Chris had only seen his mother fight a few times and every time he saw it was a true spectacle to behold. The battle before him, was fast moving, a little too fast for him to properly discern most of what was happening as the two fighters clashed over and over again.
The clash of Excalibur and the other sword Nimue had summoned from thin air shook the entire facility and beyond from their strength alone.
"I forgot just how strong she is" he had to hold onto the cell bars behind him to avoid being blown away by the shockwaves that their blows unleashed.
The speed that Natalia and Nimue moved at appeared to him like they teleporting around the room while the two tested each others swordswomanship. Though unbeknownst to him due to the blurs created Natalia's skills far trumped Nimue who was now covered by many deep cuts from Excalibur.
"What's the matter Nimue can't keep up." the queen of Avalon taunted her old mentor finally feeling the satisfaction of causing the her the pain she so richly deserved.
"Shut up!" Nimue had by now lost her smug confidence and air of superiority she once held.
The lady of the lake may have held great skill in the mystic arts but she was truly average in the department of swordsmanship and against a master like Natalia Ddraig no contest of any sorts existed.
Nimue clearly saw her chances at survival diminishing with each passing second and so she flicked her sword into the left wall and the sword ploughed a hole through it, which she vanished through in retreat.
"Well, she's a coward." Chris twitched a little as he got up from the bruises that lingered across his body.
His mother turned to face him with a face that was stone solid and utterly unreadable.
"Damn, she is not happy." his original distract Nimue plan hadn't involved his mother and now that he thought about it the plan was truly stupid and risky."Best not to tell her that my plan is ten percent genius and ninety percent dumb luck and coincidences."
"Are you okay, is anything broken, can you properly stand, are you feeling dizzy, how many fingers am I holding up." she instantly began to jump up and down around him like the world's most overbearing doctor.
"Mother, I am fine. So please stop tugging my hair and..ouch.. pinching my cheeks."
"Sorry, sorry." she seemed to have regained her composure and she let go of his now red tinted cheeks.
Chris coughed to end the awkward silence that had built between the two of them. "I missed you mom."
"I missed you too sweetie" the bone crushing hug that she pulled him into had once embarrassing and uncomfortable, but now it felt warm and safe to him.
"I am sorry if I caused you any distress with that little display, it was all part of the plan."
Natalia burst into a chuckle. " Your so much like your father and I back then... Now that might not be too much of a good thing or a bad thing."
"Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and disco was still alive."
"I don't know what disco is?" She said though she still laughed to his joke.
"It's an earth thing."
"That explains it." his mother ruffled his hair playfully.
"Hey, cut it out." he would have let her continue had he not remembered that Nimue had just escaped. "I think you need to go after her."
"Right, right." she let him go but not without a final hug. "But Cai how?"
"Mom, I know its confusing and but seriously she could be getting away."
"Fine... just, when you find your father tell him that she is planning to become the Archetype-king and that they have to destroy the circle."
"Archetype-king,destroy what circle?" he was lost to those words meaning.
"He will understand, now go" she replied took off after Nimue, leaving nothing but a sonic boom as she broke the sound barrier.
"Okay, I am just going to find dad." he picked up his sword. " Wherever the hell he is. I need a goddamn map of this place and a way to avoid it's many unnecessary stairs, I mean who the hell has so many freaking stairs."
XXXXXXX
The breakout had been going as expected for the invading forces. The cells were now opened leading entire swarms of Arthurs, Merlins and Knights to attack the unsuspecting Zodiac forces. They fought with the type of fury that only prisoners could muster against their unjust jailors.
In the chaos of battle Hamanymu was being thrown from side to side, unable to keep up properly with the action while he swung Imwami around cutting down so many enemy combatants that he lost count.
"Get down!" someone shouted startling him in the air.
The feeling of something colliding into his back instantly registered as the impact sent him rocketing through many concrete walls like a human sized bullet through paper.
"Hey, hey you," he whispered to the metal humanoid resting upon his body. " Will you please get the hell off me!"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry" the person clearly a man yelled as he slowly got off of Hamanymu's body.
