[Frontline Group Beta]
[North Sector]
[Approximately 9.39 miles to Goal]
To put the situation in words that would sum up the entirety of what he was dealing with, Chisuke would say that it was as if all hell had broken loose. All around him, the sounds of crashing stone and ballistic fire roar in his ears.
To think that he was in a school and the teachers called this a training exercise. This was so fucked up that it was beyond comprehensible reasoning.
AND HE LIKED IT!
“Grah hahahahaha! Kill Me If you CAN! I’d like to see you try, you string for brains!”
With a rampage of a swing, Chisuke’s Nodachi mercilessly slashed through row upon row of swarming drone puppets. His blood streamed from open wounds he suffered on his arms from a few chance enemies that slipped in between each of his attacks.
A puppet or two’s blade had found its mark and then were subsequently crushed under his armored boot. Injured as he was and as deep as the seeping grazes were, Chisuke swung through the pain. Stained, wooden white porcelain splinters spluttered about with every heft of his weapon, the air filled with dust and a haze of humid madness.
All around in front of him, puppets laid crawling away on their backs. While not a living being, Chisuke relished in believing these lifeless drones trembled in fear of him. Worthlessly, they crawled on their splitting and filthily stained joints and limbs like a cowed animal.
Each made an attempt to regroup, to form into cohesive lines of warriors, but to no avail. Chisuke’s blade made sure of that.
Collecting in piles like corpses behind him, limbs marked his path in life. A literal footpath of carnage.
“Get Some! GET SOME! HA HA HA HA! AND ANOTHER! Hah!”
“Jesus Christ! Will you stop going berserk and focus.” Osamu complained and he ducked under one of Chisuke’s mad swings. With a focused dash. Osamu weaved into the chaotic lines of drone puppets. While their attention was on the berserking idiot, he’d take the approaching puppets apart with deft grace and meticulous countenance.
His purple highlighted hair shimmered, a sparkling swirling trail of amethyst glimmered as his curly locks fluttered. Held tightly in a reverse grip in his right hand, Osamu shined his blade about. Down, across, to the side to stab one, and then pull and twirl the blade into his other hand to repeat another pattern of motions in increasing speed.
In seconds, his attacks passed through the puppets as if they were air. In one blink that was so fast the only thing Chisuke could see was a momentary flash of purple, he watched as the prey in front of him ceased and fell away as if they had their strings cut.
He clicked his tongue, annoyed his foe was taken down before he could finish them off himself.
“Now why did you have to do that! I was going to get to them eventually!”
“Shut it Chisuke, you’ve got more coming on the left! So deal with it.”
“Heh! Whatever! Just don’t get in my way, pretty boy.”
“Right back at you, you insufferable jerk.”
“Like I care what you call me. RAHH!!!!!!”
“Freaking maniac.” Mumbled Osamu. He sighed, getting his growing annoyance out of his system. He then swiped his hand across his earpiece, pinging it, he viewed the tactical map. Seconds went by, and since those were running short, he’d use every single moment of time to bridge the path to their success.
All around the three green points at the center of the map, identifying him and his two allies, a disconcerting smile formed on Osamu’s lips.
“Yeah, this is bad.”
Hundreds upon hundreds of red dots were converging on them from their 9 to 3 o’clock direction. He could see Chisuke’s green dot, dottering about, rushing in and out, flicking off red icons one after the other in droves.
He bet the muscle headed lunk of a guy was having the time of his life. Good as it was with how Chisuke was quite literally eating these enemies like a fresh breakfast after a long nap, their numbers just kept coming.
Give the maniac a thousand of these puppets to fight and sure, he’d crush them with a smile and then probably hit the town to scare some children with that fierce glare of his. It was a funny thought Osamu had, and it helped to take the edge off the dire situation they were in.
As explorers, or well, as explorers in training, their goal was to wipe out the enemy while the grunts and supporting forces, such as the CDU and CAU, covered their backs. His group, group 6, was presently engaging the enemy at the forefront of the frontlines of the massive war games exercise.
