In the same manner as lightning always striking the ground from above, the Astalos crashed into another part of the castle's roof. What was held within its talons was smashed through what was left of the tiles of a tower to the side.
At the moment, the one held captive was Spencer. He squirmed within the talons, desperately trying to break free.
He was slammed into the roof once more, but finally managed to pry himself from its grasp.
"Astalos, stop attacking for a moment."
At her command, the Astalos completely ceased to move. Spence looked around, finally spotting her standing slightly higher up than them both.
"Hey, the hell are you doing? Why stop?"
"You couldn't see me until now, so any attack I made would've counted as a surprise attack. That's not what a hero does. Standing up in high places to make your entrance, however, is what a hero does. You should know your place. But let's not get into that, let's focus on what matters.
You attacked so quickly that I didn't get the chance to introduce myself to you. Glaze always says this introduction is annoying and attacks me if I do it near her, but without her around I'm free to do it this time."
She posed with her right arm crossed across her body, moving it to the left as she spoke.
"The lightning bolt that illuminates the night! The one who hunts the hunters of Thriller! The Cyclone Driver, Nitro!"
As she finished yelling an explosion went off for some reason, drowning out the sound of her finishing her introduction with "Also I'm one of the queen's pawns."
She posed dramatically, setting off an explosion behind her.
"Spencer Page. I don't got any fancy titles like that, but I'm the one who'll beat you."
"That's what all those sent by Thriller say to me."
"What's Thriller?"
"The ones who sent you here."
"The guild sent me here."
"That's what you think, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I do think that. That's why I said it."
"Yes, that's exactly what people think."
"I just said that I think that."
"And you're thinking exactly what they want you to think!"
"Who is?"
"Thriller."
"And who's Thriller?"
"The ones who sent you here."
"So they're the guild?"
"You catch on quickly." Nitro smirked after having taken more than half a minute to explain the identity of a group. "But they're not entirely the guild."
"I don't get it."
"See-"
Nitro was suddenly knocked from her perch. Storm jumped in after knocking her down, landing her next to Spencer.
"Coward! What a cowardly attack. I can't believe that! How much of a coward do you have to be to attack like that!"
"Sorry, he didn't realise he wasn't meant to. He's a monster, you know?"
"It only makes sense that the monsters sent by Thriller to copy us would use cowardly tactics."
"Huh? Seriously, what is Thriller?"
"The ones who sent you."
"But I've never heard of them."
"Hmm, I guess you might be too low down the chain of command to know. Very well, I'll enlighten you. Thriller are the cabal of superhumans who have been controlling the guild from the shadows for the past sixty years. They're responsible for everything, you know?"
Nitro paused to take a deep breath before continuing.
"Did you know that the Aya liberation operation from twenty years ago was actually a plan to create tons of human sacrifices? That was all a part of their evil plan to eliminate all monsters from the world. Thriller are also the ones that stop you from getting a plate when you really need one. They invent all crimes so that they can look good cleaning them up. They can also read thoughts. That's why I wear this helmet, it stops my thought waves from going into the sky so they can read them. And worst of all, they put a bounty on my head just for a bit of pursuing justice!"
"Wow, that's a lot. Surprised I never heard of them before."
"Because they're a secret."
"Oh, makes sense."
"Hmm. it's rare for someone to remain reasonable for this long. Thriller have injected bugs into the back of most people's brains which causes them to get really angry and start calling me stupid when I enlighten them. Even my comrades here aren't free from it, but perhaps they missed you. What do you think? Now that you've learnt the truth, do you wish to take a stand against them?"
"...Nah."
"What?"
"No."
"I understood. But I'm just not sure what you're thinking. What else could possibly be more important than freeing this world from the secret organisation causing all its problems?"
"Well, right now I've got a few things. Beating up my cousin, beating up my dad, oh and… beating up everyone else I find along the way."
"That's a lot of fighting."
"Being undefeated only holds weight if you've been in a lot of fights, right? So I'm trying to make it as heavy as I can."
"Heh. I've decided that I like you. You must be the type that becomes an ally after being defeated."
"What?"
"I've got it. Since you're the only one other than me that seems capable of understanding the threat that Thriller poses, I'll make you into my first pawn. Killing Rondo shouldn't be that difficult now, I can get a higher position if I want it. If I crush your motivation to be undefeated, there should be no problem with you joining my fight."
"I don't get what you're saying at all."
"I'll make it simpler. I think you might prove to be a good ally in the future, so I'll only kill you within your ability to survive."
"Oh, now I get it. That'd be a problem. So long as I'm wearing this armour I can't lose."
"I was going to get to that later. If you're working under me you can't just stick with that glaive and that armour, you'll need a battle suit like mine. Having your armour as your weapon is the most efficient way of delivering justice. Just look at how sleek it is."
"Like I just said, I can't lose while I'm wearing this armour."
"And you shouldn't worry about that. I'll have to break it to almost kill you."
At around the same time, a Gammoth crashed into the basement of the castle.
The light from above illuminated the space they stood in, but outside of that area nothing was visible through the never-ending darkness.
"What's with that strength? Ridiculous."
Thought Glaze, the woman standing on the back of the Gammoth. Chasing after them both, a hunter with a greatsword fell into the depths.
"If I'm fighting a new opponent I'll have to introduce myself again. I really don't want to. What's the point? If she's going to die then it doesn't matter whether she knows my name or not. Is the king an idiot? It wouldn't be so bad if my opponents didn't always feel the need to give their names in response. You think I'll applaud you for being polite? Fighting is barbaric, courtesies like greetings have no place here."
Laura finally hit the ground, taking a second to scan her surroundings. Her eyes locked onto the Gammoth. Like a spring, the hunter launched herself towards her targets.
As she approached, the one atop the Gammoth spoke.
"Glaze. One of the queen's pawns."
Laura kept charging towards the pair, as though she hadn't heard a thing.
"She's not stopping! Why isn't she stopping? Are we not going to talk first?"
Fera Gladius arc part 6: Thundering Blizzard.
As the fight started up once more, Spencer was of course the first to strike.
He and Storm dashed, almost instantaneously reaching Nitro and her Astalos to attack.
It was almost identical to the opener he had used previously, which made it easy for Nitro to think of a response.
She planted both feet on the ground and struck back with a basic right strike, catching him in the chest. Wasting no time, Spence attacked again, successfully landing a hit with the blade of glaive.
It failed to break through the armour. In rapid succession, he revolved his glaive around to land several more attacks. While each of these were roughly as effective as his previous attack, the high number of attacks in quick succession allowed him to briefly overwhelm his opponent.
