"Well, this is a riot."
Cool Man laughed lightly. "They’re leaving one little girl to deal
with ALL of-" His words were cut short as Death Blade was upon him,
slicing her sword and cutting his head from his body.
"YOU!" The remaining
Heroes, including the Slayer, charged her. In an instant, the 23 Heroes
of the group were reduced to 6.
"Goddamn it!" The Slayer said, looking
around at his fallen friends. "Could this be... the end?" He looked
and saw that two of the Heroes in the group had tried to ambush Death
Blade from behind, only for both of them to be cut in half with one
stroke.
"Then..." The Slayer was trembling, but he steadied his Dragon
Slayer in his grasp and gritted his teeth in determination. "I’ll
meet my death... with ALL MY STRENGTH!" He charged her, but she easily
got behind him and was about to cut his head off when he disappeared.
Death Blade looked around in confusion, but then quickly sliced at
the 3 Heroes that were trying to surprise her.
"This is all I could
do..." One of Slayer’s teammates, Honest Medic, told the Slayer telepathically
as death slowly overtook her. The Slayer found himself far away from
the battlefield, on the outskirts of the city. Honest Medic had Teleported
him there, even though doing so meant that she wouldn’t have enough
time to teleport herself to safety. "You’re the youngest Hero in our
group, and you shouldn’t have to die... like this..." Even telepathically,
her voice began to become softer. "Please... for my sake... run..."
Her voice ceased in the Slayer’s head.
"Even though it went against
everything I wanted to do..." By now, tears were streaming down the
Slayer’s face. "I honored her sacrifice, and left the city. I became
numb with pain for some time, and hid myself in the mountains, practicing
my sword skills on trees, rocks, whatever I could find.. I was so
angry..." He closed his eyes. "I was angry at Lord Recluse for killing
Statesman, angry at the Ritki for killing my parents, angry at that
girl for killing my friends, but most of all..." He turned to Mach
Blade. "I was angry at myself, for being so weak that I wasn’t able
to protect them when they needed me the most."
"For 3 years..." The
Slayer sighed. "For the past three years, I’ve been passing myself
off as someone who will fight your fights for you, if you’re too weak
to fight them yourself. A lot of the jobs I’ve taken, I’ve known that
I was supporting some pretty shady guys..." He turned back to the
night sky. "But I don’t really care who I hurt anymore. All I want
to do now is become stronger, and when I get strong enough..." He
clenched his fists. "I’ll take down Lord Recluse AND this lousy Empire
with the gift my parents left me, my Dragon Slayer!"
The Slayer rose
to his feet, but Mach Blade was still kneeling, apparently in shock
of some sort. He snapped out of his trance, and turned to the Slayer.
"Did you say..." He said quickly, watching the Slayer struggle to
his feet. "That the girl... the one who killed your Super Group...
was wielding a blade glowing with red energy?"
"Yeah..." The Slayer
gasped.
"And..." Mach Blade looked up with the strangest expression
on his face. "Did she have... red hair?"
"Yes..." The Slayer shook
his head. "But that’s not important right now! Let’s finish this!"
He used his last remaining strength and swung the Dragon Slayer at
Mach Blade.
The Slayer Slashes at Mach Blade!
The Slayer’s attack
missed!
"Slayer," Mach Blade said, appearing behind him. "I understand
your desire to become stronger, but the way you’re going about it
is wrong. You won’t find strong opponents if you take jobs with the
citizens of this Empire, I’m sure of that. I became this strong because
I risked my life countless times for the good of my friends and loved
ones. Doing so has angered Lord Recluse, and caused him to send many
of his minions after me. I’m sure that you would find enemies stronger
than what you’re facing now if you did the same. And even more important..."
He swung his blade and hit the Slayer across his back with the back
of his blade. "You would be doing so with a clean conscious, living
up to the ideals that your parents and your fallen Super Group wanted
you to live up to!" The Slayer was shocked by his words, and then
fell to the ground, unconscious.
Mach Blade Quick Slashes at The Slayer
for 69.4 points of lethal damage!
Mach Blade’s attack does an additional
49.6 points of energy damage!
Mach Blade has defeated The Slayer!
"Incredible!"
The police chief breathed, watching the fight end. "He never even
touched him!" He thought. "And some of those attacks weren’t even
in the Database..." He hurried away from the battlefield. "I’d better
get this information to Lord Recluse quickly!" He said, taking the
glasses off and hurrying to a nearby building that sat alone in the
forest.
Inside the building, there were various computers, and a large
monitor in the middle of the building. Turning the computers on, the
monitor came to life and soon showed what could only be described
as a younger version of Lord Recluse on the screen.
"Lord Rampage,
I have the information you requested!" The chief said, placing the
glasses on a glowing platform over one of the many computers.
"Ah,
that’s good." Lord Rampage said, his voice eerily cheerful and normal,
despite his appearance. "And here I was about to tell Lord Recluse
to kill you and have someone else do the job." The police chief tensed
up a bit as he headed over to another computer.
