Episode 45 Green is My Least Favorite Color
With sheer determination, Silver forces herself to her feet. Wobbling slightly, she finally steadies herself enough to aim her bow at Midori. “I’ll…I’ll kill you, you evil woman!” Silver howls violently.
“Hmph. Do you really think you are in a position to do that?” Midori taunts.
Meanwhile, Wake mutters a quick spell under his breath. With a pop, an octopus suddenly appears in between Midori and him.
The octopus promptly sprays a stream of black ink in Midori’s face, causing her to step back. Wake turns around, taking advantage of the situation. He fires two rounds, striking Midori directly both times.
“Nice shot, Wake!” Silver cries amid the commotion.
However, as the octopus disappears, Midori wipes the ink from her face. The two gunshot wounds are gone. Both Wake and Silver gasp audibly.
“What’s going on…?” Wake whispers bewilderingly. “I was sure I hit her!”
“I see…” Silver hisses back. “She can store the energy gained from Drain for later purposes as well.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Midori replies loftily, “my attack essentially converts the life energy of the humans I strike into a deposit of energy I can use for myself.”
Wake’s jaw quivers slightly. “Silver…how…how are we gonna beat her like this?!”
“Don’t panic,” scolds Silver seriously, “that’s the last thing that’ll turn this situation around.”
With a flourish, Midori draws upon her weapon again. In the meantime, Silver inches closer to Wake, whispering in his ear. “Wake. I’ll cause a diversion. When there’s an opening, you fire at her.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ve got a plan.”
“Hmph!” Midori laughs. “No matter what you’re planning there, it still is not enough to defeat me.”
“I beg to differ!” Silver roars, suddenly sprinting straight at Midori. She fires four shots in quick succession from her bow. With lightning speed, Midori leaps out of the way, so that the arrows merely strike a tree behind her.
Silver slides and spins around quickly, readying her bow again. “Take this! Hurricane!” A lightning-fast stream of arrows fire from Silver’s bow like tiny needles, heading towards Midori.
Midori summons her bow again, unleashing three massive golden arrows. The arrows fly through the air, evaporating all of Silver’s attacks with a deafening roar.
“Wake! Now!” Silver shouts.
Wake suddenly steps in between Midori and Silver, just as the two of them are left open following their attacks. A flamethrower escapes from Wake’s gun, headed directly for Midori.
The flamethrower makes a direct hit on Midori, throwing her back and slamming her into the trunk of a hulking evergreen. She slides down into a slumped position, and quickly scrambles back to her feet, though shakily.
Both Silver and Wake shout in celebration of the direct hit. However, they pause as Midori suddenly begins laughing wildly.
“Do you still not understand?! You cannot hurt me!” Midori cries. She forms another bow and arrow, pointing it at Wake. “Drain!”
Throwing himself out of the way at the last minute, Wake manages to dodge the attack. However, seeing the attack miss, Midori quickly scampers towards the Rift Army soldiers still forming a ring around the clearing. She pounces on one of them, slashing his body in half with a devastating attack.
Silver turns just in time to witness the brutal slaughtering, as several of the soldiers scream in terror. Silver’s eyes widen with horror. “Damn it! What are you doing, you idiots! Run away!”
Still smirking haughtily, Midori turns to face Silver and Wake with a look of triumph on her face. “See? With such an abundant supply of easy prey around, I can heal myself whenever I need to!”
“I beg to differ,” Silver says again coldly.
“What?!” Midori shouts. She looks down, seeing the scorch marks from Wake’s attack still on her. Suddenly, she doubles over, wincing in pain as the wound takes its toll.
“It took painfully long, at the cost of three of my men…but my poison finally worked.” Silver calmly walks straight up to Midori, gesturing at the four arrows still planted in Midori’s leg.
Midori suddenly notices them for the first time, and immediately grabs hold of them and recklessly pulls them out. Tiny rivers of blood pour out from the wounds.
“I imagine since you have the ability to seeming perpetually heal yourself, you aren’t very used to the sting of pain,” Silver continues. “In other words, you have a low pain tolerance. Normally, someone who’s been through as many battles as you would barely flinch at the wounds you’re experiencing now.”
“Stop joking around,” Midori hisses, “why can’t I use Drain anymore?!”
“My attack from earlier was loaded with a special poison that disables your mana,” Silver answers. “It took far too long to activate, but in the end it worked. It seems your constant healing may have delayed its effect, but it couldn’t stop it, since your Drain only appears to heal surface wounds. Basically, you’re still vulnerable to poisons regardless. Without access to your mana, I’ve now disabled you.”
With great effort, Midori clambers to her feet again. A maddened gleam is in her eyes. “So what?! My attacks still don’t require mana! Even if I can’t use Drain, I can still kill you first!”
