The first one to clash was Ch'en and Ernesto. The Lung immediately parries the blonde Perro's sword and redirects it onto the deck of the ship with her palm smoothly.
"W-wha!?" Ernesto was shocked to the bone as Ch'en used her superior martial arts. She then kicked him right in the face and he was sent flying.
"Weak! Your resolve does not match your skills, I will teach you a lesson that the real world doesn't bend to your hopes and dreams!" Ch'en shot her water gun at him and it was like a fire truck's water hose.
Lin squinted her eyes as she dodged the Liberi's swings with her scythe. La Pluma was agile and fast, but Lin was trained from a very young age to protect herself.
She isn't the sole daughter of a mafia boss for nothing. She is the heir of Lungmen's underground world.
Dodging the predictable swings of La Pluma. Lin hoped to tire her out then swoop in with her attacks.
Rafaela is fast, yes. But her attacks were one dimensional and Lin managed to deal with close calls by blocking the swings with her arts. Slowing them down enough for her to dodge.
"Why do you want to stop this revolution? You haven't seen how the people suffered. You live a privileged life!" La Pluma tried to attack more fiercely.
But that struck a nerve with Lin. "A privileged life you say? That is true, but don't think that I don't know how the real world works." Lin parried one of her strikes with a pillar of glass and La Pluma rebounded.
She was then struck on the solar plexus with Lin's arts unit, making her kneel on the ground.
"I have come from the shadows of Lungmen, brat. You don't know what I've seen there." Lin furrowed her brows as she remembered the black coats from Yan kill off the infected that came from Chernobog.
Ash's arrival there might have stopped them from cleaning up the infected. But she has seen the bodies in the sewers where they were tossed into.
"Ha! We have to succeed! Bolivar will be free!" La Pluma shouted as she attacked Lin with fervor.
Meanwhile, Ernesto turned into Ch'en's punching bag. The Lung was beating the shit out of him with her superior physical specs and martial arts.
But he kept on standing up, even though his body hurt and his face was a mess.
"Hah, hah, we've planned this for a long time. There's no way I'll let down pops now!" Ernesto charged, his form sloppy due to exhaustion.
Ch'en sighed and she admired his will, but if she was his real enemy. She would have killed him a long time ago.
"Determination does not mean victory, what a fool." Ch'en decided to end it as she ran at him.
Ernesto's blurry vision due to blood and sweat getting into his eyes saw Ch'en come at him.
'I have to! Bolivar's citizens will keep on suffering if we don't succeed.' He chanted inside of his mind.
But Ch'en went for more dangerous blows as she kicked him right at the temple and she gave a chop on his nape, nailing him right at his medulla oblongata.
Like a puppet that got its strings cut, Ernesto dropped down like a sack of potatoes and Ch'en snorted.
"Lin, I believe you can take care of her? I'll engage Pancho Salas!" Ch'en immediately explored the ship and Lin nodded.
"Hmph, looks like your little blonde friend's burning desire wasn't enough." Lin scoffed at their idealistic way of thinking.
"Shut up!" La Pluma charged, but Lin charged up her arts enough and she suddenly spun as she swung her arts unit.
La Pluma felt her ribs break as she got hit by a barrage of glass. Thankfully, Lin blunted them and she crashed onto a wall.
She coughed violently as the air in her lungs got taken out in one instant. She then collapsed on the floor and Lin looked at her one last time.
"Don't have stronger determination, be better. Then you'll succeed." She hit her at her temple and La Pluma lost consciousness as her brain got rattled.
"Hah, the things I do for Ch'en." Lin sat down at a chair and she waited for what she requested from Beatrix.
After a few minutes, a chopper was in sight and Beatrix who was holding a megaphone grinned at her friend.
"Lin! Swire-sama is here with the package!" Beatrix announced and Lin sighed.
"Idiot, if they had more people. They would definitely know that we're right here." She rolled her eyes.
Hoshiguma hauled some boxes and she opened it up in front of them. "These are the good stuff, help me use it." Lin requested of them.
They then moved with their plans unimpeded after tying up La Pluma and Ernesto.
Meanwhile, Ch'en appeared in front of Pancho after searching for him. Trying to strong arm some dignitaries and VIPs to support him.
"Hmmm? So someone did come." Pancho squinted his eyes and Ch'en snorted.
"You think that you'll succeed? You're wrong on so many levels." Ch'en pitied him even.
"Hmph, we've come this far. I will win, this is something that must succeed. Failure is not an option." Pancho glared at Ch'en and they squared up.
He picked up an anchor and he had a grenade launcher in his other hand.
"That will be too slow, do you really think you can take care of me with that?" Ch'en raised a brow.
"Let us see." He pointed the grenade launcher at her and shot it at Ch'en.
Ch'en clicked her tongue. "What a crazy son of a bitch!" She dived out of the way and looked at the hostages.
Seeing that they were fine, she sighed in relief. Ch'en then felt danger as she dodged immediately.
Her previous position was suddenly struck by Pancho's anchor as he threw it at her location.
"You're wide open!" Ch'en charged while Pancho had to reel in his anchor. She struck his solar plexus with a palm strike and his shirt even got destroyed due to the force of her attack.
But he was seemingly fine as his thick abdominals protected him. Ch'en then received a kick as she righted herself in mid air. But she was hurting due to his stronger physique.
"Not so strong now, Lung." Pancho scoffed and Ch'en glared at him.
'I need to have access to his weak spots.' She clicked her tongue as Pancho was too tall and she couldn't reach his head.
And being in midair will definitely be disadvantageous. That was like begging to be hit.
"Ch'en! Advancing!" She didn't let that deter her as she thought of using another form of martial arts.
Pancho fired his grenade launcher at her, but she swiftly dodged to the side. His anchor then went hurtling towards Ch'en, but she bent backwards and she dodged by a hair's breadth.
