Their swords clashed, reverberating through the island boundaries. A brief shockwave emitted from the impact, hurling those IMO soldiers back who were surrounding Colonel Rash from behind. Rash puffed on his smoke, taking notice of his fallen comrades inadvertently. Jesse narrowed his eyes, his entire dominant, right arm coated with a layer of skin-deep ice. The ice began diffusing up his blade, generating an ice-stricken blade. The ice began to further diffuse through Rash’s sword, whom didn’t seem to take immediate notice to this incident. Jesse took advantage of his opening, and, while not letting off of his sword, aimed for a horizontal crest-like kick for Rash’s abdomen. Upon hearing his movement, Rash attempted to retaliate by withdrawing his blade and dodging, yet had a harsh attempt at removing his blade. Rash’s eye widened as Jesse kicked him, the blow forcing Rash to discard his own sword, while still stuck to Jesse’s ice blade. Jesse looked down nonchalantly, gripping both swords by their hilts, breaking them apart, the ice dispersing into water that once combined them.
“Nice hoax,” Rash said, standing up straight. Jesse continued looking on, showing little emotion, only the usual cold glare from his intense cobalt eyes. “You intentionally forced me to clash, drew my attention away with my men, and then froze my blade, knowing I would react by attempting to withdraw my blade, you used that opportunity as an opening. I’m impressed.” Rash complimented his opponent, clearing showing his newfound interest in his target. If freezing thirty of his forces on the spot didn’t convince him he was dealing with a serious hazard, managing to catch him, himself off guard certainly did.
Jesse kept his eyes locked on Rash, he held up his hands. The atmosphere around the both of them began to dampen, which Rash took immediate notice to. Rash’s eyes tapered with an intrigued observation.
“Crystal Ice Hail Storm,” Jesse raised his open palm above his head, holding his hand high above his head. Rash took a firm stance, suddenly drawing his other sword strapped to his back with great tempo. His eyes plastered around the field, observing every aspect, expecting anything. Sure enough, it would come. A large flower-like construct of sheer ice began moisturizing in the air, using the external water from outside of the island. The ice flower shattered, raining down multiple morsels of ice on the field, all at their trajectory, would easily impale Rash, and probably kill him effortlessly.
Rash realized the situation he was in, and, with a simple slash of his black katana, everything within an unseen radius of 5 meters was completely sliced and mutilated to bits and pieces of harmless shards of ice. The ice rained on Rash through his general vicinity, holding his sword above his shoulder carelessly, he eyed Jesse with his good eye. He’s even capable of moisturizing the atmosphere, allowing him to manipulate his own ice from the air. This guy is dangerous.
“You’re good; I’ll acknowledge you’re actually really good. Implying that I never expected anything less out of a fellow War Rune user is a little preposterous, though.” Rash stated, gazing seriously at Jesse, whom simply folded his arms and made no outside expression that he was intimidated in the slightest, even at the indication that Rash had a War Rune in his possession as well.
Rash hurried forward, making a quick dash for his other half-frozen sword on the ground. Jesse took notice of Rash’s intentions, lifting up his hand, he created a large cluster of spikes of ice propelling out of the ground. With a simple forward slash, everything within that same five meter radius as before was slashed into pieces. Jesse’s eyes widened slightly, noticing the blood seep on his right arm, where he had it lifted forward manipulating the ice. His whole arm was mutilated. Jesse merely bit his tongue, clutching his arm with his good arm, a layer of ice began covering the whole arm, which made Jesse cringe slightly. Shit. Had I not coated my body in a thin layer of ice, I would have lost my arm... Jesse cringed, glaring at Rash, who was making a clean sweep for Jesse, now wielding both of his blades, he diagonally slashed for Jesse’s whole upper body with a double sever with his swords.
