Airson's Story, Part Five

"The meaning of a hero..."

The words tormented Airson as the world seemingly moved in slow motion.

Pachi turned around with a horrified expression on her face as the dark figure swung his arm.

fwoosh!

It all happened in seconds. Blood splattered the ground.

Pachi fell to the ground. She was crying in fear for her life, but she was looking up at the sight of Airson in front of her with a deep gash in his backside. He was choking up blood. He looked at Pachi with a pained expression of near death.

"I... may not be a hero... tch..."

The pain shot through his very being up to his skull, almost knocking him out entirely. He kept his gaze on Pachi.

"...but I make a pretty great Knight don't I?"

Pachi's eyes widened, she couldn't stop the tears from pouring down her face.

A wood-covered Nigel jumps into the scene, he throws his fist at the figure with his hand in Airson's back.

The figure pulls his hand out and swiftly dodges.

Niwea flew in, his eyes glowing white. "Heal him."

"Already on it." Nigel put his left arm near Airson's wound. "Giga Heal."

With a green light, Airson's wound closed, and the bleeding stopped.

Airson started gasping for air as he clutched at his chest. He turned around to look at the figure. As the light shone on it, they didn't need to see who it was. They already knew - it was Carnage. He was standing straight up with his head slumped to the side as if he was tired. His face had no visible features other than two eyes and a mouth - it looked like it was burned or boiled or even both with the exposed skin a dark red. His eyes glowed red also, and he had sharp canine teeth with his tongue slightly hanging out of his mouth.

"Blood..." he muttered.

Carnage straightened up. He slouched and let his arms hang. "One... two... three... four targets."

Carnage started roaring. "HWOOOOAAAAAGGGHHH!!!!"

A crazy typhoon of blood red mist emitted from his body.

"The bloodlust coming from this guy is insane!!" Nigel said.

Airson readied himself. "Nigel, Niwea. Focus. We won't lose here. Not to him."

Lightning surged through Airson's body. He remembered his training with Ahsan.

< "Your body turns all of your spiritual essence into the lightning element." Ahsan told him. "Instead of letting it run wild, you should focus on keeping it contained, and treat it as if it was any normal energy." >

Airson trained like hell to master the lightning flow within his body. The lightning surged through his every vein, artery, and nerve. He could feel it even taking over his muscle fibers. His hair became charged with lightning, turning bright yellow. His eyes turned yellow as well. Lightning started discharging wildly from his body. He looked at Pachi. "Run!!! Get away from here!" he yelled through clenched teeth.

Pachi did as she was told, scrambling to her feet and running away. But she wanted to stay within eye's view of the battle, so she hid behind the second closest building.

Airson finished powering up. "ULTRASONIC!!!!!" His entire body gave off a bright glow for a few seconds, releasing lightning everywhere.

"What is this energy...?" Nigel said. "I've never seen him this intense."

"It's his Ultrasonic form. I saw him training with Ahsan one time. It circulates his lightning at rapid speeds around his Soul System and his physical body." Niwea said.

Nigel smirked. "At least I know I wasn't the only one training! Hwaaahhh!!" Nigel covered his face and body with his wood armor. All the cracks in the wood glowed a bright blue green, including the holes where the eyes would be.

Airson's discharges died down. He was focused on Carnage.

Carnage cracked his neck to both sides. He spoke. "You... done?"

"Yeah. You're gonna pay for all the lives you took."

Carnage smiled. "Interesting." He charged at the three of them. "Kill me then!!! Come on and try!!!"

Pachi was peering out from the corner of a building. She watched as Airson, Nigel and Niwea fought Carnage three on one. Even though it was a mismatch, Carnage had no problem keeping up with them, and even seemed to still have the upper hand.

Airson was constantly bolting after Carnage with quick, charged attacks. The lightning surging through his body in his Ultrasonic form makes him faster, and more agile when it comes to moving and dodging attacks.

Niwea was fighting defensively, using dark energy as shields to repel Carnage, then attacking with light energy. He used his light energy in sweeping motions using his arm like a blade.

Nigel was attacking alternatively with Airson, attacking with slower but more powerful attacks. He was still fast enough to dodge Carnage's wild movements.

Carnage fought wildly. He'd attack with his arms and fists, then switch to his legs and feet when prompted, standing on his hands, and using his legs to block and kick.

Airson had never seen this type of fighting stance. Neither he nor Nigel could read his attacks. Niwea was a mid to long range fighter, so he only had to worry about protecting himself and connecting with his light energy beams.

Carnage didn't feel pain. If he got hit, it wouldn't faze him at all, he'd just keep on attacking. It was a ruthless onslaught of madness. His lust for death was so strong that it could easily make someone go insane.

Nigel ran in for another attack. Carnage easily dodges, then hits Nigel with a flurry of attacks before jumping back avoiding Niwea's beam.