The wave of enemies they faced numbered a few thousand, a touch of trouble for the three of them, but that wasn’t the issue.
Thousands more were approaching from miles up ahead, coming in organized waves to whittle him and his allies down. Scattered across the larger overview of the entire battlefield, groups of in training explorers, like himself, were getting surrounded or were forced to keep a holding action.
Some had already fallen, knocked out and dragged away by the constructs. Not dead, but defeated, which seemed like a worse fate since it meant going through this kind of hell again.
Osamu swore that one day, if he ever figured out who had the bright idea of planning such a ludicrous excuse for a training class, he’d rip them apart, a similar sentiment Osamu knew every upperclassmen shared and that the 1st years would come to understand.
Hearing the radio chatter, Osamu heard S1, their commanding leader who had the bright idea to charge in and rush to the finish line. Good as the plan had gone at the beginning, problems and cracks were forming in the execution of said plan.
Their numbers were dwindling and battle fatigue was setting in. There weren't enough people to switch out and let the heavy hitters recover. Even if they did, the number and rapid advance of the enemies kept them from resting. If they stopped to take a break, they’d use up the time limit and fail, and even if they did have time, the opposition would swarm them since they had the numbers.
There was literally a wall of wood, rock, and fire constructs surging right at them, never stopping. Osamu and the rest would be pushed back if they gave any leniency, so the only solution was to advance with heavy losses.
While he guessed S1 had already known this would happen, it didn’t make Osamu’s situation any better.
Still, he understood S1’s reasoning. They had minutes to reach point bravo, if not, they’d fail. And sure, this was a training exercise, no big deal if they failed one day of class.
Nope! Not for S1, the CDU, CAU, and definitely not a big deal for the upper class students who understood how important it was to succeed in these exercises. On top of their hope to get out of this hellish training, their careers to be top explorers, or explorers at all, were on the line.
The only way to graduate was to pass this class, so everyone took this seriously.
Finishing reading the situation as he overheard the recent order over the master comms channel with the seconds he had, Osamu radioed back to S1.
[Group 6 here! Point 3400 clear, advancing to point 3450 to 3500!]
[Copy Group 6, Update on Situation. Slowing advance speed, density of incoming enemy clusters increasing. Brace for anything and keep that Maniac alive, he’s at least good for something.]
[No kidding. I understand, Group 6 out.]
Connecting to the local comms, Osamu found Gen joining beside him.
His friend’s manifested armor, an unusual outfit in his opinion, was a tucked in white top and Gray bottom long skirt that went down to his feet. A Japanese Hakama.
It matched his aesthetically pleasing katana slung at his hip and oriental features, yet the sight of it contrasted with the literally firefights and gunshots flying around.
Ignoring the somewhat eyesore of an apparel, since Osamu had better things to do, he signaled Gen with a hand gesture.
“Gen! We’re moving up. Same plan as usual, let the maniac fight and we’ll support him.”
“Sure thing Osamu, and I’ll keep a lookout on our flanks. By the way, call for fire support at our 2 o’clock, I see tactical class rock golems closing in.”
Gen ran ahead as he conveyed his observations. Nodding, Osamu put in a request to the chain of command. Not long after he did, a group of trainees rushed in.
Rolling up in a jeep in the distance to his right, trainees jumped out with rifles raised and engaged a group of advancing golems. The gunner of the jeep’s rear mounted heavy gun pivoted and concentrated fire. A group of 5 to 8, 3 meter tall rock golems staggered.
“KEEP FIRING!” A trainee ordered. “Aim for the joints! And get the sledge!”
No sooner did the grouping of golems buckle to the ground, their pillar-like arms holding whatever was left of their lower bodies up. A couple, still able to move better than the rest, took a swing, sweeping trainees aside in a puff of kicked up dirt and dust.
Undeterred as the golems threw and bashed their comrades aside like trash, a trainee waved forward a pair of his comrades.
“NOW! Hit’em!”
A good grenade would have done the job, but those were getting scarce. Instead, a pair of trainees hefted off what looked like large warhammers from the back of the jeep.
