Chapter 28

 The fight between the two was fierce, even with Apex intentionally not using any of his powers aside from the ones that matched Hanabi’s. Their blows struck like hammers on steel, denting, and crushing, metal against metal.

Hanabi ducked, blocked, and weaved through Apex’s wild punches like a well-trained fighter while Apex might as well have been flailing his arms around as if he were throwing a tantrum. Likely, because he was so used to being the strongest person on the field, he never felt like he had to train against someone who was on even footing. That was a weakness that Hanabi was all too happy to take advantage of.

She ducked under one of his many flailing punches, and stepped into his range. She bashed her fist directly into his side, she can tell that hurt as he stumbled.

“Keep up the pressure.” A voice in her head telling her to not attack without purpose, but rather look for openings and exploit it. Who was this person? It wasn’t her old friend, someone… older. Buried deep in the recesses of her memory.

“Rapid Barrage function… activating!”

Her arms glowed red and hot as she relentlessly hammered his torso with a flurry of blows, as he tried to step back she stepped in, she wasn’t about to let him close the distance. She saw his body rock from the punches, and so he reflexively closed in to prevent more damage.

“You know you’re just stalling the inevitable! Sure you get in some lucky hits!” Apex swung back, using one arm to act as a shield while his other arm struck out like a spear, hitting Hanabi every now and again and forcing balance defense and offense.

“I have the entire damn Gatekeeper combat manual in my brain, I know everything you’re going to do because at the end of the day, you’re just following programming!”

“Nanomancy Foundry activation conditions met…”

“Processing……..”

“Prefab-02 unlocked”

“Initiating metamorphosis sequence………..”

The liquid metal seeped from her skin and gathered to her legs, same processes as what was covering her arms.

“And once you know how the program tells you to act, you become predictable! What are you gonna do when someone knows everything you’ll do before you do them!”

“You’re probably right. In that case…”

“Prefab-02 complete.”

“Designation: Blitz-Striker,”

She grabbed onto his shoulders as he pulled back his arm and swung low!

Apex recoiled and staggered from the machine-assisted strike. “What the hell, you cheating piece of shit!”

Hanabi then vaulted over him, then brought her ankle down to smash his face into the ground.

He caught himself just before his face hit the ground, and tried to stand but Hanabi was already prepared.

She kicked his head, watching as his neck twisted and turned at an unnatural angle as he flew through the air and into some rubble. Was it over? No, probably not. Apex’s specs were higher, but without that suit he was only human.

Steam blasted out from her joints and pores as she took a moment to catch her breath. Apex was likely going to recover soon, and rushing in carelessly would get her killed.

“Danger! Danger! System damage inevitable!”

“Frame Integrity at 32%”

“Systems overheating”

“Combat engaged, standby mode unavailable”

“Please retreat to a safe distance to begin field-repair protocols”

She really wanted to. Logically, she knew that the longer she stayed here, the more likely she was to be destroyed. It definitely made more sense to hide and recover. However… where was safe from Apex? With his many powers, he could probably catch her immediately. Actually, it was only because he had been rattled by her taunts that he was likely fighting her like this. If he were using his full potential, then she’d have probably been destroyed long ago.

In other words, she was only winning because Apex’s ego was bruised, and he wanted to prove something. That was her one saving grace, and if she was gonna win this, then she needed to end it before he decided-

That horrible sound again, like a harbinger of doom.

Hanabi ducked just as the beam blasted through the rubble, it would’ve taken off her torso had her reflexes just been a fraction of a second slower.

“Ya know what I just realized?” Apex said as the rubble levitated around him, he rose into the air as electricity sparked around him. “I’m a fucking god, why in the stars am I fighting like a peasant?” He blasted at her, but missed.

“Damn Gatekeepers and your predictive software, makes you really annoying to hit.” He fired again, but missed once more. Though, he was getting closer to hitting. That one just barely grazed her.

“Getting slower there, eh? How about we speed it up then?” His body flashed white and from his profile sprang another Apex. Then another. Then more than that. Before she knew it, there were a dozen versions of Apex surrounding her in mid-air. “Lucky you.” They spoke in unison. “With the Doppleganger Function, you won’t be atomized by my blasts. However… it’ll definitely hurt. A lot. Maybe you’ll wish you were dead afterwards.”

They all fired at once, and they kept firing, even as she tried to dodge, even as she felt her joints ache and twist. She couldn’t even get close enough to attack, they just kept firing. Several shots found their mark, and it wasn’t long before she was blocking more than she was dodging. Every strike hurt more than she could imagine, her pain dulling functions were pushed to their limit.

She fell to her knees as the blasts pounded on her back, keeping her on the ground. She gritted her teeth as the pain was overwhelming.

“Frame Integrity at 20%”

“Processing Countermeasures… find cover”

“Efficiency of action 17%”

An arrow appeared on the ground, pointing her to a barricade of rubble. She waited for a lull in the blasts, then she kicked off from her back leg and dashed low, she threw herself to the ground and rolled under the rubble.

“Nanomancy Foundry Countermeasures activating”

The liquid metal seeped out of her prefab builds, making them look weaker and patchier but they reinforced her makeshift cover, and encased her in a box as she hugged her knees to her chest to make her profile as small as possible.

“Oh real smart, Gatekeeper! You think some rubble is gonna protect you from me? Well that’s fine, I guess I’ll just scare you for a while. I can do this all day after all!”

Her barrier rumbled as it was pelted by Apex’s blasts. Remarkably, it held, but not for much longer. She needed a plan, but nothing was coming. Her one chance at victory was if Apex’s pride prevented him from using his powers. So what now?

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