[~]"What I have shown you is reality..
Chapters 8 and 9 ^^
~//~
Chapter Eight
Nobody spoke, the Ragnarock hanger was quiet as each squad took in what they would be engaging in the next five or so minutes. Some students shook their heads in disbelief, others smiling and silently physicing themselves up.
Aside from Dias, Zann was probably the only other person there who didn’t feel anything about the up coming mission. He was above fear, yet humble enough not to make a show of being brave for his squad members and so he sat, deciding on not feeling anything.
With a sudden jolt the Ragnarok fell from the air, causing a few students to panic. At the last possible moment the large and powerful landing thrusters kicked in and allowed the Ragnarok to land with a light bump.
Standing up Zann was surprised to see that Rhia and Shari were immediately by his side. He nodded slowly before drawing his gunblade. “Alright.. Lets do this” he said tensely, the excitement of the impending battle finally sinking in.
The door to the hanger opened quickly and the students were momentarily blinded by the deep red sunlight, which set the desert they hand landed in alight with an eerie blood red glow.
Some monsters, which had seen the Ragnarok land, moved swiftly over to investigate what dared defy them. Only to be blasted away from the powerful chain guns mounted on the side of the massive flagship. Taking this as a sign Zann ran down the ramp into the unknown heading towards the giant structure known as Tear’s Point, Shari and Rhia close behind.
Being Squad A Zann’s group had the furthest to travel, the alleyway they were assigned to clear out first was at the very back of Tear’s Point and so they didn’t have time to stop and dispatch monsters in their way, instead they took the ‘hit and run’ tactic, leaving the wounded monsters for the remaining squads following in their wake to finish off.
The opening to the alleyway, which had been shown to him on the monitor in the Ragnarok, appeared suddenly to the right of him a few monsters slowly seeping out. Sliding to a stop Zann turned to face the surprised monsters, Rhia and Shari appearing at his flanks seconds afterwards.
Pausing only for a few seconds to catch their breath; the trio charged towards the small group of monsters, each person picking a separate target and going after it with an almost animal like fury.
Twisting his body to the right Zann narrowly avoided a clawing attack from a nasty looking imp and retaliated with a furious slash, which split the annoying imp down the middle. Zann had no time to check on how the others were faring as he had to throw his gunblade up quickly in a sloppy parry to avoid an Iron Giant doing to him what he had done to the Imp moments ago.
Rhia gave a satisfied grin as she twirled her staff around in an impressive display to block a Turtapod’s spinning attack, deflecting it neatly and causing it to crash into the nearby wall.
In her peripheral vision Rhia could see the broad blade of the Iron Giant descending down powerfully to where Zann crouched in a standard overhead parry position.
Not liking the appearance of the Iron Giant, Rhia rocked back quickly, took a few steps and slammed her staff into the ground using the force to vault herself to Zann’s side.
Shari was too busy fighting a Torama to notice Zann’s plight completely. Growling loudly the Torama leapt at Shari, it’s mouth open wide and claws stretched out in front. With the base of her pole arm Shari swatted the large cat aside as easily as one would an irritating fly, before quickly flicking her wrist and gutting the Torama neatly.
Stopping to see how the others were fairing Shari’s eye almost bulged out of their sockets when she saw the Iron Giant’s blade descending towards Zann, so with a shocked cry she sprinted full pelt towards Zann, hoping she would make it in time to help.
For Zann, time slowed to a crawl as the broad, curved blade fell. He had made his defence, now he was in fate’s hands. There was a loud CLANG and a shower of sparks as the Giant’s blade made contact with Zann’s; the sheer force behind the blow shaking Zann thoroughly, but he managed to absorb a lot of the impact by moving back quickly.
In a quick manoeuvre Zann allowed his left arm to drop slightly, creating a slope and causing the Giant’s blade to slide harmlessly to the ground, with a quick backwards roll Zann completed the manoeuvre just as Shari and Rhia appeared on the scene.
Zann cursed silently to himself, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to withstand the beating attacks from the Iron Giant for very long. “You guys really didn’t need to come over.. I had the situation COMPLETELY under control” Zann said with a weak little laugh before flexing his gunblade in front of him.
“Yeah, looks like you had it under control from where I was standing.” Shari smirked before assuming a battle ready stance herself.
“You guys are nuts if you think you're going to make a dent in that walking tank..” Rhia said smartly as she sized up the slowly advancing Iron Giant.
“Well then.. any suggestions?” Zann and Shari said in almost perfect unison.
“Aside from avoiding that beastly looking sword?” Rhia stated the obvious her tone dripping sarcasm. “The thing which makes it untouchable is the thick armour which encases it..” stopping to think for a moment Rhia lifted her head in triumph “So obviously that’s where we need to hit it.. And sorry, but your conventional weapons won’t quite cut it.. But I happen to have something that will.” Rhia finished before pulling a small canister out of her backpack, which sat easily in the palm of her hand.
