For a long moment the two men faced each other without speaking, moving or even breathing. The silence was very, very loud. At least on the outside.

[Kay]: "What’s the plan?" The girl’s businesslike question rung clearly in Soketsu’s head, taking advantage of their shared consciousness to exchange words faster than vocal speech would have ever allowed.

[Soketsu]: "We strike first and we hit him hard," He told her firmly. "I don’t want to make the same mistake twice."

[Kay]: "No throwing!" She warned him sternly. Soketsu sighed inwardly.

[Soketsu]: "No throwing," Came the dry answer. "As for the actual fight… one-fourth should be enough."

[Kay]: "Roger."

The moment she spoke Soketsu could once again feel the viridia coursing through his veins accelerating and he readied himself for a charge. He lowered his center of gravity, and after a moment of consideration he let go of his halberd with his right hand. In the cramped office the only way he could use his weapon was for trusting, and while perforating the annoying scientist’s skin was a distinctly alluring proposition, it would sadly interfere with interrogating him afterwards. As such his goal was to get into grappling range and subdue the man ASAP.

Just then, as he was about to launch himself, there was a loud popping noise as the sides of Pabloc’s desk suddenly opened up, revealing two small hidden storage spaces. One was filled with half a dozen hiltless blades. Each of them was a good thirty centimeters, the length of a long knife that was on the verge of being an outright sword, and they took to the air with a snap of Pabloc’s fingers.

Conversely, the other compartment held six solid metal balls, each the size of a man’s fist. They were smooth and reflective like giant ball-bearings and they too rose from their sockets at a flick of the scientist’s fingers.

After a short pirouette in the air the knives lined up in front of Pabloc, points aimed right at Soketsu. The metal balls also floated beside him, though much more ponderously.

[Soketsu]: "Well, that complicates things…" Soketsu said in his head wryly. "I think you better prep the eye."

[Kay]: "Isn’t that against guns?"

[Soketsu]: "Bullets, flying knives, I don’t see the difference."

Just then there was a flicker of movement and Soketsu instinctively dodged to the right. The incoming projectile, barely more than a blur in the air, sailed past him and out the open door. Soketsu let out a silent curse. These things were fast. He didn’t have the leisure time to idle for long though, as a moment later another blade was streaking as his direction and he barely had time to duck aside.

These blades, unlike typical throwing weapons, didn’t tumble through the air. Instead they flew straight and true without even a hint of an arc, their viciously sharp tips pointing at their target without erring. Under other circumstances Soketsu would have actually considered that as a flaw to exploit, as it allowed someone with his heightened senses and speed to parry them as if they were sword thrusts. Unfortunately that required space to move around, something he didn’t have.

He twisted his upper body again and barely managed to avoid another projectile, but by the time he regained his footing and tried to rush at Pabloc another knife whistled through the air, forcing him to evade and throwing him off-balance yet again.

His original plan of striking first and grabbing Pabloc was in tatters, but he had nothing better to replace it yet. He had a number of lethal options that could get around his current conundrum, but they would rob him of the possibility to apprehend the rogue scientist; and through him his allies. He needed an alternative, one that preferably left the man alive and able to talk.

He took a sharp breath and he observed his environment with a strangely detached clarity that often descended on him in the heat of battle.

First off, he needed cover. While he was confident he could dodge the blades coming at him indefinitely, at least as long as they came ones and twos, he wasn’t nearly as optimistic about his chances in case Pabloc decided to use more than that at once.

He had two options present: Temporarily retreat through the open door or hide behind the wooden desk, the only decent cover in the entire room.

He considered the first alternative and then quickly discarded the idea. No, there was another door at the back, the one where the blonde girl entered before. While the scientist did declare that he would fight him, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t slip out of the room while Soketsu was hiding on the other side of the entrance. After that, who knew what kind of further defenses the man could have roused if he got out of sight? Also, even if Pabloc followed after him, it would have meant ‘taking things outside’ and doing just what his opponent wanted on the first place. Now, that just won’t do. It was a matter of principle.

That left the desk. It seemed solid enough, and since Pabloc was floating at the back of the room, hiding behind it put one just outside of his line of sight. On the other hand it was in the same general direction as Pabloc, so any rush towards it would meet the same counterattack as if Soketsu was going right at him.

Soketsu didn’t hesitate for long. After a moment of concentration he lunged forwards with a faint flash of green at his feet. One of Pabloc’s blades answered his charge by flying right at him. This time he didn’t dodge. Instead he raised his plated fist, grit his teeth and swiped the knife out of the air with the back of his hand. Metal slid on metal, and for a moment Soketsu was afraid the edge of the blade would find its way between the plates of his gauntlet, but in the end he got through— only to face another projectile following closely after the first.

He didn’t even attempt to parry that one. Instead he dropped down to the ground feet first and slid to the desk, hitting it with a muffled thump. So far so good.

Only then did he realize that there had been a small, throbbing pain shooting through his right shoulder. He glanced over and let out a surprisingly eloquent curse under his breath. Apparently the blade he parried went on and hit his shoulder, slashing right through his outer surcoat and the soft ballistic mesh underneath. Thankfully even a cursory inspection could tell that the wound was skin-deep at best, but that was the second time he gave first blood to his opponent this day. It was infuriating, to say the least.

With that said and done, he took a deep breath and decided to take full advantage of the few seconds of lull his cover provided him to come up with something that resembled a plan of advance. For starters, he wasn’t expecting either the magecraft or the projectiles, so he had no counter-measures prepared against them. It was about time he rectified that.

