While Leilei was on her way down to find Leilei, Zero, Vile, Tuka, Yuno and Rory stood in the hallway, looking around briefly.
"We give Leilei 5 minutes before we go." said Zero. "That should create enough distance."
"Do you really think she'll pull it off?" Vile asked, sounding skeptical as he rested against a wall.
"Leilei is very smart." said Yuko. "If anyone can do it it's her."
"Besides, she can easily blend in if she wanted to." said Rory. "She took to your technology faster than anyone. There is more to that kid than meets the eye you know."
"I hope she remembers we need her to contain the Dark Elf once it's been purged from X." said Vile. "She better not get distracted."
"She isn't so easily distracted." said Zero peering down the hall. "In the meantime we need to get ready."
"Yeah." said Rory. "We should start moving before we get swarmed."
"Then lets head for the elevator and make our way up." said X.
"Agreed." said Zero.
"They're coming!" said Tuka, looking down the hall. Sure enough the sounds of footsteps echoed as a horde of Pantheons began to come in.
"That...is a lot more than I anticipated." X said dumbfounded as he floated by Zero.
"How much you want to bet they saw the security footage of Rory's earlier rampage?" Vile asked as he readied his shoulder cannon.
"Oh so this is my fault?" Rory asked with a twitch in her eye.
"In a matter of speaking, yes." said Vile as he blasted a hunter's head off.
"Well I can't help it if I enjoy cutting loose on these guys." Rory said slicing a few Pantheon in half with a single cleave.
"Maybe you should learn some restraint." Vile retorted.
"Oh look who's talking." said Rory. "I don't try to compensate my shortcoming using pilot able Golems!"
"Are you dissing my Ride Armor?" Vile asked, now glaring at Rory.
"In a matter of speaking, yes." Rory said with a grin, throwing Vile's earlier remark back at him.
"Less talk more shooting!" Zero said as he sliced a Guardian in half before putting a bullet through the eyes of an incoming hunter. "we have to get to that elevator."
"Zero is right, the longer we delay the less assured our victory will be." said Tuka as she put an arrow through a Pantheon's eye.
"Rory can you clear us a path?" Zero asked.
"Of course!" Said Rory. "Just stand clear and...huh?" Rory looked up, the wave of Pantheons had suddenly stopped as Vile blasted the last Warrior to death.
"Where are they?" Yuko asked, looking around.
"They were nearly swarming us a minute ago, and now nothing..." said Tuka.
"I don't like this." said Zero.
"Hmph." said Vile, he turned hearing a noise, and watched as a blast gate closed down. "We're being herded."
"Towards the Elevator it seems." Rory said smirking.
"He knows we're here." said X, floating by Tuka. "We're out of time it seems."
"So he's forcing the confrontation." said Vile. "Good, finally I'll have a chance to get my hands on him."
"We're not killing him." said Zero. "Remember that."
"I know I know." said Vile. "Were using the Cyber Elf there to cure him and the Dark Elf, I get it. But that doesn't stop the fact I want to get my hands on him."
"I for one would like a few words as well." said Rory. "He needs to take responsibility for his attack on Italica."
"Pretty sure he intends to throw the prince under the bus for that one." added Vile.
"Exactly." said Rory. "But X is just as guilty, he cannot just escape responsibility!"
"So Divine Punishment from Emroy?" Vile asked.
"Yes." said Rory.
"I like it." said Vile.
"And they're agreeing with each other." said Tuka as they continued down the hall. "That can't be good."
"At least they stopped arguing." added Yuno.
"As long as they stay focused." said Zero. "we still don't know if we are walking into a trap."
Rory looked ahead, and her eyes narrowed as the elevator was coming into view. "It looks like we are." she said.
Zero looked up, someone was standing in front of the Elevator.
"Welcome to Neo Arcadia...Zero." said Kuwagust Anchus, his voice dripped with sarcasm, but his gaze never left Rory.
"Kuwagust Anchus." Zero said.
"Anchus?" Rory raised an eyebrow, and her eyes lit up. "Are you related in any way to Herculious Anchus"
That made Kuwagust twitch and growl, taking a step forward. "You...You're the one who killed my brother you half sized BITCH!"
