Chapter 73-Mary+Gaia vs the Split-Haired Man
"So you're going to follow me around, huh?" Gaia asks as he peers out of the corner of his eye at Mary, who's slowly wandering behind him.
"U-um, well, I wanted to explore but I didn't want to go alone…" Mary sheepishly admits as she looks away.
"Then why not tag along with the Ice and Wind Chargers?"
"Ah, well they ran away before I could follow them!"
Mary nervously fidgets.
"Yeah?" Gaia asks as he pauses, then turns around to face Mary, "Do you have something to say?"
"Why…are you so cold…?" Mary asks as she peers up at Gaia.
"Cold?" Gaia snorts as he turns around and continues walking off, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Mary hustles after Gaia again, who stops before a small food stand.
Mary raises an eyebrow at Gaia as she watches the wizard-chef bend over and sniff some of the spices.
When he does, Gaia's eyes shoot open as he jumps upwards.
"Wh-what is it?!"
"These spices…" Gaia begins to say, "-Are EQUIESET!"
"H-huh…?"
"Mary, you HAVE to try these!" Gaia excitedly exclaims as he turns to face the Blood Charger, with sparkles in his eyes.
"Um…okay," Mary replies as she takes a step over to Gaia and sniffs the spices as well, then sneezes, "Boy, they sure are strong!"
"Strong?! Gaia exclaims, "The scent…the richness…the texture…I've never smelled ANYTHING like this in the Land of Earth!"
"Oh, is that right?" Mary asks as she peers up at Gaia with a small smile.
Gaia continues rambling about the spices until Mary giggles, causing Gaia to pause.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, it's just…you act so childish when you talk about food! It's cute."
Gaia blushes. "M-my hobbies are NOT cute!"
Mary recoils. "S-sorry, I didn't mean that in a negative way!"
"Aww, how cute!" A voice swoons from behind Gaia and Mary, causing the two to flinch, "The Earth Charger taking his little sister on a date!"
Slowly, Gaia stands up and turns around, finding himself and Mary standing face-to-face with a man with spiky hair. The left side of his spiky hair is silver, while the right side is purple. As for his eyes, the man's left eye is purple with a silver pupil, while on the right side, the colors are reversed. The man is wearing a bright-red cloak with orange sun decals, but he's wearing it open, like a sweatshirt, with the bottoms of the cloak ripped off, so it ends at the man's waist. The sleeves have been torn off as well. Underneath the cloak, the man is wearing silver armor. Adorning the man's wrist, are studded black bracelets.
"How do you know who I am…?" Gaia growls.
"Are you kiddin'?" The man replies, "I've been sent to collect ya'!"
Gaia's body tenses up. "MARY, GET BEHIND ME!"
"R-right!" Mary cries as she scrambles behind Gaia.
The man clasps both hands together, and subsequently, silver and purple sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around his body. Meanwhile, Civilians scream and run away.
Swiftly, Gaia brandishes his wand and aims it at the man. Orange sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around his body.
"Steel Charge, Level One-" the man begins to shout, but before he can finish, Gaia swipes his wand towards the ground.
"Earth Charge, Level One: Pitfall!" Gaia shouts, and instantly, the ground begins to cave underneath the spiky-haired man, forming a pitfall.
"Uh-oh…" the man quips as he peers down towards the empty ground, before falling down into the black abyss below.
"WWAAAHHHH!!!!!"
"Well…that takes care of things," Gaia sighs as he slips his wand back into his belt.
"Woah…" Mary marvels as she stares up at Gaia, sparkles in her eyes.
Gaia blushes as he peers down at Mary. "Wh-what is it?"
"You're amazing, Gaia!"
Gaia turns away from Mary and blushes. "Just doing my job…"
"Now, we need to alert the other-" Gaia begins to say as he turns away from his pitfall, but before he can finish, Gaia and Mary hear a mechanical creaking noise come from behind them, and the two turn around to face the pitfall, watching as the man uses some strange, mechanical contraption which appears to be metal arms jutting out of his back to climb out of the hole.
"You almost got me there," the man cackles as he uses the mechanical arms to lower himself back onto the ground, "But unfortunately for you…I'm INVISIBLE."
"So that's Steel Charge…" Mary softly says to herself, "It reminds me…of Tungsten…"
"Invincible, huh?" Gaia smirks as he brandishes his wand and aims it at the man, "Then let's test that."
"Earth Charge, Level Two: Stone Fists!" Gaia shouts as orange sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around his body. Pillars of rock each armed with stoney fists then begin to rise out of the ground and fly towards the man, who smirks as he stares down Gaia's spell, and resumes his Charge Stance as well.
"Plasma Charge, Level One: Violet Ray!" The man shouts as he thrusts a hand towards Gaia, firing off a laser beam of purple energy.
Gaia's and Mary's eyes widen.
"T-two elements?!"
Gaia's and the man's spells continue flying towards one another, then collide. Instantly, the man's spell pushes through Gaia's stone fists before flying towards Gaia at last. Before either Gaia or Mary can react, the man's spell blasts into Gaia at last, causing the chef-wizard to grunt in pain as he's sent flying backwards, and slamming into the food stand behind him.
"G-Gaia!" Mary cries as she rushes over then kneels down before her fallen ally.
"I'll finish you off quickly!" The man ackles as he resumes his Charge Stance, and giant pillars of steel begin to rise out of the ground, then mold together and take shape, taking the form of a GIANT steel railgun.
Mary's eyes widen. "He's…so much stronger than Tungsten…"
"MAGNET Charge, Level One…" the man begins to say as a purple light begins to charge up from within the long silver barrel of his railgun.
"-RAILGUN!"
Mary flinches as she turns away, and then, a GIANT laser beam fires out of his railgun and blasts into Mary and Gaia, causing them to howl in pain as the shop behind them is decimated.
"Margarte's little sis' and the Earth Charger, huh…?" Is the last thing that Mary hears before slipping unconscious, "He turned out not to be allat'."