Ch'en then slid under his legs and she quickly maneuvered herself towards the top of his head.
She then wrapped her legs on his neck and tried to toss him away with momentum. But he didn't budge.
"Tch, then how about this?" Ch'en immediately dodged his hand that was about to grab her and went for a triangle choke hold.
"Not enough!" Pancho jumped and he slammed himself backwards.
"Gah!" Ch'en could feel his weight and she felt like she was flattened on the ground.
The Lung immediately retreated and she catched her breath. "You're pretty good." Ch'en squinted her eyes.
"So are you, but I will take you down here. You must be tired due to the championship." Pancho smirked and Ch'en winced.
The triathlon definitely did a number to her and Lin. And she needed her full strength to defeat Pancho. Her specialty lied on her swordmanship too. And she didn't have her twin swords with her.
"Hmph, let us see." Ch'en grinned at him and his face scrunched up.
'They're planning something... I have to beat her, fast.' Pancho charged at her and Ch'en decided to lure him out of the room so Lin could get the hostages to safety.
Meanwhile, the Zalak has finished her preparations. "Are you sure you want to escape via a boat?" Beatrix looked at her with worry.
"We'll manage, Ch'en and I aren't made of glass Beatrix." Lin chuckled.
"Yeah, the boss lady is pretty tough ya know?" Hoshiguma added and they exited with Ernesto and La Pluma in tow.
Lin then followed the commotion and she took care of a couple of mooks that was still around.
She saw a couple of people that were bound and she put a finger on her lips. They immediately nodded and she cut the ropes on them.
Lin then guided them towards the escape boats and she went back to witness Ch'en and Pancho fight.
Ch'en wasn't having a good time and she was starting to gas out. So Lin struck Pancho with her arts, blindsiding the Perro.
"Ch'en! The preparations are in order, come on!" Lin shouted and Ch'en smiled.
"It seems this is checkmate, Pancho Salas." Ch'en and Lin threw themselves overboard and Lin made platforms to go to their speedboat.
Pancho went wide eyed and he immediately went back to check the hostages.
"Curses! We were so close!" Pancho cursed to the skies and he suddenly stumbled as an explosion shook the ship.
"We were about to liberate Bolivar..." He slumped down as the explosions continued.
Ch'en and Lin watched the ship go up in flames, enjoying the fireworks. (pic)
They then drank some champagne that they found in the speedboat. "That's some serious fireworks. I wonder how much that costs." Lin chuckled and Ch'en laughed.
"I believe that it's going to be quite a bit." Ch'en drank her champagne and they watched the explosions.
Right after seeing the ship keel, they went back to shore and arrived at the venue of the championship again.
They then saw Ash being given a trophy and he bit on his gold medal while shaking some champagne again.
"No time for losers, cause we are the champions!" Ash sang and the duo got annoyed at him.
"He's just like that, don't worry about it." Vina smiled wryly, receiving the bronze medal. While Ch'en and Lin got second place, silver.
At the clean up, Candela Sanchez; the mayor. Got ahold of Pancho who swam back to shore with a depressed expression.
And Vina decided to have a little talk with him. Requesting the mayor for them to have a conversation.
"Hello, Pancho Salas. I am HRH Alexandrina Victoria." Vina was getting tired of introducing herself like that.
"Victoria's princess? What are you doing here? Leave an old man alone... I have no purpose left. We have lost." Pancho shooed her away.
"Hmm, but I've got a nice little proposal? Did you know? I am receiving political sanctuary from Asmodeus Leithanien?" Vina baited him in and he snapped his neck towards her immediately.
"So you're his bitch?" Pancho glared at her and Hannah was about to beat the shit out of him for that, but Isabella stopped her.
"Think of it what you will. But I have a proposal, you see. Our emperor is dissatisfied with the Singas. You see where I'm going with this?" Vina smirked and Pancho frowned.
"So he'll get rid of them? Why should I trust you?" Pancho glared at her and Vina snorted.
"Well, we have Rafaela Silva and Ernesto Salas with us. You have no power here old man." Vina doubled down on him and Pancho's expression went ugly.
"Okay, talk." Pancho sighed and Vina slid him a file. He started reading it and he went wide eyed.
"Y-you... He has this much power?" Pancho was shocked to the core.
"Why yes, do you really think that the twin empresses will bloody let him build Paradiso if they have authority over him? They are pretty much equal, nay. He has more authority than them. After all, he owns Kjerag and Kazimierz." Vina smirked.
Hannah and Isabella looked at Vina with pride as she was starting to become a great schemer that was good with flowery words.
"Okay, I'll accept..." Pancho immediately bit on the opportunity.
"Nice doing business with you. Expect to take your post in the next few weeks." Vina smiled and they exited the cell.
"Hah, that was tiring. I'm really not excited to become the empress of Victoria..." Vina sighed as she hated politics as well.
"What!? You're doing great! And you have to take back Londinium! Besides, Ash can set you up. He'll definitely send some help once you become empress." Hannah assured her.
"I don't think you should rely on him too much, Hannah..." Isabella smiled wryly and Vina nodded.
"I'm sure that guy will make me run Victoria if I ever do get it back. He'll say that it's my job or something. I can already imagine it." Vina groaned.
"Hello, I think I have enough strength to walk by myself now." Cantabile suddenly entered the conversation.
"Gah! I forgot that you were still strapped to me." Hannah was shocked and Cantabile started walking slowly.
They then took a nap at their hotel so they could rest their tired bodies. Urban fighting is much different from open field warfare after all.
And when the next day came, they were shocked once again. "Hey you, you're finally awake. It's time for your evaluation." Platinum put on some glasses and she tapped on her clipboard.
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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.