Chapter 28. Improvements
Shivarna howled as he clawed through the logs Shred and Echo threw at him. Jack was at the bench outside the field, beat up, while Millie had a timer going. Poch stood on the side, letting Shivarna move on his own.
"Here comes," Shred said, lifting up a large tree with some struggle, his symbol glowing, "a large one!" He flung it at Shivarna.
"AWOOOO!" Shivarna howled and thrusted its claw forward, cleany cutting through the tree.
"Nice!"
"We won't have to worry about firewood for a while!" Millie stated.
"Shivarna sure is strong!" Shelly said.
"Don't Jack know it," Solis smirked.
"Fuck...you," Jack weakly flipped off.
"You asked for it though."
"Fuck….you."
"Coming at ya!" Echo threw a volley of logs at Poch's shadow demon.
"Rrraof!" Shivarna barked, tearing through the logs. He was about to tear the last one but as soon as his claw touched it, he disappeared.
"Time?" Poch asked Millie.
"Three minutes, twenty-eight seconds!" Milie called out.
"That short!? Jeez."
"Maybe its cause hes a fusion?" Dundy asked.
"Would the corps possibly have any records of this? I doubt Poch is the first with something like this," Shred mentioned.
"I can ask later, but I assume they're busy with the whole Dhork and Crusader stuff. Stolas is with them now reviewing the memories."
"Hmm," Moxxie hummed as he wrote in a notebook.
"Whatcha writing there Mox?" Blitzø asked.
"I'm writing down things about the exterminators! I'm thinking one day we can make a book about them, like a biography!"
"That sounds nice! Whatcha got so far?" Millie asked.
"What I have so far is that the exterminators are demons, or rather mutated humans, with the special power of demonic arts aka, shadow demons. Each Exterminator has one unique shadow demon and at least one common shadow demon, each having different words to be written when summoning them but they always start with an X. A shadow demon also has a time limit until they're dismissed, unable to be summoned again after a short time, I have those written down on a separate note. They also can't be too far from their exterminator, each having a set distance they can be apart till one gets pulled. An exterminator can also use their demon shadow energy to enhance the strength in parts of their bodies, though too much can harm them. That's all I have besides the teams personal profiles, which includes there shadow demons, times, and weapons." Moxxie said proudly, flipping through the pages of notes he wrote.
"Nice!" Jack said.
"Who's got the best time?" Solis asked.
"Shelly with thirteen minutes fifteen seconds, Shred's Ripper is second with eight minutes and eight seconds, but I don't know if the times are different when it's armatized."
"If it's anything like Le-armes in close range mode then it's probably shorter," Millie noted.
"Close range mode?"
"Oh right, you guys haven't seen it!" Shelly noted. She hopped off the bench and headed to the field. "Lemme show ya!" Poch, Shred, and Echo got off the field and to the bench. Shelly wrote for Le-armes. "Le-armes!" She summoned it and when it came she drew her guns, stretched her arms out and crossed them. Le-arms started to change. Its outer ring slid forward off with the bottom half of the inner ring and broke apart, reforming. It formed as a frame around the back of her arms, creating a uzi barrel and receiver that formed around her pistols. The frame continued on her back, a circular connector formed in the middle. More of the skeletal frame was made and placed on the back of her legs, forming as wired boots around her lower legs, a slider going under her feet. The center part of Le-armes opened up and shifted, becoming smaller as it connected itself to the connector on the back. The top half of the inner ring broke into fours and went into four diagonal corners of the center. The inner circle opened up on the back of the center, a nozzle coming out and funneling. The four corners slid open from under the segmented ring and out came in an angle were booster jets. A slider came out the top and wrapped around her eyes, becoming her visor. Black flames roared out the jets, moving her forward as she skated with her sliders. She zipped around, and shot at the wood Shivarna cut and spun around before doing a bayonetta pose.
Everyone clapped from the bleachers.
"Wowza! How come you've never used that before?" Blitzø asked.
"While this mode increases my mobility and speed, I lose my long range capabilities, cant use my missiles, nor my turrets. Plus I've been doing the long range game for a while." Shelly dismissed Le-armes while explaining.
"Alright...writing that down…" Moxxie said as he wrote.
"Welp...I think I deserve a hot soak in the hot tub," Jack said, groaning as he raised up.
"Gonna use the private bath while we work? Gonna miss out some prime targets," Shred mentioned.
"No no, no bath. I meant Poch's hot tub since he best me up for no reason,"
"There was a reason and there is no way in hell I'm letting you in my penthouse, to use my hot tube and then abuse my special services. I got charged three hundred last time cause you wanted to order out with fancy shit and get a massage!" Poch growled.
"Oh yeah, forgot Poch has a penthouse," Blitzø remembered.
"Yeah...so why does he have a room at the base again? Especially considering his daggers?" Shred mentioned.
"I...huh...no idea." Poch admitted
"I know! It's so Loona can have a cuddle buddy when she needs it!" Shelly said.
Loona blushed. "Shut up! We don't do that!"
"It was one time!" Poch groaned, "thought Stolas said he wouldn't tell!"
"Stolas? What's Stolas got to do with this?" Millie asked.
"The time we were watching shows in my room and we fell asleep. That's what you're talking about right?"
"I didn't know about that. Were you cuddling then too?" Millie smirked.
"No! We were just close but only cause we were sitting next to each other!...wait if that's not what you're talking about, what do you mean then?"
"Hmmm what do I mean?" She glanced at a blushing Loona.
"Sh-she doesn't mean anything! She's just messing with us!" Loona stated.
"Oh...not cool." Poch deadpanned.
"Still though your place is much better than the base." Jack said.
"Guess it's just so I can be close by for an early Cleansing?"
"We could just contact you."
"Well...true….heck stolas went to the trouble of getting me a room so...guess I'd be a waste not to use it."
"You could give it to Loona, I'm sure she'd love to sleep somewhere where your scent is prominent."
Loona closed in on Jack and socked him in the face.
"Ouch!"
"You asked for that." Poch smirked.
"Though that's not a bad idea, Loonie does love your smell considering we put your shirt on the-" Blitzø was hushed by Loona.
"Dad! Shut up!" Loona said, red as a beet."
"My shirt on what?" Poch raised a brow.
"Nothing! Anyways, don't we have work to do!?"
"Oh yeah! We got a big batch today cause of the deal I placed!" Blitzø smiled proudly.
"What deal?" Shred asked.
"The tougher the target or if there's a whole lot of them, then you get an autograph from an exterminator!"
"And you were gonna tell us this, when?" Dundy asked.
"Oh come one, what's there to complain about? Just sign your name on a picture I've taken of you."
"When did you- nevermind as long as it's a good picture."
"They are! Got them from the last early cleansing!"
"Alright cool as long as that's the only pictures of me you're using, not the ones you snuck of me and Loona," Poch glared.
"Nah I'm saving those for when you finally admit you love each other."
