The entire building shook with each violent explosion rocking through the top floor of Goldweavers. Even the glass panes could be heard rattling from the concussive bursts of air. Somehow, only being able to rely on his heightened levels of perception, Cipher continued to narrowly dodge strike after explosive strike. Instinctively, he continued to fire shots from the handgun, but they only continued to bounce off the waves of energy harmlessly.
His periwinkle hair fluttered in the air, a bare fist passing through the strands a mere centimeter away from his face. The aggressive frontal assault was getting much too close for comfort, something had to change and fast if Cipher didn't want his head to turn into a watermelon. During the attack, the captain drew energy away from his upper body to form around his knuckles, fully expecting a connection. Normally, this miniscule, temporary change would go unnoticed by most people; however, the virus had been generous enough to give Cipher a perception property.
Through his eyes, the small zone was highlighted with a soft periwinkle, showing a vulnerability in the otherwise durable transformation. He had to act on it immediately, so for the first time throughout their fight, he stepped forward with the saber drawn. Without hesitation, he brought the blade down, striking the highlighted weak point right in the middle. Dragging the cold steel along it, he managed to cut through the gaiter on the neck. Somehow, the one handed sword didn't even leave a scratch on the skin, much less slice it open like he was hoping. Falling off his face, the removal of the mask only revealed a wide, shit-eating grin.
"I've got to admit, this is way more fun!"
He just doesn't stop! He's insane!
He was forced to drop the stolen pistol from his left hand to throw up a hasty guard, supporting the back of the single edged blade as quickly as possible. The block just barely managed to hold against the punch, speaking more to the durability and sharpness of the military saber rather than the quality of his swordsmanship. Despite the unsuccessful attempt at a hit, the man's smile only grew bigger, as if he was actually enjoying himself. Unfazed, the man dropped back for a second before continuing his onslaught.
"You're a lot better than your friend, luckily I don't have to worry about not killing you!"
"Aww, earlier you said you wanted to fuck me!"
"Changed my mind."
Not being able to absorb the blow and residual force properly messed up his stance far more than he was anticipating. Of course it wouldn't be perfect, answering the supernatural speed of the strike was already somewhat unrealistic for a mundane fighter of his skill level. It was a combination of his perception and sheer luck that he was able to manage what he did. Even though he blocked the previous strike, the follow up was something he was not able to respond to.
A sinking feeling dropped deep into his stomach, eyes widening at the boxer's reared back fist. For the first time in quite a while, he was actually frightened. He had managed to avoid death so many times, but he was simply outclassed without any semblance of a plan. There were plenty of mistakes made on his end, and none quite outweighed how he felt about leaving Kanashima alone with this strong fighter.
How unlike me.
Expecting to see a bright flicker of orange along with a world full of pain, his eyes could only stay wide open in horror. He continued to brace impact for a hit that never came. Instead, a violet streak arced through the air, slicing waves of orange electrons in half and somehow connected with the cheek of the captain where the mundane nine millimeter bullets couldn't. A bright red gash quickly formed from the attack, taking a few seconds longer to pool enough blood to start running down his face. The immediate flash of stinging pain managed to interrupt the punch, staggering him and giving Cipher an opportunity to make distance.
Jumping backwards, his eyes searched the area for the source of the purple signature. One of his perception based properties already allowed him to recognize the unique traces in the electrons, recognizing its source as one Kanashima Belladonna. He couldn't help but allow a small smile to cross his face, mostly of relief. Following the line of energy, a body holding a glowing knife of the same color was appearing before his very eyes.
The same ability as before. Her concealment cloak.
Now that she was fully unveiled, her internal flare of electrons slowed down, much smaller than expected. Despite the high level of intensity he saw, almost comparable to average tier four ALFA victims, that battery level was nowhere near on par with them. In fact, she had a significantly less amount of it compared to even his average capacity. The fact that it was just barely a flicker meant that his companion was being pushed to her brink too, probably even more than himself.
"Kanashima!"
Cipher was exhausted, but mostly fine. So far, he hadn't taken a hit yet. All of the blood that dotted his clothes and stuck his hair together were all of his victims, rather than his own. Kanashima was almost the opposite of his state. She had some sort of injury on her forehead, presumably from being kicked by the boxer. Her breathing was loud and shallow, and she was slightly inhibited in her movements, pointing more towards her ribs and torso being injured rather than her legs. His companion also had this slight smell of burnt flesh, but the once over he gave her injured body didn't tell him the source.
"You look like hell."
"I'm fine."
"Surprised you're still standing, princess. I'll make sure to put you down nice and easy, after I murder your little dress-up boytoy."
"Let's go, Kanashima! Follow me!"
"Right."
The steel blade of his stolen saber sang through the air, intent on crashing into the protective orange aura. The attack wasn't intended to injure, or even connect through the explosive energy, so it wasn't a surprise when the waves of electrons bent at the impact point and bounced the weapon off. Flicking in the air, Cipher kept control of the sword as it rotated halfway through the air, reflecting the purple energy of the knife climbing the ladder. Rolling upward, the knife sliced vertically on the left side.
Unlike the mundane strike, the Nihility leader knew he had to make some sort of move to dodge Kanashima's empowered strikes. Stepping backwards, the man gave a wide smirk to the much shorter girl, obviously taunting her. It was clear she wouldn't get through to him with regular, untrained moves, and much less likely than that if she was on her own. With a grunt, he swung lazily at the only other combat Intrinsic, giving her ample time to drop back and literally fade into the background.
