"I see you are looking for Iris," Colonel returned, immediately noticing the anxious wandering glances from the red Maverick Hunter.
"Then, there's no need to say anything more."
"Iris had already left, to a utopia we had created." Both leaders were calm at this moment, their mind sharp and in full alert, preparing for any ambush attacks the other might unleash.
"Did you attempt to move all Reploids to this utopia you are talking about?" said Zero, coming up with such a conclusion on his way here.
"Precisely, I expected no less from you, Zero. This utopia would be a haven for Reploids only, we sent them there with these spaceships, and left the humans here, unharmed. Why would you point your guns towards us?"
"Why would we point out guns towards you?" Zero immediately cut in after Colonel finished his question, "what about that large cannon in this utopia of yours? What is it for?"
"Zero…"
Zero had expected as much. It was a noble cause to move Reploids to a new settlement, in the name of peace in a new utopia, however, it would violate all oaths and rules set by the human creators that Reploids were supposed to obey. Reploids would never betray their human masters, Reploids would always protect their human masters, and Reploids should never consider living on their own without their human masters.
What if a Maverick outbreak occurs? A mass malfunction and system failure among a group of Reploids? Without the human masters, the brains behind all mathematical formulations, could the Reploids sort it all out by themselves? Sure, they could calculate equations and provide solutions at a much faster rate than a human brain could, however, any abhorrent computations in the Reploid's brain would only spell disaster.
Surely, the wise Colonel and General would have already thought this far? If so, why would they insist on creating a utopia of their own? Something did not spell right for Zero.
"Would it be to strike down Earth? To eradicate everyone else in it? Answer me, Colonel!"
Colonel did not immediately respond, instead, his head was slightly lowered.
"Colonel!" Zero reiterated, demanding an answer.
"I have no answer for you, my friend. I had already stated our stance from the very beginning, in Sky Lagoon, we will never drop our weapons, nor surrender!"
Zero gradually stepped forward, closing his gap with Colonel, leaving it far enough that their swords would barely touch each other if both were pointed straight towards their opponent. "Then, I must put you to rest, and get to Iris." He drew his Z-Saber out, now spotting a purplish hue as opposed to the usual greenish hue from their duel in front of the Maverick Hunters HQ previously.
Colonel looked pleased, the previous encounter with the red Hunter was very displeasing, Zero was injured and far from his best. If he wanted to truly best his rival, this would seem to be the perfect time.
"Try it if you may." Colonel pulled out his blue saber as well, holding it in front of him, closing all openings.
"Iris would be sad if she loses you."
"Don't be so presumptuous, Zero! Save it until you had defeated me!"
In a flash, both sabers clashed into each other. Both of them the fastest fighters from each side, on this day, one of them were bound to perish.
Zero and Colonel had been rivals since the Maverick Hunters worked together with the Repliforce. Both had too many things in common. Highly ranked, preferred close combat, and speed was the very thing they were most confident of. Iris only served to bridge their relationship closer.
How ironic that it was also for Iris that fueled the battle spirit of both warriors at this moment.
It had come to a point where both of them knew this battle could only end when one had been destroyed, totally. Fate had been cruel to them both, soldiers whom were only loyal to their cause. To get to Iris, Zero must defeat Colonel, who would stand in his way. To ensure Iris remained loyal to the Repliforce, Colonel must defeat Zero, who might be influential enough to change his sister's mind.
Flashes of thoughts beamed through their thought circuits as their mechanical bodies brawl it out. Zero was more than capable to keep up with Colonel's speed now, catching him whenever he tried to dash around him to strike the surprise blow.
"Not as easy this time!" Taunted Zero, referring to their previous encounter where he got overpowered easily.
Colonel simply let out a short grunt and swung his saber downwards. Zero rose to parry it, putting his foe's blade to the side while he attempted to utilize this opening. Colonel however chose to back-step and with ease, got himself out of harm's way, Zero's horizontal counter only stroke air.
Zero did not let up, dashing forwards at his fastest to immediately get into Colonel's face. "Shipuuga!" He ducked slightly and pulled the Z-Saber from his left rear, rotating his torso in the process to generate centrifugal force to produce a powerful horizontal slash. The enhanced speed and power caused the purplish Z-Saber to glow red. The striking height was too low to be dodged downwards, aiming just above Colonel's knee, prompting for the Repliforce officer to had no choice but to leap to safety.
Of course, this was all anticipated by Zero, who seamlessly tucked his Z-Saber to his right closer to his body, and his knee too, soared upwards and swung his sword diagonally upwards towards his opponent. This time the Z-Saber flared brightly, a burning red flame exuded from it, threatening to char anything that was caught in its fury.
