“CHAOS! OBLIVION!!”
“Guagh–!”
Kievkenalis reeled back in pain, his entire body tensed as all of the Chaos
Energy in the area spiked and went erratic. He clutched the Ayas Arcán tightly,
having just ripped it from the shield apparatus, sighing a moment later when
the surrounding energy began to stabilize and he no longer felt any painful
pressure. “Agh…” he moaned, finally able to concentrate well enough to speak,
“What happened? How is everyone–?”
He was
suddenly brought to his knees by a piercing roar – a roar that was quickly
accompanied by two like it. Shit! he
scowled, I know that roar… damn, so
someone did go berserk–?!
His
train of thought was interrupted by a blast of fire which he quickly rolled
away from. Hejumped to his feet – and then instinctively clutched his forehead
as pain shot through it. …I almost went
berserk myself… I can’t do anything… A moment later the Chaostechnic
managed to look up, slowly realizing that a battle was raging at the far side
of the room as the sounds of shouts and metal screeches began registering in
his ears. What… who… who’s fighting?...
“Chaos Impact!”
“Oof–!”
the air fled from Christeané’s lungs as he was flung across the room, tumbling
along the floor before being stopped by the far wall. He quickly ducked to
avoid a Chaos Strike and then unceremoniously rolled back to his feet just in
time to dive away from several more Strikes.
“Why
haven’t you hit me yet, boy?” Surdeus taunted as he casually launched
attack after attack in Christeané’s direction, “Are you not a Chaotic? Perhaps
that could explain why you failed to go berserk. But it would not explain how
you have managed to last this long. So what are you? A telepath? A
shapeshifter? Something else woefully unuseful in battle?”
Christeané
didn’t respond – he was too focused on dodging Surdeus’s attacks. Several times
he attempted to block the incoming Chaos attacks with his battlehammers, each
time failing – the physical hammers were simply no match for the likes of Chaos
abilities.
“Based on
prior experience with you Aldredanoids, those weapons would seem to indicate
Introtechnism… I suppose that, too, would also explain your inability to stand
up to me. To think, an Introtechnic, fighting a Chaos Conduit? How did you possibly think that you could
beat me? You should have run off with your berserk friends. Ahahahaha! Chaos Slam!”
The
very moment after calling the attack, Surdeus slammed into Christeané with
amazing force, smashing him into the back wall and then demolishing the rest of
the metal structure with the resulting shockwave. The Drakkar watched, amused,
as the debris collapsed on top of the Introtechnic and buried him. “Such is
the fate of those who dare challenge me: buried by their hubris, unable to so
much as lay a finger on me–!”
Surdeus
suddenly ducked to evade a metal panel that had been flung from the debris. He
quickly reached out with his hand, grabbing a battlehammer by its handle as it
flew by and prepared to smash his other hand into Christeané’s approaching
chest – but the Introtechnic reacted just quickly enough to smack Surdeus’s
hand out of the way, simultaneously calling out, “Overdrive: Omni Crush!” Surdeus was instantly floored
by the Overdrive activation, smashed into the floor by the spontaneous crushing
as Christeané freed his battlehammer and prepared to obliterate Surdeus with
the other.
“Chaos BLAST!!”
“Gagh–!!”
the Introtechnic was suddenly flung backwards by a massive blast of energy. He
rolled violently into another wall, coming to a stop right next to Kievkenalis.
Surdeus
leaped up and out of the fifty-foot crater he had just created, coming to stand
on the lip of the crater nearest the two Chaotics before resting his eyes on
Kievkenalis. “Oh, so I see one of your friends decided to remain as
well.”
“…Chaos– hrngh!”
“Kevken!”
Christeané exclaimed, glancing at the Chaostechnic with concern as he suddenly
doubled over in pain.
“Hah, so
you’re a Chaostechnic?
And you somehow did not go berserk? Now that– now that is actually interesting!” Surdeus chuckled amusedly,
watching Kievkenalis slowly hobble back to his feet as Christeané stood in
front of him protectively. The Drakkar’s eyes slowly drifted to the Ayas in
Kievkenalis’s hand. “It must be a product of the Ayas – it must be protecting you.
To fail calling a single attack, however… you must be close to the brink.
Though to have such a strong reaction to an oncoming berserk episode is an
ability onto itself! A shame, that you cannot battle me in your current state…”
“What’s…
going on?...” Kievkenalis croaked wearily.
“Davídrius,
Kevérin, and Siyuakén all went berserk,” Christeané replied tersely, not once
taking his eyes off of Surdeus, “Rebehka and Kaoné went after them.”
“You
should have gone in their stead!” Surdeus remarked, “I’m sure
they would have offered a more interesting battle! …I suppose I am to blame, though, for causing three
of your friends to go berserk… I’m truly surprised more of you did not, though.
For that, you have my praise.”
“Do you
want me to thank you?” Christeané snorted.
