“Are they really going to lose?”
“An A rank and a B rank are going to lose to an E and F rank?”
The first years were in an uproar. The match had started explosively, and the fight was first in favor of Stella and Amanda. They could feel the power that the girls emanated from where they sat in the stands, and no one had a doubt of their impending victory.
But as they watched the match go on, the displays of overly honed martial skill and ruthless trickery on both Itsuki’s and Ikki’s parts had made it seem that they were not easy or even ordinary opponents.
Even still, the first years knew that by the world’s common sense, no E or F ranker would have a chance at beating an A and B ranker, it was just impossible.
“Hey! You must be the new guys, what's going on?”
Stepping out from the viewing entrance, a large group of upperclassmen began pouring into the student sections of the stands. They were drawn in by the rising commotion from the arena and wanted to see what was happening.
Spectacles like sparring matches in the arena were common and was where the upperclassmen usually hung out.
“Oh, just in time, hey do you know those two?” One of the first years asked, recognizing who they were by what was on their uniform, and pointed at Ikki and Itsuki.
Some of the new arrivals had two or even three gold bars on their collar, indicating how many years they had attended this academy.
It took them a second, but the upperclassmen remembered as they witnessed Ikki’s ongoing fighting with Stella.
“Oh yeah, Ikki, I heard that guy flunked last year since he wasn’t allowed to take classes for some reason, and that other one is—- huh? OH GOD, IT'S ITSUKI! IS THAT! OH SHIT!”
“Huh? What’s wrong?” A few first years asked.
Weirded out by how some of the upperclassmen were now running back to the entrance as if their lives depended on it, the remaining other upperclassmen just shook their heads and answered the first years on behalf of their bumbling friends.
“It’s nothing to panic about, we’ll be fine, just watch for now and keep your head down.”
“UH? Alright?”
The first year didn’t know what to make of this, but he trusted in his seniors. A weird sense of foreboding times ahead seemed to come from the upperclassmen and many of them sighed when they looked at Itsuki.
He was battering Amanda’s ice shields with bullets, and they felt a bit of cold sweat form on their brows as they kept silent to observe how this battle would play out. In contrast to the remaining upperclassmen’s calm, the crowd was in a clamor as the duel reached its peak in the arena.
The fight had seemed to go in Stella’s and Amanda’s favor, but the clash heated up. The skills, techniques, and unique style of fighting both Itsuki and Ikki used seemed to really turn the tide of the fight.
A rapid succession of metallic clanging and the woosh of Ikki’s black katana filled the arena. The first years observed closely and saw something unbelievable. Both the E and F rankers had landed point blank hits that were fatal from their respective angles. Yet, both young men frowned deeply at the results of their attacks.
“Tch!”
Itsuki clicked his tongue and disengaged, getting some distance as he jumped away, feeling a cold mist almost enveloping and trapping him from all sides. Ikki did the same and regrouped with Itsuki as he felt a repelling force push his blade back.
Ikki got in front of Itsuki, covering him as he reloaded his shotgun in less than a second. They were still in the fight and intended to continue, even after this setback.
“Jeez, I really didn’t want to win like this.” Stella bemoaned in disappointment, not towards her opponent, but herself. “I wanted to beat you in swordsmanship, not through my powers alone.”
She sighed and looked down at where Ikki had struck her. It was dead center across her heart, yet there wasn’t a scratch on her red and black plated battle dress.
Instead, a layer of her core energy enveloped where Ikki had struck. This was the nature of pure core energy, the source of an explorer's powers and it acted as both a weapon and a shield at all times.
“So, her energy blocked it.” A first year said as he realized what this meant.
Of explorers, most had increased strength and defense, and while these came in many different ways, those with high core affinity always had the ability to create a form of invisible energy barrier that could repel attacks that lacked sufficient core energy to break through.
Stella thought that if only Ikki had more core energy or more offensive power like Itsuki and his explosives, then he’d have won right there. Or if Ikki had just a smidge more of talent with his core affinity, if coupled with his skill with a sword, Stella believed he’d be even equal, no, stronger than her.
Stella looked over to Amanda a bit somberly.
“I guess you feel something similar as well? Right Amanda?” Dusting her armor off, Amanda pressed her hand over the golden sun emblem on the center of her white and gold trim chest plate.
