Her eyes fluttered open, the sound of a desperate battle filling her ears. Olivia slowly sat up, holding her head to try and stop the throbbing pain plaguing her.
"You finally awake?" Katherine asked, standing beside her with her hands in her pockets.
Olivia looked up at her, visibly grimacing. Katherine glared back at her before turning to watch the fight.
"Damnit I don't see what Oliver sees in you..." Olivia mumbled.
"Well he has a good eye then. But hey that's just me" Katherine responded.
Olivia rolled her eyes, before getting a sudden look of realisation.
"Hold on... Where is Oliver?" She asked.
Katherine didn't say anything, only pointing to the fight currently taking place. Olivia turned her attention towards where she was pointing, seeing Oliver fight against Pierro. Not only that, she recognised the suit he was wearing.
"Wait... he's..." Olivia said, holding her mouth.
"Yeah it was a surprise to me too. To think he'd be the infamous "crow"... Honestly quite impressed" Katherine retorted.
Olivia quickly stood up, trying to run towards him to help, but Katherine stopped her.
"What're you doing? We should be helping him!" Olivia shouted.
"You think we haven't tried? Also what's with the sudden switch up? I thought you wanted to kill this guy?" Katherine jabbed.
Olivia clenched her fist tightly.
"That was before I knew he was my fucking brother... Now I know he was probably tricked into using that thing, and now is trying to play some kind of hero... He's just a stupid kid..." Olivia said.
Katherine looked down on Olivia before smirking.
"Hmm maybe you're not as bad as I thought"
Olivia was clearly not in the right headspace to reason with, so to calm her down, Sieg placed his hand on her shoulder.
"We can't do that. That thing erected a barrier. I've tried breaking it but it's no use. But rest assured, Oliver can handle himself" Sieg said, kindly.
Olivia's face turned into a scowl as she took his hand off her shoulder.
"The fuck who are you? Why are you touching me?" Olivia said, sounding disgusted.
Sieg's pride was completely shattered at that point, forced to be comforted by Katherine.
"There there I don't think she meant it" Katherine said, patting his back.
After a brief explanation of what had happened in the time she was knocked out, Olivia apologised to Sieg, although only because Katherine pressured her to.
"Yeah yeah I'm sorry I guess sir..." Olivia said, looking away.
Sieg sighed but quickly put on a smile.
"It's fine, I'm used to it by now... Kids these days are really rude..." Sieg said, trailing off.
Olivia felt a bit annoyed by his words but she had bigger fish to fry. She grabbed her attachment unit case then began walking towards the territory.
"Hey I already told you it won't work..." Sieg said, sounding exasperated.
"Don't care! I'm going to help my pathetic little brother! He can barely do anything without my help!" Olivia yelled.
Sieg and Katherine looked at each other, making the same disappointed face. Olivia stormed off to the battlefield, set on helping Oliver. Reaching the line between the territory and the real world, Olivia tried to push herself through, only to be met with an invisible barrier. She began to continuously slam her body against the barrier to break through, though her attempts were only in vain.
"The hell is this?" Olivia shouted, sounding extremely pissed off.
"I told you" Katherine commented which granted her a light jab from Sieg.
Clicking her tongue, Olivia relented. Forced to sit and watch, Olivia had the chance to witness Oliver's fight. The desperate battle Oliver was fighting, every calculated move he made, every setback he endured, every insult he threw and was thrown at, all of it shattered Olivia's perception of her brother.
"No... No that's not Oliver. He wouldn't act like that... I know him!" Olivia said, sounding as if she was just told her brother was a murderer.
Sieg and Katherine turned to each other again, making the same exact face from earlier.
"Why do you hate your brother so much? I thought you two were close?" Sieg asked, holding his face.
Olivia turned to him with a confused look on her face.
"What do you mean? I don't hate him" Olivia responded, her eyebrows furrowing.
Sieg then proceeded to repeat everything she has said about him in the last few minutes, to try and show her what he meant. Instead, Olivia's confused look became even more intense.
"Katherine, this girl is insane!" Sieg said, a scared expression on his face.