“Mirage Lacerate.” Suddenly, Jesse noticed a projection of ten blades, swerving and dancing around Rash as if he were a master of ten swords instead of two. The slashes appeared nearly translucent, only visible through the sunlight’s rays. Jesse made an impetuous decision, deciding that a solid defense was his only way to combat this at such a range, without fully knowing what Rash was capable of, Jesse had clearly underestimated him. Jesse placed his hands on the ground, a large blockade of ice spikes shot up from the ground, the spikes constructing and molding into a dome around Jesse. The slashes from Rash’s attack proved to be too fatal, when they shattered through one of Jesse’s strongest defenses. Jesse’s eyes widened, holding his arms above his head in a defensive position as a last resort…
Blood soaked the ground, before splattering into the air like a gory parade, painting the ground, mixed with Jesse’s ice, an awfully twisted canvas. Jesse fell on his knees, panting, his body slashed from many points, yet they were shallow cuts. Rash observed this, taking notice of Jesse’s hardened skin, all while Rash turned his back, staring ahead, the sunlight gleaming off of his sunglasses, basking in his ‘victory.’ Rash received a call, which he took immediately, flipping the pager in his hand tastefully.
“What’s the status of the blockade?”
“Not good, sir. The ice is too thick for us to demolish. However, the Vault forces appear to be dwindling in number. It seems we’re down to their main platoon now. What are your orders? Should we commence with the regular operation?”
Colonel Rash paused for a minute, drawing his blunt in between the ridges of his index and middle fingers. “Deploy the 1st squadron, and the Subsido. The situation is getting worse.”
Jesse panted; his face began soaking in his own blood. His whole body was drenched, yet he felt numb, he always felt numb, completely frozen and devoid of emotions and feelings of attachment. He only had one loyalty, and that was to Willman first, the Vault second. Willman ordered him to guard the island perimeter, and that’s exactly what he was going to do. He stood up slowly, extending both of his arms in a circular fashion, glaring at Rash like the vermin he was, the air dampened, he molded a long spear of ice into his hand. Jesse threw it at Rash, directly from his back, head on. Rash looked back, barely avoiding the ice spear, giving him a cut across the cheek. Rash glared back at Jesse with an intrigued eye.
“Boy, you’re begging for death, aren’t you?”
“Get the hell back over here.”
Rash fully turned around, and nodded. “Even if you beat me, this whole island is going to sink anyway, crushed by the pressure of the deep blue. There’s not a damned thing you, or your little guild of revolutionaries, can do about it. For what you’ve had so long, you’re finally getting your day of reckoning.”
Jesse stared at Rash for a full few seconds before replying with a rare smirk. “As long as we’re all still standing, as a team, unified for one ultimate ambition, we’re not going to let that happen. A little lowlife group like yours can’t touch us.”
---
“It’s Redhorn Ruby! Everybody get the hell out of here if you wanna live!” one soldier called to his companions clearly outside of range. The small group of remaining soldiers escorted themselves away from the cavern, rolling down the hills, aghast and terrified expressions on their faces, holding no attempt to hide their appall and panic in the presence of the purple haired little devil in front of them. This devil glared on with intense azure eyes at only one person.
Major Kana grimaced in disapproval, wiping her face of the blood spilled by Rubie’s powerful headbutt. More than Rubie’s actual head was the pure blunt impact of her horn hat, which, if it didn’t impale, still had a ton of blunt force trauma. Kana received it all, though she wished she hadn’t.
“You’re the infamous Redhorn Rubie, huh? You’re a lot smaller than I thought you’d be,” Kana said, a seemingly unimpressed look on her face while observing Rubie. Rubie narrowed her eyes, as if in annoyance, and with a need to wholly throttle Kana by her own bra-strap. If there was one thing Rubie hated, it was being reminded of her less-than-average height.
“You have a big head. Really makes me want to burst it with my foot,” Rubie said. Kana gritted her teeth, as if she was being sassed by a first grader.
“My head is average sized, for your information!” Kana angrily declared. “Are you really going to throw insults at me?! What are you, a child?!”
