Arc III.5: “Zero”
Chapter II: “Conquest of Utopia”
Episode III: “Solid and Geal”
Solid and Geal cut through the void like thrown blades—no ship, no escort, no patience.
A thin frost-sheath clung to their bodies, crystalline meridians sealing heat and breath against vacuum. It wasn’t dramatic. It was engineered.
“Damn,” Geal complained, arms behind his head as if space was a hallway. “We would’ve been there already if we just took a ship.”
“You would steal from Lord Acier?” Solid didn’t turn his head. “Don’t kid yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”
[Acier’s Fleet]
A messenger sprinted into the command chamber and dropped to one knee so hard it sounded painful.
“L-lord Acier! It appears Solid and Geal have already departed for Planet Utopia.”
Acier’s gaze fell on them—cruel in its stillness. The messenger’s throat tightened. Their hands shook against the floor.
Acier leaned back in his throne and closed his eyes.
“This is expected,” he said, almost bored. “As long as Solid is there, they cannot fail.”
He opened one eye, thin and sharp.
“How long until the fleet is ready?”
“T-three hours, Lord Acier!”
“Tch.” Acier clicked his tongue, annoyed—not at the delay, but at what it implied. There won’t be anything left to conquer.
His voice stayed quiet anyway.
“Solid will keep Geal in check,” he murmured. “He has to. If Geal destroys the planet… this all becomes a waste.”
[In Space – Near Planet Utopia]
Chrollo lay on a blanket that Raida and Kukito had brought him, hands behind his head like a man sunbathing in the dark.
He cracked one eye open.
“Some bugs…” he whispered. “…are coming.”
Raida and Kukito continued training inside the barrier, too focused to notice the shift in the air. Chrollo yawned like it didn’t matter.
Then a Utopian ship descended and settled onto the rock with a soft tremor.
“Ah! So, this is where you two have been!” Carrie yelled as she hopped out, smug as ever.
Mizuka followed more slowly, glancing around like the emptiness could swallow her again.
“C-Carrie?” Raida blinked. “How did you even find us? And how did you get a Sage ship?”
Kukito’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me you—”
“Calm down.” Carrie waved both hands. “I asked Ryoda. He lent it. Your good little brother was happy to help.”
Raida’s face flushed. “Ryoda…”
They started explaining the patrol arrangement, Chrollo’s training, the new aether types—quick, clipped, like they were admitting a crime.
Chrollo rolled to his feet, floating up until his toes barely touched the rock.
“They’re here,” he said.
“Huh? Who—” Carrie started.
“Mizuka.” Kukito placed a hand on her back—gentle, firm. “Get on the ship.”
Mizuka obeyed immediately.
A moment later, two streaks crossed the starfield.
Solid and Geal passed the rock at full speed—then Geal’s head turned.
He noticed the barrier.
He noticed the people.
“Mmm.” Geal’s grin widened, hungry. “That looks interesting.”
He snapped his trajectory hard and swung back toward the rocks.
“Oi, Solid! You go start the conquest. I’m gonna clean this up real quick.”
Solid’s eyes flicked to the side. “Geal—”
Geal was already gone.
Solid exhaled through his nose—controlled irritation—and angled back toward Utopia.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Then a voice cut across space.
“Who are you? What do you want with this planet?”
A smaller patrol craft drifted into view, steady and fearless. Ryoda stood at its edge, cloak shifting in the weak artificial gravity field.
The stations detected them… Ryoda’s eyes narrowed. Their aether signatures are enormous. No wonder we felt them from so far away.
His gaze flicked toward the rocks where Geal diverted. One turned back. Utopic Sages suppress their outputs, but… they shouldn’t be running. There must be something over there.
Ryoda’s jaw tightened.
“You’re a Zerethian,” he said. Not a question. A conclusion.
Solid’s expression didn’t change.
“Oh? You can tell,” he replied. “You have a good eye.”
His eyes sharpened, cold and clean.
“Too bad that light won’t last.”
“Their light, eh?” Ryoda repeated, tasting the phrase. “So, you came to extinguish us.”
[The space rocks]
Geal hovered above the barrier like a vulture over glass.
He’d already shifted before the fight—Predator Form held tight through vacuum travel.
His frame was lean, limbs subtly elongated, posture lower—built for pursuit, not presence.
Crystalline meridians rethreaded beneath his skin like a clear lattice pulled taut, and the frost-sheath around him didn’t flare—it sealed, efficient, quiet, engineered.
