Laguna - Anti-army camp - midnight - Marie

The light blue sky caught my attention when I exited that mess. Is it midnight right now? Time is fuzzy to me at the moment, and my body feels sluggish from all the meals I skipped, and with no sleep, yeah, can anyone blame me; it’s a freaking miracle I’m up. Nunnalé’s been picking up my slack this far, I’d be dead.

This guy isn’t a joke. His weapon looks strange, but something tells me looking pretty wasn’t what the creator was going for. It could probably saw me in half if I let it hit me. Gotta stay on my toes!

“Hey, you,” I call over to the kid shielding her friend. “Can you move?”

“Yeah, but who are you?”

“Not important. I need you to get somewhere safe. We’ll take care of this creep.”

Kid probably wants to say something else, however, she pushes back whatever she wants to say. She picks up her friend by the arm and legs it.

“Stay there!”

The enemy’s weapon blows out smoke, bellowing a mechanical roar. A thin chain unbuckles from its loop. It flies straight for the kid.

“Nunnalé!”

She’s already on the move! Her boot stops the chain. I’m right on the bastard’s ass. Cut up his arm and he’ll be done. He lets go of his weapon and kicks at the shaft of my weapon, upsetting my grip on it. With his foot behind my weapon, he pulls me closer. A flurry of well-placed strikes hit my head and neck. Each blow is sharper than the last. I can barely keep my head straight eating all these. He takes this chance to close in further. Probably thinks I’m stunned.

“Guess again, shithead!”

I stomp his face. Blood comes gushing out of his nose. If he’s gonna go quick, then I’m gonna hit harder!

Nunnalé hastily follows up. But he kicks up his lance, mitigating the otherwise devastating blow from the superhuman girl. Even in the air, he can still make attacks with that chain thing. It’s still dangerous even if it isn’t as accurate.

“Marie, are you unharmed!?”

“Nah! What about you?”

“No damage!”

"Then can you give me an idea of what's going on?"

"Our current enemy is this boy, Jed. Master is distracting an incredibly powerful enemy, and the rest are trying to warn the bandits to leave.”

Okay…now I’m totally lost. But I think I get the gist of it; everyone is getting up to trouble, and Richard is holding someone off. Nunnalé said they were dangerous, and knowing Richard’s lack of combat skills, I doubt she isn’t worried about him. Good thing I’m all warmed up now.

“Go find Richard and help him.”

She turns her head to me, taken aback at what I said. “What of you?”

“Don’t worry, just go. He’s probably wishing he had his favorite guardian right about now. Don’t you think?”

She dashes off but stops halfway to the exit. “...I wish to speak with you, once this is over,” she says with her back turned. “Thank you, for your assistance.”

“No problem. After all, I should be thanking you.”

She races off at top speed to find Richard. Alright, time to get down to work.

“Thanks for waiting,” I jeered at the enemy, spinning my spear behind myself.

"It is fine, but I am going to have to make this brief. I cannot allow those two to escape." He kicks the upper part of his lance over to his left shoulder. "...By the way, my name is Jed. It is only gentlemanly of me to introduce myself."

"What a gentleman. Too bad I'm not as kind!"

I kick up dust mixed with debris from under my feet. The remains of the building near us are scattered all over the place. Since this guy doesn’t scream half-assed in his pole-arm skills, he easily deflects them out of his path. But it doesn’t matter. It only helped me close in on him.

He’s about to swing his lance over my head. Easy enough to dodge. That attack just then was more on the lines of playing keep away rather than going for a decisive blow… Or at least that’s what I thought. Jed pushes forward, wrapping his weapon around his body. He shifts his weight every time he swings his weapon. Not to mention his absurd level of athletics and how nimble he is. Each swing tests my ability to judge whether I should block or dodge. A single mistake, and I’m dead.

If I avoid getting hit with his blade, I'll be fine. But that's easier said than done. His control over that thing is crazy! Not just that, he’s even using his damn legs!. I hate to say it, but I’m impressed. The hours of practice, the blisters on your hands and fingers, and the discipline to control this beast is plain to see.

But so what!? I’m not gonna let that distract me. Parrying every strike, I focus my attention, paying attention to every little detail about this kid; when he shifts his weight, how his arms are arched, when he contracts, where his eyes move, and most importantly; finding an opening in his offense.

The rotating talons close in on my shoulder, threatening to hack through my shoulder. Now! I whack the middle of his weapon, pushing it above his head. His guard is down! One chance, don’t waste it!

