Chapter 7: An Eventful Evening (Part 1)

Max often had bad dreams, but the ones he got that night were especially disturbing.

In the first, he was standing in the DWMA courtyard. It appeared to be twilight, the sky orange and the sun drifting lazily over the horizon. He looked off into the distance and gasped at what he saw. Before him was a massive army of Kishins, each horrific and disgusting in their own ways. Four of them carried a black throne made of stone. On which sat a young girl, probably around seven years old, with solid black hair. The whites of her eyes was red instead, and contained black slits for pupils. She flicked a hand toward the sky and a violent whistling noise came from the school. Max turned around to see a huge black orb engulfed in black flames fall from the sky, and crash directly into the DWMA, consuming it and everyone inside completely.

The scene shifted to a trail that led into a forest. Max stood at the entrance, the trees towering over him. Deep inside he could barely make out the silhouettes of two people. Max stepped closer to get a better look at them until he recognized them. It was Jarid and Krystal, standing with their heads down, their backs to Max. He tried to call out to them, but there was no sound. The two began to turn around, and what Max saw almost made him want to cry. He screamed instead. On their faces were maniacal smiles, and each bore the Three Eyes of Asura.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Aqiza held the sheers with the upmost precision. So far, she had been successful in her endeavors. Only a few more inches until the blades could properly sever her target's throat. She carefully moved them closer to their mark…. closer….

"Hey! I'm awake!"

Aqiza unwillingly lobbed off one of her roses entirely, missing the weed by a mile. Part of her wanted to lash out and scream at Max for messing her up, but she kept her composure. She picked up the severed flower, placed it behind her ear, and forced a smile.

"About time you woke up," she said, trying to stay kind.

Max stretched, grabbed an apple from the kitchen and slumped down on the couch. "Mornin'. So what's in our schedule for today?"

"We're supposed to meet Jarid and Krystal at Joe's Place later for dinner with Veronicka and her partners."

"Do we have to? I'm not the biggest fan of theirs…"

Aqiza gave him "the stare". She had been practicing this look ever since the day she witnessed it being used by Doctor Stein. A smile that was kind of enough, but using the eyes to give off a menacing aura and strike a feeling of discomfort in whomever the victim may be. Immediately, a bead of sweat went down Max's head.

"Or… I-I guess we could get dinner. S-suddenly I'm really hungry."

Aqiza nodded and finished her pruning. "Oh delightful. Then go take a shower and get ready. We leave in about half an hour."
Max blinked. He looked at the clock and realized it was already late in the day. He dropped his apple and took off towards the bathroom. Aqiza smiled to herself, proud of her work. Getting Max to behave was very rare. The flowers looked nice too.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Max could make out the entrance to Joe's down the street. It was a fancy little restaurant and dance club that acted as a local hangout and study place for DWMA students. Max was surprised to see Jarid and Krystal standing outside in their work attire. Jarid, as the cook, wore a red vest over a black shirt, black pants, black shoes, and an apron. Krystal wore a typical waitress' outfit. Max couldn't help but think about how much Jarid probably liked coming to work just to see her in that.

"Why are you guys out here?" Aqiza asked.

Jarid scratched his cheek. "Sorry guys, but we have to work. Mr. Buttataki had to step out to take care of something, so we're stuck running the place."
"As usual," Krystal added. "Where do you think he goes all the time?"

Jarid shrugged. He opened the door and let Max and Aqiza inside. Krystal led them to a table where Veronicka and one of her partners, Darcy, sat. Aqiza bowed slightly to the swordswoman.

"Hey you guys!" she chirped. "Before we start our evening, Max would like to apologize for the way he acted back in Paris."

Max knew he had better do what Aqiza said. He reluctantly grumbled something under his breath.

"What was that? I don't think they heard you." Aqiza firmly grabbed Max's ear, keeping a smile on her face.

The pain inflicted upon him was almost unbearable. Those sharp red nails dug deep into Max's ear, sending an excruciating wave of OUCH up his head.

"Ow! Okay, OKAY! I'm sorry!" he yelped.

Veronicka grinned. "It's quite alright. It did not bother me anyway. I apologize for my little spat as well."

Darcy laughed. "You're so full of crap, Vee! You were going on for like an hour yesterday about how rude he acted!"