Zann knew immediately what it was Rhia held in her hand and could see by her logic that her explosives were going to be the only thing which could take the Giant down.
Nodding slowly Zann turned to look deep into Shari’s eyes, it was then that he saw that she would willingly follow him into hell and back if necessary. Turning back to Rhia he grimaced “How long do you need?” He asked as straightforwardly as possible, noting that the Giant was almost in range for his huge blade to start doing some damage.
“As long as you possibly can, but I would say no more than four minutes at the most..” Rhia replied solemnly as she reached into her backpack and withdrew a few more explosives.
Without another word Zann and Shari took a few steps forward to take up defensive positions which would help them survive and launch counter attacks against the Iron Giant.
Unprepared for this tactic the Iron Giant lashed out with a mailed fist, causing the pair to scatter in opposite directions before curving swiftly around and launching vicious counter attacks upon his armoured flanks.
The Iron Giant was held in confusion, every time he turned to face one of the fleas attacking him, they would quickly duck under him, while the other would attack with extra force.
Rhia admired the pair’s tactics for a moment before taking a few quick breaths and charging into action. Rolling between the Giant’s legs Rhia planted two explosives on the gleaming mail as she rolled through. Standing quickly she turned and placed a further five explosive’s on the distracted Giant’s front, four on his back, one on each shoulder and the final one on the back of his helmet.
Though their tactic had the element of simplicity, Zann and Shari were beginning to tire. And it was beginning to show, as the Giant was gaining more and more chances to counterattack.
“Alright you guys! Get clear!” Rhia shouted at the pair, who were more than willing to move as far away as possible.
Concentrating Rhia formed a Fira spell in her out stretched hand and grinned. “Click.. Click… Boom!” She yelled as she released the spell and watched it speed off towards the now vulnerable back of the Iron Giant.
Had Zann and Shari been behind the Iron Giant it would have been certain that they would not have escaped the explosion which resulted from Rhia’s Fira spell, but because they were moving as quickly as they could in the opposite direction, the armoured front of the Giant took the brunt of the explosion, only allowing the smallest of shockwaves to pass.
Once the smoke and dust finally settled, the trio looked expectantly to where the Iron Giant had been standing moments ago their eyes full of triumph. Their victory however was short lived. Aside from a large crack running down from the right shoulder to it’s waist on both it’s front and back, the Iron Giant seemed to have hardly been affected at all.
The Iron Giant was filled with anger, how dare these insects mock him by using their cowardly tactics and explosives! He was going to enjoy crushing each, one by one. Letting out a powerful and angry growl the Giant took a menacing step forward. The sound of the previous explosion was merely a whisper compared to the mighty crash that was made as the Iron Giant fell over, finally succumbing to the mortal wounds which had been struck.
Zann and Shari were puffing when Rhia joined them, a wicked smile plastered on her face. “They don’t call me a TEE for nothing” She said in self-congratulation before looking to the sky. “What an absolutely spiffing day..” she murmured
“I can see how you earned such a title.. But I’m just glad we all made it out of that confrontation in one peace.. Lets take a quick break to regain our breaths, we don’t want to be fatigued if we encounter any other monsters” Zann said between mouthfuls of air before leaning against the wall, concentrating on regulating his breathing.
After their quick break the party continued slowly down the alleyway, dispatching a few more monsters the party finally reached the end of the alleyway, a huge stone wall blocking their path forwards.
“Well, I guess we should head back and see how the other squads are doing..” Zann suggested quickly before turning around to lead the way.
It was only after a few steps that Zann noticed his breath steaming in the air, this puzzled him as he knew that a desert’s temperature could drop to below freezing; that normally didn’t happen until nightfall and anyone could tell that it was quite a few hours before then.
Zann felt a shudder run down his spine. Something didn’t feel right. It was at that moment that a beautiful looking woman surrounded in a light blue aura appeared from around the corner of the alleyway.
No one was prepared for this woman appearing. Who was she? Why is she here? How is she floating off the ground? Each member had many questions they wished to voice, however no one seemed to be able to speak, they were so taken by the strangeness of the phenomena.
Finally snapping to her senses Shari stepped forward confidently, her eyes locked on the floating woman who bared their path. “Who are you and why do you block our way?” She said confidently, tightening her grip on her polearm enough for her knuckles to turn white.
The woman glared at Shari for a moment before slowly settling to the ground. Her gaze never leaving the party in front of her, “How dare you deem yourself worthy enough to speak to me!” The woman spat, causing the trio to flinch backwards in surprise.