For the former, Soketsu only had tidbits of information to go on. First off, if what Pabloc said was true, then his ability had an astounding range, being able to precisely move his floating screens (though, in retrospect, they were just screens) from across the facility. He also gathered that he preferred to use light objects, or possibly he could only use light objects to begin with. Sure, the man floated, and he managed to move him as the opening act of their fight, but it was a far cry from the speed and elegance of his smaller tools. That could even hint to some inverse-relation there. The heavier the object, the harder it is for him to move it—

Soketsu paused for a moment and had to struggle not to chuckle. Nice observation there, Captain Obvious. Not that it made it any less valid, but still…

Then came the issue of the projectiles. The blades, while light and not carrying much of a force, were incredibly sharp. He gathered that much from the cut on his shoulder. They were also fast— though not so fast that he wasn’t able to track them with his eye. Thankfully Pabloc was really bad at using them effectively, so they seemed manageable under the right circumstances.

Finally, he had to wonder about the large ball bearings floating around his opponent in a seemingly random pattern. This far he only used his blades to strike, but those had to have some kind of purpose too. Maybe they were defensive?

Just then a familiar sound caught his ear and he instinctively dropped to the ground, his back still at the desk. Because of that he had a perfect view of the knife flying at him from the direction of the entrance, no doubt trying to flush him out of his cover.

With Soketsu out of the way the blade hit the desk, embedding itself a good two or three centimeters deep into the wood. There were some muffled curses from Pabloc in response, but Soketsu was more worried about the fact that the scientist was able to strike at him without seeing him.

The Rover sprung to his knee and cautiously peered over the edge of the desk. Pabloc was still floating at a safe distance and he was staring daggers at him (which in his case was oddly literal). He still had all of his knifes— all save the one embedded in the desk, that is, and for some reason that left Soketsu with a nagging feeling. It took him a glance at the stack of transparent screens sitting in the corner to finally realize what was bothering him: the scientist was holding back.

In fact, he was holding back big time. He could move all those objects, and he had seen him move the much bigger screens as well, so he should have had no problem with skewering him with a full volley at any time. He was capable of doing so, but instead he was only probing at him, only sending out his blades in ones or twos. Sure, both of them declared that they wanted the other alive, which made this confrontation a little less hairy than usual, but he could see no reason why his opponent wouldn’t capitalize on his advantage, unless…

Then recognition suddenly hit him like a bucketful of bricks. The bastard was playing with him! Him! The Soketsu of the Order!

Soketsu: "Cocky bastard…" His whisper trembled under his breath as an indignant scowl knit his brows together and he could feel an uncomfortable yet somehow familiar heat rising in his chest. Now, more than ever, he wanted to grab the scientist and beat him to an inch of his life. In fact, he was going to do just that, floating trash be damned. All the consideration, all the thinking he had done in the past few seconds went out the window, giving way to action.

Without a moment of hesitation he set his shoulder against his cover, planted his feet and let out an almost animalistic roar. The one eyed man’s sudden bellow seemingly stunned Pabloc. That, or it was the oaken desk flying his way. One or the other.

The shock only lasted for a moment though. The bespectacled man hastily extended his hands towards the impromptu projectile, fingers open wide, and it immediately froze on its trajectory.

So he can work on heavy objects after all. Better keep it in mind next time, noted a small, analytical corner of Soketsu’s mind. Then he shoved any unnecessary thoughts aside as he burst forth from under the floating desk, accompanied by another war cry and a dim flash of green light as he swung his weapon upwards.

It was a clumsy strike from an uncomfortable position with little power behind it, but it served its purpose. Pabloc instinctively moved his blades in defense, forming a vaguely interlocking plane of metal in front of the halberd before dodging in the direction of the swing. Steel met steel, but with the scientist’s attention divided between upholding his guard and escaping, there was little contest. Soketsu scattered the blades with a grunt of effort and his teeth flashed in a fierce grin. Until this moment he didn’t even know he had a plan, but for some reason he was sure the scientist was right where he wanted him to be.

Soketsu took a split-second to steady himself and pounced right at his opponent with another deafening bellow, his weapon held low for a stabbing lunge. Pabloc visibly winced at this display of overt aggression and he flew back by reflex, just as Soketsu expected from a non-combatant under pressure. With a predatory grin he trained the tip of his polearm onto the man’s chest and went after him without any hint of his previous non-lethal considerations.

It was at this point that Pabloc’s back hit the rear wall of the room. His alerted eyes snapped back at the Rover leaping his way and he flashed a wry smile of all things. After a fleeing moment of hesitation he rose up to the ceiling and with a small groan of effort he picked up speed, flying right over Soketsu with a faintly muttered ‘Up and away!’.

Soketsu: "Stop messing around!"

The Rover considered striking at him, but then he had an idea. It went against his previous declarations, but for some reason he couldn’t find it in himself to care…

Soketsu tumbled past the flying man but then he planted the butt of his weapon and, after a series of seemingly impossible contortions he managed to swing his body around to collide with the wall feet-first. It wasn’t a perfect landing and the impact shook him to the core but he was too busy to care. With a cry of effort he kicked off from the wall and followed after Pabloc, using his still grounded halberd as leverage to aim himself. It was only then that he noticed he forgot something. It was big, wooden and floating right in his path.

There was a moment of panic. Then it passed, and it was replaced by a detached, icy serenity. Soketsu stared at the object in front of him, and without even thinking he grabbed hold of it with a flaring green hand. He knew that his body was making the motions, and he was sure that what he was doing was incredibly intuitive, yet he had absolutely no idea just what exactly he was doing.

What he knew for sure was that instead of crashing headlong into the desk he, for the lack of better words, slid around it. His hands and legs, moving independently as if performing practiced motions, guided his body around the floating furniture without changing his trajectory or losing any of his momentum. In fact he could faintly remember bracing against the side of the airborne furniture and using it as a jumping platform at the very last moment, but he wasn’t sure even about that. By the time he regained his faculties he was already on the ground rolling, and a moment later he jumped to his feet to chase after Pabloc with another challenging bellow.

