Akimbo Attack

Sobbing, tears flowing into the ground, Zika felt helpless in her current position. Although it wasn't directly communicated, she could tell that her teammate's killers were part of the Seven Sins. Seeing how they'd been able to disassemble Suto and Jarrett so brutally worried her. She wondered where Axel might've been.

"Ah…" She wanted to get up and search, but her motivation had diminished. She had no one left to search alongside her, and she didn't even know if Axel was still alive. Everything about her situation was a gamble, and she felt destroyed.

"Hm…?" She felt a lump in her pocket. She remembered she still had her device on her. Still thinking about what to do, she pulled out her device to search for some guidance. The timer to Specialized Phase E read two and a half hours remaining. It meant that the Specialized Phase was halfway through its time limit before the bomb in South City would explode.

{ Specialized Phase E: A powerful bomb has been planted in the South City, waiting to be defused. The bomb is being defended by non-contender individuals that are with the Metatron Tournament. The contender that defuses the bomb within the time limit will be rewarded with a powerful protective charm. }

Zika re-read the Specialized Phase's objective on her device."Protective charm…" She was taken into interest. But she realized that only the one who defused the bomb could receive this reward. Three other known individuals stood in her way of this, and each of them were Sins. Zika frantically picked her Eye of Minerva back up and zoomed through the lens. She made sight with the group of three. Out of desperation and anger at Jarrett and Suto's deaths, she pulled the trigger.

Click-Click!

The gun hadn't been fully charged yet.

"Ugh!" She pressed the heavy button on its side. In doing so, the purple stripes that lined the weapon came to a dim glow. Once this glow was bright enough, that would indicate that it was fully charged. The only hassle was that this could take up to 10 minutes to complete. Zika sighed with frustration. She wanted to eliminate her targets immediately before they left the scene. She wanted to avenge her fellow Virtues.

"Hurry!" She shook the sniper in desperation. This only made the charging process more feeble. As Jarrett had explained to her one time in the past, the charging process in between each shot was so long due to its careful precautions. The energy that flowed through the weapon once charged was activated with properties that could carry a bullet from its magazine straight into a position of perfection. This was to ensure absolute pin-point accuracy for the sniper's crosshair. This meant that no matter the distance from a target, the bullet would always travel straight forwards without needing consideration for angles or wind. But right now, Zika wasn't willing to be that patient. The feature, although capable in countering the Sin of Pride's ability, was nothing but inconvenient in a situation like this.

She gave the sniper the time it needed, while keeping her perfectly far-sighted eyes peeled on the group of Sins. This was to ensure that she wouldn't lose track of them as she awaited her bullet's preparation. Finally, the weapon was glowing at full capacity.

"Done!!" She went prone and set up her bipod. Scoping directly towards the group of Sins, she contemplated on who to shoot. She essentially only had one shot at this, as killing one meant the quick evacuation of the others. During this dilemma, a quick series of memories overtook her focus for a moment.

"Hey Zika, I know you don't usually talk, but just know that if you ever gotta express your feelings or needs there's no shame in doing so. I don't know why you're as quiet as you are, but none of us will treat you any differently whether you are or aren't. You be you, so just count on us whenever, okay? Us Virtues are all in this together."

Suto's words brought saddedning warmth to her heart.

"Zika! Hey, this is a secret, so don't tell this to anyone else, but I just wanted to let you know that I was most excited about making your weapons out of anyone else's! When I learned about the unique kind of talents that you have, I felt passion beyond that of any other clients I've had. You've got such distinct talents that I can't describe how amazing you are! Keep doing you Zika! I hope my weapons come in handy for you in your future missions! Anyways, just remember, don't tell anyone I told you that, okay?"

Jarrett's quick excitement brought Zika's heart to beat faster.

"Suto… Jarrett…" The grieving grip took hold of Zika's heart again. She was suddenly consumed by rage, looking directly at the perpetrator behind their deaths. It was a scrawny male with brown hair. Unlike the other two, he held no weapon. He only carried confidence with a growing smirk on his face. He looked nothing but mischievous, like a serpent ready to strike its prey. Seeing this angered Zika all the more.

With her crosshair lined-up to his head, and her finger hovering over the trigger, she could only think of yelling a single word before pulling the trigger; "Die!"

Pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat—a quick noise interrupted Zika's concentration. Her finger stopped in place, barely touching the trigger. Although she was ready to shoot, her instincts told her to look out for the noise that now began to approach. Priority overtook her senses.

Shing!

Zika rolled aside, barely dodging a sharp blade that just cut through her previous position.

"What—!?!"

