Golden Gate Empire: Dreams of Grandeur [IC | PG-16]

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

As Tails-Eye attempted to speak to Bethany in her mind it would find something rather unusual. It would take a moment to realize what the problem was but then it would hit the creature.

There was already another voice there.

It couldn't figure out what it was, just would feel the presence of another already in her mind.

 

Bethany for her part would hear its voice as if from the other end of a long tunnel. She didn't bother to respond, there were more things going on that she had to think about.

 

The dragon had broken free from the shell, easily, something that Bethany hadn't expected. So instead of trying to cover her opponent...she decided to cover herself.

 

Ice erupted once more from the ground, this time to create a protective barrier around herself. Huge shards crisscrossing over each other in order to creature a patchwork blanket of ice that protected her on all sides.

She didn't know if it could last, she had never done anything like this before, and so she didn't stop there.

 

Bethany sat cross-legged in the middle of the small area within her wall and closed her eyes. She emptied her mind in order to cast her next spell...And unknowingly let something else in.

 

The sky became charged with magic as it began to hail. Chunks of ice the size of tennis balls that came crashing down upon the field, battering those not in the protection of Bethany's dome, even crashing into some of the trees around the outskirts.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"And because of you, this world will burn."

 

"Wow, so we're playing guilt-slinging now?"

 

Angelica watched with a smile as Choros quit the scene in rage. His words might be worrying, but right now she wasn't in a mood to think much of it. Now, with the disruption being gone, all that was left was the three of the fighters. Angelica saw Mango going for the first strike, but she fell to the ground not long after, not capable of exerting herself further. Perhaps she would regain her footing later, which should make things more fun. But for now, there was only one person that Angelica should pay attention to. Angelica turned around to face the remaining contestant: Lace.

 

"I don't remember... was burning the world on our list?"

 

"It's not too late to add more things to it. Though I'd rather keep everything intact, for once."

 

Angelica gathered all of her remaining nanites scattered earlier to reinforce her form. Her blasters were unusable now after her failed attempt to destroy the Godstone, but everything else seemed to be functional. Ohr was shining brightly on her grip, and her tassels were still usable too. This was more like it. A battle between those that were born artificially, yet at the same time possessed their own sense of humanity. Flesh, goop, or mechanical, it didn't matter a bit.

 

"You really stole my thunder earlier. I was already yelling my best protagonist-level speech at that guy and even had my own personal flashback before I fired as if it was like one of those movies, but you got the privilege of getting rid of him in the end." Angelica might sound like she was complaining about earlier, but her smile was wide as she said all that to Lace. "I suppose in the end it's not that important. Right here, between the two of us, whether it's magic or technology, it wouldn't be all that different. Our blades will do all the talking."

 

Angelica let out one last friendly smile at Lace before the nanites constituting her skin turned dark as she activated her super mode again. She'd be doing a disservice to her if she held anything back now. "Let's fight 'til we drop! Then if you're still at it, let's save the world from whatever's coming afterwards! At least just to spit on that guy's face, I mean."

 

The android readied herself. With a gesture, she welcomed Lace to take the first move.

 

---

[Tesability Black]

(Shall we have some mood music, maestro?)

That tail did not get to hit the Wingbolt as was planned as it dove around the hail that fell around the area, though it still flew up for the moment. Instead, it found itself grabbed by...wait, why did it feel like three limbs wrapped itself around the tail?

Either way, one of the Ur-Ghlaaks let go after pulling the tail down, jumped up onto the fake Drayk's back and ran, the odd feeling of feet smaller than it should on its back as it dove into the shadow with unseen claws forward and tearing through the outside to get to the wimp human itself. The Regeneration Aura around it brightened from within the Drayk as well as hardening to prevent it from being crushed. An unseen hand slashed towards Louis, towards his throat, and a single gruff phrase could be heard in the darkness.

"Check."

As for Basabth, exactly one thing happened as he lunged towards Rawal. The little shadow demon suddenly ate dirt as something wrapped itself around his wrist and immediately plowed it into the ground without ceremony. Rawal himself did not even look like he moved to touch it, in fact...his appearance shimmered before the illusion was dropped, revealing an Ur-Ghlaak holding the little guy down face-first.

Both of the above happened at the same time...

(I would like for everyone to go back to my last post before this, which is right here, and highlight the entirety of Rawal's segment, from the POV indicator to the self-made pagebreak.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Talis-Eye's POV~

"This...is not good," they remarked to themselves before continuing to try to capture Bethany's attention from whatever had ensnared her mind. Seeing Rawal dive into the enlarged Drayk, they used their power to try and force Louis to still, to make it more difficult for him to move around on his own volition. Considering the split in attention, completely holding him still would be impossible at the moment.

Flying down closer towards Bethany, using telekinesis to capture some of the hail and spin it around around themselves to form a kinetic barrier of sorts, a silent, instantaneous conversation was made between Shaper and Eyebeast before Talis-Eye used an illusion to make heard from within her cocoon, "If you fall here, we'd be more than willing to take over your goal for this tournament. Miraculously, your goal and one of Lord Rawal's goals overlap with each other in an incredible way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Rawal's POV~

If that self-Shaped-to-the-point-of-losing-his-damned-mind brat couldn't take me down in a fight, I'm not letting this wimp be the one that does it, Rawal thought to himself as he tried to rake against Louis from within, knowing full well that he was on his foe's home turf at this point.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

Somehow, before Basabth's eyes, he was pinned down by some strange creature.  Strange, from across the way, it looked like Rawal, but now he was being held to the ground by a monstrous creature.  Probably another creation of the Tiger Man.  However, Basabth could see behind the creature that the hand of the shadow dragon was heading his way.  It sure wasn't these creations' day.  As the hand rushed into the creature, gripping it extremely tight, Basabth was overtaken by the shadow, becoming one with it again and travelling throughout the interior.  The creature in the hand that was being wisked away into the sky would be slice and diced by the bladed tendrils that traveled up the forearm, only to be plunged back into the Earth with a mighty splat!    

 

"Ah...feels good to be back ho-" Basabth could feel something moving within the shadow, as impossible as it seemed.  "Louis!  We've got company."

 

"As if I already didn't know."  Louis stood in his shadow, watching an extremely bright light travel it's way closer and closer towards him.  Louis couldn't help but crack a grim smile, this idiot really was doing what he thought he was doing.  He heard a phrase, muffled by the density of the shadow.  

 

"Check."

 

As the Tiger Man swiped, his hand would be bounced back, accompanied by a rather loud pinging noise.  A large shadowy wall had made it's way between the old Tiger, and Louis.

 

"Oh?  What was that?  I couldn't hear you over your insane plan to fight me inside my own dimension."  From the old Tiger Man's right side, ten, hardened, bladed Tendrils would pierce his entire flank.  The pierced in a path that went from his leg, all the way to his neck, making sure to not pierce any vital organs and arteries.  Upon piercing through, they would lock into place by anchoring themselves on the other side of the flesh by spreading like a stain.  "You know...for as old as you look, I thought you would be way smarter than this."  Ten more tendrils would pierce the left side of his body in the same fashion as the previous lot.  "But here you are...you know nothing of what I can do, yet you charge straight on.  Rather idiotic I suppose."  Louis chuckled, before ten more Tendrils pierced the man's head in an intersecting fashion, making sure to rattle around the skull as they did so.

 

"I believe mate was the word he was looking for."  Basabth chuckled from within the shadow.  

 

"Ah...yes.  Échec et mat."  The words rolled off his tongue in a tone that would chill even Bethany to her core.  Louis held the old man like a pincushion, but removed him from sight.  Looking at a deceased half-tiger, half geezer, wasn't really the most pleasant of views.  Not to mention that he continued to glow..the light was an eyesore for him.  With the master now gone, Louis didn't really much care what the other creations did.  Hopefully they just died on the spot.  Louis cleared his throat, and opened the shadow dragon's mouth once again.  Some large hail made it's way into the Dragon's mouth, and clocked Louis in the forehead from above.  Groaning, he peered out of the shadow.  He could see that Bethany had holed herself up in a giant construction of Ice.  He made his way over to it, shaking the ground as he did so.  With one hardened finger, he was able to slice the top, least-dense portion off.  He shouted into the top of it, with an arrogant tone.  

 

"Oh Little giiiiirrrrrrrrrl..please be a dear and incapacitate yourself.  A couple ice shards to the abdomen, and I'm sure they'll let you give up.  Otherwise...it would be a shame if some shadow's flooded into that chamber of yours...a real shame."  Louis finalized the statement with his trademark cackle.  

[Tesability Black]

(I was given the go-ahead to post this.)

~Talis-Eye's POV~

From high above, the Eyebeast had been watching from Rawal's point of view the exchange between Louis and the Shaper. The moment Rawal was initially pierced, Talis-Eye knew they were in danger. While they knew the Regeneration Aura would have restored the man physically, it would leave the brain completely scrambled still, considering the plan they caught from Louis.

So, dedicating to duplicating the entirely of the elder's mind into their own, as one of their many minds, they managed to save most of the elder's mental essence before the brain was punctured into multiple ways, a brain-death, but not truly dead.

Miraculously, the elder was still breathing, wounds closing, his brain physically healing but the knowledge within the mind damaged, severed and erased to various degrees.

Attention shifted from the Shaper to Bethany by Louis and his shadows, Talis-Eye floated down closer towards the fake Drayk while still invisible. Rawal, whom was still breathing, eyes still open with barely a glimmer of life still in them was still alive. The glow was forcing Rawal to stay alive, stay awake, twitching in his claws, just above the mark of automatic disqualification. The fact that the tigress had not yet left him indicates that he was indeed still on the mortal coil.

Realizing they still couldn't save everything, they made quick work to get Rawal standing, working on his mind to put what they could back together. Angered by this play, Talis-Eye turned towards the Drayk and the figures within it, all of its eyes glowing brightly underneath the invisibility...

