Voltiana

Fujii gripped his katana and got into a low stance, just as Ossix shot more bones at him. Fujii sliced through them all and leveled his blade at Ossix's chest, attempting to strike it.

"Annihilate."

Ossix used one of his bony appendages to block, but a massive wave of ice came from the blade, freezing him inside of it.

Fujii turned back to look at his team, who all looked beat up. "What's up? You all look rough! Arata! Nice to see you again!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

Hikari ran up to Fujii. "Sir, please! We have to get out of here! He wants Dachii for some reason! That's been their entire plan!"

"I know! Listen, this guy..."

He looked back at the ice. "He's more dangerous than you know."

"What? How do you know?"

"No time for that! We need to get Dachii out of here, before any more show up!"

"Excuse me! Can someone tell me what's going on? Why am I now in such danger!"

"Not clear! But time to move—-!"

Fujii was interrupted as the ice began to crack, and just a few seconds later it shattered into pieces.

"Gosh, that is COLD. I don't appreciate that, GENERAL."

Fujii could sense the murderous intent in his eyes, just as he began to shift and grow.

"Oh no..."

He formed armor even larger than the one before, and his body became a hulking mass, and the spikes he formed on his arms became larger and more pronounced.

"HEY! He's even bigger than General Shinjii! I WANNA PUNCH him!" Arata exclaimed, bracing himself for battle.

"Guys! Heads up!"

Ossix brought his fist down, and Fujii parried with his blade, standing firm but beginning to crack underneath the weight.

"Dachii, you gotta run! Luca, Hikari, Marachii! You guys take him out of here! We'll hold him off!"

"Got it!" Hikari pulled Dachii by the arm and ran as fast as she could, and Luca and Marachii followed after her.

Ossix shifted his attention to them, preparing to chase, but an energy blast struck him.

"Keep running! We've got this!" Akari called out.

Dachii looked back. "They're all gonna die, aren't they?"

Hikari elbowed him gently. "Hey! That's GENERAL Fujii and PRINCESS Akari for you, so don't doubt them! Oh, and Arata too, I guess."

"Uh-huh."

They turned a few corners, getting far away from the food area. Luca looked back, scanning their surroundings with his eyes.

"Doesn't seem like we were followed. That's good."

They all sat outside a nearby shop, taking a minute to breathe. They could still hear the noise of the fight in the distance.

Dachii took off his robe, revealing his military outfit underneath, and Hikari looked him up and down. "Are you hurt?"

"I...don't think so?"

"That's good. Let's keep going, we need to get as far away from them as we can."

Marachii pointed at something in front of them. "Guys, who is that?"

A little girl was standing in front of them, tears in her eyes. "It's you! I need to talk to you!"

Back at the food booths...

Ossix used his tendrils to fend off Arata, Akari, and Fujii at the same time, each of whom was relentlessly attacking. Fujii unleashed a powerful strike that nearly got through.

"Keep it up, guys! Don't let him get past us!"

"Right!" Akari replied, firing giant energy blasts at Ossix.

Arata clapped his hands together, causing a massive shockwave that knocked away some of the tendrils. "Don't order me around! I GOT THIS!"

Ossix slammed the ground, sending the trio stumbling back. Fujii recovered and stabbed the ground with his Ice Katana, which spread ice through the ground like a wildfire and formed a titanic ice spike that nearly pierced Ossix.

"Should I activate it? No...too risky. But the boy, he's getting farther and farther away the longer I stay here! I'm getting promoted, NO MATTER WHAT!" he thought to himself.

Fujii moved quickly and tried to slice his chest from behind, but Ossix used a bony limb to push him back. Akari tried a kick but he slashed her stomach, making her fall to the ground. When Arata went for another hit, Ossix jumped out of the way.

He landed on a roof, and took one glance at the three warriors opposing him, determined looks on all their faces.

"..."

Then he held open his hand, and a black crystal materialized in it. It glowed purple, and Ossix whispered into it only one word.

"Assist."

Then it broke into pieces and disappeared.

Earlier that day...

"Ooh, what a shiny toy. What's this?"

Saori handed "Omari" the crystal behind the stage, immediately stepping back afterward. "I was told...that it would help you if you need it."

"This looks like something Prismar would make. Either way, did anyone see you come here?"

"No...sir."

"Well, go and head back now. If you stay here too long, someone will see you, and then I'll have to kill them."

She nodded and began to secretly head off as the Dance Competition Finals went on in the background.

Back in the present...

Akari, Arata, and Fujii prepared to attack Ossix again, but they heard a powerful explosion in the distance. They looked in that direction and saw dark black energy rising into the sky.

"What was that? What have you done?" Fujii demanded, getting into a low stance once more.

"Don't concern yourself. Soon, Dachii will be in our hands."

He began to unleash a wave of bone projectiles from his body, firing them like a rifle. Before they could hit, Fujii put up an ice wall.

"This should hold—-"

Ossix smashed the wall with a single blow, attacking Fujii head to head. Both of them increased their speed, creating waves of damage.

But Ossix stomped the ground, pushing Fujii and the others back. He turned his attention towards the direction of the explosion. "Time to go."

He took off, and Fujii got up and immediately gave chase. "He's escaping! After him!"

But Ossix was moving too fast, and he used his body limbs as leverage, keeping Fujii and the others back.

Meanwhile, in another part of Asuka...

"That's...her!" Hikari instantly recognized the girl. "You're Shizuka's daughter!"

"Y...yes. My name's Saori."

Hikari knelt down next to the scared girl, putting an arm on her shoulder. "You poor thing! What happened?"

"I...was let go...I'm no longer needed..."

Luca looked her over, seeing how badly she was shaking, and how pale her skin was. "They must have done SOMETHING, alright. The girl looks like she's about to drop dead."