Laying down covering fire, the trainees worked in tandem to keep open a chance for their friends to slam their weapons into the golems. Small arms fire couldn’t down and break past the dense rock of the golem’s frame, and while the heavy gun could, it would take too much ammo and too much time, things that they were in short supply.
One of the two charging trainees was batted away. Rendered unconscious for a moment, he regained his sense as he was hauled away by a puppet that snatched him up.
He kicked and screamed with what little strength his battered body could muster.
“No, not yet, I can still fight! Let.. me.. GO!”
Osamu turned to watch for a moment and his heart clenched as he heard the kid over the local comms. The kid probably forgot in the spur of the moment that he was transmitting his plea over an open line on the earpieces radio.
Embarrassing. Chisuke thought. But he has grit. I like it!
Impressed, a smile formed on his ferocious face as the other trainee successfully smashed his warhammer into the golems. Chisuke wiped his face free of his splattered blood, he swung with renewed fury and endless maddening joy. If the grunts could show this much guts, then he could show 10 times more.
First 10, then 20, then 50, then a hundred. Puppets and Golems, they all fell like a scatter of dominos.
More came forward to replace them.
“So damn annoying! Give me a challenge! Come on!” Chisuke roared. “If you think you can beat me with numbers, you're dead wrong! You hear me! Wrong!”
Gung ho and reckless as he was, Chisuke still clearly knew his situation. Completely and utterly hopeless. His team wasn’t even close to arriving at the target point. Unless something changed, and changed drastically, nothing would prevent him from failing.
That demoralizing thought didn’t phase Chisuke, he just kept swinging, and so did Gen and Osamu. Worrying would do nothing, acting was their only path forward. Taking a split second to observe his surroundings, Chisuke found another group of students who were having trouble.
Too deep in, a trio of beast humans were in over their heads. Chisuke gestured to Gen and Osamu. They looked over to him for a second and they snapped to.
[Osamu! Gen! I got the big one! Get those weaklings in order!]
[Don’t boss me around!] Osamu retorted as he dashed over. [Gen, come around and cover the idiot!]
[You got it Osamu.]
No need for further chatter, the three dived right in. Doing exactly as he said, Chisuke accosted the largest of the enemies encroaching on their fellow students.
A rock golem of an impressive 5 meters in height stomped forward on boulder-like legs. Knowing he needed to add some kick to this, Chisuke surged his core energy. The veins in his eyes went bloodshot red as the whites began to shade to a pitch black color.
If he could scare children with a look, then he could kill them now with his devil-like eyes.
“Blood SLICER!”
Bringing to bear his Nodachi’s full 4 meter length, the sheen of its clear steel edge became lashed in red. Coming in wide, his horizontal swing splattered the golem’s lower half into pebbling bits.
Mixing with lashing tongues of crimson red trails of blood, Chisuke’s Blood Slicer cut right through the 5 meter golem and into its smaller 3 meter buddies behind it. Adding in, Gen ducked and waved right under through all the hail of buckshotting pebbles and tails of severing trails of blood.
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Not even getting a scratch on himself, Gen luckily eluded damage and delivered crippling havoc amongst the much smaller drone puppets.
Felled with a quick draw of his sheathed katana at his waist, Gen rounded to the vanguard of an approaching group. He counted over a hundred and more closing in. Focusing, he heard the roll of a dice in his head.
A nat 20!
Pressing hard to his sword's smooth lacquered wooden grip, he went through the motions he instinctively felt.
“Twenty fold slash.” He whispered and then exhaled hard.
Withdrawing his katana, it glinted for a moment and was then sheathed. A second passed and nothing happened. Drone puppets converged on him, raising their arms to fire a return of white wooden bolts.
Holding fast to his stance, Gen stared back at their aim. Dumbfounded, the group of rescued students cried out in concern. A female beast human yelled the loudest of all.
“What are you doing! RUN! You need to run! Get out of there!”