Luckily, she didn't have to do both. Watching the sidestep and the misplaced attention, he dropped the sword off to the side, letting it clatter to the ground. Using the now free hand to take the pistol grip of his designated marksman rifle, and his other to steady with the foregrip, he pressed the carbon fiber stock to his shoulder. The tiny handgun couldn't do anything, but this armament was on par with the Intrinsic at tier four, it had to be able to do something. Squeezing the trigger tight, he repeated the simple motion a few more times and sent four projectiles singing at the orange cloak.
The larger caliber had a much easier time working through the protective layers of electrons, piercing through the repelling force. Strands of periwinkle lights twisted through the air, matching up with the spiral created by the long barrel's rifling. Three of the bullets drove their way into different parts of his own bulletproof plate. After being slowed down by his aura and the protective strength of the equipment, they simply were not able to push through and reach his skin. At least the last bullet he shot deviated from the torso, instead grazing the side of his neck. Unlike the saber to the weak spot earlier, the piece of metal alloy was able to leave a long red wound along the arc.
Unfortunately, he couldn't finish off his magazine before having to dodge the next strike, a huge haymaker of a jab intent on connecting with his liver. Despite its speed, the punch was incredibly pronounced and had an obvious flight path. All he had to do was take a simple step backwards and to the side, and he would be left intact to continue fighting. Performing the maneuver was much easier said than done. Cipher realized this fact when he dropped his boot fully onto the rounded handle of the discarded saber from earlier. Shifting all of his weight to that leg only furthered his misstep, flicking him downwards.
"Oh what the fuck—"
His leg flew forward along the rolling of the unclaimed armament, causing Cipher to lose his balance and began to fall downwards. The punch was no longer on the knockout path, but a fist to the torso was bound to ruin his day regardless. The bare fist adorned an orange coating just before colliding with his chest, rattling his insides down to the ribcage. Just as he thought the pain was over, a deep, monotone word wormed its way into his eardrums.
"Explode."
His vision filled with varying hues of auburn once again just before a blast rocketed his body backwards. Dragging all four of his limbs against the ground, he slowed himself down to a stop just a couple meters away from the nearest rack. That was the first hit he had sustained through the entire encounter, and it stung like absolute hell. It was as if someone stuck their hand down his airpipe, stole all of his oxygen out of it, and then proceeded to close it up with superglue. Coughing was barely a help too, air slowly trickling into his lungs just to be instantly consumed to keep him conscious.
Holy… shit, fuck that hurt. What was that? Why did I step on the sword?
He couldn't come up with any reason for the mistake, and there was no point in dwelling on it. Instantly stepping in once more from her cloaked form, Kanashima stepped forward with a strike humming with way more energy than before. Despite her calm and collected front, there was no doubt she was getting desperate. With what little amount of energy she had left, no trained person would consciously decide to use that much into one strike. Especially not when there was combat to come afterward.
She was fighting so hard to protect him. The amount of urgency her strike held showed when she connected with the larger man, her saxe knife humming through the air. The coffeehouse employee's random appearance seemed to catch him off guard, the wound being plenty of evidence for that. His rather persistent smile began to fade now, pain obviously flooding into his mind. Falling to the side, she managed to pull off a rather simple, but completely unorthodox feint, causing the boxer to whiff his next strike.
Come on, she's fighting so hard! Do something! Anything!
"But what?"
I can't even get up… but maybe I don't need to?
Finally, he stopped struggling with the ground, allowing his prone position to hold for now. Rather than rejoining the melee, he pulled the heavier gun from his strap, and brought it forward. His position may not be all that great for close quarters combat, but it was perfect for the sniping he was planning to do from the start. Now that Kanashima was here, Call of the Ghost wasn't the only possible way to take down the man in the transformation, but it was still their best shot. His eyes began to glow a bright blue once again, searching desperately over the scope of the rifle. As much as he wanted to zero the Nihility captain, he didn't want to drop Morgan's sister even more.
Just… need an opening. Anything.
A small note of blue appeared for a split second across his chest before disappearing once again. It was so close to being a perfect shot, he just needed a little more. The way the waves were moving formed an almost impervious shell until he was ready to attack. With every maneuver, the man was consciously moving some of the electrons from around him to focus on the offense, which was what was creating those openings he continued to see over and over again.
I don't know if I can wait for the next one… Kanashima's on her last legs.
The stretch across his torso was so close, it was almost a perfect shot. If one more wave was moved away, it would be perfect for the anti material rifle to blast through. Since the boxer was not all too intent on drawing the flow of electrons away, Cipher would have to find a different way to do it.
But how… How do I manipulate his virus?
At that singular question, his thoughts grinded to a halt. The most recent subject that crossed his line felt so familiar, and it definitely had something to do with the answer. After racking his brain, he knew exactly the final piece he needed. If the virus' code wouldn't work for him, he would just have to bend it to his will, and break it. Just like his Intrinsic said, both in name and description.
Come on, virus. Shift electron flow to head.
Almost as automatic as the man manually controlling it himself, the orange wisp rose from the stretch of chest and coiled up towards the top of the man's head. The same bright blue spot was revealed once more, and Cipher didn't waste any time with the spot this time. A small smile spread from his thin lips as the familiar crack of the massive sniper rifle rang out one more time.
Perfect shot!
The huge bullet had no problem ripping through the already thin aura of the man's chest, and tore through the protective plate on his chest too. The amount of force was so large that his body flew along the path of the bullet for a few moments before dropping him on his ass again. The round finally stopped from its overpenetrative journey, passing through a couple of metal shelves before embedding into a staircase.
Fuck… thank fuck it's over!
[Your synergy tier has increased. Review?]
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