Chapter 10

A week passed since the ceremony took place.

Aoi was working at a pile of documents on her desk when Elsword's image appeared in front of her.

"I thought our next meeting was next month"

"I have a favor to ask you, Aoi"

She put down the sheets she was reading.

"What do you need?"

"Some of your spy eyes"

"... is one of the feudal lords acting in a suspicious manner?"

"Not only that, but... yes"

"Ok. I'll send you some within the end of the week"

"Thank you"

His image disappeared. The amber-eyed woman went back to her work, whistling.

Chung was waiting, sitting on a chair in a dark room. Red light came in through the window, dyeing his blue and white armor in crimson. The right side of his body was covered by a mantle. When the winged woman walked in, he stood up.

"How long do you plan to stay here doing nothing?" she asked him, clearly annoyed.

"All the time needed. I can't just break into his castle from the main entrance. Not with his army there. I wouldn't stand a chance"

"We have an agreement. Don't forget it"

At this, he laughed, bothering the woman.

"Come on" he said, pointing at the mark on his forehead "you're the one who put this on me, you know that I can't break the contract"

"Is it really that amusing?"

"No, it isn't"

"Then why are you laughing?"

"You're not as smart as you think you are. That's why"

The woman refrained from hitting Chung. Also because, if she did so, she would be the one getting hurt.

"I've kept an eye on him. If things go smoothly, I'll act within the next week"

"If you say so"

The winged woman left, unable to stand Chung's presence anymore. The chaser looked ad the window. There was a small, almost trasparent eye floating at the base of the window, looking inside. Chung grinned.

"One more week, Elsword. You'd better be prepared" he said while pointing one of his guns at the small eye.

Elsword was sitting on his throne, listening to his soldiers's reports when several small eyes entered the room and floated towards him.

"Seliet, listen to the rest of the reports and tell me if there is anything I must know. Now I have to check some recordings" he said to his lieutenant while getting up.

"As you command"

The Knight walked to his room, followed by the floating eyes. When he entered, he sat on a chair and took one of them in his hand. He placed it in front of his right eye. From the floating eyeball, several needles pierced the Knight's one. Blood poured from it as the spy eye sent him all the images it had recorded. Once it had finished, the needles disappeared and he put the eyeball on a table.

Now I get why Aoi's eyes are made of amber.

He took another one and placed it in front of his other eye, to let the first one heal, and repeated the process with all the spy eyes. When he had finished, his eyes ached.

He decided to take all the eyes to the next meeting with the feudal lords. What was recorded inside there was enough to prove that that woman was plotting something against him with some lords from the near kingdoms. A whole conversation between her and a foreign messenger had been registered.

"I guess being the Knight of the Eyes is very comfortable, having these things always at hand..."

In that moment, Eve walked in. She was dirty of oil and soot, as well as her two repaired drones. Her hair was a bit singed and her dress quite messed up, but apart from all that, she was fine.

"... what happened?"

"A small part of the core exploded while I was working at it. Nothing serious"

"How is your work going?"

"Bad. I tried using the energy of the Heart to restart it, but the main system crashed. At this point, I might be able to build an high-quality nasod or two using what's left of the king and the core's programs, but nothing more"

She noticed the eyes floating on the table and the traces of blood on Elsword's face, and questioned him about it.

"I'll explain it at the next meeting. You can come with me, if you want"

"I'll think about it"

She walked over to a door which led to a small room while taking her clothes off.

"I'll take a shower"

"May I come in with you?"

"I thought you had work to do"

"That can wait"

In that moment, Seliet knocked at the door.

"My lord, I've finished listening to the reports. There is something you must hear"

What a bad timing...

He got up and walked to the door.

"What is it?"

"The soldiers patrolling the border noticed some movements of the near kingdom's army"

"Them again... I'll go check that myself. Prepare an incubus"

"As you command"

He reentered his room, took the floating eyes and put them inside the drawer of a cabinet. He then spoke to Eve, who was still in the other room.

"I'll be out for a while"

"Ok"

After a while, Eve came out of the shower, wearing a towel. Her drones, turned into two hairdryer, were drying her. She opened a wardrobe. Inside it were the clothes she used before being brought there. They had been repaired, but...

"... why are they white?"

After two days, Elsword had not yet came back. Instead, most of the soldiers had left the castle. There was probably something big going on on the border.

Eve was walking between the remnants of the Nasod King, pondering how to avoid another explosion during the next experiment, when Moby automatically turned into a shield and blocked a bullet aimed at Eve's head. She turned, surprised by what just happened. Chung was there, leaning against a wall, a gun in his left hand.

"... Chung?"

"I know that the castle is almost empty now, and that nobody would ever try to sneak inside, but I still think the security here is really poor"

"Why are you here?"

"Do I really need to answer?"

He pointed his gun and casually fired another shot, which was once again blocked by Eve's drones.

"... so you're not joking"

"I've never really liked jokes"

"I guess you're right. But... what do you think you can do, with only one arm left?"

"With one? Nothing, I would say"

He took his cloack off. There was... something hidden under it. It was similar to an insane tangle of veins and guts, covered by an half-transparent layer of skin and shaped like an arm.