“Did I light the fuse on your tampon?” Rubie taunted, fiercely glaring at Kana. Rubie stepped forward, her shoulders bulked up, she slanted forward slightly, her right leg bent behind her left which was positioned forward, preparing for a full speed sprint. She revealed her rather sharp fangs with a carved, blood lusted smile. Kana observed her, taking a stance of her own, preparing for anything Rubie thrown at her. Clearly, she was merely trying to get Kana worked up, a drastic change from her quite sadistic approach only a minute ago.
“At least my chest isn’t as flat as my back!” Kana furiously threw back at Rubie in the heated exchange.
Rubie’s eyes widened, her face snapped, turning as red as a cherry. She clenched her fists, glaring threateningly at Kana, her face stricken with intent to maim and mutilate Kana. She wiped her face with the blood of her previous victims, clenching her blood drenched hands. The other thing Rubie hated even more than her less-than-average height, was comments about her less-than-big bosom.
“Then take out those socks in your bra!” Rubie charged forward, dashing with an immense speed at Kana, whom appeared to be caught off guard at first. Kana withdrew a tanto knife, hurling it in a straight line with accurate precision aimed for Rubie’s head, even taking into account her movements, which moving in a straight line was easier to forecast. Rubie was struck dead on in between her eyes. The knife phased through her head... her body dispersing into thin air. It was an afterimage.
Kana’s eyes widened. “What the? An afterimage?!” she looked around north, west, and east, before taking a complete collision to her back, nearly cracking her whole back as Rubie head-butted her back with an impeccable speed, causing Kana to immediately cough up blood. She skidded against the ground a long way, flipping and rolling along the cavern before she finally landed against the wall, leaving a large dent and crack in its structure, and a body-sized crater directly behind her, buried within the crevices. Kana growled, attempting to move her body from its wedged position, to no immediate avail.
Kana suddenly felt her heart stop. Rubie appeared in front of her, clenching her right fist, a scarlet coating of ruby-like material glazed her whole body, adding an immense density to her entire being, which would only fortify her blows over ten times, at least. Rubie grabbed Kana by her throat, holding her in place. Kana broadened her eyes, a look of unparallel terror began spreading on her face. Rubie's face was written in disaster. She was about to beat the hell out of Kana with one blow. This thought settled really well with Rubie.
“Ruby Javelin!” Rubie dashed forward with a vigorous punch, not only crushing and impaling Kana’s abdomen, but sent her spiraling through the cave walls, causing the cavern to lose any other support it had left.
“AUGGH!” Kana’s blood filled scream echoed through the cavern. Blood splashed across Rubie’s small, frail-appearing body, yet this small body was capable of shattering the earth with a single blow, and apparently just easily took out a high ranking officer of IMO. Rubie snarled as the cave came crashing down, only concerned with taking down the whore of IMO. Rubie’s immense durability allowed her to simply walk out of the debris, not a scratch on her, barely even tickled her. She tilted her head with a growl as she flipped her purple hair back, exhaling noisily, proud of her accomplishment. She certainly had that coming.
“Choke on that, bitch,” Rubie began walking away, setting her sights on the whole north boundary of the island, thinking nothing else of Kana. The IMO soldiers had taken off after Rubie’s raging display.
Suddenly, before Rubie could depart and advance with her task, a large array of bubbles began appearing from underneath the rubble, condensing into small, miniature suds, surrounding and stranding through the air aimlessly, scattering into the wind. Rubie fully turned around, folding her arms.
“Bubbles? I was expecting a surge of smoke… would have been more dramatic,” Rubie sarcastically told herself. Before she could hardly react, the little duds of bubbles began exploding as a sort of chain reaction. Rubie’s eyes widened. “Ruby Mail!” she attempted to coat herself in her ruby exterior for an added defense, the ruby material solidified over her body. She was still blown back, her body sprawled through the muddy terrain, clashing with the underside of a hilltop. Shards of her ruby armor fell off, as she wiped off a layer of blood dripping down her mouth. She glared menacingly at Kana, as she stood up. Kana was there, standing up in the debris, a large field of bubbles circling around her body, and an extra coating of bubbles covering her entire stomach. Her mouth was filled with blood, she got on her knees, coughing while clutching her exterior wounds. Rubie glared.
