Arc III: “Return of Darkness”
Chapter II: “Lady Soap”
Episode VII: “Fall of Utopia II”
“Mr. Ryoda!” Kukito called as he landed. “Are you alright!” Two other Utopic Sages followed close behind him. “We sensed that there was a disturbance in the area and came to provide you with support…” he said as he looked at the corpse next to Ryoda. “… but it seems our assistance was not required.”
Ryoda stood facing them—too still for a man who was just in combat.
“Is… everything alright, sir?” one of the other Sages asked.
Kukito felt it then.
Not Ryoda’s power, Ryoda’s presence always felt like sunlight.
This was something else.
Something wrong.
As Ryoda continued to stand in silence, Kukito walked over to the corpse, signaling the other two Sages to go with him.
“Let’s clean this up for Mr. Ryoda. It’s supposed to be his day off since it’s the day before the Grand Festival.” Kukito and the other two Sages walked past Ryoda, who began to tightly grip his fists. Kukito crouched down next to the corpse and had the other Sages prepare to carry it. “Kai, Kuro, get the stretcher ready.”
He leaned over to roll the corpse onto its back, but before he could finish this action, his eyes met the corpse’s face.
Mizuka…? Kukito froze. “Ryoda…” Kukito said, and his voice didn’t sound like his own.
The rain around him hissed—turning to steam before it could touch his skin.
“Why is my wife here?”
Then his eyes sharpened.
“WHY IS MY WIFE DEAD HERE?!”
The other two Sages were frozen in confusion—watching helplessly as things unfolded.
“Did you do this?” Kukito’s voice seemed to calm down, and the rain stopped steaming around him. His fingers found something inside her cloak. A jagged purple shard—warm, pulsing, like it had a heartbeat. Kukito’s grip tightened around it.
A faint scent curled into his nose.
Sweet… floral… wrong.
Pink mist.
And then—pain, sharp behind his eyes.
Ryoda turned.
His jaw clenched once—barely.
“Yes,” he said. “I killed her… Because if I didn’t…” Ryoda’s eyes flicked to the shard in Kukito’s hand, “…the city would have died with her.”
Kukito’s eyes went wide—his golden aura flaring—then stuttered. A dark pressure poured through the cracks, colder than the rain.
His head throbbed.
His vision swam.
And that sweet, poisonous scent filled his lungs again.
“Kai. Kuro.” Ryoda’s voice snapped like a whip. “Evacuate. Now. No questions.”
As their shackles of confusion melted, they soared into the air without hesitation.
Cold sweat blended with rain as it ran down Ryoda’s face. Not good… his Flux is spiking—he’s Yield’s climbing faster than his meridians can stabilize! A fight on this scale would be dangerous for the city! Not only does Kukito have the blessing of Utopia, but he can use it to the same degree as me! And there’s that same ominous energy that was coming from Mizuka! “Kukito! I need you to calm down! We can discuss the situation in a moment, but right now—”
“Calm down? You want me to calm down?” Kukito grit his teeth, holding his hand against his temple as the pulsations worsened. He unleashed another large wave of aether, even larger than the last.
“Dammit…” Ryoda raised his left hand, using two fingers to wipe his eyes. “You leave me no choice. Sorry, Kukito, but I’ll have to use force to restrain you!” Ryoda yelled as he transformed into his Prime Utopian state and reinforced his body by circulating Divine aether through his meridians—preventing any sensible leakage.
I can’t sense his aether anymore! Kukito thought. “I don’t care why.” Kukito’s eyes burned. “I care that she’s dead.” He lifted his palm, “Dark Orb!”
Kukito launched an energy orb at Ryoda, but it was easily dodged. He twisted his aether with intent—threading it like a leash. The orb corrected its path midair—hunting.
This will be a difficult fight… but I’ll do it—I’ll avenge you, Mizuka!
“So, you can still track me?” Ryoda murmured. He formed a spear of light in one smooth motion, then thrust it forward. “Grand Javelin!”