"We don't- ugh! Whatever. So who we got?"
"And can we go in teams? I wanna tag team with Millie! If that's ok with you Mox." Shelly asked.
"I'm fine with that," Moxxie turned to Blitzø, "if it's ok with you sire, I'd like it...if we could tag team."
Blitzø was taken by surprise but quickly smiled and pulled him close. "Sounds great, Mox!"
"Guess that means I'll be hanging with Dundy and Echo," Solis stated.
"Sorry babe," Shelly told him
"It's fine, you'll make it up to me later." He said with some seduction.
"Oh," She responded with her own seduction.
"Guess you and I are gonna paint the town red, Jack!" Shred stated.
"Hell yeah!" Jack cheered.
"Guess that leaves me and Loona," Poch mentioned.
"It's always you two."
"Well yeah, cant beat this hellhound duo! Well at least when it comes to killing humans."
"What? Can't be a duo on angels?" Loona smirked.
"You can't kill them, remember?"
"Well neither can Millie but with me around she don't got no worry!" Shred mentioned.
"Yeah but you carry her, I can't carry Loona like that."
"She can carry you though." Jack mentioned.
"I'm not piggybacking on her!"
"You're short enough too," Loona smirked.
"Yeah but it wouldn't work anyway, I need to be able to get close, and since I'm more agile and quick, itd make more sense for you to be on my back."
"And how's that gonna work?"
"Like," Poch got behind Loona, bent down, grabbed her thighs, and lifted her above his head, and having her sit on his shoulders, her blushing madly, "this. See, I can move around easier and you can use guns or I follow up after your claws or some shit."
"Ah, y-yeah I guess...y-you can let me down now."
"Why? Don't like the extra height? If you're worried about being heavy, don't worry you're lighter than you look."
"Wha- are you saying I look fat?"
"Snrk, have you seen your ass?"
Her hands went on her butt. "My butts not that big."
"It's kinda big." Poch smirked.
"And like you would know?"
"Oh, you know I would know with how much you-" Poch shut his mouth, blushing along with Loona.
"How much she what? Go on share with class!" Blitzø asked, smugly.
"Nothing!" Poch put Loona down. "Let's just go!"
"Alright," Blitzø had a look that said he's gonna bring this up again.
Human Shelly walked to the junkyard where their targets were, Millie being in her backpack.
"So, Millie, I've been thinking about our next girls night and I wanted to invite Keenie and Nala to it." Shelly told the imp.
"That sounds nice! Spice up our girls night with the five of us, six if we can get Ilas to join after we meet her!" Millie replied.
"Yeah but that presents a problem."
"What's that?"
"Where we gonna have it? If we go to hell that could mess with Keenie, and we can't do Nala's cause where Kollin gonna go?"
"I...huh."
"It'd have to be a place in the human world, one where we can sneak you and Keenie in."
They walked to a horde of bikers and gangsters seeming to be partying. Some of them noticed Shelly and whistled at her.
"Hey babe! What brings you here?" One said.
Shelly took off her backpack and tossed it to them. They were about to grab it til Millie came out and decapitated them with her axe. The ones around her were taken by surprise before being shot by Shelly.
"What if we try a karaoke place?" Mille asked, turning her axe into flail.
"That's gonna be hard to smuggle you in, plus they video tape the rooms for security reasons," Shelly said while getting some headshots on some bikers charging at her.
"How bout your parents' place?" Millie swung her flail and managed to chop three in half with one bloody swing.
"Not enough privacy."
"A park at midnight?"
"And deal with bugs? Plus we don't have anything for a picnic."
"I got nothing." Millie admitted, pulling a head off her axe.
"Need a place that's in the human world where us girls can have some privacy, where whoever lives there can go somewhere else with no problem, and it has to be fun…" Shelly gasped, "I know!" She took out her phone, using one hand to shoot.
"Whatd ya think?" Mille asked, choking a guy out.
"Hang on….yes! I'm gonna show you a place!"
Loona and Poch were outside washing the blood of their claws, well Loona was, Poch was washing his brace while Loona was grumbling.
"You shouldn't have accepted the bet," Poch smugly smirked.
"How the fuck do you move so well on one leg?" Loona grumbled.
"Balance, baby. Now what's this about my shirt?" He shook off his brace, opened a portal, and placed it in.
Loona blushed and avoided eye contact. "Blitzø...may or may not have...taken the shirt you wore and….put it on that plushy you got me...it smells like you but...just not as strong so...I kept it on there."
"...wow," Poch was surprised. "You...really like my smell huh?"
"Well...it's just...it's confronting ok!"
"Well...I'm kinda jealous."
"Jealous?"
"Well, I don't have anything that smells like you so...feel kinda left out."
"Do...do you want something?"
"...I mean….I guess...your shirt would be fine...I mean you're gonna take it off anyway."
"Huh?"
"I uh..well I wanted to give you a good massage and the best way to do it is if nothing is in the way so...eh you don't have to so-"
"No it's...it's fine it's not like you're gonna grab anything," she nervously laughed.
"What no course not! Do I look like a pervert?" Poch chuckled a bit nervously.
"Well..."
"Oh shut up. C'mon let's go ahead and head to my room."
The two entered Poch's room.
"Alright, I'll grab my computer, go ahead and get settled." Poch told her.
"K," Loona walked to the bed and started to take off her top.
"And don't worry, I wont look."
"Better not." She removed her shirt and bra and set it on the nightstand. She played on the bed and placed the covers on her lower half, "alright, I'm ready."
"Sweet," Poch turned, holding his computer, walking to her. "Whatd you wanna watch?"
"Hmm let's continue demon slayer, I wanna know if tanjiro can cut that boulder."
"Oh you mean the show you started without me?"
"Oh you already watched it."
"Yeah but I never watched it with you and I like seeing your reactions. It was our bonding time." Poch pouted
Loona rolled her eyes and grined. "Don't be such a sourpuss, I'll make it up to you by trying fighterz ok?"
"Promise?" He said with a pulpy pout
"Yeah yeah, now quit pouting."
He did. "Kinda wanted to turn on the puppy eyes, then you'd really be putty in my hands," he set the computer in front of her and got on the bed. The computer was on the site they used to watch anime, he had demon slayer up. "Just pick an episode and hit play."
"Alright, think I left off...here." She hit play on an episode.
"Ok," he cracked his knuckles, "lemme know if I go too hard."
"Sure."
He started with her lower back, pressing his thumbs near her spine and his fingers pressed around her sides. He slowly slid up, being mindful of his claws.
"Mm." Loona hummed.
Poch slid all the way up and went down a bit faster, making a rhythm.
Loona bit her lip, not even trying to hide how good this felt. She gasped when he started to roll his fingers on the sides of her lower back, pressing hard but not too hard.
"Too hard?" Poch asked.
"N-no not at all, mmph you're good at this!" Loona complimented.