"As I recall he attacked me first." Rory said. "He dared to call me a Maverick in order to justify attacking a helpless little girl."
That made everyone stare at Rory.
"Helpless?" Vile asked.
"Hardly." added Tuka.
"More than most likely she attacked first." chimed in Zero.
"Hey whose side are you on?!" Rory asked, glaring at the others.
Kuwagust stared, a little dumbstruck at the argument happening, causing his eye to twitch slightly before yelling at them. "H-HEY! Don't ignore me here!"
"Quiet bug boy." Rory said, dismissively waving her hand at him, not even looking. "The grownups are talking right now."
Kuwagust's eye twitch again. "B-BUG BOY?"
"So what do we do?" Tuka asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Vile asked. "We leave bug boy in pieces and continue on up to X."
"We do have him out numbered." said Yuno. "It's five on one."
"I could take him myself." said Rory.
"That I'd like to see." said Vile. "I'll even time you."
"Ooh are you doubting my speed?" Rory asked.
"You do have a tendency to play with your victims." said Vile.
"I'm still here you know." Kuwagust said, annoyed.
Again Rory would casually dismiss Kuwagust with a hand wave. "Shoo, go away." she said. "You're bothering us."
"Why you little bitch..." Kuwagust growled. "Thats it, orders or no you are DEAD!"
The group turned to Kuwagust who started to take a step forward when the elevator behind him opened up.
"Kuwagust Anchus you take one more step and it won't be the demi goddess that kills you." said the female voice.
Kuwagust froze in place, his head turning back. That made Zero and the others raise an eyebrow.
"Is it just me? Or does it look like he's sweating?" Rory asked.
they watched a tall attractive female reploid step off the elevator, her heels clicking on the floor as she walked past Kuwagust before turning around. Her Blonde hair was up in a proper bun and she had glasses perched on her nose.
"Ms. Anita." Kuwagust said, nervously.
"Were you just about to disobey Master X's orders?" Anita asked. "He made it clear to allow Zero and the Demigoddess pass."
"But she's the one who killed Herculious!" Kuwagust said. "she admitted it herself!"
"And she'll kill you just as easily I'm sure." said Anita. "Now Stand down or I'll kill you myself."
Kuwagust said nothing, and merely stood to the side and bowed. "Yes, Ms. Anita."
Anita sighed, and walked over to Zero and the others, giving a polite bow. "I apologize for Kuwagust's actions. The death of Herculious is a touchy subject for him."
Zero said nothing, watching as Anita stood up straight and adjusted her glasses. "My name is Anita, I am the personal Secretary to Master X. He is expecting you Zero." he looked at Rory. "You and the Demigoddess both."
"Me?" Rory asked, feigning surprise. "Why I'm honored. I never got to thank him for blasting me in half when we first met."
"And to think I missed that." Vile said in a mocking tone. That warranted a death glare from Rory.
"We're not here for a fight." said Zero. "Believe it or not we are here to help X."
"Oh I'm sure you are." said Anita. "But isn't it true that all of this is merely a distraction to rescue Ciel?" Anita gave a serene smile that somehow seemed unnerving, like someone trying to pretend to smile but can't quite get it right. "Now then, Zero, Ms. Goddess, you two shall come with me on the elevator, the rest of you are not welcome sadly." her eyes landed on Vile. "Especially you. You should have stayed dead you know."
"Can't keep a good bot down." Vile said.
"Zero I don't like this." said Tuka. "What if it's a trap?"
"Of course it's a trap." said Vile. "What else could it be?"
"It will be fine." said Zero. "If X does in fact want to meet with me, it gives us a chance to talk him down and use the antivirus software to purge his systems, also this way you can wait for Leilei to get back and then join us."
"Kuwagust probably won't let us leave." said Yuno.
"Then we make him." said Vile. He looked at Zero. "You get that Antivirus shoved down X's throat you hear me?"
"I will." said Zero, stepping away with Rory and heading over to Anita.
"Take us to X." said Zero.
"This way then." said Anita, leading Zero and Rory to the elevator.
The elevator ride was quiet for the most part. The elevator quietly hummed as it made its way up the tower towards Area X. On occasion Zero made glances toward Anita before looking forward. The secretary picked up on it and smiled. "Something the matter Zero?" she asked.
