"HYPERFIST!" Nanasu punched the air, forming up to 15 lasers that were as wide as an energy beam. She kicked the air in a sideways motion to propel herself in a spin. Her lasers spread throughout the entire area, and the 6 mirages were hit, disappearing into nothing.

  But that didn't stop Aria from continuing her offensive, trying to vertically slash down at her to cut her in half.

  Nanasu would then meet Aria's Enk-X physically for the first time, focusing a Soul-Barrier in one place, which would be her arm in this instance, would be shattered instantly.

  It did give Nanasu another 2 seconds to either follow with an attack, or another form of defense.

  Nanasu then chose to attack, punching Aria in the face before performing a fast, quick-paced 50 hit combo to the gut.

  Aria was too late to react; she was caught in the combo. This was the first time Nanasu was able to majorly wound her. It felt good. Nanasu finally felt like she could win.

  Grabbing Aria once again, she repeatedly punched her in the face while they were dodging trees. The path in front of them luckily lacked trees. They could start mindlessly hacking away at each other.

  Aria grabbed Nanasu's hair to get her off herself, kicking her down to the ground. Nanasu backflipped, spinning erratically before punching a tri-laser toward Aria to completely annul her speed.

  Though that did nothing, as Aria blasted it away with her own Soul-Energy. She sped towards Nanasu, grabbing her again while they were rolling down on the ground like two big snowballs.

  The uneven terrain started to aim higher for the stars, giving Nanasu and Aria a sense of a stronger gravity holding them down.

  Aria and Nanasu were at it again, this time rolling down a hill, still punching and kicking each other.

  Nanasu's heart was pounding. Her adrenaline was rushing. She was in the zone. She was in the middle of a battle where her life was on the line. She was hating it though. She would've loved to continue playing her game.

  A frantic summoning of Aria's Enk-X followed with another erratic vertical slash down on Nanasu's arm cracked the Argo-Suit protecting her, a custom suit friction-proof armoured suit for Nanasu to increase her survivability and improve her balance. She is still a capable fighter without it and can move faster without it, though that comes with the risk of being more vulnerable to attacks, as well as risking burning herself if she moved too fast.

  The blade was strong enough to cut through the Argo-Suit and form a deep gash on her arm.

  "AGH!" Nanasu yelled, grabbing her arm. It stung. It stung a lot.

  The suit's nanomachines tried to close the wound, but the cut was too deep. It wasn't enough. The cut was so deep that it was almost bone deep. It was a miracle that it didn't cut off her arm entirely.

  Nanasu heel-kicked Aria's face to get her off, then vanish-stepped behind her to grab her by the neck to put her in a chokehold... mid-air. Aria vanish-stepped away from her and the two started to clash with their bare hands. This was it. The fight was now a brawl.

  Aria's constant release weapon Enk-X was now dematerialized. She was now relying on her hand-to-hand combat skills. She was a Weapon-Type, but she was also a skilled martial artist.

  "I... have to admit, for a weakling, you've got some guts." Aria said, her voice now filled with exhaustion and a hint of respect.

  "Like I said... pick someone... of your own size... if I'm... such a weakling!" Nanasu followed with a witty self-deprecating comeback, but she was just as exhausted as Aria. The message added a Soul-Energy powered punch that blasted Aria, leaving her to fiddle with the trees behind her that would come toppling over her as she crashed through them.

  Aria's exhaustion was starting to show. She was starting to make mistakes. She was starting to slow down. Nanasu could see it.

  Nanasu's own exhaustion was starting to show as well. Her breathing was ragged. Her movements were starting to become sloppy. Her vision was starting to blur. She was pushing herself to her limits. She couldn't keep this up for much longer.

  .:. I need to get out of this mountain or something and help Captain... .:. She thought.

  Aria came launching from the trees, but this time she had a different plan. She now double-handed her Enk-X, a technique she rarely uses. She poured all her remaining Soul-Energy into it. The blade started to glow with a bright, white light.

  "SPIRIT-ANNIHILATION!" Aria yelled.

  A wave of white energy, larger and more powerful than any other attack she had used before, was heading straight towards Nanasu. It was a technique that was meant to kill. It had 2 slashes inside the wave that would cut the Soul itself.

