CHAPTER 13: The Thread Controller

  The fight remained intense. Mugen was already bleeding from his forehead due to the sheer number of shadows; Nao had grown slower; Kumiho was starting to sweat but didn’t stop; Yumi kept moving, though the pain had slowed him down; and Haru was also drenched in sweat.

  —"This never ends..." Haru said, groaning from exhaustion.

  The shadows wouldn't stop pouring from the giant's body, as if the Sideral-Goliath were an open wound oozing darkness.

  Mugen spat blood to the side, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. His movements were becoming more erratic; his axe no longer cut with the same precision, instead striking out of pure instinct and rage.

  Nao's ink daggers were slowly beginning to liquefy.

  —"Dammit, I’m running out of strength," she thought, looking at her daggers.

  —"How can he keep moving like that if he was the first one to be hurt?" Nao wondered, watching Yumi.

  Yumi’s endurance was defying all logic. Despite the wound in his arm and having surrendered his shield to protect the others, he moved among the shadows with icy precision, striking the enemies' vital points with his bare hands.

  —"Don't get distracted, rookie," Yumi warned, though his breathing was heavy. "The shadows' pattern... it has changed."

  Nao gritted her teeth, feeling the ink from her daggers drip between her fingers, losing its solid form. Just as a shadow lunged at her, Mugen landed in front of the girl, clearing the area with a horizontal axe swing that released a burst of red force.

  —"Stop analyzing and fight, brat!" Mugen roared, though his own shoulders heaved violently from the effort.

  —"Haru, do you think you can get the shield back to Yumi?" Kumiho asked from her wagon while coordinating with Haru.

  —"I think so... but I don't want to leave you alone, Master..." Haru answered with hesitation.

  Kumiho fired a volley to keep three drivers at bay who were trying to climb up the side; the barrel of her weapon was hot from constant use.

  —"Haru, listen to me," Kumiho said without taking her eyes off the front. "Yumi is fighting a tide with his bare fists. If he falls, the strategy crumbles. I can hold out here, but he needs that shield to close the distance with the Sideral."

  —"No need..." Yumi’s icy voice was heard as he climbed between the wagons.

  A group of 20 shadows were in front of Yumi, who simply sighed; he punched a shadow in the chest, sending it flying, delivered a heavy elbow strike to the face of another, then took a leap and caught two shadows between his feet, smashing them together while throwing a punch at yet another shadow.

  —"You guys need it more than I do," he continued, as he kept climbing.

  Haru watched with his mouth agape as Yumi, without a shield and with a bleeding arm, cleared the path toward the upper part of the giant.

  —"He’s a stubborn one..." Kumiho muttered, although there was a trace of respect in her gaze. She reloaded her weapon with a metallic click. —"Haru, if he doesn't want the shield, use it yourself to clear a path from the flank! Don’t let them surround him!"

  Haru nodded, gritting his teeth. The white shield continued to orbit around him, emitting that comforting pulse. —"Understood!"

  Meanwhile, in Mugen and Nao's wagon, the situation was becoming critical. Mugen, fed up with the infinite number of minions, let out a scream of pure frustration that echoed through the orange void. —"I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS TRASH!" Mugen roared. His red aura erupted, but this time it wasn't just force, it was pure heat that began to scorch the metal of the train.

  Then, Mugen began to climb as well, leaving Nao who followed him.

  —"What are you planning to do, old man?" Nao asked.

  —"I’m planning to land a heavy blow on that scrap metal’s head," Mugen answered with a smile.

  The Sideral attacked Yumi with two of its hands, while using the others to try and trap the rest of the team.

  —"Master Kumiho!" Haru exclaimed as he saw Mugen and Nao climbing up.

  —"Yes. Let's go," Kumiho replied.

  And so, the three teams began to climb up the wagons, clearing the shadows from their path. The atmosphere in the orange void was charged with static electricity. The three teams—divided, yet sharing a single objective—climbed the structure of wagons that surrounded the giant like steps toward a certain death.

  Yumi tried to leap against the Sideral once more, but he was caught by its two hands. The Sideral held him in front of its eyes, staring at him fixedly, and began to squeeze little by little.

  The creak of metal echoed throughout the orange void. Yumi, trapped by the giant's massive hands, gritted his teeth as he felt the crushing pressure against his ribs. His feet dangled in the air, and the blinding light from the Sideral-Goliath's headlights illuminated him like an insect under a microscope.

