Not Like This

Harold's wounds regenerated in an instant. Stepping back out of fear he weighed his options.

Akiol landed, the last of the Aura vanished as he hit the ground. The regeneration was incredible, since that was the case he would need a lot of power in a singular moment. Since that was the case. . . He would need more than the Form of Fortification.

Energy crackled as he activated Stars' Berserk Skill. The purple halo appearing, power surging through his body. The Aura reinforcing his body skyrocketed, increasing in thickness and size. Crouching down Akiol dashed forward. Appearing behind Harold a small black hole formed at Stars' tip. Expanding outward it slammed into Harold and began erasing a lot of hid body before knocking him upward.

Akiol turned into a blur as he jumped towards him. Appearing on the opposite end Akiol kept his height with Aura. Flicking his sword he caused a massive explosion of Aura at Harold's location. It expanded outward in a spherical shape, spinning slowly while producing a high pitched whine.

{Way of the Galaxy: Supernova}!

With a flip of his sword he then sheathed Stars. The supernova then slowed and began to condense. Becoming smaller and smaller while maintaining the extreme amount of power it held. At a certain point it struggled to shrink further, rapidly expanding and shrinking slightly made it look like it was twitching.

{Way of the Galaxy: Nebula}!

Akiol landed and watched from afar, a frown on his face. Power on this level wasn't enough either. Although he could match the gap with the difference in Skill, he was still lacking in terms of firepower.

"I don't know if my Aura will be able to handle increasing the power. . ."

Shaking his head he gripped Stars again, "Rather it's more beneficial to buy time."

The nebula shattered and Harold fell to the ground. His body almost torn beyond recognition. However all his wounds regenerated before he even touched the earth. Landing with a small boom Harold extended his hand, "Thanks to that I've learned more of what I can do."

Akiol eyes narrowed, but then the ground arced with red energy. Upon touching Akiol it coursed through his body and froze his limbs. It was like his every being was focused on purging the energy, and not listening to his commands. As he was unable to move flesh arose from the ground and encompassed him. Like a lotus closing in around him but lacking all the beauty of one.

'Akiol!' -Stars

The flesh sealed shut and the once powerful Aura was nowhere to be seen. Gear collapsed to his knees. Even after all this there was nothing that could be done. He failed, after all this struggle he failed.

All the villagers, the ones he helped, the ones who helped him. He couldn't protect them. Because of him everyone is dead, including Lemon. Once again he failed to protect the things he cared about.

"Oh Alice, what do I do?"

-<>-

Alice was. . . a sun.

A brilliant cheerful smiling pierce of joy. More importantly, she was Gear's little sister.

Their parents were rarely available. Always fighting, always screaming. For them it was the most terrifying thing possible. Leaving them with only each other. To Gear he did everything possible to make sure she was safe. For Alice, she provided him with the strength needed with her smiles.

Together they could take on anything, at least he thought.

One fight grew a little too extreme, and accident happened and the two of his parents ended up dead. After that it became a blur. The sorting of their funerals, the issue of Gear and Alice themselves. It proved to be a problem.

Eventually they were taken in by a family, one that truthfully did care for them. Eventually Gear and Alice learned to enjoy such things. Life was finally looking up.

Then Alice was overcome with a deadly sickness.

She was hospitalized for so long. Gear spent a majority of his time visiting her, constantly chatting with her. Trying his best to protect her from something she had to face alone.

One time he entered, and she seemed even more worse. Nothing but skin and bones. Yet she looked out the window with a sense of peace. As if coming to terms with something.

Holding the bitterness in his heart he took a chair next to her bed, "Alice! I brought those things you asked for. I had to sneak past the doctors for this."

She smiled, as brightly as ever, "Let me see!"

Pulling out a notebook and several colored pencils, "Tada!"

Placing them on the bed he watched as Alice opened the book and began to doodle, "It's so boring here! They don't let me do anything."

"I know. I tried to talk to them but I can't do much."

"But you gave me these!"

Gear wryly smiled, "I suppose so."

Sitting in silence Gear listened to the sound of pencil on paper. He felt no boredom. Rather he was enjoying every second of his time. Watching Alice happily doodle was enough for him.

"It's done!"

"What did you make?"

"Take a look!"

A decent drawing of a character holding a wrench was shown. What caught his eye almost immediately was the flaming red hair, "Who is this?"

"A Hero! Someone who tries too hard to fix everything."

"Oh? Does he every succeed?"

". . ."

"A no is it?"

"He can't fix this."

"That wouldn't make him a hero then."

Alice shook her head, "That's not what a Hero is."

Inhaling sharply Gear asked, "Why the red hair?", in an attempt to shift the focus.

"So you can know who they are instantly!"

"I think it's missing something."

"It is?"

"A sidekick. No Hero is good without their trusty sidekick."

"Oh yeah!"

Alice went back to doodling. Happily using the pencils as if it was the greatest thing in the world. Gear felt his body slump, he couldn't stand much more of this. She wasn't getting any better, and it pained him to come to this reality.

His watch beeped, startling him out of his daze, "Ah, I promised to meet with someone. I have to go before it's too late."

"Will you be back tomorrow?"

"Of course! Then you can show me the Hero's trusty sidekick. I'll leave these here, don't let the doctor take them alright?"

"Okay!"

Gear smiled and left, slowly clicking the door shut he made his way to his plans. An action he would regret for far too long.

For that night, a few hours after he left, Alice died alone.