Episode 80 Flower versus Tree
Zack and Mira come to a rest at the edge of another corner, their breathing heavy. They surreptitiously peer around the corner, but find that the hallway beyond is completely deserted. Not a sound disturbs the silence of the empty corridor.
“It looks like…we lost them…” Mira pants, following Zack’s gaze up and down the passageway.
“Yeah,” mumbles Zack in return, “but looks like we lost Cynthia too.”
Cynthia leaps from branch to branch, avoiding the barer ones in preference for the leafier boughs. The wooden snakes thread through the many branches and boughs of the makeshift forest with ease, slithering their way relentlessly towards Cynthia.
She bites her lip with frustration as she looks over her shoulder while on the move. “Damn it, they’re too fast!” she cries, coming to a skidding stop on a branch. As the snakes approach her, she turns and thrusts forward with her dagger. The snakes grind to a halt, hissing and snapping vehemently at the attack. Using the opportunity, Cynthia puts on a burst of speed and propels herself further into the wood, hiding amongst the branches of the trees.
As she leans against a particularly large oak, Cynthia peers around for any sign of Damon. She listens intently for him, panting heavily as she narrows her eyes with intense concentration.
“Come out, come out, girlie!” Damon’s voice rings from somewhere distant. A rustling of leaves sounds as Damon gradually gets closer. “I didn’t even get to ask you for your name!”
“It’s Hyacinth!” Cynthia bursts out, leaping from out of her hiding place, brandishing her Kandine.
Damon turns around, the pair of wooden snakes leading the way in front of him. They bristle immediately upon sight of Cynthia. Within seconds, they snap into action again and fly after Cynthia.
Cynthia dodges, leaping onto another tree as the snakes callously push their way towards her, pummeling their way straight through several trees in the process.
“Hyacinth, huh?” Damon smirks. “That’s a pretty name. How about we drop this little fight and go on a date, huh? We can listen to my new CDs. I’ve got The All-Ossyrian Rejects! Or how about The Black Eyed Pinkbeans? Oh! How about Sir Gaga?! I’ve got his new CD. We can listen to Just Dig and Archaeology Face!”
Cynthia stares blankly in response at a loss for words. Damon stomps about impatiently. “Your silence only makes it more awkward! Die!”
The snakes resume their pursuit. Leaping shakily onto another tree, Cynthia flashes her dagger, timing her attack, but the snakes prove too fast; they snap at her heels, as Cynthia retreats onto the branch of yet another tree. She quickly pivots now, going back the way she’d come.
“You’re one weird bastard, but that doesn’t change the fact I’m going to defeat you!” roars Cynthia.
“Haha!” laughs Damon. “You’re a Chief Bandit. I know I’m safe in a long-distance fight like this. As long as I keep you far away, you can’t hurt me with your dagger!”
“You’re right,” Cynthia replies, landing precariously on yet another tree as the snakes continue to tirelessly chase after her. “I can’t hurt you from far distances, but that doesn’t mean I have to be next to you to hurt you!”
Damon raises an eyebrow. “Huh? What’re you talking about?”
Cynthia narrows her eyes. With a flick of her wrist, she cries out loud. “Meso Explosion!”
Quickly, Damon widens his eyes in response. “Crap!” Multiple booms rock the greenhouse as several trees around Damon erupt in smoke. His wooden snakes, tangled amidst the many branches and trees, are caught up immediately in the numerous explosions. They hiss and writhe painfully as the blasts consume them.
As the smoke clears, Damon’s ribbons of wood lie in ruins, incapacitated by Cynthia’s attack. Her eyes flashing victoriously, Cynthia issues Damon a grin. “I bet you didn’t count on that, Damon!”
“What are you so happy about?!” snarls Damon, glaring angrily at Cynthia. Instantaneously, he forms a massive hammer made of gnarled wood in his hands. He dashes straight for Cynthia, his hammer drawn back ready for a devastating smash.
Cynthia flips over, dancing out of the way as Damon smashes full throttle through the branch Cynthia had been standing on. The branch breaks into several pieces which fall into oblivion far below.
