Arc I: “Apocalypse”
Chapter I: “The Generals”
Episode III: “First Mission!”
There are no openings… this guy… he’s pretty good! Rayon’s thoughts were steady, but his eyes were sharp, tracking every twitch of Akira’s muscles.
Suddenly, Akira’s energy spiked, and his stance shifted. By the time Rayon blinked, Akira had disappeared.
He’s fast!
Rayon turned instinctively, just in time to block Akira’s punch.
Did he predict that? Akira thought, teeth clenched. No, he just reacted that fast!
“In that case, I’ll just go even faster!”
Akira sprang into the air, swinging his left leg to kick Rayon’s head.
Rayon blocked the kick with his right forearm, then grabbed Akira’s leg with his left hand. Before he could counter, Akira twisted his body, using the momentum to bring his other leg whipping around to Rayon’s temple.
He just doesn’t let up! Rayon moved his right arm to grab the second kick with his iron-tight grip.
“You’re wide open!” Akira barked as he swung both his arms down, intending to chop Rayon’s neck.
You haven’t gotten me yet!
Rayon slid back, light as air, putting distance between them before Akira could land his third attack.
“It seems I’ve underestimated you,” he said with a calm, yet cold tone. “But don’t worry, I’ll just take this a little bit more seriously from now on.”
Rayon exhaled deeply as his pure white aura appeared around his body. His energy output increased as his spirit ignited violently.
Akira wiped sweat from his chin. His grin widened as his white aura burst out, dust swirling from the force.
“So, we’re turning up the heat? I’m game.”
The ground beneath them cracked as their power rose.
These guys are insane! All the spectators thought.
“See?” Darc said from the sidelines, elbowing Sikira. “I told you Akira has a chance!”
Sikira said nothing. Her throat was tight, a bead of sweat sliding down her temple.
Akira and Rayon’s yield levels kept rising as they squared off on the training court.
“That’s enough.” Rayon said flatly, “I won’t need more power than this to beat you.” His aura dimmed, and he retook his stance.
“Really?” Akira mirrored him. “Then I’ll stop here too.”
In an instant, they vanished, reappearing all over the court as they clashed.
“They’re Aether-Skipping!” Sikira gasped.
Darc’s jaw slackened. I can barely keep track of them! Aether-skips… a high-level technique that incorporates aether to reinforce your body while moving. The result: incredible movement speed that can overwhelm your opponent. It’s said that masters of the technique can even move faster than light!
To the untrained eye, it was chaos. To the students watching, it was like watching gods trade blows.
The two blurred across the court, each exchange louder than the last.
But eventually, Rayon began to outpace him. His movements were sharper, his timing perfect. Akira barely saw the roundhouse coming before it crashed against his ribs, launching him back.
Dammit, I can’t keep up! Akira coughed, his lungs burning.
Rayon was sweating but composed, his breathing steady.
“You’re good,” he said softly, “but you’re not good enough.”
Akira groaned, forcing himself to his feet.
Think… think!
[His mind flashed back to his Techniques class from the previous day...]
A class of students was sitting in a large lecture room with a wide stage.
“Hand-to-hand combat is necessary,” the instructor had said on the stage, their voice echoing through the hall, “but aether techniques separate the good from the great.”
He held up his palm, coated in a blue glow.
“Your aether—your life force—can be refined into purpose. It can be projectile, like this—” He fired a glimmering orb across the room, curving it around the lecture hall before catching it in his palm.
“Or it can reinforce your body.” His frame glowed, muscles taut.
“But if you want to take it further,” his grin widened, “you give your aether specific instructions, or imbue it with an elemental affinity.”
His aura flared red-hot, forming into a blazing sword.
“That is how an Art is born. So, for the next few days, you will all focus on not only generating aether-based techniques but also giving them elemental affinities and specific purposes. This is where real fighters are made.”
“An affinity…” Akira pondered, what affinity would I use?
[The training court…]
I’ll do it! Akira thought. I’ll create an attack using an affinity, right now!
