Volume II: Unforgiving Kingdom
Chapter XX: Seventh Rumble
Location: Mercenary's Guild, 7th Floor, Goldenia
In The Morning. . .
Several hours after the events that transpired last night have past, soon, morning had begun to rise over the kingdom of Goldenia. This also meant that the doors to the Mercenary's Guild's Tavern were now open, as mercenaries would return here to hang out or plan out whatever missions or bounties they plan to go after. Meanwhile in the upstairs area, any of the patrons that were either living, working, or staying there for the night were also waking up, coming downstairs to join in on whatever is going on. This also included the group of five as Ragna, Monika, Feena, Grena, and Goblin Mage had all been resting upstairs. By the time the morning came, out of the five the only one who was really up and at it was Ragna.
"Goddammit..." Ragna yawned, walking out of the room he slept in. "My body's still feeling a little funny. I thought that damn curse or whatever it is should've worn off by now." Ragna sighed. "Well, no use complaining about it now. Are the others up yet?"
As if on cue Ragna heard a loud groaning noise coming from behind him, along with light footsteps. He turned around and saw who it was walking over.
"Well, look who's finally calmed herself down." Ragna said to the person he turned around to see.
"Shut up..."
The person in question was none other than Monika, the very same that fell unconscious due to the excessive drinking Grena forced her to do. The woman in question had managed to pull herself out of bed as well as get completely dressed. She was leaning against the nearby wall and using her sword as a makeshift cane as she walked towards Ragna.
"Feeling better Monika?" Ragna asked.
"My head hurts." Monika answered. "A lot."
"Welcome to the world of hangovers, the after effects of a ton of drinking...!"
At that point, Grena also dragged herself out of bed and was walking up to the group. While she was able to support herself while walking, she was still holding her head as she also had a massive headache.
"Hey..." Grena greeted the two.
"You brought this on yourself, Grena." Monika said, clenching her head harder. "But why the hell did you have to drag me into this shit!?"
"Yeah... Sorry about that..." Grena sighed. "I was really out of it when I made you drink. Feena told me what happened."
"I'm stopping you from drinking also."
"Oh bullshit!"
"It's for your own good. And to make sure you don't hold me down and force liquor down my throat again!"
"You can't just cut us off like that!"
Both Grena and Monika winced in pain from their headaches as they argued with each other.
"Ah, no use arguing now..." Grena said concedingly. "We're just hurting our asses standing here screaming at each other like this."
"Agreed." Monika sighed.
"Feena and that Goblin Mage still asleep?" Ragna asked.
"Couldn't wake Feena up even if we all punched her right now." Grena responded. "Woman's knocked out cold. And Goblin Mage woke up for a moment before going back to sleep with her. So they're both out like a light."
"Figures."
"That's fine." Monika said. "We can head downstairs and discuss things without her. She can sleep in. I can handle the conversation."
"About that." Ragna cut in.
"What is it?" Grena asked.
"What exactly are the odds of us finding a sneaky way out of here? If the way down we've been using is as dangerous as they say it is, then as far as I'm concerned we're walking straight out into the open to find a way out of here. Considering what we've been up against, that's a suicide mission for some of us. We'd be just asking for unnecessary trouble."
"Unnecessary trouble has a way of finding us after all." Monika replied. "I wanna have faith in the fact that these guys are mercenaries. They have to have someway of getting around Goldenia without getting found out or arrested. They run a whole secret guild in the form of a tavern. You expect me to believe that their way of getting around is just walking around in plain sight?"
"It actually is for some of us." Grena commented. "Though I'd hate to burst your bubble Monika, the guild, while a sneaky bunch, do blend in with the common citizen. When we're not being mercenaries, or assassins, or whatever the hell we do to make a living, we roam the streets like everyone else. Its been a good way to keep the army off our backs for a long while now." Grena shrugged. "But that doesn't mean the guild's higher ups aren't keeping secrets."
"Then where the hell are these 'higher ups' then?"
"One of them's got Feena's hat."
"Chat Noir?" Monika questioned. "He's one of them? Doesn't he work alone?"
"So do a lot of the mercenaries that stay here. But that doesn't mean we don't support or aren't members of the guild. Chat Noir's a lone thief yes. He rarely shows his face around the guild and barely anybody could tell you what he looks like. But he's still one of the guild's higher up and biggest supporters. This tavern wasn't cheap you know. Before we used to meet in alleyways, underground, anywhere that was risky honestly. Chat Noir's thefts helped fund this building and fund the things that we've done." Grena folded her arms. "Granted, some of us would probably still sell the kid out to make a quick fortune..."
"So our best bet is trying to find the kid then." Ragna said.
"If you want. I'm still gonna try and find out if there's another way. We've got dozens of mercenaries to seek help from. I'll see if any of them have any solutions for getting the hell out of here undetected."
Grena started to make her way downstairs, groaning as she clenched her head once again.
"Goddamn hangovers...!" She mumbled loudly.
"Well that's reassuring..." Ragna said in a sarcastic manner.
"We'd better go down after her." Monika stated. "I have a feeling that she'll mess something up if we leave her alone in that state."
"Yeah you've got a point." Ragna took notice at how Monika was still slowly moving towards the stairs, still leaning heavily on her cane. "Hey. Hold on."
Monika stopped for a moment and looked over at Ragna, who held out his arm towards the girl.
"You're gonna fall over by the time you reach the steps." Ragna commented. "You'll have more than just a headache by the time you get down there. Here, grab onto my arm so you won't fall."
Monika sighed. "Thanks."
Monika put her sword back around her waist and wrapped her arms around Ragna's right arm. As the two started walking towards the staircase, Monika leaned in closer towards Ragna and noticed a now dried up blood stain on his jacket.
"Ragna! There's-"
"Yeah, I know." Ragna responded, knowing exactly what she was about to say. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine."
"What the hell happened last night?"
"We can talk about that later."
Monika didn't say anything and continued to hold on to Ragna as the two walked downstairs.
Meanwhile, the tavern downstairs was already bustling and busy as it was yesterday when Ragna and others first arrived. Soon Grena, had started to reach the bottom of the staircase to where she could see the entire tavern.
"Mornin' Grena." One of the mercenaries called out, seeing her coming down. "How's it hangin'?"
"Real bad choice of words right now." Grena groaned. "What's hanging is this goddamn hangov-Woah-Woah-!"
As she was nearing the last of the steps down, Grena suddenly felt her body lean forward without her legs moving downward. She flailed her arms around as she tried to catch her balance, but failed as she went downwards. Grena fell from the steps and onto the ground, hitting her head on the floor as she laid on her back. This also earned a laugh from several other patrons in the bar as well. Grena groaned, as she sat up and started to stand back up on her feet, holding her head in pain as she has more than a headache from just a hangover now.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." She groaned, rolled her eyes.
"Drank too much again?" A black haired mercenary asked, who was also drinking at that time.
"Ah you know me. I don't know when to quit till it's too late." Grena walked over to the bar, though she had no intentions to drink anything as of now. "So, what's new? You guys find anything out by any chance?"
