The Angel stepped forward.
It had an air of illusiveness about it. The Being emitted a warmth that touched our hearts and calmed our souls, but the sheer terror of its power and the enigma of its origin and intentions juxtaposed those feelings, fighting them with bone-chilling feelings of dread.
Our bodies moved on their own, slamming against the walls of the cavern. Try as we might, we couldn't move a muscle; we were pinned.
Its gaze shifted to me. It growled deeply as its eyes flickered. It let out one low exhale before opening its mouth.
"What's your name, worm?" it growled like a Mongolian throat singer.
"H-Himiko Suzuki." My voice was the opposite, shallow and squeaky.
"Himiko… Such a puny name," it sighed, "Why did he allow such meagre species to evolve?"
It raised its arm, the palm facing me began to glow.
"I'll free you from your suffering."
My life flashed. But it didn't end.
My eyelids lifted. The Being's palm stopped glowing; it was now tightly clutching its elongated head. The muscles in its hands were tense as they squeezed, screaming and grunting, just like the one in the school.
It shouted to someone, the same low voice, but with words I couldn't comprehend.
Fists clenched, it relaxed, slowly breathing in and out as the arms drifted to the Angel's sides.
There seemed to be a change of goals in the Being, as it shifted its focus from us to the door after a long sigh.
Each step was silent, as if it were a lifeform of pure air. Time slowed as it was in the room with us. Gliding along the floor, its aura followed behind it, leaving a hollow feeling in our souls. Minds failed us. Words couldn't escape us.
Control was returned to our bodies once it left the cavern. We fell to the floor. But the grip it had on our minds didn't leave.
We were frozen.
There was a pit in my stomach.
It wouldn't hurt us if we stayed still, right?
The remnants of the hanging vines retreated as the Angel approached, like two magnets of the same polarity repelling one another.
Light—bright blue—engulfed the entrance.
The farmer's shield flickered.
Rapidly, Lefèvre's head rotated as if he felt a horrible atmosphere behind him. Soaked in sweat, his fringe didn't swing; it was stuck to his forehead.
Despite the gaze that befell the Entity, it didn't meet it; instead focusing on the entrance in front of it.
Why would a lifeform like that pay any notice to ants under its feet?
However, we had a hidden weapon, one who wasn't coded to feel fear.
Two small projectiles were fired at the Entity, suddenly stopping mid-air in front of it. BB came shortly after, using the distraction to strike its blind spot, blade first.
But it was futile. In less than a second, it reacted, grabbing the pincer in its hand. A flick of the wrist with the free hand was all it took to send the farmer flying against the wall. Shattering, the forcefield was gone.
The soldiers outside slowly stepped back, careful with every step they took lest they face the Being's wrath.
BB squirmed; The Entity didn't flinch. They were locked together. Then, like a torch, the bot lit up, and currents flowed from the Angel's hand all the way up BB's body. He writhed before inevitably collapsing onto the floor.
The blade pinged as it stuck the ground, shrieking as the hopelessness spread throughout the interior of the tree.
Our ace was out of commission.
But that didn't matter; it wasn't after us.
The Entity entered the battlefield.
In one swing of its arm, the soldiers in front exploded into a green mist.
It didn't walk; it glided.
One bare foot touched the cracked, grey earth, then the other, each step impossibly light, as though gravity itself hesitated to claim it. Blue light bled from its skin in slow, liquid ribbons, trailing behind its limbs like silk scarves in a slow dance. The air around it shimmered, warped, bending in reverence.
Alien soldiers opened fire.
Hundreds of rifles, cannons, and shoulder-mounted launchers roared at once. The Entity grinned and responded.
A single, languid spin.
Its right arm unfurled in a perfect arc, fingers splayed like a conductor's. The barrage of energy bolts and bullets froze mid-air—caught in an invisible orbit— then reversed. Every round flew back toward its senders in a perfect, lethal ballet. Soldiers were punched off their feet, armour blooming into molten flowers of green blood, vehicles and artillery exploded in molten steel.