...and Louis' own garrote wrapped itself around his neck in a split instant, pulling tightly both ends by the creation's telekinetic power in the hopes of snapping the madman's neck, if not just slicing right through it with how tight the pull was. If he tried to struggle, he would find himself bounced around the inside of his own shadow, and if he allowed himself to leave said shadow, he would find himself on the ground head first and buried into the dirt with a skull cracked open like a raw flattened egg.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Much like Talis-Eye, the other creations have developed into rage without Rawal to keep them under control. Whatever semblance of control over them there was has left, devolving the Wingbolts, Ur-Ghlaaks and Artilia into more feral states. Acid from multiple points in the ground, one by one, but in such rapid succession that it looked like a moving wave was being fired off, shot towards the Drayk in anger. The two Ur-Ghlaaks tried to grab at the shadow, one on each side, and pull in an attempt to rip it apart. The Wingbolts yielded on their attempts to shoot through the hide and instead used their sharpened tails to try and slash through the hide to get at the one that killed their master.

What sense of intelligence these creations had was, for the most part, gone and left with only half-formed feral instincts.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Bethany couldn't tell what was happening outside the shell as she sat and continued the hail. However she could feel that, remarkably, the hail seemed to not be hitting any of the opponents.

 

When the top of the shell was cut off she halted the hail, not wanting to hit herself with her own magic.

"Oh Little giiiiirrrrrrrrrl..please be a dear and incapacitate yourself.  A couple ice shards to the abdomen, and I'm sure they'll let you give up.  Otherwise...it would be a shame if some shadow's flooded into that chamber of yours...a real shame."

 

With more time to think about it, Bethany would assume that what did it was probably the cackle.

 

She didn't even look up as she stood. It wouldn't make a difference. This man was insane, he could not be trusted, and it was time to end this ridiculousness.

"Winter comes to all places, even here." Her voice was not her own, it sounded detached, as though she were simply reciting lines. "Its purpose is to cleanse the world, start anew, and to do that...We must all pay a price."

 

Somewhere in the back of her mind Bethany knew she should feel bad about this. But, much like her body, she felt cold inside as well. Numb, almost, as though she were simply going through the motions without any emotional attachment. Whatever it was that was preventing Tails-Eye from being heard seems to also be keeping Bethany's own thoughts distracted. She was afraid. Afraid to die. Afraid to lose all she had done to get here. Afraid to...disappoint those she had made promises to.

 

She hadn't come this far to surrender. And she didn't want to die. Especially not here, in this jungle, surrounded by people whom cared nothing for her.

 

The entire shell shattered in that instant, forming hundreds of shards of ice. Razor sharp and six inches in length. They moved to form a wall in front of Bethany. Three rows, stretching two dozen feet across, and taller than the dragon itself. Then, with a simple nod of her head, they shot forward at such a rapid speed they would appear a blur, a rapid-fire onslaught of ice focused around the area the dragon inhabited.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

Louis' cackling ended when he heard some slight murmuring from deep within the ice structure that Bethany had made.  

 

"Winter comes to all places, even here.  Its purpose is to cleanse the world, start anew, and to do that...We must all pay a price."  

 

The Icy prison shattered instantly, the force of the rupture causing the dragon to stumble back.  

 

"Still got some fight in us do we? Well that's a shame...I was hoping I wouldn't have to kill yo-"  Just then Louis felt something being pulled out of his pocket.  Why was his garrote moving on it's own?  He was spooked, but that instantly turned to terror as the garrote wrapped itself around his neck.  He was trained for countering this, but it had been some time.  He tensed up his neck, and started to tug at the strings ripping into his flesh.  So many thoughts ran through his mind...was he going to die here after all?  He reached out to Basabth, telepathically, struggling to stay conscious after the vicious force of the garrote strangled him.  His focus was loosening, as the Dragon began to melt somewhat on the outside.

 

"Louis!"  Basabth yelled, traversing through the shadow plain in an instant to find his master struggling to breathe.  He took a sharp claw, and dug it a small ways into his neck, making sure not to hit the carotid, and sliced up.  The garrote snapped apart, and Louis gasped for air.  

 

"A little faster next time..."  Louis barely got out.  His neck was bleeding all around from the wire and nail.  He felt around it, his adrenaline peaking to levels he hadn't had in a long time.  It made him smile wickedly.  From outside of the dragon, he was being attacked on all fronts by the mindless ones.  "One of these things must've been responsible for that...They'll pay for making me ruin my lucky garrote."  Louis could see them pounding and pulling on the dragon.  He looked on seamlessly, as a multitude of spikes created themselves from the Dragon's hide, piercing into the creatures.  The one spitting acid haphazardly was the only real annoying one, the acid fizzling against the skin of the dragon.  He had to continuously make blobs of shadow that fell to the ground, so that the acid could not spread.  He turned back to Bethany to see that she was now firing larger, sharper ice fired at him.  They struck on every frontal angle of the dragon they could, and the shadow began to crack on it's surface.  However, underneath the first crack, another shadow could be seen.  However, Louis couldn't keep this up.  He was breathing frantically, panting.  He couldn't continue the thickness of the shadow dragon's hide for long.  Instead, he had the dragon shield itself with arms and wings against the attack, as the boy slivered his way all the way down to the base of the Dragon.  In his place, he moved the skewered Tiger Man to the front of the Dragon's chest, letting that corpse take up some fire as well.  

 

"Are you alright?"  Basabth questioned, helping Louis hobble through the shadow. 

 

"Yea...I just need to regroup is all."  At that moment, one of the icicles burrowed through the leg of the dragon, and pierced Louis' entire arm.  "funk!"  Louis shouted.  The icicle lodged into his skin, as it hung loosely to his side.  Basabth sliced off the end of it with his claws, and pulled the Icicle through his arm.  Louis then stuffed the wound with his shadows, making sure to stop the bleeding for now.  

 

"Go!  Get into your shadow!  We've got to have some first aid in there somewhere.  I'll finish her off!"  Louis began to look pale, as he nodded and sunk into his shadow.  The shadow dragon's form began to melt away, only to be left with Basabth.  He ran to the side, making sure to get out of the way of the ice that still remained.  He stopped after the ice was gone, and looked onward at Bethany with Malice.  "You hurt him..." He mumbled.  His body beginning to bubble up and contort.  More bones began to crack out of the surface of his shadowy skin, splintering and shattering as they reformed on the surface.  He began to stand upright again, taking on a more humanoid like stance.  "I can't forgive you for that...even if I was starting to like you a bit..."  When he stopped shifting his shape, he looked like a ferocious monster.  "I'll make sure that you can't hurt him again...that no one will hurt him again."  And with that, Basabth launched himself at Bethany with lightning speed, preparing a solid punch aimed for her ribs.  

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Her attack had managed to pierce the dragon's hide, and the creator was damaged in the process. However it clearly wasn't enough. Louis himself was injured, but the creature of the shadows was able to save him and avoid being injured. It was enraged, and transforming before Bethany's very eyes.

 

Were it under normal circumstance she would feel guilty that this creature that had seemed to friendly was reduced to this. However Bethany's thoughts were only on victory, she couldn't even try to think of anything else. It was a pity she'd need to show this power so quickly but if it meant ending this drawn out battle it was what she'd do.

 

Gathering her magic a glow appeared in front of Bethany's chest. It was white, shaped similar to a snowflake, and it was spinning faster, faster, faster. The cold crept through her body and a steam of frost poured from her as the warmth of the area met the coldness she was expelling.

 

The beast moved fast. But it wasn't faster than a thought. And it was in that moment that a beam of ice, several inches wide, shot from the symbol in front of the girl to collide with the creature. It would feel like a laser piercing through one's body but it didn't end there. The moment it touched a solid form it began to flash freeze the creature.

 

For good measure Bethany used this time to slide across the icy floor to the side, grabbing her pistol once more and firing the last three shots at the creature.

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

While the Dragon did take the bate, it wasn't doing what Jack had wanted, that was to strictly follow it and lead it towards her opponents. Instead, the Dragon inhaled deeply and bellowed out a great cloud of scalding steam. Hack and Slash were both protected properly against the elements, but the heat combined with the force of air knocked both of them way off course, taking hard hits into nearby trees. The hologram that had been dancing vanished in the steam from the dragon's roar.

 

There were two blinking lights on Jack's HUD, and she realized something had gone wrong. Whatever happened when the robots had slammed against the tress it had messed with their circuits in some way. Neither were correctly responding to her commands and both reverted to an emergency protocol in such a situation, and that was return to her position and make their presence more known. In most cases, this never backfired on her (surprisingly). The circumstances needed to force the machines into this state was very specific and hard to do intentionally, unless you really knew what you were doing. This recall protocol was to avoid losing any valuable technology, but in this case it was likely to lead the Dragon right to her.

 

Both Hack and Slash lazily floated up from the trees they knocked into, dented and damaged but still functional, and began blinking a soft, yet visible red light and began floating in Jack's direction. Jack, in the meantime, took it to her to keep moving, find a different vantage point and keep the drones from reaching her so she can take care of this big threat as best as she can before putting herself in too much danger. Jack climbed up into the canopy and got a clear sight of the Dragon.

 

"Now or never, gotta try everything," she muttered to herself, creating and firing arrow after arrow aimed for the center of mass of the large water Dragon, hoping that the Hard Light projectiles could do at least something. If not, she was in big trouble.

[Alaina]

The dragon snarled as its breath weapon had ended, looking around to see that the flying magic man no longer existed. Feeling triumphant in herself, the dragon let out a victorious snort before turning its attention elsewhere. There were three sources of magic, no, two...one and a half? She wasn't quite sure, but there was definitely magic afoot. And magic needed to be crushed. The dragon began to turn its attention the sudden collapsing shadow dragon and spontaneous winter season, when suddenly it noticed something closer. 

 

Looking down at the ground below, she saw the strange objects that had made lights before floating gingerly through the air. And they were also flashing. Now Xia didn't know much about surface things, but she knew that the only thing that flew was birds. And while she didn't really know what a bird looked like, she knew that they didn't flash strobe lights in the air. Figuring the things were magic once more, the dragon roared as it made its way towards the all more pressing and important targets that were these not birds. 

 

Diving straight at them, the dragon had its maw open and ready to bear its fangs down on the creatures. While it had felt something sharp strike its side, the dragon didn't seem to care all that much as it continued on its course. With giant maw open and drill like teeth bared, the creature dove down intending to devour the two flying creatures. 

