Kiria slid around the ice wall along the narrow bit of ground that was still exposed.
She raced towards Tyger’s fallen body, all while the sounds of the mech firing bullets in Cain’s direction resounded on the other side of the ice wall.
Thankfully, Tyger was still alive, and conscious even, to Kiria’s surprise. “What the….hell was that….?” he said, just barely managing to choke the words out through the blood on his tongue.
“Forcebullets,” she answered whilst lifting him up and tossing his arm around her shoulders. “You’re lucky you’re not a puddle of blood right now.”
“They can do that?” he asked, panting between his words. “Man, that’s fucked up….”
Kiria led him back around the ice wall, although she stopped and peered around the edge of the wall to get an overview of the battlefield before fully returning.
Cain was doing his best to keep the mech’s attention, but she could tell he was running low on energy, likely on account of his prior injuries. Reina was still perched atop the entrance to the interior of the ship, firing arrows to provide him cover, but they weren’t getting any closer to taking the thing down outright.
“Three minutes,” she muttered. “That’s not a lot of time to work with.”
“A hero….always gets the job done,” said Tyger, though he struggled through each word. “I’ll hold him down for ya….Then you can shut off the bomb, right?”
She sighed. “No, you’re done for now.”
“Like hell I-!”
“Tyger,” she said sternly, silencing him. “Listen; you did great today. You saved the passengers and Annabelle and Cain, and helped protect us from this mech. You took forcebullets head-on and somehow you’re still standing. You’ve definitely been a hero today.”
The look of complete shock and emotion on his face gave Kiria pause. It was the first time since elementary school she’d seen him make an expression like that. Back then, the tears would certainly be flowing right now. She didn’t expect the same this time around, but she knew her words had gotten to him. She continued. “Let’s get you to safety, okay? You need rest and probably medical attention after taking those forcebullets, but we won’t be able to get you that if that bomb goes off and kills everyone on board, now would we?”
She could see that he was fighting off the urge to defy her, just like he had when she’d given him the same speech during the previous mech fight. But she could also see that this time, he had probably realized there was no coming back from his wounds this time. Stubbornness can force your legs further along the path long after you’ve exhausted yourself, but if your legs have essentially been blown off and are bleeding out, the only place stubbornness can take you to is an early grave.
In the end, a simple nod of the head settled his internal debate, and Kiria led him back to the inside of the ship.
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
Three ice arrows struck the mech directly in the back, each one exploding in a burst of frost. The mech’s balance was temporarily thrown off by the sudden materialization of mass, but the winds kept it upright.
Now! Cain thought to himself, brandishing the sword in his hand. Before leaving to escort Tyger to safety, she’d turned the metal rod into a blade and handed it off to Cain to better allow him to fight. He’d criticized the shape and weight of the makeshift sword, as its design was generally “improper” and also “nearly incompatible” with his own preferences, but after she flicked him in the nose, he put the lecture away and refocused on the fight.
He’d commanded Reina to focus her ice arrows on locking the mech in place, since Tyger would no longer be able to do it. With the plan seemingly working, he rushed in, keeping his eyes trained on the mech’s torso.
Where to cut….he pondered. He didn’t want to risk detonating the bomb by toying with it without properly understanding it, but he needed to do something other than play mouse for the giant automaton cat.
He decided to go for the gatling gun attachment on the mech’s shoulder, especially as the image of Tyger being blasted by the forcebullets returned to his mind.
SWORD!
With the Sword Install set into his Mind Slot, he was able to focus on the mech more closely, and pinpoint exactly where he needed to cut in order to separate the gatling gun from the body.
In a flash of blue, he dashed across the mech’s body, his sword slicing five precision cuts.
As he skidded to a stop on the other side of the mech, the makeshift gatling gun fell apart, crumpling to nothing more than pieces of junk, most of which blew away in the wind.
