"No, no, no, no..." Anjero's desperate whisper was lost in the roar of the explosion as Tenki's unknown power detonated around Mashù's airborne form.
But through the smoke and fire, a voice cut through the chaos—young, determined, and blazing with newfound power.
"Huh, Shinkei?"
Anjero's little brother had awakened. Fire erupted around him in a protective barrier, his newly manifested spirit responding to the desperate need to protect someone else. The flames absorbed the explosion's force, turning what should have been a killing blow into a spectacular light show.
"I'm alive..." Mashù's voice carried wonder and disbelief as he landed safely within Shinkei's fire shield.
"What are all these plants coming from?" Anjero asked in amazement as green vines and flowering plants erupted from every surface around them. "My wounds are healed, and my stamina—it's all back."
The answer came from a small, tired voice. "Thank you for saving us," Nanshi said, the little girl with the plant spirit sitting up weakly near the destroyed extraction machine.
"I'm surprised you know how to use your powers so well," Anjero said, feeling strength flow back into his exhausted body as her healing plants worked their magic.
"I don't," Nanshi admitted with the honesty that only children possessed. "I'm just doing it at this point..."
The effort proved too much for her newly awakened spirit. She collapsed back to the ground, unconscious from spirit exhaustion but breathing steadily.
"Thank you, little girl," Anjero whispered, then turned to his team. "Jeremi, get this girl and Shinkei out of here—"
"No," Shinkei interrupted, his voice carrying a steel that reminded Anjero painfully of their mother. "I got a score to settle with this guy."
Flames erupted around Shinkei as his spirit responded to his emotional state. The fire was wild and uncontrolled—built off pure anger.
"Get back here! How dare you get out!" Tenki roared, his composure finally cracking as he realized his carefully laid plans were unraveling.
"OK, Shinkei, I don't know what you can do, but let's go!" Anjero called out, feeling renewed hope as he saw his brother's determination.
"HAAA! SCORCH LASER!"
A concentrated beam of white-hot fire erupted from Shinkei's hands, striking Tenki in the chest and actually forcing him back a step.
"Puny little laser! You think that could hurt me?" Tenki snarled, but Anjero noticed something important—the attack had hurt him, just a little.
*Hm, a beam just like mine but with fire.* "I got an idea. Shinkei, shoot that again at him, this time give it all you got."
"Got it! HAAA..." Shinkei began to power up, his fire spirit energy building to levels that seemed impossible for someone who had awakened less than an hour ago.
"Mashù, get some more hits. I need ten more seconds!" Anjero called out.
"You don't have to tell me twice. REVENGE RUSH!" Mashù launched himself at Tenki with renewed fury, his dual spirits flaring as he engaged the monster in close combat.
"Did you really think I'd let you power up? MAGMA DEVASTATION!" Tenki hurled molten rock at both Anjero and Shinkei, but Mashù intercepted the attack, his luck-enhanced reflexes allowing him to deflect the deadly projectiles.
"You have no choice because you're fighting me!" Mashù continued his assault, each strike enhanced by three years of training and the desperate need to protect his friends.
"OK, Shinkei, are you ready?" Anjero asked as his own power built to maximum levels.
"Let's kill this bastard!" Shinkei replied with more venom than any fifteen-year-old should possess.
"Mashù, we're good to go!"
"OK, Anjero, I trust you to finish this," Mashù said, delivering one final devastating combo before leaping clear of the targeting zone.
"I got ya, man. OK, Shinkei, give it everything you got."
"Oh no you don't! LAVA DESTRUCTION!" Tenki unleashed his most powerful attack, a torrent of molten destruction that should have vaporized anything in its path.
"RRRRR! SCORCH LASER!" Shinkei's beam met the lava head-on, his fire spirit proving more powerful than anyone had imagined.
"GEYSER BAZOOKA!" Anjero added his own attack to the collision, and for a moment, the three forces were evenly matched.
But slowly, inevitably, Tenki's stolen power began to overwhelm them. The combined beam of fire and water was being pushed back, and both brothers could feel their strength failing.
"Forget your spirits! I just want you all dead!" Tenki screamed, pouring more power into his attack.