Storm jumped in behind him, slamming Nitro into the ground with his tail.
She quickly lept back up and threw a punch towards Spencer. His surprise at her being able to attack again increased his reaction time. The strike landed exactly where it was aimed, squarely in his chest. He flew back several meters.
He hadn't expected a normal human to have such strength. If he'd analysed the situation at all before going on the attack, perhaps he could've guessed this was the case.
She held no weapon, but she didn't act like someone unarmed. That was because her armour and her weapon were one and the same.
First, an explanation was necessary.
The most commonly agreed upon system of grading equipment at the time assigned them a rarity between 1 and 10.
The reason that rarity was chosen to separate them was because of the materials. Rarity 1 equipment was typically made from materials that could be gathered easily, such as metal or bones, while higher rarity equipment was made from suitably rare and powerful monsters.
Better materials naturally led to more effective equipment. To rephrase, there was such a strong correlation between rarity and value that there was no need to distinguish the two from one another.
Rarity X was reserved for the outliers.
The X did not mean that it was the same in value as something of rarity 10, but that there was no correlation between its rarity and its value. It was variable.
While rarity 10 equipment was usually one of a kind, rarity X was almost always one of a kind.
For example, the equipment built from the parts of a deviant monster would fall under this classification.
Another example were Zara's wirebug puppets.
Slightly less rare than that but still exceedingly rare was the chimera armour.
An unofficial term for that which bridged the gap between weapon and armour. To put it more simply, a suit of armour that doubled as a weapon. Or perhaps a weapon that doubled as a suit of armour. Since it was both, it was a chimera.
The distinction between a modified suit of armour and a chimera armour was a topic of some debate, but what could be agreed upon was that each set of armour possessed a range of unusual abilities.
It doesn't need repeating, but each was completely unique. They were built around the fixations and needs of the user, and the only potential users were those dissatisfied with more conventional gear.
To summarise for all those who skipped through such a needlessly complicated explanation due to it being halfway through a fight, or simply because it bears repeating, Nitro's armour was a weapon. A completely unique existence. There may have been pieces of armour that appeared similar, but none that possessed the same abilities hers did.
Though, she wasn't the only one in this fight with armour of rarity X. The armour that Spencer had built from the Thunderbearer, an exceptionally powerful Zinogre, was also one of a kind.
Of course, Spencer didn't know anything about the importance of equipment rarity. He'd received this lecture before from Fen while having his armour forged but completely failed to retain almost all of it.
The only piece of information that stuck in his mind was that his armour was special, something he believed very strongly.
It's because of that belief that all he felt after getting hit was simply that his opponent was strangely powerful. The idea of his opponent being too much, or this fight potentially being unwinnable never occurred to him. Because he was wearing the armour from the opponent he respected so dearly.
Spencer landed a short distance away.
"Scatter!"
Recognising that engaging at close range was unfavourable for them, he barked that order at Storm.
Storm jumped away from her, going back towards Spencer. Nitro watched him go.
"Attack the monster."
That was the only order she gave before starting to run forward. The Astalos took to the air, closing in on Storm before Nitro could reach either of her opponents.
The roof was completely open. Against an opponent with the ability to fly, they were at a disadvantage.
As it closed on him, Storm flipped out of the way at the last second. At the same time, Spence moved as if to chase after the Astalos.
"No, wait. I made a mistake here, didn't I? If the Astalos only targets his monster, then it's not going to do anything about his attacks. If I get to fight him while the Astalos fights his monster, I feel we'll probably win. But I gave the order too early, as things are now we'll just waste energy needlessly chasing each other around. So in that case-"
Her dash picked up speed as she tried to hurry there to fix the situation for herself. In that second, she felt the gazes of both Spencer and Storm shift towards her.
They sprinted. Without any need for communication between them, both had noticed the opportunity to strike and acted on it.
Storm dashed through the Astalos' attempt at an attack, catching up with Spencer. Their speed picked up even further, reaching a level that could've only been described as blistering.
The two drove each other further, reaching the highest level of speed they possibly could.
That force crashed directly into Nitro.
Monster art: Thunderbolt.
Nitro still stood tall, with her legs planted firmly on the ground. Her elbows remained close to her side while her forearms stuck forward. She hadn't had the time to block, but she had at least had time to assume her preferred stance for taking an attack.
The force had knocked her to the edge of the roof, tearing up the tiles beneath her as she slid. But even so, she had not fallen.
This attack had been lacking compared to all of their practice, and even its first official usage in a battle.
The differences in starting position between them forced Spencer to slow down slightly so Storm could catch up, making his run slightly awkward. Storm hadn't been fighting for very long, which gave them less static to work with. There also simply wasn't as much distance as before.
But still, these flaws were all because it was a surprise attack. They had been successful in taking Nitro off guard, so that should've been enough to at least balance things out somewhat.
But she still remained standing, even after taking that attack which had so far had a hundred percent knockout rate head-on.
"You're stupid strong and stupid tough, huh? That's great."
"I won't allow insults towards my armour."
"Huh? How was I insulting it? I'm just saying that I'm glad that I've finally run into someone here worth beating."
Laura stampeded forwards, swinging her greatsword into the Gammoth's leg.
It cleaved through, leaving a deep gash. The monster stumbled slightly, before retaliating by swinging its trunk. Laura didn't move to dodge, but instead slammed the front of her sword into the ground to block the strike.
It almost looked like a mountain striking a person, yet Laura was barely affected. It wasn't any kind of surprise at this point. After only being pushed slightly backwards, she looked up to Glaze.
"Hey, you up there! I thought you lot were meant to fight with monsters. Why are you hiding up there?"
"Oh, so you can actually talk. But it seems I was right to guess that you're not very smart. I'm not hiding if I'm standing in plain view, now am I? And what does it matter to you?"
"Well, this is just like fighting a monster normally. I guess it's kinda fine, but it feels kinda boring when every other fight's been a person and a monster."
"Boring? So you need a fight to be exciting?"
"What else would I need?"
"No, don't ask me a question in response like I'm the crazy one. That's what you think is important? You came all the way to fight us for no reason other than your own excitement?"
"Yeah."
"Not revenge? Not justice? Not even for money? You're really here to risk your life for something as trivial as that?
"Aren't you?"
"I'm here because I can't go anywhere else. But in the first place, I'm not here to fight. Fighting is something that I abhor."
"But that's what you're here doing now, isn't it?"
"Fighting is barbaric, worthless and utterly disgusting. This isn't fighting at all. Just look at the differences in height between us? You wouldn't call the encounter between an insect and a boot trampling upon it a fight, now would you?"
She paused.