He had him on the run, and it seemed like Pabloc couldn’t move and strike at him at the same time, so every fiber of his body told him that he should be pressing his assault and end it as quickly as he can.

In the meantime Pabloc glanced back and his left brow rose involuntarily at the sight of the Rover rushing after him. The relaxed expression somehow made his face look even more punchable than before and Soketsu charged forward, not letting the pressure up for even a moment. After all, the more pressure there was, the less chance his target had to realize he was being guided.

To be precise, he was chasing Pabloc towards the entrance to take the fight outside, principles be damned, and in mere seconds he forced him out the door and into the corridor of the facility.

The logic behind that move seemed quite sensible— at the time. The wide, well lit corridors were naturally much more advantageous for a polearm like Soketsu’s halberd and it allowed him greater freedom when it came to evading as well.

What he didn’t consider in the heat of the moment was that the same spacious corridors were also providing a lot more space for Pabloc to move around, which he immediately demonstrated by leaving the Rover in the dust by flying back a good five meters in the blink of an eye. Soketsu could arguably follow after him at leisure, but he was fine with letting him increase the distance that much, at least for the moment.

Pabloc: "Huh…" The scientist groaned, expression his expression suddenly irate. "When I ask you to take things outside you refuse. Then you wreck the room I asked you not to wreck, and then you take the fight outside." He growled with a severe scowl. "I am not amused."

Soketsu: "Oh, bite me." Soketsu scoffed at him as he too left the room and whirled his weapon, partly to show off his newfound range and partly just to show off in general. "I work with what I got. Not to mention I don’t like cramped spaces."

Saying so he casually reached behind himself, closed the door and then wrenched off the doorknob with a hard jerk of his right. Pabloc frowned at him, and for good reason. In the confusion of his escape he left all but one of his blades in the office, and Soketsu just made him unable to recover them. Then, after a moment of consideration he shook his head and grinned defiantly at his opponent.

Pabloc: "Actually? Neither do I." He laughed while readjusting his glasses and then leveled a focused gaze at his opponent.

Before Soketsu could grasp the meaning behind the scientist’s words he was once again assailed by the familiar prickling sensation on his temple. This time he didn’t dodge, but instead he swung his weapon and swapped the blade coming from the left out of the air with a satisfying clang. The projectile on the right side, on the other hand, hit him without advance notice.

Soketsu let out a surprised yelp, followed by a hiss of pain, as one of the ball-bearings came at him from his blind spot after circling around him and struck him in the side of his chest under his raised arm.

He instinctively rolled with the impact, greatly diminishing its force, but when he rose onto his feet he could once again feel his previously cracked rib acting up. And then there was another movement, the solitary blade coming at him from a low angle. He prepared to parry, but then his body was rocked by another impact, this time on his right shoulder blade. It was another blunt blow, but on the bright side it accidentally got him out of the blade’s way. Or… was it really an accident?

In retrospect Soketsu had to admit that getting the battle into a more open area might not have been one of his brightest ideas after all. While it was true that the wide tunnels gave him much greater freedom when it came to wielding his halberd, it didn’t even compare to the amount of freedom it provided to his opponent. In fact Pabloc seemed to have a field day with the change in the scenery, using the larger space to exploit Soketsu’s blind spots.

Not only that, he was also using the solitary blade as a constant distraction. It made a lot of sense in retrospect. The bespectacled man wanted to capture Soketsu, so the blades were only decoys. He used them first to establish them as a credible threat that made it necessary to focus on them, opening Soketsu up for strikes from the much slower iron balls now. It was a cheap and therefore incredibly effective tactic.

Soketsu let loose another colorful curse and dove under the newest incoming projectile only to be grazed by another coming from the other side. Now that his head cooled down a little, he really wished he could get back into the office. Why did he ever think chasing the man out into the open was a good idea?! What the hell was wrong with him today?!

Under other circumstances he might have went ahead and searched for a silent corner to contemplate on that question for a while, and he might have even wondered about why he still looked like he was having fun even though he was being pelted by iron balls. But then again, the former prevented him from retreating anyway and the latter made him didn’t want to retreat on the first place. Not until he extensively introduced the scientist’s face to the concrete floor, at the very least.

[Soketsu]: "How’s the eye?" He asked silently between two volleys. "Is it ready yet?"

[Kay]: "Barely." His partner answered glumly. "You have been messing up the startup sequence."

[Soketsu]: "I have?" He said with eyebrows raised before he rolled forward to dodge a strike and get closer to Pabloc at the same time, only to find that the scientist flew back just enough to keep the exact same distance. He clicked his tongue in frustration before returning to the conversation. "When?"

[Kay]: "During your stunt with the desk. You used up almost as much of our reserve as the rest of the fights put together. I had to compensate." There was a thoughtful pause for a moment and she continued, "How did you do that anyway? I have never seen you use viridia like that before."

[Soketsu]: "I have absolutely no idea." Soketsu answered.

[Kay]: "Weird."

[Soketsu]: "Tell me about it," The man grumbled. "I will try to get into a better position. Fire up the eye when I give you the signal."

[Kay]: "What’s the signal?"

[Soketsu]: "The usual."

There was a brief silence and then Kay let out a muffled giggle.

[Kay]: "You are really like theatrics, don’t you?"

Soketsu wanted to give a snappy answer, but then his right leg was grazed by an iron ball, dropping him onto one knee.

[Soketsu]: "We’ll talk about that later," He said as he rolled to the side, barely avoiding two more projectiles in the process.

[Kay]: "Roger." There was a smile in Kay’s voice, prompting Soketsu to shake his head as jumped onto his feet again, only to be nearly knocked senseless by another steel ball aimed at his forehead.