“It won’t be that easy… to deal with my art!”
The spear struck—and vanished. The orb swelled as if it had been fed.
“Huh?” Ryoda lifted into the air as he continued dodging the orb.
Now’s my chance! Kukito dashed behind Ryoda and attempted to drop-kick him out of the air.
However, Ryoda was able to read his movements and barely turned around to block the attack in time.
“Not yet!” Kukito removed his leg from Ryoda’s arm with a mid-air back flip, then spun around with a roundhouse kick.
Still, Ryoda was faster—easily blocking this kick as well.
Yet, Kukito still had a smile curling from his lips. “Don’t forget, my Dark Orb isn’t through with you.”
Ryoda’s neck jolted as he started to turn around. Just before he could move out of the way, Kukito grabbed him and put him into a headlock.
“Feel it,” Kukito hissed into his ear. “Feel what you took from me.”
The orb collided with them, causing a large explosion over the city.
[Elsewhere]
Standing on a rooftop at the edge of the city, a mysterious figure was watching the battle.
“Oh…” the cloaked woman purred from the rooftop. “Listen to that. Grief. Rage. A blessing cracking at the seams…” She smiled wider. “Kukito is ripening beautifully. If he manages to steal the Heart of the Utopic Spirit… we won’t even need to hunt the Dark Heart.”
She closed her eyes. “Bowl,” she spoke into his mind, “Mobilize the troops.” Her eyes tracked the chaos below. “Wipe the Sages off the streets.”
[Ryoda vs. Kukito]
The smoke started to clear from the explosion. Kukito flew up out of the dust.
Where is he? He thought while frantically looking around.
“Here,” Ryoda said, floating above him. He was holding a large mass of energy over his head. “Holy Judgement!” He launched the yellow orb at Kukito. It seemed to hit him directly, causing another large explosion on impact.
“Did that do it?”
“Think again!” Kukito said, still floating in the smoke. When the smoke cleared, it showed a dark wall of energy surrounding him like a ball. “Dark Void. Your attacks won’t reach me now,” Kukito’s voice echoed.
“Tch.” His techniques are troublesome…
Out of nowhere, a large yellow beam collided with Kukito’s shield from behind him.
“Damn, that shield is tough.” A man called as he dropped from above. “Ryoda!” He tried to smile—like he could lighten the air by force. “Need a hand, brother?”
“Raida! What are you doing here?”
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“I could feel a disturbance in the planet’s energy. And Kai alerted the others about some commotion and started evacuating the area. Then those bastards down there started rampaging, so the other Sages moved out to stop them,” Raida said, pointing to the war that was taking place in the city below them. “So, I decided I’d swing by and take a look at who was giving you so much trouble…” he looked over at their opponent. “To think it was you… Kukito.” His smile faded. “Talk to me. Why are you doing this?”
Kukito released his Dark Void that was surrounding him. He held his temple, feeling a tremor pulse through his head.
The sight of his dead wife echoed through his mind.
The same silence.
The same rain.
“It’s his fault…” Kukito whispered, clenching his fists. He pointed at Ryoda, “You killed her… she was innocent, but you still killed her! Our lives mean nothing to you!”
Ryoda tightened his grip. I’m sorry, Kukito…
“I see…” Raida said, tightening his gi. “I grieve with you, old friend, but I’m gonna need you to stop this rampage.”
“I won’t stop… until you’re all dead. You Utopians… you’ve been looking down on us from the beginning. We have been forsaken since long ago! But no more! It ends here.” His head pulsed again, a splitting pain which only grew stronger. “I will kill you both with my own hands… and use the Heart of Utopia to reshape this planet for the Dystopians!”
Raida sighed. “So, it looks like we have no other choice, Ryoda. Let’s get ‘em!” He said, palming his fist as he slammed his hands together.
“Yeah,” Ryoda said.
[The rooftop]
“Dammit… someone’s interfering in Kukito’s fight. No matter, from what I can sense, they don’t appear to be that strong.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” another woman said from the building behind her.