Deep in her heart, Dahlia didn’t want to see people get hurt. Not even if they were the humans she hated. So when she watched an upperclassman stare directly at danger, with no hope of evading, she wished she could have done something other than scream.
The upperclassman seemed to have heard her. Gen gave her a sidelong glance and then turned to meet her gaze, breaking his quick draw stance and showing his back to his enemy. The act was suicidal and Dahlia wished she could scream through her exhaustion, but couldn’t.
What in God's name drove him to have the gall to turn his back and smile, it was insanity.
[Not to worry.] Gen told Dahlia over the comms. He pushed up his glasses and when he did, a thunderous sound of rippling earth cracked in the air. [Luck is on my side.] He said.
Instantly, in the moment before the puppets loosed their bolts, gusts of air and roaring slashes tore behind Gen. Traveling wide and across the swath of land behind him, his unseen attacks sounded rapidly in the form of echoing booms of slashing winds.
Each unseen slash, too fast to comprehend, blended into one sound Dahlia could make out. A whirling or sharply whooshing tornado of carnage. The heroic sight and pose Gen pulled off as he pushed up his glasses dazzled Dahlia. She wanted to cringe, yet found it too difficult to look away.
“Stop Messing Around! Watch out!”
Attempting to rush to Gen, Osamu reached out to pull him aside, but Chisuke was closer. He dashed, threw the posing moron to the ground and clashed his sword with a fiery maw of a beast.
“You again! GOOD! I’ll kill you again!” Chisuke declared. He spat in the hellhound’s face. It growled back and swiped a claw at him. Chisuke swept his blade across and blocked, but was stalled by the hound’s heavy and thick paw. Two more hounds hidden behind the first pounced at his flanks.
“GRAH!”
Searing pain rushed over him as paralleling lines of burnt flesh marred his forearms.
“Chisuke! Move!” Osamu commanded. ”Jump back now!”
With no other complaint except for a click of his tongue, Chisuke reeled back to let his comrade tag him out.
“Severing Field!”
Drawing a purple line in the ground with a sweeping slash of his weapon's energized blade, Osamu withdrew as well and regrouped. Hellhound approached and jumped forward to snap at them. As they did, two lost their heads as the drawn line in the ground flared with light, severing the beasts’ head from their shoulder.
Needing to go around, the hellhounds had no choice but to give Osamu’s team and the rescued students seconds of time to gather themselves.
“Get ready!” Osamu said as he pulled one of the exhausted first years up. “They're coming around and we gotta push past.”
“B-But! We can’t win!” Stumbling to get up, Dahlia pressed herself to stand against her staff. Fatigue and stress had worn her down, as did it to her fellow first years.
“Then go ahead and give up, you weakling!” Chisuke yelled, talking down on her as he faced forward, his sword at the ready.
Gen and Osamu wanted to punch the guy for being so damn rough on the girl, but this was combat. If Dahlia thought she would get a shoulder to cry on, then she was delusional.
Dahlia realized she was the odd one out when not even her own comrades came to her side. They forced themselves to stand on teetering legs, gritting through pain, stress, and pressure.
Why!? Dahlia internally asked herself in desperation. Why do we have to keep fighting! I wanna go home! I only wanted to help people! Not fight! This is too much! I’m scared. I’m scared! Scared Scared Scared!
“Coming on the left!”
“I Got it! Eat this you mutt!”
“Intercepting! Osamu, call for backup!”
“I’m trying! Hey! You two! Get in there!”
“We’ll try! Let’s go dude!”
“Yeah, watch for the fangs!”
The cries of rapid orders and rushed tones hit Dahlia’s ears with a deafening ring. She winced, tears rolling down her brown furred cheeks. She flinched at the clash of metal on fang and fang on flesh. The horrific sounds tore at her mind.
The image of violence forming into a nightmarish image from her past. She was suffocating, panicking, and unable to feel satisfied by any of her breaths.
[Incoming! Aerial Bombardment!] Osamu pointed to the sky. They saw and heard the whistling descent of aquatic robot figures dive bombing their position. [It’s those kamikazes! Take cover!]
