*Bam**Bam**Bam*

Over the Red Light District, an intense aerial battle between Luka and Bloom was underway. Bloom swung her broadsword and terrifying force rushed at Luka, who cut the force with a swing of her claymore. Luka surrounded herself with Heavenly Vita and a golden rugged looking female warrior, which was her Battle Avatar, appeared behind her.

“Athena!”

The female warrior rushed at bloom and Luka followed behind it. Bloom accelerated and slashed the warrior in half before appearing in front of Luka.

“I’m on a different level, brat.”

Bloom swung down her blade which Luka block with her own blade.

*Bam*

She was forced out of the air and towards the ground. She twisted her body and then landed lightly on her feet like a cat.

“She cut through my Athena like paper?”

Luka looked up at Bloom who was looking down on her both physically and figuratively and frowned.

“I hate to admit it but she has all right to be arrogant.”

She smiled.

“It’s too bad that I love putting arrogant people in their place.”

Her sword turned into a giant serpent and roared at Bloom as if in defiance; this caused Bloom to frown. She lifted her sword overhead and looked at Luka with a cold look.

“Looks like I need to make the difference between us even more apparent.”

She swung her sword down and a purple wave rushed down towards Luka. She suddenly felt like a mountain was falling towards her. The buildings around her started bending and twisting like rubber before finally breaking apart.

(She fused the reality bending trait of Chaos Vita with her Gravity Powers?!)

Luka released her Vita to oppose Bloom’s attack but it was to no avail. She was quickly forced to her knees and was unable to move.

*Boom!*

Several buildings collapsed on top of her and she was buried in rubble.

“Infinite Demon Dragon!”

With a shout the mountain of rubble was blown away and Luka appeared looking like a dark dragonoid warrior.

“I hate spamming this form but I honestly don’t think I have a chance without at least using this.”

Her serpent transformed back into a claymore but this time it was double in size and had a flaming heart on it. She grinned.

“Well, at least I get to see what Miko sees in you.”

Bloom laughed as if she heard a joke.

“Big talk from someone who’s about to get slaughtered.”

At the same time, Edward was facing off against Silver Crow’s Axel. Edward was wearing his war suit and was firing high-powered rifles at his opponent. Axel twirl an iron staff in front of him and the bullets all hit and got stuck to it. He stopped twirling the staff and then swung it in front of him. The bullets fired back at Edward with twice the force as before. Edward quickly evaded the shots and returned fire instantly after. As before, Axel caught the bullets with his staff and direct them back where they came from with twice as much force. Edward once again avoided the shots but this time he didn’t try to counter.

“I have to give it to Bloom. She learnt about my brother’s and my ability and immediately knew the right person to take me on.”

He pointed his rifles at Axel again.

“For me who controls technology and fights with high tech weapons, magnetism is my mortal enemy.”

He charged forward and fired his guns again. Axel didn’t use his staff this time. He, instead leaped back as far as he could and avoided an explosion that came from the bullets.

“You’re a smart man, so I know that you wouldn’t rely on metal anymore if you knew that you were facing me. As I guessed, you’re switching to long range battles.”

At that moment, Axel was hit in the back by something and found himself caught in a claw-like trap.

“Good going figuring out what I would do next. I was hoping you would!”

Axel saw Edward rushing towards him with a sword in his hand. He tried to use his powers to break out but was able to use his powers on the trap.

“This is….Carbon Fibre?!”

Edward leaped into the air and cut through the trap and into Axel’s body.

“You think I didn’t realize that magnetism could kill me? That’s why I have an Arsenal of carbon weapons for moments like this.”

Edward smiled.

“But like I said earlier…Bloom made sure to send the right person for the job.”

Even though he was supposed to cut into Axel’s body there was no wound much less blood.

“I’m impressed. You’re as smart and cunning as I hoped you were.”

Axel grabbed his Edward’s blade and lifted it off his body.

“That means that I didn’t waste my time preparing this exoskeleton.”

Edward could see a metallic armor under Axel’s clothes. Axel clenched his fist and slammed it into Edward’s suit and blew him back. Edward’s feet ripped open the earth from him trying to stop himself. When he finally stopped he looked up and saw Axel swinging down his staff down on him. Edward leaped to the side and avoided it.

*BAM!*

The staff burst the ground open and caused a huge dust cloud. Edward’s suit twisted his body and allowed him to evade the staff that flew out of the dust cloud. He was however, hit from his opposite side and had his upper body forced into the asphalt.

“You aren’t that skilled in fighting so the suit takes care of most of your movements, right? It’s a great idea; except the downside of that is that it can’t force your body to make certain movements because it could break you. For example, you don’t have the skill to avoid my staff throw by yourself so the suit moved you; but it can’t make another evasion immediately after, because your body might not be able to handle such complex movements.”

Axel stabbed his staff into Edward’s helmet and cracked it. His suit then shut down and entered emergency mode to repair the damage it received.

“This suit of yours is good but the user is dragging it down.”

“….Hahaha! As expected of Axel Stankovic! Always calm and collect and very good at analyzing his opponents. There’s no wonder why you’re considered Jin Makoto’s successor in the case he dies!”

Edward laughed despite being pinned down by Axel.

“Don’t spread rumors, I can’t replace the boss. He’s-”

“He’s in a class of his own. I’m fully aware.”

Edward grinned.

“Which is why I left the perfect person to deal with him.”

Axel’s eyes became cold.

“What did you do?”

“I just made some preparations, just in case.”

*BAM!*

Axel was suddenly blown off Edward by a burst of crimson flames. He looked up in shock and saw a gigantic ice spike heading towards him. As he was about to destroy the ice with his staff black chain wrapped around his body and made him immobile. The ice spike hit him and forced him into the ground.

