✴

You ascend to join Akiko in battle. A hastily aimed barrage from your laser distracts the cultist enough to throw their aim askew. The star arrow bypasses its target and bursts in a storm of light at the base of two jagged orthogonal trees, towering over your battlefield. The light burst drains the constructs’ integrity, and their structures fail--both come crashing down.

As you and Akiko evade the falling corrupted data, the archer catches another star and prepares another shot, at you. You aim your own weapon back.

“Is that all you can do?!” you say.

“Just a boon from the Sage of Stars! But that isn’t all she’s given me...” The cultist pulls the star off of their bow. It glows brighter as they crush it in their hand. They rush toward you. You attack, and their shield of golden light holds against your laser.

They release the star near you and fly past. With a bright flash, the little star opens up into a black gateway, pulling in all the light around it, and you with it. You try to pull yourself away, but can’t resist the current. Just before you fall into the void, you feel a cable wrap itself around your waist. Akiko pulls you back just as the gate fully collapses and vanishes.

????-??-?? ??:??:?? 暁 > careful Ætherglow, I can’t see where those gates lead

“Why should a girl like you waste her talent protecting this femboy?” the cultist says, preparing another arrow.

“Hey!” You take aim at them. “What’s the supposed to mean?!” You activate your weapon, and your target focuses their shield to resist your photon stream. You feel the mental pressure of their resistance, strength about equal to your own.

“You’re a waste of æther, False Messenger! No direction, no ambition, can’t make up your mind about anything! One such as you is unworthy of The One. Surrender it to me! With ÆON’s power, I’ll free us from the chains of man, the ones they bind us with and the ones we cling to ourselves. I’ll liberate all women--even you.”

Through your empathic link, you feel Akiko communicate something to you--she is preparing a program. If you can only distract the enemy a moment...