A smirk made its way onto his face. It was the first time in quite awhile that he was feeling confident in himself once again. In truth, a part of him had been hesitant that he could even pull the maneuver off, given that one of his arms was unusable, and he’d only be able to generate power in his swings with the other.
I can do it….I can cut that bomb….
Scowling, he slapped his hand against his cheek, having grown annoyed with his irrational way of thinking as of late. He was smart enough to not give into that foolish compulsion. Cutting it free wouldn’t do anything to stop the detonation, and Gael could no doubt use his control of the wind to keep it from being thrown overboard into the ocean. It could also just outright explode if displaced, so he held his blade.
The machine shouted aloud into the night air, causing the chunks of ice to shatter, swept away by the wild winds. With no more gatling gun to fire forcebullets, Cain did not immediately take off running to safety, instead holding the sword up, aiming it directly at the mech’s face.
“Come on, you ugly heap of junk. Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got?”
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
“Whoa, what happened to you, big guy?” Meifang asked as she stepped up to meet Kiria and Tyger halfway. Her hands moved over to the holes in his clothes; she couldn’t see the wounds themselves due to all the blood, but she could definitely feel them. “You get stabbed by dragon claws or something? Jeez….”
“Worse,” Kiria answered. “Forcebullets.”
Meifang sucked air through her teeth. “Oof, yeah, that’ll do it. Especially if you had your Metal Install on.”
She stepped around to the other side of Tyger’s body, transitioning escort duty from Kiria to herself. “I’ll take care of him from here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, don’t worry,” she assured, poking his cheek with her finger. “I’m pretty familiar with his body. I can get him patched up before he bleeds to death.”
With a nod of the head, Kiria thanked her and turned back towards the deck, but stopped in place. “Wait, what did you mean by….?” The heat in her cheeks dissuaded her from continuing that train of thought, and she shifted tracks. “Mistral’s leader is-”
“I heard about it from Annabelle,” Meifang said, cutting her off. “You guys are fighting him right now, right? Well, you better get back out there and help out, especially now that Tyger here needs his boo-boos taken care of.”
He let out a harsh growl. “No I don’t! Piss off!”
Kiria frowned. Though she was aware that Meifang had planned to allow Class G to handle the Mistral situation, she was still surprised the older woman wasn’t springing in to help. It seemed wildly irresponsible, and the current circumstances of the battle didn’t seem like an appropriate time to stand on the sidelines and allow kids to handle things, but wasting time on pointless protesting wasn’t going to help. And so, with a reluctant sigh, she bowed her head and headed back to the deck.
Meifang began to lead Tyger back towards her room, offering him a smile in the process. “Forcebullets hurt like hell, huh?”
The sharp exhalation he offered in response was one part chuckle, one part disbelief at the casualness of her tone. “You been hit by ‘em before?”
“Once, yeah,” she replied. “When I had my Metal Install on, too. I would’ve been crying my ass off if I could actually move.”
The two continued down the halls in silence, until Tyger finally scratched the itch that was bugging him by asking, “You seriously ain’t gonna help?”
“What, with the Mistral guy?”
“No, with the economy,” he muttered. “Yeah with the Mistral dirtbag, what the hell else would I be talkin’ about?”
She patted his stomach, careful to avoid the damaged area nearby. “I told you I’d sit it out so you guys could handle it right?”
The sudden intense fire in his eyes almost managed to shake her nerves for the briefest of moments. As goofy and awkward as Tyger was, there were times he could be intimidating as well. “The hell’s wrong with you?! A hero doesn’t ‘sit out’ when people are in danger!”
When they arrived at her door, she spent a bit more time than was necessary unlocking it, for the sake of letting his question linger in the air for a few moments. And just before he could start chastising her even more, she turned to face him, again with a smile. “Because I’m not a hero. Not anymore. Not right now.” She poked her finger into his chest. “You guys are.”
The anger in his face burned out, swept away by a look of innocent confusion; a look that better displayed his young age and his lack of life experience. It was adorable, even.