"Nothing." said Zero. "For some reason you look familiar."
"No surprise there." Anita said. "I am modeled after a former Co-worker of yours from your Maverick Hunting days, Alia I believe her name was. A brilliant navigator and scientist. My specs are pretty much on par with her, making me a very efficient secretary to help out Master X. I make sure he stays on task and upholds his schedules."
"I see." said Zero.
"A copy huh?" Rory asked, looking at Anita. "Must be tough shoes to fill."
"Not really." said Anita. "My function is to be X's personal secretary, I was not built with trying to replicate Alia's success in mind. I think such an Endeavour could lead one to have an identity crisis and too much expectations to fulfill, wouldn't you agree?"
"So why doesn't X use a Copy of himself then?" Rory asked. "Considering the current state of his mental health, a body double to help out would take a lot off his shoulders."
"Surely your joking. Do you know how much responsibility Master X has? It would break a normal reploid meant to be nothing more than a body double, especially if the double was in charge when the Energy crisis hit us."
"Yes but I'm sure the Copy wouldn't have had innocent Reploids declared Maverick just for peacefully protesting the laws that were put in place." Rory said, prodding Anita some more.. "Considering he wouldn't be burdened by the infection that is plaguing X the copy would have been much more rationale, am I right? Besides it's not like we're saying the Copy should take over 24/7. He just needs to step up when X needs to rest, and then read from a script, I doubt anyone would notice the difference. Unless of course you were worried the copy would start thinking he really was X and tried to take over?"
"I would be careful with your words Ms. Rory." Anita said looking ahead. "Such talks can get someone killed."
"And isn't it talk like that that starting making reploids leave Neo Arcadia and form the resistance?" Rory asked. "X claims to want peace between humans and reploids, but is he not leaning too heavily towards pleasing humans? Where is the equality in that?"
"It was only meant as a temporary measure until the crisis was solved." said Anita.
"And yet it escalated." said Rory. "And X is so far gone he is unable to listen to reason, even attacked a human city in my world."
"And whose fault is that?" Anita retorted. "It was the resistance who decided to hide in a human city to begin with. No doubt hoping to use the humans as a shield, a typical maverick move."
Rory turned on her heels, glaring down Alia. "The Resistance aren't Mavericks!" she said. "I would be careful what you say from now on Ms. Secretary, Emory may just decide that Neo Arcadia is beyond saving."
"Rory calm down." said Zero.
"No I'm not going to calm down." Rory said, gripping her axe. "How the hell did Ciel and the rest of the resistance put up with this discrimination for as long as they have? If you ask me the only reason they're maverick is because they chose to think for themselves instead of falling in line with X's madness. And speaking of madness, what was your great leader thinking putting Prince Zorzal in charge? The man has a history that makes him worse than any maverick you've ever dealt with."
"A necessary evil to get proper support from the Empire in order to extract the resistance out of Italica." said Anita. "It would have looked bad in the eyes of our allies if we were to just waltz in as is."
"Do you have ANY idea how many humans were killed in that attack?" Rory asked. "Or is that just another 'necessary evil' in your war against anything you consider to be a Maverick?"
"Again it's not our fault known criminals decided to hide in a human city now is it?" Anita asked.
When the elevator stopped and the doors opened Anita went flying out of it and down the hall, crashing to the floor and rolling once or twice before she picked herself back up onto her feet, fixing her hair and adjusting her glasses as Rory stepped out, her anger boiling over at Anita's near lack of care for what happened at Italica as her eyes burned red.
"Zero go on ahead and shove that Anti Virus down X's throat." said Rory. "I'm going to teach this secretary some manners."
"Rory calm down and lets think this through." said Zero.
"No I'm done thinking, I'm done playing nice." said Rory. "Right now, more than ever, I want to kill this woman for mocking what happened at Italica and brushing it off like it meant nothing so long as their objective was completed."
Zero stared for a moment, looking from Rory, to Anita, then back to Rory. "Fine." And with that he quickly dashed off down the hall.
