Fantasy Silent Voice

[SpaceRavens03]

“Is that....."Mushin"?”


“And I presume this is something you also aren't aware of?” Scientia asked, as if making a brick joke originating from Ryukia's innate Satsui powers to Ryutaro's innate Mushin powers.


“So he did it.” Clair mused, “Great work.”

 

[Topless]

"Come. On." As soon as Ryutaro have said that, Goutetsu went for the charge, only for his strikes the to be effortlessly dodged. Seeing an open, Ryutaro begins to deliver a lot of punishment to the Raging Demon. Punches, kicks, and chops, he delivers them all in a smooth and fast fashion.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

“So this is the power of Mushin? The relentless blows...doesn't look any different than the sort dealt by a Satsui practitioner.”

Xenon muttered under his breath to no one except the Artic Knight.

“Perhaps the core difference being how it harnesses its innate strength through tranquility.”

 

[Topless]

Goutetsu is hurt badly. He couldn't believe what he is experiencing. However, he grins. "Finally...a worthy challenge." A dark aura engulfs Goutetsu and then his skin begins to darken and his hair turning white. It is from there that everyone will witness Goutetsu's full power. With a loud scream, the ground shook violently. When all calms down, this is the result.

 

[SpaceRavens03]

“W-wait, is this supposed to happen!?”

Cheng exclaimed, nearly rising off his seat in shock at the darkened Goutetsu.

--------------------------------------------------

“...Are there any records of this?” Scientia asked, unusually calm despite witnessing what was likely an incoming darkest hour for Ryutaro.

 

[Topless]

"I don't know..." Ryujiro said in shock "There wasn't even a record about this one. Could it be that Goutetsu is also one of Eden's demons?"​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

Xenon could only stare in horror as Goutetsu's now the one giving Ryutaro a hard beating in return for latter's proof of being presumably "worthy" for the challenge. Startlingly enough Mushin was no longer as effective compared to earlier; The innate strength of bloodlust and rage now overpowering tranquility like darkness swallowing the light.

 

[Topless]

Goutetsu is ravaging against Ryutaro. He could barely keep up. But then, just as Goutetsu delivers yet another punch, Ryutaro immediately dodges it and hits back right in the solar plexus. He begins to fight back.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

“Looks like Ryutaro's fighting back now!”

Cheng exclaimed in amazement as the audience all watched and cheered for Goutetsu's defeat.

Xenon let off a sigh of relief before looking back at the screen.

“Eden's sure got their hands on some pretty terrifying individuals, I gotta admit.”

“....Doest the presence of this sir not troubleth thee at the very least??”

The Artic Knight suddenly asked, prompting Xenon to look at the ghostly figure of the Artic Rose's first wielder.

“Goutetsu's power you mean? Of course it do-”

“Nay. T is not about his performance. I worry more of the Empire of Eden having that gent participateth in the tournament. I feareth there lies a sinister plot behind his attendance. A plot we remaineth woefully unaware of.”

 

[Topless]

Goutetsu's mad now. "That's it! You're done for!" He yelled before he charges up and dashes into Ryutaro to deliver a powerful punch meant to end him. Ryutaro slaps it and say "No...you..." He throws a punch straight to the temple, slamming Goutetsu down on the hard floor which creates a deep crater, destroying the arena completely. Once every is cleared, the results are in full view. Both men are lying on the ground, back to their normal states. But as shown, Goutetsu has lost consciousness while Ryutaro is panting heavily. It has been decided; Ryutaro has won the tournament.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

Among the thunderous cheers that soon followed outside, Xenon and Artic Knight were instead the only ones who were not celebrating the victory of their friend as they were now instead discussing about Eden's participation.

 

[Topless]

As the crowd cheers, the celebration was unfortunately cut short.

"EXECUTE ORDER 87!"

A gun shot was heard, and from within the crowd rises the soldiers of Eden who have been disguised as the audience this entire time. They would proceed to massacre the people as they run for their lives.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

Moments before the end of the match
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

“As we recall 'i our knowledge, Eden seeks to expand its landmass by claiming separate nations under its name.”

“That's right. Them trying to open the gates into Algwar was probably so that doing so will be easier since everyone will submit more easily. And if what the two knights from earlier said was true, two out of four factions of Eden were also doing it to silence out the opposition out of fear that ignoring them will have its consequences.”

“Doth thee remember the incident involving the attempted murder of the priestess?” The Artic Knight asked, prompting Xenon to nod in response.