"Heh, thanks." He pushed his second knuckles on her middle back, getting out all the knots. "You're tense right here. How often do you stretch your back?"
"Not much."
"That's probably why. Oh hey, here comes the thread."
"Thread? Ah!" She felt a good pop from her back. "Oh that was good!"
"Heh. Hm?" He saw an ad pop up on the screen. "Ah shit, forgot to turn on ad blocker." He was about to get to the computer till Loona stopped.
"I got it, just dont stop. Where is it?" She paused the episode and got out of full screen.
"Hit the top left chrome icon and it should be in extensions."
"Alright." She went where he told her too and turned it on. "Got it."
"Now just refresh the page." He moved to her shoulders.
"Ok...shit!" She accidently closed the page.
"Butter fingers."
"Shut up, it's your fault, you rubbed my shoulders too well."
"Want me to stop?" Poch smirked.
"Hell no."
"That's what I thought."
"Oh shut u- hm?" As she went to open chrome back up she saw a file next to it. "Celis's art?"
"Oh yeah! Celis used to draw sometimes...it was a hobby of his...he was really good at it."
"Oh yeah?"
"...wanna see them?"
"You sure?...can you ha-"
"Loona I've moved on, remember? Plus...I haven't seen them in a long time...be nice to….reminisce with a friend."
Loona smiled. "Alright." She opened the file and a gallery opened up. She clicked on one showing a proud looking knight with a familiar face. It was a bit sloppy but overall pretty good. "Is that-?"
"That's Uncle Greg. Celis drew that when he was thirteen, saying he remembers thinking of him like a knight that saved us from peril when he first found us."
"He drew this at thirteen? Not bad." Loona backed out and clicked on another one. It was a young human Poch as a samurai. This one seemed to be done by a talented artist.
"Heh, he drew that when I got a wooden bokken to train using a sword. He thought I'd be a cool samurai. Oh, hit the next one!"
Loona hit the next arrow and it showed a young boy that looked a little older than Poch in a ninja suit and mask, weilding a kusarigama. Loona recognized him from the photos at Greg's house. "Is that-?
"Celis as a ninja? Yep! He said if I was the samurai, he'd be the ninja that would watch my back….when we first joined the corps I...thought back to these drawings and what he said...couldn't stop thinking about us being a samurai ninja duo heh."
"Well...you still can with Klarna," Loona said with a sympathetic smile.
"Hah… guess I can." Poch smiled back.
Loona looked back at the computer and chose another drawing. This one had what looked like the summoning words but it had an arrow curving around on it. "What's this?"
"Oh! This is Celis's tutorial on how to write our summoning words!"
"How to write them?"
"Yeah, after we slept and learned our demons, we had to learn how to write for them and how to do it quickly."
"Huh, was it hard?"
"Super hard! Like watch," he shuffled to face her from the side, "so how we write is we channel our demon shadow energy into our fingers," he formed a halberd, "and then just," he slowly wrote the words for Shiva, "write it out in front of you. Thing is, you had to learn to stop channelling when it came to writing, like taking off your pen from the paper, or else it'll look like this." He wrote again but everything connected, looking like messed up cursive or a bunch of squiggles. "Can't summon nothing with this."
"So," Loona rose up and turned to face him, "how does this help?" She gestured to the drawing.
"Well Celis came up with a way we can write them quickly. It's easier to go with the flow so make a flow. His words not mine," he giggled, "so that arrow is the flow basically and you follow it with your fingers. The tricky part was to do it quickly while also turning off the shadow energy when you need to, lifting the pen as I said."
"Sounds tricky."
"It was. We had to go slow first," Poch wrote for Shiva slowly, "get used to writing, and...eventually," he swiped the words away before rewriting them much quicker, "were able to do it with ease."
"Nice."
"Thanks...though if it wasn't for Celis who knows how long it would've taken me to do that."
"Hey, don't be getting sappy on me," she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm not, just…. gotta remember to thank him for it next time I see his grave."
"Good."
"Yeah, I told you," he held her arm, "I moved on thanks to you."
"I know, but I really didn't do much."
"You did plenty. Like I said," he was about to go for a hug, "i owe you a-" his eyes went wide when he saw her chest "looOOT!" He quickly looked up, blushing bright red.
Loona tilted her head, confused. "What?"
"Um...no top."
"Huh?"
"Y-...you're not wearing a top."
Loona raised a brow before looking down. Her face turned red and her eyes went wide remembering that she was topless. "Oh shit!" She covered herself. "Uh..where'd I put my shirt?"
"The uh, the night stand."
"Right...I'm just...I'm just gonna...dont look." She started shuffling to the nightstand.
Just then, they heard the door knob move and the door start to open, hearing voices. Loona acted quick and covered herself with her arms, however, Poch also thought quick, moving his hands to cover her breast. He moved first and Loona's arm locked his hands in. They both jumped when they felt contact.
Shelly and Millie were the ones who came in.
"Hey Poch, can we-" Millie stopped herself when she saw them, quickly smirking with Shelly, "oh, sorry, we'll come back later." She was about to close the door.
"No wait!" He didn't want them spreading rumors and he accidentally squeezed them.
Loona gasped. "Hey!"
"S-sorry! Uh...can you move your arms?"
"Oh right!" She moved her arms enough for his hands to slip out.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to grab!"
"N-no I know it's fine!"
"The door was opening,I didn't know who was coming and I just...acted!"
"Well, so did I, I mean it's my fault for forgetting!"
"Speaking of, I barely saw anything!"
"Barely!?"
"Uh..well I-"
"You sure you want us to stay?" Shelly asked.
"Y-yes!" He turned to face them while Loona went to get her bra and shirt. "Wh-what'd ya need!?"
"Well, we were wondering if we could use your place for our next girls night," Millie wondered.
"Your next girls night? Why my place?"
"Because it's fun, you got netflix and other services, a game system with some good games, a pool and a hot tub, and it's the only place we can bring Keenie and not have to worry about sneaking Mils." Shelly said.
"...when is it?"
"Some time after we meet your family."
"...fine...but on two conditions. You clean up after yourselves, and, and I can't stress this enough, you never mention what just happened."
"Deal!" Shelly and Millie said in unison.
"Good."
"So how'd they feel?" Millie asked.
"Softer than I thought," He realised what he just said and felt Loona look at him shocked, subconsciously covering her chest. "I-i mean it's not like I thought they were rough! I always knew they'd be soft to touch, and," he facepalmed, " and I made things more awkward!"
"So you've wanted to grab them before?"
"Ye-" poch shut his mouth before glaring at the two who were currently giggling. "Shivarna!" Shivarna appeared before them, howling, "out!"
They squealed while giggling, leaving them. Poch dismissed Shivarna and looked to Loona, the two blushing and looking away.
"I...I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to...squeeze… or grab for that matter," Poch apologized.
"Its...its ok...I know you didn't mean too…"
"...wanna...want me to pay you back?"
"How?"
"Uhh...squeeze my balls?"
