Chapter 38: Watching Over Us from Above

Jax took a massive step forward as the ground quaked and shook.

Liz spoke, "Rachel, how are we going to deal with this?"

Rachel then looked towards ZeroOne for answers

"ZeroOne, "how destructive is the overcharged scabbard? Can it take this Mecha Titan down?"

ZeroOne responded, "No. But if you hit the location where Jax is, then yes. You will have to weaken his defenses and strike with all your power."

"Can we convert the energy from the Syphon Blade to the scabbard instead of turning it into blood?"

ZeroOne thought for a moment, then spoke. "Yes, that can work. We can also divert all unnecessary energy to the scabbard until it’s overloaded."

Jax took another step forward as the ground shook harder.

Then Jax slammed down with its massive fist onto Liz and Rachel. Rachel energy hooked away, grabbing Liz to avoid the colossal hand.

While evading, Rachel spoke to Liz. "We can do this—just save your strongest attack and stay alive until I’m ready and try to find jax location in that thing."

Rachel then released Liz, unsheathed her cursed blade, and charged at the colossal titan.

Rachel charged at the titan, energy hooking onto its massive body as she struck the countless mecha bodies fused into the giant.

But then ZeroOne chimed in with bad news: "This might take a while. All of these mechas are already destroyed, so we can only drain the small amounts of energy that haven’t seeped out of their cores."

Rachel gritted her teeth and pushed forward, slashing at every opening while dodging the colossal hands that tried to smash her into the ground, as ZeroOne kept commenting on her charge rate.

Slash, slash, slash — 15% charge.

Energy hook, slash, slash, slash — 23% charge.

30% charge.

Slash, slash, slash — 50% charge.

Slash, slash, slash — 100% charge.

Rachel was tiring out but kept pushing through.

150% charge.

Finally, 200% charge — scabbard unstable!

The scabbard was sparking and popping as she sheathed the cursed blade, then landed near the drained-looking Liz, who had just dodged the massive foot. Rachel spoke, "Are you ready?" Liz nodded.

Rachel grabbed her, "Good, let’s go." She had ZeroOne wrap Liz on her back with her braids. Holding the blade in her hand, the scabbard still attached and sparking, pulsing, Rachel asked, "Where is he located?"

Liz replied, "Right chest is my best guess."

Rachel then dodged the massive hand and energy hooked herself on top of it, then started running up its arm. When she was close, she energy hooked to its right chest, readying herself before swinging down with all her strength. The impact slammed into its chest, causing a massive explosion of mecha and tearing a gaping hole in the colossal titan the moment the scabbard hit.

Cursed Blade and Charge Scabbard damaged. Activation abilities no longer available.

Liz activated her energy shield to prevent some of the backlash as they fell back down. She scanned through the massive hole, searching for Jax. Then she caught sight of him in her scope.

"Gotcha."

She fired her fully charged shot, the projectile homing in on Jax before slamming into him.

BOOM!

Then a notification was heard:

“Rifle out of energy. Powering down and entering recharge mode.”

The blast struck, and the massive titan began to crumble.

Rachel energy hooked onto the crumbling hand, swinging them both to the ground before thrusting away as fast as she could.

The colossal body came crashing down, threatening to crush them. It struck the ground with a deafening impact, sending a massive cloud of dust spreading through the area as bits and pieces of mecha bounced out of the cloud. Rachel and Liz stumbled out, coughing from the choking haze.

Rachel and Liz waited for the dust to clear, then searched for Jax’s remains to make sure he was truly gone.

Then they saw it—an arm pulling itself free from a pile of mechas as he coughed.

Liz muttered, "Damn, how is that bastard still alive?"

Jax struggled to his knees and saw Rachel and Liz approaching. He tried to use his power, but he was completely drained.

He started to speak, desperately trying to save his life.

"No, stay back! I was wrong. I just wanted to be strong enough to defeat the Demon Lord. Look—we can team up and defeat him together!"

Rachel formed an energy sword in her hand, its blade flickering as she was almost out of energy.

