Chapter X: Dirge de Nocte (Dirge of the Night)
Absolution Arc
1707 Hours, December 18, 2714
Hall of Guardians, The Tower, The Last City
"Are you sure about joining this?" Lord Shaxx sat at his desk in the Hall of Guardians, hands folded and on the desk. "I don't like the idea of sending a Guardian that's currently in the middle of recovery after a life-threatening mission back into the battlefield."
"Lord Shaxx, I understand your concern for a Guardian's own health after being injured in a Darkness zone without a Ghost but I'm not like most Guardians," Excalibur argued, a cast over his right arm and across his chest. "Besides, you know as well as I do that I don't take 'no' for an answer even in this state I'm in."
"Listen Excalibur, as stubborn as you've become now, we lose Guardians left and right like Spectre taking out the Hive every day. You fully know what happens when you fall."
"I don't come back, I only live once, blah blah blah I get it," he leaned forward and put a hand on Shaxx's desk. "But you know what I can't stand? Hearing Adam and his group of 'friends' talk shit about the Dark Knights and alienating them from the rest of us. I accepted them as one of us even when the circumstances were not of the best possible reason for their exile. And since Adam's gonna be in the Battle Royale with the others, I want in."
Shaxx arose from his desk and stared the Gunslinger in the eyes. "Just for your own personal vendettas against him? Or is it something else you're hiding?"
"And what if I said it was both?"
"I've seen you and Adam fight before and trust me, the first encounter between you two was completely one-sided. You picked a fight with him back when you were just a new arrival in the Tower and he had the upper hand with his equipment."
"To which he started!"
"You think I don't know that, Excalibur?! Regardless, you lost that fight because of being underequipped!"
"But look at me now! I'm ready to take him on now!"
"Not in the condition you're in!" bellowed Shaxx, the two feeling their blood boiling angrily and sending daggers at the other. "Do you have any idea how much Spectre would've disapproved of your behavior right now? You're his student, for the Traveler's sake!"
"Oh trust me, I'm not doing this because of the score to settle with Adam, but also for him, his sister, and his friends! As much as I looked up to Spectre as both a teacher and Guardian while I was under the Ancient Vanguard, I can't stand for anyone putting down the best like that!"
Shaxx felt his fist tighten from the attitude this Guardian was giving as their staring contest went on. He saw the animosity in Excalibur's eyes and it won't stop growing. "...Fine. Under the condition that you at least partner up with one of the combatants to ensure you don't strain yourself from the fighting."
"Secretly put me as an ally in one of the teams in the match and it's a fair deal," Excalibur turned around and started to walk away from the Hall of Guardians before Shaxx stopped him.
"Listen, I don't want you to go past your limits in this state. And if I have to withdraw you from the match then I will. Do you understand, Excalibur?"
The Gunslinger scoffed and looked up the stairs to see his partner for the Battle Royale sitting on the railing to the entrance. "Since when have I ever kept my promise of not going beyond my limit?"
1456 Hours, December 18, 2714
Shibuya District, Old Tokyo
But the sounds of the gunshots never made their way to Aqua's ears.
Instead, she heard the sound of a low humming noise like something in flight. Not animal but of a sort of throwing disk. As it got louder it struck many bells in her head it brought something back. A memory that had been hidden away for years.
Is that…? Snapping back to reality, Aqua hit the deck when it was clear that the humming was within dangerous levels. Her suspicions were confirmed right when she heard the sound coming closer.
As the rest of Vahalla kept their weapons trained on the two Dark Knights, they failed to notice one thing. The next thing they knew, their weapons were knocked out of their hands by a blurring disk. A feeling like a razor-sharp blade cut through the back of their hands, forcing them to drop it when they tried to get it back from the ground.
Even as quick as the blur was, Aqua saw a glimpse of it mid-flight. It was a disk of sorts, with three curved blades protruding straight from the circular center. No, it can't be!
"Look out!" Donut yelled.
A shadow of a combatant was above them when the throwing blade had escaped their line of sight and the shadow crashed into the earth. Upon their landing, another shockwave erupted from their boots and swept Valhalla off their feet again. The shockwave struck the healer-sorceress and brawn of the kazoku but instead of sweeping them off their feet the shockwave pushed them back a few feet away from them. She saw that it was a black and red Hunter that caused Valhalla's weapons to fall from their grasp, Neuroghast Cloak whishing about until it settled against their back. The humming of the thrown weapon came close, nearly missing Aqua's head and into the waiting hand of the owner who stretched his arm back to anticipate the return of the weapon. He caught it like an expert of using the throwing weapon, fingers wrapping around the center and pressing it against his gloved palm.