"Anjero, I don't know if I can hold on much longer! We might die here, man!" Shinkei's voice carried real fear for the first time. "I can't stand anymore." Shinkei collapsed leaving Anjero alone.
Desperation drove Anjero to reach deeper into his connection with his spirit than he'd ever dared. "Errr... Aalto, if you can hear me, I need your power..."
The ancient spirit's voice filled his mind with the weight of millennia. *"Hello, Anjero. I see you finally called for me."*
"Now's not the time! I need to borrow some of your power!"
*"You know what that would mean, right?"*
Anjero understood the implication—borrowing an Ancient Spirit's true power came with a price. "Yes, I know that's fine. Just... p-please hurry!"
*"OK, I'll grant you just a little bit of my power, as long as you keep your promise."*
"I... I will."
*"OK, take it."*
Power beyond anything Anjero had ever imagined flooded through him. His spirit energy didn't just increase—it transformed, becoming something that belonged to an older, more primal world.
"RAHHHH! TRUE GEYSER BAZOOKA!"
The beam that erupted from his hands was no longer just water—it was the ocean itself, compressed into a weapon that carried the weight of every tide and the fury of every storm that had ever been.
"What is this? No! I can't be losing... WAAHHH!" Tenki's scream was lost as the assault of ancient water overwhelmed his stolen powers and slammed him into the laboratory's reinforced walls with enough force to crack the metal.
"Tenki, you're under arrest," Anjero said quietly, placing the spirit-nullifying cuffs on the unconscious form of the man who had terrorized so many children.
Then the borrowed power left him all at once, and he collapsed. Mashù caught him before he could hit the ground.
"Thank you, man," Mashù said softly.
As he looked down at Tenki's unconscious form, Mashù's expression grew dark with suppressed rage. "Now I should kill you right here... but that'll make me as evil as you if I did."
With tremendous effort, considering his own injuries, Mashù carried Tenki, Anjero, and Shinkei to the submarine where their teammates were waiting.
"Woah, you guys did it!" Yoku's excitement was infectious as he saw them approaching.
Mashù unceremoniously dropped Tenki at Yoku's feet. "Here, lock him up somewhere I can't see him."
"You did the right thing, Mashù," Yoku said with genuine pride.
"Shut up," Mashù replied, but there was no real hostility in his voice.
"How's Anjero and Shinkei?" Jeremi asked, his professional concern evident despite his own exhaustion.
"They're both fine. Just knocked out is all," Mashù assured him.
"Oh, thank God."
Despite his exhaustion and pain, Mashù smiled—a genuine expression of happiness that his teammates hadn't seen in three years. "You should've seen them. They were amazing."
**Two Hours Later - Base of Operations**
The Commander stood on the dock as their submarine surfaced, his expression unreadable as he surveyed the returning mission team. The success was obvious—they'd brought back both Tenki and his lieutenant—but there were complications that would need to be addressed.
"Congratulations, fellas, on your job well done," he said as they disembarked. His eyes fell on Kamira, Romaji, and Mashù. "Who are these other three?"
"Sir, they're Anjero's and Yokudan's friends," Jeremi replied with military precision. "They came to help us with our mission."
The Commander's expression darkened as he studied the three unauthorized participants. "Hm," he growled, clearly displeased with the breach of protocol. But after a moment, his pragmatic nature won out. "Well, no casualties and you caught Tenki."
He leaned close to Everyone and whispered, "I'll let it slide just this once."
"Thank you, sir," Mashù replied gratefully.
"Anyways, you all stay the night here and heal up," the Commander announced to the group.
"Thank you, Commander," Anjero said as consciousness fully returned to him.
The Commander's stern expression softened slightly as he looked at the young guardian who had just accomplished the impossible. "Oh, Anjero, I see you're finally awake. Good job on the mission, young one."
"Thanks."
"Men, bring these two to the interrogation room. I got some questions to ask," the Commander ordered, gesturing toward the restrained forms of Tenki and Devanga. "Jeremi, Yoku, bring the injured to the infirmary."
"Yes, Commander," Jeremi responded.
As the Commander departed with his prisoners, Jeremi turned to the exhausted team. "OK, everyone follow me this way."
"I'm not really all that injured. I'll be fine," Mashu protested, though he was clearly favoring his left side where Tenki's attacks had connected.
