BXBX NOVEL Chapter 226: Resignation.
"A very big bubble," Sol answered.
On the opposite side of the bed she sat on, Sol was seated as well with his back turned to her while he stared out the window at Arkadia and the destruction left by Dina and Arla\'s fight with Dr\'ul.
Before him in his lap was Ikaris, slowly and peacefully eating a meal prepared by Sara who stood at the door with a pleasant smile, while Dina and Arla were snuggled together in a large chair to the side sleeping cosily.
"I do not know what the full story is, but I have to ask a very ignorable and shallow question." Ikaris looked over her shoulder seeing the 55th Captain slouch.
"Yes?"
"You have met other Vatui, correct?" She asked and Jenifer nodded.
"I have met a lot... I have... killed, a lot." She answered after the silence became a dreadful one.
"Have you ever met an ugly Vatui?" Ikaris pressed for the answers she sought, and at her question, Jenifer raised her head and slightly turned to her and everyone else.
"Yes, the ones who attack the Emporium are usually unpleasant to look at, they carry hideous blemishes on their skin and a lot of them are disfigured, this is why the emporium believes that the Vatui suffered some kind of disease which led to their decline, I do not understand the point of asking about their appearance though, you are the most beautiful being I have ever laid eyes on, you glow with beauty, one such as you would never..." She stopped talking and bit her lips.
"I\'m sorry." She reminisced on Ikaris telling her to not talk to her unless necessary.
"So Arla was right," Sol commented. "It\'s likely that there is no disease at all amongst them, what you have seen is the malice and hatred of their hearts."
"I do not understand." Jenifer turned a little more to look at him properly.
"Ikaris was beautiful when I met her, the most stunning being I\'ve ever seen, but if you were to put that past self and her current self in the same room, the present Ikaris would brightly outshine her last self; her heart shows in her appearance and after the demons were wiped out and her grudges settled, she has only become more beautiful by the day." Sol reached around Ikaris\'s hair and poked her cheek playfully while she blushed from his praises.
"Vatui are incapable of hiding their feelings, years of being hunted have made the others bitter."
"I have a question, sir," Jenifer spoke up. "Regarding Milady\'s appearance, she does not look like the average Vatui of red eyes and White hair, is it an illusion?" She asked and Sol stared at Ikaris\'s hair and smiled.
"When she is upset, truly upset to the point of violence, her eyes are indeed red, but I don\'t think Ikaris is capable of holding animosity for too long, it\'s not an illusion, there are others like her with blue eyes and hair blacker than the void, as for the white hair, only someone with knowledge of their past could explain that, for as long as she has known herself, she has maintained this appearance," Sol explained and then helped Ikaris stand.
"Jenifer Law, your time has come."
"Is it my mother?" She leapt to her feet and turned, tapping her chest twice causing an electrical humming to fill the room as her battlesuit slowly grew around her body shredding the clothes Sol had given her to wear in the meantime.
"I don\'t know, but there\'s about to be a breach."
Sol\'s eyes slowly inverted and his hair turned white from the roots out flashing several times in gold and then retaining white as he scaled himself to hide the fact that he was only using divinity and had yet to utilise his Godslayer powers.
"Dear," Ikaris stared at him with a persistent gaze, cupping his cheeks in her small hands and smiling worriedly at him. "Be careful, and-"
"Don\'t fret so much, Ikaris." Sol smiled holding her hands and kissing her fingers gently. "I promised I wouldn\'t let a soul touch you and I meant it."
"I am talking about you; you often do reckless things but this is by far the most dangerous, a single mishap and you could..."
"Ikaris," Sol rested his hand on her head regarding her with an absent smile and his eyes half closed. "I\'ve always said it, and I know I\'ve shown you a lot of doubt in the last few months but make no mistake; I won\'t lose to anyone, I\'ll always...
ALWAYS be the strongest, and if I\'m not, I\'ll take the title from whoever holds it." He declared and then turned summoning a scarred and half-broken armour on himself and then snapping his fingers causing Jenifer\'s battlesuit to tear and become bruised along with her skin while she hissed from the scars and bruises that appeared across her skin, he even went as far as causing minor internal injuries as well leading to her puking up a mouthful of blood.