"Hey! Who you calling insane?!" Olivia shouted, pointing accusingly at him.
Olivia attempted to maul him but Katherine stopped her before she could do anything.
"Chill would you?" Katherine retorted.
Olivia then tried to bite Katherine's hand, however Katherine flicked her forehead instead.
Rubbing her forehead, Olivia calmed down a bit, sighing as she admitted defeat.
"Now you're calmed down and I'm not worried about my wellbeing... Why do you talk about your brother so... Horribly?" Sieg asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
"It's not horrible. That's who Oliver is. We've been siblings literally since we were born, I know everything about him. That kid is a scared, pathetic little boy who'll run away from inconveniences the moment he gets the chance" Olivia responded.
It wasn't so much her words, but the way she said it that ticked Sieg off. She spoke as if her perception of Oliver was fact, despite Oliver clearly showing the opposite.
"And why are you so sure? How are you so sure Oliver is the man you say he is?" Sieg asked, crossing his arms with a glare
Olivia clenched her fist before putting her hand to her chest.
"Because I'm his sister damnit! I've always been there to protect him! He can't do anything without me! He needs me!" Olivia yelled.
Sieg's eye twitched hearing something that horrible.
"Listen here you-" but before Sieg could finish, Katherine decided to give her own two cents. That being in the form of a slap to Olivia's face.
Both Sieg and Olivia were stunned. After recovering, Olivia stood up, slapping Katherine back. Instead of reacting or even flinching, Katherine stood completely still and took the hit. Olivia took a step back, feeling a bit guilty but angry at the same time.
"What's your deal....? This is MY brother... He's my problem..." Olivia said, looking disgusted.
"Because I hate seeing someone being so dependent on someone they see less than themselves" Katherine responded.
Olivia clenched her attachment case tightly before glaring at Katherine.
"Huh? What the hell is that supposed to mean" Olivia asked, her voice seething with rage.
Katherine raised up a chin slightly before she began to speak.
"It's clear your perception of Oliver, is because you think that he's some sort of charity case. Someone who needs your help. Because you're so great right? Because he's so weak..." Katherine explained.
Olivia grit her teeth upon hearing those words. She was about to deny what she said, but Katherine cut her off before she could.
"Instead of making up excuses. Go look at Oliver... look at how he's proving you wrong..." Katherine said, walking past her.
Olivia was hesitant, but she wanted to prove Katherine wrong. She turned to watch the fight once again, seeing Oliver being dogpiled by the pawn pieces. Somewhere deep in Olivia, she felt relieved. She would never admit it, but seeing her brother truly in a desperate situation, made her feel good. Made her feel important. However, she knew what she felt made her a horrible person. Running towards the barrier once again, Olivia desperately began trying to push against the barrier.
"You idiot that won't wo-" but before Katherine could finish her sentence, Sieg placed his hand on her shoulder.
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"Don't be so sure. Desperation is the strongest motivator you know?" Sieg said, smirking.
Olivia pushed against the barrier with all her might, using everything she had to try and break the barrier. Little by little, cracks began to form in the barrier. Such a sight was miraculous to Katherine. However for Sieg, he expected as much.
"Katherine dear, do you know the difference between an A rank and a B rank cadet?" Sieg asked.
Katherine paused for a moment before shaking her head.
"... Well other than being able to use descent energy, which not every A rank cadet can even do, the A rank is given to those who have a monstrous amount of potential. I can see why that man gave her the A rank..." Sieg said, smiling widely.
Katherine turned to look at Olivia, then to Oliver. Watching them both, caused a weird sense of fear to form in her heart.
"Just what are you two?" Katherine thought to herself, subconsciously taking a step back.
It wasn't long until the barrier completely broke, though the amount of effort and energy Olivia used completely drained her. Not wanting to be useless, she threw her attachment unit case towards Oliver.
"Take this you dumbass!" Olivia shouted.
Oliver caught the case before turning to Olivia with a worried expression.
"Wait don't you-" but before he could finish shit interrupted him.
