Struggle#15

Objective: Save Julia

Sub-objective: Kill the mad scientist - Destroy the robot army

Facing the Secret base of this so-called mad scientist, a handsome young man with golden hair and blue eyes was inspecting a small book.

Well, ‘Secret' was a bit over rated, as its huge metallic door build in the mountain flank and serving as an entrance was quite eye-catching. The mountain itself was only 20 minutes away from the nearest town, so it didn't take our charismatic hero that long to find it.

The mission was simple, a mas scientist was using life force in order to power up is machines, and he recently kidnapped a young girl named Julia.

It was yesterday, and Xavier finally caught up to him. Now that he was in front of his base, the only thing left was to kill the bad guy and save the hostage.

However, as stated by the book, he built a robot army, and that will most likely hinder his apprehension. Gifted with brain and brawn, the blond young man perfectly realized the risk he would take by going inside alone. He might be strong enough to cut a tree with one kick, but if this adventure has taught him something, it is that you can never underestimate a risk.

His virtue was Patience, and it was a pretty good fit, but it couldn't be applied in this situation. Every second he's not acting bring Julia closer to her demise.

That’s why he put his Quest Book back on his belt, and approached the door. He has already made his mind.

Even though none were apparent, they were probably a few camera watching him already, but he wasn’t bothered by it. In fact, it was the opposite.

Two meters away from the entrance.

Xavier gathered all his energy, all his power into his muscle.

He wasn’t good at it compared to Naomi or Kyle, but his starting point in term of strength was way higher.

That’s why…

CRAAAASH.

One punch.

That's only what it took to obliterate the right ten-centimetres-thicks steel door.

His fist was still hanging in the air. Covered with blood. His blood. Such blow wasn’t without consequences, but that was the last of his worries. A little girl was in peril, and he was ready to give everything to save her.

He shouldn't be on the front line. At least not according to his title.

Xavier Xerfos, Warlock of Patience, gifted with abilities to manipulate and strike the minds of others. However, his foes will be mindless killing machines, so neither his Class or Virtue will be of any help. Yes, the odds are against him, it's probably the worst adversary he could have hoped to encounter. As if the Goddess itself was asking him a question: do you have what it takes?

The destroyed front door was his answer.

“Crrr… 1,2. 1,2. Do you hear me? Yes, you can. I can see you after all.”

Xavier spotted a speaker near the roof on the inside. A voice was coming from it, probably the scientist.

"I know what you came for. Your not the only one that tried after all. He he he. It's always the same story, I take a child, everyone's panicking, someone tries to play the hero, and he dies. Like you, in a few seconds."

“Where is the girl?! You scum!”

“Oh oh oh, don’t worry… I’m taking good care of her.”

A vein popped up on his forehead. He wasn't completely mad, not yet. He couldn't afford to lose his temper, the first wave of enemies was about to come, as hinted by the speakers' taunt.

And without fail, several combat robots arrive promptly.

They were huge, at least 2 meters tall, and were mostly composed of black cables attached to an exoskeleton replicating the human's shape, but with weapons instead of hands. Some had guns, other spiked balls or blade. Finally, their head was completely round with a single giant red eye glowing in the badly lighten corridor, where the reach of the outside light stopped.

Without any warning, the gun robot fired a first round of bullets, and Xavier evaded sideway. The place wasn’t bug, but wide enough for him and the 5 robots in front of him not to be hindered during the fight.

Another robot had already started to charge, and Xavier went for the confrontation. He swiftly dodged a blade slash and followed the movement by a powerful leg swipe. The enemy fell, and without a moment wasted, his head was crushed under a human foot. First one down.

Another one was already here, with a blunt weapon this time.

Same dance.

Dodge the blow.

And destroy the head.

Catch an arm.

Throw one of them toward the shooting one.

Step back.

While two of them were trying to get back on their feet, the last robot was attacking Xavier with a barrage of stabs, so fast that it seemed as if it had more than two arms.

“Woooo!”