"Damn that hurt" pulling himself off the ground Hamanymu found the man who crashed into him was a knight dressed in a bronze armor with a sun engravings upon it's center.
He was built like a tank with long blond hair and a thin stubble while his facial features were like those of a man in his late twenties.
"Friend or foe?!" The man instantly shouted whilst pulling a bronze tinted arming sword from the ground and pointing it at Hamanymu.
"Oh, most likely foe after you bruised me genius!" Hamanymu snapped at him still feeling the pain in his neck.
"I didn't mean it."
"I am sure that the air threw you on its own!" Hamanymu was now in the guys face.
"No you fool, he threw me!" the knight pointed to the hole in the room that their collision had created.
"Who...oh."
Standing at the hole was a male elf dressed in gold and silver armor with an engraved scarlet scale upon their chest. This Fae held in hand a common looking sword, though it's blade had lost its iron grey to a crimson red.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to see this," the Fae said with a chuckle that sounded far too good natured.
"Um... it's clear you two have unfinished business, so I shall leave you both to it." He had enough problems with having to find Chris.
"Wait a second." the knight grabbed him by his shirt stopping him from leaving. "Do you not know who this is, this one of the great enemies, Libra of Zodiac."
"Hey, let go!" Hamanymu shouted as he wrestled to escape the grip.
"Just where do you think your going coward!" the knight was clearly just as strong as he was because he kept his grip even against Hamanymu's tagging.
"Where all cowards go to. A long life while telling the stories about the poor hero who died." Hamanymu finally managed to wrench himself free of the knights grip. " And don't worry I shall tell the story of how you died as you lived, annoying me."
" Why you little."
" Little!" Hamanymu stepped to the knight's face just to show him how similar in height they were. " Idiot I am just as tall as you are!"
"Oh really."
"Yes really, are you blind!"
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
" Enough!" Libra's voice ended their pissing match. " How can you both debase yourselves like this, at least fight with some pride."
"So, are we taking him?" Hamanymu got into fighting stance.
"I see that you have come around." the knights sword was now engulfed in a bright fire. " And the answer is yes."
"I am Hamanymu by the way, a knight of Avalon."
"And I am Gwalchmei, a knight of Gamalaot." the knight answered.
"We can take this guy, there are two of us anyway." Hamanymu prepared to charge. "it's going to be a piece of cake."
It was not.
XXXXXXX
Ursa had just as much rotten luck as her teammate. She had joined a unit of four more knights to join the attack on the facility and they were instantly befallen upon by an enemy archer.
The archer fired multiple hypersonic shots that forced Ursa and her newly formed squad into defensive positions behind bunkers created by her earth magic. Unfortunately these bunkers were soon reduced to smoldering ruins by the enemy archers arrows.
"Damn it!" Ursa gnashed her teeth and raised another bunker as her old one was torn down by a projectile.
"Retreat, fall back!" Eliwold, who was their leader ordered.
Every bone in Ursa's body was telling her to obey his orders but still she just couldn't as she thought. "My friends are out there, without me they are probably on the verge of death... I can't leave them."
"Lady Ursa, you heard your orders!" he called to her.
The images of her idiot friends flashed through her head and granted the conviction that she sought to make her next decision. " I am sorry Eliwold, I can't."
"What the hell do you mean you can't. If you stay, your gonna get torn to shreds!"
A smile danced across her face as she felt a familiar adrenaline rush strengthen her muscles. " Who said anything about staying put."
"What?"
"I am not staying put." Ursa began stretch her legs. " I am going to run right through this fool!"
She never waited to hear Eliwlod's thoughts on this suicide plan, before she took off into the newly created no man's land like a rocket.
She rushed forward with her eyes scanning for the archer who had hidden himself. She used every ounce of her training to dodged the many arrows that flew towards her little raindrops.
"Deus damn it, where is he?" she knew that she could never dodge these arrows forever and unless she cut off their source she would be a porcupine soon.
A sharp pain to her right shoulder drew her out of her thoughts. She moved leftwards to get away from the arrow that grazed her between her armours joints and drew a little blood.
The sound of more shockwaves alerted her upwards where twenty arrows descended as if shot down by god's themselves.
