Previously in Heart of the Melting Blood RELOADED…
"TO USE A SIMPLER TERM," the robot spoke, "YOU'RE PWNED."
Staggered and heavily battered, Terry stood back on his feet and glowered at Mark 2. The wolf spirit was howling in anger, insulted and greatly deprived by the robot's act, and was demanding its master to let it free. "You're nothing but a replicated soldier. PWNED or not, I'm not going to lose to the likes of you."
"UNFORTUNATELY, TERRY," Mark 2 replied, "YOU ALREADY LOST."
x-x
"Miss Sion, may I make a promise with you?" he asked and grabbed a nearby broomstick and cleanly chopped it into half with his hand.
"What are you going to promise me, Alex?" asked the young woman.
"Whatever happens," he said and crossed the sticks in a perfect angle, "I'll try not to kill people in front of you. I'll try to."
"What's this?" the agent from earlier sarcastically asked. "You're going to fight for the sake of your lover? How pitiful, and that's the greatest mistake you've done. Get him!"
"Unfortunately, for you people," Alex insisted, "You're making the mistake for messing with the black feather."
x-x-x-x-x
Guilty Gear
Heart of the Melting Blood RELOADED
Written and conceived by: Lone Wolf NEO
Lone Wolf NEO does not own any of all the games or anime or manga featured in this story, but he owns the copyright to all his original ideas in this fiction. Lone Wolf would really appreciate it if readers do not plagiaries everything inside this story without his knowledge.
Chronological Note: Heart of the Melting Blood RELOADED takes place scarcely half a year after Guilty Gear versus SNK 2: Battle Revolution, and currently runs roughly in parallel with Guilty Gear: The World Within and Without written and owned by Sheo Darren.
Featured song: "Battlecry" (Samurai Champloo OP)
Chapter 12
Red Alert And Battle Cry
The news of Terry Bogard defeated by Mark 2 quickly swept South Town and the whole world by surprise. Allies and foes alike were in absolute shock when they heard the news, and suspicion and anger arose inside of the, particularly when they clearly knew that the legendary wolf of Fatal Fury was unbeatable. Moreover, the fact that it was committed by a robot could not be accepted by everyone, and soon all fighters united to face the attacker.
And it turned out to be even worse than expected.
The Kim Dojo, South Town.
Mark 2 stood alone. Around him, the Tae Kwon Do apprentices were laying on the floor, groaning in pain and injuries. He shrugged and put a hand on his head. "ANALYSIS COMPLETE. NONE OF THE APPRENTICES' SKILL IMPRESSES ME, AND I NEED TO UPDATE THE SOFTWARE AS FREQUENT AS POSSIBLE." He turned around and watched at Kim, who was furiously glowering at him. "KIM KAPHWAN. WHEN THE BAD GUYS CALL OUT HIS NAME, THEY MUST TREMBLE IN FEAR. FOR THE GREAT TAE KWON DO MASTER IS ALSO THE CHAMPION OF JUSTICE AS WELL," he spoke.
"What has brought you here, criminal?" Kim demanded and immediately opened his stance.
"CRIME? WHAT IS CRIME?" Mark 2 uttered and laughed out loud. "NOTHING BUT A MISCONCEPTION OF A PERSON COMMITTING SOMETHING OUT OF ORDINARY. FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN A BOX IS COLOURED BLACK BUT I INSIST TO HAVE IT PAINTED IN WHITE, DOES IT COUNT AS A CRIME?"
"Enough talking!" Kim shouted and pointed at Mark 2, his eyes glinting in burning passion. "Aku wa yurosan…!" Evil will not be forgiven…!
Mark 2 grinned and opened his stance. "BRING IT ON, CHAMPION OF JUSTICE. DEFEATING YOU WILL PROVE VALUABLE FOR THE BUREAU."
Kim emitted a battle cry and leaped toward Mark 2, trying to land a Hangetsu Zan on the robot. Mark 2 easily evades the overhead flip kick and counterattacked with a smash from his hard slash attack. Kim was hit and sent flying to the air, but he quickly air-recovered and dived toward Mark 2 in his Hishou Kyaku. "THAT KIND OF ATTACK WILL NOT HARM ME, KIM KAPHWAN!" Mark 2 shouted and executed Ky-Maku Homerun. Both the airborne bicycle kick and the grounded uppercut collided, but Mark 2 had advantages over the Korean champion. "AGAIN! KY-MAKU HOMERUN!" This time, it was a successful hit, and automatically it linked to his trademark Ky Kokoro no Ichigeki.