  There was no way Nanasu could dodge this. There was no way she could block this. There was no way she could survive this.

  .:. Shit! .:.

  The wave was edging closer to her.

  .:. Think, Nanasu! Think! What would Captain do!? What would Mikael do!? .:.

  Nanasu skied the ground, using her remaining Soul-Energy to conjure tri-lasers from both her arms. She skied higher and higher in a t-pose, discharging them and cutting the trees in a perfect middle line, making them fall.

  Her plan was to use the trees that fell down to act as a barricade. Every tree slowed down the wave and minimized the output. The wave was still powerful, but the trees gave her an extra few seconds.

  She landed on the ground, her legs shaking. Right now she was face-to-face with the wave.

  "And now, for my special trick!" Nanasu imitated her beloved Captain Claude, with an equally stupid smile.

  She created a Soul-Barrier that wrapped around her arm, and formed a tri-laser, discharging the tri-laser with the Soul-Barrier around it.

  This should destroy the wave, and it did. The barrier around the laser disintegrated the wave of white energy. The two attacks collided in a blinding flash of light.

  The explosion sent trees in the vicinity all over the place, in a danse macabre. The sky lit up with a bright pink-orange and the trees that remained intact started burning down to a deep black.

  Aria sped through the trees that flew in the air and hopped on the trees that were lit a cyan fire, one after another.

  Nanasu was ready for her attack, forming an X with her arm to minimize the force of her impact. However, Aria was going for a strong punch, speeding horizontally with a pose like Superman.

  Realizing Aria wanted to just punt her down to the ground, Nanasu devised a better tactic.

  She intercepted Aria's super-punch, wrapping her arm around hers, moving behind her, performing a 360 kick to the head. She was able to hit Aria's face, but not before getting a kick to the knee in the process. It was enough to stagger Nanasu and lose her balance. Both were still moving in incredible speeds.

  .:. Shit, that kick to the knee numbed my entire leg! .:.

  Nanasu was unlucky enough to be dealt another kick, this time to the face.

  "GU-"

  The force of it was enough to crash Nanasu into several trees and slow down her movement. She was rolling on the ground, and with an uneven terrain, she was even shot upwards by a hill of rocks.

  Aria was quick to react, she was about to finish the job by slicing Nanasu's in two. Seriously, how does Aria meet Nanasu in close proximity everytime?

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  .:. Fuck, everything hurts... I'm gonna die... I'm gonna die! .:. Nanasu thought for another counterattack, but those thoughts were fogged up by constant reminders of physical pain, either from the rocks or from Aria's attacks.

  This tipped the scales in Aria's favour really quickly.

  Aria had minor injuries, but Nanasu was collecting several major ones.

  "Die." Aria blurted out, her masamune ready to strike.

  "..."

  Aria and Nanasu were 500 meters above the ground, a bit above the outer ends of the trees. Aria's body and Enk-X faced toward Nanasu while Nanasu's eyes were looking at the sky. She was suspended in the air horizontally, with open arms, almost as if she was crucified by the planet itself.

  Aria's eyes were cold. It wasn't something Nanasu wanted to see, but her eyes were cold. It's like she didn't have any empathy for her, or anyone at all. Aria's eyes were cold, but they were not without a sense of purpose. Like she was doing what she was meant to do.

  And that was to kill.

  .:. I don't want to die... .:. Nanasu thought with a fading voice in her mind. She couldn't do anything. She expended most of her Soul-Energy into barriers that didn't even hold out for more than 1 attack. She couldn't vanish-step nor use any of her attacks as that would force her to use her reserves, which in turn would damage her Soul.

  All that she could do was wait, wait to die.

  Suspended high in the sky, with a t-pose faced to the stars above, like the Gods are watching them perform a spectacle. Where one would pop a bottle of red wine while the other would spill it on themselves.

  .:. ... I didn't even get to... .:. Nanasu's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Aria charging her Soul-Energy into her Enk-X. A familiar sound, the same sound that would echo throughout her mind for years to come.

  "Goodbye." Aria said, her voice laced with a chilling horror, ready to engulf her in an ocean of black, forever. A beautifully yet horrifyingly spoken goodbye to a life long forgotten.

  .:. ... .:.

  ...

  I guess that's just how it is, huh?

  Though, I won't go down without a fight.

