Dull Edge 3 - or 'This… is a blade of justice!' (Xenoblade Chronicles 2, SI)

Do any of you know how difficult it is to keep balance to cross half a ship while these three are fighting like devils?

Very. I almost fell twice due to the events unfolding in the old ship, and I was spending most of that intense 'cutscene' thinking the best way to enter the scene without killing myself? I may be good at parkouring my way over to my destination, but my legs were not built for big falls.

So, I literally had to descend closer to the ground to not die because of that, and the process was tedious. What wasn't tedious? Surprising the spiky-haired motherfucker attacking my lil' bro and his new gf with a flying kick to the jaw.

Admittedly, I had to find a comfortable height to commit to such a glorious 'dynamic entry' kind of ass-pull, but the end result was wonderful. Carrying through the momentum of the fall as he was stuck mid-talk, the bastard recoiled in surprise and immediate anger.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Reckoning, you prick," I answered readily, dagger out and Counter Glove ready for some clawing… but! "And Rex."

The boy blinked. "Yeah?"

"I am so proud of you! You know, getting yourself a kind-looking girlfriend."

The redhead tensed up, face bursting in red. "We are- I mean, we are not- I… I don't know what to say."

"How about we get back on track with something that really matters, bastard?!" The spiky-haired guy growled. "You think you can just kick me in the face and expect me to just ignore that?"

"Considering you are the one that started this mess, Edgy McEdge? Yes," I replied dryly, his irritation peaking. "Speaking of which… Kit-Kat?!"

I saw Nia flinch from atop Dromarch. "I-It's not my fault they decided to stab Rex."

"THEY FUCKING WHAT?!"

Big Bro's about to bust some asses!

I turned my attention back to the sorry effort to emulate Guts from Berserk.

"Oh? Now you actually give a damn about–!" I didn't let him finish.

Truth be told, it was a stupid move considering I almost lost my head as I stabbed forward, got dodged and the bastard tried to hit me with an upward swing. What he didn't expect was for me to use the Counter Glove in that precise moment and deflect the attack.

The Glove heated up, and I mistook it as just the intensity of the kinetic encounter causing the feeling but… I didn't realize it was glowing a bit and causing my body and dagger to heat up too.

"Gh–!"

He was open, and I used this opportunity to… kick him again with a roundhouse kick. He was pushed back, almost tripping and falling to his butt. His eyes had such a vicious look that it was amusing at this point.

"You kicked me in the face!" He snarled and I frowned.

"You stabbed my lil' bro."

"You kicked me in the face again!"

"And you tried to kill him and his girlfriend!"

"YOU FUCKING KICKED ME IN THE-"

"AND I WILL DO IT AGAIN!" I interrupted angrily, dashing forward as we sparred some more, more hits landing on each other for the ensuing minutes.

For a moment I thought that I was going to get pushed back. Despite my irritation and general inexperience with a Counter Glove, I was actually keeping up with the bastard and returning hit after hit.

What I wasn't catching on was that I was slowly gaining speed despite being supposedly meant to be less physically adept to keep up with that stalemate.


"We should intervene," Pyra mumbled, eyes aimed at the intense battle between Malos and… Rex's older brother? She wasn't utterly sure of their bond, but she had a feeling they weren't truly siblings.

It didn't stop the guy from thinking of her as Rex's girlfriend. A bold assumption, but one that somewhat made her awkwardly pleased to hear. After all, wouldn't it be fair to say that a relative approving of a blade's connection with her Driver be noteworthy?

D-Despite the misunderstanding, of course.

And while she wanted to truly help as this young man was not a Driver and should not be facing someone as Malos despite how the fellow Aegis was holding back, the redhead was sure that something about him was actually working at the moment to survive.

Something that she was familiar with to some extent but… couldn't pinpoint. The gauntlet looked awfully interesting to her gaze- where did she see this thing before? But as she was contemplating, the stalemate saw a shift.

Pyra thought that Malos would have grown bored at having someone keeping up with him even as he held back so much of his own power, but the grin on his face, a major change from his previous scowl, showed that his battlelust had taken over. And it made sense to her that he hadn't been grinning because of the very element that brought that battle to a quick end.

The ship that took the group to this one had long left, with Rex having distracted Malos long enough to allow their escape, but another one, one with weapons, had managed to get close enough to turn its guns at John and start shooting at him.

He noticed quickly the approaching missiles, disengaging and rushing away from the explosion just in time to avoid any damage from those, but getting propelled by the blast back to them, rolling on the ground as both Pyra and Rex prepared to resume combat but… it was impossible.

Despite her Aegis status, Pyra knew her powers were still limited at the moment, and while she could keep up with Malos as he was now, the rockets used on them would easily tear them apart. And that was about to happen as the weapons were soon turned to them.

So, it came as a surprise when, before those could reach them, a shield formed between the dangerous explosives and themselves. The source of it, the feline Blade that was owned by the gray-haired gormotti girl that jumped once more to rescue them with his owner.

Pyra was… unsure. Wasn't she an enemy? Why was she helping them? Rex called her Nia, so the redhead quickly applied that label to the girl.

Still, why does this Driver feel so 'odd' with her energy?

The Driver was clearly aware of this being a gamble. As strong of a shield it was to hold well previously against a strong strike from Malos, the same couldn't extend to holding out against the explosive barrage.

And, as expected, the blasts shattered the shield and sent the gormotti girl flying. Rex tensed up, looking ready to jump to the rescue as the girl proceeded to fall off-board, but someone else acted before he could.

John had recovered from that blast, rushing after the unconscious girl and, as he jumped after her out of the ship, he managed to catch her and then use his gauntlet to grasp onto the ship's hull.

A risky move, but one that paid off. For a time.

Malos walked up to where John was, he was not going to give him a fair deal with what was going on but… the battle was quite over when a massive behemoth flew over them.

The dragon-like creature felt 'familiar', not as much as the glove, but enough to ease Pyra for long enough to realize it was a friendly entity. Especially when Rex called it 'Gramps'.

At this point, this sounded like a lot of information she was going to fish once they were out of that situation. And while Malos looked ready to delay this or outright stop it, the feline Blade, Dromarch, allowed her and Rex to ride him as the rushed to pick up Nia and John before jumping on 'Gramps's back.

With his massive wings flapping, the beast soared fast away from the danger, bringing them away from Malos and the rest of the group hunting them down. They were now rushing away, the wind grazing her skin softly.

A blink after, and she realized how defeated everyone was. Pyra was spent too, but it was clear Rex was not accustomed to that sort of stressful situation as he barely looked awake. His head was leaning softly against her shoulder, quite cutely if she had to provide her personal input.

Likewise, Dromarch had settled beside both his Driver and John, the unusual human having fallen unconscious while hugging Nia closely. A tiny smile appeared on the red-haired Aegis' visage and…

While she was unsure where they would go next, she could tell they were going to make it.


AN

Next time, John wakes up in a very amusing spot, Nia goes Tsundere, and Pyra gets teased with the long-awaited 'Lil Bro has a girlfriend that deserves to know Lil Bro's embarrassing memories from his childhood'.

This story made a comeback through Pxtreon since I conduct 'Reroll Polls' to bring chapters to old ideas.