Veronicka glared at her, and the group giggled. The rest of the dinner went pretty smoothly. Krystal served the food which was delicious as always. Jarid had an undeniable talent when it came to cooking. Max kinda hoped he would start his own restaurant one day…and let Max have a good percent the profits of course.

The group spent the evening talking about their various adventures. Veronicka talked about how she had learned to move so quickly in battle. She would channel her Soul Wavelength along the bottoms of her feet, sliding her along the ground like an ice skater. She invented the technique to catch a Kishin called the Highway Killer who used his high speed car for dozens of hit-and-run murders. Aqiza took it upon herself to talk about an adventure they had went on about a year ago. Max wanted to find the Legendary Holy Sword Excalibur. Max's face cringed just hearing the name.

Veronicka's eyes widened after Aqiza told her about their last solo mission. "So there IS such thing as a male witch? I thought that was just a myth."

"Apparently it's the real deal," Max answered. "He wasn't too tough."

Darcy laughed again. "I bet he got picked on in school!"

Another hour of laughter and reminiscence passed by. They were interrupted by the jingling of keys. Max turned to see Jarid and Krystal standing at the door to the restaurant in their normal clothes. They took the hint and rose to leave the establishment. Once outside, Max began stretching his arms and legs. Veronicka looked at him oddly.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Max dropped down to do some pushups. "Just getting ready for your final entrance exam."

A voice with a Russian accent said, "What do you mean?"

Max looked up to see Veronicka's other weapon partner, Nik, standing there. He could have sworn that giant hadn't been there before.

"When did you get here?"

Nik crossed his arms and grumbled, "I've been here entire time."

"Well… anyway you all still have one last thing to do before I accept you as members to the DWMA." Max held out his hand to Aqiza, as if waiting for her.

His partner adjusted her glasses and sighed. "Not this again…"

"Yes, this again. Transform now, please."

Aqiza sighed again, but reluctantly morphed into her assault rifle form. Max pointed the bayonet at Veronicka and smiled. "If you want to be part of our team, you first have to beat me in a fight!"

The knight squinted her eyes, intensely. At first, Max thought she would just insult him and deny his challenge. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time. He excited to see what she could do, though. If she were to work with them, he needed to know what she was capable of.

Nik stood in front of his meister. "You make me laugh, little man. Lady Veronicka has never been beaten in battle. If you fight her, you will surely be defeated."

"The big lug's right," Darcy added in. "She's an amazing fighter. You'll be lucky if you can even land a hit on her."

Max snapped, "I don't care! This is happening, now. Jarid did the same thing, but he only got lucky when he won. I've gotten better since then, so my win's almost assured!

Veronicka's look hardened. "Fine then, Max. I accept your challenge."

She reached out to her partners and they both transformed. Jarid and Krystal found a nearby bench and decided to watch. Max started by firing a quick volley of shots. Veronicka lifted her shield to block them. While her guard was distracted, Max used the recoil of a downward shot to fly above her. He soared down, his golden blade falling down in an arc. His opponent switched her sword into a backhanded grip and blocked the attack.

Then she revealed another ability of her weapons. She aimed the end of her shield at a nearby building. Max heard a click and the blade launched from the shield, a metal cord following it, and it impacted in the wall of the building. Veronicka broke the lock, jumped upward, and another button clicked. The cord began to retract, pulling her along with it, very quickly. Max received a cut across the shoulder as Veronicka dashed past.

Max jumped away. Veronicka landed, flicked a wrist, and the blade of the shield retracted back onto her arm. She was good, and full of surprises. Max wasn't done just yet, though. He called upon the tugging feeling in his gut, and charged at the knight. He could actually see the energy flowing around him, his Wavelength sparking. If he could manage to hit her, he could do some serious damage.

There was no such luck. He happened to blink and she was gone, so he wound up hitting nothing but air.

"Yoo-hoo."

Max turned to see Veronicka sitting between Jarid and Krystal on the bench.

"It's kind of adorable that you actually think you can hit me with something like that," she said, smartly.

Max's grip on the rifle tightened. He dashed at the three, lunging the bayonet at them. Jarid and Krystal yelled and dived to each side. Veronicka slashed with her rapier in defense. The two meisters traded blow for blow, neither one backing down for anything. Max crossed his weapon upward, pulled the trigger and used the downward recoil to break the guard, leaving Veronicka open for a second. He took the chance, and actually managed to land a cut across her arm. She gave him a speedy kick to the abdomen, sending him sprawling across the street.