“W-what?! Who’s there?” she frantically turned around.
The other woman jumped into the air and, after a front flip, landed gracefully on the same building as Cataline. “Hey there, you must be the one who orchestrated this battle. I’m Carrie, Ryoda’s sister-in-law.”
“Another Kaelithian? What are you doing on this planet?” Cataline sneered.
“I’ve been living here for a few years… as I said, I’m married to a Utopian. So, I’d appreciate it if you would give up on your schemes and leave this planet,” she said, her deep green aura wisping from her frame.
“Oh… you want to fight? With me? Very well then. I’ll show you that I’m not to be trifled with.”
[Raida and Ryoda vs. Kukito]
Raida and Ryoda exchanged several blows with Kukito, but they were beginning to wear themselves out.
“I think it’s time I took this seriously,” Kukito said as he unleashed more power. “Utopic Boost! Level three!” His normally bright transformation was tainted by corrupt energy—changing his appearance to one of darkness… to that of a demon.
“Dammit,” Ryoda said. At this rate, we’ll lose. Raida was already struggling to keep up with the two of us… but now Kukito’s Yield is even higher! “Stand back, brother. I’ll handle this!” Ryoda surrounded himself in a blanket of golden energy, and his eyes had a yellow glow and a yellow eyeshadow. “God of Utopia!”
“Hey, don’t count me out just yet!” Raida said as he put a hand into the air. “I’ll show you the technique I’ve spent my life developing! Photoreception!”
“What?” Ryoda’s eyes widened.
Raida began absorbing energy from the sun that Planet Utopia revolved around.
“This technique allows me to gather the power of stars and use it as my own. Unfortunately, my body can’t handle that much energy right now, so this is my limit… still, this is enough to keep me in this fight!”
The three of them continued clashing, exchanging rapid blows that shook the atmosphere. With their combined power, Raida and Ryoda were able to push Kukito to the edge.
“D-dammit!” Kukito sneered, his headache splintering again. This isn’t fair! These damn Utopians… they’re always the winners! Always the ones granted power! “Dammitttt!!” Kukito’s rage erupted from him in the shape of a dark aura. This is?! The essence of the shard! “Heh-heh-heh… HA-HA-HA! Look! Behold the strength of Dystopians! We will overthrow this corrupt society and rule the universe!”
“That power is getting to your head, Kukito. I know Dystopians have not always been treated justly, but I’ve been making strides to change that,” said Ryoda.
“Is that so… then if you really want to support the Dystopian cause,” Kukito said as he extended his hand out to Ryoda, “then give it to me. Give me the Heart of Utopia. In the hands of a Dystopian, I’ll show you what true salvation looks like!”
With his new boost from the Dark Heart, Ryoda and Raida were no match for Kukito, and the tables began to turn.
“At this rate, we’ll lose… we need to do something,” Ryoda said.
“Ryoda,” Raida started, “I need you to buy me some time.”
“Time?”
“Yeah… I can do it. I can kill this bastard… after five minutes.”
Ryoda’s eyes widened with surprise when he heard that. “Five minutes, huh? Okay, let’s see what I can do!” Spirit! Let’s do this! “Ha!” Ryoda began releasing his Utopic aether. “Grand Javelin!” He fired several spears of energy, one after the other.
“It’s pointless,” Kukito said as he dodged all the spears as they came at him.
But Ryoda didn’t give up. He sent a never-ending storm of energy attacks at Kukito.
“Tch! Dark Orb!” Kukito started absorbing the spears with his technique, but he was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of energy being thrown around. “Dammit!” He put up his Dark Void to shield himself from attacks.
If I can keep this up for five minutes… Ryoda thought as sweat dripped down his face.
“Good!” Raida said as he flew back to give himself some distance. Then he put he raised his hands to his sides and started to release small amounts of dust-like aether particles.
