Alarick and Gihren stand in front of one another, as they had before, they stayed silent. Gihren lifted his arms, as he stretched, with a grunt. Placing his hand onto his left shoulders, and rotating his arm, before doing the same with the other.

“Alarick Von Zaisen the 8th… I’ve heard all about your family, guess alot of us have. Let's make this clear- I don't plan to drag this out. You're going to die here, I got other things to handle after this.”

“You can make that claim if you wish… But I won't be somebody you can defeat easily…” He responded.

Gihren ran his hand through his head of hair.

“Your survival after your battle with Lord Ito was nothing but a fluke… I will not defect to your side like that Lafeyah guy, nor Liang Yu.”

“I’d say them coming to our side isn’t correct… It's more like them seeing the idiocy in being with your little cult. Though I suppose a fool such as yourself wouldn’t understand that.”

A fool, huh.. They’d see who was the fool here. For a moment, Gihren was silent, saying nothing to his opponent. Though, before long, a smirk found its way onto his face. He placed his hand on the handle of the scythe on his back. As Aarick took notice, he dragged his left foot back, bending his knees.

“The one who continues to fight against us despite the might of our forces, is calling me a fool. Real ironic, I have to say. Alright then, Dwarf, It’s about time to end this.”

“... Dwarf-huh… That's a new one.” Alarick responded.

For some time, there was silence between them once again. Gihren withdrew his scythe, holding it in his left hand.

“You’re not the only one with a long family history, you know… I’m sure you recognize my clan.”

Alarick put his hand on his chin. Apparently he didn’t recognize this clan, until he remembered one of the many strategy classes he had in his youth. And the knowledge came to him.

“House of Alfon… Held a large amount of land, and power alike in the Empire of Lierse, before the War Of The Five Blades in the mid 16th century…”

“Correct… And it was your ancestor, Alarick Von Zaisen the 5th… Was directly responsible for us losing our status. I have to admit, he led the Delmenford ground forces well. Since we’re the last descendants, how about we see who’s the strongest…”

He bent his knees preparing to launch himself forward. Alarick did the very same, his muscles tightening.

“Fine then..”

From here, they waited, waited, and waited, until they both flew forward. Alarick let out but two words.

“Geode Carapace!!”

The stone on the ground around him began to break off into fragments. Soon beginning to cover his skin, and as they coated him, the shape began changing, as armored plates formed. Not too long after, did the gothic armor appear once more. Gihren narrowed his eyes, as he began to twist his body, he soon swung it back in Alarick's direction, as he took a swipe at him with his scythe. Though, he’d find that his attack failed, As Alarick ducked under this strike, gliding right past Gihren. Turning around as he cleared the blade, he balled his fist, swinging at Gihren. The scythe wielder reacted quickly, turning, and stopping his opponent's strike with his hand. He closed his hand over the blonde’s knuckles, before tightening his grip, as he lifted him up. He moved to the next stage of his plan, rotating his troso, as he attempted to fling him away. But Alarick was quick to react, placing his hand onto the ground, and stopping himself from revolving any further, as he tightened his grip, crushing the asphalt between his fingers.

Now, Alarick used his leverage to yank his hand away, before he began to spin onto the ground, jutting both of his feet out, his heels slamming into Gihren’s ribs over and over, like a living Tornado. Gihren backed up, ready to get out of the attack. But Alarick swiftly jumped to his feet, launching a left hook at Gihren. He was quick to react, turning his head in the direction of the punch, and, like that, lessening the effect. Now, he took a swipe at him once more, diagonally slashing his amr, or attempting to. Only cutting the fabric of his jacket’s sleeve due to his quick action. He was uninjured, but he would make sure to rectify that.

Gihren raised his arm and brought it down upon his opponent. Alarick swiftly stepped to his left, avoiding his opponent’s strike, as it cleaved the ground in his previous spot. For a moment, his eyes were fixed on the face of his opponent, he knew coming in that this wouldn’t be an easy fight, but this had exceeded his expectations.

“I won't make any progress like this- I need to create some distance and hit him from afar… A barrage of attacks might do well for me here.”

Alarick tapped his toes on the ground, as he backflipped, landing about 30 meters away from his opponent. Gihren, not willing to let his opponent escape, leaped forward, gales ripping as he did, filling their ears. He put both hands on his scythe, twisting his torso, and moving the blade end back.

“Not so fast!!”

Gihren twisted his body, swinging the blade forward. Alarick began to duck, in an attempt to dodge. This time, however, he was nearly caught, with some of his hair cut clean off. The attack did not stop there however, Gihren swiftly drew the blade back, before bringing it down upon him from above, Alairck weaved out of the way Then yet another from the right, dodged by a hair once more. As he swung left, the very same. As the man swung, and swung, Alarick’s eyes darted around. Before, he found it. As Gihren swiped at his neck, he ducked. And, as he bent his knees, Jumping up, and uppercutting the man in the chin. The Scythe wielder’s eyes widened, pupils dilating as his head went back, stunned.

