vs Bandit Boss, Zorro ver.

COMBAT ART -  Z-BLAZE

[A fugitive hero’s innate ability. Enables rapid movement, briefly.]

10AP

She pounds down the aisle, sword-point first, a missile to pierce Max’s heart.

Max tenses and swings; his fist is bigger than her head, and if it lands it could fell even her. But she slides underneath the outstretched arm, and gores the pit of his knee.

CRITICAL HIT! 550 DAMAGE!

“That little upstart…” He staggers.

She follows up and the rapier meets its mark. He clutches his chest (25 damage! SHIELD BREAK!) and his SP (shield points) hits zero.

“You’re finished. Leave the man and I alone.” Zorro says.

“I’ll tell you when I’m done…” Max bares his teeth. His jaw unhinges, showing rows of chipped, rotting, bone.

COMBAT ART: MAX ADAMANCE

[A gift from a malicious demon, it allows for a special defensive resource. 30AP.]

He bites into his arm, tearing into a bulging muscle and chews and swallows it as if it were jerky.

“I don’t need shields! I don’t need defense! I’ll just to keep on standing until I knock the brains otta your empty lil’ head!”

Zorro lunges again, twisting as she leaps. The battle carries on, and on, and on.

Her fighting style is like a cat’s, frenetic and fierce. She attacks in a flurry, and rather than defend against enemy counters she simply evades them.

Max doesn’t dodge at all, and keeps trying to connect with a single decisive blow. His arms, legs, and body are criss-crossed with a thousand bleeding cuts.

But despite that, he still stands. And he bites into his muscles again with a manic grin.

“You want to know where these muscles go…?” he says. “One skein wraps round my heart… and another bags my kidneys, a third clings onto brain. Every single one of my organs wrapped in impenetrable muscle armor!

He hefts more train seats, aisle by aisle. With one hand, he throws them at her, with the other he uses a bench to block.

Once someone’s “Shield” stat hits 0, they depend on their own strength to survive. With his “Max Strength” skill, he withered his leg muscles to build up his arms. With his “Max Adamance”, he’s made himself impossible to injure critically. Though his skin is flayed and tattered, he shows no signs of slowing down.

Zorro’s damp with sweat. If her chestplate were cloth instead of armor, it would have been soaked through. She manages to duck, roll, twitch, and sidestep every attack, though each dodge is a smidge laggier than the last one.

“Go for the jugular!” I shout. Even a small cut on the neck in the right place - like a vein, or the windpipe - would be deadly. With her charging combat-art, she should be able to force her way through whatever strange armor’s present.

“I can’t!” She calls, dodging and sidestepping.

“What? Why???”

“I won’t kill!” She says. That idiot!

Max grunts and grins with his crooked, rotten teeth. “I’m fighting to the death miss, so you best surrender.”

Zorro’s forced back onto the gangway that connects the two train cars. Tik-tak-tik-tak-tik-tak, the rails sound.

This girl really does have no common sense, trying to spare a murderer’s life at the cost of her own. My heart pounds watching her fight, a thud-thud-thud-thud that runs even faster than the taks.

I shout: “Aim low!!!”

“I’ve already cut at his legs!!!”

“No, aim lower!!!” I slap the floor. Understanding lights her face.

“COMBAT ART - FLAMING SWORD!!!” She shouts, and her rapier glows red with heat.

She dodges, sidesteps, and cuts low. Max scoffs.

“Missed me miss. Your attack was way off the mark… the hell?”

The metal gangway and the coupler underneath had been cut clean through. No longer attached to the rest of the train, the compartment we’re in slowly decelerates and the gap widens between Zorro and Max.

I dart past Max and leap to the other car - and fall just short. I stretch my hand as I plummet towards the tracks.

Then Zorro takes it, and heaves me to her side. The train cars separate, and soon Max and the other passenger car are specks on the horizon.

We’re both sweating, and panting hard. Despite all that had happened, Zorro and I simply look into each other’s eyes without speaking.

This moment feels even longer than the fight. Zorro speaks between breaths:

“Idiot… idiot!!”

