Arc 2 - Chapter 53: Gwen vs Lazaros

(Libertatem 1, 59 / 5:36AM)

Back to the actual present.

Light was bestowed upon every corner of the room.

Air as sharp as samurai blades, friction as dense as lightning, the two strongest fighters began their duel. Cryptic air intertwined the pillars, the walls, and even the ceiling. Everything cried and trembled from the tenacity of their punches … and their jumps.

Pushing her heels off the ground, she tore a hole through the floor with only her bare feet. Pinning her glaring eyes on the old man, he only pushed up a smirk, as his body was sufficed in the wall.

‘N-Not bad…’

His cheek was bruised, but it did not bleed. Focusing his eyes on the incoming light, he used his shoulder blades to pop himself out. Hearing an old crackle glisten his ears, what brought him joy was the fulfillment of his sandals clapping the ground.

Gliding through the air, he began his fox-like zigzag.

“Is that all you have!?”

Leaping off of the floor again, she twirled her body 360, over and over again to gather the air like a beyblade. Making the wind sharp as obsidian, even he couldn’t detail her twirling.

Continuing to jump backwards, and avoiding a single punch, he had his instinct yell at him to dodge.

‘I underestimated her…’

Like a game of whack-a-mole, Gwen was the player and Lazaros was the mole. He felt every punch that Gwen threw, and every blast of wind that gathered from her knuckles. Feeling his nose and cheeks barely scraped, and bits of his hair cleaved off, it was only a matter of time…

His hands to his sides, he found himself being on the defensive.

‘But I think I see her biggest weakness yet.’

Without kicking, without punching, and without blocking, he continued to dodge. Tracing the air that rippled her clothes, and even down to her bare feet … he jumped back.

Sliding through the marbled floor, a fire of friction unveiled from his sandals.

“If you're so fond of me…”

Hunching his body forward, he let his hands be free from his grasp.

Having them hunker onto his sides, he swayed them back and forth and stared at the hurdling light. Her body glowing like the sun, a star that pulsated and sharpened, he didn’t need to glance up.

As a window was right above him.

“Then how about we take it outside!”

Using only his right foot, he split the marble like the sea. Making himself look like a bullet, all of his robes were pushed downward. Extending his right hand outward, he made a fist, and prepared himself for the many obstacles above.

“You’re not … GETTING AWAY!!”

Having her hands down to her thighs, she also pushed the soles of her feet from the ground. Snapping the poor floor in half, her whole body whistled like a freight train.

Pushing through the window, thousands of glass shards scraped through his robes and body. Even when his robes were ripped and torn, not a scratch or scar tainted his old skin. Glass was replaced with metal, metal was replaced with break, which eventually led him towards…

Outside.

After going through each floor, his knuckle reddened from the excess materials he plowed through.

Seeing the city skyline statured in hell, there was also the flaming creature that stomped across her sandbox. The sky in a reddish state, and most of the city in darkness, the only thing he could do… was smile.

‘Oh Lagefor…’

His eyes drawn to the hellish yet beautiful sight, he failed to recognize the light from behind.

“Oh—”

Reaching the climax of their height, gravity was soon upon them. She was already beyond him, as her fist was already cultivating the air around her knuckles. Honing it straight toward his face … he couldn’t move even if he wanted to.

As he felt his left cheek sustain a creaked break.

Rippling the ends of his robe, he drew ever so closer toward the ground saturated in chemical black. His ears being hammered by the gusty winds, it didn’t take long for his entire body to be slammed onto the asphalt. Letting his back take the brunt, a fog of dust scourged not just the area … but across the entirety of the street.

‘Damnit…’

Creating a large crater with only his body, he slowly got up with quivering arms and legs. Cracks and splinters scourging the asphalt, he patted dust and debris that got onto his robes. Unable to see through the fog, he allowed a simple smile, as the dust and darkness sweltered his skin.

“Reminds me of six years.”

The dust swept away

His hair swindled backward, everything from his robes to his even his skin jumped back.

And his eyes recovering from his blurriness, he saw a freckled woman, a woman who held two whips of light. Electricity sizzling from the tips, she had them arched back, while her whole body lunged forward.

“Take it!”

His sandals straining the asphalt below, he slid back with both of his hands to his sides. Widening his eyes, her right whip not only slashed through the air, but everything that was dozens of meters to the right. From the air itself, to the stone metal, all the buildings that were to the North—crumbled like dry dough.

And with her left hand, she did the same. Honing everything within her biceps, her shoulders, they packed the equivalent of a havoc missile.

‘Shit … she’s starting to control her temper…’

Zipping through the air, she made herself appear like lightning. Her body glowing, her whips electrifying, Lazaros to tremble upon her honed anger.

