Volume II: Unforgiving Kingdom
Chapter X: Sadistic Killer
Location: West Abandoned Road, 12th Floor, Goldenia
"Damn, this place is just sad to look at."
As the group had split up a while ago, they were all on the same task of finding the location of the next hidden underground tunnel. With Ragna, he went off towards the west, being the closest to where they were formerly and therefore least likely for him to be spotted easily. Upon arriving in the abandoned area in the west, Ragna got a good glimpse of just how old and run down the place was. It was clearly easy to see why no one lived there anymore.
"What kind of people just abandon an entire area and move onto the next?" Ragna asked. "This whole place is huge. They ought to have enough people that could've filled in these homes with ease.
Ragna sighed.
"Oh well. Nothing that I can do about it." Ragna continued walking. "So why the hell should I care if these people don't...?"
Ragna continued to explore around the abandoned area. No people in sight. Barely any signs of other life. This place could truly be considered abandoned. The more he searched, the worse the sight seemed to get. From just old and run down buildings to ones that have completely collapsed and fallen over. It was as if a large scale battle had been fought here, and the victors had just decided to burn everything down. This place was almost like a ghost town.
"Sheesh, this place really gives me the creeps..." Ragna thought to himself. "How the hell am I supposed to find a secret entrance anywhere in here? 'Look for anything that looks suspicious' well that's not gonna help. This whole damn place could be considered suspicious if you asked me. If that's how I'm thinking then that can only mean Monika and Feena would probably go through the same challenge. I guess it is a good thing we split up. It'd take forever to-"
Ragna stopped walking for a moment as he suddenly looked up. What he saw is that the roof of one of the buildings in front of him had begun sliding off and crashed into the ground. Had he kept walking, he most likely would've been hit by that roof.
"No wonder no one tries to take care of this place." He said to himself.
Once the roof had crashed onto the ground, Ragna walked over towards the damaged roof. He blinked as he could identify the slash marks that would have been left behind by a sword.
"Looks like this piece of shit had a little help falling down." He said in response. "I knew it. I am being followed by someone." Ragna placed his hand on his sword and looked around. "Hey! Asshole! You might as well show yourself now! I already know you're after me!"
Ragna looked around and groaned as there was no answer to his claims.
"If you're trying to make me feel like an idiot, you're failing! I know you're hiding somewhere!"
Once again, there was no answer.
"Dammit..." Ragna sighed as he kept walking. "You're really getting on my nerves, you know."
Ragna soon walked out into what appears to have been a plaza that was now desolate and worn down. The place was arguably more of a mess than the rest of the area he was in. Instead of continuing walking however, Ragna stopped here and looked around, hoping to catch whoever was following him. However not to his surprise, that person did not reveal themselves.
"Alright, so that's how they're gonna play it, huh... Dead Spike!"
Ragna drags his sword across the ground and creates a giant beast head that plowed forward. It crashed into one of the buildings and left a giant hole in the center of it.
"I know you're back behind one of these buildings!" He called out. "I can lure you out you know!"
"My, my. Quite the vulgar one, aren't you?"
Ragna turned and looked behind him as he heard someone speak up from behind him. As he did so, he could see the person that had been chasing after him walk out from inside one of the abandoned buildings. The person was a young, blond woman with an unusually frightening countenance. She wore a red cloak with a bow on her head, white dress underneath, and black armor plating on her shoulders, arms, and on her knees, right above her long boots. She carried a sheath that concealed a crimson red crossguard saber on her waist. The woman placed a hand on the side of her head and her other hand on the former hand's elbow to keep it up as she walked towards Ragna. This was none other than Prime Minister Vira.
"You're the guy that's been causing such a ruckus, I take it." she said with a mischievous grin on her face.
"I take it you're not gonna listen to me anyway, so you ought to know the answer to that." Ragna responded.
"Somebody caught on quick." Vira giggled. "Good. I'm glad. I'm glad that you've already understood what's going on in your situation."
Ragna took a step back as she continued to approach him.
