Chapter 51: A Monkey's Metal Heart
Gilded Hollow lay beneath a strange mixture of golden daylight and blackened sky, its towers bright on one side and shadowed by the battle beyond the barrier on the other.
High on the rooftop of one of the city's taller buildings stood Caelan, Renji, Daichi and Yuto.
Below them, the battlefield moved like something alive.
Lightning flashed in the distance where Stormmane and Quickflare raced through explosions with Blastcore in pursuit. Dreadtide's corrupted swamp had swallowed part of the eastern field, while farther away Quakewyrm continued hammering against Gilded Hollow's defenders.
But something else was moving through the forest.
Renji's hand hovered near his Resonance Linker.
"Arachne?"
Daichi squinted through the smoke.
"I don't see her."
Caelan's golden eyes narrowed behind the closed visor of his Azure armor.
"No."
Something felt wrong.
Not merely powerful.
Twisted.
The trees shook.
Then something came swaggering out of the forest.
It gleamed.
It shone.
It strutted.
Daichi stared.
"...Is that a metal monkey?"
The creature marched forward with both arms folded across a broad chest covered almost entirely in brilliant golden metal. Its body had retained Eidon's unmistakable simian shape, but everything about him had changed. Polished armor plated his limbs. A metallic tail swayed behind him. Dark glasses covered his eyes despite the battlefield being half-shadowed already, and a crimson cape fluttered behind him with enough unnecessary drama to make his identity obvious before the Resonance Linker even reacted.
The screen flashed.
CHROME EIDON — APEX STAGE
Daichi went pale.
"Apex."
Renji's expression hardened.
Yuto instinctively moved closer to Michael.
Caelan stared down at the creature.
"Eidon."
Chrome Eidon planted one foot forward and struck a pose.
"Long time no see, Caelan-baby!"
Caelan's head tilted slightly.
"You survived."
Eidon slapped both hands against his metallic chest.
"Survived? Oh-ho-ho! I upgraded!"
His laughter rolled across the battlefield.
"You wrecked my beautiful network body, that crazy black hole threw me halfway across the world, and guess who found poor little me?"
A woman's laugh echoed from nowhere.
High.
Amused.
Far too familiar.
Arachne.
"Well, well," her voice drifted over the rooftops. "Look at all of you standing up there pretending to be soldiers."
Caelan looked around.
Nothing.
No visible body.
Only the voice.
Eidon spun and pointed dramatically toward the sky.
"She found me!"
Daichi muttered, "Of course she did."
"She took me in!" Eidon continued. "Fixed me! Improved me! Gave me this magnificent body!"
He flexed.
The metal gleamed.
"And she filled me with love."
Daichi's expression changed.
"Parasites."
Eidon grinned.
"Thousands of them!"
Yuto stared.
Eidon tapped the side of his head.
"Little whispers everywhere. Telling me what she wants. What she needs."
Renji's face twisted in disgust.
"You're being controlled."
"No, no, no."
Eidon clasped both hands against his chest.
"I'm devoted."
Caelan looked toward the forest.
Arachne's laughter came again.
"Isn't he adorable?"
"No," Caelan said.
Chrome Eidon's grin twitched.
Arachne continued, "You don't have the numbers, Caelan. You don't have the strength. This little city and its contracts won't save you."
Her voice softened.
"And neither will that pretty armor."
Caelan said nothing.
Below them, Chrome Eidon rolled his shoulders.
"Now then."
His metal fingers cracked.
"Who's ready for the comeback performance?"
Vellum moved.
Slowly.
No roar.
No dramatic charge.
The demon ruler simply stepped onto the edge of Eggshell Haven's roof and looked down at Chrome Eidon.
The darkness inside his cracked shell deepened.
"Nightmare Syndrome."
Black mist poured outward.
Not ordinary darkness.
Something heavier.
Something that seemed to drain warmth from the air as it spread.
It wrapped itself around Chrome Eidon.
Thousands of eyes opened inside it.
Small.
Large.
Hungry.
Unblinking.
For the first time since appearing, Eidon stopped posing.
His grin faded.
Even through the metallic armor, Caelan saw the creature stiffen.
Vellum's golden eyes burned inside the darkness of his shell.
"Do you really think a brute can do anything to me?"
The mist tightened.
Then reality tore open.
A thin crack appeared beside Eidon.
It widened.
Arachne stepped through.
Her crimson-and-black dress moved around her like layered silk, silver-white hair spilling over her shoulders beneath the broad web-patterned hat. Violet gloves covered her arms and gemstones glittered against the dark fabric.
She looked perfectly relaxed.
"Of course not."
She lifted one hand.
The black mist twisted.
Then vanished into the dimensional tear behind her as though it had been swallowed.
The thousands of eyes flickered out.
Vellum rocked backward slightly.
Arachne smiled.
"I merely wanted to know how durable my little toy had become."
Chrome Eidon immediately puffed out his chest again.