That weapon...! Aqua took a really good look at the weapon, which started sparking with radioactive-green sparks and toxin-colored gas. In contrast to the Hunter's color scheme, it was mainly black as space with the blades a dull gray from where the fuller starts to its edge. Just looking at the weapon shook Aqua to the core as memories started flooding through her mind. That's... That's Hayden's Glaive! What's a Hunter doing with his Glaive?!
The Hunter quickly rose from their crouch and swung it just as Tucker was about to cut him with his energy sword. The energy sword's dual blades got caught in one of the curving blades of the Glaive with ease, the Hunter and Tucker at a stalemate.
Excalibur gritted his teeth and stared at the swordsman in Valhalla with an intent to protect. Even if the energy sword was mere inches away from his hand, he ignored the burning sensation and continued to trap the blades in his Glaive's own.
"If I were you Dark Knight, I'd get your teammate out of here before the rest of Valhalla gets a chance to eliminate you!" said the Hunter, glancing back at Aqua and Cloud. "Don't worry, I'll hold them off!"
Just when he anticipated Tucker to pull off a dirty move to end the stalemate, Excalibur smashed his elbow in his helmeted face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Colton and Lopez aiming their guns at him and started spraying rounds at him. Quickly, he grabbed hold of Tucker's sword-wielding arm and twisted it behind his back, disarming him and using him as a meat shield. Tucker attempted to get out of Excalibur's hold but instead found himself in a chokehold with one of the Gunslinger's knives at his neck. His Glaive retracted into a compact form under his wrist and reached for the black sidearm, Yami, holstered in his thigh holster. Swiftly drawing a bead on the two Titans and keeping Tucker at bay, he returned fire at them and some of the shots collided with the others diverting them from their flight path towards Excalibur. Yami's clip went dry and so did Colton and Lopez's rifles, prompting the Gunslinger to hit the slide release and holster it again.
"Guys—! Little help here!" croaked Tucker, clawing at Excalibur's arm to let go. The rest of Valhalla lowered their weapons to prevent their teammate from being shot at but kept it trained at the Hunter taking Tucker as a meat shield.
"Too bad. Not gonna happen." He stabbed Tucker in the chest and tore diagonally down to his lower left hip. Excalibur kicked his body into the direction of the two Titans and threw a throwing knife in the direction of Leonard Church who already aimed his sniper at his head. The knife struck the side of the sniper just as Church pulled the trigger sending the round into the ancient wall and towards the sun upon ricochet.
Donut already prepared his last rocket into Dragon's Breath and aimed at Excalibur, who already recalled his Glaive from his wrist and spun it around in his hand. He taunted Donut to attack him just by spinning the Glaive and fake yawning, to which the former put Dragon's Breath on his shoulder and pulled the trigger. Tch, pathetic. Excalibur threw the Glaive in his direction and rolled out of the way before the rocket hit him. Knowing the rocket launcher's unique ability to drop a napalm payload, the Gunslinger need only to have a visual on his throwing weapon. Just as the Glaive was about to make a head-on collision with the rocket, it suddenly jerked to the side its blades grazing through the side of the rocket. Donut hit the button to release the napalm payload but he didn't expect the incoming outcome. Instead of releasing the payload, the rocket exploded behind Excalibur normally and causing a controlled explosion.
Just as Donut wasn't paying attention to the speed of the Glaive, despite being fast, was enough for Donut to move out of the way before it hit his hands and disarm him again. Just as the Glaive was mere inches from the side where he was holding Dragon's Breath, he attempted to grab hold of the throwing weapon and use it against Excalibur.
Unknown to him, the Glaive only heeded its user's command. When Donut's hand was close to holding it, the weapon exploded in his proximity letting out a cloud of gas and a heavy aura of something else. The gas entered Donut's air filters in his helmet and already did he feel like suffocating. Dropping the Exotic rocket launcher, he fell to his knees clawing at his throat and wheezing for fresh air. His throat felt like it was being torn apart bit by painful bit and with each breath he tries to take, it only made the pain worsen and his eyesight blurring at a rapid rate. The gas─! What is it!? Bile rose up to his throat, burning up his throat and forcing him to vomit inside his helmet. Even the smell of his own vomit worsened his current state. "H-h-help meeee!" cried Donut in spite of the pain caused by the gas.
