Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Le Maree Della Guerra (The Tides of War) ❯ Deadly Beauty Angla ( Chapter 7 )

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Le Maree Della Guerra (Tides of War)

By: Melissa Norvell

Movement 7: Deadly Beauty Angla

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“I doubt you'll be able to make me scream,” Doku could only hope that would make Isatsu leave him alone, but he knew that would be far too lucky of him.

“We'll see about that,” the orca said putting his foot on the corner of the table. He launched himself up, trying to leap over the table. Doku reacted quickly and flipped the table towards him. Shock crossed the orca's face as his stomach hit the table and he fell over it onto the ground. “You little-“ He seethed.

“If you think I'm going to let you touch me easily, you're wrong.” Ice cold eyes glared down on the fallen king. “You have to earn that privilege.” Such a disgusting creature wasn't going to lay a finger on him unless he permitted it.

“Playing hard to get, huh?” Isatsu said in a playful voice as he pulled himself up off of the floor. Then he lunged at Doku, but the octopus stepped to the side. His tentacle wrapped around Isatsu's ankle which caused the orca to trip and fall into a nearby wall, sliding painfully down it.

“Are we done yet?” Doku wanted nothing more than to get away from this situation.

The king slowly rose, placing a hand over his wounded face. Hitting the wall like that jarred him up a little. Separating his fingers over his left eye he glared at him. “Such a charming creature,” a small smile spread across his features. `I'm going to hold him down and violate him. How's that for earning my respect in touching him? I'm not going to let him make me look like a fool.'

“You're annoying,” the octopus shot before he was belted back by the orca's powerful tail. Flying backwards, his body smashed into a neatly trimmed piece of coral. Piece of coral flew out and landed in pieces across the sea grass and stone in the gardens.

“This is going to be fun,” Isatsu beamed happily, as if they were playing some kind of game.

“Cyan Blast!” Doku shoved his hand forward and expelled a neon blue beam. It headed straight for the playful killer whale, who jumped up and had to do the splits to avoid being hit with it. The beam shot beneath his crotch and was sent out into the sea.

“What the hell?” The orca looked as if he had a heart attack after he landed. “You really want to kill me.” Doku wasn't playing around, and in a way that made things all the more interesting.

“The game is boring when no risks are involved.” Moving close to him, the octopus spun around like a ballet dancer, smacking the orca across the face with his tentacles. Isatsu stumbled back and held the side of his face.

“Damn you,” the orca cursed, growling lowly.

“You let your guard down. I slapped you with all of my tentacles.” Doku made note.

Isatsu looked a little uneasy. “Isn't one of your tentacles-“

“My hectocotylus? Yes,” Doku closed his eyes and smiled faintly, “I hit you with it as well.”

The orca stood there for a moment, silent with a shocked expression before he got angry and held his fist out. “You little piece of shit,” he growled and flung himself forward, extending his leg as he tried to spin kick him, but Doku simply bent over and pulled his foot out from under him, knocking off his balance as he fell on his butt on the ground. “How?” Isatsu was amazed that he reacted like that.

Doku simply smiled a little and said nothing.

“I'm going to knock that smile off of your face.” The orca got up and tried to punch him, but Doku blocked it with one of his tentacles. Upon further investigation, pale, blue eyes noticed it was the third one. The hectocotylus. The one octopi used for mating. “Ack! Your third tentacle!”

“Can you tell I'm male now?” Doku teased, still smiling that same, devious smile he had before.

This only angered the orca further. “I'm going to rip it off.”

“You know we do that anyway to give to our mates,” Doku continued to tease him.

“I hate you,” Isatsu frowned and tried to punch him, but he jumped back.

“You missed me,” Doku continued to smile.

“Piss off,” Isatsu swung again, but Doku stepped to the side and kicked him in the butt. The orca stumbled forward, flailing to keep from going face first into the ground. The coconut octopus giggled in a child-like way at him.