"How in the... " She didn't have much time to think as she was soon dodging more hypersonic arrows but alas four had managed to sneak up to her and were near her face by two inches " These are too close, I can't dodge them... I am dead."
The darkness surprisingly did not follow as something collided into the arrows destroying them and the forced of it knocked Ursa down hard onto the floor.
"What... what... what the... what the hell was that?" she was dumbfounded.
"Lady Ursa," Eliwold called from his cover bearing a crossbolt with the rest of the knights "Stop gawking and get up already. We've got you covered now get this guy!"
"Yes sir!" she gave Artorias nephew a thumbs up before she drew her bow.
She had kept it strapped upon her back during her sprint. Had she held it during her original rush here, her reflexes would have been negatively affected and death would surely soon followed.
But now she didn't have to worry about dodging all of the arrow fire on her own, with the knights covering her. She could focus more on finding this elusive archer and introduce them to the cold tip of one of her arrows.
XXXXXXX
Thor lived for battle, ever since he had awoken in that cave six years ago with Mjonier by his side and the storm in her mind. He knew nothing more than battle and he dedicated all he could be to become a Knight.
He became the storm and swirling around his body was a cloak of lightning which stunned every enemy for in his way before he crushed them under his great warhammer.
He wanted to revel in this feeling of bloody euphoria, but his mind was in another place. Ever since they had arrived in the Nexus of Narratives, he began feeling a strange sense as if he was being watched by some invisible stalker.
He had wanted to tell the others, but it felt awkward, he had only known them for at best a month and the last thing he wanted was to tell Hamanymu or Ursa that he thought some invisible force was following him around.
"They will think of me as nothing more than some made..." his train of thoughts quickly halted when heard felt a pair of hands grasp onto him and push him out of the way.
Looking at his attacker, he realised that they were his saviour instead as a double sided warhammer from someone else came down upon them and the remains if their body splattered upon the earth.
Thor blinked in shock as he regarded the man in the strange helmet which appeared to look like a double conjoined faces with his bloody warhammer almost glistening under the sun.
"So you are one of those Zodiac bastards, you love your ostentatious masks," Thor growled in anticipation, hoping that maybe this battle would make the eyes ago away.
XXXXXXX
The facility may have been in the process of being torn apart by the emerging fighting inside, but the biggest damage came from the clash between Natalia Ddraig and Nimue. The two raced through the facility at such speeds that very few could comprehend what them.
"Stop running coward !" Natalia called out to the flee water spirit.
Nimue ignored her call to battle and it enraged her to no end. With a single swing of the sword of judgement a wave of water materialized from the blade and flew forward knocking Nimue upwards through the roof and Natalia chased her prey through.
Nimue crashed into the dirt outside the facility with a thud so loud one would be forgiven for mistaking it for thunder. Natalia found Nimue bruised and holding her left leg that had some red stains.
"Looks like I've drawn blood," she snickered as she approached her downed foe.
"Of course fake, I have decided to end this here and now." Nimue tried to sound strong but she winced in pain as she arose.
"Come then you watery tart" Natalia smirked waiting for Nimue to make the first of the move that she was sure that she could counter and finally plunge her blade into this hated enemy.
XXXXXXX
Before they had stormed the facility a small briefing naming the blue prints of the prison was held. Chris knew the areas that the most important prisoners were kept and where he could potentially find his father.
"Oh, come one!" he shouted in frustration as that area was now a chaotic high pitched battle ground. The roars of men, women and beasts filling every nook and cranny of the whole level accompanied by the collision of weapons of any sorts as if they were instruments of music accompanying the battle cries to form a bloody symphony.
With a deep sigh he taped his damaged helmet. " The things i do for family."
With a roar he jumped into the ocean of battle, and like a true ocean he found himself overwhelmed and pushed from side to side as if he was being batted from side to side by great weaves.
But this wasn't his first full scale battle, and as such he was soon quick upon his feet, slashing Lucius-aurora at anyone who bore the silver armor of the Lunar Empire. Chris almost felt like he was hacking down weeds in a garden with his sword considering the number of warrior's he had just struck down in rapid succession.