Colton and Lopez got their sword-wielding teammate off of them and reloaded their rifles, opening fire at Excalibur. The Gunslinger looked back and started to run towards the wall next to him, dodging the bullet storm intended for him until he ran up it and jumped off. Just as he was above the two Titans, he threw down two smoke bombs at them, effectively clouding their vision and giving him a breather. His Glaive returned to his hand and he started spinning vertically downward with the throwing weapon. The Glaive's blades tore through Colton's weapon with ease on the way down, destroying it effectively when the Gunslinger returned to solid ground and did an uppercut. With the Glaive in his uppercutting hand, it spun furiously like a chainsaw at its maximum speed and tore through Colton's arms with ease. The Titan staggered back from losing his arms, leaving him open for another attack and Excalibur slashed across Colton's chestplate the Glaive still at chainsaw speed. As soon as the smoke settled, Excalibur let go of the Glaive from his hand and allowed it to orbit around him with the leftover spin it had.
Aqua was lucky enough that Hunter gave her time to escape with Cloud. After finding a place to hide in the alleyways, she laid the brawn of the kazoku down on the ground but elevated his head to make it easier for him. Cloud was taking deeper breaths than normal after the shot he took, eyes closed but kept his head's gaze at her. It was starting to worry her gravely.
Where is it? Where's the bullet? She was panicking internally in spite of her body keeping composure. Aqua toggled the x-ray vision in her helmet and scanned his chest for the bullet. There! Picking up where she left off, Aqua placed her hand over his chest. "Cloud, I'm gonna try to safely remove the bullet. I need you to bear with me on this, okay? It's going to hurt a lot."
Cloud faintly opened his eyes and glanced at the healer-sorceress. "Hai. Kore wo norikoeru dake! Yes. Just get it over with!"
Taking a deep breath, Aqua concentrated her energy from her connections to the Void and started extracting the bullet with the delicacy she could use. It was painstakingly slow to align the bullet with the entry point of the bullet and she didn't have the time for it. For all she knows, South or her twin could execute her right now as she's taking out the bullet from Cloud's lung. Thankfully, she had a drone to scan for any hostiles during the time she's helping out Cloud. That Hunter… Why or how does he have Hayden's Glaive?! It's not possible for any Guardian to utilize it just as he did! As she was focusing on Cloud's wound, her mind became a battleground between the situation at hand and what she saw from the Hunter that stopped her and Cloud from being executed. Hayden's dead and I know a Guardian didn't kill him; he did. And only he has Hayden's Glaive kept as a memento. Could it be…?
Unlike his human teammates, Lopez put his arms up to defend from the Glaive's orbiting spins despite the rapid rate of its seemingly never-ending speed. Even though his gauntlets were being torn up by the throwing weapon, he continued to defend himself. When the Glaive started to slow down, Excalibur grabbed it mid-flight and shrunk back into his wrist. When Lopez looked up and aimed his rifle in Excalibur's direction, he was greeted to the sight of a double barreled weapon in his face. The two stared down at each other, fingers resting against the triggers of their weapons. Excalibur's shotgun was at point blank range and so was Lopez's rifle.
"Face it Lopez, an auto rifle isn't gonna cut it against a shotgun. Might as well give up."
"Sobre mi cadaver. Over my dead body." Lopez tightened his grip on his auto rifle.
Excalibur scoffed through his teeth. "Your loss, amigo." Before Lopez could get the chance to fire his auto rifle, Excalibur squeezed the trigger to Tigris and unloaded the shells in the shotgun. Lopez's helmet exploded from the extreme amounts of shotgun pellets burrowing onto his visor and the fragments tore through his Exo face until it suffered from the same fate as his helmet. The remaining Titan crumpled to the ground, shaking violently from the loss of his head until he stopped.
Three down… Two taken down from my Glaive and shotgun, and the other dead by the viral gas from the Glaive. He saw Church trying to draw a shot at him and broke open his shotgun, quickly loading in shells and slamming in the break-action chamber back into place. Church fired again, to which Excalibur didn't need to move at all… since he missed his shot! Typical of Church to miss his shots. Shouldn't be hard to take him down! Especially with his Super being used on Leon! With the flick of his other wrist, he called back his knife and chain and threw it in his direction while Leonard was busy complaining about his aim. When the chain wrapped around Leonard's neck, Excalibur grabbed hold of the chain and pulled him in to punching range. Right before Leonard collided with Excalibur, the Gunslinger produced three knifes in between his fingers and delivered a deadly uppercut with his bladed fist. The blades tore from his chest up to his face, piercing through the visor and leaving a pair of bloodied marks on Church's face.
After kicking Church's body away from him and into a wall, the bladed knuckles retracted into his palm and he tucked away the knives into his pack. "Not bad…but I've seen better," he sensed that there was one still standing and whipped around. "Still standing after that wound, Tucker? I'm surprised."
