Arc III.5: “Zero”
Chapter II: “Conquest of Utopia”
Episode V: “Raida and Ryoda, Rising”
[Vs. Geal]
Carrie’s movements slowed—then stuttered. Her creamy aura thinned, snapped, and vanished as her meridians refused to hold the state any longer. She dropped to one knee, breath tearing.
Is this… the best I can do?
Above her, Kukito and Geal kept trading impacts—blow for blow—like two storms colliding inside a cage.
Kukito’s ribs screamed every time he moved. His wounds kept reopening under the strain.
How much longer can I keep this up…?
Geal’s eyes flashed with contempt.
“Die, mongrel. Congeal.”
He thrust his hand forward. Frosty aether surged—an instant-kill wave meant to lock Kukito’s blood and breath at once.
“Shit—!” Kukito braced, teeth clenched.
A streak of orange cut across the barrier.
“HA!”
Raida snapped a Protos stream into the surge—countless condensed orbs colliding like a sandstorm into a wave. The frost attack fractured, hissed, and dispersed into harmless crystals.
Kukito’s eyes widened. “Raida…? I thought you had one foot in the grave.”
“It’s Mizuka,” Raida coughed, one hand pressed to the hole in his chest—sealed, barely. “She kept me alive long enough to breathe again.”
He flexed his fingers. Ambient traces spiraled toward his palm—thin at first, then steadier.
“And while she worked… I gathered ambient aether.”
He stepped forward. “Now—leave the rest to me.”
Kukito exhaled as if relief was painful. “Right…”
He drifted back and dropped—too exhausted to stay airborne.
Mizuka caught him mid-fall, arms trembling as she guided him into the ship’s open hatch.
“I-I’ve got you,” she whispered, voice shaking but focused.
Geal sneered, frost crawling along his shoulders. “Hmph. You’re the weak one. What could you possibly do alone?”
Raida’s eyes sharpened. “I’ll show you.”
He lowered his stance—breathing once, slow and deliberate—then opened his meridians wider than he ever had.
Environmental aether didn’t explode into the air like a flare.
It answered.
Dust-like particles began to gather around him—orange-lit grit, solar and heavy, drawn from reservoirs beyond simple ambience.
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“Environmental Aether Boost…” Raida’s voice steadied. “Level One.”
An orange aura wrapped his body—thick, pressurized, like a miniature atmosphere forming around his skin.
Chrollo watched from the edge of the rock, eyes half-lidded.
So, he reached it. Crude… but functional. He’s still inefficient at absorption—yet his control is improving.
Raida’s aura surged once—hardening.
“HA!”
Geal’s composure cracked. “Dammit! How are you mongrels still standing?! You—You cheated! You’ve been hiding your strength this whole time!”
Raida didn’t answer the tantrum. He simply lifted his hands.
Environmental aether condensed into a dense, swirling mass of orange dust—compressed tighter and tighter until it began to glow like a newborn star.
“It’s over,” Raida said, voice low.
“Lower Fusion: Red Dwarf.”
The sphere stabilized—small compared to the sun, but terrifying in the way a collapsed core is terrifying: not bright… inevitable.
Raida grimaced. Not perfect. Not stable for long. But it’ll be enough.
“HA—!!”
He hurled it.
Geal hovered—frozen in place, expression caught between disbelief and instinctive fear.
“N-no way…” his voice cracked. “I… lost…?”
The Red Dwarf hit.
The explosion didn’t bloom like fire. It compressed—then detonated outward with a heavy solar roar. Geal was erased—no body, no frost shell, no second scream.
The barrier ruptured from the shock. A jagged tear opened, and vacuum lunged in, ripping air into the dark.
“MOVE!” Raida shouted.
Mizuka snapped up a barrier around the ship’s hatch as she pulled Kukito inside. Carrie stumbled after them, still shaky. Raida followed—last one in—forcing the hatch shut as the shockwaves slammed the rock field and sent the ship tumbling.
Inside the cockpit, alarms screamed. The ship spun—then stabilized under frantic hands.
Raida’s eyes flicked back through the viewport. “…Chrollo?”
The rock where Chrollo had been resting was empty.
He was gone.
[Ryoda vs. Solid]
Solid’s gaze snapped toward the distant rocks—then narrowed.
“…Geal.”
A faint pulse in the void—then nothing. No signature. No movement.
