Chapter 81
"If I continue killing people to prove myself as the strongest in the world, then someday, people will come to kill me and prove themselves as the strongest in the world, over and over again. It would be an endless cycle. Now, I know the title of being the strongest in the world means nothing at all. To be the strongest under the heaven is just a mere dream"
Miyamoto Musashi
The poem in this chapter is the combination of several warrior poems. And I also used some parts from Stephen Crane's poem 'Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind'.
Guido fires his giant harpoon to eliminate Marcus but the sniper dodges it and replies with a Double Strafe using his oridecon arrow. The Pythons number X flees from the arrow's reached and shoots another harpoon which Marcus quickly blows by another Oridecon arrow. Despite having a smaller size than the giant harpoon bullet, the oridecon arrow proves its effectiveness blocking the bigger bullet, simply because it was made of one of the hardest metals in Rune Midgard.
In his daily life, Marcus is but an idiot. However, it may all change when it comes to battles. He is very perceptive and a good tactician. Just by seeing Guido's attack twice, the chink eyed sniper could tell there's an interval for five seconds between he launches the next shot.
"There's an interval between his attacks. If I can make a use of it, I can seize my chance to attack him in point blank shoot" Marcus waits for Guido to make his move…and Guido does. The green clothed gunslinger shoots another one of his harpoon, but this time, instead of simply dodging it, Marcus jumps to the air; resulting the harpoon to miss its target.
"Fool!!! I can shoot you from down here!!!" Guido shouts and quickly directs his giant harpoon launcher to Marcus who is still floating in the air. What he didn't expect is for Gregory attacking him from next to him right into his stomach using the Blitz Beat. Marcus was just a decoy to take Guido's attention away from Gregory.
"Oookh!!!" Guido falls down as the result, but it doesn't stop there. Marcus swiftly lands not too far from Guido; when the gunslinger rises Marcus fires a perfect Double Strafe and hits his target with style, piercing through the iron helmet concealing Guido's face.
"Bull's eye!!" Marcus proudly proclaims, but much to his surprise, Guido quickly revives and hits Marcus right in the head with his harpoon launcher, sending him to the ground.
"Aaah!! What is that?!" The sniper gives an obvious reaction because he does not know about Pythons' healing abilities, "Is he some kind of monster?"
"Marcus!!! Are you alright?!" Gregory, worrying his master, quickly approaches him, "Your head is bleeding!!"
"Don't worry, I'm fine. It hurts, but if I didn't grate myself when he attacked back, my skull would have broken into pieces. And maybe that would make me brainless"
"You're already brainless without a broken skull" The black falcon does have a point, "Anyway, he recovered, huh? Maybe it's some kind of healing ability"
"Yeah, or maybe he's just immortal"
"Are you stupid?! He's not immortal!!" Gregory would never understood what makes the finest sniper on earth such a stupid man, "If he's immortal, then you're doomed, Marcus!"
"I'm boomed? What's boomed?"
"I said doomed!!"
"No, you said boomed. I heard that right"
"No, you didn't!!!"
But the two gets cut off when Guido launches another harpoon. Marcus leaps to avoid it, and hits back using his Double Strafe. His effort proves useless because Guido easily blocks the arrow by shielding himself using his harpoon launcher, "Same trick won't work on me!"
"You're not bad" Marcus responds, "But you're gutless"
"Gutless? How am I gutless?"
"Just look around you, Guido boy"
"Around me?" Guido observes his surrounding only to find piles of dead bodies, "I failed to see your idea"
The sniper gives no respond to his enemy, instead, Marcus quietly watches many dead bodies behind the giant harpoon launcher wielding gunslinger. Gregory notices what his master is doing and fairly agrees with him. "Why did you kill all those people, number X?" The black falcon purposes the unnecessary act by the Pythons.
"To prove our strength and to send our adversaries a strong message" Guido answers with a rather calm tone, proving he doesn't feel guilty at all of his doing.
"And you send the message by killing innocent people who knew nothing at all, number X?"
"They are merely a stepping stone. No need to fuss over their death" Guido sets up his giant harpoon launcher, "Now, are you going to fight or not, Black Falcon? I'm not keen on doing this chat any longer"
"Neither am I" Marcus, smirking, already appeared behind Guido in a blink of an eye; Gregory is still resting quietly on his shoulder. Guido couldn't believe what just happened. He could spot at least thirty Oridecon arrows piercing him in all over his torso.
"Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkh!!!!" The gunslinger wails and drops to the ground as blood sprays from his body, crawling over and over again to pull the arrows out from his body, "When did you attack?! I couldn't see it!!"
"So, I was too fast for you?" The finest sniper on earth giggles and rests his Refined Ballista on his free shoulder, "That was just a normal Arrow Shower, done perfectly thirty times without even missing a single shot in less than five seconds. Didn't I tell you this fight won't last long, Guido boy?"
"Don't underestimate me!!" Guido eventually ups right and gazes at the sniper; his body has healed all his wounds, "You wouldn't kill me with that!!!"
"How persistent…that would only add more suffering for you" Marcus shrugs seeing the gunslinger. Guido aims his Harpoon launcher to the air and fires it. The giant harpoon splits into six and strikes the area where Marcus is standing. The sniper simply flees from their reach as the harpoons maim the ground. Anticipating Marcus' counter, Guido shoots another harpoon which splits into six but this time he aims it perfectly to the sniper.
Marcus dodges them and let them hits the empty house behind him by lowering himself to the ground and launches a dozen Oridecon arrows towards the green clad gunslinger. Guido shields himself using his launcher, knocking all the arrows down in the process, "You're dead!"
Before Marcus finds out what the Pythons number X means, the stuck harpoons surrounding him explode and blow the area into pieces. Bricks, woods, and fleshes of the dead bodies fly ever scatters everywhere. It happened so fast, who would have thought that each of the harpoon contains a small bomb which would create a major impact if explodes at the same time.
"I got you, idiot!!! You were too cocky to realize it!!" Guido exclaims as the smokes starting to clear, but much to his shock, he finds no remains of Marcus at all, "What?! Where is he?! The explosion should have at least remained something from him!!"
"Here, here" A voice could be heard from Guido's behind, "Remember my awesome speed?"
Guido quickly turns back only to meet Gregory strikes him furiously with a Blitz Falcon. The attack flung the gunslinger away, crashing him through one of the empty houses' wall. "You survived the explosion using your speed?! But how?!" Guido could be careless of his healing wounds, because it's so obvious that he cannot contain his curiosity.
"Did you forget about my black falcon?" Marcus mocks Guido's carelessness, "Gregory and I fight as a team, just like other hunters and snipers. He observes my surrounding and silently informs me about things I need to know, including your bombs inside your harpoons and the trigger button on your left hand. Avoiding it was a piece of cake. If you ignore one of us, you might cost yourself a chance to live longer"
"Is that so?! Then, what about this?!" Guido climbs the house he crashed in and stands firmly in the rooftop. He aims his harpoon launcher to the sky and fires it. Marcus keeps his eyes on the gunslinger, waiting for the attack to commence. His guess comes true when a harpoon, in the size of a castle's pillar, strikes from the sky and nearly hits him if he didn't dodge it. However, the impact of the attack was so big it trembles Marcus' surroundings.
"Not bad" Marcus shoots him with arrow shower, but Guido anticipates it by firing his harpoons to create a circling fence of harpoons to protect himself. The harpoons fence successfully blocked all the arrows Marcus fired.
