Flipside: The Worst Foe Possible - Part 4

“They got you a good relic, Col. Very fitting for your style.” The man in slightly damaged clothes spoke as he dusted himself. “You could likely take me down with four or five of these… But that's it for now.”

Colette and Karim were still up and with their stances in place, but the first was bleeding below her gauntlets now and the former’s throat was sore. And in opposition to them, the hero was a little bruised and his clothes were somewhat damaged.

In the best-case scenario, he had some small fracture somewhere, although it didn’t look so from how he was moving

Everyone there could see that the balance of power was turning further towards the grey swordsman as time passed. Benjamin wasn’t even moving that fast anymore as he could also see this much. He was only advancing with slow steps and a low guard like when he fought Karim alone.

“You’re fucking underestimating me too much, aren’t you?!” The wounded brawler rose both her arms and set the gauntlet relics on again to show her will to keep going. “Even if I don’t kick your ass now, I won’t let you go past me too.”

Colette was somewhat right. They didn't need to defeat Benjamin as long as enough time went on since they were in allied territory.

The explosion was noisy and the pillar of light should have called some attention to it, so it was possible that someone was heading there too. Many allies were fighting around, with the crew of the Beehive being the more interesting of them.

Even the sailors that were close by could maybe appear if they ignored the fearful aura this hero had. As long as they could hold for a while, it was very reasonable to expect some help that could turn this fight.

A 'while' likely meant that they would need to take a few exchanges to even survive for this long though. A few exchanges that, as long as they were close to the last one, would finish this whole battle with a single hit.

“You will die, Col. There’s no way to hold this blade with how little energy you have.”

“Try me.”

“Sigh… I really hope you won’t die.” He spoke while moving to the same stance from a few moments ago, but now with a spell already forming on his wounded and free hand. And from how all seemed to be going, Colette would take it head-on with only whatever support the priestess on her back could manage.

But letting this clash happen was beyond what Karim could accept. The result was way too obvious to her. And she didn't need to continue with it too now.

“Stop it!” She shouted out to the two other people in the area, throwing her blade away and then marching forward as she spoke. “You won, hero. I can’t believe such a monster would have a title like here, but you won either way. Do whatever you want with me, but leave the Leviathan later, got it?”

“I don’t believe you have any ground to negotiate here, priestess, but it’s fine by me. My work’s done here either way, so leaving wouldn’t be a problem… The only question is if you’ll be arrested quietly or if I’ll have to finish you here.”

Karim was halfway between her ally and her enemy when she stopped. She was unarmed and had her hands in the air, but she wasn’t feeling like becoming a prisoner. The thought that they would do something unsavory to her while in prison didn’t cross her mind, but it was impossible to know why this man wanted to get her to do.

“Can you tell me what you want with me? I don’t remember having something so important that would be worth a target on my back…”

“That’s something you don’t need to know and I don’t want to explain,” Benjamin answered plainly as he broke his stance and started to walk forward. “And I don’t have time to lose with it too.”

“No time to lose, eh? That’s funny considering your situation and all…”

At least, if staying close to Annabeth would cause trouble to the terrorist’s plans, then it was sure she had something that was important. Even if the best idea she had was related to her heritage, it was impossible to know what it had to do with anything.

Luckily, he was human just like Colette, and both of them were unable to notice a very big detail in this fight.

“I mean, you’re losing time when quite the high-profile monster is approaching you, so aren’t you free right now?”

“What?” The grey-haired man rose his eyebrow and stopped in place at the weird question he was hit with. Even Colette was staring in confusion right now. The only smile was on Karim’s face, even if hers was a weak one.

“What, what? Aren’t you feeling it?” She asked with her eyes going to the sky only to draw the other two pairs too. “Aren’t you feeling as if your soul’s being sucked right now?”

It was only a small point in the night sky that was growing ever so slowly, but it was still a growing shining point. A growing shining point that was pulling energy out of every single spirit in the area at a much higher rate than usual. And a point that, as time went on, everyone could hear its insane cries of anger.

“BEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!”

“Jump!” The short shouted as she heard the scream and jumped away the best as she could before the crazed inquisitor could do whatever she wanted to do. And ignoring her warning, Colette instead charged forward and held the petit girl, forcing herself to jump with her as fast as possible.

Then, all that came was silence.

A deadly silence that lasted only a moment covered the sea as the falling down calamity pulled all stops and fired her already damaged gun. A silence that broke in a single moment and gave space to two massive shockwaves, one from when the gun fired and the other when its bullet got blocked.

Both of them were enough to damage anyone close by. Colette's barrier was in pieces just to keep them safe, but even this much was impressive considering how powerful the attack was. It was enough to make the hero buckle under the pressure, so it was easy to imagine what would happen if he wasn't the one taking the attack.

Still, when the bullet lost its power, the grey swordsman was on his feet. With blood leaving the new cuts on his arms, the top half of her clothes fangled and unsteady, but on his feet still.

But the attack wasn't over yet.

The redhead was still falling and her trajectory's target was forced to stay in place for a while, so he was unable to dodge the incoming punch. A punch that used her left arm, the other being in tatters after the blowback of her first attack, and one with more spell circles than reasonable.

Which spells were there were beyond Karim's knowledge, but the power behind them was impressive. Or at least, how they destroyed Annabeth's arm as her punch sent the swordsman flying made it look so.

It was a clear damaging strike both the priestess and the brawler had failed to achieve together. Even if, in the end, the one who ended up rag-dolling on the deck of the Leviathan was the girl that caused said damage.

Just the fact that she wasn't in pieces was already unusual considering how far she fell, but that was beyond the point. There were other things to worry too. Like how, in less than thirty seconds, the hero was already getting up from his new hole in the hull. He had a swollen eye, an arm to relodge, and cuts through most of his upper body from what Karim could manage to see, but that didn't seem to be enough yet.

But more impressive, and many times scarier, than him, the tattered girl was also getting up as her body fixed itself from its gruesome state.

A figure with all but the chockers tattooed on her neck shining in golden and an aura that was threatening to delete Karim’s existence. A human covered in blood and recovering from wounds so heavy that could take even the most powerful spirit down. A young girl with red hair streaked with lines of golden, shining golden eyes and a smile that would put her humanity in question.

The golden calamity had descended on the battlefield.