"What're you waiting for? Kill him!" She shouted. Though, despite sounding angry, Olivia couldn't help but smile.
Oliver perked up a bit at her yelling, but he quickly shook it off. He opened the attachment unit case and pointed his sword at Pierro. Hearing Olivia spout some corny one liner made them all visibly cringe, even Pierro.
"Really Oliver?" Olivia said, looking disappointed.
"Boo!" Sieg retorted.
"Honestly try better next time" Katherine added.
Oliver turned to them, defensively yelling that it was the best thing he could come up with.
"I was just beaten to a pulp! Cut me some slack!" Oliver said, sighing from embarrassment.
"Honestly even as your enemy I gotta say that was pretty bad..." Pierro commented.
Oliver turned to Pierro with a nasty glare and a wide grin.
"Oh right~ you're here..." Oliver said.
The terrifying look Oliver gave him startled Pierro, however those feelings quickly faded away.
"You think you're safe... You humans are really stupid!" Pierro yelled, ready to use a penalty.
Noticing this, Oliver began running towards Pierro. This startled Pierro, causing him to be unsuccessful in his activation attempt. Before Oliver could slice Pierro though, he created a shield using playing cards.
"Like that?" Oliver asked, smugly.
Pierro grit his teeth before striking Oliver. Oliver barely dodged it by jumping over Pierro, however Pierro responded by summoning a chess piece where Oliver would land. Seeing the head of the chess piece emerging out of ground, Oliver used it as stepping stool to bounce up and roundhouse kick Pierro. He kick sent Pierro flying back. Crashing into the ground, Pierro gritted his teeth. He opened his hands wide then dug it deep into the ground. Strange blue energy began to flow out of his hands into the ground, causing it to rumble a bit. Thinking the worst, Oliver went into a defensive position. He scouted the area, trying to find out what changed, when he noticed a coin like object spinning on the ground. He didn't have time to ponder it's use though, as Pierro began to dash towards him. Oliver raised up his sword to defend himself, however it seemed like he wasn't Pierro's target. Pierro grabbed the spinning coin, causing it to disappear. In an instant, Pierro was engulfed in blue energy.
"Hahahaha! The power!" Pierro said, feeling the energy coursing through his veins.
Oliver lowered his sword a bit before attempting to provoke him.
"Oh so we're resorting to cheating now? How underhanded" a smirk plastered on Oliver's face.
Pierro didn't give into it though, instead lunging towards Oliver with incredible speeds. He was so fast that Oliver couldn't even react, letting him land a punch right to the chest. Oliver wasn't sent flying backwards, however the force that was transferred to his body was devastating. Even with the armour on, it felt like having a 10 ton weight dropped directly on your chest. Oliver struggled desperately to keep the blood from coming out of his mouth, but eventually he gave in. Seeing him struggle and fail, made Pierro smile. He tried to hit Oliver again, however Oliver had already planned ahead. He stabbed Pierro's legs with his sword, causing him to stagger a bit. Oliver used some of his descent energy to heal himself before bashing his entire body against Pierro. Pierro tried to push him back, however all the energy he had suddenly went away. In desperation, he filled his hands with descent energy, using the increased strength to push Oliver away, although only slightly. Balancing himself, Oliver felt something off with Pierro's attack. Thinking about it for a while, a smile formed on his face.
Noticing this, Pierro began frantically searching for another coin to increase his strength. He scanned the entire area for them, eventually finding one a few meters above in the air.
"Get away me!" Pierro said, creating a brick block in-between him and Oliver.
He created more platforms to get up the coin, however before he could grab it, Oliver snatched it up using his scarf. Oliver was filled with energy, though this time it was green.
"That's mine!" Pierro shouted.
Oliver dismissively waved at him, trying to figure out what buff he got. Finding his actions insulting, Pierro conjured up a large hammer, slamming Oliver down with it.
"Take that!" Pierro said, victoriously.
The head of the hammer suddenly split open, revealing a perfectly fine Oliver. Though he was very much pissed.
"The fuck was that huh?" Oliver said, his upper lip curling upwards.
