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638. A Bullet Forged By Our Infinite Hatred
🕑 Added 2024-04-25 12:28:45 +0000 UTCHer grip around her False Price of Paradise tightened as the Red Avenger swiftly moved as she fired a barrage of bullets. Each explosion caused the forest to shake, and the trees in her immediate vicinity to topple over, revealing a stand underneath.
Micheala swung her heavy blade like it was weightless. Her back that was shown to those behind convinced them that they were not in harm’s way.
Anna wanted to run. Nav could barely comprehend what she was witnessing, her eyes darting everywhere like her mind was being overloaded with zeroes and ones.
Galia, however, simply folded her arms and watched them like a keen fox.
“We may be unable to coexist.”
A sudden bead of light emerged from the Arbiter’s bleeding hand. She scraped the bleeding scabbard across the length of her blade. Even though the bullets rained in her direction, not a single one was able to break through.
What ultimately appeared was what looked like a piece of a broken halo, or to others, the hand of a five-armed star that children would draw.
< [O] [Zone of Arbitration] [O] >
< EFFECT: ??? Consumes Nex to facilitate >
“But is it not ironic that we could not exist without each other?”
A sphere of warping slashes encompassed her. They came and disappeared from reality as the white dust speckled all over the forest suctioned into her like she possessed a gravitational field.
The bullets were slashed out of existence, as if erased by the very decree of the Arbiter herself.
“Conditions are an agony. May there be a day where we will never worry about such arbitrary things.”
The Arbiter did not break eye contact with her. Even as the Red Avenger twisted and turned, using her dual pistols as a means of traversing faster.
< [Veteran Huntress] >
< From my accumulated book of experiences >
< EFFECT: This is a Passive skill. The Vengeful Red-Hooded Avenger’s AGI increases as the hunt goes on. The Bloody Trail becomes clearer >
< “The tales that bind us define the context of the world we live in.” >
< “I must be the first to break free from this agony.” >
The Red Avenger forfeited her weapon unexpectedly, drawing her blade as she carved the air, following the one perfect path to the Arbiter’s heart. She clashed blades with her. Red and white fireworks went off with each strike. The Arbiter stood there unmoving like a statue, simply swinging her arm whereas the Red Avenger was thrown around like rabid animal.
< [Close Quarters Shelling] >
< [Close Quarters Shelling] >
< [Close Quarters Shelling] >
< [Pre-Emptive Snipe] >
< [Pre-Emptive Snipe] >
The sniper rifle and her blunderbuss pistols appeared in her hands and disappeared at will. She combined a rain of bullets and physical strikes, but none managed to penetrate the Arbiter’s defenses.
< “Tragedy repeats in every tale.” >
There were strikes that Micheala allowed to go through, resulting in miniscule damage. The frustration felt from the Red Avenger was palpable and caused waves to ripple through the entire forest.
< “In those tales that children read are characters that dream of an alternate ending.” >
Before long, the Red Avenger scraped at the ground with her hands like they were paws, using her entire body to get one – just one more strike in.
< “But imagination… is a new avenue of agony for us stuck in this perpetual play.” >
With one last blow, the Arbiter stood above the Red Avenger.
Vengeful Red-Hooded Avenger | HP: 2,000,000
She raised her weapon above her head and swung it downwards without another word, pulverizing its head like a crushed melon. Blood redder than hers bleed from the Corrupted’s body; a reminder that it was grounded in reality beyond just its fairytale.
A hand gripped the sharp edge of her pale blade, surprising the Arbiter.
“You really can’t die.”
Her voice was accompanied by the weeping of her daughter.
Both hands then, to Micheala’s shock, lifted the blade from the Red Avenger’s head.
< [The Hunt Must Go On] >
< In my infinite hatred, I will be reborn infinite times like my agonized predecessors >
< EFFECT: Passive Skill. When the Vengeful Red-Hooded Avenger’s HP reaches 0, increase Heighten Emotions substantially. When Emotional State passes the First State, use an unavoidable attack >
< “I hear them crying out to me and only to me!” >
It formed as quickly as it disappeared as she sprung up, clutching a hatchet from her back. She pounced on the Arbiter’s chest, mounting her as she threw her onto the ground and held the axe high. It glistened in the moonlight, drawing the blood of the Arbiter as it twisted and turned between her fingers elegantly.
The Arbiter was pinned by an unknown force.
< ‘Release me’. ‘I don’t want to be in here anymore!’ ‘The Big Bad Wolf has swallowed us whole!’ >
The hatchet fell and, to Micheale’s shock –
“… It penetrated…?”
– It pierced through her flesh, hacking away at her chest until her ribs internally snapped.
< “I am the Hunter. I am the Woodsman of this forest. I am everything that will hack down everything that swallows us whole!” >
Micheala could not believe her eyes. Yet for some odd reason, she could not help but grin eerily, like she was enjoying the pain.
< “Break free from the belly of the beast!” >
Finally, when a hole just large enough for her fist to fit through was formed, the Red Avenger released the hatchet. She stood over the Arbiter who was now pinned and stuffed by the barrel of the Red Avenger’s colossal sniper rifle.
< [Fairytale’s Bane] >
< A bullet forged by the singularity of our infinite hated >
< EFFECT: On hit, deal a quarter of the Nemesis’ HP as damage. If target is not declared as Nemesis, then take the same amount of damage at a delay. It cannot be blocked >
< “Break free from the suffering of this wretched fairytale!” >
The bullet punctured the Arbiter's chest, embedding itself deeply as it twisted everything around her like a whirlpool. The emotional heights of the Red Avenger ceased for a moment as she stared down at the bloody mess she had made.
Somehow, in those vengeful eyes, just for a split second, the Arbiter saw immense sadness.
“… Unleash it… More… Show me more of that wrath.” The Arbiter reached out to clasp her cheeks. “Only then can this tale be shelved for good. Because I…”
A delayed fireball consumed them both. For the first time since becoming an Archetype, the Arbiter had taken considerable damage, and it was from a Woe of the Fallen Star of all things.
But her pride did not get the best of her. She did not complain.
In that fireball rose a silhouette that smiled.
And when it finally disappeared, the Red Avenger clasped her cheeks with trembling hands as she backed off, her form distorting as if sifting through a wardrobe of alternate identities.
In her hand was also the Piece of Paradise.
//////// < WARNING > ////////
< Frost’s Risen Emotional State Has Altered Her Corrupted Form >
