A/N- I apologize for the delay for this week's chapter! Will put out the next one a lot faster!
Lolo strapped the book onto a holster attached to his pants leg. He then revealed two golden gats with diamond triggers. Slash could not estimate a price on the elegant firearms, nor could he imagine a number that high. (A/N: Machine pistols) He fired multiple shots at Slash, causing him to jump back. "I know the bullets can't kill me, but if they hit my wounds, then that could do me in. My best solution is to avoid the bullets as much as I can." Slash thought
Unexpectedly, Lolo ran towards him and to his surprise he didn't start shooting him. He jumped and kicked Slash in the chest. He leapt into the air from his chest, gracefully back flipping in midair. As he floated through the wind, he pointed his guns at Slash and began firing a barrage of bullets.
"Garoshield!"
Slash got on a knee, placed his hands to the ground and quickly summoned a giant spike wall. He heard the bullets bouncing off of the iron shield protecting him. "I'm taking him out of the sky." Slash said to himself, shooting spikes off of the wall at Lolo
As the spikes came towards Lolo, he cartwheeled and jumped away from the spikes. He used a nearby sand hill to jump into the air once more. Angry, Slash fired another round of spike projectiles from the wall, only causing them to miss the graceful human. The shield dissipated as Lolo stood in front of Slash. "When I thrusted myself from your chest, I could have easily killed you then. How can you become king when I can easily beat you?"
"A mere human killing ME? Hah! That would only be possible because of my wounds." Slash retorted
Lolo opened his mouth as if he was to speak, but he leapt into air and slid into the sand, similar to a baseball player sliding into home plate. He stopped in front of Slash and held one of the guns to his nose. "You weak fool. I'm only playing with you."
Slash looked down and saw the other gun pointing to the open wound in his abdomen. "Damn you." Slash snarled
Without responding, Lolo shot Slash in the forehead, knocking him flat on his back. "SLASH!" Kiichiro screamed. Lolo then stood up and dusted himself off, he put the guns back into their holsters and removed the silver spell book from the holster on his leg. "You done sleeping?" he asked the seemingly defeated Solin. Solin did not answer Lolo, but regardless, the spell book glowed a bright silver light.
"Gigo Armoruk!"
The demonic black ice covered Solin's tattered body as Slash sat up and looked in horror. Solin stood up as the demonic aura he was exerting, sent shockwaves of fear through Slash's heart. He looked into the icy mask covering his face and Slash cringed as Solin's fierce red eyes intensely glowed in the blackness of the ice.
"What kind of spell is that…this ice must mean that he's…?"
Slash couldn't move not only because of injuries but mainly because of fear. "There has to be something I can do."
The Iron Prince backed up in the sand, struggling to get to his feet. "I have to get out of here while I still can, I won't let my book get burned…this is a hopeless battle."
Slash focused energy into his legs as he got onto his feet. Blood dripped from his stomach due to the strain he put on his body standing up. "I need to at least clear a path so I can grab Kiichiro and get into the helicopter." Slash saw Kiichiro a distance behind the now armored Solin. He remembered the earpiece headsets they were still wearing and tapped it. "Kiichiro…can you hear me?"
"Slash!" she exclaimed
"Good…use my eighth spell. I have an idea." Slash said
"Okay, but I don't have too much power from within left. Maybe enough for three spells max, counting the one you want me to use. If you want me to use a spell like Gigano Hokeiron, then that would use up all of my remaining energy."
"Ok, just use the eighth spell." Slash said, a small smile grew on his face
At this point, Solin was standing in front of Slash. "Stand still, so you can die with honor. I don't plan on burning your book." His voice was cold and strangely robotic
"His voice changes when he's in that form. I can't believe I am scared, but nonetheless…I gotta make my move."
Solin raised his fist, planning on crushing Slash's head like a grape. Slash however, jumped back and opened his hands.
"Now Kiichiro!"
"The eighth spell, Ganzu Go Hokeiron!"
A metal turret extended from each of Slash's hands as he fired hundreds of bullets at Solin, sand kicked up everywhere. Covering the entire battlefield, Slash quickly trotted through the sand clouds as he gained distance away from Solin. "I need to grab Kiichiro so we can get out of here. She only has enough power from within to last me two more spells or one more big spell."
Slash finally reached Kiichiro as the blinding sand clouds settled and the battlefield was clear. "Kiichiro, we need Jonny to fly down so we can get out of here." Slash said as he looked up and to his surprise, the spell did more harm to Solin than he intended. Large chunks of ice armor were littered with bullet holes, A lot of his bare skin was exposed.
