Chapter 26: Scorching Flames
09:13 AM (Japan Time), Thursday July the 6th…
"… Okay. The only one who'd ever bother to set up this scenery in the middle school's server has to be our Flame – Attribute friend."
"Welcome to the Bridge of Khazad-dûm! Mwroh, wrhoh, wrhoh!"
Blood Shadow was standing in a space which had been redesigned to be a recreation of the Moria Mines in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring film: he'd begun stepping into the bridge and looking around the largely unlit space when a familiar voice rang out.
"Balrog. Durin's Bane. Corrupted Maiar. Servant of Morgoroth AKA Melkor… Show your pixel-full hide." Blood Shadow called out with obvious sarcasm to his voice.
"As you wish!"
Balrog flew down and hovered some centimeters above the bridge while brandishing a long iron-hot metallic chain about two meters long: the unlit environment made his flames shine with unusual creepiness to it and his figure seemed to be cloaked on the blackness itself: a looming shadow was being projected and he looked down (literally) on Blood Shadow.
"Your boots are older than your gramps." Blood Shadow sarcastically told him as he aimed the built-in shotgun at him.
"Good job, bloody shadow!" He taunted.
"Very original."
"We will battle until the bridge collapses and we plunge into the icy lakes beneath this abyss! Then we will climb the Endless Stair and battle atop Zirik-zigil to the end!" Balrog exclaimed.
"Cut the ripped off speech: fight!"
"Come!"
"Battle!"
"War Drums!"
"Huh? What?"
Two drums materialized in the air and began to play a military-like music which echoed around the space: shrieks ran out and a horde of both goblins and orcs came running down the stairs on the north side followed by large trolls.
"They will take care of you even if you manage to defeat me! Flame Tornado!"
Balrog beat his wings as air currents began to blow across the vast room and some of the flames were extended downstairs, across the bridge's edges and, finally, into Balrog's body: a tornado began to form and encompass both fighters thus limiting their space to maneuver.
"Mwroh, hoh, hoh! Evil Chain!"
"Sword Fighter X!"
Blood Shadow drew a red curved sword with a saw-like edge on his left wrist and used it to jump across the air and cut through segments of the chain: he then placed his shotgun's energy-filled barrel into the upper chest armor and shot a close-quarters attack.
"Charge Shotgun Shot!"
"Guo~h!"
Blood Shadow jumped away and Balrog roared as he clutched the damaged segment of his armor: he then chuckled.
"Good blast! But it wasn't enough… Priest – sama improved the armor through carbon chemical structures research! You just deliver 180 HP of damage out of my base 1400… Heh, heh, heh…" He announced.
"Crap. And that was one of my strongest "default" attacks, too… Guess this will be painful."
"But of course! You! Grunts! Stay there and don't move! Get it? This is personal!" Balrog called out.
Some grunts and yells rang out which seemed to be part of the answer: Balrog closed his arms and began to spin around his axis until the flames engulfed his body: he then shot forward and rammed into Blood Shadow thus setting him on fire.
"G-Geyser!"
The water evaporated the flames and Blood Shadow gasped as the chain coiled around his body and he was set in flames again: Balrog laughed and tugged the chain to suspend Blood Shadow over the abyss.
"Farewell!"
"Not yet…! Area Steal!"
Blood Shadow suddenly warped and appeared behind the enemy: he placed the shotgun's barrels on the rear armor and shot there.
"Charged Shotgun Shot!"
"Futile! 180 HP extra… 360 HP… Nothing! You have suffered close to 500 HP by my hands and your total HP is 2100!" Balrog laughed.
"Che. Anderson wants to make you guys be serious and deadly to go down in urban legends as fearsome opponents."
"Catching up, hunter? The hunter got hunted!" He laughed again.
"I'm getting fed up with this. Recovery 300, Dynamic Wave! Let's put out your flames!"
He began to spin around his axis and produced four consecutive waves which hit Balrog one after the other: his flames evaporated but he looked indifferent to the fact.
"That was nothing… Barely 200 HP! I haven't lost even 600 HP yet, I'll have you know! Crunching Claws! Try to dodge this as much as you want!"
"Crap."
He opened his claws and quickly began to cut through the air and tried to hit Blood Shadow: he always jumped and ducked.
"Useless!"
Blood Shadow kept on being forced to recoil: he reached the edge of the bridge but was pushed back in by some of goblins: Balrog's claws left wounds on his body and he growled as he jumped over the mole and landed behind him: some black spots came out of his body and began to heal his wounds at a quick rate.
"Huff! Close! My auto-repair nanomachines are useful… Let's try something else! Battle Chip, Count Bomb, White Web!" He muttered.
He jumped into Balrog's damaged rear armor portion slightly beneath the neck: he attached a Count Bomb there and added the White Web to keep it glued there: he then shot towards the crowd: it replied shooting out arrows in masse which bounced off Balrog's armor.