 

To Jack, they would see that their arrow had broken the surface of the water, the flow around the area seemed to restore itself quickly, and soon after the arrow entered the body it was launched out by the current. 

[Mr. Hyde]

 

As he charged forward, Bethany fired an attack at him.  At this speed, the attack, and himself, looked as if they were both moving in slow motion.  With this much time, it was easy to think of a counter measure for this attack.  Up until this point, to gain traction on the ice, he had been digging his bony claws into the ground, pulling himself forward with all of his strength.  However, now he had to let go.  As he did, he lowered his body position so that he was now parallel to the ground.  His arms were left straggling in the air for a moment, just for the beam to pierce his right arm.  Basabth could hear the agonized screams of Louis in the shadows, as his arm began to freeze over in an instant.

 

"Just a little longer Louis...I promise I can finish this."  

 

He was now sliding on the ground, as if he were attempting to steal a ball from someone in futbol.  Bethany was re-positioning herself, sliding on the ice as well, and taking some potshots at where she thought Basabth would be struck with the attack.  Using his reflexes again, Basabth dug his hands into the Earth, as icy covered soil began to upturn itself due to the sheer force.  He had to grip as tight as he could, due to the speed he was travelling at.  When he finally stopped, he was able to get into a running position and shove off.  At the same speed as before, and with no chance of escape, Basabth cocked his arm backward, loading all of his strength into his arm.  With this speed and force, a vacuum began to form around his fist.  

 

"I'm sorry..."  

 

Basabth unloaded his punch, only to have his entire body fly past Bethany's face.  He collided with the ground, his head smashing into the ice, cracking it and making him slide with the rest of his momentum.  As he looked up, he realized everything was at it's normal speed.  He looked to his hands, and noticed that they were tiny again.  He had reverted back to his normal form.  

"Wait...that can only mean one thing."  

 

In his own little world, Louis spun unconscious.  His lungs were barely functioning by this point.  

 

"LOUIS!"  Basabth shouted, as he hopped across the icy floor of the Congo.  He made his way to the shadow of a tree, and began to reach in.  He struggled to pull Louis out, but when he did, the body barely showed any signs of living.  "Oh no no no...please Louis wake up.  It's gonna be okay!  I'm gonna win!  I'm gonna win for you!  But you have to wake up!"  Basabth began to shake Louis by his collar.  His master needed medical attention, and right away.  With Louis unconscious, and Basabth in this form, there was no way they could keep going anymore.  Basabth looked to the sky, and was reminded of what their last opponent had done.  "W-w-we give up!  We surrender!  Please help him!"  Basabth turned to Bethany, his eyes begging for mercy.  "He's the only thing I have..."  

[Hälō]

BGM

 

"You really stole my thunder earlier. I was already yelling my best protagonist-level speech at that guy and even had my own personal flashback before I fired as if it was like one of those movies, but you got the privilege of getting rid of him in the end."

 

"Oh I really am so sorry..." Lace cooed childishly with a smirk whilst waiting patiently for Angelica to finish reforming herself. Her eyes seemed to filled with new life and her tone was whimsical for the very first time in her entire life. She felt like a knew woman and see her cheeks seemed slightly less doll-like as she tilted her head and beamed at Angelica.

 

 "Though I guess that just means that I'm the lead of this movie then, huh?"

 

"I suppose in the end it's not that important. Right here, between the two of us, whether it's magic or technology, it wouldn't be all that different. Our blades will do all the talking."

 

A sudden pressure filled the air as Angelica released her transformation. Seeing this caused Lace to grow excited. This was what she had been waiting for! A battle where she could go all out... 

 

Eager to meet Angelica's challenge, Lace slowly reached back and drew Beowulf forward. Pointing the tip of the blade towards he newest rival, she began to gather her own energy. 

 

"Let's fight 'til we drop! Then if you're still at it, let's save the world from whatever's coming afterwards! At least just to spit on that guy's face, I mean." Angelica beckoned her attack, prompting Lace to suddenly let out a deep exhale that caused a crackling azure aura to burst into existence and wrap itself around her tiny form. 

 

"Agreed... So let's get right to it then!" Lace's voice boomed across the arena. Lifting her sword high above her head, the girl allowed her power to flow through the blade before swinging it back down towards Angelica. The shockwave that followed was monstrous, and sent the earth flying high up into the air at either side as it traveled hungrily across the ground towards the android with the force necessary to level a building.   

 

"Magnum Locust!"

 

Lace watched carefully as the attack traveled towards her opponent, her entire body already poised to respond to the other girl's counter.Though she was quite impressed with the effects the upgrades the little scientist had managed to grant Beowulf, she knew that assuming that a single attack was enough to defeat Angelica would be insulting... 

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

 

While both drones had their own evasion protocols and sensors to allow them to fly around autonomously without bumping into objects, this didn't make them master evaders. Even as the dragon's maw had grow close and snapped down, their evasion hadn't been enough to get away scotfree. The drill teeth had missed the drones, but the rest of the mouth slammed down on each drone hard. When the dragon opened its mouth, the heavily dented and sparking chassis of Hack and Slash fell down to the ground useless with a dull thud against the soft jungle floor.

 

"Goddammit, not again," Jack growled. However, she had her own problems. As the arrows had entered the dragon, they had all been fired out in random directions with the current of the water in the dragon's body. She cursed loudly at the situation and stowed her bow away, racking through what her suit was capable of to see if she had anything that could harm a giant water dragon. She figured electricity could do the trick, but she didn't need to do anything math to know that the output of her tethers versus the sheer volume of water in that dragon was going to be completely useless. She didn't have anything in her arsenal that could hurt something like that, and the only place that possibly could was the paramilitary group that had dropped into the location. But even then, there was no way they possibly brought in anything bigger than the guy that got chewed in half by the very dragon Jack was trying to kill.

 

"God, funking DAMMIT!" Jack shouted, getting to work quickly at evasion, leaping and swinging from tree to tree with her tethers. She needed to hope that she ran into the other contestants so she could kill them fast and get the hell out of here fast, or else that dragon was going to make her its next meal.

[Dad]

The Era of Man

 

From behind Xia, in the depths of the cavern from which she arose, a bubbling in the water began.  It caused Xia to stop her assault and turn around slowly.  A thin, womanly figure stood on the water's edge, having appeared from the literal thin air.  She was covered in a blanket of darkness by which Xia nor Jack had ever seen.  It was a different type of blackness that covered her.  It was so deep and so dark that staring at the shroud for too long would drive even the strongest people insane.  And this woman's presence alone was enough to cause Xia to go berserk.  She could feel the endlessly flowing magic seeping out of this person's very pores, and it disgusted her.  The woman paid no attention to Xia or Jack, but instead, continued to churn the waters before her with her hand outstretched.  The water bubbled violently as though it would soon spill over into the forest, but it never did.  Instead, an ancient tome arose from its depths, having slipped out of Xia's maw not long ago: the Atlas.

 

As the Atlas reached her hands, the waters became calm and she smiled with great satisfaction.  It took a tremendous amount of effort, but finally, she had reached her goal.  She turned around slowly and faced Xia, whose roars fell on deaf ears.  The dragon unleashed a mighty, magical torrent of water, seemingly drowning the woman in shadow.

 

However, she pressed forward effortlessly, as though Xia’s powerful waterspout were but a light drizzle.  Xia stared at the shadow covered enemy, confused and enraged.  Xia attempted to maul this woman alive with her mighty jaw, but she could not physically touch her enemy.  Yet and still, the enemy could touch Xia.

 

She laid a hand on Xia’s face, gently caressing the water dragon and ushering a soothing calm to its enraged mind and heart.  “Sleep,” whispered the woman in shadow.

And so Xia did, falling instantaneously into a deep sleep.  In this state, she almost seemed harmless.

 

“Sleep forever.”

 

She pointed a finger at Xia’s still body, and a bubble of dark purple energy surrounded Xia’s head.  Xia was still breathing, but she would be forever trapped in a world of ecstasy that plagued her mind.  Only the one who had cast this curse could lift it.

 

The woman in shadow turned to Jack, her voice still distorted by the absolute darkness that covered her.

 

“Jack,” she recited.  “Honestly, I didn’t think you would make it this far.”  She took a few steps toward Jack, and everything beneath her feet turned to ash.  “Transport will recover you soon.  You should make your way back to the hotel immediately.  You’ve been given an automatic victory.”

 

“I… what?!” Jack asked with a trace of confusion. “Hold on, I’m not complaining about whatever the hell that was, but WHAT?! I don’t get to beat up that pretty boy?! I don’t get to kill that old man?!”

 

She chuckled at Jack’s words.  “Afraid not, my dear.  This is the end of the line.  For you, for them.  I’ve gotten everything I came for.  And that means you no longer have to participate.  But the least I can do before you make your final decision in what is to come is to tell you the truth.  That is if you’ll listen.”

 

“Sure, fine,” Jack said, disappointment lacing her tone. “I’ve got time, I guess.”

 

“Oh, no, dear.  Not here.  I can’t just tell you.  I have to tell everyone.  When your chopper arrives, you’ll be taken back to the hotel.  You’ll get one night’s rest.  Then, you and every contestant will report to the North Tower Lobby.  You’ll meet with me in person.  And then I’ll ask you this question one more time:

 

Will you stand with me or will you stand with them?  Don’t answer it now.  I want you to think about it.”

 

A hum of helicopters could be heard in the distance.  They were drawing near.

 

“That’s my cue.  Have a nice flight.”  She disappeared in a pool of bubbling darkness, sinking into the ground and vanishing as if she had never been there.

 

---

 

Cold Victory

 

With Rawal's near-fatal experience and Louis' surrender, Bethany had claimed victory.  Choppers were already inbound with emergency medical support for Louis and whatever remained of Rawal.  They would be escorted on three separate helicopters for three separate routes.  Having defeated an enchanted warrior, a shadow wielding assassin, a powerful summoner, and after surviving the Congo Basin, Bethany would advance to the next round.  The ground was still covered in frost and ice and would remain so for several days, but Bethany could relax knowing her journey back to the hotel was here, and her passage into the next round was secure.

