Author's Note:
What can I say, sometimes things just don't go the way you want it to. You didn't think this arc would be all Slice-Of-Life, did you? No, Amato's life can never get that easy. Still, be excited, because surprises can still happen here or there!
Chapter 19: Skull Of Calcassa
It was chaos. Absolute chaos. As I looked, people were running, falling, pushing against each other in a desperate bid to get away from here. The sounds of yelling, crying, as well as gunfire enveloped the area. The firefights must have started. The sun shine hollow as its rays beat down on us. The wind blew hazardously, as if complimenting the chaos that was happening. Its sharp howl keeping me awake and conscious of what was happening. In an instant, I was blinded by a bright, violet light, and at that moment, I lift myself with one hand, my right hand, as I jumped to the sides to dodge another punch from the enemy commander, the one called Skull. The aftereffects that came right after was devastating. The strike, as heavy as a wrecking ball, plunged into the stone-floor, craters and rubble exploding everywhere.
Just what the heck are they feeding him?
As the cloud of dust and smoke subsided, Skull lunged at me again, unrelenting. This time, I barely caught sight of the item emitting the light. It looked really familiar, like I've seen it before somewhere. "Huff, huff.." I gave out, getting breatheless as I dodged his attacks. I know from that one hit that receiving anymore might really kill me. Should I engage with melee? Would it be a benefit more to him than me? Should I hit from the side, with range? I find myself at a loss as I faced this enemy, one who's strength is unlike anything I've faced before. Still, I have to do something.
"Hhhhrrrraaaaggghhh!" I screamed out to calm my thoughts, jumping into the air, and giving off a scissors kick, with feral instinct driving me.
"Crack!" The sound ran through the air as bone collided with bone. But, even when he doesn't do anything to retaliate, I could feel the need to pull back my strike, before my own leg breaks. Kicking him again in the chest with my other leg, I only see him raising his arm to block before my own kick pushed me away flying. I crashed once again, landing and destroying yet another stall. Why do I feel like they suddenly appear at right where I land? Skull only dropped to the floor with a light thud, him still on his feet.
"Amato!" I hear a familiar voice calling out to me amidst the rubble. It seems Gina was still around, helping out with the Famiglia and assisting those innocents to escape. She doesn't have to do that. She don't have to put herself in danger like this. I won't allow it. As Gina tries to make her way from the crowd and to my side, I yelled out, stopping her at her feet.
"Gina! Don't. You still have a play to perform." I replied with a smile, trying my best to comfort her, to tell her I'm okay. I didn't know why I said that, it was cheesy. But, I really didn't want to see her hurt because of my responsibilities. Gina stopped for a moment, before nodding and running away herself. Good.
"You're good. What they said is true it seems..." The enemy suddenly voices out, his tone still high and mildly annoying, drawing my attention back to the fight. Skull walks towards me, as if haughty from that one small success, his confidence overwhelming. He doesn't even have a weapon in his hand, nothing but his fists. "But you're not good enough!" He roared out as he leaped and targeted me with a kick from the sides, forcing me to get up and start dodging again.
"Ngh.." I suddenly voice out on reflex, the joint and muscles on my leg, the one that struck Skull before, started throbbing. This is not a good sign. Not being able to kick would really give me huge disadvantage. Even as I stand, my feet pressing against the stone-floor, I can feel the throbbing, constant and pulsing. Had the muscle been damaged? Darn it, where's Vito when you need him? Skull launches his series of attacks, forcing me to dodge as well as to create space between us. I stand and find myself shooting him, giving up on reckless melee. Though strong, he was also very fast, so much that I have trouble hitting him with Fenris. Soon, the area we were was filled with craters caused by the strength of his attacks.
Just as Gina was about to reach the gates however, she was cornered by a group of thugs from the Calcassa. "Where do you think you're going, missy?" A member voiced out, sounding rude and sarcastic at the same time. It was quite a distance away from me already, so I didn't know and wasn't able to get there to help her. The presence of those thugs, as well as their guns, forced Gina to stop, and take her steps back.
"Ah!" Her voice sharp as a gun was pointed at her, forcing her to close her eyes in fear. Her sight went to darkness as Gina paralyzed from the fear of what was gonna happen.
"Crack!" The sound came to Gina from the darkness. "Argh!" She can hear screams of pain from the thugs. "Who is this kid?" Another voice screamed out, just as Gina was opening her eyes. There, she saw her friend, as calm and serious as he always was, fighting off the thugs.
"Sergio!" Gina cries out in relief and joy. Sergio spoke not a word, but his movements were fluent, fast, disarming the thugs and decapitating them as they charged against him. A few moments later, the area was cleared, the bodies of the unconscious Calcassa members lay silent.
