Spy...
The MC's platform clambered up once more, mist swirling beneath it as it appeared with spotlights fixed upon it.
MC : " ladies and gentlemen sorry for being late! But here we are! And those are our finalists!"
With one big swing he pointed his hand dramatically at the screen as the music started.
MC : " the finalists of A Block, the soon to be the Legendary LBX Player, Yamano Ban, and the famous Split Second Killer Emperor, Kaidou Jin!"
The stadium was filled with loud roots and cheers.
Evangeline: " they're really famous aren't they."
She couldn't suppress her amazement at the sight of the venue being flipped upside down with excitement.
Elie: " yeah, can't be helped since their first appearance in 2050's Artemis."
MC: " B Block's finalists! Two players who are still winding their way through the LBX world, but they managed to show us their burning spirits longing for victory! Kamui Daimon's students! Sena Arata and Houjou Muraku!"
As their photos appeared on the screen, all the other pupils in the hall jumped up to their feet, rejoicing.
Yuno: " they're really looking forward for it..."
She said covering her ears, but it didn't seem to work well from her expression.
Kageto: " Muraku-san, be careful."
MC : " C Block's finalists! The two siblings who had yet to show us what they're capable of! Aya and Yosra Ibrahim!"
In his office, Bechir had a soft smile at the sight of his daughters' faces on the screen.
For them, it was a step closer to fulfilling their dream, and nothing in the world could make him happier than seeing them trading their own paths.
MC : " from D Block, the one who took us by surprise! His ability to gather intel is amazing and he managed to face off the strongest opponents and come up here! Minamo Naoki!"
In between the joyful cries of the crowd, Asuka was balling her fists in frustration. How she was defeated by him was yet a weight in her chest that she couldn't lift off. If they had worked harder, they should be the ones competing at the end.
MC : " Last but not least! E Block's finalists! They had defeated the famous Hannibal Han and showed us what team work really means through all of their fights! Yu Zhang and Lillia!"
And another round of raucous applause could be heard...
Lillia stared blankly at the screen in the waiting room as their pictures popped up. She was still having a hard time believing she had made it so far. A small smile curled on her lips.
Lillia: " maybe there's a chance."
MC: " soon! All of them will come up here and compete for the name of the strongest player in the world! Who will triumph in the end? Just watch it closely so you don't miss it!"
And the announcement ended.
Yu Zhang: " alright then, good luck up there."
Lillia blinked before swiveling around and looking at the brunette man with a stunned face.
Lillia: " don't you want to go? You were so excited about it the whole time!"
Yu Zhang: " yeah, but it means less to me than it means to you. I can tell it, though it's not your nature, but you're betting something important on this. You need to go up there and see it closely yourself."
Lillia's eyes sparkled for a second before her lips pulled back in a gentle smile and nodded her head thankfully.
Lillia: " alright, I'll do my best so we can be the winners in the end."
Yu Zhang held up a thumb up at her.
Yu Zhang: " that's the spirit Lillia. Then I will get you some refreshment before you get on stage."
He said and left for the vending machine at the hall. Lillia's smile softened as she looked at his back.
Lillia: " thanks Yu Zhang, you don't know how much this means to me."
She clasped her violet smart phone tightly in hand as if her life depended on it.
Lillia: " what I want and what I have to do..."
She switched on the phone and looked at the background. It was a picture of her family. She looked at the male standing in the middle, between her and her eldest brother. He was her second older brother. Her fingertip slightly caressed the picture.
Lillia: " I'm sorry I resorted to making such bet. But, if I work hard on the thing that I love and it pays off, then it can be applied on other fields right. If I win Artemis, then, when I become a writer I can also do the same thing and support both of us."
Before she knew it, Yu Zhang was back with two cans of juice. She smiled at him as she switched off her CCM and took the can from him thankfully.
Yu Zhang: " to our victory."
He said holding up the can at her and she chuckled.
Lillia: " it's too early to celebrate victory."
Yu Zhang:" nothing wrong with being optimistic."
Lillia: " alright then."
She held up her can as well.
Lillia: " to our victory."
And the two cans clang together.
Not too far from them, the others as well were deciding on who will be going.
Aya: " I'm going. Point. End of discussion."
Yosra: " oh no you're not! You'll get all the fun!"
