The Star Warriors

by C. S. Cooper

  “Everybody move!” she roared, and the shocked crowd split apart for her. She cut the minions up with her human buzz-saw attack, much to the crowd’s cautious delight. “Get to the underground! Now!” she yelled.

  An avian minion suddenly burst through the wall and snared a straggler. Its talons dug into the screaming woman, but before the minion could claim her soul, Astrid claimed its gizzard. She then lifted the wounded woman from the floor and shouldered her to the security guard.

  Another avian minion charged her from behind, but a lightning bolt struck it, and it splattered against the wall like a bug on a windshield. Astrid glanced outside, and saw Sakura fly past.

  “You’re definitely getting pancakes later,” Astrid chirped.

  * * *

  Nathan and Maka turned a corner. Minions had covered the narrow street and torn it apart. Agonised wails and horrified screams mixed in with the snarls and growls of hungry monsters.

  Nathan held Maka back, and moved to the centre of the road. He held his lance behind him, summoned every ounce of his energy, and pushed it into his lance. The seams in the hull of his weapon cracked, and orange light trickled out. He let out a vicious roar, and then slammed his lance into the road in front of him. The minions’ heads promptly exploded like fish bowls at a rock concert, leaving behind flabbergasted city-goers.

  “You ain’t the only ones who can do cool stuff,” said Nathan.

  Maka chuckled, which surprised Soul.

  “Wow, Maka Albarn impressed by another person,” he jibed. “And a cis white straight dude, to boot!”

  “Shut up,” retorted Maka as she followed Nathan.

  They collected every person they could find. Soul retook human form to help pull a car off the trapped leg of a man. Every survivor they found was ordered to look for the underground and wait for the military to arrive. The survivors offered expressions of gratitude.

  While Soul and Nathan helped the survivors, Maka searched for Shaula’s signature. She recognised a vague direction where the reading felt different, but still couldn’t be sure.

  Soul heard something that sounded like shells firing in the distance.

  “Must be the calvary,” he said.

  “Cavalry,” corrected Nathan. “Calvary’s the hill where they killed Jesus. I doubt a freaking hill can fire shells.”

  “Is this important, Skippy?” exclaimed Soul.

  Sakura’s voice sounded on the radio. Nathan answered, “Go ahead, Sakura.”

  “Guys, Moonface’s unleashed a flying behemoth,” she gasped. “I’ve got my hands full up here, and the army looks like they’re trying to fight it. The behemoth is going to the park eastward of the tower.”

  Nathan looked northward, and saw the tail end of the creature in question. He glanced at Maka.

  “I’m still looking for Shaula,” she said.

  “I’ll keep an eye on her,” said Soul.

  “You sure?” asked Nathan.

  “She’s my meister,” said Soul with a sharp-toothed grin. “Mutha-trucka’s got no chance.”

  Satisfied, Nathan used an overturned car as a springboard and jumped into the building on the east side of the street. He sprinted through the building, cutting down any minion he saw while slicing through walls and dodging bystanders.

  He reached the window on the other side of the building and glanced to his right. He saw the flying behemoth through the crowd of amazed office workers. He raced toward the northeast corner of the building, and cleaved through the glass at Mach-level speed. He crossed the distance to the flying behemoth and landed on one of its six insect-like wings. The behemoth’s wing beats launched him the rest of the way onto its back, and he brought his lance against the heavily armoured vertebra.

  It hardly left a dent.

  The behemoth’s tail flicked, sending Nathan head over heels. A squadron of avian minions swooped upon him, like a horde of eagles squabbling over a lone spider.

  Let’s see if I can pull an Astrid, he mused.

  He wound himself up, and kept the lead minion in sight. When it was close enough for him to see the hunger in its eyes, he jumped. He spun as he flew toward the bird, and his blade bisected its torso. He brought his blade around and embedded it in the head of the next one. Then he thrust against the third and fourth, skewering them. The last one he grabbed by the talon and dragged it onto the behemoth’s back.