“Exploding bubbles? That's different, I guess, but you're annoyingly persistent,” Rubie shrugged and stepped forward, lowering her head, lifting her eyes Kana’s way. Kana wasn't normal, any other person would have been crushed and impaled by the impact, let alone get back up. Kana stood up straight, her body quivering, clearly weakened from Rubie’s earlier attack. Rubie smiled.
“Your overconfidence and low bust size have completely sealed your fate! You messed with me, Major Kana, a ranking officer in the IMO division! Don’t think you can get away from me!” a sheet of bubbles began filming around her body, beginning to sprawl and grow in size. Rubie simply glared at Kana, and smiled, holding up a pair of socks. Kana’s eyes widened furiously, as she examined her own breasts. They had decreased in size.
“You IMO officers have way too much pride. Too bad yours was socked inside of your bra, no pun intended,” Rubie tauntingly said with a teasing grin, holding out her tongue. Clearly, Rubie was enjoying this. “Want your boobs back? Come get them.”
“That’s it sister! You’re going down!!!”
---
“Hang on, Trav. Try to buckle up,” Trav heard Ten faintly from inside of Ten’s own stomach compartment. Trav tapped once inside of Ten’s steel armor, as if to confirm something.
“Kay.”
Sergeant Hawk flew down, approaching Ten (and Trav) at a dangerous trajectory, the purple poison mist began picking up in the air, becoming more like a dense vapor. Hawk flapped his wings down, unleashing a large whip-like wave of blue slashing waves from the wind generated by his wings on his back. “Hacking Torrent!” The cutting waves began slicing through the ground with crescent-like slashing waves. Ten held up his hands directly beside each other. Ten created a force field around himself and Trav, repelling all of the cutting waves within his and Trav’s vicinity. Ten glared on as Hawk came down closer, every second of the way.
He’s tougher than he looks. I have to get Trav out of here; this is way too dangerous for him. Ten took a solid stance as Hawk made a declarative, daring swing with his wings.
“Rocket Punch!” Ten’s fist, connected by a spiral chain, launched forward like a small rocket. Hawk’s eyes widened in shock. With no time to defend himself, Hawk took the hit dead on in the stomach. Due to the spiral twist of Ten’s punch, Hawk was sent whirling and skidding through the ground, breaking apart the ground as he landed, his mouth wide agape in anguish.
“Kawww! That hurt you rusted up tincan!!” Hawk screeched, standing up, glaring up at Ten, whom was only a few meters away. Hawk opened his mouth, hurling a great number of eggs into the air. The eggs cracked, and busted open yolk. The field began raining egg yolk. “Heavy Yolk Farm!” Hawk raised his arms and wings into the air. As the yolk landed into the ground, Ten took notice that the yolk crushed the ground. The density and hardness of the yolk was incredible. Ten quickly opened the compartment in his stomach, hurling Trav outside, before Ten himself was crushed by a yolk wave. Trav rolled across the ground, clashing his head with the outside wall of the Vault hideout, groaning in pain.
“What the hell?!” Trav looked on in disbelief, Ten’s body had been completely crushed underneath the yolk, but before that he noticed the entire area within 10 meters was completely covered in yellow and white gooey yolk, while Sergeant Hawk stood outside of the radius, laughing deviously and hilariously, slapping his own gut on a job well done.
“Kawawawaw! Looks like there’s only one little piglet to go. He looks fairly frail… I think I’ll cook him up reeeaal good!” Sergeant Hawk turned his attention to Trav, smiling pleasantly. Trav glared back at Hawk before backing up into the walls of Vault. He merely glared at Hawk, not knowing what else to do. He’d feel like a loser if he just left Ten there. Hawk threateningly stepped forward briskly as if attempting to scare Trav. Trav jumped slightly, only riling up Hawk’s laughter, having the time of his life teasing Trav. Trav growled, he couldn’t stand when he was looked down on. Common sense would tell Trav to high tail out of there, but he wasn’t about to leave Ten. He didn’t know what exactly he planned on doing next, just cheesing like he did against his and Willy’s first fight against Sidian 12 years ago. Sounded good to him.