“The ones within the duo knights' arms answers me of Eden's intention to frameth the destruction of Alta onto the Holy Order.”

“ "Framing the destruction of Alta onto the Holy Order"? So they were doing it because- Wait...” Xenon paused, pondering outloud moments later. “So they were thinking of the logic of giving the public the idea that Eden would've been more competent to resolve certain issues. Goutetsu here is representing Eden and is one of the strongest fighters...do you think Eden might have convinced Goutetsu to enter in the first place so that they could persuade Ikaruga for more security?”

The two of them remained silent at the realisation of Goutetsu's presence, only for a gunshot ringing from the stadium to shatter it with the alert of an ongoing hostility.

“Oh no...!”

A tone of dread escaping the current Artic Rose's wielder's lips as he quickly rushed out with the sheathed blade on hand.

 

[Topless]

"RURI!" Rachelle cried as she immediately picks up Ruri. "Rachelle, follow me! Let's get her out of here! You guys, take care of the soldiers and aid the crowd out of here!" Michelle said before she leads Rachelle and Ruri out of the arena. Meanwhile, Ryutaro would make a run to the audience stand to regroup with the others.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

“So much for taking a break from all the adventuring. Let's get everyone out of here before a genocide gets sparked!” Cheng exclaimed just as Ryutaro joined.

“I'll go get their attention. Tell Scientia to come over too! Could use some ballistic support against them now.” Clair spoke before parting with the groups to take on the shooters on his own for the moment. Xenon himself soon joined in at intercepting the killings, freezing several of them if not hacking through their weapons.

“You're resorting to this now...!?” Xenon cursed under his breath as he swung the Artic Rose downwards diagonally at the weapon of the assailant in front of him before knocking him out cold.

 

[Topless]

The group would fight off the soldiers. Amelia smashes them with her drill hammer, Penny would blast them with her arm cannon, Lorna starts casting spells to thwart the soldiers, and Miguel begins to take shots on their heads. Meanwhile, Ryutaro would fight the soldiers, but because of the fight with Goutetsu, he is at the point of nearly passing out. Just then, Ryukia and Wendy jumps into the fray.

"You guys need an extra hand? Well let me at em'!" Wendy said before she beats up the soldiers with her bare hands. Ryukia would do the same. Eventually, all of the participating fighters, save for Yang, have joined in the fight.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

Not much later, several beam-based projectiles started raining down upon the shooters on the audience stand. It did not take long for the party to recognise it was from Scientia, as he soon landed right behind a goon and knocked him aside.

“To think there would be a mass murder taking place.”

 

[Topless]

Everything was going smoothly. The soldiers are being pushed back. It looks like the favor goes to the side of the good...except one thing. After the beams were rained, Ryutaro looks down to see Goutetsu already up and a ball of his Satsui is formed as he aims it on Xenon. "GOUTETSU!" He screamed as Goutetsu fires the orb at Xenon. "XENON!!!" Ryutaro screamed.

As the ball is inching closer to Xenon, in a very desperate move, Ryutaro goes in front of him and takes the hit, leaving a giant gaping hole in his chest. His companions are shocked, especially Ryukia, who would cry out his name.

"ONIIIII-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!"

Ryutaro falls down, passing Xenon, and then hitting the ground.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

Xenon had expected himself to let out an anguished yell, but he did not. He had expected himself to burst out in anger and charge after Goutetsu, screaming bloody murder all the while. However, he never did. Instead, the same feeling of emptiness gradually took over his mind. The same emptiness that remained inside him for years until the day he encountered the Artic Knight. He felt his mind darkening overtime, alongside his vision turning blurrier as his eyes remained wide-eyed upon hearing witnessed his friend's death.

.....That was, until a slurred voice started calling out to him, getting clearer one attempt after the other until at last he finally heard the voice of the girl he had first met and formed a party with in Altissia. Unbeknownst to him, several in the party had just seen his hair nearly fully blackened while his cyan eyes were nearly dyed red completely.

 

[Topless]

"Xenon!" Rachelle had cried out after witnessing Ryutaro sacrificed himself to save his skin and Xenon having almost reverted back to what he was before.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

“!”

Rachelle's voice echoed into his hearing, the presume corruption gradually consuming Xenon halted and regressing as his dark hair and eyes started to regain their original colours while he slumped down onto his knees weakly. His mind had now fully registered what his eyes had just saw. Ryutaro was dead because of him.

“...no...”

