Austin vs Red

"Woah, is that Ivy and Lycan?" Ralph cries as he watches a giant demon with a large axe send the two slamming through the walls of Hell's Bar, then follow after them.

"And look, there's another demon down there," Austin replies as he motions to Red drunkenly stumble out of the bar.

"That demon looks big…I'll go help my squadmates," Ralph says as he hops off the roof of the building that he and Austin are positioned on. Austin takes off his glasses, folds them onto his orange handkerchief and pulls on his high-tech goggles, switching them on.

"And I'll snape that little one," Austin replies as he raises his sniper rifle at Red. Austin peers through the scope of his Cursed Power sniper rifle, aimed directly dead center at the back of Red's head. "Gunsmith: Weakness Snipe!" Austin shouts as he fires a bullet at Red. When the bullet pierces Red, blood explodes out of the front of his forehead, as the drunk demon falls limply to the ground. "Got 'em," Austin smirks. But then, a few seconds after, Red pushes himself off of the ground and keeps walking. 

"What?! But I didn't miss?! I never miss?!" Austin cries. "Whatever…I'll just try that again…" Austin mutters to himself as he brings his sniper rifle's scope up to his eyes again, and fires off another bullet. "Gunsmith: Weakness Snipe!" But just as before, seconds after Austin's bullet pierces Red in the back of the head and causes the demon to flop to the ground, Red pushes himself up and keeps walking, causing Austin to grow enraged.

"Grrr…" Austin growls. "WEAKNESS SNIPE WEAKNESS SNIPE WEAKNESS SNIPE!" Austin fires off bullet after bullet upon read, but time and time again, each bullet fails to keep Red down for more than a second.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Austin furiously cries as he tosses his sniper rifle to the ground, which fizzles out. "Alright, that's it! I'm coming down!" Austin says with a huff as he leaps off of the building that he was sniping on to confront Red. "You…why aren't my bullets working on you?!" Austin snaps as he approaches Red.

"Ah! The sniper!" Red yelps. "I gotta' get out of here!" Red attempts to hustle away from Austin, but only succeeds in drunkenly hobbling a few steps away before flopping to the ground.

"I mean...come on!" Austin continues rambling. "I sniped you with perfect accuracy and you just won't die!" Austin slowly approaches red, constructing a shotgun out of Cursed Power and holding it up to the back of Red's already bullet hole-riddled head. "I'll just have to kill you up close, unfitting for my fighting style," Austin says as he pulls the trigger. The force of Austin's shotgun sends Red flying forwards and splattering against the pavement. But just like before, Red scurries back to his feet seconds after.

"Alright Pro Slayer, since you won't leave me alone, I'll just have to kill you!" Red exclaims as he raises his fists and gets into a fighting position.

"A fight it is then," Austin sighs as he aims his shotgun at Red. "Gunsmith: Assault Rifle!" Austin then shouts as he changes his shotgun to an assault rifle, and unleashing a volley of bullets Red's way, who raises his arms up defense, not even reinforcing them with Cursed Power. Austin takes note that Red only slightly winces from Austin's bullets.

"Gunsmith: Grappling Hook!" Austin then shouts as his assault rifle morphs into a grappling hook, which Austin shoots outwards, wrapping around Red's arm. Austin then spins in a circle, swinging Red around and around as he twirls his grappling hook. Austin then retracts the hook of his grappling hook which causes Red to get pulled towards Austin, as Austin shouts: "Gunsmith: Shotgun!" And just before Red collides with Austin, Austin forms a glowing orange shotgun in his free hand and presses it to Red's forehead, unleashing a blast from his shotgun and sending Red flying away and slamming into some nearby garbage cans. But Red stands up and dusts himself off shortly after, looking unphased by Austin's attack. This time, Austin takes note of the fact that his shotgun blast seemed to have no effect on Red at all.

"So my weaker assault rifle bullets injure him, but my stronger shotgun and sniper rifle bullets don't phase the demon at all? What kind of Cursed Ability is this?" Austin mutters to himself, but Austin doesn't have much time to think for long.

"My turn, Pro Slayer!" Red shouts as he charges Austin, who counters by hopping back and turning his grappling hook into a net cannon and aiming it at Red.

