Soul Spark

2 - Clinging Onto Control

[HOURS PRIOR]

“Everyone’s here.” Captain Zervos said. The Heisei’s fighters were all assembled in a small conference room of the closest place they could find. “We’ll go over the situation.”

“So this is their captain? I’ve never seen him in person before.” Sakuto thought. He was still getting used to the black eyepatch that covered up his destroyed left eye.

“As we speak, an active war is taking place in all parts of the world.” Zervos started. “However, D.C. is the hotspot. This is the area where the Adler Group’s primary strike force is concentrated, as well as Otto Richter himself. Their dormant and incomplete soulfuls are fighting ours all over America, and Mr. Kamiki is dumping as many soldiers as he can get his hands on into here. While the strongholds are trying to retain authority across continents, this region is ours to deal with.”

“Their strike force is composed of five fighters, excluding Otto himself.” Jian Fang continued. “We have no intelligence on their strength or abilities.”

“In any case, we need to come up with an efficient way of destroying the strike force and taking Otto down. Once Otto himself is dead, it is highly likely all of this will come to a halt.” Zervos continued.

The room fell silent for a few seconds. Sakuto himself felt a little zoned out. He had difficulty actually accepting what was going on.

“Would a two-on-one format work out?” Zawadski asked. “We have more fighters than they do. We can separate them into unfavorable fights and take them down.”

“I’d agree, but there is a more prevalent issue.” Rin commented. “Protecting other soulfuls is a priority. We need to destroy the military groups that are wiping out soulfuls as we speak.”

“If the Adler Group is defeated completely, the military groups will likely cease their activities. We need to focus on speed. I agree with the proposal.” Oskar said, raising his hand.

“So we sacrifice some of them in order to be done with this ordeal faster?” Yuuka said. “This will only work if we know for certain all of us can win our fights.”

“If we didn’t have that confidence, we wouldn’t be here, don’t ya think?” Zawadski said. “Why the hell would we doubt ourselves?”

“It took three of us and a whole lot of effort just to kill one of them.” Ichika spoke up. “We’re strong, but so are they.”

The discussion was getting to Sakuto’s head. He could only hear a static pierce his ears. He only snapped out of it once his name was called out a few times.

“Sakuto.” Ausra said, getting him back into the real world. “You’re the latest star, so give your input.”

“My input?” Sakuto said. “Well...”

The room was silent, waiting for his words.

“We do both at the same time, I guess.” Sakuto said. “We position ourselves around the state and help civilians and soulfuls. Once we come into contact with the soulful assholes, we group up and jump them. Basic separation tactics with some cooperation sprinkled on top.”

“I’m sorry, but we’re forgetting something important.” Ichigo said. “How are we gonna deal with Otto himself?”

“You think all of us aren’t enough to defeat him?” Sakuto asked. There was still tension between them, so the crowd fell silent to hear their discussion. Alas, it was these types of disagreements that could forge the best strategies and ideas.

“All of the Heisei, combined with your help, weren’t able to take Jackal down. We even suffered a casualty. Right now, Otto is far more dangerous than Jackal.”

“And yet, despite Jackal fucking me over with his acclamation, I managed to kill him.” Sakuto said. “Come on, I’m supposed to be the most pessimistic person here, and you’re the ones skulking over the fact that we can’t do anything?”

“It’s different.” Rin said. “Hayk didn’t get it, but it’s not like that information would help him regardless...but I listened to what Dima had to say. Otto has your adaptation powers.”

“Oh...”

“On top of that, he for sure killed Hayk, and copied his time manipulation.” Ausra added. “Me and Rin talked about this. There’s also a chance that he copied Hayk’s foresight instead of his time stop.”

“How can we confirm that?” Zawadski asked.

“We can only guess.” Rin replied. “There’s a few ways to go around Hayk’s time stop, and Otto is familiar with at least one such way, but only something like adaptation can act as a counter-play against foresight.”

“How does foresight function?” Jian asked.

“From what Hayk himself told me, it reads the enemy’s intentions and projects their future actions based on them. It also takes an incredible effort to master and it greatly exhausts the user.”