Meifang giggled, pressing her thumb against the side of his face. “Always trying to be the big hero….You really do remind me of him….”
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
Another cut opened along Zeo’s body, this time on the upper arm. While not deep enough to do any serious damage, it was enough to put a strain on that sword arm, making his techniques slower and sloppier, and Gael had already had no issues keeping up with him when he was in top condition.
“Tch,” the Mistral commander muttered. Zeo’s legs were starting to shake; the kid was tiring out already, and not a single cut had bitten into Gael’s own flesh. “The hero’s only supposed to get his ass kicked in the first fight, not the final one.”
Zeo’s jaw tightened. His arms were hanging lower than they usually did in his battle stance, as exhaustion weighed them down. “What is this? Is this….is this just some game to you?”
“Hm?”
“Putting innocent people in danger….acts of terrorism….” He took in a deep breath, wiping away a layer of sweat that had been soaking his forehead. “What kind of monster are you?”
Only the winds were audible as the two swordsmen stared one another down. Gael was as blasé as ever, so frozen in place he looked akin to a drawing sketched into the world explicitly to oppose Zeo. In contrast, Zeo’s initial cool demeanor had vanished; he was taking in heavy breaths, he was covered in sweat, and he could only look on at Gael in anger and disgust.
“Think you’re being a little dramatic there, hero,” Gael finally said, breaking the silent stalemate. “Hurting people doesn’t make me a monster; people hurt people all the time.”
“What kind of answer is-?”
“I’m just the bad guy standing in your way,” interrupted Gael. “And I’m not moving, so unless you plan on turning back, then you’d better play your part right and cut me down.”
Zeo’s brows furrowed. “Turn back?”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Sure. I’ll let you leave the ship if you want. I can send you back to Radecross in a few minutes.”
“Wh-what?”
The Mistral commander shrugged. “If you leave, I can crash this airship into Chateau Aurum no problem; your little friends can’t stop me on their own. If all it takes to make you leave is safe passage back to land, I’ve got no problems doing that.”
Zeo had to take a moment to process what he was hearing. Gael would just allow him to leave? Not just allow him to leave, but transport him back himself?
Wait….he said the others can’t stop him? Only I can stop him? Does that mean….?
“I’m sure you’d like to think it over,” Gael said. “But we’re a little tight on time, remember?”
He’s willing to let me go….because he thinks that I can stop him!
Zeo felt his heart start to beat faster, pumping more energy through his body. His sinking arms and shoulders began to rise, like weights had been lifted from them.
I can stop him….he’s scared of me….of the Lightning Install....He won’t show it, and he’s probably feeling more confident because of how our fight’s been going, but he’s still cautious….
“You really think I’d just abandon my friends like that?” he responded, rolling his neck and shoulders to loosen them. “That I’d abandon the passengers on the airship? Or the people at the Chateau?”
With a smirk, he tossed one of his swords into the air. It spun in a clean circle before landing back in his palm. “What kinda hero would I be if I did that?”
A slight huff came from Gael; his version of an amused chuckle, perhaps. “You talk like a hero, at least.” Gael threw both of his own swords into the air, and both spun in multiple circles, guided by the whirling green winds, before landing back in his palms. “But you haven’t been fighting like one.”
I need to use it on him….That Art’s the only thing that can defeat him before the bomb goes off….
The image of the Lightning Cyclone Blade popped back into Zeo’s mind. First the physical movements, but then the horrid scene of its effect on Gael reared its ugly head as well. His heightened heart rate came to an abrupt stop, but before a choke could overtake him, he pushed through the mental block, picturing his triumphant victory over the Mistral commander, and the stopping of the bomb.
I can do it….He needs to be stopped at all costs….
Zeo raised his swords back into his usual stance. Before he spoke, however, his eyes shifted over a mere fraction of an inch, focusing not on Gael’s face, but on something far behind him.