"Now we're talking" the sniper grins at Gregory who shakes his head as respond. Guido sends another two giant harpoons and forces Marcus to retreat outside the city's entrance. Gregory spotted another bombs planted in the harpoons, and considering their size, the explosions would be more dangerous than the earlier explosions.
Unknown to Marcus, Guido is planting a homing device for his next shot, "This one will chase him wherever he goes!!! I will win this battle for sure!!"
Meanwhile, Marcus is also planning to stop his opponent once and for all, "I think we can end him in one single blow"
"How, Marcus?" Gregory goes straight to the point.
"Just as usual, by combining our capabilities" The white haired sniper grins, "Here, I'll let you know…"
Gregory nods to each point Marcus states, agreeing with his plan. After Marcus finishes telling the plan, Gregory can do nothing but praise him, "Marcus, you're barely a genius, but I always wonder how you get those tactics inside your head whenever it comes to battle"
And the final strike begins as Marcus and Gregory spot a harpoon speeding toward them. "Now, Gregory!!! Do as I told!!" Marcus and Gregory split; Gregory flies to the sky whereas Marcus runs to evade the merciless harpoon. Thanks to the homing device, the harpoon doesn't stop chasing Marcus.
"A chaser? Oh, well. Just keep doing it as planned" The sniper turns over his shoulder before speeding towards the Amatsu's entrance where the gigantic harpoons are still planted.
"Like a mouse going straight into the trap, loser!!! Watch where are you running?" Guido, not realizing the plan Marcus set up, explodes all the harpoons near the entrance, "So long, sucker!!!"
The explosion thunders to the sky, blowing all the remaining buildings and the dead bodies lying around the entrance area. After several seconds, smokes are the only thing that could be seen. "Wahahahahahahaha!!!! Take that!!! That's what you got for making me angry!!!" Guido laughs like crazy, thinking that he has won this battle, "No one can defeat The Pythons!!! No one!! No….hah?"
His proud declaration stops when he realizes a very big hole in his torso, open mouthing like a cave. And he also fails to realize the fence surrounding him has been destroyed.
"Aaaaaaah!!! What happened?! What happened?!" the gunslinger roars as he falls to the ground, not believing what just happened to him, "How did this happen?! How did this happen?"
The Pythons number X soon finds Gregory who has been resting his wings not far from him. There is some blood stain in the fur on his head. "You…could it be?!" Guido speaks in dismay, right at the moment where Marcus walks victoriously to the rooftop.
"What did I tell you, Gregory?" Marcus chuckles, "He didn't realize it at all, right?"
"Right" Gregory quietly lands on his shoulder, "He is more stupid than you, Marcus"
"What are you talking about?!" Guido looks to find his final salvation, "How did you?!"
"I told you, Guido boy" Marcus aims his Refined Ballista to the sky, "If you ignore one of us, it might cost you your chance to live longer. And again, you forgot about my speed. I ran into the entrance knowing that you would blow all the harpoons simply to cast your attention only to me, not Gregory also. And I was right, you were too busy concentrating on me that you forgot Gregory. He quietly attacked you from behind using the Falcon Assault, the strongest sniper's technique using a falcon to blow our target away in demon speed. As on how to avoid your explosion, that's because I was too fast for you. This is a flawless victory"
"I can't believe this?! I…the great Pythons…lost?" The gunslinger is really surprised of Marcus plan; he couldn't believe the way the sniper got him even after the long explanation.
"You're just my stepping stone, no need to fuss over your death" Marcus fires the arrow shower for the last time tonight, towards the sky. The merciless Oridecon arrows fall from the sky in less than ten seconds before mercilessly maiming the Pythons number X, killing him without giving him the slightest chance to scream…therefore, ending the battle.
"Good job, Marcus" Gregory praises his master's work, "Now, on to helping the civilians"
"Mammalians?" Marcus returns to his stupid self, "What mammalians? Is Amatsu some kind of a zoo?"
And for his (usual) reaction, Gregory rubs his face, "Oh, God…have mercy on me…"
****
Emilio attacks with his Hyperion, powered by flame sphere, directly to his target, the Licker. Licker proves as a versatile opponent by nimbly avoiding the fire blast and closes his gap with Emilio just in matter of seconds. Licker takes out a combat knife from his pocket and strikes Emilio with it, although the mentioned gunslinger blocks the knife and several blows following it.
Not wanting to be cornered by his opposite, Emilio counters by throwing five blows using his Hyperion to the Pythons number VIII. Licker shields all the blows before retreating ten feet away from The Ropera Squad Captain, creating some distance between himself and the black clothed gunslinger.
"Not bad, as expected from a Pythons member" Emilio, playing with his Hyperion, admits Licker's capability, "But what is the use of that Giant Morning Star of yours? Aren't you going to attack me with it?"
"I wi..ll..as…soon…a..s..I…thi…nk..nece…ssa…r..y" The mechanical lips doesn't really help him for sure, "Worr…y…abo…ut…your…sel…f"
"Thanks" Emilio fires another Fire Blast, and just as he expected, Licker avoids the blats again. But this time he has prepared himself for this. Emilio unexpectedly unloads all the remaining spheres inside Hyperion toward the Licker, seizing any chance for the green clothed gunslinger, no matter how versatile he is, to escape. The fire blasts toast everything on their path, destroying several empty houses in the process. The already burned Amatsu is now toasted even more.
However, Emilio spots no dead bodies lying in his sight, "Where is his body? He couldn't have gone into dusts. Vaporized maybe…"
Thanks to his natural instinct, Emilio could feel something approaching him from behind and quickly ducks, saving himself from the impending doom. It was Licker who flung his Morning Star right before Emilio. "Damn!!! That one almost hit me!!" Emilio turns back to finish Licker with his Hyperion, "But you're like a mouse in the trap now!!"
Bad for Emilio, suddenly several bullets strikes his back from behind shocked and knocked him to the ground. "Aaaaakh!!!" The gunslinger, despite his injury, quickly anticipates further attempt from his opponent and quickly hides behind one of the empty houses, rearranging his plan.
"What was that?! Someone shot me from behind?! No, no!! That can't be it!!" Emilio drinks several white potions to heal himself, "Oh, I know! The bullets came from the Morning Star, the Morning star must be a round sub machinegun formed like a Morning Star!!! That's why he didn't attack me with it earlier; otherwise his secret technique would have been blown out to the surface. But, how did he escape my fire blasts earlier? I was sure I locked all his exits! Did he use some other trick?
Bad for Emilio, he doesn't have the chance to figure his enemy plan out. Because suddenly the house he's been hiding is destroyed by one powerful strike from the morning star after Licker perfectly flings it. Nonetheless, Emilio managed to escape and throws an Ice Blast to retaliate. As the ice blats approaches, Licker opens his mouth and fires a hot laser from it. Needless to say, the collision between the ice blast and the laser results in a big explosion.
"A morning star that can fire bullets, a good trick to escape my fire blasts, and now a laser!!! Good lord, what else?!" Emilio shakes his head in dismay, expecting another surprise.
Licker shoots the laser numerous times, forcing Emilio to consistently evade the attack while searching for a chance to attack back. The Pythons number VIII throws another callous bullets as he spins his Morning Star to corner Emilio even more. Emilio, not wanting to be cornered more than this, quickly changes his sphere into Poison Sphere and fires it to the Licker.
Licker stops the blasts (again) using his laser mouth, but what he doesn't predict is for the blast to spread and turns into a large smoke of poisonous gas. And it's a given for Licker to accidentally inhale it, rendering him paralyze and poisoned, "Sh..it…thi..s…is..a…tr..a…p!"