"What?"
"Its only fair...yeah no that sounds stupid...how bout I- EEP!" He was cut off by a blushing Loona approaching him and squeezing his crotch.
"Now we're even!" She rushed out the room.
"Y-yeah...guess we are."
Day of the Cleansing.
"So, now that we got Pocho, anyone wanna change teams?" Jack asked.
"Well he was gonna be with you regardless, Millie wants to stick with Shred, Mox, Solis, and I are good with truck duty with Shelly being our gunner, and I'm guessing Echos gonna stick with Dundy, so...not much is different really except you not being alone,"
"Well...yeah I guess not. Unless Loona wants to join?"
"Nah, with Stolas not here tonight, we could use an extra in the radio room," Loona said.
"Eh, that's too bad. Wanted to see you and Poch tag team with that formation you showed last time," Jack smirked.
"I will claw you," Poch threatened.
"Heh. Well we got fifteen minutes till it starts, let's get set!"
Everyone was outside, waiting for the Cleansing to start.
Dundy cracked his knuckles. "When this starts I'm gonna try and bring out Asura's true form. So would you mind-""
"I'll watch your back, just try not to remember anything about me, I don't want to get hit on purpose."
"I do owe you for cheating in poker."
"I did not cheat!"
"You so did."
The sirens went off and the gates opened, the Angel's coming.
Dundy took a deep breath and summoned Asura. As the Angel's came, he focused on slowly bringing out his anger.
Echo summoned his shadow demon. "Familia! Dawn!" He moved Dawn to Dudny and had it cast its protection magic, her staging by him. "That should help," he cocked his gun and got out his sword, attacking whoever landed.
Angel's with bows and arrows swooped down at Poch and Jack.
"Huh, y'know this is the first time I've seen the archers," Jack mentioned, an arrow being shot at him.
Poch grabbed the arrow before it could Jack, who didn't flinch, knowing he'd do that. "Same. Only saw them in the logs." He threw the arrow back and once it got close to the angel, he warped to it and sliced it in half along with the ones near it. He fell to a group below, the archers taking aim at him only to fail to defend against Jack flying to them with Dust wings and killing them. He threw his dagger to the ground and warped to the middle of the angelic crowd, taking the dagger and cutting up those around him.
Jack focused on the archers since they stayed airborne. "I'll handle the flyers!" Jack said.
"I'll handle the grounders then!" Poch said, cutting through the ones close to him. He got to a group of katana wielding ones and got an idea. He cut off one's head, kicked the blade out its hands, and swung his foot to lock the sword onto his brace, sheathing his blue dagger as he diagonally kicked and severed the bodies of the Angel's in front of him. He took the blade off and started to dual wield it with his dagger, mostly using the dagger to stab and counter attack after deflecting with the sword.
Jack was deflecting the archers' arrows when four snake angels flew on a circle around him, pointing their spears at him. A group of archers flew up and started assaulting him with arrows. He dodged and deflected them, giving the snakes an opening. They pulled back and thrusted their spears at Jack.
Jack smirked, around his scythe above to deflect the arrows, and dove down to avoid the spears. He kept up Shut spin and flew up, gathering Dust at the blade to extend it, grinding it into the snakes. He flew higher, ripping up some of the Archer Angel's before swinging wide to get the others. "Boyah!"
"SQUAAAAAL!" A loud squawk was heard from the distance.
"What was that!?" Poch asked.
Jack looked at the origin. "No worries Pocho, It's just Asura!"
"That was asura!?"
A little earlier.
Dundys eyes grew a tint of red. His rage was reaching the point of change. The adms of Asura began to melt and twist together, growing larger and coming out of Dundy's back. A talon-like leg stomped on the ground from the darkness followed by another as the shadows reshaped. A lean body and metallic like arms appeared, the body shown to crouched down. The rest of it appeared, standing nearly twice as tall as Dundy, its spiky hair and its face of anger. Steam came out its teeth before it rose up and cried out. "SQUAAAAAAL!"
Dundy was tense but he had control. He looked at the fang masked angels that wielded hammers before him, ones that Echo was about to fight. He moved his arm back and Asura followed.
Echo looked back and saw their movements and where he was aiming. "Nnnope!" He rushed out the way.
Asura punched forward, slamming its fist into the fang masked angels, the force of the blow blasting it back along with the ones behind it, making it go miles away, its body going limp with its chest caved in.
Echo watched in awe. "Wow… so that's his true power."
"Yes...it's...quite hard to... control." Dundy said with some struggle. He tried to keep his anger up but not let it rise any higher.
"Well don't forget I got your back. Good thing too cause it looks like you got the attention of the big guys," he noticed that the larger Angel's started coming their way.
"Bring it!"
"Asura's huge!" Millie commented.
"Yeah! I thought he'd be bigger than Dundy but not this big!" Shred commented.
They heard the roars of tiger Angel's from behind and saw a pack rush to them. Millie was about to run to them but Shred stopped her.
"Hey, wanna try that thing I mentioned earlier?" Shred asked.
Millie remembered an earlier conversation they had and excitedly nodded.
Shred wrote for Ripper. "Ripper! Armatize!" As soon as the shadow demon appeared he closed on Shred and turned into his armor. He stretched his back spikes out and rolled forward, turning into a spinning spiky wheel, grinding on the spot. "Ready?"
Millie got behind him. "Ready!" She pulled back her axe and waited till the tiger pack got a little closer. "Batter up!" She swung her axe like a bat and wacked Shred like a baseball, the exterminator speeding forward and tearing through the tiger pack. "Home run!"
Shred wheeled around and towards Millie. "Second pitch!"
"Hey batta batta batta and swing," she batted him again, hitting the rest of the pack, "a batta!"
Buff blue masked Angel's in red robes and half a shield on each arm, landed near Poch and Jack, coming up to the exterminators.
"Ah shit! Shielders!" Jack groaned.
"You know those things?" Poch asked.
"Yeah, those shields on their arms combine to form a bigger shield and they're so sturdy that it's gonna take some heavy hits to break through. This is gonna be a pain."
"Why not Dust dive behind them? Doubt they react fast enough."
"They got shields on their backs too, so it'll still require a hard swing or a headshot."
"Go for a headshot then. I'll even give you an opening."
"Huh? How?"
"Like this," he grabbed a katana from the ground and tossed it up, "Shivarna!" Shivarna grabbed the blade and threw it hard at the shielder, the angel combining its shield to block. Poch warped to the blade, carrying a momentum equal to the throw, thrusted his hand on the blade's bottom and crashed it into its shield, breaking its guard. He grabbed the hilt and slashed it in half. Shivarna warped with him and slammed his claws into the ones beside it before they could guard. The others were about to attack them but Jack cut them off by the necks.
"So you can warp with the momentum?" Jack asked, noticing the force of his attack.
"I can warp with the momentum of the throw or without it but I can't get rid of my original moment. Like if I'm running and I warp the momentum from the run. Can't get rid of that."