“It would
be appreciated, but I know not to expect as such from Aldredanoids. No… I think
it will be thanks enough for you to serve as my plaything until your friend has
recovered enough to fight me. Haha, now that will interesting, to fight a
fellow Chaostechnic,
backed by the power of the Ayas!”
“What
makes you think I’d play along?”
“Have you
not been paying attention, boy?” Surdeus retorted, and then narrowed his
eyes sadistically. “You cannot refuse my offer. You do not possess even half
the power to refuse what I say! Now dance for me, like the pathetic worm you
are! Chaos Strike!”
* * *
“Kaoné!”
“I
know, I know!” The Materiatechnic quickly transformed the ground all around
Rebehka and herself into dirt, just in time to insulate them from the
electrical surges of Siyuakén as the berserker haphazardly fought against
Kevérin’s wild blasts of flame. Rebehka pressed forward, rapidly cooling her
burnt surroundings before freezing the floors and walls in an attempt to slow
down the berserkers. She quickly raised an ice shield in front of her just in
time to shield herself against a plume of fire and then jumped out from around
the shield, fashioning two blades of ice and using them to cut through further
fire attacks until Kaoné seized her armor from afar and yanked her to the side
in order to evade Davídrius as he blasted back onto the scene – and then wiped
out on the ice, smashing into Siyuakén at mach speeds.
As soon
as Rebehka recovered she leaped forward, moving her arms in a great sweeping
motion as a gigantic slab of ice formed from the ground up and around Davídrius
and Siyuakén. The berserk Introtechnic quickly fled the scene but Rebehka
succeeded in catching Siyuakén – until Kevérin suddenly bolted onto the
battlegrounds, bathing everything in fire and melting the ice encasing the
Electrotechnic, who immediately responded by sending out a massive electrical
shock that blew out Kaoné and Rebehka’s shield generators. The Cryotechnic
quickly raised shields of ice around herself and Kaoné to protect them from the
incoming flames and lightning strikes as Kaoné repaired their shield generators
with but a single thought and then began attempting to hold the berserkers
still by taking hold of their armor. The shroud of Chaos Energy surrounding
each berserker prevented the Materiatechnic from grabbing the armor, however,
and she was left to try and stop them by trapping them in matter. She succeeded
in catching each of the berserkers several times, as did Rebehka, but each time
one of the other berserkers would rush in and destroy the encasing with their
rampant attacks, constantly setting the two non-berserkers back to square one.
“Alright,”
Rebehka huffed, fed up with their lack of progress in stopping the berserkers.
She quickly raised an ice shelter around herself and Kaoné before turning to
the Materiatechnic impatiently. “We need a plan.”
“A
plan?” Kaoné responded incredulously, “But we can’t plan for anything. They’re
berserk!”
“We
need to be able to trap all three at once…” Rebehka thought aloud, ignoring
Kaoné’s remark. “But Davídrius is too fast, and Kevérin’s flames trump my ice,
and Siyuakén keeps shutting down our armor…”
“Can’t
we just let them be?” Kaoné frowned, “The berserk state will wear off
eventually. We should probably go back to help Christeané and Kevken…”
“And
just leave the three of them here, unaccompanied? What if Exdominor shows up
again?”
“If
Exdominor shows up, do you really think us being here will change anything?”
The two
girls paused for a moment as the ice enclosure suddenly cracked under the
pressure of a massive blow from Davídrius.
“...You
have a point there,” Rebehka admitted, “But we still need to try to contain
them… isn’t that normal protocol for dealing with berserkers in a battle
situation, anyway?”
“I
don’t think anything about having two Drakkar faction leaders show up on a
single planet within an hour of each other is normal…”
“Just…
just try to stop Kevérin, alright? If you can get him then I can catch
Davídrius and Siyuakén.”
“…Alright.
I’ll try.”
“Good.
Now get ready!” Rebehka shouted as she exploded the ice enclosure outwards just
in time to counter another flame blast. She immediately froze the entire floor
and then skated forward deftly, freezing Davídrius in a chunk of ice as he spun
out next to her. Mere moments later, though, Kevérin bowled onto the scene
again, melting the floor around him and half the ice encasing Davídrius before
leaping at Rebehka with two fireballs in hand. She quickly encased her hands
and forearms in ice before thrusting her right arm at Kevérin, grabbing his
right hand as he leaped past and flash-freezing it to her own, simultaneously
extinguishing his fireball. His momentum carried him forward and snapped his
hand out of the ice mere moments afterward, but the motion flipped him onto his
back – after which Kaoné quickly rose a mound of stone around him, leaving only
his shrouded head exposed to the air.
