Translator

Copen versus Gunvolt

Ready?

Strike!

Copen's boots pushed up against the brick and metal. Jumping backwards from roof to roof as water accumulated and poured on top of his head. Above, the storm kept going strong, the rain clouds flashing with bursts of lightning. For seconds at a time, blue streaks tore through the sky, illuminating everything in a ghostly pale white. But failing to beat down on him, cracking and splitting the ground where he once was with fissures that turn into blue energy waves that he likewise just jumps over. So far, the attacks have been predictable, and easy to counter with his own flurry of golden shots. Several darts whistled through the air in return, almost grazing him but drawing neither blood nor their mark. It seems the Azure Striker hasn't grown out of the need to tag.

"Pathetic," Copen drawled, drawing forth Hydro Zapper, whose lasers Gunvolt moved to avoid as expected. "Three hundred and sixty-five days, if not more. And you haven't improved one bit."

"I can say the same to you," Gunvolt replied, raising his glaive before turning into particles of lightning to swiftly close the distance and then swinging the blade down, too close for Copen's comfort, as he dodged to the side and vaulted over the striker to avoid a point blank dart shot. "Still so quick to judge, and using old weapons too. It's like nothing's changed at all, huh?"

Copen held in an acid reply, forcing down a frown to keep his face neutral. The adept in front of him was trying to anger him into losing his nerves. But that's a fruitless effort. "Says the one working for Sumeragi." So he returns the favor. "Finally gave up on your fantasies, did you?"

"I don't need to explain a thing to you. Astrasphere!" Jumping into the air the moment Copen's ex-weapon ran out of ammo, Gunvolt's mask lights up with an azure colour as he stretches his open hand forward. Less than a second later, a giant sphere of electricity surrounds the Azure Striker, followed by three smaller ones that spiral around it. "Mandala!" Gunvolt pointed at him, and the orbs homed onto his location before spreading apart the moment Copen dashed above them.

Avoiding two of them, but with nowhere to escape from the third one. Copen crossed his arms and gritted his teeth when the orb hit his waist, and ignored his prevasion. Inflicting a painful burn mitigated by his armor. Not one to not return the favor, he swiftly turned around and dashed towards the grounded Striker, the latter too focused on dodging his obvious attack to notice the trail of water that hits him straight in the back and deactivates his evasion as Copen body bashes him straight of the building. Shooting homing golden shots as the two of them fall into construction ground.

Light injuries off his own gained, Gunvolt does a flip and slows his fall with his flash field. Landing on top of a tower crane with Copen on the other hand. He slams one fist against the metal construct to have his energy travel through it. Forcing the latter to jump, an opportunity that he takes advantage of by air-dashing towards him, flash-field ready to fry the airborne foe.

Two golden drills appear to pierce his chest in return, but with his evasion triggering, the azure striker simply moves past the attack and the adept slayer. To the latter's surprise, he's got the clear mark of being 'tagged', and not a moment later, bursts of voltaic bolts surround him from all sides.

Copen simply dashed back down, grabbing onto a bar with one hand and letting his momentum carry his movement through into another jump. Dashing and diving in and out of the crane's walls until the tag waned off to avoid the Flash Field's barrage. After which, he dives into a blue portal.

Before Gunvolt can even worry about where he went, a white flash suddenly appears, and ice encases him from his legs to his upper body. Add in a heavy kick that throws his frozen body off the crane, and he's got only two seconds or so to break through it, or he'll receive a very painful landing.

It takes him only one. And another one to create a web of chains to catch his fall instead of the golden spikes that are waiting below for him to impale on. "Sheesh," Gunvolt lets out as he jumps down to ground level and faces Copen again. "Looks like someone's got favourites."

"Less banter, more dying." Copen scoffs, "This was nothing but the warm-up."

"Is that so?" Gunvolt lets out, to no reply, so he continues. "Then let's up the ante!"

Gunvolt lifts his glaive with one hand and points it to the sky. The flashing of light and the rising of his septima as he does so. The unmistakable sign of an incoming SP attack!

Sacred sword agleam

Barbarous and bathed in blue

Cleaving right from wrong

Spark Calibur!

Gunvolt's glaive transformed into a masterfully crafted blade of lightning. Power filled its every essence as he held onto an azure imitation of the legendary sword of promised victory. Copen felt a mix of disgust and fear at the sight of the massive weapon, aware that a blade like that could very much wound, if not kill, him if he were to take that on, armour or not. He has to dodge it at all costs.

