67.
The Ethereal Star
Trunculo's voice danced through the arena as Eden made her way across the
grass to the square platform in the center. "From the southwestern sector,
say hello to contestant #4003, Miss Eden Gardener! She demonstrated an amazing
amount of speed in the preliminary rounds, and has already earned herself a dedicated
fanbase!"
"Eden Gardener?" Edward tried to peer closer to the screen as
it displayed a 17-year old girl with red, shoulder-length hair.
"What's wrong, Ed?" Frank asked.
"I swear..." Edward racked his brain. "I don't know why,
but...I swear that I've heard that name before."
"Well, maybe you have." Frank shrugged. "Two people can
have the same name."
Eden stood firmly at the edge of the arena, awaiting her opponent. She
was surprised to see a young man with short periwinkle hair approach the stage.
He wore a plain T-shirt and jeans, had a soft, calm expression on his face, and
didn't look worried in the least.
"From the southeastern sector, we have contestant #3109, a man
with looks to kill! He's known throughout Belmarc as the Butcher, on account of
his unusual love for slicing and dicing the remains of his opponents! Outlawed
in over sixty dimensions, chased by over two dozen different law authorities, it's
the one, the only, Geigu Schlag!"
Staring at Eden with empty eyes, Geigu bowed. "So nice to make your
acquaintance."
"Alright then, you two..." Trunculo pointed toward the arena with
zeal. "Let's get started!"
"I bet some guys would kill to own you," Geigu said.
"But all I want to do, little Eden, is slice your soft flesh into tiny, unrecognizable
pieces."
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Eden crossed her arms and stared
back at Geigu with a hard expression. Compared to all the turmoil inside her, the
serial killer's empty threats felt like nothing.
"The cries of young girls are quite special. It's amazing to hear
such sounds come out of such innocent mouths."
Eden rolled her eyes. "I've fought much more dangerous people than
you. You may know one of them, in fact...Xarles Klavier Van Kaen."
Geigu laughed. "Van Kaen? Of the Dark Zodiacs!? Funny."
The killer began to slowly walk toward Eden, but she stood her ground.
"I'll give you one chance to step down without getting hurt,"
Eden declared. "You can’t beat me."
Geigu continued to laugh as he shot his arm out and released a volatile
blast of mint psynergy. The shot came so fast that Eden barely had enough time
to prepare a defense. It hit her hard, and she went skidding backwards.
With each step Geigu took forward, another ball of light exploded out
from his hands, showering Eden with a barrage of psynergy and ripping the arena
to pieces.
Eden circled around to Geigu's side and leapt into the air. As she soared
across the arena, she spread her right leg out and prepared a roaring kick. Geigu
held up a hand in response. His eyes looked calm.
The killer locked his fingers around Eden's leg and dissipated the force
of her strike. "Do you really wish to die that badly?"
A thunderous crash echoed throughout the arena as Geigu slammed Eden's body
into the ground. With sharp, trained movements, he quickly drew her back with his
hands and prepared to finish her.
Geigu's childlike eyes glowed. "Now the fun can really begin."
The spectators gasped as the girl was engulfed in an explosion of psynergy.
"Could this be the end?!" Trunculo yelled with unbridled enthusiasm.
"Has another young light just burned out before our very eyes?!"
Geigu stared down at the empty spot below him in disbelief. Then, he
spun around to see Eden standing at the far end of the arena, psynergy as
radiant as ever. "How..."
Eden was also calm. "I don’t really know."
Geigu started laughing once again. As his laughter heightened, his eyeballs
started to roll back into his head until they were pure white orbs locked in the
center of a shivering body.
"Are you going to let her talk to us that way, mommy?" Geigu
whispered.
"No..." A deeper voice came out from his mouth. "Just
leave it to me, son."
"Ladies and gentlemen..." Trunculo's voice boomed. "It appears
as if Geigu has for some reason called his mother on the phone!"
Geigu's eyes snapped back and began moving so fast that Eden could barely
keep up with his psynergy aura. She felt the massive density of his presence as
he stopped in mid-air right before her and prepared to slam her back down into the
ground. Time seemed to slow down, and she could feel each split-second drip away.
The crowd, Geigu's attack, the sweat on her face – everything became so
incredibly slow, except her left hand. She brought it up and wrapped her tiny
fingers around Geigu's face, pushing him back before his hands could reach her.