"I'm tougher than you think, 30," countered the Hunter, somehow in possession of his energy sword and hand covering his bloodied chest.
"As if. Valiant to the end? You're done, Tucker," Excalibur holstered his Tigris and reached for a hilt on his back.
Wait, since when did he ever get his hands on a sword? Tucker watched as Excalibur unsheathed a sword. Once he pulled it from its sheath, it was revealed not to be his replicated Raze-Lighter but a katana. The blade was a dull grayish-black and its hilt a braided black and gold, further complimented by a sword mounting─traditionally known as a 'tsuba' in Japan─resembling a European dragon's head and a similar dragon design running across the blade's surface. An ornament hung from the hilt, signifying some form of importance or mastery from its appearance alone.
"Cool blade you got there. But it's not as badass as mine, though," Tucker charged towards Excalibur.
As though he's fought speedy enemies before, Excalibur threw his katana up just as Tucker's energy sword was mere inches away from his body sending it away from its intended course. Moving his katana's sheath from his back to his side, an ancient text was etched along the sheath's edge giving it the name of 'Interitum'. Quickly, Excalibur slashed at Tucker's feet one-handed which to his surprise he dodged despite the wound. In this opening, Tucker went for another stab to Excalibur's chest but was blocked by the Gunslinger using both his katana and its sheath to deflect it. Before Tucker knew it, Excalibur stabbed Interitum at him in a flurry of the blows hitting multiple points in his body without drawing as much blood.
"Tch, how amateurish. Can't even grip your sword right when wounded and relying on one strike?! Pathetic!" taunted Excalibur. No wonder even the best swordsmen in the Tower can't stand up to anyone like me. That level of swordplay is child's play! Even as he dodged Tucker's weakened attempts to land a serious hit on Excalibur, he felt a dark energy crawling up to his arm from Interitum. He wanted to resist such a temptation, but this time he needs it. "Is that all you've got?! I've seen Silver fight better than that in the same state as you!" he saw a sphere at his feet and backstepped away from the explosion, using his Neuroghast Cloak as a shield from the blast and charged towards Tucker.
Damn, he's good! Guess it's time to use my trump card! Tucker gritted his teeth and in spite of the pain from his chest wound and the 'thousand stabs', went for a lunge across Excalibur's chest, following with a slash to his legs when the previous attack only grazed his Chestplate. Expertly, Excalibur stepped on the energy sword and impaled it to the ground with Tucker still holding onto the sword's handle and reversed his grip on Interitum, using the blunt end of the katana's hilt as a club of sorts to strike the Bladedancer in the stomach. W-what?!
With Interitum switched to his dominant left hand, Excalibur returned it to its sheath and called out his Glaive once more before tripping Tucker with his foot. As though time had stopped for Excalibur, Tucker remained in his tripping pose and raised the Glaive. "Checkmate." With one of the Glave's blades aimed down at Tucker's chest, he allowed time to continue and impaled Tucker in the chest with the blades. This time, the blades tore deep enough than his knife did causing Tucker to cough out blood in his helmet.
"You…got me…good," were Tucker's final words before he disappeared into the dropship with the rest of his teammates.
"Leonard Church, Colton, Lopez, Donut, and Tucker has been eliminated by Combatant 30. Now only ten combatants remain." Lord Shaxx announced once more, eliminating everyone but Carolina, the kazoku, Sparta, and the remaining two Freelancers from the roster.
Like when he eliminated Silver, Excalibur's Glaive retracted back into his wrist and stared into his hand that held Interitum. A dark mist formulated in his palm and pain surged through his arm forcing him to hiss painfully and grasp his upper arm. Damn, not now! Why now of all times!? He dropped to his knees and groaned from the pain, the surges becoming more powerful with each passing second and increasing the pain. Even the mist started turning darker until it reached a pitch black.
Must…get…up! Weakly, Excalibur got up on his feet and reached for a syringe in his pack. Without second thoughts, he plunged the needle in his upper arm and injected the serum within it. He started to cough violently from the serum's instantaneous effects and dropped the syringe, body twitching like crazy as the serum did its job. Just as the pain started to subside, Excalibur's body relaxed a few seconds after the serum's injection and started limping away. He continued to grasp his upper arm as he limped, taking sharp breaths from the tiny surges of pain left behind.
"Reaper, can you hear me?"
The comms channel chirped to life, showing a radio wavelength of Reaper's voice. "Yeah, I hear you loud and clear."
"Did you do your part like I asked you to?"
