"Elegy!" I screamed out, "Ahhh!"

Dammit, just when I thought things were starting to get better for us—another one of these bat roach bastards showed up! To make matters worse, it's looking straight at me, ready to lunge at any moment...!

"Migu, get back!" He ran in front, only to lower his guard after inspecting the enemy thoroughly, "...Sigh, you made me rush for no reason."

"W-What do you mean? It's gonna attack us!" I pointed at its hollow bug Eyes.

Shockingly, he still refused to raise his guard, instead slowly shaking his head as he hopped over to the unmoving beast. Flipping his mallet, he poked the thing between the Eyes, only for the hammer's stump to poke right through the bug's head.

"Ew!" I fell back on my butt.

"As you can see, this one's already dead." He groaned, "Look at its body—this is the one I already fought. Seems it tried to escape, but didn't get too far."

"You didn't have to poke its brain to prove that, though..."

I was already far too scared to stay near that thing, but it seems he was in quite the inquisitive state. Hopping slowly around its body, he started slamming the hammer against every part of its body. The torso, the wings, the tail, even going so far as to flip it on its back just to try and go for the stomach.

"What the hell are you doing?" I gagged.

"What better way to analyze the enemy than an autopsy?" He smiled before popping its bug head in one mallet swing.

"Oh!" I had to look away as the blood exploded everywhere.

"Yep, now we know for sure." He hoisted the bloody hammer over his shoulder, "If you're gonna fight, then not only is the head your best shot..."

"It's also your only chance at killing it." I scowled, "I still think you could've figured that out without popping its head like a zit. Urgh..."

He saw me having trouble keeping myself from hurling, so he tossed me something while I wasn't paying attention.

"Catch!" He announced.

"Huh?!" I glanced down at my palm, "What did you thro-?"

A Flasher, and he purposefully removed the pin ahead of time. The last thing I saw before getting deafened and blinded by the White ray was him smugly cupping his ears and closing his Eyes. Quickly holding it closed with my hand, I eventually got my vision back just enough.

"You bastard!" I hissed, "What was that for!?"

"Haha, sorry, sorry." He approached me, putting the pin back in, priming it for the next use, "Keep that with you. In the case one of those things attacks you, I'm gonna need you to save yourself."

"...What??"

I couldn't hear a word he just said. Shame too, he looked like he was saying something really important. Is he giving me the Flasher? Well, regardless of if he is or isn't, it's in my hands now! Yanking it towards me with a defensive stance, I glared back at him until my ears finally decided to resume working.

"That wasn't funny." I pouted.

"You're not feeling sick anymore, though." He grinned, "The feeling of getting flashed is unpleasant, sure, but in comparison every other ailment feels like nothing. A perfect home remedy to queasiness."

"That's...!"

Tsk, I hate to admit it, but he's right! It's like the flash fully wiped my memory of the bug roach's body. Well, I can probably still get myself sick if I look at it again or try to reconstruct the memory in my head, but what good would that do me. Yeah, let's just be thankful I don't have that image in my head anymore.

"Hey Energy."

"Yeah?"

"For the love of Prylos, please don't call it "getting flashed". Makes it sound super dirty." I smirked.

"...My point still stands." He stood firm.

After a brief moment of Eye contact, we burst out laughing like idiots. The moment was short lived however, since we were in a hurry no matter how you sliced it. So long as we were inside the Shrine, our wounds were steadily impacting us. Before long, one of us might even bleed out, if that's even possible.

"Let's get a move on." He hopped in front of me, going against the large boulder hill we were at, "Remember, the moment you see one, use your Flasher without reserve. Ah, but warn me before-"

"Flash!" I shouted, removing the pin and striking a similar defensive pose to the one he had when flashing the bat roach before.

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"Crap!" He swung the mallet blindly as he turned around, thankfully hitting the bat roach's head directly, "Phew... Ack, more incoming!"

"Rapid fire flashes!" I announced.

This... sounds wrong. Rapid fire flashes, what am I—a slut? Jokes aside, since I had to constantly put the pin in and out, I had to sacrifice my hearing so as to keep a straight stance. Though I couldn't hear, I still closed my Eyes at the appropriate times so as to not get blinded. I could see Energy fighting the whole horde of them off perfectly, timing his blinks to perfectly fit with my rhythm.

"Gah!" I got tackled by one of them from behind.

"Migu!?" He turned around, getting smacked in the process as well, "Crap!"

I dropped the Flasher after I got tackled, and the same happened with Energy's mallet. He had his other weapons, but reaching them was a different story. Both of us were pinned to the ground, and there were more of these bastards incoming at a rapid pace. Before long, we were completely swarmed.

"Migu!" He shouted, staking the one on him in the head, "Migu, you alive!?"

"I-I...!" I tried reaching for the Flasher to no avail, "I sure as hell will be!"