“You're a piece of shit,” Isatsu smiled unstably at him as his voice filled with excitement. “How I want to destroy you.”

“I'd like to crush you in my tentacles. The look on your face as you pass out would be priceless.” Doku couldn't deny that if he could get the man in his clutches he would enjoy torturing him. Isatsu deserved to die.

“I'm going to enjoy killing you,” Isatsu was just as happy about the whole ordeal. The fact that the coconut octopus thought he could rid himself of him so easily was amusing in its own right. The orca was the king of the sea, the apex predator, and he would show him that in a display of brute force.

“I like you. You're a challenge.” The octopus didn't want to admit it, but fighting with him was refreshing. It was vastly different from toying around with Percuss.

“I want to rip you apart,” the orca was practically beaming with joy at the aspect of wrapping his claws around the octopus' neck.

“I want to see you lying on the ground, succumbing to darkness,” Doku told him.

The orca smiled, flashing his hellish, pointed teeth. Doku still had a small smile on his face.

“Hey, do you want to watch Percuss get her tailfin handed to her by Angla?” After all, Isatsu was tired of fighting for now. He wanted to watch someone else get their face plowed into the ground. Doku was worthy of slithering around in his presence.

“I just came from there, but I guess I could go back.” Doku wasn't that interested, but he figured that he was somehow destined to end up back there. On the inside, he was groaning over the fact that he'd see Ketzel's idiotic face again. That shark really irritated him.

“I want to bathe in the carnage,” the orca licked his lips. There was no better thought than that of the swordfish, bleeding across the battlefield.

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In the middle of the battlefield, Percuss and Angla faced each other with looks of resolve on their face. Both females stood a few feet apart. The anglerfish clutched her scythe as a soft current swept through the area, toying with the hair and loose clothes of the denizens.

“I hate this,” Percuss wasn't at her best. She had the feeling that she was going to get beaten badly by her. After all, this was the leader of the Seventh Infantry and the princess of Nautica.

“Let's get to it,” Angla wasted no time jumping into the fight. She charged at the swordfish with scythe in hand.

“Huh?” Percuss' eyes widened as she saw the stealthy woman approach her. `I'm not ready for this.' Her thoughts berated her as she felt the force of Angla's punch contact her cheek.

Before she could react, Angla grabbed her arm and spun around, kicking her in the back. Percuss flew forward, her body propelled itself through the water as she landed on her side. Thinking quickly, the swordfish rolled and grabbed her sword, taking it out in time to have it clash with the blade of Angla's scythe.

“Ugh,” Percuss groaned and threw her sword at Angla, who flipped backwards and moved to the side. Darting backwards, she hopped up a piece of red coral and grabbed a high-hanging branch, throwing her scythe down. Percuss jumped back as the blade dug tenaciously into the ground. Angla jumped down with her leg extended.

Determination crossed Percuss' face as she grabbed her ankle. That earned her a swift spin kick to the head. It knocked the swordfish off of her feet and she felt the force of Angla's heeled shot kick her in the stomach. It propelled her backwards as the anglerfish gained in on her. She tried to stab her in the arm but Angla turned around and grabbed her in a choke hold.

Percuss thrashed around desperately in an attempt to break her hold. She then hooked her leg around Angla's neck and used the force of her body to throw her to the soft sand below. Her opponent hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand around her, then she rolled backwards and popped up as she grabbed her scythe and brought it down. The tip of it stabbed into the ground behind her. The swordfish darted around it, evading the strike. She grabbed the scythe and used it as a pole to spin around like a stripper as Angla turned around. She swung the scythe again and Percuss blocked it with Ketzel's sword. Angla swung the scythe again and again, Percuss blocked it. Angla swept the blade along the ground in an attempt to cut off her opponent's feet, but Percuss jumped up and evaded the strike again.