"Got you!!!" Emilio shows up from his hiding place and fires the fire blast, attempting to end the battle. But unfortunately for him, the fire blast vanishes right before it toasts the Licker, "What?! The fire blast vanished?!"
Before he got a proper answer for his question, he is welcomed by another round of firing from the Morning Star which for the third time today, forces him to hide, "What was that?! Is that some kind of magic trick?"
"It…is…no..t" Licker rises back, but his mind cleared things up, "That piece of junk doesn't need to know about ARMAS nullifier. It can nullify both ARMAS and the power inside it. I'm lucky his child of ARMAS doesn't fire bullets, because the ARMAS Nullifier wouldn't protect me from the bullets if he already fired them. A bit different from other Pythons, just like Valdes, my body couldn't be completed with the healing ability and thickness because of my mechanical lips and laser mouth consume too much energy. I must end this battle sooner rather than later"
Emilio quickly makes another plan to bring the Licker down, "OK, so far my entire plan failed!! This guy is really something. I don't know how he eliminated my fire blast although he already did it twice!! But dragging battles for too long isn't my style; I have to end this…but, how?"
But again, his time to think ends when Licker spots him and throws him some more lasers. This time, Emilio runs quite far so he can hide properly and thinks about what to do, "That laser sucks!!! He even stopped my ice blast with that...hey, wait a minute, I know!! When I battled him using my Hyperion as a smasher, he couldn't do nothing but blocking it using his knife, that means he couldn't eliminate something solid!!! Fire blast isn't solid, that's why he was able to eliminate it! Alright, time to end this battle really soon!!"
"Whe…re…are…yo..u? Don't…hid…e" Attempting to end the battle, Licker searches for his target.
"Hyperion, Radiata formation, activate" Emilio prepares something new; following his order his Hyperion changes its shape into longer grenade launcher. Pulling out two spheres, Emilio is ready to end this battle.
The gunslinger comes out to cast Licker's attention to him. The Pythons number VIII buys it and shoots him fiercely as he flings his Morning Star. Emilio just keeps running in circle avoiding the bullets, as if he wants to do this. Not noticing his enemy true intention, Licker keeps trying to shoot Emilio…until he runs out of bullet.
"Got you!!" Emilio points the Hyperion at the shocked Python, who failed to notice that Emilio was attempting to make him run out of bullet all along, "Take this, Ice Fang!!!"
Hyperion charges and shoots a sharp giant ice block which would obviously crush anything it touches. "Good…pl..an…bu…t…you…forg…ot…this!" Licker doesn't give up just yet as he firs another laser beam and successfully destroys the giant ice block, creating a large ice smoke in the area, "You…fail…ed..agai…n!!"
"No, I didn't" Emilio calmly responds the moment a huge fire blast, in the form of a dragon, emerges from under the ground right below the Licker and hits him, toasting him like a well done steak in the process.
GLAAAAAAAR!!!!!
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!" Licker's scream could be heard throughout the city, he is being burned alive as he uncontrollably crawls in the ground, "What…is…th..is?! What…happ…ened?!"
"Bane Fire, the strongest technique using the flame sphere inside Hyperion" Emilio gives Licker his final salvation, "Each child of ARMAS has two formations, the normal formation and the ultimate formation. My Hyperion got Radiata as its ultimate formation. Radiata would boost the power of a normal sphere, creating the like of Bane Fire and Ice Fang on the process. Be proud, you're the first to be killed using this formation in a single combat. I shot Bane Fire to the underground right after I enclosed your sight using the Ice Fang, so you wouldn't be able to nullify the flame dragon no matter what"
"The ice…blo..ck…was…a..de..coy?!" Licker finishes as he dies, "Cur…se…yo..u….sph…ere…of…death…."
"You're welcome" The Sphere of Death rests the Hyperion on his shoulder before turning his back, "Now, I wonder if Saruhime defeats Python number IX?"
Emilio's answer soon comes out when he heard something crashing on the empty house behind him, it was Sarita. Bloodied and battered with visible wounds everywhere on her body. Hikari slowly shows up from before the giant fire wall on her back.
"Have you not learned anything just yet?" The eastern styled lord knight prepares her Refined Muramasa, "Neither your bullets nor your whip could touch me"
"Shut up, bitch!! There's no way I would lose against you!" The Pythons number IX lashes her whip, only to be easily dodged by Hikari. The nicknamed Tsukihime throws a slash right on her opponent's eyes, blinding her.
"Kyaaaaaaaakh!!!!" The bloodied gunslinger wails before falling to the ground, hands grasping her painful eyes, "I'll kill you!!! I will fucking kill you!!!"
"I warned you before, your healing ability would only add more suffering for you" Hikari pulls out a paper from her pocket and cleanses her precious sword with it, "This is what you got for killing Amatsu civilians"
"Shut your trap!!" The Pythons number IX grabs her whip as she rises and fires bullets from it, "Die!!"
"I stopped that attack twice tonight. What makes you think I can't stop it again?" Hikari throws a gigantic slash, cutting the bullets using the wind in the process and slicing the whip into two, much to the dismay of her opponent.
Seeing his supposed to be enemy, Emilio couldn't contain his surprise, "Oh!!! That's the slash she used to cut my fire blast into two!!!"
"The only technique for a lord knight from Amatsu, Sakura Break" Hikari prepares a stance as she readying herself to finish her enemy off, "It cuts anything it touches into two, be it magic or solid object, just like…you"
CRAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!
In a wink of an eye, Tsukihime already stood behind the sliced body of the ill willed gunslinger. As the gunslinger falls to her death without even getting the chance to scream, Hikari slowly sheaths her sword, "You have paid your sins dearly with your life"
Seeing how the show ends, Emilio claps his hands, "Bravo!! Bravo, senorita. My opinion on you has changed, you are a great combatant!"
Surprisingly even for herself, Hikari blushes (but she quickly hides her face though), "D…d…don't praise me like that!!!"
"Don't be so rude, I mean it"
"Well, you…you…are...also…" The tsundere princess replies, "You are a great combatant too. You also…defeated your enemy, right?"
"Right, thanks for noticing" If only Emilio knows his statement would bring more trouble.
"But, it's not like I acknowledged your power, alright?!" Hikari doesn't give tsundere thing a rest, "I'm still stronger than you are!!!"
And just like the girl who he got a one night stand with; The Captain of Ropera Squad doesn't know when to stop, "Hell no!!! You got number IX and I got number VIII, VIII is stronger than IX!!! That means I'm stronger than you are!!"
"Oh, yeah?!"
"Yeah!!!"
"Then, why not fight me now?! Let's find out who's stronger between us!!!"
"OK, let's do that!!"
But the sound of Sasha and the ninjas battling the robots from afar ceases their wish to fight.
"It seems that some of the enemies are still out there" Hikari heads for the robots, "As much as I want to slice you in half, I won't fight you now"
"…As you wish" Emilio follows her, although the two still share a bitter glance for each other. Well, but maybe not for long, they have made out anyway (^^).
****
Swirling through the trees in the forest, Elraven launches dozens of his merciless HAVOX bullets to his adversary, who firmly uses the trees as his shields as he runs behind them, letting the purple gunslinger's attempt to hit him gone waste as they hit and destroy the trees.
When the battle begun less than a minute ago, Bill successfully keeping his distance with Elraven by constantly hiding behind the trees so that the famous Vice-Captain of Ropera Squad's offensive attempts wouldn't reach him at all. But, avoiding attacks for too long isn't his forte. Bill quickly reacts by throwing three upgraded grenades to El. Just like what happened before, one explosion from the upgraded grenade would fling people away, let alone three explosions.