His face warped into a monstrous, demonic mask of rage, spittle dripping from his
mouth as he flailed. Eden left her middle and index fingers straight up while
she clawed her other three inward and gripped an ultra-condensed ball of citrus
psynergy forming in the palm of her hand. In the moment, she felt like her body
was moving on autopilot – as if something else deep inside her was guiding her
actions.
The two collided in a brilliant spectacle of light. Those in the crowd
with especially good eyesight saw Geigu's body fly across the platform, heading
out of bounds at a rapid speed.
"Bitch!" he shrieked in a high-pitch voice. "How dare you
lay your fingers on my boy?!"
Before his body could touch the ground, Geigu whipped his arm backwards
and shot a blast downward. The force of the blast propelled his body back into the
ring. After all that, Geigu had defended himself flawlessly, and Eden had been
left with nothing but a bloody palm.
And it only felt like his power was increasing.
"Little Geigu's crying, daddy..." The man's body swayed back
and forth and his eyes rolled up once more. "Mommy's sad too...she doesn't
want to see her baby cry..."
"Sadness." A dark voice slid out from Geigu's lips. "Yes."
As Geigu's eyes returned to their original position, he appeared calm and
collected once more. Realizing her danger, Eden took the initiative. Once more,
she was upon him, blazing with psynergy as she reached out her hands to knock him
out of the ring again. The wounded man blocked every attack with minimal effort,
never averting his eyes from her.
It took only a few more seconds for Geigu to find an opening, and his
left leg connected with Eden's side. She fell to the ground, hacking and
wheezing as she tried to catch her breath.
Geigu walked over to Eden with a crazed smile on his reddened face.
"Happy?"
Eden looked into Geigu's eyes and then spat on his feet.
"Happiness."
Suddenly, chains shot out from the man's body, spreading around the entire
arena. Eden felt spiked metal close in on her skin, imprisoning her and
piercing her from multiple angles. Geigu stared down at her and wound up
another kick.
"It’s useless," Eden whispered.
When Geigu swung his foot down, Eden closed her eyes and concentrated. The
young woman’s body transformed into a spiraling orb of citrus energy, visible only
for a second as she ripped through Geigu's gut.
"Beautiful!" Trunculo shouted. "Just beautiful, folks! It's
only right that a gorgeous girl like her would be able to use such a gorgeous
technique! Bravo!"
"What a beautiful specimen," Phileas observed from the stands.
"She just converted her body into pure psynergy. I've never seen anything like
it!"
Eden reverted back to her physical form. Despite the chains that had
just stabbed into her flesh, she looked pristine.
"You can't capture me. No one can."
Geigu gurgled, dropped to his knees and bowed his head. "I...I'm
sorry. I lose..you win...Eden."
Eden smiled and relaxed a bit. Happily, she turned to face Trunculo and
the crowd. "You know, some people can settle their differences without
having to kill each other."
As Eden finished, Geigu leapt up toward the ground, desperately reaching
for her back. "Diiiiiie, whoooooore–"
Just as fast as he'd leapt up, Geigu fell back to the ground with a thud.
Eden finished phasing back through his abdomen and alighted, then turned to
stare down on him with dark, calculating eyes.
"I said some people."
"Ohhh yeaaaahhh!" Trunculo shouted, as he hopped off his
chair and raised his fists energetically in the air. "Now that's what I'm
talkin' about!"
As Trunculo called in the medics, Eden returned to the waiting room.
"Eden!" Vance's eyes lit up as she entered, exhausted.
"That was amazing...I don't even know what to say."
Eden sighed, trying to hide her tears as she moved past him. "This
tournament...it's bringing out the worst in me."
Vance looked at the girl with concern. "Hey, Eden–"
"Vance."
Eden grabbed the boy by his chin and pulled his head toward hers. Her
body still burned with psynergy, as if the intensity from battle still possessed
her. They looked into each other's eyes, frozen in a strange moment.
Finally, Eden opened her mouth. "I want you to promise me something."
"I know, we'll win this," Vance mumbled, looking down.
"You don't have to worry, Eden."
"I'm not talking about that, and you know it," Eden snapped. "I
want you to promise me...that you won’t end up like Averyl."
Vance moved his eyes back to hers. "What are you talking about?"
"I can feel this tournament changing me," Eden explained. "This
world...all the violence we're faced with. We can't turn out like the Dark Zodiacs,
or all the other killers here. They’ve gone too far...they’ve lost their hearts."
"Eden," Vance took a deep breath. "One of the Dark Zodiacs
killed my mother."
"What?" Eden's face went pale.
"I don't know who exactly," Vance continued, "but Averyl
told me that much."