“Indeed, it makes this victory ring hollow. If not for how outdated core weapons are, that kid would have beaten me. As powerful as his weapons were, they still lack core energy. I was thinking he would pull out more grenades, but it seems like he is out of them.”
Ikki and Itsuki sighed, they knew this would happen. They both lack something to truly end the fight with the means they had. Ikki had no talent for core affinity, while Itsuki was restricted by his own personal limitations.
They knew they could never achieve and perform otherworldly feats like mystics or core binders could do with what they had at their disposal.
“You’re right.” Ikki said. “I don’t have enough core energy to break through your defense.”
“Same here.” Itsuki added. “Even with explosives, at best I would knock you out for only a few seconds if a single barrage caught you off guard, but either of you would recover in seconds if it wasn’t saturated enough.”
“You knew? You both did?” Amanda asked pointedly and wondered just why would they accept this predetermined fight if they knew they couldn’t truly win in the first place.
“Yes.” Itsuki said bluntly. “But winning wasn’t the point, I believe I made my point just now. Haven’t I?”
“Yes, you did.” Stella said with a smile as she rubbed her still sore nose. “You both did, but it's unfortunate that you’ll lose this. So, in honor of that.” She looked at Amanda and got a nod from her to continue.
“We’ll defeat you both with our strongest attacks! You’ve pushed us this far. So be proud of that in your defeat.”
The girls both channeled their energies into a torrent around themselves, and fiery red and icy blue auras emitted from in between their respective armor plates. Their hair glistened as their weapons shined with the same radiant color of their energies.
“OH, GREAT DRAGON OF MY ANCESTOR’S LANDS, HEED ME AND BRING PURIFYING JUDGMENT UPON THEM!”
Stella’s chant was met with the sound of an uncanny roar of flames like that of a winged beast of legend, spewing from her sword form switch axe as she raised it to the sky. Suddenly, a pillar of fire explosively and violently pierced the heavens.
“CRIMSON DRAGON! HEAR ME!”
The audience screamed in startling surprise as the roof of the arena was broken and sunlight spilled in. This was an incredibly destructive display of power, the roof of this arena was built to withstand almost anything, yet this talented first year had blown it away with a single attack.
Following up, the arena’s walls began to frost over as Amanda spoke, cold breath from her delicate lips that moved as if kissing the air gently.
“BREATH FROM THE VOID OF CREATION, LET BE THE END OF THE FINAL FLAME!” Suddenly inhaling, Amanda took in a long and cold, but fiery blue breath of air as she postured her sword in a hanging position in front of her.
With both hands on its golden cross handle, she brought the hilt over her head and aimed the sword’s tip down towards Itsuki. Blue flames of icy flaking flecks decorated her heels, her armor plates, and the blade of her sword.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“NIFLHEIM’S END! FORM ZERO!”
A crown of blue fire flickered into existence around her temple, giving Amanda an air of regality.
Ikki paused and mumbled to himself as his two swords glimmered in white and black colors.
“I’ve known for a long time that I've always been talentless, but I’ve met people who believe in me.” He looked at Itsuki, who gave him a nod and a small smile.
Itsuki then looked ahead and saw the overwhelming odds in front of him. The amount of core energy emitted by these two talented first years was enough to destroy this arena and any usual grunt type explorer would cower in fear.
But he was a grunt from Andromeda, the Terracolony that spearheaded and ended the Starfall Calamity War. Most of all, he knew the hard truth of his role.
“As grunts, we get the short end of the stick. We fight, we die, and we go unremembered.”
As Itsuki said this, Ikki pressed his glowing swords together and focused. Itsuki then put a hand on one of the metal bands on his arms. He tapped it a few times and a metallic ping rung.
“Authorization Code! ACS-G-1-9961.”
“Code Accepted.”
Itsuki’s wrist device responded to his voice input. “Beginning Armoring.” All around Itsuki’s body, a black colored suit was being affixed to him, and in seconds he stood fully equipped in what was commonly known as an Augmented Core Suit.
Enunciating beside Itsuki, Ikki shouted.
“ONE BLADE OF HELL!” And Ikki’s two swords melted together and formed into a black and white odachi, whose single sided long blade emanated uncanny wisps of black and white particles.