Helen watches in horror when the grenades explode, causing the dirt and the trees receiving their impact dispersed everywhere in the forest, but neither El nor his remains was nowhere to be found. Bill carefully searches for the gunslinger with his machine gun gloves stand by, but what he didn't expect is dozens of HAVOX bullets gush from his below, perfectly hitting him on his jaw and face. El emerges from under the ground, he's been hiding himself in the ground to avoid the impact of the grenades and wait an opportunity when his adversary is inattentive so that he can execute one fatal blow.
But the gunslinger gets a big surprise when he sees the member of The Pythons didn't die despite receiving a direct hit from HAVOX bullets on his head, because with his battered head, Bill strikes Elraven using a straight punch to his face and knocks Elraven away, crashing in one of the trees. But of course with his trait of ignoring the pain inflicted to him, Elraven quietly regains his composure although he doesn't let Bill leaves from his sight. What astonishes El even more is that his bullets only wound Bill so little even blood is hardly visible on his face. El is sure before he stroke him with his bullets, he got him right on his face using his HAVOX as a smasher, but the wound is no longer visible. Not only El, but Helen was left speechless seeing how the green clothed gunslinger survived the attack.
"I'm sure I got you" El doesn't waste his time hiding his curiosity, "Is your face made of Oridecon?"
"Wrong guess" Bill answers, "Don't you know that all Pythons members are bio-engineered humans?"
"You mean bio-engineered freaks? Yeah, I already knew that"
Ignoring El's mockery, Bill continues, "The latest technology from Rekenber Corporation gives us an extreme durability, even from the Children of ARMAS. Each and every inch of our body is almost a hundred times thicker than normal humans. And we got some healing ability, that's why the wound from your previous surprise attack is no longer visible in my face. We won't be killed so easily, Angel of Darkness"
"Oh, really? But having thicker body and healing ability only mean anyone needs more time to kill you, right? Don't you know that would add more suffering on yourself as well? " El suddenly appears behind Bill, readying his HAVOX as smasher again like his previous entrance, "Like this!!"
Elraven reappears in front of him and sends his target kissing the dirt perfectly using his Mithrill made smasher. Regardless the fact he received the blow directly, Bill retaliates by kicking El right on his neck and proceed to throw a spinning kick from below to El's legs.
El falls down and that costs him a lot, because Bill is ready to show what his Machine Gun Gloves capable on doing. "This Machine Gun gloves can compress pressures inside it and combine it with the unlimited gun powders inside it, thus providing me with unlimited bullets of fire", Aiming his finger joints to the black haired gunslinger, Bill fires callous flame bullets and blasts Elraven rapidly, although the attack didn't kill Elraven even once, providing he got The Spell of Dionysus, it renders him paralyze for several seconds nonetheless due to the burns.
And that several seconds is all Bill needs. He activates the strike mode on his Machine Gun Gloves and in a wink of an eye; he throws numerous punches to Elraven and hammers him uncontrollably to the ground. Stopping his punches, Bill kicks El to the air before kicks him away from his sight. El hits several bushes and a tree as the result of the raid. The Vice-Captain of the Ropera Squad automatically casts his attention to the approaching Bill who is seemingly ready to hammer him again.
El aims his HAVOX and fires its bullets to stop Bill, but he is startled when he finds out his HAVOX doesn't work. It doesn't fire bullets at all. "What is this?! HAVOX is broken?! No way!" The gunslinger tries to deduct what the hell is wrong with his precious weapon, but his deduction soon cuts out as Bill blows his torso and sends him to the tree he hit earlier.
Seeing how El's concentration is still divided between wanting to know what is wrong with his HAVOX and wanting to attack back, Bill seizes this perfect chance to throws another successive punches to his opponent. El cannot escape the continuous blows simply because Bill doesn't give him the chance to.
"Die!!!" Bill accumulates his power in his right hand and violently throws a single blow, a very powerful blow right to El's upper torso. The blow is more than enough to force Elraven crashes through the tree he's been trapped into and flies away, landing harshly around a 100 yard from his previous point. Thanks to his Spell of Dionysus, El is quickly healed.
From afar, Helen's heart is beating so fast seeing how Bill has swiftly gained the upper hand, "Good lord, I hope he's alright…"
"So, are you still keen on mocking me right now?" Bill quietly shows up proudly in front of the angered Elraven, "Does having your HAVOX stop working weaken you so much, Angel of Darkness?"
"So, it's your doing after all" Elraven gets the implication Bill implied to him, "What did you do to HAVOX?"
"I explained earlier, Pythons are all bio-engineered humans. Not only we got this thickness and healing ability, but we also got a device planted in our blood vessels" Bill waves his hand, "We called it ARMAS Nullifier"
"ARMAS Nullifier?" El frowns, "You stopped HAVOX with that?"
"Precisely; ARMAS Nullifier was developed by Rekenber Corporation to counter the using of Children of ARMAS by Ropera Squad. Whenever we activate this by simply commanding it, any Children of ARMAS would stop functioning, just like what happened to your HAVOX. Ironically, this technology was developed when we were trying to recreate ARMAS controller"
"ARMAS controller?" The never say die gunslinger quickly comes to a conclusion, "That means Rekenber Corporation have located ARMAS?"
"Bingo" Bill readies his Machine Gun Gloves again, preparing himself to carry the fight on, "And it's only a matter of time before we find how to use it…for our own good of course"
"Rekenber and Pythons…" El slowly shakes his head, he could never brings himself to understand the likes of these people who lusted for power so much, "You are all sick dimwits"
"Say what you want, but without your HAVOX you are nothing against me!" The Pythons number VII speeds and launches a hard kick right to El's face. The black clothed gunslinger, however, counters the kick by unnoticeably pulls out both his Tristan and Lancelot as smashers as he brings himself down to the ground to avoid the kick. El seizes his chance by smashing Bill's other legs with his Lancelot.
"Ukh!" Bill almost fall down but perfectly anticipates it using one of his hand to support his weight and regains his stance. But much to his surprise, El already waits in front of him and smashes his face using Tristan. Before Bill could even react, El already strikes him again using Lancelot and at the same time gradually forces Bill to deteriorate. He does it again with Tristan and again with Lancelot afterwards.
The skillful gunslinger rapidly blows his adversary's head by alternating Tristan and Lancelot as he rolls and corners Bill in a big disadvantage. El executes his moves successively, inflicting more wounds after each attack on Bill's head. The plan also proved the thickness and healing ability to be rather useless, because Bill's head can only take so much damage from colliding with the Mithrill made handguns.
El changes the hold on both his Tristan and Lancelot so that he can casually fire them both anytime instead of using them as smashers anymore, as if he indirectly challenges his cocky counterpart for a close quarter combat using their respective weapons. Taking it on, Bill moves forward and throws a punch only to have his attempt shifts away by El's wrist. El pulls Bill's arm above and calmly passes from below his risen arm, firing his Tristan from behind to his back before ending his attack by unleashing a bullet from Lancelot to Bill's leg. Lancelot on the right and Tristan on the left are really dangerous.
The green clad gunslinger feels shocked; two swift attacks executed softly like a dance? He could have never thought of it. He turns his back rather quickly so he won't get attacked, but much to his surprise, El is just quietly standing there, little smile on his face. He moves his hand slowly, challenging Bill to throw another attack to him. And that's it, the Pythons number VII cannot contain his anger anymore, "Don't underestimate me you piece of shit!!"