After several minutes, Kukito’s shield began to crack. “Enough!” he yelled as he fired his own aether blasts to destroy the raining spears. “If you think you can beat me in a battle of attrition, you’re wrong!” He took down the shield, and Ryoda stopped firing.
Dammit… having to maintain this form while endlessly attacking is burning through my Flow, he thought as he desperately tried to regain his breath.
“Ryoda won’t last much longer…” Raida said as he looked at the golden dust cloud forming around himself. But I haven’t gathered enough yet! “Ryoda!” Raida yelled as he watched Kukito beat Ryoda to a pulp. “I have no choice…! I’ll just have to release it early! Get out of the way, Ryoda!”
Alarmed, Ryoda turned and saw the large mass of dust-like energy particles that Raida had cultivated.
There was a sharp hissing sound as the dust-like particles condensed into a single point, spiraling like water flowing down a drain.
At this point, Kukito’s attention was also caught by the massive mass of aether that Raida was controlling. Ryoda noticed that and took this opportunity to escape Kukito’s clutches. With both his wrists being held, he flipped mid-air and used his legs to launch off Kukito’s chest.
“Go! Go nowwww!” Ryoda yelled as he flew away from Kukito.
“Alright,” Raida smirked as Ryoda escaped, “here goes! Nuclear Fusion – Lower Fusion: Red Dwarf!” The dust-like particles completely gathered into a massive red sphere of heat.
“I-Is that—?” Ryoda left his mouth wide. He created… an entire star? This doesn’t seem like regular Art! Ryoda closed his eyes and smiled as he continued flying backwards. “Not bad, Raida… not bad at all.”
Raida launched the mass of pure energy that he had created straight at Kukito.
“W-what is that!” Kukito trembled as he watched the massive energy descend in front of him with wide eyes. His arms dropped to his sides as he left his mouth agape.
But then a swirl of pink smoke circled him. His head was still pounding, but the smoke numbed the pain.
“Kukito.” He heard a woman’s voice in his head. It sounded like Mizuka. But it didn’t feel like her.
“Mizuka… Mizuka, is that you? I’m sorry, Mizuka… I’m so sorry I let you get hurt.” He said with tears streaming down his face.
“Kukito… I love you.”
“I love you to… Mizuka… I’m sorry I couldn’t save you… I couldn’t protect our family.”
“I love you.”
“I don’t… I don’t deserve your love. Not after my failure.”
“I love you.”
“No… don’t say that. I don’t deserve it.” Kukito continued to break down despite the impending doom that was in front of him.
“I love you… Stand strong. Show me. Show me the man I believed in. Show me.”
“Show you?” The tears stopped flowing from Kukito’s eyes. “Heh… It’s a little late for me to show you all that…” Kukito said as he looked towards the star flying towards him. “But I won’t betray… your conviction!” Kukito yelled as he threw his arms into the air.
He unleashed his Dark Void but centered it into a condensed shield. The star collided with his shield, and Kukito attempted to hold it back.
“HAAAA!” He forced every ounce of his remaining strength into trying to block the star.
However, it was a meaningless struggle. His shield crumbled under the sheer power of the star’s energy.
“You used to be a great man, Kukito. I won’t forget all the good you did before today,” Raida said as he turned away from the star.
As it overtook the shield and began to explode, Kukito’s yells could be heard for a moment.
“Rest in peace, Kukito.” Raida closed his eyes, his face straining.
[Carrie vs. Cataline]
After exchanging numerous blows while feeling each other out, Carrie and Cataline were finally ready to get serious.
“Alright, I think that’s enough of a warmup. I’ll make this quick and clean up the rest of this fight!” Carrie said while palming her fist.
“I wouldn’t be so quick to underestimate me…” Cataline replied.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Why don’t you sit back and watch this!” Carrie pumped up her fists, with her elbows at her waist. Her aura began surging, flashing from green to creamy white. “This is Spirit Resonance!” Carrie unleashed an impressive stream of aether.