“There’s another variable.” Ichigo said. “When Kouta Touriki attacked the academy, Otto was the one who headed towards him. There’s a chance that he also wields gravity manipulation.”

“That’s true.” Sakuto sighed. “And thanks for finally telling me the truth about that incident, dipshits.”

“I apologize, but we needed solid confirmation. There were witnesses who saw the fight unfold and we needed to confirm that what Otto used against Hayk was Kouta’s power.” Zervos explained. “We did not want to reveal it to you as to not affect your preparations for your fight against Jackal Kagerr.”

“Good grief.” Sakuto sighed, clenching his fist. “He’s the one who killed him, and now he’s killing soulfuls as he pleases...”

“Why on earth...”

“Would he do something this despicable?!”

“His target is Kaito Kamiki.” Jian said. “Captain and I already understood how we can use that against him.”

“Captain, what do you think?” Yuuka asked.

“I agree with Sakuto Hitori’s strategy.” Zervos said. “Let’s move forward.”

Everyone stood up and prepared to leave. Sakuto and Ichika found themselves sharing a moment alone. They didn’t know what to say to each other, no matter how clear their intentions were. Something stopped them from really telling each other everything.

“Ichika...stay safe, alright?” Sakuto said. He suddenly held her hands.

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“Yeah.” Ichika said. She felt startled by the gesture, but her emotions couldn’t appear on her face the way she wanted them to. She let go of Sakuto’s hands and stepped back, a droplet of fear consuming her heart.

“Hm?” Sakuto was confused.

“I...I hope you’re also safe.” Ichika said. She quickly turned around and walked away.

“No, I can’t...

“I don’t want to feel that pain anymore. What if something happens to him? What if he ends up leaving me? What if he doesn’t even care about me? What if he’s using me?!”

“No, it’s much better...that I just stay in my lane...”

Sakuto himself stood idle. He raised his head and sighed, memories of a broken time flooding his mind.

“What the hell is wrong with me?”

“I know the feelings are mutual, but...why is this the case?”

“There’s no way she breaks my trust, right?”

“Good job, Sakuto.” He said to himself. After a brief silence, he kicked the chair into the wall, breaking it completely. He left the room.

“Yeah, that’s pretty bad...” Oskar said.

“Maybe once this whole thing is over, they’ll get to have an honest conversation.” Ausra said. The two were peeking at the conversation from outside. “Both of them have a lot on their minds right now.”

“Try being less obvious next time.” Sakuto said, approaching them. “Ausra, you should probably be with her now.”

“Sakuto-”

“You need to be with her right now.” Sakuto interrupted her. “I’d like to talk to Oskar for a second anyways.”

“Sure, go ahead I guess...” Ausra said, leaving the two.

“What’s with the mood change?” Oskar asked. “What’s up?”

“Wanna see a magic trick?” Sakuto asked.

“Seriously?”

“Here.” Sakuto showed Oskar his palm. An electric current was running through it.

“I’m sorry.” Oskar looked impressed, concerned and even slightly disappointed all at the same time. “What the actual fuck?”

“I’m clueless. I was able to do this when I was fighting Jackal. I don’t know why this happened or what’s the logic behind it...but hey, I’m not complaining.” Sakuto said. “My hand-to-hand skills just got a massive improvement.”

“Oskar was the only person whose ability I could replicate like this.”

“So far, this is the only aspect of his soul expression I could mimic. It’s like the base of the base. It’s pretty damn useful though.”

“So was it something that he did that triggered this? Or is it something on my part?”

“Honestly, every single time you keep on surprising me.” Oskar sighed. “Thanks for stealing my ability by the way.”

“Stella!” Ryan yelled, watching his sister fall to the gunshot. Sakuto quickly turned around and saw the soldier, who tried to aim at him. Sakuto reacted faster and swung his blade just in time to release a slash strong enough to decapitate the soldier’s body in half.

“Shit, we didn’t see him!” Oskar said, rushing to the girl. Ryan looked completely devastated, desperately trying to keep his sister awake.

“Hey, Stella, it’s gonna be alright. You’re with me, okay? Please.” Ryan said. “Stay awake, alright? Stay awake for me.”

“Wait...” Oskar said, examining the wound closer.

