Chapter 42-Mary vs Echo

Just like Flint and Khione, Mary was running away from Gambino's guards until a metal wall rises out of the floor behind her, separating Mary from the guards.

"Oh, good…" Mary says as she turns around to face the door.

The sirens blaring overhead then begin to grow louder, causing Mary to flinch as she covers her ears.

"Why are the sirens louder?"

The sirens then begin to grow even louder, and Mary flinches again as she drops to her knees.

"What…is happening…?"

"I'M USING MY SOUND CHARGE TO INCREASE THE VOLUME OF THE SIRENS!" A voice booms, and Mary turns to where she heard the voice, watching as a man of average height, about five foot eight, or so, with a light gray, spiky mohawk, purple eyes, looking to be in his mid-twenty, maybe twenty-five, who's wearing black, skin-tight leather pants with silver stars on them, silver platform sandals, and is shirtless, other than the long black jacket he's wearing across his back, with a fluffy silver fur trim.

"Sound…Charge…?" Mary winces, "Then he must be using his Sound Charger to increase the volume of his voice…"

The man then reaches behind his back and draws a long white and purple guitar with a silver-bladed trim. The man then also brandishes a guitar pic, and holds it up high into the air. Purple sparks of energy then begin to burst and swirl around his body.

Mary's eyes widen. "So that's…his Charge Stance…?"

"YOU CAN CALL ME ECHO, AN ASSASSIN OF THE ASSASSIN TRIO HIRED BY GAMBINO TO STOP YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS!" The man booms, his voice echoing throughout the underground labyrinth.

"In that case…" Mary begins to say as she throws her hands into the air, "I surrender!"

Echo blinks.

"YOU…SURRENDER…?"

"Yup! I'm a healer, not a fighter, and I know that even if you get past me, Noah and the others will stop you!"

"SO YOU THINK YOUR ALLIES CAN STOP ME, HUH…? WELL TOO BAD MINE ARE KILLING YOURS AS WE SPEAK!"

Mary's eyes widen.

"AND EVEN IF YOU SURRENDER, I DON'T CARE! BECAUSE I'VE BEEN HIRED TO KILL YA'!"

Mary shrieks.

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE-" Echo booms as he uses his pic to strum his guitar. "-THUNDER MELODY!"

Shockwaves of sound then burst from Echo's guitar upon strumming it, which flies through the air before crashing into Mary, sending the girl flying backwards and pinning Mary against the wall behind her.

Mary grunts as she struggles against Echo's shockwaves of sound.

"YOU'RE MARY BLOODSWORTH, RIGHT?" Echo asks as he begins approaching Mary, and as he does, the shockwaves of sound emanating from his guitar grow louder, "YOU WERE IN TWILIGHT WOLF WITH MY COUSIN, ZIPPY. SO HOW'S HE DONG?'

"I don't…know…I left Twilight Wolf behind in my past…"

"FAIR ENOUGH," Echo replies, "ZIPPY WAS WEAK, ANYWAY. THAT'S WHY HE BECAME A BANDIT INSTEAD OF AN ASSASSIN."

Echo then narrows his eyes at Mary.

"BUT HE'S STILL MY COUSIN, AND YOUR NOAH IS GOING TO PAY FOR DEFEATING HIM!"

The shockwaves of sound emanating from Echoes guitar then quiet down, allowing for Mary to drop to the ground and enter her Charge Stance.

"Blood Charger, Level Four-!" Mary begins to shout, but before she can finish chanting her spell name, Echo strums his guitar again, causing another shockwave of sound to blast from his guitar.

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: THUNDER MELODY!" Echo shouts again, using his shockwaves of sound to cut Mary off, which blast into the girl, completely enveloping Mary in the booming noise.

Mary yelps in pain as she drops to her knees and covers her ears.

Echo's shockwaves of sound continue blaring, and as they do, Mary feels a sticky, warm, moist substance begin to trickle out of her ears and seep through her fingers.

Mary then opens her eyes and peers over to her hands, seeing that her ears are bleeding.

"YOUR EARDRUMS SHOULD BE SHATTERED BY NOW," Echo smirks as his shockwaves of sound quiet down at last, "WHICH MEANS THAT YOU SHOULD BE TOO DISORIENTED TO FIGHT WITHOUT YOUR HEARING."

"I can barely hear Echo…" Mary softly says to herself, "His voice sounds like I'm underwater…"

Mary then resumes her Charge Stance before touching her hands to her ears, and directly after, Mary's blood begins to seep back into her ears, as Mary repairs her ear drums.

"WHAT…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Echo grunts as he raises an eyebrow at Mary.

"That's better," Mary says as she slaps her ears, "I can hear again."

"YOU CAN USE YOUR BLOOD CHARGE TO HEAL, THAT'S RIGHT," Echo smirks as he resumes his Charge Stance, "Then I suppose shattering your eardrums won't work."

