The immense force of the shockwaveknocked Tsukuru down to his knees, and he began to cough on the resulting dust.
'A comet drop,' Tsukuru thought, as he continued coughing on the dust around him. 'Honestly, should have seen that coming.'
Looking ahead, Tsukuru saw a shape begin to appear in the dust cloud, quickly approaching him.
The figure was humanoid, with horns, wings, and a tail.
A moment later, the Gargoyle emerged from the dust.
She had her right claw extended back, ready to perform a slash attack. Her right hand down to her forearm was transformed into the ultra-dense "stone".
Tsukuru glanced down at the Scordana Gunblade in his right hand.
Currently, it was filled with three rounds of the special high-density Glathrium "Flechette Rounds", which would be completely uselessin his current situation.
Slowly, a smile slowly crept across Tsukuru's face.
'Just because it can't be used as a gun, doesn't mean that it can't be useful,' he thought.
He pressed the release switch on the back, transforming it back into its Dagger Mode.
Tsukuru reached his left arm high above his head, and threw the "dagger" out in front of him.
The "dagger" flew through the air like a projectile.
Seeing the "dagger", the Gargoyle tiled her head to the right, causing the "dagger" to fly right past her.
Once it did, the sound of electronic interference could be heard, and Tsukuru's left hand became enveloped in an aura of glitching pixels.
He twisted his hand, and jerked it back towards him.
Seeing this, the Gargoyle's eyes narrowed, and she twisted her head behind her.
There, she saw the same "dagger" that she had just dodged FLYING BACK at her, it also surrounded in an aura of glitching pixels.
Immediately, the "stone" of her right hand began to crack. Once again, the stone broke off in chunks, revealing her pale-blue skin beneath.
She turned the last few inches of her tail into the "stone" material, and lashed it behind her neck.
The "stone" tip of the tail deflected the dagger like a parrying blade, creating a metallic "clang" sound, and sending the blade spinning off in another direction.
A satisfied smirk appeared on the Gargoyle's face.
"Nice try, My Liege," she replied with a tone of confidence. "But it's going to take more than a cheap trick like that to-"
Her words were cut off mid-sentence, as the sound of a gunshot rang out, and she felt a piercing pain rip through her chest.
An Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Bullet tore right through her chest, coming out her back before piercing through her left wing, as well.
The Gargoyle's eyes widened.
Back in front of her, Tsukuru smirked, the Scordana Gunblade in his right hand still pointed at the left side of her chest, and smoke coming out of the barrel.
'And just like with Riley, it appears that you can only harden one part of your body at a time,' he thought.
A moment later, the Gargoyle's body fell to the ground with a heavy thud, and she exploded into pixels.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Gargoyle. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Specific Effect: 60 XP received. First Time killing a Gargoyle. 60 XP received. XP: 1890/8000 ]
***
Back up in the sky, the two remaining Gargoyled looked down at the arena.
However, all they could see was one giant dust cloud.
"Freaking idiot!" the Gargoyle on the left replied, as she crossed her arms with a look of annoyance on her face. "How are we supposed to see anything with this damn dust cloud blocking our view of the whole arena?!"
Suddenly, the sound of the gunshotrang out, causing the two Gargoyles to flinch.
Their eyes widened in surprise.
The Gargoyle on the rightglanced over at her comrade.
"Do you think that she's…?"
As if to answer her question, the dust cloud obscuring their vision began to dissipate.
Once it had cleared, the two Gargoyles only saw Tsukurustanding on the arena's platform.
Tsukuru glanced up at the two.
"Well," the second Gargoyle replied. "That answers that question."
The first Gargoyle let out a scoff.
"Well, that's what she gets for rushing in on her own," she replied, before then turning to her companion. "C'mon, let's go."
The other Gargoyle nodded.
The both dove down towards the battlefield,
As the two descended, they flew straight towards Tsukuru.
Then both wrenched their right arms back, and clenched their hands into fists, hardening them into the "stone" material.
Seeing this, Tsukuru applied pressure to the back of his foot, and leaped backwards.
The two Gargoyles slammed their "stone" hands into the ground, resulting in two more shockwaves, as well as kicking up a small amount of dust and debris.
Landing back on the ground, Tsukuru aimed the barrel of his gun at the left side of the two Gargoyle's chests, and fired.
Two more gunshots rang out.
Unfortunately for Tsukuru, the two Gargoyles could see where he was aiming, and they transformed the entire left half of their torsos into the "stone" material.
Once again, the bullets simply bounced off the "stone" with a slight "ping", only leaving small scratches behind.
Tsukuru gritted his teeth in annoyance.
He dashed towards the Gargoyles.
Once he got within thirty feet of them, the sound of electronic interference could be heard, and his body took on the likeness of a light-blue hologram.
A moment later, he glitched out of existence.
The two Gargoyle's eyes widened, and they whipped their heads back and forth.
The sound of electronic interference was heard again, and Tsukuru appeared on the ground in front of the second Gargoyle.
He transformed the Scordana Gunblade back into a dagger, and crossed his right arm over to his left shoulder.
He jumped into the air.
Once he reached the Gargoyle's neck, he swung his right arm out in a horizontal slash.
Alas, the Gargoyle had seen the attack coming.
She transformed her neck into the "stone" material.
When his "dagger"made contact with her "stone" neck, a metallic "clang" was heard.
The only result of Tsukuru's attack was a small scratch on the Gargoyle's "stone" neck.
Tsukuru gritted his teeth, and wrenched his right arm backwards, before then thrusting it forwards towards the Gargoyle's heart
The Gargoyle's eyes widened, and a bit of blood dripped down from her lips.
She felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her chest.
She fell backwards, and collapsed on the ground, exploding into pixels.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Gargoyle. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Specific Effect: 60 XP received. XP: 1950/8000 ]
Tsukuru then saw a long, slender objectlashing at him towards the left.
Immediately, a wall consisting of fifteen light-blue, translucent hexagons, arranged in three rows of fiveappeared in front of the left side of his body.
The slender object, which turned out to be the tail of the other Gargoyle, collided with the wall, causing the hexagons hit to turn red.
However, it didn't shatter.
Tsukuru turned to the Gargoyle.
The next moment, the sound of electronic interference was heard again, and his body took on the properties of a hologram before he glitched out of existence.
The Gargoyle gritted her teeth upon seeing this.
'Now where did he go?!' she thought in annoyance.
Then, she heard the sound of electronic interference again. This time from behind her.
She spun around to counter-attack against Tsukuru, but as she did, she saw Tsukuru piercing a rather strange-looking arrow into the ground.
It had a light-blue translucent tip, almost looking as if to have been carved out of solid ice.
Immediately, thick ice began to spread out from the point of impact, covering the area around them in a 3-foot radius.
As the ice reached the Gargoyle, it began to spread up her feet and legs, encasing her in the thick ice, anchoring her in place.
"W-What trickery is this?!" The Gargoyle yelled, as she tried to pull her legs free. "I'm stuck!"
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah," he replied. "That's the idea."
He then jumped up and grabbed ahold of the top of the Gargoyle's left wing, using it to hold him up.
Once again, he reached his right arm over to his left shoulder, and performed a horizontal slash.
But unlike the last time, the Gargoyle couldn't see him, due to him being behind her.
Thus, she couldn't turn her neck into the Tungsten-Corrundum mineral.
The Gargoyle's eyes widened, as she felt her neck being slashed.
She stopped struggling, as her whole body STIFFENED.
A moment later, she exploded into pixels.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Gargoyle. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Specific Effect: 60 XP received. XP: 2010/8000 ]