Eleanor King
I look away from the road and down at the chicken burger in my hands. Two days in a row at KFC isn’t good, no, but… Once again, I couldn’t say anything against that girl once she talked back to my complaint “for my own sake”.
The worst part was, she was completely earnest. She said all sorts of things right to my face with complete honesty, despite the fact the words she used could be used without change by a snide, annoying jackass being a dick.
I can’t talk back to her, can’t get mad to her face. Yet, as soon as I leave the KFC, every time I end up fuming, taking heavy steps and slamming doors.
Who am I mad at?
As soon as I think about this irritably, I bump into someone. With my eyes glued on the burger, it was bound to happen. I’m not angry about the fact someone bumped into me.
I could, however, get angry at the fact my burger was on the group, annihilated by both a random passerby’s and my own lack of attention. I paid money for that thing.
I look behind me to the man who bumped into me without even excusing himself. All I saw was some edgy-looking guy with bleached hair and a red and black ensemble. Probably some dumb teenager, not worth beating the tar out of.
I almost put my hands in my pockets and walked away, simmering with irritation despite myself, until a smile let itself out.
Aw hell, I was getting irritated at nothing anyway, might as well harass some asshole. He looks like he deserves it anyway.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!”
X=X=X=X=X
Ragna The Bloodedge
Man, I was having a bad couple of days. I’ve actually started thinking I should have gone with that crazy girl and the long-winded guy with her.
On the upside, I didn’t have that weird piece of shit hangover anymore. On the downside, my currency wasn’t accepted and I had to end up dine-and-dashing for two meals, and then slept under a god damn bridge.
“I might already have a growing bounty, at this rate…” I mumble to myself, though honestly, I don’t much care. I’m used to having people chasing my ass around. What I’m not used to is, well, not having a purpose.
Revenge, destroying cauldrons, facing Terumi, undoing what was done to Noel, chasing Kushinada’s lynchpin, aiming to destroy the imperator, Saya… I always had something to do, a clear objective in mind. Now I was in this big concrete piece of shit of a city, and I have no idea what to do.
I might as well go back under the bridge and play with my dick, for all the good it does me.
Seriously though, this entire place pisses me off. What kind of dumb joke was this, anyway? Who sends people into completely unfamiliar environments just to see how things turn out? Some kind of sick asshole, that’s who.
A certain green guy came to mind. Great, now I was even more pissed at this entire situation.
Contemplative, I hardly even notice that I bump into some girl. Oh well, had to watch where you were going, dumbass. I keep a steady pace.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” She yelled back at me, irritation present in her voice.
I turn around and face her. She was shorter than me, with quite a high quality ponytail and a coat reminiscent of the big NOL coats, only dark green, with sleeves and opened at the front. To add to that, the entire outfit was covered in wooden and metal talismans, and a few chains.
One thing stood out though.
“Brother…”
“Ragna…”
Clear, big green eyes, and blond hair.
Not as spot on as Noel was with Nu or Saya, but the resemblance was there. Her very appearance made me feel something dark and heavy deep in my stomach. Like most things, most feelings that had happened to me over the years, this alien feeling was transformed into something I knew well, something that helped me cope.
Hate. Rage. Anger.
“How about you watch where you’re going before you mouth off, you idiot!” I yell back at her, without restraint.
“So that’s how it’s going to be, you little shit?” She says, walking up to me and getting in my face. Grow a few more inches before you try that, dumbass.
“What’s this? You want to go, you little bitch? I’m not going to take it easy on you because you’re braindamaged.”
“That’s it, you’re going so deep underground, not even gods will be able to find your remains!”
She jumps back and bashes her fists together. Fire sparks at the knuckles, and soon enough a massive fire flows around her, almost reminiscent of a school of fish underwater. Far up the ass of this ball of fire, the bitch’s face can be seen, veins bulging in anger.
“Oppressor’s Cruelty!” She yells, and the flames seem to agitate with her words, flowing closer to her in a way that looked way too controlled to be actual damn fire.