"When I used Ganzu Go Hokeiron, it was simply to kick up sand, so I can escape with Kiichiro. I didn't really aim at him, but why did my bullets break off huge chunks of his armor? Judging from what I saw earlier…when his ice armor is broken, it regenerates. Anyway, I'll have to stay on-guard."
Slash tapped his headset. "Jonny, where are you? Lower the chopper so we can get out of here!"
Slash waited for a moment and did not receive a response form Jonny. "Damn it."
"Slash…what now?" Kiichiro asked
"Plan B."
"Plan B?"
"Kiichiro, we need to get out of here. As long as we stall him long enough to make our escape, we should be golden."
The child nodded as she opened the spell book. A blue glow emitted from the book as Slash stood in front of the armored Solin. Somehow, he picked up his feet and galloped through the sand, he lowered his hand towards the ground as he ran.
"Kiichiro!" Slash yelled
"Gazurogaruga!"
White energy sparked around Slash's right hand as he pulled an iron lance from the ground. "My will to fight is what keeps me going! No matter what, I will not allow my book to be burned!" Slash leapt into the air, he raised the nine foot lance and slammed it into Solin's ice mask, he was now sitting on top of his torso as the ice mamodo fell to his back in the sand. Slash stood over Solin and raised his lance once more, slamming it into Solin's armor over his torso. The black ice shattered into pieces, exposing his bare chest. "Again, I'm doing more damage than I anticipated…" Slash gored Solin through his now exposed stomach, the same place where he gored him much earlier in the fight, though the ice armor healed it. This time however, the lance went completely through him and embedded itself within the deep sand.
"I used my lance to find a weak spot to pin you down. When I looked at your ice earlier, it kept regenerating itself, so it would be impossible for melee attacks to have a long-term effect on you in this case. So, I bound you to the sand for at least a little while which will allow time for me to escape." Slash turned and walked away. He came to his very young book reader and picked her up.
"Let's go home." Slash said
Just as Slash and Kiichiro began walking away, loud cracking noises filled their ears as he turned around. The remnants of Solin's armor shattered and disintegrated into thin air, his arms and legs rose up before his torso as he stood up, reminiscent to that of a zombie. A small chuckle could be heard as Solin removed the lance from his abdomen and tossed it aside.
"No way…" Slash began to say
What was at one time light chuckling elevated to laughing, Slash was going to demand Solin to explain the joke to him, but he quickly realized that this wasn't laughter out of sheer amusement. This was laughter out of sheer insanity and bloodlust. Lolo, who was silent for a long duration of time, was now walking back to his lawn chair perched on top of the sand hill Slash confronted him at over an hour ago. Solin's continued shrieks of maniacal laughter was followed by Lolo's booming voice.
"Rayo Bolt!"
Solin's laughter continued cutting through Slash's ears as small black ice spikes appeared under Solin's feet. This time however, it seemed different as the numerous tiny spikes bonded into one large black ice spike. Solin stood on top of the black ice spike as it continued growing out of the ground until it rivaled the size of a building. Solin's laughter echoed throughout the desert as Lolo casually flipped through the pages of the silver spell book almost as if he was having a field day looking at his numerous spells.
"Gigo Armoruk!"
The ice armor Solin previously possessed before Slash destroyed it, reformed over Solin's body once again. The glowing ruby orbs Solin called his eyes, shown even at the great height of the massive ice spike before Slash.
"Velos Impaleruk!"
Solin screeched at the top of his lungs as large black ice wings sprouted out of his armored back and a menacing ice drill formed on his right hand. Slash was at a loss for words, he simply took his book out of Kiichiro's hands and put it in her back pack. He then quietly covered her eyes as he continued looking up at the newly transformed demon.
"Let's show them why we're not in the history books. Why we have neither fame nor infamy, the reason why there are no rumors about us and why we're not even legends. No one has ever lived to tell our story." Lolo announced as the spell book in his hand was opened and glowing
"Then why does Jonny and Ignoramus know about them, if nobody ever lived to tell their story?" Slash thought to himself
"Metalik Yello!"
Just when Slash thought things could not get any worse, a sharp noise slid through his ears, comparable to a knife being sharpened. All of the ice, the ice spike, the armor, wings and drill on Solin, all turned into metal.
"This is why King Bell was never invaded from the North." Solin said, his voice carried over the entire desert
"Is…his metal stronger than my own?" Slash thought to himself as he continued staring at the menacing Solin
"Let's give you a demonstration." Lolo said pointing to an area a few miles away from them. The silver book glowed as Lolo held it in the air.