"Where do you think you're going?" Anita asked, leveling a buster gun. "If you think I'm going to let you see Master X now you have another thing Co-" She barely finished the sentence when she saw the gun, still being held by her hand fall to the floor, she looked down at the stump of her hand as Zero ran by, then looked up to See Rory standing very close, her purple colored lips stretched in a crazed smile.
"I'm your opponent bitch." she said rather harshly as she kicked Anita into the wall. Anita winced and slumped before getting back to her feet and smiled. "Feisty aren't you?" she asked.
"Oh I'm a lot more than "Feisty" " Rory said.
"Still you should feel ashamed." Anita said. "Picking on a poor defenseless secretary."
"Defenseless?" Rory asked. "Don't make me laugh. And don't pretend I didn't notice the marking."
"Marking?" Anita asked, feigning confusion. "Oh!" She turned slightly showing the emblem on her shoulder. "You mean this marking?" The emblem in question was blue segmented circle with a two wings jutting off on either end. Over it was a white and purple stylized skull that somewhat resembled Phantom's helmet. "Beautiful isn't it?" she asked, pulling out a dagger with her still intact hand. "It is the symbol of the Zan'ei Gundan, the Cutting Shadow Squadron run by Hidden Phantom of the Shittenou."
"I hope you put up a better fight then the Mutos I have encountered." said Rory. "I've yet to really face anyone from this place that can put up a challenge that isn't one of the Shittenou. Though out of the two I fought I had more fun with Leviathan than I did with Fafnir."
"Oh You'll find I'm full of surprises." Anita said, lunging for Rory. Rory smiled, stepping back to dodge the knife and parrying with her Axe, there was a look of delight in Rory's eyes as this seemingly ordinary secretary was keeping up with her for the most part.
"My you certainly are skilled." Rory commented, ducking under a knife slash and swinging her Beam Axe up. Anita dodged out of the way rather quickly, doing a back flip and scooping up her severed hand, she spun around as she landed on her feet and Rory stared in surprise as Anita was moving the fingers of a newly reattached hand, making sure they were all still working.
"How did you do that?" Rory asked.
"Now now." said Anita. "A girl doesn't reveal all her secrets." She dashed in a little faster than before catching Rory off guard as she switched the Beam Dagger to her newly reattached hand and sliced her own hand off, causing it to fall to the floor in a spurt of blood. "Now we're even." she said.
Rory stepped back, wincing from having her hand severed. "That's quite the weapon you have to cut through this armor."
"Like you really need armor." said Anita. "I've heard the horror stories you know."
Rory just grinned, looked down at her hand as bloody tendrils grew from the stump and latched onto the hand, pulling it back into place and healing the wound. she moved the hand around to make sure it was reattached properly.
"Very well then." said Rory. "I do admit I was feeling a little sluggish in this." She took her helmet off an tosses it to the side and quietly stripped down for Anita, leaving herself in just the black and red trim under suit of the armor along with the boots and gloves. She moved her joints for a bit as if to get a quick feel for the lighter weight, before giving Anita a sadistic grin and then disappearing.
"WHAT?" Anita's eyes widen before she turned around hearing a sound, and quickly brought her beam dagger up to barely deflect the Beam Axe before jumping away.
"Ah that's more like it." Rory said. "I really should ask Cerveau and Doigt to make me lighter armor next time.
"H...HOW!" Anita said in complete shock. She looked at Rory, than looked back at where Rory was previously standing, then back at Rory. "A human isn't that fast."
"Who said I was human?" Rory asked, her eyes narrowing. "Have you not been paying attention? I am Rory Mercury, Apostle for the God of War and Death Emory. I have been alive since before this city was even CONCIEVED in this world, and right now I'm doing everything in my power to hold myself back so I don't level this place to the ground because that would make Ciel sad. She has hopes that this place can be a wonderful place for humans and reploids." She raised her axe, leveling it at Anita. "But in order to make that happen, people like you who encourage needless bloodshed and hide behind such things as "For the good of the people" and "Necessary evil." need to be removed."
"Does that include Master X?" Anita asked.
"If need be yes." said Rory. "Humans and reploids alike suffer while X is losing his mind, he needs to be removed and someone with some common sense needs to take over. The fact that he himself didn't even consider that shows how far gone he is."
