The Final Confrontation

"Rica, Do it"

MC curved up her lips and placed her palm over to the hull of her ship. She ran her fingertips across its surface to feel its cold frame and after a moment, it picked itself up on the ground as she set her eyes on the giant who was just pushed back after his humongous hands collided with the fist of the Protagonist.

"Alright, Miss MC"

The reaper that had the voice of a girl placed her hand over to the back of the ship. She took a deep breath and after a sharp grunt, the ship jumped within the span of a second and buried itself into the chest of that monster who was just about to recover.

All of them heard a snap as the giant let out a scream driven with pain. He never had the chance to prepare, all he knew was — just like earlier, MC's ship came out of nowhere and rammed itself to him with a force so strong as if it had enough time to build its own speed. He felt like his chest and lungs were being ripped apart but since it had already happened, he mustered all of his strength within a single breath to embrace her ship and stop it in its tracks.

He sank his thin legs onto the ground in an attempt to stop it but it wasn't long before his legs gave up with a terrifying crack. The monster gritted his teeth now becoming desperate, he lowered his stance to use his lower half in order to prevent it from running over his comrades. His skin was getting grated by the rocky ground and he was about to give up and let that crush him but then,

Three spears of light took the form of a huge blue cross as it fell down and impaled the ship to drain its momentum. A woman then followed up and jumped on his shoulders to touch the nose of MC's ship. His long black hair flickered under the moonlight and a moment after, the ship was cleanly cut in half.

"Marian! Change of plans, get yourself in here. I don't think every one of us would be able to escape. I'll be sending Marcos there to meet you up" All of them was able to able to let out a sigh of relief to see that they were able to at least save their friend but none of them dropped their guard.

"Got it, be careful…" He gave him a nod and ran away.

"O-okay sir! I'm coming!" She shouted back. "Take care of yourselves!"

Both sides took a slight pause to size each other up. The battle, for now, seemed underwhelming but the threat of either side starting out the fight served as a bind that kept their necks in check. The night was freezing but none of them felt cold, in fact, all of them had a few beads of sweat running down their faces as the moonlit spotlight decreased its radiance and focused its light onto the small field of grass that would serve as their battleground.

"You bastards, Consider yourself promoted from ants to damn cockroaches." MC walked forward with a contorted smile.

"So much for the reapers. How did you feel when most of your men were killed by my comrades." Steve then replied with an awkward laugh, feeling the sound of his heartbeat ringing inside his head.

"Oh… it gave me pain. It's like watching a hundred worms getting trampled right in front of my face…" MC stepped back and clasped her hand over her supple chest. Her demeanor looked like those of a fairytale princess, the scene looked like as if she were sparkling but it met its end when she broke her fragile atmosphere as she leaned forward to twist her body into a dark smile. "So much for a consolation prize, but hey to make you feel special, I'd trade a hundred-no a thousand worms to catch you, big fishes."

"Who cares? Who are you anyway?" One of the spirits shouted and MC's expression retracted into a poker face.

"Rick, get the others out of here," MC placed her finger to the side of her face and whispered with a slight hint of her scalding anger, but even so, the tone of her voice was devoid of fear or anxiety, she just resumed her usual demeanor, she looked like a old doll that bore her fangs, ready to mangle her opponents at the moment's notice.

"O-Okay maám…" His voice began to waver as he felt the weight of her words passing through his headset.

"So who am I? I forgot my calling card but so let me tell you." The clouds began to gather, covering the moon in an eternal dread that befalls on the group of apparitions that tried to defy these reapers. It started to rain and the reapers behaved as it was nothing new. She walked forward once more with the darkness burning in her eyes as she made a ball of fist on both of her hands and smiled. "I am not born out of regret nor desire and my sole purpose is to guide the dead to their next life — or force them to by crushing their bodies with my ship!"

"Oh… Is she fighting?" One of the reapers hummed out a tune.

"Pretty much. I guess we'll have to sit this one out." One of them let out a groan as a reply.

"Man... I never liked rains but still, there's still a chance you know… she would get tired and we would clean things up...." A reaper that had a woman's voice also stepped out of the dark as she stretched out her arms.

"Please don't try to provoke her any longer. I don't want to go back up just to get her coffee..." one of them replied beneath the mask as he walked away. "I'll go help the others."

"... So, I have to back up that claim right?" She smiled and stomped the ground. That soiled her white stockings with mud but she didn't care. She raised her hand with a sadistic gleam and with her voice echoing softly, she chanted, "In this world where life and death revolves like a playful carousel, every creation that I touch shall serve as my vessel…"

She tilted her head and winked, ushering the muddy ground to erupt and lift itself to the skies in to order form a ball that was huge enough to blot out the moon. The group of apparitions was struck with fear as the reapers bathed in awe at the filth of her glory. She let out a chuckle as she gathered her fingers before she brought it down, causing the ball of dirt to collapse and fall towards them.