"That's why I'm going to use both"

Eve looked at that... thing.

"What... what's that, Chung?"

"Honestly, I don't feel like explaining it" he answered. Another gun appeared from the air, out of a small, blue gate which closed as soon as Chung grabbed the second weapon with his new arm. He then pointed both his guns at her.

"This is the first time" he said, a grin difficult to interpret on his face.

"Which first time?"

"The first time I fight a woman with the purpose of killing her"

Elsword was talking with Seliet, near the border with the neighboring country, when he felt something, for a moment.

"Is something wrong, my lord?"

"... no, it was nothing"

Chung took cover behind a part of the Nasod King's head to avoid an hail of bullets fired from Eve's drones, now shaped into a gatling. He reloaded his guns and went back to aim at Eve. He emptied one of the cartridge at her in an istant, four bullets aimed at her legs and two at her shoulders. She dodged three of them and blocked the others with Moby, while Reby was sent flying at Chung, shaped into a spear enveloped in electricity. The chaser grazed it and pointed his other gun at Eve. His weapon shone, and a silvery ray of energy erupted from his gun. Eve partly dodged it, and partly blocked it with Moby. Then she disappeared in the air. Chung put his helmet on and tried to find her, but before he could do it, he heard a sound at his right. He turned and instinctively fired a shot, but what he hit was a light-made copy of Eve, which exploded. It didn't hurt him much, but it left him stunned for a second. Chung's shoulder was grabbed. In front of her, Eve appeared in front of him, four mechanical, spear-like wings on her back.

Damn!

A storm of blows fell on him. Both Moby and Reby, aided by several flying spears, hit Chung at least an hundred times before a stronger blow sent him flying back. But before he could land, a whip grabbed him. Eve smashed him to the ground, and then the whip exploded. Before the smoke could thin out, Moby and Reby took the form of a rocket launcher, and Eve fired a missile were Chung was. After the explosion, she waited for the smoke to fade. Then, she saw the chaser standing. His armor was severely damaged, and a good part of it was gone. He was bleeding. But his Destroyer was in front of him. It probably shielded him from the last blow, though Eve wasn't sure where it popped out from or when. Chung grabbed his bazooka and lifted it, then pulled both the triggers. Two storms of missiles flew from his weapon. A few exploded against the remains of the Core and of the Nasod King before properly aiming at Eve. She sent both her drones, and several spears, to destroy them before they could reach her, but some managed to reach her. The explosion sent her flying. Just as she landed, four bullets pierced her right leg, making her fall on her knees, another one hit her left shoulder and a last one grazed her head. From the wounds, something similar to oil, but of the same color of blood, came out. One of her drones turned into some sort of exoskeleton around her injured limb, to help her standing. She got up and shut down a part of her pain nerves.

They stared into each other eyes.

"Do you want to continue?"

"You can always surrender" Eve mocked him.

She noticed that Chung's right arm had changed. It was... it looked like it was rotting. And not only it, but also his shoulder, which should have been... well, human.

"Your arm..."

"I told you I don't feel like explaining it"

He reloaded his weapons and pointed them at Eve.

"Let's finish this"

"Ok"

Several huge turrets appeared behind Eve. They were of all kind: missile launchers, laser turrets, gatlings, and even more. Chung pointed his guns. All he needed was a single strike. If even just one of his twelve bullets managed to reach the target, he would have won. Eve pointed at him, and the artillery behind her began to fire. A savage, raging storm of almost every kind of bullet and rocket Chung could think of fell on the area, trying to hit him. He ran like crazy, in the desperate attempt of avoiding all of that. He fired two shots, but both the bullets got blocked by the storm of blows raging around him. An hail of bullets pierced his left arm when he fired two more shots, leaving him with only one gun left. The two bullets got blocked like the first ones. The following three shots weren't luckier than the others. His armor, or what was left of it, somehow prevented him from receiving fatal wounds, but it was almost completely gone. Then, he saw a small opening in the hell raging around him. He pointed his gun. It shone with great intensity, before releasing his last bullet. It flew at insane speed towards Eve, leaving behind itself a silvery trail. Eve's right shoulder got pierced, and her arm almost fell off. She fell to the ground. The turrets behind her disappeared, maybe because they had run out of ammo. A scream escaped from her before she could shut down the nervers of the right part of her body.

Chung stood there, breathing heavily, covered in his own blood.

With the mess we did, the demons left here will arrive soon... and I'm in no condition to fight them.

He limped over to Eve. Half of his body had rotten, and his right arm was falling to pieces.

I... must... hurry...

He reached her. She stared at him, wondering how could he still be able to move. He took out a small knive he kept under what was left of his armor.

"Don't worry, Eve. I'll come with you within the next minutes"

"That's not comforting at all" she answered, contemptuous.

Chung's hand went down, aiming for her head. But, a moment before the blade could touch her skin, someone grabbed Chung's arm from behind.

Author's notes

First thing is: I'm sorry I took so long to update this. My favorite dakimakura shop closed, and I had to find another one. Among other things.

The next chapter will be last one.

See you there.