"What the hell's wrong with her?" He thought to himself. "She's giving off this signal that she's obviously pissed about something, but she's trying to act like she couldn't be happier to see me at the same time."
"Aw, what's the matter, cutie?" Vira asked as she stopped momentarily. "Am I scaring you off? I just wanted to take you somewhere, that is all."
"I'm not buying it, lady. If you're trying to arrest me then you're not gonna be able to talk me into coming along with."
Ragna blinked as the woman started laughing.
"The hell?"
"Oh, how absolutely adorable." Vira stated as she held her head in both hands. "You think you have a choice."
Vira snapped her fingers. Ragna looked back as all of a sudden, six imperial soldiers came out from hiding and had begun surrounding him on every angle. Vira merely smirked at this.
"I'll let you know now," Vira began to say. "I won't fight fair. And we'll beat you within an inch away from death if that's what it takes to get you to submit. And since you have no intentions on coming with me quietly..." Vira dawned a more serious expression as she pointed at Ragna. "Get him."
The soldiers all quickly drew their weapons and began rushing towards Ragna. In response, Ragna's right hand changed into a monstrous claw as he turned around and swiped all around him with said claw. At that moment, several dark pillars extended from out of the ground and struck the soldiers. Vira watched as her men were all sent flying to already destroyed buildings, rendering them all unconscious and away from her and Ragna. As the last of the soldiers landed, Ragna turned back around as he looked at his hand.
"Whatever the hell's going on with it that's giving it these abilities, I really hate having to use the Azure like that." He said to himself as the monstrous claw disappeared while his hand went back no normal. "But I'm in no mood for a big fight." Ragna looked up at Vira. "You wanna go against me by yourself? If not, you'd better turn around and leave now then."
"I should've known..." Vira sighed, placing her hand on her sword. "Of course, I'M the only one capable of defeating you!"
"Suit yourself." Ragna replied as he held onto the hilt of his large sword. "Why am I not surprised at this..."
Vira drew out her crimson red saber and pointed it at Ragna, all while wearing a murderous expression on her face. She swung her sword around and held it in both hands as she began walking over to her opponent. Ragna spun his sword around as he held it facing backwards in his hand, readying himself for whatever Vira can throw at him. Suddenly, the girl started running straight at him preparing to strike at him first. Quickly she swung her sword towards Ragna as she approached, only to clash with Ragna's large sword as he held it up. Ragna moved forward and pushed the girl back, knocking her off balance. He then followed with a knee to the chest that sent Vira to the ground, though that didn't last long as she immediately started rolling to gain distance as she stood up. Vira then ran back up to Ragna, running around him as she clashed blades with him repeatedly. Ragna then proceeded to strike and sweep low towards her feet, in which Vira jumped into the air. She swung her sword vertically for his head, but missed as Ragna ducked. As she landed, she quickly managed to step out of the way as Ragna's fist nearly came in contact with her jaw.
Vira quickly swung her sword once again in which Ragna hopped out of the way, converting his sword into a scythe in the process. Within an instant Ragna hopped into the air and brought the scythe down on top of Vira, who quickly swung her sword to counter. However, Ragna quickly let go of his blade and fell down to Vira's level, and proceeded to punch the woman several times and knock her back. As she stumbled backward and held onto her stomach, Vira growled and rushed once more while Ragna caught his scythe and reverted it into a sword once again. The two swung their blades back and forth repeatedly, trying to find an opening. Soon Ragna managed to strike with enough force and knocked Vira's sword away from her.
"Hell's-"
Ragna rushed in and punched Vira straight in the abdomen.
"Fang!"
And followed up with a blast of dark energy that sent the woman flying. Vira soon hit the ground hard as she landed right by her sword. However she didn't let this stop her at all. She rose back up as if she wasn't injured by the attack at all, despite the blood on her lip. She picked up her sword and rushed at Ragna once again. Vira didn't hesitate to continue off with several sword swings in a variety of different ways. Her unpredictable movements made it hard for Ragna to find an opening to immediately go in, and was forced to move backwards as she walked towards him. Vira continued walking forward and soon moved faster, eventually pushing her and Ragna into a deadlock between their swords as she had him momentarily against a wall. Ragna growled and pushed back, spinning the two around and pinning Vira against said wall. However as we went in for a counter Vira struck him with the blunt end of her sword, then kicked down at his legs before she shoved him out of the way, knocking Ragna down. She leaped into the air and prepared to pierce him through with her sword.
