My march to one hundred chapters continues!
Kendal: The torture keeps mounting up, doesn't it…
Me: QUIET, IMBECILE!
Kendal: EXCUSE ME, PAEDOPHILE??
Lloyd: What's an imbecile?
Zelos: What's a paedophile?
Me: AHHH!! AN IMBECILE!
Kendal: (At same time) AW CRAP! A PAEDOPHILE!
Lloyd: Did you just call me that?!
Zelos: Hey! What's with the name calling-
Genis: (looking through a dictionary) Oh crap.
All: What?
Genis: Those are perfect words to describe you two.
Lloyd: Me, an imbecile?
Zelos: Me, a paedophile?
Genis: Let's see… "Imbecile: A form of insult relating to the retardation of a person, less so than idiocy-"
Sheena: Oh, I get it! So, in other words, Lloyd's not an idiot, but he's still stupid!
Lloyd: (cries in a corner)
Genis: It even gets better.
Everyone: What now?
Genis: Here goes… "Paedophile: A word describing a person who often has sexual interests in underage people, mostly girls-"
Everyone: (gags)
Zelos: (runs to cry with Lloyd)
Botta now had no idea what the battle would turn to now.
The thunderous arrival of the rogue and the rally behind him- Now, Botta was the sole defender. Yuan, after all, was struggling to get up, but he was obviously downed with a thoroughly mangled arm. No contest.
All Botta could do was fight a retreat as he was backed inch by inch on the wall from the onslaught by a death-heralding rogue. And get mauled in the process.
To say the least, Genis had never liked Kendal. He'd been annoyed with him, he'd been ticked off by him, he'd been scared by him.
But now, he was terrified of him.
A dead-ness seemed to have taken over the nucleus of his eyes, where usually there was a sort of vibrance of sorts. Either it was cold, either it was amusement, or either it was other stuff, like incredulity, embarrassment, the whole nine yards- In short, his eyes did more to express feeling than the rest of the face.
But now, in short, there was nothing. As in, nothing at all.
All that could be seen was the gold of his iris- That was it. No feeling there, not even a twitching in the face that suggested a person living in there. Just a sort of tightening that suggested a subtle kind of determination. Subtle, but dangerous.
Well, yeah, a tightening was an expression. But it had been there ever since the moment he had walked into the room, ever since he had taken one look at a certain bluenette. Except when calling out (That was the only time he spoken since then, anyway), where his face contorted into the perfect image of an enraged beast, complete with sharpened teeth, there was nothing there.
Sheena, wondering what sort of debt that she owned Kendal ever since the day he accidentally dropped into Mizuho, sent the village into an uproar, and then had given the ninjas there a run for their money, was now thinking she shouldn't bother. He had now turned into an organic machine of mass violence that didn't need repayment- More likely, it needed avoiding.
As the animalistic side of Kendal showed itself, thanks to the guttural growls and roars through clenched teeth and brutal tactics, from kicking the knee to drop someone to one and then elbowing the face with a loud crack, to headbutting someone in the stomach and then sink a dagger into the abdomen, and a whole arsenal of that stuff, all brutal and totally going against the written laws of combat.
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I must admit that was the case, thank you very much, but what else could I do? "I," as in my normal, sarcastic personality didn't exist in there at all. Under a blanket of enragement, there was nothing else besides an efficiency mentality. Total efficiency- Therefore, that meant inflicting every bit of pain possible until someone- Myself or an opponent, dropped.
Usually, dead.
But I had at least five aces in the hole, as in reserve, while Botta could do nothing but defend himself as every chance at renewing his offensive was snatched from right under his nose.
But hope for his side was not dead. Literally, and metaphorically. Far from it.
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What kind of person didn't attempt to go into battle without a gel of some kind?
An idiot, that's what. And Yuan was definitely no idiot.
Gels had been around since years that nobody living could remember. As in, nobody, not even Yuan, Mithos, or Kratos. Made from spices and (Obviously) fruit, they were then enchanted, wrapped in wax paper and then sent to stores.
The Renegades, being oh-so beneficial to Tethe'Alla from the killings of all seven Chosens of Sylvarant before Colette, could buy direct from places were gels were manufactured- As in, vending machines scattered throughout the base. But occasionally, a bored and broke Renegade might break into one and then hoard his spoils into one of the many empty storage rooms everywhere in the base.
Yuan, however, as leader, got a bunch for himself to keep, as so did Botta. Although he hadn't bothered to take much along, the fact was that both Botta and himself had taken along gels. Yuan, as someone who was no longer (Currently) posing a threat even if he was on the top of Kendal's ever so short top priority (As in, top-priority-for-instant-death-if-possible) list, was now ignored in the rapt attention on the ongoing duel with Botta.
