Morning Rises

He felt unresponsive.

It was as if his entire world froze and he was stuck in time. Staring at the Stellaron that continued to consume him until his very vision turned dark. 

The pain that consumed his body abruptly stopped and faded away. Leaving Yuuto to float in his own subconscious.

His thoughts were hazy and a grim drowsiness began to creep onto him. Wanting to pull his mind into an eternal slumber where he would permanently rest.

An unknown amount of time began to pass and Yuuto's hazy mind slowly accepted the exhaustion that held onto him. 

–FLOO….

'...'

–FLOOO—!!

'What…'

–SLAP!!

The numbness that held a tight grasp on his body instantly faded away and a stinging sensation lingered on his left cheek. Causing his eyes to suddenly open.

"Who the hell is waking me up…?"

—FLOOOF

"What the hell?" Within the dark space he was in, Yuuto felt surprised to see the neet book out of its usual place.

"What are you doing here? You're usually in the library doing nothing…"

Yuuto was about to ask the book a few questions but he suddenly realized the strangeness of the situation.

"Wait! I was trying to use the Stellaron just a few seconds ago but it suddenly flared up and I just froze."

Remembering the dense green aura that suddenly consumed him, Yuuto's body was suddenly drenched with cold sweat.

"Am I…"

–FLOOOF

"So I'm not dead?"

-FLOOF!

"Not yet at least? Well, that doesn't make it sound any better..."

Yuuto felt his mouth tense up listening to what the book tried to convey and a deep sigh escaped his lips.

The book didn't waste a single second after seeing Yuuto sigh to himself and float through the empty space. Leaving behind a trail of white mist from its pages.

It managed to finally find itself on Yuuto's head which caused his body to glow a light white color.

"Ouch." Yuuto winced as his body was suddenly filled with pain that was missing just a few moments prior.

–FLOOOF!

"So this is the state of my body right now."

The book conveyed its thoughts as it compiled Yuuto's condition into his subconscious to help him understand what happened.

Yuuto inspected his body and noticed the deep gashes and the missing pieces of muscle that were by his arm. He expected this as his arm was deep into the Stellaron's core and he examined his body further.

His arm, legs, and even torso. Yuuto looked closely at what would have caused his current state. 

He was about to ask the book for help but he felt a certain part of his body not moving.

"My heart isn't beating anymore." His fingers pressed on the left side of his chest and he frowned when he felt no movement.

"Did I go into cardiac arrest?" His eyebrows furrowed when he thought of this. "So I'm guessing the amount of energy my engine was pumping was too much that it eventually stopped working…"

The book danced above his head and he was certain that his guess was most likely correct.

Yuuto covered his face at the ridiculous answer he arrived at and realized that he's been dancing on death's door way too carelessly.

He stood in silence for a while before he opened his mouth.

"Are you able to access the library from this place?"

–FLOOOF

"Yeah, I fished, reflecting on myself. No need to remind me." Yuuto chuckled at the book.

"Give me the memory of my [Heart]."

The book didn't waste any time and opened its pages. Countless fragments flew out before a memory of a certain organ appeared in Yuuto's hand.

"I should be happy I still have something like this." He fiddled with the fragment and placed his hand over the left side of his chest. 

After a few seconds, sounds of threads snapping arose in his mind, and out came a fragment that was on the verge of breaking.

He clenched his fist and turned the damaged fragment into dust while he willed the new one into his chest.

–THUD…THUD

"It's beating again…"

A sense of deep relief rose from Yuuto and the corner of the lips moved upwards. He felt oddly complete as the rhythmic beat made his mind calm.

"I should be okay to return but the problem is the state that Stellaron is in right now…"

Yuuto thought back to the Stellaron flaring up which forced an insane amount of energy to enter his body. 

Resulting in the present situation where he had to replace the function of his old heart with the memory of a healthier one.

He talked with the book to see how much time was passing in the original space and he learned that only a few seconds have passed so far.

Yuuto would usually be okay with that but with each second passing, his body would be burnt apart by the growing Stellaron. 

That wasn't the only problem as he had no way to combat the immense energy it emitted. If he tried to absorb the energy like before, his heart would stop once again.

If he tried to escape, the Stellaron would chase him until it killed him based on the murderous intent it gave off.

His mind began to race and he tried to envision any solutions that may work for his current situation. He thought deeply, leaving the book on his head to float around.

The book noticed Yuuto's intentions and it began to open its pages to find a certain fragment. Reacting to his intentions, the book released a fragment that emitted a dense crimson flame and showed it to Yuuto.

"What is this?"

Feeling the fragment float in front of him, Yuuto inspected the memory and his eyes turned wide as he looked into it.

"This is from that Blaze out of Space variant I killed from back then."

He remembered the monster that wanted to take the Trotter for some strange reason and how he didn't bother to check the fragments that came from it.