“I am the mistress of Ice and Snow, I am the dealer of your fates, I am Shiva!” She almost screamed before seeming to regain her composure.
“I block your path because I plan to kill you all.” she said simply, as if talking to dogs. “You humans are a plague of this world, a plague I have been chosen to cure it.” She then finished with a zealous smile on her face, her blue hair shimmering in the red light of the desert sun.
Not wishing to anger her further Shari returned to Zann’s side a fearful look stuck on her face.
Zann had had enough, clearly this woman could not be the Shiva he had read about in text books, while it was true that Shiva was a master of the Ice element all the texts Zann had read depicted her as a gentle spirit.
“You must be mistaken” Zann said as diplomatically as possible, staring deep into the woman’s eyes. “We mean you no harm..”
“Silence!” Shiva snapped, infuriated with the lengths this boy was willing to go to in order to save his skin.
She took a deep breath.
“You can plead all you like, everyone of you shall feel my Ice melt away you flesh and gnaw and your bones. Your fate is inescapable.” Shiva described their fates as if it were some task which was below her.
“But alas, I do grow tired of talking to those which are below me..” She finished with a steely glint in her eyes before her grin widened, a small orb of light beginning to glow in her open palm.
“Diamond Dust!” She yelled, as the orb exploded and sent many ice fragments hurtling towards the stunned party members.
Chapter 9
‘Is this the end? Is this the place where fate had decided for Zann and his party to give up and die?’ Millions of questions rushed through Zann’s head as the sparkling ice shards charged unemotionally towards them.
“No” Zann said in defiance as he raised his blade to a ready position.
“This is not our time to die!” he said boldly before moving forward to intercept the flying Ice shards.
There was no way that Zann would be able to deflect every shard, but he was going to do his best to get as many a possible.
There was a hollow clinking, as shards smashed into the cold steel of his blade, much like the sound of hail smashing against a tin roof. For every five shards he blocked three shards would get past and head full pelt in Shari’s and Rhia’s general direction only to be smacked out of the air as soon as they came into reach of their weapons.
Rhia and Shari were already moving forward when the last shard was beaten out of the sky, both of them surprised that they had actually managed to survive Shiva’s onslaught.
“That’s one for the record books eh Zann?” Rhia said with a grin, slapping Zann on the shoulder.
However the grin dropped from her face and she recoiled sharply as her hand immediately began to burn from the intense cold that had settled over Zann’s body, encasing him in a slowly expanding tomb of ice.
“Do not fear” Shiva said softly. “Soon you both shall meet his fate” Shiva’s words hung in the air for a few moments before a feral like grin found it’s way to her face and slowly she began to advance on the silent Rhia and Shari.
Shari didn’t want to believe that Zann was gone, she couldn’t and she wouldn’t! Focusing her attention on the non-moving Zann, Shari whispered an apology before stretching out her arm and unleashing a Firaga on the young man's frozen form.
A cloud of steam burst forth as the hot fire spell collided with the ice surrounding Zann and dissolved it instantly. Zann, half frozen and not really knowing what was going on fell quickly to the ground as the ice which held him in place vanished, his breath coming in quick gasps.
Zann was in shock, so it was not surprising that he barely felt Rhia grab him by the collar of his shirt and drag him back a couple of meters, her eyes wide.
Shiva stopped as the spectacle unfolded in front of her; She had not expected these humans to possess level three offensive magic, let alone use it to save their friend from the slow and painful death that her ice attack had sentenced him to.
It took Zann only a few moments to piece together what had happened, He was busy deflecting the ice shards into dust, the dust must have settled onto him and froze him slowly over time.
It was then that Zann noticed a couple of scorch marks on his jacket, indicating that someone had used some sort of fire spell to defrost him.
With agonizing slowness Zann slowly made his way to a standing position, his cold muscles unwilling to move or support his weight. After a brief stretching to leech as much of the cold out of his muscles as possible Zann slowly stepped forwards to where Shari and Rhia were preparing to launch an attack against the malevolent Shiva.
“So you managed to save that boy, only to have him die later?” Shiva asked the pair as she approached, her hands crossing her chest as she walked.
Her hands snapped down to her thighs and two blades of equal shape and length appeared out of nowhere, their reflective surfaces indicating that they were made of ice.
“Rhia.. Got any explosives left?” Zann asked hoarsely as he staggered between Rhia and Shari, causing them to look at him in surprise and amazement.
“Yeah..” Rhia said easily “Why”
“Because I need you to make a way out for us in case we can’t defeat Shiva” Zann told her bluntly and in a tone which expected her to do it.
Without another word Rhia faced the wall to their right and began making their escape route.