"So on that note, let's get on with it. Monster, crush her."
The Gammoth started to suck in the air around it. Expecting another attack, Laura blocked once more. Instead, she was pulled in by the air, knocking her slightly off balance.
Glaze grabbed onto the Gammoth's fur as it raised itself on its hind legs. Laura stumbled towards it, finally getting within range.
Flatly, it crushed her. The behemoth's front legs crashed back into the ground.
In the past, that very same Gammoth had been mistaken for a moving mountain by hunters in the midst of blizzards. Even the strongest of beings was unlikely to survive having a mountain dropped on them. Laura should have been no exception.
That was why it was so baffling.
The Gammoth stopped partway through, unable to finish its attack.
Laura stood there defiantly, with her greatsword stuck into the Gammoth's hoof.
Glaze couldn't see Laura's from the position she occupied. Even if she had been able to, the hunter's helmet would've covered her face.
But somehow, even without being able to see her, she got the sense she was grinning in an irritating manner.
In response, she only had a single line to give.
"An insect that puts up a fight is just repulsive."
The Astalos smashed through part of the roof once more while trying to catch up to its prey.
As Spencer jumped out of the way, he saw Nitro leap.
With the insect glaive being his main weapon of choice, Spencer was no stranger to fighting in the air. That was, vaulting into the air with his glaive and attacking from there before dropping.
In that sense, his expertise on aerial combat could've been considered slightly better than that of an average hunter.
That's why he knew that it made no sense for someone in armour that heavy to be able to jump that height.
Nitro was at least six meters off the ground.
That was one of the abilities of her armour. A blast of compressed air had fired from a gun fitted to her ankles, lifting her up.
At the peak of her jump, another similarly shaped object on her shoulders launched her back down.
As she fell, she struck her right leg forwards.
Spencer probably could've avoided it by running or jumping out of the way. But he didn't feel like either of those, so he vaulted directly towards her.
They approached each other. The two fighters drew closer.
Until Spencer swung his glaive to evade at the last second.
Nitro was unable to move out of the way before he swung his glaive around, knocking her out of her kicking position and onto the ground.
She almost bounced off the roof as she crashed into it. Wasting no time, Spencer landed and swung his glaive down.
It chipped away at the armour. Nitro threw herself to her feet and went on the attack again. Several more hits from the glaive connected.
Nitro tried to knock him down with a straight punch that he managed to slip past. She heard some movement behind her.
Nitro instinctively rolled to the side, barely slipping past Storm's tail. She found herself caught between the hunter and the monster. Both rushed to attack her.
It was never ending. The flurry of attacks that followed seemed impossible to escape from, no matter how much she weaved and tried to retaliate.
"This is brutal! Spencer's attacks are light, but difficult to avoid. The Tobi-Kadachi's attacks are easier to see coming, but more dangerous! Switching my focus between mitigating the damage from one and dodging the other is working so far, but I can't keep that up for long."
"What are you narrating for!?"
Nitro continued on despite Spencer's questions.
"Even with armour as resilient as mine, I'll slowly be worn down. Even if that wasn't the case, this is draining my stamina fast!"
Storm flipped over, his tail directly colliding into her head. Nitro stumbled over, somehow managing to remain standing. The attack had given her a concussion, causing her brain to shake around.
The two attackers were closing in on her, ready to take advantage of this opportunity.
Her head should've been completely unable to function at that moment.
That she could still think was strange. But she didn't have any time to spend questioning it.
With each impact, a new thought was formed. Like light flooding in from the end of a tunnel, her path to victory became clear to her.
And so, as she stumbled backwards, all Nitro could do was let out a yell.
"Monster, electrocute me!"
At her command, the Astalos descended towards the roof and stuck its tail between the tiles, before electrocuting the entire space around it.
The resulting attack caught all three of the other participants up in it.
Of course, this didn't amount to much. Nitro and Spencer were both using armour highly resistant to electricity, and as an electric monster Storm was naturally resistant.
The only notable change came from the Astalos itself.
Throughout the fight, it had gradually been changing in colour from green to blue. Starting with the claws, going to the chest, and now finally the horn had changed.
Only Nitro understood the meaning behind this. While Spencer was somewhat familiar with Astalos', having fought one in the past, he was by no means knowledgeable on monsters. There was no way he could've known that this Astalos would be classified as a Boltreaver.
It roared as electricity sparked all around it, signifying that its transformation had successfully completed.
Even though he didn't know what to call it, Spencer recognised that it was more of a threat than before.
As the roar faded away, Nitro didn't waste her opportunity to give directives.
"Attack the Tobi-Kadachi!"
At her command it lurched towards him.
Storm jumped out of its way, but its attack didn't end there. Before any visual feedback reached him, Storm heard a sound that resembled chirping.
A surge of electricity burst forth from the Astalos' horn, almost doubling its height. Without giving him any chance to react, the Astalos swung it down upon Storm.
Seeing his partner unable to dodge out of the way and too far away to help, all Spencer could do was yell.
"Hey, Stor-!"
Not even giving him the time to finish what he was saying, Nitro jumped in and threw several punches in quick succession. As Spencer was still reeling from the attack
"Monster, use your magnet orb!"
The Astalos flapped its wings and sent down a blue, pulsing orb.
Spencer stared at it in anticipation, expecting an attack. Instead, there was none.
He'd expected an explosion. Had he been asked to explain why, he wouldn't have had the words, but the volatile appearance of the orb made it look as though it was barely holding together. A powerful explosion.
Since it appeared to be an attack that the Astalos could use after fully transforming, there was no doubt that it was some kind of trump card. Maybe it was strong enough to blow up the roof.
But even so, Spencer believed that he could dodge something like that. His confidence may have been somewhat baseless, but his greatest ability was his speed.
Had it not been an explosion, then the second most likely was an orb that tracked him somehow. His expectations were unburdened by what was logically possible or impossible.
Even if that projectile homed in on him, even if it would chase him to the ends of the earth, Spencer was still confident that he could escape it.
But, it did not explode nor did it move.
Yet, Spencer felt it getting closer.
The orb was not moving. He was the one being pulled in. As soon as he realised this, he tried turning to run.
It was a fruitless effort. The pull of the magnet was so strong that he could barely move his limbs in the other direction of it, unable to properly start a run.
While he was distracted by that, Nitro was also being pulled in. She showed no signs of panicking.
As she slid across the ground, she reached down to her right leg and flipped a switch. One of the lines covering her armour began to glow, going from the helmet to the right boot.
She jumped into the air, performing a somersault. As she reached the peak of her jump, she stuck her right leg forwards, the same kicking position utilised previously.