Pain engulfed Ikki, both in body and mind, but he pushed on. As a warrior, pain was nothing, and as an explorer, hardship was par for the course.
Stella and Amanda could feel a rising power from Ikki and heard the roar of jet engines coming from behind Itsuki. Not giving them the chance, they let loose their strongest attacks.
Stella brought her pillar of draconic fire on Ikki, while Amanda skated across at a blinding speed, much faster than before and with the goal of impaling Itsuki, to finally end the fight.
But as Amanda was mid skate, a massive momentum met her in the middle, and she was pushed back by the roar of twin jet engines. Her mind rattled, she struck out at the blurry figure in front of her but found her strike only causing her more confusion as it dug into the black augmented core suit Itsuki was wearing.
Called an augment suit for short, it did as its name suggested and augmented the wielder to have certain abilities that the suit can be installed with.
In this case, the suit was covered head to toe in reactive armor and a pair of mini jet engines on his back unit were installed for fast maneuverability. The weight of it was also enormous and clunky, since its armor plating was made of the densest core material known to date.
He hadn’t used this equipment since it was a last resort and needed ample planning to use. The equipping time also left him open for attack, and he couldn’t show an opening with how much of a threat Amanda was.
But with enough time as the girls charged their attacks, he found a chance, a hope to win.
On the contrary, as if to freeze over his hope, ice began to erupt from the wound Amanda’s sword had landed and began encasing Itsuki at a slow pace.
Her attack’s strongest technique had been infused with an icing chill that would infect her opponents with a growing chilling air that would encase them in minutes, freezing them from the inside out from a single cut.
Noticing he still had time, Itsuki moved his left hand as Amanda noticed that his reactive armor didn’t go off. Was it because of her deft aim or was it on purpose?
Amanda got to know firsthand the answer to her question as Itsuki grabbed Amanda's sword hand to make her stab her blade even further into his armor, burrowing the thing even further through the plates, causing a cold draining sensation to overcome him. But he gritted his teeth and spoke.
“In the star depths, the death rate for grunts….is reported to be over 90%. Do you know why?” Pain marred every word Itsuki said but his tone was undaunted.
Unable to get away, Amanda tried to pull herself free by enhancing her strength but found her hand locked in place as the mechanisms of Itsuki's suit gripped her as if she was stuck to him, her wrist almost being crushed by his armored hand. If she struggled she feared that the reactive armor would blow them both up so she humored him.
“Y-Yeah! And why’s that!” Amanda asked through shivering teeth, not because of the sudden situation, she knew that she’d freeze Itsuki over before he could do anything. She was shivering because she could sense and imagine the horrifying smile Itsuki had underneath that black armored helmet.
Her eyes followed as Itsuki raised his other free arm and the first thing that materialized was a switch into his palm and then a few containers with a recognizable symbol on them. His armor hummed and the lining in the metallic plates began to glow blue as if some electrical machinery was being turned on.
Around them, the discarded piles of weapons, bullet casings, and metal fragments Itsuki had created from his constant bullet hell on Amanda, began flying over in his direction. In fact, anything nearby that was made of metal began to fly over to him, clinging to Amanda and Itsuki violently and encasing them in a pile of metal trash, trapping them in an iron cage.
Amanda gasped and realized.
“This was your plan! Are you insane! Why are you going so far to just win a single fight!”
She wanted to know why Itsuki had such determination even with his feeble strength. This strategy was ludicrous, absolutely insane, but Itsuki didn’t think so.
“I’m an explorer, we defend the people from the threats of the stardepths at all costs. And most of all, as grunts, we’d give anything to defeat the enemy!”
He said this with such conviction that it made Amanda come to grips with how she had viewed grunts like him. They were weak, yes, but even still, they were close to normal people who were willing to use their small powers and gifts in the face of overwhelming adversity.
Pride was what drove Itsuki’s determination, that, and something else she had yet to gleam in those dark black eyes that looked to see hundreds of miles away.
She couldn’t see them under his black helmet’s visor, but his eyes were there, she knew they were.
As this exchange was occurring, Ikki suddenly disappeared from the course of Stella's pillar of raging flames. She sensed him behind her and turned the flaming pillar on him, but she missed. She could sense it in the air, Ikki's speed and overall core energy went up considerably and he continued to disappear and reappear around her, getting closer as she swung fruitlessly, still attempting to immolate him.