Just like before, he accumulates his power in his right hand and delivers his blow. However, Elraven has already realized this guy's weakness. Despite having a proper speed that matches his attack up, he's always got a gap between his punches. And that gap will cost him dearly.
Elraven simply shoves him back using a little force from his shoulder and shoots his reached arm three times using Tristan at the same time he shoots Bill's stomach three times with Lancelot. El continues by spinning his body the same moment he shoves his enemy back some more and right after that, El shoots his neck after attacking his right leg using both his guns, respectively.
Before Bill could do anything to compensate El's doings to him, El saves his Tristan back inside under his left sleeve and flanks his left arm with his own left arm, leaving only their right arms open. For a melee fighter, this position wouldn't benefit at all. But if you're an all round fighter, this position would be lethal for your opponents.
El stretches his left arm as he backs away with their arms still hooking, forcing Bill to unwillingly do so. The Angel of Darkness utilizes this chance to shoot Bill right on the head before pull him over as he passes below Bill's lifted left arm and shoots his back. El releases their hooked up arms in time to pass behind Bill who was going to attack back. The all rounded gunslinger pulls out his Tristan again and shoots Bill's left shoulder.
Bill tries to elbow El, but the insensitive black haired man passes through his attack for the third time today, with the same swift motion, before blowing his stomach off using Lancelot. Elraven then travels again by pulling Bill's right arm off and passes from its below for the fourth time today, and in the same fourth attempt, he blasts Bill's back using double Bull's Eye, hitting a bulls eye (no pun intended).
The angered Python doesn't understand how Elraven owns him easily using such a basic maneuver. As he turns his back, his face got hit by a coin El throws to him before having his chest blown by two Piercing shots. Elraven rolls in the ground to close his gap with Bill and shoves the bio-engineered gunslinger back with his Tristan before he finishes with a Cracker, blowing his target even more. Bill cannot hide his shock, it's written all over his face.
"This is…" Bill starts realizing what El's been doing, "He only uses basic gunslinger techniques to control this fight?! How?!"
Whereas Elraven, he is telling something as if it were to erase Bill's curiosity, "You know, we need to slow down a little in this life. If I can't get you with my ultimate weapon, then these two handguns should do. Sometimes, the finest art comes from the simplest mind"
And in a second, El suddenly appears before Bill, caught him off guard. Using the bullets left on his chambers, Elraven fires Bill's face before pulling him down and went through him again, blowing the back of his head twice using the Piercing Shots. The Angel of Darkness carries the rampage on by blowing his legs off before for one last time, blowing his brain off.
"Impossible!!! He's beating me without his child of ARMAS?!" Bill cannot believe what Elraven is doing, but I think he would believe if he got the chance to see the makeover El did to his face. El finishes his rampage by pulling the green clad gunslinger to his face and sending Bill feels the dirt on his face (again) to complete the makeover after throwing a fine round kick to his head.
"So, you still say I cannot fight without my HAVOX, dimwit?" El plays with his handguns, killing some time until Bill rises back.
From her check point, Helen's face grows some smile, "Unthinkable…he beat that green clothed man without his giant gun. Who would have thought such a great poem artist could be a very resourceful fighter? He is…even stronger than Tsukihime-sama…"
"I…underestimated you…" Bill stares angrily at Elraven, most of his wounds are now closed, "I have never thought I would meet such a resourceful all round fighter in Ropera Squad. I was wrong to think that gunslinger cannot do well in close quarter combat…and without your HAVOX as well"
"Ropera Squad power doesn't lie in our children of ARMAS" El shows up his Inferno and Black Rose before advancing to a battle stance, "Our power lies in our ability of beating our enemies anywhere, anytime, anyway. And if what I just did could not assure you of this fact, then come and have another try. I'll put another makeover on you using my Inferno and Black Rose"
"Don't get cocky, Angel of Darkness!!!" Bill carelessly rushes to his counterpart…only to be taught another lesson. Maintaining his calmness, Elraven shoots the Python member left leg causes him to fall to the ground.
"Shoot!!" The green clothed gunslinger curses, but that doesn't do him any favor of stopping him to receive an impending raid from El. Elraven blasts him in the ground five times using the Flame Sphere and burns him.
"Huaaaaaaaaah!!!" Seeing his target screams, El can tell that Pythons' healing ability is nothing in front of elemental attack. To decrease his suffering, El shoots five Ice Sphere and extinguishes the fire tormenting him, but at the same time freezing some parts of his body. The knowing no pain gunslinger firmly ends his raid by launching five Lightning Spheres, freeing Bill from the ice and electrocutes him at the same time.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaakh!!!" Bill falls down again for God only knows how many times tonight, he couldn't bear the unbearable pain of being burned, froze, and zapped.
"Is that all you got?" El grows weary of this battle, "I've heard that Pythons are the top battlers from Rekenber Corporation, but I guess the true battlers are their six original members. You and your other three fiends are just fillers"
"Fillers?" Bill stands up, but most of his wounds are still unhealed because the burns can be seen everywhere on his limbs. The elemental attack surprisingly proves effective against him, "We are not fillers!!! We're the proud members of the Pythons!!! How dare you mock me as filler!!! You will pay it with your life!!"
Bill grabs the tree on his right and pulls it out from the ground, tearing the roots in the process. "We are not fillers!!! I'll kill you to prove that!!" The angered Python number VII throws the tree right to El's direction.
El prepares to blasts the tree using his Inferno, but he quickly notices a powerful aura inside the tree. Casting his wings on his back, the insensitive gunslinger flies away from ground. And he guessed it right, because once the tree hits the point he was standing, the tree exploded and caused a massive reaction.
The explosion destroys every tree in the radius of thirty meters, nearly blowing Elraven had he didn't fly higher. "Now, we're talking" Elraven takes the chance to reuse his HAVOX, because the ARMAS Nullifier cannot reach him by now.
But Bill is prepared to welcome the HAVOX without using his ARMAS Nullifier. The moment El fires his precious weapon to maim his target; Bill reacts by making a pressure barrier using his Machine Gun Gloves. El is startled when he finds all his bullets explode before reaching their targets, "So, that's the trick. He created some kind of vacuum space using the pressure cast by his gloves before adding it with loads of gun powders. The vacuum space will explode anything touches it. That was how he exploded the tree; he must have cast the same trick into inside the tree"
Changing his plan, El aims the cannon on the backside of HAVOX to Bill and fires it at will. Nonetheless, the same fate happens to the cannon bullet because it explodes after touching the vacuum space the Pythons member created. "Idiot!!! Doing the same trick twice!!" Bill mocks El's effort, but what he doesn't expect is for Elraven to emerge from the smokes caused by the earlier explosion.
El wastes no time crushing him to the dirt using his HAVOX, "If I cannot shoot you with HAVOX, I'll smash you with it!!!"
"Tsk!!" Bill retaliates by clasping HAVOX and explodes it.
"Good grief!" El moves backwards and checks his HAVOX, thanks god it didn't break at all. Anything made of Mithrill isn't easy to destroy, although the explosion burn El's right hand. Fortunately, he could careless about that.
Bill rapidly makes his move to close the distance between him and El before Elraven could take notice. The green clothed gunslinger throws an explosive punch right into El's torso and explodes him, killing him once. El drops the HAVOX as his body flies to the air before landing harshly on the ground.
