Center of the Deadlands: 936, December 31st, Monday, 1:30 AM.
Surrounded by dust and rubble as he sat in the broken throne of spectral obsidian, Sovereign fashioned a satisfied grin while resting his head in one fist—keeping one leg crossed on top of the other. The brutal cold that dominated over the Deadlands from north to south did not afflict the young man in the slightest, feeling comfortable inside his usual black suit, as the weather at the core of the hellish zone could not be compared to its surroundings, feeling like a fresh morning during spring instead of the cold nights of winter.
“Good eye, Foley.” Sovereign whispered with a smile. “Who would even dare pay attention to whatever rocks they find in the Deadlands? Sadly, that’s where the game ends. I can’t have you all getting in the way… this is for your own safety too.”
The young man sighed and dropped his head, leaning back on the throne with a more comfortable position. He stared at the desolated room for the millionth time, as the large number of specters roaming the Deadlands had zapped a good portion of his own strength, keeping him confined inside the dark castle.
“Someone’s approaching Lionheart…” he muttered, clenching his jaw tightly. “I may not be at my best, but that shouldn’t be possible… who is this?”
Northern Region of the Deadlands: 936, December 31st, Monday, 1:30 AM.
Riding along the vast empty fields of the Deadlands, Claire continued her way towards Bloodhound and Cerberus’ platoons with the help of her spectral gear, but her fast return proved more complicated than she anticipated. The engines of her spectral bike roared softly as she continued to look for her team, retracing her steps by following the sparkly crimson lines left on the ground by the motorcycle’s wheels.
“Why is this taking so long?” she wondered with lowered brows.
Although the Deadlands never changed its atmosphere based on day or night, its thick fog and dark spaces prevented the lieutenant from getting a good view of her surroundings, giving her the impression that no progress was being made through the vast fields of scorched land that expanded far in the distance.
The wind blew in Claire’s face, and her long black hair waved with the cold breeze of the region as she rapidly journeyed through its barren fields, but her ceaseless stride would meet its abrupt end at the sight of a strange figure along the way—emerging suddenly from within the fog of the region.
“…!” Claire’s eyes widened at the sight of the man that stood in her way, failing to spot him in time as the shadows of the Deadlands blocked her sight.
She pulled the breaks with all her might, but was ignored by the spectral gear as it chose to prioritize her safety over the mysterious entity, slowing down continuously as to not catapult Claire away. Despite the imminent threat of the fast-approaching bike, the man stood his ground and simply extended one arm forward towards the lieutenant’s face.
The man stepped aside with tremendous skill and velocity, avoiding collision with the bike as it roared past him. Claire would not be greeted in a similar fashion however, as the extended arm of the figure served to put a violent halt to her advance—snatching her off the motorcycle with a clash.
“Agh!” the lieutenant screamed as she felt her neck almost snap on impact, hurling her body forward, but keeping her head in place inside the man’s palm. “Ngh…”
“Well then…” the man said. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Loki’s smirking azures met the lieutenant’s shocked amber eyes, holding her captive with a tight grip on her mouth—applying enough pressure to nearly crush her jaw. Claire attempted to break free by sinking her nails deep in his hand, but the hard skin of the knight prevented her from putting even a scratch on her captor.
“What? Aren’t you supposed to be tough?”
Loki huffed a chuckle before hurling Claire into the ground with a quick swing of his arm, proceeding to arch his back immediately at an almost impossible angle. The lieutenant’s spectral bike suddenly thundered past him from above, failing to succeed in its ambush due to the knight’s inhuman reflexes. The motorcycle landed a few feet away, and prepared to initiate its assault with a frontal attack—taunting its foe with a series of mocking roars from its engine.
The man smirked confidently at the jeering black and crimson gear, intentionally ignoring the black-haired woman that aimed her pistols at him from the side—having never diverted his attention from her. With the target seemingly distracted, Claire pressed the triggers in both firearms in a barrage of concentrated shots against the knight, each one echoing throughout the region with a loud bang.
Loki glanced at the crimson projectiles flying through the air in his direction, blinking in and out of view to avoid the lieutenant’s crimson bullets with ease. Taking the opportunity to strike, the spectral bike attempted a powerful tackle against the knight by lunging at him with a frontal attack. Met by a similar result as last time, Loki stopped the motorcycle’s forward dive with a rising kick against its nose, powerful enough to propel the bike away into a brutal spin.
“Enough of that,” the man whispered, proceeding to zigzag around the lieutenant’s crimson projectiles before reaching her position in a mere instant.
“Ngh!” Claire recoiled at the absurd speed showcased by her opponent, taking a step back before being caught into the knight’s clutches once again.
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With a rapid motion of both hands, Loki took a hold of his opponent by restraining her from the wrists—drawing a painful grunt from her lips as he pulled her arms apart. Yet to be left defenseless however, the lieutenant dispersed her firearms into crimson particles and rearranged them both into gleaming boots of obsidian armor—fashioning a similar look to the feet of a specter.
“Off!” she roared, throwing her leg forward with a frontal kick.
Although her strategy was sound, the inhuman reaction time of the gladean knight was all her adversary needed to evade her attack—vanishing from view in the split of a second, and only leaving a cloud of azure particles behind. Anticipating her opponent’s next move however, Claire twisted her upper body by the waist as she raised one leg through the motion, completing the spin with a calculated move of her foot to perform powerful high spinning kick.