Angla's body turned again as she brought the blade up, but Percuss blocked it at her neck. The anglerfish tried to stab her in the chest, but her opponent was quick to block it again. No way was Percuss letting her get a strike in on her. She had enough damage from Doku's merciless assault. She didn't need any more. Angla was merciless and tried to strike her in the thigh, but Percuss blocked it yet again. Their weapons clashed as they tried to stab each other.

Percuss pushed her scythe over her head, which gave Angla the perfect opportunity to try and decapitate her but before she could, the crafty swordfish ducked. Angla brought her blade around and it clashed with her sword as the two pushed against each other for a moment. In a burst of energy, Percuss pushed the scythe back and swung her sword. Angla stepped back to evade her swing. The tip of the sword came dangerously close to her face. Percuss swung again and Angla jumped to the side of another red coral formation.

Turning, the anglerfish jumped up the side of the formation and pushed off of it with all of the strength she could gather in her legs. She lifted her scythe behind her back and came down on the assassin, knocking the sword out of her hand. The blade went spiraling up into the air and Percuss jumped up and grabbed it as her opponent landed a short distance away. Angla tried to knock it out of her hands again by swinging her scythe but Percuss spun her sword around and blocked it.

Angla tried to decapitate her again but Percuss forced her blade down with her sword. She stepped on the sharp edge of the blade, digging it into the dense heel of her boots she launched herself over the other female and flipped, landing as she pointed her sword at Angla in a defensive position.

“I didn't think you'd have that much fight left in you,” the anglerfish was impressed by this girl. Her associates were right about her having potential. Percuss was indeed talented.

“I might not be that good against magic, but I'm a good physical fighter.” Percuss knew her strengths and weaknesses. As long as Angla kept attacks to physical ones, then she had hope that she would win this fight.

“I'm shocked you're doing this well with those arms of yours.” After all, Percuss was impaled by Doku with those ice spikes of his.

“It takes more than that to get me down.” Percuss wasn't going to let her wounds bother her. She was able to heal herself a little before this fight, so it helped her gain some edge. As she ended her sentence, the barriers of the battlefield glowed again, signaling Doku's return.

“It looks like the sage is back,” Angla noted.

Percuss looked over to see he and the Orca King approach the battlefield. “He's with the Orca King.”

A smirk crossed the princess' face. “All the more audience for this show.”

With that, Angla returned to the battle, striking down with her weapon. The blade clashed with Percuss' sword. The princess swung her scythe at her and Percuss ran backwards as her opponent came at her swinging her scythe to and fro in an attempt to inflict some type of damage on her. She swung once. Percuss ducked. She swung again from the other side. Percuss ducked. She swung again across her stomach area, and Percuss ducked lower.

Angla spun with her scythe in her hand and the assassin hooked her sword blade on her scythe. Turning the weapon's blade up, she threw her sword, along with the scythe up above them. Her sword landed and stuck into the ground a ways away. She tried to strike Angla again, but the anglerfish dodged. Percuss ran and grabbed the sword from the ground.

The Fish King swung at her and she blocked her by pointing her blade down. Angla jumped up and spun into her with her blade out, knocking Percuss back with the force of the blow. Her body was propelled into a branch of red coral. It splintered into shards and fell around her as her body hit the ground. Laying there for a moment, Percuss tried to catch her breath. However, that was short-lived as a dark shadow engulfed her. Percuss quickly rolled out of the way as Angla came down and tried to stab her. The blade of her scythe stuck into the ground as more pieces of coral fell around her.

Darting to the direction that Percuss rolled, when the assassin got up the Fish King grabbed her by the neck, she swung her around and Percuss stepped on her face. This caused Angla to release her. Pushing off of the anglerfish's face she flipped backwards and landed on a rock nearby. She didn't have much time to think before Angla threw her weapon towards her. The scythe spun around and Percuss blocked it with her sword. She sent it spinning off like a boomerang. Drawing her fist back, she punched Angla square in the face with enough force to knock her back.

The Fish King lay on the ground on her back. “You got me,” she said as she got up, “too bad that will be the only hit you get in.”