 

And on the other side of the jungle, Jack's transport arrived in the clearing nearest the water.  She too had passed onto the next round for victors.  And after a hard fought battle, she could fly back to the hotel without worry.  Still, she suddenly had something vague and odd to consider.  Who was this mystery woman?  It was clear she had ties to the hotel.  And apparently, she knew exactly where the contestants were going to meet.  Or was she going to force them to meet there?  It was all a bit out of the blue.  At the very least, Jack was one step closer to billions she had never had before.  

 

---

 

Godless

 

It was then that she sought out the Godstone.  Having the Atlas at her fingertips, there was nothing she couldn't accomplish.  Even destroying the source of the Divine Being's magic was not off limits.  In a bubble of oozing shadow she appeared from the ground.  

 

She approached the Godstone with the Atlas in one hand and her second hand free to weave magic as she pleased.  With Lace on one side and Angelica on the other, she stood before the Godstone and chanted quickly.

 

"Lach ney see, aracht," she said, placing a hand on the Godstone.  At her words, the Godstone's marvelous crystal began to turn grey.  It spread quickly over the Godstone like a hungry fire.  The blue crystal disappeared beneath the grey, and the Godstone could be seen hardening as the grey reached its end.  "Aracht ta mo di-ey."  A crack appeared at the tip of the Godstone and it traveled rapidly down four sides of the stone.  Without another word, the woman in shadow walked away.  A bubbling portal of darkness appeared at her feet once more, and as she sank beneath the world she saw it happen: the Godstone had broken.

 

Crumbling like a leaf before the wind, the Godstone fell into chunks of ordinary stone, its energy and its light fading from the world.  Only one piece of it remained, and Lace held it on her person.  But now, nothing stood in her way.  Nothing would prevent her from seeing this to the end.  

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The girl had done enough, her opponent was weakened, down, and pleading for surrender. She had won this round. And yet something was amiss. She walked towards the fallen foe, in his now weakened state, and stood over him as he asked for help.

"You did well, Bethany, now finish this."
"C-Conner?" Bethany was surprised to hear the voice, that was...that was her brother, wasn't it? "What..how?" Her head hurt, something was wrong, something was terribly wrong.

"Finish this fight. End him." The voice urged. Bethany trembled, as she suddenly remembered what was happening. She was...in the middle of a battle right? There was a dragon, and some other things...and she was fighting to....to help the children, yes, that was what was going on. So why did she feel so tired? She hadn't done that much...And why could she hear her brother's voice? And what was it he was asking her to do?

 

When she came to she found herself standing in front of Louis's minion. The shadow creature was smaller than she remembered, and near him was...Louis? And he was injured, badly. Looking around the area she noticed the ground was frozen and that the other opponent, Rawal, was down as well.

 

Blinking, Bethany quickly tried to piece together what was going on. She didn't really remember fighting, though she certainly could feel it, but the proof was all around her. And the others were in danger. "Hey!" She shouted out above her, knowing there were cameras somewhere around. "I know you're watching, sorry for breaking the immersion or fourth wall or whatever, but the fight's over right? Time to send in the choppers? People are hurt and they need help NOW."

 

With how fast the helicopters came she doubted that it was due to her shouts but she was grateful nonetheless. The medical personnel refused to let her help with the others and, truthfully, Bethany was unsure she should try. She only realized after they arrived that her body was covered in frost. Whatever had happened she had used a lot of magic, a thought that sent a feeling of nausea through her, and she was starting to suffer from exhaustion. As it was she barely made it into a helicopter of her own before passing out.

Her last thoughts were on her brother. She could have sworn she heard his voice...but...what was it he had said?

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Magnum Locust!"

 

"Damn, I need my own named attacks."

 

Despite answering Lace's attack in a relatively lighthearted manner, Angelica knew she had no time to fully dodge the shockwave. However, she remembered the specification of her upgrade after her fight with Jack at that moment, and decided to try testing it out in practice. She fired off her thrusters to push her aside, enough so her core was outside of the projected range of Lace's shockwave. The attack thus ended up hitting half her body directly, obliterating half of her even if it was not a direct hit.

 

Or, perhaps that would have happened without her upgrade.

 

The crystal system that Rachel had implanted inside of Angelica's Paraiso fired up at that moment as a barrier made of some of her tassels formed between her exposed half and the shockwave, and absorbed enough of the blow into itself, allowing her half that was obliterated to not be scattered and reducing the overall damage she took. Still, it failed to absorb as much as it's advertised - Angela would've been able to maintain her form otherwise. She ended up standing on one leg, the entirety of the right side of her body being gone.

 

However, Angelica wasted as little time as possible. As that happened, she already activated Ohr's ability. A dozen copies of the sword materialized out of thin air, and were all launched towards Lace from different directions, each moving erratically as if they're independent projectiles with their own thought. Angelica then used the time to reform herself as she used her thrusters to blitz towards Lace for a rocket-powered slash with a name she invented on the spot.

 

"Sword of Divine Judgment!"

 

While most of Angelica had reformed by the time she launched her attack, Lace might notice that her right arm was still missing if she wasn't busy dodging everything that Angelica threw at her. Her rainbow tassels also were noticeably lacking from her back.

 

Angelica would follow up her slash with another slash, but she was aware that Lace was a far better swordsmaster than her. However, in the end, one thing separated her and Lace. As much as her heart and spirit was that of a human, Angelica's body was still that of a machine. Thus, she wouldn't be subject to humane limitations. She could fight differently than other humans. That much was fine by her. She was proud with everything about herself. She might be a machine that wouldn't die if she's killed, but at the same time her heart was still that of a human.

 

Still, if only she had anywhere close to Lace's skill when it comes to swordsfighting.

[Hälō]

BGM

 

Lace's gaze darted around he surroundings rapidly as the twelve swords came flying at her from every direction. Loud clangs of steel quickly began fill the valley, causing the girl's struggle sound as if it was a battle being fought between dozens of warriors. 

 

"It's like they have a mind of their own..." Skillfully parrying one sword strike after another, Lace weaved and pivoted around a small area whilst swinging Beowulf around with one hand in a blur of metal. Every once and a while a blade would manage to slip through her defenses... but with her speed she seemed to be able to keep them from landing any critical blows.

 

Though even she couldn't keep something like this up forever... 

 

After just narrowly countering what could only have been the fiftieth attack in this dance with death, Lace stumbled slightly, forcing her to sloppily smash the next sword into the ground with her free hand as it tried to come for her flank.

 

Damn it. Not good...

 

Resisting the urge try and pick up the phantom blade and use it to defend against it's brethren, Lace punted the sword away as it tried to stubbornly take to the air again. But then came yet another blade, slicing her cheek just before she could lean backwards to dodge it's stroke. "I need to get out of here...." She growled before leaping to the side, registering the sensation of a blade narrowly missing an attempt to sink into her back, instead forced to settle with scoring her right side. 

 

All too aware that her opponent was the definition of shrewd, and couldn't be given time left to her devices Lace vanished in a blur of speed. Only to reappear a few yards away from the swarm of swords. Swirling her blade in circular motion high over head, Lace grunted with effort before sending a Magnum Locust shockwave towards the cluster of blades to knock them out of the sky. 

 

A small smirk formed on her lips at the small victory, but it quickly vanished when she heard Angelica's voice from behind the cloud of dust that had been kicked up from the last attack. 

 

"Sword of Divine Judgment!"

 

The android ripped through the curtain of smoke in a burst so speed, leaving Lace with little time to react. Strands of white hair were tossed into the air, as XIII narrowly avoided being cut in two by hastily pivoting to the side.  Following through with her spin to turn and meet Angelica's second slash with her own blade, Lace gritted her teeth as the two girls entered a struggle that caused the ground to crack bellow pair's feet. 

 

"That... that was just a normal slash, wasn't it?" Despite the scale of their battle, no mattered how she tried, she just couldn't keep levity from seeping through whenever she locked eyes with Angelica. Though strangely enough it did nothing to take away from the thrill of combat.

 

"Here..." The two girls seemed about equal in the one-handed clash. Though luckily, Lace was still working with four limbs... "Try this!" Suddenly grabbing the straight sword on her hip in a reverse grip, Lace quickly drew it upwards between her and Angelica so that it's tip were pointed to the ground and it's handle was level with the other girl's cheek. A corona of sharpness swirled around the straight sword's blade, as Lace's eyes widened...

 

"Blossoms of death... Iron Lotus!"

 

In that same instant, eight crescents of light danced in flashes around the maidens. It was Octaslash. Seemingly appearing from varying angles, each flash was left from one of Lace's eight monstrously fast sword strokes as she attempt to cleave her rival to pieces.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"That... that was just a normal slash, wasn't it?"

 

"Of course, indeed it is!"

 

The truth was, it really was a normal slash because Angelica had no such thing as a special slashing technique, something that she wouldn't admit here. Half her tassel-controlled sword copies had returned to her as Angelica's still stuck on a standstill against Lace, preparing to strike at any moments. Yet, before Angelica could find an opening, Lace managed to surprise her by unsheathing her second sword. Angelica was caught off-guard.

 

"Blossoms of death... Iron Lotus!"

 

And then, in a blink, Lace unleashed one of her refined techniques. Angelica's sensors picked up a total of eight slashes coming at her despite her only registering Lace slashing once. A cage made of simultaneous slashes, Angelica found herself to have been trapped inside of the technique. She had her six remote swords attempted to block some of the slashes midway, but in the end two of the slashes clashed into her, splitting her apart.

 

However, it was not checkmate yet. Angelica barely was able to shift her Paraiso core to the ground as her body took the brunt of the attack, and as her body dissolved into a pool of nanites, Angelica's core already started the process of regeneration. She changed into a nimble cat-like form to rush away from Lace, with her sword being held with her mouth, while the rest of her nanites dispersed away into several directions. Once she created a distance during the chaos, she turned around and let some of her nanites return to her, allowing her to be of the size of a small lion.

 

"That was close, that was close." Readying herself in her bestial form, Angelica wasted no time to rush back towards Lace. Backed with her boosters, her four-legged movements ended up being even more agile than before, although Angelica was aware that she would have difficulties in using up her sword this way. However, it did not deter her, and she continued her charge at Lace.