“So now you will run like frightened mice?” Shiva said with scorn as she closed in, her twin ice blades rising into a position to deliver a powerful strike.
“Let's go Shari, We have to hold her off as long as we can for Rhia to make our escape route..” Zann said with some laboured breathing before taking a deep breath and charging at Shiva, Shari matching him stride for stride.
Shiva had expected them to try something as desperate as a full on frontal assault and so showed no surprise as their lightning paced attacks forced her slowly backwards, giving them the illusion that they had the upper hand.
She had been forced back roughly fifteen meters before she decided to stop playing with the two insects dancing in front of her; Her strokes became suddenly swifter and held more authority behind them as she began to push the two back from whence they came with little effort.
Regardless of knowing the fact that Shiva was only toying with them, the pair pressed on with iron determination, nether one of them willing to give up, both of them knowing that the minute they did all three of them would be doomed.
Shiva’s triumph didn’t last long, despite the severe hammering her twin ice blades were doing, Zann and Shari still fought on, each one increasing the speed and power behind their attacks to match Shiva blow for blow.
It was with a sudden surprise that the cloaked figure hidden atop the wall Rhia was rigging with explosives noticed what she was doing, knowing they didn’t have much time until the wall exploded they hastily stood and did a backwards somersault, landing on bent knees and disappearing down the alleyway.
The roar which accompanied the explosion behind the pair had put all other explosions to shame, Rhia had not only succeeded in blowing a hole in the wall but had also caused a minor earthquake which even brought the mighty Shiva to her knees.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity Zann and Shari stood on shaky legs and half ran, half wobbled to where Rhia stood admiring her work. Ushering her through the trio ran madly down the alleyway; wanting to put as much distance between Shiva and themselves as they could.
Shiva was not expecting them to run away, but the explosion caught her completely off guard, a mistake she wasn’t going to allow to happen again. Her eyes turned steel grey as she quickly gave chase knowing that this time playtime was over.
“Did you really think that you could escape my wrath?” Shiva asked with amusement as she finally tracked the party down, her eyes full of malice.
“If I had known you three were going to be this much trouble, I’d have killed you sooner. But never mind your deaths are near, I wouldn’t suggest trying to run again for I shall not allow you to...” Shiva said evenly as she began her forward movement her blades dancing in front of her like venomous snakes.
This was it, it was time to make a stand right there or doom the world to a slow death by Shiva’s hand. And Zann, Rhia and Shari were not the sort of people who were willing to roll over and play dead quite so easily.
Here they were, pushed to their outer limits, death waving itself in their faces. They had had enough Shiva needed to go down.. and fast.
Shari took the lead, her pole arm already weaving a complicated design in the air. “Tempest Stryke!” She yelled as she threw her pole arm high into the air. A smooth wind began to snake its way around the base of the pole arm, as soon as the blade struck the ground the breeze rushed from the base of the weapon, slowly encompassing the trio, each member of the party feeling the effects immediately as it restored their lagging energy and healed minor wounds.
Rhia was the next one to step up to the plate, taking her lead from Shari she bowed her head slightly and allowed her staff to begin circling her, the rotations growing quicker by the second. “Centra Prayer! Rhia said in a soft voice as her reddish brown hair shone in its own light.
From out of nowhere small soldiers began to appear, their armour resembling that of the ancient Centra tribe.
Raising one finger Rhia pointed at the still form of Shiva, sending a silent signal for her soldiers to attack.
It was Shiva’s turn to be frightened; She had never suspected anyone of them capable enough to launch such furious and deadly attacks. Her ice blades waved in dangerous arcs as she began deflecting soldiers left right and centre.
Unfortunately for Shiva she was deflecting them into the walls next to her, causing the mindless golems to explode on contact sending a vast torrent of rubble crashing down on the stunned Shiva.
Zann knew what he had to do.. Shari and Rhia had shown their limit breaks and now it was time for him to do the same. Looking to the sky for a moment he absently began to twirl his gunblade around his shoulders, a few moments passed before his gaze shifted to the now trapped Shiva. Bringing his now sparking gunblade down he slammed it hard into the ground bending his knees and moving into a position much like one in grief would assume.
“Grievance Blow!” He roared as tear shaped bolts were suddenly released from his gunblade and sent flying towards where Shiva lay firmly embedded in the rubble.
Time began to slow as the bolts came racing forwards, bringing with them Shiva’s fate. It was with a chill smile that her mind opened to the truth, people as strong as this could not possibly be a plague on the world. The bolts were close now, only a couple of seconds remained until they would spill out her lifeblood.
“I’m sorry” Shiva whispered softly as the bolts struck, a single tear of ice falling from her eyes to land unnoticed on the ground shattering into many tiny droplets.
What you remember... that is the illusion."[~]