Eyes widened, Cynthia stares from another branch just above the previous one. She leaps away again as Damon shoots upwards, destroying the second branch.
As Damon rejoins her again, Cynthia leans forward, swiping at him with her Kandine. Damon dodges, his eyes narrowed with extreme focus. He swings forward with his own hammer, only to find Cynthia disappearing again.
She reappears directly behind him, her dagger gleaming. “I’ve got you now!” However, Cynthia’s dagger is stopped in midair as she tears into a thick shield of wood.
“What?!” Cynthia tries desperately to pull her dagger free from the shield, but to no avail. Tiptoeing around his summoned shield, Damon approaches Cynthia, swinging his hammer.
Caught between an anvil and a hammer, Cynthia is forced to let go and abandon her dagger. She plummets off the branch as Damon swings into thin air.
Catching another branch below with both her hands, Cynthia expertly swings herself back onto firm footing. She agilely leaps back onto the same branch as Damon.
Flying at Damon, Cynthia punches the wooden shield with her fist, breaking it into pieces. Cynthia rapidly recovers her freed dagger and swings viciously. However, Damon slides off the tree, falling into the abyss down below.
Breathing heavily, Cynthia drops to one knee on the tree, observing Damon disappear into the darkness far down below. She sighs, wiping sweat from her brow.
“That was close…”
Cynthia stares at her dagger clenched in her right hand, kissing its handle softly with her lips. “I almost lost you…”
A distant rumbling draws Cynthia’s attention. She takes a step back as with a furious blast of wind, a completely brand new tree sprouts out of the darkness, its topmost boughs rising high above Cynthia. Damon slides into view once more, holding onto one of the tree’s branches as he rises with the tree.
“Are you sure you’d rather not just end this fight and play nice?” Damon asks. “You’re definitely much more my type than that Midori chick. And I’m pretty sure that Lillia girl is jail bait…”
“What the hell are you talking about?!” Cynthia growls impatiently, brandishing her dagger at Damon. She leaps forward, joining him on the new tree.
“Oh, so forward!” Damon hoots. “I like this in a woman.”
“Shut up!” Cynthia shouts, blushing slightly nonetheless. She takes another swing at Damon, this time aiming for his legs. He hops into the air, flipping over and landing on Cynthia’s other side.
Cynthia swings yet again, but is greeted by another plank of wood as Damon bounds out of harm’s way. He lands on a nearby tree, folding his arms as he watches Cynthia grapple with trying to force her dagger’s blade out of the block of wood.
‘Damn it…’ Cynthia thinks to herself as she finally breaks free from the wood. ‘I may not be as good as Ayame was, but I will definitely not disappoint the Cloud Family. I’ll defeat this guy and all the other ones that come my way!’
Damon raises another eyebrow as he observes Cynthia approaching him, her determination reflecting in her bright green eyes. He smiles slightly to himself. “Hmph. I can see that you’re really determined to beat me!”
“Yeah, of course!” Cynthia replies, the wind whistling fiercely in her ears as she heads towards Damon. She raises her Kandine, the blade glittering brightly in the sunlight coming in through the windows on the roof.
“I see,” Damon sighs, nodding sagely as he speaks in a magnanimous voice. “We cannot be lovers, so the only way to honorably sever our ties to each other is to sacrifice our lives for one another. A lovers’ suicide!”
“Shut up!”
Damon opens his eyes, leering at Cynthia. However, he only spots a flash of light fly past him. He turns, just in time to see the trail of blood flowing out of his body after Cynthia.
The latter comes to a stop just behind Damon, panting heavily, blood stained on the blade of her dagger. Damon looks down, shock etched onto his face as he sees the blood already quickly pooling around his stomach and onto his knees.
Cynthia rises out of her follow-through pose, a cold fury in her eyes. A whirl of blue light can be seen hovering around her Kandine’s blade. It spins rapidly in place like a miniature cyclone, humming loudly as it does so.
“The Cloud Family’s secret move in which the user’s mana is channeled into the dagger immediately before using Assaulter…Special Assaulter!”
—END EIGHTY—