Due to his expertise at taking blows (read: pure luck), the projectile only grazed the top of his head as it passed on, but it still hurt like hell and for a moment he could see stars dancing inside his eyelid.

Soketsu grit his teeth, forced his eye open, and began running towards the scientist even as a number of other projectiles were closing in on him. He didn’t care about them, his visible eye locked onto the floating man instead. He didn’t move, probably because there was still a good ten meters between them. Good, Soketsu murmured with a smile.

He once again let go of his halberd with one hand and focused on the incoming objects. The blade was coming straight at him from a low angle with speeds that made the ball bearing closing in on him from the right in an arc look almost ponderous. Those were the visible ones, so Soketsu presumed there was at least one but more likely two others hiding in his blind spots, waiting for an opening. Not this time.

He waited for the very last moment. He needed to be as close to Pabloc as possible. One step. Two. He almost risked a third but thought better of it. He took enough risks for one day.

By then his right hand was already up to his face and his mouth unconsciously twisted into a defiant smirk. His feet reached the ground to complete his third step and he simultaneously grabbed hold of his eye-patch. With a single forceful tug he practically tore it off his face, which was just as well. The clasps on the piece of leather were designed with this in mind, after all.

As it fell from his hand he swiftly opened his left eye and raised its crimson glare at his opponent.

There was a suddenly explosion of viridia in Soketsu’s veins as he took a small but blindingly fast step to the right, casually side-stepping the incoming blade without as much as looking at it. The action easily segued into a flourish of his weapon, catching the still flying knife in the short beak of his halberd and pulling it off its trajectory.

While taking another step forward the Rover swung his weapon overhead, the knife still glued to it by momentum, and hit the incoming metal ball, sending both blade and bearing tumbling down the tunnel behind him. All of it was performed with perfect precision, yet his eyes never left Pabloc.

Of course there was the issue of the inevitable hidden strike that was soon to follow. But then again, it wasn’t hidden anymore. On the fifth and sixth steps he changed his grip on his weapon again and half-turned to the left just as the ball-bearing shadowing him rushed in for a strike.

He extended his right hand, palm open, and grabbed hold of the ball. It was heavy, and while it didn’t move with the speed of the blades, it still had enough momentum behind it that stopping it with one hand would have been a tall order. But then again, he didn’t plan on stopping it per se.

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Instead he pushed it a little, making its trajectory just a little higher and to the left, and then gave it some extra speed by driving it forward with all the strength his viridia-enhanced muscles could muster, sending it right at his target.

Pabloc’s eyes opened wide in a mix of surprise and admiration as he realized what the Rover was doing and he immediately raised his hands towards the incoming projectile. Soketsu figured he would be able to stop it. He stopped the desk after all. But that wasn’t his ultimate goal.

Just like before, the scientist froze in the air, concentrating on halting his own hijacked weapon and not focusing on Soketsu. Big mistake. By the time he realized this the Rover was in arm’s reach, and incidentally his arm was indeed reaching out towards him.

For a moment Soketsu let glee wash over him over the success of his gambit and was already planning on what he would do to the annoying bastard for putting him through all this trouble. Now, that was his big mistake, and its consequences came in the form of a pair of designer leather shoe heels digging right into his face.

Soketsu let out a surprised yelp as he tumbled backwards, only to be yanked forwards as his hands involuntarily clasped onto something. Then there was a tearing noise and he staggered back again, finally regaining his footing.

After a brief moment of confusion he raised his eyes at his opponent, once again floating at a respectable distance and for some reason circling his right shoulder. Also, there was a piece of the bottom of his coat missing. Soketsu glanced at his still clenched hand and after a small display of displeasure he dropped the piece of white cloth in it onto the ground.

Pabloc: "So you still had something up your sleeve after all…" The scientist quipped with a smile that didn’t quite touch his eyes, prompting Soketsu to glare at him again. "How come I am not surprised?"

Soketsu: "I am getting tired of this." Soketsu sighed in response and readied his weapon once again.

Pabloc: "Before that…" Pabloc raised a hand with an intrigued smile. "I can’t help but wonder about your eye. The glowing red one, I mean."

Soketsu took a step towards his foe as he gestured to his eye.

Soketsu: "It’s one of the perks of being the Soketsu of the Rovers." Once again he knew that it was wholly unprofessional to brag in the middle of battle, but he couldn’t help it even though he could feel the disapproving glare of his partner in his head. "It’s an experimental magecraft—"

Pabloc: "Core Hacking." The scientist corrected, but then he noticed Soketsu’s glare and let out a light cough. "Never mind, please continue."

Soketsu: "As I was saying, it is inscribed into my body as a counter-measure against guns. It allows me to perceive and react to everything around me in all three dimensions, no matter how fast they are, without any blind spots. It’s the Mystic Eye of Depth Perception."

For a few seconds, the scientist was visibly shocked. He tried opening his mouth then closed it without a sound. After repeating that a few more times he suddenly raised his hand to his glasses with a conflicted expression.

Pabloc: "You… do realize that depth perception is not a superpower… do you?"

Now it was Soketsu’s turn to show signs of shock as he slowly cocked his head to the side.

Soketsu: "Come again?”

Pabloc: "Depth perception. Unless everyone on the outside turned into cyclop… cyclopses? Cyclopes?" He murmured but then shook the head. "The plural of cyclops. Anyway, unless everyone turned into one since I came here, it should be nothing special."

Soketsu: "… Are you trying to tell me the power that I just used doesn’t exist?"

For the first time since their meeting the scientist raised his voice while poking the bridge of his glasses with one finger.

Pabloc: "Listen, because I’m only going to explain this once: Depth perception is not a superpower. Everyone has it."

Soketsu: "… You are delusional." Soketsu said dismissively.

