Rex Tyranus set one foot inside the dome where the glittering couple hid, and to everyone's surprise, extended his hand with unexpected gentleness. The young heir instantly dove behind the seats, trying to hide, unaware that in Rex's eyes there was only one person.—Come with me— he said in a distorted voice, barely comprehensible.
The one they called Audri stared at him blankly. She was shocked that the stranger would reach out to her so fiercely, yet the girl remained motionless, disinterested—almost like a doll on a shelf. Behind her, unsurprisingly, her "cowardly" fiancé wouldn't stop whimpering, praying for someone to save them while clasping his hands together in a pitiful display.
And yet, to her own surprise—the girl who had long since sealed her heart from all emotion—realized that she did feel something: a strange flicker of joy."At last, I can leave this place," she thought.Even so, she remained frozen, paralyzed by the same inaction that had defined her for years.
—Take my hand, dammit! We don't have all day!— Rex snapped, his voice leaking desperation through the mask's distortion. The sound made her tremble slightly, her heart skipping for reasons she couldn't explain.
Then, the young man lifted his free hand to the side of his mask and, with a slow motion, deactivated it. Reaching out again with the other hand, he revealed a black glove streaked with crimson and violet veins that pulsed and contracted like living blood vessels beneath his skin. His voice was no longer distorted. Softer now, he called once more:
—Tia… let's go.—
For an instant, the lost light returned to Tia's eyes. They glistened as she saw, through a thin dark film, the crimson spark that made the boy's gaze burn. For some reason, it felt familiar. She wanted to respond—she truly did. After so many years, her lips parted… but a violent impact shattered the moment.
A blue guard had rammed Tyranus, hurling him several meters back. Barely keeping his footing, he coughed, catching his breath as the mask shifted to a green hue. Tyranus rose again. Before him stood around ten blue guards and two reds."Androids made to protect citizens… what a lie," he muttered, bracing for combat.
From a distance, Hide watched in shock as, behind the machines, Caelum had already grabbed Tia's hand, dragging her away through the same breach Rex had created.
Tyranus lunged at the androids immediately. Though their metallic bodies, coated in color-coded Elentite polymer, were built to endure, the boy's gloves were like corrosive acid against their armor. A single strike to the head or abdomen was enough to trigger a chain short-circuit; a few blows were all it took to send the first soldiers crashing to the marble floor like half-melted scrap.
Unfortunately for him, when they worked in unison, fighting them became far harder, forcing him to retreat several times. Luckily, none of them carried weapons—they were clearly trying to capture him intact, or so he guessed from their behavior.Even if he could take them down, Tyranus was starting to tire.
—I won't waste any more time… Azure Trigger!—
The mask's color shifted to a bright sky-blue, and new veins pulsed fiercely along his gloves in deep cobalt tones. With a near-animal leap, he spun into the guards, and no matter their rank—blue or red—they fell within seconds, leaving behind nothing but a scrapyard of metal and polymer.
But his victory meant nothing.
Tia was gone.
With a mix of fury and sorrow, he screamed, his voice amplified by the mask:—Tia! I'll find you! I'll rescue you! And we'll go home together! I swear it!—
The girl, being dragged by her fiancé into a guard vehicle, could only shed a single tear—one that vanished amidst the deafening clatter of falling metal pieces.
Then, from the heavens, descended a "Cloud of Paradise," a vessel used by the Celestial Stairways. Painted in national colors—blue, red, copper, silver, and gold—it hovered above the boy.
From within emerged two women in silver armor, followed by an older, imposing man with a shaved head and a metallic eyepatch engraved with the Stairways' emblem. He wore a golden coat reinforced with pure Elentite and gazed down at the young man on the ground.
With a crooked smile beneath his mask, Tyranus lifted his face to meet his new adversaries.
—Took you long enough, you bastards.—