 

"Tempest of Heaven and Earth!" She called out another name she made up on the spot. Just as she was close to Lace, rather than going for a slash, she detached her torso area to lift her front with her boosters to the sky. The detached backside of hers revealed a hastily made railgun that was a smaller version of what she used back during her previous round against that alien, and it took no time to start firing a round at Lace at sonic speed. In the meantime, the front part of Angelica would reach a certain height, and backed with gravity and the maximum output of her booster, she brought down a vertical slash with the power to create a crater on the area with ease.

 

Without a surefire way to ensure a checkmate, Lace would have a hard time to even pine Angelica down for a moment.

 

---

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

BGM:https://vhsglitch.bandcamp.com/track/calm-before-the-battle

 

“Oh, no, dear. Not here. I can’t just tell you. I have to tell everyone. When your chopper arrives, you’ll be taken back to the hotel. You’ll get one night’s rest. Then, you and every contestant will report to the North Tower Lobby. You’ll meet with me in person. And then I’ll ask you this question one more time: Will you stand with me or will you stand with them? Don’t answer it now. I want you to think about it.” A hum of helicopters could be heard in the distance. “That’s my cue. Have a nice flight.”  She disappeared in a pool of bubbling darkness, sinking into the ground and vanishing as if she had never been there.

 

Jack glared at the spot, not quite sure who she was angry. She knew she was furious at the dragon lady, for distracting Jack from entering the fray from the other contestants. She was also angry at the Dragon for wrecking Jack's drones, again. She was also angry at this mysterious woman for interfering with the whole event, and she was especially angry at whoever it was who won the brawl with the other contestants for ending it themselves.

 

In the meantime, Jack made her way over to where Hack and Slash were, scooping up the dented and damaged chassis and returning to where the helicopter was coming in. At the moment, she didn't know who she was going to side with. She didn't know who the Shadow Lady was or what she wanted, if it would align with Jack's interests at all. Regardless, she could see the helicopter coming in, and made her way in that direction.

[Hälō]

BGM

 

As Angelica shifted into her feline form, Lace's eyes darted around with inhuman efficiency. Though her attack had failed, it did manage to reveal what seemed to be Angelica's only weakness... 

 

 

"Her core..." Lace growled to herself as the android's feline form began to race forward with new speed. "Next time she reveals it, I need to be ready." 

 

Though it seemed Angelica and no intention of making this easy. 

 

 

"Tempest of Heaven and Earth!" 

 

Lace's eyes widened in shock upon witnessing Angelica's upper body detach from her legs to reveal some kind of canon. "s***!" The sound of the railgun firing filled the valley in that very instant, followed by the tremendous crash and smashing of earth left by the android's downwards stroke. 

 

"..."

 

"She's really fired up..." Lace peered down at her right thigh, where a large chunk of flesh and been cleanly blown off from one of the railgun's bolts. Kneeling roughly ten meters away from the site of Angelica's last attack, Lace grunted with effort before bringing herself back up to her feet despite the wound that would have left most organisms immobile.

 

Though her leg wasn't the only thing that had been clipped in her escape...  

 

"If I had used Helter Skelter even a second later... I would have lost my arm." She tested the the arm that held Beowulf by raising the sword high above her head. The railgun round had missed the bone by a hair, tearing away her vessels flesh as if she were human. Blood trickled down her shoulder, drenching her back. XIII never bled a lot... she was designed for survivability after all. She wasn't even sure if she needed blood to survive as long as she had energy to move.

 

"She's not the only one who's fired up though..."

 

A cloud of dust had gathered after Angelica's tempest. Aware that she couldn't give the other girl any time to formulate a plan, XIII began channeling energy into Beowulf once more. "Win..." Lace growled, the light from her blade shining brighter than before. "I want to win!" With a grunt, she swung downwards with all of her might, sending a massive shockwave forth to cut through the vail of smoke with enough force to completely level a skyscraper. She wanted to keep fighting in this tournament.

 

She wanted to fight Bethany again... like this. As friends. As her herself. Lace had faith that the other girl would make it. Even against unspeakable odds, XIII had faith. Meaning it was only up to Lace to hold up her end of the deal.. to push through and make it the finals!

 

As her attack tore through the earth and air between it and it's target, Lace twirled a large blade and thrusted it into the earth at her side causing the earth to shoot up from the force. The aura around the girl spiked violently, becoming beacon of light, hugging the girls body and rising to the air as if she were on fire. All the wile XIII's eyes scanned for an opening as she slid her straight sword into it's scabbard and took up a drawing stance. Well aware that her time in her current form was limited, she prepared herself for the final steps of this dance.  

 

 

"Angelica, come!" 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"I won't lose, either!"

 

Not here, not anytime soon. As Lace sent a stronger shockwave towards her direction, Angelica attempted to dodge it by reforming herself outside of its blast radius, however she underestimated the area of effect, and had a chunk of her nanites blasted off into the nether. She still managed to reform herself, but she was still missing one of her arms, and she had to compromise the structure on her torso and legs to be able to form the rest of her limbs.

 

Still, the shockwave still provided her with more kinetic energy stored on her crystal system. 80%, or so her internal indicator said about how much of the energy capacity had been filled. Her laser was still non-functional now, but if she could fill that to the maximum, perhaps she could force out a miracle?
 

"Angelica, come!"

 

"So be it!"

 

All of her remaining tassels left Angelica's blackened form. More swords formed on each, and the sight made it seem like they were her extra arms, as if she was one of those gods from oriental tradition. Her remaining actual arm held Ohr tightly as the blade gleamed with light. With the crystal becoming her primary core energy source now, she used Paraiso to maximize her focus and reinforce her own body's strength and speed.

 

With a large grin on her face, she darted off forward. Her many blades followed, and ended up leading the charge against Lace.

 

"Heaven or hell, you decide! This will be an absolute one way street, a trip you shall never forget!"

 

---

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

LACE XIII VS ANGELICA

 

---

 

Just before Angelica's face was inches from Lace's, her blades pierced through the white haired girl's body. Though instead releasing a spray of blood, Lace's smirking afterimage simply vanished in flicker of movement, followed almost instantly by a tremendous crash on the side of the valley wall.

The stone wall cracked under the pressure of Lace movements. Now pushing herself beyond her limits, XIII became a blue and white blur as she began to sprint across the circular arena wall, leaving tiny foot shaped indentations of shattered stone in her wake.

 

"Iron..." A heavy wind whirled around the area as Lace continued to make lap after lap around Angelica, her straight sword and scabbard grasped tightly in either hand. "Locust!" Draw her blade, Lace began to wildly slash the air as she swirled around the valley, creating a storm of massive crescents of razor sharpness to tear the entire battlefield to shreds.

 

Angelica wasted no time and withdrew most of her nanites into herself as she form herself into a defensive sphere to protect herself from the attack, maintaining her form from being torn apart by using her crystal system to absorb the kinetic energy into herself. Soon, she would hit 100% of her capacity, and she used the moment to propel herself upwards while reforming her body, before aiming her palm downwards.

 

“Paradise Cannon!” Forcing her laser system to reboot with the surge of energy gathered within the crystal, Angelica fired an earth-shattering pillar of light towards the relatively small arena, aiming to hit Lace by virtue of the sheer brute force of the attack. The beam circled around the battlefield, blasting the earth itself apart, aiming to eventually bump into Lace while she continued the attack.

 

With Angelica's massive beam of energy rapidly closing in despite her high speed movement, Lace was force to act in desperation. Suddenly leaping from the wall, XIII pivoted towards the beam of energy at her flank, and met with with a upwards sword stroke.

 

"Iron Lotus!"

 

The explosion rocked valley, triggering a enormous rockslide that begun rolling down the already torn valley walls. Dust and black smoke filled the air as the battlefield became flooded with debris and the arena struggled to keep from completely collapsing into itself.

 

And as Angelica floated above it all, a familiar figure would burst from the veil to join her in the sky...

 

Lace's clothing was in tatters and her vessel was now covered in burns and bruises. She had manage to use Iron Lotus to dissipate some of the blast, but she knew it would be suicide to take another hit like that...

 

Moments later, another Lace bursted through the cloud of dust, followed by another than enough yet another. As the quartet flew towards the android, they seemed to speak with a slight delay between them.

 

“If eight slashes isn’t enough…”

 

“Then you just need to do more right?”

 

Seeing the multiple Lace rising up to reach her, Angelica formed a confident smirk. Her tassels all returned around her, each holding a sword once more. Using the energy she got from the crystal system to strengthen herself, she made a welcoming motion towards her opponent. “So be it! How many slashes can you do? I’ll keep up no matter what!”

 

“Blossoms of Death…"

 

"Heavenly flowers, cover the earth..."

 

"Twelve!" Without warning, a fifth Lace bursted through the dust behind the other four. With a roar she swung her blade in a wide arc, casting twelve strokes of light into the air that tore through the four afterimages ahead whilst lashing out cleave Angelica apart.  

 

Determined to push herself further, Lace followed through with her last motion moving her arm back and letting loose another downwards stroke with the glowing blade. "Sixteen..." In that instant, Sixteen talons of sharpness flashed into existence, joining their twelve predecessors in a feeding frenzy.XIII could sense her vessel's strain now, and for a brief moment her gaze fell to her hand to see it trembling slightly.

 

"Cleanse the impurities, Dance of 108 Flowers!

 

I shall not lose here!"

 

The twelve strikes were met with twelve separate blades repelling their advance, and like wildflowers blooming after rain, more and more emerged from the ether around Angelica as Lace fired off the second wave of her slashes. Keeping up with Lace’s insane speed was almost impossible. Even after overclocking herself, even with the crystal’s energy pushing her beyond her limitations, Angelica’s sensors barely was able to register Lace’s movements. Yet for each possibility that Lace would break through her defense somewhere, Angelica forced a blade to manifest to cover that possibility. For each gap in her defense, a blade copy would cover it.

 

For each potential gaps in Lace’s defenses, Angelica would not hesitate to thrust her blade when the moment is right. For each slash Lace did, she would find her blade stopped by another. For each time blades were locked, Angelica would thrust another towards one of the copies attacking her while she could sense her position. For each strikes that she blocked, the crystal inside of her became filled. Filled and filled, and she would then be able to unleash a sweeping strike to all direction.