"It shows how dedicated he is to protecting humans." said Anita. "Not even being infected is stopping him."
"If he wants to protect the humans, he needs to protect them from himself first." said Rory.
"He'll die before he surrenders." said Anita.
"So be it." said Rory. "I'll make sure you're waiting for him so you can be a good loyal secretary in the underworld." With that she dashed again at Anita, vanishing from the reploid's view before stopping behind her, swinging her Axe up and chopping an Arm off.
"Gahh!" Anita staggered back, growling.
"That was for Menart." Rory said, her voice low, growling. She swung again, ducking low to avoid Anita's dagger and lobbing her leg off, causing Anita to fall back from the loss of balance. "That was for Delilah."
There was panic in Anita's eyes, a sudden realization seemingly entering her mind. This little girl slaughtered thousands of pantheons on her own, Killed a Mutos by herself, went toe to toe with two members of the Shittenou and even managed to defeat Leviathan.
"Heh heh." she said laughing. "Perhaps I overestimated myself."
Rory said nothing, swinging the Axe down on the laughing mad Anita and decapitating her, watching her head fall to the floor as her body went slump, her face stuck in that laughing state.
"And that was for Ciel." Rory said. She straighten herself out and relaxed. "Now to go join Zero in beating some sense into X."
She made her way down the hall, approaching the final elevator that would take her up to X's sanctum, but stopped. She blinked, once, then twice, did she hear something behind her?
"Bumo?" Rory said, confused, she turned around "What in Emory's name is a Bu-" she didn't get to finish as a long narrow bladed suddenly pierced right through her chest, sending her into the wall and pinning her to it...serious dejavu from her battle with Leviathan.
"GAH!" she gasped from the impact of the wall and coughed up blood, looking up. "Whose there...Huh?" She stared, tracing the Blade...it wasn't separated, it was a long continuous piece, and it connected to...Anita's body, sitting up straight despite being headless and twitching.
It was her still intact arm, held out straight and extended all the way and morphing into a sharp pointed blade that now had Rory pinned to the wall through her chest.
"You should be dead." Rory said staring.
"Am I?" Rory blinked and looked to Anita's head. the laughing mad grin it was stuck on was gone and she was staring back at Rory. "Didn't I tell you that a girl doesn't reveal all her secrets right away?" Anita's body retracted the arm blade, letting Rory drop to the floor, causing her to gasp as the wound began to heal itself. Rory looked up and watched as Anita's severed leg seem to melt into some kind of green good that shimmered with other colors before stretching itself onto Anita's hip and reforming, allowing the body to stand up before casually picking up her head and reattaching it with a rather distinct "schulrp" sound. She took a moment to fix a few loose strands of hair putting them back into place, before looking down to see her glasses ruined. She sighed, held her hand out, and Rory watched as the reploid's fingers seem to stretch into long thin strands before separating from the tips and forming a new pair of glasses which she perched on her face and adjusted, while the broken pair seem to melt into that same goo and reabsorb itself back into Anita's body.
"What the hell are you?" Rory said, looking a combination of amazed and scared. "You're obviously not an Apostle, but I haven't seen any reploid do what I just saw you do."
"Ah but I'm not any old reploid now am I?" Anita asked.
"Are you some kind of Mutos?" Rory asked.
"Not exactly." said Anita, she again gave that smile that seemed off and wrong. "You could say I'm more of a weapon."
"A weapon?"
"That's right." said Anita. "Allow me to formerly introduce myself. My name is Anita, personal Secretary to Master X and a member of the Zan'ei Gundan under Hidden Phantom. My Serial designation in RN3W-D35L."
"R...N..." Rory looked confused.
"Quite the mouthful I know." Anita said. "Thats why I like the little nickname my coworkers gave me." At this point Anita's body...started growing. Rory stepped back watching as the secretary grew bigger and bulked up slightly while at the same time she seem to just...Melt! Her whole body turning into a green goo like substance that shimmered with multiple colors, clear and see through and reminded Rory of common slimes back home.
"What in the world?" Rory said confused. Anita's slime like body soon took up the height and width of the hall, the overall shape was still unmistakably Anita but now it looked like she was hitting the gym in her spare time. And on top of all that in the center of what was her head, floating there like the nucleus of a Slime, was a modified pantheon head, it's eye focused on Rory.