Jax turned to Liz instead. "Tell her, Liz—we need to work together! We can’t let the Demon Lord win. I was wrong, please help!" But his words did not faze Liz as they drew closer.

Rachel said nothing, only staring at him with cold eyes.

Jax looked at them with tearful eyes. "I apologize… you you can’t kill me. You’re heroes—you need to do the right thing."

Rachel’s cold gaze lingered on him. She turned away, taking a single step, and a relieved sigh escaped Jax. But then she spoke, "Do you want to know what they called me on my home planet?"

Jax looked up with hopeful eyes. "What?"

Rachel answered, "The Hero Slayer." With a quick turn, she slashed the energy sword at Jax’s neck.

But it didn’t connect—the blade was stopped as a beautiful lady caught it effortlessly with her finger.

She spoke, "I’m sorry, but I need him alive for now. His ability could be useful to my Demon Lord."

Standing before them was none other than the flawless beauty Lulu, her hair and eyes constantly shifting in color.

Jax then grabbed her hand

Jax stammered, "Thank you, thank you! I’ll do whatever you ask—just don’t let them kill me!"

Lulu then glared at him with a disgusted look as she noticed his hand clutching hers.

Lulu’s hair and eyes began flashing rapidly between black and red, and with a flick of her wrist Jax screamed as his severed hand hit the floor.

She then kicked him to the ground and raged at him, "How dare you! The only one allowed to touch me is my Demon Lord, and you dared to lay your filthy hands on me!"

With her left hand, she severed her right hand that he had touched, and Lulu's hand fell to the ground.

Then Lulu snapped her fingers, and from the scrap a Mecha Draugr formed, seizing Jax. With another snap, the half-destroyed Mecha Reaper armor crumbled to the ground. She commanded coldly, "Take him to the lab and toss him with the other experiments."

Then Rachel heard her words and shouted, "Experiment? Is my dad still alive?"

Lulu looked at Rachel and replied, "So that old man is your father. Just give up on him—he doesn’t have much time left. And We still haven’t extracted his hero ability successfully yet, so we cannot let him go. Just give up."

Rachel swung the energy blade again at Lulu, but Lulu easily destroyed it. She stomped on the ground, and a metal fist shot out from the pile of scrap, slamming into Rachel’s stomach and knocking the wind out of her as Lulu approached and coldly looked down upon her.

"Maybe I should get rid of you right now before you become a bigger problem."

Then Liz stepped in the way with her guns drawn.

"Back Off"

Lulu smirked at her, then turned away and began to walk off. "You’re lucky—I have work to do. I must finish the experiments before the old man croaks, so I don’t have time to play with you."

With that, Lulu stepped into the same portal Jax had disappeared through, and it crumbled into a pile of scrap parts behind her.

Liz then helped Rachel up. "Let’s go before they change their minds and come back."

Rachel and Liz headed back to Far Sky City. Rachel descended the stairs to find the children safe and sound.

Lilly spoke with a smile as the other children stood behind her, waiting anxiously for Rachel’s answer.

Rachel gave them a smile and a thumbs up. "It’s over. We won and killed the bad guy who attacked the city."

With that, the children rushed Rachel, giving her a big hug as they cried, relieved it was all finally over.

Then Lilly asked, "What are we going to do now? Everyone’s gone."

Rachel replied, "We cannot leave you here. I’m headed to the ocean. I heard from Eldon there should be a port city somewhere along the coast, so I will take all of you with me and find a safe place for you to stay."

With that, they gathered some large vans. Rachel and Liz departed from the destroyed Far Sky City, passing through the undead wastelands and the crumbled ruins that were once the Necropolis. They finally emerged into a lush, green mountainous region where they stopped by a tall mountain overlooking the sparkling ocean.

Then Rachel and Liz stood over Eldon’s grave as Rachel spoke, “We placed your grave at the top of this mountain so, as we leave to finish this journey, you will be able to watch over us as we cross the ocean and fight our way through the Demon Lord’s lands, and finally destroy him and saving your world. So please watch over us until the end—our journey is far from over.”