Chapter Twenty-Two: Alarax

Dachii barely had any time to react before a giant hammer nearly crushed him. His body glowed gray and he jumped back just in the nick of time. His opponent, the giant dwarf, lumbered toward him, his giant feet shaking the ground beneath him.

"Aye, get back man!"

"Die, Voltian scum!" He lifted his hammer up for another powerful strike, and Dachii jumped away again, creating a sizable distance between him and his opponent.

"Voltian? I'm not a——"

But before he could finish his sentence, the hammer knocked him into the air. Dachii spat out some blood.

"BLECH! Ugh..."

He fell to the ground, rolling around before coming to a stop. And in a few seconds, yet again, his body HEALED.

"You have a Power! I SEE!"

Before Dachii could get up, the dwarf slammed his hammer down on him, expecting to crush him...

And then...

"You're not DEAD?"

Dachii, with a glowing gray arm, was HOLDING THE HAMMER BACK. With visible amounts of effort, he managed to keep it from crushing him.

"What. Is. With. You. AGGRESSIVE. ASS. PEOPLE?!"

Then as he tried to get out from under it the dwarf yanked the hammer back and struck him with it again, sending him flying into a house.

"I won't let you people destroy any more of my home! That's all you do!"

As Dachii kicked his way out of the house, he had to dodge another smash from the hammer.

"What are you SAYING? I'm not a Voltian, dude! Why don't you people GET THIS?"

Another hammer smash. Dachii had to jump onto a house to avoid it.

"LIES! Trickery magic!"

He winded up and hurled his hammer at Dachii, who began to glow gray again and caught it. "It's not MAGIC!"

Dachii chucked the hammer aside. "I'm not one of them, man!"

"Keep lying! I won't let you take ANYTHING ELSE!"

"Does my skin LOOK like it's pearly white to you?"

"Doesn't matter!"

With his bare hands, he tried to strike Dachii again and again. Dachii was able to keep moving back, jumping farther and farther each time.

"Look, I want to go home! I'm not trying to do this with you!"

The dwarf got into a low stance.

"Easier for me. TASTE THIS FIST!"

With a burst of speed unlike any he'd displayed, the dwarf took off toward Dachii. Dachii began to glow gray once more, and getting into a running stance of his own, he was able to match the dwarf's speed.

Their fists collided. The impact was immense.

BOOM.

Meanwhile, back at the Dwarf Factory...

Fujii saw his colleague standing on the ground, fans in hand. "Naito, where'd you come from? Where's your squad?"

"Somewhere."

BOOM.

Both of them heard a loud noise, which seemed to come from the center of the forest. Fujii tried to look and see what caused the noise, but the trees were too high.

"What was that?"

Even the dwarves piloting the titanium golems ceased all action for a moment. Ironbeard had a worried look on his face.

"Don't tell me, the Prince?"

Fujii jumped down. "What Prince? Where is he?"

"Kill the intruders!"

Multiple titanium golems prepared to smash both generals, but Naito simply got her fans ready and into position.

"SLASH."

Immediately, the dwarves inside the golems' chests were wounded, with deep cuts to their torsos and limbs. "No! She got us!"

Naito returned back to her position. Fujii put a hand on her shoulder. "Nice job! Getting close to my speed!"

"Oh."

Ironbeard let out a scream of rage. "KILL THEM! Kill the MONSTERS!"

Every titanium golem began to attack. Fujii and Naito had to evade tons of strong attacks, both melee and ranged. Despite the best efforts of the dwarves, both generals were standing on the branches of a tree, completely unharmed.

Fujii nudged Naito. "Isn't this fun, ehh? Just like old times!"

"Oh. Right."

She almost looked like she could fall asleep. Fujii rolled his eyes. "When we get back, I'll definitely have to make sure to buy you a drink."

"Okay."

BOOM.

Another loud noise from the same direction was heard. This time, it really grabbed the attention of both generals, even more so than before.

"I think we might have to check that out!"

"Okay."