With his opening secured, Alarick gazed down at the ground, stamping his feet once more, as earth began to coil around the stunned man’s feet, something he took note of, as his pupils returned to their normal size, along with his gaze shooting downward.

“Dammit.. I can’t move!”

Alarick jumped away, angling his body as he flew back, before he planted his feet onto one of the many buildings lining the street around them. He glanced over his shoulder, feeling for the building’s material… Concrete, Perfect. He tapped his hand, before jumping off, streaking to another. Doing the same, before jumping off and repeating the process. Again, again, and again. The walls of the buildings broke into rubble, as blades out of the walls formed, and were flung at Gihren. Gihren began swinging his scythe, handily blocking, and knocking the blades off of their course. However, the volume increased again, again, and again, and again, until they began to slip past his guard, though they only caused small cuts, his situation was clear.

“Damn!!”

The blades continued to leave the small cuts around his body, but, a lapse in his defense would be his undoing, as soon, one of the blades went to the very same arm he held his scythe in… And the cuts began to get deeper and deeper, tearing apart the skin, ripping through the muscles, until they went right through, as a red liquid began to drop from GIhren’s body. Soon after, one could hear the clatter of metal on the concrete as his scythe fell to the ground… But what fell as well, was the arm that had it in a vice grip. His face began to scrunch, as he gritted his teeth. He grabbed his shoulder… Even for one who had grown used to pain, there was a limit. And having his arm severed was far past that. Even so, he kept it suppressed, or, at the least, made an attempt too. But ultimately, as the pain flowed through him, he bellowed in his pain, reverting to his native language.

“MERDE!!!”

Elsewhere, Alarick floated in the air, his eyes drifted to the recently removed arm, and back to the man’s pained face.

“I've taken out his main arm… unless he's capable of using both… I've given myself the

Advantage.”

Part B

Elsewhere in the shima ward, the other battles continued... Though the sky fleet was mostly gone, likely off licking their wounds, much of the city found itself attacked by the remaining ground forces dropped off, as well as the amphibious units dropped by the Kaemerge’s surface fleet. At this point, however, it became clear that the Yamato would remove them. Any Aerial support they had was gone, as well as any angles of escape. It was for that reason that the fighting had to continue, they had little choice otherwise. The distinct sound of gunshots and particle beam fire rang again and again. Within the epicenter of the fight, One of the streets, with skyscrapers hanging over it, sat a squad of Yamato's men, behind cover. Captain Kobayashi, a man with red hair and a small beard, aimed his rifle at a member of the Kaemerge squad in front of him, taking some shots, tearing their armor apart, and ripping holes in their bodies. Soon, another man donning Yamato's standard-issue armor came to the captain’s side.

“Our spotters have discovered their forces concentrating on our area of the front, we could be seeing a large attack soon, sir!”

As he makes his statement, a Kaemerge soldier runs toward their place, firing all the while. As Kobayashi took note of the soldier, he hopped over the fortification, and charged at the soldier, with a black blade, resembling a Katana in his hand. By the time the soldier noticed, it was too late, Kobayashi cut through his armor, and the man fell to the ground, dead. Soon, Kobayashi got into cover, as the troops behind him advanced as well. As the very same soldier came to his side, Kobayashi glanced back at him.

“More of them… This is an issue, how are evacuations proceeding?”

“The school is being cleared out... Luckily that kid mostly calmed them down… Still, I'm not surprised they had thoughts like that, it probably isn't unique to them either. “

“They likely aren't too happy about the fact that they have to sit near another war… especially with the war only ending 3 years ago... Something tells me they won’t be the only unrest we’ll be seeing.”

Kobayahsi sighed.

“These kids probably lost family In the inferno… And considering that they've claimed responsibility, I’d guess they're especially livid… We failed to detect them, and eliminate them, and that's how we got where we are now. This is our fault, no doubt about it, and we need to rectify that. We can’t stop, we've ejected them, we won't be going anywhere!” He proclaimed.

“RIGHT!!” His subordinates yelled.

Soon, Kobayashi brought his rifle up again, as did his soldiers, as they let out a war cry. but… They all went silent as they heard something familiar, the hum of Rocket engines overhead.Their gazes went up to a machine that cast its shadow on the street below, obstructing their view of the sun. And, there it was, an HAU with angular armor, and two wings coming out of its back. Its armor was jet black, with some sections of it painted yellow. The head of the machine looked down at Kobayashi and his squad. This was the Kaemerge s-78 Hornet. While it wasn’t a machine any of them recognized. Any infantryman knew the dangers of being caught by an HAU without support.

