20 Gaze

Hearing the deep voice, Yuuto stood up straight but he felt a force surrounding his body preventing him from moving.

Yuuto's surroundings shifted and he was transported from the depths of the forgery to a vast space where there was only one being keeping him company.

A large human man with dark skin and long white hair stared at Yuuto with his impassive golden eyes. The large scar on his chest oozed out a yellow liquid that dripped down towards the golden flames that flickered near the lower half of his body.

[A mortal bearing properties of [Remembrance] and [Destruction] in one body…]

The being in front of Yuuto didn't open his mouth but the words he heard resonated inside his head and it felt like his body was being shaken by just his voice.

'Nanook…'

Cold sweat began to appear all over Yuuto's body as his eyes locked onto Nanooks and felt the decrypting gaze he was sending him.

[Two opposing properties… congregating into a single being… how particular…but…]

Nanook stopped his words as an ominous golden trail left his arms and slowly made its way towards Yuuto.

[A vicious sun's sole purpose is… to embrace the splendid destruction… that awaits them near the end of its reality…]

"Shit!!"

Yuuto tried to move his body but the space around him stood still as the golden trail landed near the left side of his chest.

The Stelleron inside his body pulsed like a beating heart and Yuuto felt his body heat up to the point he felt his body burn up from the inside.

'This fuc–'

Nanook stimulated the Stelleron and caused its nature to overcome the opposing element and ignore its previous nature of co-siding with it.

Yuuto clenched his teeth as he tried to summon his mist to cool his body and an outburst of energy spread outwards. Slowly leaving his body.

The iridescent mist steamed up and the fight between the forceful energy that was placed inside Yuuto and the cold mist began to overwhelm each other.

'I need to stop this golden trail from entering me or else I might turn into literal ash.'

Yuuto felt sweat drip down his cheek and his entire consciousness spread towards the Stelleron inside him and focused on the glass like composition that contained it.

'Cut..Cut..Cut..Cut if off…'

His iris turned a diamond white color and the [Core Memory] that gave Yuuto the Stelleron shined as its exterior grew denser and denser the more he focused on the memory. 

As Yuuto was working on preventing his potential demise. The [Memory of the World] inside Yuuto's head stood eerily quiet. 

But a book that had its dark blue background and intricate white borders began to move slightly and a bright white prismatic color exploded, dying the library in its white color.

The light spread out of Yuuto's head who had his eyes closed and enveloped his body in a light chill that cooled his body down gradually.

As Yuuto was struggling less and less, Nanook's natural impassive eyes shined in an unknown light when he noticed the energy that was protecting Yuuto.

[...An element… on the opposite scale from… [*Myt****]?]

Yuuto's rough breathing gradually turned calm as he opened his eyes and glared at the being in front of him.

'I know he's the Aeon of Destruction and all but this bastard almost killing me makes me fucking pissed.'

Nanook's impassive gaze noticed that hateful glare Yuuto was giving him but didn't think too much of it as he knew he was unable to do anything to him.

Instead he focused on the energy Yuuto was subconsciously giving off as it was an element that he was both unfamiliar and familiar with.

[...Matter is bound to meet its end… while intangible material… also meets this end in its own way…]

[...A source that conflicts with this phenomenon… is similar to the [Remembrance]... but also different from it at the same time…]

"I don't understand the gibberish that you're saying right now but you better wipe that fucking left side of your face to prepare for my fist to dig right into it."

[...A..particular being.. Indeed…]

Once another stare off took place as Yuuto's glare matched with Nanook's expressionless eyes.

This continued for a while before Yuuto's figure vanished and Nanook was once again left all alone in the vast space where he stood.

***

During the moment that Yuuto was experiencing the [Core Memory] and the eventual confrontation with Nanook, Stelle was nearby looking at the corpse.

"I didn't notice this earlier but this thing sure is hard."

She tapped the exterior with her knuckles and heard the dull thump it gave out.

"If we sell this.. We should get lots of money right..?"

Stelle's golden eyes shone as she imagined the amount of wealth she would gain if they were to sell this to somewhere.

"I'll give Yuuto some of my share since he said that there's a place that sells amazing food so I should pay him to bring me to that place."

It had been quite a hectic day for her as she had woken up with hardly any memories of her origin and her reason for being at this space station.

All she knew was that she was a person that was supposed to meet the end of her story but she didn't think too much of it as it felt natural that she had to follow through with these words imprinted in her head.

However she was lucky enough to have woken up with someone who was welcoming to guide her and was even met with some of the person's friends that were open just as he was.

"But the only thing with him is that he doesn't have the artistic beauty as I do.. What a shame.."

She remembered his avoidance when she brought him to look at what she dubbed the 'beauty of the universe' but all she received back was her cheeks getting pulled by him.

"He should really hold back on that… where is he anyways?"

Stelle rubbed her soft cheeks and turned her eyes towards her surroundings to look at where Yuuto had ended up at.