"Regina, you okay?" Sergio gave out with a smile just as he takes care of the last thug in near the gates. Gina nodded as she returned a smile. Kiera came soon after, shield in her hand, with a contingent of my Famglia behind her.
"Spread out, assist the boss!" She gave her order, before making her way towards Sergio and Gina. "You guys should run, home if you can." Kiera had barely the time to talk, constantly looking around for enemies or innocents, before breaking into a dash. As they got past the gates however, Sergio spoke out something unexpected.
"Regina, you go!" Though Gina would've stopped him, the look in Sergio's eyes explained everything. Sergio then ran back into the fray, following behind Kiera, grabbing a long set of chains on the way.
"Mister Sergio, please.." Kiera spoke out, her eyes still focused on her path.
"No, let me help." Sergio declared, wrapping the chains around his arms. Kiera only saw his eyes before her words stopped and the two went into a sprint.
Throb. The feeling came right after I landed from another dodge. This can't go on. "Huff... Huff..." Darn it. Throb. I need to do something, a distraction, maybe? I could feel my leg muscles numb, the bone giving off sharp bolts of pain. Throb. The throbbing of my muscles seems to be even louder than my own heartbeat. I gotta a feeling I really need to rest my muscles for a bit. Suddenly, Skull comes crashing towards me once again, his assaults not slowing down one bit.
"Stop jumping around!" He screams out, annoyed. Like I'm really gonna do that. I could hear it, the gunfires are more frequent now, that must mean that my Famiglia and the Giglio Nero are fighting. I hope the everyone of the public got out in time. I was forced to watch myself go through this near hopeless situation. Even when my bullets do hit him, they only seemed to graze him. Heck, they didn't even tear through his tight, black, leather suit!
Suddenly, a bolt of pain way sharper than anything before erupted from my joint. "Argh!" I gave out as I collapsed on one knee. No! This can't be happening! I looked only to close my eyes as I see that monster of a baby leaping towards me with a punch.
"Kashink!" In the darkness, I hear the clash of metal.
"Get up." A voice called out to me, I suddenly feel myself being pulled up to my feet by someone's hand. The sight I saw was of a combat dagger actually slashing Skull, cutting into his skin. Before the cut could finish though, he leaped back with explosive speed.
"Ngh.." I could barely hear Skull mutter under his helmet. It turns out it was Vito, of all people, who came to my rescue.
"You can't die here, boss." The words that came out of his mouth are those I never expected him to say. "If you die..." He continued, pulling out a ballistic knife and throwing it at Skull. The knife didn't hit him, but it managed to lodge a part of his suit to the stone-floor. I was as much surprised as I was confused at Vito's words. "..I'll have to find a new job."
... Yeah, those were the words I expected from his mouth. In an instant, after looking at my leg for a second, he wrapped it with bandage and wood in a split second, in one swift motion. "Can you walk?" He asks out, strangely serious.
"Uh.. yeah.." I responded, tapping my feet on the stone-floor. No pain, no more throbs.
"Let's go!" He gave out as he started moving.
"Go where?" I only find myself asking as I followed as fast as I could.
"You come back here!" I could hear Skull screaming as he followed tail. Not to mention, him plowing through the the things that were set-up before like a wrecking ball.
Elsewhere from us, a particular scene was also occuring. A group of girls were trapped, cornered by a larger number of thugs from the Calcassa. The look on their faces is enough to send waves of fear down your spine. "Well, well, what should we do with them, hmm?" One the thugs asked out, abusing his advantage and control of the situation. They seemed really arrogant, as if they had totally forgotten about their mission. Or maybe, it's just their personality, though the latter is so much more worse. The thugs stand, their guns pointed towards the girls, forcing them to freeze on the spot, their movement cut off completely.
"Please, leave us alone! What do you want with us?" The girls cried out in despair. Their words only incited laughter from the thugs.
"I heard you can make a small fortune from selling just one of them..." An unecessary sentence was given out by one of the thugs.
"Actually, this one don't look have bad..." A perverted thug gave out as his eyes scanned one of the girl's bodies.
"Enough!" A voice yells out with a heroic tone. The girl's faces lit up as their knight in shining armor walked into the scene. His face showed an expression no one has seen before, serious with furrowed brows. He was trying hard to keep his anger in check as he strolled. On his back is the same long item, wrapped in gray, uninteresting cloth. "You guys really are the scum of Mafia." The knight voices out, loudly. It was as if he wanted to draw the attention of the thugs.
"What did you say?" A line can be heard screaming out from the thugs, the tone of anger washed all over it.
