Judgement

"To be truly rotten at heart is such an understatement isn't it?"

Ambar sighs, dismayed by the actions of his past. Haunting him beneath his shadow. Leaving him nothing but presents of trauma and failure. Rotting beneath him like a wart on his toe. An increasingly annoying reminder of what he wasn't able to do on that very day.

He looks back at what was once his friend, staring back at him with haggard glee by a blank wall. Ignoring the screeching of his broken pieces of art, fizzing about across the PVC flooring as oil continued to trickle past the machines. Pooling up like mud around his feet. Charging up his drill despite the slight damage from his machine. A massive improvement from before. Above him, the buyer stood by the railings. Observing him ever since his battle began. Seemingly predicting their every step and their location of battle. A bland and plain three story basketball court.

On the side of each wall, a large counter illuminated, tracking every shot into the hoop. Now void of any function unlike the atmospheric conditioners that laid in the room, filling the place with temperatures and conditions based off the location of multiple international basketball events. A usual sight in most indoor basketball courts nowadays. But a hindrance if the pool of oil seeps in the vents and is ignited by a spark.

He couldn't tell what was his deal to watch from the shadows, spectating them as if it were his pawns in his game of life. He could definitely tell Scott and the buyer had a plan of their own. To corner himself in a place which had only one exit was brazen enough. Especially with the buyer watching from the side lines, hardly protected from his machines which stayed below out of honour. But if he was really going to stay there, he should know that he has got a plan, even if the rest are not behind him when he needs it.

What sly vampiric foxes.

"If that is what you want to think of me, fiend. But isn't that you also think of yourself? Those words must have gone into your head isn't it? For your information, none of this will ever change what you did that day! Yet you forced your way here with your head held low to face me. Is this for another reason all together?"

He tilted his head creepily, listening to the rumble of his large drill like a psycho. Cleaned and repaired from his last endeavour. It was obvious to him that he still looks down on him, not bothering to even upgrade himself or his drill. Still the same old man he faced against a few weeks ago. But even he could tell he had not let his guard down, still moving with that aggressive stance, fully expecting something different from his previous actions. He is definitely hiding his Excalibur.

"Perhaps. They said that being a pussy is hardly something to be proud off. But then again, one cannot be strong and lead others if he or she isn't afraid of something. Are you trying to hide your own emotions Scott? You seem like the most hypocritical person I've ever met."

Scott fumed, twitching uneasily from his words. Twirling his drill even faster with his arm now raised. Pointing directly at his target like a lance with a dark expression. Ignoring the drones now beginning to swarm around him like a barricade. Worried for their master's safety.

"You dare something like that?! Are you really pleading to us to kill you?!?"

He couldn't help but scoff with amusement upon his words, chuckling beneath his feet like a baby. Unsurprised at his overreaction from his overflowing pettiness. Good. He isn't going to do anything brazen or stupid. This was now a truly equal playing field.

"Maybe... I'm just admitting that I have a fear of my own. Lacking proper control for your own actions is something to fear isn't it? The fact that I finally found you both again after blindly thinking you are all dead is truly my blessing and my curse. In truth, my colleagues have other ideas. After all, having a third party is hardly something we want on our front yard. However, I'm willing to finish what I started. To finish what I failed to do all those years ago. So, are you willing to show your own fear?"

The drill slowed slightly, lowering at the thought of his words. Now deeply engrained into his mind like an unsightly tattoo. It had been the first time someone talked to him like that, especially with such boldness.

"My fear... Perhaps it was wrong to think of him so lightly..."

He shakes his head. Sighing with firm resolve at the man whose arm was forced be chopped off. After all of that fighting, he had dealt the first blow.

"Fine. Tatsuya, I suggest you stay back."

Scott turns to gaze upon the buyer, still slouching by the railings. Relaxed amongst the chaos. He doesn't know if his fiend had put the pieces together. Risking his anonymity after building it up for years on end. Nevertheless, they would have to fight back eventually. Was remaining anonymous not that important at all?

"Stay back? As the man who built you up. I have an obligation to stay too."

The man adjusted his glasses. Quietly giving him the nod to act despite not having a plan. Still as brazen and bold as ever.

"Very well."

Without hesitation, he raised his large drill. Immediately charging forward at the fiend as his multiplying drones rushed to his defence. Firing rapidly beneath it's wings with multiple lasers which deviated and curved in multiple directions, hardly able to be spotted immediately if not for his training. Burning through the flooring like butter and tearing apart the atmospheric conditioners below. Dumping the broken machinery and pooling oil upon a raging spark. Igniting the floor with unbearable heat. Still woefully predicting his every move in a dance to 'Point B'.

He looks around nervously, horrified at the superheated floor which attempted to melt his mechanical legs. Trying his hardest to find that fiend, now hanging on top of the ceiling like a bat with the help of his ever growing army, swarming around him like maggots. Forming his arm into a large laser cannon, firing alongside his machines who recklessly fired a barrage of lasers. Barely avoiding Tatsuya who stood their solemnly. More worried about his property than his safety.

