"You can call me… Alpha." The unknown construct declared in front, as her right eye glowed with power.
Lucia gritted her teeth as another wave of broken memories swarmed her M.I.N.D. as it tried to combat it with its programmed protocol.
After her M.I.N.D. stabilized, Alpha clicked her tongue and sneered at Lucia, deeming her weak in Alpha's eyes. "Tsk, so they still try to "control" me, huh."
"Wha- What are you doing to me?" Lucia struggled to keep her M.I.N.D. straight as Alpha slowly walked towards her and unsheathed her sword. Alpha's eyes narrowed sharply as they made contact with Lucia's eyes with disdain before putting strength on her front leg and dashed at Lucia with her sword ready to swing.
"Showing you the truth!" Alpha swung her sword, and Lucia parried it, but it shook her hand due to Alpha's raw strength.
Lucia and Alpha engaged in a clash of swords, with the latter dominating the other with raw strength and skills, while Lucia struggled to keep a foothold in their fight. Lucia was shaken by the similarities they shared, from their frame design to their fighting style, except that Alpha was much more skilled and stronger than she was.
Like she was the potential Lucia was supposed to achieve but couldn't, Alpha was much better at using sword techniques, and could exert more strength, and her mastery of the sword had reached unreachable heights that each of her sword strikes could cut through the space.
It was painfully obvious that Alpha was holding back on her, and that fact put a hit on Lucia's pride as a swordsman. There were also the memories harassing her M.I.N.D., but she couldn't do anything to stop it, as if it already belonged there but was sealed or erased, and now it forcefully resurfaced.
"Is this your full strength?! Why is it still so weak!" Alpha released a sword wave at Lucia, who dodged it and got on her stand to unleash her special skill.
"Lotus Flurry!" Lucia showcased her raw speed and summoned multiple energy blades to rain down on Alpha as she moved along with the flurry of swords. Alpha stood still and looked at the raining swords with indifference.
Lucia might be showing her fastest speed yet, but to her, she still looked to be moving normally. Alpha sighed in disappointment and tightly gripped the hilt of her sword and sheathing it before falling into her own sword stance.
"I expected too much of you, but you turned out to be a disappointment… I'll show you just how weak you are! Quick draw!" Alpha unsheathed her sword at blinding speed, and in just a short moment, she managed to cut all of the falling swords along with Lucia in swift movements that Lucia only saw her draw her sword, and suddenly, she was cut all over.
Lucia slammed on the broken piece of a pillar as her sword was then thrown towards her and stabbed her left forearm. Lucia flinched in pain as she felt the sword stab her skeletal frame. She could feel the very wounds inflicted on her as red fluids gushed out of these wounds, and a pool of red liquid formed underneath her.
She looked up at Alpha in disbelief. She couldn't perceive what had just happened in those moments. Alpha was just standing still, and the next moment, she posed with a drawn-out sword, and everything around her was cut, including her!
Alpha brandished her sword as she slowly sheathed it. She walked out of the zones of sliced swords in small, short strides. With each step she took, her heels would reverberate around the walls of the church.
Alpha looked down on Lucia's pitiful state in disdain, disgusted even at the thought of putting Lucia in her eyes.
Each small stride Alpha made, Lucia's vision started to glitch more. Lucia's vision would shift around from Alpha's figure to someone standing in front of her who had a similar armor Ren was wearing, with the only difference being that it was much more worn out, like it had been worn through many battles.
This commandant was carrying a bulky pistol as he slowly walked towards her, the same way Alpha was doing. Lucia's visions then glitched again, and their surroundings were transformed into that of a desolate place, destroyed in a massive battle that had taken place.
Lucia laid her eyes on this person and felt deep-seated rage, and not only that, she felt broken and betrayed by this person. The confusing part was that these feelings didn't belong to her, yes, she does feel this and felt that these emotions once belonged to her, at the same time also not, it felt distant yet familiar like she had experienced this before but couldn't remember.
Unbeknownst to her, she was expressing these feelings of rage, brokenness, and betrayal outwardly towards Alpha. Alpha grinned as she saw Lucia's familiar expression towards her.
"Who are you?..." Lucia asked weakly at Alpha. Alpha didn't say anything and just approached her and slowly raised her left hand. When Lucia made a closer inspection, it shocked her to realize that Alpha's left hand had a deeply concentrated amount of punishing virus.
Lucia had a grim expression when she understood what Alpha was about to do, she was going to infect her with this punishing virus! Lucia could only grit her teeth, unable to do anything, too weak to defend herself and Ren, which made her stomach contort with these self-realizations.
Lucia closed her eyes and prayed to the gods that even if she were turned into an infected construct, Ren would be able to safely escape from Alpha. She prayed and hoped that if miracles were true, it would save Ren.
