Mal-Hecate

Mal-Hecate

(Chapter 31)

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"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 eye shutters.

[>]

[He-Rose(Two and Three)]

They're sweeping through but there are barely any bogeys left. The gigantic firework that Shadow shot blasts, and they can see that orange magic through the green canopies above. The "POW!" soon follows.

"Well look at that; It's finally over," the redhead remarks.

"Time to head back."

"What about One and Zero?"

"If they've spread out, I doubt we'll find them. They'll probably be thinking the same. It's better we just rendezvous back at Tyrannus."

"A'ight."

They progress a little further into the woods and make contact with a few stray Zombies. They wipe them out, but they seemed to be feeding on something. They venture forward to take a look, a decision that's awfully regretted.

Against the tree trunk lays one of their very own, practically torn apart. There's blood all over, his entrails have spilled out and his face is barely identifiable. Not to mention all the chunks that the Zombies took out of his face, arms and abdomen. His other half is probably somewhere nearby. The stench indicates that he's been dead for quite a while now.

Both of them fall backwards, covering their mouths at the revolting sight "Darn! I'm gonna hurl," says Three, the blonde.

"Hey, isn't that one of our guys?" the redhead asks.

"What makes you think so?"

"No civilian would be out here in the first place. Besides, I think I see a dual-wield Raid Gear."

"…True. I feel like I've seen those before."

"We should probably take it back with us."

"Well I'm not gonna get near that thing. Don't forget to take a fingernail or something."

Two pulls a towelette out of his pocket, and takes one of the daggers beside the remains of his hand. He also cuts a tuft of hair out so he can send a piece of him back for burial. "Hey, come to think of it…I doubt he was alone. Shouldn't we check for survivors in the area?"

"Lead the way."

[Eastern Gates]

A young lady lugs herself towards Alfonse. She's probably somewhere in the range of 18 to 20. Her black hair's really ruffled up, like she's been through hell. She's outstandingly dirty, like a freshly dug-up tuber. The only part that's clear is the trail of her tears. Her left arm is limp, and definitely injured, holding her shoulder suggests.

"Oh my God! What happened?"

"Ambush," she cries as she falls into his arms.

He helps her into the post and she requests for water. She depleted all her energy reserves, and as such, her strength fails. After she savagely jugs down the gourd of water that he hands to her, she falls over.

"Darn it. We have to get you back—"

"No! They're still out there. They need.help. Please find someone, anyone. I implore you!" She still has tears to cry it seems. Must've gotten really rough out there.

"Unit again?"

"Rogue."

"The State of Emergency's been called off. Units should come rushing—speaking of the devil. Hey!"

"Who's there?" she asks.

"It's…Hex. Here they come."

"Hey there Mr. Alfon—'s that Kurai?"

"Yes. She has something important to tell you—"

"My-my Unit's still out there. They need help. It happened in Zone C. We were deployed before the Emergency, and were on our way back from a battle; that's when we were ambushed."

"We'll inform Anika—"

"No! The longer you wait, the lower their chances of surviving. Jane's in Zone A. Start from there."

"…Alright."

"G…great." She passes out after accomplishing her mission.

"Are you two really gonna go back out?"

"No. We're already drained. If she's like this, I doubt the rest of them survived."

"That's the best decision you could make. Go on and take her back."

[Boundless]

"Sesame street! Now!"

Elmus kindles and quenches Amitha repeatedly to give off blinding flashes. Valentina lunges in for the kill slash but it maneuvers around a tree and blasts off pieces of the trunk. Some make contact and almost wipe her out as she guards her face. It Emerges from around the tree and shoots a devastator in Elmus' direction.

"{Dodge right!}"

It's noticed that Elmus has a tendency to roll to the right. It fires another burst of D-bullets, some at Valentina, and the rest at him. Elmus continually rolls over to the right to escape the chain of impacts. It swipes at Valentina with it's gun barrel, then swoops toward Elmus using the momentum from Tina's deflection. It whirls diagonally to the lower right landing a solid metallic hit in the left side of Elmus head as he rolls to the right.

