Chapter 23; Blue Tears, Reborn
Charlotte had never had much skill when it came to melee combat. Her proficiency with firearms was top-notch, to say the least, but aside from her physical shield she had only a knife as a close-quarters weapon. And that decision was starting to become a major handicap as Crusade lunged at her. It was all she could do to keep her shield up and block the machine's strikes, leaving her absolutely no room to counter. If this had been a one-on-one battle, she would have been done for. Thankfully, her friends had other plans. Just as Crusade was able to flip her shield aside, Laura and Rin opened fire and managed to score hits on the IS itself, sending it into several crates. Taking advantage of this, Charlotte moved back to join the others as Crusade picked itself up. "Okay," it said, sounding pissed, "Now the gloves come off."
Before they could wonder what it meant, Crusade brought all four of its cannons up and opened fire. Each gun fired in sequence; first one and then another, maintaining a constant stream of fire as the girls scrambled for cover. Metal melted, crates burst into flames and explosions ran rampant as Crusade laid waste to the hold, trying to hose the girls down with its superior firepower. Rin, however, managed to use the constant fire to sneak up behind it and launch an attack of her own. Leaping from her cover, she slashed clean through one of its shield bits before tackling the IS and trying to cut its arm off. Before she could even make contact with its arm, another shield bit slammed into her side, knocking the wind from her and throwing her off its back. Whirling around, it brought the cannons back down and lunged at her. Rin just barely managed to stop its swords short before it could try and gut her.
"You're going to pay for that, runt," Crusade said, unintentionally hitting one of Rin's buttons. Bracing her feet on the wall, she put all of her strength into her swords and managed to push Crusade back a few inches. Before she could try and do more, Tatenashi came up on her right and stabbed at Crusade's head. Blocking the spear with one of its shield bits, Crusade backed off and turned her attention to her new attacker, only to take another round of fire from behind as Charlotte and Laura cut loose. Growling in frustration, Crusade brought two of its cannons up and fired at the two girls before rounding on Tatenashi. Fortunately, she was used to fighting duel-wielding opponents, so blocking Crusade's attacks was easy enough. The problem was that she was fighting a machine; its stamina outstripped anything she could possibly muster. As such, she found herself starting to move slower, Crusade's blows growing ever closer to hitting their mark.
Thankfully, Laura came to her rescue. Deploying her wrist mounted blades, she slashed at one of Crusade's shield bits while Rin fired on the other two. With the shield occupied, Charlotte summoned her rifle and put two rounds into the middle of Crusade's back. The armor held, but it was enough to get the IS to break off and put some distance between itself and the girls. Or at least, that's what it appeared to do. However, it quickly turned the retreat into a charge as it lunged at Laura, one sword held out to run her through. She stopped it with an AIC field, but not before Crusade brought one of its shield bits into her stomach, winding her. Spinning around, it then proceeded to block Rin's attempt at its head before kicking the Chinese girl into Tatenashi, who had been moving up behind her. Crusade then rounded on Charlotte and opened fire, only to have the girl block the shots with her shield.
Keeping it deployed, Charlotte charged the IS and slammed into its chest, knocking it down and bringing one of her SMGs into its chest. Uttering a battle cry, she emptied the magazine into its chest plate, finally managing to put several dents and cracks in the armor and cause some damage to its internal systems. Tossing one of its swords aside, Crusade reached up and grabbed the girl by the throat before throwing her aside. It was then forced to roll clear of Tatenashi's spear before leaping to its feet and blocking Rin's next attack. These girls are really well coordinated it thought, surprised, but also pleased. It was nice to be fighting worthy opponents, even if it was to the death. After it broke off from Rin, Crusade managed to retrieve its second sword just as Tatenashi came at it again. Rin was right behind her, and Crusade knew it couldn't intercept both girls at once, so it made a gamble.