“Alright… you want me,” Trav stepped forward, heavily glowering at Hawk. Hawk raised an interested brow. “Come get me. I ain’t gonna stop you… but I will warn you… I am a black belt at taekwondo.” Trav took his untrained stance. Hawk merely laughed heartily and obnoxiously, as if having the time of his life.
“Wow, you’re a real crack case there, buddy ol’ pal. I almost feel bad for killing you,” Hawk laughed. Trav grinned.
“I could have sworn I seen you at the zoo yesterday, or maybe that was the Crackerjack Convention,” Trav taunted, raising his hand in the air. Hawk stared on, now, not so amused anymore. He narrowed his eyes in anger.
“You want to pick on the man who is about to kill you… that’s not wise, young man!”
“One of us has to be the man here.”
Hawk’s eyes flustered in anger. “Alright you little jackass that does it! I’m coming at you fast as lightning!!! Here I come!!” Hawk propelled his body forward, opening his mouth (beak), he launched an array of three eggs from his mouth. “Egg Mortar!”As the eggs approached, they began to ignite in a fiery red flame. Trav braced himself, placing his hands above his head in a defensive position, clearly expecting the worse. Looked like this was the end. Hopefully he had at least brought a little time to Team Willy, and Vault as a whole. He cursed himself for being so useless, even at the end. But, it seems good fortune would not be on his side today. He was going to die here.
He would have, had the kind hearted cyborg not intercepted the eggs, taking the explosions from the eggs head on, shielding Trav from the debris of the explosion, allowing Trav to keep going, without a scratch, burn, or any injury on him. Ten glared at Hawk, whom gritted his teeth in annoyance, narrowing his eyes.
“You darn robot! I thought I was rid of you!”
“Ten…” Trav slowly said, at a loss for words. Ten simply stepped forward, and began unsheathing a long, thick butcher knife from his chest.
“Don’t worry, Travis Reid. This will be over soon,” Ten said nonchalantly, yet again, Trav could feel the kindness and reassurance in his voice. Ten was finally getting serious, his dark green eyes glared at Sergeant Hawk. Trav laughed quietly to himself, and slid down against the Vault wall.
“Son of a bitch.”
“Sergeant Hawk, was it?” Ten slowly said. Hawk looked up curiously, his beak widely gaped.
“Yes?”
“How do you like your eggs?”
“Scrambled!” Hawk propelled a large amount of Egg Mortars for Ten, over ten eggs this round. Ten simply ran forward, taking the blasts head on, his steel armor hardly being dented. As far as durability went, he was only second behind Rubie. Hawk began shaking as he seen Ten’s figure approach him through the billowing smoke, his most powerful egg attacks had been thwarted, no, brushed off. How the hell could that be? “What… what?!”
Ten wielded his chef’s knife skillfully, appearing behind Hawk in a brisk step. A moment later, Hawk’s whole body spewed blood, his head staring up into the cloudless dusky sky, his eyes widened and lost in color, gazing lifelessly, yet hanging on to life by only a thread. His whole body collapsed face first in a claret pool of his own blood. Ten simply re-sheathed the knife, staring ahead coolly.
“I prefer them scattered and shambled in a chop suey dish.”
Trav looked on from afar, trembling at the intense sight he just witnessed. Ten, a member of Team Willy, so easily defeated a ranked officer of IMO, albeit the lowest official rank. Trav slowly stood up, a strange sensation of helplessness and relief overcame him. He didn’t know how to feel, but right now, he did know that he was safe, and so was Ten, who had saved the day. Ten approached Trav, as behind him, the purple fog finally cleared up from the venomous eggs used earlier. Ten held up his hand at Trav, which confused him at first. Ten smiled, or so Trav thought he seen a smile. Either way, the compassion was still there.
“Good work, Travis. You’re a fine member of the Vault, and an accepted member of Team Willy.”