Even his Yield felt… smaller. Not weaker—compressed, like a blade kept in its sheath.
“Hey, look at this!” he laughed. “It’s like a party.”
He pulled a small device from his pocket—sleek, alien, built to read Yield the way predators read blood—and held it over them like a magnifying glass.
The lens flickered.
Low yields—boring.
Then it tried to read Chrollo.
The display stuttered.
Collapsed.
Returned: 0.
Geal’s mouth twitched—then he burst out laughing.
“HAHA—ZERO?!” He wheezed, wiping at his eye as it watered. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in centuries!”
Chrollo didn’t react.
“Raida. Kukito.” Chrollo’s voice stayed lazy. “Go deal with him. This will be a good test.”
Kukito’s expression tightened. “In a vacuum?”
Chrollo sighed. “Mortals are needy in this era.”
He lifted his hand. Grey-blue pressure wrapped his fingers—calm, heavy, wrong.
The barrier expanded in a single breath, swallowing the rocks and Geal in one clean dome. Air flooded in as the Universe obeyed him.
Geal stopped laughing.
He took a slow breath—testing the air—and stared at Chrollo.
“How did you do that?” Geal pointed at him. “Tell me. Now. Before I kill you.”
Chrollo’s eyes didn’t change. Kill me? With your strength?
The thought almost made him smile.
Raida and Kukito launched upward through the barrier.
Geal’s grin returned—predatory now.
They struck together—Kukito from the front, Raida from the flank.
Geal moved once.
He blocked both—one forearm, one shin—like he’d done it a thousand times.
They’re faster than I expected, Geal thought. Were they hiding their output?
“Let’s go!” Raida barked. “He’s a threat to Utopia—no holding back!”
“Right!” Kukito answered.
Geal released a surge of cold. Frosty aether flared and shoved them back, boots scraping against nothing.
Kukito steadied himself and let gold flood his meridians.
“Utopic Boost—Level Two!”
His Yield snapped higher. His aura hardened.
Geal’s eyes narrowed. “So, you can push.”
He rolled his shoulder once.
Crystalline meridians shifted.
His combat architecture activated.
“Dominion,” he said, almost casually—and his presence gained weight.
Once the light dissipated, his sleek, yet powerful body gleamed as it released steam.
Chrollo batted an eye. Oh, he’s a Zerethian. I thought they were extinct… it seems not.
Kukito lunged again, faster, heavier.
Geal blurred.
He slammed Kukito with heavy blows—clean, efficient, brutal—each one delivered like a calculated correction. Blood scattered inside the barrier.
Geal’s gaze sharpened. That other guy wasn’t a threat. If he was planning to increase his Yield, then he would have done it already. So, I will focus my strength on crushing this one first!
“Kukito!” Raida shouted.
“Damn…” Carrie tensed below. Maybe I should step in—
She glanced at Mizuka, who was watching from the window of the ship.
“Stay there!” Raida snapped without looking at her. “We haven’t lost yet!”
Raida’s hands began releasing formless Environmental aether—no chant, no shape, just control.
“It’s rough… but—” His eyes sharpened. “Solar Manifestation: Nebulus!”
Dust-like particles gathered around his fingers—ambient traces condensed into obedient grit.
“And—Protos!”
The dust snapped into a streaming swarm of aether orbs—countless, fast, and intentionally small.
Geal turned, instincts screaming. Those don’t look dangerous—so why does my body want to run?
“Congeal.”
Geal threw up his hands. A wall of solid frost formed instantly—water molecules in the air hard-locked into ice.
Chrollo’s eyes flicked. He’s freezing the water in the air I gave them. His elemental control is clean.
The orb storm collided with the ice wall and detonated—rapid-fire explosions cracking the barrier’s light.
“Damn!” Raida hissed. “But that’s not it!”
Some orbs curved wide—misses by design—circling behind Geal.
“Don’t take your eyes off me!” Kukito roared, forcing himself upright through pain. “I’m not dead yet!”
He formed a small black sphere—Negative aether compressed until it looked like light couldn’t escape.
He pushed it forward.
The sphere expanded and ate the incoming orbs, swelling into a dense mass.
Carrie stared. “What the hell is that…”
“Dark Orb!” Kukito shouted, hurling the swollen Negative aether mass at Geal’s back.
Geal was still braced against the orb storm.
He couldn’t turn in time.
The impact detonated.
