I don't own anything you recognize.
Prepare for anything and everything.
---
It was calm.
It was serene.
Everything remained silent, or tried to be ever so silent.
It was completely different atmosphere than in the city, where the silence was an oppressive force much that like a black hole.
This silence was instead a collaborative efforts on all parties involved to manufacture a state of silence so much, you could mistake it for peace.
Plants. Animals. It was a bit awkward that they had went along with each other just fine in this zone rather than the humans in the city...
Then again, it wasn't because of those wild animals suddenly having a conscience or so that they achieved this zen-like environment...
That was due to someone else. It was somebody human. He wasn't terrifying nor was he the type of person act to be terrifying.
His name was Judgement. Well, that wasn't his real name. Heh, it was not like he was supposed to anyway.
"Hey, you all see anything?" He wasn't alone. They never did missions alone. That was their job as Guardians, to protect and serve the interests of humankind.
"Nope. I don't see anything." Someone said nonchalantly, hopping from tree to tree with their mastery of it rivaling that of ninjas.
"Hm... We're more than halfway there over to Grenz. Sigh, it's like they intentionally picked me for this job." Judgement scratched the back of his head, leading his pack to their destination couldn't even be more boring than he thought.
"Oh, you have history with the town, Boss?" Judgement took a time to halfway whip his head towards his underlings like he had just done and said his mother looked like trash.
"I do..." He relented, like a man giving the priest a view into his biggest shame. He replayed memories from before...
Back then, when they were cadets.
---
"1."
The voice wasn't robotic. No, it didn't come from a real-life sounding robot. It was from a referee, overlooking the match between two highly-prestigious cadets.
'2." As the seconds trickled down and down, the two combatants readied in their own unique ways. One had their smile widen from ear-to-ear. No weapons in-hand.
One had their blade of light intensify in glow. He didn't reciprocate back the feeling. He knew not to make that mistake.
"3." And they disappeared from mere man's eyes for they were as above us like ourselves were that above to ants.
They were located in another dimension made by their masters abilities. It was large enough to fit in several mountain everest-sized objects and still have room for more.
But, to say that there were mountains in there was a lie, there were no mountains. It was only a floating island that has it's surface flattened out.
No covers. No environmental hazards or advantages. It was truly a place where a man's romance could bloom and become something truly glorious. No, not in a sexual way, you degenerate.
Those cadets weren't in the strength department to destroy such islands in one swing but one will be lying if their skills weren't miraculous for their age.
Yellow flashes and afterimages indicated that the man who fought the holy man had hands as hard as the holy man's lightsaber.
They deflected. They dodged. They blocked. They attacked. Everything served a purpose and both battlers realized that. Hence, the lack of injuries on the both of them.
How could they be cadets of all things?
And then the shockwaves catched up, being in here with them would prove as foolish as walking into a razor-sharp tornado.
These booms weren't just from their attacks meeting each other and shattering the ground below them. They were faster than the speed of sound.
"Scindo."
"Scharftschutz."
The winds, the sounds, the speeds and the force were brought to a new level unlike ever before. It would have been an unexpected blessing if the islands survived their clash.
After sometime has passed, the island did survive. And the gladiators did as well with none of their superiors interfering. Bloodied, battered and laying next to each other, they could only look at the sky and speak with one another...
"Hey..."
"Yeah?"
"That was a good fight... We should go at it again if we can..."
"Hah... You're tiresome, you know that?"
"You didn't say no?"
"Sigh... My head is still ringing from that... What's your name again?"
"Eh, how could you forget the name of an emperor? You should know this. You are a smarty pants, are you not?"
"Er... I think you just made me gain brain damage..."
"Haha... That's what my father says a lot when we fight... So, what about it, wanna join my cre- I mean, become partners?"
"Sure...
Kaiser."
---
"Holy crap, Boss is partners with Kaiser himself!" Pawn spoke to the other Pawn. Both were awed that only those words came out.
"I know that the Guardians are rather secretive of who the Cardinals are but you think they are both Cardinals?" The Pawn whispered.
"Hm... I don't know. Judgement never seems to really show his full strength... If we're lucky enough to get a look at his regular power..." The Pawn dug into their thoughts and blending in hear-say, rumors and possibly true anecdotes.
"Rauuu!" There was a humongous elephant-sized tiger that lunged at them, only a fool would charge at their death and this beast had none of the better judgement required to realize that.
No words. No laughs. Everything came down to business and the Pawns continued from vigilance to all-out rampage.
Regretfully, we never saw them get down to business and defeat this hunter in particular. Why? Why you must thank Judgement for that of course.
With a single, casual flick, he sent that beast flying away to not be seen by them again.
"Erm... Boss, I don't think you need us to complete this mission.." All ten Pawns had stared star-struck at a beast turned rocket.
The animal was flicked through outer orbit. At least, they would be surprised if the wild beast wasn't.
And the mountain lacking a mountain peak, half of it's mass, agreed to their deduction as well.
If you thought about it, we were too when we first saw the first man-made rocket. "Kaiser scares me, you know."
He joked. As like as any other dark jokes, some people don't like it. "Boss, that doesn't help us at all."
"I know. Don't worry, I just fear that he may do with his strength. He wasn't all that good when I last saw him." He explained away their dark expressions. Hope returning that they may get in and get out at top speed.
"Yeah... Alright, what's the worst that could happen anyway?"
---
"Urah!" Moji roared against the heavens. He bashed into the flesh fluids like a drummer that would smash his sticks when performing on stage.
