Flare

Flare

(Chapter 30)

**

[<<]

"If it plays according to my vision, you'll see three sweeps of lightning before the final jolting. This is what you have to do."

[>]

Valentina launches Elmus at Arthur so that he tackles him out of the way, and down to the ground. Valentina was supposed to grab them and run away as the bullets clash with each other, but she decided to change it up a bit. Just as she lands in it's trajectory as if she were going to bump a volleyball, she catches the bullet incompletely just in front of her belly. It swirls viciously in her hands and drags her back a bit, but she deflects it toward the other Mal-Hecate. It makes a direct impact and pulverizes it.

"*panting* ?!?Elmus???"

"Looks like I'M the one coming to save your ass today."

"More like we. It's Boundless."

[>]

[The Twins]

"Paz. How do you feel now?"

"I feel…worse. My head's throbbing…I need medical attention. Maybe at En Salvador?"

"*gasp*"

"What is it sis?"

"This route is relatively behind the Rice Plantation."

"*gasp* Oh no! Then there's no point in returning, 'cause they're probably wrecking En Salvador as we speak…We're doing this because of Solomon. What if he helped them?"

"Do you actually expect him to turn on his kind?"

"I…"

[<<]

"I can just call you Solomon right?"

"I have no need for useless titles. It's just fine."

"What're your plans for the people here?"

"If they're a disturbance, I'll trample them just like you trample ants." Jedi raises a brow. "Is there a crime in that?"

"I think so. You're almost human."

"Nonsense…Yet if I do so, one of your Units would be sent in for my head. Humans delude themselves by believing their interests are good and everything else is evil."

"I don't know what your grudge is with humans but you've seriously gotta turn it down a notch. No two creatures are the same by virtue of their souls."

"…'Tis true…"

"There's no need to go all recluse on the whole world. There are things that you might need from these people before you. It doesn't hurt to follow the path of co-operative preservation. For the sake of pleasure, think about it."

[>]

"I…I just hope that he heeded my advice."

"Jedi…I feel like pressure's building up in my head."

He checks her pulse. "Thank God I brought a sedative along. Can you swallow?"

"Mhm."

[Boundless]

"*panting* ?!?Elmus???"

"Looks like I'M the one coming to save your ass today."

"More like we. It's Boundless."

"Well this isn't the time to have a chit chat. Incoming!"

Valentina kicks them out of the way and flips backward, down to a knee.

"Hey! No need to be so rough—" Arthur yanks him by the collar and fires a thunderbolt at the flustered Spectre. It takes a hit.

"Now! Let's go!" Tina calls.

"No way! There's a city here. I'm not leaving until they're gone or GONE."

"But you can't take both of them on at the same time!"

"So let's eliminate this one quickly!"

He means to run at it but he's disoriented for a moment. "{No, not again.}" He holds his head as he staggers, tottering from side to side. The other Mal-Hecate has also opened fire on them. Valentina grabs Arthur.

"I've secured the primary target. What're you waiting for?!"

Elmus charges at the fallen Mal-Hecate but… "{Elmus! Everybody down!}"

"Tina-DOWN!"

As soon as they drop down, "WHOOSH!!!" A massive tree trunk comes sweeping through the clearing, knocking all the trees over. It even smacks the incoming Mal-Hecate. The rumbling stops, but there's dust everywhere. Tina can't even see Arthur although she's holding him.

"{Elmus! Tell them to stay down in a low tone.}"

"Tina. Stay down—" he gives in to coughing, because of all the dust.

Arthur wakes and activates his Seeker Mode. It's that monster again. It's enraged because of the unending pain Arthur has caused it, so it came back to crush him. It shrieks, vibrating the air to the extent that visibility becomes much poorer, even as it's breath clears the air. All of them give in to ear bleeds, including the fallen Mal-Hecate, which is closest. Luckily for them, none of them got crushed by a fallen tree, but that Mal-Hecate wasn't fortunate.

"You guys should run…It only wants to crush me. Crawl until you're clear, and run."

"No way am I gonna do that. I'm the fastest here. Get away while I draw it's attention."

She rises as the remnant of the dust is clearing, but Arthur pulls her back down. "No! It's suicide."

"I'm only going to run like you said. Make sure you escape or all of this is in vain. I'll lead it away from your city. Happy?"