“It didn’t reach any organs?”

“Sakuto.” Oskar called out.

“Yeah, hold on, let me take a look.” Sakuto said, examining the wound.

“What? What’s wrong?!” Ryan asked.

“You should instead ask us what’s right.” Sakuto said. “She’s an incomplete soulful, and something like this is rare for even those types of soulfuls...looks like she subconsciously reinforced her body with the tiny amount of soul prowess she had, just enough to stop the bullet from piercing the intestines.”

“She’s still wounded, though. There’s a chance of an infection.” Oskar said. “I’ll see if Rin is nearby. Since Stella is a soulful, epsilon healing will patch her up.”

“It...hurts...” Stella whimpered.

“Hey, Stella...thank God...” Ryan said, holding her face. “You’re gonna alright, okay? The bad guys aren’t here anymore. And you’re strong. You managed to protect yourself.”

“Don’t count on this, though.” Sakuto said. “She’s not bulletproof, this was just...some kind of miracle.”

“What are the odds she goes through an awakening soon?” Oskar asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not an expert on this.” Sakuto said. “I just learned this after reading the materials Mr. Kamiki told me to read.”

“Are you saying she can become like you?” Ryan asked, almost shocked to hear that.

“You should pray she doesn’t become like me.” Sakuto said with a sarcastic laugh. “On a more serious note, though, well...there’s a chance. Soul stuff is entirely based on the individual.”

“I see...thank you.” Ryan said. He crouched and even bowed down. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem.” Oskar said. “Sakuto, let’s leave.”

“Our parents...” Ryan began. “They’ve been divorced for quite a while. Mom takes care of us, but most of her work is in a different state, so I’m the one looking after Stella. She’s everything to me.”

“I see...” Sakuto said.

“I’ve been basically raising her for as long as I can remember. I...almost failed to protect her, I don’t know if she would’ve escaped even if I gave my life away for it.” Ryan continued. “It’s just...what I have to do. She’s young, innocent, and now the whole world is after her because of something she can’t even control. She can’t even hurt a fly without crying to me and asking for forgiveness.”

“The only reason they’re hunting her is because she’s like us. A soulful.” Sakuto said. “The soulless pieces of shit that control everything made that decision.”

“I’m sure she’s happy to have a brother like you.” Oskar said. “Sakuto, let’s bounce.”

“No way in hell.” Sakuto said. “I’m staying with these two.”

“What?”

“Just look at her, for fuck sake!” Sakuto said. “She’s like any other kid you’d see. And as brave as her brother is, he’s just a pile of idle meat if he’s up against a soulful. You think she deserves to die?”

“We talked over the battle plans.” Oskar said. “You can’t devote yourself to every soulful you see.”

“Looking out for soulfuls is a part of the plans.” Sakuto said. “I can’t just leave them alone.”

“I can’t leave them alone.”

“Besides, this might be a good investment.” Sakuto continued. “They were tracked down. There’s a soulful hound lurking around.” Google seaʀᴄh ⓝovelFire.net

“A s-soulful?!” Ryan sounded genuinely scared for a second, taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, I guessed it right.” Sakuto said. “And they’re coming this way.”

“I feel it too.” Oskar said. With a mighty jump, he hopped back on top of the buildings and looked at the main street, to see their target.

“You two, hide as deep as you can.” Sakuto said. He jumped up and stood next to Oskar.

“It’s not just any target, his presence is flaring up.”

“Aside from hunting GSC-registered soulfuls, the Adler group’s sharp-nosed lackeys act as radars. They team up with soldiers and attack the dormant and incomplete soulfuls, or locate and avoid the stronger presences.”

“All while their main strike force is looking out for us. Judging by the presence, this guy’s one of their heavy hitters.”

“Oskar, take the shot. I’ll rush in.” Sakuto said, taking a sprinting stance.

“Got it.” Oskar confirmed, drawing his double-bladed sword and charging up a powerful arrow. “Soulful target located. Presumed high value target.” He said into the small device attached to his ear.

“You’re too far, you’re on your own.” The comms piece replied.

“And here they are.” Hermann said, watching the two soulfuls prepare their advance...