Episode 48 Settlement
Fayvard slowly forces his way back to his feet, despite his leg completely refusing to move. He stumbles onto his feet at last, his right leg a dead weight under him.
“Impressive that you can still stand,” Blod comments, watching Fayvard struggle. She draws her sword, pointing it at Fayvard. “But that’s as far as you’ll go!”
She flies straight at Fayvard, her katana swinging wildly through the air. Fayvard attempts to raise his own sword, but cannot do it in time. At the last moment, Rill dashes in between the two, forcing Blod to jump back with his Lightning Avenger.
The Avenger splits in half and falls to the ground in pieces from the collision with Blod. Fayvard bursts into a smirk from behind Rill. “I owe ya one!”
Rill glances at Fayvard behind him, coldness in his eyes. “No, I only saved you because it would be inconvenient for me to lose you.”
“Heh, a save is a save!” Fayvard howls. “No getting around it!”
“Whatever,” Rill retorts, “now is not the time to hold back anymore!”
He dashes forward with commanding speed. Blod takes a moment to regenerate her left arm, but Rill shoots past her so quickly that he slices it clean off again as soon as it reappears with his Lightning Avenger.
The shuriken and the arm tumble to the dirty ground at their feet. Blod gazes spitefully at Rill, still clutching her katana in her right hand.
“Fine, I don’t need a left arm to kill you!”
Blod bursts into top speed, giving chase to Rill. The latter uses his own agility and speed as he dashes from tree to tree, evading Blod. He finally turns around as he leaps off another tree, shooting two blasts of lightning at Blod.
The Fatalist deflects the lightning stars with her katana. However, Rill abruptly changes directions in a fraction of a second, causing Blod to stumble as she scrambles to react.
Rill glides right past Blod’s left side, and swings a new Lightning Avenger at her as he passes. A deep gash is formed as Blod is sent to her knees. Rill comes to a stop just behind her, panting heavily as he inspects the results of his attack.
In triumph, Rill lowers his weapon. “That should do it…” he mutters to himself. However, Blod quickly whips around, pouncing upon Rill at the exact moment that he has let his guard down. She swings her katana desperately.
To Rill’s surprise, Fayvard suddenly dashes in front of him and blocks Blod’s attack with his sword. He nearly doubles over heaving from the effort, still dragging his right leg behind him.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rill asks.
“It’s obvious we’re never gonna finish this fight unless we take her out with a huge bang!” Fayvard roars back to Rill. “Let me take care of her while you charge up an attack to finish her!”
Rill narrows his eyes suspiciously. “Are you sure this isn’t another one of your tricks?”
“Trust me,” growls Fayvard.
Sighing, Rill finally nods. “I don’t trust you. But it seems I have no other choice…”
Taking several steps back, Rill raises his right hand in front of him. All of a sudden, a blast of electric yellow sparks starts to form his hand, swirling about and generating a whirlpool of energy.
Meanwhile, Fayvard and Blod continue to lock swords, as they each gaze wrathfully into each other’s eyes. Blod sneers, even though she can barely stand.
“You’ll never be able to kill me!” she hisses.
“We’ll see about that,” Fayvard taunts, “I know it ain’t fair, but we’re taking you on two on one.”
Without warning, Blod flips over into the air, landing several feet further away from Fayvard. Her breaths come in heavy gasps, unable to gather the energy to regenerate her left arm still.
Fayvard charges, roaring and sprinting with pure adrenaline, dragging his disabled right leg behind him. He stumbles slightly as he runs, but persists on, swinging his sword.
Blod dodges the attack, slipping under Fayvard’s hands and sliding behind him. She swings her sword, but Fayvard manages to spin quickly enough to block the attack by grabbing Blod’s blade out of the air with his right hand. With his left, he pummels Blod in the stomach with the hilt of his sword, knocking her into a tree.
With a clatter, Blod’s katana falls to the ground at Fayvard’s feet. His right hand is completely shredded and bloody, as streams of blood gush forth from it. But Fayvard ignores the pain, taking the opportunity to charge forward.
In an instant, he presses his sword deep into Blod’s stomach. The sword penetrates straight through the Fatalist’s body into the tree behind her, pinning her in place. Blod screeches with pain, writhing as blood rushes down from her stomach.
“Preparations complete.”
Rill suddenly reemerges, an entirely brand new Lightning Avenger in his right hand. The Avenger takes the shape of an eight-pointed star, its yellow points swimming with charged electrical energy.
Coming straight at Blod with his newer, larger Avenger in tow, Rill howls at the top of his lungs. The Avenger screams as well, crackling with excitement at its first opponent.
Blod twists around desperately, but Fayvard holds her mercilessly in place, as she clenches her teeth, bracing for the impact of the attack.
“You…BASTARDS…!”
A massive explosion occurs as Rill makes contact with Blod at last. The tree behind Blod is shattered completely, as parts and bits of it sail into the air dangerously.
Rill withdraws his Avenger at the last moment, allowing it to dissipate into the air. Fayvard retreats as well, pulling out his sword. A thick trail of blood follows his sword as he leaps backwards.
As the dust from the explosion finally settles, Blod reappears face down on the ground amid the ruined corpse of the tree. Her body is completely motionless. A still silence falls, broken only by the nervous chirping of birds some place far away.
Hesitantly, both Fayvard and Rill approach Blod’s body. The two of them stare down at her unmoving body. Fayvard gives it a kick on the side, flipping the corpse over to reveal her face. “She’s dead.”
“Yeah,” Rill replies simply.
Spryly, the Fatalist hops off his perch on the tree and lands on the ground, revealing a sheathed Doombringer strapped to his back. A smirk plays about his lips. “Yo, it’s been a while!” he shouts.
Cynthia glances at Zack, who merely gulps and raises his Kage in front of him. The Fatalist narrows his eyes, scratching his chin slightly.
“What, already forgotten me?”
“’Course not…Recelo,” Zack hisses back.
Recelo raises his empty hands, clapping twice sarcastically. “Correct! For that, you win a prize…you get to fight me!”
Raising her guard, Cynthia gazes from the Black Mamba wrapped tightly around Recelo’s arm to the Doombringer on his shoulders. A swordsman and rogue hybrid?” she murmurs softly.
Turning his head to glance at Cynthia, Recelo issues forth a smirk. “Heh, not quite… I’m a Night Lord and Shadower fusion!”
“Shadower?” Cynthia mutters back, perplexed. “Then, that sword…”
Bursting into a wild laugh, Recelo reaches back and draws his Doombringer out of its sheath. He holds it out in front of him delicately. A long metal chain dangles from the hilt of the sword.
“Since you’re a pretty girl, I’ll be nice and show you exactly what I can do with his Doombringer here!”
In a second, Recelo raises a hand over his outstretched sword, but is suddenly forced to dodge as a blast of white light flies past his shoulder, clipping it slightly. A tiny cut appears where the arrow had flown past him.
Baring his teeth, Recelo glares sternly at Zack. “Hey. What the hell’s the deal here?”
Zack flashes a smile, even as his arms are still raised from the follow through of his Holy Arrow attack. “Sorry ‘bout that. But I wasn’t about t’let you go showin’ off so easily. S’this a fight or not?”
Returning the grin, Recelo lowers his Doombringer, though his hands clench more tightly around its hilt. “Fine, then. I shall make you regret asking for me to get serious so soon!”
—END FORTY-EIGHT—
Well, there you have it. Next up on the docket, Team Zack/Cynthia vs. Recelo. Also: No new chapters next week so that I can catch up on writing. Thanks for your patience~
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Stupid broken comments.