D blocked with his sword the streak of light that plummeted straight down at him. The sparks burned D’s shadow onto the floor. Bounding to either side without a sound, the pair switched places, a fierce will to kill binding them together.
D saw the Ultimate Noble for the first time. Quite similar to the Hunter in terms of height and build, Valcua wore a golden cape. Given the hard, gleaming flecks that covered its surface, the garment seemed to be woven from some sort of metallic fiber. Beneath the cape, his torso and limbs were wrapped in lumpy pieces of bluish-green armor. His weapon was the golden light he gripped with his right hand. It wasn’t metal, but rather seemed to be an ionlike substance that had undergone additional chemical treatment.
Not bothering to change stance, Valcua called out, “D!”
His voice emerged from a screen of gold. His forelocks hung down to his chin, concealing his eyes, nose, and mouth, while the rest of his hair reached his waist.
“Nicely blocked. I imagine that is the proper response. Who are you, sir?”
D’s toes inched forward.
“My goodness! You send a chill down my spine—me, the great Valcua!—and make my blood run cold. Who knew there was such a man in the world besides him and myself? It would be a shame to kill you. D, will you not join forces with me? Of course, in order to do that, the traitor and the two children would need to be dealt with first. Oh!”
Valcua raised his right hand. His sword of light sent a stream of gleaming particles at D, and the Hunter held his blade up straight to parry them. The light was slashed down the middle.
There was no change at all to the sword D held upright, and from his present position he leaped over Valcua. There was a clang, and sparks went flying. The blade of D’s sword had been blocked over Valcua’s head.
Roughly three feet in diameter, his perfectly circular shield had the same golden glow as the Ultimate Noble’s sword of light. It hadn’t been concealed before—Valcua must’ve had the power to create it from thin air.
Light challenged light. There was no hesitation in D’s attack. Striking with breathless speed, D’s sword was dodged, parried, and countered with glowing thrusts as Valcua backed away.
As D parried one of these attacks, there came a momentary opening. The shield pushed forward. As if driven by the force of the wind, D leaped back. The glowing blade pursued him. When D deflected it, it broke off at an angle, flying up to sink into the reactor’s outer walls.
Before D had even landed, a red light winked on in the room.
“Damage extends to the third layer of shielding,” a mechanical voice informed them. “Repair systems operational. Level-five damage verified. Level-five damage verified.”
“Repairs are urgently needed. Repairs are urgently needed.”
“It looks as if not even the Sacred Ancestor's technology could guard against the Sacred Ancestor's destructive power,” Valcua said, his golden face upturned a little. There was bitterness in his voice. “As this destruction wasn’t at my bidding, there’s nothing I can do about it. I suppose I should leave before I’m caught up in the consequences. D, won’t you come with me?”
Even after their deadly battle, did Valcua still intend to win D over?
The outlines of his form became indistinct as he transformed into a gaseous mass that resembled gold and black oil paints swirled together. Once the air had assimilated it, D sheathed his sword and started walking toward the door.
“At present, repairs are under way. Repairs are under way. The damage has not been contained. The damage has not been contained.”
“A dimensional fusing is required. Development of the technology is under way.”
The stern voices of the machines came from behind the Hunter. They sounded frantic.
D was just coming out the door when he met a familiar face. Moving down the hall was his charred left hand.
“You’re late,” D said.
“What are you talking about? I finally silenced Sigma. Just look at the shape I’m in!”
“Did you destroy Sigma?”
“I can’t say that for sure,” it replied, its tone dropping. “At the very least, I left ’im so he won’t be able to ever send another terminal at us. But as for whether or not his main form has been shut down—”
“The reactor’s been damaged,” D said.
“What?"
“The damage was done by one of the Sacred Ancestor’s weapons. I need your help.”
“You intend to get even more work out of me? You’re absolutely heartless. . . like some kind of beautiful demon.”
Even as it cursed him, it made mention of his beauty. D had that effect on everyone.
Leaving his left hand, D walked toward the elevator. Seen from behind, he was an exquisite sight, befitting the stillness in the hall.
Even now, inside and out, a horrible battle to the death that burned everything down to the very atoms was growing even more intense. Within the fortress, klaxons had resounded for several minutes. The security computers that hadn’t noticed Valcua’s entry had awakened from the sleeplike spell that had been over them during D’s pitched battle.
Even in the fortress’s infirmary, security had its eyes and swords ready to strike down any intruders. Although this facility was intended in part for the trio of Nobles who’d constructed the fortress, there were also a number of sickrooms for any humans who served them. Behind a door protected by android sentries were Sue and Matthew.
Less than two minutes after D’s fierce battle with Valcua, another android was walking past the infirmary. Once it came to the door, it suddenly turned in that direction and headed straight for the children’s room.
“Halt,” the sentries said, raising the particle cannons mounted on their arms, but that did nothing to stop its advance. Blue and white lights focused on the intruder, becoming blinding, cracked streaks that clung to every inch of it. The android shuddered, tumbling forward before the memory banks of its control unit were destroyed. Still lying as it had fallen, it reached out with its right hand and touched the foot of the sentry in front of it.