He remembered Old Man Haru’s dazzling techniques as he planted his feet and drew his aether into his hands, ignoring the sting in his bones.
What’s he planning? Rayon narrowed his eyes, tension building in his gut. He’s gathering a serious amount of aether there!
A yellow orb of aether bloomed between Akira’s hands, radiating heat.
Is that!? Rayon’s composure cracked.
The crowd gasped.
At this point, most students weren’t even accustomed to outputting their aether. On the other hand, Akira was able to release his aether from his body and form it into a technique.
“Woah, is that what I think it is!?” Darc yelled.
“No way,” Sikira whispered.
Not only has he manifested a significant amount of his energy, but it seems to have an affinity, too!
Rayon clenched his fists.
This kid… if that hits me, I lose!
Rayon started forming an orb of energy in his hand in an attempt to prepare a counter.
The orb swelled, crackling with light. Akira drew it to his waist, his stance rooted deep. For a moment, Akira thought he heard a whisper.
“Star… Destroyer!” The yellow beam erupted, quickly tumbling through the court, making its way towards Rayon.
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Shit!
Rayon thrust his palms forward, unleashing a blast of pure aether. He tried to hold back the beam.
It’s too strong!
Rayon twisted his attack, redirecting the beam skyward. The blast scorched the clouds.
Once the light faded, Rayon was on one knee, panting. He looked up—
Seeing that Akira had collapsed, face-first on the court.
WHOOO!
The whole crowd started cheering as they flooded the court.
“That was incredible!”
“Holy hell!”
“He almost had him!”
“To think Rayon was able to deflect that!”
“Haha, pay up, Darc!” Sikira grinned with her hand out.
“Dammit…” Darc groaned as he handed Sikira two silvers.
An old man in long robes was standing on a building near the court. He smiled faintly as he watched the conclusion of the fight. “This next generation… is promising indeed.” He said as he walked away.
[The next day]
Akira pictured a man and a woman, holding two infants.
“Look! He looks just like him!” the woman in Akira’s dream said. “They both look just like you.”
“Hehe, you think so?” A man standing next to her blushed while rubbing the back of his head.
“I can’t wait to see how they grow up.” She leaned in, dominating Akira’s field of view. “I’m sure Akira will be a great big—”
“Achoo!”
Akira opened his eyes to find himself lying in his bed. He turned and saw Sikira sitting at his bedside, rubbing her nose as she flipped through a weathered UFA manual. Akira slowly sat up.
“Hey, you’re awake! Feeling better, champ?” Sikira teased as she finished sniffling.
“Yeah… what happened?” Akira said, rubbing his eyes.
“You mean… You don’t remember? How you challenged Rayon to a fight? You got your butt handed to you. You’ve been asleep for a whole day!”
“Really?” Akira looked up at the ceiling.
Then... I wasn’t even close.
His fists clench around the sheets.
If I can’t beat someone like him… how am I supposed to face Felix?
“Yeah,” her grin widened, “But you put up a pretty decent fight. That energy-beam thing? Pretty impressive.”
Is that what happened?
“What was that? How’d you do it?” Sikira leaned on the bed and got up in Akira’s face, with a curious look on hers.
Flustered, Akira backed up. After thinking for a second, he looked down at his hands.
How did I do that? “I think… I was able to use one of those elemental affinities that the instructor was talking about the other day.”
“An elemental affinity?” Sikira said as she sat back in her chair, crossed her arms, and looked up towards the ceiling to think. “Which one?”
“I think… it was light-based.”
“Light, huh? I think that was one of the rarer ones!”
Sikira flipped through the book on her lap.
“Let’s see…”
She traced her finger through some pages.
“It says here that there are five main affinities, all with their strengths and weaknesses.
There’s fire, which has great destructive power, wind, which is swift and evasive, earth, which is strong and resilient, water, which is flexible and versatile, and lightning, which is generally the fastest and also has good power.