"Bad news, good news, or worse news first?"
"Just go in that order."
"Well," The mercenary Grena was still talking to took another sip of his drink before continuing. "The bad news is that the tunnels are still a death trap, we haven't found anymore secret passageways that'll get anybody around secretly, Imperial Soldiers are increasing their numbers on the lower floor, and your wanted poster's already being posted around the floor again."
Grena rolled her eyes, leaning back on the stool she sat in. "Tell me something I don't know, will ya?"
"Well, last night I got stood up for-"
"Just get to the good news dammit."
While they were talking, Ragna and Monika came downstairs, the two walking over towards Grena who didn't notice them.
"Well on another note, at least I've got good news!" The mercenary continued. "I think I might've figured out a way to get you guys outta here."
"Finally, some progress!" Grena replied. "Hopefully the others get down here soon. They're gonna wanna hear some good news after all!"
Grena suddenly being pushed up to sit up straight as Ragna was behind her.
"Sit up before you fall out and crack your skull open will you, you drunk buffoon?" Ragna said.
"About time you two showed up."
"What was this we heard about good news?" Monika asked.
"I'm glad you asked!" The mercenary answered. "Couldn't have picked a better time to join us! I think a few of us might be able to work together to get you guys headed downwards on any of the lifts."
"The lifts?"
"Get real, that's a load of bullshit." Grena said. "Imperial soldiers keeps the security for the lifts locked down tight! We try stepping out onto one of those lifts, we'll be swarmed on sight."
"Don't dis the idea just like that, some of us worked very hard to get ready to pull this off." the mercenary responded. "Look, today's the perfect day for us to do this as well. They've shut down the lifts for today after all."
"That's just asking for trouble!" Ragna exclaimed. "If we try using them now, then they'll know something's up!"
"Why were they shut down in the first place?" Monika asked.
"Maintenance." answered the mercenary, taking another sip of his drink. "When one goes in maintenance, they shut down all but the center lift for the day for safety issues. Which is why it's the perfect chance for you to sneak away. With all of them shut down and us using one to our advantage, they'll be very limited to how they can pursue you guys once you get to the lower floors. You'll get out with no problems just like that."
"You're telling me we can just walk right up to the nearest lift and we can get out of here?" Grena asked. "Say we do this. How do we get down?"
"Don't worry! I've got you covered. I got a couple of other guys to come and help out. All you gotta do is take your friends and get a move on."
"That sounds amazing!" Monika responded. "We should get Feena and Goblin Mage and leave as soon as possible."
"Wait a minute." Grena said, stopping Monika from trying to walk off. "We're not done here." She then turned back to the mercenary. "You said something about some 'worse' news. How bad is it?"
"Well... pretty bad..." The mercenary started to answer.
"Excuse me. Ragna?"
While the mercenary started explaining, Ragna blinked as he felt someone tug on the side of his jacket. He looked over to his right to see Reina standing beside him.
"Reina?" He questioned.
"Hold still."
By that time, Ragna had noticed that she had her pen out once again, another word written on the area where Ragna's wound had stopped bleeding. Though the wound was still there it didn't seem to bother him any. Reina held her hand out over said wound.
"Reaper's Judgement: 癒す (Heal)."
Before Ragna knew it, he suddenly felt his wound starting to fade away. As Reina removed her hand, he felt his wound disappear completely, the mercenary maid stepping back a few inches as she put her pen away.
"There." She said. "All better."
"Oh." Ragna said, and smiled slightly. "Thanks."
"Ah, and before I forget." Reina held up Feena's hat she received earlier. "Please return this to your friend Feena."
"Feena's hat? How'd-"
"WHAT?!"
Ragna and Reina looked back over at Grena, Monika, and the other mercenary.
"That's what we heard." The blonde mercenary said.
"You're shitting us right?!" Grena asked.
"What the hell did he say?" Ragna said, asking a question as well.
"All three Prime Ministers are headed down here. Like today!" Monika exclaimed, the shock of what she heard basically curing her hangover.
"What?!"
"Word going around is that the Queen's losing it!" A mercenary wearing large glasses spoke up. "I've got some friends in the Imperial Army and they said she's spending awfully lot of time alone. She's talking to herself like she's hearing voices, and is constantly worrying about you guys! So she's got all of the Prime Ministers together and she's sent them down here. So either they're gonna try and arrest the guild or they're after you guys! But either way this is bad! Bad, bad, bad for all of us!"
"Yo, calm down." The blonde mercenary responded.
"Why the hell would we calm down at this?!" Monika exclaimed.
"Because we've dealt with those assholes before, Monika." Ragna responded. "Did you forget we've beaten them before?"
"One at a time, yeah. Not all three at once!"
"Sheesh what's with all the yelling?"
Everyone turned around to see Feena coming down the stairs, Goblin Mage walking down behind her.
"I come down here and already I can tell that I'm not gonna like what I've missed." Feena said as she yawned. "What happened?"
"We're gonna need to get a move on sooner than expected." Monika answered Feena. "Or else we've got to deal with three Prime Ministers on our asses and then we'd never get out of here."
"Are you serious?! We need to leave! Now!"
"Hey, calm down. Why are you so anxious?" Asked the blonde mercenary.
"Why? WHY?! Why wouldn't I be?" Feena gestures to Goblin Mage who was standing beside her, not paying attention to anything that the group was talking about. "She's in the same boat as Ragna here! If they get to us and they get Goblin Mage, there's no telling what they'll do to the poor girl! I absolutely refuse to let them lay their hands on Goblin Mage whatsoever!"
"Feena's right." Monika commented. "They'd eat that poor girl alive you know."
"Feena, here." Ragna sighed, handing Feena her hat. "The longer we sit here complaining and worrying the faster they'll catch up to us. If you wanna keep that up then fine." Ragna turned to the blonde mercenary and the glasses-wearing mercenary. "Which one of you can get that thing working to get us down?"
"Th-That would be me!" The one with glasses spoke up. "I can hack into the lifts easily!"
"Then take me there. We're leaving."
"Uh, yes sir!"
The mercenary with glasses soon walked out, Ragna following behind him to leave as soon as possible. Monika soon sighed and turned to Feena and Grena, silently telling them that "it's now or never", and quickly left out.
"Well..." Feena said, picking up Goblin Mage. "It's been fun for the one day that we've been here. But we'd better get going. See ya!"
Feena ran out after Ragna and Monika. Grena sighed, leaning on the bar.
"Think they'll make it?" The blonde mercenary asked.
"They're a tough bunch, that's for sure." Grena answered. "I'm confident in them... But in the meantime, before I get outta here-"
"I think I know what you're about to say."
"Is it still here?"
"Locked up in storage, covered up to keep dust off it, and polished till its shiny. Just how you left it before you got arrested."
"Bitchin'." Grena smiled, slamming her hands into her fist. "I'm heading to storage. I gotta catch up with those guys before they think I'm staying here and ditch me."