Down at the stadium, Exceed was now handling Goutetsu on his own to prevent the latter from doing anything else. This time however, the laid-back attitude once radiating from him was instead replaced by a hidden fury obscured by his eyes hidden by the hood and the frown seemingly hiding a certain level of anger. Goutetsu had now just found himself severely outclassed by the man who once made a mockery of their match earlier.

 

[Topless]

"Xenon! What's- no...." Rachelle, along with Michelle and Ruri, went over to Xenon, only to find Ryutaro laid on the floor with a hole on his chest. "No....Ryutaro...." Rachelle collapse on her knees as she could not help but stare in shock. Meanwhile, Goutetsu is getting beaten up badly. Just before Exceed could land the final blow, Eden soldiers went up and aim their guns at him.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

Before they could have open fire however, Scientia himself took aim and unloaded several rounds of ray-based projectiles onto the soldiers attempting to fire at Exceed. The latter was able to deal his final blow, although he did not kill Goutetsu for some reason.

“Do what you whatever you want with him. I have no other business with him.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“This is all my fault. I'm so sorry!”

Xenon was now bowing down on fours, his gaze fixed downwards onto the ground below him in shame as he was doing what Ikarugans recognise as "dogeza". In front of him were both Ryujiro Tennouji and Yuka Tennouji.

“If I had been more attentive to my surroundings your son wouldn't have....!”

 

[Topless]

"Xenon, don't blame yourself for our son's death." Yuka said in a solemn tone as she knelt down. One can tell that she is trying to hold back her tears. "He sacrificed his life to protect you. He...oh..." But she couldn't hold it for long as she begins to break down crying. Ryujiro tries to comfort her. On the other hand, Xenon's companions watches on, all of them still could not believe how the tournament came to an end.

"I...I can't believe Ryutaro's..."

"Don't say it..."

"There was nothing much we could do."

"R-Ryutaro..."

"Ah...tis but a horrible day for us. Why did the gods allowed this to happen?"

"Sis..."

"...."

By then, Ryukia appeared, and when she saw Xenon...

"XENON, BAKA!!!"

She charges up to him and starts punching him in the head a few times before being pulled away by Ryujiro. "Ryukia, yamero! This is not Xenon's fault!" He explained before Ryukia frees herself from her father's grip. She looks at Xenon with a very bitter look and a river of tears flowing down her eyes as she say "It's all your fault! Onii-chan died because of you! I hope you burn in hell for what you've done!" And with that, she ran off to her room to let go of her sadness.​

 

[SpaceRavens03]

“She's definitely pissed alright....none of us could really blame her for the outburst however.”

Clair admitted while Scientia remained awfully silent through the ordeal, glancing at Xenon as Ruri tried to console the currentl wielder of the Artic Rose. Deep inside, Xenon had preferred getting beaten to the inch of his life over receiving the heart wrenching reminder of how Ryutaro's died in the first place. At this rate, being boiled alive in hell sounded like a fitting punishment in his eyes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Detaining I presume?”

“Oh....Scientia.”

It was now night outside of the Tennouji Inn, sitting away and alone from the Inn's grounds was a still guilt-stricken Xenon with the Artic Rose beside him. It was now dinnertime in the Inn, but Xenon had left a message stating he'll be out for a while. It would seem that Scientia was able to find him quite easily due to the properties of the former's mechanical body.

“I'm...just not hungry and wanted to look at the stars.”

“With the amount of light your eyes had been exposed to today, the only things you'll be able to see is the light of the bustling city kilometers in front of you, not the starry void above and beyond our reach. Also, your consumption rate has lowered significantly after that event.”

Xenon could help but feel his eye twitch in annoyance in response to the rather oddly specific retorts Scientia has up his nonexistent sleeves. Sighing, he hung his head low without any excuses to justify him sitting out and away from everyone else.

“I....I just don't want Ryukia to feel even more upset because of my presence in the Inn.”

“You still do blame yourself then?”

“How could I not?” Xenon asked, “If I had been more cautious he would've-”

“Stop.”

Scientia immediately cut in, stopping Xenon from going on about the event.

“I came here mainly for one question: What do you plan to do after this?”

Staring at the token-mech ally in the party momentarily, Xenon soon looked back forward at the city of Ikaruga. A mix of sorrow and anger present on his facial expression as he answered.

“...I'm going to distance myself from the party before they end up getting dragged further into the conflict against Eden.”

There was no sense of irony present in his tone. He was being truthful.

“I feel like my very presence with the rest just invites more trouble than actively finding them.”