Chapter 44A: Disturb Or Disturbed – Yuichi Vs Van II
"I can't waste any more time here," I say to myself as I dodge the bricks that Van launches whilst still edging closer to him.
"Then shall I give you an artistic death?" He says as he throws several boards to the ground and three iron clad knights wielding spears appear.
"Tch, I'm getting nowhere here," As soon as I defeat one thing he just brings out something else.
I jump to one side to dodge a brick and one of the knights tries to pierce me with its spear, I swiftly deflect it with one of my swords, and slash at the knight with my other, but that one gets blocked by one of the other knights.
"Urghh!" I yelp in pain as I gaze at the third knight's spear, that has cut into my left arm. I suddenly also notice the bricks shooting towards me from behind. All right, now I'm mad. I drop and reshape the silver sword in my right hand into three different anklets, which I swiftly attach onto the three knight's legs to hold them still. I quickly pull the spear out of my arm and jump to one side as all the bricks rain down.
Now that I've got all the nuisances in one place, "Silver Dome!" I shout as I create a huge mass of silver that encases all the bricks and knights and then "Compress!" I forcefully shrink the size of the dome trapping all within it. The destructive power behind those bricks was due to the speed they flew at, therefore, if I don't give them any room to accelerate, they're just worthless chunks of rock.
I refocus my gaze onto Van and charge towards him before he can call out something else. "It takes several seconds for you to give life to your pictures, I'll finish you before you can bring out anything else." I declare as I create a replacement silver sword for the one I discarded.
"Giving life to, indeed it does, however," Van throws two boards that spin either side of him, as I get within striking distance and try to slice at him. Van throws an arm into each of his pictures and pulls out a blade from each of the boards, and blocks my attack with both of his blades, "Creating inanimate objects doesn't take any time at all." The two now blank boards drop lifelessly to the ground as I glare at his confident smile.
"So you can also interact with your paintings and pull them into reality?" This was an oversight on my part, I thought he would be weak in close quarter combat, but it seems his power allows him to cover that as well. "You're a lot more of a dangerous foe than I gave you credit for."
"Creating art maybe my day job, but I am Hex Class, of course I'm artistically strong." Van says as he slashes towards my face that I dodge at a hair breadth, oi that's off limits, my face is a better piece of art than you could ever create, and do you have to try so hard to add artistic into all your sentences? I slash back, but Van jumps away and creates some distance as I create several silver javelins and launch them. Van dives to one side and at the same time throws a board on the floor, he discards one of his swords and pulls out a new weapon whilst in mid fall from the dive.
"Shit!" I shout as Van points his new weapon at me and...
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*, "URGHHHHAAAAA!" Shoots three bullets from its chamber, hitting me in both my legs and my arm.
"Unlike our number one Hex Class, I'm not a huge sword freak. Shooting someone dead is a lot more elegant and artistic than stabbing them." Van says with a smile as he continues to point the gun at me.
"Damn!" I groan in pain as I stare at all the immense amount of blood and blue steam flowing out of my limbs. My beautiful body is in complete tatters, and this pain is in league with being hit with a Soul Slayer. But, "I cannot fall here!" I manifest silver and have it put immense pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding. "One as beautiful as I shall never succumb to this level of pain, not until I fulfil my quota!" I reminisce about the time I dreamt that Ren told me he would complete my quota on my behalf and that he'd tell me all about it. But, "I will do it myself! So I cannot fall!" I've been given a second chance at life, I highly doubt I'll get a third one.
"What are you babbling about? Whatever it is, it isn't very artistic!" Van shouts as he pulls the trigger.
"Silver Wall!"
*Bang! Bang! Bang!* - My wall of silver guards me from the attacks.
"This is bad," I say to myself as I look on at the blood escaping from the silver that I had constricting it. "I have no choice," I state as I close my eyes for a moment to regain my calm. "Given that I knew that Alicia and Lilicia-chan must be fighting someone, I wanted to save my strength for that fight. But that doesn't matter, right now I just need to get to them, I'll cross the bridge when I come to it, I'll fight for them even exhausted, even on the verge of death if I must."
"Just artistically die!" Van runs to one side so that he can get a different angle for his shot where my Silver Wall isn't in the way.
*Bang! Bang!* I manipulate my Silver Wall to guard me again.
"This is still in the beta stage, but now is the perfect time to try it out!" I shout to rev myself up.
I create an insane amount of silver overhead Van stares on in shock at the huge quantity, but that is not what is special about this.
