Casket is frozen still, the monk still breathing down his neck, fear filling his veins thoroughly.
"...Friend? Foe!? Oh, you've got be messin' with me right now..." Casket contemplates in his mind, his sense of danger blaring like ambulance sirens.
Monk: ..."Messing" with you, you say? Hmmm?
Casket freezes still once more. One line of thought filling in his brain: "...How did he read my thoughts?!"
"RATATATATATA!-"
Sharp runs weaves and scurries frantically to dodge flurries of bullets shot by the armored man's machine gun, zipping across the underground market, going deeper and deeper into the plaza.
Sharp: DON'T YOU NEED TO RELOAD THAT THING ONCE IN A WHILE YOU TWO-TON PSYCHOTIC BASTARD!?
The man stays silent, only focused on one thing: shooting down his Target.
Sharp: SHIT- SHIT- SHIT- WOOOOOOOOO-HOHOHO- SHIIIIIT SHIIIIIIIIT- MY NUTS FEEL LIKE THEY'RE ON FIRE-
Sharp yells across mall, his speed increasing little by little due to... his... "Determination" for a lack of a better word.
A gardening shop and a fire extinguisher cabinet enters Sharp's line of view, an idea pops into his mind. Ah... Yes. 'Tis shall be but the first shown instance of Sharp's "Dumb Fuck Ingenuity" only pot-heads and people adjacent to these groups may form ideas similar to ones like his.
Sharp heads towards the cabinet, smashes it and grabs the fire extinguisher lying inside in quick succession, holding it with both hands as he runs.
"This crap is heavy as all hell...! They make them look light in movies... That's some bull!" Sharp murmurs, holding the fire extinguisher firmly in his hands, his life literally depending on it as lead flies by.
The armored man dashes... with... a blast of fire coming from his feet the moment he leapt? He has thrusters in his feet?! And he's continuing shooting while traversing!?! What is he, a Cyborg?- wait, wait that might actually be the case...
Sharp turns around as he runs, zips behind cover, weaves and dodging bullets, looking at his foe rapidly advancing from the distance, panic filling his face.
Sharp: OH, WHAT THE HELL? HE HAS PROPULSION NOW?! GIMME A BREAK..! No matter... CATCH THIS, NUT BAG!
Sharp hurls the fire extinguisher at the armored man, the bullets that were flying endlessly catch into the extinguisher, the impact of all the shots fired making it explode, causing a smokescreen of white foam.
Armored man: ...What?
The man looks quizzically, the smokescreen distorting the view in front of him, effectively concealing Sharp's position.
The man grunts, switching his machine gun to be held in his off hand as he extends his arm, armored plating sliding off his forearm, a cannon emerging out, blasting a huge wave of fire, blasting away the foam, albeit the fire didn't do much to it besides pushing it away. The man scouts over the area, trying to find traces of Sharp but to no avail.
The man: Dammit... Where'd that brat go!?-
The man freezes in place, a metal clink coming from behind his neck.
VRZZZZZZZZZZZ
???: Yo! I'm right here!
The man's lifeless mechanical eyes widen.
The man: ...Y- You're kiddin'.
He slowly turns his head slightly, the sight before him being:
Crackles of electricity dancing round his neck as cords and wiring whip around like violent snakes.
Something was thrust into his nape.
And it's Shredding his wires.
IT'S... An electric telescopic tree pruner saw?
Sharp holds the Electric Tree Pruner firmly like a staff as he stands on top of the man's left shoulder, thrusting it the improvised weapon deeper and deeper slowly as he shreds through.
The man stares at Sharp with a shocked expression that quickly turns into one of irritation.
The man: ...Damn Brat.
The man aims his forearm cannon towards Sharp and blasts, incinerating a part of his shoulder and neck in the process. Sharp pulls the tree pruner out and narrowly dodges the blast, his sleeves slightly burnt from the blast and lands roughly feet first onto a bench.
Sharp: J- Jesus! Dude... That's way too much even for- ...Whatever you are.
The man glares at Sharp, not in the mood for his quips.
The man retracts his arm cannon, now once again holding the machine gun with both arms and starts painting the scenery with bullets once again.
Sharp charges his feet with black fire and zips across, landing on some railings, starting to run on top of them as he avoids the bullets, he then turns on the telescopic tree pruner once again, filling the area with the noises of a chainsaw. Sharp jumps down on top of the man again and drives the pruner down between into the man's armoring in the chest, Shredding more of his delicate internal circuits
The man swats Sharp away with a strong hit of his left forearm, knocking the air out of him and sending him flying into a pillar. The pruner, still stuck into the man still keeps on Shredding until he rips it out of him and snaps it into two.
The pillar gets it's side crushed as Sharp is slammed into it Sharp roughly emerges from the pillar, falling and kneeling down in exhaustion but quick succession makes a fast recovery. Sharp looks at the man with horror on his face, waking up to a realization.
"I should have taken this more seriously."
The man: ..."Whatever i am" you said... I am the thing that'll exterminate Amalgamite Shades like yourself. Achilles.
Sharp: ...Achilles?-
Achilles points his machine gun at Sharp again and sprays him with a rain of gun powder and lead, Sharp immediately jumps from the bench running and scurrying in his own shadow, Achilles boosts himself with his thrusters directly towards Sharp, driving his metallic fist straight into him, smashing him down into the floor, causing a gigantic crater in the concrete. Sharp's eyes widen, his mouth is wide open, the air in his lungs forced out by the punch, gasping desperately for air.