Jumping up, Angla drove both of her feet into Percuss' face, knocking her off of her feet as she landed on her knees. Percuss slowly got up, but Angla was quick to respond by kicking her sword from her hand. The swordfish got to her feet and the two had a stare down. The intensity between the two was felt by everyone in the stands.

Both of them caught their breath for a moment, chests heaving as they tried to grain their bearings. Percuss lunged forward and tried to punch Angla but she jumped up. Percuss grabbed her by the legs before she could get too far and shot the both of them into the air. The two spiraled down but before Percuss could get the hit in, Angla flipped the two of them and used both of her knees to plow the assassin into a rock. Percuss coughed up blood from the impact.

Slowly, she got up and stumbled around a little. One arm was wrapped around her afflicted mid-section as she tried to catch her breath and spit out the copper fluids that gathered in her mouth. Then, suddenly she smacked Angla on the side of the face with the broad side of her sword. This caused the anglerfish to lose her footing and roll down the rock. She hit the ground and Percuss jumped down kicking her. The dark-skinned woman's body rolled across the sand. Percuss came down on her and pushed herself off of her chest launching herself across the battle ground as Angla rose to her feet.

The two stared at each other again, catching their breath.

“You have a messed up notion of fair play,” Percuss breathed heavily as she watched the anglerfish's every move.

“Be glad I'm not using magic,” Angla wrapped her hand around the end of the scythe, pulling it out of the ground. A devious expression crossed her face. “Or maybe, I should start.” Raising her scythe, she struck down, the blade dug into the ground and as soon as the tip of the blade made contact a magical explosion was triggered.

Percuss jumped back trying to avoid the flying debris as they shot past her at light speed.

The assassin tried to strike her opponent diligently, thrusting her sword from side-to-side in an attempt to cut her in some way. Angla continued to block her every strike with her scythe. Skillfully, she maneuvered her blade to hook under Percuss' sword, flipping it and causing the swordfish to tumble head over heels backwards. Angla attempted to stab her but Percuss blocked. Then Angla grabbed her wrist and shoved her backwards. The assassin landed on her butt in the sand.

Percuss got up quickly she sliced at her, then moved her sword backwards. After the Fish King dodged both attacks, Percuss tried to cut her feet off but Angla just jumped. Percuss tried to kick her in the head only to have Angla lean backwards. The assassin dropped to her hands and horse-kicked Angla in the stomach, causing her to recoil and grab the afflicted area. The force of the blow expelled the breath from her.

From the sidelines, Doku and Isatsu watched as the two women battled. A look of interest was etched on the orca's face while the sage held no emotion.

“Look at them go,” Isatsu was amused with what was happening.

“She's more impressive physically,” Doku commented. “You should have seen her fighting me. I destroyed her. She's still bloody from our battle.” It seemed that she wasn't able to completely heal herself. That made the fact that she was still standing a chance against the Fish King amazing on its own.

“Making them bleed is the best part, like a victory all its own. I want to go up there and lick it off of her.” The orca licked his lips.

Doku's face wrinkled, “disgusting.”

Back on the battle field, Percuss had caught her breath and shoved her blade forward. Angla stepped to the side and swung her scythe. It hit the assassin across the chest and knocked her back. Holding out her hand, Angla sent a blast of black magic at her. The foggy, black substance slammed into her body and sent her body back even more. Percuss rushed forward and tried to cut her again but missed. She spun around the Fish King, but Angla was quick to respond, hitting her across the shoulders as the assassin fell to the ground.

Angla stood above her fallen body, looking down on her as she tried to get up. The Fish King's heeled boot slammed down on the back of her neck, forcing the swordfish to the ground as she stood on her to keep her in place. She then stomped on her chest with such force that it caused her body to jolt up. Digging the bayonet of her scythe into the ground she launched herself up, using her hands to spin around as Percuss got up. Angla tried to swing her legs around to kick her, but she knocked the scythe out from the anglerfish's grasp, taking away her center of gravity.