"I'm ready to end this," he said. "We're going to make this a real fight… with Soul Resonance!"

Jarid and Krystal stood up in shock.

"Since when can you use Soul Resonance?!" Jarid asked. "You guys always had trouble with it. Why didn't you tell us?"

Aqiza giggled, almost nervously, from within her rifle form. "We just needed some time to ourselves to practice is all."

"Enough talk," Max interrupted. "Let's do it!"

Together with his partner, Max yelled, "Let's go, SOUL RESONANCE!"

He felt his soul blend with Aqiza's. The two of them had worked too hard on this technique to have it fail now. He held out his right hand, holding the rifle, tightly. It began to glow with a blinding golden light. The light crept up his arm, eventually climbing up his neck until it reached his left eye. The light faded, revealing the masterpiece. The gun had fused with Max's arm, the barrel changing from an assault rifle to that of a high-caliber sniper rifle. The bayonet had grown longer, one end almost reaching the ground, the other stretching past his elbow. A blue glass screen covered his left eye.

"Pretty cool, huh?" he asked, confidently. "This is called Galatine!"

A look of intrigue actually went across Veronicka's face. "Interesting. You may consider me impressed, Max."

"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself. Unfortunately for you though, this is over!"

"Don't be so sure. You're not the only one with a unique Soul Resonance."

Veronicka removed her shield from her arm. She then placed the sword inside the straps so the blade went along the shield's. She repeated the chant Max had yelled to summon her ultimate technique. She threw the weapons into the air above her and they glowed a bright white. When they came back down, they had fused together into a huge, bright green javelin-like weapon that floated over the ground in front of the meister. Veronicka stepped onto the floating weapon and began to ride it around like a hover board.

"Behold, the weapon of your downfall. Sky Shredder."

Max smiled and nodded. "Bring it!"

He fired a dozen different shots form his gun-arm, none of them aimed at Veronicka at all. At first, the floating knight seemed confused, but then the sounds of bullets ricocheting around caught her attention. She kick-flipped her weapon around in a circle just in time to block the shots. That was the power of Galatine. The screen on Max's eye was an automatic targeting system. All he had to do was lock onto a target and fire. The system would launch the bullets in such a manner that they would ricochet in just the right way to find the target. It could also predict an opponent's attacks. So long as Max knew when his target was, he could always hit it, and avoid or block its attacks.

Veronicka leveled her ride after guarding against his attack. She dashed up and maneuvered the javelin around to slash at Max. He brought up his long bayonet to block each strike. Max saw an opening and lunged forward. Veronicka kicked her weapon up and spun it around Max's attack in a horizontal fashion. So when his attack reached her, her weapon twisted around it in such a way, it flipped Max over. He landed on his rear, and Veronicka hovered over him. Max tried to stand up, but his Soul Resonance forcedly shut down and he immediately felt his muscles get weak. Aqiza transformed back into human form and helped him up.

Veronicka's weapons returned to normal and she asked, "What happened?"

Aqiza looked sad. "To be honest… we haven't perfected Galatine yet. It still puts too much stress on Max's body to have it on for too long. That fight was the longest we've been able to hold it for."

Max punched the ground as hard as he could, which wasn't very hard with his current level of strength. "Damn it! We were so close…"

Darcy laughed. "You really had us going there for a minute. I had fun! What'd you think, big guy?"

Nik stayed quiet, but nodded.

Veronicka held out a hand. "That was a good match."

Max still felt angry, but he shook her hand. She had earned his respect.

Suddenly, their friendly moment was cut off by a man's scream in the distance. The students all ran in the direction of the scream in hopes of helping. They found the source of the yelling in a nearby alley. Deep in it sat the wounded body of a man. He was tall with graying ash-blonde hair. Dozens of swords laid all around him. A nasty, bloody cut ran across his right eye. A wound on his side soaked his shirt with blood. He was barely breathing. Jarid, Krystal, Max, and Aqiza ran over to him and Krystal started crying. Aqiza lifted her hands and began to try and heal him. Jarid took out his phone and called the DWMA for help.

"Who is that?" Veronicka asked.

It had just occurred to Max that she didn't know who this was. She had only just been accepted, so she wouldn't have had the chance to have a class of his yet.

"He's a teacher at the Academy," Max said. "His name is Mifune."