This might be sudden, but I will now teach you readers the combat mechanism of this fanfiction.
Yes, I just broke the fourth wall. Yes, I did it again. Yes, yes. So what? Got a problem? I only have a sentence to explain it anyway, so listen up.
All's Fair in Love and War–that includes fleeing from said war as well.
"Gyah!"
With a loud sound, a petite figure was blasted off the grounds and flew above the forest's canopy. I was busy running but when I looked up, I couldn't help but to run faster with both of my arms stretched forward.
Surprisingly, Blanc landed in my arms instead of falling off somewhere else. I stumbled a little but I righted myself back and continued running away.
"You okay!?" I asked in-between rough breaths.
"Do you think I'm okay?!" Blanc naturally snapped and winced, planting a hand on her temple. "...Agh, freaking bastard…!!"
Yes, yes. I know that you got your pretty ass kicked but mind the situation a bit...
Oh yeah. I haven't given her a reward for her deeds, huh?
"Thanks for the save there." I glanced over my shoulder, catching trees mowed down by a black-pixels-emitting reptilian monster. "Now the enemies are down to one and a half."
"You did nothing while I fought two of them!" Blanc protested. "I'll kill you too!!"
"Yeah, yeah. Say that again when we're not going to get killed–oh hell, here it comes!"
I lurched forward while pressing Blanc against my chest. The petite goddess naturally yelped but a tree flew right above where my head was once at, the thing crashing and rolling in front of us with booming sounds unleashed.
When the tree came to a stop, I had to curse out. Looks like I've got no choice but to recite an incantation.
"Come on…! Build up and rise like flame!!"
My mind strained with a mild case of seizure, but the chant was a success. I felt power welling up from the core of my being and I called out for the power I learned.
"Power Up!"
I stomped the ground and leaped over the fallen tree. The green forest filled my vision briefly, the cool winds brushed over my body and when I landed, my feet slid forward as if skating on an ice rink.
Eventually, the noise akin to sandpapers scratching each other stopped and the familiar frantic footsteps took back its position in filling the atmosphere.
Unfortunately–a giant shadow flew past us. The ground shook but the sensation made it clear that it came from straight ahead.
"Dammit!" I screeched to a halt and took a dive into a foliage-covered path. "How is an infected monster be so smart!?"
"Probably because it's a Dangerous Monster, and…!" Blanc growled. "Put me down already! Where are you touching anyway!?"
Oh, shut up! Is this the time to do some pissass comedy routine!?
Even if I wanted to get a feel, you've got nothing, Blanc! Nothing!! Also—
"Drop me or I'll crack your skull open!"
I grumbled, rolled my eyes, skidded to a sudden halt and did what I should have done when I caught Blanc.
I threw away the loli goddess with all of my might.
"Have at thee!!" I shouted as another gigantic silhouette stood as if blocking Blanc's flight path. "That's my prey but I'll let you give the Coup de Grace!!"
"Y-You son of a biiiiiittchhh!"
Shut up! You don't want my kindness so why do I need to be kind to you!?
"Grr…!" Blanc spun in midair, summoned her giant axe and swung it at the roaring and combat ready Ancient Dragon. "Get out of my siiiiiiiggght!!"
Using the mass of the axe and her battle instinct to the maximum, the most violent–or foul mouthed–one among the four goddesses became a bladed wheel of death.
The dragon could never anticipate something like this. Blanc split the winds, reached it, and then she sliced through the dragon with a spinning wheel attack.
Her axe landed on the ground first. The second after, Blanc slid over the gravel as her enormous weapon gouged a rough path after her.
Once she looked up, the Dangerous Monster collapsed, light vanishing from it's red eyes.
"Oh…" I wiped the bead of sweats sticking on my eyebrows. "That was amazing."
As expected of Blanc, she's so brutal and violent that only Iris Heart could hope to outdo her mercilessness. The dragon was cleanly sliced from the right shoulder to it's left thigh. From the looks of it, that was both a critical hit and a pinpoint attack to the vital point which was the heart.
Considering I shaved it's HP down to a quarter before this, I supposed this was an outcome anyone could see coming even from miles away.
I gave a nod–and for some reasons the world spun around me.
"Huh?"
My vision darkened for a few times. The ground surrounded my eyes, the blue sky became a sphere the forest was enshrouded with, and I felt like I heard someone shouting my name in a hysterical way.
