Series of explosions soon resonated in the area, and Itsuki rashly faced its presumed direction. His eyes widened when he realized where it was.
"Cell towers... There were several phone towers and cell towers around that area."
Around that time, his Celestial Shifter started beeping. And he then came to a conclusion as to what had caused the explosions.
"Could it be that the Tareans are attacking again?"
He took out his Celestial Shifter and checked on the situation itself using that. He could only clench his fist at the sight that greeted him from that holographic monitor.
Not long after seeing the projected image of the damaged cell towers, Itsuki decided to head to the scene of the attack. It was located a few miles near the border separating Tsukikage and Morizumi. It was a border evident in the presence of the mountains.
xxxxxx
Itsuki was panting hard and doing his best to catch his breath as soon as he reached the area where the attack happened. The whole running he did nearly sapped his energy. But the sense of duty he felt as a Seitenger was stronger and so his body was able to keep up somehow.
The one that really caught his attention was the cell towers that the enemies had exploded. When he looked around, he couldn't see or even feel any presence of that Triske Monster or even the Gargonemas that had caused this. Further probing, however, made him stop in his tracks.
"Guys!" he yelled. But for some reason, he couldn't move to approach his friends now lying unconscious on the ground.
All four of them (Shuichi, Eichirou, Misae, and Erika) were on the ground face down, injured. His heart was beating fast at the sight of them like that. But something told him that he should just stay in his spot.
It was then that he knew he had to activate his Hasureiki over earth. He frowned as soon as he sensed... nothing. There was nothing there. It was strange, but it could have been the reason why a part of him was telling him that he shouldn't approach his friends.
On the spot where Itsuki saw his unconscious friends, his eyes narrowed. He made no sound as he pulled out his bladeless Hyakureider and fired several beams towards the vision. The resulting blast created a smoke, however, that made him unable to discern if he did hit something which was the one he intended to hit.
It took a while for the smoke to dissipate, but Itsuki did his best to remain alert as he waited. His Hyakureider was ready to fire shots when needed. Not long after, he got a clear visual of the area. But his blood ran cold and his eyes widened upon seeing that there was only an unconscious Erika on the spot where he fired the beams.
"What the ---?" He shook his head and looked again. "This can't be! Something's definitely wrong here right now."
His mind was starting to go haywire with all the confusing visions of his friends, and now his sister, going about in front of him. He had to clear his mind or else, he would end up caught in an even bigger trap than he already was.
He took a deep breath while trying his best to stay alert. Then he stopped as his eyes narrowed at a small realization.
'That's definitely not Erika. And the earlier vision was not about my friends. I would've sensed them already if they really followed me all the way here,' Itsuki thought and soon looked around before his sight landed on the spot where the "supposed" unconscious Erika was lying.
It was then that he noticed that the figure was starting to become transparent, followed by a young girl's voice resonating in the area. It was faint, at first. He even had to strain his ears to make sure he wasn't imagining it at all. His eyes widened this time as soon as he realized that the voice was familiar.
"It can't be..." he uttered in disbelief. "That was the voice of the girl that I kept hearing in my dreams."
He looked around to see if there was someone in the area who could have been just hiding from whatever had trapped him there.
"Where are you? Tell me who you are!"
Those inquiries were only met with silence. The feeling around him was still foreboding. But for some reason, that little girl's voice that resonated in the area saying "it's okay" and "you can make it" was enough to calm his heart down. It was strange. But he didn't mind.
In the midst of that, Itsuki stopped trying to look for any signs of anyone in the area. He also stopped to his tracks as soon as he felt a surge of power beneath his feet. He soon frowned as he looked to the ground he was standing at.
"Hasureiki?"
It was when he heard a groan that gradually increased its volume until it became a full blown scream. He even had to cover his ears due to the intensity of the scream.
"What the heck?"
When his eyes landed on the spot where he saw that vision of the unconscious Erika, it exploded and out of it came a large griffin-like creature that he could now tell was a Triske Monster. The creature landed hard on the ground on its butt (or what he assumed to be its butt) after coming out of its hiding place.
"I guess that surge of Hasureiki earlier was too much for that Triske Monster to handle. Now it ended up revealing itself," Itsuki couldn't help commenting as he put his hands down covering his ears.
The Triske Monster stood up after an unsightly fall, its frustrated groan and screams continued.
"Damn it! Where the hell did that strange power source come from?" the Triske Monster grumbled as it continued to prepare and straighten itself.
"There you are..." he muttered as he started bringing out his Hyakureider once again as he extracted its blade.
After that, he inserted his Heaven's Medallion on his Celestial Shifter.
"Spirit Shift, Start!"