 

“Curtain Fire Shooter!” Light shot up from Angelica’s core, and rained down around her as laser blasts coming relentlessly as if they were rain.

 

"Thirty-four..." The battle between the two girls had become a blur of motion and light. Using the accountable amount of blades as footing, XIII darted around the air with Angelica as the two girls both kept pushing their bodies to the brink. "Forty-eight!" Lace's arms were in constant motion, despite the vast amount of injuries that continued to appear on her body as she move around chaos.

 

"Fifty-four.. Sixty-six... Eighty-two!"

 

With Angelica's energy now storming down like rain, Lace used several of the floating blades to rush upward towards Angelica. The energy rain was soon met with an flurry of slashes that hungrily surged upwards to cut a path for Lace.

 

"One hundred and thirty!"

 

In the eye of this storm of red and white, Lace shot herself up towards her rival with all of her might. Knowing all too well that neither of them would be able to keep up with this display this for any longer... Lace resolved to put the last of strength into a final technique.
 

As Lace barreled towards Angelica at monstrous speeds, the sound of their attacks clashing thundered across the sky. Waiting until she were only a few inches from Angelica, Lace flashed her rival a victorious smirk before vanishing in another sudden burst of speed. Reappearing at directly above Angelica, Lace plunged her sword into the other girl's back, causing them both to begin fall towards the ground.

 

"I-Iron..." XIII was sure she had managed to hit Angelica's core, and the two began heading straight towards the ground their attacks final subsided, leaving an eerie quiet as Lace tried to force her body to pump out anything she could muster into a finishing blow. Though the girls aura was fading fast... and with it, her ability to control her vessel in this damaged state.

 

Having yanked her blade free and allowed her arm to flow above her head, Lace tried her best to hold Angelica steady with her fading strength. "Lo-"

 

“Heh. I finally got you.” Even as she fell, even as Lace managed to land a solid hit to damage Angelica’s core, even as Lace went to seal her victory, Angelica flashed a smile. She still had some energy left. Lace had made herself unable to dodge in time by striking her directly. "It's been so long...

 

This fight ends here."

 

A brilliant light from what was left of the crystal’s energy shot upwards, aiming to end the battle once and for all with a direct hit that blasted the two maidens apart and and cast them into free fall.

 

---

[Hälō]

LACE XIII VS ANGELICA

The End 

BGM

 

"Move..." Lace croaked as she stared up at the afternoon sky with fading vision. Her impact had left a large crater  in the scattered debris that was formally known as GodStone Valley, and just a few feet away, in a nearly identical crater laid Angelica who was also in the process of forcing herself up.

 

"M-Move... Damn it!" The combination of the strain placed on her body during their arial clash paired with the damage from Angelica's last attack left Lace's vessel in shambles. She had managed to suffer nearly every kind of wound possible in this battle; torn muscles, railgun shots, slashes, burns and shattered bones and XIII was now painfully aware of them all. Her arms were both useless now, even when she tried to use her last traces of her soul's energy... it seemed her legs were the only things still functional. 

 

It would have to be enough. 

 

"T-There you go again..." As the white hair girl managed to finally bring her vessel to it's feet, her dim lavender gaze met with Angelica's just as the other girl took a clumsy step forward out of her own crater. The android was in no better shape. With her core damaged and energy levels at zero, she barely had enough energy to maintain her base form, let alone regenerate her injuries...

 

"Robbing me of my big dramatic finish." Angelica smiled slightly as she said this, but her eyes carried nothing but determination as she forced herself to take another step towards Lace. Using the tiny spark of kinetic energy she could gather in her broken core when she had hit the ground, she urged her body to keep trudging forward despite the layers of nanites that had begun to break off from her body and scatter into the wind.  

 

"You're like a cockroach." 

 

"H-Heh..." Lace replied whilst mimicking Angelica by taking her own step forwards. Her arms hung limply in front  of her as she kept doggedly dragging her vessel forward every time the other girl took a step. It wen't without saying that the two would even resort fighting with their teeth if they had to, and Lace wasn't backing down. Not when they'ed already pushed themselves this far...

 

"Don't worry... it's coming!" XIII voice was ragged and her breathing was labored as she smirked whilst limping past Beowulf.     

 

After what seemed like an eternity, the two girls finally met in the middle. Peering into each-other's eyes in what they knew to be their last stare-down, the two combatants couldn't even seem to generate a slight pressure in the air. In a way, despite the circumstances; in this moment there were both the closest to two normal humans that they had ever been. 

 

This fact wasn't missed by Angelica, and it caused her smile to grow wider. "You know... this has been the most fun I've ever had!" Taking her last step forward, the android shifted her focus to channeling the remaining energy in her core to her right hand. "I'm almost sad to see it end..." 

 

"So this is it, huh?" Lace followed suit taking one more step forward before sliding her left foot back to get in what could've been could a readied stance if you were generous. "I don't have a name for this one... but let's have a trade anyway!" Seeing Angelica's arm tremble before slowly cocking backwards, XIII smirked and begged her body for one final favor... 

 

"Gladly!" Lunging forward, Angelica swung her arm towards lace with her fist balled.

 

"Here it is!" Surging forth with the last of her strength, Lace tilted her head downwards to deliver a savage headbutt. XIII gritted her teeth, expecting to feel the impact of Angelica's fist against her head, only to find that other girl's arm had completely dissipated into a cloud of glimmering nanites upon meeting with Lace.

 

Her core now completely void any energy, Angelica's body had begun to loose all stability...

 

With nothing to halt Lace's momentum, and Angelica still stuck moving forward, the two maiden collided headfirst with a crash that echoed off the crumbled walls of the arena as both contestants fell backwards. 

 

"..."

 

"..."

 

There was silence for the first time since they had arrived in the valley. It creeped into the arena like a thick fog, and lingered there for quite some time before for finally being pierced by the sound of laughter.

 

The laughter of the two girls was immense, and resembled those of you what you would hear at a slumber party or a girl's table in the high school cafeteria. It was loud, and genuine in a manner that had no place on the battlefield. The laughter persisted for it's own small eternity as well, before it too faded away. And when it did, Angelica's voice could be heard as she stared up at the sky.

 

"Lace?" The girl's voice seemed dreary, and nanites were not crumbling away from her body at a rapid rate. 

 

"Yea?" Lace's eyes flickered slightly. She couldn't move at all, and it took all the willpower she could muster to remain awake, despite having just contributed to the fit of delirious laughter. 

 

"H-How was that...  for a dramatic finish, I mean?"

 

"Hm, I'd say..." Lace thought for a moment as she recalled how stupid the two must of looked moments ago in that clumsy finale exchange. "It was pretty shitty." She said in her usual deadpan manner whilst smirking painfully.  

 

"I thought so..." Unable to move, Angelica smiled one more time before closing her eyes. "I guess it will have to do." Her voice seemed to grow low, and though Lace couldn't move her head to see the entire scene, a sudden surge of nanites blowing in the wind told Lace that the rest of the Angelica's body was quickly fading. "Now if you'll excuse me..." Angelica's voice was like a whisper in the wind now.  "I think I'll be taking a little nap."

 

And then suddenly there was silence again. Laying on her back, with Angelica's damaged core laying across from her, Lace felt her lips curl into a smile. She had won. Which meant she would moving on to the finals...

 

"Right behind ya..."  XIII whispered to her rival's core as she waiting for help to arrive. 

[Dad]

Marionette

 

Helicopters were on the scene of Angelica, Lace, and Mango's battle some ten minutes after the round had concluded.  Mango was extracted first, lifted onto a stretcher and flown away.  Lace's helicopter came next.  She was loaded onto a stretcher, strapped down, and braced before being moved.  Because her body was in such bad shape, she would be the last to arrive back at the hotel.  She was lifted into the air on a series of powerful ropes like a spider on a web.

 

Angelica's helicopter arrived last.  Because she was mostly machine, it would be much easier to restore her to functionality thanks to the technology at Sergei's disposal.  With Rachel's help, she would be returned to full strength in no time.  Her external design was completely falling apart, but Rachel had Angelica's design stored internally.  Replicating it would be a simple task.

 

What remained in Godstone Valley soon turned to dust.  The Valley's magic was withering to nothing, and soon its plant life and the earth that surrounded it would dry up and die.  This once plush valley would become a wasteland over the course of two weeks as its source of survival had been destroyed.

 

---

 

Imbalance

 

The polls had been tallied and much to Sergei's surprise, Lace was not the crowd favorite.  Angelica had a forty-nine percent crowd favored outcome to Lace's own forty-seven percent.  With Mango being down and out, she made up two percent of the Godstone Valley poll.  The final two percent of viewers had opted in to vote for the mystery person who had suddenly appeared and vanished in moments.  Though Lace's own popularity would surely grow after the battle, the climax and subsequent end of the fight would result in a rather discouraging ending.  Approximately forty-eight percent of viewers were dissatisfied with the way the battle was concluded, not taking into account that the combatants risked their lives and destroyed their bodies.  The remaining fifty-two percent of viewers were overall pleased with the end of Angelica and Lace's bout.

 

Hashtags of their fight exploded across social media, both positive and negative.  Things like #SHOOPDAWOOP and #IronLotus were among the most popular.  Others included #AnimeBattle and #AngelsRobotsandWizards.  Though this fight was not a winner's round, it was more watched than the primary battle occurring in the Congo Basin, by more than twenty-two million viewers.  The main round drew in forty-five million viewers, while the loser's round drew in sixty-seven million viewers.  

 

Bethany's own popularity had grown once more, her victory being attributed to her being #IceCold.  Louis' loss was unprecedented, as he entered the battle beside Jack with a crowd favored victory of sixty-percent.  Jack's popularity growth was smaller than Bethany's, considering her crowd favoritism was only twenty percent.  However, besides Bethany, her hashtags were also quite popular.  #DragonSlayer was one of them.  Others that were given to Jack were #SharpShooter and #DangerProneDrone.  The remaining eighteen percent of voter popularity was split between Rawal and Bethany, with Bethany taking up ten percent and Rawal having the bottom eight percent of crowd favoritism.  