  "GH-"

  "Hand of the Dynamite... Allow Thy Power to Exert Thy Will."

  Nanasu clapped her hands, charging her reserves into her hands, alongside the Soul-Residue that she left in her tracks to discharge it in a volley of blue and cyan coloured explosions, rewarding Aria and Nanasu a long distance from each other.

  Aria was pushed back, suspended higher in the air than before. Nanasu was rolling on the ground, hoping that the torture of the coarse ground would finally stop.

  "AGH- GAAH!" Nanasu felt the pain, the soreness in her body, the fatigue in her muscles, and the pain in her bones. She felt as if her body was being torn apart. But she was still alive. She had to fight. She was desperate to live.

  I will not go down without a fight!

  If I die, I'll die fighting to live!

  That's the mantra she muttered right now as the ground warned her to never perform such a reckless move again. It was a miracle that she didn't completely blow up her arms and hands. It's even more of a miracle that an explosion from such a close proximity didn't scar her pretty face. Though she does feel her face burning up.

  "How... did she-" Aria felt the turbulence of the air shaking her up and down, left to right. The blast was powerful enough to push her high in the air.

  "She was out of Soul-Energy! I felt it... Grgh!" Aria used her masamune as a pole to deflect air and minimize turbulence. She was still out of balance, spinning extremely. If she couldn’t gain back her balance, the air pressure itself would kill her.

  Nausea and lack of oxygen to the brain was another second death sentence for Aria. She used her Soul-Energy to stabilize herself, but it was too late.

  She was too high in the air, and the wind was too strong.

  She was starting to feel dizzy. In a last-resort attempt, Aria expended too much Soul-Energy into her masamune, detonating it, allowing her to fly toward the ground. However, this left her with an incomplete Enk-X, much like Mikael's incomplete Thelisi.

  Even a reckless move wasn't enough for Aria to concede. She was now plummeting towards the ground, headfirst. She needed to find a way to land safely. She couldn't just crash into the ground, that would be the end of her.

  She looked down at the ground, and saw Nanasu, who was still rolling on the ground. Aria chuckled to herself, a smirk forming on her face. This was a fight. A proper fight. A fight that would be remembered.

  "I guess I'll have to use my legs then." Aria said, before positioning herself to land on her feet on a steep hill downwards. The force of the impact would be immense, but she had to try.

  She landed on the hill, in which she would now surf the ground downwards at a dangerous speed. The friction between her boots and the ground created a trail of sparks, and the sound of metal scraping against rock echoed sharply through the forest. It scared all wildlife away, if there was any.

  Nanasu's Argo-Suit finally started to break and crack under the strain of her reckless explosion. But the Argo-Suit was what kept her bones and muscles intact. It helped to use as a cushion when hitting the ground, and it helped to amplify her attacks.

  "...Argo-Suit, disassemble..." She said, groaning in pain.

  The suit started to disassemble, piece by piece, returning into her gauntlets. It was of the most advanced technology, but it had its limits. And Nanasu had pushed it to its limits.

  "ARGH... Argh..."

  She was now on the ground without her Argo-Suit. She also finally stopped rolling on the ground downwards. They were on a mountain of sorts, a very steep one, with Nanasu on the bottom and Aria surfing her way down.

  .:. I need to... I need to get up... I need to fight... .:. Nanasu thought, trying to push herself up. But her body was too weak. She was too exhausted. She was too hurt. If there was a moment where Nanasu had to snap out of this pain momentarily, it was now. Because a few hundred meters higher in altitude from the place where she rolled down, came Aria surfing down at a ludicrous speed.

  "... Heh..." Nanasu found it amusing that she had to chuckle. "That did nothing, didn't it?" She said to herself.

  "We're not done yet!" Aria yelled as she was surfing down.

  Nanasu was in no condition to fight anymore. Every bit of movement that her body asked her joints and muscles to contract and relax sent shockwaves of pain through her entire body.

  Her formal suit was still intact, something that she liked to wear under her Argo-Suit. It surprised her that the Argo-Suit worked well with cushioning her rolls and falls, that there were no scratches or tears in it.

  Nanasu stood there with a forward leaning position, her arms dangling lifelessly. It seemed as if she was out of the fight for good.

  If I'll die, I'll die fighting to live.