Tina rockets at it, and it parries her strike with it's melee knife, deflecting her overhead. She capitalizes on this to begin her Ricochet Flight. She bounces of a few trees and comes back at him. It makes sure to catch and redirect her each time, very skillfully. She's only buying Elmus time to recover.

"{Elmus! Get up!}"

"*cough* {Amitha.}"

"{I know that was a really heavy hit but you're—}" She doesn't even need to finish. The mere mention of hit means he was probably in a battle. He flares back up to his feet even though he's seeing in two-s.

"Tina!"

"Great! Take this! RICOCHET"—upon slashing with her left, she punches it hard in the wrist of it's melee arm—"BASH!!!"

"{Now Elmus!}"

It flinches in pain. That's the opening they've been waiting for. He darts towards it and delivers a rising slash that bursts into flames towards the end, but this one's a monster. It retracts it's scythe, folds it's gun arm, and slams it down, aiding with it's left forearm. It blocks Elmus attack, and with the extra pressure from it's forearm, tilts the gun enough for it to face the ground at an angle. This is where the Mal-Hecate introduces it's 3rd and final bullet.

Tina's already flying towards it and it's gotta get out of that compromising situation, so it uses it's Blast bullet. This one's the result of gun powder that it has accumulated in the bulk of it's forearm, that's why it doesn't use it all willy-nilly. "BAM!!!" The nozzle spits out fire, blasting the ground open, and even the nozzle of it's gun! It went a little overboard in the panic of the moment. The intense recoil swings it's arm about it's shoulder joint instantly, and in the process, catapults Elmus off the ground as it swivels about it's axis like a twister. The nozzle clashes with Amitha at the last point of contact, and instantly yanks her out of his hands. This sends her flying to impale the under part of a nearby tree branch. Valentina arrived at the wrong time. The momentum of the nozzle breaks through her guard and launches her hard into a tree, disarming her.

"AAAAH!" It recovers and catches Valentina's blade. She drops down to the ground for a second, as it rotates it's arm around. It must've torn some of it's ligaments in that gambit.

"Tina! Get out of here!"

She spots Amitha from the ground and hops up to her feet. "Get that loser mentality—!" She leaps high up towards Amitha. She gonna pull her out?

"NO! TINA!!!"

She rather axe kicks her handle, flinging her straight in the dirt, next to Elmus. "—Out of your head!!!"

"{Elmus! Guard!}"

It can't shoot any bullets for the meantime, so it takes a swipe at him with Tina's blade. Elmus also suffered from the recoil tug, so he's unable to overpower it's injured left arm. He falls backward, but Valentina rips off and launches a large piece of tree bark at it. It wasn't expecting that, and gets smacked away. Surprisingly, after getting up, it hovers off.

"Hey! On your feet soldier!" Tina tries to pull him up to his feet, just below his left shoulder but he let's his legs dangle because he doesn't wanna. "What's up with you?"

"Tina, I seriously can't go on like this. I'm practically exhausted."

"This isn't the time to act like a loser! You are in MY Raid Unit now!"

"Chill out! I only needa get a little rest. Easy for you since you're an I.M.U."

"Exactly." She drags him along by the back of his collar.

"Hey! Tina!"

"If we let that thing go, it'll go after Arthur again. I for one know how it feels like when someone or something says you're gonna die. Do you understand what this means to me?" She stops and looks him straight in the eyes.

"…If Arthur's saved, aversion of your death is most certainly possible. Or at least, it'll give you the hope that you need to go on."

"…I'm gonna need you to do your thing again."

"What?"

"What you did back with the horde of Spectres."

"There was nothing special. Besides, I just told you that I was drained."

"…Then you're gonna be my decoy. Just don't get yourself killed." She begins to drag him along again.

"Wake me when we get close."

[Arthur]

He has captured it's weaknesses, abilities, strengths, everything, and is actively seeking as they battle, blade to scythe. The bullet section of the attack reference suddenly blips up after he seems to have cornered it. Must have been a ploy to make him feel confident.

It hugs it's gun barrel down to the ground and fires a B-bullet. The recoil shoots it high up into the air and it rains D-bullets down on him. Arthur sprays out lightning arcs overhead. It repels the bullets over a wider range, giving him the opportunity to withdraw and take cover behind a tree. It loses track of him.