A low, almost amused hum escaped the Entity's throat.
Its body rotated. The movement was serene—a flick of the hand outward. A shockwave of blue energy erupted, carving a clean crescent through three armoured vehicles. Metal screamed. Turrets spun uselessly through the air before crashing down like discarded toys onto the poor souls below.
From the rim of the crater, a squadron of fighter ships descended, engines howling. The Angel looked up, eyes glowing like twin sapphires.
It leapt.
The first ship tried to evade. Too slow. The Entity's hand brushed its wing in passing — almost tenderly. The fighter folded in on itself like paper, crumpling into a ball of fire and scrap before exploding.
The second ship opened fire. The Entity spun mid-air, legs together in a subtle curve, the barrage passed harmlessly beneath it. landing on the third ship's fuselage with impossible grace, it crouched like a cat. The pilot inside screamed. The Entity placed one palm flat against the cockpit glass.
BANG!
There was no fireball in this explosion. The ship was once there, now it wasn't, just shards of metal, glass and alien remains scattered across the air as if the universe politely asked it to stop existing.
The angel moved like a ballerina. It danced along the floor, floating just above the ground, carving through soldiers, mutants, vehicles and ships alike.
It stopped suddenly, dead in front of a soldier. The force caused the alien to stumble backwards.
The Lifeform didn't break eye contact, just for a moment, before placing two fingers on the soldier's armoured chest.
Confused, the alien darted its eyes to the fingers at its chest.
Armour shattered. In a sudden move, the entity's arm thrusted forward, and the soldier flew lifelessly through the air.
It turned around.
A unit of aliens had regrouped—ranks of armed soldiers, a few at the back who loaded artillery and fighters buzzing just above like storm clouds.
A leg raised…
And slammed it into the ground.
The floor in front rose, shattered into plates.
Soldiers, weapons and artillery lifted into the air, knocking into the fighters above.
Like a showman, the entity rose up straight and threw its arms wide. Invisible arcs flew through the air, dicing everything in front into pieces.
I watched all of this from the entrance to the tree. Intimidating wasn't the word. It was presence—absolute, indifferent dominance that said, without a sound, You are beneath me.
I stepped away from the entrance, striding towards the cavern.
"What the hell is going on out there?" Ajay called, "It sounds like a warzone."
"It's slaughtering them out there," I responded.
"Wait…" Aiko said, "So it's on our side then."
"I'm not so sure; it did look like it was about to kill me when it woke up."
"But all the other ones so far have helped us," Miko pointed out, "In Rengappon, Grossaint—"
"But what if they have other intentions?" Jason said.
Miko looked at him sideways.
"But that doesn't make any—" She tried to speak before I cut her off.
"That doesn't matter right now. For now, we need to get out… The plan stays the same: we'll contact Nozomi, Lefèvre will make a ramp, the van will drive down it and extract us."
"You want to go out into that?!" Ajay questioned, pointing at the faint chaos that could be seen in the distance.
"This might be the best chance we get; they're all busy fighting each other. And I'm not waiting around to see what the victor does with us."
"Whatever you demand, Himiko, I'm with you," Aiko said, patting my shoulder. It warmed my heart to hear those words. She then turned to face the rest of the team, "If any of you want to make it home alive, I'd suggest listening to her. She's the reason you're all still standing after all."
Their lips curved, except Miko, whose expression remained unchanged.
"BB's currently down, but when he's up and running again, we'll move. Make sure you're all prepared." I announced.
They nodded, and I walked off towards the entrance to relay the plan to Lefèvre. I peered at BB, who was still out cold.
"Anything from BB?"
"The bot, no," he responded, attention still locked on the battle in front.
"What about out there? Anything changed?"
"I can't believe it," he said, "the fact that such power exists in our world.
In a field of chaos, all else faded except an apex predator and a god eying each other up.