Ripping open the wax cover, and wincing slightly at the shhkkkk of paper torn apart, he then applied a lemon gel on his arm. Hissing as the magic did its work, his appendage was now battle-worthy, if not rather battered.
Ripping open a second one (Now easier as he could use two arms) he then swallowed it, ignoring the stinging sourness. As health rushed back to him in open arms, he stood, picked his Swallow Blade up, and charged.
Silently, obviously. Nothing to ruin a stealth attack, his best chance of getting through this battle alive, it seemed, like a battle cry.
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To be angry is a good thing. Or maybe not. A mixed blessing, it seems.
One moment, I was giving Botta a kick to the shin- The next, I had a newfound gash in my shoulder, though deadened by the leather (Now mangled) guard there- Not that it would help again, since it was now sliced in half.
An instinctive slam of my cleaver into the ground. Hoisting myself up in a flash, I swung myself around-
My foot met metal, as one of the advantages of having a two-sided sword revealed itself- You could attack and block in the same motion. Which was a very nice, though limited sort of thing.
Pushing against me, she sent me flying around- But there was a catch. In doing so, with me so close to Botta, I was now sending a sixty-mile an hour heelkick outwards, express to a certain spike-haired half-elf's jaw.
But facing a new target gives your old one a reprieve, and with reprieves they lose the most valuable status for an attacker- Their off-balance-ness.
Okay, that was awkward grammar. But long story short, Botta blocked it- And promptly swung me in the opposite direction.
But this time, there was no kicking- At least, swinging kicking. Oh, no. This time, at the right moment, I let out an ear-splitting roar more beast than human or even closely related to that, and let my hand go.
I was now a rocket. Yuan managed to stop me in time at the cost of slamming into a crate- And promptly shattering it.
Shoving me back with a just-as-earsplitting roar, He sent me flying far. Like, to the other side of the room. Snagging my cleaver on the way over, I slammed on the wall, facing front with my daggers in the wall.
A quick assessment, then. Botta was now applying a lemon gel on himself, while thankfully the others woke up and started their assault yet again.
But Yuan… he wasn't holding back. He'd been forced to fight hard the first part of the battle, but then came along me and now he was going to the extremes to win. At, unfortunately, any cost.
An explosive clang as Lloyd stumbled back from an impact so powerful that a yelp escaped from him as he let go of a Saint Rapier, as it was impossible to hold it.
Raine, started a spell to heal him, was suddenly slammed into a wall where she collapsed, whimpering as a trickle of blood matted her silvery hair. When her brother, in a fit, foolishly attempted to whack Yuan over the head with his pitiful kendama, he was easily lifted off his feet- Thankfully, this time he didn't join his sister at the base of the wall. But, it obviously still hurt.
A whoosh of breath as Zelos, thinking he was invincible, joined Raine on the wall. Now Regal, jumping at his lucky chance, thwacked Yuan with a solid kick that would have at least broken three vertebrae- At least three vertebrae, and therefore the spinal cord, and therefore would cause instant paralysis- did little except make the convict a target.
If that sounded ominous, then bingo- It was supposed to. Immediately, turned around on a polished toe, Yuan repeated a spinning maneuver designed to damage large numbers- But here, it made no difference. Regal staggered, as a wound to his chest blossomed.
"My cue," I muttered, as anger flared once more- And then I was nothing more than a blur.
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One moment a victor, defender the next- Yuan was getting tired of this battle rather quickly, and it was no wonder why.
As diamond crashed against diamond, hundreds of minute adjustments on both sides, all for the sake of victory in this duel, went on.
A shift in stances here for the less athletically inclined Yuan, while a backstab that short the loop of a backflip here for Kendal- Some actions, subtle, while some were drawn out and downright breathtaking. And… the sparks.
Everybody saw the sparks. And everybody heard the explosions of sound that echoed through the hangar bay. Both of us, wounded, scratched, nicked, cut, and hundreds of other things (Yuan somewhat more than Kendal), were fighting a battle meant for fighting to the death.
Botta, wanting to help his commander, was forced to keep back jabbing away at anyone who came close to interfering with the duel. Well, in a way, yes. Because the spares on both sides wanted to help their representative in the arena that was here, they were fighting to get in, but so locking themselves in stalemates.
So in other words, just a rogue and a commander. What a weird matchup.
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This wasn't turning out to be what I hoped for.
No, not the fact I wasn't in a cakewalk, or anything like that.
It was just that I couldn't find any fear.