But knowing his trait, El quickly recovers his composure right after the landing and pulls out his Black Rose and Inferno again. Bill waves both his hands multiple times in the air and creates dozens flame bullets as he lines them in ten lines, but just with one single glance, Elraven can tell that each bullet got the same explosive power with the tree Bill threw to him earlier.
"From her main event spot, Helen watches in amazement seeing the two gunslingers fight, "Aren't these men humans?"
Bill fires the first line of his bullets as the moment El uses his wings to flies and avoids the first explosions. The second line is fired to the sky the same time the third line is fired to the ground so El couldn't descend. But El flees from the massive explosions by simply flying higher to the sky. "Shit!!! That flying ability of his is getting really annoying!!!" Bill frustrates based upon the fact one of his explosions reached El so far.
Unknown to him, Elraven is having the same opinion as he is, "He couldn't attack me, and I couldn't reach him. This battle will last all night long if it keeps going like this. I have to find some way to break through his lines of explosive bullets…yeah!!! I found it!!! Now, all I got to do is…"
Upon finding an idea to end this battle, Elraven fires five poison spheres from the sky to where Bill is standing. Seeing what his enemy is doing, Bill couldn't help but saying, "That would be useless, moron!! Your spheres will explode once they touch my bullets!!!"
However, he pays dearly for his cockiness. The spheres explode when they touch the fourth line, yes. And also spread poisonous gas merged with the smokes of the explosions. What makes it even worse for Bill is he was too late to notice this. "Aaakh!! What is this?! A poison gas?!" Bill struggles in the dirt after inhaling the poison gas.
Not wanting to lose the upper hand he smartly gained, Elraven quickly descends while his adversary is having a hard time. In less than twenty seconds, El regains the possession of his HAVOX and prepares himself to end the battle. As Bill starts recovering from the poisonous effect, he is greeted by El's flash grenade. "Aaaakh!!" Bill grasps both his blinded eyes when Elraven takes turn and prepares to batter the Python number VII from his behind. El chose the safest route to avoid the remaining six bullets lines next to Bill.
The insensitive gunslinger batters Bill so hard that he manages to knock him down through the ground and perfectly traps him. "Ukh, damn!!" Bill tries to rise back but another blow from El's HAVOX keeps him in the ground. El mercilessly bashes him again and again, ignoring his scream along the way; the merciless raid resulting on the ground below the Pythons Number VII to get penetrated by the insane amount of hits.
"How does have a thicker body and heal ability help you now, huh?! How does possess an ARMAS Nullifier help you now?! Can you nullify this?! Huh?" The gunslinger, using his light wings, floats fifty feet in the air before canceling his light wings, purposely letting himself fall from such height with his HAVOX ready to flatten the green clothed gunslinger that is lying on the ground. The height and HAVOX weight make a good combination of a really fatal blow, because when El's HAVOX tile his adversary, the loud impact resounds to the entire woods and gusts the wind everywhere, even Helen needs to hide herself behind a tree so that she doesn't get knocked away. But even so, the tree she uses to shield herself trembles uncontrollably because of the behemoth impact. The remaining six bullets line was also swiped away by the gusting impact.
The damage Elraven inflicted was gigantic because the already penetrated ground has been further perforated and Bill is nowhere to be seen again, buried deep under the ground. Elraven quickly casts his sight on the deep hole he just created, not wanting to lose any chance to finish his enemy off if he is still alive. If the healing ability truly works at all, the least his rampage did was greatly decreasing its quantities.
"Damn…damn it!!" Bill, now barely recognizable anymore due to El's makeover on his whole body, crawls from under the ground. Both his Machine Gun Gloves have been destroyed as well, "Curse…you!!! Curse…you, Angel of Darkness!! I will…kill…you!!"
"Good lord…you can still talk big after the beating of your life? How shameless…" El chuckles seeing the worthless effort by his enemy, "How are you going to kill me? You're going to show me your face in close up look? Heh, sorry. That won't work, ever since seeing Ifrit in close up look, other faces can barely scare me"
"This…isn't over yet!!!" Bill shouts, bloods drip everywhere from his head to toe even when he doesn't move, let alone when he does, "The other Python members…they will kill you!!! They will…kill all…Ropera Squad!!"
"Not by threatening us, that's for sure. If you want to kill us, the least you must do is this" Elraven shows Bill his HAVOX as he commands, "HAVOX, Supernova formation, activate"
The gunslinger's precious Gatling gun rapidly changes when the cannon in the back extend one foot long.
"What…is that?" Bill cannot contain perhaps his last curiosity, "The children of ARMAS…can change form?"
"Each children of ARMAS can change its formation" El aims the extended cannon to Bill. Less than five seconds later, a light starts glowing from inside the cannon. The light is so full of power, "This is HAVOX other formation, Supernova. The cannon in the back of HAVOX would gradually increase the power of the bullet inside it. Combine it with my light power; the cannon will compress the power even more. I call this technique Nova"
"You...don't forget…there are six other Python members than me" Bill gives El his last warning, "They are all…stronger than me!!! They will pulp you…to your death!!"
"That would be your last words. Now, I must bid you farewell" The Angel of Darkness finishes the fight by firing the light compressed bullet and perfectly hits the bloodied Pythons number VII.
GLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!!
The combination between explosion and blinding light emerge from inside the woods as the echoing sound of the impact shakes all the trees and their leaves. Elraven quietly rests the HAVOX as the forest slowly calms down. Noticing Helen was staring at him, Elraven turns over his shoulder to observe if the supervisor of Building B of Terrace Inn is alright.
As insensitive as he could be, El could tell from her look she's been worrying about him the entire fight tonight. So, to ensure her that he's alright, El smiles and shows her a thumb up, indicating everything is fine for now. Seeing his actual son sending her a message, Helen responds it with a smile too.
"Wow, you did a wonderful job, El" A voice comes from El's behind, "I watched the entire thing. That was a good fight"
"Alexandria?" El turns his back to have a better look on the smiling lord knight, "When did you arrive? I didn't notice at all"
"Right after you smashed that Pythons guy's face when he was about to kill Miss Helen. I wanted to continue to the outer woods where Juperos Core landed, but I preferred to ensure your safety first. Sasha and the ninjas are rendering the robots off anyway" The light pink haired girl notices Helen and waves her hand to her.
"I see. So, are you going to Juperos Core? If so then let me assist you. Juperos Core controls all the robots; if we can stop their wires then we stop all their robots"
"Thank you. It's not like I don't appreciate your help, but I'll finish them off by myself" Fio glances at her newly forged Balmung, "And I want to test how far I have improved"
The purple glassed gunslinger untimely notices the Sword of Light, "Is that Balmung?! The legendary whitesmith really finished it?!"
"Yup, just as I expected" Fio proudly states, "Well, with your indirect help too"
"Well, let's get going then"
"Sure, let's"
After ensuring the safety of Helen and the rest of her family, Fio and El dash to where Juperos Core lies. It doesn't take long for them to arrive there, because they witness the fifty feet tall large factory in the outer area of Amatsu woods surrounded by hundreds of robots, such as Apocalypse, Dimick, and other robots inhabited the Juperos Core; and their leader, Vesper, stands silently near the Juperos Core. At the top of the core, a small surveillance camera could be spotted observing the two heroes.
"Humans!!!" Vesper notices and quickly orders his underlings, "Kill them both!!!"
"Are you sure you don't want me to help? There are hundreds of them, Alexandria" El asks for one last time.
