The sun was down as Euler finished making use of the metal, he brought to fix his suit instead of upgrading it as he planned. Without half of his usable tools or machinery, he couldn't replace the complex armor plate that was specifically designed to resist bullets, not to mention that he wasn't sure if the metal plates were going to stay on. But given the circumstance, this is what he had to settle with.
He did a check on the helmet's visor, and the night, thermal vision feature was still working correctly. The military would have to rely on attachable flashlights to see him, but at least he didn't need to give away his positioning with a light source. With nothing else to do, Euler put on the suit, and waited on the top of his workshop's roof for the inevitable battle.
After a while, three trucks could be seen from a distance approaching the forest. Euler took a deep breath, then went into hiding for a surprise attack. The three strike teams were unloaded and approached the workshop. Strike team Alpha, which Violet was accompanying, was the most forefront team, while strike team Bravo and Charlie were behind them in a triangle formation for a backup. Half of each team consisted of those responsible with riot shields to counteract Undying One's melee enclosure, while the rest were gunners.
"Undying One's hideout spotted. We're breaking in now." The Alpha team's leader spoke. Then they threw their grenade at the entrance and broke open the gate. Undying One confirmed that they used their explosives, then leaped into an air out of his hiding for a surprise attack.
"Watch out!" Violet said. A shielder looked up and saw a menacing metal figure dropping down on him with his blades. He reacted just in time and put his shield up. The force from Undying One nearly shattered the shield, and he was pushed back.
"We're engaged with Undying One! Strike team Alpha, fall back for distance!"
"Strike team Bravo and Charlie, encircle Undying One from a safe distance and wait for a firing signal!" Alpha team leader said in communicator.
"Roger that, we're moving into position!"
As Undying One was about to swing his blade at Violet, he was greatly alarmed by her Witchcraft battle axe that she was about to swing. He backed off, and reengaged thinking it was an opening, but Violet's immense strength and dexterity let her recover from swing and block his blades with her Witchcraft. Undying One rapidly swung at her, but grabbing her Witchcraft near its head, Violet was able to follow up his speed, and eventually pushed him away.
Then it was Violet's turn to attack. She swung around her Witchcraft and gave no room for Undying One to engage her. Undying One was overwhelmed by the sheer difference in reach between his wrist blades and her axe and could do nothing but dodge the swings. At some point, Violet read his movement, and took a swing to where he would dodge. Undying One realized he couldn't dodge the swing and blocked with his wrist blades. The force was enough to push him far back, his left wrist blade was bent and Undying One could feel the pain from impact on his body.
"Undying One is retreating closer into the forest!" Violet said to the communicator.
"Roger. The forest has a depressing slope. If you can get him in between you and us, that will give us the chance to fire at him while you take cover and crouch."
"Understood." The strike teams moved into the forest while Violet caught up with Undying One, where he was positioned in a particular cluster of trees and vegetation. Violet saw that wide swings were unviable when trees were in the way and switched her grip to the head of axe again. Undying One and Violet swung at each other, dodging, blocking, and getting behind and out of tree cover. Without an option for wide axe swing, the fight was going on to a stalemate.
Violet needed some fire support from the strike team to break the stalemate. She then feinted an opening for Euler. Predictably, Euler went for a wide slash as he turned his body for a powerful swing. Then letting go of Witchcraft, Violet turned her back as she grabbed onto Undying One's swinging arm, and using his momentum, she threw him onto other side, placing him on the higher side of slope.
Though her chest muscles felt it was pulled after throwing a metal man, Violet grabbed her axe again, crouched, and took cover behind a tree. "Open fire at the Undying One!" she said to the communicator.
As Undying One got up from the fall, he felt a flurry of bullets on his backside. To his shock, the impact of bullets fired from the elite military's high-power rifles were too powerful, something his suit was not prepared for as it was designed to withstand only normal bullets that a police force possessed. He immediately turned back and entered a blocking stance, not wanting to risk damaging the backside of the suit that was vital for the suit's power. Undying One got behind cover and felt his backside for a moment, concerned that it was damaged. The smoothness of backside armor was gone, and some parts even got chipped off. One more shooting would be enough to damage the power source for sure.
"Reloading! Undying One has taken cover on the right side!" One of the strike team leaders informed.
"Roger that! Re-engaging!" Violet replied.
