Apologies in advance if I once again trudge up any bad memories or break any fans hearts. This was honestly one of the hardest chapters for me to write.
"We'll date l-later, after I capture you!"
As Clear sent another row of gears towards him, he used this moment to try and think about the whole situation.
He knew that the Ultra's were pretty out of times, but Clear seemed to be quite the special case. He was so quick to promise a date between them despite that they barely knew each other, and the sweet words of desire that Clear interpreted were, to him, just simple kind words to say to someone. But it made him wonder: did Clear have genuine interest in him, or was he just confused as to how he was supposed to handle this situation? And how exactly did he feel about Clear? He had been so much fun to be around in the short time they spent together and had made him feel much more confident about exploring the world of the Ultra's. But did he want to date Clear just as much as the Ultra seemed to want to?
He was so caught up in his many thoughts, he didn't take notice of the gear charging towards him until they were mere inches from his soul. As a last second defense mechanism, he used the knife he had picked up as a makeshift shield, stopping the gear in place. It was still rotating at a menacing pace, sparks flying of the blade as it trying to break its way through the thin metal to his soul. Summoning forth his strength, he managed to push the gear away, sending it towards Clear and it hit him dead square on his right eye.
He let out a pained scream, the sound of metal being struck echoed throughout the field. Both his hands gripped against his right eye and he noticed that steam was coming from it and some strange particles were falling from his face.
"Clear!"
The Ultra removed his hands from his face, showing that the skin around his right eye was torn, revealing the metal body underneath and his large eye that was slightly cracked. The sight of it was downright mortifying.
Clear panted as he spoke, "Heh… you… you're really strong… to have sent it back…" He straightened himself up, "But I can't give up!"
Clear continued to relentlessly attack him, barely giving him a moment to breathe or think of his next move other than to just keep defending. More instances came up where he had to block a gear head on sent it hurtling back to Clear, the force of them were slowly breaking certain parts of his body, the evidence of that visible through his torn clothing. At one point, Clear summoned forth a gear in his hand, sending it spinning at a blazing pace. The Ultra charged at him, the gear in hand coming straight for him. He brought the knife back up to protect his soul, blocking the gear. Sparks cascaded off into a waterfall, making it almost compromisable to a saw blade, so much that he had to use his free arm to steady the blade and ensure his grip wouldn't falter. Clear pushed harder against the gear, trying to break through the makeshift barrier.
But this backfired in the worst way possible.
Clear's hand went too close to the violently spinning blade-like gear and, in a mere second, the skin of on his entire left arm was ripped off, shredded to pieces like flimsy paper. The Ultra let out a loud pained scream, gripping his now skinless arm, the metal build clear as day and was on full display even past the sleeve of his coat. Before he could even decide whether he wanted to say sorry or check on Clear first, a stray gear came hurtling towards him. He quickly swatted it away and sent it straight to Clear.
Right into his chest.
The edge of the gear embedded itself deep into his body. Panicked, Clear frantically grabbed at the gear and started to pull the gear out, paying no mind to the scraping sound of metal and the sparks flying from his body as he desperately tried to removed the gear from his body. With one harsh tug, he pulled the gear from his body, a massive amount of dark liquid expelled from his body. With shaky breaths, he dropped the gear and fell to his knees, the field evaporated the moment his body hit the ground.
"CLEAR!"
He ran up to the collapsed Ultra and kneeled down in front of him. He saw that the dark liquid that was now oozing from his body was oil, the front of his shirt was ripped, revealing the metallic chest that was caved in by the gear. Clear tried to sit up, but a monumental spark came out from him, making him drop back down. He layed on his side, his exposed eye looking up at him, "I… I guess… I shouldn't have p-pulled the gear out so q-q-quickly… right…?"
He shook his head, "It's not your fault, Clear. It's mine. I didn't mean for you to get this hurt."
"… I know…"
"You need to get up, Clear. You need to get fixed. Tell me where Ren is and I'll take you there."
"I-It's okay. You can keep going… Ren will find me and… fix me…"
"Clear, I can't just leave you here by yourself!"
"But… you need to go somewhere, right?" His metallic hand reached out and grabbed his hand, the metal cold to the touch, whether because of the material or the snow it was buried in he didn't know, "I don't… really know h-how to be a good friend… b-but… if you have somewhere you need to go… t-then I… I shouldn't stop you…"
"Clear…" To think he still wanted to be his friend even now.
The Ultra took raspy breaths, sparks coming off him as he spoke, "Hah… I-It hurts… But I know… Ren… You'll… You'll fix… fix… m… me…"
With one last spark, he watched as the pink in Clear's eyes dulled to a hollow grey and his body stilled to a halt. Trying his best to hold his tears back, he turned his hand to grab the metallic hand. His free hand reached up to the Ultra's face, lightly brushing against his hair and feeling the cold metal skin beneath.
"I'm sorry, Clear… I'm sorry, Ren…"
Thankfully I won't have to do a chapter like this for some time, so now we can get back to the usual tone.