Aya: " Konoichi was badly damaged and you couldn't fix her properly in the allotted time. She won't manage it in the royal battle like that."
Yosra bit her lip at that.
Yosra: " I hate you, you know that!"
Aya : " yeah yeah I know. You made it clear since birth."
Elie sweat dropped at the two girls before looking back at her brother and the others.
Elie: " what about you? Have you decided on who will go yet?"
Ban placed a hand on Jin's shoulder.
Ban: " Jin, you can go."
Jin rose an eyebrow at the generous offer. It wasn't like something he wouldn't do but there was more to it, he could tell. He looked back at his friend and when he got a satisfying answer from those green eyes be nodded his head.
Jin: " alright then."
Arata: " Jin-san is battling! Then I should battle too! Muraku I-"
Muraku: " I'm going, Arata."
Arata: " eh!"
Muraku shifted so he was looking into the eyes of the red head.
Muraku: " you've already used your overload during our battle with Hiro-san, means you're mostly drained even if you're too excited to not feel it right now. Considering that the spy is out there means you will surely activate your overload again. There may be danger in that, so you need to stay rested for now."
Ban: " he has a point, Arata."
Arata's head fell as Muraku's words seemed to convince him as well.
Muraku placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled confidently at him.
Muraku: " don't worry, I will make sure to win, for your sake too."
Arata smirked in response.
Arata: " if you lose you'll have to battle me then."
Muraku: " deal."
Naoki was sitting a bit away from all of them, he was scrolling through his tablet with a wide smirk on the face, his brown eyes were hidden behind the glimmering of his glasses.
MC: " now, ladies and gentlemen! The final round in Artemis is about to begin!"
Aya: " you heard it, we better get going."
Lilyan: " wish you good luck."
Ban held up his fist at Jin.
Ban: " do your best out there."
Jin nodded as he pumped his fist against Ban's before he walked away.
Arata: " show them what the Violet Devil is made of."
Muraku nodded and followed after the older black and white haired male.
Yu Zhang: " I will be waiting with more juice."
Lillia smiled and waved at him before walking out.
Naoki eyed all four of the players as they made for the arena before trailing after them...
MC : " alright! Everyone, give me a big hand for our finalists!"
The platform they were assigned to rose up as the crowd applauded feverishly.
MC : " this year's final Diorama will be!"
A trap door opened in the center of the platform from where a diorama rose up.
The players' eyes slightly widened as they glimpsed it for the first time. It showed a grey surface with a crater in the middle. A bit away in the painted sky, they could see a certain blue planet, earth.
Ban: " is that–"
MC : " Moon! This year's diorama is moon! Take in consideration players, this is moon! Battling won't be the same as you used to!"
Arata: " eh?"
Lilyan looked at the brunette next to her with inquiring eyes.
Lilyan: " what does he mean?"
Ban narrowed his green ones.
Ban: " Gravity..."
All of the LBXs descended within the crater as they waited for the signal.
Ban: " moon's gravity is unlike Earth's. So they have to be careful with their moves."
Evangeline " I see, one wrong move would send you hitting across the diorama's wall."
Ban: " Jin had fought once in space so it shouldn't be much of a trouble for him."
Ban couldn't help the smile of excitement that slide through his face.
Noticing that, Elie chuckled.
Elie: " have you begun to regret not participating?"
Ban looked down at her and his smile softened.
Ban: " nope."
Her eyes slightly widened as she saw that.
Elie: " Onii-chan, don't tell you stayed back to keep an eye on me..."
Ban merely patted her head.
Ban: " you're just overthinking things."
Elie: " stop... You will mess up my hair..."
" Battle Start!"
Their eyes quickly wandered back to the screen holograms hovering around.
The first thing both Jin and Muraku did was to get closer to each other. But as the younger made his first move carefully, he just realized how hard controlling his LBX was as Magna Orthus drifted slightly away.
Muraku: "tsk."
Jin: " Muraku, use your boosters to stabilize your LBX."
Heeding Jin's advice, he managed to poise his robot.
Muraku: " it will be hard getting used to this."
Jin: " take in consideration that the multi accelerator system was actually brought to light in order to allow LBXs and other robots to move in space. Magna Orthus will be fine as long as you figure how to move it."
Muraku nodded.
At the same time, Aya and Lillia were trying to grasp how they should move.
Naoki: " hm, a slight difference in gravity. Nothing else expected from Artemis."