Undying One saw that despite taking more advantageous environment against Violet's axe, it was rendered irrelevant with the presence of the strike team ready to fire when given the chance. To make matters worst, they were considerable distance from him on a higher side of slope with dedicated shielders. This was the same scenario as the Rory's Metal, only this time they were armed and trained.
Undying One sprinted away from them, hoping to find at least something that would give him edge over the strike team and Violet. With no chance to rest from their pursuit, Undying One constantly wondered, until he arrived at the cliffside. Violet has caught up with him, with the strike team still far away on the slope that gave them higher ground.
"You've nowhere to run now, Undying One. This is an open area, while the elite Leidenschaftlich strike team stands on higher ground, ready to shoot you. Don't drag this on more than it needs to and surrender now." Violet said.
"Don't you dare underestimate me! I am the Undying One for a reason!"
In response, Violet initiated an attack again on Undying One. As they exchanged strikes and blocking each other's attacks, Undying One attempted to change the outcome by being less aggressive and feinting his attacks more. But as an experienced fighter, this strategy was nothing new to Violet. Realizing that he was more passive, Violet committed to her swings more and Undying One became pressured. Eventually, Violet delivered another heavy blow to Undying One. As he blocked, his left wrist blade shattered, and as he got pushed back, he fell backwards despite the attempt to balance himself.
"I'm crouching! Can you get a shot on him?" Violet asked on the communicator.
"Affirmative! Open fire!" Then the strike team on standby on a slope fired another flurry of bullets to Undying One as he was recovering from a fall. He entered a blocking stance and could feel significant amount of metal plating shipping away from his arm and torso. A few bullets even impaled synthetic muscles on his arms, which decreased kinetic energy output of his arms.
"Reloading!" Then Violet sprinted towards Undying One again. As she was approaching, he looked behind, and saw that the cliff was not so high, and that at the bottom, very tall trees were present. Then he had a plan. As Violet committed to a swing that was harder to recover from, Undying One blocked the attack with his right wrist blade, but this time quickly grabbed the head of the axe with his left arm, and let his foot go over the edge.
"What the-?" Then Violet felt a sudden pull as Undying One used the edge to leap off the cliff. With her tightly gripping the axe, Violet was also pulled with him off the edge. Undying One used the below tree branches as means of breaking the fall. Violet used her Witchcraft to grab on to branches ends to break her fall as well, but the pain of pulling on her shoulder caused her to lose grip and her landing was less than graceful after hitting more tree branches. Though she was spared from serious injuries, she still groaned from great pain from falling.
The strike teams were alarmed and ran towards the cliff edge. "Violet! Violet, do you read us?!" Losing her communicator from falling, Violet couldn't relay her status. "Sir Bougainvillea, we lost sight of Violet and Undying One as they fell down a cliff. We can't confirm their status, and the tall trees are blocking our line of sights."
"Damn it! Find a way down there for search and rescue! Reinforcements will be inbound!" Dietfried said.
Meanwhile, Violet has gotten up after enduring the initial wave of pain. She looked around, hoping to find her Witchcraft to not lose her upper hand. However, she heard quick footsteps and spotted Undying One sprinting towards her. Violet had no choice but to engage the combat at a disadvantage without her Witchcraft.
Though Undying One's last wrist blade was bent, it was still a threat and he swung it very aggressively. Violet's reaction and speed was compromised from the pain she felt on her shoulder from falling down. Undying One noticed this and struck the arm that seemed to be in a state of injury. The spike of shoulder pain caused Violet to lose focus temporarily. In an instant, she received a punch in the face, then it was followed by an upper slash across her upper torso. Though the protection vest mitigated some damage, it left a long laceration that spanned across Violet's upper body.
Violet let out a loud scream from pain, and out of urgency, pushed through the pain to grab on to Undying One's blade that was about to slash her again. Her hand contacted the blade, and with full force, Violet bent and broke Undying One's last wrist blade off at the cost of her right hand's fingers. But the pain came back to bite her, and she couldn't properly defend herself from Undying One.
It didn't take long before Violet got punched twice, this time causing her to stagger away from Undying One as the impact made her dizzy and blurry. As Violet looked back, she was encountered by Undying One's jump kick to her chest, pushing her back against a nearby tree stump. Violet had a hard time getting back on her feet due to the pain from injuries as well as trauma from punches making her dizzy.
Undying One found his broken blade and picked it up, and slowly approached Violet. "I've offered you a better and fair world as a fellow victim of scorn, and you spat in my face. Had you settled down and left me alone, you wouldn't suffering this much, but now I never been angrier before." Violet managed to lift herself up on her knees. "Your so-called friends that humiliated me, they will now die because of you, and you'll hear their curse as they see you in hell."