Fire is strong against wind, weak to water; earth is strong against lightning, but weak to wind; and lightning is strong against water.
However, two other natural affinities also exist, but are a lot rarer! There’s shadow, which is strong against the main five and shrouded in mystery. Then, there’s the type you said you used, light. It’s strong against shadow, but it doesn’t have much in the way of weaknesses.
That’s all I can make out from this book; the rest of the words are faded.”
“Interesting… so in other words, I’m pretty great, right?” Akira said with a wide grin across his face.
Sikira sighed with a long face, “Yeah, I guess so.”
I can’t let Akira leave me in the dust! “Listen up, Akira! I’m going to find my own affinity and surpass you one day! And you can count on that!” She stood up and shoved her finger in his face.
Before Akira could respond, someone barged into the room.
“Hey, it’s noisy in here! Does that mean Akira’s finally up?” Kai walked into the room.
“Master Kai!” Akira and Sikira both said.
“Hey there!” Kai grinned.
He leaned against the frame of the door, hiding both the fact that he couldn’t stand up straight, along with a silver flask in the side of his coat.
“It’s good that you’re both here. I have some good news for you guys.”
“News?” They said in unison as they looked at each other with confused expressions.
“Yeah. You three—” he pulled Darc out from the hallway, “have been assigned your first mission. You’re to report to an island in the north to clean up some bandit camps. If you guys do well, it will really help your standing in being selected for the next Trial of Merit.”
“Alright!” Sikira jumped in the air, pumping up her fist.
Our first mission… Akira thought. This’ll be my chance to see just what I’m capable of! Akira clenched his fist.
[The next day]
“Alright, Darc, you ready?” Akira said as he watched Darc finish fixing his gi.
The three of them stood on a launch pad on the edge of the UFA’s main campus. Sikira entered their airship and set the location for the village.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Darc said as he and Akira entered the ship.
“So, where exactly are we going?” Akira asked.
“The Alpines,” Sikira answered, “it’s a high-altitude mountain range in the Northern Region. Supposedly, the UFA has reason to believe that there are bandits camped out there due to some strange energy readings, and they want us to take care of them.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Darc said.
“Yeah. How long will it take to get there?”
“Uh… with the quality of this ship…” Sikira looked around at the old tech and faded paint. “Probably a week. We'll have to make a few pit stops.”
“A week!?” Akira exclaimed, “There’s only one bed in here!”
“I wonder if I brought enough rations for the three of us… these two eat a lot…” Darc mumbled to himself.
“Yeah, so you guys are gonna have to sleep over there.” Sikira pointed to the dirty old chairs built into the walls of the ship.
Akira’s soul left his body as he looked where Sikira pointed.
“This ship is a piece of junk! Are you sure we can’t get there any faster? Why would the UFA supply us with such a bad ship?”
Sikira blushed before banging her fist on the back of Akira’s head.
“I’m the one who had to rent this ship for us to use. If you want a better one, pay with your own money. Or learn how to fly jerk-wad. Hmph!”
Sikira stomped off back to the controls.
“Dang it…” Akira rubbed his head in disappointment.
If I knew how to fly… I wouldn’t be here!
“I need to talk to Master Kai when we get back and beg him to teach me how to fly…” Akira mumbled.
[A week later]
Their rusty airship landed on the frozen island.
Akira tumbled out, kissing the snow. “We’re alive!”
The wind bit like knives, snow flurries blinding their path.
“Wow… cold,” Darc muttered, shivering in his green gi.
“We are up North after all. And pretty far at that.” Sikira said as she stomped past in a thick coat, smirking. “You should’ve bought gear like me.”
“Hey, where’d you get all that!?” Darc hounded her as he was shivering.
“Oh, this?” She looked down at her coat. “I bought it at the market before we left.”
“And you didn’t think to get some for us?” Darc cried.
“I did. You can have some… for a price,” she said, grinning.
Akira groaned. Why are my teammates like this?