Ragna quickly rolled out of the way as Vira and her sword struck the ground where he was. Getting up, he grabbed his sword and immediately used this as a chance to strike. As she looked up, she groaned in pain as Ragna's sword cut across her chest, leaving a bloody wound. Nonetheless, Vira didn't stop moving and continued on as if she felt no pain. As he moved back she charged after Ragna once again, swing left and right nonstop in hopes that she could land a solid hit. Ragna continued to dodge every attack as he looked for an opening, and soon found one. He parried Vira's sword by elbowing her hand. Thanks to this, he succeeded in knocking her weapon out of her hand.
"What...?!" Vira said in shock. "How did he-?!"
"Carnage Scissors!"
Before Vira could respond, Ragna rushed in to finish this fight. Within an instant she could feel his large sword penetrate her chest all the way through, leaving a large gaping hole in the center of her chest. Instead of continuing his attack, Ragna stopped there and removed his sword. He placed it on his waist and turned around to walk off, while at the same time Vira fell backwards and hit the ground.
"I didn't strike anything too vital for her." Ragna said to himself as he walked away. "Those guards should get up any time now and they'll take care of-"
"So you ARE the one. . ."
Ragna went wide eyed as he heard a voice from behind him. Having his hand on his sword he turned and saw that Vira's body seemed to be vibrating very violently. The woman soon began giggling uncontrollably as she rose back up. Ragna looked at where he had previously impaled her, and saw that the wound was still there. However Vira was still acting like she never took any damage.
"You're the one. . ." Vira giggled in a creepy tone. "You're the one who-You-You did-YOU DID-"
Vira placed both hands on her face as she looked up into the sky, laughing like a madwoman. Ragna continued to back away even more as a dark aura was surrounding Vira. The woman laughter only grew crazier, her pupils dilated as a look of insanity was now written all over her face. Soon she ceased laughing altogether and held her down as she stared at the ground.
"You hurt her. . ." Vira continued to speak sharply. "You're the one who hurt her. . .! You dare to lay your filthy sword on my darling Katalina?!"
"What?" Ragna asked, only growing more and more confused about the girl in front of him. "Your 'darling Ka-' what the hell are you-"
Ragna was cut short as a blast of greenish dark energy suddenly came of nowhere, blasting near Ragna and sending him flying into a nearby building. The man groaned as he started to pull himself out. The moment he did, there he saw it. As Vira stood there shaking violently, he saw a demonic creature floating in the midst of the dark aura that was surrounding Vira. The creature in question looked like a combination of tree roots and scaly skin. It's exterior was a violet-red like color. Its arms were not attached to it's body and floated around beside it. A glowing green interior was noticeable by the flaming green eyes and glowing holes in its chest. Several parts of its skin stuck out like giant spikes. Its teeth were sharp and menacing, even though small. Its hands also glowed green as well.
"What the...?" Ragna said in shock. "What the hell is that?!"
"What's the matter?" Vira asked as she slowly looked up, looking even crazier than before. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Vira picked up her sword in her right hand as she giggled madly. "Did this face scare you?! DID IT?! DID IT?!"
Vira started running at Ragna, the demon behind her following after.
"I'LL DAMN YOU TO HELL MYSELF!"
"You're crazy!" Ragna shouted.