"Novas Arpickas!"
Dark clouds smothered the sky. Lightning flashed, sparked and glowed through the clouds. Just as things calmed down or so it seemed, the dark clouds parted and the remaining sunlight turned into night as a large black ice comet descended from the sky. The sheer chills from the comet cooled down the entire desert. The fact that the sun was beginning to set, which caused the desert to cool regardless did not help either. The comet connected with the barren land, a flash of light illuminated the entire battlefield. As the light faded away, a sheet of black ice covered the entire area, the area were the comet impacted, left a crater the equivalent of a small town being leveled, the sheer pressure eroded the sand away. Slash looked down at the ice that partially covered the bottom of his boots. Without another word, he released his hands from Kiichiro's eyes and fell to his knees in despair.
"This…can't be." Slash said to himself
"All of those hits I landed…all of those attacks and strategies I used…were all for nothing?"
"You think all of this is about a petty tournament?" Solin snarled
Slash did not say anything. His head was still looking downward as his once slick hair now covered his face.
"This election…this tournament…you think this is what is really going on? Sorry, but you won't be able to play in your little competition anymore boy." Solin said, now in what seemed like a mockingly tone
Slash still did not say a word. Could it be that Solin was telling the truth? Could it be true that there is more to this battle than just beating up everybody who stood in the way?
"Tournament? Challenges? What a simple world little boys live in."
Kiichiro looked over at her partner, he had not moved nor had he said a word in response to Solin's berating. She continued to sit there looking on at something she was too young to understand.
"If you're supposed to be the best, well then you should havebowed down to me because I'm already king." Solin said casually
"Prepare to die." Solin said as the black metal drill on his right hand began spinning at a violent speed. He opened his demonic black wings as he flew high into the darkened sky, his body began spinning round and round and round and round again, cold black winds exerted themselves around his body, as Solin was about to slam onto Slash with his devastating attack, a massive laser hit Solin. A few pieces of his armor broke off, and a part of his wings were destroyed. Slash tried to look up to identify his savior, but another blast sent him and Kiichiro flying about twenty to thirty feet from where they sat. Fortunately, the backpack was in Kiichiro's arms as the blast hit them, any other way would have resulted in an even worse situation for them. Slash crashed into the distant sand dune first and Kiichiro came behind him and landed on his legs. As he got up, he looked over to where Solin was about to finish him off and saw the massive iceberg-like spike was gone. He then looked over at the hill where Lolo once sat and saw that the human was nowhere to be found.
"What happened to them?"
Slash carried the unconscious Kiichiro in his arms and placed the back pack on his back as he crawled a little closer to the fallen mamodo. Just at that moment, a nauseating vibe filled his body. As he saw another boy but this one was with a young woman.
"Another one…I sense two more mamodo nearby as well, but one of those scents is definitely familiar."
Slash did a second take at the boy who was still standing by the young woman. His shaved metallic gray hair, pale skin and gleaming red eyes gave Slash an eerie unexplainable fear. His short sleeve spandex black shirt, gray bulletproof vest with daggers on the vest caused Slash to assume that he had a paramilitary thing going for him. To complement the paramilitary getup, he wore white camo pants, black boots and black gloves he seemed to have metal embedded within them. To top it off, he wore a black beanie on his head with goggles on top.
Slash could not get a good view on the young woman at the moment and refocused his attention back on the boy. "He must be the mamodo who fired that blast from earlier. I can tell he has a lot of power." He said to himself
"What the hell just happened?" Solin questioned as he looked to face of his attacker. Just as he saw the face of the boy, his mind erupted into thought.
"I was abandoned on this mission by the so-called benevolent King Bell himself. Now that I cross paths with him…should I even care enough to carry out the mission?"
The mysterious boy looked at Solin and shook his head. "Here I am looking for a vessel for my experiment and minding my own business and what do you know, I run into the Ice Titan."
Slash gasped as he sat there and remembered Jonny's words back at the Tateishi resort in Japan.
[Flashback 48 hours ago…]
"What is this so-called Ice Titan doing in the Sahara anyway?" Slash asked, crossing his arms
"What I also know is that they are mercenaries and only those with the biggest purse can use their services. I don't know what they're doing there for sure, but its mere speculation that it has to do with a job. "
"Mercs don't intimidate me."
"I know you're strong Slash, but you don't hold a candle to the Ice Titan. He's known as the merciless cold one, the butcher, a.k.a The Ice Titan. He kills for enjoyment, for fun, you can say "the hunt." It's the thrill of killing that gets him off. It ain't the money."