Silver takes several steps back in alarm as Midori unveils her weapon again. She leaps out of the way as Midori unleashes a wave of energy that blasts its way forcefully through the forest, downing several trees at once.
Frowning, Silver raises her bow in front of her again. “Evidently this battle is not over yet…” she mutters to herself.
Taking aim, Silver directs her bow once more at Midori. But Midori proves too fast; she bounds forward, skipping past Silver and heads straight for Wake instead.
Wake ducks just as the Fatalist unloads another blast of energy towards him. A mountain of dirt explodes into the air behind him as he rolls away. Wake raises his gun, firing several rounds into thin air.
Midori appears again by his side, only a flash of golden light signaling her presence. Wake slides out of the way, while Midori fires two blasts at point-blank range.
Meanwhile, Silver again tries to aim at Midori. She fires one shot; the arrow sails through the air, striking the trunk of a tree. “Damn it!” Silver curses, lowering her bow. “She’s too fast even for my aim!”
Wake scrambles around frantically, trying desperately to evade Midori’s persistent attacks. Several bursts of gold explode over his shoulder. Stumbling about, Wake changes direction. Again, another pair of blasts flies just past him, erupting upon another evergreen.
Panting heavily, Wake suddenly turns around in the interval between attacks, timing his move precisely to take advantage of the brief opening. He cocks his gun forward, pointing at the green and golden blur that is Midori.
“Take thi—”
The blur whirls past Wake. A cool breath of wind flashes past his ear. He turns, but not quickly enough. A burst of golden light blinds his eyes, as Midori unveils a sword of golden light in her hands.
Both of Wake’s eyes widen for the last time. “Shit!”
It happens in an instant. The sword pierces Wake directly through his left eye, going straight through his head. Blood splatters onto the ground as Midori withdraws the sword mercilessly. It evaporates into thin air in her hand.
The two of them pause, breathing heavily. Meanwhile, a steady flow of blood trails out of Wake’s left eye socket. He immediately places a hand over it, screaming in pain. He falls to his knees, screeching for his life.
“Wake…” Silver murmurs helplessly, completely rendered speechless with horror.
Wordlessly, Midori spins around and heads straight for Silver. She summons another light sword in her hands, whipping it through the air as she comes at Silver.
Reacting with extreme precision, Silver whips out her bow and fires a single arrow within seconds. The arrow pierces Midori’s left shoulder, causing her to stumble to the ground. She slides onto the dirt floor and lands with a heavy thud. Midori’s sword disappears completely.
Her heart still pounding heavily, Silver gazes down at the fallen Midori. “You…bitch…” Silver hisses breathlessly as she stands over the Fatalist.
With a disgusting squelching noise, a thick arrow oozing with greenish poison suddenly emerges from Silver’s abdomen. No light is reflected in her gray, solemn eyes as she gazes down at Midori. Retrieving the arrow, Silver strings her bow with it and takes aim directly at Midori.
“I’ve only used this particular poison just once,” Silver announces gravely, her eyes still trained onto Midori’s body, “on a former enemy…this reverse poison!”
“R-Reverse poison…?” Midori croaks from the ground.
“Yes!” Silver shouts viciously. “Now that your ability to use Drain has been neutralized, this reverse poison will drain your vital energy from your body into mine! A fitting way for you to die…”
‘Crap!’ Midori’s eyes widen as she remains lying still on the ground. ‘I can’t let that hit me…’
Silver pulls her arm back to fire, but in that instant, a bright flash of golden light bounces past Silver. Suddenly, a lengthy gash erupts from Silver’s right elbow, her firing arm.
Now standing again several paces from Silver, Midori lowers her light sword triumphantly, and lets it dissipate into the air. However, Silver merely grimaces and bites her lip, her intense concentration not abated. She continues to focus her bow towards Midori, the wrath clearly carved into her silvery eyes.
“Tch!” Midori murmurs to herself. “There’s no way I’ll let that hit me… If I just overwhelm her with an even bigger attack…”
A massive burst of golden light surrounds Midori, as she summons her largest bow yet. It stretches from the tips of the grass on the ground to the lower branches of the trees around her and hums with anticipation of a devastating attack. An equally massive sword replaces the arrow in the bow as Midori aims straight for Silver.
Her own bow locked onto Midori, Silver narrows her eyes with supreme focus. She clenches her teeth, her eyes blazing with fire.
“This…this is vengeance for Tide and Wake!” Silver howls at the top of her lungs.
“Fool! Your obsession with vengeance will be the end of you!” Midori roars back. “Tide and Wake aren’t even worth avenging!”
“TAKE THAT BACK!” screams Silver.
“NEVER!”
In the next instant, both Silver and Midori fire. Their arrows rush towards each other with devastating force and velocity, destroying everything in their paths.
—END FORTY-FIVE—
Drama.