Content Warning 

Violence

“Lydiaaaaaaaa!” Ajax shouted from the terrace, forgetting he was still engaged in battle.

The Mutton tackled him hard, slamming him to the ground as Ewe let out a deafening baa, striking the place with lightning. The building collapsed, and Ajax found himself trapped underneath the rubble. Through the dust, rain, and hazy eyes, he spotted Amalthea struggling to stand. 

Her braced leg bent unnaturally. 

“Stand down, Polyphem!” She cried through pain and desperation. As the visor of her helmet cracked, her bloodshot eye became visible. “I am your opponent! Not them! Leave the kids be!”

“Everyone who hurts my sheep is my enemy,” growled Polyphem, blocking Marius' punch with his club. He shoved the chubby dwarf aside and lifted his massive hand. A twenty-sided cube, the size of a fist, manifested in his palm.

It pulsed, sending out electric waves that deactivated Marius' suit.

“My suit… what…” Marius looked up, paralysed, at the Cyclops looming over him. 

“Your suits are mere costumes.” Polyphem smiled cruelly, his massive eye crinkled. Your leader didn't bother to give you the actual devices. She fueled you with false hopes of strength. But don't worry, you won't need it anymore.”

“DON'T—”

*SPLURGE* *CRACK*

The sickening crunch of bones and the wet thud of flesh haunted Ajax's mind. He just witnessed the brutal onslaught of his friends by Polyphem’s hands. His club cleaved through Marius' shoulder like a knife through a sponge cake. 

Leaving the dwarf lifeless on the ground—just like Lydia lay face down in the mud. 

“No. No, no, no, NO!” Amalthea's shouts broke through the air. Red energy surged through her body as she took one laborious step after another. “I’ll end you, Cyclops! You will pay for this pain!”

“There's just one more left,” Polyphem rumbled, dragging his club through the mud as he closed in on Ajax. “And all our pain will be over.”

Trapped underneath the rubble, Ajax couldn't move—he was afraid to move. His friends were dead, the city was lost, and Amalthea teetered on the verge of defeat.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.” 

Polyphem raised his club. The blood of Lydia and Marius still clung to it. 

“No…”

“I said STOP!” Amalthea’s booming voice froze Polyphem in his track. His body tensed up when a rumble went through the earth. Mega Ewe baaed terrified. In her hand, Amalthea held a white rod with a glowing red gem encrusting its base. “You will not take another life, you hear me?!”

Twisting the rod, her artefact activated, releasing a shrill sound of grinding and hissing. Dark, white, and red tendrils coiled around the elongating rod, hardening into a formidable cone-shaped weapon. In her grip, Atlas wielded a lance no ordinary man could ever hope to lift. 

“Lance of Atlas: World Axis.” 

The lance spun like a drill, coating the air and Atlas in beams of light. She crouched low, and with a single leap, she drove her lance through his abdomen.

“NGHHHAAAAAA!” Polyphem staggered, unable to block her strike as it tore into his side, but that wasn’t all.

The shockwave went through Polyphem and pierced Mega Ewe, toppling her and crushing several muttons beneath her woolly mass. Polyphem collapsed to his knees, clutching his side. 

Atlas levelled her lance under his chin. “Give up, Cyclops. It's over.”

“Ngh…” Polyphem’s shoulder sank. His single eye welled at the loss of his sheep. 

“Why are you sparing it!?” shouted Ajax, full of bitter rage. “He killed Lydia and Marius, my friends! How can you let him live?!” 

Atlas lowered her lance. Her helm deactivated to reveal her face as she looked at Ajax. “Taking a life comes with a price. As much as it pains me, I’m a Guardian. I can’t just—” 

“You’re a coward,” a voice cut in before Ajax could say it himself. 

Something in Polyphem’s voice shifted. The seams of his suit and the vessels of his eye glowed a vivid blue. With quivering hands, his chest swelled, pressing outwards as Polyphem released an ear-shattering cry. “UWWWWWOAAAAAAH!!!” 

Atlas barely intercepted Polyphem's club with her lance, but force caused the joints in her shoulder to pop painfully. Her grip loosened.

“It's nice to see you back in action.” Polyphem's mouth opened, and a choker around his neck beeped to life. “How are your wounds, Atlas?”

“Antares.” Atlas tightened her grip. “So this is your doing?”

“Mine? Oh no, oh no,” Antares’s voice chuckled through the device. “It was always yours. Time to rid the world of Titan Force.” 

“UWWWOAAAAAAHH!” Polyphem's body boomed again, releasing another piercing war cry. “SHEEPIEEEEEE!”

Lifting his left fist, an electric surge with streams of cube-like data formed. Atlas brandished her lance in a wild arc, pulled back her arms and weapon, but then, stopped.

Raising his left fist, a surge of electricity rippled outward, forming streams of cube-like data. Atlas brandished her lance in a desperate arc, pulling back her arms for another strike, but froze.

“Argh—” Atlas gritted her teeth. Her hands held on to her lance, but her arms couldn't lift it any further. Her body was breaking under the strain. 

*CRACK*

Polyphem struck her right side, sending Atlas flying. Her right arm snapped under the force, and her suit sputtered with failing energy. “I can barely hold up the form.” She held on to her lance with her left arm. “One more hit. If I can get one more hit on him—”

“URRRRROOOOAAAAHH!” Polyphem roared, leaping high and bringing his club down on Atlas.

“It’s too late. I need to change strategy!” Atlas put all the pressure on her good leg and braced herself. “World Shield!”

She raised her lance. A blazing red light shot from its tip to project a dome just in time to absorb the impact. The shield flickered, barely holding under the crushing force of Polyphem’s blow.