 

As each battle concluded on opposite sides of the world, fireworks at the Golden Gate Hotel were in synch with the announcement of winners by Victor Skye and Yasmine Janine, the hotel tournament casters who each took on separate battles on their own.  

 

Mango would arrive at the Golden Gate Hotel approximately six hours after her take off time from the Godstone Valley, landing at 11:00 p.m. that same evening.  She would be taken to the medical bay for minor to moderate injuries under the care of Sergei's doctors.

 

Angelica would land at the Golden Gate Hotel exactly one hour behind Mango, at exactly Midnight.  She would be wheeled directly to Rachel's laboratory where MARS would oversee her restoration for the next six hours.

 

Lace would not reach the Golden Gate Hotel until the next morning at 10:30 a.m. due to having been escorted to an emergency medical facility owned by Sergei in Mexico.  

 

Bethany would arrive at the Golden Gate Hotel just after 1:00 p.m. the next day, her trip being a lot farther than the others.  She would be taken care of by onboard doctors and nurses on her flight back.

 

Jack would land at the Golden Gate Hotel at the exact same time as Bethany, on a separate tower.  She too would be able to be checked for injuries by onboard doctors and nurses on her flight back.

 

Rawal's remains would be flown back to the United States as well, but they would not be taken to the Golden Gate Hotel.  Instead, they were taken to a Black Site where confidential and experimental restoration was performed on him.  The success rate was more than seventy-percent, but he had to remain on a tight leash even after the restoration was complete.  This would mean he would return to the Golden Gate Hotel on the second day after his battle, at a late 9:00 p.m.

 

Louis underwent immediate treatment once he was put on board of his plane.  The damage to his trachea was bordering on extreme, and he was fortunate enough to still be breathing.  He would arrive back at the Golden Gate Hotel on the second day at 8:00 p.m., under strict orders not to undergo any strenuous activities for the next twelve hours.

 

---

 

Crash

 

        The third day after round two, the early morning was opened with a round of trumpets in the early morning rain.  A funeral was being held for the victims of an escaped assailant from the holding cells below the Hotel.  Geno was utterly ashamed that he had let several men die under his watch.  He and Ghost showed up in full uniform out of respect to their comrades.  Sergei, Theo, Matilda, and Rachel were also present, requiring a large array of security over the services.  Ace had remained behind to monitor the hotel.

 

As the services concluded, Sergei and company withdrew, with Geno leading them back to the hotel.

 

"Have you reviewed the cameras?" Sergei asked.

 

Geno nodded.  "They were all fizzled out.  Every single one of them.  From the time of the initial breakout until the time the prisoner was off of hotel grounds.  Someone set this up for him."

 

Sergei sighed.  "We'll need to reevaluate all of our security personnel.  Rachel, where do we stand on the death of Ms. Briggs?"

 

"A recovery team has picked up most of the videos.  There are a few remaining but they've been seized and we're trying to locate any possible duplicates.  But, sir, at this point, it's too late," Rachel admitted.

 

Sergei nodded.  "I'm aware.  But the nature of the video is... it shouldn't be left up there as though Ms. Briggs' death was some spectacle to take joy in.  What of those killed in the blast?"

 

"They've been taken care of.  The funeral services for their loved ones was paid for anonymously as you requested.  Families are being relocated for their safety and the demolition of the old bank will take place in two months after the area has been completely evacuated and checked for any other possible dangers.  I believe that's everything," said Rachel.

 

"Thank you, Rachel.  Matilda, it's possible that Ms. Bethany will take Janey's death personally.  I'd like you to see to her well being.  I'm unaware if she's seen the video yet, but she deserves to.  If what Geno told me is correct, they had established a very short friendship," Sergei said.  "Theo, will you please guard Ms. Bethany for the next forty-eight hours?  I believe those who sought Ms. Briggs may also want to remove any connections she had."

 

Theo scratched his large beard.  "Well, sir, you know I'm not one to object.  But I believe that Ms. Bethany may very well be able to take care of herself."

 

Sergei agreed.  "Of course.  But if she comes under any mental duress, she may very well lose control.  I'd prefer her not to come under attack from anyone else at the same time."

 

Theo nodded.  "Should we inform Bradley?"

 

Sergei shook his head.  "He's already aware."  Sergei stepped past a large tree and Geno stopped ahead of him.

 

"Sir?" Geno questioned.

 

"I need you to take me somewhere private, Geno," Sergei requested.

 

"Of course, sir.  Where to?" Geno went on.

 

"I'll explain in the car.  I'll meet you all back at the hotel in a few hours.  Travel safely, my friends," Sergei said.

 

Theo took Matilda and Rachel to his own vehicle and drove them away.  Sergei, Ghost, and Geno entered an unmarked black sedan parked outside of the graveyard.  Geno sat quietly in the driver's seat, with Sergei looking over his own shoulder.  When he was certain that Theo had driven far enough away, Sergei turned to Geno.  "We have been compromised," Sergei said at last.

 

Geno nodded.  "I'm aware, sir.  The deaths of my men was clear eno--"

 

"No, Geno.  Gerald Dillinger came to see me," Sergei said quickly.

 

Geno paused.

 

"He put me in touch with a Magical Handling Unit.  An organization of talented individuals who deal with dangerous magical situations.  We're going to see them," Sergei said right away.

 

"Is this... is this about the book?" Geno asked.

 

"Yes.  We have reason to believe it's been found.  And the entire hotel--no.  The world is in danger.  And we'll need all the help we can get.  Take us to this address," Sergei said, handing Geno a small strip of paper.

 

Geno started the car.  "Does Ace know?"

 

Sergei nodded.  "That's precisely why I left him at the hotel.  I've never seen him so distressed."

 

"And you, sir?" Geno inquired.

 

"I'll be fine once we have this under control.  Let's go," Sergei demanded.  Ghost put his head in Sergei's lap as the car pulled away.

 

---

 

When they arrived, Sergei and Geno were staring at an empty lot of stone.  "Er, sir?"

 

Sergei nodded, taking off his seatbelt and getting out of the car.  Geno followed immediately and Ghost was right behind them.  "It's okay.  The area is secure, from what they told me."

 

"They?  Sir, with all due respect, I don't know these people.  Your contact with them came from a questionable source.  I have zero reasons to trust them," Geno said as he folded his arms.  He began surveying the area, but they were surrounded on all sides by hills.  "This is bad. Sir, you need to get back in the car.  We need to leave, immediately."

 

Sergei took a dingy looking silver coin from his pocket.  It was emblazoned with a serpent on the front and a hawk on the back.  "Geno.  Be patient."  He flicked the coin at the stone lot in front of them and watched it disappear before it ever hit the ground.

 

"What the hell?" Geno whispered.

 

From thin air, wearing his signature trench coat, Jackson Gurney stepped forth, holding Sergei's coin.

 

"Don't trust me all of a sudden, Geno?" he asked, with his gruff voice.

 

"Jack?  What's going--" Geno began.

 

"I'll explain inside.  Normally this coin would be all that's needed to get in here, but I had to see to it myself that you made it."  Jackson placed a palm against the air behind him and pushed it backward.  A door creaked and became visible before them.  "This way," he said, ushering Geno, Ghost, and Sergei inside.

 

---

 

"I founded the MHU about ten years ago.  I had run into trouble in Norway in the mountains when Saul saved my stupid ass.  Got back here and connected with Kokoro and Morgan.  Then we just grew from there," Jackson said as they stepped through a long corridor of stone pillars and marble floors.

 

"And this place is hidden, how?" Geno asked.

 

"Morgan cast a backward sealing spell.  Instead of sealing the way out, she sealed the way in.  Now it just looks like an empty lot.  Normally that coin Sergei has would be caught by a gorgonite and they would show you inside.  But I figure ya wouldn't wanna run into one of them bastards your first time here," Jackson said.  He turned westward into what appeared to be a conference room where a small group of people had gathered.

 

"A gorgonite?" Geno asked.

 

Jackson stopped and turned to Geno.  "You ever hear of Medusa?"

 

Geno nodded.  

 

"Imagine a bunch of her running around, but they can turn invisible and they have dicks," Jackson said quickly.  He proceeded to enter the conference room where everyone stood up as he entered.  "Have a seat," Jackson said right away.

 

The conference room was decorated with a long, round, wooden table with ten cushioned chairs atop plush maroon carpet and concrete walls with wood paneling.

 

"This is Sergei, owner of the Hotel.  Sergei, you spoke with Koko here, she's the lady in charge when I'm not here," Jackson said, alluding to the young lady with her hand up.  She was clad in black and red and as she opened her mouth to speak her fangs were visible.

 

"The pleasure's all mine," Kokoro said.

 

"You also met Morgan.  Our resident witch," Jackson went on.

 

Morgan feigned a smile, tipping her hat.

 

"The big guy there is Saul.  You already know Dirk, in the back.  The slender one is Nero.  Don't question his fashion choice.  That there is Robert.  He's actually older than everyone here, includin' me.  The blind one is Basil," Jackson finished.  As he prepared to sit down, a clanging came from the hall with rapid footsteps.  There was a screech against the floors and a mechanical reptile who looked much like a raptor entered the room.

 

"Oh yeah, and that's Zyg," Jackson added.  Zyg tilted his head at his name before sitting beside Morgan.

 

"Is Tyson with you?" Sergei wondered.

 

"He's in the John.  Let's get down to business," Jackson said as he picked up a remote from the table.  He pointed it at the back of the room while Sergei and Geno grabbed a seat.

 

Ghost sniffed around, passing by a scowling Saul and a curious Basil to sit on Morgan's opposite side.  There, he and Zyg exchanged looks.

 

"Ghost."  Geno snapped a finger and Ghost returned to his side right away.

 

"Ahem," Jackson cleared his throat.  A screen flickered and appeared before them with a picture of a dusty brown book.  On its cover was a metallic lock with the Greek Alpha symbol carved into it.  "The ancient tome--"

 

"Sorry I'm late!" came Tyson running into the room, his hair burning and his shoes skidding on the floor before he stumbled into the conference room.  Saul blew Tyson's hair out and Tyson gave him a look.  Saul simply folded his arms, daring Tyson to make a move.