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***

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The situation was already a lost cause. There's absolutely no way he could fend all of these things off by himself, no matter how many weapons he had on him. Meanwhile, the Flasher was just too far away for me to reach out to with my hand. The roach bat's mandibles were reaching slowly to bite my head off, most probably because it deemed killing me off immediately to be an easier way to get to my spine. I knew it, they're definitely smarter than they were before...!

"Migu! Fuck the Flasher!" His voice shouted out desperately, "The mallet! Go for the mallet!"

"The hell!? I can't swing that thing!" I shook my head, still just barely holding the roach back from cutting my head off, "Hngh! Fine, but don't expect much from my performance!"

Choosing to ignore the Flasher in favor of the much closer mallet, what happened was all but expected. Given my position and strength, I couldn't even lift the damned thing, much less swing it. All I could do was bring it closer to me, but that wasn't going to do much. Unless...!

"Hmnghh...!" I pulled with all my might, eventually putting it on my chest, "Hooh! Now—lift Migu, lift!"

As it stood, the bat roach would chop my head off if I kicked it away with my legs. I needed to pivot with my arms, but I didn't exactly have a good handle nor leverage by myself. That's where the mallet came in. The large, heavy hammerhead served as a perfect wedge between us, and the handle was, well, a handle. It took every fiber in my being to push it to my side, but I still wasn't in the clear.

"Byahhh!" The next one attacked me immediately after.

"Back..." I used the extra space to swing the mallet with all my might, "...the FUCK off!"

The hammer was heavy, but by working with a little bit of momentum, I could easily dish out a strong attack even while laying on my back. I hit the damned thing directly over its head, so as expected, it fell easily. Now, gotta get to the Flasher...!

"Stop!" Energy strongly warned me, "Don't show your spine! They'll chomp it off the moment you do! Ngh...!"

"Okay, how the hell am I gonna move then!?" I asked, but he was too busy fighting them off to give me an answer, "Tch, damn it all!"

"Here!" He slid a rapier he carried with him across to me, "Let's swap!"

"I thought you said you weren't good with swords!?"

"I'm not, but I carry them for these exact situations!" He smiled the moment he got ahold of his favorite mallet, "Haha, that's the stuff!"

Smashing them away without so much as breaking a sweat, he quickly made his way to me. Lifting me back on my feet, he pressed his back against mine and told me to get ready.

"For what?" I asked.

"How good are you at dancing?" He asked.

"Eh!? P-Pretty good?"

Actually, that was a lie. I'm actually really good at dancing, but what does this have anything to do with that?

"Good enough!" He nodded, slowly pivoting us around with his hips, "I'm gonna use the mallet's weight to spin around, hopefully hitting as many of them as possible. You're gonna need to keep your back as firmly pressed on my own as you can, otherwise I can't guarantee your safety."

"That's insane!"

Regardless of my opinion, though, he had already swung with all his might. Dammit, he asked me if I know anything about dancing, but he's the idiot keeping his center of mass out, slowing us down! If he wants to keep us in balance, I'm gonna need to cover for him with the rapier!

"I-It's working!" He smiled, "Thank goodness!"

"Wait, you weren't sure it would!?" I jolted.

"Why would I ever try this strategy out with anyone before? I imagine it only looks half as stupid as it feels."

"Yeah, well, the only reason it is working is because I'm balancing us out properly!" I noted, "Your footwork is abhorrent!"

"Sorry, I only got the one foot, after all!" He joked, "But you're right, this wouldn't work if it wasn't for you! Nice work, descendant!"

Hrm... I don't need your praise, old man...

"Just keep swinging, dammit!" I then slipped on something, "Bah!"

Welp, it was a good run. We were pretty close to surviving the encounter too, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. So, what did we learn from this? I guess not to be too loud, to aim for the head... Gahh, nothing else comes to mind! Even now, the only reason we failed was because I slipped on... Huh!?

"T-The Flasher!" I picked it up hastily, pulling out the pin just before the roaches could get to me, "Close your Eyes!"

"Do it!" He kept swinging blindly.

A single flash was all it took. To be honest, I yet again forgot to cover my ears, but it didn't matter. Deaf as I was, I could still hear the bells of victory drawing near. The loud sound and blinding White light scared the crap out of these things—a third were killed from the shock, the other third were stunned, and the final third ran away. This order was based on proximity.

"Now, while they're stunned!" I picked the rapier back up before springing to my feet, "Kill as many as you can!"

"What??" He shouted confusedly, but already knew to do that.

After everything we just went through, we must've had at least a hundred dead bug roaches around us. I couldn't even see the green moss floor from their bodies and guts, how horrifying. In the end, two thirds were somehow wiped out, and more importantly—we survived.

"Haa... Haahh..."

"Hoo... Hmph..."

With heavy and dogged breaths, we couldn't even celebrate our victory properly. Instead, the only strength we had left in us was to lift a single fist at each other until they met at the center. Immediately after, we both fell in between the sea of dead roaches, unable to move a single sore muscle. The adrenaline wore off, and the pain of it all is finally kicking in...