The chaos of battle drowned out his senses to anything other than what was infront of him. This almost tranquil state was shuttered by a sudden blow to his head that forced him down upon one knee. He looked up to see what had nearly cracked open his skull had his helmet not been present.
Stalking towards him like some kind of devil from hell emerging to claim his immortal soul was the Fae he had fought in the north, Juno Freya or something.
" Ddraig! " she roared as she swung again and missed.
" How the hell did you know that it was me?" his armor was different from his old one.
"As if I would forget that sword" she answered as her fingers slowly trailed the scar he gave her eye.
"That makes sense." he thought as he readied himself.
He was at the ready with his muscles packed like a compressed spring. All the pressure built up was realised within a single burst as Juno's axe came flying at him. Chris shot raced forward with his eyes focused on Juno whilst he dodged the axe.
As soon as he was close enough he thrust Lucius-Aurora in a forward motion that would have sent it through Junos of her head had she not moved out of the way.
Chris shot his free left hand forward and grabbed Juno's head before planting his knee into her face with enough force to send her shooting through a solid stone pillar.
He wasted no time and shot forward again past many potential attackers who swung their swords, axes, spears and hummers at him. But he was too nimble and fast for them to land a blow.
With a roar he swung Lucius-Aurora in a downwards motion with all his strength and this time Juno's attempts to block it with her axe failed as the blade cut halfway through it and managed to lodged itself in her right shoulder decorating it in a new coat of blood.
"You bastard!" Juno screeched in pain before she pushed herself towards him even if his sword cut deeper into her flesh.
Her hands grabbed hold of his helmet and she began to pull against it while Chris who couldn't properly use his sword at such a close range struggled against her mad attempts at ripping off his helmet.
As they continued to clinch for control, Chris managed to wrench Lucius-Aurora free from her shoulder but it slipped from his grip as Juno pushed him into the remains of the pillar that he had once thrown her through.
In this contest of strength, Chris was the stronger of the two and with his quick reflexes he managed to maneuver Juno into a hip tose and send her crashing into the cold floor, were upon Juno found her face the recipient to a series of punches and downwards elbows that sent her head into concrete repeatedly.
After Chris's fifteenth downwards elbow, Juno lay still and broken on the ground. She coughed out some blood, her left eye was slightly swollen. Intermixed with the bloody mess he had left her shoulder in, Chris felt a twinge of guilt and stopped his assault.
"Damn that hurt." Chris struggled to readjust his helmet though his eyes never left Juno who still lay upon the ground cross-eyed and no doubt knocked out of her senses.
"Listen Juno... it's Juno right?, I think that we should call our rivalry to an end right here and now. If anyone asks we shall just say that the other won. So truce..." He leaned down and patted her non injured shoulder like one would do a friend. "...Good answer."
He turned and began to walk away and as he was twenty steps away from Juno, he felt a wave of energy roll across his back and he turned to find Juno rising while surrounded by a twister of concentrated mana that cooked the air around her.
"This again," he whined.
Juno's body began to shake and tremble as a silver armour with fish like scales invaded her body replacing her older armor and doing away with every wound and bruise he had dealt to her in their short battle. All of this was happening as a silver spear materialised in her hands, it bore wave like designs and mermaid engravings upon which the spearhead rested.
"What in the..."
" DU LAC !" Juno shouted as she launched the spear at him.
Chris instinctively raised his hands and a great wall of ice was instantly born between him and the silver spear.
The spear struck the ice wall and even though it came with enough force to easily shatter stone, the ice shield held, even though is spotted cracks everywhere. With a scowl on her face Juno raised her hand and the spear via invisible hands pulled itself out of the ice and back into Juno's.
"Neat trick Juno, surprised that you didn't bust it out the moment you had a chance earlier." he might have kept a smile but he dreaded fighting her again especially with that spear.
" I could say the same about you, Ddraig " Juno stood in a ready battle stance with her new spear pointed directly at him "I know about your supposedly great Alpha-Spell which killed Scorpio, everyone won't shut up about it."
" Didn't feel like swinging it about when I was winning just fine."