"Mashù, but those wounds are deep," Yoku pointed out with concern.
"I said I'm fine!" Mashù snapped, then immediately proved himself wrong by collapsing to the deck.
"Of course," Yoku sighed, catching his friend before he could hit the ground. "I don't know what's wrong with you."
"Is everyone safe?" Anjero asked weakly as Jeremi helped him to his feet.
"Yeah, Anro, just focus on healing up, man," Yoku replied.
"What about Shinkei?"
"He's fine, just knocked out is all."
"OK..."
**Meanwhile - Interrogation Room 1**
The interrogation facility was a stark, windowless chamber designed to break down resistance through psychological pressure as much as physical discomfort. Tenki sat strapped to a chair that nullified his stolen spirit powers, though his eyes still burned with unrepentant malice.
"So talk," the Commander said without preamble. "Who are you sending the spirits to?"
"And why would I tell you that?" Tenki replied with a smirk that suggested he was enjoying this confrontation.
"Because I'm not as nice as the others here."
The Commander's fist connected with Tenki's face with enough force to break his nose, blood streaming down to stain his prison uniform.
"Hahaha! A little blood won't get me to talk," Tenki laughed, seemingly unfazed by the violence.
"No? How about this?"
The Commander performed a series of one-handed signs—spirit manipulation, but something older and more fundamental. When he touched Tenki's forehead, the reaction was immediate and agonizing.
"AHHHH! Why am I burning up?" Tenki screamed, his body convulsing as if he were being cooked from the inside.
"I might not have a spirit like the others, but I studied spirit manipulation back in the day," the Commander explained with clinical detachment.
"How dare you... AHHHHH!"
"Tenki!" Devanga shouted from his own restraints. "You'll die for hurting him!"
The Commander simply touched Devanga's forehead, and the young man immediately slumped unconscious.
"You had your turn to talk. Shush now, boy. The grown-ups are talking." He turned back to Tenki. "Now, who do you work for?"
"I'd rather die than tell you anything... AAAAAHHH!"
The torture technique intensified, and even Tenki's enhanced constitution couldn't withstand the agony indefinitely.
"Talk now, or it'll get even worse for you."
"OK... OK!" Tenki gasped through the pain. "I don't know! I just sent the spirits off somewhere. In a big black cargo truck."
"Tell me more!"
"I don't know anything else... AHHHH!" His screams echoed through the facility.
An observing agent stepped forward. "Sir, I think he's telling the truth."
The Commander released his technique, allowing Tenki to slump forward in exhaustion. "This got us nowhere. Darn it! Take him to the cell—he's gonna be out for a while."
"Sir, what about the boy?" the agent asked, referring to Devanga.
The Commander's expression grew thoughtful. "I have something else in mind for him."
**Back in the Sleeping Quarters**
The team had been given a temporary barracks to rest and recover before their journey home. Despite their exhaustion, the adrenaline of their successful mission kept most of them awake.
"We're heading out in thirty minutes. Be ready," Jeremi announced as he checked his equipment one final time.
"OK. Nanshi, where do you live?" Anjero asked the little girl who had saved them all with her healing plants.
"No worries, I'll take her and those three with me," Jeremi replied, referring to the other rescued children. "They live close to my school."
"OK, cool. We'll be taking Shinkei with us."
"Alright. We'll be off now, Anjero, Yoku, and the others. We hope to see you all soon," Jeremi said with something that might have been warmth in his usually emotionless voice.
"Same here, Jeremi. It was great working with you," Anjero replied, meaning every word.
As they prepared to board their respective vessels for the journey home, each of them carried the knowledge that they had faced something truly evil and emerged victorious. But they also carried questions about what other threats might be waiting in the shadows, and what price would ultimately be demanded for the power they had wielded.
The Spirit Water Jet that would carry them back to Seishin South High School waited at the dock, its sleek form cutting through the waves as they began the journey home.
Behind them, in the secure cells of the base of operations, Bradoon Tenki sat in darkness, his stolen powers sealed away but his mind still scheming. The war between the spirit guardians and the forces that sought to corrupt their power was far from over.
But for now, at least, the children were safe, and a monster had been stopped.