"Luca!" Hikari pulled the girl into a hug. "It's okay, you're safe now."

"Are...you sure?"

Hikari put on a smile. "Of course! See? Nothing bad is here to hurt you!"

Dachii groaned. "I wanna be hugged like that..."

Marachii slapped his head. Saori pulled back, fear now in her eyes.

"Wait! I forgot to tell you—-!"

BOOM.

A wave of dark, black energy came from a building nearby, destroying it. Saori gasped and fell to the ground, and Hikari helped her back up.

"Saori! What's wrong? What is that?"

"No..."

Dachii looked up just in time to see a black ball of energy hit him, dropping him to his knees. "AHH!"

"Dachii!" Marachii and Hikari went to assist him, but they saw a figure in robes walking towards them.

"Ossix...you failed to bring the boy in...that's fine..."

He took off his hood, showing a young man with long black hair, pale skin, and black eyes, with black lines running across his face, similar to Ossix.

"I'll do it myself."

Dachii coughed and struggled to stand, and the man released another wave of dark energy, sending Luca, Hikari, and Marachii to the ground as well.

He walked towards Saori, who began crawling away from him. "What did I tell you about being bad? You weren't supposed to talk to them, SAORI."

"No...please...! I'm sorry!"

As he raised his hands up to attack, a rock hit him in the back of the head. He looked back and saw Dachii, struggling to push himself to his feet.

"Oh...I shouldn't have done that."

"No, you shouldn't have."

The man moved so fast that he was gone in the blink of an eye. One moment, he was standing next to Saori, the next, he was holding Dachii up by the collar.

"You'll be very useful, DACHII."

"WHY? Because I can control Gravity?"

The man laughed, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You'll understand soon, don't you WORRY!"

He slammed Dachii into the ground, and then he threw him into the store nearby, causing massive damage to it. Dachii managed to pick himself back up as the shopkeeper, an older-looking Voltian man, looked down at him in surprise.

"Where the hell did you come from—-?"

But the next second, he was cut into pieces. And so was Dachii's jaw. The man stood behind him, kicking him outside the shop.

"Now, that should be adequate enough to restrain you."

"DACHII!" Marachii called out, weakly trying to make his way over to Dachii. Dachii was bleeding profusely from his jaw wound, lying blankly still on the ground.

The man in robes slowly approached Dachii, attempting to grab him, but Marachii fired off a plasma blast, which the man easily avoided. Hikari rushed to Dachii's side, trying to heal him.

"Oh my gosh, this wound is bad! It'll take some time to heal, but I can try!"

Luca stood up, quickly getting in between Dachii and the man. "Get him out of here, Hikari! I'll hold this guy back!"

"Stand...up..." a voice spoke to Dachii.

In Dachii's mind...

"Where am I now? Wasn't I just fighting?"

He looked all around the space around him, which just seemed to be an empty void. But he noticed someone standing behind him.

"Who are YOU? Why do you..."

It was a person. Not just any person, it was DACHII himself, resembling the way he had looked during the battle with the dwarves.

"...look like me?"

Dachii blinked, and the figure got closer, putting a hand on Dachii's forehead. Dachii felt a rush of pain, and then he blacked out, but not before seeing the figure crack a grim smile.

Back in the real world...

Dachii's eyes came into focus, and they slowly turned black. His jaw regenerated, making Hikari jump back.

"W..what?"

He got up, growling. Marachii and Luca had taken notice. "Dachii?"

Dachii's eyes narrowed at the man in front of him, who lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? What is this we have here?"

The voice in his head only spoke one thing.

"KILL."

Dachii made a fist, turning it gray. Hikari grabbed his arm. "Dachii, wait! Don't fight—-!"

But she wasn't strong enough to hold him back. In an instant, he punched the man, who blocked the attack with his elbow, dark energy flowing through it.

"So you've got more fight? Let's see how you do!"

Dachii threw a jab, a hook, and an uppercut at him, and he easily evaded all of them. The man kicked him in the chest, but Dachii absorbed most of it with his arm, only sliding back a couple of feet.

Hikari picked up Saori, calling out: "Guys! Help him! He's gonna lose!"

Luca attempted to jump into the fight, and Dachii went flying into another building with a THUD.

Luca swung his axes at the man's head, but he backhanded Luca, sending dark energy through him and he crashed into Marachii.

When he tried to stand, he couldn't. "My body...feels so weak! Is that his power?"

Dachii, still uncontrollable, picked up a dumpster and threw it at the guy, who split it in half with a single punch.

" inadequate."

He moved in a blur, appearing next to Dachii. Dachii unleashed a flurry of punches at him, and a few kicks, but he easily evaded them all.

"Ossix was right."

He countered a punch from Dachii and kneed him in the chest. "You can't fight worth a damn!"

Dachii spat out some blood, and then he began to laugh.

"Remember what he said?"

"Hmm?"

"Peak-a-boo!"

Dachii slammed his head as hard as he could into the man's skull, making him stumble back and causing massive damage to the surroundings.

"Dachii? Did you...get him?" Hikari asked, still holding Saori, who was clinging to her.

"Hahaha. HAHAHA. HAHAHAHAHA! I was right!"

The terrible laughs of the man could be heard, and he slowly made his way back to Dachii. "You've impressed me, Holder."

He pulled back the sleeve of his robe, and black lines appeared on his forearm, forming the words "Rank: 19th."

"But do you really think you can defeat me?"

His eyes glowed with dark purple and black energy, and he swiped his arm, unleashing a wave of dark energy that shut down all of the power nearby and knocked everyone, including Dachii, to their feet. He looked down at Dachii.

"And you can refer to me as Nullus. It's only fitting."

Dachii looked up as the man walked toward him, and yet again, the voice in his head only had one command.

"Attack."

——