Colonel while airborne had no choice but to hold his saber in front and block the incoming attack. The sheer momentum and force proved to be too great to withstand as he was subsequently blown backwards and hit one of the pillars of the launching pad. With quick reflexes, he softened his landing impact by using his saber to support and steadied his legs to be prepared to land. The damage was reduced but still felt without a doubt.
Zero landed on the other side of the pad after finishing his combo of attacks. Surely some damage would have been dealt, apparent or not.
"Magnificent... What an arsenal..." Colonel smiled, his temperature circuits began to heat up to better promote his reflexes. This battle was becoming increasingly interesting. He slowly stood tall, grasped his saber hard.
"Take this!" From afar, he swung his sword forwards, as they cut through the air, beams of teal came flying out from his saber, as if summoned and materialized from the air he had just cut. This was a rare long ranged attack from Colonel, yet wasn't the first time Zero witnessed this.
Zero swayed his body left and right while gradually stepped forward to return himself to his best range. However the sword beams can also change their directions depending on how Colonel sliced the air. They may come in differing heights, horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Colonel unleashed them at a rather fast rate so it was rather tricky for Zero to maneuver his way through.
As he saw a tall and horizontal beam, his eyes opened wide, seizing this as an opportunity. He dashed low and fast, again switching to his Shipuuga stance, pulling his sword to his left while rotated his torso to produce a more powerful strike. Colonel flashed a smirk, skidded to the right before the attack was released and found his way behind Zero who had thrown himself forward from the momentum of his own attack. Colonel stroke low, pulling his sword from the ground and dragged it upwards. Zero noticed this, resorted to rotate further so that his saber can reach Colonel's, forming a block.
Naturally, the one who was off balance would be the defeated in this singular duel. Zero was flung into the air with his trusted weapon sprang off his grip. Reacting to this as best as he could, Zero rolled his body to find the Z-Saber in midair, upon locating it, he activated the jet installed in his boots the moment he included Kuuenbu into his arsenal, giving him that extra jump which granted him sufficient distance to reach his sword. Upon landing, however, he found Colonel waiting for him, preparing for a second strike. Zero then rolled his body again, cutting things down in circular fashion - Kuuenzan. Colonel had to revert back to defense in the wake of this attack.
The extra momentum from Kuuenzan, the powerful torque forced Colonel to retrace some steps to evade the attack altogether than to parry it. He waited for the red Hunter to land, then produced his version of a low dash and charged towards Zero, in a similar move as Zero's Shipuuga minus the rotation, this way he would not lose much balance. Zero managed to block the attack, standing on one knee to give himself a sturdy base so that he would not be knocked off by Colonel again.
Colonel was slightly pissed that his attack did not work, he replied with a flurry of slashes, trying to mow Zero down without giving him the chance to stand back up. However, in this moment, Zero pulled off another one of his new moves - Rakuhouha, as he slammed the ground with his free palm and unleashed blue energy balls outwards from its center. Colonel again was forced into a defensive stance and leaped back, his sword placed in front to shield him from any incoming projectiles, which dissipated the moment they were blocked.
That move was intended to get Zero out of a tight spot. Zero lamented briefly the fact that he was forced to showcase more of his new moves to Colonel, greatly reducing the surprise factor he had. While he may look advantageous at this moment, his anxiety grew as he believed that Colonel had yet to pull everything out from his sleeves.
A snicker grew on Colonel's face. He had witnessed quite a number of Zero's new moves, and now be able to anticipate them better. He had that low, rotational slash. Then the rising fire strike. He also had the ability to double jump in midair and he has a great attack there to stop me from catching him. Finally there's that energy projectile blast… there might be more but should be most of his new arsenal.
Colonel's eyes had changed, as if he smelled victory. If so, I can win! He rushed towards Zero with his unbelievable agility, threw out a quick strike, which was parried by Zero as expected, and shifted around Zero, launching more quick attacks towards his foe. Zero waited patiently, stayed in the center of the circle where Colonel revolves around, and followed his movements. This attack was not unfamiliar to Zero as he had dealt with this before in the past. This was one of Colonel's favorite moves. Colonel would dash around his opponent with blinding speed, and threw swift, surprising attacks that would water down the opponent should they be unable to follow them. Zero was one of the fastest Reploids on the planet, however.