Vellum stared at her.
Arachne adjusted the brim of her hat.
"Now that I'm here, shall we try this once more?"
Her gaze lifted toward Caelan.
"Come to me."
Caelan looked down from the rooftop.
"No."
Arachne sighed.
"You really could pretend to consider it."
"No."
"Very rude."
Her attention shifted toward Vellum.
"And you."
Vellum folded his claws.
"Me?"
"Give me the children."
Renji's expression hardened.
Arachne smiled.
"I could have given you treasures. Essence. Relics. Enough wealth to double your little empire."
Vellum snorted.
"I don't think you're seeing what I'm seeing."
Arachne raised an eyebrow.
"You would have disposed of me the moment Yuto and Michael were gone."
She placed one hand dramatically against her chest.
"Vellum. I'm wounded."
"No, you're not."
"I could be trustworthy."
"You eat people."
"Only sometimes."
Vellum's eyes narrowed.
"Beings like me carry a great deal of essence. I'm quite the delicacy to parasites looking for shortcuts."
Arachne's smile returned.
"Delicacy?"
"Very expensive one."
Stormmane would probably have approved of that distinction.
Vellum leaned slightly forward.
"There was never any reason for me to trust your offer."
Arachne clicked her tongue.
Caelan stepped from the rooftop.
He descended slowly through the air, Azure armor reflecting the battlefield light.
Razorstag rested in weapon form in his hand.
Arachne looked up at him.
Caelan's golden eyes showed through the narrow opening in his fully enclosed helmet.
"Your offer is still worthless."
Renji looked toward Daichi.
Daichi whispered, "Better than yesterday."
"Marginally."
Caelan landed.
"I don't work with someone who murders innocent people."
Arachne smiled.
"Always so sentimental."
"I have friends."
Caelan raised Razorstag.
"That's enough."
Behind him, Renji's Linker glowed.
Daichi's followed.
Yuto tightened his grip around his own device.
And Michael stepped forward.
Vellum launched himself toward Arachne.
There was no graceful way to describe it.
He became an egg-shaped projectile.
Arachne stepped aside with irritating ease.
Vellum struck the earth hard enough to crack the street.
"Oh, darling," Arachne said. "Grace."
A wave of black energy exploded from Vellum's shell.
Arachne raised one hand.
Dark webbing formed between her fingers and intercepted it.
Their battle erupted across the square.
Caelan did not watch.
His opponent was elsewhere.
Yuto lifted the Resonance Linker.
"Michael!"
Golden light engulfed the small angelic Aetherkin.
His body expanded.
Wings unfolded.
The first evolution completed.
Michael evolved into Lumiel.
The Virtue Sigil of Hope ignited.
Yuto's device became almost painfully bright.
The second transformation began immediately.
Lumiel rose into the light.
His form stretched taller.
Armor appeared.
Great white-and-gold wings unfurled behind him as celestial symbols ignited throughout the air. A radiant sword formed in one hand while a massive glowing shield appeared on the other arm.
The light faded.
Lumiel evolved into Archoniel.
Elite stage.
Temporary.
But powerful.
Yuto raised his Linker.
"Support output!"
Golden resonance flowed around Archoniel.
The celestial warrior straightened.
"I feel mighty."
Daichi stared.
"Does everyone become dramatic when they evolve?"
Renji looked toward Caelan.
"Apparently."
Chrome Eidon cracked his neck.
Then he began singing.
"♪ Looooove Serenade~! Feel the groove, baby! ♪"
Caelan stopped.
The song spread.
Not merely sound.
Power rode inside it.
Warmth seeped into Caelan's thoughts.
Relaxation.
Affection.
A strange desire to stop fighting and simply listen.
Stormmane's earlier words came back to him.
Eidon had always been theatrical.
Apparently evolution had made that worse.
Caelan raised one hand.
Wind gathered.
The air compressed.
Then exploded outward in a silent rotating field.
The song disappeared.
Sound itself was shredded away before it could carry Eidon's influence.
Chrome Eidon's mouth continued moving.
Nothing came out.
He stopped.
Then looked personally offended.
Caelan flew forward.
Razorstag transformed fully in his hand, becoming a long, viciously edged dark weapon.
Myriad-Star Fate Body activated.
Stellar light spread beneath Caelan's armor.
He slashed.
A crescent of compressed wind crossed the battlefield.
It tore through buildings already abandoned by civilians.
Split the ground.
Carved deep through stone.
And struck Chrome Eidon directly across the chest.
Dust erupted.
Eidon remained standing.
He looked down.
Nothing.
Not even a visible mark.
Chrome Eidon dusted imaginary dirt from one shoulder.
"Please."
He tapped his golden chest.
"Refined adamantite, baby."
Caelan's eyes narrowed.
So that was why Vellum had lent him Razorstag.
Archoniel appeared behind Eidon.
His radiant sword descended.
"EXCALIBUR SLASH!"
Holy light struck.
CLANG.
