Rocks crumble around as the sounds of robots blowing up constantly bombard our ears. A massive explosion pierces our ears from behind the walls, on the eastern side of the school. Yuuzuko unsheathes his dual swords and spins them, aligning his neck with a snap. Reaper digitizes in a haze of shadow, a large purple scythe in his grasp.
The once white hair and skin is covered in black knight armor. A knight of death comes out as Reaper comes out his third stage, swarming a shadow around Yuuzuko—increasing his Stealth ability. He also gains his AI's Ultimate ability, Garden of Bones.
As he turns around the corner, I place my Battle Cube behind a sturdy wall, cover it completely full of dust, place a broken wall in front of it in a natural position and start its process. I have to do this. I don't want the enemy to know we are completely safe. If Aoi gets here after driving away Hazaki, this bastard is as good as dead.
Coming around the broken wall, water from the pipes fall and leak onto my clothes. I have to duck under loose wires and avoid puddles as some electric cables have attached themselves to the dusty, dirty liquid. My mom holds onto this man's arm and tries to pull his arm away, struggling greatly. The knight has purple plate armor with the same red laughing clown mask in the front.
"Hey, you!" Yuuzuko yells out to presumably the Knight player we're up against, "How about you lay your hands off of my friend's mother, before I take her away from you myself?"
The knight player stops and turns around, showing his creepy, happy clown mask. He laughs boisterously and grips onto my mother tighter, "Interesting that you come here trying to steal our prize money. Like Hazaki said, 'Takers Keepers'. Maybe just let us win."
The metal helmet blocks his eyes, but his voice seems strangely familiar. The knight player unsheathes his greatsword with one hand, electricity forming on the blade. Ah, a Lightning Elementalist. This is gonna be a pain. What about his AI?
Yuuzuko grips his swords tightly as Reaper comes by his side, "Master, should I decapitate this man's head from his neck?"
"I want to, but Aura noticed something."
Aura materializes next to me and holds my tank top firmly. She is in her second stage just like in the spar against Yuuzuko earlier, she nods with understanding. "I'm here Kazuki. Hold your horses." She points to my mom, "Look, she's not struggling. I sense dishonesty within her."
"Upgrading Aura's Motive Detection ability to II after that spar session had to be my first choice. After what happened last night." I say. Motive Detection can save me from a heap of trouble against wanted and unwanted persons. Tier two can tell if someone is dishonest instead of only showing if the person is hostile or not.
I turn on the private communications and connect to Aoi and Yuuzuko, "If anyone is good at manipulating her surroundings, its her."
We turn our heads back towards the knight, eye contact not having left him. My mother pulls down and is starting to actually move him slightly as she pulls and pulls.
She stops under a tree and looks towards me with a squint, "You know, I wonder who's the type of guy that would make you carry a prize that you can't kill just for him."
I immediately add her to our communication line, "The prize is later, you're just the ticket." He says, staring us down. Is she thinking aloud what he's saying to talk to us? Respect. For someone who doesn't know a lick of this game, she sure does know how to extort information well and stall for time.
Mom looks up at him fanning herself as the sun comes down, the heat is pretty intense today, "You can let me wait here under this tree, right? At least give me that much. Must be sweaty in that armor of yours."
The Knight hesitates, but looks at the blazing sun for a small moment. The rays slamming heat against his armor and stays in the shadow, "You are right, that's very considerate of you. If you think you are leaving my grasp I guarantee you that it'll be impossible."
Yuuzuko bites his cheeks and commands his Reaper to Stealth II. I hold steady eye contact with Mom and for the first time, give her a genuine smile. She is up to something if Aura is detecting dishonesty from her and I think this was it, but how did she know about Yuuzuko's Shadow Walk ability? I'll have to ask her later to say what she said to me last.
"Don't move yet. I have something else up my sleeve." She says.
Yuuzuko and I exchange a quick look and rapidly swallow, giving a quick nod to her. She nods back and marks with her fingers 'Two. Four. Five. Balls her fist.' Three loud sniper rounds pierce the skies aiming directly at the knight and he shines brightly quickly—making his armor a more glass, translucent black. The rounds immediately reflect back towards their original bullet paths. The fates of those men and women won't be known until we go back, but what they did gave us a fighting chance.
"He used his AI's Ultimate! It's a Mirror Element!" I scream in my mind. "Wait the three seconds and go!"
The Battle Cube completes its activation process and Yuuzuko immediately sends a shadow spawn towards the concealed Knight, walks forward only one step swinging his swords in a dual strike attack and immediately appears in front of the happy clown-masked man. Stealth V. I go completely invisible and start walking towards the opposite side of the Knight. Another large explosion is heard behind us from what I can only tell as the bots dropping bombs or getting demolished.
There's only one thought coursing through his mind as the Battle Cube stood hundreds of miles above them. The blueish purple wavering lights and digital glitches soaring through the skies. White, puffy cumulous clouds briefly enter and exit as the winds push it like sails on the sea. Finally, he can go all out--and kill him. Destroy him without any reprocusions. He'll respawn after all.
But on the off chance the Battle Cube leaves and he kills him completely and steals his life away, must be good to get rid of that happy little clown mask.
Shhhhwing! Swords clash against the knight, as I Speed Four with my daggers ablaze-holding them tightly in my hand, and striking his arm with my active ability Blazed Daggers. The battlefield has changed, and this time—the circumstances too.
