1645 hours, 25 June 0145...

It was terrifying to see him standing there in the blackened shadow, his heterochromia eyes shining like death stars. Despite the heavy tension in my veins, I mustered up the courage to approach him and ask a question.

"So, it's been years, hasn't it?"

A sinister grin suddenly formed on his lips as Florent made his observation.

"Tsuyuki, I'm just doing my job as Crescent's loyal asset, under the command of my dearest majesty."

As Scott's voice filled the air, he abruptly cut into my conversation with Florent by walking up to my left side.

"Wait, you know him?"

I raised my left hand and felt the pressure of his body on it before he tried to block my path. With Scott stepping back, I gathered my resolve to question Florent once more.

"What has your majesty commanded you to do—kill all of us in here?"

Florent let out a dark laugh, his twin butcher blades glinting in the nearby light as he assumed a menacing stance to spout his sinister whisper.

"What if the answer was... yes?"

I suddenly responded with a confident grin as I clutched my Nakajima hard, feeling the warmth of the hilt in my palm.

"If that's what you want,"

JSHICK

After I stabbed my blade against the ground, I challenged him while revving it with a deafening two-stroke sound.

"Bring it on!"

BRAAP BRAAP BRAAP

The exhaust screamed and spit flames when I revved my Nakajima to its absolute limit, which inspired Florent to maintain his resolve.

As I braced myself to battle against Florent, my friends suddenly approached my side to support me. But Florent suddenly let out a malicious laugh as he replied.

"Unfortunately, none of you shall interfere in my affair with Tsuyuki."

Florent suddenly lifted his right hand and did a weird movement with it. With each passing second, the sudden, sharp, metallic clanging noise pierced the pitch-black warehouse. It seemed like something evil was coming closer, as if Florent's utilized his unnatural power to summon them here.

"KILL... ALL... AUTHONOIDS!!!"

A chill ran down our spines as we witnessed the slightly tall demonic entities that encircled us. They slowly stomped toward us, covering their mossy stone bodies with rusted knight armor, black hooded cloaks lined with dark gold, wielding rusty fencing swords, and a subtle demonic aura emanating from their bodies.

From what I could tell, these are Stonehedglers, the first layer's guardian, Pride. And we're currently facing the pawn-types of these demons.

As I found out that Florent unleashed his demonic power to puppeteer them, we drew our scorch arcs to scorch them back into hell. With a voice full of venom, Florent let out his psychotic laughter as he watched us hopelessly stuck in his game.

"Welcome to hell, foul Authonoids! Enjoy it till the last of your breath!"

His maniacal laughter echoed like a cacophony of deranged screams, his sneer twisting his face into a mask of pure malice as he taunted us.

"Now, what will you do when you are vulnerable?"

Frustration surged through me as I clandestinely yearned to confront him in the vacant space, leaving my allies to handle the encroaching Stonehedglers.

Stealthily, I stole one of Christine's flashbangs from her tote bag without her notice, carefully removing the pin.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"I'm sorry that I have to take care of him first. You guys should stay put instead!"

With no warning, I launched the flashbang into the air and directed my Kiryu at it, just as it was about to plummet.

And all of a sudden...

BANG

A burst of light from the flashbang blinded the whole area. For that reason, I dashed forward and dragged Florent into the empty space in a head-to-head duel without any distraction from my companions.

Insert Music: Kyrolis - He_ven F_ck_ng Hell!

Both of us dashed and harshly parried each of our blades. The sounds of blades bash deafen my ears, but I won't stop until I at least wounded Florent in an inch.

"Leaving your friends to take care of me? How pathetic do you have to be?!"

But I sardonically responded to his mockery with a smirk that parried his neck-breaking slashes.

"Don't you see that you're just the majesty's bitch to satisfy her lust?!"

As Florent wouldn't stop his attack, he responded back with a deep, menacing chuckle.

"Oh, you're getting rude, aren't you?"

The blackened warehouse shook from the boom of our blades as a sudden burst of lightning illuminated the brief darkness. I pulled out my Kiryu and fired off a few bullets, experiencing the brutal recoil in the process.

BANG BANG BANG

But Florent swiftly drew his revolver, gracefully spun it like a cowboy, and parried my bullet with his own 44 Magnums.