"What foolish bothersome grunts! Behave yourselves! This place is my climax!" He cursed.
The Count Bomb went off and Balrog roared as the armor got further damage on it: he turned around looked annoyed.
"Why, you…! 250 HP of damage: 880 HP of total damage! But I still have enough to destroy you!" He cursed.
"Bite me, Durin's Bane."
The crowd yelled and began to shoot arrows coated in flames: Balrog grumbled and turned around to emit a large roar: the crowd fell silent and stepped back out of fear.
"Melee Clash!"
Balrog rammed into Blood Shadow using his armored feet and hit his stomach area: Blood Shadow growled and jumped over the air to try to attack the weakened rear spot: Balrog saw it coming so he flew skywards and Blood Shadow had to land in the bridge: Balrog then began to shine with flames again and the crowd yelled in excitement: Blood Shadow grumbled something under his breath.
"Death Flames!"
Large spheres of flames began to rain down from above and cut off both ends of the bridge: they began to expand and burn across its surface thus leaving Blood Shadow with very little space to move.
"Damn. Let's take this to new heights." He cursed.
He ignited the jets on his boots' heels and hovered towards Balrog: he'd draw a Fire Blade and a Flame Sword which were burning with unusual fierceness.
"Be sliced up!" Balrog laughed.
"We'll see 'bout that."
"What?" He grumbled.
"Thunderbolt Blade!"
Blood Shadow drew a thunderbolt-shaped blade on his right arm and jumped on top of Balrog: he hit the weakened torso armor four times and before holding the blade up and plunging it into the crack to further damage it: a thunderbolt rained down from above and hit Balrog.
"Che. 300 HP drained… 1180 HP of total damage… Slightly over 200 HP left before the 2nd phase… Whatever." He grumbled.
"Charged shotgun shot!"
"What!"
The blast did finish breaking up the abused segment of the armor and Balrog roared: the mobs stirred and began shooting arrows while the trolls grabbed blocks of stone and threw them towards them as well: Blood Shadow hid behind Balrog's mole and he was bombarded instead.
"Stop or I'll slaughter all of you idiots!" He commanded.
The crowd quickly pulled back while he seemingly calculated the total damage: it seemed to be high given his panting and his slow movements by now.
"Crap. Another 180 HP…! 1360 HP of total damage!" He cursed.
"Heh, heh, heh."
"Annihilator Chip, Slot In!" Past announced.
"So! You're Blood Shadow. We'll see if you live up to your reputation while facing an unleashed beast!" Annihilator Man taunted through the remotely controlled Balrog.
"Sure. Tell that to Bond, too."
"Hmpf. Flame Serpent!"
Flames travelled and coiled around Balrog's arms to form the shape of fiery snakes with blood red eyes: they then shot out while forming a DNA-like structure with both heads aiming for Blood Shadow's chest: they hit him but a log appeared on his place and four shuriken hit Balrog from behind thus breaking the punished rear armor segment and harming him.
"What! 150 damage… 1510. Bah. Got a lot…" Annihilator Man muttered with a hint of annoyance.
"O~i~! Ya bunch of jerks! Hit me!" Blood Shadow taunted the mob.
They got excited again and began to bombard them at random with arrows and stones as well as some lances and short swords: a great deal of them just bounced off Balrog's armor and others hit his open wound.
"Guh…! 80 damage… 1590. Useless." He scoffed.
"Charged shotgun shot!"
"Uo~h!"
Balrog turned around and hissed something as Blood Shadow blew the smoke off his shotgun.
"The rear wound…! I keep on forgetting it! 200 HP… 1790 HP drained insofar, but that's just the tip of the iceberg." Annihilator Man muttered with some annoyance.
"Oi! Here, here! Hit me! You suck!"
"Stop!"
The crowd didn't hear the order and attacked again: Balrog was forced to shield himself and Blood Shadow took the chance to plunge his red sword into the rear wound again: Balrog shook him off by setting his body in flames and sounded rather angered by now: the crowd stopped and some more of them began to pull out as well.
"You idiots' attacks and that guy's attacks have taken 380 HP off! I've lost 2170 HP insofar… Behave yourselves, you impatient mob!" Annihilator Man yelled at them.
They shrieked and more of them ran out leaving only a small bunch about thirty strong and only lower-rank goblins having knives of all sizes and forms but not looking extremely efficient, either.
"It'd seem your fan club is suffering cuts, too."
"Very funny!"
"Hmmm… Your current status guarantees a 40% damage reduction: I've only lowered 10% respect the usual one. But exposed spots get the full usual damage."
"What are you up to?" Annihilator Man demanded.
"Ask M."
"M? Bond's boss?"
"Yeah. She will stare at you like you were a statue for a half an hour to test if you have what it takes."
"Grjftx!" He grumbled.
