Will of the Locked Dragon[]
He is one of the “Star-vaders“, the forerunners of the invader “Link Joker“. He is the very man who kidnapped "Blaster Blade". He is a Cyberoid who was created by someone to become a loyal servant of "Garnet Star Dragon", and he was installed with the experimental new version of "Dummy Emotion System". In addition to following and fighting together with its master, he could show considerations for the dragon's feeling. His style of action resembled humans so much that it was described as "a counterfeit that was perfectly fabricated". Is his heart merely fake, or...
The world-class cataclysm caused by the intervention of the past
"Garnet Star Dragon", the commander of the detached force of the Star-vaders, was assigned the task to drag "Blaster Blade", the warrior who heralded the end of "Invasion Great War", into their dimension. Fortune smiled on the invaders, as the hero had been traveling away from the capital of United Sanctuary with only a few comrades. The detached force of the Star-vaders managed to travel to the past and ambushed the Seekers. As a result, the young "Blaster Blade" was kidnapped, and his existence was erased from the history of Cray. Consequently, the history of the planet was altered, and many phenomena that were impossible in the original world occurred.
Who are the Star-vaders?
The forerunners of "Link Joker", which is the incarnation of "Void" and the invaders threatening Cray. Their main mission is to investigate the indigenous creatures and collect the data of powerful beings, and dominate their bodies if possible. However, it is said that they would annihilate weaker beings in the process, finding their data not valuable enough to be collected. They possess multiple technologies that do not exist on Cray, and can manipulate the mysterious power "Lock" freely.
Movie Booster 1: Neon Messiah[]
The ego of "Photon", stimulated during his battle with "Blaster Blade", was awakened. His first autonomous action was to take over the position of his ex-master, "Garnet Star Dragon". The colossal dragon was ambushed during the spacetime travel, and its body was torn apart by the gaps of dimensions. Thanks to his achievement of capturing the Singularity of the History, as well as the line-of-duty death of the commander due to "an unfortunate accident", Photon was promoted at a drastic pace. A sneer flickered his lips naturally---the first emotion he learnt was “pleasure”.
Monthly Bushiroad Short Novel (July 2014 Issue)[]
A World where Light was Lost[]
"The generation of the gate begins. Countdown before completion. "
"Coordinates specified. The calculation of the expected arrival point completed."
"Excitation of Void confirmed. Reactor, 98% of refilling. Will break limit soon."
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Generation of the gate completed."
"Good. Let's go."
"StronG-HolD. Navigation begins."
"Star-vaders", the forerunners of "Link Joker", had lost the "Invasion Great War", a war that scarred on the history of the planet Cray. The invaders managed to return to their main force at the heavy cost of losing half of their soldiers and many distinguished commanders.
"Is Photon here?"
Nevertheless, not every Star-vader returned to the main force. "Garnet Star Dragon", staying at the very centre of the spacetime navigation fortress armament "StronG-HolD", is the leader of a detached force which didn't return to the base.
Under a certain order from the main force, they concealed themselves in Cray and waited until the moment of executing an operation.
"Are you calling me, Master Garnet?"
"Recall the content of the operation. Recite it."
"Your wish is my command."
Then, with sufficient data and accumulation of Void, they put their scheme into practise. The objective was the time warp to the past.
And more importantly---
"Remove ‘Blaster Blade’ from the natural laws of Cray, and obliterate his existence."
"What are these guys...where do they come from!?"
"Be careful! They are tough!"
"Waaaaaa!"
In the midst of the journey, the "Seekers" was invited by "Zenon" to peek at a shard of the future. They rushed to the next destination with intensified morale, but they were ambushed by the troop of "Link Joker" led by "Photon", the direct subordinate of "Garnet Star Dragon". Shocked by the emergence of enemies from the ravaged sky, the young knights couldn't unleash their strength and are about to be defeated.
"Killing them would cause tedious workload of memory manipulation. Just knock them out. Use Lock if it's necessary."
“Affirmative.”
Their scheme was too simple for a large-scale operation. Approach the Seekers to which Blaster Blade belonged in the past, kidnap only the swordsman into StronG-HolD and restrain him in "Dimension Prison" which isolates the target from the world. Photon wasn't told why he couldn't kill the target directly, but he didn't think about why...
"Accumulation of Void confirmed. Allowance of Lock has been notified for all soldiers."
Unlike Яeverse, Lock makes use of small amount of Void to weaken and disable enemies for a short period of time. No traces of usage would be left after the effect of Lock wears out, making Lock the perfect tool for missions like this one.
"Stop! Don't touch my buddy!"
"Wingal! Don't rush in recklessly!"
Neglecting the inhibition from “Vortigern”, "Wingal" charged towards the enemies. As expected, Photon pointed his finger to the rushing high dog in front of him.
"Lock."
"No, you can't!"
"Claude!?"
"Claude", an old friend of Wingal, blocked the attack with his own body. Tears dropped from the high dog's eyes when he saw his friend fall down.
"How dare yooou!"
"Cool down, Wingal. You will make the sacrifice of Claude meaningless."
The warrior who stopped Wingal is exactly the warrior who would carve his name onto the history as a hero named "Blaster Blade".
"I affirm the target. Now, I shall restrain him."
Several quarters after the encounter began, nearly 70% of Seekers were knocked out. Nonetheless, the objective of the Star-vaders has not yet been accomplished.
"Your swordsmanship is comparable to the brave generals of my nation. But..."