[Run! We have to close in! They can’t hit us if we’re too close to their allies] Chisuke said and while he was right, not all of them could move in time.
[No, it’s too late!] Gen reached for one of the first years, as did Osamu. Chisuke disengaged and turned to rush to find cover. His eye stopped on Dahlia. All curled up in a ball, he heard her cry.
“God Damnit!” He cursed openly and dashed, throwing himself over her. Dahlia tensed as she felt someone hold her but Chisuke growled at her like a beast to shut up.
They braced and braced, but as the whistling sounds dissipated, it was replaced as explosions rang above them. Confused, Osamu turned up to see a sight for sore eyes.
[Air support! We got Air support! Wahooooooooo!]
“Wow! Would you look at’em all.” The sight was truly uplifting. Gen saw hundreds of figures in the sky. They darted around, flying forward as their guns bursted bullets, downing robot after robot. Some sputtered sparks and others exploded into flowers of fire.
A message came in and Osamu responded.
[Group 6, this is Group Beta. Sending you priority targets. We’ll hit the ones in the distance, get the ones closest to you.]
[This is Osamu, understood! Chisuke! Stop terrorizing the girl and get in there!]
[Will you shut up, I heard the comms too you idiot!]
Getting off of Dahlia, Chisuke ran in as overhead, a group of trainees flew in to provide covering fire. Burst of laser-like beams crossed and skirted Chisuke’s path. Gen and the others charged in, fighting for every meter after meter of ground they could get.
Eyes closed tight in breathless fright, Dahlia flinched as something thumped beside her, then the sounds of boots crunched behind her. Was it another puppet! If it is then I need to warn them, I need to-
Her thoughts cut off when a hand grabbed her from behind.
[Catch!]
She heard a voice in her earpiece and then felt a pair of arms wrapping around her.
“Wait! What? Hey! Don’t freaking toss her like a sack of potatoes, Itsuki! Hey! Are you even listening!”
Dahlia knew this second voice, and when she thought about it, she knew the first as well. Opening her eyes, Mana was looking down at her, her arms cradling her as if she were her mother.
“M-Mana? Mana! MANA!”
Tears streaming out like a broken dam, Dahlia held on to Mana for dear life.
“Woah! Dahlia! Now’s not the time.”
Dahlia sniffled, snot almost coming out of her nose.
“But.. I was so scared! I wanna go home! I wanna go back to where we belong!”
“Yeah, I know.” Mana could only agree, but.. She put a comforting hand on her friend’s back. She too wished to go home, but Mana herself wanted to stay here. As bad and as extreme this academy’s method of curriculum was, she wanted to stay. “But we have to fight.” She said and reluctantly separated from her friend.
Dahlia’s hands grasped in pleading hope as Mana took a step forward.
“Look.” Mana declared and stared forward. Dahlia did as well, wiping the tears out of her eyes. All around, people, humans, who were wearing odd equipment, stepped forward.
Some looking younger than herself, she witnessed as they charged ahead. Guns firing and their packs whirring with noise, the comms filled with eager voices.
[Group Gamma! Move to Support the Explorers! Double Time! Maximum Firepower!]
[You heard the man! Give it all ya got!]
[Yes, Sir!]
A rolling plink of grenades rounded up into the sky. At the apex of their flight, they bursted and hailed a fragmentation of steel rain up ahead.
In the middle of it all, Chisuke, Gen, Osamu, and Dahlia’s two weakened comrades, fought on in a united front. Trusting their backs to each other, their blades and claws filled the air.
“Mana!” Itsuki shouted just ahead. “Get your head in the game! We need you now!”
He ducked under a puppet’s swing and laid into its torso with a burst of rifle fire. Clicking empty out of ammo, he reached to his belt and threw down a grenade as he jumped back to evade a burst of flames. Reduced to splinters and cinders, surviving puppets moved back and aimed at him.
His suit's propulsion pack fired as he then hovered out of the puppet’s sights.