“What is this! Why are your energy levels increasing! That shouldn't happen! You haven’t used any core materials! And your affinity can’t change!”
“It’s because!” Ikki said with a determined look in his eye and blood running down his cut lip he had bitten.
“I’m pulling out all the energy I can produce with my ability and cramming it into my body all at once!”
“Are you insane! You’ll go mad if you over enhance yourself!”
“Maybe, but to protect the innocent and achieve my dreams, I’ll stake my life on it and use all that I have!”
Ikki couldn’t use this move unless he was willing to go all out and the technique came with side effects. He’d suffer long lasting fatigue and exhaustion so if he missed now, he’d be left open to any attack.
High risk, High reward.
Dashing through Stella’s snaking pillar of fire, Ikki finally closed the last few meters in seconds. Bringing the heavy Odachi down with both his flexing arms. He slashed deeply into Stella’s red armor.
At the same time, Itsuki then clicked the switch in his free hand and an enormous explosion that could be heard for hundreds of miles from the arena reverberated inside the terracolony.
Everyone in their seats were blown back and saw as the arena was filled with black smoke and red blazing embers mixed with melting blue streaks of ice. Even through the still dispersing smoke, they could tell that the arena was in complete disrepair.
The ground was reduced to glass, the walls of the arena were covered in stray ice shards and holes, the half-length of the arena grounds was slashed in twain, and there was a blown-out crater about 1/10 the size of the arena ground plastered deep into the metal frame of the structure. But these damages were the key elements of knowing what had happened.
The people gasped at the destruction, and luckily for the audience the arena’s energy barrier that separated the viewing stands from the fighting held due to how Joel and a few other staff members provided more energy to the barrier just in time.
It was cracked in a few places and had actually almost buckled under the strain of the force those 4 battling students created.
“L-Look!” A spectator cried out in hesitant fear, noticing two human figures still standing in the rubble. The spectators held their breaths as the last of the dust settled and their jaws dropped.
“WINNER! IKKI KUROGEN AND ITSUKI HOMURA!”
Joel bellowed, making his presence known as he walked out to the middle of the destroyed arena. Hearing his name, Ikki fell over, completely exhausted and his uniform in tatters.
He was still conscious but felt as if his body was in unbearable pain. He gritted through the aftereffects of his powers and techniques, and weathered it for as long as he needed to. He wouldn’t fall here, not yet, not while there were things he needed and dreamed of doing. But he could rest easy, knowing that he was still alive and that he won.
Contrary to Ikki, Itsuki's legs buckled as well but he was only forced to kneel but didn’t fall. His lungs heaved heavily as he ripped the broken and slightly deformed helmet off his head.
Besides Ikki, Stella was passed out on her back as her armor dissipated into particles and was replaced by her school uniform. Amanda was in the same situation next to Itsuki, but with a bruised wrist due to Itsuki’s rough handling.
“This is how true explorer’s fight.” Itsuki said, before feeling intense pain.
Going by the sensations, he knew that a number of his bones were cracked, and he was bleeding from his forehead. Not only that, but he was also sure his insides were probably a mess from all the shockwaves he took at point blank range.
The containers he had produced from his storage rings were filled with explosives, but in a concentration that was higher than normal. With how the explosion was confined to the pile of scrap he encased himself and Amanda in, it was enough to break through Amanda’s core energy defenses.
A common price for him to pay, he thought, and looked over to Amanda’s unconscious body.
Wiping one of his hands clean, he patted her forehead gently while mumbling a few soft words. He smiled, but no one saw just how warm it was and how it seemed as if he was looking at a new comrade or long but forgotten friend.
Turning his black eyes to the now destroyed roof of the arena, he saw the evening sky and while there were no stars, he peered up as if he could see past the clouds and mused the idea of seeing an old friend in heaven.
“Satisfied, because this is going to cause me a lot of paperwork.”
Hearing Joel’s voice, he turned his attention to that smarmy tone Joel had.
Itsuki smiled again but only slightly.
[Itsuki's Augment Core Suit (Standard Form)]
image [https://i.postimg.cc/vmNsvr4r/1694740280747.jpg]