  —"MASTER YUMI!" Haru and Nao shouted in unison from their respective climbing positions.

  The giant wasn't just squeezing; a current of static began to surge through its mechanical fingers, shocking Yumi, who let out a groan of pain as smoke began to rise from his sweater.

  —"You’re going to suffer, you piece of trash!" Mugen screamed.

  Mugen, propelled by his red aura, took a massive leap from a crumbling wagon. In mid-air, his axe grew in size, imbued with a heat that distorted the space around it. With a downward swing, Mugen struck the Sideral's chest, forcing it to release Yumi, who was now falling into the void.

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  —"NO!!" Haru screamed.

  —"What am I supposed to do? What can I do?... What can I do?" Haru thought, watching Yumi fall.

  Inside his chest, he heard the sound of a neigh.

  —"Eh?" Haru said, looking at his chest.

  Then his eyes lit up; he pulled something from his chest and threw it toward Yumi’s position.

  The object was the wooden horse, which came to life in mid-air and pushed Yumi toward Nao's direction before falling into the void.

  The steed began to fade, and Haru felt a sharp pain in his chest.

  Haru fell to his knees on the cold metal of the wagon, clutching his chest with both hands. It felt as if a piece of his lungs had been torn out. The wooden horse, after fulfilling its mission to push Yumi, disintegrated into splinters of green light before disappearing into the orange void.

  Haru fell to his knees on the cold metal of the wagon, clutching his chest with both hands. It felt as if a piece of his lungs had been torn out. The wooden horse, after fulfilling its mission to push Yumi, disintegrated into splinters of green light before disappearing into the orange void.

  Yumi, thanks to the steed's shove, was sent flying toward Nao’s position. With her reflexes at their limit, she reached out and buried one of her knives into the wagon, managing to catch Yumi.

  —"I’ve got you..." Nao whispered, making an immense effort not to let go. Her daggers had completely dissolved; now, only her will remained.

  Yumi coughed, his sweater scorched and traces of static still coursing through his body. He looked down, where Haru lay collapsed, and then looked up.

  The Sideral-Goliath, with a smoking wound in its chest caused by Mugen, roared in a way that wasn't mechanical, but filled with real pain. Its red eyes flickered violently.

  —"Enough of this..." Kumiho whispered, standing beside Haru and aiming his revolver.

  The bullet was fired, and it grew until it reached the Sideral's chest.

  The bullet impacted with the sound of a church bell struck by a sledgehammer. As it entered the crack in the chest, the projectile—now the size of a barrel—stopped the movement of the Sideral-Goliath’s internal gears. A dense, black smoke began to escape from the seams of the metal.

  —"Mugen, now! He won't stay still for long!" Kumiho shouted, lowering his smoking weapon as he helped Haru stay on his feet.

  Mugen grabbed his axe and took another leap, a smirk on his face.

  —"One... Two... Here it goes!" he screamed mid-air.

  As he reached the top of the Sideral, his axe grew until it became gargantuan; as he came down, he severed the Sideral's head.

  Mugen's giant axe descended like the final judgment. The sound of metal being sliced was a thunderous roar that for a moment silenced even the whistling of the steam. The head of the Sideral-Goliath, its red headlights flickering faintly, detached from the neck and began to float slowly toward the void, leaving a trail of scrap metal and severed cables.

  Mugen landed on the shoulders of the decapitated torso, gasping for air, his red aura fading from exhaustion.

  —"Scrap metal... I told you I'd turn you into tin cans," Mugen muttered, though he could barely hold his axe.

  The shadows vanished completely.

  However, the giant's body did not fall. Several red threads began to attach themselves to the Sideral's limbs, and it started to move with a speed that hadn't been seen before.

  —"What??" Mugen growled, leaping back and landing beside Kumiho and Haru.

  —"Very good, very good," a sweet voice said from high above the entire scene while clapping.

  It was Xerox, who wore a wide, lingering smile.

  —"Yes, yes! You actually did it! For a moment I thought you were going to die, you’re my heroes!" he said happily, spinning around on the thread he was standing on.

  Mugen, with ragged breath and his face covered in soot, tightened his grip on the handle of his axe. His eyes narrowed with pure distrust and rage.

  —"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" Mugen growled, spitting a bit of blood to the side. "Are you the one moving this trash with those threads?!"