She grabs onto me and rolls me over and tops me.

“You’re stupid twice over. Why’d you attack Max to protect me? It was nice for you to stick up for me, but what if you got hurt?

And then you jumped onto the tracks too… do you have a death wish???”

“But I knew you’d grab my hand.”

She glances down. Our palms are still connected, and she leaps back.

“Zorro, a level 100 ‘criminal’ who refuses to take a human life. Would a girl like that really let me turn into pulp on a train track?” I ask.

She flushes.

SCREEEEEEEEE….

The train steams into the station; bells clang and the air brakes hush. Zorro looks at the people bustling on the platform; well-heeled ladies sandusted by the dry air; carriage-drivers calling for their passengers; a group of panicked, ragged, men calling for guards - victims of Max’s robbery. She looks every which way except towards me.

In contrast to the clamor around us, her own voice is faint.

“I was wondering… you don’t look like you’re from around here.” She says, hands clutched close. “If you need a guide… maybe… we could travel together?”

It’s my turn to be surprised.

In that battle I was absolutely useless. Zorro did 95% of the damage (95.8% to be precise).

I came up with the plan for our dashing escape… but a rapier is a piercing weapon, not a cutting one. Its blade is sharp enough to cut rope and little else. If she hadn’t used her combat art, I doubt that she’d have been able to hack through the connecting cars. My plan should have failed.

All I really did in that fight was throw little newspaper wads… so why would she want me to join her party?

I narrow my eyes.

Ah, I get it. She’s nervous, and fidgeting - she’s twirling a lock of hair, sweating, her face red. I can only come to one conclusion.

“I understand.” I say. “Maru Shimizu is many things, but he is not a narc.”

“Huh?”

I’ve still held onto two pages of the newspaper; I let the article on Zorro fly away in the wind. “I won’t report you to the Imperia’s police. There’s no need to escort me around Esterraria to make sure of that.”

“B-but t-that wasn’t w-what I-”

I present the other page. HELP WANTED.

“I’d love to adventure with you, but I’ll be going to Kameleon Town to find work. After I’m a proper hero with money, levels, fame, and equipment, I’ll return. As I am right now, I’d be holding you back.”

She crosses her arms and gets in my face.

“Hmph! I was just kidding around anyway. Why in Esterraria would a level 100 hero want to spend time with a level 0 dork like you?”

“Yep.” I say.

Even though I agreed with her, for some reason she’s absolutely speechless.

We disembark to the station. It’s a long, wooden platform with a swinging sign that says: KAMALEON | LAMIAN. The carriages have left, and it’s no longer busy - but there’s still a small commotion at the back of the train, where we’ve lopped off the cars train. A handful of law enforcement hurry inside.

“Aren’t you worried about getting caught by those officers?”

“No.” She says. “The Rosa Imperia’s hunting me down… and we’re in the Dragon Confederation right now.”

“Then, Zorro, why are you so quiet?”

“I’m not being quiet.”

A wind picks up and a tumbleweed rolls across the station.

“We’ll part ways here.” I shake her hand, which stiffens in mine. “If you’re ever in town, please stop by.”

I try to leave the station, but the desert sprawls before me in both directions. To my left and right are dusty roads, with no other buildings in sight.

She calls:

“...if you’re going to Kameleon Town, it’s a three hour walk through the desert down the left road. There’s no mobs there, so you don’t need to worry about weapons.

The right path leads to Lamian, also about three hours away. Both settlements share this same station…

…and take these sandals with you.”

“...thank you Zorro!”

She’s sulking, but there’s not a hint of malice in her voice. I wish I knew why she was so upset - I'll strive to see her again, after I establish myself."

Though maybe that’s just my own wish. There’s something about her that’s rather cute…

As I walk off, she mutters some words to herself that I can’t quite hear.

“That guy… taking my first time h*ndh*lding… and ditching me just like that!!! What a manwh*re!”

And then, later:

“...I said there were no mobs down that path, and it’s true that there are only slimes. But for a level 0 adventurer, isn't that the same as a boss battle?"