  That was the mantra. She was living up to it still. Commendable, but would it be enough?

  Aria was getting closer. Nanasu could feel the vibrations from the ground as Aria surfed down. The wind picked up, blowing Nanasu's hair in front of her face. She could feel the heat from Aria's boots as they scraped against the ground.

  Aria summoned Enk-X, performing an old but gold move.

  "Ascentius Spiral!" She jumped, performing a vertical slash down on Nanasu. They were close now, very close.

  Nanasu jumped to the side, narrowly missing the slash again.

  Aria landed next to her, trying to balance herself on uneven ground to continue her offensive, only to be met with a weak punch in the gut.

  Nanasu was still fighting. With all her will, with all her might, with all her pain, she was still fighting. She still had the capacity to at least hold up her arms to defend herself.

  "W-what are you looking at...? I can fight without the suit, too..." Nanasu said with a heavy breath, following with an absurdly weak punch to the face. It barely registered as a tap.

  Aria took a step back, her face showing a mixture of confusion and disappointment. She expected more.

  Just more.

  Aria kicked her ankle, before elbowing her face, instantly dropping Nanasu to the ground.

  "Gh-"

  Aria then picked her back up again, repeating same freight-train hitting combos. Kick to the gut, punch to the face, knee to the chest, a full-blown beatdown.

  Another kick.

  Another punch.

  Another fist kissing her face.

  And another kick half-stabbing her thigh.

  Nanasu was a ragdoll made to be beaten up and down.

  Nanasu was on her knees now, all bloodied up. Aria picked her up by gripping her suit collar.

  "Give it up. Behind you is a kilometer deep drop. Give up."

  Nanasu's eyes were half-open. She was barely conscious, but she was still there.

  "I... I can... fight..." She said, her voice failing to equal the loudness of a whisper.

  "I told you. It's pointless. You can't win."

  "..."

  ...

  Aria was just quiet.

  She then let go of Nanasu, letting her fall to the ground. She took a step back, her face showing a mix of emotions. It was hard to tell what she was thinking. Was it pity? Was it respect? Or was it something else entirely?

  But she had a mission to do. Avu's orders were clear. He said to 'conquer'. To him, killing was just a means to an end. But this... this was different. This was not a battle; it was a beating.

  Most would call this a necessary evil to get the job done.

  But to beat her down like that, to reduce her to a state where she could barely stand, let alone fight back, it felt... wrong.

  The Uprising of Kytron isn't a group of villains.

  She didn't see herself as one.

  Aria watched Nanasu tumble down, coughing up blood, her suit now torn and stained. If Nanasu Valadne really is a valiant Elite warrior of Soul-Core, then she could survive this... is what part of her told her. Another part told her that she should just finish the job and get it over with.

  But she didn't.

  She just turned around, leaving Nanasu to her fate. She took one last look at Nanasu, who was just laying down in the red-stained snow.

  "Pathetic." She said, her voice low. But right after her "last" look, a flare shot up high in the sky. A red flare. It was a signal, a cry for help of some regard.

  "Shit... She's going to flock the entire Soul-Core army here..."

  Aria wasted no time, she vanish-stepped away, leaving Nanasu behind. She had a mission to do. She had to rendezvous with Avu. She couldn't afford to get caught.

  Nanasu's hand dropped the flare gun, now lying lifeless next to her. She could only await a rescue team to come and pick her up. She endlessly stared at the night sky, with half-closed eyes, snowflakes dropping down on her eyes and turning it bloodshot. Her eyes were half-closed, half-open.

  "..."

  .:. "You should come with us, Nanasu. It pains me to see you slacking off like that. You used to be stronger than what you are now." .:.

  .:. "Captain, there's too many of them!" .:.

  .:. "Captain Valadne, he's here! The Soul Tyrant is here!" .:.

  .:. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" .:.

  .:. "WHERE ARE YOU!?" .:.

  ...

  Just let me sleep... some 5 minutes more... I can't stand the screaming... it's 5 in the morning. Who the hell is screaming?

  A tear ran down her face, freezing on her cheek. She was not crying from the pain, she was crying from the memories. Her memories of being a Captain herself, 6 years ago. How her squad died in the most gruesome ways possible.

  And how she was helpless to save them.

  Just like how helpless she is now.