It's larger hands were way more durable than the other parts of the body of which got bulldozed through by his friends' combined efforts.
Joff was jumping ground-to-air and air-to-ground. He shot at the main body with wild abandonment. It was way too big of a target too miss.
Bonk!
"Thanks for the shield, Fritz!" Joff shouted out loud, resuming back into putting more than his 100% at chipping away this titanic's beast steel shield out of an outer shell.
"Timber!" Sorin practically screamed as he hacked his blade deep into the beast's limb. It was a job like any other. Throw enough force at it something will happen.
We don't exactly know what's going to happen though. And we sure thank our supervisor for not letting us do so as the beast thrashed like a child throwing a tantrum.
"That's not going to work a second time." Kirakaze zoomed through the debris like a shrine maiden facing against yōkai.
I guess playing Touhou, rhythm games and dungeon crawlers paid off to the man. While fairness may be true in a game, this was life.
All games, or at least most games, were designed to be beat by a player. Life wasn't. It was a struggle to even find a general purpose to it but it what laid in road of Life were a lot unfair to us all.
And so, the cloud of dust and debris were kicked up again, there were no way to dodge. He could trust the shield blocking the worst from happening.
But it was better not to. This had been going for a while now. He was faced with an all-consuming storm of grayness and with brilliance he...
He sliced apart the veil. His statement held true. It wouldn't work a second time. An all-consuming wall may be far and wide but that never meant it's durability to be in peer with it's size. Prepared and ignited with an overwhelming amount of energy, courtesy to both Fritz and Hoff, he couldn't just let down his teammates like that.
"Thanks, Monchichi... That was a close one." Moji and Monchichi glided through the sky with the grace of a bald eagle.
"Nyat were nyou doing back there? I nyought nyou were one of the stronger ones here..." Monchichi chided like a rude little kid caught with his hand deep inside the cookie jar.
"That may be true but... You're faster than me. And more maneuverable." He focused in on the still rampaging monster.
"That thing's regeneration... No, not even that... How do you think we can pass through that thing's defence?" They thought long and hard. And then, a lightbulb flashed above their heads. It was lit aflame.
"Nyey... About that elemental abilities of nyours..."
And over to Godu and a certain kunoichi, they were more or less in the same situation that the witch and the elemental fighter were in.
"You could have gotten hurt. Be. More. Careful." He said.
"And I didn't right? To be a ninja, that is the way we must do things." And she responded with before unseen fervor.
'W... What happened to her?' Godu thought and kept it in mind for later.
"Blegh... That tasted bad..." Hoff emerged from the ground akin to that of necromancers' magic-made zombies.
This wasn't the first time he tasted dirt. But damn it all, he wasn't his fault that he fell a lot.
"Phew... Still got it..." She wiped the sweat from her forehead. It was rather lucky that the beast had only a semblance of intelligence. She was far away, and yet she had provided efficient help.
Unfortunately, that wasn't all the vade hyped it up to be. Moji, Monchichi and Sorin were out of reach for her. She hoped that they could carry all that weight on their shoulders in the meantime.
Speaking about those three, "Fire in the hole!" Somebody from high above shouted. And then, the people below actually looked up to the blazing sky.
Wait, the blazing sky?
And indeed it was, amongst the sea of flames, two dots could be seen coming down with the force of a meteor and as much heat as the sun.
Despite the looks, that wasn't their main attacks. It was something else. Piel De Daga was. "This is everything I got. I don't think I can even stay awake after this..."
"Rest, Moji. I will make it count." With determination and great effort, he relented. His friends were strong now. He delved down into rest.
"Everyone, clear the area! That thing's gonna burn what can't be burn by my bullets!" They skittered away. Fritz. Sorin. Everyone that didn't belong to the nazi-like figures followed suit.
"Hoho, this is a worthy finale for that beast." Sorin commented.
"Someday... I am going to release a fire breathing technique that strong!" Feo sparkled.
"What an optimist..." Godu was carried away in Feo's arms.
"Yeah... I don't think my shield can handle that." Fritz took a short break to look at the source of the new sun.
It finished charging. Everything was absorbed into Piel De Daga. As the viewers would as, Piel De Daga wasn't just a simple stabbing dagger.
It had the power to absorb and distribute if the dagger touched a kinetic energy. It had its weaknesses. It required the user to absorb it manually. It needed to actually hit or touch the object that the user wanted to take away from.
None of them plagued her now. It shined brightly. And the Beast responded with a world-ripping roar. It's eyes spun around and seemed to enlarge in respond. One light glowing red. One light bleeding gray.
"Hoja De Sol!"
"Raaaaaaagggghhhh."
It was an almost exact replica of that one beam clash. If you know, then this beams clashing right now were nowhere near that in terms of destruction. It was, nonetheless, as much as important.
And thay was where the similarities ended. Because, Hoja De Sol bursted open the beam like an egg and advanced through like a fish in water.
Boom. There goes the Sun.
It was a good that the others decided to evacuate. Less they wanted to get caught up in a large mountain destroying ball of fire.
It simmered down. It was focusing and focusing until it was down-sized into that of the beast's own form. It fried and fried and turned the thing's body, arm and slime, into black gaseous shape like that of the mist.
"Hey, Moji... Did I made nyou proud? I popped all my braincells trying to contain that nyone." She dropped down her arms. Her clothes stopped waving and started fluttering like crazy.
Like they were crashing down into the Earth. "Somebody, get them!" And into their friends' waiting arms.
It was their victory. A party was in order...
After they get out of here first.
To be continued.