ZETA

The good news. Even though he disappeared, the man in the brown cloak led them to an evening autumn light at the edge of the drainage. A great beach and the aqua lining of the blue sea greeted them. The bad news. Aspic’s sewer system had few drainage pipes, so they were like flies in a funnel. Balder Rex smashed Zeta into the beachhead before Zeta soaked in fresh rays of sunlight.

“There you two are. I’ve been waiting.”

Hera tried to attack in Zeta’s stead, but Rex simply grabbed her arm and tossed her near the sea. She rolled across the sand to the edge of the ocean’s ebb where a tide of saltwater washed over her.

“I think you both need cleaning after coming out of that filthy place. Why don’t I introduce you to the sunken ships?”

Zeta held his jaw steady. A thousand pulses of pain shot through every filament when he touched it, but it offered artificial movement. “I’ve. Had. Enough.”

“So have I, swordsman.”

Zeta kicked up sand as Rex fired another Sonic Ray. Beneath the shroud of gravel, Zeta burst through with his sword at the ready. His other hand posed for Impossible Shot.

Swing. Shot. Swing. Shot. Swing. Shot. Swing. Swing. Shot. All of them missed. Nevertheless, Zeta persisted. How a man of Rex’s stature managed to move with swift elegance continued to baffle him.

“Don’t tell me you chalked up Crue and Gust to henchmen a step above dogshit. If you did, you’re a fool.”

If you’re claiming they are equivalent to you, then you’re not that impressive, Zeta wanted to say. Damn the broken jaw.

“I sparred with them many times. The blade and the bullet. I practiced day after day with their guidance specifically for this scenario,” he continued. “I don’t need sigmas to handle you. All of this is completely natural.”

Rex trained his eyes on Black Meridian. He stopped the sword by grabbing the flat with his hand. No blood again. Damn the Natural Padding.

“They were friends, and we were going to climb this world together. Now, do you understand why I hate you so so much? You, a worm, had no right to defeat them!”

His firm grip prevented Zeta from pulling Black Meridian away. Rex yanked the sword, and its owner, closer and jammed a clawed fist into his stomach. He worsened the enhanced hit when he whispered, “Sonic Ray.”

His stomach convulsed as the force of a rocking log slammed into his gut. A branch of that force also struck his chin and throat. He slipped off the sand and into the air.

Never had Zeta appreciated the gift of gravity as much as he did that moment. Soaring through the air, his body flailed until it struck the ocean that pulled him undertow.

HERA

When her vision refocused, she heard the idiot splash into the water behind her. If he drowned, he drowned, it didn’t bother her. Zeta was tough, so she doubted that happened.

Seeing Balder again so suddenly after their turmoil in the sewers stole something from Hera. After his first hit, the motivation leaked out of her. Well, not the motivation necessarily, but the urgency. Her perception of danger had shattered like glass.

So she took her time after slapping against the shore. Sand and shit covered her body in places best left unmentioned. Salt stung her eyes, yet her filthy hands could not rub it away. She patted herself for a dry piece of cloth, ripped it off and used it to clear her eyes.

Even after regaining some sight, the world remained dark. Hera wasn’t sure if it was her own imagination. Had everything always been this bleak?

The sea wrapped around her ankles. Clumps of nature fell from her hair and sloshed as they touched the sand. Rex ran his mouth, but she stayed ignorant of his presence. His taunts and neurotic ideas could wait while she sorted out this strange new world.

The familiar tingling in her mind about their location clicked into place. This shoreline is where Zeta and she dismissed the Lilick Brothers. I wonder how those boys are doing right now.

Behind the beach, the famed docks of Aspic rested on wooden stills like a wealthy neighbor. Half the city fled to them to escape Balder, but they could see the beach. Balder’s reappearance made them run inland instead. At this rate, they’ll get some decent exercise.

A Fishman crawled to land next to her, drenched in saltwater and carrying a thin black sword. His jaw was displaced from its socket. Oh, is that you, Zeta?

He looked at her, and although he couldn’t speak, she knew what he was asking. “Do you plan to help me anytime soon?”

No, I don’t. A dazed focus on the sunset was much more enjoyable.

When she didn’t respond, Zeta ran past her, charging at Balder. She watched the sea, and the sounds of scuffle emerged behind her. White noise for her ears.

Today was far from over, but she could envision the sun in its setting phase. Its orange hue dominating the horizon in a glorious bright light. She analyzed the calm and collected waters between it and her, a vast, fluid wasteland with infinite possibilities.

Erupting sand scraped against her back, which meant the combatants were nearby. She paid them no mind, for they lie in the direction of Aspic.

And Aspic was falling. It didn’t matter. Ahead was the Western Shelf and other world wonders.

Zeta slid in the sand in front of her until his head was dunked in the ocean. His tattered shirt exposed the violet bruising in his chest. Nevertheless, he refused to succumb. He stood up and charged his opponent again.

And again. And again. Didn’t he ever get tired?

No, and neither would she.

She reached back and used Neural Flash. She didn’t need to see the man to know where Balder Rex stood. The ringing in her ears stopped, and voices emerged once more.

“Harpy? Are you all there?” Rex’s annoying voice asked.

She chose her decibel level carefully. A voice loud enough for the vocal command to register, yet low enough that no one could hear her.

BALDER REX, The Lion of Aspic

“Harpy? Harpy!” Balder shouted. Her silence in such a severe situation pricked at his composure. Had she snapped? He knew he hit hard, but never before had his blows been enough to break the mind.

Just look at the fly next to her. He has not stopped. Admirable, but also fucking annoying.

His former client simply stared into the horizon while her ally slowly died.

