Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Saint Seiya Fan Fiction ❯ The Intense Clash of the Gods ❯ Tale 53 ( Chapter 53 )

"So what's the game plan, boss?" Reiji asked as he and Aiacos rounded a bend.

"Get to Ambrosia... what else?"

"Yeah but if-" they stopped dead in their tracks. "Speak of the devil."

"Moriya Minakata," the redhead announced, standing in their way, "Black Turtle of the North." The two of them primed to attack, but Moriya shrugged, waved his hand in front of them, and then turned around. "Boom."

Deafening explosions rocked the building as two charbroiled bodies slid next to Moriya's feet. That had been pretty eas-

"REIJI! JUST GO ON AHEAD!"

WHAT?!?

Moriya turned to see the two of them standing there... so what was...

Suddenly the two bodies vanished, a multitude of gigantic purple blobs with one eye appearing around him in a circle before he was suddenly blasted up into the wall.

"Galactic Illusion, asshole," Aiacos said as Reiji ran past him, Moriya hitting the ground and looking up at the Garuda Specter.

"Damn you..." Moriya growled before charging.
_
"MINA! GET OUT OF HERE!" Mizuki shouted as her friend nodded and ran down the hallway, Mizuki turning to face Isabeau.

True, the gaping hole in the floor would block most people from chasing after Ambrosia... but Isabeau wasn't an ordinary person.

Clenching her fists, Isabeau sneered at Mizuki, who stood there undaunted. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

"Mina-ojosama's life is at stake. Quitting is out the window."

"THEN YOUR ONLY OPTION IS TO DIE!" Isabeau screeched, two burning spheres appearing in her hands before throwing them at Mizuki.

Deftly readying her wand, Mizuki slashed down, that same black substance coating her weapon. "Makai Sheath!"

Cutting the attacks in half, Mizuki immediately charged, stabbing at Isabeau, who went of the defensive immediately. Bending and dodging the attacks as fast as possible, Isabeau grabbed Mizuki's wrists and grinned.

"Don't think of me as just a fire-starter..." Isabeau as she delivered an absurdly painful headbutt. "Think of me..." She raised her leg, pressing her foot against Mizuki's chest, "AS YOUR EXECUTIONER!"

Suddenly the leg twisted, mutated... becoming some sort of disgusting tentacle the width of a tree-trunk that smashed into Mizuki and sent her smashing into a wall. Groaning in pain, Mizuki managed to push against the wall to get to her feet as Isabeau gracefully flew through the air on those damn fairy wings to land in front of her.

"My... executioner?" Mizuki said, wincing in pain before shaking her head. "No... I'm going to live a long life... and spend it happily with Mina-ojosama."

"Foolish woman!" Isabeau shot at her before willing another internal combustion. In Kyoto... the center of her area of power... Isabeau knew nobody, not the other Symbols, not a god, and certainly not a human could defeat her. "Time to explode!"

Mizuki stared right at her, then quickly jumped to the right as the area around her exploded.

"WHAT?!?" Isabeau said, confused and shocked as Mizuki dusted herself off. "How... how did..."

Mizuki smiled, "It was easy... after having the experience of figuring how you did it the last time we fought. Once I knew what I was trying to sense... I dunno. It's as if even though I couldn't see or smell it or anything like that... I still knew exactly where it was coming from, it's speed, size... potency... everything about it! And now that we're fighting again... I feel the same. I... I sense Aiacos fighting Genbu and the other Coronas struggling against Seiryu above us, with Radamanthys duking it out with Byakko below us... I don't really know how I'm doing this, but I know it's the real deal."

Isabeau's jaw dropped open as she staggered back. No... no no no no NO NO NO NO NONONONONONONONONONO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This... this can't be happening! This can't be real! I refuse to believe it as such! She-she can't have really developed... without even knowing it...

COMBAT AWARENESS!!!

Isabeau shook her head, trying to dispel the shock and horror that was coursing through her as Mizuki stared at her in confusion. Without even realizing it, Isabeau found herself speaking.

"It's impossible... just impossible..." she began, in complete shock. "You... you somehow found a way to tap into Combat Awareness... that should be impossible for you..."

"Combat Awareness?"

"It... it was the crux of Malphas Zephyr's powers... the ability to understand and perceive everything around you even without the aid of one's senses. Attacks, people... everything... Zephyr's range with it was tragically only about 100 cubic meters... one reason Minos's techniques got the jump on him so many times... But..." Isabeau took a deep breath before growling and looking Mizuki dead in the eye, "I don't know how you did it, but it's not going to save you!"

Lunging at her, Isabeau dodged a quick punch and kicked her in the head, sending the miko flying away.
_
"Where... where are we?" Radamanthys asked as he looked around, confused. It seemed like they were fighting inside a volcano now... on a small island of rock surrounded by a pool of magma. although Shigen didn't seem that surprised.