The fish king landed on her knees and held her weapon before jumping up and pointing her blade downwards. The Fish King spiraled to the ground, but Percuss moved out of the way as she made contact, kicking up the dirt around her. She kicked Angla and her body jolted back and fell to the ground. The anglerfish arose and came at her in a fury, swinging her weapon to and fro as she spun back and forth then she sliced downward. As she bent down, Percuss stepped on her head, then her back and got behind her, putting her in a choke hold.

“Do you give up now?” Percuss asked, tightening her grip.

A small smile graced the anglerfish's lips as her angling took began to glow a faint yellow. Soon the light radiated and bathed the area in a fluorescent, yellow glow. Just then, a burst of energy blasted across the field, busting up coral and sending a torrent of strong currents sweeping across the land.

“Run,” Doku turned to run before the burst of power could hit him. Everyone in the bleachers all got into the press box at the top. It was a very small box, almost too small for everyone to fit into.

“Lady Angla is trying to kill us. I thought she wasn't going to use magic.” Ketzel said as he shoved himself into the tiny space.

“That attack is too big,” Nagi noted, standing in the corner of the box. “Standing in the announcement room might not save us.”

As soon as those words were uttered from her mouth, the entire press box tipped sideways, sending everyone screaming and sliding across the floor to one side of it. Then it tipped the opposite direction and they slid to the other side of the box. The contents inside tumbled across the room, showering them with articles.

A pillow hit Dokuro in the face. A suitcase flew towards Doku and Isatsu, who dodged it from either direction. The corner of it hit the wall and caused it to pop open, sending clothes and various other personal care articles everywhere.

“What do we do? We're all going to die!” Ketzel cried with a bra draped over his head.

“What is this?” Isatsu sat on the floor, covered in lacy underwear with various patterns on them.

“I was going to take that out of here.” Saxa put her hand behind her head in embarrassment. “I just came back from a trip and I didn't have time to unpack.”

“Do you think it's over yet?” Rin asked right before one of the boards of the wall broke off and flew past one of the windows, “apparently not.” He stood corrected.

“I thought she said no killing,” Nagi couldn't believe her leader would go back on her word.

Another board came through the open place in the wall and stabbed into the adjacent wall beside of Ketzel. He barely got out of the way before it made contact. “Crap!”

“This isn't grounded very well. It might get detached,” Ora was worried about the building's stability.

“We need to plug up that hole,” Rin instructed. If they didn't, something else might fly through it and hit them. Next time it might not miss.

“Let's shove Ketzel's fat ass in it,” Isatsu suggested with a devilish grin.

Nagi looked to the cat shark. “You're ass isn't fat enough. You'd fall through and get killed.” Just then, the building shook violently again.

“Oh no!” Ora exclaimed. “This might fall apart.” If that happened, she hated to think of the consequences that would result from such a thing.

“What?!” Ketzel's face lit up in horror. He didn't want to be killed by his beautiful love, Angla. Such a thing was terrifying. After all, how would she live without him around?

“I want out!” Dokuro cried. She felt like she had a better chance out there than she did inside of that tiny box.

“No way,” Rin shot, “you'll be caught in the blast.”

Just then, the building became completely unhinged from its foundation and supports. The sky flashed a brilliant yellow as the building tumbled through the air, base over roof. Inside, everyone screamed as they went sailing through the air. The building landed on its roof a few feet away. Everyone inside landed in a crumpled heap, along with all of the contents inside of the press box mixed in with their bodies.

“Is everyone alright?” Ora asked, rubbing the back of her head as she pulled herself up off of the ceiling.

“I think so,” Nagi stood and shook her head.

“Ouch, my back,” the orca groaned on all fours.

“I almost got impaled by Nagi's sword,” Doku mentioned that the weapon came out of its sheath during that moment of madness.

“I think I got hit with a hairbrush,” Ketzel grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

“At least you didn't get slapped with an orca tail.” Rin would be feeling that pain for a while. Isatsu nearly knocked her unconscious.