“That's…”

“HAU!!!!! “

Within seconds, a burst of fire from the machine’s guns in its chest reduced the squad to nothing more than a mass of red mist, with what remained of their armor laying on the ground. Within the machine, sat a man with olive-toned skin. His large, well-built frame dressed in the standard issue pilot uniform, black in color. his wild, spiky orange hair draped across his wide shoulders. But what was notable, was the toothy grin on his face, becoming more pronounced as time went on. It was quite clear, he was enjoying this.

“ You say you aren't going anywhere… But you go to the next realm right after!”

What first began as a chuckle, turned into a laugh, that, gradually, got louder, and louder, until it blasted over the comms.

“Weaklings! your flimsy will could stand up to the power I hold!!! None shall stand in the way of the Kaemerge Empire, Nor the power of this machine.”

His laugh was interrupted, as an alarm pang rang from his display. The man looked to his left. And there they were, 5 Musashi’s streaked across the sky, their rifles aimed at him. He kept his smirk regardless, as they soon began firing. The red beams streaked toward them, but even so, his face remained unchanged, he weaved around them with ease. COntinuing his advance toward them, before his manipulator reached to his machine’s thigh, pulling out what looked to be a hilt of a blade. That ignited, a red beam of sigma particles projected from it. NOw, he got into the melee range of one of the Musashi’s. The eyes of the pilot widened as the Machine approached them, but it was much too late. The saber was jabbed into his cockpit, demolishing the armor, displays, and then, the pilot inside. at the man, but, one by one, he dodged and dodged, as he advanced toward them, he reached to his side, and brought out the Hornet’s sigma particle saber, getting into close range of a Musashi, the eyes of a pilot within one of them widened, as, coming right toward his cockpit, was a sigma particle saber. The pilot yelled, as his skin was burned off, the water and blood within his body boiling with the sheer heat, it was painful, no doubt… But there was some solace, in the fact that it was over within seconds.

The man turned to a second, cutting it in half, the remaining 3 tried to pull back, but alas- it was futile, they soon found their machines torn apart as well. Elsewhere, a Certain pilot made his way closer, his Musashi moved much faster than any of the others, and had more thrusters on its back. But what was especially noticeable, was that the machine was painted a bright red. Within the cockpit, sat a man in a black pilot suit. His appearance was a youthful one, he looked like one who was likely in his mid-20s. His auburn hair touched his shoulders, and some patches of hair dotted his lip and chin. He put his visor down as he focused his gaze on the machine in front of him.

“I don't know who you Kaemerge bastards are. But it's about time you get out of my country!!!!”

The pilot grasped a hilt on the hip of his machine as he drew it with the machine’s right hand, out came a stream of red light. He positioned it in front of him as the light from the thrusters intensified, the Musashi flew toward its target. In the cockpit of the Kaemerge machine, another pang alerted him of the oncoming opponent, and his eyes darted over as a result.

“Tsk”

The pilot rotated his machine, as the thrusters on his machine’s back soon began humming as well, as he charged forward to meet the Musashi. Their blades clashed between them, stopping them in their tracks, and causing electricity to crackle between them. They backed up, ready to begin a counterattack. The two backed up, as the Musashi swung its blade down on its opponent, it soon brought its shield up,stopping the blade right there. Now, the hornet thrust thrust at the cockpit of the Musashi, but the machine moved out of the way, smashing its elbow into the enemy machine, as its pilot fired up its thrusters. The cockpit shook, as the machine was sent back. The Musashi soon chose to follow it, prepping to swing its blade again, bringing it down upon the machine, however, his opponent wouldn’t allow this, putting his blade forward, and pointing it to the right, stopping the Musashi from continuing its attack.

There was only a moment's delay, as they fired up their thrusters once again. Swipe after swipe, thrust after thrust, the two masterfully danced around one another’s strikes. Though, one could expect that, given their backgrounds. Ryuunosuke Takahashi, one of Yamato’s top 10 ace pilots. And Rain Nestron, one of the Kaemerge’s best. Though one was more well known than the other, it did not change their respective skills. Soon, the two made notice of their situation, close-range wasn’t going to work. They moved their machines away from each other, as Nestron took a Linear gun from the side of his machine, Takahashi took a Sigma Particle Rifle. For a few moments, the men exchanged gazes. Before, they squeezed the triggers and began firing once again. With the sound of beam fire and the distinct sound of the rails, streaking across the sky, were bursts of particle beam fire, and rounds. The two avoided one another’s shots, up, down, left-right, across the sky, all the while, neither let up their assault. Within his cockpit, rain gritted his teeth.