"Pop!" Dong Hwan, the oldest son of Kim, cried in distress and immediately dashed toward Mark 2 who had executed the rising overdrive. "You unforgiven robot! RAIMEI DAN!"
"TOO EASY," Mark 2 uttered and parried the overhead overdrive with Thunderseal. An electrified shockwave came out from the collision, and both Dong Hwan and Mark 2 seemed to be stunned in an electrical orb. Mark 2 grinned and puffed out a heavy smoke from his exhaust, blinding Dong Hwan and temporarily knocked him off. Mark 2 braced his palm and slammed it on the floor. "POWER GEYSER!" Unable to dodge, Dong Hwan was knocked off by the overdrive and was sent flying to the air before crashing back on the floor. Jae Hoon, the younger brother of Dong Hwan, immediately assisted both the downed fighters, whilst his eyes angrily glowered at Mark 2.
"ANALYSING RAIMEI DAN… ANALYSIS COMPLETE." Again, Mark 2 tapped his head to gain access to the newly downloaded information. "AN OVERHEAD SCISSOR KICK CHARGED UP WITH ELECTRICITY. IT TURNS INTO A FLIPPING RISING KICK IF THE FIRST HIT IS BLOCKED. OR SO IT IS." Mark 2 watched, as Kim Kaphwan and Kim Dong Hwan slowly rose up from the floor, battered and injured but still remained intact. "SO, THE CHAMPION OF JUSTICE REFUSES TO SURRENDER? I RESENT THAT KIND OF DETERMINATION."
"I'll stop you in the name of justice, Mark 2!" Kim insisted, panting breathlessly for air.
Mark 2 laughed out and pointed Thunderseal at both the Tae Kwon Do fighters. "WHAT IS JUSTICE? A TERM ONLY NAÏVE PEOPLE WILL TRULLY BELIEVE IN. YOUR KIND OF JUSTICE REMAINS UNCHANGED FOR MILLENNIAS, BUT DOES IT APPLICABLE IN THE WORLD TODAY? I BET NOT."
"Urusai! You're nothing but a bunch of metallic crap!" Jae Hoon shouted and dashed toward Mark 2, too fast to be chased down by Dong Hwan. The PWAB unit effortlessly leaped over the young warrior and chopped the back of his neck with his drill kick, knocking him out in an instant.
"Jae Hoon!" Kim shouted and dashed toward Mark 2. "You son of (censored)! I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!"
Mark 2 saw the oncoming attack and laughed. "YOU'RE PWNED!" the robot shouted and executed a carbon copy of Raimei Dan onto Kim. Kim was taken by surprise when he saw the imitated overdrive and quickly blocked it. To his yet another surprise, Mark 2 halted the overhead kick right before his face. "WHAT'S WRONG, KIM? SURPRISED TO SEE THE TECHNOLOGICAL ACHIEVEMENT OF ROBO-KY MARK 2?" the robot spoke and slammed the fully electrified kick onto his head. The overdrive hit, and Kim was sent crashing flat on the floor.
"POP!" Dong Hwan cried in horror. He screamed in absolute anger and dashed toward Mark 2, his legs fully charged with electricity. "THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOU FOR GOOD!" The teen emitted a loud battle cry and jumped toward Mark 2, directing his electrified feet at the robot. "HOU'OU KYAKU!" Mark 2 did not evade nor counterattack; instead he let the overdrive to make contact with his body. Dong Hwan was so concentrated into defeating the robot with the attack that he did not realize the hidden agenda behind Mark 2's defenseless pose.
"ANALYSIS COMPLETE." Mark 2's eye gleamed. "PSYCH BURST COUNTER!" Dong Hwan was knocked out of his Hou'ou Kyaku duration, and was chased down by the robot in red garb. "I HAVE NO INTENTION OF DEFEATING YOU BUT SINCE THIS BATTLE HAS WAGED, I SHALL FINISH THIS!" Mark 2 shouted and jumped toward the stunned Dong Hwan. "COMBINING THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCE OF RAIMEI DAN AND THE SWIFTNESS OF HOU'OU KYAKU… COMBINATION AFFIRMED." The golden eyes shone brightly, as the sound of mechanical gears whirling inside of his body was audible, screeching loudly inside the training hall.