Like a shot of lightning, she tore through the air. Sparks emitted from her right foot. Both attacker and target were being pulled towards the same destination, making the odds of her attack missing astronomically low.
Spencer was powerless to move out of the way. Mindlessly, he continued to struggle against the magnetic pull until the very last moment.
The lightning kick connected with his head, sending him flying towards the orb. As he fell, the orb collapsed in on itself, ending any effect it had on the battlefield.
Spencer was knocked backwards with enough force to send him crashing through the roof of the castle. Gazing upon the crater she'd created, Nitro made a noise of audible realisation.
"Oh, guess I got too carried away. You'll let me know if you're dead, won't you?"
Laura was knocked back into a wall.
"Damn. I think it's running out." She mumbled to herself, fumbling around her pouch as she pulled herself from the wall. "Here it is."
She grabbed a glass of red liquid from her pouch and drank it, before throwing the glass away.
"Alright, there it is. I feel like I'm on fire again."
After she finished explaining this to herself for no apparent reason, she took off towards the Gammoth once more.
Seconds prior to this, a swing of its trunk had taken her off guard and sent her flying. It seemed as though its defence was getting tighter as the fight progressed.
Even so, she advanced.
"Are you sure that you're human? You might be a Bulldrome, with how all you can do is blindly charge. No, perhaps that's too much. A Bullfango would be more appropriate, surely."
Glaze was clearly attempting to goad her, but Laura would have continued her attack with or without being provoked.
"I shouldn't expect anything different, it's not like she's listened to me until now. Just what is wrong with her? She doesn't seem even remotely tired. She just keeps on attacking, as though she has no regard for her own life. A true barbarian. I don't understand what could be going on in her head, if there is anything there."
Laura slipped through the Gammoth's attempts to hit her, stopping before the leg to prepare herself.
Her greatsword cleaved into the Gammoth's right foreleg. The ice cracked, stopping just short of shattering.
Glaze stared down for a while.
"I definitely won't win a war of attrition. No other option, in that case."
She finally spoke again.
"Monster, feel free to destroy this place. As long as you destroy her with it."
The Gammoth roared, finally allowed to do as it pleased. Even Laura was unable to power through the sound, forcing her to stop for a second to cover her ears up.
The Gammoth reared up on its hind legs again, readying itself to crush her. The same as the attack that she'd countered before by holding her greatsword and standing her ground. Theoretically, all she had to do was repeat that.
But something didn't feel right. There was no logic behind it. She simply felt that this attack was much more dangerous than anything she'd seen previously. But Laura wasn't one to use anything other than instinct, so she dived out of the way in time for the Gammoth's leg to crash through the ground. The impact sent tremors reverberating through the underground.
This particular Elderfrost Gammoth, prior to its capture, had been an abnormality among abnormalities in terms of strength. The few that had glimpsed it among a blizzard and returned alive to speak of it described it as a god of destruction.
That strength proved detrimental to the member of the kingdom that had been assigned to it. Every time she ordered it to fight, it would result in excessive destruction that posed as much of a danger to her as it did to her opponents.
Simply put, Glaze found the Gammoth's strength a pain to deal with. That was why she gave it an order to hold back at all times. That she was now rescinding this order meant she'd recognised that the risk posed by Laura Ford outweighed anything that could result from allowing the Gammoth to run wild, such as the castle collapsing on top of them.
That stomp fractured the ground, causing the area around it to rise up. Laura managed to remain stable, but the ground itself pushed her away.
She managed to prevent herself from falling over, but wasn't given even a second to spare. The Gammoth began to charge forwards, tearing through the small barrier that it had inadvertently created between them.
Laura quickly backed out of the way. The Gammoth charged through, tearing up the ground with each successive step.
She recognised it as powerful. But it was even slower than her, so she still had no reason to be wary. While a single attack would've likely been more than enough to kill her, as long as she didn't get hit that was no problem.
And so, she raised her greatsword over her head once more, slashing at the Gammoth's legs. Several more followed before the Gammoth could react.
The Gammoth followed its instincts as unwaveringly as Laura, so it chose the most obvious possible solution to its current problem.
It simply dropped. As though it slipped, it moved its legs to the side. Laura just barely escaped in time.
Up until now, the Gammoth had been treading lightly in accordance with Glaze's orders. The attacks that had been tearing up the ground were the result of its normal steps. It only logically followed that slamming into the ground with its full weight would be proportionally devastating.
The result was comparable to an earthquake. The ground around them split apart, random formations of rocks jutting out. The castle's foundations rumbled. Laura was launched into the air.
The Gammoth wasn't content to just send her flying and began to line up its next attack. As she fell towards the ground, it charged towards her. Unable to move through the air, she was easier to swat than even a fly.
Laura couldn't dodge. She didn't try to reduce the damage by blocking. It likely would only have partially saved her, but she didn't consider the idea. The first and only idea she had from that position was to attack.
It wasn't so well thought out that it could've been described as a plan, but until now Laura had been focusing on its legs under the logic that it would eventually topple over, allowing her to reach the creature's head. Getting the chance to skip that process and directly attack that spot was something that she possessed no complaints about.
The Gammoth reached her, abruptly stopping its charge and digging its hooves into the ground to build up to its attack. It swung its trunk around. At the same time, Laura took the opportunity to attack.
The two attacks reached their target at roughly the same time. The Gammoth was only slightly ahead, crashing into Laura before she swung at its head. Her greatsword cleaved through, creating a crunching sound. The Gammoth roared, the pain preventing it from finishing its attack.
Some of the ribs on the right side of her body had cracked, but that wasn't enough to slow down. It would have been wrong to put this result down to luck. It was her straightforwardness, that she unhesitatingly took the chance to attack, that had saved her life.
Laura landed on the ground, rolling around before clambering back to her feet.
She was going to resume attacking as soon as possible. That was her plan. She got halfway through starting her run, before she sensed something that made her stop.
The battle had strewn rubble all around the arena. Hiding wasn't an option that she'd ever considered, and her opponent was clearly too large to hide. To the hunter, it was just background detail. Something that didn't matter in the slightest if it wasn't in her immediate way. That's why she hadn't been paying any attention to her surroundings.
Until that moment.
Even with the miniscule amount of light going through that underground battlefield, the blade thrust towards her still glistened. That glistening caught the corners of her vision, causing her to turn to investigate.
Not even processing it as an attack, Laura made no attempts to dodge or fight back. She simply turned to investigate. Leaving her completely open to be hit.
The blade sunk into her side. The reason that she hadn't recognised it as an attack was because she initially didn't recognise the blade as a weapon until the moment that it hit her.