As he was too preoccupied with the memories he got from the Trotter from that time.

He analyzed its uses and a giant grin grew on his face. "Surely this could work…"

Yuuto sunk the fragment into his chest and stared at the floating book in front of him. 

"I'm going back." 

–FLOOOF!!

"Yes, I will make sure I don't come back here." He chuckled and lightly tapped the cover of the book. "Be sure to cheer me on."

Yuuto's body began to fade away and his eyes flashed a deep white hue.

"I'm going to devour this damn Stellaron."

*** 

{^%#DIE(*&DIE!!}

Yuuto's body shot backwards as he limply fell and his limbs were slowly breaking apart.

The surface of his arm was no longer visible and all that was left were muscles that were abnormally fused together.

The Stellaron grew even brighter as it wanted to consume Yuuto to oblivion in his weak state. But it was unable to go any further since it felt a slight resistance coming from him.

"You seriously didn't hold back when I was away."

Faint murmurs echoed from Yuuto's limp body as he began to move. His arms were no longer usable but his eyes didn't waver. He stared directly at the Stellaron and uttered a word under his breath.

"[Fusion]"

A faint golden glow emanated from his chest and energy surged through his veins. His broken down body rapidly healed and golden lines rose from the surface of his skin.

It reached up to his neck and he walked towards the searing fire the Stellaron emitted.

[Fusion]

A special type of memory that acted as a catalyst that raised the limits of a person who used it for a limited amount of time.

In short terms: A limit breaker.

It was simple in function as he recalled how the Blaze Out Of Space used it in its final moments. The power it released was vast as both its speed and firepower increased to new heights.

But what would happen if this memory raised the limits of a person who had a heart that created an almost inexhaustible power source?

Power. Lots of power.

—BOOOOM

The space around Yuuto began to shake violently and with each step he took, energy converged toward the center of his heart.

It drew the potent energy emitted by the Stellaron and converted it into raw power for the gluttonous Stellaron in him. 

{^%#DIE(*&DIE!!}

The Stellaron roared in anger at the human that dared to take its energy for himself and bloomed outwards. Unleashing a raging wave of green flames.

"[Break]"

He waved his hand and the space shattered after these countless flames met his palm. Breaking apart the large wave with no difficulty.

His palm danced in the air and the flames he broke apart entered his body and became a part of him that caused his body to grow.

Yuuto's cells felt invigorated after basking in the energy that flowed in his veins after entering a heightened state where his limits were increased to a certain degree.

On top of the healing, he was received from [Mother's Embrace]. His body was in a state where the degradation he received was not enough to break him down like before.

The Stellaron continued to unleash attacks that would instantly disintegrate a normal person. But the attacks became sloppy as if it was afraid of Yuuto getting closer.

Yuuto continued to walk before he finally reached the center of the Stellaron. Which shook after seeing all its attacks fail to hurt him.

"I was honestly going to leave you be and have Welt seal you but you just had to 'kill' me." Yuuto calmly said but the Stellaron felt a dreadful sensation wash over it.

"Become food for my Stellaron."

{*&%#NOOO&^#%NOOO!!}

The Stellaron shook as it felt its energy get siphoned away and enter Yuuto who showed an undisturbed smile.

Finding no way out, the Stellron decided to go all out and poured all its power to overwhelm Yuuto just like last time.

In hopes, his heart would stop once more.

But to no avail he instead welcomed it. Yuuto was delighted and a dense silver aura exploded from his body. 

The faint outline of a robot grew behind him and it formed a large sword within its palms.

"Goodbye."

Yuuto said one last word to the Stellaron and the silhouette of the Engine of Creation grew even brighter. Slivers of iridescent light gathered within the sword and extended upwards so that it pierced the space that held them.

Reaching a certain point, the Engine of Creation swung down and a bright light exploded. Enveloping the space in a blinding radiance.

Yuuto moved back a few steps as the contact point was just a few meters away from him.

He lowered his arms that covered his face and looked at the Stellaron or what looked to be a remnant of it.

"It looks like when I first got my Stellaron from Stelle."

An empty orb that had little to no energy flowing through it. That was what the Stellaron was reduced to.

"It also looks like the consciousness it used to have also disappeared."

Yuuto recalled the bundle of threads that was located in the center and how the Engine of Creation managed to sever all of it.

Finding that he was truly finished, Yuuto fell to his knees and a faint flame escaped his mouth as a moment of weakness suddenly filled his body.

"I guess this is the after-effects of [Fusion]."

He opened and closed his fist feeling a bit weaker than his previous state which felt oddly weird. He also noticed that the amount of energy that the engine pumped decreased by 25%.

"I guess I need to use this state sparingly for now."

He could guess that his engine would return to normal in about an hour or so. But he didn't fret and relaxed his body.