"This is enough, right?" Sol asked raising his hand to snap it again but she stumbled forward and rested her hand on her knee staring at him in bewilderment.
"With only a snap of your finger?" She coughed again and Sol snapped his fingers again causing bruises across his own body like hers.
"Master," Dina stood at his side and wiped the trickle of blood from his nose. "Be safe, be careful."
"I\'ll be going then." Sol rested his hand on her head and vanished along with Jenifer, reappearing next to her ship and dodging her since she attacked him as soon as his eyes focused.
"Sir, please mind your strength, I am no good to you dead...!" Jenifer descended to the top of her ship and folded her hands in a guard just as another battleship emerged from a breach behind her and a multitude of drones started spreading around them.
"-fer!" Her Comms started working when Alpha unjammed the signal allowing her to hear her mother shouting her name. "Jennifer, can you hear me?!"
"I\'m well aware, I\'ll talk to you soon." Sol extended his hand and aimed for her abdomen, firing a singular fire bolt that rapidly expanded, swallowing up the entire ship and blowing her arm off as she was sent crashing uncontrollably towards the new arrival.
"Attack that bastard!" Chey shouted pointing to Sol as he started raising his magical output and distracting everyone. "Kill the Godslayer!" She screamed, but only a moment later she reclined in her chair shocked when Jenifer slammed into the screen in front of her, legs torn and arms mangled but clearly still alive.
"The more you come, the worse it gets, stay away from us!" Sol roared through the cosmos spreading his hands and causing the drones to all vanish in a string of large explosions which started causing the ship to have complications as he turned his attention to them.
"Captain!" The pilot called to her. "If we don\'t retreat we risk dying here!"
"He\'s right in front of us!" Chey squeezed the handles of her seat breaking them off as Jenifer was retrieved while Sol slowly appeared. "If we don\'t kill him now-"
"With all due respect, ma\'am, a single ship stands no chance against him, he is stronger than any we have seen recently, clearly he is injured, but our sensors are reading a massive amount of energy even greater than that of our ship, if we don\'t leave now we might all end up dead." Her Vice Captain rested his hand on her shoulder.
"We live now and return with a greater offence and take him down, you already have your daughter, order the retreat."
"Alpha, do you have access to their ship?"
[Everything is going according to plan,] she answered and Sol smirked.
"Kill the weapons."
[Confirmed] Alpha answered again and Sol aimed a small concentration of mana directly at the Captain smiling and firing it straight through the ship and past her face tearing off a piece of her ear and killing the Vice Captain behind her after it exploded inside of his abdomen ripping him apart and splattering guts across her section of the cockpit.
"Captain!" The pilot snapped again. "Please!"
"Fuck..." Chey walked across the cockpit and stared as Sol began rapidly approaching.
"I still want answers, who are you people, what is the Emporium, why do you keep coming here!?" He roared, clasping his hands and summoning a small star-like phenomena in his palm.
"A Godslayer unaware of the emporium..." Chey mused pressing a button on the captain\'s desk and launching a small pod the size of a finger at him, he easily caught it, calmly opened it and furrowed his brow when he realised it was an earpiece; from Alpha\'s explanation and his own memories this was technology that shot waves directly into one\'s brain and could be used in the vacuum where sound couldn\'t travel by conventional means, much like their ability to communicate because of their heightened brainwaves connecting with each other at a thought.
He put the device in his ear and stared at Chey."
[This is Chey Law, first captain of the 3795th fleet speaking, may I make a request?]
"I only want you to leave my home alone, whatever request you have, whatever bargain you want to make, I don\'t give a shit, I\'ll fight you as long as you keep coming back!"
[Then let me leave in peace, I only came here for the 55th Captain, if you are insistent on the peace you are trying to protect, then I will leave-]
"What\'s to stop you from coming back again?" Sol grimaced. "What does sparing you now mean for the future, for my future?" He held his hand higher causing the star in his grasp to grow exponentially larger almost twice the size of the ship.
[As the first Captain, if I die here you will face the entire armada of the 3795th, that is more than even you can handle, Godslayer.]
"And if you live?"
[I will resign my post, and cease all advances immediately.]
"Ma\'am!" Someone from her crew snapped in protest, but went silent when she held up her hand.
[I won\'t attack you, ever again I swear it.]