"They call me, the Rainbow Devil." Anita said, her voice a lot deeper and menacing sounding, with a slight reverb to it.
"Quite the name." said Rory. "But whats with the Bumo? I heard that word come from your body when I turned out."
Anita twitched, and slime form turned completely red from embarrassment like a mood ring. "NEVER BRING THAT UP YOU HEAR ME?" she said growling. "I can't help it alright!"
"I see I hit a touchy subject." Rory said, watching as Anita's body returned to its primary green. "Well this explains how you reattached your hand, Your just a giant Slime girl aren't you?" she looked over the body and then at the Pantheon head. "And there's your nucleus, ripe for destruction."
"You know you should feel honored." Anita said. "Not many get to see this side of me."
"No I suppose not." Rory said, patting her chest, good all healed. She picked up her axe and stood ready. "Though I suppose neither of can truly die can we? "
"A war of attrition then." said Anita. "who can outlast the other?"
"Then will play with me? And keep me company through this long afternoon? My dear Anita?" Rory asked, a sadistic grin on her face.
"Why yes, yes I would love to." said Anita, her own voice dripping with Sadism.
Rory let out a laugh of ecstasy as she lunged for Anita, charging up the Beam Axe and swinging it at Anita's Slime body, aiming for the head. Anita was quick, fast and fluid as she shifted her whole body like a contortionist to avoid Rory's Axe, before compressing down to reploid size again as Rory turned around take another swing, before being caught by surprise as Anita brought up a Beam Axe of her own to block, and Rory found herself staring at what can best be described as a reploid version of herself.
"Oh my how charming." said Rory, eying her doppelganger.
"I thought maybe you'd like a real challenge." Anita said in Rory's voice. The two of them grinned maliciously before pushing off each other and then charging back in. Stereo laughter echoed in the hall as the two Rorys clashed blades, ducking and dodging swings and sometimes not dodging at all, Blood splattering the wall as Rory lost an arm, and green goo splattering the floors as Anita lost an arm, before just as quickly their limbs reattached themselves, wounds healed up, and large open gashes sealed up good as new.
'My you're quite good." said Rory. "Have you considered becoming an apostle? I think Emory would LOVE to have you."
Anita/Rory smiled and bowed. "Sorry but I much prefer to be a secretary. Master X would be lost without me, he can't manage a schedule to save his life, even before his infection."
"A shame." said Rory. The two sized each other up before dashing at the same time, swinging their axes in near perfect sync as they rushed past each other and skidded to a stop. Rory felt her neck to feel a line of blood and smiled as her head fell off, just as Anita/Rory's head fell off as well.
"I'd say we're even but I'm still up by one on decapitations it seems." Rory said as she picked her head up.
"Oh don't worry I'll even things up with you before this day is over." Anita/Rory said as she picked her head up.
Rory just giggled as she reattached her head, she moved her neck back and forth making sure everything was okay before she quickly picked up her Axe and spun around aiming to catch her doppelganger off guard.
"RORY WAIT!" came a familiar voice and a shriek.
Rory barely managed to stop the blade, staring in disbelief. "Ciel?"
'Ciel' just smiled, before forming a Beam Saber from her body and slicing Rory's arm off and jumping back, the rest of her body then morphing to make it look as though Ciel were wearing Zero's armor. "There is a very good reason I am part of branch of the military that specializes in sabotage and infiltration Ms. Apostle." Anita/Ciel said. "To think you actually hesitated when you should have known you and I are the only ones in this hallway." Anita/Ciel quickly lunged for Rory, causing the apostle to quickly jump back while she reattached her arm in order to avoid the Beam saber attack, and then flipped over her and rolled along the floor and back to her feet as she picked up her Beam Axe, spinning around to block another attack from the Devil.
"impressive." said Anita/Ciel. "Your agility is amazing."
"Hearing you say that with Ciel's voice disgusts me." said Rory. "How dare you?"
"Oh I'm so sorry." Anita/Ciel said, almost mockingly. She pushed Rory away, and Rory watched as Anita morphed again, her body shimmering in her slime form before taking on the appearance of Leilei.