The golden lines that covered his body also didn't fade away but he was sure it would be a while before they faded on their own. 

.

""Yuuto!""

Inspecting his body for more changes, Yuuto heard a few voices call out to him and saw Stelle and Cyrilla running toward him.

Before he could say anything, a small figure leaped into his arms and hugged him tight.

"Yuuto…I'm sorry…"

He was silent after hearing Cyrilla's words and felt a part of him break hearing her silent apologies.

"You are seriously a cry baby…" He raised her head and showed her a gentle smile before wiping her face.

"Look, don't you see I'm fine?"

Cyrilla's blurry vision looked at the countless patches of dried blood on his body and the lines reaching up to his neck.

Guilt began to grow within her as the only reason he was like this in the first place was due to the promise he made to her back then.

Noticing the dilemma she was experiencing, Yuuto gently ruffled her hair and spoke in a soft voice.

"It was all for my self-satisfaction so you don't need to feel guilty for my injuries. I'm very stubborn so these just happen to appear."

"Yeah, I can tell…"

"Hey, that's a bit blunt."

Cyrilla let out a small laugh seeing Yuuto's face twitch. 

"Thank you…" After calming herself, Cyrilla managed to utter the words that she wanted to say to him this whole time.

Yuuto didn't respond and just smiled as he already said the things he needed to say.

He patted her head but stopped when he noticed a gaze linger on him a few meters away.

Noticing his eyes land on her Cyrille bowed her head as she was scared to meet his gaze and watched the three from a distance.

"Cyrille."

Hearing him call out to her, Cyrille flinched and didn't raise her head as she was guilty of all the things she'd done while under Stefan's control.

She knew that she was hated. She knew that when she was alive. How the adults around her would curse in disdain while she followed behind Stefan.

How she brought chaos to Belobog when she took the position of Supreme Guardian.

She knew that her talents were ordinary and that she brought many issues just by staying alive.

"Cyrille."

"....."

"It's lonely if you stay there by yourself. Come join us."

Cyrille hesitantly looked up and saw how her sister was encouraged to join her while Yuuto and Stelle smiled quietly at the back.

Her body shook as she was afraid but her hand was held by her sister that she didn't expect to meet all this time.

"Come."

Cyrilla smiled and pulled her sister towards them and ended up in Yuuto's arms which made him wince.

"You are safe now."

Yuuto ruffled through Cyrille's hair and an unfamiliar warmth entered her body.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry I was a bad leader…I'm sorry…"

Tears began to fall from Cyrille's eyes as bottled-up emotions poured out and she accepted the warmth that she so desperately wished to have.

"It's alright." Cyrilla took her sister's hand. "You won't be alone anymore."

Feeling her sister's hand within her own, Cyrille finally showed a real smile that finally emerged after years of hiding.

Hugging her sister one more time, she looked at Yuuto and said her final words to him. Wearing a bright smile that made Yuuto strangely sad.

"Thank you for being the light that saved both me and my sister—."

Cyrilla hugged Yuuto tightly as if it was her last time and her body began to turn faint as trails of white light bloomed from her body. 

She held onto her sister's hand and the two of them gradually turned into specks of light. Leaving behind a ripple and a pure white fragment in the place they previously stood.

Yuuto sat in silence as he stared at the fragment and got up to touch it. As he got closer the fragment danced around his body and released a bright light that blinded him.

"What the hell…"

Clearing his arm from his face, he noticed that his surroundings abruptly changed and the image of a woman suddenly stood in front of him. 

She had long gray hair and carried a demeanor that resembled a wise queen. Seeing that he was looking at her with confusion, the woman dipped her head and bent her knees to greet him.

[I'm sure that you must be confused but I just wanted to meet the person who granted our wish before I or more so we disappear.]

She raised her head and let out a gentle smile which Yuuto felt was very fitting.

[As I am the one who wanted to meet you, I will introduce myself. I am Alexandra Rand, the 3rd Supreme Guardian.]

"Alexandra…"

Yuuto looked slightly shocked hearing such a familiar name and greeted her back as he genuinely respected the type of person she was based on the records he read.

[You don't need to be so stiff since you have saved one of our kin who was trapped under the dreaded Stellaron.] 

"Well, it was only natural as I made a promise."

[Mhm, what a perilous journey to go through just to meet a promise.]

"I'm sure you would do the same. Especially based on the stacks of papers you wrote when you were still alive."

[Oh my, so you've seen those documents. How embarrassing.]

Alexandra placed her palm on her cheek and let out a long sigh. Yuuto felt intrigued as her personality was a lot different from what he expected it to be.

Considering the amount of praise the lingering echoes he managed to meet. All of them formed the image that she was a strict and firm individual.

[Enough of that.] Alexandra coughed and brought the conversation back on point.

[Due to your actions, the inherent desires of the previous Guardians have been finally met but the reason I called you was due to how you completed it.]