“No, I just got smacked with tentacles,” Nagi sighed. They were just as painful in all honesty and there were more of them.

“Your shoe should be kept on your foot,” Brunhilde noted as she threw Saxa's shoe at her.

“Ouch,” the lionfish flinched as it hit her in the head and bounced off.

“I should break what's left of your face,” the orca threatened before jumping up into the air and holding his rear end. “Ack!” He quickly turned around and leveled the octopus with a look of irritation. “Stop trying to rape me.”

“You were sitting on it,” Doku admitted to trying to stick his tentacle up Isatsu's butt, but he wasn't going to listen otherwise. “Be glad it's not the third one.”

“I never knew you were into that,” Ketzel looked a little disgusted with Doku's action.

“I'll stick it up your butt next,” the octopus threatened.

“No, I don't like you,” Ketzel protested. He didn't even want to think about that octopus' tentacles being anywhere near his body. Just putting the notion in his head made him wretch.

“I wouldn't anyway,” Doku thought he was funny if he truly thought he'd even so much as touch him with his precious appendages. “You'd probably make it wither and die.”

Ora walked over to the door and opened it, hopping out of the rugged-looking press box. Isatsu walked out as he pulled a brush out of his hair. Everyone else followed suit with Ketzel bringing up the rear.

“Who do you think won?” Ora asked as she turned towards her fellows.

“Who knows?” Nagi answered her question with a question as the group walked back over to the battlefield to see Angla lying on the ground, unmoving.

“Angla!” Isatsu and Ketzel exclaimed in unison as they both ran over to their fallen princess. They both reached her and knelt beside of her, reaching down to touch her at the same time.

“BACK OFF!” Ketzel yelled at the top of his lungs and shoved the Orca King back, causing him to fall on his butt. Like hell he was going to let that disgusting orca touch his beautiful Angla. He held her torso in his arms; close to his body and smiled sweetly as she cracked her eyes open. “Are you okay?”

“Damn him,” Isatsu growled under his breath, “damn him. How dare he touch Angla.” Why in the hell would Nautica's princess want someone as weak and foul as a shark for her mate? The thought that Ketel even considered himself a worthy mate was laughable.

“You like her?” Looking up to see the source of the voice, Isatsu saw cold, red eyes looking down on him. It was Doku.

“Shut up,” Isatsu got up, dusting his pants off, “the last person I need commenting is you.”

“Thank you,” Angla's voice cut through his response as everyone turned to see that their princess was awake.

“I touched her,” Ketzel fangirled to himself. This was the first time he'd even got close enough to brush her skin. He would never forget that day. Isatsu glared a hole through his head. “She's so soft.”

“Fuck you,” the orca retorted.

“Hey Doku, do you like Angla?” Nagi had always been curious. The two of them acted close enough, and Doku was in the Seventh Infantry, after all.

“I'm not in this,” the octopus dismissed himself.

“You do like her, don't you?” The urchin continued to tease him. Surely, he had to feel something for her. Angla was an attractive woman.

“Are you a hatchling? You act like one.” Honestly, such immature banter wasn't needed. If the octopus liked someone, he wasn't going to tell her. He currently had no such feelings for the princess, anyway.

“Where's Percuss?” Ora glanced around, worried about the swordfish. “Is she alright?”

“I could live in this moment forever,” Ketzel said, hugging Angla close to him, “my precious Angla.” He never wanted her to get up.

Angla looked a little disturbed, “okay, its creepy now.” She then got up and walked away from the cat shark, who still wore a look of adoration.

Percuss lay across the field and slowly opened her eyes to see Doku staring back at her with an emotionless look on his face. “What happened?” She asked in a groggy voice. Her body felt like it weighed far more than it had before she passed out. The assassin didn't even remember what happened to her. One moment, she was consumed in yellow and then everything went white.

“You lost…again,” Doku informed her.