However, Jed isn’t panicked. He drops the lance from his hands. Is he giving up? A dumb thought. Jed kicks his weapon upward by hitting the bottom of it. The spinning blades edge close to my face, barely missing me. Too damn close! He quickly grasps his weapon and chucks it at me. A blink is all it would take for the lance to reach me. I swing it out of the way. A vicious strike whips my head back. He thrust his leg for my gut. I shield myself with my spear. All it does is push me back. Wait, no, that wasn’t just that! That kick almost broke through my spear’s shaft. Good thing I blocked, or my guts would be all over the floor. However, a broken weapon isn’t any better.

He kicks his weapon to his hand, grinning at me with a shit-eating grin. “How boring. Did you honestly think you were a match for me? If so, then I must be the bearer of terrible news; you are too weak. Perhaps you should have left the fighting to that other girl. She would have–”

“You’re right.”

“Huh?”

“I said you’re right…I’m acting dull…”

I hold my spear in front of myself, handling it on the opposite sides of the tear. “...I’m still a bit too ridged, too clean… Time to cut the shit!”

I snap it in two over my knee. I throw the blade at Jed, following behind it. He swats the blade out of the air despite being taken by surprise. That’s fine, it’s all fine!

“What the–”

My hands grapple his lance, immediately tightening to secure their grip. Jed, reeling from my advancement, does a swift maneuver to destroy my grip. Each turn and shake would have been enough to do the job, if I wasn’t familiar with disarming.

“My turn, you brat!”

I cross my arms and flex my muscles to their limit. It’s down to strength, and I ain’t losing, not now! Fancy footwork ain’t gonna cut it, not at this distance. In a last-ditch effort, he punts it out of our hands. It spins above us, reaching higher into the sky. I can’t let him have it!

There’s no more time to be cautious! It’s do-or-die time! A savage battle of endurance begins with me striking Jed’s face. We bash our fists wherever we can hit the other. There’s no rhythm or reason, not even a shred of thought behind my blows, I just go for it; desperately trying to outdo him as our bones gnash against the other. His strikes alone wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for his lightning-fast follow-ups. My brain is practically turning to mush from each hit.

The lance is coming back down! All or nothing, just take it! Jed punches me with his heaviest strike yet. Nausea almost overpowers my brain as it rattles around inside my skull. Light bounces around with my eyes losing focus of everything in front of me.

Still, this is what I’ve been waiting for! I grab onto his wrist. Squeeze down on these twigs with enough strength to break them.

“Gotcha.” Bits of my sight return enough to see the dumbstruck look on his face. “Better say goodbye to your teeth…!”

All the muscles in the left part of my body, from my back to my hand, flex to their fullest capacity. Arching my arm, I line up my fist for his face. His feeble attempts to get away aren’t doing him any good. Whatever he dishes out, I’ll eat it up! All of it for this one punch!

Then, I slam my fist into his pretty face, crushing his nose between my knuckles. I push my fist harder into his head, rocking his head back and forth with a single blow. He rolls and bumps into the debris below us. The lance lands, lodging itself into the ground. Its rotating blades keep going, like they have a mind of its own…

“It’s done,” I mutter, letting out a sigh of relief

“No…” Jed staggers to his feet, wearing a nasty smile coated in blood running from his head and nose. “...Not…over… It keeps going!”

He throws something my way. A tiny silver glint catches my eye, closing the 5-meter distance between me and Jed at a remarkable speed. My body recoils. Searing, unfathomable pain burns around my shoulder. A spearhead is stuck in my shoulder.

An earsplitting scream erupts out of me, tearing at my throat. Shit, shit, shit! This is mine! The broken part is even there! Wait, shit! He’s just using this as a distraction! And as predicted, he’s blazing over here at top speed. The lance! Biting down on my lip, I tear out the blade and reach for it. Horrendous pain flares up in my shoulder from the slightest movement, but it doesn’t matter right now!

“Push harder!”

I know! Victory is right in front of me! Even if I have a hole in my shoulder, I don’t give a shit! I’ll win!

Both my hands clasp the lance. Jed’s eyes widen, losing whatever confidence he had in winning. With a single blink, the battle is over. A spray of blood paints the air in crimson. With rapid, uncontrolled pants of disbelief, and immense confusion, a fleshy thud hits the ground. Jed falls back, leaving a blood trail behind him. His right arm lies on the ground, in a pool of blood.