Achilles recovers his fist, staring down at the writhing Sharp.
Achilles: ...I hoped for more of a fight.
Achilles grabs Sharp by the leg and slams him into another supporting pillar, followed by grabbing him by the collar and hurling Sharp into a fast food chain's glass window, glass shards scattering all over the ground like hail, digging into Sharp's body as he roughly lands inside.
Sharp: S- Sto- HURK- STO- ACK-ACK... OP IT...
Sharp blurts out, choking on his own blood, groveling on the ground, trying to crawl away like an injured animal.
Achilles walks slowly into the restaurant, taking his sweet time approaching Sharp.
Achilles: ...You dissapoint me.
Achilles' shadow towers over Sharp, his back facing Achilles as he tries to crawl to safety, barely making any progress in doing so. "...What the hell- What the hell is happening?! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!?" That exact train of thoughts ran across Sharp's mind, getting interrupted by something metallic pinning the back of his neck. Sharp freezes, letting out a involuntary sound of fear and dread.
Sharp: NGHK- ...Nuh- ...Nah-
Amidst this one sided fight, another fight of similar sorts transpired:
"...How did he read my thoughts?!" As Casket thought himself that, the monk breathing down his neck grabbing him by the throat and threw him out of the bookstore, Casket quickly recovers mid-air and lands feet first onto the glass-shard-covered ground, sliding back afew meters. The monk throws the Monk Spade that was on his back at Casket at an insane speed, almost getting speared, Casket side stepped out of the way, just barely making it out unscathed from the throw, the weapon getting stuck into a brick wall. When Casket looks back at the store, the monk is nowhere to be found.
"Peekaboo." Is heard behind him.
Casket quickly turns around in an alarmed state and was quickly met with a deep punch in the gut, the monk grinning ear to ear
Odd Monk: ...Learn to have a funny bone, why won't you? Hmmmm?
Casket's inner thoughts rang loudly in his mind, "Funny bone? Funny bone...? ...You're kidding right? Funny bone!? FUCK YOU MEAN BY 'FUNNY BONE' JACKASS?! I'M GONNA FUCKING RIP YOUR 'FUNNY BONE' OUT IF YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT BULLSHIT LIKE THIS IN A FIGHT!"
That statement seemed to only have angered Casket in his already-vulnerable state. Casket drives his fist and attempts to punch the monk square in the face only for him to effortlessly avoid it by ducking underneath the attack, in exchange the monk uses the momentum to jump and springs his legs into Casket's chest, sending him flying into an escalator, the impact throwing Casket off his senses for a split second, that small moment being enough for the monk to retrieve his weapon and jumping on top of Casket, driving the Spade straight into his abdomen. Casket clutches the weapon that was thrust into him, convulsing in pain.
Casket pulls his right hand away from clutching the pole, twitching in pain he tightly clutches his fist, bashing it wildly against the polearm like a frantic caged animal, blood slowly flowing out from his knuckles, dripping back down onto his shirt.
The Monk stares, slightly in shock, witnessing this psychotic behavior.
This man is rapidly spiraling down.
Monk: ...Hmmmmm. ...You're going down a baleful path, Young fighter. I should put you out of your misery already.
The monk pulls back his spade and grabs Casket's collar and hurls him back to where the fight originally began, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, catching casket with one hand before pinning him against a supporting pillar, absolutely wailing on him, punch after punch, kick after kick. Casket's feral state only increases, within a small window of opportunity he drives back his right arm and forcefully drives it into the Monk's stomach, but- ...There is no visible pain on the Monk's face. As if it didn't even tickle him. Infact- Casket cannot pull back his arm. The Monk's stomach is twisting into knots. It's gripping onto his arm like a Green Anaconda. It's pulling his arm deeper and deeper, the flesh is stretching slowly but surely, pain eventually setting in, until-
SNAP
The monk ripped off Casket's right forearm off. Leaving only blood gushing and leaking and an empty joint.
"...What?"
The monk doesn't hesitate.
He equips his Spade once again, this time stabbing Casket endlessly in every part of his body at supersonic speeds, from his thighs, shins, chest, his remaining left arm, all of this within afew moments that you could have missed if you blinked even once. The monk stabs and stabs, until he eventually winds up his Spade, aiming for his neck. He swings with full force and the moment the blade connects-
A void.
Casket is left standing in a dark, empty void. It's quiet. Until:
"...It seems thee would hast met thy demise if it weren't for thou's-. 'enlightment'- if thy shall. "
Casket stands there: Frozen with fear, confusion and bewilderment.
"Turn around. Now."
Casket turns around and kneels on one knee with his head looking down instinctively, as if his body acknowledges the fact that he's in the presence of a king of some sort.
"Thou art not the tower, are thee?"
Casket can't look. For the life of him he cannot look at this mysterious figure speaking to him. All he can see is a pair of legs. The right leg is pitch black, whilst the left leg is a blinding white.
"...Thou art absolutely bootless to me."
Casket swallows his spit nervously, he subconsciously knows that he mustn't dare insult this being in any way.
Thou art not the tower, yet thou art hither. Belike I shall keep tabs on thee by bestowing thy own arcana. "
"Thou intrigue me. I shall spare thee this parting gift. Lo and behold for i am benison thou with: The Magician Upright. "
Casket looks away from the celestial beings feet, looking back down to the cosmic floor, seeing a black and white rendition of the Magician Arcana.
"...What?"
To be Continued in Chapter 5.