Location: 7th Floor, Goldenia
Several Minutes Later. . .
Meanwhile as Grena was taking care of whatever business she had left to do at the Mercenaries' Guild, Ragna, Monika, Feena, and Goblin Mage followed after the mercenary with glasses in direction to the nearest lift, which was to the east of the guild's building. The lift itself had been closed and sealed off to the public, as it was empty, with no one around it whatsoever. Breaking into the area to get to the lift, Ragna and the others were waiting for the glasses wearing mercenary to finish turning on the lift so that they could head down.
"How much longer is this gonna take?" Feena asked.
"I said give me a moment!" The glasses mercenary said. "Like I said, these things take time. Its a ton of technical and electrical-"
"I don't care how these things work! I just want it to work!"
"I know that! But I still need a little more-"
Ragna interrupted the two's arguing as he stepped in front of everyone, holding out the Azure Grimoire's shield in front of him. All of a sudden, a volley of mirror-like blade shards flew straight in the group's direction, which would've hit several of them if it wasn't for Ragna's quick thinking.
"We've got company." Ragna said.
"They're here already?!" Monika asking, preparing to draw her sword.
"I'll go get their attention." Ragna began walking off. "Get that thing working then come and get me."
"Right."
"We can guard things here, yeah." Feena said. "But are you sure you can handle things on your own? This is all three Prime Ministers we're talking about here."
"Doesn't matter to me." Ragna responded. "These bastards want me, then they're gonna get me."
Feena and Monika could only stand and watch as Ragna walked off.
"...Wait a minute." Monika said, having a realization as she started to look around. "Where's Grena?"
"She'll be here, I'm sure of it." Feena answered. "I'm sure Grena won't ditch us, not with how far we've gotten."
Meanwhile. . .
"Alexiel, what on earth are you-"
"Luring him out."
Speaking of the aforementioned threat, what Ragna said was true. All three Prime Ministers, along with a small army had arrived onto the seventh floor with the mission to find Ragna and the others. As the three had arrived, Alexiel didn't waste anytime. She already held out her hand in front of her, to which both Aglovale and Vira knew that was how she fired off her mirror blades. Vira immediately questioned what she was preparing to do, not knowing that she had already found Ragna and the others and had attacked.
"I've managed to locate them, and where that damned demon is hiding." Alexiel stated. "You and Aglovale can try and head off Weisswind and the others. I'll handle this one by myself."
"You're a fool Alexiel." Vira responded. "I know firsthand that a one-on-one fight isn't the way to go with him. And do you really think that he'd come out here all on his own?"
"He would." Aglovale answered, walking in front of Alexiel and Vira. "At least, I'm sure this is an indicator of that fact."
Aglovale planted his sword on the ground and formed an ice wall in front of the group. All of a sudden large, dark spikes started springing out of the ground, nearly striking the large group if it wasn't for Aglovale's ice wall. Soon the wall was broken as Alexiel punched a hole through it.
"That's him." Alexiel said, looking out in front of the group.
"There's no changing her mind is there?" Vira sighed. "Alexiel, when you fight him, save a piece of him for me to kill. I won't forgive you if you stop me from taking my revenge for my darling Katalina."
"I can try to fight you on this all I want, but you won't listen." Aglovale said. "The only thing I ask in return for letting you face him on your own is that you don't allow yourself to die here."
"Don't worry about that." Alexiel said, pulling out her zweihander. "I won't die till I've had my vengeance."
Aglovale and Vira both took off in different directions, the soldiers they had with them following after the two. Alexiel was left alone to stand in the street as she prepared herself to face her opponent. As if on cue, Ragna had came into her view, the man walking towards her with his blade still on his waist. As he was now about a good twenty feet away from Alexiel, he stopped. The two standing there facing each other.
"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Ragna asked in a mocking tone. "You'd think dying twice would be enough to make you quit."
"Tell me something demon." Alexiel responded. "Can you truly say that you killed me? You strike me down, and I get back up. You tear me into pieces, and I remake myself from them. I haven't lost against you. And I won't lose."
"What the hell's killing me gonna accomplish for you or this place? You think another Demon wouldn't try to show up and cause trouble?"
"For Goldenia it sends a message to the realm of Demons; We won't hesitate to hunt them down and slay them if they think they can step into this kingdom. For me..." Alexiel had turned her zweihander sideways as she pointed it towards Ragna. "I hunted you down specifically not only because you're a demon. But because of my... obsession to take vengeance."
"The hell are you talking about?"
"I don't need you to understand me. All I need from you is to just drop dead."
Alexiel swung her zweihander behind off, and dashed straight at Ragna. The redhead hopped into the air above him and came downward, preparing to bring her Zweihander down on Ragna's head. In response, he held up his Azure Grimoire as its shield spawned, blocking Alexiel's attack. He drew his large sword then spun around, swinging Alexiel in front of him and allowing him to slash her across the chest with his large sword, knocking her backwards and down to the ground. Ragna charged at Alexiel as the woman started to pick herself up off the ground. Picking up her zweihander, Alexiel spun her body around while on her knees and swung low towards Ragna's legs. Ragna quickly tilted his large sword vertically and blocked Alexiel's attack.
"Mirrors!"
Alexiel then attempted to strike Ragna via her mirror blades. The man let go of his sword and ducked under the mirror blades, then threw a punch into Alexiel's jaw, causing her to stumble back as she stood back up. Before she could recover from the last hit, Ragna kneed her in the abdomen, following up with an elbow to the side of her face. Coating his fist in darkness and with a shout of "Hell's Fang" he slammed his hand coated in dark energy straight into her face, followed by another burst of energy into her stomach, forcing her to let go of her zweihander as she was sent flying backwards across the street. Ragna then walked over to where he dropped his sword and picked it up. Ragna then started walking towards Alexiel, turning his sword into a scythe as he walked.
While he walked, Alexiel was back up to one knee. She growled, looking at Ragna with anger as he walked towards her. The redhead then slammed her fist onto the ground, as all of a sudden a small crack started to form in the ground, extending out towards Ragna's direction. As it approached him, he looked down and quickly jumped out of the way. Just in time too, as a large column of mirror blades suddenly broke through the ground and would have caught Ragna inside had he not moved. As the blades disappeared, Alexiel threw out a kick that sent out a wave of more mirror blades towards Ragna. The man spun his scythe around in front of him, deflecting the attacks and allowing him to charge at Alexiel again. The redhead held out her hand as, causing her zweihander to fly straight to her, grabbing it as she rushed at Ragna as well.
Alexiel swung first as they reached each other, her zweihander striking the ground as Ragna jumped up to avoid the low strike from the redhead. Ragna landed on Alexiel's sword and used it to propel himself further upward as to flip over Alexiel. He swung his scythe around him vertically as he went to strike Alexiel from behind. In response the redhead summoned up a short sword made out of mirror blades and used it to block Ragna's attack, her mirror blade sword shattering on impact. At that point Alexiel spun around and threw a kick towards Ragna, who also threw a kick towards her as his scythe converted to a sword once again. The impact from the kicks colliding knocked them both back several inches from each other.