Pierro took a few steps back.
"How are you fine?!" Pierro shouted.
Oliver stretched a bit before looking at his hand.
"Apparently I got a healing buff. It hurt like hell, but I'm alive right?" Oliver said, smirking.
Pierro gritted his teeth, then began mindlessly swinging his claws. Oliver just dodged the attack, finding them very predictable. Whilst he did that, he also grabbed any buffs that came his way.
Avoiding the attacks began becoming repetitive. A punch could easily be blocked, a kick could be avoided by jumping, any specialized attacks just had to be prevented before releasing. Oliver was getting bored. Intact boredom, his noticed how the territory around them had become much smaller. A curious thought popped into Oliver's mind. To satisfy his curiosity, he punched Pierro directly to the chest. An audible cracking sound was heard, caused by Pierro's chest piece shattering. As a result Pierro began to vomit out blood. Holding his chest tightly, Pierro suddenly felt his head being slammed down into the puddle of blood.
"Hey look at the mess you made. Clean it up!" Oliver said, grinding his heel into Pierro's head.
Feeling Oliver's foot on his head, the feeling of his own blood on his skin, and the taste of defeat. Pierro felt humiliated. He thought for awhile, wondering if this was the end for him.
"No! I'm a Fester! He's just a human! I won't let him humiliate me!"
Pierro pointed his hand up to Oliver, preparing to use a penalty. Instead of stopping him, Oliver stood still. As if he wanted to get hit. Pierro was surprised by his actions, however that didn't stop him from using his ability. The ability activated, however instead of an explosion of blood, only a tiny cut appeared on Oliver cheek.
"W- what...?"
Oliver touched the cut, wincing a bit at the slight tingling pain.
"Hmph... thought so" Oliver said, before cutting Pierro's arm off.
Pierro began to scream loudly, the sound could even be heard by Sieg, Katherine and Olivia, who were quite the distance away.
"How barbaric..." Sieg commented.
Pierro quickly conjured up some playing cards, shooting it at Oliver as a distraction. Oliver flinched a bit at the sudden objects hitting him, allowing Pierro to jump back as a means to make a distance.
"Running away now? Geez where'd all that confidence go?" Oliver asked, his voice mocking.
Pierro gritted his teeth as he swiftly healed his arm.
"How are you still standing? You must be cheating!" Pierro shouted, his body trembling slightly.
Seeing him so scared made Oliver smile even more.
"Oh don't be a sore loser! I'm just better than you..." Oliver said, laughing a bit at the end.
"Don't bullshit me! What did you do?!" Pierro asked, enraged at Oliver's nonchalant attitude.
Seeing the desperate look on Pierro's face, Oliver sighed. He held his face as he looked up at the sky.
"How pitiful... It's like looking at a weak defenceless puppy..." Oliver said, pretending to sniffle a bit.
Pierro became even angrier, which made Oliver quite happy.
"Geez you're the game Fester ain't ya? Can't handle a little playing around? But fine, I'll explain to you what happened since you wanna be a baby..." Oliver said.
Pierro calmed down slightly, standing up straight so he could listen better.
"You see... Your attack was weak" Oliver continued.
Pierro clenched his fist tightly.
"Are you still mocking m-"
"Wow your ego is so fragile it's annoying..." Oliver interrupted.
Pierro relaxed his fist, confused by his statement.
"Your attacks have less power than before. You wanna know why? Because you're running out of descent energy" Oliver explained.
"I don't believe you! I'm a high level fester, my descent energy shouldn't be able to run out!" Pierro yelled.
Oliver rolled his eyes at his response.
"Well you better believe it dipshit... Damn you're so annoying!" Oliver said grabbing him by a protrusion on his neck.
Oliver brought Pierro's face close to him, but purposely at a lower angle to show him who was in charge.
"You think you're someone special? Even I run out of descent energy when I overuse my abilities in one go. You've spamming attack after attack, WHILE trying to keep open a territory? Although I barely know anything about territories; I at least know they use a lot of descent energy. Haven't you realised? Your territory has grown smaller" Oliver said, forcing Pierro to look around.