Alpha suddenly stopped her left hand from advancing, and Lucia looked up in confusion. Alpha was looking to her left side with an angry look. Lucia turned to the side, and she was shocked to see Ren grabbing on Alpha's arm with an equally pissed demeanor.
"Don't. Touch. Her." Ren said with a deathly glare, trying to punch holes through Alpha.
"Ren! Get out of here! Please escape while you can!" Lucia cried out to Ren in desperation, begging Ren to leave her behind and save himself, but her cries only fell on deaf ears.
"Let go of me." Alpha said threateningly and tried to pull her arm free, but Ren was unfazed by it and only tightened his grip on Alpha so that it was visibly imprinting the shape of his hand on her arm. Alpha hid her shock and was about to reach for her sword when Ren pulled her hand and delivered a punch so strong that it sent Alpha flying a couple of meters away.
She quickly stabilized her body mid-flight and landed gracefully on the ground. Alpha was stunned, then became angry towards Ren. She looked up and was horrified to see Ren standing over her with a swirling deep red aura, his eyes glowed red as he stared down on her. The sudden appearance of Ren wasn't the thing that shocked her, it was the deep red aura surrounding him.
"How- How are you able to resist the Punishing Virus!?!" Alpha blurted out, and Ren didn't answer her, instead, he was about to strike her down with his red-coated knife.
"Don't get cocky just because you managed to punch me!" Alpha retaliates by swinging her sword to cut it, but to her surprise, not only does it resist her sword, but their strength is on par with each other.
Alpha clenched her jaw in rage. She was in disbelief that a mere commandant was on par with her strength, it didn't sit right with her, and the thought of it only fueled her rage. She made distance and unleashed a barrage of sword slashes towards Ren.
Ren pursued Alpha and dodged the incoming attack or deflected them. Alpha and Ren then engaged each other in a duel, not only was Ren holding himself against Alpha, but he also found ways to overpower her.
Alpha was confused and angry at not understanding the unexpected boost of strength Ren received that managed to rival her, the only explanation she had was that the punishing virus was helping him and provided him with this strength.
'No, that's impossible! The punishing virus would instantly destroy the human body because of its nature! But why is it helping him instead?!' Alpha denied the thought and then pushed Ren back and channeled the power of the Punishing Virus to her sword and unleashed another sword wave, but this time much bigger and faster than the previous ones.
Ren couldn't easily dodge this one and instead blocked them with his knife. He manages to block them, but not entirely, some of the sword waves went past him and sliced the various parts of his body. Alpha observed from a distance, and her eyes would widen when she saw that the Punishing Virus she coated on that attack didn't even harm him, much less kill him.
"HOW?!" Alpha angrily shouted, she was frustrated beyond the limit she had experienced before. Ren didn't move and observed the deep red energy coating his knife with a narrowed look. He managed to increase the power output into his knife, and a blazing aura erected from the blade and elongated.
Ren widened his stance in a mimic of Lucia's sword style. He then twisted his body, pivoted his foot, and slashed the dagger towards Alpha, and it successfully released a sword wave. Alpha was dumbstruck at what was in front of her, a human, managing to release a power equivalent to a construct, was heading straight for her.
Alpha then reacted at the last minute and used her sword to block the incoming attack. The sword wave made contact with Alpha's sword, and she was once again surprised at Ren's unexpected power. The energy this sword wave emitted has the power of the Punishing Virus.
Understanding this, Alpha also channeled her own Punishing Virus to overpower Ren's sword wave, but it brought an unprecedented result instead, the punishing virus coming from Ren was eating away Alpha's Punishing Virus!
Alpha increased her power and pushed through Ren's sword wave and slicing it, bringing an explosion of smoke and rubble to her terrain. The smoke cleared out, and it revealed a much serious Alpha with a whitish aura around her.
"I will admit, you've surprised me a lot in this battle, from the beginning to the end. Good! This world still had strong opponents to quench my thirst for battle. You had interested me, Ren Takeda!" Alpha announced with a fire of battle in her eyes, taking up a stand that wasn't similar to Lucia's. This time, she was serious.
"Come and show me more!" Alpha launched first, leaving behind a trail of after-images.
Ren, on the other hand, grimaced. He had put his all in the previous battle, and that sword wave he unleashed took out most of the power boost he had, yet Alpha was still able to tank it and continue fighting! And the power boost he was provided with was almost running out, if he doesn't end this battle now, both of them would die.
Alpha was nearing Ren when her Inver-device suddenly turned on, and she was forced to stop her advance. Her expression wasn't pretty at all, like she was ready to rip somebody's throat out for ruining her mood.
"What! What do you mean back off?!" Alpha suddenly blurted out, which confused Ren.
Alpha was clinching her jaw and gritting her teeth. She hesitantly sheathed her sword and looked at Ren with a piercing gaze before looking to the side, where Lucia was still stuck.