"You little shit!"
Alexiel swung her hand to the side as a barrage of mirror blades were summoned, and headed straight towards Ragna. The man quickly dashed out of the way and moved to the side of a nearby building to take cover, only to be surprised as the mirror blades suddenly circled around the area and went after him once again. Ragna made another dash to get out of the way, swinging his large sword to parry away any mirror blades that came close. Ragna was soon forced to stop trying to avoid the mirror blades as Alexiel attacked from behind, spinning around and swinging her zweihander vertically downward towards Ragna's head. Being far enough from the mirror blades, Ragna swung his sword behind him to block her attack. He then attempted to spin around and kick her in the chest, but missed as the redhead back stepped after the first attack. He then turned around, summoning the Azure's shield to block at least most of the mirror blades that reached him. Ragna turned around once more and used his shield to block the impact from Alexiel's zweihander being swung at him once again. Both fighter grunted as they were trying to push the other backwards, both of them now at a standstill after the last clash.
-x-
"Now if I can just get power to run through these wires..."
Meanwhile with the others, the mercenary with big glasses continued to work on getting the lift up and running while Monika and Feena were still standing outside of the lift, waiting to see if there would be any possible trouble that would happen. With Goblin Mage, she was standing in the lift, just waiting around.
"...Hey. Hey." Goblin Mage said to the other mercenary. "So what's your name?"
"Oh, me?" He responded. "They call me "Mechanical Wizard". I'm amazing with machines or anything that actually has to do something to work, and am wanted for tampering with dozens of airships, weaponry, and-"
"Can I call you 'Wiz' for short?"
"Please don't."
"Oh... Ooh! How about 'Wizzy' then?"
"That's even worse!"
"Oh."
At that point, a small spark was seen from the area where the "Mechanical Wizard" was working. Goblin Mage looked over to see that the lift had slightly moved downward.
"Did we move?" Goblin Mage asked, as Feena and Monika turned around.
"It moved! It-It moved!" The Mechanical Wizard exclaimed. "It's as I said! I'm amazing with machinery!"
"Congratulations! You did it Wizzy!"
"Stop that!"
"Thank goodness." Monika sighed. "Now we just need to get Ragna and Grena and then we can-"
"Hey!" Feena shouted. "Get down!"
Feena and the others all quickly ducked as a blast of dark energy was shot in their direction, hitting a nearby wall. Looking in the direction of where the blast came from, they saw Vira standing in the distance, her left hand on the side of her face as she was looking straight at the group. Behind her was a small group of soldiers, all having their swords in hand and were ready to attack at Vira's command.
"Oh no, please, don't let me stop you." Vira called out. "Were you going somewhere?"
"Crap..." Feena groaned.
"I can deal with Vira and her little army here long enough for Ragna and Grena to get back, hopefully." Monika said. "Feena, you keep those two safe, in case they try to sneak around me."
"You want to fight us by yourself?' Vira snickered. "I don't think a little child is enough to-"
Vira went silent as a sword flew past her, strands of her hair being cut off in the process. She then turned around to see that Monika was already behind her and the soldiers accompanying her. As for the soldiers themselves, they were more worried about how the woman knocked away all of their weapons within the blink of an eye. Monika turned around then faced Vira and her forces.
"Don't underestimate me." She then said.
Vira blinked several times before shaking her head. She then also pulled out her sword and pointed it towards Monika.
"The same goes for me too." She told Monika.
-x-
Back in another part of the floor, the weapon deadlock between Ragna's and Alexiel's large swords continued, Ragna succeeding in pushing back the redhead, though Alexiel refused to completely give up. All of a sudden, Ragna lunged forward with much strength, breaking open Alexiel's guard and leaving her exposed to anything that he could throw at her. Putting away his sword, Ragna slammed his left fist straight into Alexiel's abdomen, making her wheeze for a moment. Next, his right hand turned into a monstrous claw. He grabbed hold of Alexiel's midsection and suddenly sprouted wings on his back, surprising the redhead.
"When did you-"
Before Alexiel could finish what she was about to say Ragna suddenly shot straight upward, dragging Alexiel into the sky with them. The redhead attempted to shake off Ragna's grip of her as they continued to fry straight up.
"What the hell are you trying to accomplish by going straight up?!" Alexiel exclaimed.
"Shut up, will you?!" Ragna responded.
As he was still learning how to fly with this new power he received, Ragna still had a hard time in controlling his wings. He wasn't able to right himself at the moment, which led to him dragging Alexiel upward into the sky as he flew.
"Come on you damn wings!" Ragna growled to himself. "Change directions already-"
Before he knew it, Ragna's wings suddenly started going to his left and diagonally downwards, taking the man and the redhead who was still in his arms down back towards ground level at high speeds. As they approached ground level, Ragna managed to force himself to fly straight ahead just before hitting the ground. As the two flew forward, he suddenly let go of Alexiel as his wings disappeared. Ragna rolled along the ground to stop himself as Alexiel was sent crashing into the ground, leaving a small crater in the streets below. As Ragna stopped rolling, Alexiel started to pick herself off of the ground and out of the crater. Looking up at the man near her, she growled loudly, slamming her sword on the ground angrily, creating a small hole in the ground in the process.
"What's the matter?" Ragna taunted. "You not gonna come at me like you've been doing?"
"Shut up!"
Alexiel proceeded to rush straight at Ragna right after yelling at him. Ragna readied himself as he held out his sword in front. Alexiel swung her zweihander to her side and then went for a horizontal slash at Ragna's head, to which the man ducked underneath Alexiel's attack. After missing her first attack, Alexiel grabbed her zweihander with both hands and went for a second horizontal slash in the opposite direction, only for Ragna to this time jump backwards out of the way of her attack. The moment he landed, he pushed himself forward with his sword now back on his waist. Ragna slammed his right fist straight into Alexiel's midsection, then followed up with a spinning left kick to the head. Before Alexiel could fall, Ragna grabbed her by the top of her outfit and pulled her back towards him. Keeping her in place for a moment he stepped on Alexiel's foot, causing the redhead to yelp before receiving an elbow to the jaw. As she staggered Ragna grabbed hold of his large sword and slammed it into Alexiel's abdomen fiercely, making the redhead wheeze. He then did it once again as he jumped up into the air, taking Alexiel up about ten feet into the air as Ragna's sword slammed into her chest. Ragna then landed on the ground first on his feet, and place his sword on his right shoulder.
"And stay down."
THUD
Ragna turned around and started walking away as Alexiel crashed into the ground behind him, leaving another small crater in the process. As Ragna was walking away however, he suddenly saw a bright green light shining behind him. Looking back, he saw that Alexiel was surrounded in that green light as she was pulling herself off the ground, any and all wounds that she sustained seemingly healing up. Alexiel picked up her zweihander and started walking after Ragna once again as the light died down.
"Oh right." Ragna sighed. "That damn ability of yours lets you recover easily."