Steve clicked his tongue and gritted his teeth. He brought up his arms to summon a few sets of crosses — which at his command, was shot towards the boulder that was about to flatten them. Nicky then stepped up and pointed her finger towards it, she clutched her forearm with his other hand and after a shallow breath, she released a blast of air that ripped through that ball of mud as well as the rain clouds above them.

The battlefield turned silent. The others quivered in the places while the reapers that came with MC was just left speechless. No one moved for a few seconds until someone walked in front and faced them with a tired smirk painted on her face. Nicky felt the numbness climb through her left arm but that didn't matter, she clenched both of her fists and with a condescending tone, she shouted, "After all that chant… Is that it? Don't give us that shit. Don't underestimate us, you bitch."

"Hahah… hahahahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" MC leaned forward and buried her foot on the ground, summoning five balls of earth that turned into a ship a few moments later. She too took a step forward and the other reapers behind her mirrored her actions.

Steve opened his chest to call upon his weapons as many as the stars that littered the sky above them. "Nicky, you should head back to Marian and we'll take it from here."

"A-are you sure? I could… I could still help…" Nicky replied.

"We've already rescued enough, it would be nice if we could take them down. We'll be right behind you." Said by the apparition who severed her boat in half as Steve gave her a reassuring nod.

"I'm healed up and I'm ready. I could transform at the moment you say so," The giant said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Well said, very... well... said…" A midget then walked up to the front and transformed into a mixture of monsters found from children's fairytales. His form had a head of a ram, a muscular body of a beast that was dressed by the scales, wings, claws, and talons of a dragon. It was the last piece that finished the picturesque scene of two beasts standing beneath the radiance of the moon as well as the stars around it.

"Dammit… these guys have a better presentation than us," MC said, ushering her reapers to stand against the glittering lights above them. "Though, It wouldn't matter that much once we get our hands on them."

"Should we really? Should we really do it ourselves?" the Protagonist said as he tilted his head. "I think I broke my arm…"

"Yep, you heard our boss, we're getting in there… dammit." Another one groaned as a thin strip of light began to snap and spark in between his fingers.

"Well… It can't be helped. Give me a good roll will ya..." The other reaper raised his hand and summoned a light that turned into a small dice that spun and landed onto a four. The dice turned into smoke and summoned a ballista that brought the reaper's hand on the ground. "Oh God Damn it, you gotta be kidding me... Alright, I'm pulling back, you guys have fun."

"I'll help Mister Leannox here as well as Miss MC," Rica said as he walked to his side.

"Called it. Definitely called it," Another reaper, the last of the one who stood on the front walked towards Leannox and tapped his shoulder. "Roll…" she said and just like what happened, a dice appeared but it landed on a three, summoning a Macuahuitl — a piece of wood that had a shape similar to a cricket bat and was riddled with a lot of volcanic glass shards on its side.

She raised her eyebrow as she examined her weapon. She then sighed and followed, "Your power sucks."

"Ha!" says the girl who doesn't have a permanent one, "Go get them for me V," Replied Leannox.

MC looked at her sides and let out a satisfied smile. She then raised her chin and snapped her fingers to send her five ships towards the monsters in the distance. "Alright boys, Let's have some fun."

***

"It's now time for you to go," Albert and Tanaka remained speechless as they locked their eyes onto the reaper that obstructed their view from the spectacle of a fight between the others and those apparitions.

"I'm sorry… but why-"

"I'm the Vendor, from Ms. MC's squad." The reaper tilted his head as he nudged his weapon resting on his shoulders. It was a long metal pole that was connected to an iron ball with spikes as long as his fingers. "Your job here is done. We usually don't mind but she gave us the order to keep the remaining ones alive."

"And that means…?" Albert followed.

"That means, that you're pulling out. Now."

"Seriously…" Tanaka whispered as glanced at his broken hands.

"Yeah. Especially that guy."' The reaper scoffed and pointed Rei who remained there like a broken piece of firewood.

"But you might still need our help… I could still-"

Tanaka tried to get on his knees but he was stopped by a shadow of a building that was about to approach them. Tanaka tried to summon a screen of strings to stop but it didn't do much, it passed through like it was nothing.

"These bastards…" The reaper then clicked his tongue and raised his finger. Tanaka and Albert closed their eyes to accept their fate but when it was about to hit, the vendor turned it into mush.

"Well… nice try." The reaper said as he turned his back against them. "The rescue team will be here soon. You did a good job and now, this is where your part ends."