"TRUE LIGHTNING PHOENIX KICK!"
It happened in a blink second. The combined destructive force of Raimei Dan and the swiftness of Hou'ou Kyaku proved too strong for Dong Hwan to handle, and he was instantly defeated by the copied overdrive. Eventually, the Tae Kwon Do warrior was defeated. Mark 2 exhaled out an amount of hot gas from his exhausts and walked toward the door, leaving the dojo for his next target. A moment later, he halted. "I CAN SEE YOU HIDING INSIDE THERE. HEH, DON'T WORRY ABOUT THEM. DEFEATING THEM IS ALL BUT A PART OF OUR AGENDA, BUT WE DON'T INTEND TO CAPTURE THEM. BE GRATEFUL TO HAVE MET THE MOST DANGEROUS OPPONENT OF ALL." With that spoken, he activated built-in hang glider and flew away from the dojo.
Slow and silent as it was, Jinju "May" Lee walked out of her hiding spot looked at the robot-in-leave. "Damn you…!" She quickly rushed into the fighting hall and approached Kim. "Master Kim! Keep yourself together! Master Kim!" Kim barely opened his eyes and stared at his student. "Master Kim! Are you alright? Master Kim!"
"May Lee…" Kim weakly called out her name. "Mark 2… must… defeat… before…"
May Lee quickly seized his hand and nodded in approval. "Don't worry, Master Kim. I'll avenge your defeat, I will," she promised, her eyes burning in passionate anger. "I will avenge you."
x-x-x-x
Back to Cairo.
Alex stared at the Swordsman named Elde Talonn in suspicion. How the newcomer knew that he was the Black Feather, along with the fact that he brought a threat to the world, was both intriguing and somewhat annoying. Moreover, the fact that even the Keepers of the System feared his existence was all but an annoyance.
"I don't care whether they accept my presence or not!" Alex insisted and clenched his fists. "As long as they know that I still exist, that would be enough for me!"
"Your existence?" Sion asked.
"That's right! My existence has been denied by all people for too long," Alex uttered. "Just because I'm a fallen soldier doesn't mean I can't live on this earth. I still have rights as a human!"
"But we were told by Lone Wolf-san…"
"That's an absolute lie!" Alex cut off Kirika's explanation. He growled in anger and threw the fighting sticks off his hand. "Have you got no ideas of how painful the experience I have to face? For ten years… for ten years I tried to regain everything I had lost, and yet these people avoided me just because I betrayed them! Do you have no ideas of how harsh everything I have to face? Do you?" All of them were silent. Neither of them could agree or disagree with the fallen knight. Alex growled again and turned away from them. "You people cannot be trusted in the first place. Damn it, I wish the Gears were still living these days…"
"Gears?" Elde asked. "How did you know about the Gears?"
"You wouldn't want to know, Elde," Alex told him.
"THAT'S RIGHT!" All of them looked at the direction of the voice and saw a group of soldiers in red garbs staring down at them. "YOU PEOPLE WILL NEVER KNOW THE FALLEN SOLDIER'S BACKGROUND, BECAUSE WE ARE GOING TO CAPTURE HIM!"
"AND WE'RE GOING TO PWN YOU FOR GOOD!" another voice shouted.
"Who are you?!" Sion reacted to the voice.
"WHO ARE WE?" the voice responded, and followed by a heavy mechanical noise filling the empty sky of Cairo. "WE ARE ROBO-KY MARK II, THE LATEST IN PWAB ROBOTIC ARMY PRODUCTION! FEAR THE IRON SOLDIERS IN RED GARB, FOR US WILL OWN YOUR SOUL FOR FREE!"
"Oh, great," Elde grumbled and opened his kamae stance, "not another PWAB rip-off of the original character."
"ERROR! BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!" all the Mark II units shouted and pounced toward them. Almost in response to the attacking army, all the people went into their respective battle pose and waited for the robots to come at them.