“Ha, if fireworks are all you have, you might as well kill yourself now!” I shout, pulling out my sword, the Blood-Scythe, in a reverse grip.
THE WHEEL OF FATE IS TURNING!
REBEL ONE, START!
X=X=X=X=X
First to hit wins!
I punch the air in front of me in a shadowboxing-like maneuver, and the familiar feeling of lashing out connects with my magic, making it do the same. A wave of fire flies towards the edge-master, supernatural fire that won’t easily let go of whatever it touches.
The wave is six meters in width, more than enough to him most targets before they could dodge.
I smile at that. First hit of the battle already belongs to me, and along with it, initiative.
Just as I think that, a red and black blur jumps over the wave and lands in front of me, sword drawn.
My surprise turns into hesitation, and I give the asshole more time than I should. I react as fast as I can by sending out an omni-lateral burst of fire, both as a smokescreen, defense and attack.
The only downside was, I couldn’t…
X=X=X=X=X
What an idiot. If you’re going to make a smokescreen, realize that you won’t be able to see either. She bursts out fire in a perfect ball, but I’m already too close to her.
I swing my sword up, down and forward.
“Dead Spike!”
From under my feet, a big, black and red head made of seithr pops out, jaw open to reveal dozens of sharp teeth. The head comes out and lunges forward eating fire and bitch as it went along. In its wake, the sphere of fire looked more like an open gate, and that woman was nowhere to be seen.
Oops, didn’t see that coming, did you?
Just as I think that up, the dead spike explodes, and there she is, angry and stupid.
“Tyrant’s Fury!” She yells, and I realize her arms and legs are glowing with a lightning-like feeling to them.
“Seriously? What a pain,” I say, to which she reacts by dashing at me, fast.
In the little time her trip took her, I throw up a basic barrier ars. She punches and kicks against it, and I felt it strain.
Damn, she’s packing serious firepower. My barrier’s about to run out.
She winds up for a heavier attack, and I just knew that if it hit, it would be the end of my barrier. So instead, I punish her for winding up in the middle of nowhere.
I dispel my barrier, and with her fist still behind her for a huge swing, I lunge forwards with the move which gave me the most movement.
“Hell’s…!” I yell out, my right hand exuding a dark, violet fire.
X=X=X=X=X
Shit, he’s right under me!
I have no real time for a move, or for proper balance. I swing my left fist up to meet halfway with my right fist, pulling it back forward with all the speed I could. I ended up in a very awkward position with both hands at one side and almost falling backwards, but the important part was there:
My fists connect.
“Despot’s…” I start, but his fist connects with my abdomen, right above my right hip, knocking a bit of the wind out of me. I had to finish speaking, though, because I knew.
I just fucking knew.
He wouldn’t let it end like this.
His left hand makes a palm, and more the black and red toothed… thing, same as what ate my fire, poked its head out of the ground.
“…Will!” I shout, and my entire body’s infused property changes from [lightning] to [metal].
The toothed head, smaller than the one from before, follows his palm’s movements and slams into my abdomen. My awkward position makes me fly backwards a bit, and crash onto the ground with a roll.
Almost unaffected because of my new infused property, I make to get back up, only to see red in my range already. Oh, that guy, he’s just so…
“You fucking ass!” I manage to shout out.
“Not letting you get up, bitch!” He shouts, and he kicks me square in the abdomen, follows up with a sword swing, which in my current state manages only to leave a small cut.
“Inferno Divider!” He yells out, swinging his sword from his side, to downwards and finally upwards and going along with it, jumping in the air.
Carrying me along the way, too. This asshole, he is strong.
“Not done!” He yells, and uppercuts me on the jaw, then punches me straight on. I somehow fly back further, and into a building’s brick wall.
When did this get here?
I think about it a second. He was other there, I did my thing, he did his... Why was I calmly thinking about this? I must be feeling those hits, even in Despot’s Will.
Ah, I was falling.
And he was waiting. Another horizontal strike pushed me up against the wall instead of falling down on the floor, then he did a light upwards strike… and then his sword was covered in the same darkness that ate and bit me already. The blade, enveloped by this darkness, struck down with a lot of power.