Glaze stood there holding it, with a desperate expression. Without any hesitation, she retracted her weapon and stabbed Laura several times more, aiming for any gaps in her armour.
Laura tried to move. Anything would've worked. All she needed was a single attack. But for some reason her movements were slowing down, to the point where she couldn't grab her sword to swing it. The more she struggled, the further away it felt.
"Haha! Ha! I can't believe it!" Glaze laughed, before seeming to remember something. "Monster, stop moving. I don't need you to do anything anymore."
Glaze focused on Laura again.
"You really are as crazy as I thought you were. I set up that surprise attack so carefully and you still almost escaped from it. But this fight is over now. You're curious about my sword, right? You might not be able to say it, but I've just got a feeling."
She presented the blade she'd stabbed Laura with. Another piece of rarity X equipment.
"The razor icicle. The only leftover piece of my heritage. It's this world's strongest ice element weapon. Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that its freezing power takes precedence over everything else. It can't draw blood. Even though it stabbed you, I doubt you feel any pain. Wait, can you even feel pain in general? That might've been a bad comparison. I'll just move onto the point. It doesn't spill blood, it freezes it. The frozen blood will completely block your circulation system at the point of contact."
Glaze paused, taking a breath in. Laura struggled to move.
"That you still can move really is a testament to your durability. But that won't matter for much longer. It will start with your movements slowing down. The lack of blood flow will cause you to lose feeling in your body, then lose the ability to move completely. Eventually the lack of oxygen will cause you to lose consciousness. At least, that's what I believe is happening. I've never been stabbed by it, and no one's ever survived it to tell me. You see, I don't like fighting. This isn't a weapon made for fighting, but for instantly killing my opponents. It'd been so long since I last drew it, you're the only opponent to have forced me to resort to such desperate measures. You should be happy that your life was worth this much."
Glaze smiled, tilting her head slightly. Laura's movements seemed to be grinding completely to a halt.
"Hm. Looks like we're finally near the end? You really did make me talk for a while, you're so resistant. But there's nothing on this planet that can resist the cold. So if you can still hear me… good night you detestable, beautiful beast."
When he opened his eyes again, Spencer found himself lying in a pile of rubble.
"Did I pass out for a second there? Not good. I missed what happened, but my body aches. It's not that hard to guess. I must've fallen through the roof. Wait a second. Hold it. Back up. Am I thinking right now?"
He paused for a second to confirm that he was indeed thinking.
"GODDAMNIT! I HATE THINKING!"
Even though he wasn't saying anything he still felt the need to take a pause, letting out the mental equivalent of a sigh.
"How long has it been since the last time I've been able to hear myself think? A year, at least. Is this the first time it's happened since then? It might be. Even when I was fighting the Thunderbearer I managed to get by without it happening. Haven't been pushed like this since back then. Is she stronger than him?"
He recollected his memories.
"No. She can't be stronger than him. That's what you promised, right? Honestly, this is sad. She isn't even one of the important ones! Who the hell's gonna believe in you if you lose to the first remotely strong opponent you see! Are you gonna let everything you told Luke be a lie!? No way, I'm gonna make sure it's real! But I won't win like this. I'm already thinking, so I might as well try working something out. What'd she call that attack? Mag-something? Where have I heard of that before? …That's right! That one time!"
Slightly over a week prior, Spencer was wandering around the halls of the Eternal Rest while looking for a drink.
Someone else walked down the hall, going in the opposite direction to him.
"Oh, it's the science guy."
"Doctor Professor Scientific Genius, yes."
"That's long, isn't there a shorter version?"
"No."
"Well, that probably makes sense. Can't use a weird weapon without being weird."
"I'd appreciate it if you kept derogatory remarks about my magnet spike out of your mouth. Did you only come here to insult me?"
"I didn't come here for anything, we just ran into each other."
"A likely story."
"Yeah, cause it's true. I wasn't derogatorying anything anyway, I think that it's cool. Kinda."
"Oh?" DPSG's facial expression entirely shifted in an instant. "Then are you perhaps telling me that you're interested in finding out more about this magnet spike?"
"Yeah, a little."
"Alright!"
DPSG reached into his coat and pulled out a small object, unfolding it into a stand. He then reached into another pocket and revealed a small whiteboard. From an outer pocket came a marker. Then from a final pocket he pulled two small iron bars with their ends clearly labelled N and S.
The scientist of the Starward Diamonds had resolved to live his life as a man who would never be caught unable to give a detailed explanation, which is why he never went anywhere without these pieces of equipment. To him, they were even more vital than potions.
To complete his preparation, he turned his focus to the whiteboard. His right hand darted from end to end of the canvas with a blistering speed. After just a few seconds, he turned it around and placed it on the stand to reveal a diagram far too complex for Spencer to make any sense of.
"Now, to begin I must explain what a magnet is to you. You see these objects that I'm holding here? These-"
Spencer turned and began to walk away.
"Okay, I'm out."
"What."
"I'm out."
"What do you mean?"
"Leaving."
"But why!?"
"You lost me when it started going on for so long.."
"I haven't even started yet! At least make that complaint after I've gotten through a single sentence!"
"It's gonna be longer than that? See, this is the problem. This isn't something that I care about enough to stand around that long for."
"A curse! A curse upon you for getting my hopes up and then dashing them! Playing with my feelings! You playboy!"
"Seriously, what are you talking about? I don't think I'll ever need to know any of this, it doesn't matter that much."
"No, you will! I guarantee it! In the future you'll be in a situation where you'll be in need of dire information about magnets, with no one there who is both capable of and willing to explain the concept to you! Then, more than anything, you'll rue that you slapped away my outstretched hand of kindness! You will regret this!"
"Sure, sure." Spencer wandered out of the range of DPSG's cries. "What was I looking for anyway?"
"Why'd he have to make the lecture so boring? I really could've used that right now. Okay, fine. Flashback to something else instead. Something more useful."
"Still too slow."
Spencer was on the ground again. Akem Okino was the one staring down at him.
At this point, he was exhausted to the point where he could barely remain standing. After being knocked to the ground, he wasn't going to expend any effort trying to hold himself up. In spite of this, his head remained off the ground.
The reason for that was found on his neck. Specifically, the collar he was wearing. Four poles, a meter long each, jutted out from each side of it.
"Score a hit on me before I can hit you." That was the condition that had been set. Spencer's job was to work tirelessly towards that goal until he succeeded.
"Seriously, what's the point of these things?" Spencer felt around the collar.
"To make it harder for you."
"I don't think it'd be easy even without them."