Without
wasting a moment to look at Kevérin, Rebehka spun on her heel just as Siyuakén
launched a lightning strike in her direction. Kaoné immediately countered by
fabricating a steel shield in front of the Cyrotechnic and channeling all of
the electricity straight into the ground as Rebehka quickly re-froze all of the
floor that Kevérin had melted. Unexpectedly, Davídrius suddenly sped past
Siyuakén, diving at Rebehka and almost nailing her in the chest as she ducked
under him. Kaoné rose the ground just behind Rebehka and trapped the
Introtechnic’s torso in stone, leaving the rest of his body to flail about –
until another electrical blast demolished the stone support and freed the
speedster.
“I know
you can be trouble sometimes,” Rebehka scowled as she attempted to freeze
Siyuakén in place, only to fail as the berserker suddenly dashed away, “but…
now? Really?”
“Where’d
Davídrius go–?” Kaoné suddenly exclaimed, slowly sliding across the ice toward
Rebehka.
“Huh–?”
the Cryotechnic turned toward Kaoné for just a moment – the same moment that
Siyuakén suddenly leaped forward, the Chaos Energy shroud around her fingers
hardening into claws. Simultaneously, Davídrius reappeared, clutching at the
ice with his berserker claws to stop himself and then lunge straight for Kaoné.
Just as the two berserkers fell on their prey, the two non-berserkers raised
giant mounds of ice and stone, with Rebehka freezing Davídrius solid just
before his claws reached Kaoné, and Kaoné trapping Siyuakén in stone just
before her claws could reach the Cryotechnic.
The two
girls froze for a moment, and then, realizing what they had just accomplished,
collapsed to the ground with a collective sigh of relief.
“We did
it,” Kaoné commented wearily.
“See? I
told you we could,” Rebehka shoved the Materiatechnic playfully.
“I
didn’t really doubt that we could… I just doubted we had the effort or time.”
“Oh,
shit, Christeané and Kevken are still fighting Surdeus all on their own! We
need to go back and help them–!”
Rebehka’s
thought was cut off as a sudden explosion of fire erupted halfway across the
room, obliterating Kevérin’s stone trap as the berserker jumped back to his
feet. Almost immediately after, Davídrius snapped out of his ice prison with a
powerful kick, and Siyuakén disintegrated her stone trap with a massive
electrical pulse. The three berserkers quickly reconvened at the center of the
room and resumed duking it out.
Kaoné
and Rebehka watched the spectacle in stunned silence before the Materiatechnic
turned to the Cyrotechnic uneasily.
“I
guess it wasn’t actually that easy…?”
“God
damn it.”
* * *
“Chaos Strike! Chaos Strike! Chaos…!”
“Chaos–!”
“BLAST!”
“Deflection!”
A giant
dome of red energy exploded outward from Surdeus’s body, engulfing the measly
sphere of deflection and tossing both Kievkenalis and Christeané against the
wall. The Drakkar leaped out of the crater he had just created and looked
around at the shield maintenance room, which had been completely obliterated
during the battle. Most of the roof had caved in, revealing the cloudy night
skies above the massively cratered flooring.
“Ungh…”
Surdeus
glanced back at the two Chaotics in front of him as Christeané stumbled to his
feet, Kievkenalis lying on the floor beside him, panting.
“You are
certainly very resilient, to survive Blast so many times,” the faction
leader chuckled, “But… you are a Chaostechnic, and you are depending on the Ayas’s assistance,
so it is to be expected.”
“Chaos… Assist…” Kievkenalis muttered,
and then wearily climbed to his feet beside Christeané. “…What… do you want?
Why are you fighting us?”
“Why am I
fighting you?” Surdeus echoed incredulously, “Are you not holding the
Ayas Arcán? It belongs to me.”
“That’s
not it. You could have ended us a dozen times now; why haven’t you?”
“Uh, I
wouldn’t exactly point that out,” Christeané responded uneasily.
“Oh? Do
you desire defeat?” the
faction leader crossed his arms and glared down at the two Chaotics haughtily,
“I
hope you realize just how bold your inquiry is.”
“Why
wait?” Kievkenalis pressed, “You said it yourself, I’m holding the Ayas. You
aren’t the only one after it; the longer you wait, the more time others have to
come and steal it from you. So why haven’t you taken it yet?”
“I had
hoped that you would offer an interesting battle. But you appear to be master
of only defense and support techniques… well, if prey grows insolent, then the
predator has no choice but to cease playing and go for the kill. Isn’t that
right?”
“Kevken…!”
Christeané scowled, brandishing his battlehammers defensively.
“You’re
stalling,” Kievkenalis narrowed his eyes as he backed into a defensive stance,
“You’re afraid of something. What is it?”
“You
mistake my intentions, boy!” Surdeus growled, “You seem to have it in
your mind that I, Surdeus, possess fear. You believe incorrectly! I merely hold
far more power than you can ever hope to achieve, and thought to allow you a
glimpse of it before you expired. But your insolence displeases me, so I must
now cut your preview short! For those who do not value the time that they have,
will eventually succumb to the winds of time itself! Chaos… Time!”
* * * * *
==================== End of Chapter 47 ====================
* * * * *
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