"Truly, the honor of the Mafia is forever tarnished with people like you." The knight voices out once again, staring at the thugs and their firearms with unflinching eyes, before whispering to the girls. "Run. Quick." The words only created confusion among the girls trapped.
"Trust me." At hearing those words, hope renewed for the girls as smiles appeared on their faces.
As they ran, crossing the gates and out of the school, the thugs did nothing to stop them, instead, all of them were too focused on the knight that came to their rescue. Their anger so strong you can almost hear them growl like animals. "Well, we'll grant you this bit of heroism.." The Calcassa declared. "In exchange for your life!" The words turn into a roar, as they attacked, pointing their gun at the knight. In a swift motion, the knight pulled the gray cloth off the object on his back, and wielded it in his hand, throwing the cloth into the air. As it flew, the knight spins around with lightning-speed. As his movement stopped, and the thugs reacted, a longsword appeared in his right hand. It had a white hilt, and a beautiful blade, but was adorned with these irregular black edges and pieces, glowing with heat, before rapidly cooling down. The knight then grabs the cloth as it fell and wrapped it tightly around the sword again. The thugs, in their confusion, pulled their triggers, only to realize that their guns had been sliced into two. The edges of the finely-sliced metal can still be seen red with heat.
"Wha-what?" The Calcassa voiced out in despair and confusion, stepping back with fear in their eyes. "uh.. The information never said anything about no swordsman!" They screamed, some already running away. As the panic drove them off, the guy did nothing to give chase, and begin heading towards the exit himself.
As for me and Vito, we were trying our best to help the last of the people evacuate, while dodging Skull's assault. It seems that despite how fast and strong he is, he's not that smart. "All right, go, run!" I called out to the few people left, after we gathered and ushered them to the gates. We find ourselves standing at the open space between the gates and the school, with much of the stalls that had been set-up destroyed by the chaos that occured. Vito stands, two comabt daggers in his hands in reverse grip, looking out for Skull. We seemed to have lost him a few ways back, although I'm sure he'll be back, the school's not that big. As we made our way to the center of the area, covering each other's back, we met up with Kiera.
"Area secured, Lord Amato." Kiera declared with her shield in hand.
"All right, now we just have to deal with Skull and his grunts..." I voiced out, constantly turning my head to scan my surroundings.
"Well, he is targeting you right?" Vito gives his observation, pointing at me with his finger. Out of nowhere, he just shoved me right into the center of the area we were in. At that moment, I could feel something wrong as my senses pick up a threat. I could only catch a fast sight of Skull and his flashing, violet light, before instinctively jumping backwards. Even if I really want to yell out at Vito in anger, I couldn't. As before, the floor ruptured and cracked from the impact, sending stones flying.
"Fire!" Kiera commanded, much to my surprise. In a second, the area we were in was surrounded by members of my Famiglia, firearms of all kinds in their hands. As soon as I landed, they opened fire. The bullets swarmed like a cloud of bees, flying straight at Skull, who is now in the center of everyone.
"Ow! Eya! Ow!" I could hear screams of pain coming out from Skull as a cloud of smoke emerged from the continuos fire. Debris and dust puffed up as the bullets kept flying, hitting Skull as he had no place to dodge to.
No one made a sound after the shooting ceased. Smoke and dust now clouds the area Skull was standing in. I guess everyone was just unsure of what's gonna happen next.
Slowly, the clouds cleared and Skull stood there in the middle, looking practically untouched, bringing the look of despair to everyone's faces. "That freakin hurt!" He yelled out, his anger hard to make out from the helmet covering his face. "That's it, no more fooling around!" He cried out, the object around his neck still shining strong. Raising his hand into the air, he snapped his fingers, the sound so loud I almost went deaf for a second. The ground then started shaking, as if in fear of what's to come. An earthquake seems to be happening as the stone-floor ruptures even harder than before. The sound of the stone being shifted bellowed across the battlefield. Then, the land was raised, as if beckoned by Skull. "Hahahahaha!" He laughed, as if his victory was already secured, his arms crossed. At first, I thought he jumped, but then realized that he was actually being raised. Tentacles, dyed in the color red, armored with spikes, shot forth, knocking down a lot of my comrades. A deafening screech can be heard.
I stood, stunned with Kiera, Vito and probably everyone else, as a giant, armored octopus broke free from the ground below, thrashing and swinging everywhere.
"You have got to be kidding me!" I screamed out just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.
Oh yeah, the action get more intense as Skull's giant octopus joins in the fray! Can the Zanna Famiglia's combined effort defeat a member of the Arcobaleno? One of the strongest baby in the world? Stay tuned for the chapter to find out!