[A few moments later]
The three of them, now fully dressed for the Arctic weather, trod through the deep snow. By nightfall, they found the camp: a cluster of tents, lit by flickering fires.
The visibility is low, but... “I think that’s them!” Darc said as he pointed in front of them.
The three of them crouched up to the large rock that protruded from the ground in front of them and peered over it, seeing an encampment made from several tents.
“Alright, let’s go!” Akira said as he jumped up from behind the cover.
“Wait!” Darc pulled him back down. “We should do some recon first. And then come up with a plan.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really!”
“Oh. Well, maybe you should’ve told Sikira that because she’s already at the camp.” Akira said while pointing at her.
Surprised, Darc looked over the rocks to see her making contact with the camp. “Aw, dammit…”
The two of them ran to catch up with her.
“Who the hell are you?” one of the bandits said when he caught on to Sikira’s presence.
“I’m the one who’s gonna kick your ass!” She said as she charged towards him with a flying kick.
The brute easily blocked the kick with his forearm. “A little brat like you? You must be one of them UFA brats, aren’t you? The boss said you runts would be sniffing your noses around here sooner or later.”
He’s tough! Sikira thought as she landed, then jumped back.
In seconds, Sikira was surrounded by seven other bandits.
“Sikira!” Darc yelled as he and Akira were still running over.
“You’re finished, little girl!” The large bandit said as he pulled out his heavy artillery and started firing at her.
Bullets ripped through the air.
“Oh no!” Darc yelled.
Akira had a serious face as he and Darc were running over. In an instant, he vanished, reappearing before Sikira and scooping her up into his arms. He quickly leaped out of harm’s way.
“You okay?” he asked as they landed.
She blinked, stunned.
“Y-yeah, thanks,” she said as he put her down.
“W-wow, that was amazing,” Darc muttered. “I didn’t even see him get over there!”
That brat is fast! The large bandit thought.
Now the kids were on opposite sides of the bandits, with Akira and Sikira blocking them from the camp.
Akira cracked his knuckles.
“Alright, I’ll take those six, so you two take those two strong ones,” Akira said while pointing to different bandits.
“S-six? How are you going to handle six of them by yourself?” Sikira barked.
“Hehehe, don’t underestimate me, Sikira.” He said, rubbing his nose with a grin. “Surely you should know by now that I’m pretty awesome!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, you little brat!” The large bandit said, firing his gun at the two of them.
Akira became serious again. He jumped in front of Sikira and, with his agile hands, caught all the bullets that were fired. This caused his gloves to start smoking. Then, Akira Aether-Skipped around the bandits, knocking them out one by one.
“How is he doing that?” Darc questioned. But he didn’t have time to wonder, as one of the bandits engaged him in combat.
While they were fighting, the other remaining bandit (the large one with the gun) made his way towards Sikira.
“I guess I’ll start with you first, girlie.”
Sikira grit her teeth as sweat rolled down her face. I can do this! “Haa!” Sikira charged up her energy, unleashing her full yield.
She ran towards the bandit, who started firing at her. She dashed from side to side, narrowly evading the bullets. Once she got close, she jumped into the air and fired two aether blasts at him.
“Argh!” he raised his arms to block the blasts, leaving him exposed.
“You're through!” Sikira said as she dashed behind him. “HA!” she fired a beam, blasting the bandit until he fell to the ground.
“Ahhh!”
Meanwhile, Akira finished off the six bandits as he said he would, and Darc managed to subdue the remaining one.
“Well... that was easy. Good work, guys,” Akira said with a grin.
“Wait, it’s not over yet! Look over there!” Darc said.
Walking over from the tents, another bandit approached them. He was a mountain of a man, with a red cap on his head. An ominous wolf stood behind him.
“That’s new,” Akira muttered as he glanced at the wolf.
Its eyes burned red.
It feels like… the wolves that attacked Haru! Akira’s eyes widened.
His yield is much higher than the others! Darc thought.
“Hey, you two get behind me and let me handle this!” Akira said.