"You asked if I gave up on my 'fantasies'," Gunvolt's hand wrapped tighter around the hilt. Head bowed in pure concentration to keep all that power stable. "You're wrong; I haven't. I had to-"

"Surrender to the authorities? Change sides because Sumeragi has something you want?" Copen interrupted, his voice flat and uncaring. "I don't care who you point your sword for, it won't change anything. As long as lightning flows through your veins, you will never know peace."

"You clearly haven't learned a thing during your trip." Gunvolt rose the sword a bit higher, ready to swing it down any moment now. "I'm just not the type to give up. No matter how tough it gets."

"So, you're stubborn or stupid." Copen took a step forward. Then another, just waiting for that one moment, he can disrupt the attack with his own. "Forces are out for your head, yet here you're playing the superhero. It'd be pathetic if it wasn't so you." That sentence got Gunvolt to raise an eyebrow, but Copen didn't elaborate. "Unlike you, I do have a world to change, so let's finish this."

"I'm not sure what you're referencing. But I'll have all the time to interrogate you after this." Gunvolt swiped the blade out to his side in a two-handed grip as he matched Copen's pace. "I do agree with you about one thing, though! It is time we finish this once and for all!"

The change to a complete charge was instantaneous between the two. Power erupted forth from both, and neither had any desire to hit it back any longer. Azure light erupted forth and consumed them both as Gunvolt rose the weapon up to his side.

"SPARK-" The blade was gone from this world. It was replaced by a shining azure beacon, the manifestation of his septima and his resolve against all in this brutal contest.

"SHRED-" Copen's p bits were surging crimson, all the power they have focused into one point.

"CALIBUR!"

"STORM!"

Gunvolt swung, and the world was bathed in azure. Copen shot, and the world's bathed in crimson.

Only one was left standing on that battlefield. The shock wave of their clash caused a cacophony of falling metal and coats of dust as the constructed building alongside the towing crane fell apart.

Copen curled up from his prone position, flashes of blue static sparking from his armour, making his muscles seize up and flinch. As he struggled to stand up, a blade was put against his throat.

"Give it up." There it was, the familiar sight of the Azure Striker looming above him, his mask destroyed so one could see his stern fatigue-tainted eyes alongside several dark bags under that Copen wasn't responsible for. The way he covered one side of his body with his other arm while blood persistently leaked through it was definitely the result of his attack. Not enough to kill, but still heavily injured. "I've got you dead to rights; surrender now, and I won't have to knock you out."

Copen's tempted to draw back and challenge that, if it wasn't for the risk of a sliced neck. Still, while he 'lost' the fight, out of the two, he was the least injured, so all he needs is an opportunity to disengage or distract his opponent, and he's sure the other will be in no state to pursue him.

"Again, don't try it. Your silence is telling." Gunvolt made a motion of pricking his blade against the other's skin. "And don't go thinking reinforcements aren't coming this way; all I need to do is stay like this, and in a few minutes we'll have this place surrounded." That made Copen's eyes darken, to which he daringly smiled. "So then, why don't you talk about these forces you-"

"I would rather die than help you." Copen spat, honestly feeling that way in the moment. Perhaps it makes him a person who doesn't follow past words, but he's always been spontaneous. Letting the Azure Striker and ATEMS alongside anyone else confront each other while he can just sit back and dispose of the stragglers after? That thought became very tempting here and now. Still…

"Your precious muse has been frankensteined," he replied anyway, both to his and Gunvolt's surprise. Still, the words kept flowing out, mainly to hurt and see the stupid look on his enemy's face upon learning that information. "And her master has you and all of Japan in his sights."

Surprise is all over Gunvolt's face, before suspicion and mistrust cover it. His smile dissapears, and he doesn't so much as blink. "What game are you playing?" he asks. "Do you think you can trick-"

"How dare you doubt me?!" Copen hissed, though he should have expected this. "Believe it or don't, there's a laser pointed at your head, and it will be me instead of them pulling the trigger."

Gunvolt hesitates, and Copen almost sees red again before he stops himself. Letting his anger go that far will only debilitate him. He's realised that by now, instead he should use the lapse of attention.

Faster than a western hero, Copen aimed up the Border II and let out a point-blank Greed Snatcher. The effect was instant, as it forced Gunvolt back. He increased the distance with a prone bullit dash, shooting him further back, before flipping himself back upwards. "I have you now, Gunvolt!"

"Copen….you…" Gunvolt dropped his glaive and held his now-free hand at the dark bullet mark. "You..." electricity suddenly sparked on his body again as his prone sword gained a few cracks.