"*panting* On second thought *pant* you must be his older brother! *panting* I'll still kill you anyway. You're only prolonging it!"

He thwarts his body to the left and darts at it after it lands. He subsequently twirls around and flings his blade for it's head. It seeks to deflect it, but he shoots a bolt of lightning at it, upon impact. While it's still flailing, he lunges forward and thunder punches it in the chest. His left hand finds it's neck, and he fries it's circuits.

"This is your end!"

He pulls it's melee arm up to it's neck. It tries hard to resist but it's other arm is too long. Hitting Arthur would only add to pressure being exerted on it's arm. It squirms as the knife digs into it's neck. Wait a second. It remembers that it can retract the scythe, but Arthur just retrieves his blade embedded in the bark overhead.

"Just die already!" He hacks it's head diagonally, and the top half slowly slips off. "Exterminated." He rips the Mana-Crystal out of it's forehead and deposits it in his pocket, but falls forward shortly after. His system reference blips up. It blinks "SYSTEMS CRITICAL WARNING: STEADY BREATHING NOW!" He staggers in the direction of Banlieue.

"{No. I can't afford to pass out…Not again. *gasp*}"

[Tyrannus]

Shadow is sitting at one of the tables to the left. Their chairs are close enough for them to hug, with her legs hanging over the other end of his lap and her arms about his neck. They begin to make out like teenagers, then Hex rushes in. They shoot up after seeing Kurai.

"Oh my God, what happened?"

"We don't really know. Says her Unit's still out there. Wanted us to go back."

"There's no need for that. Now that the State of Emergency's been called off, all Units will be converging towards Banlieue from different directions. Some of them will most likely come across them."

"…That's not what we're worried about Mr. Solgateau. Take a good look at her."

"…You're worried that they didn't make it…"

"Don't think that way. It was hope that helped us to retrieve Succubus, remember babe?"

"Wait a second, Succubus is back?"

"You shoulda figured bro. Why else would they call off the State of Emergency?"

"I'm gonna carry her off to the back so Anika can take a look at her."

"Please do so."

[Veteran]

They're all bunking in the same room. They have the covers laid out on the floor, and they're all lying atop. Alexandra's head's resting on Mr. Alex's tummy. It'd usually be story time but it's quiet in there. The lantern starts to dim out.

"I guess that's good night."

"Good night princess."

"…"

"Brother?"

"…Good night."

"Don't tell me—"

"That IS it. I still feel awful. You wouldn't understand because no one could possibly ruin Grandpa's image to you."

"Exactly. You know the warrior in me, as well as the bum. A lot of people have real selves that differ from their other selves, your perception of them. It's up to you to uncover these dual personas. It's not your fault that she didn't know."

"I'd be okay, but he was actually doing it to help his people. You said for yourself that the old Gaza is a distant memory."

"Brother. I'm saying this as a woman. If you loosen up your firewall to our feelings, you're gonna be in for a rollercoaster ride."

"…"

"Comprenez?(Understand?)"

"…*scoff* Just because you're 18 doesn't mean you're a woman. You still cry like a little girl. How's the arm?" he teases. "Grandpa told me. 'I thought I was gonna die!'"

"Hey! Next time I'll let them hurt you a little." They burst into laughter.

"Grandpa. Why don't you hit us up on a story?"

"Was waiting for ya ta ask."

[Boundless]

"CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!" There's echoes of the sound of metal clashing up ahead. Maybe it's trying to break Tina's blade. Whatever's going on, she has to get to it real fast, but the clashing stops. Has it already disarmed her permanently? Well she can't pinpoint it now, so she proceeds with caution until she confirms a visual. It's just hovering in the same spot with it's face up. Taking a critical look, you can tell it's not exhaustion. Could it be looking up at the sky?

"Elmus. Wake up; we're here."

"A'ight. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure. Have a look for yourself."

"…Amitha…It's crying, right?"

"{Yes. I'm sure it's picked up the scent of it's comrade's blood.}"

"Which means Arthur has most likely killed it."

