Forgiving Light

Chapter 38

~Astral~ "He is..." Suddenly, I feel my Life Light being pulled out. "Wh-what are you...!"

"This is the only way to kill a Dark Number, Agent 12. It must be done!"

"No! It is too dangerous!" I feel them taking control of my body again. Two dense balls of light appear in my hands, and my consciousness is pushed aside. The Light Forces now have complete control.

They make me dash forward, throwing the two spheres forcefully in Black Mist's direction. They hit their target, and I feel the sharp wave of pain that signals that my energy is dropping harshly. Black Mist seems just fine, though. This does not bode well.

The Light Forces produce two more balls of light even though my energy has dropped harshly. It would seem that they do not care who gets damaged as long as the evil one returns. They make me throw them again, and they again hit their mark. This time, Black Mist recoils.

I fall to my knees, panting heavily. The four spheres of my own Life Light have exhausted me greatly.

Still, Black Mist gets up. He seems damaged, but not as much as me.

"On your feet, Agent 12!" the Light Forces command. "You will not rest until Number 96 is dead at your feet!"

They make me get up, but all I really want to do is collapse and sleep. They will not allow me to, though. I am not allowed to rest until Black Mist is dead at my feet.

~Black Mist~ I notice the fatigue in Astral. I feel sympathy for him, but my hatred is much stronger.

I dodge the next two balls of light coming my way, and they explode into the buildings behind me. More humans scream. Astral wavers, and he collapses against a building while humans mill about in a blind panic. It's actually very amusing to watch. I laugh.

Police cars park at the scene, and I realize that we're completely visible.

Stuart, that one detective who worked with Tar, comes up to the front. His jaw drops when he sees Astral, Dark, and me.

"Astral," he whispers. He hurries over.

"Mitchel..." Astral croaks as he involuntarily raises his arm in Stuart's general direction. Astral's eyes widen in wild fear. "Dodge!"

~Dark Astral~ I feel another pang of pain when the Life Light hits the ground. Miza and I are no longer fighting, and the minions Nii-chan had in control are now free. They all look confused. All except Yuma, who seems to know exactly what's going on.

Yuma runs over to Mitchel's aide. "Are you alright?" he asks, alarmed.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine, but what's gotten into Astral? He was never this way before. He would never attack us."

"He's being controlled at the moment. All you have to do is stay out of his waym and you'll be safe. That applies to all of us."

"Stay out of this, ningen," Astral says in a hollow voice as he gets up. "If you do that, no one will get caught in the crossfire." He looks over to Nii-chan.

Thinking quickly, I put up a translucent barrier so that they won't get hurt. They recoil and scream as the wall pops up.

"Don't cross this wall," I warn. "You'll be safe that way."

The humans seem to understand somewhat. They back off while Astral advances on Nii-chan. I, too, watch the whole thing.

~Black Mist~ I toy with Dark's soul in my hands while Astral advances. I smirk. His body is much too fatigued to go on any longer if he was in control, but the Light Forces don't seem to care. They obviously don't know when to stop.

They make Astral make two more balls of light, one in each hand. I bring up Dark's soul and dig my claws deep into it. Both Astral and Dark cry out in intense pain, and the balls of light disappear. I feel bad for Dark, but it's one of the only ways to get Astral to suffer the way I want him to.

"I'm sorry, Dark," I murmur, "but this has to be done. I hope you'll forgive me after this if you live." With that, I begin to slowly tear the soul in two, causing the pain to intensify.

~Astral~ The internal pain Black Mist is causing only adds to my fatigue. I fall to the ground, exhausted. I know the Light Forces will not allow me any rest, though. Sure enough, they make me rise.

"That's enough!" Asterite screams. "He is already passed his limit!"

They turn me to her, and they once again gain full control over me. "Agent 5, you will not interfere with this. This is between Agent 12 and Number 96."

"But they can always continue this another time!" Nebula adds.

"If he keeps fighting like this, he'll be dead. Then, we will be short four Agents. How do you expect to find another 20, 10, 9, and 12?" Justice argues.

"You dare talk back? I gave you all only a few weeks, and the time is up. Now, we must finish this." I turn back to Black Mist.

~Dark Astral~ While the Agents were arguing with the Light Forces, Nii-chan has been ripping and tearing my soul apart, toying with us. I know that Astral's been feeling the intense pain, but due to him being controlled, he isn't able to show it. I can see Nii-chan feels bad about it, though.

"Oi," he calls, tearing the soul a little more. "Your target's right here, baka."

I deal with the pain so that Nii-chan doesn't have to feel bad, but he can see that I'm in pain, though. He shoots me an apologetic look.

The barrier suddenly falls, and a bunch of humans surge forward. The police fight to hold them back, to keep them safe and away.

The Light Forces are suddenly back in my mind. "It is time that you forget everything," they hiss, and I scream in pain as they launch their power on my mind full-force.

And I mean full-force. No holding back. High voltage.

I'm powerless against tham, and I go back to my little corner for protection and as a final resort. They easily go in as easily as before, though, and soon everything is being seared.