“URAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The mummy screamed out as it kept making space between himself and I. Every time I would try to advance towards him, he and the ghost controlled by the wannabe gentleman would deploy a strategy that was getting more annoying by the second.

The ghost would try to do one of two things. Either phase through me, or punch me. Whenever it phased through me, it would have my body tense up and frozen for five seconds. Within those five seconds, either the wannabe gentleman would try to attack me or the mummy would try to restrict me. Either way, I was always a step ahead of the fight and kept myself out of range so neither party could attack me. The ghost moves too fast for my blade, so how how the hell am I gonna—

Wait. This time around the baldy in the suit is gonna reach me! I can’t deflect or move out in time! Am I…going to die here? Without accomplishing anything?!

Pang!

Out of nowhere a blue rod intercepted and redirected the rapier attack. This made the baldy step ever so slightly off balance. I took this stroke of luck immediately. I planted both of my feet on the ground, raised my sword with both hands and went for a downward swing that would split the man in two, but his ghost was able to stop me once more in my tracks.

“Derris!”

There’s no way that’s who I think it is…

“What are you standing around for?! Get over here!” A familiar voice rang out that I could easily discern as Arno.

If I could move right now, I would, dumbass!

Rono swung his staff to push me away from the two aggressors and toward them. By the time I was safe, I was free to move around again. I looked to my side to see a beaten up Arno and Rono.

“You guys look like garbage.” I said.

“I feel like garbage.” Rono said as he hung his head low.

“You haven’t wrapped up your fight yet, Derris?” Arno said with that same stupid-ass blank stare.

I just stared at him.

“I would think you out of all people would be the first to finish up”

I kept staring.

“What’s been taking you so long? Are these guys really that strong?—”

“HELL NO!” I screamed at him, making Rono recoil in fear and Arno himself to bend backward as I got into his face. “I’m gonna kick their asses here and when I do, I’m going to kill the boss!”

“Good luck with that, young chap! Daniel is worlds stronger than me!” The Baldy chimed in.

“Why does he talk like that? What’s a chap?” Arno muttered as he tilted his head in confusion.

As I stepped forward, Rono piped up once more. “A-are you sure you don’t want our help? It’s not like this is a merit thing anymore. Since Arno and I are here now, we’re going on your report for the fight regardless—”

“I’m gonna tell you exactly what that report’s gonna say: Derris Zi Fotrot versus two New Dawn Members. Derris overwhelmingly wins. Casualties: Two dead New Dawn Members!”

===

“Before we begin, allow me to introduce myself to any new parties in the area! Former Chief Wennot Rosaria, in the flesh! My compatriot here is Meto Rosaria! A pleasure to meet both of—”

“KILL! THEM! ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!” Meto dashed past the baldy and came rushing towards me with several bandages slithering towards me. I cut through the ones in front and made my move toward the bandaged freak.

“KILL!” a force was pulling Meto right above me and I looked up to notice that the bandages I ignored earlier were pulling him right above me. I swung my blade upwards to cut Meto in half, but he was just too quick and sporadic. He spun and contorted his body, retracting all suspended bandages, and then shot them all out to restrain every part of my body, starting with my hands. Once I was bound, He came down at full force and whaled on me over and over.

Arno

“Uh oh…” I said.

“What do you mean ‘uh oh?!’” Rono asked me.

“I didn’t think about the matchup…”

Derris has a really big sword. These guys seem to be quick on their feet. As soon as they close the distance, Derris has no choice but to either defend or take out his opponents in one swing. But no matter how quickly he tries to react, he can’t make up that difference. The difference in their fighting styles is creating a gap that he can’t overcome. And this is the result…

Derris was easily overwhelmed by the bandaged guy and was now getting beaten down. Rono and I had to step in or they were going to kill him. I activated my stemata and as soon as I did, I propelled forward with my arm out, ready to clothesline Meto. Rono followed directly behind me to lend his support.

“Oh no you don’t! This is a fair one on one fight!” Wennot used his ghost with one swift motion. Rono was able to read where it was coming from and dodge it by using his stemata to move out of the way. I however, had the ghost pass through and freeze me.

But it didn’t stop me from moving.

One of the first things Instructor Matthews taught me was to think outside of the box and ask questions to yourself when it comes to stematas. Which made me think: the ghost freezes, but is there anything it doesn’t freeze? Like for example: if I were to roll down a hill and have the ghost past through me, would I keep rolling down the hill? Looks like I got my answer! This thing just freezes people! It doesn’t freeze their motion!

Blazing Soul… I thought because I could say it out loud.

Freezing Lariat! I echoed in my consciousness as my body slammed into Meto and carried him off until I was able to move my body. Meto let out an ear-splitting scream and as he did, various pieces of cloth wrapped around my neck and tightened. As soon as I regained my ability to move, I took my already balled fist and brought it down like a hammer onto Meto, sending him flying and crashing into a barrel. The barrel had oranges drop and roll onto the ground as Meto quickly recovered with a stagger.

