Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Underground cave, Lilia

When I was a little girl I really liked listening to fairy tales. I would always force Iris to read the books I chose just because the title sounded interesting.

The tales on Zesion were countless but from time to time we would read about things from outside

One of those things is 'Verta'.

The book talking about it was something father got in one of his trips to neighboring planets. it was a translated version printed in paper as a souvenir for tourists. father knew how much I liked that kind of books.

Iris and I enjoyed reading about the mythical beasts in that book, it tells stories about the twelve beasts that roam the universe destroying whole plants sometimes.

One of the twelve beasts is named 'Verta'. It's said that a great thunder storm follows it wherever it went, hundreds of planets were burned under its wrath.

The beasts had unimaginable power. But as science advanced the destruction they caused was interpreted as natural phenomenon. and as the sightings of the beasts decreased, they slowly became a myth and no one believed in them anymore.

But they exist, at least one of them

"now it's an oversized tiger…" seven looked uneasy, but he doesn't seem to know about it, cause he asked "and what is this one called, Lilia? I'm really sure it isn't the friendly kind…"

"that's a Verta… I think…"

"huh? you think?..."

" don't look at me like that! It's my first time seeing one as well! It's not supposed to be real in the first place, it's just a myth!"

" lower your voice! We don't want to wake it up right?"

I put a hand on my mouth and nodded. Seven looked at the beast

" Lilia, we should slowly retreat from here" said Seven .

we walked backward keeping an eye on the beast

"hm?... there is something around it's neck"

it is a collar ?

" so it's someone's pet? he or she must be really into cats"

" cats? I thought you said it resembles a tiger?"

" well, tigers are distant relatives of cats so...."

we turned around and walked on the tips of our toes. the beast was sleeping in peace, our continues whispering didn't seem to disturb it, or that's how we wished it to be

a surge of light entered my view and I'm glad I reacted in time

"Seven!!!"

.....

the smoke cleared down, revealing a huge crater in the wall melting at the corners.

we were careless not only we almost lost our lives, but also risked destroying the exit.

the Verta had woken up quietly and prepared to strike, I noticed the light it emitted and jumped out of the way pushing Seven down

" this is bad...this is really bad!!" Seven entered a panicking state " a huge blue tiger that uses lightning? this is the f&%$ boss chamber!!"

he took my hand and dashed to the exit

" I expected a bigger spider, what's up with the level designs!!!"

I'm not sure what he is talking about, probably more earthen terms.

obviously the mythical beast had no intention of just letting us retreat.

the Verta jumped to the ceiling using it as a foot hold to jump again landing in front of the exit, blocking our way out

" it seems an inescapable battle"

" what are you talking about! there is no way we could face a Verta! planets were burned whole under it's feet!"

" we won't know if we don't try!"

" we have to find a way out of here!"

"it won't budge from that place, we have to make some detractions to make a way. the problem is how?"

fighting inside this place is pretty much suicide. one wrong step and we would come into contact with the Glassume and die. but the beast is too agile, it's next move could kill us .

the Verta began charging it's next attack, making six electro spheres in a raw

" take cover!!!" I took his hand and rushed behind boulder beside us. a great roar resounded inside the cave and the spheres were launched leaving behind a track of lightning.

one of them hit the Glassume we hid behind while the rest reached further hitting other boulders and destroying the wall .

" I see... now I understand... "

just what did he learn from that! did he finally realize that we are done for

" look closely, the energy spheres that hit the Glassume didn't leave a single scratch, they got absorbed"

" that's one of the Glassume's proprieties of course it.... wait, you don't mean..."

the black haired human smiled " it didn't nest in here, they trapped it and used it as a power source. typical human thinking "

" you are kidding right? they caught a mythical beast then used it as a battery? "

" does it surprise you?" it's not time to be so calm, why is he so calm?

" listen, you probably didn't hear me earlier, but that blue thing over there destroyed whole planets. it's literally a weapon of interstellar destruction, are you telling me someone found a way to capture it then just left it here?"

