Unmei Force Solitary Legends: Steel Avengers
Chapter 6: The Only Thing Known About War
On the road…
The group was driving to their destination, having no trouble getting out of Denver compared to what Jack dealt with last time, however there was still the bump in the road from before, requiring the group to stop as Sam was in the middle of the road, petting both Red Wolf and Black Wolf, smiling as he looked at the car.
"You all stay your course." Líf said, exiting the car he was in. "I'll handle this."
"But, what abo-" Siege began to ask, before Líf glared at them.
"Go! I have this." Líf said, as Sam and he walked off the road while the others drove by. It seemed Sam was wanting no better opponent than Líf.
However, the group didn't get far, before a dark purple barrier appeared right before them, as it quickly spanned to encompass the road, and several kilometers from the sides. Jack quickly slammed the foot-brakes on the car, as it didn't notice the obstruction appearing in time.
"What the hell..!?" Jack exclaimed. "Is someone after us, other than Sam!?"
"It could be another of Siege Alter's minions." Siege remarked back, before he and Richard got out of the car. "If it is himself in the flesh… Rei and I are the only ones who can handle him. But still… He's not the kind of person to set up a wall like this. His method is more of destroying this car, and throwing what is defined as overkill towards us."
"Something tells me that there's another faction involved in all of this…" Richard remarked, before he then drew his blade. "I swear, if it's one of those villian factions who are out looking for trouble, they'll get it-"
Before he could finish their sentence, something dropped down on the ground, as both of the leaders prepared their weapons at the ready, while looking through the cloud of dust that was kicked up by the impactful landing. After it dispersed, Richard was unpleasantly surprised to see that Mugen was right back before him, this time wearing what seemed to be a blacker version of Richard's own exo-suit, and there was a oriental blade in his hand, and he was smirking maliciously.
"Now, now, I can't let you pass through that easily, can I? Your friend did well baiting Sam for the time being." Mugen remarked with the smirk not fading from his lips. "However, you and I are not done yet. Like I said, we're going to be meeting each other quite a lot in these moments."
"You… With that face to mock me… Strip that mask of yours and show your true face, bastard…" Richard growled with a threatening tone. "And also, how did you manage to acquire Mitusnari's blade and wield it?"
"Well, I did do him a favour by reviving him. Let him have a second chance at his vengeance. In return, I asked for his blade for this trip. It was a deal favouring him. He might have told me that he'll kill me if I dent or scratch his blade, but you and I know that's not possible." Mugen responded back, twirling the blade around.
"...Who else? Who else did you revive?" Ricahrd asked back in a low tone.
"Oh, I just simply revived good Selvaria, and also a friend that you haven't met for a long, long time." Mugen cackled back, with an insane look in his eyes, and a cheshire grin.
"Of course, of fucking course." Richard responded back. "Right when I'm about to do some real stuff here, you stride in and decide to screw with me, is that it?"
"Well, can't exactly let you get what you want, can I? I'm a smart villain, I know what disrupts the heroes." Mugen responded back with a casual tone.
"And a mouthy one at that." Siege mocked back, with a scowl.
"Well, if it ain't the famous and legendary soldier, Siege Sukui! I've never thought that you'd bring your sworn brother into all of this. Then again, I don't particularly care about him, as much as I do about you." Mugen answered back. "So, won't you, please let me settle matters with Richard? Pretty please with sugar on top?"
"Fuck you, you demented bastard." Siege spat back.
"Oh, who said it was a choice?" Mugen retorted back, before he then stepped closer menacingly. "That's a pretty nice car and bikes you have there. Shame if it were to be destroyed by accident, you get what I mean…?"
"We can get there all the same, and what's to stop all of us from bum-rushing and wasting your smirking ass across the ground?" Siege retorted back with a grunt.
"Simple, this barrier won't go down, unless I will it myself. Kill me, and you lost the only means of bypassing it. This barrier is built to stop any aerial attempts to pass over it, and this barrier is several kilometers long. You think that you'll be able to make a detour in time to finish your little mission?" Mugen asked back, before he then let out a mocking 'Ha!'.
"...He doesn't seem like he's bluffing." Richard answered back with concern, before he then slowly walked closer, while eyeing Siege. "What he told me is something that can actually work within reasonable constraints. I rather not risk the mission by denying his request… However annoying it will be."
"But what if its a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' scenario!? You'll be playing right into-" Siege responded back.
"Not like we have a choice. I'll amuse whatever he asks. And I doubt that he would ask anything far out of his reach." Richard shook his head, before approaching Mugen, putting them at a fairly short distance between each other. "Now then, what do you want. Answer me straight and short."