So far she had seen Dan Heng looking at the Doomsday Beast's wings while March was right behind him taking pictures of the body and it's various parts.

Himeko was near the back sitting on her suitcase and a glass screen was in front of her where she was furiously typing some sort of document.

Looking for a while longer she finally found him near the back of the beast standing still with his eyes closed.

'What is he doing?'

Stelle was confused to see him standing still, even more so with his eyes closed and wondered if he was going through some sort of meditation.

But that was even more odd as he stood right in front of a beast to do this.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

She slowly approached him and whispered quietly as she didn't want to disturb him but all that she received back was silence. 

She walked in front of him and looked at face for a while before she brought her finger towards his cheek and poked it repeatedly.

"This is payback."

This began to go on for a while as Stelle found it pretty entertaining and could understand why Yuuto kept doing it to her.

–THUM THUM

However a pulsation began to beat deeply within her and felt her body tense up. Her breathing suddenly stopped as she felt her chest become heavy.

This heavy feeling was overwhelming that she hadn't noticed a small golden trail that appeared near Yuuto's left side of his chest and floated to a similar spot to hers.

She clenched her chest as she began to blank out and watch herself float towards a series of images.

[You must reach the end of your story…]

[Reach the end of your story in your own way…]

An unknown voice echoed and images containing a woman with wine red hair appeared within them. 

The image showed her smiling gently at her and behind her had a girl with gray hair and a slightly bored face.

This continued for a while before the images shifted to a scene where unknown people began to appear one by one.

One had purple hair that was different from Yuuto's and another had gray hair and had oddly familiar features to the girl that stood behind Kafka.

A large robot stood upright while a blonde woman carrying a long ice spear floated in the air and looked down with an arrogant look.

These Images began to flash by quickly and the dull heavy feeling in her chest began to grow to the point that she had no way to voice her pain.

Flickers of gold and blue began to appear on her body but before it could explode, a soft voice rang near her ear.

"Breath slowly."

A cool feeling began to envelope her body and her arms hung on the person in front of her while she took her time to calm her breathing.

"Just like that. Focus on the energy that's escaping and try to bring it back to its source."

Stelle felt a hand rub onto her head and her previous chaotic mind began to slowly calm down and she used this moment to control that energy that attempted to rampage within her.

'I didn't expect that the trail would escape my body and even try to make Stelle's Stelleron go off like in the story.'

Yuuto's hand continued to brush through her soft gray hair as he used energy from the [Memory of the World] to sever the connection of the Nanook's trail from going towards Stelle.

'But that was a close one. Nanook suddenly appearing was something I would have not expected…'

Yuuto's eyes narrowed when he remembered the interaction and thought about just how immense the power of an Aeon was.

He felt powerless but this made him even more determined to get stronger so that he wouldn't be in the same situation as he did last time.

Determined to do just what he said towards Nanook.

Yuuto raised his left hand and a fragment flew out of his palm.

[Antimatter Engine]

This was the [Core Memory] that Doomsday Beast had and it contained the mechanics of how the engine worked.

The efficient flow of energy to its way of using said energy to create a net energy gain, it was surely a type of product that is able to make his way of expending power much more efficient.

'Although I don't understand what most of this memory does… it will surely provide me with some massive gains once I master it…'

The thought of using just a small portion of stamina or energy and in return receiving more than what he put in made him very excited.

But as he looked at the fragment in his hand, his eyes subconsciously wandered towards the Doomsday Beast that was right in front of him.

[But too bad no one will be able to hear your cries…]

"...."

Yuuto looked at Stelle who calmed down considerably that her body didn't emit that destructive blue and golden energy.

Yuuto raised his hand and touched the carcass of the lifeless Doomsday Beast.

"Don't worry… I heard your cries…"

Whether it was his imagination or not, Yuuto was able to feel the body tremble slightly and give a small cry as if it was delighted to hear his words.

A faint smile grew on his face before he gathered all the remaining fragments the Doomsday Beast contained, not leaving a single one left behind.

"Yuuto..?"

"Are you feeling better now?"

With his hand still on her head, Stelle gradually opened her eyes and looked at Yuuto who was smiling slightly but one thing kept her locked in place.

The mysterious green eyes he always had was now replaced with a deep diamond white that made her oddly captivated by it's sight.

No words came out of her mouth and the only thought was to stare into his eyes.

"Stelle?"

"Um your eyes are…"

"What about them?"

Yuuto rubbed his eyes for a bit and Stelle saw how when he opened them back again, it returned to his usual green ones.

"Do.. you have cataracts or something..?"

"I guess you're still not fine since you're still saying some strange things."

"Excuse me but my brain is working perfectly fine."

"If you say so."

Yuuto laughed a bit to himself seeing Stelle glare at him and turned around to walk towards the others.

"Let's go back to the others. I'm getting hungry and I'm craving something cold."

"Same, I want something like ice cream."

"Eat a proper meal first before you eat that."

"How about no."

Stelle sped up to catch up to Yuuto who began to walk towards the others who waited for the two.