The Ending

Kari wailed in pain, as the three cores began to eat away at her mind.

Machia seemed to be having a strange seizure in midair, fine-tuned to copy Kari's exact movements.

Although she had not swallowed them herself, Machia was designed to share all of its experiences with its users, without any drawbacks.

However she was walking into uncharted territory, something Hadoron had only theorized to her, never tested.

Yet she claimed it as her ace, and with that confidence, she arched on the path for conquest.

Large whips of electricity emanated from Machia, simultaneously with a cloak of flames.

Purple veins, streaked around Machia and Kari's bodies, making them even more dangerous than they were before.

Frost built up on Machia, dissipating almost as quickly as it appeared, while Machia exhaled a cloud of steam.

Its massive blue and silver ringed eyes, rotated within its socket until it fixed its gaze on them.

"Ahhh..."

Kari's voice sounded multitone.

"My first guests at my welcoming party! I'm so honored. Nice to meet you...my name is Drakarna. You may bow before me now."

Amaara gritted her teeth, then gave her a confident smirk.

"Sad excuse, for your last party. We'll be sure to light it up for you."

Koji gripped his hilt, bracing.

"Her power has skyrocketed. They've become a much bigger threat than we came to deal with."

Simon started to sweat, as the heat became more intense, even for him.

"I might have to agree with Koji on this one... We have to retreat. This might be too much for us to handle."

Amaara calmly looked back at both of them.

"To do what? Call for reinforcements? Go back to the group we left back there and tell them, the enemy was too strong?"

Her words washed a bit of shame over them.

She clasped her fist.

"I'm sure you feel that. Nur is getting serious over there. They already have a lot on their hands. We can't let this monster interfere!"

Simon shook himself out of it, hearing Amaara's pep talk, and powered into second gear, gathering all of the energy, he could muster forth.

"That's right. We're Nova's!"

Koji sighed and did the same.

Dark clouds gathered, striking him with a small supercharged bolt of lightning, as seven electric orbs rotated in place behind him, charged with billions of volts.

"Static: Raijin Yoroi"

He looked in Drakarna's direction.

"We'll have to hit her with everything we've got and more. You know that right."

Amaara closed her eyes and took a deep breath, going into second gear, with a light blue armor settling over her.

"She's got, max 30 minutes. We just have to hold out till then and hit her when she's down."

She noticed Drakarna's head twitching.

"I don't think she's stable. If we hit her joints and find a weak spot, we might be able to break it down."

A faint blur broke their thoughts.

"Move!"

Koji yelled as he dropped down below the planet.

Amaara escaped to the skies.

Simon was rocked, by a punch delivered from Drakarna too quick for him to see.

His entire body reverberated from the impact, as he hurdled, crashing down into the planet.

Koji was shocked.

"I barely noticed her move."

He watched her shake, as she laughed out loud.

"Did you see how far he flew!"

She turned her attention towards Koji, disappearing almost as soon as her eyes settled on him and reappeared in front of him before he could blink.

"I can't have my new toys, breaking so quickly."

She placed her leg back, lacing it with purple fire and violet electricity.

Koji grimaced, as he quickly unsheathed his sword striking it with lightning to lessen the impact.

She followed through, kicking him with a bone-shattering impact, knocking him out, seconds into the flight, as he soared into the sky.

She tried to finish him, appearing above him, just before he was about to dip back down, when a blue beam of fire, crashed into her, pushing her back,

Distracting her, she waved it off with a quick flare of ice.

Amaara didn't hesitate, seeing an opening.

She unsheathed her sword, striking at the glass-like cockpit, Kari was visibly in, but instead of it breaking open, her sword chipped,

Leaving her speechless, as she looked up at Kari's giant grinning face on Machia's body.

She panicked, striking quickly and as many times as she could at the cockpit until she was forced to stop.

Not by her own will, but because the massive hands, holding her tight, continued squeezing the life out of her.