Alexiel rushed at Ragna with high speeds, her zweihander behind her as Ragna was doing the same. The two clashed once again, greatsword against zweihander. Ragna and Alexiel were both doing their best to push the other back, but neither one of them could gain any ground.
"Why won't you fall?!" Alexiel shouted out. "You've seen my powers. You've seen my drive. You've seen how far I'm willing to go to make sure that you die! So why do you continue to fight your inevitable death at my hands, you damned Reaper?!"
"Will you give a rest, you bitch?!" Ragna exclaimed in response.
The two suddenly broke off their deadlock as they then proceeded to both take swings at one another over and over, causing their blades to clash repeatedly.
"I don't know what the hell you've got against me and not only that, but I could care less." He continued as they clashed. "What I do care about is finding out why the hell am I here and I don't need you or anyone else getting in my way!"
"The existence of demons like you have gotten in the way of my entire life!" Alexiel forces herself and Ragna back into a deadlock. "I don't care what the hell you're doing here or who the hell you think you are! But as long as that soul inside you is red as the blood in my veins, I won't stop until I've cut you down!"
"Someone's desperate! Oi, Ragna! Let's get outta here!"
Suddenly Ragna and Alexiel broke from their deadlock upon hearing a woman's voice call out to Ragna.
"Huh?" Ragna responded in a confused tone.
"Who the hell...?" Alexiel questioned while looking around.
Both fighters suddenly heard the revving of what sounded like the engine of a vehicle. Looking straight ahead, the two suddenly saw Grena heading straight towards them. The mercenary in question was riding on a black and dark red color motorcycle that was built in the frame of a chopper styled motorcycle.
"The hell?!" Alexiel exclaimed in surprise.
"Grena?!" Ragna also exclaimed in shock.
Alexiel jumped out of the way as Grena came right at her, with no intention of stopping. As Alexiel jumped, Grena slammed on the breaks of her motorcycle and spun around before stopping right beside Ragna.
"Yo." Grena said to Ragna with a smirk on her face. "How's it hanging?"
"Never mind that! What the hell are you doing here?" Ragna responded. "And where the hell did you get that?!"
"I had a few things to take care of before we left the floor. Whenever I get arrested for my work, I have the guild hold onto this baby for me." Grena rubbed the top of her motorcycle. "I had her custom made for me and my abilities somewhere outside of Goldenia." Grena gestures for Ragna to get on. "Come on. Let's get outta here already."
"Hold it!" Alexiel called out, readying her sword. "I'm not just gonna let you ride out of here! Just because we cleared out this area of people doesn't mean that the floor's an open lot for you to-"
"Shove it up your ass, will ya?!"
Grena revved up her motorcycle and suddenly her body bursts into flames. Instead of the motorcycle being damaged however, the flames around Grena's body left her body and suddenly went around her motorcycle and stopped at the back tire. She then took off a few inches before drifting and pointing her back tire in Alexiel's direction, sending out a wall of flames between the two of them and Alexiel, forcing Alexiel to move back. As her flames were no longer on her body, Grena then grabbed her chains and threw them around Ragna, the chains wrapping around his waist.
"Huh?"
"Let's move!"
Before Ragna could react, Grena suddenly speeds off in the direction of Monika and Feena, the man being dragged along due to Grena's chains being tied around his waist. Ragna attempted to run after Grena and catch up so that he wouldn't get dragged across the ground.
"Slow down you asshole!" Ragna called out. "This isn't funny!"
The flame wall from earlier eventually died down, Alexiel trying to cut through it with her zweihander helped with that also. The redhead looked around and managed to find tire tracks heading off in one direction, but she couldn't spot Ragna, Grena, or Grena's motorcycles. Alexiel growled as she looked off into the distance despite not being able to see her opponents.
-x-
CLANG
Meanwhile at the lift, Feena had succeeded in taking down the majority of soldiers that accompanied Prime Minister Vira, the woman in question was still dueling with Monika as this went on. Despite Monika's initial confidence, she definitely had to acknowledge Vira's skills in swordsmanship, as she was being placed on the defensive for most of their fight, blocking and parrying each one of Vira's countless slashes and swings.
"What's wrong, child?" Vira taunted while she continued pressuring Monika. "What happened to the girl who cut my hair earlier?"
"Don't call me short!" Monika exclaimed in an offended tone.
Monika moved forward and stepped on Vira's foot, cause her to squeak in pain as she pulled her foot from underneath Monika's. Despite the pain, Vira was still able to keep Monika from gaining the advantage as she still pranced around on her foot that wasn't stepped on, responding with several vertical slashes from above as Monika blocked over her head. Vira then threw out a spinning kick at Monika, catching her in the jaw and knocking her back a few inches. Monika quickly snapped to again and blocked as Vira came with a diagonal slash at her midsection which could have been fatal.
"Do you really think you stand a chance against me?!" Vira laughed. "If I have this much of an advantage over you without Bloody Hell's aid then it's a mere miracle you were able to make it this far!"
Vira entered a weapon deadlock as she and Monika spun around and clashed swords again. Suddenly, she broke through by flicking her sword upward and sending Monika's arms flying upward, completely exposing her to any attack. Vira quickly grabbed her sword in both hands and performed a vertical strike straight through the middle of Monika. However she was taken back as Monika suddenly had her sword above her to block the attack, which she did so successfully. Vira was surprised as she didn't even see Monika's arms or body move, yet she managed to block that.
"What...?" Vira questioned confusedly. "How could..."
"I've still got my own tricks on how to survive!" Monika answered. "I'm not afraid to pull out all the stops that I have to."
"Let's hope you won't have to then!"
Hearing someone from behind, Monika and Vira turned around to see Grena riding straight at them on her motorcycle, Ragna sitting behind her on said motorcycle as well, as she finally pulled the man on. Seeing them showing no signs of stopping, Monika got behind Vira and shoved her forward, nearly knocking her down as Monika then jumped out of the way. Vira's soldier also quickly ran out of the way of Grena's charge, though Vira herself didn't have anytime to move as the moment she was able to catch herself from Monika's surprise shove, Gran came straight at her. Vira shrieked and covered her head, in which while in the middle of driving Grena leaned slightly to the right to avoid crashing into Vira. Though at the same time, she let go of the handles on her bike and performed a roundhouse kick that knocked Vira face first into a building, then grabbed the handles again and sat back down. Grena then slammed on breaks as her motorcycle then started to drift and stopped directly inside the lift as the Mechanical Wizard and Goblin Mage got out of the way.
"Woo!" Grena exclaimed in relief. "We made it!"
"Whoa! The heck?!" Feena exclaimed in surprise, running back to the lift.
"Grena?! Ragna?!" Monika exclaimed while doing the same. "Why the hell are you guys riding in on a motorcycle?!"
"It's Grena's apparently." Ragna commented while getting off said motorcycle.
"Wow, that's so cool!" Goblin Mage said, examining any shiny areas of the motorcycle with sparkles in her eyes. "It's so shiny...!"
"We can spend time discussing this later." Monika stated. "For now we need to move."