Ragna quickly drew his sword once again as Vira came towards. The crazed woman leaped into the air above Ragna and prepared to bring her sword down once again. Ragna swung his blade upward and clashed with Vira once again. However instead of the usual result, Ragna felt the ground under him sinking as a result of their impact. As they stopped, Vira landed on the ground quickly and suddenly jumped out of the way. Ragna went wide eyed as the demon behind her suddenly held out its hands at him, where greenish energy began to charge. Ragna quickly ran out of the way as it fired, creating a larger crater where he once stood. As he looked back for a moment he quickly turned his attention back to Vira who rushed at him once more. As he clashed with her blade repeatedly, she suddenly slipped under his attack and elbowed him in the arm. She then threw a right hook across his jaw and followed up with a flurry of kicks all across his body. As this went on the creature moved back behind Vira and suddenly vanished. Vira soon ended her assault with by striking Ragna with her sword's hilt, and punching him, making him stumble back for a moment. Vira then sheathed her sword and held her hands out for a moment.
"Darkane!"
A flash of dark energy shot out from Vira's hand. The impact and explosion sent Ragna flying back through a building. Vira then unsheathed her crimson sword once again and ran off after him, laughing manically while she did so. With Ragna, the man groaned as he sat back up and saw Vira approaching him at high speeds. Quickly, he brought himself back to his feet and grabbed his sword. Vira suddenly leaped into the air above the destroyed building and then landed right in front of Ragna. She rolled around as Ragna swung his sword horizontally, and proceeded to counter with a strike of her own. Catching him with that attack, she stepped back and held her sword in front of her. She attempted to go for a straight thrust at his abdomen. Ragna responded by swinging his large sword upward, breaking open her guard. With as much energy as he could, Ragna punched Vira dead in the face, sending her flying away. She then planted her sword in a nearby wall to stop herself, pulling it out as she landed on the ground.
"Kill him!"
Ragna suddenly looked up as he could see a glowing green light. There, the demon was floating above him, charging another blast. Ragna back-dashed out of the way quickly as the blast came down, creating another crater. However before Ragna could fully get away, the creature appeared in front of him, and suddenly grabbed him by the arm that held his sword. It then brought Ragna to it before striking him in the gut with its one free arm. Suddenly its other arm shot up into the air and dragged Ragna with it. The arm proceeded to toss Ragna back into the ground below. However as he came close to landing, he saw that Vira was standing there, prepared to attack once he came down.
"DARKANE!"
Vira fired another dark energy flash as Ragna came into the range. The man had crashed into the wall of a destroyed building, having taken extreme damage by Vira's sudden onslaught. The woman giggled even more as she walked towards Ragna, the demonic creature moving behind her once again. Vira swung her sword around casually as she approached Ragna. The man attempted to try and move, but for a moment couldn't feel his body and collapsed to his knees as he got out of the wall.
"What the hell... Is that...?" He asked.
"I suppose I can tell you." Vira giggled. "I'll give you some information that you can take to the afterlife when I kill you in a minute." The demon behind now moved to beside her. "This is Bloody Hell. My familiar."
"Your... what?"
"Think of him as my partner in crime. An ally I know I can always count on. Someone who's powers I can use as my own. It's dark energy has fueled my abilities for many years. It helps me slay any opponent I'm up against. It helps me rid Goldenia of pieces of shit like yourself and those other two. And more importantly..." Vira held her hands up to her face as she sported a creepy smile. "It gives me to power that I need in order to protect my sweet, sweet Katalina." Vira was now simply giggling in a perverted manner as she had her hands on her cheeks, her eyes closed and slowly shifting around as she talked. "All because of Bloody Hell, I can keep fighting in order to see her again. Those sweet lips... her beautiful face... that luscious body... With this power, there isn't anyone that stands in my way of seeing that...! And now I can even kill anyone who tries to do her-"
"Devoured By Darkness!"
Vira's eyes suddenly shot open as Ragna lunged at her with his right arm taking the form of a monstrous claw.
"What the?!"
Before Vira could finish speaking, Ragna grabbed her face with his claw, and held her up. Vira then pointed towards Ragna in order to silently order Bloody Hell to attack. However, the moment the demon tried anything, Ragna rushed at it as well. He slammed Vira's head against her familiar, causing it to vanish back into her body. Soon, several dark tendrils struck the woman as Ragna let go. The tendrils all created a mini explosion of dark energy that sent Vira flying away from Ragna. After this, he managed to bring himself to his feet fully and grab his sword, as his attack allowed him to drain energy from Vira and her familiar.
