Volume 1, Chapter 7: Clash of Blades
You are reading the official Taiyou Con light novel, Reset!!! We Tried to Run an Anime Convention… and Broke the Universe!!! Starring Sunny, Ash, Sakura, Leon and the crew as they put on the con — and save the world while they’re at it. Volume 1 is The Invasion Saga! (Note: The events and characters in the Taiyou Con light novel is a fictional story. For real convention event updates, go to our Updates.)
Previously on… Taiyou Con: The Invasion Saga! Evil King Barrel has found what he was looking for in order to obtain the Solis Core and reset reality to where he will rule everything in the universe. What does Evil King Barrel have in store for our team of heroes, and will they be able to stop him?
The streets of Mesa were quiet. For the first time in days, no cactuses, no portals, no chaos. Just silence.
Sunny stood at the top of a parking garage across the street from the convention center, looking out over the city as the sun hovered above during a chilly afternoon. Solar hovered beside her, scanning the skyline through his enhanced android eyes while Leon stood nearby, arms crossed, watching a few distant citizens cautiously re-enter the area.
“One week since our last battle and now, nothing,” Sunny said, breaking the silence. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”
Leon nodded. “It’s been so quiet that people are starting to come back to examine the wreckage of everything.”
“And what about Taiyou Con?” Solar asked, tilting toward her.
Sunny sighed, “Postponed. There’s no way we can host anything in two days. Not after all this. The city’s in recovery mode, and we can’t guarantee everyone’s safety.”
“It would be rather inconvenient if alien cactuses popped out of the floor,” speculated Solar as he directed his scans to the floor.
“Right?! It would kind of ruin the mood,” Sunny said to Solar. Then she noticed Leon pointing at something.
Leon gestured toward the intact convention center across the street, “Convention center building’s fine, though. We send out some voice actor guest announcements like Kaiji Tang and Adam MacArthur and BAM! We have an anime convention, people!”
“We can’t assume we’re safe just because it’s quiet,” Sunny said. “Evil King Barrel is trying to find the Solis Core, and if he finds it and uses it… who knows what will happen.”
“So what’s the plan?” Leon asked Sunny.
“We patrol. Follow any cactus sightings. If even one shows up, we tail it back to the source. With any luck, we find this king before he finds the crystal.”
“It’s risky,” Solar said, “but better than sitting and waiting.”
Suddenly, Luna bolted into their garage floor from the elevator, barking frantically.
“I am getting a bad feeling!” she yelled as she skidded to a halt and looked at the sky. “I can sense it!”
The trio looked at each other and then at the sky and saw something moving. Moments later, they were joined by Kenji, Honoka, Sakura, and Ash. The entire group stared at what looked like a dot in the sky.
A green sphere hovered high above the city—growing larger by the second.
“Is that… a green moon?” Honoka asked.
Kenji squinted. “That’s no moon. That’s a space station.”
“It’s too big to be a station,” Sakura laughed. She knew her Star Wars references, but it was obvious Kenji did not.
Ash’s voice was calm, but cautious. “It’s a space fortress. And a mean looking one at that!”
The sphere descended, revealing black metallic spires protruding outward like cactus thorns.
“Oh wow,” Solar interjected, “it resembles a giant barrel cactus. It doesn’t show up on my scans either!”
“That’s the most on-brand villain aesthetic I’ve ever seen,” Sunny muttered. “Couldn’t they have picked a more creative design?”
Then the fortress opened fire.
Beams of green plasma shot downward, obliterating small and large buildings. The giant sphere fortress also fired a few volleys in different directions into the distance. Explosions rocked the ground from Phoenix to Apache Junction.
“It is destroying everything,” Sakura shouted. “Why now?!”
“They probably think the Solis Core is buried under the city,” Kenji said. “If it is, they have to clear a path to dig it out.”
“It makes sense,” Solar added, “because the crystal would logically be hidden underground.”
Sunny narrowed her eyes. “This is our shot. If Evil King Barrel is on board that thing, we won’t have to search for him. We take the fight to him.”
The team agreed.
“C’mon!” Honoka was already at the elevator pushing the down button. “I say luck brought him straight to us.”
Sunny and her friends ran toward the epicenter of destruction—where transportation portals were abundant and barrel cactuses were streaming out of them underneath the hovering fortress.
As they arrived, cactuses rushed to block their approach.
“Fighters incoming!” Kenji screamed. The team clashed with waves of cactus soldiers.
Solar scanned a portal and informed the team, “These portals are two-way portals. It seems like you can travel back and forth to the fortress. We could use it to get on board!”
“Then let’s go,” Sunny said as she fought off a cactus warrior. “Kenji, Solar—you’re with me.”
“We will buy you some time before following you,” Sakura motioned to Sunny before she went back to shooting her energy arrows.
Sunny nodded back. Now was the time to stop this invasion once and for all.
As they moved toward the portal, a beam of sparkling light shot down and engulfed Sunny.
“Sunny!” Honoka yelled.
In a flash, she vanished. The team couldn’t believe what just happened.
Sunny reappeared in a grand throne room with green walls and even brighter neon green light circuitry running throughout on its surface. The room was huge. At the far end, Evil King Barrel sat upon his throne tapping on his computer screen that appeared over the armrest.
“Welcome,” he said, clapping slowly. “The defender of this world.”
Sunny pointed her blade at the king. “I heard they call you Evil King Barrel.”
“A wonderful name, don’t you think? And what do the people here on this planet call you?”
“Sunny.”
“Throughout the universe, I’ve come across many defenders of their worlds. I’ve conquered them all. You’ll be no different.”
“Are there other humans in the universe?” Sunny knew she had to stop this mad king, but her curiosity got the best of her.