"Take us down Wizzy!"
The Mechanical Wizard only grumbled at the nickname he asked Goblin Mage not to use as he began to manually control the rift and force it downwards. Meanwhile the rest of Vira's soldiers that were still conscious were getting ready to try and stop the group, but stopped after hearing the groaning of Vira, who was still stuck to a wall after Grena kicked her out of the way.
"The Prime Minister needs assistance, but..." One of them said hesitantly. "Those criminals are getting away..."
"We'd better focus more on the Prime Minister..." Another one said. "It... wouldn't be right if we were to just leave our superiors in that condition."
Meanwhile Ragna and the rest of the group were finally able to catch a break for a moment as the lift was going down.
"Thank God..." Feena sighed, sitting down on the floor of the lift. "They're really throwing everything out on us aren't they?"
"You can say that again..." Monika answered. "Prime Minister Vira's here. Then Alexiel shows up as well. I can only assume that mean Prime Minister Aglovale is somewhere on the seventh floor as well, if not the lower ones. For all we know, he could be waiting for us."
"Like I'm gonna let that stop us." Ragna commented. "We've been dealing with these people since we've gotten here. And now that we're this close to leaving, there's no way in hell that they can stop us."
"Ragna's right." Grena added on. "Ain't no way we're letting anything get in our-"
Grena didn't get to finish her sentence as all of a sudden, it seemed like the lift was shaking and vibrating and furiously, forcing everyone to try and keep themselves from falling over or being moved around.
"The hell?!" Ragna questioned.
"Oh that's right." Monika sighed. "We're getting closer to the lower floors of Goldenia. That means now we've got to deal with all the earthquakes that go on down here as well."
"Oh yeah. You told me about those."
"Yeah, they'll probably get worse the closer we get to the first floor. And to think that we're between the seventh and sixth floor now and they're already shaking everything around us. I hope the lift doesn't collapse or anything."
"I'm sure this thing is sturdy enough to stand up to an earthquake!" Feena said optimistically. "Besides if we hurry up, we won't have to deal with many earthquakes right?" Feena looked over to see the lift pass by another floor, and continue going down. "We're already past the sixth floor and we've only had to deal with one. I think it's safe to say that they aren't that consistent."
"Don't jinx us, will you?" Grena replied.
"Huh?"
"You say that now, but there's no telling what Mother Nature could do. If the world wants to screw with us, then that's what it'll do."
"Come on, think positive!"
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
"Oh yeah Grena, you might wanna..." Monika said, pointing to Goblin Mage who had climbed onto Grena's motorcycle, messing with the shiny handles.
"Eh, leave her be. She's not hurting anything."
"So shiny..." Goblin Mage said.
"Um... Hey, I don't mean to alarm you guys but..." Wizzy spoke up, looking up. "We've... got company."
The group all looked up and went wide eyed at what they saw. Suddenly everyone moved away from the center of the lift as what was above them crashed straight onto the lift, causing it to shake a little and forced the group to stand firm in order to not fall over. As everyone looked straight into the center they saw that what crashed into the lift was surprisingly Alexiel, who could only have pursued them. Immediately after the lift stopped shaking, Alexiel stood back up to her feet, zweihander in hand and ready for a fight. Ragna, Monika and Feena all readied their weapons while Grena wrapped her chains around her fists.
"Holy cow!" exclaimed Wizzy. "You made a drop that long just to get to us?! Are you crazy?!"
Alexiel didn't say anything but just turned her head to the Mechanical Wizard, who then immediately stopped talking and turned away in fear of the redhead.
"Hey." Alexiel then said. "Stop this thing once we get to the fifth floor."
"P-Pardon?"
"Don't you think it's a little cramped in here too?"
"...She's right." Ragna commented. "We're too bunched up for a four on one fight."
"Oh please, she's probably just afraid that we'd kick her ass a whole lot faster close in." Grena replied. "And if you ask me," she then ignited her chains. "I'd be damn well pleased with that."
"I'd prefer an open environment as much as you would." Alexiel stated. "But it doesn't matter where we go. I'll win regardless."
"Tch...!"
The four of them all stepped around in a circular motion surrounding Alexiel, who was constantly looking back and forth at each of them. Wizzy and Goblin Mage were standing in a corner next to Grena's motorcycle to keep out of the way. Soon, the lift started to approach the fifth floor and slowed down, coming to a halt directly at the fifth floor. As they arrived there did seem to be other civilians around the lift at the time of their arrival. Though, the sight of the five looking like they were about to fight happened to be enough to force them to quickly run away from the lift for their safety.
Immediately Ragna and Grena who were in front of Alexiel rushed straight at the redhead, and Monika and Feena readying themselves behind her. Alexiel put down her zweihander and quickly formed a large amount of mirror blades all around her. She let out a war cry and thrusts her arms at the groups, using her mirror blades to force Ragna and Grena on the offensive, and Monika and Feena were knocked out of the lift. Alexiel turned around and picked up her zweihander, rushing towards Monika and Feena which forces Ragna and Grena to follow her outside the lift.
"Move! Now!" Monika called out to Feena.
Feena and Monika both pushed themselves to the sides using wind, just in time as Alexiel's zweihander crashed into the ground and would have hit the two of them. As the two wind users got back to their feet, Alexiel turned back around to block Ragna's sword and Grena's fist from colliding with her body, getting pushed back a few feet in the process. The five of them looked around to see that they were still being watched by civilians as no one on the floor was expecting to see Ragna and the group, yet alone Alexiel, and especially not the five of them fighting.
"Hey..." Monika said to the others as she and Feena landed next to Ragna and Grena. "Maybe try to not go all out. Let's not get the innocent involved in this little skirmish."
"If you want, I'll hold her off while the rest of you head back to the lift." Grena suggested.
"No point in leaving you behind." Ragna responded.
"I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to even attempt that option."
Everyone looked behind them towards the lift when they heard someone else's voice. Walking towards the group prepared to fight was none other than Prime Minister Aglovale, sword in hand.
"You're kidding me..." Monika groaned.
"Aglovale?" Alexiel questioned. "Were you waiting here?"
"I had a feeling that they just might reach a lower level." Aglovale answered. "I came here and was prepared to freeze that lift in place if I needed to in order to stop them. But it seems you did that on your own." Aglovale pointed his sword at the group. "My men have taken the necessary precautions to handle the people's safety. Therefore I am able to devote myself to aiding you in your effort to defeat these four."
"You can keep his girlfriends over there busy." Alexiel placed her zweihander on her right shoulder. "I can handle the demon by myself. He's MY fight!"
Alexiel didn't say another word before she charged straight at Ragna, the man responding by summoning his Azure's shield in front of him to block Alexiel's zweihander. While Monika, Feena, and Grena were prepared to help Ragna and fight off Alexiel, they instead turn their attentions towards Aglovale, who was standing there with his sword pointed at the ground.
"Well..." Aglovale said to the three girls. "Shall we?"