The world soon stopped spinning and my line of sight became parallel with the grassy floor of the dungeon. It was then I noticed several things.
I couldn't feel my arms and legs. I felt searing heat burning me as if someone poured hot, burning charcoals over my back. I felt something drained away from my right side in great quantity.
"You bastaaaaaarrrdd!!"
Suddenly a white-red figure blurred past my sight and crashed on the Infected Ancient Dragon. It flew to the head, broke its jaw and sent it careening away.
The attacker that turned to be ablue-haired girl landed roughly in front of me. She wore a white-red bathing suit that looked reaaaallly close to an orthodox school swimsuit with circuitry motifs, four golden square wings that floated behind her back, and…
"...Aah," I sighed while my consciousness clouded over. "...That's a good view there, alright."
The goddess in HDD Form glared down on me while taking out a crystal bottle.
"Shut up! Either you take this seriously or die!!"
Well, I wouldn't mind dying while staring at a girl friend's nice buttock from a risque angle like this, but…
"...What do you want from me this time?" I breathed out as it became harder to do so. "Just… one favor, oka—"
I got a whack to the head, some cold liquid was sprinkled on my back and suddenly I rolled around screaming and writhing.
"Gaaaaaaahh! That frickin huuuuurrttss!!"
I rolled around until the pain of having my cells forcibly regenerated faded, and then I felt Blanc's presence looming over me.
"Enough playing around!" Blanc shouted as she began to fly past me. "Also, the deal is after this shit is over! I'll f*cking kill you if you try to void it out!!"
...I stared at her for the longest time today.
"I'll f*cking kill you if you do!!"
...Ugh... Now she's utterly pissed off. That's to make a point, and she really meant her every word that she had said. What an uncute goddess…
No wonder I still can't come to believe in her fully. I slowly got up, patted my clothes off the dirt and pebbles sticking on them, and I checked my well-being.
"...Argh, this is just great."
Man, I've got the jacket and the inner clothing shredded by a wide gash. Red stains further ruined my clothes with the exposed skin colored by light pink, but this showed how close I was to death. I wondered how the hell I didn't pass out earlier, only to groan for the second time.
"...I hate how durable my body is sometimes." I turned around and headed toward the battlefield between a goddess and a dragon. "This is why bottling up everything until it exploded is never a good idea. I should open up a little bit more…"
Oh, well. The Lady hath spoken so I shall go all-out.
My right hand swam to my left side and pulled out my gunblade again. I pulled out bullets from my jacket's right chest pocket but this time, they had onyx-colored tips with gibberish engraved on the shells.
The tips meant they were special bullets made from special materials, courtesy of Lowee's best item-maker. This thing had quite a punch like a firework.
The gibberish, meanwhile, were magical inscriptions that further gave special effects to the would-be fired bullets.
I quickly loaded the gunblade with the customized bullets, cocked the hammer, and lined the weapon in front of the space between my eyes. I took a deep breath.
"Why am I doing this, anyway…?" I sighed. "I've been living here for far too long. I don't even feel like running away."
I moved the gunblade away from my face and aimed the muzzle at the Target in front of me. I saw Blanc flitting around it, chipping the infected Ancient Dragon's ridiculous HP bar with skills and combos but as expected, the thing's tougher than it seemed to be.
Well, whatever. This is my life now.
I fight, I barely scrape by just to live, and I'm always, always indebted to the people around me. This is a fucked up situation for a fucked up person like me, but who am I to complain?
"Here we go then," I muttered the magic words that would always reassure my weak heart. "Every deed deserves its just reward."
A certain hero once said that. Fictional character she might be, it was a line that I could live by, and it's basically a cooler form of 'give-and-take'. I like how it sounds too, so that's a big plus in my book.
The muzzle stopped trembling, I sucked in air and breathed out… then I pulled the trigger.
"Obliterate it." A black magic circle expanded in front of the gunblade's muzzle. "Void Divider!"
A blast of dark energy ripped the air, carved out the grounds and struck the Viral Ancient Dragon. The monster screamed as it tried to do something but too bad, the skill I executed paralyzed it on top of knocking it back.
Once the magical blast stopped, Blanc had already flown up and rapidly descended.
"Urrraaaaaaaaahhh!!"
With an irredeemably loud, bloodthirsty and inelegant roar, the goddess swung down her battle axe like a lightning strike; just like always.
-Author's Note-
...I'm clearly out of shape in writing first-person narrative combat scene. One more task in the list, then...