“Ugh?!”

Blood flowed out of his mouth while he was pinned down by the ice. He then heard a cracklings sound and saw crimson static around him.

*Bam!*

A huge crimson lightning bolt fell from the sky and hit Axel, destroying the ice in the process. Meanwhile, Edward’s suit came back online and he was able to get up. With him standing and Axel laying out on the ground, it was a complete reversal of how they were moments before. Edward smirked as Tessa and Kristen landed beside him.

“Just so you know, I made some preparations regarding my own survival as well.”

He smirked.

“I’m a smart man like you said, after all.”

Elsewhere, Sapphire and Chrome were facing off against Sora who was dragging the disfigured corpse of a soldier. He threw the corpse to the side and it landed on top of a pile of corpses that were stacked up.

“That’s eleven, 989 more to go.”

He said while making his way towards the girls.

“As Kaido said, he’s incredibly fast. None of our soldiers were even able to react before being killed. However, I think I’ve memorized his frequency.”

Chrome said while adjust a knob on her headphones.

“I should be able to track him now, so just follow my lead and support me when needed, Sapphire.”

“No, let me take him. You take care of support.”

Sapphire started running towards Sora. Her body started glowing a gold color while her skin crystallized and gained a blue shade. She instantly became a hundred times more dazzling but her appearance didn’t move sora in the least. He accelerated and popped up in front of her and thrust his palm towards her face.

*BAM!*

His palm hit an invisible wall that completely blocked his strike. He looked over Sapphire’s shoulder and saw chrome stretching her hand out.

“Don’t get distracted now!”

Sapphire thrust her fist out but it stopped inches away from Sora’s body. This caused Sora’s eyes to widen.

(I setup a barrier but that’s not what stopped her attack. In other words…)

“Flashpoint!”

*Bam!*

A golden light suddenly swol up in front of Sora before causing an explosion which hit him pointblank. He was blown back with his clothes torn apart. He stopped himself and then looked down on his body to see that he had some serious bruises on his torso.

“Tsk. I wanted to blow a hole in his body and end this quickly. He’s tougher than he looks.”

Sapphire complained while readying herself for another attack. Sora placed his hand on his wound and his hand was immediately stained in blood.

“I see that I can’t let my guard down around these two.”

His body suddenly flickered.

“Sapphire, above you!”

Sapphire leaped back and avoided being stomped into the ground. Sora immediately chased after her but a block of blue crystal burst out of the ground and blocked his path for a second before being destroyed by his fist. After he clear the way, the one who was in front of him was Chrome not Sapphire. She swung her hand at Sora.

“Shock Beat!”

An invisible force rushed towards his face and collided with a barrier he erected.

“This is the first time I’ve faced another sound user but your power seems a bit different.”

Sora grabbed at her neck and she moved back. That’s when Sora accelerated and caught her.

“Rather than speed and force manipulation, your power is more sensor-like and short-range force projection. I might learn a few things from you.”

Suddenly the ground burst open and a crystal spike rushed towards his midsection. He released chrome and thrust his palm at the spike and shattered the tip but the crystal kept coming even when he tried to block it, forcing him to distance himself. The moment he did, dozens of crystals burst out of the ground and surrounded him. He scanned the area and jumped into the air, immediately after dozens of Sapphire flew out of the crystals and came at him.

“Copies? No, they’re all real.”

He squeezed a metal cylinder that he took out of his pocket and it turned into a spear. Sora thrust the spear and black waves spread out and hit and destroyed the Sapphires around him. He then swung his spear and deflected a bullet that was fired by Chrome.

“They have great teamwork and strange abilities, but that doesn’t mean that they have the upper hand.”

Sora landed on the ground and stabbed his spear into the ground. Large cracks started running through the earth and suddenly it felt like the whole city got hit by a godly earthquake.

“What the hell?!”

The crystals shattered from the shaking and the girls had to try their best to keep themselves from falling over. Even the buildings in the surrounding area started to break apart. Sora suddenly accelerated towards Sapphire, who had just lost her balance, and hit her with a palm strike.

*BAM!*

She was blown away into a crumbling building.

“Shit! I couldn’t track his frequency with all this shaking!”

Chrome cursed. Sora rushed towards her with his spear and thrust at her neck. She ducked under it and threw a punch which Sora blocked with his spear. An explosive sound rung out when they clashed. Sora threw a kick at her and she leaped back and evaded it but Sora followed up a spear thrust aimed at her heart.

*Bam!*

Sapphire burst out of the ground and blocked the spear with her crystallized arm.

“Ugh?!”

She groaned out in pain because it felt like an earthquake had entered her body and rocked her organs. She fell to her knees and started puking blood.

“Did you think that blocking the spear was enough? It’s the vibration that enters your body that kills you, not the spear itself.”

Sora lifted the spear to penetrate Sapphire’s back. Seeing that, chrome rushed to attack him but Sora easily evaded her and circled around Sapphire to attack her again.

“No!”

Chrome screamed when she saw that she couldn’t stop him.

“?!”

Suddenly Sora spun the spear in front of him and block a blast of flames. The force from the flames blew him far away from the girls and left a scorched trench with him at the end of it. He looked ahead and saw a red hair man walking towards him with two red pistols in his hand. Chrome became relieved when she saw who it was.

“Ryker!”

Ryker grinned and pointed his gun at Sora.

“Looks like you’re having fun. How about having a go with me?”

Sora was now facing off against three members of Silver Crow after the inclusion of Ryker. He looked at the red pistols he was holding.

“Those things will be a problem.”

Darkness started sleeping out of his body and cloaked his spear.

“Time to take this up a notch.”