"Peh... you haven't done your homework," Byakko stated as he charged, a gigantic fist sailing right at Radamanthys's face. It seemed as if another Radamanthys split out of the original, rolling away as Shigen's fist impaled the first, but suddenly vanished, the "copy" grinning and kicking him away in the gut.

"Looks like you haven't done yours either," Radamanthys said as he threw his shirt off... it was getting too hot for it anyways.

"You mean that 'Astral Phantom' technique? Indeed," Shigen said as he rose up, "It seems, however, that it simply lets you create illusions of yourself, at the same time, they are only capable of doing things you can and only can create one at a time. Not too dangerous... or at least at first. I assume that although they are technically illusions, you can 'jump' from one to another... so if two of them charge, only the real one can harm me, but likewise, if I strike at one, you'll just 'jump' to the other. Creative style of teleportation."

Radamanthys smirked and bowed in sarcasm. "You figured that out damn fast... Lancaster Pendragon died wondering how I do it."

"Lancaster was a fool..."

"Oh, so you heard about that then?"

"Enough of it..." Shigen said before he charged again. "TIGER SONG!"

Radamanthys raised up his guard, and Shigen stopped surprisingly quick as he punched into the air, but Radamanthys suddenly realized something was wrong...

Hitting the ground as fast as he could, it was a good thing too, as the rock wall behind him suddenly was impacted by... by something...

"Holy crap!" Radamanthys said as he stood up, shocked by the ploy, "You can transfer the force of a punch through air!" Not only is his symbol similar to Cecil's... but he also has a wind-related technique too!

It was Shigen's turn to bow in sarcasm. "You... you figured that all out after just one try against you. Incredible. Even the other Four Symbols haven't a clue how I do it at all. You're lucky you're so quick on the uptake and good with those phantoms. You have ANY idea how quick your life would be over if I landed a full-force direct hit?"

"None at all," Radamanthys smirked. "You gonna try and show me?" He charged at Shigen, hoping this wasn't a suicide bum-rush.
_
"And thus falls the Three Sacred Treasures," Kaede sighed as Mana, Asuka, and Horoki hit the ground hard, all three of them bloody and bruised just from the initial exchanges as Kaede spun his sword around sadistically, wondering who would be the first to suffer complete defeat. Grinning, he licked his sword and then pointed at Asuka. "Bravo... all three of you. With all these new powers of yours, if you fought me at any other place on the map, you would have been able to keep up with me... probably win just by virtue of the experience you got from fighting Bodu, Krylov, and Volsung.

"But not here," Kaede said as he walked over to Asuka, who was trying in vain to get up. "Believe me... not here. And I think, Zepplin, you should be the first to taste a Plagas flowing in your body, since you haven't had the past experience of receiving one."

Raising his sword up, Kaede prepared to plunge it down, stopping at the last second when he heard amused chuckling.

"'Not here'? Don't be a joke," announced a young but masculine voice as Kaede looked around, confused before he realized just who was talking.

"No... not you!"

"DARK VOID STRIKER!"

Out of nowhere, a burning, jet-black whip lashed out, wrapping around his sword quickly as the figure of a young man appeared... only seventeen and with the traditional von Karma hair color.

"The only reason you are actually holding your own against them is that damned sword," Lune von Karma stated as he looked at Kaede.

Seiryu gripped his sword and pulled on it, glaring at Lune as he stepped away from the girls. "And what of it? The only reason you're such a powerful Specter is your stupid whip!"

Lune shook his head. "That's what uneducated idiots think. The whip is nothing. It is the lessons I learned from Aiacos, Laimi, Radamanthys, and Minos, about how some times men must take actions into their own hands and have the courage to say 'screw the system!'" Placing his finger on his whip, Lune let go of it. "Dark Void Dragging."

Suddenly a yellow bolt shot across the whip, destroying it as Kaede quickly dropped his own weapon... not a second too soon.

The attack had traveled the length of Lune's weapon, hitting Kaede's sword and taking it with it.

No... no way... Kaede thought nervously, looking around and gulping. He... if I hadn't dropped my weapon just then... I'd be dead right now!

Lune calmly took a few steps forward, stopping and then looking over at Mana, Horoki, and Asuka as they got to their feet. "You guys okay?"

"F-fine..." Asuka said.

"Good. Jump in whenever you want. I assure you that this fight will be much easier now."

Turning back to Kaede, Lune took a few more slow, deliberate steps, Kaede staggering back in complete fear.

"Something Radamanthys told me once was that the most intimidating thing to do to a person in just walk closer to them. You do it in the right way... and most your opponents will be so transfixed in fear they won't..." Lune formed a fist in his right hand, "EVEN BE ABLE TO RAISE THEIR DEFENSES!"

His fist smashed into Kaede's face, Seiryu flying uncontrollably away before hitting a wall.

Turning back to the others, Lune smiled. "He's still stronger than any of us... but I assure you, we stand together and he's going to go down."

 

A/N: One nice thing about this story arc when I began it is I realized I could ease people into the concept of Combat Awareness… which will become very important in the future.