Twin Plasma

[[ACMI2: Chase]]

GV sprinted across the ground, levitating just above the surface magnetically both to reduce friction and to remove any sounds of footsteps. Even so, he still had to use his flashfield to deflect a lot of attacks from Meltdowner.

She didn't seem to need to look at him to aim her attacks, though that did mean that they weren't very accurate. Only one in four shots aimed at him needed to be blocked, the others were just tearing up the room.

Luckily, any shots targeted at him weren't being targeted at anyone else. He had chosen an angle of attack that even meant that the missed attacks wouldn't put Hamazura at risk.

Even so, he needed an edge here.

Voltaic chain had the proper range, but it would leave him without the energy to keep fighting if it didn't finish her off. Luxcalibur was ultimately a close range weapon, even if the blade could be made large enough to cut mechs in two. Astrasphere… Hmm. Normally it wasn't a valid choice because it too had short range but he'd been thinking about something recently.

It was the sort of move that he normally wouldn't want to use without the Anthem backing him up but here and now it might be a workable option.

He put that thought to the side. Meltdowner was almost to the girls. All this had to do was stun her a moment-

GV focused his septimal power into his hand which burst alight with a concentrated glow.

"Dragonsphere-"

He extended his hand and swung it underarm as if bowling towards Meltdowner.

"Groundline!"

The energy discharged from his hand into the ground as he swung, electrifying the floor. As the sparks leaped up at Mugino she screamed.

This technique was nowhere near as efficient as most of his other skills. A lot of the electrical energy would be lost into the ground without providing any positive effects.

Well, there was one effect, and he only had access to it for a moment after.

He leaped onto the area of electrified flooring and activated his flashfield. This was a two-part trick inspired by his time in Sumeragi's datastore. His flashfield reacted with the electricity left in the ground for a magnetic effect.

Like repels Like, GV shot along the trail at immense speeds, far faster than his normal dash.

Just as Mugino was recovering from the sudden shock, GV rammed into her, his flashfield flaring up even stronger as GV fell past her and sprawled onto the ground due to the kinetic energy he'd gathered.

The collision had also knocked his opponent down, electricity crackling off her body. He was honestly surprised she could still move after that though.

"You think that's enough? To stop me?"

As she spoke, Esther had continued trying to gain distance, she ran up a nearby metal staircase as one of Meltdowner's beams flew wide and carved a hole in the wall beside her.

GV got to his feet first but Meltdowner unleashed a hail of very inaccurate beams his way. Despite the poor aim, he was forced to dodge out of the way as he'd temporarily exhausted his flashfield.

"Legitimately, yeah. Kind of." GV remarked. If he could keep her talking with him, it would distract her from the others.

Meltdowner laughed and GV was able to recover his energy and activate the flashfield just in time to block a few really well aimed shots as she stood back up.

"I guess you didn't know then?" She sounded cheerful as she talked "My ability is derived from that of an Electromaster. I can take more electricity than a normal Esper can. Far more!"

Likely not an unlimited amount though, judging by how frazzled she looked after that first attack.

"Why are you even doing this?" GV asked "Why are you trying to kill your own team?"

Her laughter broke out as she continued firing at GV with great accuracy "You want to know Whyyyy~" That last sound stretched out much longer than it was meant to "Well let me tell you- Frenda betrayed me, Takitsubo betrayed me, Hamazura destroyed my eye and cost me my arm. I'm fairly sure I'm fully justified for this!"

The madness in her tone didn't really help her case, but if that was how she saw the situation it was sort of understandable. Granted, she was nowhere near lucid and so wasn't making the best decisions, even with the information she had.

"Would it help you calm down if I told you that I'm currently under orders to kill Hamazura?" GV made a guess to try and rile her up even more. Luckily it worked.

"I won't let you!" The woman screeched out "He's mine!"

Her blasts sped up and GV was being pushed back. His energy wasn't unlimited either.

Well, best do this properly.

"Oversurge Azure Striker!" He invoked "Let this Meltdown come to an end!"

A second wind of power surged through him and he tried creating another Dragonsphere. Meltdowner was ready this time though and she sent a focused blast right at his hand. The force of it hitting the flashfield knocked him to the side and made the sphere he was building fall apart.

"And now-"

Mugino's voice was cut off as a crane's arm suddenly swung into her. Hamazura had apparently found some construction equipment.

"HAMAZURA!"

"This is getting old!" He called as he jumped out of the control panel as a blast of Meltdowner's power flew where his head was a moment before "But it looks like killing you only once wasn't enough to get you out of my life!"

His eyes darted to GV "Use what comes next to finish this!"

Mugino was distracted "No, of course it wasn't enough you idiot! Once is never enough for anything-"

Hamazura had drawn his pistol, but he didn't seem to be aiming for anything in particular. When the pistol's report came though, it turns out that he'd simply seen something that no one else had- the warehouse's fire suppression system.

Rather, a fire extinguisher. The bullet made a hole in the casing and all that pressurised foam and CO2 burst out of the extinguisher, providing cover for Hamazura and the girls who had made it over to him.

All of the commotion had drawn Meltdowner's frantic mind off GV, so as she fired to try and clear the smokescreen and her beams set off a few crates off High explosives, She was left completely open as GV dived in and placed a hand on her.

In a moment, an immense amount of electricity was sent sparking through the fourth-ranked's body, causing her to slump again.

She still wasn't even dead, so if she was going to die, someone would need to actually kill her while she was still frazzled.

End of chapter.

Hmm. I'm of two minds here. On one hand, Meltdowner might get killed here and that means she won't survive to be important later. On the other hand, I don't think anyone in this building would argue with her being killed. Hmm.

Also, the Dragonsphere Groundline is a hypothetical ability that came to me as I was browsing the list of GV's skills. Later on "Electrifying the ground" is a passive almost all of his skills gain during Anthem, but it's not something he has normally. So I just pondered "What if he had a pre-anthem skill that did it specifically?"

Additional note: I wanted to upload this earlier in the week, by FFnet wasn't being cooperative.