[WARNING:] This chapter contains some possibly graphic content due to the brutal nature of this fictional war. Gruesome details have been left to a minimum, but the human imagination is a powerful thing. Those who are squeamish and/or prone to nausea may want to proceed with caution (I swear it's not that bad, really).
An alarm from somewhere deep within the city wailed, screaming for its non-existent residents to flee. Its strident cries were lost amongst the noise of battle, fading to a thin, high whine.
The ground exploded, sending dirt and rock flying into the air. Several chunks crashed into mechas that darted about the ground, sending their riders sprawling. Elesis scoffed, flicking her wrist and slicing a stone flying her way neatly with her whip. "Newbies. You can never trust them." Clicking her tongue, she scanned the battlefield, respectfully bowing her head whenever she saw her fallen comrades.
She sighed and flicked her wrist again, her whip cracking against the ground thunderously. "It's about time I stepped in."
Her mecha suddenly put on a burst of speed, manoeuvring in between debris swiftly. It roared, mechanical gears whirling within it. Elesis sighed, checking the pressure gauge in front of her, giving it a delicate flick. "Fuel levels 90%. Alright then, let's do this. Double flame output! Let it burn!" The mecha roared again, the slowly dripping flames suddenly roaring to life in all directions, filling the air with more smoke. Elesis reached behind her hood, quickly pulling out a black gas mask and securing it around her face.
Charging into the battlefield, Elesis stood and hooked her foot in a metallic strap, turning swiftly to wrap her whip around an unsuspecting victim's neck.
The man let out a strangled choke, hands flying up to his neck to try to loosen the noose. Elesis grinned savagely behind the mask, sharply tugging her whip, letting it uncoil from around his neck. With a shriek, the man fell to the ground in a lump of flesh, coughing and covering his nose as smoke filled his lungs. Elesis shook her head, a hand on her hip as her whip lay slack by her feet.
"Goodbye, pitiful human."
Her mecha seemed to follow her train of thought, raising a fiery foot and bringing it down on the fallen man. Elesis wrinkled her nose as the smell of burning flesh reached her, scoffing at his incessant screaming. "Golly, you'd think that they'd man up and stop screaming. Just another way that the White Gang is superior, I suppose."
Grinning wildly once more, Elesis turned her gaze on the remaining gang members in a very predatory manner. "Who's next?"
A few feet away, Elsword scoffed at his sister's antics, ducking smoothly under the axed blade of his opponent, both his and her mecha long abandoned in favour of battling it out on a stretch of flat rooftop. Aisha scoffed, her petite form coiling with power as she prepared her next attack. "Going to dodge this one too, pretty boy?"
Elsword snarled, viciously slashing at Aisha's unprotected stomach, forcing her to dodge. "Hell no." Flipping his blade so the edge faced upwards, he drew back as if preparing to stab. "Cornwell! Attack Pattern 3! Sword Blasting!"
Eyes widening, Aisha retreated a few steps and bodily threw herself to the side, rolling to reduce the damage. Elsword's sword stabbed through the air with enough force for it to be audible, its end marked by several explosions that rocked the rooftops. As Aisha got to her feet, she spun, axe extended, blade aimed for Elsword's ankle tendons in an attack nasty enough to cripple him for life.
Elsword stabbed his sword into the shingles, knowing that the building was sturdy enough to handle the extra damage. The two blades collided with a loud clang, the force jarring Aisha's arms. Gritting her teeth, Aisha changed the angle of approach, her weapon sliding up the blade with a horrible grating noise and slashing dangerously close to Elsword's face. Stepping back to avoid the attack, Elsword thrust forwards while reaching back to the second sword strapped across his back. Aisha chortled, backing up warily as she carefully examined her surroundings.
"Oh? Am I pressuring you, little boy?"
Elsword gave her a feral grin, unsheathing his second sword. In all honesty, his second sword was the simplest Aisha had ever seen; a simple, single-edged, curved blade with a basic handle guard - nothing too complex, everything was very basic and practical.
Yet every time that damn sword was drawn, it sent shivers down her spine.
There was something about its simplicity that frightened her; there were no surprises in the form of bombs and poison-coated edges like Elsword's Cornwell. It was just a sword, just a tempered piece of steel with a sharp edge. Nothing about it should have been even remotely terrifying, not when she had to deliver torture and pain and chemical weapons on a daily basis.
It was the single most horrifying thing she had seen.
It practically radiated a dark, malicious vibe, promising pain and an ugly death to anyone that crossed its path. The blade sang with glee when it bit into the soft, pliant flesh of a human, denting bone and gouging it with relative ease. She had never seen a blade dig into bone before Elsword's, and the image would likely be burned into her mind for all eternity.