Tossing one of its swords past Tatenashi's head, it skewered one of Rin's Shock cannons, causing it to explode and throw the girl to the side. It then ducked to the side of Tatenashi's attack before lashing out with its other sword, impacting her thigh armor. Tatenashi's shield struggled to stop the blade, but the modifications Gospel had made to their weapons gave it a 50/50 chance of penetrating, and the odds didn't favor her. The blade passed through the shield and the Absolute Barrier, cutting through the metal and into her thigh, causing her to cry out in pain. The swipe wasn't deep enough, however, so Crusade's attempt at taking her leg only resulted in a gash in it. Enough to restrict movement, but not the kind of fatal wound Crusade had wanted. Tatenashi collapsed to the deck, clutching her leg as Crusade turned back, prepared to finish the girl. It was stopped when Rin came at it yet again, cutting through yet another shield bit.
"Persistent, aren't you?" it asked, surprised that this girl was so willing to take her head-on. "You have no idea," Rin replied before kicking it in the chest. This only served to further crack the armor and Crusade responded by grabbing her foot and throwing her into the wall. Before Rin could even fall to the ground Crusade smashed into her, denting the wall further and knocking Rin out cold. She collapsed to the floor in a heap, her IS sensing she was unconscious and destructing in a flash of light. Hearing another battle cry, Crusade turned around in time to have Tatenashi stab it in the stomach, her spear finally penetrating the armor. Shocked that it had been damaged further, Crusade did nothing as it was driven into the wall next to where Rin lay.
How is she moving it wondered as Tatenashi withdrew the spear and prepared to attack it again. Crusade then noticed that the girl was floating right before it dodged her next attempt. Of course, she's using her flight system it realized as it kicked Tatenashi clear just as Charlotte and Laura fired. This time it didn't have enough of its shield to block all of the shots, and as a result it started to take even more damage. Finally ducking down under the hailstorm of fire, Crusade launched itself at the two girls and knocked Charlotte off her feet before turning on Laura and firing its own cannons. Laura stopped the deadly shots with her AIC while she prepared another shell, only to have Crusade come at her from the right. Smirking, she released the AIC before the blasts could fully dissipate, allowing them to continue on their way while dodging them. As a result, they impacted the floor between the two, giving Laura enough time to bring her energy blades up and block Crusade's attack.
She tried to bring her cannon down into its face but Crusade was a split second faster, bringing its own cannons into Laura's face. They fired at nearly the same time, blowing each other across the room and filling it with even more smoke. Laura came out of it with just some minor damage and rather pissed, but Crusade lost two of its cannons, with a third cracked and now useless. Switching its sword to its left hand, Crusade brought her axe out as Tatenashi came up behind it. Blocking the spear with its sword, Crusade then brought the axe down, smashing it into her shoulder and dropping her shields by a large chunk. Drifting back, Tatenashi brought her spear up and opened fire, only to have it blocked by Crusade's remaining shield bits. Instead of stopping, Tatenashi kept up the stream of fire, using the last of her ammo to destroy the shield bits just before Crusade came at her, swinging its axe at her head.
Ducking, Tatenashi brought the other end of her spear up and tripped the machine, sending it into the crate behind her. Laura and Charlotte were immediately on top of the machine, trying desperately to put it down. Leaping to its feet, Crusade tossed its other sword at the Frenchwoman, forcing her back while it charged Laura. Before she could react, Crusade slammed into her and put her into the wall before backing away slightly and bringing its axe down. By this time, Rin had recovered and summoned her IS. Before the axe could cleave Laura in two, Rin fired at Crusade's hands, destroying the left one and damaging the right. This also served to knock the axe from its hands, leaving Crusade momentarily stunned and disarmed. Before it could recover, Laura brought her cannon down into its face and said, "Go to hell." She fired and was immediately engulfed in the explosion, the floor and wall around her shattering into a million pieces as Crusade exploded.
