Sa:cryd ZERO

Chapter 13

In a dark room, two individuals can be seen kneeling down in front of a throne occupied by a man in his late 40’s who was holding a walking stick. The man wore a monocle and a long coat as he gave off British vibes. “Sir, we’re terribly sorry but we failed in our mission to capture the boy”, the man spoke in a trembling tone. The man on the throne just watched him as he then sighed. “Pablo…I told you that this was the ideal chance to capture the boy, since the kanizors were silent for the time being. And you’re now telling me that you failed?”, the man spoke in a booming voice. “Well, yes, but the kid proved formidable…”, before the one called Pablo could finish his sentence, his head exploded with a loud pop as blood and bits of brains and flesh flew everywhere. The lady beside him was splashed with blood as she stared on in shock. “Excuses. Every single time. I’ve wasted precious valuable resources on making you into my strongest of soldiers and you come back with excuses. And what do you have to say, Serena?”, the man spoke as he now focused his gaze on the woman. “Sir…give…give me another chance. I promise I’ll bring him back. We might have failed this time but surely…”, Serena immediately stopped talking when she realized that the man in front of her didn’t really care about what she had to say. “Ah, I’m so gonna die”, Serena thought. “There’s no second chance since the kanizors have started to move. But this also provides us with an excellent opportunity. By killing the guardians protecting that woman, we provided Adierra with the perfect opportunity to kidnap her. I’m sure the kid will not sit around and do nothing. Let’s have him wipe out the kanizors for us as I’ll be sure to pick up the pieces for my grand project. As for you…”, the man said as he pointed his walking stick at Serena. Her left arm exploded as her pupils shrunk, followed by a pained scream. “I’ll let you live since you still have some use to me. Fail me again and death will be the least of your worries. “Yes…my Lord “, Serena said, sweating profusely as blood gushed out of her missing arm. “Get lost”, the man said with an overwhelming glare as Serena immediately got up and exited the room. Soon after she left, a lady walked up beside the man as she presented him with some files. The man looked at the files and smiled greedily. In the files were photos of Lexus when he transformed to fight off Pablo. “Such a fascinating specimen. I must obtain him at all costs!”, the man said as he gave the files back to the woman who simply bowed, then exited the room.

A few weeks after Lexus was hospitalized, he was able to regain a bit of his strength as he decided to visit his house where Alice was reportedly kidn*pped. The place was a mess as the furniture had been destroyed and some doors had been broken down. As Lexus made his way to the dining room, he saw a big hole in the wall as he imagined that Adierra had probably fled out of there when he kidn*pped Alice. Lexus felt so angry and helpless that he couldn’t bear to witness what he was looking at. “I thought I’d be able to protect you. I shouldn’t have dragged you into this. I’m so sorry”, Lexus spoke to himself as tears welled up in his eyes. “And why the hell are you moping about for?”, Lexus heard a familiar female voice as he quickly turned around. It was Vanessa who slowly approached Lexus using crotches. “When I went to see you in your room, they said you had gone out, so I went after you. Only to see your dumb a*s crying”, Vanessa said, not pulling her punches as usual. “Heh, sorry you had to see that”, Lexus said after sniffling for a bit. “But I know how you feel…”, Vanessa said as she took a seat in a chair which was still in good condition. Silence followed a bit as Vanessa spoke once more. “My mum was a chief guardian for the Eastern branch of the league of guardians. One day, when we were at home, a shatter level demon kanizor attacked our neighborhood and killed everyone there, all my friends and loved ones. My mother desperately fought to protect me from the kanizor but she was alone with no backup. She kept the kanizor occupied for hours without rest until backup came. Lady Noire brought some men with her to subdue the kanizor but it was too late. She ended up dying at the monsters’ hands and when the kanizor was about to kill me, Lady Noire stepped in to protect me as she lost her arm in the process. The kanizor ultimately retreated but the casualties were too great”, Vanessa reminisced. Lexus stared at her in shock. “I had no idea that happened to you. I’m so sorry”, Lexus said as he felt genuinely sorry. “It’s fine. What hurts me when I recall the events of that day is my powerlessness. I couldn’t do anything as my mother desperately fought to protect me and was killed. All right in front of me. What infuriated me was when the news reported the incident as a gas leak which resulted in their deaths, with me being the only survivor. Why was I the only one to survive? Why didn’t I die along with the others? Why did the kanizor attack on that day?”, Vanessa said as she then paused. “Well, you get the idea. So, I went through a lot and here I am, sworn to avenge the deaths of my mum and all the innocent people who died that night. We’ll get her back, your big sister. I’ll help in any way I can”, Vanessa said with a lot of resolve, which surprised Lexus and also made him feel like shedding tears again. “Yeah, we will. I’ll make sure of it!”, Lexus said as he clenched his fists.