[End Flashback…]
"That explains why they were waiting and the ice spells. This also explains why he was toying with me earlier dammit!" Slash growled, slamming his fist into the sand
"Finally… Somebody worthy to fight me.…the Machine Titan." Solin replied, a smirk now forming through the icy black mask on his face. Solin turned in Lolo's direction only to see him lying face-flat into the sand. Solin made his way over to his book keeper, realizing that he was out cold. "Damn." Solin said, holding up Lolo.
"Machine Titan…" Slash began as he trailed off, remembering what Jonny told him
[Flashback…]
The Machine Titan runs the industry. He's the kingpin of a mafia; they're the ones that make the biggest transactions in the Black market. They are experts in extortions and bribery. If you owe them money…you may as well be dead. EVERYTHING is a profit to them. To get to him you have to go through a handful of goons and lords, plus you need a handsome amount of money just to get an audience with him."
"Okay he's a well-connected guy, but what does that have to do with machines?"
"He's cold, heartless, and somewhat robotic and he runs his business like a well-oiled machine. His spell power also revolves around machinery."
[End Flashback…]
"He said he was well-connected, yet I don't see any henchmen. Could it be that this was all a big trap?" Slash thought to himself
The young woman that was with the Machine Titan opened the peach spell book in her hands. The peach colored light gave an observant Slash a better look at her. Her curly blonde hair reaching her pale neck gave the impression that she was a gothic lolita. Her blue eyes complimented the short fancy dress she wore along with elegant black leggings and boots he once saw at a designer's store he was passing by. Despite her gentle and delicate appearance, Slash sensed that her looks were deceiving.
"Blue, shall we kill him now?" the woman asked the Machine Titan in a very soft and gentle voice as she held open the book
"Yes Elisabeth, use a spell that will kill all of them." Blue said tossing a quick disdainful glance towards Slash
Elisabeth flipped a few pages and the peach light illuminated the spell book. "Gigano Machira!"
Blue placed his hands in front of himself as his fingers detached from his hands and lost silvery wires expanded from each of his fingers. As the wires rose high into the air, spark of electricity cackled in the sky. A few of the wires snaked their way towards Solin and Lolo and the other half of the wires made their way towards Slash and Kiichiro.
"Damn, if those wires wrap around me and Kiichiro, we will be electrocuted!" Slash exclaimed as he began backing up from the incoming wires.
"Gigano Flaron!"
Slash looked up as a large blast of flame caused all of the wires to retract into Blue's fingers. Another young woman appeared in front of Blue and Elisabeth but by her side was what appeared to be a Rottweiler with glowing red eyes, Slash figured that he was about the size of a fully grown breed at about 3 and a half feet tall. Behind him was a trail of ashes.
"What a pleasant surprise, it's the Hellfire Titan." Blue said with a smirk
"So this is the Hellfire Titan." Slash said as he breathed a quick sigh of relief when the focus was once again taken off of him
[Flashback…]
"The Hellfire Titan is from Hades itself, the worst part of the Makai. Just looking at him wrong will get you killed. Another alias for him is the Messenger of Darkness, wherever he goes, ashes trail behind him. He is said to be the guardian of Oblivion's Gate. The pit of fire within him is like a hell of its own."
"What a hothead." Slash said sarcastically
"His rage is like an avalanche of molten magma, destroying everything within its path. They say his howl pierces the ears of men and reaps their soul from within."
[End Flashback…]
"If that dog is the Hellfire Titan, Blue is the Machine Titan and Solin is the Ice Titan, then who could possibly be the Light Titan? Another question I also want to know is how can Jonny possibly describe all three of these demons to a tee yet claims to have never encountered them himself?" Slash said as he continued holding the unconscious Kiichiro in his arms
Just as Slash was going to lay low into the sand, he felt the headset in his ear vibrate, adjusting the earpiece, he heard Jonny and Ignoramus talking amongst themselves.
[Inside Jonny's Helicopter…]
Jonny looked on the screen as the helicopter hovered over the battlefield, getting a bird's eye view of the commotion. Ignoramus pulled up a chair next to him, also looking onto the screen.
"Who would have thought that they today would be the day all four Titans would be on the same battlefield once again." Ignoramus said with a smile
A/N- Well that's the end of the chapter! How will this massive defeat affect Slash? Who is the Light Titan and why did Ignoramus say that all four were present on the battlefield? Why has Ignoramus and Jonny not replied to Slash and Kiichiro? Find out in next week's chapter!
CoA/N- To everybody that wants me to draw their characters, Holla at me later cuz I'm busy for NA. Sucks to have to be waitin' on me. Yall mad?