“Damn it,” her haggard voice cursed. Percuss didn't think she even stood a chance in being in the Seventh Infantry again.

“Rest,” the octopus advised, “don't try to move.” She was too badly hurt to be doing anything physical, and he didn't know if she had sustained internal damage or not.

“What made you respect me so suddenly?” One moment he was cold to her, and the next he was caring. Percuss had no idea what this guy's malfunction was.

“You did well,” he could at least offer her that much.

“Thank you,” she was happy to hear that, “that means a lot from you.” Percuss knew that he wasn't the type of person to give anyone compliments. She must have been impressive for him to even think about giving her a pat on the back. If there was anything she could say about Doku, it was that he was hardcore and relentless.

“Is she hurt?” Nagi asked as she ran up to the sage.

“She's fine, but she needs to rest.” Doku educated her on the assassin's condition. He glanced towards his sister, “Dokuro?”

“Yes?” The girl turned to her brother happily, a pair of sea shell print panties on her head.

“You have underwear on your head.”

Dokuro took them off and awkwardly handed them to Saxa, “here.”

“Well, that was something,” Isatsu sighed as he stuck his hands into his pants pockets.

“You almost killed us,” Rin crossed her arms over her breasts and glared at her leader.

“I guess I got carried away,” Angla hung her head. As a predator, she got a little too much into beating Percuss and used any means necessary to make sure she came out on top. A large-scale magic spell was just the trick to do it.

“I never knew you had that kind of power. You destroyed the whole battlefield.” Jerking a thumb behind him, Isatsu gestured to the destroyed bleachers and upside down press box.

“That's my Lady Angla,” Ketzel beamed. He was proud that he had such a strong princess. It was one of the many things he adored about her.

“Next time, you should really not exhaust yourself,” Doku advised. He didn't want to see her waste her power in a mere spar. It was better to save reserves for battle. Besides, with the events that were going on, Angla would need them to fight against whoever was breeching the gates of Nautica.

“I didn't want her to win,” and she made sure that Percuss hadn't.

“It'd be embarrassing if she did,” Ketzel nodded with his hands on his hips. “You're a great Sea King.”

“So…What do you think? Should she join us?” Rin wondered how this battle was going to affect her leader's decision.

“She's a hell of a fighter,” Saxa smiled, “I say yes.”

“I think so as well,” Brunhilde nodded.

“Hell yeah!” Nagi did a fist pump. So far, it looked like a unanimous vote on having Percuss inducted as their newest member.

“She'll be just great! I know it!” Dokuro was excited about hearing the news. She really wanted Percuss to join their group. Then she glanced to her brother for affirmation. “What do you think, Doku?” She hoped he'd agree with everyone.

“Yes, I'd love to hear your opinion,” Angla turned to the sage. Since he was the hardest to convince, his opinion mattered the most. She knew how strict he was and how high his standards were set.

“You're in the Seventh Infantry?” Isatsu asked with a mischievous grin on his face.

Doku couldn't be more unamused with the situation if he wanted to. He just looked at the orca with that same, piercing stare. A glimmer of hatred twinkled in his eyes as he stared him down. “I'll rip your dorsal fin off, Orca King.”

Isatsu couldn't believe that he was in an all-girl's fighting squad. Holding his stomach, he laughed hysterically. His deep, dooming voice carried through the ocean's currents. “That's hilarious! You're never living this down, Doku!”

“I will end you,” the octopus still had the same look on his face. Oh, how he wanted to tear him apart on the spot.

“Well,” Percuss really wanted to know the answer to that question. Staying in limbo over it was filling her with the worst kind of suspense, and she knew that she lost both of the battles that she was in. She wanted an answer.

“I believe you're good enough to join,” Doku turned his glance away from the still-laughing orca, trying his best to ignore him. “Don't say I never granted you anything.”

“Does this mean I made it?” The assassin didn't take the acceptance of one person as a definite answer.

Angla smiled and nodded. “Welcome to the Seventh Infantry.”

…To Be Continued