“We got any time to come up with a plan?”
My question fell on mostly deaf ears. The swordsman was already on the offensive.
“Just stay out of his range!” Cecile yelled at me.
The man stepped forward, before swinging his over-sized blade at Kaz, missing his throat by inches.
“Out of my range?” he said, smirking. “Good luck.”
He marched back a few steps before furiously slicing the empty space in front of him. I couldn’t understand what he was doing until it hit me. My hand began stinging, and I looked down to see my left pinky finger severed. I could feel another sharp pain brush past my face, scraping the side of my ear.
“The Phantom Blade. No mortal swordsman could ever hope to match divine techniques,” the man said. “I wasn’t even trying to kill you there,” the swordsman looked directly at me. “Latent potential is the best kind. Can’t squander it.”
“Well, you know how the saying goes,” Dex said, raising his arm-rifle. “Never bring a knife to a gun-fight.”
He fired off a hailstorm spray of bullets, the recoil pushing his entire body back a few inches. I could see the metal-flesh joint at his elbow pulsating with the barrage. But he ceased fire after only a few seconds.
“Where’d he go?”
I looked over to the spot where the swordsman had been standing. An empty space, as anticipated. In the absence of any kind of warning at all, he suddenly appeared behind Dex, already in the process of swinging, only to be intercepted by Cecile’s metallic arm at the last moment. They clashed, seemingly matching each other’s strength as they pushed with their respective weapons, the pressure destroying the turf beneath them.
“That’s a strong arm. You using all your strength there?” The swordsman nonchalantly said to Cecile.
“Fuck…no…” She grunted out in response.
“Well good,” he grinned. “I haven’t started trying yet.”
He pushed her back hard, launching her into the barrier above like a pinball, before she bounced back and crashed into the field, a crater forming upon her impact. It was a surreal sight watching her climb out mere moments later, with hardly a scratch on her.
“How did she-“ I began.
“Barriers,” Kaz interrupted my question with the answer. “With her arm, she can form protective barriers around her entire body. That’s her specialty.”
Cecile had a worried look on her face as she stretched her shoulder out. “Yeah, but… hard to use that for offense.”
She was obviously lying when she claimed that she wasn’t using her full strength to hold the sword back. It seemed as if it’d nearly taken everything out of her. Yet, she was launched away like an afterthought.
Safe to say, we were in the presence of a truly deadly enemy.
I looked around, seeing Harris hiding by a tree while Joel sat calmly in front of it, still fidgeting around with the device.
Unfortunately, the swordsman followed my gaze over to them.
“What have those two been doing?” he asked. “I mean, one’s just a kid, but the other…”
I could see Cecile’s face drop.
“They’re not a part of this,” Kaz responded. “You said you wanted a good fight, right?”
The man turned to face him. “Yes. But I’m also here to eliminate anybody that stands in the way of the Messiah. Is he doing something important over there? Something I should be concerned about?”
Kaz shook his head, ostensibly trying to remain stoic.
“Well… if you don’t wanna tell me.” He readied his blade, preparing to launch another set of Phantom strikes right at them. But before he could, Kaz was on him. The swordsman blocked a punch with the hilt of the blade, before slashing Kaz across the chest, causing him to wince.
Kaz pressed forward, relentlessly sending a barrage of fists the swordsman’s way. However, just about all of them were blocked or parried by the man’s one free hand. Soon enough, he sent Kaz reeling with a palm-strike to the chin.
Apparently, he didn’t even need the sword.
“Decent enough strength, but your technique is basic,” he said, twirling the blade in his hand. “Disappointing performance out of you lot. Took care of you all in a matter of minutes.”
“What do you mean ‘took care of’?” Cecile said. I looked over, watching as the tips of her mechanical fingers transformed into long, whirling drills. “I really do hope you keep underestimating us. Can you defend from three positions at once?”
