Chapter 21: Slayer

Nearing the end of 2064, there was news of the flying country of Zepp being raided by two unidentifiable men. Although one of the men gave their name as "That Man," boldly stated it for all of Zepp to hear. Surprisingly, only one item was stolen from the destruction of "That Man" caused by a piece of black tech called a PlayStation 1.

Zepp hired countless bounty hunters in the following years and used their resources to find them. However, nothing ever came up about their whereabouts, so the hunt was stopped, and everything seemed to return to normal.

After obtaining the console, Frederick and Daubeny decided to have a home base. Traveling throughout the world and meeting all sorts of people, they eventually found a small, obscure archipelago called Ganymede. At first, Frederick was opposed to staying at a set location. Still, Daubeny had convinced him through constant arguing until the flame of corruption agreed. Together, they had decorated with furniture, terminals, and more.

Frederick had become a little bit addicted to playing the PlayStation.

Whenever Frederick sat down to play his favorite games, he entered an intense gamer-lean position. His eyes would be glued to the screen, his body would be hunched over, and his neck would be craned forward. After years of doing this same position over and over, eventually, he was forced to crack his neck with most of his strength despite not wanting to put the effort into it. Despite this, he truly enjoyed playing Street Fighter with his friend, whom Frederick enjoyed playing as Ryu.

However, these times of peace for them were shut down when they saw on their television that the US had begun mass-producing Gear and deploying it as security forces, which the country had only done due to its declining military and political influence.

The world's superpowers began to interfere in conflicts between third-world countries. Following the usual imbroglios of that situation, the conflicts intensified. It was at that juncture that the most "humanitarian" weapons ever made, the Gears, were created.

They were immortal soldiers who did not need provisions and obeyed every order to the letter. Their mobility was on par with that of mechanized units, and they could suppress the enemy with the minimum damage required.

Which had begun the gear prototypes war against the projects and the production facilities. 

-

It is 2069, and Daubeny and Frederick are destroying another Gear facility on the outskirts of France. While gear production and research had started in the United States, information was breached. In no time, every country in the world had the resources to create Gear. The facility they just had raided was now in ruins, and they were walking away from the destruction they had caused.

The full moon shone brightly in the sky as they traveled on France's back roads. Frederick heard a noise from his friend and looked at him with his muddy red eyes. "What is it now?"

Daubeny's lips curled into a mischievous grin as he let out a low chuckle. "Oh, nothing at all, "Badguy" just thinking of your glorious new name."

"I still don't know how they ended up giving me that." But he stops and lets off a smirk. "They have taste choosing a Queen song." 

"Yeah, too bad they never gave me a cool name like that." Daubeny rubs his hands together. "Though, get that name on a shirt and they'd sell like mad!"

Their conversation was suddenly cut off as they stopped in their tracks when they heard bats' cries and the flapping of their wings.

Out of nowhere, a large red cape appeared 20 meters away from them. Both of them were stunned, and they couldn't believe their eyes at what came out. As the cape widened even more, a man strode out of it.

He has the appearance of a middle-aged man. He wears a white undershirt beneath a rather professional-looking gray suit. The sleeves of his coat bear red cross-shaped emblems. His brown hair is slicked to the side and is complemented by a short, well-kept beard and a thin mustache. He wears a monocle and a red cape draped over his shoulder.

"Apologies for the interruptions; I've decided to take a stroll this evening," the dandiest of men said with a heavy Scottish accent, lighting a wood pipe with tobacco and puffing out a ring of smoke.

Throwing his helmet to the ground, Daubeny placed an arm around Frederick's shoulder as he whispered. "This isn't good, I never thought we would encounter one of them..."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Frederick asked. "Not good? You know what he is; you're worrying yourself for nothing."

"No, I'm not because that's... that's a werewolf!" Daubeny dramatically shouted at the Victorian man, who stopped and raised an amused eyebrow after hearing those words.

"Very close, but no, I am a nightless." Putting away the pipe inside his cape? He began walking closer to the duo as they became tense.

Frederick looked at the full moon, the bats from before, and the man's clothes, connecting the dots and concluding he was a vampire. "A vampire, huh? .... Why are you here?"

Nightless are very similar to vampires, although seemingly without their traditional weaknesses.

"I need to talk with your fellow, so please, indulge an old man's request for a brawl."

Tiding up his tie, the vampire stood straight as Daubeny walked forward. Daubeny walked towards the dandy man and held out his hand to Frederick. "Let me fight him, at least for the first round."

Frederick nodded and leaned against a nearby tree, examining the fight with his sword in hand. With that out of the way, Daubeny charged at the vampire with inhumane speed and went for a jab. Still, he was surprised when the vampire turned into a near-invisible blood mist, reappearing a few meters away, having the smoking wooden pipe back in his mouth. 

Daubeny stood there, confused and surprised by the vampire's sudden recurrence as he charged again. The c elegantly shoulder-blasted the Gear and swung his right leg in for a kick at the flying Daubeny.

As Daubeny flew through several meters behind on the road, his mind raced with confusion and fear thinking. "I've never encountered someone like this before. It's only been a few exchanges, but I haven't even landed a single hit on him... and I'm using all of my speed. I don't know how to fight back." He landed hard on the ground, his body aching for the first time in years, but he quickly got back on his feet.

"Bolt of Justice." Daubeny then chanted a spell as a golden beam of sunlight shot down from nowhere at him. But the vampire dodged the large beam by double-jumping into the air and doing another backflip as he landed in front of Daubeny. Daubeny quickly removed his grappling hook during this time, and his free fist began glowing golden. "Mayhem," was said while Daubeny swung the hook with terrifying speed towards the vampire, who received a few gashes and burns along his outfit, which healed itself quickly.