Slamming home a fresh magazine, he brought around another rifle he had slung on his augment suit’s magnetic clamp. Finishing off the remaining puppets coming at Chisuke’s left flank, he turned forward and aimed at the students. He commanded with a single word.
[DOWN!]
Osamu and Chisuke tackled Dahlia's friends as Gen stood as still as a tree.
Gunfire filled the area in front of them and Itsuki blasted from above as he barreled forward into a hellhound's flank. Unfazed and not a single mark of injury on him, Gen bravely opened one of his eyes. He then opened both, looked around and shrugged as if he had not just luckily dodged hundreds of bullets.
Like always, he followed his instincts and Gen let himself run forward. Itsuki kicked a still lively hellhound to Gen, who finished it off with a lucky stab to its vital heart. As Itsuki shot up everything that moved, Gen got into his quick draw stance.
Just as Itsuki’s guns ran empty once again, he flew up and Gen shot another unseen attack that roared across the field.
Chisuke and Osamu followed up, a rampage of blood red and glimmering purple slashes that were too quick to follow with their eyes.
Too inexperienced to keep up, Dahlia’s two friends slumped on their butts, overwhelmed in surprise at the smooth and swift transition of attack and defense their upperclassmen were performing. Not only that, but the heroic bravery exuded by the other, much younger looking, CDU and CAU trainees awed them.
Shock ran through the core of their soul as a thunderous roar of jet turbines descended from on high. A titan of steel and fire hovered in the sky above them. A joyous cheer sounded with their arrival and S1, from his tank, wanted to thank god for this chance as a new voice came over the radio.
[TAC-047 here. Group Red on site. Where do you need us?]
[This is S1. Good to hear we have Air and TAC support. Begin suppression, priority red, buy me time and keep our guys alive.]
[You got it!] Hovering above, the TACs descended with a thump that shook the earth. Dahlia yelped but her cries were completely drowned out by the crack of the TACs 40 millimeter auto guns.
They swept their enormous cannons at the incoming waves of puppets. Two TAC’s moved to the west while another 2 took the east. The comms crackled again, a high beep signaling a priority message.
[Broadcasting on all channels. To all forces, converge to the rendezvous point attached, paths marked and data sent! Maximum combat speed! GO! GO! GO!]
“You see.” Mana suddenly said, catching Dahlia’s attention. “We can do it. I know it looks like a hopeless situation Dahlia, but look.” She drew her friends' eyes to Chisuke and the rest. They struggled, bled, were hit, but got up every time.
“If they can do it, then we can too. Human or beast human, you just need to believe in yourself Dahlia, and most of all, believe in others.”
Mana knew what she was saying was nearly impossible for her friend, not with her scarred past. She couldn’t blame her, her hidden hatred for humans was a fact Mana could relate to. Traumas and grudges of the past were never truly healed, but Mana had come to live with them.
Perhaps, Dahlia would too. One day. Maybe.
Readying herself, Mana cracked her knuckles and flew forward with a flap of her wings.
“Here I come, Itsuki! Leave some for me, will ya!”
“I will. Now hurry up already!” He said annoyed.
With a jump and a flap, Mana flew up as Itsuki jetted up with her. He reached for her hands and with a twist of his body and a sudden flare of his propulsion jets, he grabbed and threw her into a spiraling descent. Crashing down, puppets blew in the kicked up maelstrom.
Mana struck out, sweeping and shattering the puppets with both fists and kicks.
Tell me, tell me why? Dahlia froze, her mind racing for answers as her heart clenched. Her friend, Mana, was getting along with these.. These.. Humans. Most disturbing of all, she was getting along with the person her friend said she feared and hated the most. Itsuki.
What do I do? How can you fight with them! How can you let them have your back! Their animals! Brutes! They’re! They’re!
“I hate them.”
This was the first time she said it aloud. Always, she could only mutter it, yet now, she said it with such clear jealous intent. She hated them because they were terrible, she hated them for the things they did to her, to her people.