“You don’t…know…”

“Huh?”

“To have everything taken from you…YOU DON’T KNOWWWWWWW!” Meto screamed out as he sprouted dozens of bandages out and wrapped my right wrist in them. Probably to concentrate on a single point to win a tug of war.

“I don’t know what it’s like? Of course I do!”

I swung my bound wrist as hard as I could, suspending the bandages connecting us before pulling him through several buildings. I immediately used my strength to pull him out of the wooden building he was in before catching my breath.

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“I lost my home and family when the Fall of Haustoria happened. But I didn’t turn out like you guys…why? I’ve been wondering that as this fight’s been going on between our group and yours. ”

“Because you are weak…” As the debris cleared, he retracted his bandages and staggeringly stepped toward me.

“Instead of finding your aggressors, facing them, taking revenge, you wish to ignore that they even exist. You’re PATHETIC! WORTHLESS! HOPELESS! NOBODY IN THIS WORLD IS AS PITIFUL AS YOU, HAUSTORIAN!” Meto screamed as he ran towards me.

Rono

As Arno handled Meto, I ran over to the downed Derris and assessed the situation. Derris was wounded on the floor whilst the ghost was coming at us from our left while Wennot was coming at us from our right.

“I…don’t need your guy’s help! Piss off—” Before Derris could finish, Wennot was thrusting his rapier downward, aiming right at his neck. Before he could kill him, I extended my staff and pushed him as far away as possible. Apparently you can’t touch the ghost, but if it touches you, you can’t move. That means that there’s only one option to win: beat the stemata user! I dodged the ghost and jumped straight for Wennot. We went back and forth like dancers on a stage as our weapons clashed over and over. I interwove spins to feint and parry the multiple thrusts that came back to back not even a second from each other. The ghost would interfere every so often but as long as I kept my guard up, the ghost wasn’t getting to me.

"Move it!" I heard Derris' voice from directly behind me and dodged out of the way just in time for his stemata to come flying towards Wennot. He easily hopped away, but Derris kept directing the blade to follow the Rosarian. Wennot jumped onto a rooftop and kept running.

I followed from the ground, anticipating the moment he would drop to evade it, then when he finally did, I braced myself to send him flying with my stemata.

“What the hell are you doing? Get up there!” Derris yelled at me.

Couldn’t Derris tell, with the way Wennot was moving, he was preparing to launch a counter attack. “He’s about to drop down—”

But it was too late. I was frozen in place. I lost focus of the ghost because Derris kept distracting me!

"Game set and match!" Wennot said as he descended down upon me, rapier at the ready.

Seriously?! I'm gonna die like this?! I just started to get the hang of things though!

CLANG

I watched as Arno came out of nowhere and kicked Wennot away from me. Before I could even thank him though, multiple bandages clasped onto his neck and dragged him away.

I got control of my body and as soon as I did, I made a resolution. If I don't focus on this fight, Arno and I will lose. I can't entertain Derris' behavior. He can't help us here.

“Now’s our chance, Rono! Let’s take him out!” Derris started running towards the recovering Wennot.

“Yeah…let’s…” I said as I let out a heavy sigh…

And stuck my foot out.

“Wha?!—” Derris tripped over my foot and went into a stumble that was immediately stopped by my stemata extending and slamming him into the ground, knocking him out.

“Sorry about that, Derris.” I apologized to my now unconscious colleague.

“Would you believe me if I told you this was the second time I saw CTs turn against each other today, young chap?”

“Yeah, we’re a pretty weird bunch…” I scratched the back of my head and as soon as I did, Wennot’s rapier was already millimeters away from his face. I quickly reacted by extending my staff and launching myself onto the tracks of a nearby rollercoaster. Wennot immediately followed by running to the platform, stepping onto the tracks, and walking towards me. I extended my stemata right towards him and he responded by swiping it out of the way. As he did, it was just enough to turn the dial and get the machine moving. He glanced immediately at the control panel and realized what my plan was.

“You have to be smarter than that, mate. Hitting me with a roller coaster isn’t a bad idea, but all I have to do is keep track of when it loops around and I’ll be fine. If anything, it becomes quite the cherrywib for you.”

The hell is a cherrywib?

I immediately shook the thought as the both of us jumped over the incoming rollercoaster. The counting for the next loop began as soon as our feet touched the ground.

One…

I clashed back and forth with Wennot, the both of us jumping over the gaps while trying to find a weak point in the other person.

Thirty…

I jumped on the guardrail to get to the high ground and as soon as I did, Wennot darted his eyes to check if the roller coaster was coming. I took that opportunity to extend my staff and send him flying into the opposing guardrail.