The Eye of Minerva held right by the roof's edge had just been completely slashed in half. The weapon, which she'd weld dearly for some time now, was now perfectly cut into two halves, directly down the middle. From the stock, to the sight, to the barrel, and the muzzle, everything was serrated in division.

Zika dashed back, placing herself in a defensive stance halfway through the rooftop. She looked up to see who attacked her just then. It was a male figure dressed in all black. He bore a skin-tight black bodysuit that wrapped around his body like bandages. His face was concealed with more of this black bandage wrap that made it look like his face fell into shadows. Tied around the perimeter of his head, a long red headband was stiffened in place. The only thing that stood out about his appearance was a green glowing spot on the left side of his face. Zika realized that this was where his left eye would be found.

"Who…?" Zika asked.

The perpetrator stood there, unresponsive. Zika realized it was useless to even ask. Nearly everyone in the tournament were contenders from separate factions, and each one of these individuals were all ready to kill. Reminded of this, Zika unsheathed her Queen Cobra, the only weapon remaining of her arsenary. She noticed that the other contender's weapon was sheathed behind his back. A long beam hung over his shoulder, which his hand lay upon carefully.

"…"

A lonely breeze blew over the altitude they stood. Tension peaked between the two as they glared into each other's souls. Zika noticed that emotional motivation lacked in her opponent, but she disregarded this. The only thing making noise was the flapping of his headband's loose ends in the eerie wind that finally stopped blowing.

A single drop of sweat fell from Zika's forehead. It splashed against the floor.

Zoom!

In a single blink, the man disappeared from Zika's sight. His speed was overwhelmingly immense.

"What—?!" Her heart picked up in pace, quicker and quicker, as something was getting closer and closer.

"9 o'clock!" Zika yelled. She needed call outs, but no one else was there, so she called out to herself. Turning the direction, she instantly brought her dagger up.

Clang!

A parry was instilled. Brought down with heavy strength onto her Queen Cobra was a dark beam.

"Urgh!" She pushed back up. As Zika garnered more strength against her opponent, the man in black decided to turn things around. He reached for the bottom end of his beam and pulled backwards.

"Woah!" Zika fell forwards. The strength she pushed against suddenly diminished along with the man, who dashed backwards with now two handles in hand. She noticed that blades stretched forwards from each one.

"Primary Form: Akimbo." He dashed back forwards.

Zika blocked once more, just in time.

Clang!

This time around, pushing up wasn't an option. The strength of two blades down on her single dagger was more than she could handle. Zika was built mainly for speed, and not for strength.

Finally seeing an opening, she swept at his feet. This made him fall back, and in a tumble forwards, Zika brought her Queen Cobra downwards. The blade surged directly into his right arm.

Shank!

Upon impalement, she pressed the lump on her handle, which consecutively injected the Queen Cobra's lethal poison inside.

"Got…!" Zika fell back a good distance. She observed from afar, ensuring that the poison was in effect by waiting for his paralysis.

The man in black lay still for a moment, but suddenly, he shot back up to his feet in an instant. He quickly picked up his swords from the floor and pressed blue buttons found on each of them.

"Secondary Form: Akimbo Amplified."

Both his blades brimmed a bright blue.

Across, Zika was shocked. "Poison…?" She couldn't understand why the man was not yet paralyzed. It had been well over a minute by now. Before she could think properly, the man appeared before her and swung his swords forth.

"Woah—!" She turned her body sideways, dodging right in between the two swords that sliced downwards. In contact with the ground that he struck, the swords secreted a plasmic flash which exploded at Zika's feet.

"Agh!" She felt the spray burn her ankles. She jumped up and brought her knee upwards, knocking right into the man's chin. His head cocked backwards, but rebounded forwards even quicker. His handles were still in his hands.

This was where she realized she'd been baited into his attacking range.

"Tertiary Form: Razor Revolution." The man pressed a red button on each handle. Out flew serrated blades from right under each handle, also induced with the blue plasmic glow. In quick succession, his hands spun the dual-sided blades in a rotation that resembled a horizontal propeller. Zika was mid-air, and would not be landing anytime soon.

"Agh—!" She realized her body was still in upwards momentum from jumping. Taking advantage of this, she used her flexibility to carry her legs to her chest, bringing about a backflip out of the man's striking zone.

Clank-clank-clank!

The rotational razors impeded each other's spin. They hadn't come into contact with flesh, but rather each other. Looking up, the man saw that Zika's dagger approached his head with inevitable speed. Its edge was lined with a secreted purple acid. Contact would mean immediate severance. The man's head would soon be dissected.

{ ACTIVATED }

Just before the Queen Cobra could make contact, the glowing green eye on the man's face turned blue.

Zika had a bad feeling with this switch in color.