"Ooh, such a gentlemen." Grena responded sarcastically, cracking her knuckles. "I might just take it easy on you... Not!"
Grena rushed straight at Aglovale who instead of moving, used his sword to form an ice wall right in front of him, causing Grena to crash head first into said wall. As she stumbled backwards the ice wall shattered as Aglovale now had his hand held out in Grena's direction. Firing off a wave of ice, Grena was sent flying into the wall of a nearby building, freezing her in place.
"Shit!" Grena exclaimed in frustration.
Monika readied her sword as Aglovale readied his. Both rushed at each other as their blades quickly clashed. Aglovale also ducked out of the way as Feena fired several arrows from her crossbow, as well as swinging his blade to parry Monika's sword away. Feena tried to come at him with a roundhouse kick but Aglovale backstepped out of the girl's way. Suddenly a small piece of ice sprung out of the ground in front of Feena's foot that wasn't in the air, causing the girl to trip over the piece of ice and fall forward, straight into Monika just as she tried to rush Aglovale again. At that same time the Prime Minister in question had to defend himself as a fireball came straight towards him, leaving him to cut it in half using his sword. He then suddenly found his arms wrapped together in chains, leading back to Grena who had broken off from the wall. Suddenly the chains caught ablaze, nearly causing him to cry out in pain as he yanked his arms back in shock, pulling Grena towards him. The chain wielding mercenary shot herself forward with fire and attempted to deliver a flying knee to Aglovale's face, only for him to duck. Grena getting closer also caused the chains to loosen up, allowing Aglovale to escape. As Grena landed back on the ground, Monika and Feena also pulled themselves up, the three girls ready to continue fighting against him. Aglovale readied himself once again, sword in hand.
Meanwhile, Ragna and Alexiel's blades had clashed nearly two dozen times as they were both looking for an opening that they could exploit, but both kept themselves tight and would not give the other that chance. As the two entered into a weapon deadlock, Alexiel immediately broke off before leaping slightly into the air, kicking Ragna in the chest with both feet to knock him back. As she rolled along the ground and got back up, Ragna managed to keep himself on his feet. He swung out his right arm towards Alexiel, said arm had changed into a monstrous claw and sent out a wave of spikes of darkness from the ground, impaling Alexiel through the shoulder just as she rushed at Ragna again. Seeing as she was caught off guard, Ragna swung his monstrous claw once again before his arm turned back to normal, breaking apart the spikes and clearing him a path.
"Carnage-"
Ragna grabbed hold of his large sword and swung it behind him as he rushes towards Alexiel at high speed. Just as she realizes what was about to happen, Ragna was already too close, his sword going straight through her abdomen.
"Scissors!"
Forcefully swinging his sword back, he knocked Alexiel into the air with a surge of dark energy that sent her spiraling away, crashing into the ground soon afterwards. Alexiel groaned as she tried to get back up, looking down at the ground in anger.
"Dead Spike!"
She then snapped her head up as a beast head made of dark energy came straight towards her. Alexiel quickly grabbed her zweihander and swung it diagonally upward, slicing apart the beast head before it could hit her. However at the same time as she stood back up, Ragna came straight at her and responded with a swift punch to the face. The redhead attempted to spin around in hopes of catching him off guard from his attack, only for Ragna to respond with his shield that blocks Alexiel's sword, and a quick slash across her side with his own. Alexiel stumbled back and Ragna used this as an opportunity to go for another one, which connected across her chest horizontally. Ragna ended his assault with a punch coated in dark energy at Alexiel's face.
Meanwhile Aglovale had been using his sword to block punches from Grena, who had the one arm she was throwing at him as if she was swinging a small hammer covered in chains. He also had to spin around at the same time at deflect attacks from Monika as she was buying time for Feena to reload her arrows. Just as he parried off Monika's recent slash, he turned around and quickly ducked under Grena's fist, then responded with a kick to the chest that knocks Grena back. The chain wielding mercenary smirks at this, as this is what she was hoping for. She swung her other arm up and towards Aglovale, sending her other chains straight at him like a whip that suddenly caught on fire. Striking him with the chains, Aglovale winced as he still turned around to block Monika's sword.
"She specializes in both short and long range attacks with her abilities..." Aglovale thought to himself. "That chain wielder is only going to become more of a problem if I can't deal with her."
"What's the matter?!" Grena boasted, spinning her fiery chains around in a circle. "Don't tell me that a bunch of little girls are too much for somebody like you!"
Wincing again as Grena's chains struck while his back was turned he quickly came up with a plan. He knocked Monika's arm into the air and jabbed at her forehead using the hilt of his sword, stunning her. As Grena flung her chains again, he dodged the first one and then planted his sword onto the ground, grabbing the second one with both hands despite the pain from the flames. Grena went wide eyed in surprise as Aglovale then yanked the chains with all his strength, pulling Grena straight into the air which caused her to nearly shriek from the surprise. As Monika recovered from the blow to the head, Aglovale kicked her back, but she managed to keep her footing as she was only pushed back. Looking at him, the Prime Minister smiled as he pointed upward. Confused, Monika looks up, only to now have a worried look as she saw Grena in the air, heading down in her direction. Before she knew it, Grena crashed straight into her, knocking her down while Aglovale grabbed his sword again.
Just as Aglovale was hoping for a chance to catch his breath he was suddenly struck in the front of his shoulder by one of Feena's paralysis arrows, limiting his movement and nearly forcing him to fall to the ground. The mercenary in question running up to the others while aiming her crossbow at the Prime Minister. Pulling himself together, he manages to swing his sword and deflect the second arrow Feena fired, only to be struck by the third one, paralyzing him a bit more. As Aglovale fell to one knee, Feena walked over to him, her crossbow pointed directly at the man's face as she was prepared to fire if necessary. Aglovale didn't bother to speak, but quickly struck back with a sweep kick that knocked Feena off balance, firing one of her arrows into the air. However the moment Feena was down and Aglovale was back up, he was hit straight in the face and knocked back a few feet by a flying knee from Monika, who got back up and propelled herself forward using wind.
Looking up slightly as he tried to sit him back up, Aglovale could see the three girls helping each other up as they were ready to keep on the offensive. He frowned slightly and lifted his left foot a few inches off the ground, then slammed it back down heel first, sending out a small path of ice along the ground towards the three girls.
"Is that supposed to stop us?" Grena jokingly asked, noticing the ice path.
"She's falling for it." Aglovale thought.
Grena wrapped her chains around her and suddenly rolled up into a fireball, heading straight towards Aglovale and the icy path heading towards her. She was planning to use her flames and roll straight across the ice path, melting it in the process. However the moment, she came in contact with it, the ice stopped and suddenly started to spring out of the ground. Grena suddenly found herself stuck in her ball position, unable to move and the flames around her faded away.
"The hell?!" She exclaimed, repeatedly igniting herself to try and break out of the ice.
"He's got just as many tricks as that Iska woman had!' Monika commented. "We can't let him stay at long range if that's the case."
Feena nodded in agreement with Monika as the two girls rushed at Aglovale.
