The One Amongst Me

Page 23 - Beyond Good or Evil

As Alec shivered, he placed his hand on the ground, struggling to push himself off as the man readied another blast. "I can't feel...my body that well..." he thought as his eyesight began to blur little by little. "I commend you. The other Master I killed didn't last this long... Good riddance." Advard let out, his shot fully prepared

                    "Farewell."

was all Alec heard as the image of the energy blast from Advard's gun began to Increase in size in eye. "Move! Move, please!!" he thought as he extended his hand towards the sword. "Ale--" "The fight's not over." Siya stopped Renei, surprising her as the blast connected, exploding as it reached impact, blowing the wind around them everywhere, as well as the trees around Alec.

"That fool... Alec isn't doing it for himself, right? You know that yourself." Siya explained, getting up as Renei's eyes widened at the sight of Alec coming out of the dust left by the blast, causing Advard to scoff in frustration.

As Alec's sword disappeared from his hand, he raised his head. "Second time, Chinia!" he yelled as the sword immediately materialized in his hand once again. "So he used one of the three barriers I was given information about..." Advard thought as the gun attached to his arm began to slightly overwhelm him with its heaviness.

"The kid's gonna last longer than me if I don't choose to do something here." Advard smiled as he remained calm. "You know, I already defeated two masters myself...and they're both alive and well! So I swear that..." Alec started as he swung the sword, hitting the ground and pushing himself upwards into the sky with a strong gust of wing, surprising Advard as he swooped down.

"You will meet the same fate as those two!!" Alec yelled in anger as Advard pointed the gun downwards. "To humans and demons alike, the offering remains of the same caliber..." Advard whispered, shooting the ground and creating a small shield around himself as Alec twisted his arm, shocking him as he swung midair, sending a wave of wind to the right of him.

"That won't work. Advard'a shield already blocked all of the other ones..." Siya thought as Renei stepped forward, surprising her. "You said it, didn't you? His fight isn't over yet." Renei let out, causing Siya to overt her attention back to the fight.

As they watched, Alec swung again, faster than before, sending a second wave to the left, beginning to descent towards him with all of his strength. "He's trying to overwhelm me, huh?" Advard mumbled as he smirked, slowly beginning to turn his slow murmur into a loud yell, shocking Alec as the sword impacted with the shield, causing the two of them to begin pushes the other back as Alec stepped down to the ground.

"He reinforced it?!" Alec thought as he watched the two waves of wind hit the shield from both sides, beginning to push Advard back as Alec combined the pressure of the three attacks, beginning to overwhelm him little by little, shocking Siya.

"I knew that Maiden's name from history, but to think that she's so powerful when combined with the fool!" Siya thought to herself, trying to hide her excitement. "Chinia, do you she an opportunity to break it?!" he asked as Advard chuckled. "No chance." Chinia said, her words overlapping with Advard's, shocking him as Advard raised the gun upwards while inside the shield.

"Offering, broken by the sinner, reinforced by the righteous, come aid in the time of peril, for I, the wielder of Virma Vrioma, is calling!!" Advard chanted quickly, not stuttering even a word, causing a bright shine to come out of the gun, widening Alec's eyes as the shield expanded, finally pushing Alec back and causing him to stop himself from skidding on the ground by stabbing the sword's blade down into the ground.

Covering their eyes, Renei as Siya watched, bewildered by the bright light coming from Advard's gun. "Fine, Alec Khrom! You seem good enough to be the first subject to the third ability of the Goddess of failure, Virma Vrioma!!" Advard declares as the light began calming down, slowly disappearing and leaving Alec staring at Advard, finding that the gun had fully transformed into a bow, fully attached to his arm.

"What...?" Alec muttered, feeling his left hand shaky, barely holding onto the sword's handle with it. "Sacrificing a gun for a bow... That's a bold move." Siya said. "Yeah, but why? Is that bow special?" Renei asked aloud, causing Siya to sigh in disappointment.

"Look at it this way: Just because a weapon changes its appearance into something that looks less powerful, doesn't mean it can't be ten times stronger." Siya explained, leaving Renei in a daze. "She's right, when I had Lainira by my side, her third ability allowed my paladin sword to turn into a scythe... It didn't have to look powerful to BE powerful!" Renei thought as she averted her eyes back to Alec and Advard.

"Alec, do not be intimidated." Chinia warned him, getting a nod from him. "He's probably on a time limit with that bow, so I just have to--" Alec tried to say as he felt a strong and sudden sting in his back, widening his eyes as he fell to the ground. "What...was that?" he thought as he turned around, finding an arrow made out of darkness stuck deep inside his back.

"But wait! The guy didn't even fire the bow! How's that possible!" Ranei yelled in worry as Advard smiled maliciously. "Just because you didn't see me fire, doesn't mean I didn't fire, lady..." Advard explained as he broke into a maniacal laughter as Alec slowly pulled himself up, getting back up on his feet.

"I can't see when he fires them, and I don't know if he's firing one right now!" Alec thought as he placed his hand on the arrow on his back, quickly pulling it out and looking at it carefully. "It's not even a material; this thing is fully made out of darkness!" he yelled as he threw the arrow to the side, concentrating on Advard again.

"Lookie, lookie, up and up, down and down..." Advard joking said, shocking Alec as he noticed the slight movement in Advard'a fingers, jumping back, finding himself surrounded by arrows from every side. "It's impossible to dodge them all!" he thought as he placed the sword in front of himself, gritting his teeth.

"Barrier!" he yelled as the arrows connected, causing an explosion, pushing Alec away in his barrier. "That's the second one..." Alec muttered, exhausted as the barrier quickly disappeared after the third second, leaving Alec limping slowly as he immediately reformed the sword in his hand.

"Is that his last chance to use full protection?" Siya asked with a puzzled look. "Yeah. He's able to use that barrier, but Chinia disconnects if he does, so he used her other ability to reform the sword up to three times." Renei explained in response, getting Siya worried.

"The kid's just like his father; fighting impatiently and wasting his chances, just so he can analyze the opponent..." Siya murmured, watching as Alec raised his head. "Let's see here... You're probably physically exhausted, but your will seems to be unlimited..." Advard pointed out as he smiled.

  "I give you ten minutes, then."