 

"Sit," Jackson demanded.  Tyson didn't say another word but sat next to Kokoro.  "The ancient tome known as the Atlas is believed to have been found, somewhere deep in Africa.  According to Sergei's broadcast, just before a strange entity appeared and the match went dark in the Congo, someone made contact with a group of deep-sea explorers who mentioned a dragon.  That same dragon appeared in the Congo having stolen something from these explorers.  We believe that may be the Atlas.  However,"  Jackson said as he flipped to the next slide.

 

"When our African team went to search the waters for it nearby, they came up empty-handed.  There were traces of magic -- as to be expected when you're dealin' with a dragon -- but nothin' else to be found."  Jackson went to the next slide.

 

"Then, another match went dark not long after the Atlas was believed to be recovered.  Here, in South America.  These two were goin' at it when the feed was suddenly cut.  When it was restored, the Godstone had crumbled.  It takes a lot of magic to destroy something like that.  A magic that can only be found in the Atlas," Jackson reiterated.  

 

"How can you be sure, Jack?  What if our mystery guest is just that powerful?" Kokoro asked.

 

"Not possible," Jackson rebutted.  "The Godstone itself is protected by a class SZS barrier.  That means only divine entities can even come close to breaking the barrier itself before actually being able to damage the stone.  That is of course unless you went straight through the barrier and corrupted the stone's magic.  There's no magic we've identified that can do that.  Even Szar couldn't touch the stone, and he was the end of the Divine Beings.  Not to mention they could travel between South America and Africa in a matter of minutes.  And we couldn't detect it."

 

Kokoro took a deep breath.  "The Atlas..." she whispered.  "So they've already gotten past the lock then?"

 

Jackson nodded.  "Has to be.  If you're strong enough to wield the Atlas, it'll open to ya.  So the legend says."

 

"So whoever they are, they're powerful," Morgan chimed in.

 

"Very.  Beyond even your old man's capabilities," Jackson added.  Morgan frowned.  "I believe the incident surroundin' the Atlas has to do with that wave of nasty energy me n' Tyson felt out east.  Where did it originate?  Did y'all ever track it down?"

 

Saul stepped forward.  "Somewhere east of us, nearest Nevada."

 

Jackson rubbed his chin before he went on.  "This just means they have a far reach, whoever they are.  As far as F.A.L.L. does.  Maybe farther.  But now the problem lies in tracking them.  Chances are, they wouldn't take the Atlas with 'em when they travel.  They probably have it hidden.  Morgan, I want you to take Zyg and Basil and look for any anomalies in the tri-state area.  Use the gate to fast travel."

 

Morgan stood up from her seat.  "On it.  C'mon Ziggy."  The mechanical raptor wagged it's tail and followed Morgan out of the room.  Basil followed behind them.

 

"Saul, I'm assigning you and Dirk to assist Geno at the hotel.  There's been a lot of the same strange blackouts occurring in the hotel as they did for those fights.  Whoever this is, they're closely connected to this God damn contest,"

 

Saul nodded.  Dirk got up from his seat and shrugged.  "Looks like you're stuck with me, Saul my boy," he joked as he walked past the giant.  

 

"If you call me a boy again, I will crush you," Saul announced.

 

"Tyson, you and Koko are on lookout duty.  Stake a claim around the hotel and monitor everything within a hundred miles in all directions.  And don't go sleepin' around this time.  Too many lives at stake for you two to be bonin' on duty," Jackson snarled.

 

Tyson blushed as Kokoro looked him up and down.  "Then we better get it out of the way now."  Kokoro stood up from her seat and dragged Tyson out by his collar.  Tyson flailed but he was no match for Kokoro's grip.

 

"Christ almighty," Jackson said shaking his head.  "Nero, Robert, I want you two to handle wards.  Soon as you detect anything, you contact me and Koko.  Understood?"

 

Nero grinned.  "We're in for a good battle."

 

Robert flipped his hood over his head.  "I haven't had a good battle in twelve-hundred years.  This should be fun."

 

"I'll stay in the Hotel and do a few scans.  But Sergei," Jackson said as he stood to his feet.  "You need to understand that your life is in danger."

 

Sergei also began to stand, as did Geno and Ghost.  "I'm not worried, Jackson.  I have the best men in the world to protect me," Sergei said with a confident nod.

 

Geno remained silent as Jackson turned to face him and then turned back to Sergei.  "They can't help you here.  My fear is that none of us can."

 

---

 

Rivers

 

Back at the Golden Gate Hotel, Matilda and Theo went off toward Bethany's room.  Rachel elected to check on Angelica's recovery and went back down to her laboratory.  

 

When they approached Bethany's room, Matilda knocked first.  "Miss Bethany?  It's Matilda.  I was hoping if you wouldn't mind, that you and I could discuss some personal matters," she said slowly.  "I do have Theo with me, but he can remain outside if you wish."

 

It was still early, and it was only 10:00 a.m.  After an exhaustive fight, Matilda wouldn't have been surprised if Bethany was sleeping in.

 

---

 

Victor Skye and Yasmine Janine had completed the morning announcements.  In closing, they reminded contestants that lunch was being served in the banquet hall in the north tower in celebration of their victory, and all contestants, winners or losers, were invited to attend.  

 

Louis' recovery had been a full success.

 

Rawal's body was completely restored thanks to Talis-Eye and the confidential work of the Black Site.

 

Mango was fully healed and her arm rebuilt by stem cells.

 

Lace had made a miraculous recovery, but she would be groggy due to the emergency surgery she had to undergo.

 

Angelica was made whole again, and her systems were back to one hundred percent.

 

Jack was suggested to take bed rest, but her injuries had healed for the most part.

 

Bethany would also be fully recovered at this time, her injuries not as severe as others.

 

Now it was just a matter of actually waiting for the third round.

 

 

• Attend the commemorative lunch in the banquet hall in the North Tower.

[VCR_CAT]

Jack

Helicopter Pad - 1:00 PM

 

The flight back had been long and arduous. Doctors and medics had insisted on doing a full-check-up, requesting to remove Jack's suit in the process. However, Jack denied and resisted any attempts to remove her suit, or especially her helmet. As a compromise, Jack hooked her suit up to a doctor's tablet and fed them her biometric data, including a full history of any hits, impacts, or falls that she took during the fight. The date seemed sufficient for the doctors, but Jack could tell the hints of dissatisfaction written on their faces, but either of wanting to do a full, accurate check-up or wanting to see what was behind the suit she couldn't tell. Jack always assumed the latter.

 

The helicopter had touched down and Jack had handed the broken husks of Hack and Slash to an aide on the pad, demanding that they make their way directly to Rachel and that Jack will know if anything else happens to them, and what would happen if and when she found out. With nothing but a simple nod, the aide had left the pad, along with the doctors after they had given their advice. With her mental checklist of all her things fulfilled, she made one last mental note to have her suit delivered to Rachel, one more time, to be repaired and tuned before the finals. All things in order, Jack looked up and began to move towards the stairwell down...

 

...until she saw the last person she both expected and wanted to see standing by the door to the stairwell, looking up at her with tired eyes.

 

BGM:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUsVA_6-3cY&t=1658s

 

"What are you doing here," she snarled, fists clenched tight and arms shaking.

 

"I came here to see you," Shigeru said with a pained smile. "I've been watching your matches, you've done very well."

 

"Shut up," Jack growled.

 

"I'm proud of you, sweetheart."

 

"SHUT UP!" Jack screamed, her bow grabbed, extended, and an arrow knocked and aimed directly for Shigeru's head in an instant. The man, whose unkempt appearance and dark-ringed eyes betrayed the broken state he was in, yet he didn't flinch at the sight of his life being in danger. Personnel around the helicopter pad reached for their radios, calling for security at the sight of the hostility. "Shut the funk UP, you bastard!"

 

"I came here to apologize," Shigeru said calmly. "For everything I've done to you, everything I put you through."

 

"APOLOGIZE?" Jack practically shrieked, breaking into hysterical, mocking laughter. "What the HELL are you sorry for, you son of a jabroni? Sorry I escaped? Sorry I didn't remain to be your funking pawn at your beck and call?"

 

"I understand if you want to kill me. What I did to you was wrong, I was a desperate and foolish man."

 

"YOU UNDERSTAND?"  Jack's bow shook violently in her hands. "YOU THINK YOU UNDERSTAND?!" In response to the security call, Geno had shown up, carefully leading all personnel away from the helicopter pad and out of the way. He was about to address Jack, to ask her to lower her bow, before she had done just that. With her bow lowered, Jack had reached with shaking hands and grasped her helmet, almost violently removing it from her head and throwing it against the ground, where it bounced and rolled with a dull clatter. Underneath was the young Asian woman, almost out of her teens, with half her hair shaved and the other half grown out. The ports used to plug herself into her helmet clearly visible.

 

Jack's face was twisted in pain and rage, tears staining her cheeks as she stared daggers at her father, teeth bared, her breathing heavy and shaking. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME, YOU funker?" She screamed, her voice without the demonic distortion that the helmet had usually given her. "YOU... RUINED ME! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING AWAY FROM ME. MY FAMILY? MY HOME? MY LIFE?" She paused, choking back a fit of sobs, fresh tears running down her face. "DON'T YOU TELL ME YOU UNDERSTAND, JABRONI. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING, YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF!"

 

Tears ran down Shigeru's face as well. "I've always loved you, and I hate myself for what I've done. If you could let me make this right, I will. Even if it means letting you take my life."

 

Jack took her bow and knocked the arrow once more, aiming it at her father, as unsteady as before. She stood their, weapon at the ready, for a few moments as she stared at the man who made her who she is. Finally, her fingers let the arrow loose.

 

The hard-light shaft of the arrow struck the cement just in front of Shigeru's feet, cracking the roof as it was lodged on impact. Not long after it had hit, the arrow dissolved into bright, red motes of light that vanished before his eyes. Jack put her bow away and reached down for her helmet. Shigeru stood, stoic, staring at the spot where the arrow had hit. Jack replaced her helmet and made for the stairwell down through the tower, pausing before she entered the door.

 

"You're pathetic," she growled under her breath. "You are nothing to me, and I will never forgive you." Jack opened the door and descended into the rest of the hotel.