  In that moment, he allowed himself a momentary lapse in control. His skin turned slightly crimson, and his gauntlet pulsated. The avian minion shrieked as its energy leaked out of its body and into Nathan through the gauntlet. As the thing disintegrated, the behemoth faltered, and it started to fall out of the sky. Nathan glanced forward and saw the green of Hyde Park. It raced upward to meet him, and he quickly jumped from the behemoth’s head. He landed on the paved path on the east-most side of the park, just ahead of where the beast smashed into the ground and skidded toward him.

  The behemoth opened its huge maw to crunch him in one go. He grabbed the upper teeth with his gloved hand, and braced against the lower jaw with his lance. The monster thrashed in his vice grip, as shells and mortars hit it from all sides. Nathan looked left and right, and saw approaching soldiers firing everything they had at it.

  But they might as well have come at it with shovels.

  Nathan almost lost his grip on the monster. He released his lance, and grabbed the lower jaw with his bare hands. With a shriek, he wrenched the behemoth’s head clockwise, and a loud crack reverberated through the park. The behemoth disintegrated before the astounded troops.

  Nathan leaned on his knees and waited for the deep gashes in his unclothed hand to heal. Then he picked up his lance and approached the nearest soldier.

  The soldier studied him up and down and murmured, “You’re one of these six fighters we were briefed on?”

  “I’m the Starlight Lancer,” said Nathan. “Me and five others’re takin’ out these things. Those things,” he indicated the machine gun in the man’s hand, “You’d have better luck with nerf guns.”

  Another soldier approached.

  “And I take it your sword there’ll do the trick?” he asked sceptically.

  “Hey, I just broke that thing’s neck with my bare hands,” retorted Nathan.

  “So what do we do then?” asked the first soldier.

  “We got civilians trapped in there,” said Nathan, pointing to the city. “We need you to get them out. My team and I will keep these things focused on us.”

  There was another flash of light from Centrepoint Tower, and another flying behemoth appeared out of the resultant plume. A ground-based behemoth soon followed. Nathan groaned with dismay.

  He turned to the soldiers and said, “Do not try to fight these things. Just get the people out of here. Okay?”

  The soldier wet his lips and glanced at his platoon. The absurdness of the situation set in quickly, and he agreed. Nathan shook the man’s hand graciously, and then raced westward, back to the battle. As he neared the fight, his mind wandered to the flying behemoth.

  Why did it suddenly fall out of the sky?

  * * *

  With a swing of Soul’s scythe form, Maka knocked a minion across the road as if it were a baseball. Then she carved through asphalt and brought Soul’s blade through the legs of another, completely bisecting its body. A flying minion dove from above, its sharp talons vectoring for her head. She braced herself against the screeching bird, which latched onto Soul’s handle and hefted them both into the air.

  “Maka, watch out below!” yelled Soul.

  He resumed human form, save for his hand. He then delved his bladed arm into the creature’s torso, ending it. He glanced down and saw Maka falling. She gracefully hit and rolled down a pile of cars. Soul dropped down to meet her, and raised his arm defensively against incoming monsters.

  “Any sign of Shaula?” he asked.

  Maka closed her eyes and held out her hands. The signature was still the same from all directions.


  Soul disembowelled several minions on his own. He kept a weather eye on his meister, and promptly dealt with everything coming her way.

  To the east, they heard a crash. Soul glanced down the street and saw the flying behemoth hit the ground.

  Nathan must’ve done it, thought Soul. Not too bad at all.

  Maka faltered. From within the recesses of her soul, she sensed the tiniest fluctuations in the aether. She looked downward to the ground, just beneath the building across the street from Centrepoint. In that instant, she felt the reading grow stronger in that direction.

  “Maka!” yelled Soul, snapping her out of her musing.

  She looked over and saw her weapon try to lever a car door open. A family was trapped inside. She raced over and looked at the door Soul was working.

  “That door’s all deformed,” she said. She clambered over to the other side and saw the other door intact, but sandwiched up against another car. “Soul, this side!” Her partner leapt across the car hood. Together, they wedged themselves between the two vehicles and pushed, but it wouldn’t budge. A minion leapt onto the other car and snarled at them. They quickly rushed into action and decapitated the thing, and then moved back to try moving the car.

