A Fierce Fight!

More Wounds and Possibly More Death?

It was a long walk back to the DWMA for the group and as it currently stood they were probably only a third of the way back. It annoyed all of them that it was taking this long, but it was heavily suggested from Myrrh that they go slow as to not disrupt the quick patch job she had down on Eva. The gang managed to rip one of the Evil Human's beds off of the floor and they were using that to transport her. Of course, the gang was taking turns and right now it just so happened to be Bridget's and Ash's turn, both of them carrying the light weight, nearly cardboard bed-frame between them. Of course, Helena never left the bedside of her dear beloved partner since they had departed from Vigrid's base. She was mumbling things about their past together to Eva all the way so far, but it was so quiet only the people who were carrying her could hear.

Of course, some people have more manners than others… "Are we there yet?" whined Shi loudly. The crew grimaced as those were the first words anyone, besides from Helena's bedside whispering, had said. And with fearsome looks they let Shi know that his outburst was definitely not appreciated. However, when you are Shi such looks do not bother you and he replied to them with another painfully loud outburst, "but we've been walking for soooooooo long."

"Shi, WE'VE been walking for soooooooo long," muttered Melody imitating Shi's long whine. "YOU'VE been in your weapon since we left the Evil Human base, which by the way wasn't soooooooooo long ago…it has only been thirty minutes. Ordinarily, Melody may have been a little nicer and a little calmer, she had grown used to Shi's whining, but there was a limit that should be obvious even to someone as mentally dense as mer*!

"Yeah, but I've been with you guys for all this time…it is just as difficult for me to watch you guys trudge through this blazing heat and over these many miles," muttered Shi. If Melody could, she would kick mer. However, ze was in hir weapon form. Kicking ze would do absolutely nothing.

"I say we leave him," offered Xander. "You can just borrow somebody else's weapon when we get into town. Besides we are going up against an army wouldn't you feel a little better with a bigger and stronger weapon?"

"You're just a hand!" shouted Shi. "Ash just needs to tape a kitchen knife to the back of his hand and he can fight just as well as if he was with you! I actually give Melody something else to use!"

"Yeah, a rock attached to a string!"

"Still better than nothing!"

"I think we should interfere with this," stated May looking up at Michael. He had managed to repair his ears, so he could hear everything now. "This is probably pretty hard on Helena…you know." She tried to keep her voice down as low as possible, but it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference with Xander and Shi shouting.

"What do you want me to say?" asked Michael. "It is hard to convince morons to shut up. It is part of what makes them morons." May groaned, Michael had a point. Once Shi and Xander got going especially over something as stupid and childish as this it was hard to get either of them to shut up.

"Excuse me," shouted Semper standing up, he was glad they finally met a challenge that was more his speed. "I am sure that you find this argument of the highest importance, but may I remind you what situation we are in right now. We are at war! There are bound to be countless causalities on both sides and as it currently stands those numbers are probably growing back in our town! Not only that we also have our friend lying over there, growing closer and closer to joining those! We cannot let that happen, not under any circumstances! We can sit here and bicker all day about who is the best weapon, best meister, or best cake baker, but it doesn't matter. Our goal is to get back to town and your petty argument is slowing us down."

Shi and Xander's reflections shown on their weapon's reflective surfaces for a brief moment as they looked over at each other, as if pondering Semper's words. Finally they decided on how to reply to his speech, it was a unanimous, "Shut up!"

(-Back at the DWMA-)

Vigrid swung his sword sideways, slamming the blunt side of it into Saul's side and knocked him aside, sending him rolling across the ground. "Truly a shame that a great warrior like yourself would be reduced to collecting dirt," muttered Vigrid. He was growing truthfully very bored. Even though they were meisters their stamina was only like one tenth of his. They had done well to remain as active and as competitive as they have up until now, but the show was almost up. They were tiring and slowing down. It was beginning to just become sad.

"I suppose you wanna medal for beating me?" asked Saul. "Too bad there ain't one. There should be since I am one of the strongest warriors here, but there ain't. I asked Lord Death for there to be one…he turned me down." Saul laughed at his own little joke, nobody else was gonna laugh at it apparently.

Quill skidded to a stop besides Saul. He had managed to remain aloof and avoid several of Vigrid's powerful swings. He tried his best trying to avoid them and he had failed several times. It amazed him that Saul was still cracking these pitiful jokes after taking so many swings, punches, and kicks. It was an amazing effort on his part. He was kind of surprised though, he thought Saul was a little bit stronger, but based on Clare's play-by-play. He had to guess that Marburg's poison still hadn't managed to worm its way out of his body. Quill doubted it would make a difference even if he was, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt their chances if he was.

"Don't even think about running away on me," shouted Saul shocking Quill out of his thoughts. "I don't care who the hell our opponent is…I refuse to back down, we are the DWMA! Don't you dare forget that, we are the folks these half-brained kids look up to. I'd rather die a fool-hearted hero than a man who was a coward once." Saul knew very well, that what he said might turn out to be true…he may just die. However, it didn't change what he said. He wasn't turning tail.

Quill smiled and walked up in front of Saul, facing Vigrid he casually said, "Funny, I was going to tell you the same thing. Fool-hearted heroes we will be until our final breath. Clare, let's go Soul Resonance!"