"You were lucky this time. Next time we see each other, I'll make sure to finish off what I've started. As for you, our duel will be postponed for now. I hope in our next battle, you'll become much more stronger than today. Don't die yet, Ren Takeda, I'm the only one who's allowed to take your life." And with that, Alpha then used her superior speed and disappeared from the church.
Ren stood still in disbelief. She had just easily left like that, but he was grateful that they were still able to live another day. Ren panted and clutched the gaping wound he had on his chest, it had healed enough that it no longer gushed out blood, but the flesh and muscles were still sliced.
The red aura around him dissipated, and he staggered on his feet while walking slowly towards Lucia, but the strength he could muster was slowly fading.
"Ahhhckkk!!!" Lucia struggled to pull out the sword Alpha embedded in her arm as her pain receptors sent sharp, cutting pain to her M.I.N.D. She managed to pull out the sword and free her arm. She quickly rushed towards Ren before he could fall to the ground.
Lucia caught Ren and let his body lean on her. They were both exhausted and wounded, only having the strength to keep their consciousness. Lucia sat on the ground and gently placed Ren's head on her lap. Lucia carefully took off Ren's damaged helmet and grabbed a serum pod, and opened the top to feed the serum to his mouth.
The anti-punishing virus serum could be taken this way, but it would take time for it to be digested, rather than turning it into fumes and inhaling it directly. Ren gulped down the liquid serum, and Lucia breathed a sigh of relief when the red complexion on his skin was slowly fading away. Lucia was hunched over, and she could clearly see the face hidden in the helmet for the first time.
Ren's white hair was drenched in sweat and had dirt sticking to them, peach colored lips, he's face could be describe as cute and handsome, but the thing that mesmerized her was his azure blue eyes that reflected the lights making it look like an ocean, while Ren stared at Lucia's fiery ruby eyes that were filled with worry, a sight he never expected to see. Ren and Lucia stared at each other without any movement, seemingly engrossed in the unbelievable moment of still being alive.
"Are you okay, Lucia?" Ren's voice was deep yet soft and clear without the mask or helmet hindering his voice or breathing. His voice brought a slight tingle in her spine, and it was unknowingly pleasant to her ears. She doesn't know why she felt this way, but just relished it.
"Heh, I should be the one asking you, dummy." Ren smiled in a relaxed manner after hearing Lucia talk.
"Hmmm, besides the wounds that were inflicted on me, I feel relatively fine, just tired and fatigued, hehehehe." Ren awkwardly laughed. He wanted to sit upright, but he couldn't move an inch of his body. He wasn't just fatigued but also malnourished and dehydrated, the effect of the back-to-back consumption of the enhancing serum, anymore. He would risk having permanent damage to his organs.
"H-hey Lucia, can you um, watch over me? I'm getting sleepy." Ren spoke weakly, the fatigue his body endured was finally catching up to him. His eyelids were becoming heavy, and at any moment, they would shut, rendering his body unconscious, to preserve itself.
"Huh?! What do you mean?!" Before Lucia could get an answer from Ren, he fell asleep, and he was now unconscious. Lucia became worried and quickly checked his pulse and monitored his body. His pulse was weak, but that was to be expected, so she checked his body by scanning it.
Her scanner detected a movement of the punishing virus within his body, but instead of panicking, she was marveled in disbelief, the punishing virus was keeping Ren's body alive! As if that wasn't enough to bring her some relief, she could hear the sound of Lee's jeep stopping in front of the church, and moments later, both Lee and Liv busted through the church door.
"Liv! Lee! Over here!" Lucia called out to them, and Liv hastily ran over to assist them. Liv knelt down and quickly began using her scanners and built-in X-rays to check Ren's body. Liv visibly frowned when her scanners detected the presence of the punishing virus. She was about to administer a dose of serum when Lucia stopped her.
"Huh?" Liv looked up at Lucia in confusion
"Wait, don't get rid of the punishing virus just yet, it's the only thing keeping his body alive." Liv and Lee were puzzled hearing that, but it was then confirmed when Liv took a much detailed scan.
"Oh my! She's right." Liv gasped, and Lee was in disbelief.
"What? How is that even possible?!" Lee asked Lucia, who shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know how and why, but it was a miracle that the punishing virus didn't kill him. I'll tell you all everything once we get Ren out of here and rush back to base. I don't know how long his body would hold up after the strain Ren put it through." Lucia said while motioning for Liv to use her bots.
"Oum, our first objective now is to get Ren out of here and be treated immediately." Liv's bot began to emit light and directed it towards Ren's unconscious body as it started to lift in the air. Lee nodded and followed the two towards the Jeep.
They secured Ren's body on the foldable bed in Lee's jeep and then secured themselves before driving out of there and towards the agreed pick-up point.