  The car suddenly started to move. Maka and Soul opened their clenched eyelids and saw ten more people pulling or pushing the car out of the way. When there was enough space, Soul’s hand became a scythe blade, and sliced the door open.

  The family scrambled out of the car, disoriented and hurt, but alive and grateful. Maka quickly ordered them all down to the underground. A few soldiers came running through the streets to guide the survivors away. One of troops approached the pair.

  “I take it you’re these allies of ours?” asked the soldier. With a scoff, Maka nodded.

  “Leave these things to us,” said Soul. “You need to get these people to safety.”

  The soldier spared a glance at an incoming battalion of gold armoured minions and sighed.

  “Do what you gotta do,” he said.

  Maka grinned. Soul assumed his scythe form in her hand and they raced down the street to face the monsters. Maka twirled, and brought Soul’s scythe blade around like a combine harvester through a wheat field. Those that didn’t fall at his blade ended up on their backs.

  A sudden, massive tremor struck them from behind, and they fell to the ground. Maka scrambled to her feet and held Soul at the ready, as another land-based behemoth stood over them.

  “Run, Maka! We don't have enough time to charge,” yelled Soul.

  Maka glanced over her shoulder, and saw more minions coming from behind. Before she could panic, she noticed, behind the monsters, a pink blur coming in fast.

  * * *

  A flock of avian minions flew westward from Centrepoint toward the harbour. Sakura felled a few of them with Gale. The remainder pitched toward her.

  “Flight, how are you doing?” she asked through the resonance link.

  “I can hold up, Master,” replied her wings.

  “To the deck then,” said Sakura. She veered downward ahead of the winged soul suckers. Then she swivelled and unleashed the Flare Card. A superheated plume burst upward from her wand and engulfed the creatures. They quickly re-spawned from the tower aerie and came after her.

  Sakura vectored her wings and pulled out of her dive. She darted around the buildings, the avians hot on her tail. She cast out Veil, and a forest of shadowy thorns skewered her assailants. She banked around a tight corner and summoned Forest and Bloom. The minions she saw on the ground were subsequently torn apart by sweeping vines, while the avian minions in her path fell from the sky, their wings caked with pollen.

  “Maya, I need you to spread the word,” she proclaimed, touching her wand to the Maya Card. Wisps of fractal light flew into every window of every building, and Sakura prayed the people hiding therein got the message to evacuate.

  “Master,” said Maya. “Got everyone. I mean, it’s not like there’s a family in the building at three o’clock that’s cornered.”

  Which means there is, concluded Sakura. She pitched toward the building and sent out a Card.

  “Carve a path to the survivors, Gaia!” she yelled. A borehole appeared in the side of the building, into which Sakura flew. She summoned Blade and sliced through every minion she could see on her way through, until she found the family huddling in a bathroom stall. A larger minion was reaching for them, its hungry fangs dripping. A black fog suddenly enveloped its head and it floundered futilely to clear its vision. Sakura screeched to a halt and lopped its head off.

  She turned to the family, who withdrew from her in panic.

  “It’s okay,” she said, holding her arms up honestly. She noted the mother’s hijab, a soft pink that had been dirtied by minion blood and dust.

  They mustn’t understand me, she thought.

  The father held his wife and son tightly, his eyes fixed on the blade in Sakura’s hands. She quickly deactivated the Card, and her sword became a wand again. She tried to make as gentle a face as possible. The boy, whose face was wet with fearful tears, looked directly at her and seemed to recognise her.

  “Cardcaptor,” he said, though his pronunciation was off.

  Sakura smiled and knelt before the family. She held out her wand and said, “Could you hold this for me?” The boy, with a questioning glance to his parents, took the wand. Sakura then drew the Guard and Flight Cards and touched them to the wand. The family squealed slightly as a winged, translucent sphere enveloped them. Then it lifted them effortlessly into the air.

  “Take them outside!” Sakura commanded. Flight and Guard obeyed, and set off down the borehole. Sakura sprinted behind them. As the sphere exited the hole, Sakura leapt after them, landing on top of the sphere and descending with it. It impacted the ground and disappeared, leaving the family shaken but unscathed.

