18 The Benevolent Him

Do not catch the bullets or otherwise paralysed. The former is wise but at the cost of my life. So, a different approach is needed, no matter what it takes. 

I can endure pain, but death would be a stop to my journey. And I am not planning to do so. 

'Block the bullets!' I mentally shouted, my heart beating with the burning determination to live on to see the dawn tomorrow. 

My translucent aura bursts into flames along with Trombe's own. 

My linked companion, my loyal friend, Trombe. Balled our fists, tightened with the bright resolve which paved a new way in my sight. 

A clairvoyant of clarity, enlightenment in danger. 

Even under the depths hell of disparity, a dim thread of light can shine the greatest. 

"Morie-!" Trombe shouts for the first time. A war cry similar to mine which I unconsciously scream in the face of danger. 

Maybe it relates to my memory which could piece together all the fragments. But not now, I have to focus on the present. 

Trombe's muscles bulge with strength, Few of the wires which restraints it becoming thinner and slacked. The damper and cone of its spherical speaker head vibrate with high intensity and a continuous cry. Alongside with its whole body. 

The wires snap into pieces, falling before fading away into nothingness. Trombe's muscles exuding smoke due to the intense heat of the shuddering. Its speaker glows with red, blue and green colours on the damper. 

The rest of the plain wires glow brightly as the rest of Trombe's body turning more into white and less grey. Constant reverbs of white hue repulse from it. 

6 of the bullets reached a few inches of my area, each targeting different parts of my body. With heightened precision, I could predict the trajectory, one bullet is heading for my vital organ, the brain. Two for each of my eyes. Another two at each different side of my neck. The last aiming for my stomach. 

Under the small puffs of smokes, Trombe pierced its tough fingers into the floor. Taking a handful piece of the concrete with speed faster than sound. 

"Those lights, the main 3 colours of the Spectra kingdom on a spectrum! This shouldn't be… but the birthmark on your cheek is a diamond shape, " Toxin said, with surprise spoiling his calm tone. 

A second has passed, Trombe's precise and strong movements disperse the smokes away from us both. The momentum of its arms was enough to slightly shake the windows nearby. 

It only took a few moments for Trombe to block all of the bullets with thick pieces of the floor. Each of it stuck deep in the chunks. 

Toxin gulp was audible may be due to my ability related to sound waves. 

"Diamond birthmark?" I glanced at the windows nearby, which reflected a vague appearance of myself. 

A diamond-shaped birthmark could be seen on my right cheek. Few questions arose in my mind, but I shook it off. Knowing that Toxin would not answer any of my curiosity due to the deal of this fight. 

A heart, or a notebook? Who would obtain both as the winner? Losing is not in my bucket list. 

"You'll know when you get the notebook, for now… fight, " Toxin narrows his eyes before opening the cylinder of his revolver. 

Though, I would not let him have time to reload the weapon. 

"You know, I've been thinking about how your suit can withstand Trombe's strength. So, I came up with a hypothesis, 'Only compressed air would be able to dampen the heavy impacts of a superhuman strength'— correct me if I'm wrong, " I questioned while maintaining eye contact with Toxin's gaze. His eyes are slightly visible behind his round thick visors. 

"That's nonsense… a scientist like myself deems that is impossible, " He answered, with a suspicious hasty tone. He broke our eye contact and took some bullets for his revolver. 

His subtle and rapid reaction; lying. 

Trombe took a stone size piece of the concrete and concentrated all of its strength in his fingers, before flicking it along with a small sonic boom sound. 

The piece cuts through the air with the speed of a bullet and bounces off Toxin's right shoulder. Dealing a deep scratch into the layer of his armour. Revealing a hole on his suit. 

"What-! Your precision is high as well!" Toxin grunts in pain from the sudden burst of air from his suit. His reloading interrupted as his hand flinched. 

"It's your fault for telling away some info about yourself. Strength and speed? We're equal, and surely your suit can block Trombe's fists; blunt attacks. So, it comes down to this… who had better precision? Would your suit be able to handle piercing pressure attacks? The answer is quite obvious now, " I replied to his possible doubts before Trombe took more small pieces of the concrete. 

Toxin did not comment and reloaded his revolver quickly. 

Trombe flicks several small pieces from his palm with his index finger. This time, the pieces ricochet from the walls of the room similar to Toxin's tactic. 

"What if I use your plan against yourself? Would you be able to defend against it now that your suit is vulnerable?" 

"The armour is down, I admit but its combat prowess? Not so much, " Toxin dashes forward, barely dodging only a few pieces. Though, most of it pierced through his suit; into the flesh of his body. But it does not seem to affect him. 

He closes the gaps between us. Getting closer while reloading his revolver with a wave of his hand. 

Despite being surprised, he never seems to fear the consequences of his actions. As if he was a wheel which only moves forward. 

After a few seconds, he was face to face with Trombe before leaping up with his firearm pointed at me. 

Trombe throws a jab towards him but it was blocked by Toxin's arm. 

A sickening crack could be heard from his arm but he ignored it and steady his aim. 