"That's pretty coo-" the sounds of bells rang. "Huh? A boss already?"
Two large gates opened upon the sky and out fell two large creatures, meteoring straight to the ground. They landed near Dundy and Echo.
"Shit, there's two!?" Poch exclaimed.
"We should back them u-" Jack was cut off by a swarm of archers flying to them, followed by brutes running up to them, "shit!"
"At Least gotta know what they're fighting," he tapped his earpiece, "Loona, what are they up against?"
Loona responded, "Um...it looks like that lion boss you fought a while ago but…"
"But what?"
"It's...got armor?"
"Armor? What are you talking about?"
"I dont know! It's got some devices and shit on it! It's like it's been modified!"
"Modified!?"
Dundy and Echo looked to where the nosses landed, the dust that got kicked up when they landed, covering them up.
"Dundy, how long does asura have?" Echo asked.
"I'd like to think I have five minutes left," Dundy answered.
"Well let's hope that'll be enough!" He wrote for his Familia. "Familia! Max!" He prepared himself with Dundy.
A lion's roar was heard and one jumped out the smoke.
"What the-!?" Echo was taken by surprise along with Dundy.
The boss was a white lion that stood seven meters tall, the same as the one Poch fought alone a while ago, except it was different, much different. Over its eyes was a black visor, over its wings was a machine blade that was currently retracted, on each side of its back were large thrusters, there were mini machine gun turrets on both shoulders, one each side of its mouth were two long barrels, and inside its front forelegs was some sort of device with a large spike end coming out its paw. The rest of it was covered in black armor. It reached a claw back and slammed it down on Echo. Echo jumped back to avoid it. A split second after its paw connected to the ground a shockwave hit, pushing the lion's paw back and pushing Echo as well. The spike was jutted out, being the source of the shockwave, sliding back in.
"Echo!" Dundy called out.
"I'm fine!" He loaded and power shot and fired, Max coming in to swallow the bullet, the bulge in his throat going down and glowing blue before rising back up. Echo grabbed Max's tail and whipped him forward, the snake shooting out a barrage of blue bullets.
The lion used its wings to block. It glared at Echo, straightened its wings, the machine blade sliding out and turning orange and sizzling, and rocketed forward with its jets, aiming its wing tips at Echo.
Dundy and Asura quickly came in front of him, grabbing hold of its armored wing blade. The edge of it burned. "Agh!" Dundy cried out, feeling the feedback, gritting his teeth. Energy gathered into Asuras forehead, he pulled back and headbutted its chin, a black blast coming out on contact, pushing it back some.
Echo added to the attack with a charged thrust from Autumn, fully getting it off Dundy. "You ok?"
"I'm fine. Just don't touch those blades, they're hot!"
"Noted! Fighting two of these is gonna be trouble…wait...where the other?"
They looked behind the first lion to see another lion boss, with the same armor as the first, gathering light into its mouth. The barrels beside its mouth were gathering that light and spinning, as if charging from it.
"Don't like the looks of that!" Echo charged at it, stopped by shots from the first Lions torrent.
"Move!" Dundy swung his left fist, Asura following and punching for its face. The lion moved back and swiped its claw at him, meeting with Dundy's other punch, the spike in the paw shooting out to push them both back, it flaring its jet to dash to Echo, stopping his shots at the other boss.
"Damnit! We have to get to it before it- huh?" Echo noticed the boss move. The barrels light was as bright as the one in its mouth. It turned to face a certain direction. "Where's it-?" His eyes widened when he noticed where it was facing. "Oh no the base!" He was about to bring Dawn out but stopped when Dundy ran past him.
Dundy ran as fast as he could with Asura, the lion rocketing in front of him and swinging its blade wing. Asura grabbed Dundy and jumped up high above it. It was about to fire its guns on him but was slowed by Autumn's slow feild. "Thank you!" He landed and rushed not to the other lion but its path.
The lion fired its beam, the barrels releasing its stored energy, adding to the main beam, increasing its strength and making it twice as large. It went right towards the exterminator base only to meet with Asura's body.
Asuras arms were crossed, blocking the beam. "AAAAAAGH!" Dundy cried out, sliding back but standing strong, keeping the beam at bay. His arms burned from the feedback of having his shadow demon take the brunt of it.
"Dundy!" A voice Echo recognized called out. Dawn replaced Autumn and quickly rushed to Dundy, casting her protection magic. She would've gotten closer but with her replacing Autumn, the slow field vanished and the first boss pushed her back.
The protection helped Dundy block the beam, getting pushed back less as the beam died down. Once the blast was done, he fell to his knees, Asura being dismissed, his arms being bruised and battered, the right one going limp. He panted.
"Dundy!" Echo wanted to rush to him but he was busy holding back the first boss with Dawn, blocking both its gun fire and blades.
Jill got on the radio. "Guys! Dundy just took a big one and looks like he's gonna be out for a while! The other boss is coming up, they need back up!"
"Jill! Patch me through to the others!" Jack shouted.
"Patchin!"
"Shelly, get off the truck and stay where you are! Shred, take Mils to the truck and go meet up with Shelly! Those in the truck, come pick up Echo and Dundy! Poch and I got the boss till you get here!"
"You guys seriously aren't thinking of taking them both on yourself, are you!?" Solis criticized.
"Nope! Shelly when you get off show us your position and get ready for a drop off!"
"I'm ready!" Poch told Jack.
On the monitor of the camera near the imp and hellhound showed Poch coming up to Jack with an angel katana.
"What are you guys planning?" Loona asked.
"Just trust us!" Jack told Loona, grabbing onto Poch, forming wings with Dust. They flew fast to where Dundy and Echo were.
"Gotta make it quick before this sword goes!" Poch told him.
"Right!" He flew as fast as possible. They saw a shot of missiles fly up in the distance before crashing into each other, exploding. "That's Shelly! Good, she's in an open area!"
"Alright!" He readied his dagger. They came up to the lions, Echo pulling Dundy away as the bosses slowly approached. "Alright, toss me!"
Jack nodded and did a spin. "Poch away!" He threw poch towards the bosses.
"Shivarna!" He summoned Shivarna and gave him the dagger. The shadow demon threw it with force and Poch warped to it with him, grabbing the dagger and slamming it into its snout. He barely scratched its armor but did push it a bit. Shivarna took the sword and threw it to where Shelly was. Poch got onto the lion, keeping his eyes on the blade as he held onto the lion. "Cmon, cmon!" The lion started to try and shake him off but he held tight. Once he saw the sword go far enough, he activated his power. The lion boss disappeared in a flash of red and was sent flying off with the blade. Poch fell to the ground and kneeld.
The other boss angel came out to him but Jack swooped down and spammed his scythe on its head, bouncing off the strike. "You ok?"
"I'm fine. Bigger objects use more energy to warp."
Jack spun his scythes to deflect the incoming shots from its shoulder guns. "Echo, Dundy, yall good?"