Staring at Cecilia in utter shock, Houki and Ichika were unable to say or do anything as the British girl's IS shifted before them. The missile barrels on her wings merged together into a more advanced sniper rifle which attached itself to her back, while the one in her hand collapsed down into the size of an assault rifle. Its barrel also split into two and the long-range scope turned into a combat scope, reminding them of the kinds of weapons that Maylin used. Her wings shifted and grew an extra pair of bits each, while the rest of her IS became sleeker and more refined, with the legs also losing about half their mass and actually looking like legs now. Finally, a short sword materialized at the base of her spine, completing the transformation. Taking a moment to examine the changes, Cecilia braced herself for any negative side effect. They didn't happen. She didn't forget anything or pass out, proving that it had been the Fairy that had screwed with Simon's head. Another reason for the bitch to die she thought as she powered her new rifle up.
Taking flight, Cecilia opened fire. The barrels alternated their fire and sent a continuous stream of energy after the Fairy as it began to duck and weave. As it switched tactics and charged her, Cecilia switched the rifle to her other hand and brought out her sword, blocking its initial strike while bringing the rifle up into its chest. Fairy dodged to the side as Cecilia pulled the trigger, launching its laser bits and trying to get some distance on her. Cecilia, however, wasn't about to let that happen. She quickly shot down two of the bits before blowing past the rest and bringing her sword down, hoping to cut the machine in half. Her attempt was blocked by one of Fairy's javelins as it continued to try and get clear of the girl. However, Cecilia's new IS was able to keep pace with the machine move for move, and the two darted across the sky, trading blows and shots.
Clashing at close range once again, Fairy asked, "How? How could you get this good this fast?" "I used the same thing as Simon did," she answered, smirking. She had been uncertain about the decision to install the upgrade before they left. However, she wasn't about to go into this fight without doing everything she could to make sure Simon was safe. Swallowing her pride, she had gone to Tabane and requested that she be allowed to use it. The woman had been apprehensive at first, still unsure if it had been the cause of Simon's memory loss. "But I don't have a neural lace," she had told Tabane, not about to give up that easily, "So it shouldn't effect me." "But we don't know if it has-" "Tabane, please," Cecilia had begged, "Let me do this. I can't lose him again. Please." Seeing the determination in her eyes, Tabane had relented and installed the upgrade before running a brief diagnostic on the IS. No errors or corruptions in the program were detected, although Tabane had still warned Cecilia against pushing herself too hard. Clearly, she doesn't realize how bad these fights will get Cecilia thought as she returned her focus to Fairy.
Deciding on testing out a new technique, Cecilia backed off and launched her bits. Instead of trying to shoot Fairy, they spread out across the sky and began to glow. A second later, copies of Cecilia appeared in the sky, replacing the bits, and began to maneuver around Fairy. For a moment, Fairy was utterly dumbstruck; it had been fighting one enemy and was now facing nine of them. Shaking its head, Fairy brought up its heat sensors and immediately zeroed in on the real Cecilia. "You really thought that was going to work on me?" it asked, whirling on her and firing. Cecilia dodged the shot as two of her copies opened fire. For a second, Fairy believed it just to be an extension of the holograms. However, when the shots actually hit her it was a different story. Of course, they're still laser bits it realized as the original and all of the copies began to fire. Fairy was now forced to focus on dodging the incoming fire and deployed its remaining laser bits to deal with Cecilia's copies. Anticipating this, Cecilia focused her fire on the remaining bits and quickly blew them all away.
Now able to focus on just the IS, Cecilia brought her sword out while her copies continued to harass it. "This ends here!" she shouted as she charged the IS. Fairy tried to turn around to block the attack, but a pair of energy bolts to the chest slowed it down. Instead, it moved to the side just enough to avoid the full attack. Cecilia's blade made contact with its left shoulder, just outside where the collar bone would be on people, and severed it. "You will die for that, bitch!" Fairy shouted, whirling around and aiming for a point-blank shot. When it did, it saw that Cecilia had already brought her own rifle up. "You first," she replied, pulling the trigger. Instead of the alternating fire, both barrels fired at once and put a powerful shot through its stomach, almost going clean through. Before it could do anything more than gasp Cecilia was on it again, her sword piercing its right shoulder. With a cry, Cecilia slashed out and downward, her blade emerging through Fairy's hip and effectively cutting the machine in two.