But before they could even move, a titanium golem chopped the tree down with its sword. Both of them quickly darted away before they fell down.

As they landed on the ground, Ironbeard stood in front of the two, with an army of titanium golems surrounding him. "Our kingdom is in danger! We'll get rid of you quickly and go help!"

"Nice plan."

Fujii got into a symmetrical stance and put his hand on his blade, which was currently sheathed in its scabbard. "Let's try it out."

His eyes glowed icy blue, and he delivered a powerful strike to the first wave of golems, knocking them down and trapping them in ice. Ironbeard looked at the scene, momentarily shocked, before recomposing himself and yelling: "Attack!"

Naito gripped her fans and slashed deep into some more titanium golems. As more surrounded her, magical white sparks began to emit off her body.

She threw her fans into the air, and she put two fingers up in front of her face. The fans immediately floated in the air, glowing white.

Ironbeard backed away. "Sorcery! Watch out!"

She made a swiping motion with her arm, and the fans began to move on their own, slashing through lots of golems and knocking their pilots out of the cockpits.

"Run! The fans are dangerous! RUN!"

While the dwarves that fell out ran away, more golems stood to meet the challenge.

"WITCH!"

One tried to stomp her and she just sighed and called her fans back to her by holding out her hand. As she prepared to attack...

"SWOOSH."

The golem fell to the ground, deactivated. Everyone was surprised, and Fujii looked around the area.

"The hell did that? You guys running out of batteries? If that's the case, then..."

"Fujii. You play too much."

Fujii looked to his right and saw another one of his colleagues.

"Toru! I was wondering where you'd gone! I see you aren't with your squad either!"

"Of course not. They'd hold me back. I have to hold their hands, like children."

Toru walked over to Fujii and Naito, holding what could only be described as a lance mixed with a sword. It had a long blade where the shaft was supposed to be, and the hilt of a lance. His "Lancing Joustblade."

As he walked over to his comrades, he had magical sparks coming off of him too. "Now let's handle these opponents. I know you heard the loud noise as well."

"Definitely! Gotta check it out!"

"CRUSH THEM!"

All three generals got into fighting stances. One everyone could see Toru, and in the next, they couldn't.

"One of them is gone!"

"Find him!"

Naito yet again sent her fans out to attack some golems and their pilots, while Fujii froze the ones that approached him.

"Cool! Right, Naito?"

"Please. Don't."

Some golems fell to the ground, deactivated. Toru appeared next to them, seemingly out of the blue.

"We're nearly done."

As the generals kept fighting, more and more golems hit the ground. Soon, there were only a handful left.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Squad S-2 continued to try to find their general. Tetsuya pounded some more dwarves into submission, while Tsugumi effortlessly combined her physical attacks with her rifle shots. Kazue just shot giant jawbreakers at them.

Tsugumi saw a figure in the distance. "Ahead! I think it's her."

But when they got there, it was a female, but not their general. She seemed to be in her early twenties.

"Oh, sorry you guys! It's just me, Himeka's best friend, Kanai Mitsukuni! Oh, and also your Vice-General. If you, like...cared or whatever."

"Right. Did you see the General?" Tsugumi shot a nearby dwarf that tried to pounce.

"Nope! She's probably going to work on them now! Or making friends. Or both!"

Tetsuya punched away another dwarf. "What should we do, ma'am?"

"Let's go TRACK HER DOWN! Yippee!"

She took off with a burst of speed down further into the forest. The squad followed her.

Back at the Dwarf Kingdom...

"DIE!"

The giant dwarf was still attempting to crush Dachii under his hammer. Dachii was struggling to evade his powerful attacks. At one point, he swung his hammer at Dachii so hard, but lost control and destroyed one of the townhouses.

"GRRRR!"

Dachii got some distance. "Dude, you are SO mad! WHY?"

The dwarf straightened up, his face a twisted mask of fury. "Don't you know who I am, creature? I'm Prince Alarax! These are MY people! I won't let what happened last time EVER happen in these forests again!"