It wasn’t hard to figure out what she meant. They were all going to attack simultaneously. But the swordsman seemed to revel at the challenge, simply smirking as she said this.
“I’ve taken out entire armies. Come at me.”
Cecile went first, darting erratically towards him, as to avoid any Phantom-slashes. At the same time, Kaz was pulling himself back up, flexing his knuckles. He clenched his fists before rushing at the man’s back. Standing farther out was Dex, with his rifle trained directly towards the fray. The man was far too fast for him before, but with distractions in play, he saw a chance.
The three converged their attacks all at once. Kaz threw a fist towards his back, Cecile swiped at him with her drill-fingers from the front, and Dex sprayed like hell.
But… it didn’t come close to working.
The whole exchange was over in a mostly incomprehensible flash. Dex’s rifle-arm had been sliced in half and Kaz’s face was stomped into the dirt.
Cecile managed to hang on for a bit longer, parrying a few of his swings with her fingers, before being forced to activate one of her protective barriers once she started being overwhelmed. But even that didn’t hold up, as it was cut into smithereens shortly after. The swordsman then plunged the blade into her stomach, causing a spurt of blood to erupt from her mouth.
At that moment, I realized the only thing I was good for was buying some time. I drew my pistol and fired off a few futile shots. He didn’t even bother evading the bullets. They shattered upon impact with his bandaged skin.
With the other three out cold, he turned his attention towards me.
“It’s curious to me why Shen left you alive,” he said. “Are you strong?”
I blinked once, felt a rush of air nearly launch me backwards, and then opened my eyes to see the man standing right in front of me. His speed was beyond comprehension.
He lifted a hand and gently swatted me backwards. Well… gently for him. The impact left me breathless as I was propelled about fifteen feet into a chain-link fence.
“Doesn’t seem like it…” he said, still advancing towards me. “But maybe there’s something I’m not quite understanding here. I’ll have to take it up with Shen later. In the meantime…”
He turned his gaze towards Joel and the kid. The latter was shitting himself, while the former hardly seemed to notice what was going on around him. I was still trying to find my lungs as the swordsman began approaching them, about to ruin what was apparently our only way out.
I began crawling towards them, observing their interaction as I did.
“What’ve you been doing?” The swordsman asked Joel while the kid remained frozen.
Surprisingly… Joel remained absolutely calm. In fact, he didn’t do as much as glance up.
“Are you just gonna pretend I’m not here?” the swordsman said, bending down so that their eye levels were more even. “That’s a valiant strategy. Is it gonna work, though? What if I just grab that thing out of your hands and crush it? Then what?”
Joel chuckled, still not looking up. “Go ahead and do it, then. They always make that mistake.”
“…What?” The swordsman asked.
“I’ve been around. Don’t wanna facilitate any more destruction. Every night, I think about the countless worlds I’ve visited that have been reduced to nothingness simply because one fool wanted to show me their bravado. The strong always end up being the instruments of their own demise.”
He held the device up, nearly shoving it into the swordsman’s face, who backed up instinctively.
“I’m not doing anything for any particular person. It’s true that overwhelming responsibility must come with overwhelming power. I’m doing this to ensure that you have a universe to live in. But at the end of the day… I’ll spare you no pity if you try and stop me. If you decide to be the fool of your world.”
I could see the swordsman swallow as he backed up further. I didn’t blame him. Joel said the words with such force and conviction that even I was beginning to believe him.
“Well… what is that thing?” the swordsman asked.
Joel looked up at him for the first time since he’d been approached. “Something that you could never hope to understand.”
“Ok, try me.”
Joel sighed, rubbing his eyes. “You understand the concept of the multiverse, don’t you?”
The swordsman tilted his head. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Just hang on. Let me explain,” Joel continued. “It’d be ignorant and straight up arrogant to assume we’d be alone not only in the universe, but in this entire plane of existence as well.”
“…Ok.” The swordsman scratched his chin.