"I knew there was something weird about that woman." Ragna said to himself. "And I"m not getting out of this unless I can take her down..." Ragna straightened the collar on his jacket. "Not to mention that I know that this fight is gonna start drawing attention if it hasn't already done so. Fine then. I'd better try to hurry up and beat her."
Ragna walked out back into the opening in the direction that he sent Vira flying. He quickly sidestepped out of the way as a green blast of dark energy shot out and engulfed the area behind him. He looked up to see Bloody Hell heading towards him. Ragna held his sword behind him and charged in its direction as well. Vira's familiar attempted to swipe at Ragna by sending its arms ahead. Ragna parried the arms back and forth as they attempted to strike one after another. One arm started to charge another energy blast while the other attempted to distract Ragna. However in response, he shoved the other out of the way and grabbed the charging arm and aimed it at the main body of Bloody Hell. The demon roared as it fired a blast from it's mouth, while the arm also fired. Both blasts collided, obscuring Bloody Hell's for a while. Ragna however, had a clear sight of the familiar. Noticing that its arms were currently floating stationary, he grabbed one of them and prepared to throw it into the creature. However he suddenly looked to the side as he could hear a woman's battle cry. There he saw Vira charging at him with high speeds.
Ragna proceeded to throw the arm into Vira's direction, which she proceeded to knock out of the way with her hand. As she reached Ragna, she began thrusting her sword repeatedly in a stabbing motion, moving her arm and hand as fast as she possibly could. Ragna for the most part managed to dodge many of Vira's attacks, but was still struck in several different places and left with stab wounds. Ragna swung his large sword in her direction. The clash caused both of them to be sent backwards away from each other..
"You. . ." Vira started to say very angrily. "You LITTLE SHIT!" Vira held her sword out in front of her. "Frantic Thrust!"
Vira charged up a stream of dark energy in her crimson sword and rushed at Ragna with all her strength. Ragna held his sword downward and prepared to bring it up with all of his might. Dark energy rushed out from both of their blades as they clashed with each others. Both Vira and Ragna lunged at each other with all of their might. Doing their best to try and gain the advantage. As this went on Ragna looked up to the air and could see that the smoke had cleared up. As of now, Bloody Hell could see once again and had its arms floating up by its side once more. Seeing the fight between Ragna and Vira it charged up another energy blast towards the two and fired. Immediately Ragna kneed Vira in the gut and moved out of the way. Before she could even register what happened, the blast fired by her familiar suddenly engulfed the area around her leaving Vira caught in the attack. Ragna shielded his face from the blast as he looked to see what had happened to his opponent.
Suddenly Vira leaped up into the air after the attack hit, seeming completely unharmed by her familiar's attack. She quickly began firing blasts of dark energy straight at Ragna, who rolled out of the way quickly. She landed and immediately went back on the offensive, swinging her sword left and right. At the same time, Bloody Hell rushed in and attacked from behind. Ragna was left between the two attackers, and forcing to stand there and try to dodge as quickly as possible. Ragna eventually managed to place his sword in between Vira's sword and Bloody Hell's claws, stopping them momentarily. Ragna ducked down and sweep kicked at Vira, knocking her and Ragna's blade down as well. Ragna then grabbed his blade and rolled out of the way. The moment he stood up however, he forced to block Bloody Hell's claws as they pushed against his large sword. Suddenly the two claws began charging another blast of dark energy. Ragna went wide eyed and kicked with both feet at the arms of the familiar. Though he fell down, the arms turned in a 180-degree motion, sending the blast into a building behind Vira.