"Well, yeah. If you didn't have those on, you'd still struggle, but you'd have a pretty good chance of getting there. But that'd be a bit too easy. Your opponent's won't go easy on you and wait for you to reach their level, so it's better to over prepare in advance."
"What?"
"I suppose that was too wordy for you. Just think of it like weighted clothing. You know weighted clothing, right?"
"But you're already making me wear weighted clothing for this."
"That's because of time constraints. Now come on, that's enough of a break. Or are you really done for?"
Akem smirked at him, finally giving Spencer the strength to stand back up.
"Of course not!"
Spence stood up and rushed forward again. Akem was using a wooden longsword in lieu of his normal weapon, obviously not seeking to inflict any harm.
Spencer's straightforward charge failed to reach him.
"I keep telling you that you won't get a second chance in a real fight. Move back, we're starting over."
Akem raised his sword again. The challenger looked for any openings.
Again and again, he was beaten down.
"Too slow."
"Too predictable."
"You already tried that approach."
"You basically ran into the sword for me that time."
"Freezing means you're dead."
"Follow through."
"Feints only work when they're not so obvious."
"I'm not going to create an opening for you, stop waiting around."
"Is your brain stalling out?"
For each time he fell, he forced himself to stand once more. His body was worn down to the point it felt like it was broken. But even so, with every fall he could feel himself growing infinitesimally closer to the point he had to reach.
As though he was chasing after his perfect self, he couldn't do anything but run forwards.
A straightforward charge, once more. Just as he'd done time and time again. Akem recognised this approach, readying his sword.
Spencer stopped just short of him. Akem didn't swing, having intuited that no attack would come there. Instead of waiting, Spencer tried to move around him. Every effort went into his unpredictability, circling back and forth wildly.
Akem remained in place, only glancing around at him.
The moment arrived. With an angle of less than forty five degrees between himself and where Akem was facing, Spencer moved to close the gap.
Akem swung forwards to counter him.
At the very last moment, Spencer twisted himself around the attack to avoid it.
The momentum he had gained combined with the odd position he had assumed to avoid the attack had put him past the point of no return. His attack sailed forwards through the air, ready to land.
And once more, it didn't reach. Not through any fault of his own. But because of outside interference.
A greatsword wielder crashed into the fight, knocking him to the side.
"I'm back!" was all the explanation she offered before wildly swinging down again once more.
"He wasn't done, you know?" Akem stepped to the side of the swing.
"You were taking too long!"
"There's no point in giving you advice, you won't listen like he did. You've just got to feel it by losing."
"As if! I'm already used to all your tricks, so this tim-"
Laura was attacked before she could finish boasting. A swing without much power behind it connected directly with her neck, knocking the wind out of her. Akem had barely moved.
"This would be a lot easier if you would listen to my advice like he does. I wouldn't have to be so rough."
"L-like that can stop me."
"I'm not here to stop you. Fight me. Learn. Even creatures have instincts that can be refined. If you can overcome me, then the world's yours."
Spencer watched on from the sidelines, only faintly able to hear the rest of the conversation.
"Ugh, this is just pathetic. Thinking things out? Working out her weakness? That's not what you should be doing right now. If you think, then all you do is get stuck. You've seen that. If I stop to think, then all of this will go to waste. Using a strategy to win isn't what I'm here for. I'll stick to what I've got until I'm the last one standing."
He tried to move.
"You're the type that takes action without thinking. So take action. You're the one who defeated the Thunderbearer. So keep winning. You're the idiot who blazes ahead to leave a trail for the others. So blaze, like an idiot."
He continued struggling to force himself back into motion.
"Now move!"
All of Spencer's thoughts faded away, leaving him focused on a single point.
He stepped forwards. A single step turned into more, increasing in speed with each.
"Storm! I know you're not dead! You're not the type of guy to die from something that weak!"
Nitro looked down at him in bewilderment. Spencer ignored her stares and kept talking to his partner, as he turned his gaze skywards.
"I'm gonna kick things up a notch. Match my pace."
The beast had wandered far in search of strong opponents. The Frontier Grounds was known to some as the end of the world. A place where the powerful congregate. Where hope is crushed. That was what some people called her.
This was, of course, unknown to her. She had headed this way only by chance. Perhaps it was her instinct that led her to this place. After all, there was nothing that commanded her but instinct.
The one before her was not any stronger than she was. But the strange weapon she wielded provided a threat. She had no idea what rarity X was, but she recognised it as something unique.
A weapon created only to freeze, passed down through Glaze's family. The secret behind its craftsmanship had been lost. To put it bluntly, it was a relic. Something that had no place in the day and age of this battle.
That was why this was the victim's first time experiencing the feeling of her blood freezing, as had been the case for all of the sword's previous victims.
To her mind, this wasn't a defeat in combat. That wasn't out of any stubborn pride or refusal to accept her loss, but because she couldn't register dying in this way as a death by combat. Glaze was of the same mind. She didn't consider her victory to be a victory in combat.
There were more ways to die than just being killed. Starvation, sickness, drowning. The list went on endlessly.
A death like this should have been within her realm of expectations from the moment that she set out.
But the beast didn't feel satisfied with this type of ending.
"It looks like you can't be the one to kill me."
She wasn't satisfied, so she kept on moving. If she didn't want to die, then it was as simple as staying alive. After letting her opponent know her intent, she swung her greatsword down.
Glaze was far too slow to react, the greatsword grazing her as she dodged backwards. It cut through her armour like paper, leaving her bleeding. But her face didn't show any pain. It seemed that was overpowered by her fixation on her opponent.
The reason that she hadn't moved was because she would've never expected to have to, at that point. But somewhere in her mind, she felt that this completely unexpected turn of events was still what she should've expected, considering her opponent's unpredictability.
"That should've been the end. Certain death. The point of no return."
Glaze couldn't take her eyes off Laura Ford.
"...Just what are you?"
Like a shot being fired from a gun, Spencer advanced.
He swung his glaive around, knocking Nitro over.
It was more or less the same approach that he had used the first time, but this time it worked differently. The vast difference in speed had taken Nitro by surprise, preventing her from defending properly.
Her armour was audibly damaged by the attack.
A heroic punch of retaliation was swiftly thrown back. Spencer dodged with a swiftness that surpassed even that.
Spencer hadn't gotten any faster than before. The accumulated damage was actually wearing him down slightly. He had simply reacted to the attack quicker this time, from the very moment Nitro began to tense up. If there was any difference, it was that his senses felt much sharper than before. If asked, that was all that he would have described it with.
Spencer one-sidedly swung his glaive around. Nitro threw out several punches that missed, before one finally landed squarely on his face. That wasn't enough. Spencer pushed himself forward regardless, refusing to be stopped, before slashing her again.
