Chapter 25 - Bad blood

Jumping from side to side in the confines of the ice dome, Serena was worried about Dante who had been tackled by the High Fracture to the wall not too long ago. Even though she was curious she didn't really have the opportunity to check up on him as the High Fracture was still in pursuit of her.

Lunging forward the beast gave several slashes to her in which she dodged successfully. Noticing that she was running out of space to run she shot the creature with one of her charged bullets. Unlike the normal Fractures which were stunned in place, the creature still continued to move but slowly as if a weight had just been placed on it's back. Refusing to waste this opportunity, she jumped over the High Fracture using the propulsion technology to go even higher in the air. After landing on the floor she went straight for Dante in order to check his condition.

"Dante! Are you okay!?", Serena asked clearly worried about him at the moment.

From the pile of ice rubble, Dante emerged looking as if he had not been tackled so hard previously.

"I am fine. I got severely injured though, however because of my healing skill I am okay", he explained.

Putting his gaze on the slow moving Fracture, Dante could not help but be kind of frightened. It had tackled him so hard that multiple bones in his body as well as several organs in his body were destroyed. And this all happened at the start of the fight. He knew that if it wasn't for his healing skill he would have been dead by now. What frightened him the most though was the fact that the beast had used him to dent the dome wall. If it could do something like this it was very capable of damaging it itself.

"Shoot it with another one of those charged bullets, I will attack after", Dante said as he closed his left hand with currently had his Density gauntlet on.

Without saying a word Serena charged forward firing a bullet at the High Fracture. The bullet hit it's target quickly causing another wave of movement hindering Nano Lites to course though it's body. Dante taking this chance in his hands ran towards the High Fracture delivering a powerful blow to it's chest with his Density gauntlet. The attack power was so great that it threw the creature several meters away before it crashed into an ice pillar. The shockwave from the attack ran through the ice dome roaming for a route of escape.

"Did that do it?", Serena said as she ran up to Dante.

"I don't think so, it feels too easy."

"But I thought you said the higher the defense the stronger the attack. High Fractures have one of the toughest armor i have ever seen, that attack should have done it", Serena spoke her mind.

Dante picked up his Anti-Fracture sword and ran towards the High Fracture to make sure it was defeated, however to his dismay it emerged from the rubble catching him by surprise. As a result of his survival instincts kicking in, he swung his sword at the creature's neck quickly. The High Fracture put it's hand in the sword's path behaving as if it knew what the sword was capable of.

In one swift motion, Dante sliced off the Fracture's hand. The Anti-Fracture sword delayed no time in devouring the creatures hand afterwards. Though Dante's attack did not come without any form consequence. The High Fracture used it's opportunity to get hold of Dante and toss him to the wall of the ice dome. It then followed up with a barrage of spikes which was ultimately devoured by his Anti-Fracture sword.

After snarling at Dante for a few seconds, the beast turned it's sights at Serena once again. Dante was kinda astonished by this as he was quite aware that the creature knew who the bigger threat to him was by now. This only showed him that there was some serious bad blood between Serena and this High Fracture.

The Fracture was currently at a disadvantage as it only had one hand, however Serena and Dante didn't dare underestimate it for a second as it was yet to turn it's blue crystals red. The High Fracture touched it's chest with it's hand feeling it's dented crystal armor. From the side of it's eye it could also see a trail of blue blood running from the side of it's mouth. Upon wiping it off it turned it's eyes to it's major enemy Serena before sprinting towards her at a greater speed than before.

"Serena watch out!", Dante shouted as he ran towards her.

Serena was not able to react on time as a result of the shock, however the same could not be said for Dante. Since he was at a closer range to Serena he was able to intercept the monster, however something out of the ordinary happened. As if learning from their brief fight from before, it knocked the Anti-Fracture sword out of Dante's hands before grabbing him and tossing him to the side like a piece of paper.

"Damn it!", Dante exclaimed upon noticing that he had messed up.

The High Fracture followed up with another barrage of crystal spikes which successfully pinned Dante to the ice dome wall.

"Argh!", He shouted in pain as he felt the spikes pass through him.

"Dante!", Serena shouted upon seeing this.

The High Fracture immediately gave chase once again causing Serena to run up and down the place. Dante who was on the wall was unable to heal because of the spikes that were still in his body. As a result of this he was bleeding profusely. He knew that if he continued like this he would most likely die. On looking at the Fracture chasing Serena, he realized that this wasn't really a bad thing because he could use it to his advantage.

"Serena! Now!", Dante shouted reminding her of their plan.

The plan was to get the creature to the middle of the dome before subduing it. This would enable the ice pillars to move in unison making it easier to form tougher ice. Currently it was right in the position they wanted it. Taking a risky play, Serena allowed the beast to get within close proximity before shooting it with another charged bullet. Now that the creature was slow once again she jumped out of the way giving Dante space to do his thing.

Dante touched the wall of the ice dome causing the ice pillars to move all over the place with the main goal of restraining the High Fracture. The pillars merged with one another creating layers of powerful ice which trapped it in place.