Chapter One Hundred Forty-Six: Mayhem

Inside the Castle of Voltiana…

Scared nobles and citizens of Aleora started piling up inside the castle, heading into the Ballroom where others were gathered. Nakada and Toru watched as they nearly tripped over each other in their attempts to enter.

"What on earth is going on?" Toru questioned.

"I heard tremors outside," Nakada replied. "Some kind of attack?"

Atomu hurried to the garden outside. "Come, we must check!"

All the generals except for Fujii made their way outside, where they saw scared civilians running through the streets, destroyed streets and buildings in the distance, and tons of smoke rising from the rubble.

"Crap…" Atomu realized. "Who could have done this?"

"Squad S-1 has left!" Nakada stated. "They may be in danger!"

Xar immediately rushed into the Ballroom. "Generals! Your help is needed! The Capital is being attacked!"

"What do you need?" Nakada asked. "Shall we jump into the battle?"

"Yes," Xar said. "But first, you need to focus on evacuating the people of Aleora! It's too many good men and women in the capital! If we lose them, it'll cause chaos!"

"Right," Toru acknowledged. "Leave it to us."

The Generals all jumped off the balcony and split up. Xar went over to Fujii, who was still passed out on the table, and started shaking him. "Hey! Wake up! Your squad is in trouble! We're under attack! Get up, you old drunk!"

Fujii mumbled something under his breath.

"Hell," Xar groaned. "Why do we rely on him?"

The King and Queen, along with Vashka, Malkrith, Throme, and Alarax entered the Ballroom. The moment they did, another tremor could be heard.

"My, my!" Queen Ayame exclaimed. "What is going on?"

Xar hurried to her. "My queen, the Capital is under attack! Squad S-1 has gone to face the threat!"

"Can you see what the threat is?" Queen Ayame asked.

"I can try," Xar replied. "I'll pull up a feed from one of our stationed cameras."

He used his watch to pull up a live video feed, which showed Runea stalking through the burning, wrecked streets of Aleora, facing down Squad S-1. Everyone in the Ballroom gasped.

"A…a member of the Order!" Queen Ayame realized.

Alarax began to sweat. "You idiots! That's not just any member! That's the 10th Rank! Nullus told me about her! She's a master of all weapons! There's no way you guys are beating her! Throme, we gotta get out of here!"

Throme grabbed her brother's arm. "Brother, wait!"

King Ayrad had a grave look on his face. "Damn it, we need a plan of counterattack, now!"

Xar nodded. "I'll send some of the guard over to their location right away! I've already got the Generals on evacuation!"

"Good," King Ayrad said. "We cannot allow her to kill our precious squad, nor take Dachii."

Queen Ayame seemed to recognize Runea as she walked. "Is that…Lady Ayana?"

Xar took a good look. "I think it is! Look at the way she's holding her sword! The way she's walking! There's no mistake, they're the same person!"

"That means…" Queen Ayame realized. "They've been planning this attack for months!"

"Which gives us greater reason to ensure they fail!" King Ayrad declared. "I want as many soldiers as you can muster at Squad S-1's location!"

He noticed Fujii on the floor. "And wake Fujii up."

"La-la-la…" Fujii mumbled.

Xar slapped his forehead. "Will do."

While all that happened, Kia made her way back to the table where Fujii was. "Sorry, kids! I'm back! I had to slap a few smart-mouthed Voltian girls silly, but—-!"

She noticed only Fujii was left. "Not again!"

Meanwhile, somewhere in Aleora…

Dachii, Marachii, Luca, Hikari, and Saori all grouped up as Runea slowly walked toward them, dragging her blade across the ground.

"Step back," Dachii ordered. "I'm warning you, woman!"

"Or what?" Runea inquired.

"Or I'll have to pummel the living crap out of a girl today!" Dachii answered. "Which is against my moral code!"

He carefully eyed her skin. "If you even are a girl."

Runea laughed. "You're so funny! I see why I like you."

"You say that, after all this chaos you caused?"

Runea spun her blade between her fingers until it was properly in her hand. "Yes. We often have to hurt those we love. It's the inevitable cost of conflict. Now…"

In the blink of an eye, she was in front of Dachii. "…I'm taking you."