He pulled the trigger but no bullets were fired. He gazes at the revolver's barrel which was bent beyond recovery by Trombe's 2nd punch. A punch which was faster than the human eye could see. 

Upon the obstruction in the firearm, the trigger set off the originium powder inside the bullets' cartridges. Causing the weapon to explode due to the failure of shooting. 

Trombe quickly took a few distances away before the explosion set off. 

Small pieces of the weapons scattered around the room with blood staining the floor. Toxin's hands were blown away due to the small explosion causing him to grunt in pain as he tried to suppress it. 

"You're not that bad of a person when I compare you with the previous woman I met— I'll make it quick. "

With the speed limit broken, Trombe wasted no time and heed to Elos's thoughts. Delivering a hook to the weakened parts of Toxin's armour. 

Only a few wires were holding back Trombe's strength so the flurry blows it delivers are more audible with a booming sound from each blow. Faster than the speed of sound. Stronger than a bullet at point-blank. 

Visible dents could be seen at all parts of his body as Toxin was suspended in the air under Trombe's raging rush. 

Trombe repeats its war cry countless times without stopping. Forming violent wind from the swift movements of its arms. 

Only after Toxin seems to be on the verge of dying, Trombe stops and ends it with an uppercut. Sending him to the ceiling with a crack on it before Toxin falls on the floor with a bloody red mess underneath. 

Red liquid covering his tattered suit from head to toe. Fist size dents could be seen at his body, possibly due to broken bone and organs. 

"Now, the notebook if you may. "

"…Ramius Fore, " Toxin said with a weak tone. A small smile crossed his face underneath his broken mask. 

"Ramius Fore?" I asked with a frown. 

"My real name- something I wanted to tell you earlier but, it would ruin our fight. " he coughed a handful of blood. His hand twitched in pain as he tried to move it.

"No, it wouldn't, you could have told me earlier but why didn't you?" 

Weird, there are no risks in revealing his name compared to talking about his feats. 

Maybe, there's something he is trying to convey. 

"The name of a man, a scientist, who kept his words and entered this death game- to search for a cure for his friends' diseases, and your heart is the perfect ingredient… though, I failed to obtain it for them, now I'm nothing but a failure. " He mutters while gazing to the ceiling. Seeming to have no strength left to even move his eyes. 

"So, why me? Why would you tell me about this? I'm the victor, your killer- you're supposed to hate me now, no? " I was suddenly conflicted by his words. Not able to understand this man's intention. Like what I said, Toxin- no, Ramius Fore is an unpredictable man; an eccentric… like me. 

"Hate is a disease, deadlier than Oripathy. It spreads like a wildfire, creating a vicious cycle of angst… dying with hate is similar to dying-!" He coughs louder than before. More blood spewing out of his mouth like a fountain. 

"-in sadness. If my friends were here, they would have different opinions about this but, at least, they listen to mine wholeheartedly without interrupting, " His smile grew wider, tears slipping from the edges of his eyes. Mixing with the red liquid like a small piece of gentleness mixing with a world of cruelness. 

"…I never met somebody like you. You tried to kill and yet, you're still gentle towards the person that harmed you even though I won on the end, " I said with a slightly quivering mouth. 

"Hating your enemy and respecting them are two different things…, " He replied as his face pales. Tears built up in his eyes with only blood soaking it. 

"What do you mean?"

"There's only a little time left for me… you'll only to know that, 'there are only few good people left in this world, many that of evil' and I want to ask one last thing, just something small, " Ramius mumbles as his meek voice crumbles with weakness due to blood loss. 

"What is it? Just tell me, " I look at him with sudden guilt in my heart. Knowing that he was trying to make a cure for his friends made me feel irked; a sin. 

"You're a good man, but don't feel guilty about me dying… its rule of the game, the only rule 'Only one left standing wins' so, I don't blame you and I want to ask you to shake my hand…, " His small voice slowly diminishes to a whisper. 

My hand twitches from his words. Never did I except someone hurt by me would request something this absurd but, if it's him, so be it. 

Trombe helped me move beside him. I gave him a gentle handshake to his cold hand. Cold like a corpse. 

"Please be my friend, I don't want to die without having a friend on my… side…, " He slightly quivers as the pupils in his eyes enlarge despite the bright fluorescent light at the ceiling. 

"I can be your friend-, " Shocked, my words stuck in my throat. 

His hand weakened from my grasp. I lifted his shoulders slightly with my only arm. 

The once strong resolution and resolve in Ramius's gaze faded away along with his last breath. His body went cold as I gazed down at him and realised something— he never underestimated nor mocked me. 

He did say 'useless, useless' at one point but, he spoke the truth because I realised some of my actions were useless for fighting back then. 

Ramius is the very definition of benevolent till the very end. Never fear of dying, and only fears of not being able to save his friends; selflessness. When he tried to come close to me, that is his bravery. 

Another teardrop appeared on Ramius's eyes. I touch my cheeks and it realised it was my own. 

The wetness spreads onto my palm as my tears flow non-stop. The liquids splash against each other as I balled my fist. 

"I'll have to end this death game, quickly. "