The reason for me looking for that was this- I wanted to send Yuan a warning. At the very least, since I planned to kill him.
Evilness, I know, but whatever. The thing was, Yuan had humiliated me hundreds of times from the recollections that I possessed. Well, he might have- The last time I counted, it was thirty-seven times from what I could see.
But anyway, I wanted him to know that someone from his past was out for his blood. His blood, and only his blood- Botta was of no concern, unless he annoyed me to the end of my currently very short fuse.
I, the master of reading someone's eyes, could see nothing but solid determination there. Nothing else. I wanted to yell at him "I'm Kendal Seychell, dammit, don't you see!? I've come right back to rip out your heart for everything! EVERYTHING!"
But that wouldn't work. It would totally blow my cover and send a domino effect loose- One thing about who I really was here, another thing about my connections to who Yggdrasil really was there, and then the dreaded question-
What are you?
I, technically speaking, wasn't sure if the average joe would accept the fact that they've befriended a bioengineered person. Lloyd, always the altruistic, might accept me- But thinking about it, it wasn't simply natural. So did altruism count towards ones whose lives came about artificially? And that their lives are lived for war? Bloody, bloody war?
But never mind now. As a thwack to the head was sending Yuan stumbling, I filched a key from his belt. As soon as I dangled it in front of his face…
An explosive roar as he realized what happened, and he jumped forward in a Thunder Explosion.
I roared right back at him, and sent a Meteor Rise as well. Both of us, equal- Blown back, me, from the thunder and Yuan from the impact, we rammed back into each other again. This time, however, I had sneaked in a Wolf Fang Pulse into the mix- When we both blasted back yet again, boom, obviously not.
When both of you run into each other and get blasted back with the other guy having a mangled chest, hell no you are not equal.
A cheer flew up from the crowd on my side- A sulk out of the corner of the eye from Botta. But I had no care for them, only someone in front of me.
I smashed down an upturned edge of the Swallow Blade, grinding away at the diamond with diamond. The thing was, This wasn't to wreck the weapon, because in a battle the last word in endurance is a diamond-edged blade. This was more to shake Yuan's control so much he simply couldn't grip it.
It… worked. Sort of. His hands shaking like a piece of rock held down by rubber in an earthquake, he drew it back, but still held it.
A compromise, and time slowed down…
Poke him in the eye, and the give his chest a heel spike. Then, flick a knife up and get the blade far far away.
I complied with the instant strategy and immediately jabbed a finger in Yuan's left eye. A second later, a howling, red-eyed Yuan stumbled back, swing his sword like a madman- No chest spike then.
Fine. Smash him from the left via cleaver, like, really, really hard, and when he stumbles, kick him in the kidneys with your right foot.
Sparks blasted out like they had taken lives of their own as Yuan stumbled- All according to plan. Except for the fact that I had smashed it too hard, and therefore I sent him about fifteen degrees farther than my original prediction. But who cared, I didn't always have to stomp people in the side. Instead, a slashed out with a shin, in a perfect arc to my right-
Somehow, his blade, moving purposely or not, got in the way, leaving me with a bloody stump as a foot if I didn't pull it out.
Easy. Instead of bringing it back, I morphed it into a spiraling heel kick from my left foot by first slamming down with my right into the floor, and then using it as a springboard to spiral my body through the air and-
By body, contorting into a semi spiral as I went as my arms, left behind, pulled to my right side, my heel connected with Yuan's bicep.
A howl of pain (The entire bicep muscle was more like an entire pressure point) and Yuan lost control of his right arm. He might have not dropped the Swallow Blade (He snagged it just as it was about to fall with his left arm) but now he was fighting one-armed. I, for that matter, was sent spinning backwards as I cartwheeled myself into standing position.
And yes, he now had his back against the wall. One more time.
A thud as Botta ended up on the same wall, and with a nod they started going crazy.
Well, no. That wouldn't have been a good description- More like… beastly?
Yeah, that would work perfectly. Bunching both of themselves together…
They started roaring and charging down random things… With people always in their paths. It was like they were a tempest that had no end date- They always came smashing through barriers, as in crates, machines, whatever, just to get to people.
They only hit the people who tried making a stand. As in, everyone's favorite (Not) Chosen. And Lloyd, who couldn't tell when to back out and when to come in (Well, then again, he always came in) and the somehow-gentlemanly Regal. Always Regal.
At least Raine had Nurse….
But then again, I made a stand. And… I somehow managed to stop them. For five seconds. I was crazy, to say the least, most of all now- And crazy people do crazy things, do they not?