A heartbeat later, the android it touched turned toward another sentry and subjected it to the same attack. Ignoring its compatriot as it too fell forward, the sentry drew a bead on the circuits for accessing the sickroom with its particle cannon.
Matthew was gazing at the face of the slumbering Sue. Ever since he’d been brought back by the same android count that had led him into a trap before returning to its senses, Sue had been asleep. He’d heard she’d been possessed by part of something sent to defeat D. Apparently she’d lost consciousness when that thing left her. As the boy intently watched her sleeping face, something dangerous stirred in his heart.
Ever since Sue was a child, he’d found her face to be endearing as she slumbered, and he would wait until she fell asleep before watching her for hours solely by the light of the moon. Even after they got separate bedrooms, he never tired of sneaking in under cover of night to gaze at her. In those days, they were still on the farm, and their mother was with them. Now that he was free of the bonds of that mundane existence, was the face of his soundly sleeping sister so lovely it stirred desire in him?
When he’d learned that his sister had fallen for a man, it bothered Matthew so much it nearly drove him crazy. And when Count Braujou pointed out that the man in question was D, the boy really did lose his mind. He’d attacked Sue, and as a result he’d only driven her further away. What little remained of his reason scolded him, telling him that her reaction was only natural, but now that the two of them were alone again, he was finding it hard to restrain the manly urges rising inside him.
Grabbing Sue’s blanket, he pulled it down to her belly. She was wearing pajamas. Matthew’s face looked even stranger than Sue’s had when she was possessed.
Unbuttoning her pajamas, he opened the front of them. Sue didn’t move a muscle, which only emboldened Matthew. The flesh beneath the fabric revealed a pair of sizable swells that seemed fitting
for someone her age, if not somewhat large given her fragile appearance.
Matthew’s Adam’s apple bobbed madly. Bringing his face closer to the pale-pink tip of her breast, he took a breath as if he could
stand it no longer, and then took his sister’s nipple in his mouth. Sue’s body twitched a little. After lightly sucking on her breast, Matthew directed his obsession to her lovely mouth. As her rosy lips continued to draw thread-thin breaths, the boy licked his own lips and brought them closer.
The door abruptly opened just as their lips were about to come together. It was an android sentry.
“What do you want?”
“The enemy is approaching. Please come with me.”
The android came closer.
“Where are we going? What’s the count doing? And what about D?”
“Both of them are fighting a defensive action. I will deliver the two of you to a safe area.”
“But—”
The instant his field of view was filled by the pale blue light that shot from the sentry’s right side, Matthew wondered if heaven weren’t punishing him.
III
In the operations center, D, who’d paid a call on the infirmary, informed Count Braujou that the two children were missing.
“They’re gone?” the giant said to the three-dimensional, holographic image of D, giving him an intense look as he took a swipe with his long spear. Three androids were sent flying, only to collapse and burst into flames.
“The sentries have been felled? What the hell have the security computers been doing? Rest assured—no matter how they got in here, so long as the barrier is up, they can’t get out of the fortress.”
“If they could get in, they can also get out,” D said softly. “As long as Valcua is here, the barrier means nothing. I’m heading out.”
“Very well, I’ll go with you.”
The Nobleman had intended to join the fighting all along, but after the computer notified him of D’s battle with Seurat, he’d gone to the operations center with hopes dashed. In his heart, his wicked Noble blood ran hot.
When the count got to the combat exit, D was already astride a white steed. They hadn’t summoned a single android soldier. The two of them pushed their way into the thick of the enemy troops, who swarmed like bees. Neither of them found it strange.
“Take these,” the count said, throwing the Hunter something that looked like a pair of goggles.
“They’re an information terminal. An SRPV surveillance drone has already been dispatched. It should locate the children within two minutes’ time. When it does, I’ll cut a path through the enemy. You’ll have to rescue them, D.”
Of course, there was no reply to this.
D put the goggles on. They fit well—their weight was negligible and they didn’t seem bulky. They didn’t affect visibility, either.
“Give them commands verbally. We’ll soon—”
That was as far as the count got before glowing green lines made a topographical map that filled his field of view. Four luminous points were on the move.
“Expand those points.”
Instantly, they took on the form of three humans and an android. Seurat and the android were carrying Sue and Matthew draped across their shoulders.
“The forest to the west,” the count said, and then the fugitives halted.
A cyborg horse of twice the normal size was tethered to the trunk of a colossal tree.
“On horseback, he’ll make for the highway to the west and keep going all the way to Valcua’s domain—he must intend to head north. Let’s give chase!”
The count was also astride an enormous horse. Behind him was his car.
“It looks like the night will be at an end soon,” he remarked in an unusual tone that made it sound like he was making excuses.
He then turned to D and asked, “What happened to your left hand?”
It was missing from the wrist down.
“It’s on the job,” D responded.
Whether repairs to the reactor were going well or not was unknown.
“Well then, let’s go!”