He gritted his teeth. Seething at his tenacious methods. He couldn't get closer to him, every attempt met with more lasers which tore apart the cave, still holding up to the strain. Slowly harming him further with the rising heat that made every cog overheat and wires melt. Any longer and the wires supporting his still healing organs may harm him further with plastic and ash. Increasing his work with excruciating difficulty.

"You dare play this dirty!?!"

He withdrew his drill, reforming his hands and immediately tossing the drones one by one at each other, blunting the firing lasers upon minimal damage. Slowly incapacitating his machines with only one option. Frustrated he had to take such a painful action in the burning furnace.

"Dirty? Do you seriously think no one would do the same? Besides, I'm playing to stop you. Isn't this what you are doing as well?"

The drones flew into the air, unravelling what was their shells as it began to swarm him, tearing it's counterparts relentlessly and driving forward. Pulling him towards the wall amid the sweltering heat. Slowly incapacitating him and sawing into the thick walls like a drill. Latching him into place.

"Crap! A trap!"

He unravelled multiple vents around his mechanical parts, unleashing a strong blast of heat that shook his machines aside. Smashing into the walls and adding fuel into the fire. Melting the white paint that once covered the walls with dignity. Filling the room with dark smoke and sparks clamouring upon his reformed drill, now simplified into a weapon that didn't made any sense. Hardly skinny and straight enough to be a sword yet too unique to be a drill. A weapon he had never used until now nor care for the circumstances it could bring.

Staring into the thick darkness, he struggled to find his fiend. His machines mostly silent, blending in with the crackling metal and fiery debris. Awaiting their orders for a hasty ambush. He wished the sprinklers were working. A fire this big can't go ignored, let alone the toxic smell that emitted through the halls. Slowing him to a crawl unlike the man who went missing. An annoyance to much to bear. He raised his left fist, smashing the ceiling multiple times, rocking the cave with the mild sounds of falling stalagmites and metal. Igniting the faulty sprinklers with a fresh respite of freezing water, pouring over the thick smoke and easing the inferno. Slowly unveiling Ambar's last location, abandoned and vacant upon small cracks appearing on the walls.

"Wait what..."

He turns around, frantically scampering the walls, trying to find his target as the sounds of purring metal mandibles alert him to his location. The man stood directly next to him, pointing a gun directly at his head. Tatsuya's gun. He looks up upon the man, snarling in silent defiance. Attempting to keep a level head despite the slowly increasing armada of machines swarming around him, showing off their large mandibles directly at his feet.

"Well well, look who pulled their Excalibur... One more step and Tatsuya will fall with the machines."

He clenched his fist, unable to calmly hide his emotions. For someone with the Light of Men, he had taken a step too far. He doesn't care what Tatsuya thought of him or what the man he once called his friend had planned, this turmoil was far too ludicrous to stay silent for. He points his weapon at his target, still smirking coldly and emotionlessly like no ones business. Acknowledging his presence. Smiling at the face of death. He sighs, realising what his true actions were.

He is not playing to win. He is playing to die. To end what he felt was started by him. A cursed gift he knew he would grant without remorse.

"LANCE OF POWER!"

"WAIT!"

He fired the weapon, launching like a missile directly at the man's face with a white cloud of fire. Ignorantly silencing the cries of a woman who stormed into the drizzling room, hardly irked at the smell and smoke. Revealing the weapon piercing directly through Tatsuya's gun and through his chest, dribbling slowly with an outrage of blood spewing across the machines and the wooden floor. Ignorant of his master's safety. An awful sight.

"L-L-Looks like you are about to fulfil your promise eh..."

Ambar falls to his knees, chuckling amid the spewing blood gargling his mouth. Choking his words into nothing but a murmur. Accepting his fate with open arms and a warm smile. Perhaps it was retribution for his inability to save someone who needed it the most. To agree to something and going with the flow instead of fighting back when his intuition kicked in. An action that was for the best after all of the pain he hid beneath a false façade. He sheds a small tear, heaving a crackled sigh from his passing storm. Finally, after all these years...

"That's enough! This battle had been settled a long time ago! What is with you all and your pride and pettiness!"

He feels the quick pull from multiple slimy limbs, carefully pulling out the weapon amid the messy eruption of red from his wounds. Carefully covered with a slimy transparent cover which hardened like stone. Around his hazy sights, he hears the murmurs of Scott and Tatsuya struggling upon a sloshing slimy limbs. Wrapping around them like tentacles as their mouth laid sealed for good. Gargled with slime and shame.

He can't tell who tackled the group, many of the others possibly still tackling the reinforcements emerging from the shadows. But by the screams of his colleagues, he could tell they were in good hands. Slowly dimming his fluttering eyes with a smile. Assured and at rest.

"Ambar stay with me! AMBAR!"