Grinning slightly, the vampire spun his left arm so fast that it looked like something a cartoon character could do and, following the young man's attitude, said his own move. "Undertow." He crouches slightly and twists with his spinning fist, hitting Daubeny's feet so fast that it causes the Gear to have flames cover his body for a few seconds. He landed on the ground with a thud, only to get up quickly, patting off the fire on his clothes.

"You're skillful; I'll give you that," he said. "But you're not going to have a chance against me with that style." He patted Daubeny's shoulder while passing him. "All the same, I'd like to fight you seriously someday."

Stopping his foot on the ground, he readied himself like a professional sprinter would. "Don't worry... this next attack is one of my ultimate techniques!"

"Daubeny, I will smack you if you say you learned this move from a show." The irritated voice of the Gear said. Much to his fears... it was learned from a show.

Daubeny sprinted at the vampire, not bracing his legs to punch or kick. Frederick and the nightless were surprised to see Daubeny leaping behind his opponent and shouting, "One thousand years of death!" 

Tightly clasps his hands together and extends his middle and index fingers; using the total weight of his body, he thrusts these four fingers between the vampire's buttocks.

Letting out a high-pitched, as best as the vampire could, mannly voice screamed. "My one WEAKNESS!" His hair had turned into the shape of a bat. He turned around and performed a quick uppercut to Daubeny's ribs as he was sent flying. Frederick, upon losing sight of his friend, rushed at the vampire only for the night create to blow a puff of smoke from his pipe in Frederick's face and agilely kick him to the ground. Frederick quickly gets back up, his eyes blazing with fury. 

"You're going to regret that," he growls as he begins to take off his headband. The vampire calmly takes a puff of his pipe and smirks. "I doubt it," he says, his voice calm and collected, taking another puff of his pipe and slightly smirking. The two clashed into a fierce battle, at least for Frederick. 

Daubeny was still being sent higher up into the air by the vampire's powerful kick. He finally stopped when he popped out of a cloud with his golden wings folding out to fly him. Wrapping his arms around his waist, he shuddered at the raw strength that collided with his body. But as he descended, he began to cough, still feeling the effects of the creature's attack.

After their battle, Frederick groans in pain, struggling to get back up. The vampire calmly walks over to him, holding a hand to help him up. "You fought well," he says, a hint of admiration in his voice.

Sol grudgingly takes his hand and pulls himself up, from which his wounds have already healed. "Next time, I'll beat you," the Gear says. The vampire just smiles and takes another puff of his pipe. "I look forward to your attempt," he says before walking away to make space for an incoming fighter. When Daubeny landed back, the vampire introduced himself.

"Apologies for not introducing myself earlier; I am Slayer." He takes another pipe off from his pipe. "And I must say, Frederick, your passion for this fight and on those facilities shines like the sun." Taking out his pipe from his mouth, he continued. "Sol, the name to call you would be Sol." That is a fitting name for you."

Throughout his years as a Gear prototype, Frederick has begun to feel he is no longer worthy of using his real name. He used it only because his friend was with him, but from now on, "I'll be Sol then." The Gear slung his damaged blunt blade over his shoulder.

"I've a great many questions that needed answers when I came here, but it looks like I've found them," Slayer said as he helplessly shook his hands, specifically looking at Daubeny. "Sharon's fears were unfounded, it seems; you bear no resemblance to that madman except for a trait or two." Shaking his head, his face turned back into its relaxed self. "Why don't the two of you visit us sometime? Here, for your efforts." The vampire handed both of them two sheets of scroll containing Haiku along with the location of his castle. 

And with that, the vampire disappeared into the shadows, leaving Sol and Daubeny standing there, catching their breath and wondering what had just happened. They had fought hard, but in the end, it seemed like they were no match for Slayer's power and skill.

Sol turned to look at Daubeny, ready to smack him for using a move from a show but stopped to ask. "Did you shout out your moves while fighting?"

"Yeah? For the past few years, I've been shouting my moves out loud and in my head for some bounties. Why? Is that weird?"

Looking at his almost-destroyed sword, he smirked. "I'm about to find out..." He had promised to smack Daubeny early, and it was only fair to uphold that promise.

"Volcanic Viper!" Sol shouted as he pushed his sword upwards at Daubeny, who instinctively grabbed his axe to guard himself. Sol hit him with an outward uppercut spinning slash aimed fully vertically, with flames emitted from his blunt blade. Forcing the redhead into the hair as Sol rose with him, with only a few flame tears in the air being left behind as Daubeny was launched further into the sky, reaching the clouds again. The Gear had his wings unfold from his back, keeping him suspended in the air. He looked down to see his axe had been wholly broken, with parts melting off, making it look like a chewed-up molten stick. 

Tossing it away, Daubeny descended to a smiling Sol looking at the sky in satisfaction, saying. "I'll give it to you that it's more fun than I thought." 

Daubeny jumped up with joy, saying. "See, see! I told you so! And what about tonight?"

As soon as the smile was on Sol's face, it vanished as soon as it appeared. Returning to his regular stoic expression.

Sol simply shrugged. "We fought a vampire," he said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Daubeny looked at him, then at himself, then back at Sol. "Right," he said, still looking confused. "I think I need a drink after that." The two Gears walked into the night, leaving the memory of their battle with Slayer behind them as they made their way home.

-

Slayer Picture