"Better?" Anita/Leilei asked, before holding out her staff and launching a fireball at Rory.
Rory's eyes widen and she quickly avoided the attack. She can even mimic Leilei's magic?
'No can't be.' Rory thought, as she avoided a lightning attack this time. Rushing in and taking a swing at the imposter. 'It has to be something innate to Anita, just like with any reploid or Mutos.'
Anita/Leilei smiled, as she morphed again, this time into Tuka, taking aim with her beam bow and firing a shot which Rory dodged, quickly closing the gap and swinging at the Devil again, only for Anita to morph again into her Rory form to block with her own axe and push her back.
"You're starting to get on my nerves." said Rory.
Anita/Rory just smiled. "Oh really? I'm starting to have fun myself actually. Maybe we should spice things up a bit?" Anita/Rory would morph again, first growing in size into her devil form before splitting into three separate Devils, taking human size and then morphing into Princess Pina Co Lada, Bozes, and Panache. All of them armed with Neo Arcadian weapons.
"Can you handle 3 on 1?" Anita/Pina asked.
"I don't know." said Anita/Bozes, feigning concern. "She looks tired."
"Maybe if we held back a bit." said Anita/Panache, tapping her chin.
Rory growled again, getting agitated by Anita's antics as she lunged for the Trio of Rose Imposters, keeping them from reacting as she stopped short to them off balance and swung her axe, cutting all three of them in half. "You are starting to pissed me off here." said Rory.
Anita/Pina groaned, pushing herself up on her elbows and looking at Rory. "That wasn't very nice, attacking while we were in the middle of a conversation." the severed part of her upper body started to stretch out, and form a new pair of legs which she stood up on, while her severed lower half stretched out to reform a new body, turning into a copy of Hamilton.
"She really needs to be taught a lesson." Said Anita Hamilton.
"You've got to be shitting me." Rory said. watching as the Bozes and Panache clones grew new legs while their lower halves became copies of Rose Order members Beefeater and Shandy.
"You said we were perfectly willing to just go 3 on 1." said Anita/Pina. "But now you've gone and made it 6 on one." The 6 Rose Order copies all had sadistic grins on their faces. "This is all on you." Anita/Pina said before they all rushed in at once.
Rory stepped back, blocking sword after sword as she kept up with all 6. This wasn't like fighting a horde of Pantheons and cutting through them with ease, this felt more like taking on 6 Mutos at once. It was slowly making her agitation go away and replace with delight at simply how amazing The Rainbow Devil Anita was, though that also just pissed her off even more. She spun around, blocking Anita/Panache while kicking Anita/Beefeater away before swinging up and Bifurcating Anita/Hamilton in two, only for one half to reform back into Hamilton and the other to take on Anita's Rory form and lunge in.
"Oh for god sakes!" Rory said, growling as she grabbed the Anita/Hamilton and tossed her right at Anita/Pina. Anita/Pina just grinned and absorbed Hamilton in her body, their appearances mixing into a new person attacking with techniques that Both Pina and Hamilton would employ.
"Are you SERIOUS?" said Rory. Blocking the Anita/Pinaton before getting chopped in half by Anita/Rory.
"You really should mind your surroundings." Anita/Rory said, chuckling as Pina and Hamilton separated back into separate individuals. "Or have you forgotten you're Outnumbered?"
Rory took in a breath, pulling herself back together and getting back up, cracking open the Beam Axe and sliding in a Lightning clip before charging up the Blade.
"Let's see how that slime body of yours likes being fried." Rory said, Swinging an arc of electricity and hitting Anita/Shandy. The Clone let out a shrill scream as she was thrown across the hall, melt and splattering into goo in the process, causing the others to look downright terrified.
"So there's your weakness." Rory said chuckling, eyeing each one. "Now the question is, which one of you has the nucleus?" She'd lick her lips and lunge in, swinging the axe and splatting Pina and Hamilton onto the wall together. Anita/Rory growled and rushed in, charging her own Axe with Fire and swinging at Rory, only for Rory to block and push her out of the way before spinning the axe back and skewering Anita/Bozes and Anita/Panache at once, frying them into a goopy mess on the floor. Anita/Beefeater lunged in, swinging he dual Beam Sabers at Rory and clashing against her for a short moment before Rory finally sliced her open with a fully charged beam axe from the waist up. Anita/Beefeater's voice gargled as she staggered back on her in still intact legs, looking like some misshapen creature as she tried to pull herself together before collapsing.