It is foolish to challenge the swordsman known as the confidant of the King with swords. Even though Photon is an impressive swordsman himself, he could only take advantage at the very beginning of the duel against Blaster Blade. Several rounds later, he could do nothing except protect himself. Moreover,
(Then, I should Lock...)
"It's useless against me."
"Ugh..."
When Photon would emit Void, black lightning sparkled around his Void-emitting organ. Blaster Blade saw through it and dodged Lock with the slightest movement of his body. Photon couldn't believe that his opponent could perform such an evasion in the blink of an eye.
"It seems that you rely too much on that power."
(What is this man...he could adapt to the battle with us so quickly...)
Photon stepped back and looked through the battlefield, noticing that half of his troops were lost. Although less than one fifth of Seekers were standing, they are all commander-class warriors. Other soldiers were busy dealing with their respective enemies and couldn't support Photon.
"Now is the time! Strike bac--"
"Wait! Something is coming!"
(Master Garnet...!)
At the moment the Seekers moved to counterstrike, the sky was torn again. From the crack that was ravaged at the beginning of the encounter, a huge hand shook the borderline between the sky and the alternate dimension.
"What is...that...!?"
From the borderline appeared a gargantuan dragon. No, it is too ominous to be called a dragon. It is a bizzare colossus. Witnessing so many exceptional events in a row, even the experienced warriors couldn't hide their dismay. But the colossus didn't turn to the shocked warriors. With its four eyes, it stared at the only warrior who could stand still, Blaster Blade.
"Why waste so much time on these defective creatures (trash)?"
"Please accept my apologies."
"Complete the task."
"Your wish is my command."
The debut of "Garnet Star Dragon" demolished the morale of Seekers, and the battle favoured the Star-vaders again. A warrior could fight as a warrior on the battlefield only because he or she possesses strong willpower known as the fighting spirit. Without that, the mightiest troop would be nothing but mob.
"Stand aside, defective creatures (trash)!"
At the pinch that the troop would be destroyed completely, even Blaster Blade would be affected. Whenever a Seeker screamed, slight perplexities accumulated in the mind of Blaster Blade. Even though Blaster Blade could maintain a poker face, Photon could sense that his opponent's skills with swords were crippled.
(His performance was relatively impaired?)
Photon could do more than defending now. His attack could even reach Blaster Blade, even though the damage was trivial.
(Continue like this, I can eventually win.)
Photon didn't question about his obsession of defeating Blaster Blade with his sword. He thought such obsession was merely programmed emotion.
(I can take him down with the next blow.)
At last, the duel came to an end.
"Gwa...a..argh!"
In a form that both the participants didn't welcome.
"How long will you play with him?"
The attack of Garnet Star Dragon locked Blaster Blade. It could be judged by naked eyes that all Seekers fell down.
"Retrieve him quickly."
"Your wish is my command."
The ardor and passion from the duel vanished without a trace. Standing there was a mere chesspiece who could only obey the order of his master with prudence and loyalty. Holding the unconscious Blaster Blade eroded by the black rings, Photon disappeared into the crack of the dimensions.
"Hmm. This is the so-called result of mimicking the emotion of the defected creatures (trash). As expected, the research of that guy was flawful."
Staring at the point the Photon disappeared, the colossus whispered disagreebly. It ordered the remaining soldiers to settle matters right.
(Upon imprisoned in the Dimensional Prison, the existence of that swordsman would be refused by the world. There is no need to do the falsification work.)
"Just erase the memories of fighting us from those defective creatures (trash). "
"Understood."
The colossus darted a glance at the soldiers who answered inorganically, then disappeared from Cray.
"Wingal, Wingal! Wake up!"
"Nnngh... File?"
"You are so easygoing... It's only you who has fainted for so long."
"Fainted?"
"It seems that we were ambushed by bandits, and the captains have defeated them."
"Why do you say it seems?"
"That's 'cos I don't know much. I was told after the ambush."
The memory of the Seekers had been altered. Their mind was implanted with fake memories that they have been ambushed by incognito bandits and the leaders have repelled the enemies.
"Humph. That's okay, as long as everyone is fine."
"Hey, you two. Prepare to go."
Within their re-written memories,
"Yes, Captain Vortigern. We are prepared to go."
"Hum, everyone! Let's go!"
Their "leader" didn't exist.
Long time later, after the Invasion Great War.
"Again, I am curious about this..."
Liberated from the war, Marron browsed through records in the library at midnight.
"What happens, Marron?"
"Aaa, Captain Percival. Read this."
In the hands of Marron is a book written few years ago. On the page Marron was reading recorded the stories of a certain troop.
"This troop, called Seekers. The members were sent to find a certain object of national secret, but the story of the journey was not recorded."
Seekers was the search party who was dispatched under the order of the King of Knights, Alfred. However, they couldn't find anything and returned to the capital. The troop was dismissed upon its return, and it was said that only the members of the troop could recall its existence.
"Despite being an important troop that his Majesty ordered its establishment, the records of its members couldn't be found. It's rare in these years."
"...I see. Don't push yourself too much."
"Yes. I will rest after doing some more investigation."
None could identify slight changes of facial expression in dim light. Marron couldn't notice that Percival's face was stained with sorrow for a second upon hearing the phrase "Seekers".
A world where light was lost. A world of which original form was lost. A world that hero and hope was forgotten.
The imperfect world continued its revolution, waiting for the next turn of events.