Echo then motions to strum his guitar again, but before he can do so, Mary resumes her Charge Stance then thrusts a hand towards Echo.

"Blood Charger, Level Four: Paralysis!" Mary shouts, and Echo pauses.

Echo's eyes widen as he finds himself unable to move.

"So this…must be that Paralysis spell, huh?" Echo barely manages to croak out through his paralyzed lips.

Mary then resumes her Charge Stance again.

"Blood Charge, Level Three-!" Mary begins to shout as blood swirls around her fingers, but before Mary can finish chanting her spell, purple sparks of energy burst and swirl around Echo's body, and then a moment later, Echo manages to strum his guitar again.

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: THUNDER MELODY!" Echo shouts, and shockwaves of sound fire out of his guitar and blast into Mary again, sending her crashing to the ground.

"H-how did Echo break free from my Paralysis spell…?"

"SO DID NO ONE EVER TELL YOU ABOUT HOW E-CHARGERS WHO ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN YOURSELF CAN USE THEIR E-CHARGE TO BREAK FREE FROM ENTRAPMENT SPELLS SUCH AS YOUR PARALYSIS?"

"So I can't just rely on my Paralysis spell…? Darn…I was hoping to use it to avoid having to fight…"

"SORT OF LIKE HOW YOUR ALLY, KHIONE'S PERMAFROST SPELL ISN'T A SURE-FIRE VICTORY AGAINST MARSH, WHO IS KILLING KHIONE AS WE SPEAK," Echo then adds.

Mary's eyes then widen.

"That's right…" Mary softly says to herself as she slowly pushes herself off of the ground, "I'm not just fighting for myself…I'm fighting for my friends, too!"

"ONE OF THOSE, HUH?" Echo smirks, "A POWER-OF-FRIENDSHIP GAL?"

Mary clenches a hand into her fist.

"FINALLY READY TO FIGHT, HUH?"

But then, Mary punches herself in the nose, causing blood to spurt from it.

Echo's eyes widen.

"WHAT…ARE YOU DOING?!" He asks.

"I'm an idiot…" Mary says to herself as she rubs her broken nose, "Trying to surrender while my friends are putting their lives on the line…I'm ASHAMED OF MYSELF!"

Mary then peers up at Echo and glares at him.

"I am going to stop you…" she growls.

Echo smirks. "LET'S SEE YOU TRY!' Echo then booms as he resumes his Charge Stance.

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL TWO: EXPLOSION MELODY!" Echo roars as he raises his guitar high into the air before slamming it into the ground, causing shockwaves of sound to EXPLODE around Echo, causing Mary to howl in pain as she's sent flying backwards from the force of Echo's attack.

"YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO E-CHARGE THROUGH THIS SPELL!" Echo booms over the reverberating sound of his explosion.

But despite Echo's taunt, Mary resumes her Charge Stance, causing Echo's eyes to widen.

"WHAt?!" Echo cries, "SHE CAN STILL E-CHARGE?!"

"Blood Charge, Level Three…" Mary softly says to herself underneath Echo's reverberating explosion as the blood dripping from her nose begins swirling around her hands.

"RAPIDS TALON!" Mary shouts as she swings a hand towards Echo, firing off a blade of blood from each finger.

In response, Echo clutches the end of his guitar's shaft like a sword, as purple sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around his body. Shockwaves of sound begin circulating around the bladed rim of Echo's guitar.

"SOUND CHARGE, LEVEL THREE: SWORD MELODY!" Echo shouts as he swings his guitar towards Mary, which collides against Mary's blade of blood.

Echo grits his teeth as he struggles against Mary's blades of blood, which slowly begins to push Echo back.

And then, with a final roar, Mary's blades of blood push past Echo's bladed guitar for good, before slashing Echo.

Blood spurts from Echo's body as his eyes widen and he stumbles backwards a bit.

Slowly, Echo weakly touches a hand to his slash wounds, then retracts his hand and holds it up to his face to see, which is soaked in crimson-red blood.

"Oh…my…" Echo weakly croaks out, his voice finally soft at last.

And then…Echo falls face-first to the ground in a pool of blood.

"Oh no!" Mary cries as she rushes over to Echo then crouches down before him.

Maroon-red sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around Mary's body as she touches her hands to Echo's wounds.

"What…are you doing…?" Echo croaks as he peers up at Mary.

"I'm healing you! I…I'm not a killer!"

"Echo lets out a weak chuckle, which causes him to spit up a glob of blood.

"If you heal me, I'll just stand back up and kill you…"

"Which is why I'm only healing you enough so that you DON'T die! But not enough that you can attack me!"

Echo chuckles again. "You're…a strange girl…and not as nice as you seem…"