Rory turned, her eyes now on Anita/Rory. "Of course you'd keep the Nucleus inside me. How utterly vain of you." she said.
Anita/Rory growled and shifted back to Anita, standing upright but losing her balance slightly from having so much of her being destroyed just now. "You enjoyed killing the Rose Order way too much, even if they were just copies." Anita said.
"What can I say? They really need to be taught a lesson themselves, seeing as it was the Princess getting into contact with Neo Arcadia that started all of this in the first place."
"My you are a very vicious little girl." said Anita. "It's no wonder our Pantheons are terrified of you." Anita took a deep breath, and calmly shifted and grew into her Devil form. "But now I'm going to end this little game of cat and mouse."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Rory asked, holding her Axe in hand. "Exposing your weakness like that when you'd have a better time with your little copy game? I do admit a part of me did enjoy the chance to fight myself."
"Who said it was a weakness?" Anita asked.
"Huh?" Rory blinked, looking confused. "But isn't it Obvi-" she was silenced before she could finish her sentence as Anita stretched out her arm, expanding it and grabbing Rory by the head and slamming her into a wall, then another wall and finally the ceiling and floor before lifting her up, The Pantheon head looking at her, moving this and that as if to express emotion.
"Far too gullible, and easily distracted." said Anita. "As for my supposed weakness to Thunder attacks?" Anita's body shifted to yellow and her body would crackle before sending Electrical energy into Rory's body, causing the apostle to scream out in pain. Rory's body went limp for a moment, and Anita dropped her to the floor, before expanding her hand and slamming a massive punch into Rory's body. Rory's eyes nearly bulged out of her head and coughed up from the impact, before managing to grab her Axe and slice Anita's arm off. Anita merely pulled back the stump, forming a new hand while the severed one hung in the air for a moment before splitting into blades that skewered Rory like a Pin cushion, causing her to gasp out in pain again.
"You may be able to defeat Mutos and Pantheon alike." said Anita, as she formed her hand into a giant blade. "But you seem to be more even when facing someone that's on the same level as you." She'd swung down and slice Rory's arm off, Rory screamed, too exhausted now to try and regenerate. "Granted I know I am no match for your physically, you pretty much proved that with how easily you can dispatch my copies when your serious, but this is was a war of attrition. And it was only a matter of time before your own regenerative abilities began to become exhausted. You never lost limbs so fast in such a short amount of time have you?" She'd slice off a leg next and kicked it away, keeping Rory from being able to move. "There is a limit to how much you can regenerate from, and even if your an immortal apostle you're still human. You'd need to rest and recover from the exertion of pulling yourself back together over and over again. She'd morph her blade back into a hand, using it to grab Rory's leg while still holding onto Rory's head. Rory's eyes widen as Anita pulled in opposite directions and ripped her in half. Satisfied Anita shifted back to her reploid form, her hair disheveled now as she stared at Rory's bloody and beaten form.
"How does it feel to be on the losing end for once?" Anita asked. "I'm sure it'll be awhile before you can fully regenerate from all of this.
"Rory?" an unfamiliar voice came in the direction of the elevator, causing Rory's eyes to widen as Anita turned around toward the source.
"Leilei?" Rory said, weakly. "Run...this woman she's...she's a demon."
Leilei looked from Rory, then to the woman, Anita's smile dripped with sadism.
"So you're the infamous 'Leilei La Lalena' the girl from the other world who can Cyber Fuse." she said.
She let go of Rory, letting her body dropped to the floor before holding out her hand.
"Master X is busy right now entertaining Zero. But I'll be happy to keep you company."
Anita was chuckling to herself. First she got to fight the infamous Rory Mercury who butchered Pantheons by the thousands without a care in the world, and now here she was standing face to face with the little girl from the other world who managed to cyber fuse without a problem.
"Will you play with me?" Anita asked. "And keep me company throughout this fine afternoon? My dear Leilei?"