Zeta rushed in for another bout. Balder promptly gave it to him. As he slid around all his attacks, he planned which bone to break next.

Hera used another Neural Flash, and Balder reeled back, taking a graze in the rib before pushing Zeta away. It was enhanced, so Zeta was flung off the beach with that amount of force.

“Damn it, Harpy! Are you apart of this or not!”

Another Flash. Then another. What did she hope to prove? The idiot. All his emotions pulled pictures of Lena Kurova to his forebrain. Did she think that deterred him? If anything, he received an adrenaline rush.

Another Flash. They were subsequent, like strobe lights. The images aroused him. Not the mood he expected, but not one he regretted either.

They grew more frequent, but Rex could still toss away another bull rush from Zeta while viewing them. That’s just how pathetic the swordsman was.

Another, and another. Rex watched the Harpy and laughed. The images flashed before him like stop motion. The most beautiful woman in the world and she tried to use that against him?

But then the images had no interims. It was a constant still. Lena’s figure obscured his view in its entirety. How the hell? Not that he was complaining, but he had a vague understanding of Neural Flash. This wasn’t possible.

He noted that Zeta’s next assault had not come on time, or maybe he just couldn’t see it. No, he could see Zeta, and he was gawking at…Lena? No, wait–

Come to think of it, we’re still on the beach.

His eyes widened. He looked around. He was still apart of reality, but there she was. Lena Kurova was there! She was with him!

“H–How!”

From his enemy’s expression, this was not an illusion. She was actually standing there, on the shoreline, right where the Harpy once stood. But…but her face. It was not Hera’s lesser imitation. That was it, that was Lena. In the flesh, down the minute folds in the skin

“Balder,” Lena said.

She called me by my first name! She had addressed him on equal terms. All of it was happening so fast. He had pictured it, time and time again, the very words he would say to impress her on their first meeting. But he couldn’t muster them, and he didn’t care.

“Y–yes, Miss Kurova.” Miss, because she was unmarried.

“You…are a disappointment. The absolute bottom of this world. You sit in this backwater and consider yourself a king, but you are little more than an overvalued thug. I am insulted that a lowlife such as you would consider yourself worthy of my courtship.”

Did reality shatter? Rex felt like it had done so. No, maybe it was just his imagination? Did he hear her right?

“Your pathetic posturing like a lovesick puppy has tainted my name and everything it stands for. For that, I deem it necessary for you to die.”

Her eyes glowed purple with psionic energy, and her hair floated with invisible wind and water. The world darkened, and her skin grayed to an ugly shade.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Something was very wrong here. This is not Lena Kurova, she would never deny him. This was an imitation, but still…

Why am I so frightened?

“Lena! I’m sorry if I came on so strong. I apologize, truly, from the bottom of my heart and soul. I promise it won’t happen again. Don’t write me off, please!”

She started strolling towards him, her fist raised with lethal intent.

“Go…go away, mockery! You claim my love is an insult, but this replica is the true offense! End this now or this entire island will suffer the consequences!”

She didn’t stop. There was movement out of the corner of Rex’s eye. Zeta… Damn it, he needed to be attentive, but he couldn’t pull his attention from…from her.

Come on, shift your head, Balder. The swordsman will get you if you don’t move!

Self-induced paralysis. Rex's eyes were locked onto Kurova, who claimed to hate him. He shut his eyes. It’s a fake! Ignore it! He tried to move his head, but his eyelids pried open. He couldn’t stop! Never before had he seen such a perfect representation of her image. If this was the true Lena Kurova, the drawings had done her no justice.

A patter of sandy footsteps behind him. Turn around, stop the swordsman!

His head creaked to the side. Yes, yes! They can’t win. He wouldn’t let them! His feet turned to the side, his torso shifting to face the real threat. Come on, just a few more steps!

“The true shame, Balder Corticus Rex, is the fact that you will die shamefully before you ever glimpse the real thing,” Lena said.

He turned to her in horror, then yanked himself away as the footsteps grew louder behind him. He prepared to defend himself, but Zeta wasn’t there.

A kick slammed into his chest from the side. His chest was padded, but the force was still enough to make him stumble.

Two hands pinched the flesh on his shoulder blades and twisted. He felt as if they had torn off muscle.

Such was Neural Fighter. Rex turned around to face Hera, whose guise as her doppelganger had ended. While he was unhinged, she grabbed his chin.

“Goodbye, Rex. If Hell grants you another life, maybe you’ll find love in that one instead.”

There was an ache in his chest. No, more like a searing sting. He glanced down to see a black blade piercing his sternum, threads of his heart leftover on the sword’s steel.

I see. I wonder, Lena. Had we met in the real world, would you have loved me? Or would you have scorned me, as these fools seem to imply?

He collapsed to the beach, a broken pipe of blood leaking from his mouth. Only then did he notice the loose scraps of trash and dirt that polluted the sand. What an unfit place to die.

Rex glanced to the beautiful view at the edge of the sea. He wanted to leave Aspic so severely, to the point where he was willing to destroy it to take the world.

I guess a part of me liked this city. I don’t mind dying for it, even if it wasn't my first choice.

Balder Rex was conscious of his last breath.

Liquid Cutter - Liquid, Offense: A small puddle of liquid can be moved at rapid speeds to sever solid material or cause major damage. (607).

(A) Point hand towards liquid source. Slash and swing at target and liquid will follow. Liquid ‘hovers’ near user’s hand so as to offer freeform combat. Liquid travels at approximately 25 m/s when used to cut. The liquid can only hover up to half a meter around the user’s hands. Any further and control will be lost.