At first Pierro was hesitant. This was his territory. His creation. A realm created by him. But due to Oliver's forceful hand, he had to witness the truth. He was losing descent energy. Pierro looked down, before lunging at Oliver.
"It's not fair!" Pierro shouted.
Oliver dodged, kicking Pierro down with just the tip of his boots. Pierro fell face first into the ground, making a rather pathetic noise while landing. Oliver towered over him, looking rather bored.
"I guess you used up a lot of your energy huh?" Oliver asked, as if he was talking to a child.
Pierro tried to get up and fight back but Oliver just knocked him down again. Eventually, Pierro stopped fighting back. He began crawling away, sounding like he was crying a bit.
"Hmm... You were hyper class before this... And evolved... So you're probably like a disaster class? So... Why do you look so pathetic?" Oliver asked.
Pierro stopped turning to Oliver slowly.
"Shut up... You stupid human!" Pierro said, launching another penalty at Oliver.
This one was a bit stronger than the other attack, it even made Oliver stagger a bit, though the blood exploding from his body was nothing more than for show. Oliver fixed his gaze down at Pierro, raising his sword up.
"Listen.... You brought this on yourself. If you had just stayed dead, I wouldn't have to do this" Oliver said, his sowed inches away from Pierro.
Pierro was silent for a moment before speaking.
"So I'm just supposed to die? I don't want to die! I'm still a living being! I don't want to die!" Pierro yelled, sounding genuinely fearful.
Oliver was silent, before tightening his grip.
"I won't kill you... I'll do something worse..." Oliver said.
Pierro's pupils dilated, various horrible thoughts rushing to his head.
"W- what... Are you going to do to me?" He asked, his voice shaky.
"I'm going to turn you into an attachment unit. So you're going to forever be used as a tool for others" Oliver said, his words sounding eerily similar to something he's heard before.
Hearing those words, Pierro did everything in his power to fight back. He clawed, hit, bit, scratched... All the nine yards. However with each movement he made, the weaker he got.
"Why? Why me?! I'm not that bad! Everyone else in that group is so much worse! Hey hey... I've only killed three people in my life! Only three!" Pierro whined, almost begging to Oliver.
"Only? You took the lives of people. And you use them as a comparison?" Oliver asked.
Realising he made Oliver even more mad, Pierro began crying. It was a disgusting sight to see a creature like him, acting like a child. Oliver couldn't take it anymore. He plunged his sword deep into Pierro's chest, to the point Oliver could feel all his fleshy innards. Pierro tried to fight back, but he exhausted too much energy while fighting.
"No... I was supposed to be strong... That smiley face guy said so too… no… no no no no no it's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair!” Pierro whined, kicking his feet and hitting the ground.
Looking down at the pathetic sight beneath him, Oliver decided to crush Pierro's spirit one final time.
“Honestly. You're more of a nuisance in the grand scheme of things. You're not some big bad threat. You aren't some villain who's hurt me or those I love. You're just a monster of the week. But to you, I'm the guy who killed you…. I want you to think about that” Oliver said.
Pierro completely tuned Oliver out, as he was too focused on himself to care.
“Geez… you really are a child…” Oliver said, gripping his sword tighter.
Pierro closed his eyes, still unable to accept his fate. However, he didn't taste the cruel pain of death… at least not yet. Feeling the blade retract from his chest, Pierro opened his eyes. The clown looked up to Oliver who had just thrown away his blade.
“Fucking hell… I can't believe I'm doing this” Oliver said, getting off of Pierro.
Pierro couldn't help but be confused. Just a moment ago Oliver was mocking him and was about to kill him? So why?
“F- fool I'll kill… no… I can't kill you… you knew didn't you…” Pierro said, losing any hope left.
Was this all Oliver's plot? To make him finally lose hope before dying? If so, Oliver would be the most cruel person to ever exist in Pierro's eyes. Instead, Oliver decided to be a bit gentler.
“You wanna play a game?” Oliver asked, his voice completely genuine.