Nigel's armor was continually breaking apart, and he didn't have the remaining strength to keep on healing himself repeatedly. He had already used Giga Heal once on Airson earlier. Right now Nigel could only manage to use Giga Heal twice per day without using up all his energy. So if he used it on himself, he'd have no energy left to fight.

Airson had already noticed, but he also was running out of strength. Ultrasonic was using up all of his energy. But still, he had to fight. He had to keep going.

"Nigel. Go protect that little girl." Niwea said.

Nigel looked at him. Niwea and Airson were dead set on their fight. Nigel had no choice but to do as he said. "Tch, so in the end I just became a burden. I'm not... strong enough."

Airson was the only close range fighter left. He had to carry the weight of Carnage's onslaught nearly alone. "I'm tired. It hurts... I... can't take much more of this!"

As Airson was fighting, he was getting hit by Carnage's powerful blows more and more. He was thinking about his earlier conversation with Pachi.

"You're no hero. You don't act like one!!!"

He thought about how weak and helpless he and his friends were in Cell City.

"The meaning of a hero..."

He thought about his first bond with Aron.

"The meaning of a hero..."

He thought about his rivalry with Asnoth.

"The meaning of a hero..."

He thought about why he had to protect his friends.

"The meaning of a hero..."

Airson's lightning surged to an even higher level than before. "...SHOULD BE TO TRY YOUR BEST, EVEN WHEN THE SITUATION IS AGAINST YOU!!!"

Carnage could feel Airson's will to defeat him. It only made his bloodlust even stronger. He grinned devilishly.

Niwea flew back a few meters. "Airson…!!"

Airson and Carnage's fight reached a climax. "Keep going!!! Go faster!!! Make the lightning accelerate even more!!! It doesn't matter if I die now!! If I do, it just means I wasn't worthy of living the life I have now!!!"

Several parts of Airson's hair began glowing white, his yellow lightning becoming a slightly lighter tone, but the energy was nearly twice as strong. "PACHI!!!"

Pachi heard him. She came out from the corner of the building.

Nigel tugged at her hand. "What are you doing?! It's dangerous out here!"

Airson yelled out, hoping his words reached her. "I'M SORRY FOR WHAT I SAID EARLIER!! A HERO CAN BE ANYONE WHO MEANS A LOT TO YOU!! NO MATTER THE PERSON!!!"

Tears streamed down Pachi's face. She couldn't help but be moved, it was like a heavy burden was being lifted off her shoulders. She pulled her arm away from Nigel. "You... you... AIRSON!!!" she called out. "You're… YOU'RE ALREADY MY HERO!!"

Airson charged himself up as a tear evaporated from his eye. He thought to himself. "I never thought I'd want to hear those words from someone. Maybe I'm pretty pathetic after all."

He clashed with Carnage's bloodlust. "HWWWAAHHHHHHH!!!!"

Airson took Carnage's punch to the cheek, spurting blood from his face. But he recovered from the force, turning his head back to face Carnage, who was very pleasantly surprised. "You might... actually be able to... kill me."

Airson charged the remainder of his energy into his right fist.

Niwea couldn't believe what he was seeing. "He... ascended his power above his Ultrasonic form. It's... Super Ultrasonic."

Airson's right fist was glowing with white-yellow lightning spiraling around it. "YOU'RE WIDE OPEN!!!"

BOOM!!!

Airson's fist slammed into Carnage's face, releasing a large splurge of lightning.

By this time most of Lemming Town's citizens were already watching the spectacle unfold, just watching in awe.

Nigel watched from where Pachi was hiding. "Airson... you really surpassed your limits."

Airson kept pushing, slamming Carnage into the ground with a boom, breaking the ground around them, lightning discharging everywhere. The surge blew out the entire town's electricity.

After the dust settled, a bloody Airson was back in his base form. He couldn't move any longer, and immediately went unconscious, falling on his back.

Niwea watched Carnage for a few seconds to see if he'd get back up. When he saw that he wasn't moving he went and checked him for a heartbeat. "He's dead. Airson... you're one scary guy you know..."

Pachi ran over to where Airson was and kneeled beside him, still crying silently. "I-I-Is... is he okay?" Pachi asked, looking up at Niwea.

He nodded. "Yeah, he's fine. I'm sure he's just worn out."

Nigel limped over to Airson's body. The villagers crowded around them. He kneeled down. "Giga Heal." The green light once again healed Airson's wounds. He was still unconscious, but his breathing regulated. "There. He's basically asleep now."

Nigel fell on his back. "Now... I'm completely exhausted."

One of the villagers spoke. "Those Knights… just saved this town..."

Shortly after, nearly the entire village was in an uproar of applause and gratitude, cheering for their heroes.

--

In a dark room somewhere unidentified, Mastermind's concentration broke. "Oh... that boy actually killed him in one blow. Interesting."

He got up and walked out of his dark room into a dimly lit hallway, walking down the corridor to a laboratory. There was a large cylindrical tank full of a transparent pink liquid. Inside the tank floating was a boy, maybe fifteen years old.

"You'll have to get some new powers... Neo."