"Averyl...how does he know?"
"He's..." Vance confessed shakily. "My uncle. After one
of the Dark Zodiacs murdered her, he joined them incognito in order to avenge
her."
"Averyl?" Eden backed up and stared at Vance in disbelief, trying
to put together all the puzzle pieces in her mind. "Vance, you mean..."
"Yes," Vance said, nodding. "That's why Averyl's been
training me. He needs a partner. Someone like him, someone he can rely on to
finally get things done."
"But, you can't!" Eden shouted. "Vance! I know he's your
uncle, but that doesn't change the fact that he's an insane killer! Not even your
mother would want you to turn out like that!"
"I know," Vance said with a pained expression. "I'm not saying
I want to be like him, either. It's just...we don't know what's going to happen.
And Averyl needs me. I can't back down now, not after all he's done for me."
Eden let out a deep sigh. "Well, I guess I have something I need to
tell you too."
Eden looked up, locking eyes with Vance. For a moment, they were alone,
frozen together.
"You know about the Daughter, right?" Eden asked. "The person
that the Guild and the Dark Zodiacs are looking for?"
"The Daughter?" Vance echoed. "The one who can use the clocks?"
"I'm the Daughter," Eden said, feeling relief as she let the
dark secret rush out from her. "I'm the one that everyone's been looking for."
"What?" Vance nearly tripped over himself as he backed up against
the wall in shock. "That’s why you're so powerful? Why didn’t you tell me
this before?"
"I found out the night when we were running from the Dark Zodiacs.
Only Captain Azuka was with me, and...I don't know, I just didn't want to worry
you."
"What the hell, Eden?!" Vance screamed.
Eden understood Vance's rage, but she was calm. "I thought that it
would cause you and Cliff too much pressure, make one of you do something rash
if we ran into the Zodiacs again."
"Do something rash?!" Vance shouted. "Oh, you mean like
risking your life to kill a skeleton who stabs you in the back? Cliff didn't know,
did he? And look what happened to him!"
"I know!" Eden called back, equally as loud. "Honestly,
Vance, I just didn't want it to be true. But even more than that, I didn't want
to be a burden to you. It's selfish, I understand that now...I was afraid,
Vance, so afraid."
"Geez..." Vance let out a long sigh as he ran his hands through
his hair. "So, basically the Dark Zodiacs want you just as badly as they want
the clocks, and they'll do anything to get you, right?"
"Yes. They've been after me since day one."
"Well. I don't think you have anything to worry about, Eden."
"Huh?" Eden was surprised and pleased to see a familiar, cocky
smirk make its way back onto Vance's face.
"Averyl and I were planning to kick all their asses anyway,"
Vance said firmly. "Why don’t you join in?"
Eden broke into a warm smile then, momentarily relieved if only due to
the innocent, almost naïve enthusiasm she saw spilling out from Vance's face.
He was trying his hardest to make her safe, and he hadn't necessarily succeeded,
but she was grateful all the same.
Eden threw her arms around Vance's shoulders, squeezing him close to
her for a moment. "Thank you. Thank you, Vance."
Vance raised an eyebrow. "What are you thanking me for?"
"You made me smile," Eden replied.
"Uhhh, okay." Vance said shakily. "Anyway, are you getting
in the Regeneration Tank or not?"
"Sure!" she said happily.
"Seriously?" Vance's eyes lit up. "You're really going
to get in? Like this?"
"Of course. As soon as you turn around," Eden said.
"Oh–yeah, right," Vance coughed. "That makes sense."
Eden chuckled as she threw off her clothes, then pushed a button on the
control panel to change the glass to a darker tint. "Oh, would you rather
I hadn’t?"
Vance awkwardly turned to face the arena. "Wh-what? I didn't hear
you..."
*************
"Alrighty then, folks!" Trunculo's voice chimed back in. "I
hope you're all rip-rarin' to go for the fifth round!"
"Morning, sunshine," Sabine said, as she helped Amyr lift his
large body out from the tank. "You're up."
"Anything important I missed?" Amyr grunted, fumbling for his
robes.
"Caleb won his match. Eden turned into a ball of pure psynergy and
won hers. Oh, and Cliff took out a whole Dark Zodiac on his own," Sabine said.
"It was pretty bad-ass, even though he did lose an arm doing it."
"Cliff..." Amyr sighed. "His passion and ideals are also
his greatest weakness. But thank God he's still with us. Any idea who I'm up
against?"
"Funny you ask," Sabine said, peeking out from her green bangs.
"It's me."