Reasonable facts she knew from personal history, but now, to add to that, Dahlia realized that in this moment, she hated them because these humans could do the things she couldn’t. They could fight, protect, and live alongside another beast human, with Mana, the person she both looked up to as a surrogate big sister.
Itsuki, the one Mana had so venomously talked about in such a horrid light, making him out to be more demon than human, was pulling Mana and others out of danger.
Returning the favor and doing the same for him, Mana backed Itsuki up as a golem bore down on him. His gun empty, Mana noticed Itsuki’s situation and launched herself at the enormous figure of solid rock. Her straight punch shattered it and was followed as trainees opened up with a volley of fire to cover her retreat when she over-extended and found herself surrounded.
Dahlia felt her teeth finally stop chattering, she clenched hard. Her friend was in danger.
“I hate them! I hate them! I hate them!” She declared in shaky breaths over and over.
But internally she screamed.
I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!
With both hands on her staff, Dahlia stabbed it into the bare dirt. Flowers blossomed at her hooved feet, a beautiful rainbow of colors that showed all the varied shades of life.
Raising a hand forward, her voice deepened as if echoing in a forest.
“BIND!”
Shooting up from the ground ahead, several roots broke the dirt near and under Mana’s feet. Twisting in a spiraling serpentine, they came around and wrapped upon puppet, golem, and hound alike.
Freed from her encirclement, Mana shot a smile at Dahlia, and then made her retreat. Dahlia swore, swore to do it, to become an explorer. To realize her dreams and help people around the world.
Become a hero, a beast human hero that would show the humans that her people were just as equal, if not better than them.
Jumping on the hole Dahlia had made in the enemies formation, Itsuki and Chisuke moved in, leaving a rampage wherever they went. Their combined group, a pseudo battlegroup, claimed ground as the minutes ticked by.
Leading it, a cage of blade and bullets gave nothing in their path a chance of attacking or flanking them.
“When this is over. I’m having a match with you after this.” Chisuke growled, giving Itsuki a look as if he wanted to pound him into the dirt. “It won’t be like before, my time during the last training camp changed me, so don’t expect me to be the same as last year.”
“Focus on the battle.” Itsuki replied flatly. He was more occupied in pumping bullets into a golem, but he made sure to at least give Chisuke an answer. “I’ll beat you to a bloody pulp later.”
The shot up golem staggered and Itsuki’s guns clicked empty, a note Chisuke made as he smirked, thinking Itsuki was having some trouble.
“Heh, I’d like to see you try!” Chisuke scoffed and moved in to clean up after him. But before he could swing, Itsuki boosted ahead, his pack flaring as he balled his armored fist and impacted it into the golem’s head.
He performed a backflip off of it as he kicked it to the ground. Thrown off balance, the golem’s intact torso flew as Itsuki hoisted one of its limp legs and threw it into another group of golems.
He rounded on Chisuke and stared at him blankly with his helmet’s black visor. A chill ran down Chisuke’s spine and he only returned to himself when a gunshot passed within millimeters of his ear.
“Ow! What the hell!”
“I told you to focus.”
Chisuke heard a clunk and a puppet’s body fell to the ground behind him.
Eyes widening at the thought that he of all people needed help, Chisuke’s rage boiled over.
“You son of a.. Fine! Freakin grunt!”
“What did you say?” Itsuki said threateningly. “Mind saying that again?!”
“N-Nothing. I said Nothing.” Chisuke mumbled under his breath. “Freak.”
“Woah!” Osamu exclaimed in astonishment. He hadn’t seen this meek side of Chisuke in a while, it was a novel experience. “I guess you’ve been cowed again, talk about hilarious and it never stops being funny.”
“S-Shut up! Or do you want me to kill you as well!”
Chisuke began to rage at Osamu, but he stopped when he felt Itsuki’s gaze on him.
“Oh god, you’re flustered.” Osamu laughed. “This makes it even funnier, ha, ha ha ha, aha ha ha ha.”
“I swear to god. I’ll wipe that stupid smile off your face.” Chisuke growled in a low tone, promising that in his heart.