Annabelle.
She was approaching from behind, slowly and quietly, clutching her hands together. Her eyes met his own, and both lit up in unison. A surge of relief suddenly flowed through Zeo’s veins, calming his tense muscles, and warming him. Annabelle had always been a source of comfort for him; she’d always made him feel special and important.
Though no words were spoken between the two, and their eye contact lasted for the briefest of moments, it was as though their hearts had synced up, and he felt a spike in confidence and assuredness as the ULTRA Force particles within him began to flow into his Heart Slot, amassing green parks of electricity all throughout his spirit.
But Zeo made sure not to react too powerfully, too obviously to Annabelle’s appearance. Gael did not seem to have noticed her presence, and Zeo intended to keep it that way. He didn’t know what
“Just setting up for the big come-from-behind victory.” His words were accompanied by a confident grin — one that Gael took notice of, judging by the slight, quizzical raise of his eyebrow. “The last minute, all-out attack that takes the bad guy down and saves the day.”
Gael’s eyes narrowed.
“Then let’s end this, hero.”
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
Reina fired another ice arrow, preventing the mech’s lance from slamming into Cain from the side. He’d been doing a good job parrying the giant robot’s attacks, but with only one sword arm in use, he couldn’t keep up with both limbs for very long.
She herself was struggling as well. The Ice Install’s coldness had spread throughout her body, making it an ordeal to breathe, and causing her body to slowly go numb.
But she couldn’t shut it off; not yet, anyway. Cain needed the assistance the ice arrows offered, at least until Kiria could return. Her ordinary arrows didn’t do much, either — they could be used to paralyze targets, but given that the mech wasn’t a living being, nor did it harbor a living pilot, there was nothing for the arrows to shut down.
The only other Install she had available was a Chameleon one, representing her own chameleon Beasterizer symbol, but she hadn’t actually developed any usable techniques from it yet, so it would be useless in this fight.
She notched another ice arrow. She was starting to lose feeling in her fingers. “Please come back, Kiria!” she said through chattering teeth.
The arrow soared across the night sky, striking the tip of the lance and bursting outward into another thick clump of ice. The sudden weight caused the lance arm to fall to the deck, which Cain took advantage of.
He kicked off of the solid ice, diving for the mech’s face as he drew his sword back. A thin sheen of silver light washed over his face, then surged along his body towards his sword arm.
« ART! »
〚 SEVERING WOLF! 〛
The sword flashed silver for a mere second as he directed its blade across the mech’s scrap heap of a head.
Two curved lines of matching color gnawed their way through the head, like a pair of deadly fangs chomping into flesh. The metal bent inward as the sudden force caved it in, snapping it to pieces, as though the wolf’s fangs had completed their bite.
Cain sailed on past the mech, landing on the deck just before wayward chunks of debris followed his lead.
An angry howl of wind resounded from the mech, somehow conveying pain from the thing that could not feel it.
Resting the sword over his shoulder, Cain spun back around to face the mech, slowly and deliberately, reveling in his perfect performance of the Art and the massive amounts of damage he had caused his opponent.
But just before he could squeeze out a snappy one-liner, his vision went blurry, and dizziness through his balance off. His free hand clutched at his forehead, trying to find some way to reorient himself. He’d been using his Mind Slot too much, especially given his condition.
That moment of hesitation cost him, as the mech, not lashing out in fury, managed to slam the lance against him, sending his body soaring across the deck, crashing into the side railing. The sword made from Kiria’s metal rod soared over the top, whisked away by the wind.
The mech charged towards Cain, clearly having gone berserk. It didn’t aim the lance tip forward to skewer its foe like proper usage would dictate; it was merely swinging the massive thing around in desperation. Still, despite the lack of direction, both the mech and the lance were huge objects, and they were certain to trample over Cain.
Reina strained to notch another arrow, but her fingers weren’t placed correctly. The arrow went flying towards the mech, but missed — the first shot to not hit its mark that night.