He wasn’t done, a small part of me whispers into my ear. Right, he couldn’t be done. I try focusing my eyes a bit more, tensing up my muscles.
There was a dark hand coming.
“Devoured by Darkness!” He shouts, as his massive dark hand covers the entirety of my chest.
I had a moment of peace, calm before the storm, that I took too tighten up my body. Elbows at my side, legs up, force those abs girl, you have them for a reason.
Then it came.
From the arm, from his shadow, from everywhere, like a thousand set of teeth taking a thousand bits, like a tornado of jaws, everywhere on my body was assault viciously at once.
I couldn’t even say anything. Pain assaulted my body like nothing else.
And then he chucks me aside, onto the wall, as if I was nothing.
Oh, you…
“You fucking piece of crap…” I grumble, as he walks away. “You think I’m done or something!?”
I get up and bash my fists together, just as he turns to face me again.
“Conqueror’s…!”
X=X=X=X=X
God, does this bitch never learn? I turn around to face her, battered rag that she is, and there she is bashing her fists together again. Another mode?
“Advance!”
My reflexes kick in with speed only master Jubei could have drilled into people, and my arms cover my face.
Like taking the whole of the Red Devil’s weight with Tao’s speed, she crashes into my arms and propelled me across the street, into a wall.
Less than a second. In less than a second, she covered ten meters and attacked me that hard.
What the fuck was that?
I hardly have time to think, because that bitch is still in front of me, covered in flames. Back to the classics, it seems. Speaking of classics, there was a huge wave of fire coming.
Man, what a bitch.
I didn’t have time to jump this time, or make an ars barrier. I just blocked my face with my right arm and took it.
The wave never passed. Whatever she must be doing, she must be doing it continually, straight in my face. I could feel the heat covering me, eating at me, eating at my grimoire, and they actually hurt me, even my right arm.
These flames are magic, I can feel it. That made them more dangerous to me than normal fire. I need out of this situation, and I need out fast.
…Fuck this.
“Restriction 666 released, dimensional interference deployed! Idea engine, linked! Blazblue, activate!”
Everything goes dark. The fire is eaten by something even more powerful and sinister, and I feel strong along with it.
No, I don’t just feel strong, I feel unstoppable, invincible. I feel complete, capable…Nothing could stand in my way now.
Not even if she decided to amp it up a notch and throw a tsunami of flames at me instead of this wave.
“Dead Spike!” I yell out, and a dead spike many times bigger than the one from before comes out, rushing to eat the bitch.
…Of course, this time I know the pattern. Though instead of exploding her way out, she burst out from the side. This one’s tougher, huh?
She sees me, but also, I see her.
Gotcha, bitch. Prepare all you want, you’re done.
I pull my sword behind me.
“CARNAGE...!”
I dash forward, faster than expected, but not faster than her mode change. My sword hits her dead on, but leaves nothing but a long cut instead of anything more serious.
Wasn’t finished yet, anyway.
“SCISSORS!” I yell out, pull a full circle and swing again, this time with the power of the azure behind it. A dark explosion happens in front of my blade, tossing her into the building I’d crashed her into earlier. A part of its wall crumbles onto her.
I could see her in the rubble, just a bit of her sticking out under the bricks.
I turn off the Blazblue, and walk up to her.
…Yeah, completely knocked out.
I pull her out of the rubble and set her on her back. Her mode must still be on, because apart from a bunch of long cuts and Azure burns, she looked fine.
Hell, she’d probably walk it off once she woke up. What a nut job. Still… she did look a hell of a lot like Noel, now that the ponytail had fallen apart. Face was built differently, but there she mostly was.
As if I never maimed her.
I sigh and prepare to stand up, but notice something through her torn-up shirt. Some kind of…
I click my tongue. Seriously? First Jin, and now some random chick? What’s with these people who pick fights with me and then hold back? What a bunch of complete and utter idiots.
If anything, right there was something I could do in this city.
Reduce the idiot population.
…Wow, get a load of this guy, I say to myself with a smile. Who does he think he is?