“Oh, I see… so this is what made you think you could beat me. Well, sorry to disappoint, but you’re not the only one who can increase their output!” Cataline said as she unleashed Utopic Boost Level Three. A flash of golden aether flared around her—but it sputtered out into dark energy. Her hair had gained purple highlights, her eyes were a mix of black and red, and her nails had grown longer, emitting a purple aura. Kukito’s influence seemed to change her transformation as well.
“Not bad, you’re stronger than I thought,” Carrie said with sweat rolling down her face, “too bad it’s still not enough to beat me!”
The two of them continued clashing; however, this time, Cataline had the advantage.
[Raida and Ryoda vs. Kukito]
Wait… something’s not right. Ryoda thought as he watched the explosion. After the energy from the explosion expanded, it slowly dissipated, leaving a thick cloud of smoke. “Raida! Keep your guard up, something’s not right!”
“Hmm?” Raida turned around. The smoke slowly started to clear. No! There’s no way he survived that. An intense look took over Raida’s face as he saw a dark aura shining through the dregs of smoke.
Kukito was still floating in the air, relatively unharmed compared to before the blast. The shard’s aura crawled over his skin like ink finding paper. Raida had burned him away cleanly… but the shard wasn’t healing him—it was replacing him.
“How? How did you survive that?!” Raida yelled.
“Hmph. I don’t even know myself…” Kukito said as he looked at his right hand, opening and closing it as he admired his new power.
His strength has increased even further! Ryoda noticed.
“This proves it. Watch me, Mizuka. I’ll show them our conviction!” Kukito tensed the muscles in his legs, ready to pounce.
He vanished? Raida suddenly lost sight of him.
“Raida! Behind you!” Ryoda yelled.
Before Raida could even finish turning around, Kukito Aether-Skipped behind him and slammed him downwards. Raida was sent flying through several buildings before his final impact, creating a crater in the ground.
“Damn,” Ryoda gritted his teeth. We were barely able to deal with him before… yet his strength has increased once again. Before he could finish his thought, Kukito appeared before him and hit him with an unavoidable rush of attacks.
While Kukito continued his unending onslaught on Ryoda, Raida rose from his crater and started creating aether particles again. This time I’ll have to make an even larger one… that’s the only way we can beat this guy!
“Think again,” Kukito Aether-Skipped in front of Raida, hitting him with a heavy blow to the gut. Raida was winded and fell to his knees, coughing up blood.
“Not so fast!” Ryoda yelled from behind them, “Grand Javelin!”
The spear flew quickly through the air, but Kukito was able to evade it and grabbed it with one hand—without even turning around. He crushed the energy in his fist. “Hmph. The two of you are no longer a match for me. I’ve ascended to an entirely different realm of power, even greater than your wildest imaginations.”
“It doesn’t matter how strong you get, Kukito,” Raida said, wiping sweat from his forehead and then tightening his gi. He reassumed his fighting stance as he said, “True strength lies within one’s heart… and you, my old friend, have fallen from the graces known to those of purity.”
“Purity?” Kukito laughed—a rough, broken sound. “Don’t preach purity to me.”
He pressed a hand to his chest like it hurt to breathe. “I fight for love. Love for my people, who have been oppressed for centuries under your iron rule. Love for my family, who were taken from me. Love for this world. I served it. I bled for it.”
His eyes flicked to Ryoda. “And the first time my family needed the God of Utopia…” his voice cracked, “…she died in the rain.”
He swept his arm toward the slums below. “Do you know how many Dystopians have died like that? Quiet. Unseen. Uncounted. Once I’ve liberated my people from this cruel world, I’ll venture to other planets throughout the universe where people are oppressed by those in power like you. I will return all lands to the people, as they rightfully belong!”
Then, he spoke softer—almost pleading: “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Ryoda. Just give me the Heart. I’ll carry it. I’ll fix what you never bothered to see.” He extended his hand out to Ryoda once more.
Ryoda put his head down, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. “You’re wrong… There is truth to your words, but you’re going about this the wrong way. You don’t need to hurt our people to reach salvation. You can stop this right now if you just surrender. We can still help people by working together!”