"I'm fine but Dundy needs some medical attention!" Echo ssid.
"I'll admit I've been better but I can still move one arm at least!" Dundy reported.
"Great, use that arm to get your ass in the truck!" Jack commanded.
"Jack, I'm gonna try and take out that turret," Poch said, forming his chaos blade, "cover me."
"Before that," they jumped away from a swipe of its paw, "let's resonate!" It made a second impact from its paw but thankfully thanks to some insight from the radio room, they were prepared and managed to avoid the shockwave.
"Alright!" He bumped his right fist with Jack and began their resonance. "Echo, the trucks on the way, and Dundy, try and rest!"
"I can still fight!" Dundy stated, trying to rise up, cringing in pain, "ouch!...then again...some rest would be nice."
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Echo said.
Jack and Poch ran to the boss angel, Jack taking the lead, deflecting bullets. Poch sunk into a dust pool, one created by him since he's experiencing a stage two resonance with Jack. Jack threw his scythe and warped to the lion's face, striking at it. The lion growled and tried to bite him so he threw his scythe up and warped up before tossing it down and warping with momentum to slam on its nose.
"Love this warp!" Jack said.
"Yeah," poch responded, jumping out the dust dive, "Dust Dives pretty cool too!" He sliced up at the turret, disorienting it slightly before he started swiping a bladed foot at it, cutting at its shell. "Shivarna!" Shivarna slammed his claws on the machine, destroying it. The lion brought up its paw, about to slam on Poch. He quickly threw his dagger to Jack and warped next to the imp before getting hit. "Ok, so my chaos blades are able to damage its armor at least, but Shivarnas claws seem to be more effective. I'm gonna go for harder swings."
"My scythes not doing much! May have to use Dust to reinforce!"
"Doubt imp Parade would help much," Poch dust dived with Jack to avoid a boosted thrust from the Lion.
"True, if only Millie wasn't such a small fry."
"Hey!" Millie yelled out.
The two looked back to see the others arrive to pick up Echo and Dundy.
"Hey guys!" Solis waved, helping Dundy in the trunk, "we'll hurry and get out of your way!"
"Uh, we got company!" Blitzø pointed at incoming Angel's.
Echo cocked his gun. "I got them! Well hold these ones off to give you some room!"
"Thanks!" Poch said, pushing off a wing blade, watching the others drive off and start to fight. "Alright Jack, I'll try weakening the armor and you can break it with your scythe!"
"Got a better idea!" Jack wrote for Dust, "give me like five minutes!"
"Five minutes!?"
"Dust! Trust me dude!" He crouched down and began to focus, gathering Dust around him.
"What ar- oh shit! Shiva!" Poch stopped himself when the lion fired a beam on them, making him write for Shiva real quick and summon it as a shield, blocking the beam. "Ugh, you so owe me for this!" Poch ran to the boss angel and leapt. He dismissed shiva and jumped above the lion's sweeping foot and leg, writing Ardovs words. "Ardov!" He rolled forward in the air in his spike ball. "Klarna!" Klarna came from behind, pulling his sword back before swinging it on Ardov, whacking it to the lion's face, grinding on its snout, breaking off its facial armor.
The beast snarled and slammed its paw down on Ardov, shooting its impact spike into it.
"Gag!" The impact hit Poch and forcibly dismissed Ardov.
"Poch!" Lonna cried out.
"Urrg." Poch shuffled to get up. It swung down its other paw on him as he regained himself. Shivarna appeared and swiped its paw away.
"Oh thank fuck," Loona sighed, releived the Shivarna saved him and that he was getting back up.
"Thanks, Shivarna!" Poch said, dismissing him, and throwing his blade up. He warped to it when it came high, spun forward, locked it in his brace, and spiraled down to its back.
It rocketed forward and quickly turned, making him miss. Before he could land it flared its jets and rammed to him. It missed as Poch quickly cut open a gate to disappear into. It looked around for him and he appeared in front of it, blade kicking for its face. It rolled to the side and fired upon him with its remaining turret. Poch cut a tear in space to shield himself. The other end appeared near its feet and he came out swinging at it. It was swift in its mo cement to lift its foot up to whiff the swing.
"Damnit! How's it reacting so fast!?" Poch asked, blocking the thrust of its claws. The impact spike thrusted at him, knocking him back, himself tumbling away, the lion giving chase. As he tumbled, he managed to reorient himself to throw his sword at its remaining turret, warping to it and kicking it into its crevice. "Shivarna!" Shivarna howled as it summoned, slamming his claw on the blade side, pulling off most of the turret before he grabbed it and started pulling it off. The lion tried to shake them off but they kept their grips. It activated one of its jets and started to spin at a fast pace, increasing speed. Poch tried to keep on long enough for Shivarna to fully pull off. Once Shivarna yanked it off they let go, the shadow demon grabbing Poch and giving them a safe landing. The lion turned on its other jet to slow its spin. It glared at Poch, jumped to him and rolled forward, turning on both jets to increase velocity, swinging down one of its wing blades onto him with a powerful force.
"Poch!" Loona screamed.
"HRRRG!" Poch raised his sword against the blade, holding both ends of it, with Shivarna aiding him by pushing his claws against the hot blade. Luckily Poch wasn't getting much feedback.
"Oh good he's safe," Joe stated.
"Poch! Throw it back!" Jack yelled out.
"Al...right!" He and Shivarna pushed the blade off before Shivarna grabbed it, Poch siding him by moving with him, adding his strength to him. "Hrrrrggg-RAWR!"
"Awooooo!" Shivarna lifted it up and flung it back.
"Hya!" Jack striked the back of the lion. He had thick large gargoyle-like Dust wings, a black streak under one eye, his arms were covered in a thick layer of dust forming large arms with its claws being scythe blades. His legs had some streaks of black as well. His claws broke through some of its armor. He swung with a left and slammed it down with a right. He landed on it.
"The hell is that?"
"I call it gargoyle mode!" The lion's jets flared and he jumped off as it got back on its feet. "Got strong wings and claws for ripping!" The beast dashed to him, stabbing both wings at him. With a strong flap of his wings, he met with the stab, grabbing its wings, fighting against it, his wings being strong enough to push against it without faltering back much.
It charged up a blast in its mouth. "No you dont!" Poch ran up to it, jumped, and upper blade kicked its jaw, making it shoot a weak beam up. He rolled forward, "Shivarna!" He and Shivarna did a downward strike on its snout, knocking it down. They landed and Shivarna along with Jack was about to strike its face but the lion impacted the ground to push them back, getting back on its feet.
Poch and Jack looked at the damage they'd done, already seeing cracks in its armor.
"How long ya got Poch?" Jack asked.
Poch looked at his blade, feeling slight tingles. "If I don't do a chaos slash, about five minutes."
"Alright, let's kill this in three!"
"You're on!"