Xavier put both of his palms in front of him.

They were immediately pierced by the robot’s attack.

What a fool.

The machine, that is.

The pierced hands were now strongly grabbing the robot's arms, and there would be no way in hell Xavier would let them go away.

For an instant, the action stopped. It was as if the robot itself realized he had made the worst mistake of his ‘life’, and it was followed by a strong high front kick, sending its head straight to the ceiling.

Only two left.

Without waiting for them to extirpate themselves from one another, Xavier kicked the body of his last victim toward them. The force behind it was enough to push them to the ground again.

Following that, Xavier crushed promptly their eyes before they could retaliate.

These robots have good strength and speed, proven by the impact on the ground caused by the second one, but their sense of balance is clearly bad.

Xavier looked at his hands. The wound was deep, but miraculously no nerve was touched. With flux, it wouldn't take more than ten minutes to heal them completely. However, he couldn't afford that time. This fight was a closer call than expected, and there was only five of them.

Nonetheless, after resting for less than a minute, he resumed his progression through the base, following the faint path of light on the ground indicating the shape of the hallway, for lack of a better light source.

Time was against him.

He ran as fast as he could.

Shortly after, he encounters another pack of killing machine and destroyed them in a swift, momentarily sacrificing his left eye to a sneaky slash.

The cycle kept going.

Their numbers kept increasing.

Xavier kept winning.

The deeper he was, the more he was thinking of Julia, the more he was taunted by the evil mastermind, and stronger his anger was growing.

Covered with his own blood, each time a wound was closed, two others had already opened elsewhere. His shirt was half burned down, and one of his shoes was missing.

The swarm of robots was endless, and he rapidly lost the count of how many had been destroyed. With each one of his blow, steel was bend, cables were thorned or heads were crushed. As if his anger was only making him stronger.

But finally, after going through hundreds of killing machine, he reached the final room.

“Oh oh oh! I have to praise you! You are the first one to have come this far. However…”

The room was huge, almost as big as a football court, and filled with huge screens and holographic models. On the opposite side was standing an old bald man with a white coat. In front of him was a little girl, lying down on what looked like an operation table. She was unharmed, but the presence of a scalpel in the man’s hand and an ominous injecting machine behind him was alarming enough.

However, that wasn’t the bad part.

Xavier thought the army of robots was behind him, obliterated against the walls of the facility, but he was dead wrong.

The true army was her, at least fifty of them, taller, and with deadlier weapons attached to them.

“…this is the end for you! And her!”

Screaming and pointing his blade at the child's face, the mad scientist was obviously waiting for the young intruder to burst out in rage. However, against every logic, he immediately calmed down.

Yes, everything happened according to the plan.

Warlock is not a class meant for fist fighting, and excels in mind tricks. The room was too big, and his enemy too far away for that, nonetheless, he does possess one trump card for this kind of situation.

?Limit Break?

For each and every human, the brain has to limit the body's strength in order to protect itself. Without these limitations, a normal person could lift a car, and in Xavier's case… well, that's basically how he was able to destroy the 10 centimetres thick steel door at the entrance.

Be it one or a thousand, those machines stood no chance.

As soon as the technique was activated, the atmosphere change. Xavier, with his vein surging all over his body, and his muscle over tensed, clutched his fist, and slammed the ground.

Slabs and rocks were propelled into the air.

The rest of the ground was shattered like glass.

The whole mountain was shaking.

In this confusion, the figure of Xavier had already disappeared. Using the lost balance of the army, he rushed through them, crushing the ones in his way.

20 seconds, that was his time limit, after that his body won't be able to hold it. It could have been more, but the first use at the entrance and the repetitive combat for the past hour had already exhausted most of his stamina.

Moreover, it's only a matter of time before his target gathers his thought and harm the girl.

Distracted by this thought for a split second, Xavier reacted a second too late to a huge hammerhead about to hit his.

CRACK

Whoever thought it was enough to stop his charge?