  The figure above, the boy with the eternal smile, stopped his dancing and looked down, tilting his head as if observing a curious animal.

  —"Oh! Me? Nobody important, really," the stranger replied with a childish giggle, balancing on a red thread. "Just a spectator who got tired of sitting down. But how rude... you were doing so well! You’re my heroes!"

  —"But... I can't just let you leave like nothing happened, that would be very bad on my part... hmmm... I know! I’ll kill one of you!" Xerox said childishly.

  The silence that followed Xerox's words was deathly. The wind of the orange void seemed to have stopped, leaving only the rhythmic "click-clack" of the decapitated giant's forced gears.

  —"Let’s see, let’s see..." Xerox said, scanning the group with his glowing gaze. "The old man with the revolver is boring. The grumpy one with the axe screams too much. The ink girl is out of colors... Oh!" His eyes stopped on Yumi, who was barely standing. "You look like the leader. Plays are always more tragic when the protagonist dies at the end, don't you think?"

  —"Yes! It's you, the one who gave my Sideral so much trouble," he continued with pride.

  Xerox took a leap into the air and landed on his tiptoes on an invisible thread, right above Yumi. His smile widened so much it looked unreal, almost inhuman.

  —"You! The shield guy... well, the one who had a shield," Xerox mocked, pointing at him with a long, pale finger. "You moved with such elegance, swatting my shadows as if they were simple flies. It was a five-star performance! That’s why I’ll give you the honor of closing the curtain."

  Yumi, with heavy breathing and his wounded arm dripping blood onto the metal of the wagon, did not back down. His icy eyes locked onto Xerox.

  —"If you’re looking for a tragedy, you’ve got the wrong stage," Yumi replied with indifference.

  Mugen let out a roar of rage. —"Stop ignoring me, you damn clown!" He tried to lung toward Xerox, but his legs failed him and he fell to one knee. His muscles were burning, and his red aura was barely a faint flicker. —"Dammit...!"

  Xerox didn't even look at him.

  —"Sayonara!" he said with a smile and wide-open eyes.

  With a snap of his fingers, a thread pierced through Yumi’s chest in seconds.

  The sound wasn't an explosion, but a dry, surgical "shhhht."

  The red thread—thin as a hair, yet rigid as a spear—tore through Yumi’s chest with terrifying ease. Time seemed to freeze in the orange void. Blood began to gush out, staining Yumi’s sweater a dark crimson that clashed against the surrounding light.

  —"YUMIIIIII!!" Nao's scream tore through the air.

  She was only inches away, but the speed of the attack had surpassed any human reaction. Yumi staggered, yet his indifferent expression did not change until he hit the ground.

  Xerox let out a delighted cackle, pressing his hands to his cheeks like a child watching fireworks. —"Bravo! Magnificent! Even in death, those eyes didn't change!"

  —"It's the best performance of my life!" Xerox shouted, jumping for joy on his invisible thread. —"A death fit for a king! Silent! Cold! Perfect!"

  Mugen, still with one knee on the ground, felt the world turn red. It wasn't his aura; it was his own vision clouding over with fury. Seeing Yumi’s motionless body, with that crimson stain spreading across the train's metal, broke something inside him. His fingers dug into the metal of the wagon, piercing through it.

  —"You..." Mugen’s voice came out as a guttural roar, low and dangerous. —"I’m going to rip that smile off your face... even if it’s the last thing I do."

  CRUNCH!

  Xerox was sent flying into the void.

  Nao had landed a blow directly on his cheek.

  —"HahahaHA!" Xerox laughed with madness. —"That hurt, it really did! I feel like you broke a bone!" he said, touching his cheek.

  —"SHUT UP!" Nao screamed, her voice breaking from a mix of hatred and pain. —"Shut the hell up once and for all!"

  Xerox, floating on his back in the void, straightened himself up with a fluid movement. He ran his tongue over his broken lip, tasting his own blood, and his smile became even wider and more deranged.

  —"I like it," he blurted out.

  —"Well, I’m leaving now. This was a lot of fun, but I have things to do," he said as he began to float upward with his threads.

  —"I hope we can play again someday," he said with ecstasy before disappearing from the place.

  The stage finally began to shatter, indicating that it was all over.

  Kumiho took Haru and Yumi, and they all left the area, heading toward the temple.