"Funny that you mention my retainer, Iska." Aglovale said, starting to get up as Feena's paralysis arrows were wearing off. "She's alive and recovering quite well if you were wondering."
"Thank goodness..." Monika sighed to herself as she pulled out her sword and clashed with Aglovale. "She's alive, but she doesn't appear to be in any condition to help."
"However when I last went to visit her, she asked me to give your group something if I ever ran into you."
"Pardon?"
Monika spun around and broke free of her deadlock with Aglovale as Feena then came in and fired off several arrows which Aglovale dodged.
"Give us what?" Feena questioned.
Aglovale held his hand out. "Hold this, please."
"Wait that's-"
Before they knew it, a large blizzard overtook Feena and Monika, similar to the attack Iska used to freeze Ragna and Monika back in the tunnels. When the blizzard finally died down, Monika and Feena find out that their bodies from the neck down had been frozen. much to their dismay.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Feena groaned.
"Not again!" Monika whined.
Aglovale sighed, having a moment's rest...
BAM
"What?!"
Only a moment however. As looking out in the distance he was able to still observe Alexiel's fight against Ragna, which was not going in the former's favor whatsoever. With the two of them, Alexiel had wounds all over her body, whether they came from Ragna's sword, or from the power behind his punches and kicks. By this time, Alexiel had self recovered numerous times and even still, Ragna was standing strong despite any injuries he had sustained while fighting Alexiel. The redhead however, didn't seem to be able to keep up to her shock. While in the past she was able to fight Ragna and triumph over him, the time that the man in question had spent fighting other opponents, and from the first time he had fought against Alexiel, he wasn't the same as he was when they first battled. None of Alexiel's abilities are able to catch him off guard, or is she able to find any clear advantage. She was losing badly, and being frustrated every second of their fight. Ragna was walking towards Alexiel as the two were now several feet away from each other after their last clash.
"Are you done?" Ragna asked with an annoyed expression. "You've been chasing after my ass ever since we first met, and you still haven't realized that you won't be able to beat me."
"Shut up!" Alexiel shouted, pounding her fist on the ground. "I don't care how much you beat at me! I won't quit..." Alexiel stands back up and holds out her palm. "I'll kill you!"
Alexiel fired a beam of light straight at Ragna. As the blast connected and caused an explosion in front of Ragna it looked as if it had hit head on, though Alexiel was surprised when she saw Ragna had his shield in front of him and continued walking towards Alexiel. She growled loudly and continued to fire more beams of light from her palm, all of them were blocked by Ragna.
"Tch. Is that it?" Ragna mocked. "Come on, why don't you come at me again? Heal your wounds like you've done in the past. Take a swing at me. But then again, it doesn't matter to me what you do. This is still going to end the exact same way." He then clenched both of his fist as he started to look even more annoyed by Alexiel constantly shooting beams of light at him. "No matter what you do, you'll just be asking me to kick your ass you little bitch." Ragna's shield vanished as his fists were starting to be enveloped by darkness. "So do us all a favor, and get the hell out of my way!"
"Why...?! Why?!" Alexiel shouted out of blind anger. "Why can't I kill you!? Why can I never defeat you?! I waited years for the moment where I could finally kill you with my bare hands! You're right in front of me! I have all of my abilities and powers that I honed each day! So why?! Why can't I kill you, you goddamn Reaper?!" Alexiel throws her sword aside and puts both her hands together as a large beam of light started to form in her hands. "Die already! Die! Die!"
"I said..."
"DIE!"
Alexiel fired a large blast of light energy straight at Ragna, putting everything she had into one final shot in hopes that it would end Ragna. However she suddenly stared in shock as Ragna was being enveloped in a dark energy, his right hand transforming into a monstrous claw that he held out in front of him. As it collided with Alexiel's attack, the two watched as it disappeared... or rather, was being absorbed by Ragna's claw as the dark energy around him increased drastically. Alexiel's face changed from a look of shock to what looks like a look of fear, as Ragna pointed his claw straight her, causing the redhead to take a step back out of fear.
"Wh..." She started to say. "What..."
"H-Hey..." Monika questioned, as she and Feena had no choice but to stare at what was happening to Ragna as their were still frozen. "Where's all that power coming from...?"
"I-I didn't know he had it in him..." Feena responded, looking down as she felt the ice melting. "That amount of power is starting to melt this ice too..."
"Alexiel... why isn't she trying to escape?" Aglovale said quietly, before he started running over to the two.
"Get out... OF MY WAY!"
Without hesitation, all of the dark energy gathering around Ragna, gathered into his claw. Swinging his claw at Alexiel, a large wave of dark energy suddenly came out of it, taking the form of a skull-faced, ravenous beast that charged at Alexiel, who stared at it without making any moves to try and get out of the way, or defend herself at all. Her entire body was shaking fiercely as she slowly started to walk backwards till she eventually tripped. As the skull-faced beast came closer and closer to colliding with her and attacking her... she screamed. Alexiel screamed out of fear as she covered her head with her arms, turning her face away from the direction of the beast, completely helpless.
Just as Ragna's attack was about to reach her, Alexiel slowly looked back towards it as she didn't feel anything collide or consume her. Looking up, she saw that Aglovale had jumped in front of her, holding out his palm to send a strong blizzard in the path of Ragna's attack, keeping the skull-headed beast from reaching them. However the attack from Ragna was a lot stronger than expected as Aglovale found himself being pushed back no matter how hard he resisted. It wasn't long as all of as sudden, the skull-headed beast exploded into dark energy, knocking back Alexiel and Aglovale, even managing to knock back Grena, Feena, and Monika, reaching all the way back to the three of them after they had been freed from the ice. The only one who wasn't forced back was Ragna, who stood there still having his claw extended outward as the dark energy around him and where the explosion happened started to dissipate.
"What in the hell...?" Grena said out of shock. "All that... was Ragna...?"
Monika and Feena wanted to approach Ragna to see if he was okay, but neither one of them made any motion to do so, as they weren't sure what would happen, or if he would attack them next.
Aglovale groaned as he started to pull himself off the ground. Looking back, he was surprise. As Alexiel finally started to get back up, she immediately turned around and took off running away from Ragna as she stood up, nearly tripping a couple of times as she did so.
"Where is she...?" He wondered aloud.
With Ragna, the energy around him finally died down completely. The man could be heard breathing heavily as his right arm returned to normal. It wasn't long after this that he finally collapsed to the ground after everything that just happened. Monika and the others quickly ran over to check on Ragna's condition. While Aglovale knew that this would be the only chance he'd have today to capture them, he didn't bother interfering this time, and ran after Alexiel.
"Hey, Ragna! Ragna!" Feena called out.
"It's no use. He's completely out of it." Monika said.
"Just how much did that take out of him...?" Grena questioned, then sighed. "We'll worry about this later. We need to go."
The girls nodded. Monika helped lift Ragna up while Feena and Grena put his arms around their shoulders to carry him. As quickly as they could the girls started making their way back to the lift with the unconscious Ragna.