Geal is dead.
Solid exhaled through his nose, controlled rage tightening his jaw. “Dammit…” he whispered. “That fool got himself killed.”
His eyes returned to Ryoda—cold, surgical.
“I have to wrap this up,” Solid said. “So, I can go finish the ones who did it.”
Ryoda’s golden aura flared—then steadied. His breath slowed. “Yeah,” he replied, voice calm in a way that felt older than him. “You’re right.”
He raised his spear hand, posture tightening.
“This has dragged on long enough.”
Solid’s cracked fingers flexed. Frost crawled along his palm—dry, strained from overuse.
Tch. His output matches mine. But he’s thrown too many attacks… he has to be close to empty—
Solid’s eyes narrowed. No. He’s Utopian. Don’t underestimate their Flow.
He clenched his fist. I finish this now… or I hit my limit first.
His Imperium lattice tightened. The air felt anchored, colder—not louder.
“All or nothing. Deposition.”
A beam of freezing aether lanced forward—so clean it looked like a rule written across space.
Ryoda planted his feet and screamed through pain and faith alike. “Let’s go, Spirit—give me everything! Grand… Javelin!!”
A spear of golden aether formed, then reinforced—Pressure layered on top of it like a second blade.
Ryoda drove it into the beam’s face.
Neither side gave an inch.
Ice screamed. Gold screamed back.
“HAAA!” Ryoda pushed.
Solid’s teeth bared. This bastard doesn’t know when to die.
“HAAA—!” Solid surged, forcing Deposition forward—trying to end it by force, by law, by inevitability.
Then—
Ryoda Aether-Skipped.
Not away. Not back.
Up.
Solid’s eyes widened for a fraction of a heartbeat—too late.
Ryoda’s free hand flashed. Another spear formed—smaller, tighter, made for piercing rather than winning a clash.
“Grand—Javelin!”
The second spear punched straight through Solid’s chest.
“Gah—?!” Solid choked. Blood clouded in the void like ink. “DAMMIT—!”
The spear detonated inside him.
Imperium's lattice fractured—then shattered.
Solid’s body broke apart in a silent, violent bloom—frost, armor, and crystalline architecture collapsing into nothing.
The Deposition beam died with him.
[Acier vs. Hikari]
A sharp pulse hammered through Acier’s skull.
…They failed.
His gaze tightened—furious not because they died, but because they wasted time.
“Dammit… those fools.”
He lifted a hand. “All troops—fall back.”
His Dominion lattice flickered, strained. With what I have left, I can’t kill this man. Not without losing the fleet entirely.
Acier’s ships peeled away in disciplined retreat—damaged, limping, but intact enough to escape.
“Stop—don’t chase them,” Hikari ordered, voice raw. “We’ve taken too many casualties. We don’t have the strength to stop them now.”
The Cosmic Guard held position—watching the cold fleet disappear into the dark.
[Inside Acier’s ship]
Acier returned to his throne chamber. The silence felt insulting.
He slammed his fist into the armrest—hard enough to crack the metal.
“Damn it all!”
His eyes burned—not with emotion, but with promise.
“I vow… I will rule this universe.”
His fingers curled slowly, like he was already gripping a crown. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
A quiet breath.
“To make everything mine.”
From that day forward, Acier trained himself to enervation—not for pride, not for glory—
But for dominion in the truest sense: the ability to decide what lives, what freezes, and what belongs.
[Next Time on Lyte of Utopia]: “Kai and Kuro”
[Yield Levels]:
Carrie: 20,000
- Spirit Resonance: 20,000 (Physical: 2 – 2z)
- Weakened: 1,000
Kukito: 15,000
- Utopic Boost (Level 2) + Blessed Utopian: 5 – 2z
- Weakened: 5
Raida: 20,000
- Environmental Aether Boost (Level 1): 20 – 2z
- Protos: x1z
- Imperfect Red Dwarf: x3z
Geal: 2z
- Dominion: 2 – 2z
- Congeal: x100
Ryoda: 50,000
- Prime Utopian + Utopic Pressure: 50 – 3z
- Grand Javelin: x1z
Solid: 500 – 2z
- Imperium: 50 – 3z
- Deposition: x1z
Acier: 10z
- Dominion: 2 – 10z
Hikari: 10z
Soldiers: 1,000-10,000
Guards: 1,000-30,000