Pabloc: "No, I’m not. You are. Or at the very least someone with a crooked sense of humor is having some serious laughs at your expense back at the Order."

Still skeptical, Soketsu shook his head.

Soketsu: "Maybe you just think everyone has it because you have it?" He mused. Pabloc cocked his head in response.

Pabloc: "Excuse me?"

Soketsu: "You are moving things around with your magic, so I suppose having the power of depth perception is natural to you. Or…" Soketsu nodded thoughtfully. "I get it. It must be the glasses."

Apparently the scientist was so baffled that he had to stop floating for a minute.

Pabloc: "… Come again?"

Soketsu: "It actually makes sense in retrospect," Soketsu continued completely oblivious to the man’s reaction. "Every single time you were using your magic, you were fidgeting with your glasses.”

Pabloc: "No, I’m not fidgeting with my glasses." The scientist declared firmly while pushing said glasses up the bridge of his nose, and then hastily added, "And no, they don’t have any ‘power’ either."

Soketsu: "And that’s exactly what you would say if they had." Soketsu said sagely and then flashed a wolfish smile at his opponent. "But it also means that if I can take those away from you, I would cripple your power. How careless of you, giving away vital information like that…"

For a second Pabloc seemed sincerely bewildered but then he let out a tired sigh as he stopped messing with his glasses and let his hand fall by his side.

Pabloc: "You know what? Right. It was very careless of me to try and explain anything to you. Woe is me." He shrugged and spoke again with a smile. "But on the bright side, you forgot something as well."

Soketsu twitched and tensed up immediately. He scanned his environment using his crimson eye, but to his surprise he saw nothing moving. He sent a questioning glance at the scientist and Pabloc casually inclined his head towards the ground.

Soketsu’s eyes followed his gaze and they fell on one of the metal balls sitting on the ground, right next to the Rover’s feet. After a moment he figured it was the one he threw at Pabloc beforehand. The scientist apparently let it drop out of the air when he made his retreat… except… Soketsu didn’t remember it glowing bright red before.

Soketsu: "Shit!" Soketsu exclaimed and tried to jump back. He was too late.

There was a tiny clicking noise coming from the ball, and a moment later it, for the lack of better words, imploded on itself in a flash of multi-colored light. Soketsu was hit by a gust of scolding hot air followed by a deep, bone-rattling boom that sent him reeling back several meters. At first his head went blank, but then his entire body was burning at icy cold at the same time and his head felt like it was about to break into tiny little pieces while his eyes were swimming through an ocean of distorted colors and shapes. Then the flood of colors subsided, only to give way to crippling nausea.

Soketsu: "What the hell was that?!" Soketsu hissed through clenched teeth.

Pabloc: "A grenade." Pabloc told him while another ball flew to his side. "I call them ‘The Hand Grenade of Nausea Plus Three’. Unlike regular flash bang grenades, they are designed to interrupt concentration and disrupt viridia-based effects."

Soketsu blinked, mostly just to get his eyes to focus, but then he tentatively tried to use his mystic eye. It didn’t work.

[Soketsu]: "Kay? What’s with the eye?" He asked inwardly. There was no answer. "Kay?" He a spoke again, with a hint of alarm in his voice.

[Kay]: "That… hurt." Came the pained answer. "All of it flushed back…" Kay continued, her voice feverish. "Like a hammer to the head…"

Soketsu’s eyes went wide, then his jaw clenched as he looked at the scientist. His glare was terrifying.

Before Pabloc could say anything else Soketsu lunged at him with rage he had never shown before. In response a number of the ball-bearing grenades flew at him, already glowing red.

The sound of repeated explosions filled the tunnel, the deep booming waves reverberating from the ceiling and shaking the walls. What they didn’t do was stopping the charge of Soketsu. Blinded and battered, the Rover rushed at his opponent nevertheless, completely ignoring the debilitating flashes around him.

Pabloc’s face went slack. Soketsu was not supposed to be standing after all that. In fact, no one was supposed to be standing, let alone a virida-user.

And if that wasn’t enough to panic, he couldn’t avoid him. While he was out of the range of the jamming explosions (they had a very limited area of effect, he designed them that way) so many of them going off at the same time had an unintended side-effect: they created turbulence in the hallway. Not simple air turbulence… well, they created that too, but the more important disturbance made his ability harder to use, if only momentarily. As a result of that he already knew he was not going to be able to fly for a few seconds. The real problem was that in said few seconds Soketsu would be already on top of him, and not just proverbially.

He frowned and reached into his pocket. He didn’t plan for this, but this was as good a place for a last stand than any other.

Pabloc: "I’m so going to hate myself for this tomorrow…" He whispered angrily as he removed his hand from his pocket.

In it there was another grenade, though this one actually looked like one as well. He pulled the safety pin, but instead of throwing it directly at his opponent he threw it against the ground and immediately covered, holding his head in his hands.

Soketsu either didn’t notice all this or didn’t care. Or, taken that he was temporarily blinded by the rapid explosions and still seemed to be in the grip of rage, maybe both. He raised his weapon and…

A moment later an even greater explosion of blinding light filled the area as they were both thrown onto the ground. Unlike the previous explosions, this one had a considerable amount of physical force behind it aside of the mental and it shook the entire hallway. Not only that, it also blanketed the immediate area in a thick, foul-smelling fog.

After a moment of silence, Pabloc managed to rise to his feet. He appeared to be groggy and coughing but otherwise unharmed. After a few unsteady steps he propped his back against the closest wall and let out a pained groan.

Pabloc: "I was wrong… I already hate myself for that…"

He was about to search for his opponent when a sudden flash of bright green light drew his attention. Impressively enough, his face managed to get even paler than before.