"Well, I guess that we're doing this." Mugen shrugged, before he then gestured towards the dirt field on the side. "A fight. First to yield loses… or first to die. Simple as that. You and me. I like to test the waters against you, considering our last encounter."
"Heh, you'd be overwhelmed at how far I come over that time." Richard sneered back. "I'll do you one better, I'll KILL YOU myself!"
"Attaboy, that's the kind of spirit I want to have in our fight!" Mugen chuckled back, before he then snapped his fingers, before another barrier separated both of them from the others. "Just a counter-measure. Before you even try to think of breaking it, this barrier is bound by concept, no magic that you currently have can even come close to scratching it."
"Fine by me, it means that you have nowhere to run." Richard continued, before taking combat positioning. "You're going to regret using my own friend's face to taunt me! That smile on your face… It can be a lot wider."
"HahahahahaHAHAHAHA!" Mugen laughed insanely. "Then try and take my head if you can!"
As Sam and Líf prepared to duel, the two of them noticed the situation the others were in.
"Well… I suppose someone got in the way of the mission you all have." Sam remarked, as he slowly lowered his hand to the hilt of his blade. "Quite a bother…"
"A bother? I figured you'd find that a joy." Líf said.
"Does it ever occur to you that I actually want you to beat Armstrong? And that this whole time I was only pushing you all to bring Desperado to its knees in defeat?" Sam asked with a smirk.
"...Is that actually true?" Líf asked back.
"You decide." Sam replied back. "After we duel. If you can beat me, you get your answer to the question."
"Fair enough. First to yield or die." Líf answered back, as he and Sam drew their blades at the same time.
"Loses. Let's dance!" Sam finished, taking his stance, Líf doing the same, before Sam's facial mask snapped on.
~BGM: The Only Thing I Know For Real~
In the fight between Richard and Mugen, the two of them were trading blows with their katana, as neither side had an advantage over one another. Their blades clashed multiple times in succession, before they smashed each other back. Richard growled, while Mugen were merely smirking, taunting Richard.
"Now, now, you aren't going to beat me with that kind of simple swinging." Mugen informed Richard, tilting his head side to side mockingly.
"Well, don't get so disappointed early, we're just getting STARTED!" Richard roared, before he then charged at Mugen, slashing at him several times, going for a combo of low and high swings, to force Mugen to divert his guard enough to wear it down, and create a opportunity to strike him where he was vulnerable.
However, Mugen merely grinned much more widely, before there was a glint in his eyes, as Richard noticed that he sped up considerably, as if he was engaging in his form of Zandaitsu. Richard then triggered the same motion, as the two of them clashed blades at blurring speeds, bringing Siege to awe at two Zandaitsu users clashing while using their technique.
They soon separated from each other, before Mugen took the initiative for this attack, as he went for a series of cross-slashes at Richard, who tilted his blade side to side to deflect the attacks with everything he had. He then aimed for a leg-sweep, which Mugen dodged over. However, Richard smirked, expecting Mugen to jump into the air, before activating Zandaitsu and striking at Mugen from below, as the attack tore through his legs, although not enough to cripple the leg even the slightest, thanks to the armoured exo-suit.
Mugen then jumped back, before his smirk wavered for a moment, while Richard looked fairly smug.
Mugen then charged again, as the two of them clashed blades, with Mugen going for a series of advancing slashes, which Richard blocked, before going for a round-house kick to strike Mugen. However, Mugen ducked under the attack, before using Zandaitsu to aim for the flying leg, only for Richard to barely draw it back, as the blade scraped against the metal couplings on his leg.
Richard then did a series of downwards strikes, as they clashed against Mugen's blade, before then doing a forward-facing upwards swing, as it caught Mugen, sending him flying, before a trail of his blood laid in the path that he was knocked back from. When Mugen got up, he had a noticeable wound on the centre of his chest, as it was dripping small amounts of blood from it.
"Clever move there… But can you handle this…!?" Mugen exclaimed, before he then immediately readied his blade, as there was a familiar purple glow around, before he then swung his speed at faster speeds than what Richard could perceive with Zandaitsu, as he was forced to block as much of the attack as he could, with the rest of the slashed slipping past his guard.
After he was knocked back a bit, Mugen then attacked Richard, leaping into the air, before swinging his blade down onto the ground, as it was hard enough to crater the ground, and knock Richard away, who had several gashes around his body. However, that didn't deter Richard, who charged at Mugen, determined to end the fight quickly.
He then smashed onto Mugen's face with the pommel of his weapon, dazing the other dark-haired swordsman, before he then entered Zandaitsu mode, before slashing through Mugen as many times as he could hold the focus for. For the finishing touch, he then kicked Mugen's blade up, before then slicing down through Mugen, right through the centre, as blood sprayed from Mugen's body, and he fell effortlessly to the ground.