"That looks artistically bad," Van deduces, still sticking that meaningless word in. "Your manipulating the silver on a molecular level and changing its physical state into a liquid, and there is such a vast quantity of it!" Van takes a step back at seeing the danger.
"It's not like I laxed off when it came to training my abilities." I state, "Now eat the fruit of my beautiful labour! Liquid Silver Technique: Silver Tsunami!" I drop the mass silver towards Van where it takes the form of a large wave.
Van jumps into the air to avoid the Silver Tsunami but I have a part of the wave retake a solid form, and like a tentacle it wraps around his waist and tries to drag him into the Silver Tsunami. Once I have him in there, then it's over.
"Tch, time for an artistic escape, I've more than fulfilled the assignment given to me by Disturb-sama." Van pulls out a board and puts his own body into it, the board then disappears.
"So he escaped," I lament, but I have no time to chase him down, "Alicia, Lilicia-chan, hang on, I'm on my way."
I drag my exhausted, wounded, yet still beautiful, body. Nothing is going to stop me.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 44B: Disturb Or Disturbed – The Boy And Girl's Tears (Perspective: Alicia)
Lycan charges towards me at an incredible speed, I throw one of my electric balls at her, but it goes right through her like before, another after image.
"Guh!" I feel another sharp pain cutting into my side, but this is what I was waiting for. I grab the unsuspecting arm of Lycan, the beast like eyes shows shock for the first time.
"Now you can't escape!" I thrust my second electric balls towards the now restrained Lycan, or rather at the collar on her neck.
"GGAAAHHH!" The beast weeps in pain as the collar changes colour and she falls to the ground.
"Hooo," Disturb smiles at the sight, "You forced Lycan's collar to malfunction, and restrain her, very clever." The collar Lycan's wearing is the same kind that we put on Alma, it restrains the individual via certain keywords. Disturb probably had her wear it as a fail safe mechanism in case she turned on him, she is like a wild beast after all. "I never considered you'd do something like that, I guess I'll have to redesign the collar to prevent that from happening again."
"Your next, Disturb," I regather electricity as I restate my declaration, "You won't have my little sister!"
"Onee-sama," Lilicia whispers as a single tear escapes her eyes.
"I told you, no one will get in the way of our love, although it looks like I'll now have to get my own hands dirty. And here I thought only Yuichi Shiro would be a match for one of my Hex Classes, even if your victory was simple lucky circumstances." He's right, I wouldn't have been able to defeat Lycan if it wasn't for that loophole.
"And I doubt Van will be able to delay him much longer, therefore." Disturb closes his eyes, and whilst holding Lilicia with his arm he forms several hand signs. Here it comes, eight white streams of light in the shape of tentacles sprout from Disturb's back, each tentacle has something like an eye inside of it. "Thanatos' Reaper Technique: Photon Options." Although the number of tentacles is inferior, it's the same technique as Carrisa's. Even though Disturb is a scum, he's still a Thanatos.
"I've really come to hate this technique lately," especially considering I've always been on the receiving end of it.
"Thanatos is considered the top of the three for a reason, a mere daughter of the Pandemonium is no match for me. Why must you stand in the way of me trying to bring Lilicia into my family?" Disturb asks seriously, he honestly cannot seem to understand the reason. He maybe even beyond disturbed.
"Because Lilicia hates your guts!" I shout as I run towards my foe with my electric balls. Several of the eyes glow and then shoot out white beams, I dodge to one side, but more glow and shoot their beams, I dodge again and throw my electric balls at the tentacles. The tentacles that are hit disperse, however another quickly forms in its place.
"Guhhhh!" From behind? I gaze at the Photon Option that had sneaked into my blind spot and shot at my arm.
"Onee-sama!" Lilicia shouts as I hold my injured arm, all the Photon Options circle around me.
"Disappear," Disturb says coldly as all the Photon Options shoot at me at once, damn it.
"Silver Mirror!" I finally hear the voice I wanted to hear the moment this fight had begun. Several sheets of silver surround me and the lasers shot from the Photon Options reflect back in the directions they came from whilst leaving a burn mark on the silver. Those beams obey the laws of light, so mirrors reflect them.
I gaze at my saviour and am astonished. He is covered in wounds throughout his whole body, blood is escaping relentlessly, he's in no condition to fight.
"Yuichi...niisama?" Lilicia looks on in horror at the boy whom we both love so much, who is dragging his body that looks as though is knocking on hells door. For someone who is always obsessed with his beauty, I never thought I would see him in such a state, I never thought he would allow anyone to see him in this state.