However, that didn't last long as the arms quickly turned back around. Bloody Hell began repeatedly stabbing at Ragna before he could get back up. Ragna was still on the ground at the time and was slowly moving back as he dodged its attacks. Ragna swiped his right arm, suddenly causing several dark spikes to arise in front of him, and forcing Bloody Hell to stop chasing him. Ragna quickly got back up to his feet and converted his sword into a scythe. From there, he went on the retaliation. Bloody Hell sent both of its arms in Ragna's direction, and was quickly blocked at the same time by the scythe. Ragna spun his scythe around and flung the arms off momentarily. Quickly he sliced at Bloody Hell with the blade of his scythe. The creature screeched in pain as it was struck by Ragna's scythe and moved away from Ragna, taking its arms with it. Ragna prepared to pursue but stopped as he blocked Vira's crimson blade as she came at him once again from the side. The girl raised her arms and repeatedly slammed her sword against Ragna's blade. Ragna retaliated by suddenly lunging in and grabbing her arms, bringing her downward as her face collided with Ragna's knee. He then drop-kicked the woman in the back, momentarily knocking her down. Vira immediately spun around on the ground to try and sweep kick Ragna, only for him to jump back out of the way. Though this allowed her to stand back up.
Vira grabbed her sword and spun it around for a moment as it became covered in dark energy. From there both she and Bloody Hell rushed Ragna for another attack. Vira struck first, causing Ragna to block her attack. However while he was preoccupied, Bloody Hell's claws struck Ragna in both of his sides, throwing off his guard, forcing him to let go of his scythe and allowing Vira to break through. She suddenly sheathed her blade and started laughing as she responded with a barrage of punches and kicks. As Bloody Hell retracted its claws, Ragna soon managed to catch Vira's fists, and suddenly spun the girl around. He then slammed her head into his knee again. Ragna followed up by punching her in the gut with both arms and knocking her back. Bloody Hell then went in for another attack. Ragna quickly avoided its claws and ducked down to grab his scythe. In a swift motion, Ragna swung his scythe around and caught the creature's arms, slicing them into two. The familiar screeched as it soon moved back towards Vira and vanished. Vira growled as she stood back up, but was suddenly met by Ragna's scythe cutting across her chest. She was sent flying into a wall, looking very pissed as he held her wound. Soon, she pulled herself off the wall and gripped her sword as she started stumbling over to Ragna.
"Just give it a rest already will you?" Ragna asked her. "Your familiar or whatever already bailed out after losing its arms, and you're hurt badly. Will you just call it quits already?"
"Blood...!"
"Huh?"
"I'll SPILL it all...!" Vira growled as she stared at the ground. "I will spill out ALL OF YOUR BLOOD, ON THIS VERY GROUND! I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR ETERNITY FOR KATALINA!"
Vira let out a loud battle cry as she suddenly rushed at Ragna once again, looking to end this battle by claiming his life. Ragna sighed and gripped his scythe in both hands, prepared for another clash with Vira. Vira raised her sword as it turned a dark violet color and slashed downward, sending a wave of dark energy in Ragna's direction. The man avoid and swung his scythe towards the woman's midsection, in which she blocked with her blade. Ragna converted his scythe back into a sword as he moved in close to Vira, and went for an overhead swing at her head which she avoided. Vira chose to counter by once again thrusting her sword at him as fast as possible. However, Ragna managed to cut this off immediately as he caught Vira's arm and threw her up into the air. Ragna then kicked her higher into the air before he jumped up himself, and planned to finish her off with an axe kick. Vira managed to hold her hands out and block Ragna's final kick, keeping it from hitting her.
As the two soon landed back on the ground, they quickly moved away from each other and gained some distance before rushing in for another go. Vira soon started laughing as her sword continued to glow with dark energy once more as she slashed it over and over, sending out energy blasts of darkness repeatedly, in which Ragna continued to move out of the way. No matter which direction he ran into, Vira continued to laugh madly as she slashed repeatedly. Ragna knew that if he got closer to her, he'd be more likely to be struck by one of those waves of dark energy, and that was something he wanted to avoid at all cost. Rolling out of the way of another wave, he dragged his sword along the ground, sending out a large beast-like head at Vira. In response, she proceed to propel herself high into the air and then continue to slash around her sword, refusing to let up on her assault.
Ragna swung his hand along the ground and caused several dark spikes to rise and head straight for Vira, leaving a trail of dark energy as it did so. As Vira landed, she slammed her fist on the ground as well, creating a dome of dark energy around her. Because of the dome, Ragna's attacks did not manage to reach Vira, allowing the girl to restart her attack once again and force Ragna back on the defensive. Wave after wave of dark energy was still being sent in Ragna's direction, the woman in front of him not letting up for anything.