“Aww ain’t that cute. A young man and a young woman finally get to understand one another as they open up their hearts to one another. I just love scenes like this. Oh, don’t mind me, please continue”, a young lady spoke out of nowhere as she waved a white handkerchief at the two. Lexus immediately stood on guard as he asked, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”. “Oi, you blind or something? Can’t you see the attire I’m wearing?”, the lady asked, as she was quite pissed. “Calm down Lexus. This is why I came to see you. She’s one of the captains of the Western branch's special guardian forces. Nebula”, Vanessa said. “And don’t you forget it”, Nebula said with a pout. “Special guardian forces? No wonder I didn’t recognize the attire. So, what’s she doing here?”, Lexus asked. “I’m here to pick you up and take you to our branch to meet our chief guardian. Of all people, why did it have to be me? Though I don’t mind watching two youths collide in heated passion!”, Nebula spoke as if she was high. “Uhh okay. Are you sure we’re gonna be, okay?”, Lexus asked Vanessa, quite worried. “Beats me, you’re what they want”, Vanessa said with a shrug. “We also have something to show you too. Concerning your mother”, Nebula spoke, which got Vanessa’s attention. “Then what are we still here for? Let’s go”, Vanessa said as her expression changed. “Well, well, there’s no need to my dearies. My orders were to bring you two to headquarters when you two had fully recovered”, Nebula explained. Vanessa backed down when she heard that, as Lexus looked at her with a worried look. “Ahh Youth. So beautiful!”, Nebula spoke as one could see a bit of droll at the side of her lips as she pressed her hands on both cheeks. “Anyways, I’ll be in touch. Come see me when you two get discharged, okay. Peace!”, Nebula made a cutesy pose and disappeared immediately after, which shocked Lexus. “How did she?”, Lexus thought as Vanessa got up. “That’s what makes them special. They’re the only guardians that have managed to develop actual abilities without drawing power from cartridges”, Vanessa explained. “What? Really?”, Lexus was given another shock when he heard that. “Yup, well that’s enough for today. Let’s head back before Ezekiel scolds us”, Vanessa said as she proceeded to the exit. Lexus stood there for a while before following after her.

Back at main headquarters, Ezekiel and the other captains were having a meeting with the chief guardian as they all had serious looks on their faces. “So Adierra finally made his move after all. What have you found, Ezekiel?”, Francis turned to Ezekiel. “Sir, while it is true that Adierra is indeed the one who kidn*pped Alice, there were other incidents that are questionable. Starting with the two men who attacked Lexus in hopes of capturing him. I believe they're soldiers of the secret organization ‘Onyx’ led by a cold and ambitious man called King August. I sent Shin and others to investigate the organization and it turns out that they were the ones who took Lexus in after he escaped the Kanizors. They think that Lexus is some sort of alien who came from another world to ours”, Ezekiel paused to let that part sink in. “Hmm, that is indeed disturbing news. What about the men who were killed by Adierra?”, Francis asked. “About that, investigation does link their deaths to Adierra but I don’t believe it to be so”, Ezekiel said. “What are you trying to say?’, one of the captains asked. “I believe those guardians were actually killed by soldiers from Onyx in order to make Adierra’s work easy. They then framed the deaths to make it look like Adierra did it in order to light a fire under us. Seeing as the k********g followed right after Lexus was almost captured made me think this is more plausible”, Ezekiel explained. “And what evidence do you have to prove that?”, another captain asked. “None”, Ezekiel said after a pause. Leonard simply sighed as Francis had a wry smile on his face. “If that’s what your instincts are telling you, then I’ll trust your opinion. By my guess, this King August probably wants us to wipe each other out. Ezekiel, I’m putting you in charge of a separate force to investigate this secret organization and to put a stop to any plans they have”, Francis ordered. “Yes sir!”, Ezekiel answered. “For now, let’s hope his meeting with the special guardian forces goes well. Whether Lexus is actually an alien or not will be dealt with later. Let’s focus our all in finding Adierra before anything irreversible happens”, Francis said. “Yes sir!”, the other captains answered as they got up and left.

“Wake up… wake up my son…dad has been waiting for hours you know…why should you get up? Silly you…have you forgotten your training with dad? You don’t want to grow up weak, right…it’s too much work? Haha you’ll get used to it. That’s what it means to be the son of…”. Lexus immediately woke up as he realized that he was dreaming. “Who was that woman? I definitely recognize her voice, but who is she?”, Lexus thought as he desperately tried to remember. Just as he was trying to remember, Lexus heard loud noises coming from another room as he wondered what was going on. “Look at you all beaten up. What would you do without me? I leave for sometime and what do I hear? That you almost died”, a male voice said in a lofty tone which pissed off Vanessa. “Out of all the people I have to hear a nagging from, I surely don’t want to hear it from a pathetic excuse of a guardian like you. I’m sure it must’ve been nice not having to do anything as you just have to run around on those espionage missions that you love so much”, Vanessa retorted. “Why you! Those missions are equally as important as any other missions. You’re just jealous that it’s way safer and requires more skill”, Shin wasn’t ready to back down. “Oh, is that so? You sure must love telling yourself that to make you feel better. Hah, as if everyone is proud of your cowardly nature”, Vanessa said with a grin that surely pissed off Shin. “Oh boy. This isn’t good. Shin’s back”, Lexus thought when he recognized the voice. I should go stop them before…”, Just as Lexus was about to leave his bed to go and stop them, he saw Ezekiel walk right through his room to theirs and the expression on his made Lexus go. “You know what? I’ll just sit this one out”.

Shin and Vanessa kept on arguing and hurling insults when Ezekiel pulled up into their room like the grim reaper. Shin was the one speaking now, so Vanessa was the first person who noticed him. When she saw the look on his face she immediately shut up and started to sweat profusely. “What? You can’t talk anymore? Hah, just as I thought. What?”, Shin finally realized what was wrong when Vanessa pointed her finger and spoke. “Behind you”. That was when Shin felt the sinister glare piercing his back as he slowly turned to see Ezekiel, who had the expression of an ogre straight from hell. “Uhh, fine weather we’re having?”, Shin tried to made a joke as Ezekiel only raised one of his hands. “Agghhhhhh!”, Lexus heard Shin scream as he only smiled and thought. “I’ll attend his funeral when I’m better”.