"Heh, heh, heh. Oh. True, true. I ordered a Vesper cocktail for your Operator to celebrate his disbanding of a dangerous bunch of sadists the other day around."
"Anderson – sama is underage!" Annihilator Man growled.
"Ah. Sorry. I forgot. I was mistaking him with Takaisho, you know, Atomic Network's leader… Since you're also inspired by Laser Man then it's no wonder I made such a mistake."
"Balrog Ramming!"
Balrog spun around his axis and shot forward towards Blood Shadow: he suddenly began charging up energy and tossed a black sphere of energy into the middle of the air: it expanded into a spinning vortex which began to suck everything around it: Blood Shadow suddenly propelled forward and shot past Balrog while cutting the air with his red sword: the vortex collapsed behind him in a brutal explosion which swept the air and Balrog roared as he collapsed upon the stairway.
"That should've dealt around 300 HP… Around 2500 HP drained with my Black End Galaxy… But with that armor I won't get anywhere anytime soon."
"Huff… Huff… I see… The classic "taunt" trick… But I can stay connected for another five minutes… Enough to defeat you since I still have some deadly skills in this body…!" Annihilator Man muttered.
"Crap. Let's get out second trump card ready."
"Sorcerer's Curse!"
Balrog's body began to emit a purplish glow and the whole atmosphere's temperature increased: Blood Shadow landed on the bridge and got ready for anything.
"Object of the curse: Blood Shadow!" He announced.
A reddish fog surrounded Blood Shadow and he uttered something as some small flames formed around his body and he tried to put them out.
"I drain you half of the total damage you've done to me: 1250! Thus, you've lost around 1600 HP by now! And you'll lose another 200 each minute!" Annihilator Man announced.
"Crap. I gotta cut it quick… Recovery 300, Recovery 200!"
There was a buzz and the flames increased: Blood Shadow cursed and jumped to the south end of the bridge to roll across the ground and put the flames out once and for all: they did reform immediately, though, and increased in intensity.
"Fool. You'll now lose 230 HP every minute! Four minutes left of my time limit… Balrog's Breath!"
"Gotta risk it! Red Gaia Eraser!"
Blood Shadow formed two saw-like disks form in the air parallel to each of Balrog's shoulders: they moved forward and backwards in 45 º angle formations while shooting red beams of energy: Blood Shadow built up energy and shot a beam from his own shotgun thus combining with the earlier two and forming a dome-shaped explosion which swept the terrain around Balrog: he roared and the enemies close by were annihilated by the attack.
"Did that do it?" He wondered.
The explosion cleared and Balrog had collapsed into the ground while most of his armor was intact: he looked out of energies.
"…2780 HP drained… I can still fight: two minutes left…" Annihilator Man muttered.
Blood Shadow suddenly landed on top of him and plunged his red sword into the torso wound: Balrog was logged out and the mobs ran away in panic: Blood Shadow's flames vanished as well.
"Too close…! Luckily… He miscalculated my HP: it's 2250, not 2100. Thus I was able to survive even at 2060 HP drained…"
"Good job." Past told him.
"Whoa. You're actually praising me?" Blood Shadow whistled in surprise.
"I'd always wished to see your fighting skills: they were no joke, as I suspected, Blood Shadow." Past replied.
"Hmmm…"
"All will be made clear one day. Until then… Farewell."
Blood Shadow shrugged and headed towards the open doorway in the south without seemingly caring about the mobs: the bridge exploded and most of them fell into the abyss while Blood hummed a tune …
9:29 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Yo!"
"Whoa. Blood. You look like you've been in a war."
"Heh, heh, heh! As expected!"
"Yeah. Guess so."
Blood Shadow returned to the Hikari house and was greeted by Sigma and the twins: he scratched the back of his helmet.
"What's picking me is that the guy named Past seems to have been waiting to see my skills for a while… Maybe he's been investigating ever since a while back." He muttered.
"Hmmm… Or maybe he's closer to us than we'd imagine." Saito suddenly suggested.
"What? He may be someone we know?" Netto gasped.
"I can discard our closest friends: he might be someone we barely know from sight in the institute and not necessarily of our class, either. They could've seen us at the coming or leaving." Saito added.
"Should we ask Mr. Denpa to check it out?" Sigma suggested.
"No. Let's try figuring it out ourselves."
"OH YEAH! LET ZA BALROG HIT ZA MORIA!"
"Cloud Man. He's taunting us from outside of the firewall."
"Heh, heh, heh, heh… Have fun while you can with those clever fellows."
"Twilight. About time your voice rang out." Netto drily countered.
"Or should we say Ocelot's voice?"
"Heh, heh, heh. Let's see how well you fare against the next one…"
"OH YEAH! LET ZA BEST HIT ZA WORSE!"
"Mwah, hah, hah. Let's ignore them. Time for some have fun and thrill!"