"DARKANE!"
As she fired another wave of dark energy, she also held her hand behind her and fired a blast of dark energy, propelling herself at Ragna. Just as he managed to avoid another wave, Vira was suddenly in front of him. She slashed her sword once again and sent out another wave of dark energy, only this time Ragna could not avoid and was hit. He soon found himself being launched back into a wall, followed by several more waves of darkness hitting him. Vira laughed as she ran towards Ragna once more to finish the job.
"I'LL END YOU, YOU HEAR ME?!" she shouted as she prepared to swing her blade. "I'LL END YOUR ENTIRE BEING!"
"I'm not going down that easily!" Ragna held his blade in his right hand as he responded, getting back up to his feet. "I've had enough of dealing with this, you bitch!"
Vira spun around just before she reached him and prepared to swing while in return Ragna was all prepared to parry her attack. At that moment Vira swung her blade in which Ragna swung his. However before they could, Vira suddenly threw her blade from her right hand to her left, allowing it avoid Ragna's sword. She smirked.
"Now... NOW YOU DIE!"
Vira went straight in for the kill at the now defenseless Ragna. However, the moment she did so, dark energy suddenly spawned around Ragna, repelling her attack.
"The hell?!" She questioned.
"What in the?"
Ragna looked at his right arm to see that the Azure's shell had suddenly opened. From there, a dark, but clear rectangular shaped shield had spawned around his arm. Because of this, Vira's attack had been repelled. Vira took a step back in precaution, while Ragna continued to observe the shield on his arm.
"The... The Azure did this?" He asked himself. "Since when can the Azure do something like this?"
Ragna suddenly looked up as Vira rushed in again as she attempted to swing at him once more. Ragna momentarily threw his sword into the air and pushed the shield out in front of him, knocking away Vira's sword and smack the woman in the face, knocking her down. He then caught his sword in his left hand and looked at the shield once more.
"First the new spike attack I used on Alexiel, and now this weird shield." He thought. "Is this because I'm in this world? I don't have any memories of the Azure being able to do this before."
"Elemental powers are ever changing."
Ragna looked over to see Vira back on her feet. She held her sword pointed at the ground and simply stared at Ragna.
"What do you mean?" Ragna asked.
"Are you an idiot?" Vira responded. "It's plain for anyone to see that you use dark energy too. You're a Dark elementalist, just like I am. And unlike the other elements, Dark can be considered one that is 'ever-changing' depending on its user. You and I are different are we not? That is why. Had this not been the case, your power would've been similar to mine more than it currently is." Vira folded her arms. "Does that answer your question?"
"Huh... So this world must've looked at the Azure and what I'm capable of, then decided to make one of these Dark elementalist too then. And because of that the Azure's acting differently than expected. I think I get it."
"I was hoping you'd say that." Vira spun her sword around so that it was facing upwards once again, now sporting her crazy look once more. "Now I won't have to feel even the slightest amount of sorrow for killing an unlearned opponent!" She then started running towards Ragna. "Let's see how many hits it takes before I break that shield into tiny little pieces!"
Vira rushed in and swung her sword several more times. Ragna went from dodging to now blocking with his shield. He pushed forward as thanks to his shield Vira could not move her sword to hit him and was shoved back. Suddenly he moved his arm swiftly to the right and opened up Vira's guard. As the woman was open for an attack, he slashed diagonally across her chest twice and followed up with an attack from below that knocked Vira slightly into the air. As she fell back to his length he slammed his shield against her side, causing her to yelp slightly as she was knocked away. Vira growled as she stood up and slashed her blade, sending out another wave of dark energy. Ragna immediately took cover and held out his shield. The two watched as Vira's attack was useless as Ragna's shield managed to completely tank the attack. Ragna then charged in at the girl once again. Vira immediately rolled down and tackled Ragna down. She then raised her and attempted to impale him, only for Ragna to kick her off immediately. As Vira stood up, Ragna smacked her in the face with the shield once again and knocked her back down. Vira rolled backwards and brought herself to her feet as she was out of range. She cracked her neck as she stared menacingly at Ragna. Blood rolled down all over her body.