He moved Neptune, trying to understand his situation.
Naoki: " I will need the small boosters to stabilize me."
Lilyan: " I understand that LBXs with boosters and wings can stabilize themselves. However, what about the others?"
Ban: " small boosters."
Ban didn't take off his eyes from the five LBXs as he spoke.
Ban: " you know when you take part in battles held within water, there are small boosters equiped within the LBXs that helps you move and stabilize your unit. Considering the gravity isn't actually zero as in space, those boosters should be enough to stabilize them."
Momona: " so every LBX have such boosters?"
She said checking Dot Phasor and Ban nodded.
Evangeline: " yep, under their feet, at the back and between the shoulder and chest."
Wataru: " it's true! Cool! I've never questioned how our LBXs were able to move under water!"
Mirai: " technically it's the same as moving in space so yeah, those boosters should work."
KeQing finally managed to get hold of it.
Lillia: " alright, I need to be-"
She quickly held up KeQing's sword as to prevent a Laser saber from reaching it. Both Kämpfer and KeQing locked wepons.
Aya: " lucky me, I don't have to detach my Laser cannons anymore to attack!"
The girl rejoiced while Lillian gritted her teeth at that.
KeQing span around, brushing Kämpfer's sword away and kicking the ground, pushing itself far enough from the black unit.
Lillia: " but you can't fire anymore! Or else you will get smashed against the diorama's wall!"
Aya: " I wouldn't worry about that much."
She dashed forward but instead of attacking KeQing, she aimed at Magna Orthus who held up his shield in defense.
Muraku: " right, she has the double tornado system! And she can use it quite perfectly!"
Ruri: " it's because of the weight. For her, she is now moving almost at the speed of a normal LBX."
Jessica: " she is quite lucky with the field."
Yosra murmured something under her breath, not bothering to hide the annoyance looming on her face.
Zenon rushed to Magna Orthus' aid and Kämpfer backed.
Muraku: " thanks."
Jin: " be careful, our opponents won't wait for us to get hold of the situation."
Muraku: " understood."
KeQing and Neptune were dueling when Kämpfer lunged towards them and they quickly pulled back.
Aya: " Royal battles are really fun!"
She lunged on Neptune.
Lillia: " have to agree."
She set Zenon as her next opponent, but he managed to dodge and she was taken by surprise from behind by Magna Orthus.
Zenon was soon ambushed by Neptune but he managed to block its attack using his hammer.
Kämpfer chased after Neptune, which whirled around quickly to block it.
MC : " the battle is getting more fired up!"
The crowds were cheering even louder with every sound of clinking and clanking.
Jin and Muraku though seemed to have far more trouble than just fending themselves.
Muraku: " how can we figure out the spy?"
Magna Orthus: " how about wrecking them all using our full power?"
The voice came out from the CCM as he suggested that.
Jin: " as much as I'm looking for an easy solution like that, but it won't be fair to the other two."
Muraku: " he has a point."
Magna Orthus was pushed back, and Muraku had a hard time stopping him from hitting the walls of the field.
Muraku: " tsk..."
He frowned deeply as he looked at the LBXs in front of him.
Muraku: " hold on, where is Kämpfer!?"
At that, everyone stopped momentarily. Before they even knew, Kämpfer was nowhere to be seen.
Lillia: " oh no."
Naoki: " back then..."
Jin: " it was all a part of her plan..."
The woman merely smirked as she pressed on a button. Kämpfer's Laser was launched at the LBXs. It caused a huge cloud of smoke and dust to rise up. Aya patiently watched for any sign of survivors and much to her surprise all three LBXs pulled through. Magna Orthus was already saved the moment he got pushed away. The others backed just in time, it helped that they were faster than usual as well. But both Zenon and KeQing had damaged legs and Neptune's right arm seemed as if it was electrified.
Ban: " she started pulling them towards each other and then backed aiming to take them by surprise."
Sendou: " it should have worked should Magna Orthus not been pushed back. One down of the royal battle is that you can't keep track of everyone."
Asuka: " and she used that to her favor. She is really amazing."
Kazu: " sounds like the same trick you pulled on Ban and Hiro for me."
Arata was shifting feverishly on the edge of his seat.
Arata: " man, it's seems really fun down there I want to take part as well."
Mirai: " still, it seems they didn't figure out who the spy is yet."