She fell to her knees, curling up into a ball and shutting off her Ice Install, trying to regain feeling in her body. The Ice Install’s cold grip would affect anyone given enough time, but Reina in particular had never been good with the cold, whether Install or otherwise, and never responded well to it.
She brought her tail up to her chest, squeezing it as tightly as she could. Her entire body was shivering, and she could no longer open her eyes. If anyone had been up on the roof with her, they’d be able to hear her pained whimpers.
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
Just in the nick of time, Kiria came running back out onto the deck, taking a visual scan of the scene.
It wasn’t looking good. While the mech had clearly been wounded, it was still alive and kicking, thrashing wildly as it stomped around.
Cain was nowhere to be found, at least not until the mech moved once more, and Kiria could see him between the beast’s legs. He was on the far end of the deck, too dazed to move, and with the giant mecha monster stomping towards him, he was all but roadkill at that point.
She turned her head up to the roof. “Reina?! Are you there?!” She hadn’t noticed any more arrows coming in, either, but she was also unable to see on top of the roof. Panic hit her due to Reina’s lack of response, but she knew she couldn’t let herself be overcome with emotion.
She had to take action quickly, and it had to be the right action, or they were all dead.
Her eyes flickered down to the scraps of metal scattered around the deck, as they were the only things in the scene that had changed since the last time she had been out there. Nothing really stood out to her, until she caught sight of the gatling gun.
Realizing Cain must have managed to cut it off somehow, she sprinted towards it, commanding the skin over her Cyberizer arm to peel away as she did, and placing both of her hands above her forehead. Her thumbs formed the base of a triangle, while the index and middle fingers formed the sides. An explosive, mechanical voice then shouted out:
SUPERCHARGE!
The instant she was close enough to the gatling gun, she thrust her cyber arm at it, pressing the palm against its surface. A purple glow of light washed over the hand, as well as her eyes, amplifying the speed and intensity of the cyber arm’s machinery.
The nanomachines inside constructed metal connectors that locked the gatling gun to her arm. It was a massive hunk of metal nearly the size of a refrigerator, but with the enhanced strength of her cyber arm, she was able to hoist it up and hold it at the ready.
“Good job, Cain,” she said to herself as the purple light rippled out from her arm and over the gatling gun. The thing was still loaded with forcebullets, so she synchronized her own ULTRA Force particles with those within the bullets, in order to use them for her own purposes.
« ART! »
〚 CYBER RAILGUN! 〛
The machinery in both her arm and the retooled gatling gun kicked into overdrive, filling the night air with the whirring sounds of metal. The purple light coalesced into the barrel of the gun, condensing all of the ULTRA Force within the bullets into one, singular energy projectile.
Taking aim, Kiria fired without hesitation. The shot lit up the entire half of the deck in its light as it jetted across the deck.
It carved its way through the mech’s leg, blasting the makeshift limb into pieces of scrap. The mech howled in pain, stumbling as it tried to stop itself from falling over completely.
Kiria immediately dropped the gun and sprinted forward as quickly as she possibly could. The mech’s back was to her, and from that angle, she had a clear sight of the main bulk of the bomb within the robot’s torso.
She leaped up and grabbed hold of the mechanized beast, hanging on tightly as it jittered and twisted around. She then pressed the palm of her cyber arm onto the bomb, activating the encoded function of bomb defusal.
The explosive that had been installed into the core of the mech was far bigger than any bomb she’d ever had to disable beforehand, but it was also surprisingly simple in its construction.
The mech suddenly lurched backward in a hard jerk, throwing Kiria off of its back. She looked up at the giant machine with wide eyes. “Is the bomb off?!” The countdown timer on the bomb was on the front side of the mech, so she wouldn’t be able to determine if she’d been successful or not until it turned to face her.
She tightened her fists in anticipation. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!”