"...We're done." Richard stated, before he then raised his blade to finish Mugen off. However, Mugen already set a portal underneath himself, sinking into it before Richard could swing his blade down onto him, and deposit him on his feet, as he was shaking on his feet.
"Why yes… Yes we are…" Mugen remarked with a weak tone, although he didn't stop wearing the taunting smirk on his lips. "I suppose that'll do for now… The barrier will be gone when I leave. After all, I lost this fight, but I don't intend to die here… not now."
"Don't you dare-" Richard was about to shout, before Mugen stepped back through another portal behind him, as it closed up and left Richard alone on the field. The barriers, as Mugen had promised, disappeared, although Richard was too busy fuming to notice that.
"Richard… Are you alright?" Siege asked Richard.
"I'm fine… Can't believe that bastard finally went back to causing me grief…" Richard growled back, before he then walked over. "By the time we finish this fight, Erick should be done with Sam, with him dead or alive."
Siege nodded, before they then entered the car, making their trip to the SOLIS space centre.
At the same time, on the opposite side of the field….
Sam and Líf had begun their clash, just as the others had finished, since both Red Wolf and Black Wolf didn't want them to fight, but in the end Sam and Líf began their battle anyways.
Sam waited for Líf to attack, and attack Líf did, slashing multiple times at Sam, who blocked with HF Murasama, but then Líf struck hard, breaking Sam's guard as he then landed a combination attack to send Sam flying backwards, before he smirked, retaliating by jumping and slashing at Líf, who easily parried the strike, then slashed back at Sam, who barely avoided the attack. Sam then adopted a counter stance, as he expected Líf to attack again, only to find Líf had his same mind set and was in a counter stance as well.
"Well, great minds think alike it seems." Sam said with a chuckle as he got ready to attack with a burst slash, and did so, but Líf avoided it, soon slamming HF Sokkvakebr into the ground, creating a burst of purple electricity, as it connected with Sam, as Líf knocked Sam's blade out of his hands.
"How's that?" Líf asked, holding his blade towards Sam, but only saw Sam smirk, rolling his shoulders.
"Show me a good time, Erick!" Sam said, before charging at Líf and grabbing him, slamming him into the ground and punching him, before kicking Líf across the ground.
"Hmp." Líf said, sheathing his own blade and seeing Sam charge again, as he counter grappled Sam into a hefty suplex, which had Sam reeling from the impact, as he smirked.
"Never took you as a grappler." Sam smirked as he stood.
"I learned a lot from joining Valhalla Company. And you would too." Líf said, seeing Sam go back to his blade, as Sam picked up his blade… and sheathed it.
"I yield." Sam said, looking to Líf with a smirk, catching Líf off guard.
"...I would have thought you'd want to trade sword blows for a bit longer before you would yield." Líf said.
"Didn't Mistral tell you?" Sam asked. "She and I, we were the only companions to one another when we went through training to join Desperado. No one gave a shit about us except us. Back then, she and I knew we should have left when we had the chance, but we went against the idea. She and I fell in love in that very training camp. It's why I went after you, because I thought you all gut her like I thought you would."
"So what made you realize we didn't kill her?" Líf asked.
"A couple things. First, the video cameras in the lab back in Denver. They showed Mistral alive and well." Sam said. "And second, I realized something else about you. You all are killers, no doubt… but you do have some heart to you. That much I figured at Denver. You don't kill children, you try to save them. You don't kill the innocent, you rescue them. And to enemies who chose to get in your way, you butcher them. It's not the cleanest work…"
Sam gave a genuine smile as he walked to Líf and put a hand on his shoulder. "But not all heroes have to do clean work to be heroes, do they? When I saw all of that, I had a change of mind, so to speak. I decided to let Sundowner get a little cocky, so that he dies with my last vestiges of ties with Desperado. After that, I assumed the obvious, and decided to wait for you on the road to this space centre. Decided to give you one last test, and you passed without any doubt. Strong enough to back your ideals, which means that I've got no reason to not join."
"You got that right." Líf said, sheathing his blade as he and Sam shook on it, with both of them exchanging a friendly grin.
"Now, if I'm correct with the call I made before you got here…" Sam said, soon seeing Mistral pull up in another car.
"Hop in. We can still catch up to the others." Mistral told both of them, as Sam, and the Wolves hopped into the car, while Líf rode on top.
"Let's ride. Armstrong, here we come you son of a bitch." Líf said.
Combat Results
Battle Rank Mugen: A
Battle Rank Sam: A+
With that all done and the threats dealt with, the groups could go on to SOLIS, with Líf, Sam, Mistral, and the Wolves not far behind the others as they drove along.