns, the other weapons systems stationed on the ground such as the ones that imitate missile barrage systems with their more rectangular shape also pivot towards the same target, all of them standing on the desolate gray wasteland between the tall white spikes.

The huge weapons move with eerie creaks and industrial cranks, but all of the ones in the area move towards the singular target as if part of a sole hivemind.

Brighter the star becomes in the window screen, which the devil watches now at the far other side of the bridge, fully focused on it as it has once again fully lost interest in the other three captives behind.

Those three captives can only stare, Kokei puzzled with peering eyes, Ekitai tilting his head with an open dumbfounded jaw, and Dana sharpening her stare as her irises transform golden with a hint of intrigue, and almost one of optimism.

A smile begins to creep up on her face as her analysis is complete in a matter of seconds, and she announces its conclusion: “He’s here,” to which both Kokei and Ekitai’s eyes expand in astonishment.

At the driver’s seat of the black pod sits the pale man, his glaring azure eyes with a sharp glint of vengeance, his teeth gritting as he leans forward from his leather seat’s backrest, the engine roaring like a fantastical beast.

Silently the devil watches the screen as the three captives behind him try to sway to get a better angle, raising their heads as suddenly their exhaustion seems to be wearing off rapidly, a hint of excitement in each of them now.

For before all of them is the star shining brighter than before, as it was no star, and it was definitely now moving.

Racing with roars, the black pod soars forth towards the nearing moon, the gray orb with unnatural glints and shimmerings all stemming from the many facilities being housed on the colonized land.

The sleek black hull remains unscathed despite the calamity the other day, sharp and viscous as ever.

Watching out the window, the devil glances down and back up before commenting curiously, “He’s moving well beyond the speeds for a lock-on, but he knows the moment he slows down for a landing he’ll be extinguished in a second.”

Glaring straight forward, the man begins to growl through his gritted teeth, his white locks waving behind him, his pale white skin beginning to reflect the cyan sunlight of the approaching supersun, consuming his face and soul.

Brighter the light becomes as on the other side of the room, Kokei glances at Dana after noting the devil’s mention, only to find Dana with a puzzled expression as she peers more keenly before muttering to herself, “Wait…why is he still accelerating?”

Louder the engine’s roar grows, the entire pod beginning to rattle as sparse breadcrumbs once littering the back leather seat bench begin to shake and jiggle, jumping off of the seat and falling on the floor.

Past the windshield screen that the single passenger stares at is the approaching Moon gradually taking up more of the screen, and now instead of merely lights visible on the surface, structures start to take shape such as the distant power plants, but more importantly the collection of tall white spikes beside the colossal telescope.

Both Kokei and Dana express anxiety in their faces after the news, although beside them Ekitai begins to smile even more fanatically, going as far as to remark in wonderment, “No way he has the balls to do that.”

Instantly Kokei turns to Ekitai and asks desperately, “Do what??”

Without even needing to hear the answer, the devil takes one step back as though he himself is becoming shaken.

Louder and louder the engine roars, but not just that, for the man at the helm begins to roar too as his mouth opens, releasing an unrestrained bellow that matches the intensity of his ride, matching almost harmoniously as though for a moment insanity had bested him, a fanatical glare in his irises on his blazing cyan face.

His locks thrash more rapidly as the entire pod’s interior begins to dawn a cyan tint from the approaching supersun, as if the entire vehicle was flying straight into the sun at full speed and yet without a care in the world.

Another step back is made by the crimson devil who watches the shining light exponentially brighten and enlarge, now seeming to be the one in distress despite its face being concealed by the black mask.

It then turns to face the three captives who all watch the star approaching with awe, the chains holding them from moving their limbs but another force suspending them entirely.

From the perspective of the captive in the center, the star is now visible higher up the spherical ceiling, although at first there is complete silence in its direction. It shines bright white, flaring like a diamond as it grows larger in view.

Then all at once in the speed of a lightning bolt and the sound of one too, a sudden immense roar rumbles the moon followed by the star crashing straight into the screen with a blaring boom that instantly shatters the ceiling and allows the bolt to smash straight into the floor right before the captive, leading to an instant fiery explosion of reds and oranges that consumes the whole room at once as the resulting thunder after the lightning.

Chunks of black metal fling in all directions like the shrapnel of a grenade, barely missing the captive as it collides into the surrounding spherical walls as the entire room begins to start flashing red and an alarm proceeds to blare violently. Some of the shrapnel even penetrates holes through the walls, allowing the flames to breathe out although even then the room remains full of them as other shrapnel collapses through the openings between the bridges and into the lower level.

On the other side of the control room staggers the devil, raising its arm as if to protect itself from the flames, stumbling steps back towards the wall as the open flame rages and bellows before it, temporarily clouding the entire other side of the room in an inferno.

The sirens continue to scream and the flashing lights don’t help with focus, but the devil begins to recover and stand up straight which is when through the flame a pair of blazing azure lights shine straight at it, like all seeing eyes peering through the darkness of a cave.

The azureous lights brighten and enlarge in the view of the devil, who watches with a clear reluctance to an environment no longer in his control.

In the blazing firestorm that sweeps the room, flames of orange and red dancing and swaying like the leaves of a forest, the two azureous lights shine bright from behind.

Those lights move to the forefront a moment after, the lights beaming from the sharp eyes on the pale face of the man whose white locks dance with the fire, his face tense with equal scorching of the room.

The man steps out of the flames, causing them to brush to the side which temporarily reveals the three captives behind, still chained in the air staring in silent astonishment at the man in the leather jacket that reflects the burning heat.

Faced down by the blazing man, the devil takes another step back before finally standing straight, recovering itself and straightening its posture. The simulated breeze outside causes its jagged cape to dance chaotically behind the same as its hood, but the devil stands its ground before taking one step forward.

Making its first step, the devil glares with crimson eyes and taunts through a raised demonic voice, “And here you are, back to save the helpless victims trapped in your games! Because what is a hero without the weak to save, isn’t that right?!”

Standing before the raging flame, before the three allies strung up behind all of whom watch each of his very movements, the man closes his fists as he maintains his sharp glare straight into the devil without hesitation, his posture tall and defined.

“I am not playing hero, and they are not playing victims,” asserts the man with a confident tone, although at first quiet, audible but not definitive exactly.

Red light is casted on Meditat’s face from the hellfire that emerged along his side, to which a moment later a red flame bursts straight in front of him, yet his body doesn’t waver. His white locks wave behind and beside his face as he sharply glares forward with blazes ignited in his shining azure eyes, his body emanating with the aura of resolve while firmly facing forwards.

Then he answers.

“WE ARE A TEAM. WE ARE THE BELLATORS!”