His ominous comment resonated like a nail piercing a blackboard, suggesting a sense of supremacy. But as I felt like death was about to strike from behind, I quickly glanced over my shoulder and witnessed him swing his flaming dual blades high in the air.

"YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD!!!"

With a lightning-speed reflex, I parried his blades with vicious hisses and gave him my sharp gaze. But with a sinister grin, Florent spit out his devilish remarks.

"Yes, anger, vengeance, and egoism! That's the rotten nature of humanity I wanted to see!"

"Because before you'll face her, you'll be mere rusty steel and broken bones. Left to rot and die! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

He abruptly whirled his two butcher blades, conjuring the flaming tornadoes that almost engulfed the large, darkened warehouse. Nevertheless, I did stylish evasions and parried his infernal, flaming assault with my Nakajima while simultaneously responding with bitterness.

"No wonder Gina leaves a degenerate like you far behind."

Swiftly approaching his face, I swiftly drew my Kiryu, aimed it at his neck, placed my right finger on the trigger long enough until it'd emanated a glowing blue aura, and suddenly...

BANG

I've inflicted a fatal wound on his neck after my surprise charge shot. He quickly retreated to stop the blood dripping from his neck, causing his blade's grip to abruptly loosen in response.

Just as I was ready to execute my final move after converting my Nakajima into axe mode, he suddenly huffed and straightened up, and I heard him gasp in frustration.

"Fine… then... show me... your... FUCKING TENACITY EVEN MORE!!!"

He laughed like a deranged maniac as he sprinted forward while simultaneously swinging his two butcher blades at lightning speed. Though he had a devastating slashing movement, it became inconsistent as his anger peaked.

I flawlessly parried his blazing dual butcher blades with my axe-mode Nakajima and parried each other's bullets from our handguns at a pace no regular Authonoids could match.

But as I stupidly believed that I had the upper hand in this scenario, all of a sudden...

JSLOSH

In an instant, the excruciating agony caused me to instinctively withdraw as he cut my waist with his flaming butcher blades. I felt a searing pain in my wound and witnessed my eyesight becoming blurry.

But as I watched Florent's wound from a distance, I saw it heal on its own after he wounded me. The bullet that's stuck in his neck from my surprise charge shot suddenly comes loose and drops into the ground with a metallic clank.

It tumbled me into the realm of hyperdeath, for I was up against a literal bloodlust-type Authonoid! It was an Authonoid who had the ability to heal themselves by wounding or killing any being that bled.

While I thought to myself that taking Florent on in this situation was a terrible idea, he flashed a devilish smirk and aimed the tip of his butcher blade directly at my sight, as if he were demanding another round.

"Heh! How does it feel to fight someone who's more tenacious than you?"

But I won't hold back after swiftly injecting a specific healing injection into my wound and watching it heal in an instant. Once everything was ready, I positioned my Nakajima and responded with a cynical tone.

"Kinda funny. I was about to ask you the same question."

The second round went with both of us going full frontal, where there was no letup in the slightest, as the half-darkened warehouse erupted in a cacophony of gunfire and the ceaseless twang of our blades.

Just as our battle was about to reach its peak, someone suddenly slammed a massive weapon into the ground, sending shockwaves and debris flying all over the place.

BSRYAK

The impact of the unknown person's destruction reverberated, sending tremors through the ground, which resulted in a dust storm enveloping the area. He then growled and made a powerful swing of his greatsword toward Florent.

SWOSH

Florent was lucky to avoid the assault by doing a stylish backflip, narrowly avoiding the vicious swipe of someone's greatsword.

After the dust was slowly dissipating, I saw Scott looming over Florent with an ominous expression. My fury surged to its zenith as one of my supposed friends callously disregarded my advice and brazenly sided with Florent in the battle.

How Scott ends up being such a massive dickhead never ceases to amaze me. And Florent nodded gravely as his eyes narrowed into a sneer while remaining calm under Scott's intimidating presence.

"Oooohhh… interesting!"

A deep, deadly growl escaped Scott's lips as he clenched his greatsword.

"Florent… you fucking fool!"

I remained still in the place while staring fixedly at him with frustration that was about to erupt like a Krakatoa. Scott remained unaware of Florent's true strength; a mere gesture from Florent could engulf him in flames, highlighting the imminent danger fueled by Scott's ignorance.