The next moment there was shuffling of feet, then a hand grabbed onto the collar of his coat and smashed him against the wall, hitting his head against the concrete with a meaty thump. As if his head didn’t hurt enough… As he wearily opened his eyes again he could see the heavily breathing Soketsu holding the blade of his weapon against his neck. Neither of them spoke for a good minute and the only sound in the hallways was the ragged, pained breathing of the two men. The thing that broke the oppressive silence was, surprisingly, a soft chuckle. And even more surprisingly, it came from Pabloc.

Soketsu: "What’s so funny?" Soketsu grunted between two heavy heaves.

Pabloc: "Nothing, this situation just takes me back," The scientist mused with a smile, though his voice was still pained. "I knew you were tough, but it’s still insane that not even The Unholy Hand Grenade of Supreme Nausea Plus Five could take you down."

Soketsu’s face went slack for a second before he steeled his eyes again.

Soketsu: "I think I have mentioned this before, but you have a horrible naming sense…" He grunted as he tightened his grip on the scientist’s collar.

Pabloc: "Says mister ‘Mystic Eyes of Depth Perception’…" The scientist noted sardonically.

Soketsu lightly shook his head, trying to get rid of the high-pitched ringing in his ears. It didn’t work. After delivering another glare at his opponent he finally turned inward once he was sure the scientist wasn’t about to try anything.

[Soketsu]: "Kay, are you okay?"

[Kay]: "I’m fine… I think." Her partner answered uncertainly. "That first one hurt, but you weren’t using viridia afterwards, so I didn’t feel those…" She paused for a moment. "More importantly, are you all right?! Those explosions…"

[Soketsu]: "I’ll live." He answered curtly, unsuccessfully trying to hide his relief. For a moment he was scared there. Very scared. So scared that he couldn’t even muster to willpower to act coy about it, and the mere fact that his partner was all right after all felt like a stone was lifted off his chest. A large, scary stone.

Pabloc: "So? What now?" The scientist interrupted, though from his point of view he just carried on with the previous conversation. Soketsu glared at him again, but apparently the man already got inoculated against those during the battle.

Soketsu: "You are under arrest," He declared dryly as he squeezed the bespectacled man against the wall even harder. "You will have to explain your actions to the Cardinal. If you cooperate and disclose your plans and allies, he might even show mercy on you."

Suddenly the scientist glanced to the side, his eyes distant like he was listening for something, then his face eased up as he gave a wide smile to his captor.

Pabloc: "Right. Mercy and all sounds nice, but just for the record… Are you one hundred percent certain that you don’t want to lay down your weapon and talk after all?"

Soketsu’s brows involuntarily rose.

Soketsu: "You are still going on about that? At this point?!"

Pabloc: "Hey, I’m just asking." Pabloc shrugged, an act that was quite uncomfortable under the circumstances. "At this point we can still put this intermezzo behind us and discuss things like civilized people."

Soketsu: "I’m afraid we are already past that point." Soketsu answered while bringing his weapon even closer to the scientist’s face. In response Pabloc put his index finger on the shaft just under the blade and pushed it back a few centimeters with a smile.

Pabloc: "Oh well, I tried. Please don’t blame me later."

Soketsu: "For what?"

The scientist nodded to the side and Soketsu suddenly realized wit abject horror that what he thought was just the ringing of his ears was actually getting louder— and it was accompanied by rapidly closing footsteps.

Soketsu:"What the—?"

Before he could say anything more flicker of black rushed down the tunnel too fast to even properly perceive.

????: "Geronimo!"

The next moment there were a number of overlapping noises mixing together, culminating in an earth-shattering explosion that literally shook the entire complex. Of all this the first thing Soketsu recognized was the metallic fist embedded into his face. His nerves didn’t even have time to process the pain by the time he was sent flying and collided with something. His perceptions went exactly that far before he blacked out. Even with a body hardened to unnatural levels by viridia, the strength of the impact was nothing to scoff at.

When he finally managed to open his eyes the first thing he became aware of was the pain coursing through his entire body. It was like his skin was on fire and all his bones were shattered into tiny pieces. Of course neither were the case, or at least being able to move and not smoking indicated as such. In fact this pain was good news in a way; it meant that he was still alive and the viridia in his body was already fixing him up from the inside.

For a moment or two he kept lying on his back and staring at the high ceiling. Then he blinked, which somehow felt harder than usual, and took a closer look at the ceiling. It was very high. Too high, in fact. He was quite certain the only place with a ceiling like that was...

His eyes opened wide, another small movement that somehow took way too much effort. He snapped his head to the side; or rather he forced his cramping neck muscles to slowly move and took a good hard look at the large metalworking machine standing a few meters to his right.

It took several long seconds for the dreadful realization to sink in, but there was no question about it; he was definitely back in the factory floor where he first arrived, though he had no idea how or why. With superhuman effort he managed to first sit up and then rise to his feet, leaning on the weapon he was still clutching hard in his fingers. Looking at it reminded him of something—

then he finally realized the source of the strange sounds he was hearing since he came to. He replayed the noise in his head a few times, and slowly but surely they began to coalesce into words. Then, with a sudden snap akin to switching a breaker he suddenly understood.

[Kay]: "Soketsu!? Soketsu! Are you all right?!" Kay’s panicked words sounded distant yet clear in his head and it made him bolt upright like an electric shock. He instantly regretted the motion when pain shot through his body from a thousand different angles, but he only let out a low hiss and slowly slacked his body again before answering.

[Soketsu]: "No, not really… What in Nov’Elsfaan’s name was that?" He mumbled while feeling out the tender lump on the back of his head. "Was I hit by a train? What was a train doing in that corridor? How did it even get into—?"

[Kay]: "Don’t worry about that!" His partner yelled at him from the edge of hysteria. "We need to get out of here! Now!"