[Years. Countless days, all of us fought against time to figure out a way to deal with the Stellaron plaguing our planet.]

[Research piled up but not once have we ever thought of an individual absorbing the energy within a Stellaron. More so erasing the will within it.]

Alexandra's expression turned serious as she looked at Yuuto in silence. Never in her entire life would she meet a person capable of doing such a thing but fate worked in strange ways.

[Previously I have met your companion and felt the Will of Preservation strongly attracted to her. Especially through the lance she held.]

[But for you it is something different. The Will wasn't strongly attracted to you but it willingly entered your body with zero resistance at all.]

Yuuto raised his eyebrows at this and was curious to hear more from her.

[Unfortunately, I am unable to understand the true nature of Qlipoth but one thing I know for sure is that you are capable of being the light that can erase the obscurity driven by temptation.]

A graceful grin bloomed on Alexandra's face and her palms released a faint amber light. A small rectangle grew and floated towards Yuuto.

[Take this. The Guardian's Will. Our collective resolve desires to follow the individual who managed to grant our wishes.]

Yuuto raised his hand and accepted the amber rectangle and Alexandra smiled in satisfaction.

[From the bottom of my heart. I once again thank you for saving our planet and erasing the evil that plagued our home.]

Alexandra walked towards Yuuto and held his hand. Leaving behind a kind expression before she faded into nothingness. 

Yuuto looked at the object in his hand before placing it to the side and clasping his hands together.

"I will remember your story…"

He mumbled these words and felt his surroundings shift back to their original spot. Leaving only Yuuto and Stelle alone in the broken-down space.

"Let's go back." 

Stelle heard his words and nodded her head as she followed behind Yuuto who was looking at the amber rectangle Alexandra gave him.

He was curious about its uses but it seemed like he didn't need to wait too long as a certain object in his mind was excited at the sight of this object.

'You keep on shaking like crazy. Do you want this?'

—FLOOOOOOOF!!!!

'Jeez, you better do something good with it.'

Yuuto used [Archive] and sent the object to the library in his mind. The book was happy as it floated towards the rectangle and touched it with one of its pages.

Specks of amber particles dissolved from the object and dyed itself onto one of the pages within the book.

'This is….'

***

–RIP

The sky which was empty and devoid of any cloud began to shake as a medium-sized tear ripped the space apart.

It was silent but the figures of two individuals suddenly popped out. Leaving them to free fall through the sky.

Yuuto felt the wind wrapped around his body and a sense of drowsiness began to grow within him. The aftereffects of [Fusion] seemed to catch up to him and he couldn't wait to finally rest.

' Ah, the sun is rising…'

The dark sky that laid upon them through the whole battle had finally begun to fade away and was slowly replaced by the warm light radiating off the sun.

Yuuto allowed the sun to caress his face and he lay in silence as the wind hugged his body. Bringing an opportunity to enjoy the view.

Of course, that is if there were no distractions that would ruin this scene.

"Oii!! I'm going to die!!? DO SOMETHING!!"

"...."

"I'm going to go kill you if you don't do something soon!!!"

"...You're ruining my internal monologue."

"Screw your monologue! Can a damn monologue save us from falling to our deaths!?"

Yuuto let out a deep sigh as Stelle flared her arms around as she struggled to keep her calm seeing the ground rapidly approach them.

"Hold on tight."

Grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him, Yuuto's body began to release a thick mist that converged into a medium-sized crystal.

'Let's try this thing out.'

Yuuto grabbed the crystal he formed and in his open palm, he uttered a word in his mind.

[Memoforge]

A bright amber light grew within the palm of his open hand and a tiny orange-colored feathered pen materialized.

"What are you going to do with that pen…"

Stelle was skeptical as she saw the object he was holding but Yuuto didn't bother explaining as they were getting closer to the ground.

'Combine [Crystal]. [Wingweaver Wing Anatomy] and [Flight] together.'

Yuuto willed his thoughts into the pen and an amber coloured ink flowed out. It shined brightly and enveloped the objects Yuuto set his mind towards and quickly mixed into a single fragment.

"That should do it."

Feeling satisfied, he shattered the fragment he made and a large pair of white wings unfurled behind his back.

"You turned into a bird!!?"

"No, you idiot. This is just a temporary measure."

Yuuto flicked Stelle's forehead and used his back muscles to move his newly made wings together.

Their descent downwards gradually stopped and he used the wind to fly towards their allies. Who was waiting for the two to come back home.

***

"The cards have changed…"

In an unknown space, a woman wearing a purple veil looked at the cards laid in front of her in interest as the outcome was one she didn't anticipate.

"The moon rose to devour the sun. While the resolve of countless wills has been recorded within a book…"

Her slender finger tapped on the wooden table she sat at and an alluring smile began to grow on her lips.

"The cards have changed."