Burning Bright | Keigo Takami x Male Reader

Chapter 15

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3 months before the fall.

(M/N)'s life fell into a pretty steady routine for a while. Him and the group had a pretty good balance of school and fighting monsters and down time. But within the last month or so, they had been called out a lot more. It felt as though something caused the number of void monsters showing up to increase exponentially.

Much like Keigo had said, the intensity of their training went up. It was tough, but they also improved a lot. (M/N) would be happy, but with the abnormality in void monsters and Keigo's evasiveness, he couldn't help thinking that something was going to happen. Like the great evil Kuon said so many previous Guardians had gone out to fight, only to never return.

Earlier the group had travelled to another planet to intercept a void attack. It was a rather desolate planet. There were no signs of life as far as the eye could see. It was just an endless dry-looking landscape, though they had found what looked like an eroded temple. It was relatively small, with pillars holding it up by each corner. There were intricate patterns on the walls, but where the doors would be was just completely open on all sides. There were three bright stars in the sky, so the planet was never dark. (M/N) couldn't help but wonder why they were out here defending against a void attack when there weren't any life forms. But Keigo told him that the void creatures didn't just destroy, they corrupted. If left unchecked, they could devour whole planets and turn them into void infested wastelands. They were akin to a virus, and Star Guardians were the antibodies.

They waited for a while. Nothing. They had waited longer before. Another hour. It was really stretching on. Another hour.

"What's taking so long? Are you sure this is the right place?" (M/N) asked. There was something about this place that made him feel uneasy. Maybe it was the lack of life, or how quiet it was. It seemed like Keigo felt the same way. He was pacing with a confused look on his face.

"I don't know. Usually it's really clear when I receive stuff from the First Star. But this... it's all over the place," Keigo said.

"How so?" Nemuri asked.

"Everything's blurry." Keigo brought a hand up to his head, as if it was hurting.

(M/N) felt a presence and spun around. He searched the empty plains and couldn't see anything until he spotted a figure in the shadows. It was the checkerboard creature, but when he blinked he saw the purple figure. This time it was facing him, smiling.

"(M/N)?" Kyoka said. "What's wrong?"

(M/N) turned back to the group and pointed behind him. "Do you guys see that?" But when he turned to look at it again, it was gone.

"There's nothing there, dude. Are you ok in the head?" Denki half teased.

(M/N) stayed silent and balled his hands into fists before turning to Keigo. "We should go."

Keigo locked eyes with him. "Was it-"

The ground erupted underneath them, sending them all flying in different directions. (M/N) barely had time to see what was happening before he launched himself away from a giant void creature that almost crushed him. They had the same aura as the ones on Crystalis, but these ones were also vibrating wildly.

"Keigo it's-"

"Yeah, like the ones we saw before," Keigo shouted back, before warning the others.

(M/N) fought off as many void creatures as he could. Their movements were erratic and unpredictable. Much like the other ones, these also exploded into black goo. (M/N) made sure to steer clear of it as best he could as he fought through all the voidlings. It was difficult in the tight space of the temple.