(Previous chapter - Var dominates the battle in the sky, Markoth is dead. Vendrick senses Var's blood frenzy.)
Vendrick finally reaches the top. He observes the chaos right above his throne room. He notices the headless body of Markoth. He closes in on the body,"You were the strongest of my Generals. I always saw you like a son."
(He drops the body on the ground. Thudd. He walks toward the fainted Var.)"Now that you are weak, I will instead take this strong one!"
He raises his palms, dark magic flowing from his hands. The magic painfully forces Var to wake up. Var screams,"AHHHH!!! (pants)"
Vendrick demands,"Swear your allegiance to this army, warrior. Don't worry, your friend will join us too."
Var could not utter a word───── Fwoosh! In a flash, Vendrick's hands were high in the air, severed. Var falls unconscious again.He turns around to see Gauge, standing with his back facing him. He notices Feryx is bloodied."Leave him alone!" Gauge demanded.
The right half of his body cracked up to his neck, filled with gleaming white fluid. His right eye had turned white. Vendrick replied,"You need to wait your turn!"
Lucia : City Center
Raikin dominated the battle. His lightning-fast moves were too much for a mindless warrior to counter. Raikin shouted furiously,"Just because your friend killed Markoth doesn't mean you're winning. There won't be any more dirty tricks for you people to play!"
He delivered constant blows to the champion's armor. He landed for a moment, then immediately launched forward—swoosh! He delivered a decisive blow to the champion's helm, shattering it into many pieces. He then landed yet again and looked up. Raikin's eyes grew curious,"You... you are.."
The champion's face was revealed to be very similar to Lucian's. Except his eyes were empty, pure white. Raikin continued,"You were that coward who gave up on your kingdom and ran away! Back to take the throne, are you?"
Gabriel stood up from the fountain. As he walked, he explained,"Funny you should mention dirty tricks—because I am not like the others. I can only fight with my wits and, of course, dirty tricks."
He tapped his watch. A voice similar to Veyr's popped out,"Protocol #1549 Active."
Soon Gabriel's eyes grew as pale as Lucian's. He dropped to the ground. Raikin wondered to himself, Is he dead? Is this the dirty trick he talked about? What's going on?
He was suddenly grabbed by the neck and slammed into the walls. Raikin got up, rubbing his head. He smiled,"That was a good trick. But if you think those tricks are gonna—"
His eyes widened suddenly. He noticed Lucian had grown eyes. He realized what was going on. He deduced,"So... it's you? That's your trick, huh? Tell you what—it's gonna be the same as before."
Gabriel, who had taken over Lucian's body, answered,"You underestimate my wits. I'm not done yet."
He removed the golden armor, revealing a blue gleaming suit underneath.
Battle at City Centre (Evolved) – Dr. Gabriel Klyne vs. Shadow Raikin
Raikin looked at the suit curiously. He asked,"Let me guess—this suit's gonna give you more power to defeat me?"
Gabriel gave off his little genius smirk,"No. You see, the things I'm working on all the time—if they got into the wrong hands, it would be a disaster. So no matter what inventions I make, I always install a failsafe. Like your guns here."
Raikin looked nonchalant at first,"Yeah, I've seen. So?"
Gabriel answered him,"So... one little scratch on this suit, and it'll grow unstable very quickly and create an interdimensional bomb. In the blink of an eye, you and this vessel would be floating in unknown sectors of space. Since this is just an empty vessel, that sacrifice wouldn't be much for me."
Raikin understood the situation. He knew how helpless he had become. He gritted his teeth,"If I can't defeat you, I'll kill all these people. Your victory here would be meaningless..."
He targeted a group of rebels. His eyes grew even darker. Thudd! He hit the ground with such force. Upon his back, an intense beam of blue laser struck. Gabriel, in Lucian's body, declared,"I think you misunderstood the situation. You either fight this vessel and die—or surrender. Those are your only options."
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Rays of strong beams hit the ground around them. They started forming a wall, protecting the people from Raikin. Gabriel continued,"What do you choose?"
Raikin looked up at him. The dark shadow over his eyes cleared. His eyes were furious."Go to HELLLL!!!..... Shadow Art: Razor Typhoon!"
A cloud of shadow emerged around Raikin. He spun both his scythes. Soon a shadow typhoon arose. The scythes rotated so fast that their edges were visible everywhere. Raikin cursed,"This technique will kill me too. But so be it! You will die too... HA HA HA HA! If I don't win, No one gets to!"
Soon his own flesh was ground to nothing. Gabriel tried to conjure a plan. I can't let that thing out of this barrier. But if I don't deactivate the barrier and get outside in time, I'll be shredded too... Think, Gabriel, think.
He suddenly noticed something. His eyes narrowed in concentration. That's right—there are only two scythes in there. It's spinning too fast, cutting through a vast area in seconds. A visual Doppler effect... If I can calculate their final positions from any initial position, I can stop both scythes. But one mistake—and this body explodes into oblivion.
Gabriel rapidly tapped on his watch to calculate. The tornado drew near. The razor edges of the typhoon shone. Gabriel's eyes darted all over the screen. Initial position, velocity, angle... He kept murmuring. And then suddenly—"Ahaaa, I found it!"
Gabriel pounced into the tornado, knocking one of the scythes out. He was lifted by the vacuum inside the typhoon. He realized his mistake. I forgot to calculate relative velocity for the second scythe once I start moving.
The scythe tore through his skin. Luckily, this body had a tougher hide than that demon's. Though I only have seconds at most. He started calculating again. Soon blood wrapped around the typhoon. Gabriel yelled,"Gotcha... Veyr, deactivate the barriers immediately!"
The laser barrier turned off. The torpedo, along with Gabriel, started moving across the city. One by one, people were sucked into the torpedo. But inside, Gabriel held them. He embraced them,"Hold on for a few minutes! Grab as many of your comrades as you can!"
Everyone inside the tornado held onto each other. As it was about to cross the city, Gabriel grabbed one of the buildings with all his strength. The building tore across its middle until Gabriel was able to anchor himself. The wild shadow torpedo was sent off into the barren lands of Orryphis.
Thud, thud, thud—one by one, people rained onto the ground. Above them, Gabriel hung on to the building that had saved them. The battle of wits was over. Gabriel was relieved,"Seems like I was able to save all of them..."
Battle at Lucia City Centre, Victor – Dr. Gabriel Klyne
Next chapter – Boots and Shield.