Arthur shoots a tiny lightning bolt, and Valentina LUNGES at it. It evades to the side and sweeps with it's right foot. She moonsaults high up to dodge the assault and runs off in the direction that it ran off the last time, into the forest. It gives quick chase, thinking she's the new jolter.

"No! Valentina!"

"{You can't Elmus. There's one more Mal-Hecate to deal with.}"

[Shadow]

They near the border of the forest. The tree and mist density begins to plummet, and the gate slowly becomes visible.

"We're finally here! Thank God we didn't meet"—they hear 'BRAINZ!'—"another ambush…Spoke to soon?"

"Finally!" Rex exclaims, but it's only three zombies. He launches forward and halves all of them in a single swipe. "…That all of them?"

"Think so. Thanks."

"Darn it. If all of you were so good, why was Nika worried? Sat here for nothing."

"Trust me, it's better to have not engaged in combat. Just look at her."

"Ooh! That's a bad one. Protected Arthur with her body?"

"How'd you know?"

"You're married, but they've probably done it a thousand more times than you. Even in the Guild Hall. They're freaking crazy about each other so this doesn't surprise me. It's typical off her."

"Wait, in the Guild Hall?" she asks.

"Mhm. Saw them a couple of times."

"…Axel." She looks at him intently.

"Wha?"—he blushes—"Well…this isn't the time to be thinking up crazy adventures. Let's get them back to Anika so she can call off the State of Emergency. There are Ash League-ers fighting day and night."

Rex lifts Angelica off Daara, and she responds immediately. "*sniff* Rex, if you don't let go of me, you know what I'll do to you."

"So I should drop you on the floor?"

"…"

"Wait a second, you sleep talking?"

"…Rex, put me down."

"Let's move, shall we?"

"Good to know that she's hostile to other men. To think she'd still be this way after all the time that's passed."

"Rex, put me down."

"Hah. A tree born crooked, will never straighten it's trunk."

"Wait a second. Why can she sniff you out in her sleep?"

"Let's not talk about it."

[Veteran]

They arrived just in time for dinner. That makes seven, 'cause Danté and Diane are also there. There are assortments of dishes: seafood, poultry, grains, you name it. They all help themselves to large servings. The injured, because they need to recover and the rest, because it looks delicious. The only one who doesn't exhibit a gluttonous nature is Danté.

"Excuse me. Is he anorexic?"

"Xandra."

"—I wasn't being disrespectful. It's just an honest question." Everybody bursts into laughter. She's always a laugh.

"That's not it. He's always been mindful of his figure," Diane informs her.

"This isn't the time to start teasing me."

"Oh really? I didn't forget what you did to me. I'm gonna make sure to shove some booze down your throat some day."

"Booze and medicine aren't the same."

"Yes they are!" Mr. Alex and Pedro correct him unanimously.

"See? Doctors never win."

"Don't go there mom."

"Thank goodness. I almost forgot that there was another sane person here."

"Hey, you can't pin my daughter against me, Danté."

"YOU pinned her against you."

"Wait a second. It's the three of us versus the two of you. Three against two, we—(won)"

"No, no-no-no-no. I'm taking the doctor's side. Grandpa's breath reeks after he comes back from the bar."

"Is that even fair? That's bias right there. I have a scripture that says "no longer shall you abstain from drink, but you may drink a little red wine for the sake of your infirmities.'"

"Don't misuse the scriptures here dad. A little isn't bamboozling yourself up!"

"Fine. There's a tie breaker sitting over there. What do you think?"

"…" Lil Alex looks at them scornfully. "…I'd like to be real. Aren't you people supposed to hate us or something?"

"…My, what a frosty tongue. You don't play around with your words."

"Wait.Wait.Wait. This is TOTALLY UNFAIR, Grandpa! If I had said that, you'd have been hot on my case."

"Well he doesn't talk so much, so when he talks, it must really be bugging him."

Mr. Pedro clears his throat. "There's no need to hate you. Some eyes see past futility. What if it were my daughter who apprehended us?"

"…"

"You're the heroes of Gaza. I could only be grateful as the former sheriff. Wouldn't you agree?"

"…Well, the bird's dead. I believe that's enough reason to celebrate. Isn't it Grandpa?" Alexandra asks.

"You're right. Why isn't there any wine on the table?"

"You will drink water!" Marlene and Danté chorus.

[Valentina]

She runs fast and in a straight line so it can continually track her. It tries knocking trees over and all. It's not able to keep a bead on her and run at the same time, so it stops.