“To think that I'll Have to use these against the likes of you… Engage Man-machine Interface!”

With his words, the OS display in front of him began displaying code flying across the displays that began to appear, until “All-Green” Appeared on the largest, and then, “Engaged”. Nestron tightened his grip on the control sticks, as he yelled his command.

“FLY- Stingers!!”

Now, the wings on the back of the machine began to spread, where strangely shaped objects, with what looked to be small gun barrels on the end, began to fly out of their initial places, their color the same as the machine they came from. where cylinders, the color of the metal they were forged of, the same color as the machine, Takahashi’s eyes began darting around as he took notice of the objects rapidly weaving, and moving around him. He had never seen anything like this before. Just what was he planning? He would soon learn. Soon flashes of red light came from the objects, Sigma particle beams. Not willing to get caught, Takahashi activated his thrusters, weaving around the beams fired at him. However, as he did, the sources moved around as well, firing from new angles, all over the Musashi. Though he continued dodging, the beams got closer and closer to his machine each time. Within his cockpit, Nestron Smirked. Takahashi squinted his eyes, as he frowned.

“ Dammit, this doesn’t look good.”

“You see, there's a difference between me and you… The A.T.S of the Centurion… it's nothing compared to what I have. The Man-Machine interface shows the genius of us Kaemerge. I can detect and attack at any moment. with this, nothing can stop me!”

Nestron began to Cackle, and although he’d turned his attention away, the firing at the Musashi Continued. However, with a ping from his sensors, he turned his attention behind him, as a Grant Class fired its cannons at him from behind. He stopped laughing as he took notice.

“Tch… Normally I'd be able to take that ship out easily- but with that one in the way… I'll have to escape… But that’s not to say I can’t take them out as well.”

Nestron soon begins flying away, with some of the stingers splitting away from the Musashi, closing in on the Grant class, FIring again, and again. As they got closer, the damages only intensified. This was, until, coming toward the ship, on Ryunoske’s side, was a Squadron of Musashi’s. Soon, they put up their rifles, firing upon the stingers. Nestron gritted his teeth, firing upon the Newly arrived squad with the guns that previously aimed for the ship. A beam soon shot right through the cockpit of one, though the machine wasn’t destroyed, it’s pilot was. The HAUs broke formation, spreading apart. Takahashi looked around the field, and he noted that he had a chance...

“It just had to be now-- Didn't it!!”

Ryuunosuke drew his sigma particle saber once again, as the light of his thrusters intensified, he flew toward the machine, swinging at two of the stingers, and destroying them, as they disintegrated behind him. Rain took notice of the machine, but it was much too late.

“No… I refuse to die this pathetically!!!”

Rain’s machine reached for his Sigma particle blade once again, However, as the Musashi’s arm was brought forward, it grasped the arm, keeping the Hornet from touching it, before thrusting the saber into the machine. Within the cockpit, Rain let out a yell, as the blade came right within, vaporizing him within seconds. Takahashi moved the blade out, as he pulled away, before thrusting the saber into the machine’s reactor, then, he left once again, as the Machine exploded in a ball of fire. He floated there for some moments, before turning his attention to the Grant class, and then, his allies.

“A stubborn one…. I'd better support the others.”

Elsewhere, on the streets of Shima, Gihren stood with his hand resting on the bloody shoulder where his arm used to be. In the same way, Alarick hadn’t moved either. The scythe wielder’s gaze went from the arm he held, to the one previously attached to his body. Repeatedly doing so, as he closed his eyes, slowly inhaling, and exhaling, before he opened him.

“All the times I've experienced that… and yet it still hurts that much- No matter. “

GIhren began yelling, his deepend voice echoing through the streets, something that made Alarick raise an eyebrow. This went on for quite a while, a few seconds turned into 10, and 10, into twenty. At this point, Alarick prepared himself to launch another attack.

“What is he-”

Before he was able to finish his thoughts, flying out from his shoulder, was another arm! At first it was bare, nothing but raw, red muscle. But this would change within a few seconds, as lightened skin grew to cover it. coming out of the shoulder, was an arm, at first, bare, with no skin covering it. He bent the newly grown limb, moving the fingers one by one, checking for any abnormalities.. As of yet, none. He reached over his shoulder, grabbing the hilt of yet another scythe. He held it in front of his body, as he bent his knees. Alarick looked upon this with surprise, his eyebrows elevated, eyes widened.

“What, A new arm?!... It looks like it won't be that easy. I should've expected that.”

After some time, Alarick returned to his neutral expression as he regained his composure.. This would simply be something else he had to calculate for.

“I wonder… How many tricks do you have up your sleeve?”

“You'll find out… If you survive- that is.” Gihren responded.

“If I survive, huh... Let’s see if that confidence means anything, then.”

To be continued