Sixty…

I felt the vibrations of the incoming ride and propelled into the air with my stemata to dodge it. Wennot just as easily jumped to dodge it. The both of us landed on our feet and continued our bout. Sixty seconds! One minute! I’ve noted the time as well as Wennot. It’s time to get serious and take this victory!

Wennot

Sixty seconds is a simple enough time frame to keep track of! The young chap is finished! I can already see his movements are getting sluggish. I’m a chief that’s well known for my extraordinary level of attrition in battle. I’ll wipe the floor with the boy when the opportunity is presented and help Meto take down the Haustorian—

Almost like a bullet flying past me—no, a bullet isn’t the right word. After all, this thing was way larger in size compared to a bullet. When I looked at it fly off in the distance, I realized that it was the body of my compatriot. The man I’ve been fighting with. My son in law, Meto flying through the air, was defeated. This put both the young chap and I’s battle on pause as we gazed upon this sight.

“Yoooooo Rono! Pack it up!”

The first thing that I noticed was fist, still in the striking pose he used to defeat my ally.

“We’ve gotta meet everyone at the Council of Six Museum!” He pumped his air in victory as he approached.

“W-woah! Is Derris knocked out over here?!” But was immediately stopped by the boy's unconscious body.

“Y-yeah…I’m sorry. It’s just that he was kind of…how do I explain…”

“For some reason…I totally get it!” The Haustorian dropped to take a seat on the floor and observe our fight.

“You got this, Rono! You’re a good guy, after all! And if Holy Power Force teaches anything, it’s that the good guys always win!”

“Right!” the young chap named Rono readied his stance once more.

“Sorry to say lads, but the real world isn’t anything like your comic books.” I readied my stance as well.

Sixty!

The both of us narrowly dodged the roller coaster and as soon as our feet touched the ground, we sprinted directly towards each other and began our battle once more.

Just like I figured, his movements were getting more and more sluggish. With each several clashes we made he was pushed by five rungs. I know exactly how I’ll end this. I’ll get him as slow as possible and when it’s time for the ride to swing around, I’ll get Sonny to paralyze him. He’ll be killed by his own method for victory! What a fitting end!

As I pushed him back further and further, the internal clock that kept track of the ride was telling me that it was almost time. I pushed him back just a bit more for assurance and gave Sonny his order.

Paralyze him, Sonny!

He flew through the air and successfully paralyzed the young chap with ease. He was probably finding it harder to keep up with this fight and is paying attention to less things. Such a thing plays out perfectly for me. After all, his detriment is an advantage for me. I jumped in the air and waited for the ride to come and hit him.

The ride that didn’t come…

In the split second that I landed on my feet, I glanced behind me and saw the ride speeding towards me. I had no other choice but to jump again. When I did, I looked to the front of me and saw the young chap suspended in the air above me. His eyes fixed, his visage focused as the ride flew past the both of us. He wasted no time in his advance as he extended his pole. I dodged it and used it as a launching pad to make space between the both of us, but he was right in front of me before I could even properly recover. My mind was jumbled as I attempted to try to figure out: where did this sudden burst of energy come from? Was he pretending the entire time? No…this is his last burst of energy. If I can exert the last bit of his energy, I can win. But what about the ride? Why did it come later? It can’t be because of his stemata, right? No, I’m certain that he can only extend that staff. So what’s going on—damn it! I can barely think with everything I’m putting forth in this! If I stay on these tracks I’ll get hit for sure! I have to leave—

I looked over to the exiting platform and saw the Haustorian giving me a death glare. It’s as if his overwhelming presence alone was forcing me to stay in this arena. I have no choice but to play it out then…

I gave my best but realized that the situation was now a reversal of the earlier part of this battle. I was constantly moving backward, with no space being afforded to me. That’s when all of a sudden, the young chap leaped into the air with the use of his stemata. But why? The ride isn’t supposed to be coming for another—

That’s when I turned my head and realized that I was face to face with the ride. I realized at that point what he was planning. He not only kept track of the ride, he was also keeping track of the ride as we fought at later and earlier stages of it in hopes that I would get the timing mixed up. His hopes were right on the spot…

The ride came at me at high speeds and without any hopes of dodging, as I was immediately pulled down the tracks and every bone was crushed in my body, the ride sped past me, nearly instantly crushing me in the process.

With my blurry, blood-red vision I attempted to move my body, but there was no chance. This is where my attempt at revenge ends. I looked over to see Sonny’s expression. And when I looked…I still saw it. A wide frown on his face. All this time, you’ve been frowning Sonny. I understand your feelings. You’re right! I can’t let it all end like this. I’ll destroy it all!

The blue crystal on my stemata began to turn red as I pushed past my limits and overclocked my stemata. I could feel the ghosts of the deceased swarm around me as my body lifted off of the ground.

I’ll destroy everything for what they did to us! For what they did to you!