“Do you think of yourself the strongest?” Polyphem growled, his voice now laced with Antares’ mocking tone. “Do you think you can protect others like you protected your team? Tell us Atlas—how does it feel to lose everyone and anyone you hold dear?”

Atlas surveyed the battlefield. 

The situation was grim, but everyone was still fighting. Mega Ewe was defeated. The adventures and guards did their best to prevent the Monster Muttons from rampaging back out into the city as the citizens evacuated. Ajax was pulling himself out of the rubble to push back any sheep with his magic so he could get to Polyphem. 

Meanwhile, his friends—Atlas’ recruits—lay fallen.

“There’s still hope.” Atlas activated her helmet once more. She called upon the stars, drawing down the cosmic energy to awaken her latent healing abilities. 

“It's not always the strongest who wins,” she said solemnly.

Her broken arm settled back into place, but her leg gave way, and she dropped to one knee. Her lance faded, replaced by her Chrono Device. Atlas raised her hand and poured what cosmic energy she drew into the dome, which pulsed and pushed Polyphem back. 

“Those who can endure pain and hardship the longest—without giving up—are the ones who prevail.”

Her suit surged with heat, radiating a powerful aura that caught the attention of everyone, including Ajax. Atlas stood alone with her hands held high, bearing the weight of the world on her shoulders like a titan.

“I may be defeated, but I am unbroken,” she declared, strong and confident. The dome released another layer out and went through Polyphem and the muttons before materialising all around the perimeter, encasing the enemies inside a red dome of hexagonal plates while the rest found themselves outside. “I'll keep you contained until everyone makes it out. You won't take more lives under my watch, Antares.”

‧. .ᯓ★. .‧

The battle has not yet concluded. It hung suspended in time. Behind Atlas' unyielding barrier, Polyphem and his sheep found themselves trapped, unable to break through. Seizing the moment, Captain Schnauzer coordinated a citywide evacuation. 

“You did enough, child,” reassured Schnauzer, placing a firm hand on Ajax's shoulder and guiding him to the stream of evacuees. “Listen up, everybody!” he shouted through the heavy rain.

As the mass of evacuees hurried out of the city, Ajax looked back, his wet, black hair sticking to his face to hide his dark eyes. The guards and adventurers had lost many of their friends and comrades but stood tall on Schnauzer’s instruction to save the city. However, an empty, bloodied sleeve dangled where his arm should have been. 

“Head to the mountains, everyone!” The protective orc shouted, holding the tower shield high in his remaining hand. “The Last Guardian is standing proud and strong. As long as Atlas endures, the enemy won't win!”

In the distance, Ajax could see the clear image of Amalthea projecting in the sky. A red hologram holding up a massive globe on her shoulders. A city full of people she was protecting by holding back the enemy all alone so they could escape.

A knot tightened in his chest, a swirl of emotions he couldn’t untangle. “What's a Star Guardian, after all?”

The whisper of the question echoed like the rumble of a storm. People died—his friends were gone. Yet Amalthea refused to kill the enemy, opting to contain it instead. “What should I do? Where should I go?”

“Forward, boy,” came a voice beside him. 

“Wha- who are you?”

“Bob,” said Bob. “Follow me.”

Ajax hesitated, but something in the old man’s solemn presence spurred him on and away, leaving behind the lines of evacuees. The night deepened, and the rain worsened, soaking them both to the bone.

Sneezing, Ajax shivered in his drenched clothes, but the weight of Amalthea’s burden pressed on his mind. Compared to Amalthea, and his deceased friends, Ajax knew he paid the smaller price.

“Idealism clouds your vision, child,” Bob said, his voice steady and unbothered by the weather. “You cling to the wrong idea of heroes. They're not here to save you, but to take the worst of the brunt.”

Ajax frowned. “What's that supposed to—” He stumbled over a root, his question was cut short when a branch additionally whipped at his face. 

Bob didn't bother to look back and check on Ajax. The heavy rain seemed to avoid Bob as if he had an invisible umbrella over his head. They soon arrived at a small, hidden cottage, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding forest and obscured by shrubs and foliage. With a simple gesture, Bob lifted two fingers, effortlessly moving away a large rock that concealed the entrance.

“Do you truly wish to become a Star Guardian?” Bob asked, walking with purpose.

“I’ve proven myself more than enough!” Ajax protested, stepping into the strangely warm, but dusty, interior of the cottage. “I went through Amalthea’s trials. I did everything that was expected of me to be chosen as a Guardian. Yet my friends—” 

“—are dead,” Bob said bluntly. He retrieved a glowing blue ball of heat, its bright light banished the darkness. Bob’s appearance shifted the same way Amalthea’s did. His dark face and white hair shone with an ethereal glow. “The trials to become a Star Guardian never end, Ajax. Amalthea’s didn’t either. She still walks the perilous path of the ancient Titans, but she can’t do it alone.” 

The orb radiated warmth, revealing a rusty metal frame in the middle of the room. It was far too alien than Ajax had ever seen. “No, it’s just like the spacecraft.” 

As the old headlights flickered, an engine hummed beneath it, retrofitted with the magic and technology of this world. Ajax remembered one of the many tales his mother told him about his father’s adventures.

A vehicle that defied the unbreakable laws of physics by hovering above the ground. A vehicle with speed faster than the fastest animal in the world. A vehicle coveted by many.

A Light Speeder.

“Just like Atlas never wavers, you also can't waver from your path.” Bob’s gaze settled on Ajax, sharp and knowing of destiny. He offered him the radiating star. “Will you shirk from this challenge? Or will you prove your mantle and embrace your heritage, Child of the Stars?”