He waited for an opening, blocking and parrying everything Colonel dished to him. At the same time, he tried to read and predict Colonel's next move, so that he would return the surprise and strike back. Now! As Zero blocked an attack from the right, he anticipated that the next attack would come behind him, and swung his blade earlier…
"It's over, Zero!" Colonel immediately halted his shuffle and leaped back, causing Zero to hit air and lost balance. Now with some distances between them, Colonel leaped high, and slammed the ground his hardest with his saber, "Ground Crush!" As he broke the surface and sent a huge energy shockwave towards Zero, who had yet to hold his ground.
The shockwave grew bigger as it travels further, akin an enlarging tsunami surging towards Zero. This was the first instance Zero had experienced this newly invented attack. The shockwave screeched across the metallic floor of the Space Port launchpad, which further distorted Zero's senses and affected his movements. Without time to spare, Zero dashed towards the nearest pillar and climbed it with absolute haste, then instinctively somersaulted past the shockwave, just barely.
The height was too great, and Zero spent too much time in the air, giving plenty of opportunity for Colonel to wait below him to launch another attack. Colonel's snicker widened, he pointed his trusty saber high onto the sky, through its tip it gathered and concentrated lightning. "Energy Breaker!" Colonel would then slam his supercharged saber straight down, diffusing the lightning across the ground, and send them jolting upwards towards the airborne Maverick Hunter.
Another attack that I've never seen before! Just how many attacks were he hiding!? In an unpleasant turn of events, this battle had escalated into a showcase of new techniques, Colonel did well to conceal them until they were needed, trapping Zero into a corner.
With only milliseconds to consider, Zero's computer brain processed tons of data simultaneously, while still airborne, it was in that instant that he saw an opening, a safe spot - the spot just above Colonel, where the lightning bolts would surely not hit him. Tapping the air with his right foot lightly, Zero leaped one more time, thanks to Kuuenbu, to complete the impossible jumping distance. Immediately after securing his defense, Zero also realized the perfect opportunity to attack.
"Hyouretsuzan!" Zero rained down onto Colonel with his freezing saber, plunging down at the same frightening speed as Energy Breaker's. The Repliforce, not anticipating such an attack, made a last ditch effort to shift his body away.
The sound of broken ice was heard throughout the Space Port as the rigid hard tip smashed the ground. Time had seemingly stopped for both of them, neither moved an inch, nor realizing theirs and their opponent's whereabouts. As Zero came to his senses, the entire place was surreal and blurry.
Slowly he looked around, his ear circuits slightly twitching from the close proximity of the bolts he just grazed by, the first thing he noticed was Colonel's leg, but it was isolated. He looked further, and saw a forlorn figure of the Repliforce leader lying on the ground motionless, without a good portion of his trusty right arm, and both his legs.
Colonel began to laugh bitterly, "well done, Zero!" He exhaled long with his eyes closed, and gazed upon the Maverick Hunter's eyes again, who was gradually moving towards him. "This victory is yours."
"Colonel," Zero paused after addressing his rival, not knowing any appropriate words to contribute, never had he witnessed his great opponent in such a pitiful state, the limbs that were severed had all their connections frozen, with tiny jolts emanating from them, the freezing effect effectively rendered any attempts to reconnect the limbs useless. Zero still found it difficult to believe that he had already won, should he be a fraction of a second later and out of position, he would be the one being fried alive. Colonel's Judgement Bolt was, without a doubt, a powerful attack, it was by sheer luck as well that he managed to land Hyouretsuzan with such impeccable timing and positioning. Should the same scenario played out again, Zero may not make it.
He was perfectly aware of this.
"I am going… to see Iris." Zero could only come up with such words, his eyes fixating only on the Final Weapon manifesting in the sky.
"Go to her, hurry." Colonel replied, his tone flat, yet all signs of hostility in his voice were gone. He was contented. It was a great battle, the two of them giving everything they had, and he was freed of any regrets before his end. "Farewell, old friend."
"Farewell, good friend." Zero turned his heel and gave the clear signal through his communication systems, the obstacle blocking their way to Final Weapon was removed.
"It'd be a waste to not make full use of this…"
Colonel's vision was left with almost nothing, through the vast blackness he could only grasp whatever little light his severely damaged eyes could. At best he could spot a figure of a person, relative hulking, with a bald head.
A sharp, electrifying pain originating from his chest pulsed through his entire body, leaving the once proud Repliforce commander to be writhing in pain, his vocal chords exploded from his extreme shril from the pain. Within seconds Colonel failed to move a single inch, his chest now a gaping hole.
In his hand, Sigma held on tight the combat chip of the fallen Reploid, grinning then laughing wildly, easing his way towards his private spaceship.