"{…Why isn't it chasing anymore? I have a bad feeling about this—}"

All of a sudden, a giant shadow approaches from the sky. She leaps out of the way and the monster crashes down right beside her. The shockwave launches her high up into a tree. It's got her now. It uproots another tree so it can try baseball for a change. But she's not there when it looks back. She's clutching to the other side of the tree, holding on for her dear life.

"{Please…Just come and take a look.}"

It's confused. Did she jump to another tree, or jump down? It brings it's head around to take a look; exactly what she wished for. She flicks herself onto the branch beside her, leaps, and takes a shot at it's injured eye. She anticipated that it'd just swat her, so she fakes and throws a piece of bark instead. It hits the bull's-eye, causing it to topple over. She takes the opportunity to descend.

It's enraged. It shrieks and gets back up. Once it spots her, she begins to run at top speed. "{Don't you run out of energy? Time to give you the slip.}" It can't keep up with her. After running for a while, she takes a right turn. It keeps on going straight however.

"{Great! I was able to keep my bearings. They should be in that direction.}"

[Elmus]

He tries to get Arthur away from danger but the Mal-Hecate that was smacked by the giant log has recovered from it's daze. It comes at them.

"Looks like we'll have to team up like good ol' times."

"Just make sure not to pass out. Let's go."

It lunges at them and fires a devastator at point blank range. They roll in opposite directions and corner it. It snarls at them.

"Now!"

Elmus lunges at it but it quickly moves towards a tree as it swings it's sniper arm at him. The tree blocks Arthur off from casting a lightning bolt. It proceeds to blast devastator bullets at Elmus' feet, then lunges forward to capitalize on the opening.

"{Elmus! BURN ME!}"

Elmus sets Amitha ablaze just as the Hecate seeks to swipe his head off with it's gun barrel. It knocks him down to the ground. A lightning bolt misses it by a hair's breath. Arthur can't see straight.

The Mal-Hecate draws the knife like scythe that it uses for close quarters combat, so it's got that sickle formation on it's left arm. It thrusts at Elmus with it's gun barrel and let's one rip. Elmus leaps onto it in the nick of time. It retaliates and swings it's barrel up. Elmus anticipated and jumped off just before that. He brings Amitha down, aiming for it's head but it blocks with it's melee knife. Arthur joins the picture but he's not at his best. They're only able to keep it busy.

[Tyrannus]

"Anything new?"

"Nope… Oh, I forgot!"

"Mhm?"

"Raze dropped by while you were asleep."

"And what did he say?"

"He had his suspicions about the location of the Necromancer."

"And?"

"It would most likely retreat soon. He went after it."

"…All that's left is for—"

"Anika!!!"

"…Could it be?"

"Standing around won't answer your question."

[/]

Anika comes rushing out of the Conference Room. Seeing the state they're in, she directs them to bring them into one of the inner rooms, but Angelica wakes up on arrival.

"*gasp*…Rex, could you please put me down?"

He lays her down on the white sheets, her fingers in contact with the temporal lobes of her head, showing she's disoriented. "Never expected any politeness out of you."

"I can't be myself when I'm in so much pain."

"Gelica…I know it's not the best time but I need to know what's going on."

"Go ahead and fire the retreat beacon."

"What?! But where's Arthur? You awake?"

"I know what I'm doing…I've done all that I can do. He's still alive in fact, but what about the weaker units you deployed? You need to slim down the casualties."

"…Axel, Emily."

"Yes! On it!"

They run off to fire the beacon. They wonder what's gotten into THEM all of a sudden. Anika sits next to Angelica on the bed and holds her hands. She looks miserable.

"Angelica…This is my fault."

"That's not important right now."

"It is…If I had just assigned that Raid to my sister."

"Anika," Rex interrupts. "Do you think anybody apart from her could've survived this? If you hadn't, we wouldn't have been prepared for the State of Emergency. You think your frail little sister could've survived out there in this situation?"

"He has a point. I'll heal up, but if it were your sister…You've already suffered enough*moan*"

"Gelica! Is there something I can do?"

"You already know that I'll have to go through this on my own. All we can do is pray that Elmus will succeed."

"Wait-what?"

"You heard me right. Elmus and his female consort have delivered Arthur from the guns of the Mal-Hecates. We only need them to return safely."