“This…can…cannot… I…I…?” You’d think he’d be screaming his lungs out, but as weird as this sounds, he looks distraught about something else. “...Not like…not like this!”

“Just give up. I…don’t want to kill you.”

“But…I am…your enemy!”

“Yeah, well I’m tired of having other people’s blood on my conscious. So just give it up.”

“I see, so…then you are…a killer with…a conscious? How funny.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“But…your crimes will not…wash away…simply for…sparing…me.”

“I know, I’ll just have to carry those sins with me.”

He expels a hoarse chuckle, clutching the remains of his left side. “Unfortunately…I am…unable to…comply! This…my goal…my purpose…! It is all I have left!”

He digs into his pocket. A purple ball cracks open against the ground. Smoke rushes upward, blanking my surroundings. I rush through the smokey haze using his blood as a trail.

“...Where is it!?”

The trail is cold. Whatever he did, it completely stopped his bleeding, cause I sure as shit can’t find even a speck of blood outside the smoke cloud.

“Damnit! How did he get away that fast?”

Did he cover up his arm with his sleeve or something? But how far can he get with only one arm? He isn’t much of a threat when he can’t use a weapon properly anymore. Maybe I should make sure to–

Out of nowhere, a popping sound takes my attention off that punk. It sounds far off from here, north of here, or at least I think it's north of where I’m facing. Whenever weird things are happening, we’re usually in the middle of it. Well, guess that means I’m heading there then.

“Right, this thing.”

This lance… It’s more than useful, but it’s too big for me to wield effectively. Also, I just don’t see it and me pairing up well with each other.

“Maybe we would’ve been a good pair, but that time come and gone.”

I let it go. Dust pushes up from the ground, blanketing the beaten and stained weapon. Oddly enough, among the rubble and whatnot, it looks at home… Maybe it had enough too? Eh, who knows? I don’t have time to worry about how a weapon feels.

I slap my cheeks to hype myself up. “Alright! Time to get my ass in gear.”

Need to book it to where everyone else might be. Brother, Proxy, Richard, Nunnalé, everyone… I feel it in my heart; you’re all fighting hard right now. So I’m not gonna sit on my ass and let you guys do all the work! I’m on my way!

Laguna - South - nearing dawn - Richard

Crash, bang, boom. These sounds reverberate through my ears as I run through the dilapidated city. Cade keeps closing in behind me, but whether by a stroke of luck or untapped skill at running away, I manage to keep him off me. However, I sustained too many wounds at this point. Healing them one by one is all I can do; sorted by grievous to least worrisome.

Climbing on top of a house, I keep moving. I switch from healing to enhancing. Using one leg to leap is still hard, but as long as I’m careful of where I’m jumping and how to land, I’ll be fine. Though, my body really isn’t up for continuous running.

“...That’s…!” Hurrdling through the air, a lamppost! Move, move! They crash through the roof, trailing behind me. And like a bad joke, a large rock is spinning through the air, aimed right at me. There’s no more roof to run on. I can see a lamppost over the edge of the roof. I take the plunge. At this height, catching the neck of the lamp will probably pop my arm out of place. Need to enhance all of my arm to avoid that. Brimming with Source, I catch the neck but it tears right off. Forgot to factor my mass while falling! My back hits the cold ground. Ow…ow. Note to self: never do that again.

“Oh, no!”

Cade is about to drop on top of me. I pull myself together to jump out of the way. Face to face, it’s clear that Cade is beginning to signs of some exhaustion; he’s lightly panting. Might not be much, but that’s a good sign. Although, it’s not like I can confidently fight him. His abilities far surpass mine in terms of combat. Plus, my wounds are still bad. Healing now leaves me open for a direct attack. Running away is sound, although, if he gets me while I make a break for it, I’ll die. Damnit, what do I do…!

A thunderous pop grabs our attention. What was that!? Wait, that direction… It came from the bridge! That means they’re ready…! I’ll have to let them take it from here.

I draw in a deep breath. “Hey!” Cade’s eyes trace back to me, just as feral as before. “Want the bandits, they’re over there! So go get them!”

He darts his eyes back to the sky where that pop came from. “Bandits!”

Cade kicks off the ground, making it up to the roofs. He’s gone…good. I fall to my knees, heavily panting, trying to take in whatever air I can. I had reached my limit ages ago. At least now, I can heal up for a bit…

“Did all I could. Bring it home, Proxy…"