The command allowed him to don his Seitenger suit once again. SeitenEarth soon realized that whatever force had trapped him there didn't exactly prevent him from using his powers and becoming a Seitenger.
Right around that time, the Triske Monster was ready to attack and soon fired beams towards SeitenEarth. He was able to deflect all of it using his Hyakureider. However, he soon realized that the smoke created as soon as the beams hit some other place once he deflected them started to obscure his field of vision. More beams fired and deflected and the area was once again filled with smoke.
"Damn it! Why does this monster like so much smoke around it so much?" SeitenEarth couldn't help complaining as he tried to look around.
He strained his eyes once again to do its task, but nothing happened. There was nothing around him but smoke and more smoke.
"Why don't you fight some more, my dear green Seitenger? You seem to be the one who knew what he was doing when fighting us Tareans," the Triske Monster taunted.
SeitenEarth only gripped his Hyakureider tight as he concentrated on finding where the monster was.
"That jerk really trapped me here, huh?" he commented in a whisper.
"Not many could last in my illusions, you know. You're one of the very few who could withstand and last around Otoguri's illusions."
SeitenEarth didn't respond to that. But inside the helmet, Itsuki's eyes narrowed at what he had heard. Otoguri seemed to be the name of that Triske Monster. He couldn't help groaning inwardly at the thought that, of all days, he had ended up encountering an illusionist when he decided to skip Helen's lessons on counter attacking an illusionist enemy.
But he would deal with that later. At the moment, he had other things to worry about.
With that in mind, he dashed towards Otoguri that appeared to be busy laughing at its own work. Before SeitenEarth could even give it a chance to respond, he struck it with his Hyakureider powered by his Hasureiki. He was able to throw the creature far from its position and it hit a boulder nearby.
But he didn't want to celebrate yet at the sight.
He was able to discern that, for an illusionist, Otoguri seemed to have a tough exterior. His Hasureiki-powered slash didn't give it any scratches at all. At that moment, he knew he would have a hard time dealing with Otoguri.
"I have to endure it for a while. I'm sure the others will realize what was going on," he said to himself, preparing to go on an all-out fight with this new Triske Monster if he had to.
With a sharp sigh, he charged towards Otoguri once again. He threw barrage after barrage of energy blades to the Triske Monster before he could even give it a chance to strike at him.
SeitenEarth fueled his Hyakureider with his Hasureiki once again and faced the spot where Otoguri was. But then ---
"What the ---?"
His eyes widened and he froze at the vision he saw on that spot. The little girl in his dreams stood there, her back turned from him and her cream dress covered in blood. His blood ran cold at the sight. It was a scene just like from his recurring dreams about her.
The green Seitenger was about to take a step forward to check on the girl, when a large beam suddenly flashed from that girl's head that headed to him. It was too late to avoid it. The beam hit him before he could take a step away.
"Got you!"
His pained scream echoed in the area as the beam threw him hard. As soon as he hit the ground, his transformation disappeared. Indeed, the impact from that beam was too much. And at the moment, he felt as if his body went numb because of it.
"Damn it... I think that beam paralyzed my nerves..."
xxxxxx
SeitenEarth was right when he said that it wouldn't take the other Vessels long before they could realize another Tarean threat. But much to their confusion, no one was around. It should have been relieving.
Except that... it wasn't.
Not only because of the destroyed cell towers that immediately caught their attention, but also because the aura in the area was foreboding. And Misae remained silent the entire time the Vessels had tried to reach the presumed site of the attack.
"Misae-san, are you alright?" Erika asked after looking around and found nothing.
The archer took a deep breath and faced her friends with a distraught expression. "There's definitely a Tarean presence here. The air around proves it. And Itsuki-kun's definitely here, as well. But the only problem is..."
"We can't see any of them here," Shuichi finished.
Misae nodded and bit her lip.
"But we've got to find him," Eichirou declared. "If you sensed his Hasureiki around here, then it's possible that he's the one dealing with the Tareans right now."
The rest agreed and looked around once again. That is, they would have... until they all spotted something peculiar.
"Gargonemas... Why are they just roaming around that empty space there?" Erika couldn't help voicing out that question as she frowned.
The empty space she mentioned was an area below the destroyed cell towers. Though no trees were planted there, several bushes and grass filled the area. In other words, a secluded meadow in that forest.
As each of them continued to observe the destroyed area, they couldn't help but frown at a certain realization.
"What's the relation between destroying cell towers and whatever the Tareans are planning right now?
But Eichirou's question didn't receive an answer as the four Vessels heard screeches not far from where they all stood. When they all turned to the source of the sound, they saw Gargonemas charging towards their position.
"Oh, great! Now they saw us," Eichirou complained.
"And it only means one thing." Shuichi took out his Heaven Medallion and led the way. "Let's do this!"