It didn't make a sound as the two halves plummeted towards the waves, quickly disappearing in the water. Cecilia just floated there, breathing heavily and feeling conflicted. She knew exactly what she had just done, but she also knew what that machine would have done given the chance. I had to do it she told herself as she sheathed her sword and started to return to the carrier. She was stopped when the guns on the assault ship opened fire, and she realized that they would have to deal with it. "Houki, Ichika, would you care to give me a hand?" she asked as she advanced on the ship. Her friends, who had been watching the whole fight in awe, leaped into action and began to pick off the enemies and turrets on the ship. Simon will be alright she thought as they fought, he promised.
Ducking under the blast, Simon charged another bolt of energy as Gospel hurled wave after wave of energy bombs at him. The room they had been in had since been blown to pieces, and he could clearly see hallways and other rooms containing lord knows what. He wasn't exactly in a position to be curious. Blocking another shot with one of his shields, Simon discharged the bolt, aiming for the Gospel's center of mass. In response, it brought its wings in around its body and the lightning bolt was absorbed by the energy. Well, that's just terrific he thought as the Gospel unfurled its wings and resumed its bombardment. For whatever reason, it was avoiding direct combat, which was odd. In his current condition, it had a significant advantage in melee combat, but it wasn't using it.
Powering his sword up again, he charged the IS and disengaged the locks at the last second. The whip flew true with his slash and managed to sever one of Gospel's wings, rendering it useless. Growling, it held its hand up and charged another beam as Simon did the same. They fired simultaneously, their respective attacks hitting each other in a massive explosion. They both leaped into the cloud and collided with each other. Gospel, however, still had its flight system and was able to use it to push Simon back. Letting his knees give, Simon slid under the IS rather than trying to fight its momentum, bringing his sword up and putting a long cut down one side of its chest. Before he slid clear, however, Gospel brought one of its feet down and kicked his shoulder, cracking the shoulder guard and hurting rather badly. After they had separated, he quickly flexed that arm to make sure it wasn't dislocated.
"You're actually serious about this," Gospel said as it turned to face him, "Despite how I wanted this to turn out, I'm glad of that." "This doesn't have to go any further, Sarah," Simon replied, hoping to reach her, "We can help you. Please, just surrender." In response, Gospel charged him again with both swords, going for a cross slash. He brought his own sword up between the blades and managed to stop their impact, but Gospel's momentum was enough to push him back into a wall. When he hit, Simon felt something in his chest crack and hoped to God that it was just cartilage popping. Taking his left hand off the sword, he grabbed Gospel's shoulder and put another thousand volts into it, scrambling it long enough to almost get clear. Before he had gotten far enough, it slashed out and cut down the side of his leg, penetrating the shields and hurting like a mother… well, you get the idea. Thankfully it wasn't deep and hadn't damaged any of the important muscles, so he was able to put weight on it, despite the pain.
The Gospel didn't give him much time to dwell on the pain as it came after him again, and it was all Simon could do to keep his footing and block its attacks. Figuring he had little left to lose, he decided on taking a risk with his Phoenix Shift. Rather than triggering it entirely, he went into the program itself, selecting certain parts and activating them manually. This cost him ground, as he was forced to fall back further and further from the Gospel's attacks. Finally, he triggered the boost to his attack and smiled when all of his dynamos spun up to full speed. His sword now crackling with electricity, Simon pressed is advantage and started to force Gospel back. Finally, it dropped one of its swords and fired a half-charged bolt into his stomach, knocking Simon clear of it and blasting some of his chest armor off.