Earlier
Shelly waved bye to the truck. "Alright!" She wrote her summon. "Le-armes!" Le-armes appeared and a claw came out its back, digging into the ground and pulling in chunks of rock. A small engine sound was heard from Le-armes before its top opened up and out cam a shot of earthly missiles going up and curving till they collided with the other. The signal was set, now she waited, dismissing her shadow demon. It wasn't long till she saw a sword flying to her. "That a sword?" She was startled when she saw the lion boss appear. "Oh shit!" she ran out the way, it managing to land on its feet.
It looked around and spotted Shelly, glaring at her and roaring, before charging at her. It pounced its claws at her, she backflipped out the way, the impact wave after it, poisoning her back.
"Shit!" She quickly got back on her feet, dodging a swing of its wing blade by jumping over it, shooting at its face. Her bullets bounced off. "Armors too thick! In that case-" She wrote X§şæß. "Juggernaut!" Her shadow formed into two giant cylindrical shaped mechanic hands. She attached her pistols to their ends. Its turrents shot at her, she used the hands to block the shots, jumping to it. It slashed its blade at her, she shot a fist to it before punching its face, causing some damage. It swung its paw up, forcing her to block, going up high. She called the other fist back, needing it to block gun fire.
The boss charged a beam, flying up to her. She used Juggernaut to grab the paws it tried to hit her with and flip over it, she got on its back about to punch its jets till it flipped over, pushing her off slamming its paw down on her. She used a juggernaut hand to block and an impact spike launched, hurting her hand due to feedback. She managed to make a safe landing, jumping out of the beast's dive. It fired its beam, she responded by launching her shadow demon at it, pushing against the beam. The left one had some damage due to the impact spike so the push was less effective but still held. The beam stopped and the boss rammed forward, closing in on her fast. She was about to call back juggernaut until-
"ORA!" Shred rammed a Taurus fist to its face, knocking it off course. He had armatized his Taurus, having its horns and its arms enveloped on his. "Hey Shell!"
"The hell is that!?" Shelly asked.
"My armatization of Taurus."
"I thought you could only do that with Ripper?"
"Who told you that?" He asked, punching its paws out the way, jumping next to Shelly. "Heard it's armor's thick but maybe Le-armes missiles can do some damage?"
"It's too quick, my shotguns could work but I don't have any shells. I'm waiting for Gen to make me some, so close range modes out." She recalled juggernaut to grab the wing blade it slashed down.
"Juggernaut seems to work," he said, running up the wing, going for one turret, dodging its shots. He rammed a horn into it, damaging its nozzle. The lion flared its jets and spun its blade out of Shelly's grip, attempting to cut Shred. He was grabbed by one of Juggernauts hands and moved out the way, being taken to Shelly. "Thanks! Now let's resonate!" He dismissed Taurus.
"Hm!" Shelly dismissed Juggernaut, bolstering her guns, and bumped fists with Shred, resonating with him. Once resonated she summoned Juggernaut again. "Juggernaut! Armatize!" Juggernaut formed around her arms, becoming large gauntlets.
Shred wrote Xæç. "Panther! Armatize!" His tail gained a twist of black and black panther arms enveloped his along with panther legs on his legs. His ears turned black too. "I'll annoy, you knock its head!" Shred smiled sadistically.
"Alright!" Shelly cracked her knuckles.
Shred got on all fours and rushed to the boss with speed equal to an actual panther. He leapt above the swipe of its claw and went for its face, clawing off it and going for it's back. It boosted forward and twisted, blasting a beam at Shred. Shred rolled forward out of the blast's way. "Missed!"
Shelly ran up to it while it's back was turned, it's turrets firing at her while it focused on Shred. She managed to use her gauntlets to block while avoiding fire. She jumped and punched it, making a dent. She went for another but it jumped back. Shred, however, grabbed Shelly and tossed her at the angel, going straight for the turret. It tried to hit her with its wings but she managed to hit its tip and spiral around it, going with the spin and punching off the gun. Spun and slammed its paw into her, shooting its spike to add force. She managed to block but it still hurt alot.
"Gotcha!" Shred caught her before she fell.
"Thanks! Those spikes hurt!"
"I noticed! So I used your clairvoyance and found something!" He said, jumping off the back of its wing.
"What's that?"
"It's got some weak points in its armor! I may be able to weaken it with Shred and you can use your Uzi's to do some damage!"
"Wouldn't juggernaut be better?"
"Yeah but this thing's pretty fast so close range mode would do you better."
"Fair enough."
They both leapt back to avoid its claws and dismissed their demons, writing for their unique ones.
"Le-armes!" Once Le-armes came, she crossed her arms and turned it into it's close range mode.
"Ripper! Armatize!" Ripper appeared and immediately armatized around Shred.
Shred took the lead, skating around the beast. He went for the turret first, coming around its back. The beast swiped back its wings, he hoped over it but didn't expect it to keep up its motion and thrust its paw at him. Shelly thrusted to him and grabbed him out the way, tossing him to its other side, his claws grazing the back of its neck before he flipped and slashed down on the turret.
It was about to bite at Shred but was kicked by Shelly, who fired at its face to annoy it. It worked cause now it tried to claw her but she boosted away just in time, circling around to shoot it's damaged turret, able to at least slow down its movements.
The beast sweeped its left wing, going in an angle that Shred roll up it before it picked up speed, the bladed damaging some of the machine blades gears that let it extend. Shelly jumped up it and fired at the broken areas. She didn't expect it to suddenly reverse its spin, aiming its paw at her.
Shred managed to push her out the way, taking the brunt of the two impacts. It wasn't done with that, it sped to him and closed him in its jaws. He managed to grab its teeth but it charged up its beam, keeping him locked there. "Shit!"
Before it could fire, missiles hit the side of its face, stopping its charge and releasing Shred. Shelly had taken Le-armes out of Close range mode and fired her missiles on it. She reached into her pocket and took out a special bullet. "Wanted to save this but oh well," She said as the bottom segments of Le-armes came off and came together to form a large rifle. She hooked her guns I'm the two slots and placed the bullet on the chamber and aimed. The lion charged at her but Shred grabbed its tail and pulled back, slowing its pursuit. Shelly took the moment to focus her shot. She aimed for the chest, right for the center, and pulled the trigger. A loud bang was heard, the sound echoing around as the bullet went straight for its target, hitting with enough force to push the lion back a few steps, nearly shattering its chest and almost breaking through. "Damnit!" She used her clairvoyance and confirmed something. "The chest armor was the thickest piece!"
The lion roared with rage, its gaze going right onto Shelly. Shred skated from under it and went straight to Shelly before it could move. "Shelly! Hit me to it!"
Shelly got the message and quickly dismissed Le-armes. Shred went into a spin dash, trying to out pace the Lion. "Juggernaut!" Shelly summoned the giant hands and pulled back. Shred increased speed.
"Fastball!" Shred shouted.
"Swing!" She punched Shred, hitting him right into the lion's chest.