"Gunsmith: Net Cannon!" Austin shouts as he fires his net cannon at Red, who howls in pain from Austin's attack, but keeps charging nonetheless. "What?! My net cannon hurt him?!" Austin cries.

Once Red is right before Austin, he jabs him in the cut with a Cursed Power-infused punch, sending Austin flying backwards and slamming into some garbage cans, just as he did before to Red. "Ow…" Austin grunts as he wipes the garbage off his face

As Austin pushes himself out of the pile of garbage, he peers over at Red, who's standing in a proper fighting position, his eyes and body radiating pure physical power and combat readiness. It's hard to believe that the demon was stumbling around, drunk and afraid mere moments ago.

"Gunsmith: Shotgun!" Austin shouts as he constricts a shotgun made out of Cursed Power in his hands. But before Austin can fire a bullet off, Red charges Austin, faster than he can react, and grabs the barrel of Austin's shotgun, forcing it to the sky, just as Austin uselessly fires a bullet off. Austin then forms a second shotgun with his free hand and fires it off at Red at point-blank range, not leaving so much as a scratch. "Gunsmith: Dart Gun!" Austin shouts as his shotgun morphs into a small dart gun, which he uses to fire off a couple of weak darts at Red, who howls in pain.

"Reversal Technique!" Red shouts, and using his own free hand, Red punches Austin in the face, causing the boy to stumble backwards and clutch his nose, which is gushing blood. Austin then fires one more dart off at Red, who drops to the ground, writhing in pain.

"I see…" Austin mutters to himself. "Your Cursed Ability somehow makes weak attacks strong, and strong attacks weak. But, it doesn't change the effects that my attacks have on your body, such as how my bullets can still make you bleed. It's just your sense of pain which gets altered."

"Knowing that's not going to help you one bit, Slayer!" Red grunts as he pushes himself off of the ground.

"He's right. Even though I've figured out the nature of his Cursed Ability, I still don't know how to beat Red. I used strong attacks that should have killed him but he lived, and I used weak attacks that could hurt him but won't be able to kill him. Overload him with pain or a painless death? Or those my options to kill him? But there's got to be some sort of threshold for his Cursed Ability, otherwise something like a gust of wind could kill him in seconds," Austin asks himself as he hops away from Red.

Red lands another flurry of blow on Austin's chest, sending Austin flying away and spitting up a bit of blood. Austin manages to recover himself, just in time to construct a Cursed Power dart gun, and fire it off at Red, but this time, Austin's darts don't affect him.

"Crap, did he deactivate his Cursed Ability before I attacked?!" Austin cries. In order to test this, Austin's dart gun morphs into a shotgun, which Austin uses to fire a round of bullets at Red, but Red's body begins bubbling with Cursed Power again as he charges Austin, leaving him unfazed by Austin's shotgun slugs. "So I can't use weak attacks and I can't use strong attacks?" Austin mutters to himself. "No…I'll need to use a weal attack and a strong attack at the same time. I'll need to hit him with both weak and strong attacks at the same time in hopes of tripping up his Reversal. Hopefully, I can hit him with a weak attack while his Reversal is up or a strong attack when his Reversal is down!"

Austin then aims his dart gun at Red again, firing off a rapid fire volley of Cursed Power darts. Red, unphased by Austin's weak attack, keeps steadily approaching the Pro Slayer. That is, until in the blink of an eye, Austin's dart gun morphs into a shogun which fires off dual shotgun slugs at Red. Red's eyes widen as he pauses, bringing his arms up in defense as Red's Cursed Power begins bubbling around Red's body, fully protecting him from Austin's attack.

"You thought that by overloading me with weak attacks, a strong attack would catch me off guard, didn't you?" Red asks. "Unfortunately for you, I know my Cursed Ability's shortcomings and have learned to work around them.

"Eh. Thought it was worth a shot," Austin smirks. Austin then creates a Cursed Power assault rifle in his free hand, aiming both the shotgun and his dart gun at Red. "Gunsmith: Assault Rifle!" Austin shouts as he unleashes volley after volley of adult rifle and dart gun rounds upon Red, but just as before, Red keeps steadily approaching Austin, unfazed by his bullets.