"No!" Copen frowned, unsure of why the usual helplessness of his bullet wasn't effecting the striker; instead, the latter's body began surging with more electricity, some of which began to cover his fingers and eyes with a wicked white aura. "GUAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

As if shedding his old skin, his right arm exploded with bright blue electricity, the armour around it entirely gone as the limb is now made entirely of azure light. With a yell that conveyed only pain and misery, Gunvolt grabbed onto the transformed limb with his other hand and hunched forward. Fighting against what seems to be his own septima going haywire and trying to change him.

"Did my bullet disable whatever protection his armour offered?" Copen theorised at the sight, then shook his head and said, "No, this isn't the time for that. I should escape now that he's distracted."

He had plenty of questions about the change, but Copen satisfied himself with a picture and one of the broken Glaive shards before he made his retreat. The whole time, Gunvolt seemed unable to notice him, too distracted by the agony of his own lightning burning him. The action of trying to finish him off was a tempting one, but Copen did not want to face the risk of fighting an Armed Gunvolt.

The Adept Slayer learned a lot today and will learn a lot more from his captive.

For now, that should be considered mission accomplished.

Sumeragi Twin Towers – Conference Room.

The most politically powerful men and women from Sumeragi begin to roll the footage of a blurred figure with technology beyond belief. The head of the security branch drops his jaw as he watches a barely visible figure of Copen smash his way through a room of guards without being injured. In a matter of minutes, this one man raided the most secure medical facility without breaking a sweat and even evaded the Azure Striker (though there's no footage of the latter).

After the video stopped playing, another was turned on. Showing the result of the same figure (this time masked and still blurry) facing off against the Azure Striker again (from the pov of several hidden security cameras), only for the latter to lose control and the former to retreat.

Once that video stopped playing, no other followed. A blanket of absolute silence fell over the room. Everyone turned to the CEO as they awaited the lights to be turned back on. The head of security regained his composure and picked his jaw up off the table. He looked around and asked, "I want to know everything we have on him."

"I'm sorry, sir, but with the tampered visuals, any information we have about him has just been shown," one of the servants in the room replied. "Interrogating the Azure Striker has proved useless as he denied any knowledge of his opponent, and with the critical state he is in now, a second attempt would be..."

"So there is absolutely nothing on file about him?"

"We identified his primary weapon to be a photon pistol and his capacity for short flight—that's pretty much it," the head of weaponry and technology stated.

"We do have someone who says she knows him. Apparently, her soldiers have faced him multiple times now, and she is currently on her way here to reveal the information herself."

"Who is this person?"

"That would be me," a feminine voice replies as the door opens, the hallway light behind her shining on a woman with short black hair and a white oni mask on the left side of her face. Her office suit was a mix of black and red, along with a holster for an unknown weapon on her right leg. Beside her, two armed women with similar masks and holstered swords stand at attention as her bodyguards. With a smile, her hot pink eyes scan the room before she makes a small bow.

"Maya Kamizono. Inheritor and leader of Shadow Yakumo, coming through."

"I see..." starts the CEO while the other heads remain respectfully silent. A light frown is on their faces, but they finally ask. "And so what is the identity of this terrorist?"

"Hm. Me telling depends on what you'll give us in return."

Some of the heads frown at that, but no dramatic declarations of 'how dare she!' or other attempts to make her fess up are made. While Sumeragi does view Shadow Yakumo as the lesser sibling, it doesn't change the fact that the organisation is their counterpart, and so proper respect must be maintained.

"What do you want?" the CEO asks, already wary of whatever offer she'll make. It's an unsaid secret that with Sumeragi at the lowest level, it's been in years that the other would try a power play now that they have only one powerful adept and no more monopoly on weapon development.

"Straight to the point; I like that. Mr. CEO. So let me return that: We want to introduce another member to the Sumeragi Savior Squad and rename it the Adept Saviors. We are aware of the Azure Striker's amazing powers, but his instability seems to demand quite a lot of glaives to be made over and over from our front. Now, while we'd love to keep such a consistent income, Shadow Yakumo has deemed it best to extend a hand for the sake of helping their sibling stand up once more."

"You're asking a lot at once. I'm expecting more than just a name for that."

"Of course, that's only fair. Allow me to show something since we're already using a visual board." One of her guards moves to the player and, after some fiddling, Shows the image of another girl.

"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the gem of Shadow Yakumo. Project Kirin."

TO BE CONTINUED.