Ori and I scanned the area to get an understanding of the situation. There was a girl on the floor and three CTs. They were all the ones we saw back at the train station. I can’t believe they were able to make it here so fast! Surprisingly, they didn’t do that much damage. It must be thanks to this girl on the floor. She did such a good job holding them off. I’ll take it from here, though! I’ll save the rebels with everything I’ve got!

Speaking of the rebels…they don’t look very happy to see us. A part of me isn’t surprised. We get those kinds of looks all the time.

“Oh? Haustorians with stematas? Now whose corpse did you manage to take that off of?” The CT with the warhammer said to me.

“We didn’t take this off of a dead person! We beat them up and took it while they were knocked out!” I pointed an accusatory finger and then flinched when Ori shouted at me. “Arno! That makes it sound even worse!”

“B-but he was a bad guy!”

“You don’t have to divulge a single piece of information to him. After all…” Ori aimed her training pistol at the warhammer CT. “He’s the bad guy!”

When Ori presented her pistol, the CT with the book’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute! They not only have a stemata, but they have training pistols too! Look at the parasite male’s hip! He has one as well! There’s no way…what the hell is the BCT thinking?! Enlisting parasites of all people into the Bureau!”

“From what it looks like to me, we’re better CTs than you’ll ever be!” The moment I said this, the warhammer CTs eye for a brief moment twitched in anger and he fell silent. His entire demeanor changed from one of smiles and amusement.

“You guys came here to make this place a bloodbath, but we won’t let you! Hey guys!” I looked over to the crowd of rebels. “Come help my partner here get this girl to a safe place! I’ll keep him busy!”

The crowd just stared at me as if I was speaking another language. As if they were amazed I could stand here and bark orders at them. A brief moment of anger took over my body and I lost my composure.

“You guys just lost your one chance at this coup! If you want to win, you’ll have to throw that prejudice of yours away and bet everything on me! A Haustorian CT trainee! Put all your chips in on me and I won’t let you down!” I bumped both of my fists together and got into a fighting stance.

That’s when members of the crowd began running towards us. Some with shields and some with guns. They then retrieved Malta’s body and got away from us as soon as possible. As they did, the CT with the book used it to make hundreds of pages fly out and turned it into a spear and sent it flying towards the crowd. Before it could hurt anyone, I dashed between it and the crowd and punched it down onto the ground. Once it was stuck onto the ground, it dispersed into hundreds of pieces of paper and rolled into fine points that would certainly do lethal damage if they attacked me.

“Damn parasite! I’ll turn you into mincemeat! This battlefield isn’t yours to command!” He shot his hand toward me, commanding the pages to fly and kill me.

“Stop, Bram!”

As they were hurtling toward me, the warhammer CT shouted at the one with the book. My eyes darted over to him and I could see a blind rage was taking over his body. He walked towards me and once we were face to face, it only then dawned on me how much he towered over me.

“Say it again, parasite.”

“W-what?”

“Say that you’re a better CT than us.”

“I’m a better CT than you—”

Suddenly, his warhammer shrunk down to the size of the average hammer and was about to hit me in the head, but I blocked it with the gauntlets. As I did, the force of the small, compact hammer felt like it was going to send me flying. After a brief clash to lessen the strength of his attack, It dawned on me that the power and force behind it was just too strong. It sent me flying back and I immediately recovered. I looked up and found him rushing at me with his hammer at his regular size.

“We’re here to keep the peace, you fool! You’re the villain! You’re the one going against the grain. And for that, I’m going to beat you to a bloody pulp!”

I looked at the gauntlets to see if they were charged any, and they weren’t. I’m gonna have to either overcome this gap in strength with my own strength, or figure out how to use a stemata. It’s kind of funny, now that I think about it, this is almost as scary as the fall itself, but I’m right where I want to be!

He swung his hammer directly down on me and I sidestepped just in time to dodge it.

No more of that! Face him head on, Arno!

He shrunk it right after and swung it at my head. When it landed, I could feel that I was dazed. Regardless, I stood my ground, grit my teeth, and threw a fist at the warhammer CT.

“GRAHHHHH!”

I punched him across the face and although his face jerked in the direction of my punch, his body stayed right in place. This guy’s just as tough as Don Matteo! If not, even stronger!