Moving like she never did, she zip-zapped all across the street. Littering lines of fire from her feet, the back of her whips tore apart the very buildings around them. And with a thrust of her whip, she began her barrage…

A barrage of a thousand whips.

Miraculously, Lazaros swerved back and forth like his life depended on it. His eyes all too focused, he knew that a simple whip to his body would kill him. Unable to take in that pain, his entire soul was on the edge of his throat.

“Is this how you’re going to kill me? Whips? Good luck!”

Without uttering a single comeback, she continued to unleash her assault. Rippling the very air, bringing it down to him and only him, everything else was sliced and diced.

His hands down low to his sides, he crackled his right fist. Steadying his arm, his shoulder, and even his neck, he made sure that nothing would be able to trip him. Once he leaped back the most he ever did, and sent the very asphalt to crack open.

His robes fluttering through the air, he watched as Gwen did the same. Seeing her fly, brightening all shadows, everything about her glowing skin made him groan. Once he was able to slide, he glided his body with a straightened back, and waited.

‘She’s already here…’

Unable to keep track of the time, one of her whips had lunged forth without strain. Slicing through the air, the tip of her whip spewed electrical sparks into his very eyes. Reflecting it, his right arm shot out at the speed of a—

His knuckles struck her whip.

But it didn’t falter.

An equilibrium already ensuing, he unleashed his other fist as well. Doing the same in return, her left whip blocked his knuckle as well. And upon repeating the very essence of his attack, a missile barrage of fists and whips boomed the very street with their pressurized air.

Sending the asphalt to literally blow away.

“Overpowering me won’t be easy! I have you on the defensive!”

“Eat! My! Ass!”

“Your whips! Your strength! They only slow me down! You’re not special!”

Pulling back one of his hands, he allowed a microsecond of a window for Gwen. With her right whip, she threw it like a bullet train.

Arching his body to the left, he had his left knuckle holding back one of her whips. Being her left whip, her right one zipped through concrete, and created a canyon that was littered with dust and dirt.

‘Perfect…’

Like a rocket, his right foot launched forward. With no hesitation within his body, all of his joints and bones creaked under the old age that he was sufficed in. And yet, his toes were the first to reach her chin.

Widening her eyes, she didn’t have time to glance down. Already feeling her head bubble, her vision flickered into a blurry state. Walking backward, her head arched all the way up, until she brought it down to normal.

All of her chin swelled in purple, underneath the glow of her skin. Tightening her grip, she thrusted her arms back and retreated.

“Damn you!”

She saw him speeding toward her.

Leaping to the left, she was now on the defensive. Avoiding a single fist, Lazaros’s punch alone broke the pavement beneath them. Narrowly avoiding it, she stared at him with pulsating irises.

Seeing another punch, she blocked it with one of her whips. And in return, his other fist began to take charge.

“You can’t get me on the defensive!”

“Oh I know! But all I had to do was outsmart you!”

Jumping high in the air, he created a hole from the ground that splintered in cracks. Reaching a height that envied the angels, he then looked down at her with a smirk, and opened his lips.

His eyes widened, his arms extended, he stalled in the air as gravity began to formulate.

“And looky here!”

Soaring down to the street, he pulled back both of his hands and arms. Making himself look like a javelin, Gwen stalled a few meters from the projected landing. Ignoring her glowing body, he was only a few meters away…

And just as he was about to pummel the ground, he glanced to his left.

“Gotcha!”

Without showcasing a bit of smugness, Gwen yelled with a parched throat. Wrapping her right whip around his waist, she made it so that every bit of tightness was lethal.

No air pushed through his lungs. Feeling his whole body succumb to her whip, his eyes immediately began to redden with red. His body in front of her, he had his hands behind his back, but he crackled them with his fists.

“D-Damn you…”

“I’m not finished … I’m not through …”

Raising her right whip, she snapped the air like she was whipping a poor donkey. And having the tip sizzling electricity, she then slid her left foot back, and readied her right foot. Straining the ground, straining her calves up to her thighs, she was ready…

Throwing it down like a guillotine, Lazaros tilted his eyeballs up to the sky. Inches from his face, he allowed no air to soothe his lungs, as he hunched his back.

“I am through.”

He pushed his bones to the very limits of flexibility. Having his wrists shown clear as day, the very tip of the whip grazed the top of his fingers. Feeling his hands and palms sting, all of his toes sent him forward, as he propelled the air with eyes burdened in red.

Taking her aback, Gwen saw the very whip hit nothing, but only collapse an entire building. Dust and debris flowing from the other side, it left her no choice but to jump back.

As he began to pull out his wrists from his back.

