Ruthless

This was it, the peak of the battle. My senses heightened, and I felt it close down on Fico.

When she ran at me, her legs flexed with all insane muscle capacity, and she threw her claws up in the sky. They repositioned, like an aimed cannon, and came down for me while she was running right for me.

I turned tail, booking it for the forest a little distance away from the entrance, and dodged the claws coming down at me. My shoes were absolutely ruined, my pants were almost torn off, and almost nothing was left of my shirt by the time I made it to the forest, hiding away from Fico.

I knew that hiding like this would permit her to enter Zealous... but as I looked her in the face, and came to terms with my impending death, I froze, and ran. I don't have the guts, not anymore, I just want to live.

Thinking I just let everybody down, I came out from behind the tree I was hiding behind, and slowly bounced my body as I caught my breath, only to see Fico walking toward me at a steady pace.

What?! Why isn't she running to Zealous?!

"I've told you that multiple people all called Fico make me up, right? My insane speed, my strength, my metallic skin... I'm such an insane entity, one filled with so much scrap and crowded up with Incarnations, that I'm almost impossible to satisfy. I'm not satisfied with you yet... but I will be after I wield that golden saber," Fico pointed at the weapon in my hand.

"You let that thing go, and I'll let you live, I promise you," She said to me. She continued to lock eyes with the beam to the saber... and I knew I couldn't let her have it. Dammit... I'm such an inconsistent coward.

"This was... a trusted gift... by Sky... I won't let you..." I muttered slowly.

Her teeth grew in length and wings popped up on her back again after evaporating time and time again.

"The Incarnation of Transfer is what Quake is after. I assume you know what that is, don't you? Sky's ability to take and distribute Incarnations?" Fico asked me.

She knew?! How much information was she given?! My face turned sour, and she responded to it.

"Of course, I know about it. You're forgetting that I existed four hundred years ago, and that ability is the very reason that he's so scary. All thousands of different Fico's personalities, abilities, wishes, needs, wants, and over four hundred years of testing have brought me to this point, where I can wield six Incarnations, yet Sky can already wield two. That ratio isn't very nice, is it? That Saber is the key... The path to freedom, and you won't give it to me because it's a damn gift?" Fico asked me.

Her personality has been wildly changing over the course of the fight... I wondered if she was telling the truth. Her wishes don't align with mine though, and I showed that to her by tightening my grip on the Golden Saber.

"So be it. Well, Noboki, I wanted to at least make your body recognizable..." Fico said.

I turned on her and her claws went through a foot of a tree trunk, getting her stuck as I fled into deeper shrubbery.

I crouched beneath a bush that she would jump over, and waited for my strike. The saber turned dull, so as to not give away my position. I heard her dragging her feet through the crumbling leaves, listening to her breaths get faster and heavier.

"HERE!" She screamed out.

I jumped out of the bush and barely dodged an attack, hitting her in the arm, only to intersect with that metal underneath her skin again.

"There's one! I call it... Iron Lung..." She smiled, grabbing onto the saber and bending it.

The tip bent back a little bit before I was able to plant my foot into her jaw and start to run again.

She slashed through more trees and more bushes, closing the distance fast, and clashing together with the golden saber.

It was the only thing keeping me alive... my life was being held together by strands at this point. I definitely had brain damage, I can feel my leg locking over the weird mobility limitations I now had, and I can't even talk without pausing to think about what I'm trying to say. Fico had utterly destroyed me, and all I can do is pray that this saber can hold my life together.

She burst through to my right, knocking me off of my feet. I thought I had lost the saber, but it attached itself to my arm through a band on my wrist. I felt my brain rattle as I regained my composure, and had a hard time pushing myself back up to fight Fico.

Shit... shit... shit...

"You Arkians without strands are pathetic. Humanity, as we know it at the very least, always evolves to be the strongest it can be. If you're not born with an affinity for strands, why are you poisoning the same gene pool that we share? Are you an Arkian, Noboki?" Fico asked me.

"Generation... Two..." I mumbled, and she looked impressed.

"Wow! Poisoning it that much?! Shouldn't I just end this by killing you and your parents? Oh, don't tell me, Orion's Bitch, he killed them, didn't he? Will that awaken your Arkian Prowess? Will that fix your fucking brain damage? No... you probably need another good hit, don't you?" Fico asked me.

She planted her foot into my chest, and enlarged strands into spikes that punctured my lungs, broke half of my ribs, and caressed my heart with cold metal.

"Go on... awaken that prowess. Show me that you mean business. Fix your injuries, become the key that I'm looking for," Fico bluntly said, getting as close to my face as she could.