The force of the strike knocked the boss back, grinding into its chest, breaking the armor and tearing its flesh. He tore deep in before jumping off, letting the body fall, dismissing Ripper. "Nicely done!"
"You too! Wonder where it got that armor though?"
"Think it was created with it?"
"No way, it's too out of pl- hm?"
"What?"
"Oh shit, look out!"
"Rar!" Jack clawed the top of its arm, rolling around it to swipe its face.
"Hah!" Poch blade kicked its other side and did a downward kick to knock it down.
The two were about to follow up until it rocketed forward, twisted around, and rushed to them, closing its blades on them, jack grabbing one while Poch pushed against the other.
"How much time ya got left?" Jack asked.
"Three and a half minutes!" Poch answered.
"Then let's blitz this bitch!"
Poch smirked. "Sounds good!"
They both Dust dived, letting the lion slide above them before Jack and Shivarna claws popped out to strike its underside. The lion oriented to try and strike them but Poch came out from a gate behind him and gave his back a hard strike. It fell and tried to rise up. A scythe blade was tossed to it, it jumped sloppily, expecting jack to warp. Jack warped but to the second blade he threw which was beside it when it jumped, giving him the opening to uppercut it, grab its chin, and fly up, pulling it back. Poch threw his sword to its chest, warping Shivarna to it to stave the sword into its armor, almost breaking through it. The lion charged up energy and flew up, glaring at Jack and diving at him.
Jack threw a blade back and grabbed its claws. Before its impact could hit him, he warped to the ground. Poch took the opportunity and threw his dagger up at its face. It flew down, making the blade go above him. Poch and Shivarna warped to it, him grabbing his blade and cutting up it's back with the sword and Shivarnas claws. The barrels beside its mouth were siphoning energy from the mouth.
"Jack, it's prepping a big one!" Poch said.
"It won't fire!" Jack launched three blades at it. It swiped them away but he had launched a fourth one behind the third, warping to it and stabbing his claws into its piston, recalling the blades he shot.
The lion raised its other claw to stab him. An ether dagger went to its leg followed by a kick from Poch. "Shivarna!" He raised his blade, gathering some energy while Shivarna pried open its plated leg. It tried to shake them off but Shivarna's tail kept Poch stable while Jack held his grip. It dove down, planning to slam them down to the ground. Before contact was made, Shivarna pried open the plates of its leg letting Poch attack the pistons. He slashed down, releasing the energy he stored, it scattering and creating a multitude of cuts, not too deep but deep enough to bring down its performance.
Jack managed to rip out a large segment of the leg he was on including the piston. He flew off while Poch went through a gate right before it crashed into the ground. The beast rose, still charging and looked around for them. Poch came from the top through his rift while Jack warped above with a scythe blade. Both of them slammed down on one of its jets, right near the nozzle, smoke blasting out as it sputtered.
The lion tried to shake them off before attempting to activate its jets. With their blades stuck in the jets with its attempt to activate them, it caused it to explode, pushing them off. It jumped out through the smoke, looking at the base, its beam and barrels fully charged, dashing at it. It was stopped abruptly.
"No you dont!" Jack had grabbed its tail and pulled back. He grit his teeth and lifted it up, spinning it around. "Coming at ya!" He threw it back.
Poch gathered a large amount of chaos energy and threw his sword at the lion as it came to him. He warped right to its face, hooked the blade onto his brace and kicked downward, slicing it right down the middle, cutting it in half, its halves going right past him, sliding on the ground. "Hrg!" He felt a shock run up his leg and quickly separated his blade. He landed and faltered a bit, his leg feeling a bit sore.
"You good?" Jack asked, landing near Poch, dismissing Dust, panting a little while recalling his blades to his scythe. They ended their resonance.
"I'm fine. You?"
"Little tired. Gargoyle mode is a lot less taxing than devil mode."
"Still pretty str-" he was cut off by the two barrels on the lion's corpse detaching themselves and flying upwards.
"The hell?"
"Guys!" Shelly called on the communicators, "the other Boss is flying in your direction!"
"What!?" Jack and Poch exclaimed.
"We thought we got it but it played dead on us! We're chasing it now but it's storing energy!" Shred said.
"I see it!" Jack said, pointing off in the distance where the lion was coming. "Let's resonate again!"
"We can't, remember! Once resonance ends it can't be reapplied for a few minutes!" Poch informed.
"Shit!" He brought out his scythe. "Guess we'll do this raw!"
"Guess so!" Poch readied his daggers. The boss angel jumped and flew up. "Huh? What's it doing?"
It flew faster as if putting its jets into overdrive, going right to the two barrels that flew up from the corpse, connecting them to its own barrels.
"Oh shit!" Poch quickly tore open a gate and jumped through. He landed at the top of the base and quickly wrote Shivas words, starting a second line.
The lion turned to face the base, that's when Jack knew what it was doing. "Oh fuck!" He wasted no time in writing for Dust. "Dust!" He had it make wings and quickly flew to Poch.
Poch was on his third line and was about to write for the fourth till he looked up and saw it about to fire. "Shit!"
Jack landed behind Poch. "Summon it! I'll reinforce!"
Poch had no time to argue. "Shiva!" Shiva was summoned and was three times his regular size. He was quick to form it into a shield, Jack having Dust mixed with it, reinforcing its binding.
"Brace yourself!" Jack said as the spiral bone shield with black strands was formed.
The lion released the stored up energy, blasting a beam four times as large with the help of the four barrels. It connected with the shield, Poch and Jack planting their feet firmly on the ground, pushing back against the beam. Poch did his best to hold Shiva together, with it being larger making it more difficult, but thanks to Jack's Dust, it was easier to do. The two gritted their teeth, feeling themselves getting pushed back, their arms aching. Klarna appeared and pressed himself onto the bone shield.
"Klarna?!" Poch called out, nearly surprised. His brother's shadow demon looked back at him, his eyes telling him to give it his all. Poch nodded and gained a fiery look of determination. "GrrrrRAAAGH!" He summoned his inner might and took a step forward, pushing even harder, forcing his arms out.
"Don't...leave me….outta this...RAAAA!" Jack moved forward as well, pushing his arms out, ignoring their screams, feeling how tired they were especially after being in gargoyle mode.
Cracks formed on their barrier, they reformed it as they guarded, taking on more stress. They kept on pushing, even Klarna was feeling tired, but they stood strong. Eventually the struggle was over and its blast died down to nothing. Both boys panted, their Shadow Demons being dismissed as they struggled to stay standing. They looked up at the lion. It roared and was about to dive but it stopped itself, staying in position before roaring and flying up to a heavenly gate.
"Ha...haha...yeah...that's right!... You better r-" Jack's mouth was covered by Poch's hand.
"Do not...tempt...it!" He said before collapsing.
"...fuck...you…" Jack collapsed afterwards.
End.
Next chapter. Family night, girls night.