"Telling Aqua where Leon is and assuring her he's stable? Done. Still tracking down Carolina and Sparta; arena's a huge place," answered his Bladedancer partner.
"You may want to hold yourself on finding them, Reaper," out of the corner of his eye, the Gunslinger caught a glimpse of purple walking in another direction. Avoiding the chance that he was seen, he hid behind cover and took a peek.
"Why, you're tailing them too?"
"Not in that sense, Reap," he looked up at the rooftops to find her perched on the ledge and waving at him. He nodded and gripped Interitum's hilt tightly, his Glaive-wielding hand tightening into a fist. "I might have an idea where Carolina and Lightning may be."
"Something tells me that you know more about this place than I do."
"I do," Excalibur wracked through his head to remember what place in the Shibuya district of Tokyo would be best suited for a no bars fight until it struck him.
"They're at the Yoyogi Gymnasium."
-Destiny: Skyfall-
Lightning stepped onto the large stadium-esque room, shield at the ready. Her eyes darted across the room, checking for any blind points that anyone could use to ambush her. As empty as the area was, it serves as a perfect gladiatorial arena for her to fight one-on-one. The winter wind sent chills down her spine due to being close to dusk and the ambiance. She stepped into the center of the room, the afternoon sky serving as the lights should this place be ever restored.
But given her entire life of training, she knew she wasn't alone here.
"So, you took up my challenge." Carolina emerged from the shadows, arms crossed and staring at the Dark Knight with a competitive side showing in her walk. "You're sure that no one from your team followed you?"
"Why would I do that? I'm not like Adam who relies on his team to back him up from a challenge like this," Lightning folded her arms across her chest, flexing her fingers to prepare for the fight between the two. "And I assume you kept your end of the deal, Carolina."
"Your team is still active, not mine. Just been eliminated by Combatant 30. Don't understand how a Freelancer can last this long in the Battle Royale, but I'm assuming he's allied with you."
"It's beyond my understanding as well but I do know that guy didn't ally with us from my understanding," countered Tohsaka. "You know why I'm doing this, right?"
"As much as I will admit that Adam is one hell of an asshole towards you, your brother, and your friends, I can't say that I understand your situation and the circumstances if you lose."
"I don't know why I'm saying this, but you and I are similar in one way or another."
Underneath her helmet, the cyan Huntress cracked a faint smile at Tohsaka's comment. "Somehow, I feel the same way Lightning. Even though you're only a fairly new arrival to the Tower."
"Shame that we have to fight," Tohsaka reached for her holstered CP99 and tossed it to the side, followed by her Empress of the Abyss auto rifle. She reached for her sheathed Dusk Repulsor and drew it out, the double-edged blade glowing crimson red in the darkness and her shield expanding to full size. "No hard feelings then, Carolina?"
Carolina already threw aside her firearms and put up her fists, keeping her array of knives and tactical equipment at the ready. She smirked, ready to pick up where they left off yesterday. Both Dark Knight and Huntress locked their gazes at the other, grinding a foot against the snow for traction in the snow-covered stage.
"No hard feelings, Lightning."
A/N: Well, looks like these two are ready for their fight! Who's got the popcorn ready?
Prophet: Seriously? Popcorn? What're you, a kid?
Me: Tch, it was a joke. Besides, it'd be interesting to see how their fight plays out.
Prophet: For once, I'm with you.
Me: By the way, since when did Excalibur get his hands on that Glaive?
Prophet: Beats me, and its intriguing how that weapon could emit a viral gas of that scale didn't affect its user as well as being able to cut off a Guardian's arms at that speed it was spinning.
Me: I'd like to give a little science lecture but you'd probably wouldn't listen.
Prophet: Damn straight.
The Crimson Commando (II-XXI): Guess those unknown Hunters last chapter show themselves here! And a triple throwdown between Lightning, Carolina, and Adam? Who knows if someone's gonna crash the throwdown or maybe even join in? I do like that idea though…
fierywarlock999: Welcome to the site! And yes, that hopefully clears your doubts that was Cloud from Final Fantasy (side note: I used the Smash Bros 4 version of Cloud for his speaking dialogue and both Smash and Dissidia Final Fantasy for his moves. Regardless, Cloud is Cloud)!
And before I go, if any of you are wondering what the Glaive looks like, just google 'Dark Sector Glaive' for its image. As for those asking if I will do a Rise of Iron-inspired storyline (since Rise of Iron is closing in soon), I'm most likely not going to do so because I may or may not have a sequel already planned after Destiny: Skyfall. Till next time Guardians!