“Our people? Our people!? Where was that when Dystopians across the face of this planet were crying out in suffering?! Forget it! You leave me no choice. I’ll finish you here and rip the Heart of Utopia out of your ch—”
“Nuclear Fusion—Lower Fusion: Brown Dwarf!” While they were conversing, Raida took that opportunity to form another star.
What? How was he able to form another star? I couldn’t sense it, let alone see any of those particles… “No matter, that ability will no longer work on me.”
“Hah, this isn’t like the other star I created last time!”
The particles of dust condensed, but this time they formed with Kukito as their center.
“What is this?”
“This star is different, it’s a collection of dense matter that will form around my target… in other words, this is a sealing technique!” Now’s your chance, Ryoda! Raida tagged him in, their hands colliding as Ryoda flew past.
Thank you for the opportunity, Raida! Ryoda carried the orb of matter that was now trapping Kukito.
[Carrie vs. Cataline]
“Malevolent Light!” Cataline fired several lasers at Carrie, who was rushing towards her.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Carrie said as she effortlessly jumped from side to side to dodge the lasers. Once she got in close, she hit Cataline with a strong left hook. Huh!? Carrie thought as the body she hit turned into pink smoke and dispersed into her face. When she backed up, she noticed that there were several clones of Cataline standing around her.
“Malevolent Light!” the clones shouted in unison.
Carrie was hit with lasers from all directions, sustaining heavy damage. Damn, I can’t take much more of this…
“Give up already,” Cataline said with a chuckle, “admit that you’re outclassed, and I’ll make your death swift.”
With her arms crossed in front of her and her head down, Carrie stood there motionless as she continued taking hits. “I’m…” she whispered, “I’m not going to lose here!” She unleashed a fierce wave of energy as her aura surged, blowing away all the clones and the pink mist they came from. “Raida is waiting for me, so I’ll finish you off quickly,” she said, wiping blood off her lip.
Where did she get this strength from? This isn’t good… my illusions won’t work anymore.
“Ha!” Carrie blitzed Cataline with a high-speed rush. She landed numerous blows before launching her into the air. As Cataline started falling back down, Carrie jumped up, gathering aether into her fist. “Tremoring Strike!” She punched Cataline straight in the face, knocking her out cold. “Finally… I told you that you were no match for me…” Carrie said as she fell on her back, exhausted from their long battle.
[Next Time on Lyte of Utopia]: “Fall of Utopia III”
[Yield Levels]:
Ryoda: 50,000
- PU + DP: 50 – 3z
- PU + DP + GoU: 50 – 5z
- Grand Javelin: x1z
- Holy Judgement: x2z
Kukito: 21,000
- Dark Heart Boost: (Semi) + PU: 21 – 4z
- DHB: (S) + DFL3 + PU: 2.1 – 5z
- Dark Heart Boost: (Full) + DFL3 + PU: 2.1 – 8z
- Dark Void: x1-1z (1z) (Counter)
- Dark Orb: x1z (Counter)
Raida: 20,000
- Photoreception: x5% (Star Absorption)
- Utopic Star Absorbed: 20 – 3z
- Ultraviolet Beam: x200
- Nuclear Fusion: (Star Formation)
- Lower Fusion: (x1-5z)
- Red Dwarf: x5z
- Brown Dwarf: x2z (Sealing)
- Lower Fusion: (x1-5z)
Cataline: 16,500
- DFL3: 1.65 – 2z
- Alluring Fantasies: x1 (Illusions)
- Malevolent Light: x1000
Carrie: 20,000
- Spirit Resonance: 20,000 (Physical: 2 – 2z)
- SR + Rage: 40,000 (Physical: 4 – 2z)
- Tremoring Strike: x5
Bowl: 2,000
Dystopian Warriors: 1,000-10,000
Utopic Sages: 1,000-10,000
Utopia's Sun: 40z