While some rational part of his consciousness was certain he should be following those words, his brains were still too rattled to actually make his body follow through with the idea. Instead he raised his eyes and took a long, dazed look at his surroundings with special attention to the hole in the wall he apparently came from. He was a good twenty meters away from the site and he could see at least one broken machine in-between, though he didn’t actually remember hitting it, though if the damage done to it was any indication he might have been better off that way.

He swiftly averted his gaze from the mangled machine and focused on the hole in the wall instead, and for a short while he felt quite offended by the fact that it didn’t resemble his outlines at all; but then his higher brain functions finally reasserted themselves and urged him to pay extra attention to the people moving on the other side of said hole instead. Especially who- or whatever thought it was a measured response to send him flying through a wall.

He could only catch a split-second glance of his unknown assailant, and his view was woefully obstructed by a fist to boot, but there was something about the blurry black and red image burned into his memory that felt uncomfortably familiar. Just then there was movement on the other side of the hole and after a few agonizingly tense seconds Soketsu could finally make out the new combatant’s silhouette. As he did so, his face slowly twisted into an uncanny mixture of dumfound surprise and seething anger.

Soketsu: "What the—?" He mumbled as he tried to force his eyes to focus, but the effort only made him dizzier.

The armor-clad man (or at least he thought it was a man) entering the large hall was indeed familiar. Correction; it wasn’t the man per se that was familiar to him. It was his armor. In fact, the getup should have been instantly recognizable by practically every citizen of the Order by sight.

The newcomer stood clad in a sleek, dark crimson body armor crafted from some matte, non-metallic material with a long-coat as black as night strewn on top of it. On closer inspection, once his eyes finally relented and began to do their job, Soketsu also concluded that said coat looked just like Pabloc’s except, well, black.

As hard as it felt to think coherently, he couldn’t help but recognize the man. Or rather, recognize the outfit. There was only one person in the history of the Order with such trappings; the First Prophet, the founder and patron saint of the new human civilization and the single most revered human since... well, since the founder of any other world religion.

The armored man seemingly glanced at his direction, though it was hard to tell with his helmet still on. Said ambiguity was soon remedied when his faceplate split into two pieces with a barely audible hissing noise. His expression was hard to see, but Soketsu would have sworn that he was grinning at him. Not a mad grin but a jovial one, like as if he just met an old friend for the first time in years. Then the armor-clad man suddenly raised his hand over his head and gave a cocky wave.

????: "Long time no see, Soketsu! Be right with you in a moment! I hope you didn’t lose your edge since we last met!"

The Rover was once again left speechless by the familiar way he was addressed, though his concussed brain for some reason wanted to convince him to wave back. His higher brain functions once again vetoed the idea and made him assume a fighting stance instead, though he did find the intermezzo strangely curious. He didn’t have much time to ponder though, as now it was Pabloc’s turn to appear from the other side of the crack in the wall.

Pabloc: "About time you showed up…" The bespectacled scientist was casually dusting his torn lab-coat as he walked up to the armored man with a slightly peeved look on his face.

????: "Yeah, yeah. You should be glad I arrived at all. Do you know how hard it is to get into this suit without help?"

Pabloc: "I can imagine. Also, “geronimo”? Really?"

The man shrugged his shoulders.

????: "Hey, I was late already. I had no time to come up with a proper punch line."

Pabloc: "’Punch-line?’ Was that a pun?" Pabloc paused for a second and then gestured towards the hole. "And what about the wall?"

????: "…" For a moment the newcomer glanced around like he didn’t get a joke and then meekly answered, "It’s broken?"

Pabloc: "Yes, I noticed, thank you very much. I want to know why it is broken," The scientist growled while reaching for his glasses again.

????: "Because I punched Soketsu through it. Duh." Pabloc’s companion answered while rolling his eyes.

Pabloc: "But why?!"

????: "Dynamic entry," He stated in a matter-of-fact manner and cocked his head to the side. "Did you hit your head or something? You are unusually slow today."

Pabloc’s brows rose in bewilderment but then he quickly buried his face into his hand with a pitiful expression.

Pabloc: "Right… It’s you. I shouldn’t have expected a sensible answer. But you do know that I hate when you do that, right?"

????: "Oh, come on! Don’t be like that!" He said dismissively, waving his hands in the process. "It’s just a little wall; the girls are going to fix it in the matter of minutes!"

Pabloc: "It’s still no reason to—"

Soketsu, still in shock, quietly observed the banter between the two. His stance was indicating he was ready to attack or defend on a moment’s notice, but it was easy to see how it was little more than a brave facade.

He took a deep breath and carefully examined his situation. His own viridia reserves were completely empty, which meant that he was relying entirely on Kay’s to get him back of his feet. This meant that they were using up their fighting reserves to restore him. Not that they had any choice; his already exhausted body was wounded too badly by his unplanned journey through solid matter to be stingy on the healing.

For example, his chest was already hurt, but by now it was sending spikes of burning agony through his nerves with every breath, indicating a number of cracked if not outright broken ribs. He also had trouble focusing his eyesight, which meant he probably suffered concussion as well. Finally, his left shoulder felt unusually tender, which turned out to be the after-effect of a serious dislocation he didn’t even notice, probably because he unconsciously popped the joint back in place as he got up. The viridia in his veins took the edge off the pain, but he was still hurting all over bad enough to knock two normal people unconscious.

He wasn’t complaining though. It wasn’t every day that one got punched through a load-bearing wall and lived to tell the tale after all. Just another story for the grandkids. Well, if he survives the rest of the day, that is.

????: "Okay, fine!" Soketsu’s attention was abruptly drawn back to the duo where the armored man was in the middle of melodramatically articulating his point. "Sorry for breaking down a wall, which was technically mine to begin with, I would like to point out, in order to save your sorry skin. Are you happy now?!"