" well, they probably extracted energy from it for years. it's something humans would do"

humans are simple, but scary!! seven said before that whoever used to live in this place they all left one day in a hurry.

all the sh.i.p.s were gone, but the pods with the remains, him and the rest of the 'Original. Human. Samples'. they left many valuable things behind. something came up and they were forced to evacuate.

my line of thought was cut by the ragging roar of the great beast

"ROOAAAAAAAAARRR!!!!!!!!"

I felt my innards shaking. Seven didn't look that well too, he is starting to lose his calmness as stress became visible on his eyes.

" listen, Seven, I have a plan"

" okay"

" we will run in opposite directions at the count of three. first, use your gun to attract it's attention so I can get close, when I deliver a clean hit you run for the exit "

"...that's... will you be fine?"

" I would probability need to throw my spear so I don't get electrified, do you still have that photon sword with you?"

seven reaches to his back pocket and takes out the sword. he never used it ever since the automata colossus so it should still have enough energy left.

the Verta is being cautious, moving slowly to the left

I raise three fingers beginning the count down

three

two

on- Seven jumped out

the Verta reacted quickly jumping right at him.

Seven rained bullets at it, but it didn't seem to have an effect. maybe energy based weapons aren't that useful against it

I activate the photon sword and threw it at the beast who was in midair.

it was a direct hit. blood flooded out of the wound as it collapsed on the ground

blood? I always thought it was a creature of pure energy.

Verta locked it's eyes on me

" now!" I shouted

Seven ran toward the exit, it didn't mind him and roared at me

I dashed in the opposite direction as the roars got closer and closer. the wall was upfront, it's a dead end.

I throw my spear

" now this is how you run up a wall!" I yelled as I did what Seven previously failed to do then used the spear I pierced into it to gain additional height

the beast that charged at me mindlessly slammed into the wall as I jumped over it then rushed after Seven.

it seems like it got a heavy hit in the head, but that wasn't enough to knock it out. it turned around preparing to launch another electro sphere, but unlike the previous one this was a single attack clearly aimed at me

'I'm not going to make it ' the moment I thought that the sphere was launched and the light enveloped me, I close my eyes preparing for the shock and ended up stumbling on my feet, but the only pain I felt was the pain from falling.

I open my eyes, a shadow is cast over me.

Seven jumped in and blocked the attack, holding the electro sphere with both hands as it pushed him back

"Se-" the sphere exploded sending us flying through the cave, Seven hit the wall then fell to the ground not moving an inch. I was able to fix my landing and avoided the damage, but the moment I raised my head I found Verta staring down at me

I felt blood leaving my limbs, I couldn't move at all with those death painted eyes locked at me

the beast moved it's hand and with one swing sent me flying again. I don't know if it was intentional but I didn't hit any of the Glassume boulders. the beast looked at Seven, then slowly walked toward me again.

he is alive right? the gauntlets should have deflected the damage but

this wasn't the time to think or that, the odds of surviving this are practically zero

Verta finally revealed it's claws ready to tear me apart

but before it could swing, a heavy blow was delivered to it's head

the Verta got pushed away hitting one of the boulders, the collision caused a small explosion but didn't look to have that much of an effect on the Verta

" oooookkaaaaaaaay....NOW YOU PISSED ME OFF YOU GODDAMNED CAT!!!!!"

the one who punished the beast in the head was Seven, but not Seven.

he was angry, infuriated. it was the same as when he fought the automata colossus, pure anger in his eyes as he shouted untranslatable words

" you &#5$;#-#;#+_;(#,+℅¢¢℅\℅+$;;"3--"$;;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

but the most notable part must be his hair. it looked spikier than before, and not black anymore, it's color changed to white as blue lightning surged from it

Verta faced us again roaring, and as if getting tired of it Seven shouted

" SHUT THE FUK UP! I'M GONNA KILL YOUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"