Trav stared up at Ten, Ten acting like nothing at all had just happened was astounding to him. He was still shaken up by the confrontation. Ten being a cyborg may have had something to do with it. Trav shrugged it off, not accepting Ten’s shake. Ten looked down at Trav, saying nothing, which said a lot to Trav. Trav sighed.
“But what did I do? I hid like a pussy while you fought like a man.”Trav said, only just realizing the irony of his statement after he said that. Ten clapped Trav on the shoulder, surprisingly gently.
“You’re still alive, or at least you are in my biomass reading,” Ten said, as the pitch in his voice began to change. Trav looked on in revelation as Ten began speaking in Willman’s voice. “Just keep living for your dreams. Live for what you believe, and you are an accepted member of Team Willy. You made the vow, and you’re in.” Ten gave the thumbs up. Trav stared, dumbfounded, for a minute. “This is why Willy stuck you with me. Besides me being the friendliest member, of course. If anything were to happen to him, he at least wanted me to give this message to you.”
Trav looked down, his shoulders sagged, his face covered by his brown hair. He gritted his teeth, attempting to hide the lone tear running down his cheek. Of all times to be emotional, this wasn’t Trav’s ideal time; that would be the bathroom. Trav began chuckling, soon beginning to riot in laughter. "That guy..." Trav looked up at Ten finally, sniffling, he shook his hand.
“Whatever you guys go through… even if you venture to the ends of the Earth… I’m in with you until we fall.”
Ten smiled. “Then follow us, Travis Reid.”
---
“Aha… it seems our detour was a success,” a lone, buff man, yet spoke with a sharp, yet smooth tone, that you would expect out of a typical late teenager, stood atop of an approaching warship, marked with a dark insignia, the same insignia Sidian adorned on his shoulder. He placed his hands behind his back, staring at the approaching island of Momodore, reaching the frozen ocean ahead. Two crew members stood behind the man, wearing dark cloaks.
“We’re approaching the shore, sir. It seems IMO have already begun their initiative. They call for us.” The man on the left bowed. The man in front, apparently the leader, raised his head; his dark eyes glowered with an ominous stare.
“Deploy the Subsido.” The man commanded suavely. The man on the left nodded, and set off inside of the cabin. “And sink this forsaken island into Hell!” the man laughed, both of his arms extended below his waist, his fingers curled up, he laughed maniacally.
“With all due respect sir… Willman and his crew are on that island. Are you not interested in seeing them?” the remaining K.I. recruit asked. The man ahead looked back, cutting his eyes back at the man.
“Of course I want to see Willman.”
“Then why sink-“
“Because he will come to me,” the man replied calmly and confidently, suddenly, the air about him got intense. At the mention of Willman’s name, his demeanor thoroughly distorted. “If I’ve learned anything during my past friendship with that man, it’s that he’s extremely persistent and eccentric, and he will not let this incident go. He will survive, and he will face me.”
The man looked on in silence.
“Dew… I think-“
The leader, Dew, abruptly turned around, a horror stricken face intact. The man backed up at the sight of Dew’s rage face.
“I am a member of K.I.’s elite branch… I am one of the Sins of Perdition… you dare speak to me in that disgraceful tone?!” Dew angrily exclaimed, placing his hands behind his back, looking down at the man, as if to say, ‘I’m better than you in every way.’ That appeared to be the kind of guy Dew was. The man trembled in fear, shaken up, he shook his head.
“My apologies… Lord Dew.”
Dew turned around. “Stop the ship at exactly one meter up ahead, only an inch away from the frozen cubicle. I’m going to join the fray.” The cloaked man stood up, his face astonished.
“But sir, the island!”
“Is about to sink, I know.”
“You can’t go! Even IMO are sacrificing their men for this mission! But you!”
“You really think an explosion and tipping island will be enough to stop me? That’s an insult…” Dew angrily snarled, which sent the man aback. “I’m going to have some fun, you guys stay here and do boring stuff, and listen to IMO’s orders, we’ve teamed with this on them… they want the Subsido deployed… don’t hesitate!”
“Very well, sir.” The man stood up, running into the cabin. Dew smiled, his mouth carved by his twisted ego.
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