"This is going to be annoying as hell," Alex mumbled and reached the kodachi. "Come on, you piece of metallic crap! Show me everything you all have got!"
x-x-x-x-x
sharp like an edge of a samurai sword
the mental blade cut through flesh and bone
though my mind's at peace, the world out of order
missing the inner heat, life gets colder
oh yes, I have to find my path
no less, walk on earth, water, and fire
the elements compose a magnum opus
Standing in a kamae stance, Robo-Ky faced Seijuro Hiko who was standing not far from him. The self-acclaimed PWAB soldier was in extensive Hiten Mitsurugi training, after days of basic swordsmanship teaching. Despite the robot's persistence to immediately hone his skill with the legendary samurai swordsmanship technique, Hiko insisted (and arrogantly suggested, as usual) that he should first polish his rusting iaijitsu skill first (in which Robo-Ky angrily resented to that). Now that the basic trainings had came to an end, Robo-Ky was eager to "upgrade" his battle style with Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu.
my modus is operandi is amalgam
steel packed tight in microchip
on my arm a sign of all-pro
the ultimate reward is honor, not awards
at odds with the times in wars with no lords
"Alright, Robo-Ky," Hiko uttered and pulled out his nihontou, "you've probably learned all about the basics of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu from our last sessions. Now I want to see how far your understanding is." Robo-Ky did not answer; he lowered his stance and put his hand on the hilt of the Thunderseal shirasaya nihontou, staring deeply at the 13th master of Hiten Mitsurugi. Hiko let out his laughter and purposely swayed his hair to the left. "Of course, I doubt that even you can understand everything I had taught you in just three days."
a freelancer,
a battle cry of a hawk make a dove fly and a tear dry
wonder why a lone wolf don't run with a clan
Only trust your instincts and be one with the plan
"Three days or three years don't matter to me, sensei," Robo-Ky answered. "Ikuzo."
some days, some nights
some live, some die
in the way of the samurai
some fight, some bleed
sun up to sun down
the sons of a battlecry
Robo-Ky pounced toward Hiko, trying to land an iai attack onto him. Effortlessly Hiko parried the attack and counterattacked with a poke from the shirasaya. Robo-Ky jumped back and continued with an aerial attack. "To quote Geese Howard: predictable," and he parried the attack. Robo-Ky snarled and jumped over the swordsman and landed behind him.
some days, some nights
some live, some die
in the way of the samurai
some fight, some bleed
sun up to sun down
the sons of a battlecry
a battlecry…
Immediately Robo-Ky retracted Thunderseal into a battou stance and pounced toward Hiko. "HITEN MITSURUGI RYUU BATTOUJUTSU!" In a speed faster than lightning, the sword was pulled out of its sheath and swung at Hiko. Hiko smirked and blocked the oncoming attack with his katana. To his surprise, the sword attack was all but a disguise as he saw the shirasaya coming toward his face; so fast, that the swordsman-in-legend could not react fast. "SORYUSEN!"
A silence followed after that. Only the roar of waterfall slamming the rocky cliff was audible to the ears, and even that could not surpass the awkward stillness. Both the swordsmen were idle in their fighting poses, staring each other in their passion for battle.
"AIIIIIII!" Suddenly Sumomo cried from a nearby log and began her infamous cheerleading dance. "Robo-Ky has successfully pulled out a battoujutsu! AIIIIII! Go, go, Robo-Ky! Go, go, Robo-Ky! AIIIIII!" Robo-Ky smirked and pulled back from his Soryusen stance and put back Thunderseal into its sheath. Hiko watched at his apprentice before he, too, grinned and put back the katana into its casing.
"Very impressive," Hiko spoke. "The Soryusen you had used was perfectly executed, and I have to admit that you might be able to master Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu in no time."
"I cannot predict that, that I would not," Robo-Ky uttered and released smokes from his vent as to cool his system down. "So, Hiko-sensei, what is the next class?"
"You've excelled the battoujutsu stance. Excellent, that should be enough for today," Hiko uttered and turned around. "I'm going to the town to buy sake. Why don't you continue training with your own, or ask someone to become your sparring partner?"
"Eh!?" Robo-Ky replied in dismay. "I thought you'd teach me more techniques! Sensei!" Hiko conceitedly ignored his student's request and walked away from the cliff, heading back to the pottery house. "Sensei!" Robo-Ky shouted in anger after being ignored by the great swordsman.
"Aw, Robo-Ky is mad right now," commented Sumomo. Robo-Ky stared at the mini Persocon and could only sigh. "What's wrong, Robo-Ky? You're supposed to be happy, right? Come on, cheer up. Will you?"
"Yeah. Happy and mad," the robot answered. "Blah. I guess I have to do the training myself."