The Astalos descended from above, swinging the blade from its head into the castle roof. Spencer vaulted backwards to avoid the attack.
Despite all of this evasion suggested a clear mind, his demeanour was anything but peaceful. It was more twisted than before, seemingly even more focused solely on clawing towards victory.
The Astalos continued trying to attack with its body, every attack going to waste.
"Don't you know anything?" Nitro asked while going on the attack once more. "Fights are meant to end when the flying kick lands!"
"That how it works? Sorry, but I couldn't pass out. All that electricity made the scars on my chest start aching!"
As he said that, Nitro felt claws tearing into her back. Storm had rejoined the fight.
At that moment, something became abundantly clear. She was hardly the observant type, but it was something so undeniably obvious that she couldn't help but feel it down to her soul.
The two of them would sooner die than lose. The determination that emanated from them indicated nothing less.
Nitro believed that in this situation, the average person would back down to fear. It was because she believed herself to be above the average person that she reached for another option.
If there is no bread, then let them eat cake. A normal victory wouldn't be enough for them, so she'd have to go further than that. That is all to say, that if they wished to die then she would kill them.
The Boltreaver Astalos still had yet to run out of charge. Her opponents were likely to fall with one more good attack. And more importantly than any other reason, she was too stubborn to finish this fight off with any other attack.
"Monster, another magnet orb!"
As she gave the order, she ran away to gain some distance between them. Her objective was to eliminate both her enemies with a single attack.
As she did, the Astalos flapped its wings. Another orb appeared, no smaller, no less volatile and not any weaker than the last.
"Now dive into it!"
Nitro jumped onto the Astalos as it ascended into the air. After a few seconds passed by, she kicked off it and began to descend, pulled in by the orb. The Astalos followed just behind her.
Spencer recognised the attack from before. His next course of action didn't follow any plan he had calculated to deal with it, but simply what felt right at that moment.
"LET'S DO THIS!"
They had not even the slightest intent of backing down. After all, he'd said that he was going to beat everyone here. Running away would make him a liar.
In order to remain truthful, Spencer charged towards the resolute justice that was drawing closer.
She was like ice. She made her way through life with a strong hatred for the very concept of fighting. In that sense, she was pure. Unreachable.
Those who tried to fight were frozen without being able to fight back. That was her way.
And now, for the very first time, Glaze was in a battle against an opponent that resisted her freezing.
Laura's first slash after escaping had cut her, causing her blood to be spilt for the first time that she could remember.
Laura had lost any interest in her opponents and was aiming to finish the fight as quickly as possible. She had aimed to kill with that attack, only missing because the residual effects of the blood freezing made her slightly sluggish.
With each passing millisecond the effect weakened, eventually becoming a miniscule hindrance.
"Monster, defend me!"
The Gammoth whirred back into action, stomping between them to prevent Laura from reaching Glaze. Laura seemed unbothered and simply switched targets back to the Gammoth.
As the two engaged in battle, Glaze watched from the side.
"The ice probably won't work. If she broke out of it once I have no doubt she'll do it again. That means there's no way for me to win. If you can't win, then run. That much should be so obvious that you don't even question it."
She glanced over at Laura once more
"Why do you look like you're having so much fun?"
She found herself unable to turn away.
"I don't get it. I've never gotten it until now, and I always assumed that I never would. So what is this feeling?
She had lived to that moment like ice. Unflinchingly pure. Never considering any other way of living than the one she had carved out. A life of being untouchable.
To that end, she was one of the few higher ranked pieces who had joined Fera Gladius without putting up a fight. Seeing fighting itself as senseless, she saw even less in fighting a battle that she knew she would never win.
She couldn't remember the last time that she'd been cut. The blood flowing from her arm was warmer than she had expected.
What she was going through at that moment was a completely new experience. A disgustingly uncomfortable, completely fresh sensation. In the same way that getting several needles stuck into her brain would be.
If she ran, then would this feeling persist? Even though she'd only known her for a matter of minutes, she felt that she couldn't forget the girl before her.
Glaze stepped forwards as that strange emotion burned up within her.
"If I keep fighting you, then will I understand?"
The step turned into a dash, thrusting her sword ahead of her.
The ice razor had already failed once. It was the first time that Glaze had seen it fail to instantly end the fight. Perhaps she should've stopped to deduce the reason why, but she didn't feel like doing that.
At that moment, she only saw one solution. By default, that made it the best solution. All she could do was try again. As many times as it took until Laura ceased to move. To put it more directly, brute force.
A barbaric, simple-minded method.
Laura acknowledged her attack this time, now being more cautious of the sword. She stepped to the side and avoided Glaze's thrust. Glaze turned around, attempting to preserve as much of her speed as possible, going for another thrust.
Laura remained rooted to the spot, swinging her greatsword down. Had they both continued as they were, one of them surely would have been destroyed within the next few moments. Glaze stepped to the side to avoid being cleaved in half, but as a result her strike was far shallower than expected.
Glaze rapidly attempted to attack again.
The lightness of the razor icicle in comparison to Laura's greatsword should have given her the opportunity for multiple attacks before having to retreat. With that in mind, she aimed a thrust towards Laura's torso.
Laura raised her greatsword over her head, as she'd done countless times before.
From Glaze's perspective, it seemed guaranteed that her attack would land. She simply watched as she drew closer to Laura. No. She realised all too late that it would've been more accurate to describe it as Laura moving closer to her.
Laura slammed into her opponent while still holding the great sword up. The impact was simply too much for Glaze to bear. It felt as though all of the oxygen left her lungs simultaneously, robbing her of her ability to stand. As she crumbled to the floor, the Gammoth came in for an attack.
Having not paid attention to the monster until that last moment, Laura failed to dodge or block the Gammoth's trunk swing. She was sent flying.
The fight was effectively reset. Laura landed several dozen meters away. Glaze struggled back to her feet as she regained feeling.
"Monster, stop moving."
Glaze stared at Laura, trying to figure out her move. Laura stared back for a few moments more, before taking action.
All she did was raise her sword.
"What?"
Glaze thought.
"She's nowhere near us. Unless the sword can magically extend, there's no way that'll reach us. Even with how amazing she is, I doubt she could sprint towards with her sword in that position. So then what?"
She contemplated some more, turning everything over before it dawned on her.
"Ah, now I see. It's a challenge, isn't it? You're waiting for me to approach. There's so many responses I could take here. Why do you think I'll take your challenge? Do you really… trust me that much?"
She switched to yelling.
"Monster, charge!"