Marachii quickly reacted and fired a blast at Runea, who formed a shield and blocked. Dachii tried to punch her in the face, but she got low and tried to sweep his legs causing him to jump back. Luca charged at her with his axes, clashing steel with the Elite.

"These are your weapons?" Runea scoffed. "These dull axes?"

"I wouldn't say dull," Luca responded. "CLEAVE!"

A green-ish energy came off his axes, causing claw-like slashes into Runea's flesh. "What trickery is this?"

"A new move," Luca shrugged. "Don't tell me you think we spent the past six months sitting on our asses, did you?"

"Great job, Luca!" Hikari cheered. "Let me try mine! I've finally got it down!"

She threw out her hands. "I call it: Health Drain!"

A pink wave shot from her hands, hitting Runea and immediately sapping part of her strength. Runea wobbled for a brief moment before steadying herself. "So you're all not useless…good to know."

A rainbow hit her in the face, causing her to spit out blood.

"Take that, monster!" Saori exclaimed. "Never ever hurt my friends!"

Runea flexed her arms for a moment, wiping the blood off her lip. "I'm sorry. Honestly."

The entire squad paused for a moment. Suddenly, Runea got into a fighting stance. "Now the fight really begins."

"Guys, watch out—-!" Dachii blurted out, before he got slashed in ten different places.

Runea got into the middle of the ground and unleashed a devastating spinning slash attack which sent each member flying down the street.

"Look at her eyes!" Marachii pointed out. "She's serious! She'll kill us all!"

"We just need to work together!" Hikari insisted. "She can't beat us all if we work as one!"

Runea lurched forth at Marachii, preparing to slash him in the gut, but Luca blocked her strike with his axes, a green energy beginning to coat them once more. "CLEAVE!"

Runea evaded it this time, retaliating with a precise slash that cut him in two from the waist down.

"Luca!" Marachii called out, but he was next, getting kicked hard into the air before being slammed by chains over and over again and tossed aside.

Saori fired rainbow beams after rainbow beams, but Runea deflected them all again and again before throwing her sword at Saori, and Hikari used her portal to store the sword before it could hit.

"She's not giving us any time to plan!" Hikari thought. "We need to—-!"

Before she even knew it, Runea had both of them wrapped in chains, slamming them into each other before throwing them into the air.

Dachii watched with shock as each of his friends fell one by one, leaving him last. Runea's gaze turned to him, and a detached look returned to his eye.

"It's hopeless," Dachii realized. "Utterly hopeless."

Runea walked toward him, step by step, her voice as menacing as it was ancient. "Do you GIVE UP?"

Dachii remained silent for a long moment. "No."

Runea put a hand on her blade.

"I'm ready to die fighting you," Dachii continued, emotionless. "But don't worry."

His eyes began to glow gray of their own. "Before I do, you're gonna hurt."

With a punch of his fists, his gauntlets appeared, and Runea drew her blade once more. "Weapon Mastery."

She got into a samurai-like stance. "Omnidirectional Assault."

Her body appeared to move so fast that afterimages appeared, and those afterimages all attacked Dachii from every angle, most of which he barely managed to avoid. A few slashes tagged him, but he jumped into the air, hovering.

"How many skills does she have?" Dachii thought. "With 1,000 years of practice, has she mastered everything there is to know about an Element?"

She summoned a broadsword. "Weapon Mastery: Elemental Weapon."

She pointed it at Dachii, almost as if she was preparing to swing it. "INFINITE STRIKE!"

The sword grew to the size of a building, batting Dachii out of the air as if he were a fly. Once Dachii fell to the ground, he only had a few seconds to push himself up before Runea stabbed the ground he was standing on.

"When I die…" Dachii thought. "She's coming with me."

Runea jumped from building to building, moving so fast Dachii couldn't track her. He deflected a few of her attacks, but she began spinning in such a violent motion that everything nearby began to get sucked in.

"Weapon Mastery: Tornado of Steel!"

A barrage of blades started flying in the tornado, causing Dachii to run from it. One by one, the blades fired out of the tornado like bullets, but Dachii managed to evade them.