The others did the same. All four of them placed their respective Heaven Medallions to the Celestial Shifters on their wrists.
"Spirit Shift, Start!"
With that command they spoke loudly together, their transformation devices glowed before the light covered them, as well. Not long after, they donned their respective colored suits, making them Seitengers once again.
The Gargonemas charged faster and the four warriors took out their Hyakureiders.
"Shuichi, try to find a way to break the barrier surrounding that empty space. I think that's where Itsuki-kun is right now," SeitenWind ordered and began fighting off Gargonemas attacking her and SeitenFire.
"But..."
"I'll leave Onii-chan to you and Eichirou-san," SeitenLight said as she, too, dealt with her own set of Gargonemas coming at her at the moment.
And perhaps out of worry for Itsuki, SeitenLight was dealing with more attacking Gargonemas than she should let on. Of course, it was a given that the grunts became a receiver of her frustration. She would even destroy enemies who were about to follow SeitenFire and SeitenWater. She decided not to let anyone interfere with her friends in trying to find, and eventually save her older brother who was most likely dealing with the Triske Monster that destroyed the cell towers at the moment.
"As if I'm going to let you have your way!" SeitenLight said in an intense tone before charging her Hyakureider with her Hasureiki. Now her weapon glowed white. "Heaven's Blinding Light Strike!"
One slash attack coming from her Hyakureider destroyed the remaining Gargonema heading her way. She looked around and saw no one else coming to her. She heaved a heavy sigh after that.
"Woah! I guess I overdid that, huh?" SeitenLight mumbled and retracted her Hyakureider's blade. She then turned to where SeitenWind was and chuckled when she saw that the yellow warrior finished her own set of Gargonemas, as well.
But she couldn't say the same to the other two Seitengers, though.
"They found the barrier, but it looks like it's not that easy to get through," SeitenWind commented.
"We'd better do something to help. Who knows what the Triske Monster was planning on my brother."
"And there's also that question about that monster blowing up the cell towers around here. What's the deal with that?"
From their position, both SeitenWind and SeitenLight charged up their Hyakureiders with their respective Hasureiki. Though they saw SeitenFire and SeitenWater do the same thing and struck at the invisible barrier with their attacks, nothing seemed to be working. And so the girls decided to help out as it had been a while that Itsuki was inside the barrier.
When the two older Seitengers were about to cast another attack using their charged-up Hyakureiders, it was when the two female Seitengers did the same thing.
"Four Heaven Slash!"
All four of them threw their Hasureiki-powered blade attacks to the invisible barrier with double the power they would usually use to cast it. But only a few cracks appeared all of a sudden on the invisible barrier.
"Come on! Just how strong can this barrier get?" SeitenWater complained as he was catching his breath. It appeared that the last attack drained a lot of his energy, both physical and Hasureiki-related.
"Onii-chan..." SeitenLight called out, almost in a whisper.
"There has to be a way to break this barrier," SeitenFire said as he tried to look around to find something --- anything --- that they could use to destroy the barrier.
But as SeitenWind was watching the red warrior figure out a way, she soon frowned upon sensing someone was coming and heading their way. She turned to the direction where the wind was telling her to look and was surprised to see Helen running towards them.
"Helen-chan? What are you doing here?"
It took a while for the novelist to catch her breath as both of her hands were placed on her knees. Upon resting for a bit, she took a deep breath and properly stood up to face SeitenWind.
"You guys need to transmit soundwaves to the ground to get through the barrier and destroy Otoguri's hold on it."
But that statement was only met with silence and made the Seitengers glance at each other.
"Otoguri? Is that the name of the Triske Monster that's holding Onii-chan captive in that barrier right now?"
Helen nodded as a response. Then she looked around the area to where the destroyed cell towers were. SeitenFire soon distracted her from it.
"What do you mean about what you said earlier?"
The girl faced the red warrior with a somber expression. "Otoguri is a Triske Monster who hates using sound against it despite using sounds to create attacks and --- more specifically --- illusions. That's the main reason why the Triske Monster destroyed the cell towers first before attacking Itsuki-san."
"Oh, no..." SeitenWater commented. "And to think we just had a lesson on dealing with illusions today. But Itsu-chan ended up skipping it."
"We can let him lament on that later, if he's actually regretful. Right now, the only way you guys can help Itsuki-san out is to attack Otoguri and distract him using sound waves transmitted to the ground. The more powerful, the better. That's why ---" Helen paused and soon faced SeitenLight. "You're the one who's going to have a bigger role on this."
The Seitengers could only look at each other as Helen laid out the plan to help Itsuki out of the barrier. At the moment, they could only hope that it wasn't too late for them to stop the Triske Monster from whatever plans it had for the composer.
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