“Assuming that, we understand that there are additional realities not only parallel, but adjacent, above, below, and in any other conceivable direction from us. Like a roadmap.”
The swordsman had stopped speaking entirely.
“Beyond that, there will be instances where sometimes, different realities begin bleeding into each other, creating a-“
“Ok,” the swordsman stuck his arm out. “I get it.”
Joel raised his eyebrow.
“You’re trying to buy time.”
Joel chuckled. “Well… not anymore.”
A robotic fist suddenly drove itself into the side of the swordsman’s temple. The hit sent him crashing head-first into another tree. I looked over to see Cecile with her arm outstretched and fist detached, smoke rising from the end of the wrist she’d shot it form.
“How much more time?” She asked Joel, wincing with every word as blood poured from her stomach.
Joel sighed. “About five.”
“Five minutes?” Kaz said, pulling himself out of the dirt. “Do we have that kind of time?”
Joel shrugged. “Look, I’ll be honest. It’ll more likely take 8.”
Dex ran over, clutching his severed rifle-arm. “This fucking hurts. I think the gun and my skin cells literally fused or something. Is the sword-guy dead at least?”
Almost like a response, the swordsman bolted back up, clutching a bloody wound on the side of his head.
“Let my guard down. Got a fast talker on your side. Nice trick,” he picked his weapon back up. “I gotta hand it you lot. Really didn’t think you’d get one good hit in on me.”
Cecile’s mouth was agape in disbelief.
“That fist is capable of tearing through ships.” She said.
The swordsman laughed. “Well, then look who’s stronger than a fucking ship.”
The situation became infinitely worse when Brando and its master busted through field entrance. They were followed by the lady who’d been conducting the rituals, along with Kalos and… Shen.
Shen. That bastard’s expression was beyond smug as he strolled out towards me. It was almost the visual equivalent of a taunt. As if he were asking me the silent question:
”Wonder how you’re gonna make it out of this?”
“What’s up Soze? You’re already here?” Shen said. “These guys didn’t give you any trouble, did they? That’s not gonna down well with the boss.”
The swordsman, whose name was apparently “Soze” scoffed in response. “No trouble at all.”
And then, from above… the world’s biggest asshole. The one who was apparently both the mastermind and muscle behind it all. The orchestrator of this whole shitshow.
The Messiah, AKA Trent Raizen, in his pale-skinned, black-suited, vortex-eyed glory.
With a faint violet glow surrounding him, he descended, floating down at a calm, constant speed.
“All of my messengers are here,” he said, his feet touching down on the turf. “And you people are the only ones left. One last chance. Transform yourselves and become a part of my divine legion. The world’s going to change, regardless of what you choose to do.”
The following few seconds were both silent and tense, only to be broken by Kaz, who began chuckling uneasily. Like somebody who’d found themselves in the most drastic of situations, forcing themselves to laugh in order to cope.
“You feel that?” He asked Cecile.
She simply nodded, a defeated expression on her face.
It didn’t take me long to figure out what they meant. It was like an overwhelming presence slowly sinking your entire body into the ground. But not only that. There was also a more esoteric effect to it. Like your very soul was somehow being compressed.
I was blinded by an extraordinary flash as the already overwhelming aura grew heavier. With my eyes still closed, I heard a piercing shatter from above. When my senses returned to me, I looked up to see that a portion of the dome had been smashed open. The culprit was standing right at the center of everybody else:
It looked like a winged man made out of sheer, golden light. Well… more like a titan. He towered over anybody else in the vicinity. All of Trent’s messengers stepped back, likely feeling the dangerous pressure exuding off of the entity. But not Trent himself. His feet stayed firm.
The golden man moved forward, leaving behind a trail of yellow fire wherever he stepped, before speaking in a voice so thunderous that it caused my insides to tremble.
“From the crossroads that connect Heaven, Earth and Hell, Judas has arrived.”
---
Credits
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