“What? No way, we’re UFA students too! We can handle ourselves!” Sikira shouted.
But before she had a chance to prove it, the bandit blitzed her and Darc, hitting them both with strong attacks. Sikira stumbled backwards, while Darc fell unconscious. The wolf stayed back and watched them fight.
“D-dammit…” she said before she fell over.
Akira Aether-Skipped in front of her, just in time to catch her and lay her down. Then he turned to look towards the bandit.
“You must be the leader here,” he said.
“Hmph. I won’t go down as easily as these other fools. Once I defeat you, I’ll finish slaughtering your friends right after, so don’t worry about them.”
“You bastard,” Akira gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. “Hauuuuaahhhh!” Akira threw his arms down as he unleashed a powerful aura, destroying his coat and winter gear in a violent flash, and blowing away all the snow in the area.
This kid is insane!
Before the bandit could react, Akira dashed straight below him. Then he jumped up, head-butting the bandit’s chin and causing him to cough up blood. The bandit started stumbling backwards, trying to regain his balance.
“You cheeky little—” he said as he made a jab towards Akira.
Akira soared over it, then spun around and kicked him in the face, knocking him on his back.
“Don’t you ever threaten my friends again!” he said as he landed. Then Akira stood up and looked over at the wolf. I’m getting a bad feeling about this… why would one of these wolves be here?
Suddenly, the wolf ran towards him, bearing its jaws.
Akira jumped over it, firing several aether blasts.
They had no effect. Once he landed, the wolf whipped its tail into him, sending him flying through several tents.
“Gah!” blood dripped down Akira’s face as he got up from the wreckage.
The wolf roared, spewing a beam of destructive aether, causing all the snow around it to steam.
“Woah!” Akira dove to the side, barely escaping the blast. Damn, this thing is strong!
Akira kept narrowly escaping the wolf’s attacks, while he was starting to sustain more and more damage.
I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up! Akira thought after getting hit again.
After being knocked away, Akira staggered before getting up. The wolf slowly walked towards him, with a low growl as saliva dripped from its mouth and its red eyes shone in the night. Then, it abruptly pounced on him, slashing him with its claws. Akira backed away, thinking to himself.
There’s only one way I can beat this thing! “I’ll have to use that again!” Akira said as he dodged the next few leaps. He started building up his energy while jumping around the wolf. “Star…”
The wolf pounced at him again, trying to interrupt his attack. It knocked Akira back, causing him to roll over several times before he got to his feet. He got back into his stance and gathered his aether once again.
“Star…”
The wolf jumped at him again— but this time, when it came into contact with Akira’s body, he disappeared into thin air. It was a mirage!
Hehe, it worked! “Star… Des… Troyer… HAA!” Akira said as he appeared behind the wolf and fired his yellow beam.
His blast completely vaporized the wolf.
I did it! He thought as he collapsed.
By then, all the bandits were completely wiped out, unable to move a muscle. Once Darc and Sikira regained consciousness, they were able to secure the bandits and head home.
As Sikira wrapped his wounds aboard the airship, she stared at Akira’s unconscious face.
How did he sustain this much damage? I’m pretty sure Akira was stronger than all those bandits… she wondered.
Her hands paused.
Just what happened?
[Next Time on Lyte of Utopia]: “The Trial”
[Yield Levels]:
Akira: 2,000
- Suppressed: 480
- Suppressed (vs Rayon): 1,200
- Suppressed (vs bandits): 1,000
- Rage Boost: 4,000
- Star Destroyer: x1.5
Rayon: ???
- Suppressed: 750
- Suppressed (vs Akira): 1,500
Sikira: 700
- Suppressed: 300
Darc: 850
- Suppressed: 350
UFA Students: 50-400
UFA Instructors: 1,000+
Master Kai: ???
Bandit 1: 650
Bandit 2: 780
Bandits 3-8: 400-600
Bandit Leader: 1,800
Demon Wolf: 2,700
- Breath of Destruction: x1.2
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