  A horde of minions were incoming, but Sakura just calmly held her hand out to the boy. With a wary smile, he handed the wand back. Sakura raised it, and activated the Spark Card. A flurry of electric bolts zapped the minions and turned them to dust. Then Sakura led the family through the chaotic street to toward the troops that were incoming from the south.

  The mother and father kissed her hands graciously as they went into the soldiers’ care. The platoon leader gave her an encouraging salute.

  I’m glad I chose to stay, thought Sakura as she saluted them back. Then she summoned her wings and shot into the sky. She banked around a few corners, zapping and smashing minions where she saw them. Then she saw another land-based behemoth. Maka stood right between it and a crowd of minions vying for her.

  Sakura reached out through her resonance link and said, “Alright, everyone, let’s go!”

  “Yes, Master!” replied the Cards.

  Gale blasted Sakura forward, and she swooped down over the minion horde. Shadowy spines, fiery plumes, high-pressure water blasts, and thorny nettles sprung up in her wake to decimate the encroaching army. She cast out Reflect, making a decoy of herself to distract the remaining monsters. With little more minions attacking, Sakura sped toward Maka.

  The scythe meister back-flipped over Sakura, who skidded to a halt and raised her magical shield against the behemoth. The beast hit an impregnable wall, giving it a nice concussion. Nathan, racing in from the right, tore through its head with his lance. Xiaolang and Astrid flew in from either side and embedded their blades in the minions vying for Sakura and Maka’s necks.

  Soul assumed human form, and the five of them made a wall around Maka. The roaring creatures squalled and gurgled as they were cut down, handful at a time, by Nathan’s lance, Astrid’s Valkyrie Skirt, Xiaolang’s sword, Sakura’s magic, and Soul himself. Meanwhile, Maka quieted her mind, and reached outward in the direction she’d sensed before.

  It does feel different, somehow, she thought.

  “Maka!” yelled Soul. Maka snapped back to reality, and saw the flock of avian minions incoming. The others were too caught up in their own scuffl
es to notice. Maka grabbed Soul’s outstretched hand. He transformed into a scythe, and they summoned a Witch Hunter blade in record time. Maka spun in mid-air, flying over Sakura and Nathan, and slicing through the shrieking minions.

  Another flying behemoth came at them from down the street. Sakura quickly summoned the Gaia Card into her body, which glimmered dark orange. Then she grabbed Nathan’s outstretched hand, twirled him around, and threw him with all her might at the airborne beast. Astrid used her blades as a counterweight, and hurled Xiaolang.

  Coyote and the Starlight Lancer flew down the street toward the creature. It bared its teeth, determined to have them in its belly. Its snap missed by fractions of an inch, as Nathan and Xiaolang hooked their blades into the corners of its mouth. Their momentum carried them down the length of the monster, splitting it two ways down the middle. They rolled on the ground and skidded to a stop. The behemoth crashed to the ground and disintegrated.

  “Howzat!” bellowed Nathan.

  “Not bad at all, mate,” said Xiaolang in a poor attempt at an Australian accent.

  Nathan grinned, and fist-bumped the Chinese magician. Then he eyed the disintegrating beast. He recalled the other one he’d killed. He had an epiphany, just as a three metre tall minion stomped the ground behind them. He turned and stopped Xiaolang from engaging.

  “I got this,” he said, handing his lance to the boy. Then he raced forward, sliding between the minion’s legs. He leapt up onto the monster’s back. He flexed the fingers of his gauntlet, and slightly released his mental control. His skin flashed crimson, and he plunged his hand into the beast’s back. The creature started to twitch and thrash as Nathan drew its energy into his body. He felt invigorated and, at the same time, afraid of the pleasure coursing through his stomach.

  Xiaolang suddenly felt fatigued, as if his legs had fallen asleep. The minions staggered around and wailed. Then they vanished. Coyote glanced over, and saw Nathan, his skin tinged red and his hair-tips glistening fluorescent green. The boy panted and growled, working hard to regain some kind of control. As if he’d finally moved a heavy boulder into place, his skin and hair returned to normal. He walked over and hefted Xiaolang up.