"Nobody is allowed to flee but to die, because you die defending your mother country." - Galvarino, Mapuche warrior, Arauco War, 1557. Jerónimo de Vivar, Crónica, Capítulo CXXXIII.
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'He led me here on purpose,' Alex thought.
'Those locked doors limited my options so that I would end up here. In this large space, it's difficult to use my Seal cards since he can dodge. I'm not sure why he didn't just trap me between two locked gates, or set up a dozen gunmen in ambush here to shoot me dead, but looking at this guy's temperament, I can probably guess...He wants a fight!'
The red haired man didn't wait long for a response. "My name is Clyde Rodwell." As he introduced himself, he took out a pair of black high tech goggles and put them on.
'Not good...' Alex could already see where this was going.
"Don't die too fast. I'd be very disappointed." As soon as he finished that sentence, he lifted the large sci-fi rifle and pulled the trigger. Alex didn't need a sample to know nothing good would happen if he was hit, so he immediately dived to the side.
VERMMMM
A red laser hit the ground in the spot Alex was just standing on, managing to melt a fist-sized hole in the metal floor. Alex knew he couldn't stay still or he'd be hit by that thing. "I'm not willing to die here. I need to get close to him so I can use my sword.' Alex continued to dodge, sometimes by a hair's breadth. Occasionally, he hid behind obstacles where he thought Clyde's goggles couldn't see through and would try to exit from an unexpected direction.
Steadily, he got closer as Clyde fired off a laser every few seconds. Several minutes later, he heard a sound from Clyde's gun.
PPHHHWWWOOOOO
"Cooldown? The performance still doesn't meet my expectations." Clyde frowned as he put the gun down to the side. It seemed that it was no longer able to fire, at least temporarily.
'This is my chance. I need to take this opportunity to get close and cut him open!' Alex sprinted in Clyde's direction.
"The idea is not bad, unfortunately..." A light ball suddenly appeared in front of Clyde and expanded until it was the size of a human, a very large human.
What appeared seemed to be more beast than man. A giant standing over two meters, shirtless, with brown muscles thick like armor. His long, messy black hair coiled on his shoulders, red eyes releasing an insatiable thirst for blood, but none of these were the most fearsome thing...
At his hands, or where should have been his hands, extended out two large blades, making him look a humongous praying mantis.
'What is that thing?!?' Alex urgently asked his Generals.
'Sir, that's Galvarino, an extremely fierce aboriginal Native American warrior. He lost his hands in battle, so he attached blades to them so he could keep killing...' Scott answered
'He looks like a human paper shredder. How am I supposed to fight that killing machine?!? And why is it a person instead of a soul item?'
'Sir, Galvarino's soul ability is of the physical summon type, creating a physical body for Galvarino so he can battle using all of his knowledge and skills. It is a very powerful type of ability but also has weaknesses...'
'In direct conflict with such a summon, a chosen would need multiple soul items to simply avoid being killed. However, the downside of this ability is that it only lasts 60 seconds. If you kill the physical summon or avoid death for 60 seconds, Galvarino's summoning will naturally expire on its own and can't be summoned again for a whole day.'
'Damn. Time to run.' Alex knew he would get instantly cut in half if he fought that monster, but if all he had to do was delay...
Galvarino immediately roared and charged at Alex. Running to the side, Alex thought he would be safe but Galvarino quickly closed the distance and slashed one of his blades at Alex's head. Alex barely managed to avoid it as the blade left a long gash in the metal equipment behind him.
'Can he see me?' Alex asked as his eyebrows raised.
'Yes, Sir. Physical summons can share sight with their Lords,' Scott answered.
Alex immediately tried to create distance, but Galvarino stuck close to him.
'He's very fast. It seems his cultivation is even higher than mine?' Clyde thought as he watched Alex maintain a similar speed to Galvarino. 'No...' Clyde noticed the outline of Alex's strange slippers in his camera. 'He must have a soul item to increase speed...'
Galvarino's razor-sharp blade was getting closer and closer to decapitating Alex with each passing moment. He was barely managing to dodge due to the 50% movement speed buff of Scott's sandals.
Several times, Alex tried to smash Galvarino with gold, but the monster was so fast and powerful that he avoided every time. After all, the card itself didn't move that fast and Alex couldn't allow Galvarino to get too close to him otherwise he'd die to those blades.
Alex even tried using a Seal card on Galvarino but discovered it would not work on a General when their soul was still bound to a chosen one. The cost of that lesson was almost losing the arm holding the card.
'It's a good thing Clyde wanted to fight me in this large open area. He brought me here thinking it would restrict my Seal cards, which is true, but he didn't know I also have a soul item for movement, letting me run around this large space. Lucky...'
THUMP
Just as Alex was thinking about his good luck, his shoulder hit the wall of the hangar, blocking his retreat. He looked for a new escape path. His left had a giant aircraft. His right had a massive piece of equipment. His front...Galvarino gritting his teeth rushing at him with his arm blades aimed at his head. Time slowed down as Alex watched the glint on the blades, steadily becoming larger in his vision. His pupils dilated as he tasted despair.
He was trapped.