They hear a great screeching. Axel and Emily probably fired the flare already. "If that's the case, I'm gonna leave the two of you alone."

"Alright. I'll make sure to take good care of them on your behalf."

"Just don't upset her."

[Shadow]

Right after they shoot the fireworks, she steals a kiss from him. She gazes into his eyes intently. He knows that it's about what Rex said earlier. She takes his hand and leads him inside. Anika comes out through the hallway. "BOOM!" sounds in the distance.

"How'd you know where the fireworks were?"

"We chanced upon it earlier. To be honest, she's always wanted to shoot 1."

"Well today happened to be your lucky day. I want to thank you two from the bottom of my heart. Sorry to interrupt your honeymoon."

"Well it's already been a year so it was long overdue. Don't hesitate to call us if there's another emergency."

"Thank you. WELL, back to business."

She returns to the conference room. They pull themselves to each other like they were thinking the same thing. They start to make out, leaving only split seconds for words.

"Did you hear that babe? *smooch* She said back to business. *smooch*"

"Calm down a bit Emily."

"No. Arthur and Angelica are our rivals. *smooch* We can't let them win at tagging the Guild. *smooch*"

"So where then?"

"The chandelier.*smooch* C'mon."

"Mm.m.m.m.m! Wait for just a second. I know those two are crazy enough to have already done it up there. We'll have to get crazier than that."

"So where then?"

"The doorway."

"Let's hurry then." She hops up onto him, legs wrapped around his waist as they make out wildly. They take it to the entryway. He pins her against the wall and things get…sensual.

[Guillelmus]

After minutes of toiling, they're finally able to create an opening. Elmus sets Amitha ablaze, causing the Mal-Hecate to compromise it's guard. The sudden blaze blinds it for a moment, giving Arthur the chance to deliver a quick jolting. Elmus gets electrocuted too, but he pushes it back into a tree.

"Arthur, now!"

"YAAAAH!" Arthur charges in to thrust it through, but Valentina tackles him in the nick of time. Wooden shrapnel comes flying, straight for where his head would've been. The Mal-Hecate that was beneath the tree trunk regained consciousness, and tactically shot up the branch. It sent shrapnel flying straight at them.

"{Elmus! Get outta there!}"

It shoots a devastator straight for him. He leaps back, and the one before him absorbs the bullet into it's barrel. The three of them regroup and the Mal-Hecates do as well. Seems like the one Arthur poisoned is in a bad shape.

"{Chances?}"

"{It's impossible Elmus.}"

"How're we gonna kill these things?! Ideas sesame street?"

"We can't fight them together!"

"If you'd just get outta here, I could kill them.*wheeze* You are holding me back!"

"With all due respect Sir, this isn't the time to play suicidal idiot. Choose one!"

"You and your consort should take the weakened one.*wheeze* I'll take this guy."

"You sure about that?"

"I'm the one that killed their friend, *wheeze* so I get to choose. Ready?"

"Split!"

They withdraw slowly in opposite directions to make sure that both of them don't go after the same group. Whatever they're doing, the Mal-Hecates understand, and it's in their favor. You must be really cocky to underestimate a Golden Epic Emerged. The healthy one slowly floats after Arthur with it's melee knife ready, and the poisoned one comes after Boundless.

"Amitha. We can win this right?"

"{I don't think so. It's pain reception has probably heightened it's awareness. Besides, judging by what I've seen, this thing's well on it's way to forming a new class of Epics.}"

"But you should have an idea. Aren't there any vulnerabilities?"

"{Tina took one of it's eyes out, so narrowed vision?}"

"…Tina…if you get the chance to, just get the heck out of here."

"What do you take me for?"

"It's YOUR death we have to avert."

"If you die I'll most likely follow. Besides, my name's Valentina de la Bravo. I take all horrors by the horns."

[Arthur]

"Your friend was pretty good for something without any actual combat experience. I think, the Guild has to upgrade the enemy ranking system because Epic doesn't describe you guys. Maybe you don't dampen inferior Mana-Crystals but you're powerful… The reason why I'm rambling on is because it's actually a waste to end the life of something awesome… but I HAVE to kill you." He turns on his seeker mode. "No hard feelings." His eyes shutters.

-------End of Chapter 30-------

Chapter 31 Teaser

Already 30 chapters in? Well, they're gonna understand why the single Mal-Hecate was assigned to a PLATINUM TRIO.

To be continued…