Ragna wasn't much different. He was slowly getting tired from Vira's constant assaults. Much of his body was indeed injured. However he still had enough energy to stand and keep fighting. He held his sword out in front of his shield and prepared for anything Vira could throw at him. Vira then rushed at him once more, and fired off another blast of dark energy. However, Ragna had managed to avoid this and slammed the hilt of his sword into Vira's abdomen. Suddenly his shield vanished as his right hand was coated in dark energy. Without hesitation, he drove his fist into Vira's right leg. The woman screamed as she dropped her sword and fell down to the ground in immense pain. Ragna then placed his sword on his waist and stepped back. Vira attempted to stand back up, but soon found that this injury was beyond something she could just take and keep moving. She felt like her leg bones had shattered into a million pieces as she laid on the ground. Though, she was determined to get back up.
"You drive a blade through my chest..." She said. "You sliced off my familiar's arms...! You break my damn leg! But even so... You... YOU WON'T STOP ME! I'LL END YOU!"
Vira continued to yell constant threats out at Ragna. Though, they were still meaningless however as no matter how hard she tried to, Vira didn't have the ability to keep fighting anymore.
"Calm down will you?" Ragna asked.
"DARKANE!"
Ragna jumped out of the way as Vira fired another blast of dark energy in front of her. Seeing Ragna move, she attempted to turn and face him. However she could not, and was left lying on the ground in that one direction.
"You hurt her! You hurt her dammit!" Vira cried out as she slammed her head against the ground. "You hurt my darling Katalina! I know it was you!"
"Guess I was right." Ragna thought. "As far as they're concerned that woman tried to stop us and I defeated her."
Vira continued to struggle around on the ground as she did her best to use her arms to pry and push herself around to face Ragna. However, from the constant swinging of her sword in battle, her arms didn't have the strength to push her around either. The woman collapsed back the ground.
"I'LL KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME!?" Vira continued to yell. "I'LL KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS! DEATH! DEATH! I'LL GRANT YOU A HORRID DEATH!"
"If you cared for that girl so much, shouldn't you be back with her instead of all the way out here?"
Vira suddenly looked up.
"W-Wha-?"
"If she means a lot to you then you'd be better off taking care of her instead of trying to kill me. The way you're talking obviously means she's alive. She should be where you direct your attention to. Not me." Ragna turned around and started to walk away. "I''m sure those soldiers you brought with you will get up any moment now. They'll take care of you."
Vira watched as Ragna walked out of her sight. The woman laid there and didn't say another word.
"Prime Minister!"
Just as Ragna predicted, the soldiers from earlier all came running over to where Vira laid on the ground.
"Are you all right Prime Minister?" one soldier asked.
"What happened to that man?" asked another.
". . . Just..." Vira started to say. "J-Just take me back to Vallera."
The soldiers all helped lift Vira up and started to head off towards one of the lifts.
With Ragna, the man had stopped behind another old abandoned building. He stood there for a moment in order to allow himself to catch his breath.
"I didn't think that... she'd put up that much of a challenge..." He said to himself. "Seriously... that wasted a lot of time. But I guess it was somewhat worth it." Ragna managed to recreate the shield on his right arm once again, then cause it disappear. "Ah, whatever... I'd better keep going."
Ragna soon started to walk again. However he soon stopped as his feet suddenly felt like they were walking on something other than ground.
"What the?" He said. "Wait a minute..."
Ragna slammed his sword against the ground, creating a small hole. Hopping in he could see that the inside of made of stone and metal. He soon realized that this was what he was looking for.
"So this is what Feena meant by suspicious." He said. "Guess I'd better go find her and Monika."
Ragna hopped back out of the tunnel and looked around. He then found a large piece of debris and dragged it over the hole that he created, covering it and keeping anyone from noticing it.
"There." He said. "In case anyone else comes by."
With that, Ragna soon walked off.