Violet looked up with bitter and vengeful eyes as she heard him saying his last sentences. Her breathing became quick as her fury rose to a level she never even felt during an intense battle in war. As she thought about the ones she cared about; Tom, Madeline and her family, Henry, Rory, Claudia, and all others, the pain she accumulated gradually became less distracting to her.
"So long, Violet." Undying One then thrusted the broken blade, aimed towards Violet's neck to kill her. Violet caught the blade with her left hand and used her right arm to resist against Undying One's thrust. The blade stopped at few inches from Violet's face as Violet and Undying One struggled to push it to others.
Surprised that he didn't overpower Violet, Undying One noticed that his arm's synthetic muscles were pierced by few bullets, causing him to lose some kinetic energy. He growled as he tried harder to push the blade into Violet. But Violet was instead slowly getting back up on her feet as she continued to push back against Undying One. Eventually, Violet broke the blade with her grip and overpowered him. Then she relentlessly attacked Undying One with no breaks.
Amidst getting hit by her attacks, Undying One saw in her eyes the bloodlust that he's never seen before. Despite the injuries, Violet was pushing her body to limits to destroy him, and he suspected that her adrenaline rush was activated. A feeling loomed over him that he has lost this battle.
Violet grabbed Undying One's shoulder with her left arm, and repeatedly punched his helmet, each strike filled with rage and her shouts. The visor was now cracked that it obscured his vision, and the accumulation of pain did not allow him to concentrate anymore. One punch shattered the voice distortion system in his neck as well as turned his back towards her. As Undying One attempted to get his focus back together, he felt a powerful kick on his back and fell on a ground. The power supply on Undying One's back broke into pieces, and sparks of electricity flew out as well.
After the endless beating, Violet merely stood for a moment, breathing heavily. Undying One attempted to get up, but his entire left-side felt too heavy to lift, and his right leg barely functional. He knew at this point the core power source at back was destroyed, and his defeat was sealed. Violet lifted Undying One close to her and raised her fist.
"It's the end for me now, Violet. You've won." Euler's voice came from Undying One.
The bloodlust and fury suddenly subsided as Violet recognized the voice. "Huh? Could it be?"
Undying One removed the helmet with his right arm, and it revealed Euler's face.
"Euler…" Violet trembled and let go of him.
"Yes, it is me. Everything that Undying One did, was my doing."
"It can't be true…" Violet teared up. "It can't be true! To think all the atrocities that the Undying One committed was you…Euler! Please tell me this is a nightmare!"
"No, what you're seeing now, is very real. The monster that you called is me."
Violet knelt down. "You aren't like that! I refuse to believe that you're the kind of person to go that far! You used to love your master, your adoptive parents, and considered me your friend at one point! The Euler that I know may have changed, but it wasn't in him to hurt people…What happened? What happened to you?..."
"When world scorned me, I was left with nothing to live for but my master's old dream, who truly loved me…They only exalt heroes that fights against the devils, so I made Undying One to be devil that I defeat to become the hero that they demanded. I thought from then, my life would be made right…"
Violet simply wept, still having a hard time believing. "This isn't right…It simply isn't right at all."
Just then, the strike team with reinforcements has spotted them, and they surrounded Euler who was still lying down. "Violet, is he down? Violet…?" The soldiers saw that Undying One turned out to be Euler, and in a shock as well as confusion from why Violet seemed to be crying, they awkwardly stood in silence.
Finally, one of strike team's leader spoke to Dietfried. "Sir Bougainvillea, it seems like Violet did defeat him…But you might be surprised to know that it was Mr. Pierce all along…"
Upon hearing this, Dietfried was taken by surprise, but after instantly having all the mysteries and questions explained just from the fact that Undying One was Euler all along, he wasn't fazed at all. "Arrest him for interrogation. What's the status of Violet?"
"The medic says she's seriously injured, but she'll make it out alive."
"Good. Then I suppose that I'll mark this mission as a successful. Well done."
As Violet was being carried on a mat, she was still in tears from the shock after the reveal of Undying One's identity.
"You may have lost large amount of blood from the laceration, but everything will be alright now that our mission is a success. You may relax and leave everything else to us." The medic said to Violet.
"Euler…" She thought to herself. Violet was exhausted in every aspect after what happened this night. She let her eyes close and let time pass until she woke up again.