All month long, Fio has been taking her own body to its toll. She even finally mastered The Spell of Odin. She practiced practically every night, whenever she got the chance. She wasted no second improving her power. Her journey has turned her into a much better person; her journey changed her into a greater warrior. What she experienced hone her inner side and her skill. She has improved and she wants to show that. She knows, a bigger challenge is waiting for her by the end of the tunnel. Those hard days of battles, she will soon see them again. But before that, she would have to finish what she started, to fulfill what she promised, to help whom she wishes. Her destiny waits for her. Naght Sieger, perhaps the biggest challenge she will have so far in her life as a knight, is waiting for her. He is waiting to see if she can prove every word she has told him is true. He is waiting to see if she has improved. And he is waiting to see if hope truly exists. The lord knight knows this, and she will start doing this deed tonight. In this very field, where a comrade, a man she adores is watching her. This isn't the time for her to fear or to hesitate.
"I want you to help me by keeping your eyes on me, watch me and believe in me" Fio replies as she unsheathes her Katzbalger and Balmung. Looking at El with spirit, she tells to ensure him before she leaves to the roaring battlefield,
"I'll show you the representation of my spirit, The Four Lionhearts"
In less than a minute, the outer wood of Amatsu is filled with war cries from the bloodthirsty robots. But the pressure, the atmosphere, and the flairs don't make the lord knight afraid at all. She doesn't hesitate. She isn't afraid. She doesn't feel little among hundreds of adversaries. She strengthens the grip on her swords. She is ready to show her capability, her passion, her will, and above all others, her spirit.
"He is watching me. He believes in me" Fio obviously refers to the purple glassed gunslinger who cannot hide his concern for her, "I have nothing to be afraid of. From now on, I'm not going to let myself lose without battling heart out. I'm ready for this!"
He is watching her from afar, telling himself to believe in her dearly. So dear just like what he feels for her. Ever since the unforgettable experience they got in Glast Heim, Elraven has been feeling something perhaps he shouldn't feel. Something he himself doesn't understand. He doesn't want to see her in agony, more than ever before. He wants to see her smile. He wants her to experience happiness. It's as if…he loves her. And at times like this, he finds it hard to not worry for even the slightest second. But seeing her gorgeous figure fearlessly heading towards hundreds of enemies, a poem flashes in El's mind, The Warrior Sonet, a poem which he recited to remember that the truest of warriors lie in our hearts and shouldn't be forgotten,
To feel the ocean upon a drifting rhyme
Yet to realize it is all but a fake
The Juperos robots, having some confidence because they simply outnumbered their target, run to their impending doom mindlessly. Much to their shock, Fio speeds up and slashes eight Venatus in a second. Not letting the robots get a chance to ignite a counter attack, Fiorentin sneaks among two dozens Apocalypses and slashes them to death, again using a lightening speed. Making the good use of the Magnum Break, Fiorentin hits the ground and sends some more Archdam flying to the silent sky.
Echoing in a space called time
What else will humanity take?
She proceeds to run among another dozen of Apocalypses while rolling both her swords, knocking down all of them in the process. Appearing between more dimiks, she stabs both her swords to the dimiks right on their shoulders before rolls again and smashes the crowds with another enormous blow. It seems their number has become their disadvantage rather than their advantage.
You
realize the sea you sail is fake
an empty hull upon the sea of
time
The robots use the guns planted inside them, firing their bullets at her. However, she knocks all the hundred bullets heading to her in one swift move, and in an unseen attempt, she sends them back to their owner before the bullets even fall to the ground, all of them, letting the robots have the taste of their own medicine.
With
only one direction true to take
for time cannot be stayed; we
dance our tune
And it doesn't stop there; taking the stance to unleash the ultimate wind cutter, Bedivere, Fio unleashes the first Lionheart perfectly and destroys dozens of robots surrounding her in one single blow. "Unbelievable!!!" Vesper exclaims in shock, "Who the hell is this girl?!
Beset by lies, deceit we cannot turn
Not wanting to surrender, the robots unite and rush towards her. However as she plays her sword upon welcoming them, they witness it with their lenses, the shadows of her swords dancing around her, covering her, and guarding her from them. It's Agravain, the second Lionheart, the dance of thousand swords. The shadows are fairly the after image of her swordplay, proving how fast she moves her weapons, but that is more than enough to pulls the attention of the robots the moment she dashes and in a wink of an eye, strikes all the robots on her vision. The shadows of her swords dances on the crowds, forcing the Juperos fighters to question themselves whether she strokes the other robots with only her Katzbalger and Balmung or thousands unseen other swords as well.
The cutlass flashes, death its promised boon
No one notices, the stars are watching her. She took all their attentions away from the cold dark night. She invisibly swings her swords, giving the robots a hard time to search for her; whether she is attacking from outside their crowds or amidst their crowds. Her light pink hair blossoms whenever she takes more of them down. The night clouds are cheering for her, they support her by let her hide under their shadows to ease her movements through the battlefield. The moon shines no more, feeling belittled by her unending flare. And even the sky is startled by her presence. No one under the heaven is as much as she is. Amidst the darkened earth, in the middle of an abysmal sky, her light is glimmering, spreading hopes with every move she does with The Sword of Light, spreading courage with every strike she throws with The Katzbalger.
The warriors are fighting
Vesper couldn't even locate the fearless lord knight after using the radar on his head. His radar never left anyone unspotted, but this one is different. What he sees isn't a warrior massacring her enemies, but a maiden beautifully dancing in the Warfield, defeating everyone on her sight as she softly and swiftly moves over and over again. That maiden is untouchable, facing hundreds of enemies, she doesn't bleed. She doesn't sweat. She puts all her heart within her swords.
In the battle for our lies
Fio squishes some more Venatus using her tireless swords, right after she owned three Apocalypses by cutting their heads off. The red robe in her back waves with the wind as she easily cuts through five Dimiks. A red butterfly slowly opens her wings to embrace the heartless world, flying through the pouring rain without hesitation. She leaves a spirit whenever she flies; she craves a small victory whenever she isn't resting her wings; she leaves a timeless mark of her soul by her swords. Quietly, delicately, gently moving from a point to another point; each her movement adds more ecstasy for the iron skinned soldiers, making it even harder for them to let their attentions off her. She glued them. Purposely or not, that will remain a mystery. If only they have a slightest feeling on their wires, they wouldn't mind leaving this cruel world after witnessing an enticing figure. Perhaps, before her swords meet their faces, they could not stop thinking about her undeniable stature.
To realize this truth is of the utmost importance,
The gentle wind meets her unwavering golden eyeballs, strengthening the deep look on her eyes. Robots aren't meant to feel, but the Juperos Core soldiers cannot help fearing her, or to be more precise, admiring her. Among the sparks created by her weapons, among the shadows left by her swordplay, and among the parts left by their fallen comrades, they cannot take their lenses away from her. They just can't.
But how long shall it be before we realize the warriors are we
Even the poem artist in El's league is left speechless by Fio. His whole life in the Warfield, Elraven couldn't have imagined that he would witness such beauty in his eyes, moreover, in a place where one lost their lives, in the place where people kill each other. Unparalleled, irresistible, unspeakable, those words describe what Elraven sees the best. Time seems stop because of her simple movement; every moment seems like an eternity captured by her spirit. Seeing her is like seeing an angel slowly flutter her wings, but with softer and gentler motion. The sand of time is frozen by her soul. Elraven can feel the humbleness of her will, her willingness to act, and the love inside her spirited passion.
No answer. I fear oblivion will be our fate.