The Gammoth whirred back to life, tearing through the earth as it single-mindedly advanced.
Laura's body tensed up as it approached.
A monster art was the term that the DBA had devised over the course of their training for their special techniques. Similar in essence to a hunter art, but it required the combined strength of the hunter and monster together.
Fera Gladius' greatest strength was undoubtedly their numbers. With a monster to each of their soldiers, they were far more exhausting to fight than normal poachers, if nothing else.
The cooperation between the hunters and monsters of the DBA and how Fera Gladius used monsters were worlds apart. Those monster arts were devised to give them the edge in this fight, something to set them apart from those who only used monsters like tools.
But it was undeniable that no matter how much better coordinated they were, they were still vastly outnumbered.
Going against the odds can only be seen as illogical. As those odds become more overwhelming, standing against them reaches a point that could only be called madness.
To Spencer, that monster art that had been hastily put together and barely refined within the last week was the manifestation of that defiant madness. A clear statement of intent to rise above every obstacle in his way.
In Laura's case, things were slightly different.
She had no interest in growing stronger. She was already strong enough.
She was the only member of the group who fought without the aid of a monster.
But that did not mean she was handicapped by any means.
To her, tapping into a reserve of strength that typically went unused created a vast enough difference to the point where it might as well be called a monster art.
All of this was to establish something simple. At that moment, two monster arts appeared in the same place. One above, one below.
Monster art: Thunderbolt.
Monster art: Big Bang Slash.
One tore through the sky, being pulled in by its target.
The other swung down as its target drew closer.
Above the castle, the two sides drew closer.
Nitro descended with a kick, joined by the Astalos kicking to follow her example. Spencer and Storm charged forwards in unison at a blistering speed.
Their meeting was inevitable. The magnetism guaranteed it. Even with a decent amount of space between them, their speed meant that it took less than a second between Spencer's previous yell and the collision.
Both attacks had been used previously in the fight. Though, Nitro's diving kick was now far more powerful than before.
It wasn't alone in that regard. Thunderbolt hadn't worked properly last time due to the lack of proper run up. This time it had been executed perfectly.
If it failed here, then there was no way Spencer and Storm could've ever won.
The bolt from above and the bolt from below crashed head-first into each other in the middle of the magnetic storm.
In the span of a millisecond, one of the fighters broke.
The Astalos' tail had been damaged in the fight prior. The mix of its own momentum with Spencer and Storm crashing it at the maximum speed they could currently achieve was enough to break it completely. Like a thread being unravelled, the other side's attack fell apart.
First the tail went. They collided with Nitro's kick. The chimera armour partially shattered from its boots, as its occupant was pushed to the side.
Their charge still did not relent. They pushed forwards, tearing a chunk out of the Astalos and soaring past it.
All of this took less than even half a second.
"Im-impossible-!" Was all that Nitro could manage to gasp as she stumbled forwards.
The body of the Astalos, now nearing death, was going completely haywire. Electricity discharged from its body wildly.
"I should've at least been defeated by someone important! There's just no way that a random agent like you can overcome my-"
Nitro could barely move and as a result was still where the magnetic orb had been placed and by extension near the dying Astalos. A variety of factors came together in that moment. The last remaining power in the magnetic orb, the Astalos' electricity going everywhere at once while in its death throes, and the electricity leaking from Nitro's now partially broken armour.
All of these caused a reaction.
An explosion. As it engulfed part of the roof and the castle seemed to tremble, the only thing that could be heard over the explosion was Nitro finishing her sentence with a yell of "JUSTICE!"
Spencer and Storm were no longer looking in that direction, walking away from the explosion.
A few seconds prior to this, the two fighting below the castle were finally within range of one another.
Attempting to flatten her, the Gammoth continued to charge onwards. In response, all Laura did was swing her greatsword down.
While she had no monster to fight alongside, Laura did have a monster of her own. Wildness. If she overused it, she would never return to being a human. Throughout this fight, she'd felt no need to utilise it. But just for this attack, it felt like the only way.
As she resolved to use everything, that ordinary charged slash metamorphosed into something completely different.
The slash cleaved through everything in its wake, including the Gammoth. It was split from skull to hooves.
Practical annihilation. To say that it was stopped dead in its tracks wouldn't have been figurative in any sense.
The fight was not yet over.
Advancing past the bisected Gammoth, Glaze tried to freeze Laura once more.
Laura picked her sword back up and swung it upwards.
Her timing was perfect. The great sword clashed with the razor icicle for just a second. Had it been any other type of weapon, perhaps it would have chipped it.
More than anything else, ice was known for breaking easily. From the moment that her opponent awakened her to the heat of battle, Glaze had been destined to melt.
Her monster had been crushed. Her weapon had been shattered. But even so, she felt no despair.
Instead, she couldn't help but smile.
"Ahh… Just how beautiful can you be?"
Those were her last thoughts before Laura kicked her away. The ice maiden was undoubtedly dead. What would become of Glaze's point from here onwards was someone that no one could predict, she herself had the least idea of anyone.
With no more concern for the defeated, Laura scanned around for a way out.
She spoke her thoughts aloud.
At the same time, above the castle, Spencer spoke his thoughts.
The two were in unison on just this one thing.
"Alright! I'm definitely in the lead now!"
11:51
Nitro, the Cyclone Driver.
Defeated by Spencer Page.
Glaze, the Ice Maiden.
Defeated by Laura Ford.
Hunter side: 16 hunters, 8 monsters.
Poacher side: 28 poachers, 29 poachers.
TO BE CONTINUED
Many things happen in the world.
I've been so busy lately (with real life, I wish I could say I was busy with other personal projects) that this took forever to complete.
Originally this was meant to be two chapters but I rolled them in for one not for any concern about boring my dearly beloved readers, not to set up the parallels between the two fights and not for any nice sounding third reason that I can't think of, but because I wanted to keep set up for something cool with the chapter numbers slightly later down the line.
I wonder if I'll ever get to the end of this story though. We're still not even at the turning point of this arc yet.
I always feel the need to apologise for being late in my author's comments, but I don't really feel like using them as a blog like some people do, since I'm not that good with remembering. Distant memories feel like recent things I could talk about, while recent memories feel like they happened years ago. It's that sort of thing, so it's not really conductive to recalling a lot at once.
I could try saying things that will date this. I've accidentally gotten a bit into Japanese horse racing lately. It would definitely take a detective to guess why, you don't have to look at the other stories on my profile or anything.
I'm not really deep enough in that I care that much, but I'm hoping Equinox wins the Arima this year. Because it would be really cool to have that in the same week as the last episode of season 3.