The scientist tweaked his glasses and nodded.

Pabloc: "Yes, in fact I am."

????: "Geh! Whatever." Apparently looking for a way to change the direction of the conversation, the armored man nonchalantly poked his finger towards the injured man in the hall. "Say, how is our old pal doing?"

The man in the armor, even though a few short minutes ago declared his willingness to fight, has seemingly forgotten about actually doing so. Not that Soketsu was all that eager to do so either. Every second they spent bickering meant more time for Kay to refine viridia.

Pabloc: "He took all the grenades."

????: "All of them?" The man whistled, apparently impressed.

Pabloc: "Including the prototype," Pabloc added.

????: "Wow…" He nodded like he just heard something profound. "And he is still taking punches after that? Damn!"

Pabloc: "He should be at the end of his rope. Be careful though— his weapon seems to be a bit of a rogue element."

The bespectacled man apparently didn’t suffer any serious injuries in their fight, as he was talking like he had all the time in the world. For a few seconds Soketsu began considering what his chances would be if the scientist would decide to fight him in his current state and for some reason the word ‘depressing’ came to mind.

In the end he lightly shook his head to clear his thoughts and he was pleasantly surprised by the lack of head-crushing nausea he was expecting. If nothing else, his healing factor was giving one-hundred ten percent this day.

He weighted his options. Escape was sadly not one of them. The entire reason he was lured here was so that he could be captured, so they obviously wouldn’t just let him waltz out without a fight. This meant that, as much as he wasn’t in a suicidal mood, he had to make a stand and come up with a plan, preferably in the next five seconds. He called out for his partner in his mind.

[Soketsu]: "Kay, how are your reserves?"

[Kay]: "I have pumped most of them into you already to keep you alive," The girl responded with a painfully exhausted voice. "I’ve been trying to recollect as much viridia as possible, but I doubt I could hold out for too long…"

[Soketsu]: "How much time do I have?"

[Kay]: "I don’t know..." The girl hesitated. "Ten, maybe fifteen minutes if I use every last drop I have. Under five if you actually try to fight them. I don’t think I could keep it together for much longer."

Soketsu grit his teeth. That was way worse than he expected.

[Soketsu]: "In that case, we are going all out, with the eye and all. I’m going to defeat them before we deplete our viridia reserves."

[Kay]: "It’s too risky!" Kay protested vehemently. "We could barely take on that Pabloc guy alone and now you are injured!"

[Soketsu]: "It’s different now," Soketsu answered as calmly as possible, hoping that it would calm his partner down a little as well. "I wanted to take him alive back then."

Kay didn’t answer but it was obvious she understood the implications of his words. After a moment of silence Soketsu could feel a huge amount of viridia rushing through his veins. The pain in his body slowly faded as he tightened his grasp on his halberd.

[Soketsu]: "Thank you, Kay. This will be the last time I ask you something this unreasonable."

[Kay]: "Don’t say it like that…" The girls spoke softly with a tinge of fear in her voice. "It feels like you are saying goodbye."

Soketsu’s expression suddenly gave way for his emotions as a small, affectionate smile settled on his face.

[Soketsu]: "Don’t be silly. You are not getting rid of me that easily," He said teasingly, then added in a more serious tone. "No, I told you that we would stay together till we die, and I don’t feel like dying today. We’ll pull through like we always do. Trust me."

Soketsu’s determination finally calmed his partner. He could feel the flow of tingling power in him becoming smoother, almost soothing. He silently thanked Kay once again and faced his enemies.

Soketsu: "Hey, you!"

On the surface his face was stern and cold as ice. He knew he couldn’t show weakness. Not now. The men looked at him with mild irritation as Pabloc replied.

Pabloc: "Excuse me? We are talking here if you don’t mind. Wait for your turn."

Soketsu: "I’m not talking to you!" Soketsu bellowed at the pair and slowly pointed his halberd at the armored man and paused for a moment with barely suppressed anxiety. He knew he had only one chance at this. "I don’t know who you are or how you had the nerve to don such an outfit, but I have no business with you. I came for the scientist. Stand aside."

After a brief moment of surprise the man’s face was first conquered by an unfettered smile, and in a second his expression of amusement culminated in a brief but grating cackle.

????: "Kehehe… You have nothing to do with me, you say? Oh boy… You have no idea just how hilarious that was." The armored man flashed one last smile before turning away from Soketsu while skillfully folding his dark coat’s sleeves up to his elbows and addressed the scientist at his side. "It seems like he’s still in pretty high spirits." After a brief pause he suddenly raised his hand a patted Pabloc in the back so hard he almost fell forward. "Say, how are you holding up?"

Pabloc: "I’m fine." The bespectacled man answered with a small glare that disappeared as fast is it came. "I got caught in the blast of the prototype but I had time to brace myself, so it wasn’t that bad. I should be back to normal in a few minutes."

????: "Glad to hear that. If you are good, then go and prep the infirmary…" The armored man leisurely cracked his knuckles as the subtle humming of his suit gradually became louder and louder. "… I will try to be gentle, but I have a feeling he’s gonna need a lot of stitching once I’m done with him."

For a few moments the scientist was visibly sizing up his companion while trying to determine just how serious he was, but at the end he just shrugged his shoulders in resignation.

Pabloc: "Don’t go overboard," He warned him sternly, but his words only elicited another chuckle.

????: "There’s no such word as overboard in my dictionary!"

With those words the armor-clad man flexed his suit’s artificial muscles under the plating and started walking. In the meantime Pabloc let out a huge sigh as he turned his back on the combatants.

Pabloc: "That’s the exact what I was afraid you would say." He whispered under his breath half annoyed and half amused. "Better get the life-support into working condition..."