At the same moment the count pulled the reins of the gigantic steed, the doors opened. From there they went straight through the central courtyard, where a black dirt road stretched toward the distant gates.
First went D, followed by the count and the car. Thirty feet away, the main gates opened. The words “Barrier removal” danced across their goggles. At the same time, crimson streaks of light flew all around the pair. Struck by them, a portion of the ramparts instantly evaporated.
They crossed the bridge. About a thousand yards ahead, the enemy forces pressed forward. In front of them a titanic pillar of flame went up. The fireball that swelled from it swallowed all their foes in a fifty-yard radius. It was the work of a miniature missile launched from the fortress.
The air was still searing hot as D and his mount bounded forward. The reins were wrapped around his left forearm, while his right hand merely rested on them. As the white steed galloped like it was possessed, the enemy troops closed on it. From the horse’s back, a stark flash of light mowed through them, and they fell. Severed heads and torsos promptly changed into dead branches. Valcua’s magic was gone.
A blue light mowed down enemies with rifles at the ready. The blistering particle beam of seven hundred thousand degrees was fired from a cannon mounted on the roof of the count’s vehicle, and it evaporated not only the soldiers, but also trees and earth.
However, ahead of the pair the enemy milled in a thick black swarm, firing beams and missiles at them. The count’s car was hit by the shots, and the count himself received wounds all over his body from flames and shrapnel.
Can we catch up? he wondered.
The count’s internal clock was also telling him dawn was nigh. As the enemy soldiers piled up, not seeming to have dwindled in numbers at all, the first doubts crept into the count’s mind.
Will we make it in time?
Just then, the air froze. Shouts and shrieks from the enemy—in fact, all sounds—were completely silenced. Even the wind died out.
“What was that?” the astonished count said in spite of himself. He was asking D. Why did he think D knew the reason for this unexpected silence?
D gave an abrupt kick to the flanks of his steed.
For some reason the count forgot to try to stop him, and he was unable to even follow D, but rather watched the young man’s fate unfurl.
“What’s this?” Braujou cried out, and rightly so.
In front of the galloping D, the soldiers that fell beneath his horse’s hooves were suddenly transformed into dead branches. D dashed right through an army of thousands, if not tens of thousands, leaving nothing but trampled tree limbs strewn in his wake. The magical might of Valcua—the Ultimate Noble—had been broken!
“What in the world is this fellow?” the count groaned, finally giving his horse a crack of the reins.
After racing down the highway for about twenty minutes, Seurat heard the beating of iron-shod hooves ringing out behind him. The android carried Sue and Matthew on the back of the giant’s steed.
Turning around, Seurat was expressionless as he said, “I underestimated them. No doubt only the man known as D could’ve smashed through those military forces to give chase. Grand duke, what would you have me do?”
He posed this question to empty space.
A grave answer came in return.
“Just keep going. I’ve taken measures.”
“Yes, milord!” Seurat responded, feeling a chill run down his back.
Only three hundred feet to go. D’s cyborg horse was rapidly closing on the enormous steed up ahead.
Riding another three hundred feet behind him, the count’s eyes widened as he said, “Such speed! I’m glad it’s not me he’s after— well, actually he is after me, isn’t he? At any rate, I’m glad it’s not me today.”
He watched as the black figure of D dwindled at an astounding rate. A second later, t
he count gasped. D had sunk without warning. And not just him, but the gigantic horse ahead of him as well. The ground had collapsed. And the black chasm was headed straight for him.
“This is bad!”
The Nobleman jerked the reins to make a sudden stop, but his body went flying through the air. In midair, the count saw his cyborg horse trip and the car behind it slam into the beast.
A section of road twenty feet wide and four hundred and fifty feet long had given way. It wasn’t an explosion or an earthquake. The molecular structure of the ground had been altered, leaving it in an extremely weakened condition.
Were these the “measures” Valcua had taken?
As the ground swallowed him, D took the reins in his teeth. Using the strength of his two arms and his mouth to control his cyborg horse, he demonstrated a feat that could only be described as wondrous. Though his steed had sunk up to the Hunter’s knees into ground that now resembled pumice, it went no deeper. Skillfully working its four legs, the horse moved relentlessly, as if seeking solid footing.
No longer sinking but still not rising, D watched as Seurat, his giant steed, and the siblings were swallowed by the colossal cavern that opened in the ground.
A sound became audible. A splash. Obviously there was a river running deep underground.
The earth and sand suddenly began to subside much more quickly. The water had begun to wash them away.
Seurat and the others were swallowed by the darkness.
It took about ten seconds for D to hit the water. Cyborg horses could swim across rivers where it was too deep for people to stand. However, the current here trumped that ability.
As he was swept away, mount and all, D focused his gaze behind him and ahead of him. He couldn’t see Seurat, his gigantic horse, or the Dyalhis siblings. All that flowed through the massive underground cavern was black water. The cavern must’ve been at least thirty feet high.
Unexpectedly, the Hunter’s horse sank. Something had dragged it underwater. And D went right with it.
Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four Page 2