But it's not. "Am I dreaming?" Elraven tries to find the exact words to describe what he is feeling right now, inside him, "Why is she so capturing? She transcends among all beauty I have ever seen in my life. I've been worrying about her, but she proves me wrong. She is greater and stronger than I am. And at the same time, her beauty is enticing. So, this is the representation of her spirit. This maiden, Fiorentin Adler…there is no way I can take my eyes off her, there is no way I can stop admiring her, and there is no way…for me to surpass her, be it her spirit or her power. Her fearless stature is more gorgeous than anything I have ever witnessed. Oblivion will not be our fate, as long as she is here. So, that is why many people believe in her. That is why many people put their hope on her. And that is why…I…"
The young lord knight slowly stops before observing her surrounding. All the robots Juperos Core produced have been defeated. And she accomplished this all by herself. "Impossible!!! This cannot be happening!!!" Vesper cowardly runs inside the giant core and takes control of it as Fio calmly watches, "If my soldiers aren't enough to beat you, then I'll use the Juperos Core itself to maim you!! Prepare yourself!!"
And Juperos Core moves by floating several feet away in the air. Observing how things go, Elraven knows even with HAVOX he would find it hard to take this one down. If he didn't promise her earlier, then he would have rushed there and helped her. But something inside him tells him to watch her with the faith he has been keeping on his heart. The giant robot factory, towering over and blocking even the moonlight, speeds to Fio's direction, but the lord knight simply makes a cross stance to welcome her goliath enemy, no hesitation on her soul. From afar, El is watching seriously, no longer with concern, but with a faith. "The third Lionheart, Ywain, The Giant Cutter" With her prepared stance, Fio dashes toward her behemoth counterpart fearlessly and when they are closing to each other, Fio slashes her swords.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!!!!!!
The sound of the whole Juperos Core, the fifty feet tall robot factory, torn in four parts just like a cross resound throughout Amatsu. Marcus, Emilio, Hikari, Sasha, Gen Ed, Thompson, Thomson, Kenji, Helen and every other people present in Amatsu clearly heard the impact. Ywain destroyed Juperos Core to shreds by one single attack. Elraven, who has experienced countless battles in his life, is left speechless by the magic; and moreover…Vesper who is falling from the fifty foot height, "Impossible!!! This is impossible!!! There's no way things like this could happen!!! Juperos Core is destroyed in one single strike?!"
"Ywain could even tremble the heaven" Fio explains as she suddenly appears in the air right before Vesper without the robot boss noticing. She climbed to the air by trampling her feet using the pieces of Juperos Core which have been falling because of her attack, "The fourth Lionheart, Percival, The Thousand Slash"
And then Vesper meets his end for good, soundlessly and invisibly as the lord knight slashes him into pieces of rusty irons in less than ten seconds, without pain or fear. It all ends before his wires even got the chance to react. What now left from Vesper is thousands little pieces.
Fio lands slowly in the ground as the battle ends, "I'm done!"
She is ready; maybe no one will tell her that but she knows that. She is ready to face her biggest encounter. Her fear, her worry, and her hesitation have gone. What is left inside her is just her will to act. And the only way to stop her is by ending her life. However, she measures her life more than she ever does right now. Ending her would be a much harder task than stopping Valdomir. There is no stopping her.
And the gunslinger just cannot hold himself anymore. Elraven quickly approaches to her without even saying a word. He is still speechless after what he just witnessed.
"So, I lived up to my words, right?" Fio asks him with pride, "What's my prize?"
"Prize? You want a prize?" And of course El sounds surprised.
"Well, yeah. You wouldn't give me a prize after one hell of a show I presented to you?"
"Uh…well…"
"Never mind" Fio says as she leaves, "Your worried look is more than priceless"
"What?! What did you say?" The purple glassed gunslinger didn't hear her well and chases her, but she doesn't want to respond with anything but a smirk.
From where the pieces of Juperos Core lie, the surveillance camera could be seen still observing the two leaving. "Good…she is more beautiful than in the picture" Valdes, who has been eyeing her using the camera all the time, exclaims, "Can't wait to see her in person"
****
Oooooooooowwwwmaaaaaake!
AOC: Hello!! Here we are on the….latest edition of the omake!!! Please give a round applause for our guest, Fenrir!!!
Fe: (Smiling) Thank you!!! Thank you!!!
AOC: Let's start from my newest reviewer, DLS-BOYZ He asked, "Have you ever lost an argument against Frea?"
Fe: Quite the opposite, Frea has never won an argument against me because she isn't a good debater. I tricked her from time to time, but she never learned anything. But, she would always resort to violence whenever she lost.
AOC: LOL, next is from Beautiful Zombie Slayer, what does it feel being the one who defeated Odin?
Fe: It would be a lie if I say that didn't make me proud. I mean, he was the king of Gods, so that alone is a standout accomplishment.
AOC: Reasonable. Next is from Slave Leia, do you think El and Fio will eventually be a couple?
Fe: Isn't that obvious?! That is crystal freaking clear!!
AOC: Hope it does. From Samurai Cowgirl, who do you hate more, Beel or Ifrit?
Fe: Ifrit is an a$$hole, but Beel is a f*ckface. So…the oscar goes to Beel.
AOC: LMAO!! Next is from Doflamingo, how do you spend your free time?
Fe: Watching Ty's product
AOC: What?!
Fe: Eh?! No,no!!! I mean, exercising!!! Yeah, that's it!! Exercising so I would get even stronger!
AOC: Hm, that sounds suspicious. But OK, next is from Kogane1089, what is the status of your…thing?
Fe: My….thing?
AOC: Well….Frea kicked it a lot.
Fe: It's still usable, but I don't know for how long. It originally belongs to George anyway.
AOC: Poor George. Next is from Pupucachi, she asked two questions. First, does life as god bored you?
Fe: Not really, because from time to time I got new things and new challenges to do. So, the answer is no.
AOC: Second, what is your opinion about George and Frea?
Fe: George…he could be stronger if he trains more. About Frea…sje should forgot El ASAP.
AOC: I smell something here…whatever. Next is from mikamika, do you think you can win against Beel if given the second chance?
Fe: Hell yeah, I will!!!
AOC: That's the spirit! Next is from Allen, are you a virgin?
Fe: Hell no!!! That would make me a fifty thousand years old virgin!!! I banged someone's ass thrice you know?!
AOC: Only thrice?
Fe: Listen, I got kids and grandkids!!!
AOC: No way, man!!!
Fe: This is for real!!! I….made out with a female archer before Ragnarok…and our doings resulted on her pregnancy. Don't tell anyone, OK? But Marcus is actually my great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandson.
AOC: (Jaw dropped) Unbelievable!!!
Fe: Her name was Aileen Vidar, our son used her surname because I don't have a surname. My son was named Aldo Vidar, the founder of Archer Guild in Payon.
AOC: This is really shocking!!! Next is from Castle43, do you wish a happy life for El and Frea?
Fe: No!!! El and Frea should break up so El can marry the princess and I can….
AOC: Can what? Hm?
Fe: No…nothing.
AOC: Next is from Aya, do you see Frea as a friend or even more?
Fe: That's a secret.
AOC: Next is from Tia, do you like Frea?
Fe: That is also….a secret.
AOC: My editor, Willy, told me that there's a chance for you take a liking on Frea because you consistently teased her, is that true?
Fe: Oh, look?! What time is this?! It's about time I get on action!!! Well, nice to c u all!!! Bye2!!! (Runs from our studio)
AOC: He isn't a good liar, is he? Well, that's it for this chapter. Hope u enjoyed the battle. The next chapter will be family reunion. C u next chappy!!!