KeQing lunged at Kämpfer, slashing at it and damaging its left arm.
Naoki had scans ran over his LBX, checking the damage. His hands shook at the sever damage Neptune endured.
He hardly managed to pull Neptune in time before Magna Orthus' sword fell down on it. He furrowed his brows at his situation.
Naoki: " this is bad, really bad. They didn't use their attack functions yet. I may have gathered a few data about Kaidou Jin and Houjou Muraku but Aya and Lillia were very careful not to show much in their fights. All four of them still have a lot of tricks up their sleeves."
Neptune hardly evaded Zenon and Kämpfer's attacks before they turned to attack each other.
Naoki: " at this rate, Neptune will lose. I'm going to lose. I'm going to fail him."
His eyes widened at that idea.
" Do you want to prove your way isn't wrong?"
Naoki bit on his lip.
Naoki: " I'm not losing, not after he had trusted me. Neptune!"
The robot's eyes glowed in red at the last order it got and it was surrounded by a dark red glow. The other LBXs stopped fighting when the red color was casted everywhere.
Silence fell on the stadium as everyone gapped their mouths at the strange phenomenal.
Hiro : " this is..."
Zenon: " we've found him."
Zenon's conscious was soon back into the LBX, same as Magna Orthus. They stared at the cloud of red swirling around the purple LBX.
Neptune: " we're not failing Leviathan no matter what."
Lillia: " is that..."
Aya: " an infected LBX. Get back from it!"
MC : " something unexpected is happening down there! I don't have a clue about it but everyone, stay calm!"
Yosra and Mai had shocked faces at that.
Yosra: " damn that! Another one!"
Yu Zhang bit on his lip at that.
Yu Zhang: " be careful, Lillia."
The swirling cloud of dark crimson energy was getting larger by the second.
Muraku: " very strong."
Jin: " Leviathan's chosen player..."
When the cloud faded, Neptune lunged at Kämpfer first with a neck breaking speed he was hard to follow.
Jin&Muraku: " Aya!"
The black head had her eyes narrowed but she didn't blink nor falter the least.
Kämpfer grabbed Neptune's hammer with its bare hands, stopping it.
Aya: " so it was you."
Kämpfer: " the powerful LBX we felt yesterday."
" It stopped him!"
All of Seekers had their eyes wide open at that.
Ban: " could it be... Another talking LBX?"
KeQing rushed forward, swinging its sword at the purple unit. Neptune reacted quickly and blocked the sword.
KeQing: " so you're one of those bad guys who were attacking us."
Neptune: " you too!"
Lillia: " I have to stop you here. I'm not letting you harm anyone else."
Jin and Muraku took a few seconds to process that.
Muraku: " they're both chosen players."
Naoki: " another two."
MC : " I don't quite understand what's happening... But I'm continuing commenting anyway!"
Aya blinked as she shifted her look from Lillia to Jin and Muraku.
Aya: " well, guess we're on the same boat here. Let's finish it off!"
Neptune backed at that.
Neptune: " four of them, all at once!"
He brandished his hammer around before dashing to the attack again. Zenon managed to block him.
Zenon: " oh no, you're not doing it here! We're taking you down!"
Neptune: " I want to see you try!"
They both exchanged swings of hammers, but with each hit their weapons locked. They were pretty evenly matched when it came to power.
Lillia: " get back!"
She yelled at Jin.
KeQing: " we're going all out!"
She was overflown by a light blue lightning as she sped forward, kicking Neptune hardly on the face.
Seeing her high speed, it took her a while to stop but never the less she quickly regained her balance. Same was for Neptune who held his hammer to block Magna Orthus' ambush.
Lillia: " your Laser could be useful anytime soon!"
She turned to Aya.
Aya: " I'm trying but..."
Kämpfer: " you're in my range!"
Jin: " tsk. If we only could paralyze him!"
Muraku: " let's attack him with all of our attack functions!"
Lillia: " hold on, that will be risky if we do it right away! What if he withstood it?"
Aya: " have a plan?"
Lillia squinted at the screen of her violet smartphone.
Lillia: " his energy gage should be full by now. We ought to make him use his attack function to drain him up, then we can use ours."
Kämpfer: " logical thought."
Jin had a serious air looking back at Naoki at the other end.
Jin: " very well then, let's do it."...