"If that's the case, let's jump it while the tears are still in it's eyes. It'll head out around the left."

They crawl along the ground to eliminate chances of premature discovery. The Mal-Hecate starts to shriek in a very melancholic tone which quickly gives in to one of rage. It flutters in the direction of higher blood concentration, seeking vengeance for blood. Valentina and Elmus spring out at it. It lost itself in it's moment of grief, a grave mistake. It guards towards it's neck so they only scathe it lightly, but Elmus sets Amitha ablaze one last time. It's hot enough to singe it's right shoulder. It whirls around and speeds off but Tina bounces of a tree and gives quick chase.

It flings Tina's blade at her and applies pressure to it's neck with it's melee arm, to suppress the bleeding. Now it has no means to defend itself. She twirls and catches it with her feet, then catapults herself horizontally by pulling against the trees.

"You aren't getting away this time!"

She kicks her blade up to her feet and slashes with all her might. It spins around, guards with it's gun barrel and…

"{Elmus!}"

From his perspective, she clashes with it alright, but there's a sudden explosion at the point of contact that blasts both of them back and completely wipes her out.

"What just happened?!"

That's the purpose Valentina's blade served. It perforated it's gun barrel to enable it to deliver short range attacks, even if it'd hurt itself in the process. It looks pretty weak now. It drops to the ground for a few seconds, then hovers back up and towards Valentina. It has to end at least one of them. She braces herself, curling up and guarding her center. It tries to blast her with the last of it's gunpowder, but it just rips out through the perforations. It's exhausted it's mana too so it has to go manual.

It swipes at her: left and right, left and right, shrieking all the way. It's gone into a final frenzy. Elmus staggers back up to his feet. He's about at his breaking point.

"Hey! This is the time to do your thing! Hurry!"

"I'm trying!"

It slams down on her, inflicting real damage. Her moan is enough motivation to get in there. "{Even if I can't lift my arms…}" He charges in with the little strength he has left. It backhand slaps him with the barrel arm, knocking him out cold. It sniffs up the air a bit, as if picking up a weird scent, then turns back toward Valentina.

There's that dark blood-red looking gas steaming out from her hands. She slowly rises up to her feet looking down at the ground. Her jittering right hand draws attention. Apparently, the last smack dislocated her thumb and she's pissed.

"…I hope you realize that you just knocked out your last chance at surviving?"

It drops to the floor and lies back against the tree behind it. It's given up. Looking up at the canopy, it can see fractions of the moon above. It growls despondently. After all their efforts, it ended up 3 to 0; how unfair.

"Good boy… But before I slit your throat, you're gonna have to put this back, gently."

She holds her hand out towards it's face, and inserts her thumb in between it's lips.

[Elder Brainz]

It's retreating towards the direction from whence they come. It's a nasty giant brain that floats, with a few tentacles towar the mid-section to the tail for self defense. It has piercing eyes. Looks really sinister.

"Darn those stupid humans. If only they had given me a little more time, I would've been able to find out how to control them. I'll recede in shame today, but I'll be—"

"What? Back?" It's Raze and his giant sword. He's right in front of it's face. Is it that it wasn't paying attention? No…He's fast. He startles it really good.

"I'm guessing you're the Brainz behind this."

"What do you want?"

"Do I look like a Zombie to you?" He draws his blade, a large blade with teeth about the hilt.

"Everybody has a price. Resurrect a fallen one?"

"Not interested in that. Don't splurt guts on me when I kill you."

"You've gotta be—" he trails off. "WHOOSH! WHOOSH!" He dices it to four pieces in the blink of an eye. It seems as if it's gonna fall apart but it explodes instead, enveloping him in brain fluid.

"Darn you, resentful BASTARD."

[Tyrannus: Conference Room]

"Nika. The last of the Mal-Hecates just got eliminated. I'd say the Emergency's officially over."

"Not until everybody comes back safe."

"Let's be optimistic. They will."

"After seeing the state Kurai's in…I don't know. I have a terrible feeling in my gut."

-------End of Chapter 31-------

Chapter 32 Teaser

A lot of people still have to make it back alive. The Emergency's only over when there's no one left to worry about.

To be continued…