It is believed that blind people can actually see images in dream. They can create mental images based off of what they hear, feel, and even smell. That was what this Soul Resonance was about. Anything and everything the weapon and meister combination experienced was instantly relayed to the other. Based on the slightest differences in what they heard or smell, they could instantly determine the best way to dodge. Better than that, through Claire's eyes, Quill could see again. He wasn't overly excited by it as the lost sense came rushing back to him.

The bleak night sky, the dull gray buildings with colorful curse words etched across them, the piles of garbage lining the streets, the world was not a welcoming sight. He wasn't too fond of how Saul looked either. He had never seen Saul before, but he knew from the man's voice and rather strong gusto he had whenever they had met before that this wasn't him. He was breathing heavily, his skin didn't have a single splash of color to it and it had resorted to being a dull pale. The only actual color, besides his clothes was the spray of blood that coated his body.

Quill wasn't too fond of this Soul Resonance, while their reflexes were heightened due to the sharing of each other's senses. Claire could utilize Quill's heightened hearing and sense of smell mid-combat and give out better directions and Quill could use Claire's eyesight, but that came with a severe problem. His sense of sight was completely dependent on Claire. If she turned her head for one split second or if Quill held her upside down, his sight was in turn flipped upside down or turned away as well. It wasn't that Quill didn't trust her to keep her eyes forward it is that it wasn't that reliable of a connection.

"I was only planning on holding you off until Lord Death could get here," said Quill rotating his sword around and holding it steady until Claire's eyes locked Vigrid. "But this idiot here talked me into cutting you down…Saul, when you have an opening take him down without hesitation!" Quill charged forward, his feet carrying him forward as fast as they could.

Vigrid chuckled as he watched the small human rush towards him. Just because of a slightly inspiring speech, he thought he would become a challenge to him. It was laughably pitiful. Another massive, swirling ball of madness wavelength formed in Vigrid's hand as he prepared to fire it off, blowing Quill's head off. The rushing swordsman didn't waver, he kept charging forward towards the glowing ball of pure power that rested in the monster's hands.

Quill twisted the sword around, flinging the small iron ball forward and for Vigrid's head. It was a little matter for Vigrid to block it with his sword, he still felt the iron ball smash into his blade, but he had more pressing matters at the moment. Quill hadn't stopped the rush in order to fling the ball at him, he kept charging with his murderous intent obvious. Quill began rapidly twisting, pulling, flinging his chain. The little iron ball responded perfectly to every movement. A bevy of attacks came pounding out from the weapon, smashing into Vigrid's body. The speed of the ball was nothing to laugh at it; it came at the speed of lightning. The attacks blended together; eventually they began to merge into one continuous chain-gun-like attack. Each blow hammering into Vigrid's weapon and even into some unguarded parts of his body.

Due to the medley of powerful and quick attacks, Quill closed the ground in between them quicker than Vigrid could fire his blast. He was in front of him and his sword was already starting to flash upwards. Only one hand was needed to control the sword, but the other hand had free reign on the small iron ball, controlling it once more with the perfect aim. The small iron ball was on Vigrid like a nest of ticked off hornets. It was coming in, zooming down on top of Vigrid's head, smashing into it. It wasn't heavy enough to distract Vigrid from the upwards slash as he still brought his blade down on top of Quill's, deflecting it to the side with ease.

Saul let the buzz-saw boomerang fly. Vigrid stepped forward, pushing Quill aside. He had decided to focus on the larger and much more deadly attack than Quill's little strikes. He swept his sword upwards from underneath the boomerang and knocking it up and into the air and away from him. Quill rushed forward, with Vigrid's arms and blades in the air like that this would be the perfect time to get in his own attack.

He was apparently wrong. Vigrid didn't use his hands or his blade to stop the attack; he instead brought his elbow smashing down on top of Quill's head. Quill stumbled back, but he quickly regained his balance and went in again, determined to draw some blood from this monstrous beast. He took the two or three steps that separated them all at once and was immediately beneath the giant's arm.

He twisted his body sending a powerful upwards slash at Vigrid. Vigrid smiled, bringing his arm down and smashing his elbow into Quill's wrist. Quill let out a gasp of pain, stumbling backwards and loosening his grip on the blade's hilt. Vigrid let out a hardy laughter stepping forward and bringing his elbow into the top of Quill's head. A rising knee was next quickly followed up by a heavy handed punch to the side of Quill's head. Quill was sent spiraling through the air and onto the ground.

Vigrid loomed over Quill's body. Quill's vision had vanished along with his weapon, he could no longer see anything. He could only make out the sudden drop of temperature, the creeping Madness Wavelength washing over his body as he was blanketed by the shadow of Vigrid and his outstretched sword.

*Mer=gender neutral him/her

I've been using it/him/her when referring to Shi for the longest time. Well, no more! Here is the list of gender neutral pronouns and their respective 'meaning', so you won't be completely lost. However, some characters like Xander won't refer to hir as such because they are rather ignorant/lazy.

Ze=she Mer=her Hir=her hirs=hers zemself=herself

Also, you all better pray the world doesn't end in six days, because if it does you'll never found out what happens to Quill in the next exciting installment!