The moment I stood in their path and locked blades with both of them, I was being thrown around like a punching bag, except this punching bag was not content to be punched without a fight. But this was a losing battle, and I knew it, but I wouldn't- More like I couldn't- Change what I was doing.
I started smashing my blade around like a sledgehammer, a really sharp one- And to be sure, it would have been lethal had one been crazy enough to stand in my way. But these guys weren't just crazy, they were bulky- And when bulky men meet bulky… people, what do we get? (I'm hoping you know how I'm referring to myself by)
A big clash of sparks, vibration, noise, ect. But like I said above, I should have never bothered- One swipe, I'm open, the other guy lands a big swipe on me. Again and again- Until I was covered in gashes.
A torrent of frustration was building, but the semi-coherent part of my brain stopped me from crossing the line between an angry battle rage and a useless brush with death. Jumping back, I slammed into the opposite wall, and then shoved off, my blade trailing behind me as a tool to latch onto it.
Soaring high, I landed on a walkway above the base level of the hangar bay, hitting the ground rolling- And then a turn to face the battle field I had just abandoned for the moment and I crossed my arms…
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At any other day, Zelos might have mocked Kendal for doing the one thing the (Well, maybe…) bravest person in the group had absolutely no brain space to even consider- A withdrawal.
Not that he was that stupid to think that Kendal was crazy enough to never withdraw. Retreat at this time seemed pretty convincing, especially…
Since Yuan had ruined his beautiful face!
Well, it was something of an accident, really- A piece of metal, ripped up from the floor in Yuan's path while he was in a slashing frenzy, had buzzed up and hacked a gash over his cheekbone. His cheekbones happened to be what most people admired at the parties, and Yuan had just wrecked that-!
So instead of going "YOU WRECKED MY FACE!" in a pitiful manner, the sent a Double Demon Fang in their paths.
The duo fist struck Yuan, and then Botta. Falling over and crashing on the ground with heavy thuds, the two stood up, groggy more from the fall than from the Demon Fangs, which meant…
Cannon fodder for Genis, who somehow managed to cast a Fireball spell in a second. Okay, yeah, pathetic- But it was in a second, right? And while this served little, it kept them down, and still, as something started rising from the floor…
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Like a ghost, to say the least. The water used for a certain future spell rose up silently, which meant the victims therefore had no idea that they were going to be crushed and half-drowned- Until they bothered to notice why a flicker or two of light happen to hit the corner of their eye and then they look…
And then kerkasploosh.
My allies noticed. My enemies did not. Well, obviously, to defend means to be aware totally of your surroundings- but at least Genis was smart enough to send a frontal attack in the form of an Aqua Laser.
Diving to the side, they did not realized just how close they were to the rather large, slightly rippling spheres of water. Another inch by both of them to the right and left respectively and then they could have realized something was wrong- Namely, water simply did not get on you unless someone had a squirt gun or if there was a floating mass of water extremely close by. In this case, the latter.
And then…
A yell from above.
"AQUATIC-"
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"IMPLOSION!"
As discussed above, kerkasploosh.
Well, not for the entire spell, really. In actuality, that was just the first part. Which meant that between fifty to a hundred gallons of pure water (Per mass, in this case two of them) first slammed together at a determined place of meeting.
This meant that water immediately swept Botta and Yuan from the places where they had stood only a few seconds ago and then crashed them both together with an ear-splitting crunch of bone and flesh. Together. Which in all cases isn't a very nice sound.
A few seconds of merciless grinding by the water, which seemed to take a life of it's own- And then it drew back.
But only for a second. Which was enough for the two streams to come back fifty yards…
And slam into their victims at a hundred miles an hour. The massive explosion, by far larger than anything that I had casted before, sent the air roiling in visible shockwaves as blurred air and water smashed apart into mist blasted out everywhere.
It was incredible, both visually and enharmonically. As a cyclone replaced the center of low pressure that had arrived along with the advent of the explosion of water, everyone was showered with at least the rough equivalent of an inch of rain. Even me, up here.
But I took no notice. What did grab my notice…
Yuan: ARGH! STOP THIS NONSENSE NOW!!111!!1!!1!!
Everyone except me/Kendal: (cowers)
Me: Stop complaining- It ends next chapter, mister man-in-blue.
Botta: WE ARE NOT COMPLAINING! WE ARE ORDERING!
Kendal: Remember you guys ain't got about fifty thousand people under you command here?
Yuan/Botta: YOU TWERP! YOU WILL DIE NOW, IN A HYPER-SUPER-INSANELY-ULTIMATE BLOOD APOCALYPTIC DEATH OF D00M!
Me/Kendal: ...That was long... (mauls)