"I’m transferring
the da-" However, at that moment, a green blast exploded as it hit
his chest from behind, and the chief crumpled to the floor. In the
next moment, the computers began to melt, and the entire building
collapsed in a green puddle of liquid metal. A young woman, about
20 years old, stood over the wreckage.
"So nice of you to lead me
to this communication station, chief." She said, smiling as she brushed
her hand through her long, purple hair. "And here I was thinking that
my week’s stay in the market town would be a waste. But make no mistake..."
She narrowed her glowing green eyes and looked up at the night sky.
"With my powers, I’ll make sure Recluse pays for betraying me and
murdering my parents." And with that, she walked away into the woods.
"Oh, well..." Lord Rampage sighed, staring at the static large screen.
"I guess he couldn’t do the job, after all." He changed the frequency
on the monitor and the image of Lord Recluse filled the screen.
"I
hope you have good news, Rampage." Lord Recluse said. "I’ve just been
informed that we’ve won the Battle of London and I would hate for
something bad to spoil my mood."
"Oh, no, Lord Recluse." Lord Rampage
smiled, his smile strangely normal for one who looked like Lord Recluse.
"I’m just informing you that the police chief we hired wasn’t able
to get the information on Mach Blade, and asking if it would be OK
for me to go to plan B. Oh, and congratulations on your victory. I
highly doubted we’d lose that battle, anyway."
"Go ahead with Plan
B, for all I care." Lord Recluse said. "I have the invasion of France
to plan and I could care less what the few remaining Heroes are doing
in my Empire." He smiled wickedly. "Besides, my victory has been assured
since the day I killed Statesman."
"Of course, Lord Recluse. I’ll
do that right away." Rampage smiled as he switched frequencies again,
this time showing a 21 year old man resting on a boulder. He looked
up at Lord Rampage.
"Let me guess..." He said, flashing a wicked smile.
"The police chief failed."
Lord Rampage nodded. "That’s right. Feel
free to deal with Mach Blade yourself, Kill Strike."
Kill Strike drew
his sword. "With pleasure." And with that, he disappeared from the
screen, running off to face his prey.
"Hey, Ken, what’s wrong?" Daisy
asked as the two walked out of the hospital in the small market town.
Ken had a pack slung over his shoulder. "You haven’t said a word since
you brought that boy to the hospital last night! What happened?"
Ken
looked at her and smiled. "Oh, nothing." He said as the two walked
past a restaurant. Daisy looked longingly at it.
"Hey, how about we
get something to eat before we head out again?" Daisy said pleadingly.
"It will probably be the only hot meal we’re going to be able to get
in a while!"
"Oh, there’s no need for that!" Ken said, gesturing to
his pack. Placing it on the ground, he opened it up to reveal A LOT
of food. "It turns out those men you were gambling with yesterday
were actually playing with money they had stolen from another restaurant!
But it had been so well orchestrated that even the owner of the restaurant
didn’t realize it until we headed to the hospital last night!" Ken
closed the pack again. "Once I gave him back the money you won, he
thanked me by giving me this food! And I figured-"
"YOU WHAT?!" Daisy
yelled. "You gave away the money I earned AGAIN?!"
"Stealing and earning
are two different things." Ken said bluntly.
"WHY YOU-" But Daisy
stopped as she and Ken heard shouting from the hospital.
"Please,
let us at least treat the bruises and lacerations!" One of the nurses
pleaded as the Slayer dragged several nurses clinging to his arms
with him as he left the hospital.
"You said there was nothing life
threatening already!" The Slayer said. "If that’s the case, I’m out
of here!"
"But those bruises are going to hurt like-" One of the nurses
began.
"These?" He said, gesturing to the bruises across his body.
"Believe me, I’ve had much worse injuries before. I think I’ll survive."
He shook the nurses off and ran towards Ken and Daisy, the Dragon
Slayer still sheathed on his back.
"You’re not leaving in this condition,
are you Slayer?" Ken asked, surprised.
"I sure am!" The Slayer said,
laughing slightly. "And don’t call me Slayer! My real name is Dan,
and I would like it if you call me that from now on."
"OK..." Ken
laughed slightly. "I didn’t think any parents would name their children
‘Slayer’, anyway."
"How can you still be walking with THESE?!" Daisy
asked, circling around Dan and observing his wounds. "Don’t they hurt?"
"Not at all!" Dan said with a smile. "I’ve had a lot worse in the
past."
"Really?" Daisy stared at all of the wounds on Dan’s body.
She then smiled smugly. "So I guess Ken really kicked your ass then,
huh?"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, LITTLE GIRL?!" Dan yelled.
"I SAID YOU GOT
BEATEN BY SOMEONE HALF YOUR SIZE! AND DON’T CALL ME A LITTLE GIRL!"
Daisy yelled back.
"Well, I do seem to be meeting the strangest people..."
Ken began but then was hit across the face by both Daisy and Dan.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING STRANGE?!" Ken and Dan yelled at the same time.
So, a slightly dazed Ken, a hungry Daisy, and a battered Dan continued
down the path to Recluse City.