Magix Ultra

Chapter 16

When Chiara finally gathered the courage to talk and clear things up with Zero, the planet was suddenly under attack by an army of darkclopses. Amongst the chaos, she sensed a strong dark energy nearby and immediately took off to where her instincts led her.

Which also happened to be the place where a gruelling fight was taking place. Ultra brothers Seven and Zoffy were busy battling an unknown enemy as many injured ultras laid on the ground in pain. Their bodies were slowly turning to stone while dozens of Silver Cross personnel were scattered around trying to treat them. Even Mother of Ultra herself was present.

But nothing they did seemed to work. In fact, whatever it was spread to anyone who came in contact with the injured. A number of Silver Cross collapsed and turned to stone because of it.

"Mother of Ultra!" Chiara jumped in and put up a shiled to protect Marie from the enemy. Unfortunately, Seven and Zoffy were defeated and became stone statues.

Chiara let her shield down as her saber clashed with a familiar sceptre. Up close she finally got a good look of who they were up against.

"You!" Nere snarled seeing her. Once again they clashed their weapons. Chiara recognised something she wasn't able to the first time they fought. And that was magic. Strong chaotic dark magic.

"What did you do to them?!" Chiara demanded as she swung her saber and fired another spell. Ultras were turning to stone left and right. It was spreading like the plague.

"Just a little magic to get what I need."

Before she charged again,Nera stilled and glanced up. With a big smile on her face she let out a wave of darkness that sent Chiara flying back.

"As much as I want to settle this score, I already got what I need." She said as she walked over to the weakened Chiara and grabbed her by the hair.

"But I do hope we'll see each other soon, Argant."

"What-" Nera struck Chiara across the face with her sceptre. Then she shot up and disappeared into the sky as her laugh echoed in the air.

Chiara tried chasing after her but she couldn't even get up. She had a number of bruises and deep bleeding wounds. The adrenaline wore off and now all she felt was intense pain.

The last thing she saw before passing out completely was Mother of Ultra's blurry silhouette.
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In a dark chamber, Zero stood between two polls with his hands, torso and feet chained to them. The entire room reeked of evil and darkness. It made him sick in his already injured state. The darkclopses really did a number on him.

As he continued struggling against his restrains, a familiar figure emerged from the darkness.

"Finally, we're so so close! You hear that dear? You'll be good as new in no time!" Nere exclaimed while looking up. Zero followed her gaze and saw nothing but pitch nlack darkness. However, the lights came on and revealed a pod hanging above him.

"You- What're you gonna do huh?!"

"I told you before didn't I? My darling needs a new body and yours is juuuust the right one." She answered as she caressed his face. The gesture clearly made him disgusted. Especially with the smell and traces of light blood on her hands. Eventually she noticed the blood as well.

"Oh? Forgive me. I just got too excited after hearing that they finally caught you. I came right away and forgot clean myself up a bit. Don't worry it's not my blood, well of course it's not since I don't bleed light. It probably came from that fairy ultra, ultra fairy or whatever she is. She just really gets on my nerves ya know?"

Wait, ultra fairy? Does she mean-

"What did you do to her?!" Zero roared angrily. The chains bounding him nearly tore off the polls. Nera even jumped back a little in alarm.

"Why you-" She was about to hit him with her sceptre before she suddenly realised something. Based on Chiara and Zero's interactions she observed while spying on the ultras, combined with his outrage at seeing the fairy's blood on her could mean...

"You love that girl,don't you?" She said through gritted teeth. Nera gripped her sceptre tightly as her entire body quivered. Then spun around and began smashing the darkclopses standing on guard.

"Argant! Chiara! Argant! Chiara! First it was that damn dragon and now that eyesore of a fairy! What's so good about them?!"

When there were no more darkclopses left, Nera took a moment to calm down and then turned back to the captive ultra. Her hands still shook as she stared up at him with a crazed smile.

"It's okay it's okay...he can't possibly still love her after all these eons...especially after what she did to him...I've spent so long, done so much to bring him back... surely he'll come to me right?..." she mumbled off, ignoring how insane she looked to the occupants of the room.

Immediately she ordered Alien bat, who was standing quietly in the shadows, to start the 'process'. Since when did Alien bat become her lackey? An obedient at that. Even Zero could see how scared the alien was of her.

Though he didn't have time to ponder it when Alien bat handed her a steel mask.

"Now hold still. This is going hurt."

Zero fought against his chains and tried avoiding the mask but it was no use. As soon as it latched onto his face, the two polls that bounded him glowed. The dark mist began emptying out of the pod and clouded around him. A disfigured face manifested right infront of his eyes before all the mist got sucked into the mask.

This feeling...no...no,no,no,no,NO!

Not again! Not again! It felt like the time he was possessed by Belial. But this felt worse. Much worse.

All of a sudden,his body was covered in a golden aura. Zero was trying to activate his Shinning form to fight back against the darkness. For moment, it seemed to work. The darkness was going in and out of his body. But then he went limp as the light of his color lamp, erium lamp and eyes went out. The darkness went back in and wasn't coming out.

In the realm of his mind, Zero was being held down by an evil entity. It was man with long black hair and leathery withered wings. His hands were wrapped around the ultra's neck as he stared down at him with his amber eyes. Somehow he stopped Zero from using his Shinning form. Scratch that. This man didn't just stop him, he extinguished his light in one swoop.

Zero felt suffocated. Suffocated by being choked and the thick overwhelming darkness. His body was going to be possessed again. But this time by a force far more powerful than Belial.

"Go forward!"

"Go forward!"

"Go forward!"

"Go forward! Ultraman Zero!"

He could hear the voices of his comrades, telling him not to give up. Was he going to kill them again? Were they going to die by his hands while he had no control over his body? His friends, his father, everyone he knew and the innocents, were they going to get hurt too?

Even till the end, Zero continued to struggle with all his might. The memories of everyone he held dear sped through his mind as he cried in agony. The last person he thought of was Chiara with her gentle violet eyes, flowing silver hair and kind smile, beaming at him during the night of the Spark festival.

"Zero...you're really kind, you know that?"