“Not bad, punk! Let me show you how to land a hit with a stemata!” He pulled back his hammer almost instantly and brought it down just as quickly. When it hit me in my head, it was as if the weight of the world was being brought down on me. This weight on my head was too great and ended up bringing me to the ground.

I tried getting up and as I did, the hammer was already being brought down on me again. This time around, instead of blocking, I raised my fist to counter the hammer and as the two forces clashed, I quickly began to lose the power struggle. Damn! It’s so heavy! How does a little hammer like this pack so much of a punch?!

The hammer eventually blew past the gauntlet and hit me across the face. It hit so hard that I started to fly for a brief moment before tumbling across the floor and recovering.

There has to be more to his stemata than simply shrinking and enlarging! It also has something else! But what?!

I looked over to Ori, to see if she could give me any pointers. She noticed my pleading eyes and shook her head “I’m not telling you a thing, Arno!”

How could Ori say something like that, I thought we were partners? I thought as the warhammer CT used his hammer again to hit me and send me flying again.

That’s when I realized that I just tried to take the easy way out again. Just like dodging that attack, I really just tried to avoid the heart of the problem instead of going at it head on. I understand now, Ori! I won’t run anymore!

One more time, I braced myself. This time, I won’t be running away!

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHH!” As he came running towards me I yelled as I swung my fist against his warhammer. I immediately lost the force behind my punch and went flying again. This continued as I got bashed and smashed in every conceivable direction until I was a bloody mess.

Regardless, I got back up with a smile on my face. I have to let everyone know that it’ll be okay! Keep smiling! Keep fighting! Don’t go down!

As I put my fists up again, the warhammer CT swung his hammer at me and I couldn’t react fast enough to counter it, so my abdomen took the brunt of the attack. As I got the wind knocked out of me, my torso jerked forward and I began to cough up blood.

“Wait a minute…” the warhammer CT eyed me up and down, specifically paying attention to my gauntlets. His eyes then widened and he facepalmed.

“You’re telling me you haven’t been using your stemata this entire time? What’s the big deal here? Suicide by CT? You’re wasting everyone’s time here. If you can’t even use a stemata, then you shouldn’t be stepping up to fight CTs.”

I wasn’t hearing any of it though. I was gasping for air and using this time to recuperate. I can feel it. I’m going to die at any moment if I can’t at least take a breather. Just a couple of seconds. That’s all I ask.

“You hear me, parasite?! You’re prolonging their deaths! You barely changed a single thing! So why…why are you smiling?!” The warhammer CT grabbed me by the collar as he yelled into my ear. That’s when I mustered up all the strength I possibly could to chuckle and tell him.

“Because…I can feel it…I’ll end this fight…in one punch!”

My chuckle turned into laughter and in response to my declaration, he looked absolutely livid. He threw me to the ground and raised his warhammer.

“Let’s see it then…that war-ending punch…” He said with an ice cold glare that could pierce my very soul.

But before he could bring it down, he looked onward towards the crowd, which made me follow where he was looking. Someone was approaching from the crowd, But it wasn’t any normal member of the coup. Nor was it one of Baxton’s CTs. It was the leader of the Holy Power Force, Holy Red.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but you can wait like everyone else to die. It’s the parasite’s turn right now.”

Holy Red didn’t bother to heed the warhammer CT’s warning. He simply kept pushing forward with a feeling of authority in each of his steps.

“Hey! I’m talking to you, weirdo! You lost or something?! Unless you wanna die, back off!”

Holy Red kept ignoring the warhammer CT and pressed onward. He kept walking until he was almost right in front of us and stopped. As he did, he looked around the area in front of him. Specifically the governor’s palace. As he did this, the warhammer CT got in his face.

“Now’s not the time to go sightseeing, super hero.” he shrunk his warhammer and swung it across Holy Red’s face.

But Holy Red’s body didn’t react to the hammer. In fact, he didn’t even move one inch…because the hammer passed right through him. And as the hammer passed seamlessly through the bottom half of his face, instead of blood flying out, it was flower petals. These petals however, were very special. My mother would always tell me about them back in Haustoria. The blue brunnera flowers were the country’s national flower. They stood for eternal love, peace, and understanding. To have a man like that standing in front of me…he must be…

“Ha…mi…” I muttered under my breath.