With a bleeding forehead and scraps of metals splattered all around him, the blond man had already reached the centre of the room, as well as the halfway mark of his time limit.

“Pr-pr-protocol twenty!”

With a shaking scared voice, the scientist activates his own trump card: self-destruction.

The three robots in front of Xavier started to glow with an ominous red light.

Carried away by his momentum, our hero had no way of evading it.

BOOOOOOOM

Swiping half of the army, the explosion shook the Earth and blasted rumbles everywhere in the room, leaving behind a dark cloud of despair.

Was it the end?

Of course not.

True heroes are destined to surpass themselves when the odds are against them.

?Bullet Time?

Facing his own death, Xavier concentrated every particle of brain power he had to find a countermeasure, miraculously pulling out a last card. Slowing his own process of thought to make one second last a minute, he just created ?Bullet Time?.

Had he jumped a split second later, he would have been obliterated by the epicentre of the explosion. Instead, he was ‘just’ blown away toward the end of the room, and crashed on the top of the back wall.

Some bones were broken, and half his back was burned, but he was alive, and conscious enough to land a few meters under.

“I-I-Impossi…”

“Shut up!”

With his head high and a menacing glare, Xavier grabbed shouted at the scientist.

PSHHH

Blood!

From his mouth!

Xavier just coughed blood, the 20 seconds were over.

“Ha…”

The young man couldn’t stand up anymore, and put a knee to the ground.

“Haha…”

Troubled to get back his breath, Xavier coughed a second time, spitting a mix of blood and saliva on the ground.

"HAHAHA, I won! And you looooooooooo…"

A strange mark appeared*, floating several millimetres away from the old man’s forehead.

The truth is that most Warlock excels in mind control, and Xavier was no exception. His only problem was that he must get close to his target in order to control their thought. Of course, he couldn’t entirely control someone’s consciousness in such a short time, but it was plenty enough to stop a weak minded person frozen.

Finally, he was victorious. With his own blood covering his body and multiple bones fractured, but victorious nonetheless.

“Haaaa… it doesn’t matter how many good guys die. There’ll always be people standing against evil. That’s why guys like you tend to end up like that.”

Standing with will alone, Xavier was already standing next to the villain. He saw fear in his eyes, but our hero wasn’t so merciful as to let him live. With one angry punch, a bald head was sent flying inside the remains of the black smoke from the explosion.

Slowly catching his breath, he looked down at the little girl. Fortunately, she looked unharmed.

“Finally, this is over.”

The truth is that Xavier forgot about the rest of the robots army, and had to run away with the girl on his back will getting chased by them. He managed to outrun them and escape the facility, but as soon as he reached the outside, his stamina ran out and he collapsed on the spot.

He woke the day after, in town. Luckily, a group of worried folks had followed him and waited for his return. They brought him and the girl to town and tend to his wound.

Needless to say, Xavier was congratulated as a hero, everyone came and try to thank him, but he managed to sneak out and flee.

With his business done, he had no reason to stay. The girl was safe, that was all he cared about. Moreover, he has urgent matters to take care of…

He took out the book to check his achievement.

Struggle#15

Objective: Save Julia

Sub-objective: Kill the mad scientist - Destroy the robot army

With a small sigh of relief, he closed it and started to head toward his next struggle. This one was probably one of the hardest so far, and it was likely that the next ones will be even more difficult. On top of that, the closer to the reunion he was, the heavier he was feeling the weight on his shoulder.

A huge responsibility was given to him. A truth that he was the only one allowed to see.

“Sam… why did you do this?”

So… we just passed the door and Alice is still sleeping. It’s been already more than 24 hours, but I’m not that worried, she was fighting restlessly for the past 4 days after all.

Let’s see what the Quest Book is giving us this time.

Struggle#16

Objective: Craft Alice’s Quest Book

Sub-objective: Bring Alice - Meet Ogre Omtapo - Defeat the Guardian

…

WHAT THE FUCK?

*The symbol on the mad scientist forehead :