Drakarna gave her a reassuring smile.

"I commend you for your efforts. Let's have some more fun if you can survive this."

Amaara braced herself, not knowing what was coming.

Drakarna flew up and backflipped to fly back down, calling a lightning strike as a ride to take her back to the planet.

She stopped less than ten kilometers in the air, only to throw Amaara down, causing a devastating earthquake.

"Amaara!"

Koji called out, heaving and shuddering with visible wounds from the last attack.

He looked at Drakarna, who was already eyeing him, with malice.

'So this is how I go out.'

The thought crossed his mind as he charged up all of the electricity he could produce, while balls of blue fire whizzed from under him, crashing into Drakarna.

She turned to face Simon, taking no damage from the barrage, seeing barely holding himself together.

Giving him the most sinister grin, before darting her eyes back to Koji, charging her with a lightning-fast strike.

"Static: Namiutsu Shio!"

He put his full might into it, but he was pushed back, barely making a dent in Drakarna's arm.

Her head spun at a weird angle, trying to keep up with Simon, sneaking up from behind her.

"Ignite: Caelum Claver."

A wall of blue flames escaped his short sword, aiming to cut her down.

Still unable to make a dent, then opted to concentrate his flames to a razor point on the edge of his sword.

However, to his despair, the blade froze and crumbled in midair, followed by a purple lightning striking him once, and dropping him back down to below.

Simon was taken down in the same moment, it took Koji to turn around, striking the two drums behind his back and following up to clash with Drakarna's fingers.

She was toying with him.

"Oh my god, you're adorable."

He panicked, but that didn't stop her from grabbing him and throwing away his sword.

She squeezed him for a second as he yelled out, struggling to get free.

"Hold on a minute, I want to try something. I used to love doing this to birds and other creatures."

He wondered which side of her, that came from from but was relieved to see that she had let him go a moment later.

Celebrating too soon, as he began to drop out of the sky, like an anchor.

He looked down at his body, seeing glacial blue, restraints, holding his body together.

He tried burning them off him, but they redirected and amplified the electricity, back instantly.

Koji's parachute deployed, but was ripped apart, before it could function.

There was nothing he could do, as he plummeted out of the sky, landing nearby Simon.

Drakarna let out a coarse laugh echoing across the land.

"Now you gotta admit. That was hilarious. Anyways..."

Her expression turned serious.

"Playtime is over."

She placed her right palm in front of her, as her head twitched.

Manifesting bright, condensed, electric purple star, twice her size and condensed it to her limit.

"Royal Star!"

Drakarna's attack's shadow, woke Simon up, as he & Koji looked up dazed, chuckling and accepting that there was nothing they could do about it.

Suddenly someone dropped in front of them, facing the incoming ball of death.

Simon struggled to get up, seeing Amaara standing strong, fire still burning within her eyes.

"Ignite: San Ray!"

She placed her hands forth, as the beam of blue fire she had been preparing shattered forth, colliding with the massive ball of death.

Slowing down its rate of descent.

Koji's restraints, broke free, from the heat and he shot up, looking over at Simon, who didn't look too well.

They nodded at each other.

Thrusting forth their palms into the sky, and letting off their strongest attacks in their arsenal.

"Ignite: Hyacintho Ignis Maxime!"

"Static: Raijin no Nagare!"

They poured every drop of power they could muster, reaching for more.

Until they reached that wall, which only revealed the end.

Life began flashing before their eyes, as Drakarna's star, seemingly looked bigger and bigger as it got closer.

Koji thought of all of his regrets.

Simon couldn't help, but think about all the people he loved and would never see again.

A tear fell down Amaara's cheek, as the feeling of unfulfillment washed over her.

They assumed it was a twist of fate, but time seemed to have stopped for the three of them.

A voice, feeling like it was speaking in unison with millions of people, spoke to them at the same time.

"What if, we can change this ending?"