“Yes, just none of them are near your planet.” Evil King Barrel leaned forward. “Unlike my past conquests… I am here on this planet to reshape reality itself.”
“One of your warriors told me about this… Solis Core. Well, I don’t know of any Solis Core. No one has even heard of this.”
“You have the ability to wield a powerful sword, yet you know nothing of your sword’s mission. Well, so typical of the Ancients.”
“The Ancients?”
Evil King Barrel smirked and pushed a button on his control panel. A large screen displayed her friends battling on the ground.
The king seemed amused. “They fight valiantly. But my army is vast. Their resistance is meaningless. Only one person can end this. You. By defeating me. Which… you won’t.”
He raised his hand and hurled a fireball. Sunny rolled to the side, narrowly dodging it.
“Why does a galactic emperor need a new reality?” she shouted. The attack made her angry. Sunny thought for a moment… If I could strike him down and get to his control panel, that would stop everything.
“Because I deserve one,” he growled. “The Solis Core is my destiny. And with it, I will restore my queen… and command all galaxies and the universe itself.”
Sunny needed a way to get him away from the throne. She thought he was not very well defended, and this was her chance.
“Isn’t that right, my queen?” he asked the replica statue on the pedestal nearby.
In a split second, Evil King Barrel kept launching more fireballs at Sunny. She weaved between them effortlessly as she got closer to the throne.
“Is this all you’ve got?” she taunted.
Barrel snarled and tapped a button on his screen. Ash, Solar and the rest of the team were beamed into the throne room behind Sunny.
At the same time, more cactus warriors entered from various doors on the sides of the room.
“Now, we are complete! Everyone is here,” yelled Evil King Barrel. “Let the final battle begin!”
The crowded area before the king exploded into a big battle. Sakura fired volley energy arrows striking unsuspecting barrel cactuses coming through the doors. Kenji traded blows with a bigger cactus warrior while Ash defended Solar and Luna. Honoka fought off flanking warriors on her own. Sunny sliced through waves of enemies, making her way toward his majesty.
This is working perfectly, Sunny thought. I guess Honoka’s luck is paying off after all. The entire team is here in the fortress, and we can stop this invasion once and for all.
As she sliced through barrel cactus warriors getting closer and closer, Evil King Barrel did not flinch. He smiled and watched her intensely as she made her way through the defenders.
Perfect! Now is my chance! She leapt at him, and she swung her sword at his body—but he blocked the attack with his own blade. He drew the sword so fast that she almost didn’t see it. The two weapons clashed and started glowing.
Sunny stepped back unsure what was happening as her sword had never done this before. What just happened?
A beam of light connecting the two blades appeared and shot through the throne room window into the sky leaving a glowing trail.
Evil King Barrel was just astonished at what had happened before smiling happily.
“What just happened?!” Sunny gasped.
The cactus king just laughed. “The moment I’ve waited for. The path to the Solis Core can only be revealed when two blades of the Ancients make contact.”
“I don’t understand,” said Sunny. “No one created this blade. It’s mine! I’ve had the ability to summon it since I was a child.”
“That blade is merely transferred from one protector to another through the eons.” Evil King Barrel made a gesture with his hand, and more cactus soldiers came out from a hallway behind him.
The sound of weapons clashing was loud.
Sunny looked at the number on her gem… 17% energy left on the sword. All the fighting had drained the sword faster than she thought. She looked back at the team, and they were overwhelmed.
“I suppose the Ancients didn’t want their Solis Core protector to know they were actually protecting something. It’s a genius plan, really.”
Sunny was furious and yelled, “If all you needed was to touch my blade, then why all of the extra effort to destroy everything in the city instead of coming straight to me?”
She felt like she was in a game she didn’t understand.
“I didn’t know who was in possession of the summoning blade, so I sent my warriors everywhere to stir up some trouble. When I heard you had it, the best way to lure you out was to cause some mass destruction! You thought an opportunity to stop me fell right into your lap, didn’t you?”
The king seemed very proud of himself as he started floating toward the window following the light.
The newly arrived cactus warriors swarmed and attacked Sunny, and she hacked her way through the crowd draining her sword down to 4%.
“Either I will stop you or I will destroy the Solis Core myself,” she said.
The king floated toward the edge of the window and revealed the situation to Sunny, “You can’t stop me. You don’t even have the energy power to use the Solis Core against me.”
He then looked at Sunny and proclaimed, “and if you destroy it, you die with it in an unimaginable explosion… no matter how you look at it, you lose.”
Sunny was silent.
“I’m inevitable. How about this? When I reset reality, I will make Earth a mining colony. You and your friends will remember everything… and live as mining slaves. You can always remember your past lives and how I graciously let you live.”
As Sunny started walking closer to the window to slay the king, she was suddenly interrupted by Evil King Barrel’s booming voice…
“Even if you did have a chance of stopping me, I made sure you would need to make some great sacrifices for it. If you come after me now,” he exclaimed, “your friends will be finished.”
Sunny turned around to see Honoka buried under enemies, Sakura using weak low energy arrows, Leon scrambling to heal Kenji, and Ash fending off attacks from every direction.
Oh no! I have to help Honoka!
“Stay and help your friends? You will all be my slaves in the next reality.”
Knowing that this was all going according to plan, Evil King Barrel gave one final taunt, “Choices, choices!”
He then vanished through the window, flying along the glowing trail while Sunny stood amidst the chaos.
She looked at the window for a moment and then back at her friends in trouble.
What do I do? Sunny had to choose. Fast.
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Thanks for reading the Taiyou Con mascot light novel series — a fictional story for fans!! For real convention event updates, guest announcements and more, go to our Updates.
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