The Sylvacapra lunged—a blur of pale bark and whipping tendrils, claws extended, trying to close the distance immediately.
A single, weightless glissade carried the God sideways. The Sylvacapra's strike carved empty air. The great tree-beast pivoted, lashing out with its elongated arm-tendril in a vicious whip. The Entity arched its spine in a perfect cambré, letting the tendril pass an inch from its throat, then countered with a backhand.
A wave of blue force slammed into the Sylvacapra's chest, hurling it backwards. Hooves skid along the ground.
"You're stronger than I thought," the entity snarled, "normally that's enough to kill anyone else here."
The great tree let out a low groan in response, squinting its blue eyes. Roots burst from the earth like hands around the creature, launching straight at the entity.
It weaved, more roots rose from the ground beneath the entity, but it was too fast.
Behind the Sylvacapra, the angel stopped.
On a swivel, the tree spun, slashing its claws.
claws cut through thin air.
There was a slight weight on the top of its head.
The Entity.
It bowed on the head of the beast, to an audience of chaos.
Roots rose to pierce the entity—it leapt backwards. Energy built in the palm of its hand. Roots rose in a wall.
It caught the ball of fire. roots burst. One blast was not enough; they continued. Skating along the floor, the Sylvacapra dodged.
Metal groaned as its back slammed against the body of a tank. Another blast approached. Dead end.
A root carved the turret of the tank clean off. The tree wrapped its hands around the gun, swinging the turret at the ball of fire, exploding in midair.
Sitting on the air, the entity sniggered.
"I like you, Tree."
The tree stared him down silently.
WHIP!
Over its shoulder, the entity looked. A tendril. It tilted, spine rotating in effortless grace. The tenril managed to graze it, drawing a line of blue ichor in the entity's chest. It touched the wound, analysing the blood on its fingertip with a grin on its face. Smoke emitted from the wound as it closed.
The Lifeform's snigger turned into a full-blown cackle.
"Clever…" It mumbled, "In all the centuries I've lived, no being has ever pierced my flesh. I wonder if you have sentience."
The tree didn't respond.
The God's arm stretched out, an invisible force grabbed a handful of soldiers and an armoured vehicle. As its arm swung, the objects followed, flying straight at the tree.
The Sylvacapra carved through the soldiers one by one as they came. A hand of twisted bark rose from the soil, catching the vehicle.
It was launched back, stopping in front of the entity.
A straight line was carved in the armoured body, splitting the van in two. Between the pieces emerged the Goat, leaping straight at the entity.
The Being flowed to the side. The tree flew past, landing on a platform of bark.
The Entity leapt—a grand jeté. It landed lightly behind the beast, fingers brushing its bark hide.
The Sylvacapra whirled, claws slashing.
dipping into a low cambré, arching backwards, the claws passed overhead. Then it rose, one hand snapping upward in a sharp battement. A deep gash carved across the Sylvacapra's flank. Wood splintered; blue ichor sprayed in elegant arcs.
The beast roared, retreating further—dodging roots it summoned to block the Entity's path, maintaining precious space.
"That's my blood, isn't it? I guess you're the closest to what I could call my offspring." The being yelled.
The roots burst as the Sylvacapra crashed through them.
With a flick of a finger upwards, gravity failed the beast's hooves, sending it flying in the air.
"It's been fun, but I've got a job I need to finish."
The voice was behind the flying tree goat. It tried to twist its body to meet it, but it was too slow.
A force sent it barreling into the forest outside the crater.
"What's that?" the entity asked itself as it gazed upon a van below, zooming down a ramp of blue.
It chuckled, "Pathetic."
I gazed at the van closing in. All we need is BB to wake up, and we're out.
"Come on, BB!" I called.
A voice responded—robotic—a voice I hadn't heard before, yet it said words that sounded familiar.
"Hi-Hi-Hi-Himi-ko-ko-ko."
My head rotated, eyes wide.
"W-w-where's K-Kao-ro"
It was BB.
Looking at me with glowing blue eyes.