Runea prepared to fire another blade, but Dachii appeared above her, preparing to smash her, but she formed a shield and blocked his attack, before throwing it aside and dodging all of his haymakers and jabs.

As the tornado grew larger, Dachii was thrown out of it but landed on his feet. Runea stopped her tornado, a double-edged polearm in her hands. "You've gotten much better since the Arena days, I'll give you that much."

Dachii breathed hard as she spun her glaive. "This won't work. She's going to beat me soon."

As Runea prepared her next attack, she heard the slow clapping of someone nearby.

"Well, well, well. Who would've thought the last man standing would be a human?"

Runea looked up and noticed Kiyota sitting on a nearby lamppost, dropping down as he stretched. "And this is the Squad I've been chasing for so long? What a joke!"

Runea narrowed her eyes. "You're that boy who joined Dachii in the hunt. What are you doing here?"

Kiyota extended a hand to Dachii, helping him up. "Me? I'm just here to prove I'm better than this measly squad, that's all. I may not have won the hunt, but I think a victory over you should suffice. What's your rank? 10th?"

Runea gave him a curious look before showing him the markings on her arm.

"Yes, yes, 10th," Kiyota confirmed. "That'll boost my prestige. And it'll be all over the news. Now, do me a favor and make this easy, would ya?"

He formed a mini comet in his hands. "I'd hate to get my clothes dirty."

Runea stared at him.

"Deaf, are we? Okay. SPIRALING COMET—-!"

Before he could fire off that attack, Runea was behind him, preparing to slash off his head. Dachii managed to tackle him out of the way before the attack struck him, which in turn sliced off a row of buildings.

"Hey!" Kiyota exclaimed. "I had that covered! I didn't need your help!"

"Okay," Dachii said, ignoring him. "She's very tough. She's going to kill us both."

"Speak for yourself," Kiyota stated. "I was planning to use this on Akari if we ever fought again, but I suppose this girl will suffice."

He lifted his hand, and a massive comet that kept growing and growing formed, until it was basically overshadowing half the district.

"Woah," Dachii remarked.

Even Akari from far away, half-conscious, noticed the giant comet. "Kiyota?"

"With this comet formed from fire and ice," Kiyota announced. "You shall DIE, Zharian!"

He brought his hand down as Runea watched the comet soar towards her.

BOOM.

Dachii had to cover his eyes to protect himself from the bright light that followed. Once he could see again, he and Kiyota noticed Runea sitting on top of the comet, her eyes glowing gray.

"No way!" Kiyota shouted, in disbelief. "How did you survive my comet?"

Runea slowly got up. "Because…"

She pointed a finger at him. "You're weak."

Kiyota began to turn red and fire another comet at her, but she slashed him in various places before he could manage a single attack. "Ow…that's unpleasant…"

As she heard the sounds of running coming towards her, she noticed hundreds of Voltian guards coming at her, each with advanced plasma rifles. "Huh."

"Eat this, Zharian!" they chanted.

The moment they fired their guns, Runea was already standing in the middle of their ranks, and with a flick of her wrist, her blade slashed every one of them to pieces before the eye could see.

Kiyota grabbed Dachii's arm. "Hey…get me close to her…I'm not done with her yet…"

"Seriously?" Dachii slapped his forehead.

Another round of slashes dropped Kiyota to the ground, leaving Dachii as the last one standing. Runea formed hundreds of blades from her body, holding them all in the air like darts. "Sorry about this, Dachii. But you're coming with me."

Dachii prepared himself for impact, but nothing happened. He looked up and saw Runea's eyes wide, frozen in place as if she had seen a ghost.

"You…!"

Sure enough, there was a figure behind her, holding a katana of ice with a charming smile. Runea turned around, and Dachii saw who it was. "Fujii!"

Fujii wiped his eyes with his free hand. "Man, that was the worst hangover ever!"

Runea's eyes turned red as she stared him down. Fujii noticed Dachii and Kiyota. "Good job holding your own, all of you! Even you, Kiyota!"

Kiyota weakly grunted as Fujii got into a fighting stance of his own. "Now then, Ritsuka Hoshigami…"

He pointed his blade at her.

"I've gotta really kick your ass for messing up my team."

—-