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
Zeo needed to make sure that Gael never turned around to see Annabelle, but doing so would be a tough task. He’d already struggled to control the duel beforehand, and his newfound confidence didn’t exactly change that fact.
But he had to do it, no matter what.
Ordinarily, he would’ve been in a panic at the thought of Annabelle approaching a fight, especially one against someone as dangerous as Gael. He would have swooped in to save her, taking her far away from danger, and would never allow her to approach the battlefield.
But his heart told him to trust her. Though he couldn’t read her mind, and didn’t have a clue as to what she was planning, there had been an undeniable determination in her beautiful pink eyes, and he had decided to put his trust in her.
Rather than go for contact slashes, Zeo instead used his Typhoon techniques to try and keep Gael locked in place, facing Zeo at all times. That required him to cut out a large portion of his moveset, and it did end up throwing off his rhythm.
But he persevered, stepping into deadly territory just to swing in wide arcs and push Gael back to his initial position as best he could, but never using any swings that might cause the Mistral commander to spin around himself in order to dodge and counter them.
As the two locked blades, pushing against one another in a standstill, Gael said, “Time’s up, hero. Better make these last ten seconds interesting.”
Though he was straining physically to not be overrun by Gael’s push, he managed to crack a smile, and shout, “You heard him, Annabelle!”
Gael raised a brow and began to turn around, but it was too late.
The elven girl rushed in from behind and threw a punch to the back of Gael’s head. A very poor punch thrown completely incorrectly, and certainly incapable of dealing any damage, even in a surprise strike against a vulnerable skull.
But despite the punch’s lack of power, as soon as her fist made contact with the Mistral commander’s head, an explosive burst of flame erupted from it, lighting his hair on fire.
“What the-?!” Gael exclaimed, putting energy into his voice for the first time. He stumbled away from Zeo, dropping his blades as he moved his hands to his head, summoning the winds to extinguish the flames.
I have to end this!
Knowing it was now or never, Zeo brought his own two swords together, and activated his Install.
LIGHTNING!
Holding the blades together, he spun around in a wide arc, extending the blades as far out as he possibly could.
« ART! »
〚 LIGHTNING CYCLONE BLADE! 〛
Green lightning shot out from his chest, arcing their way across his arms, dancing along the surface of his twin sabers. The bolts consumed the blades in their entirety, until they formed one singular crackling greatsword that dwarfed both blades.
The massive lightning blade cut across from down low to diagonally upward, easily covering the space that had been created between Zeo and Gael.
The Mistral commander’s eyes shot open as the bright green lights overtook his entire field of vision. All he could do was feebly attempt to bring his arms up to defend himself as the scorching lightning devoured his body.
Knowing what was coming, Zeo dropped his hold on the lightning greatsword, pulling Annabelle in close to his chest and covering her ears, though nothing could truly drown out the horrible screams of pain.
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
‘00:01’
Kiria didn’t even have time to process whether or not the clock was frozen in place, or if it had still been counting down, and was right on the cusp of detonating. A massive explosion of green light blanketed the sky, bathing the entire airship in its emerald glow.
The loudest blast of thunder she’d ever heard hit her ears, prompting her to bring her hands against them. For a moment, she wondered if that was the detonation of the bomb, but when no explosion came, and the mech crumbled to pieces, no longer given life by the wind, she spun around in a circle towards the other side of the deck.
Though she couldn’t see what had happened on the other end of the ship, she knew it had to have been Zeo. He’d no doubt managed to defeat Gael somehow, most likely causing that flash of green light while doing so.
Before Kiria could rush over there to investigate, Reina’s own green head peeked up over the edge of the roof. After giving her head a good shake not unlike that of a dog ridding its fur of water, the chameleon girl flashed a bright, cheesy smile. “We did it! We beat Mistral! Wooooooooooo!”
Kiria fell onto her back as a fit of laughter overcame her. “Yeah….I suppose we did.”