"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Sumomo cheered and picked up her tambourine. "Go, go, Robo-Ky! Go, go, the next Hiten Mitsurugi warrior! AIIIII!!" Robo-Ky laughed and dropped the sword he was holding, and danced together with the mini Persocon. "Let's get down tonight, COME ON!"
"I WANNA GET DOWN!"
x-x
Hiko turned around and looked at the dancing duo of Robo-Ky and Sumomo. He grinned at their excitement and turned around, heading back to the pottery house. "It's been a while since I met someone as cheerful and as unpredictable as he is. Heh, maybe I should choose him as the next candidate to inherit this cape," he spoke and took the sake bottle, taking a gulp of the beverage. "But then, will he be able to raise his sword to protect the people? He's still got a long road to face, I fear."
x-x-x-x-x
The battle had been taking place for almost an hour. Alex with his lethal killing technique gained the most advantage in the chaotic rumble, and slain several of the Mark II's with ease. Elde showed his perfectly executed the techniques of Musou Maden Ryuu and Johnny's iaijitsu, and was on the level as Alex. Kino, expert in handgun and knife technique, learnt from both Kirika and Chloe, showed an impressive performance in outwitting the iron soldiers. The same went to Kirika; her assassination skill still remained the same as before; in fact, her skill was better than before the time she got involved in the Guilty Gear universe. Things did not get any better for Sion, however; she had never faced a mechanical unit (save for Mech-Hisui when she arrived at the Misaki Town) and had problems battling with Robo-Ky Mark II. Fortunately, her "brain overclocking" ability helped her in overcoming the odds.
"SURRENDER, FALLEN SOLDIER!" the Robo-Kys ordered, surrounding Alex with weapons fully deployed. "WE'VE GOT YOU SURROUNDED! DON'T RESIST, AND FOLLOW US BACK TO THE BASE."
"And you expect me to cooperate with you?" Alex insisted and put the kodachi in the backhand slaying position. "Come and get me if you're man enough."
"THEN WE SHALL USE FORCE!" the robots shouted in unison and fired barrages of rockets toward him. Alex foxily beamed and suddenly disappeared before the rockets hit. "WHERE IS HE!?" The Robo-Kys frantically searched the area toward them, not realizing that their target was silently standing behind them. Alex slowly rotated the hand holding the kodachi in a circular and halted, before he reached the silver cross.
"In the name of God, all impure souls who deny their Creator shall be purified and banished into eternal damnation. Amen."
Alex opened his eyes and pounced at the still-dumbfounded Robo-Kys. Then, in a speed the people could not believe their eyes, he dashed through the robots and reappeared from beneath them. The Robo-Kys were stunned and could not move, as a result of an unseen wind breezing all around their body. They looked around and saw Alex kneeling in front of them, holding the kodachi in backhand position.
"Dust to dust. Amen."
With that spoken, the robots were slain into eighteen pieces and dropped on the ground. There was no cry of distress or warning alert that followed; only the electrical noise and sparks that flicked out of the pieces. Alex slowly stood up and put back the kodachi into its sheath and stared at the remaining robots. Too terrified after seeing what happened to their fellows, the robots fled from the scene. It was not long before a scream of battle echoed in the sky.
"RISING FORCE!"
"RAGING STORM!"
An immense explosion took place, completely eradicating the robots, followed by a silence. The people looked at each other in wonder before they heard a voice asking out loud. "What the hell is going on here?" All of them looked at the source of the voice and saw two blonde guys standing not far from the scene.
"I thought you wouldn't come," Elde shouted at the newcomers.
"Don't ask me, ask Rock," one of them who was holding a sword insisted. "He's as bad as the local guide we found."
"Don't!" the other newcomer demanded. "You holy brat know nothing about me!"
"Oh yeah, son of Geese?" the earlier newcomer replied.
Elde could only slap his forehead in amazement. "Oh, no. Here we go again."
Alex stared at the two newcomers who were busy arguing with each other. He noticed the sword one of them held and scowled. "That's Thunderseal…!" Without notice, he jumped toward the newcomers and attacked one owner of the sword, much to his surprise.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!?" Alex ignored the question and stepped backward. He glowered at the man wearing the white-blue uniform similar to him and pointed the kodachi at him. "What's up with you anyway?"
"Finally, Ky Kiske," Alex pronounced. "I've finally found you."
TO BE CONTINUED?