“You think you could outsmart me!?”

Having no other choice, Gwen pulled back, and allowed air to circulate into his lower body. Feeling the tips of his toes growing pins and needles, all of the blood that Lazaros was blocked from … suddenly gushed into existence.

Being free, he didn’t quell on celebrating. Sprinting straight toward her like a bullet, it only took two steps for him to be a few meters in front of her.

Until Gwen leaped back.

“Your bloodline is toast! You and your brother are suffering from the worst of IQ!”

“You…”

All of her body flickered, leaving her eyes to be the only ones to shine ever so greatly. Her knuckles on the verge of popping out, she growled and sneered at his words. Unwilling to back down, her composure only pushed her to use her whips.

And began unleashing a herculean of razored wind.

Everything from a dozen meter radius was sliced. Striking randomly, even Lazaros found her unpredictable wind … hard.

Feeling her anger soar, all he had to do was to encourage it.

“Your brother was useless! Hell, after I was done processing him, he has been more useful than he has ever done in his miserable life!”

“Ah ….”

She tried to control it, but her body only flickered ever so increasingly. Feeling it boil, every vein across her face began to distort. Being on the brink of madness, or borderline psychopathy, everything screamed at her….

To push both of her whips in the air.

“I’LL KILL YOU!!”

Charging at him with full force, she cleaved her throat with all the strain she had. Veins scouring all around her neck, her chin, and even her ears; everything was pulsating and blurring with red.

Her eyes filled with venom, her whole body glowed but not so bright. For a single second, she left her guard completely open, completely vulnerable for one split moment.

And that was all it took—

“Dumb move.”

—Gwen Froze.—

Without blinking, she saw his whole body right in front of her. Slowly tilting her head down, she felt her stomach warmth under a cold touch. Liquid splashing on the concrete, Gwen held her breath…

—Once a fist was lodged into her stomach.—

Coughing out blood, it spewed onto her chin as well as his robes. Her hands already going numb, she couldn’t wipe away the reddish liquid that stained her jaw.

The light that glowed from her whips began to fade. Lazaros, who began pulling his hand from her stomach, let the brown and red mixed together to form a puddle.

“I always wondered … if a human turns into a zompire, do they truly die?”

Hearing the words from his cold mouth, Gwen maintained her glare at the smug faced old man. Her body trembled under the immense pain, her knees buckled, but she didn’t fall. Unable to even cover her wound, the warm air that surrounded them whistled through her wound.

“To be clear, I don’t really believe in the idea of heaven or hell, but I do believe in souls. Because zompires originated from humans, and humans do indeed have souls, then are they just corrupted?”

Blood pouring from her quivering lips, she couldn’t even dig her teeth against one another. Trying so hard to move her arm, her hand only twitched and convulsed the longer she strained.

Intestines, blood, shit; everything was out for the world to see.

“And if I’m right, and I’m always right, their soul is trapped within the molding body they’re in. No way to go to heaven or hell, it is only a myth for them, and for people like me.”

Slowly yet surely, she tore all of her muscles within her right arm. Raising it inch by inch, she had it so that her right hand was scratching the leather of her jacket. Having it hover over the hole, her fingers felt no skin, only warmth.

“Do you know that saying, ‘I have no mouth but I must scream?’ Well, that same thing could be applied to those very zompires you all have faced.”

Dropping to her knees, she sat with a straightened back. Her mouth opened, blood swept evermore from the corners of her lips, and the crevices of her eyes. Burning her esophagus, swelling her gums and teeth, she saw Lazaros take a step back.

“Judging from the way you fought with me tonight, I never knew how all of you … all of you … are dubbed elite soldiers in the first place.”

Pushing his left hand into his pocket, he pulled out a simple box of hand sanitizer that snuggled in his robe. Bringing out 1/8ths of the gel from the container, he had most of it cover his knuckles and fingers.

And putting the sanitizer back into his pocket, he began to rub both of his hands excessively. Stinging his hands along with his wrists, he made sure that every speck of his skin sizzled.

“I’ve done my part. All that is left is for Sidney to do hers. Even if she wins, or loses, no one is going to save you from that wound … not Hope … not Luke.”

Pushing both of his hands into his pockets, he twirled his body around to walk west.

Leaving Gwen to be alone, all of her body twitched the longer she kept awake. Her cheek slouched on the asphalt, she painted a small area of the street with brown and red. The smell defecating her nostrils, she moved both of her hands toward her stomach…

‘Luke…’

Looking up toward the tallest tower. Having no strength within her calves, nor her thighs, she was left to bleed and sulk amidst the cold pavement.

Just as she shed a single tear, her thoughts echoed through the abyss…

‘I’m so sorry …’