" What's the matter Ddraig, not enough juice left to use it " she taunted and jeered at him but Chris remained calm, it was clear bait for him to attack. "Come on, let's see if you can stop Lancelot from tasting your blood."
" I know that we are in a world of king Arthur and fancy knights and crafty lady's but did you just name your spear after Lancelot of all people?" he shook his head disappointed in her lack of originality.
"It isn't just a fancy name, it is Lancelot." Juno had the type of smile that Chris saw on people who knew something you didn't and were reveling in you're ignorance.
"What do you mean that it is Lancelot?"
"Oh, you don't know " she appeared to relax a little bit " These knights can have their very essence torn apart and then they can be rebuilt. They are technically living metaphysical code anyway."
"That spear was a person?" his stomach churned as he saw her nod whilst she beamed with pride. " And you took their lives without any sort of reasonable justification."
" We don't have to explain ourselves to you, Avalonian."
"You don't need to, all you scam have the same excuses for these acts of unwarranted aggression." Chris scowled and swung for her slightly exposed neck that was neither covered by helmet or armour, that would have ended this battle here and now. Had Juno's spear not intercepted the blow and sent his sword moving in the opposite direction.
She twisted and thrust her spear towards the center of his head smacking him dead center in the forehead and denting his helmet as it launched him through a wall and into another room.
He groaned in pain as burn exploded from where her spear had struck his forehead. Chris ripped off his helmet and he could feel a slight trickle of blood running down his forehea
Chris stumbled to his feet as he caught sight of Juno racing towards him. Her spear shot towards him like a scorpion stingers and he managed to catch the spearhead which thankfully didn't have enough force behind the thrust to pierce his gauntlets.
With a firm grip upon the spear he kicked his helmet towards Juno's face and she slapped it aside. This gave him enough room to front kick her in the chest sending her crashing backwards.
He wasted no time and rushed for Juno with his sword swinging again downwards hoping to deliver enough force to break anything important in her skull. This was again was stopped by the butt of her spear that she used to reverse his swords momentum before Chris felt a powerful force colliding into his left thigh that tore through one of the deepest dents Excalibur had left in his armour, clothe and flesh.
"Arrrrrrrrrr!" he screamed as Juno twisted her spear and letting out a gash of blood as she mutilated flesh, muscles and even scraped bone.
"Focus, focus, FOCUS!" He called over and over in his head "Fight the pain."
Fighting through the pain, he swung sideways and with her spear still in his thigh she couldn't stop Lucius-Aurora from colliding with her helmet, knocking her back by a few meters.
Chris gritted his teeth as he pulled the spear from his leg and letting out more blood. He propelled himself towards her as fast as he could and as he got closer and closer to his foe, he sent out a mist wraith to distract her attention as he came from another side with his sword in midswing. Lucius-Aurora cut through the air and it collided with steel, rather than flesh.
"What?"
His sword had missed Juno's throat by an inch thanks to a great Claymore that had come between it and the Fae in question. Chris looked to the massive Fae standing between them in golden armour with a lion shaped helm.
"Juno, are you alright?" the warrior asked.
"Of course, Leo-Freya." Juno answered shaken from her near brush with death.
"Good." the Leo of Zodiac answered before turning to Chris. " Now onto you.."
Chris wasn't fast enough to intercept the armored fist that struck the left side of his face hard enough to stagger him and leave his head spinning.
The Zodiac continued her attack in near silence and though Chris's head still burned with pain, he managed to backstep and void the claymores blows.
He wanted to dodge again when something happened, his leg wound burst out in pain again causing him to scream as he tripped to the ground leaving him defenseless to the ever silent Zodiac who did not even gloat.
Like a condemned man before the executioners axe he watched as the blade began to fall to his head quite ironically this is the death he tried to subject Juno to just a few minutes ago.
Suddenly like a bolt of lighting flashing in the sky something collided with knight. This thing knocked the Zodiac back enough to send them crashing into Juno who managed to catch her ally stunned and silent.
The thing was a woman with hair that was blue as the sky and in her hand was blade from living white fire. She snarled and aimed this massive sword at the Zodiac in open challenge and all Chris could think of was.
"Joan?"