"Nope, I figured just that it's about time I ended this."
Rot in the pits of hell, scum, it seemed to whisper, glinting evilly in Elsword's right hand. Steeling her nerves, Aisha lifted her fingers to her lips, whistling sharply and clearly as she allowed a smirk to cross her face. "Aren't you clichéd? I guess it's only respectable for me to follow suit, then."
Elsword scowled as Angkor's mechanical head came into sight, perching himself precariously on Aisha's head. "And here I was, thinking you were going to fight me without your worthless tricks."
Aisha tilted her head, an arrogant half-smile scrawled on her lips as she drawled lazily, almost mockingly. "And here I was, thinking that you were going to fight me without your worthless tricks. The whole 'slash and explode' routine is getting old, little boy."
Elsword growled, pulling back into an offensive stance, legs spread and blades raised. "At least Cornwell is a blade, unlike your shitty little bat that can't do anything but spew chemicals in the air."
Aisha, maintaining her calm face despite her trembling heart - the plain silver blade affected her more than she liked to think - snorted, shifting her stance in preparation for the soon-to-be-delivered attack. "Angkor is good for much, much more than that. For example..." She waved a hand imperiously, motioning towards Elsword. "Plasma Cutter!"
A beam of white-hot fire streamed forth, shooting towards Elsword at immense speeds. Curling his upper lip, Elsword ducked, leaping to the side as Angkor changed its firing path. Soon it was like a game of tag, Elsword avoiding the fiery streaks while getting in as close as possible to Aisha in order to hit her.
Seeing his approach, Aisha lashed out, grunting as her weapon connected with his. Elsword parried, ducking under the shaft of Aisha's axe to cut in, aiming at Aisha's stomach and leg. Quickly weighing her options, Aisha let go of her axe and dropped low to the ground, a leg flashing out to hook around Elsword's ankle. Taking his foot out from underneath him, Aisha snatched her weapon and raised it above her head, ready to bring it down on his skull. Before Elsword could move away or Aisha could swing, light flashed down from the sky as an explosion rocked the building they stood on, tearing through the rooftop like it was paper and sending the duo plummeting to the ground.
Raven snarled as he viciously snapped some poor sucker's neck, cold eyes darting around the battlefield before he urged his mecha on, colliding head-on with another mecha. His gnarled Glitter-mecha groaned under the weight of the larger Phoru mecha but held fast, gradually forcing the other mecha's metallic skin to fold and buckle. The force crushed delicate steam turbines, steam hissing loudly as it escaped into the atmosphere, the Phoru's flickering gold eyes fading as its head hung limp. The rider atop the mecha gave Raven a horrified glance, quickly jumping off of his ride in an attempt to flee. Raven didn't let him.
The Glitter mecha let out a puff of steam, whirling around dangerously fast and snatching up the ill-fated rider in one metallic claw, bringing him towards Raven. Raven's lips curled into a sneer, eyeing the rider's struggles with disgust. "And you call yourself a fighter. Pathetic."
In one smooth motion, he drew back his sword and plunged it deep into the rider's neck, grinning in satisfaction as the blade tore through his flesh and gleamed on the other side. Removing the blade, Raven flicked his wrist to remove some of the blood that glittered across its steely surface, watching impassively as the rider's body went slack, blood pouring from the gaping hole in his neck.
Droplets of blood fell to the ground below, glittering in the dim sunlight like morbid rubies, splattering on the ground silently. To any onlookers, should they have dared to stay behind, it would serve as a reminder of those who have fallen.
To those in battle, it was a reminder of what was at stake.
Days until the end of the world: 9
Hi. I'm back with another chapter of Giga Theorem!
So I wasn't sure if people would get mad at me if I didn't put a violence warning in the beginning of the chapter, so I put one anyway. Yeah, people like to complain to me about that (on some of the other sites I used to frequent, at least).
I honestly don't know where I'm going with this.
It's like herding cats; I start with one idea, drop it into the idea pen, then start chasing the other and totally forget about the first. So if you notice any inconsistencies, please point them out and I'll try to fix them.
Moving on, REVIEWER REPLIES!
dawnstar91 - Aww, thank you! You can expect Ara to make her grand entrance next chapter, but I have no clue about Add. As for AddxAra... I'll see what I can do!
Eternal Heart Rhythm - You will NOT believe the trouble I had writing your name XD I kept writing 'Heart Eternal - no, Eternal Heat Ryth - no...' Moving on, thank you very uch! I'm glad you like it!
Koto Masaki - Oh! Well, I'm glad that you AND your friends like this story! I hope you continue to support me!
And because I have nothing else to say, I'm signing off! Don't forget to R&R, favorite and follow if you want, and see you all next chapter!