Chrome Eidon turned his head slowly.
"Feathers too?"
Archoniel's eyes widened.
Eidon grinned.
Then the sky split open.
Dark cables erupted from the tears.
Caelan's Eyes of Fate screamed warning.
He knew those cables.
Dark Network.
The same impossible strands that had erased everything they touched before.
"Move!"
Caelan vanished with Stellar Movement.
A cable passed through the space where he had been and erased the corner of a nearby roof without explosion or debris.
Simply gone.
Archoniel darted aside.
Another cable snapped toward one of his wings.
Yuto's Linker flashed.
A holy barrier appeared just before contact.
The cable struck the barrier.
Golden light vanished from the point of impact.
Archoniel recoiled immediately before the strand could reach his actual body.
"I detest those things."
Caelan reappeared beside him.
"So do I."
Chrome Eidon had stopped singing.
Now he danced.
Every exaggerated movement brought more tears in space.
More cables.
More attacks from impossible angles.
Caelan's Eyes of Fate showed futures collapsing rapidly around them.
One mistake could end the fight immediately.
"Distance," Caelan ordered.
Archoniel nodded.
They separated.
Chrome Eidon laughed.
Eidon's attention remained fixed on Caelan.
The blond pest.
The Legendary irritation.
The one who had helped destroy his previous form and leave him broken enough for the black hole to scatter him across the world.
Then Arachne had found him.
Beautiful Arachne.
Powerful Arachne.
She had rebuilt him.
Fed him.
Filled him with thousands of tiny little voices that told him exactly what loyalty felt like.
And she was watching.
Eidon straightened.
He could not disappoint her.
Not today.
"Time to end this reunion tour!"
His metallic fingers snapped.
Dark cables rose around him.
Dozens.
Their tips glowed.
Energy gathered.
Then fired.
Dark lasers crossed the battlefield.
Not randomly.
They connected.
A net formed.
Caelan's Eyes of Fate showed the trap before it finished closing.
He raised his free hand.
Wind compressed violently into a spinning disc.
He hurled it.
The attack struck the energy net.
The entire structure warped.
Caelan vanished.
Razorstag pulsed.
Light Blade Mode.
The weapon blazed white.
Caelan appeared beside Chrome Eidon.
Slash.
Gone.
Another angle.
Slash.
Gone.
A third.
A fourth.
Seven strikes crossed Eidon's body in less than a second.
Caelan reappeared several metres away.
Chrome Eidon froze.
Slowly, he looked down.
Tiny lines had appeared across his armor.
Not deep.
Almost invisible.
But there.
Cuts.
His grin vanished.
"You little glitch."
Caelan looked at Razorstag.
Vellum had not exaggerated.
The weapon could cut the adamantite.
Barely.
That was enough.
Then Archoniel descended.
"EXCALIBUR SLASH!"
His radiant sword became a pillar of holy light.
He swung.
The battlefield split beneath the attack.
Stone, earth and broken structures tore apart.
Chrome Eidon disappeared beneath the brilliance.
CRACK—THOOM!
The shockwave rolled through Gilded Hollow's outer district.
Smoke rose.
For a moment nobody could see him.
Then a silhouette moved.
Chrome Eidon walked out.
Scratched.
Slightly bent at one shoulder.
Still very much alive.
"Is that all?"
Archoniel stared.
Chrome Eidon extended both palms.
Black lightning erupted.
Archoniel tried to move.
Too slow.
The blast struck him directly.
"GAH!"
His wings folded.
He fell.
"MICHAEL!"
Yuto's Linker blazed.
"Barrier!"
Golden light snapped around Archoniel before he reached the ground.
The remaining corruption crackled across the barrier and failed to penetrate the bond surrounding him.
Archoniel steadied himself.
Smoke curled from his armor.
"Thank you."
Yuto's hands shook around the device.
"Don't scare me like that."
Caelan landed beside Archoniel.
Razorstag hummed in his hand.
Chrome Eidon was stronger.
Far stronger.
Apex.
The difference was enormous.
But Caelan had cut him.
That meant something.
Archoniel looked toward him.
"We're hurting him."
"Barely."
"Still counts."
Caelan almost smiled beneath the helmet.
Chrome Eidon rose higher into the air.
Dark cables spread around him.
His theatrical grin had become something uglier.
"You think you're heroes?"
His voice thundered across the battlefield.
"You're delusions wearing costumes!"
More cables tore holes into space.
"I will be the King of the Aetherkin!"
Black energy gathered around him.
"I will prove my worth!"
His glasses reflected Arachne's distant battle.
"I WILL SHOW HER!"
From across the square, Arachne glanced toward him while casually avoiding another attack from Vellum.
"Oh, darling."
She adjusted her hat.
"Don't get emotional."
Chrome Eidon did not hear her.
He was already gathering power.
Caelan tightened his grip around Razorstag.
Archoniel raised his shield.
And above them, the dark cables multiplied.