Gaining some distance, Simon charged up another bolt while the Gospel came after him again, brandishing its remaining sword. Rather than discharging the bolt, he reached out with his left hand and used the energy to catch the end of the blade and stop it. They remained there for a few seconds, their respective energies fighting for dominance. Simon's finally gave out as the dynamo on his left arm overloaded with a small explosion. He managed to dodge the blade for the most part, but Gospel was still able to put a rather impressive cut along the outer armor and further wreck that dynamo. Once again, Simon took the opportunity to lash out as the Gospel sailed past him. He managed to score a hit on its back and damage the other wing, effectively crippling its own flight abilities. They then separated and landed on opposite ends of the room.
And there they stood, Simon breathing heavily and Gospel running self-diagnostics. Both of them were nearing their limit, and they knew it. "So, I guess there's no way I can talk you out of this, then?" Simon asked, trying one last time. "You made your choice, and I made mine," Gospel responded, bringing its remaining sword up, "This is the only way that it can end." Grimacing, Simon mirrored its stance as they squared off. It was like watching two samurai dueling; both of them barely moving, both watching the other like a hawk for any weakness. At some unheard signal they both lunged forward, both of them immediately going for the kill. As they hit each other, they both landed exactly where they were aiming, cleaving metal and sending sparks and blood flying.
Looking down, Simon smiled humorlessly as he saw how they had hit each other. His blade had entered Gospel's chest, probably just above its core. Its blade, however, had gone into his stomach, and it was…strange. He knew that he should be in pain, but he only felt incredible warmth from the energy blade. Looking back at Gospel, he noticed that it was staring at him intently. "Do it," she whispered, barely audible. Closing his eyes, Simon leaned into his sword and brought it down, finally cleaving its core in two. Its systems suddenly without direction, Gospel shut down, its energy blade dissipating as it slid off his sword and fell to the deck. Without the sword there to keep the wound cauterized, when Simon shifted slightly he felt an incredible pain, and knew that he was bleeding badly. It wasn't as bad, however, as the pain in his heart at that moment. Dropping his own sword, Simon fell to his knees and cried out in pain. He had, after all, just killed his own sister.
Out at sea, Cecilia suddenly got a terrible feeling as she blew a hole in the side of the assault ship. Something's wrong she realized as she turned back to the carrier. Without a word, she flew back to the ship, leaving Houki and Ichika to try and catch up to her. Before she could try and get inside the carrier, a wave of Harpies came at her from numerous directions. Growling in frustration, she turned her attention to blowing them out of the sky as fast as possible. Please be okay she begged, please. Worried about her sudden change in demeanor, Houki and Ichika concentrated their firepower to clear a path for Cecilia to the hole in the deck. "Go on," Ichika said as he landed next to the hole, "We got this." Nodding in thanks, she rocketed into the hole, praying against all odds that Simon was okay.
Finally finding the strength to get back up, Simon stumbled as he tried to get back outside the ship. I need to get back he thought, putting one hand on the wall to steady himself while the other went to his stomach. Looking down at the wound, he was mildly surprised that it had missed his spine. He wasn't about to question that particular luck, but it also meant that every step was absolute agony. Still, he continued on, determined to keep his promise. I'm not going to make her cry, damnit he told himself, it's not happening. Despite that, he felt his strength slowly leaving him as he continued to bleed out. In response, his IS concentrated its remaining shields around both ends of the wound and inverted them, trying to keep the bleeding contained. Smiling at the fact that even his core was trying to save him, he knew that it was only delaying the inevitable. The engineer part of his mind, all logic and common sense, knew that with his current rate of blood loss he would lose the ability to stand fairly quickly. I'm sorry, princess he thought as he felt his knees buckle.
As the battles conclude and the victors take stock of their injuries, two of them struggle in a fight against time. Can Cecilia get to Simon in time? Will he survive his wounds? And what about Laura? Till the next chapter, readers.
This is it, the final hurtle. I predict another chapter or two after this before this particular arc is wrapped up. "But wait, Palladin, did you just say 'this arc?'" Hehe