"You managed to defeat Van I see," Disturb gazes on, "But with one foot in the grave already, what are you hoping to accomplish?"
Yuichi looks at Disturb and then at Lilicia whom is in tears, then finally at me. "I'm going to kill you," Yuichi declares as he slowly drags his body towards Disturb.
"Does seeing your fiancé all beat up DISTURB YOU!?" Disturb shouts.
"It doesn't disturb, just pisses me off. Now seeing a middle aged bearded man, playing the bagpipes in a kilt, on a windy day, NOW THAT DISTURBS ME!" Yuichi shouts out some incoherent nonsense, is it due to his wounds? No it's just Yuichi being Yuichi.
A few moments elapse before Disturb scratches the back of his head awkwardly, "Okay, I can't disagree with you there." On just that one point, it seems friend and foe are in agreement, but now isn't the time for such stupidity.
"Yuichi-niisama..." Lilicia stares on still in horror as Yuichi forces a smile to his face.
"I'll definitely save you," He says kindly as his body seems to gather its second burst and he charges at Disturb head on.
Seeing Lilicia regain some strength Disturb glares angrily at Yuichi "I won't let you corrupt Lilicia any further, Yuichi Shiro." Four of the Photon Options shoot at Yuichi, wait four, that means, the other four shoot their beams at me, Damn.
But like before Silver Mirrors form and reflect the attacks from hitting me. But only from hitting me.
"Urghhh!" All four beams shot at Yuichi pierced through him.
"YUICHI-NIISAMA!"
"YUICHI!" Lilicia and I scream in shock at the boy who took all those attacks, but yet, his legs remain solid, and he continues to move towards Disturb, who harshly shoots the lasers from the Photon Options again.
Once again I am protected but, Yuichi. He doesn't have the strength left to defend both of us, so he's using what little he does have to protect me. Yuichi...I can't stop my tears at looking at my fiancé take attack after attack yet still continues forward. But at this rate.
"No more playing around, this time I'm aiming for your vitals." Disturb coldly states as energy gathers into the Photon Options with Yuichi barely able to move.
"NOOOO!" I scream
Just before the lasers are shot, "I'LL BITE MY TONGUE!" Lilicia shouts and Disturb's attack ceases. "I WON'T LET YOU HARM HIM ANY FURTHER!" I stare at Lilicia, that last declaration, her eyes, despite covered in tears, they're serious.
"You really have been corrupted, my love," The Photon Options move their aims away from Yuichi. "Don't worry, I'll definitely purify you," Disturb declares as he turns Lilicia, who is as solid as a statue, to face him and then, a most unforgivable action, Disturb interlocks his lips with Lilicia's. Lilicia is shocked as tears flow down her eyes and her body grows tense.
When he lets go of her lips, Lilicia looks even further saddened, "How...how could you...?" Her voice through the tears is weak. Yuichi, almost as if in response to Lilicia's tears rises from the ground and slowly moves towards Disturb once again. The Photon Options refocus on Yuichi, not good, I gather my strength, run and dive pushing Yuichi to the ground before the beams can pierce him again.
"Onee-sama...Yuichi-niisama..." Lilicia's face is full of grief and despair, but she tries to smile again, "Thank you..."
"Connect..." Disturb states as he, Lilicia and Lycan disappear.
"Lilicia...Damn it!" I failed, I let my sister get taken, and I let Yuichi get put into such a state, can't I be anything more than dead weight!?
Yuichi slowly rises up off the ground, tears are flowing down his eyes as he slowly marches towards where Disturb previously stood. "He's gone, Yuichi," I say as more tears continue down my face. But Yuichi keeps moving, I run to catch up to him and then I notice.
"Yuichi..." His eyes, they're, Even though he keeps moving, "You're no longer conscious." And yet he still moved, he still desired to save Lilicia, despite his wounds, despite his mind no longer functioning properly. Yuichi takes another step with his battered body, then another. "I said they're gone, Yuichi!" I embrace him tightly as I look at his hollow eyes that are still crying, "Please think about yourself, Yuichi. Your wounds are serious. Please, just for now, stop fighting, rest. Even if we lost this battle, for as long we're both alive, we'll get another chance. We'll definitely save her, so please, don't burden yourself any more!" I don't know whether it's because my words got through to him, but with eyes still crying, Yuichi's body goes limp as I feel his weight lean on me.
I strengthen my embrace further to support him as I release all my sadness and frustration. This was our complete loss. "Lilicia..." I soak my eyes into Yuichi's shoulder as I try to regather my hope. Today, I lost one important person to me, and I very nearly eternally lost a second.