Just as predicted by the witty lieutenant, Loki rematerialized himself behind her in a mere instant after blinking out of view—only to be greeted by the bridge of her armored boots. Though despite her calculated counter, the gap between her strength and speed compared to the order’s champion was simply too large to make any difference, as Loki put a stop to her kick with ease by deflecting it with his forearm.
“Agh!” the impact of her foot crashing against the arm of her foe forced Claire to spin in the opposite direction, staggering her long enough for Loki to respond with a strike of his own.
“That was fun…” he said while dashing his way in front of Claire in the fraction of a second, putting an end to their conflict with a single punch that shook the ground below their feet.
“Ough!” the lieutenant cried in pain, feeling the man’s knuckles sink deep into her stomach.
Unable to resist the magnitude of his brutal strike, she instantly plummeted to the ground with a twitching body, desperately gasping for air as the oxygen in her lungs had been violently forced out. The pain she felt was unbearable, and crawled through every nerve in her body with an electrifying sensation. Claire gritted her teeth as saliva rolled down her chin, looking at the dirt through a blur, and hearing nothing but the loud ringing in her ears as her senses had been thrown into disarray.
“That didn’t kill you?” Loki raised an eyebrow. “You must be blessed by the goddess or something. Hm… maybe I didn’t hit you as strong as I thought…” he concluded with a smirk before grabbing one of the lieutenant’s spectral boots, forcing the other to vanish into embers.
Her gear reacted immediately to the gladean knight’s touch, erupting into a shocking wave of crimson sparks that crawled its way into the man’s skin. The displeasure in Loki’s face revealed the pain they caused him despite his insistence in not letting go of it, eventually gaining the upper hand against it and forcing the gear to submit.
His fingers pressed tightly against its black armor, ripping open a few cracks in the boot’s structure. The electrifying waves of the gear weakened the longer the knight remained in possession of them, burning through its power reserves only to fall silent after its fruitless efforts to break free.
“About time you shut up…” Loki growled as he looked behind from over his shoulder, spotting the spectral bike approach him with coughing noises before crashing sideways into the dirt—vanishing into embers with no energy left in its tank. “Heh… who’s going to hide you now?” Loki grinned as he raised the spectral boot in the air and slammed it down against the ground.
“Aah!” a girly cry erupted from the gear as its body crashed against the dirt—drawing gasp from the lieutenant, who helplessly curled on the ground in pain.
Already speechless on the floor due to her unresponsive body, Claire observed with wide open eyes as her gear transformed into a young girl of long brown hair—desperately trying to crawl her away from the order’s champion. Her crimson eyes were dominated by fear, and her breaths quivered as her tiny hands reached out to the lieutenant for help. The girl was abruptly stopped by the gladean knight, who forcefully lifted her feet off the ground with a strong pull by the hair—causing the already startled child to scream in horror.
“Not too far,” Loki told her with a smirk.
“L-lucy…” the lieutenant managed to utter through her weakened state, still unable to recover her breath. “L… Lucy!”
“Thought you’d never see me again?” the knight continued playing with the girl trapped in his clutches, who kicked and punched the air in a desperate attempt to break free. “Stay put dammit… I can’t kill you just yet.”
Rage and frustration brew inside Claire as she was incapable of fighting the pain that afflicted her body, groaning and whimpering as she watched Lucy try her best against the knight. Loki was in complete control of the situation, which fueled the wide smirk in his face the more she struggled. The man’s victory would be but a short one however, as his intimidating grin would quickly fade into a perplexed frown.
“…” Silence filled the atmosphere as Loki stared deeply into the girl’s frightened expression, his twitching brows arching with growing anger. “You…” his lips remained slightly parted, waiting for his eyes to be proven wrong by the infant. “You don’t have it!” he roared with a tone closer to being a question than an actual statement.
“Gh…” with her foe distracted by the girl, Claire managed to stumble back on her feet through a nauseating feeling. “Gugh!” she threw herself forward while covering her mouth as to not throw up, forcing her back straight to face Loki with glare.
Another shocking surprise awaited the knight as Lucy’s body dissipated into crimson particles of light, released from his clutches by the loyal officer of Cerberus that stood in his way. The infant girl’s embers traveled through air to join with Claire, crawling behind her back as to hide from the intimidating knight. Loki pressed his lips together with an intimidating growl, meeting the glaring stare of the lieutenant with one of his own.
“Stay down if you want to live, girl.”
“Ngh…” Claire stumbled forward as she almost fell on her face, and though her legs trembled, they refused bend or give in to the pain. “I beat you… once…” she gasped. “I can do it again….”
Her brave words failed to intimidate her foe in the slightest, but served well to put an end to the angry frown on the man’s face—who was reminded of their battle at the emperor’s party many months ago. The snarky grin returned to Loki’s face at the entertaining words of the lieutenant, and a loud cackle quickly followed as he was unable to hide his amusement.
“Sure…” he stopped himself from laughing. “You beat me the same way you beat Eutychia,” he told her. “Girl, if I wanted to kill you… I would’ve done it in a second.”
“…”
“Whatever,” Loki turned his back on the young woman, inhaling deeply before releasing the air through his lips. “If not you then...” he muttered before being interrupted.
“Come back…” Claire demanded with a painful groan, stumbling her way towards the knight while materializing one of her pistols in hand. “I’m not… done with you yet.”
“Go home,” he told her. “I came here looking for the other girl…” frustration returned to the knight’s expression, whose fist shook in anger—causing its veins to surface over the skin. “Tricky bastard… don’t think you can hide from me forever.”
END OF CHAPTER