A shockwave tore through the barrier—rupturing it. Air screamed toward the gap. The dome shuddered, and the vacuum began to claw its way inside.
Chrollo yawned again.
“Oh, that’s not good. It’d be a waste if you died right after I trained you.”
He waved his hand. Grey-blue pressure stitched the barrier closed like a seam.
Raida panted. “Alright! I think you got him!”
Smoke cleared.
Geal stood inside a shell of ice—cracked, barely holding, but holding.
He stepped out of it slowly, eyes bright with hate.
“Think again.”
Kukito wavered in the air, blood running down his chin. “Not even that worked…”
“Now,” Geal said, voice dropping. “It’s my turn.”
He blurred—appearing in front of Raida.
Raida barely raised his arms before Geal’s cold overtook him.
“Pierce through.”
Geal’s arm hardened into an icy spear.
He drove it straight through Raida’s chest.
Raida’s eyes widened.
Then his body went limp.
“R-RAIDA!” Carrie screamed.
She caught him before he hit the rock, hands shaking under the sudden weight of what she couldn’t undo.
“You bastard…” she whispered, looking up at Geal.
Kukito forced his arms up again. It’s up to me now.
“Dark Orb—!”
Geal tilted his head and let it pass.
“Hmph. That trick doesn’t scare me.”
He formed a spear of ice and snapped his wrist.
“Harden.”
The spear launched—too fast.
Kukito tried to move. His body didn’t answer.
Then someone flashed in front of him and deflected it.
Kukito’s eyes widened. “Carrie—?!”
A creamy white aura flooded Carrie’s body. Her eyes turned pearl-white.
She stared at her hands like she couldn’t believe they belonged to her.
So, I finally reached it… Her thoughts steadied. The state our ancestors used.
She clenched a fist.
“I’m going to use this power,” she said, voice shaking with rage, “to destroy you.”
Geal stepped back—just one step.
That was enough to show fear.
How did she…? Touching that spear should’ve frozen her to death—
Carrie moved.
She blitzed Geal—clean, brutal strikes, no wasted motion. He ate three hits before he could even raise his guard.
She can do it, Kukito thought, stunned.
Mizuka exited the ship and knelt beside Raida, hands glowing faintly as she began tending the wound—barriers and sealing work, terrified but focused.
“Tremoring Strike!” Carrie shouted, driving a blow into Geal’s center mass.
Geal rocketed back and crash-landed hard, carving a crater into another rock.
He stood, shaking frost from his shoulders.
His icy aura surged higher—violent now.
“Full output!” he shouted. “I won’t lose here! Not to you—!”
[Ryoda vs Solid]
Solid’s eyes flicked toward the rocks.
Geal is being pushed.
His jaw tightened. As I thought… it would’ve been wiser to wait for Lord Acier.
Ryoda didn’t let him breathe.
“Focus over here!” Ryoda snapped. “Grand Javelin!”
A spear of golden aether screamed across the gap.
“Oh.” Solid lifted his hand, polite. “My apologies.”
His body didn’t power up—it reconfigured.
Crystalline meridians tightened into thin, luminous filaments beneath his skin as excess mass collapsed inward, leaving a leaner geometry—longer reach, lower center, quieter intent.
The air around him didn’t swell with pressure. It sharpened.
“Predator Form.”
Solid caught the spear barehanded. Micro-crystalline ridges surfaced along his fingers—adhesive, precise—locking the weapon in place as if the aether itself had been pinned.
Frost crawled over it.
The aether froze, cracked, and crumbled into glittering dust between his fingers.
Ryoda’s eyes widened. He caught that like it was nothing…
Ryoda’s stance lowered.
I can’t hold back.
[Next Time on Lyte of Utopia]: “The Pride of the Cosmic Guard”
[Yield Levels]:
Solid: 500 – 2z
- Reserved Core Form: 500,000
- Predator Form: 50 – 2z
Geal: 2z
- Predator Form: 100,000
- Dominion (Suppressed): 500,000
- Dominion: 2 – 2z
- Congeal: x100 (Formless Ice)
- Harden: x10
Ryoda: 50,000
- Grand Javelin: x1z
Raida: 20,000
- Protos: x1z
Kukito: 15,000
- Utopic Boost (Level 2): 150,000
- Dark Orb: x1z
Carrie: 20,000
- Spirit Resonance: 20,000 (Physical: 2 – 2z)
Mizuka: 2,000
Chrollo: ???
- Suppressed + Divine Pressure: 11z