Alarax rushed at Dachii, who put his hands up to block the powerful hammer strike. With all his might, he was able to just barely repel the blow.

"Okay, but that has nothing to do with ME!"

"Then WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"

"Well, one, I was forced to be here, two I'm looking for my teammate, THREE, we can call a truce right now and I'll slide right outta here—-!"

"LIES!"

He geared up for another powerful strike. Dachii, weighing his options, began to jump further into the town to get away.

"Where are you going?!"

"Oh, leaving! I'm not dying here, no thank you!"

"COME BACK!"

Alarax used his strength to jump into the air, closing the distance between them quickly. He tried to smash the boy again, but Dachii jumped to another building.

"Look, what do I gotta do to show I'm a HUMAN KID?"

Alarax stood still for a minute, contemplating. "I don't know! You Voltians all lie!"

Dachii held his hands out, which glowed gray. "See? No magic! Just a...weird Element?"

"Humans can't have them!"

"Oh trust me, I've been told."

Alarax prepared to try to hit Dachii again, but a powerful plasma blast hit him, knocking him to the ground.

"Who the HELL—-?"

Both Dachii and Alarax looked at the source of the shot, and they found:

"Haha! Got him!"

"TOMOKO?"

Tomoko was standing there, rifle in hand, with his trademark smile on his face. "Yep! I made it!"

Dachii rubbed his eyes. "Where's the rest of your squad? How are you the only one to make it here?"

"That girl paralyzed me when they weren't looking, so I lost track of them! And I heard fighting! And now I'm here!"

"Oh. Why am I not surprised?"

Alarax stood up. "Another one of you? Fine, you'll both be crushed, you magical devils!"

"He's HUMAN TOO!"

Alarax ignored him and swung his hammer at Tomoko, who laughed and shot him in the face with his gun. It made him stumble back, but he recovered and kicked Tomoko a few feet away.

"Nice kick! Just like that other girl! Is he the final boss?"

Alarax went after Dachii next, who turned his arms gray and tried to counter the hammer strikes, which began to take its toll on him.

"Uh, I guess?"

"I'm the PRINCE, FOOLS!"

He smashed his hammer down into the ground, and both boys went flying. "I can do things you've never seen!"

He stood up and pulled a necklace out of his pocket. He put it around his neck, and his eyes glowed a soft brown color, almost like wood.

"...Mistress...give us life..."

His aura seemed to grow even more dangerous and potent. His hammer began to morph into a mix of wood and tungsten. Shoulder plates of wood appeared on his gear, extending to form a wooden chestplate and leggings, along with a wooden crown on his helmet.

"Time to finish this."

He leveled his hammer at the opponents, and with one stomp of his feet, both boys were trapped in the ground, wooden branches coiling around their feet.

"Haha! A trap!"

Back in at the Dwarf Factory, most of the golems had been destroyed, with Naito, Toru, and Fujii working in tandem to bring them down.

Soon the last golem was left. Fujii, Naito, and Toru all took it down with ease. Ironbeard and the surviving dwarves backed away, and the generals walked toward them.

Fujii pointed his sword at them again. "Now then, can one of you tell me where your Prince is—-"

BOOM.

"That noise again!"

It came from the same direction as last time. Even the trees felt the disturbance. Toru walked over to the defeated dwarves.

"I'll watch them. You two try and find the noise."

"Okay, thanks!"

Both of them headed off toward the sound, darting through the trees like bullets. But as they got a sizable distance away from the factory, Toru noticed the captured dwarves on the ground began to change.

Their eyes began to glow soft brown. They all stood up.

"He's done it..." Ironbeard looked at his hands as his whole body began to form wooden armor around itself, along with the other dwarves. Toru drew his Joustblade as the dwarves stood up, with tungsten weapons forming out of their armor.

Toru glared at them. "What trickery is this?"

"She has...saved us...yet again..."

Then almost in sync, they all took off after Fujii and Naito before Toru could even process.

"Damn it!"

They took off...toward their Prince.

—-