"Alive?!" Ella yelps.
"Don't worry, Ella, he's just trying to intimidate us," Austin replies.
"Well it's working…" Ella whimpers.
"I'll be the judge of that!" Clover cackles as he touches his palm to the ground. "Arena of Caution: PItfall!"
"Miracle Mirages: Pitfall!" Diamond shouts as well.
Multiple pitfalls then begin opening up around Ella's and Austin's feet, meanwhile, alternate parts of the ground begin rising and sinking as well.
"Woah!" Austin cries as he hops backwards.
Ella shrieks as she tap dances around, attempting to dodge the pitfalls. Austin notices that, strangely enough, despite stepping on some of them, Ella doesn't fall into the pitfalls.
"Here, grab on!" Austin says as he wraps an arm around Ella's shoulder, causing Ella to instantly tense up. "Gunsmith: Grappling Hook!" Austin then says as he constructs a grappling hook out of his glowing orange Cursed Power. Austin then aims his Grappling Hook at the tree above him and Ella and fires, Austin's Grappling Hook latching onto the sturdy tree branch and zipping him and Ella up into safe ground, dodging the pitfalls.
"You think you can run from my Cursed Ability?!" Clover cackles as he touches his palm to the ground again.
"Miracle Mirages: Earth Spikes!" Diamond adds.
The surrounding area begins to lower again as Clover and Diamond's pitfalls sink even lower. Subsequently, needle-ended spikes of stone and mud begin flying out of the ground, aimed towards Ella and Austin. Austin takes note that the land outside of Clover's barrier isn't affected.
"Hmm…" Austin mutters as he narrows his eyes at the spikes.
"You've got something, Austin?" Ella asks.
"I might…" Austin replies.
Ella then thrusts her palm out towards the spikes flying towards her and Austin. "Knockback Wave!" Ella shouts, and an orange wave flies out of her palm, headed towards the spikes. But when Ella's Knockback Wave makes contact with the spikes, the spikes don't get knocked back. Instead, the spikes just seem to…disappear, like they were nothing more than illusions.
"Huh?!" Ella cries.
"Yeah…that must be it…" Austin mutters to himself.
The second that the first wave of spikes disappears, a second wave of spikes flies towards Ella and Austin. "Knockback Wave!" Ella shouts as she sends another orange Wave flying towards the spikes. This time, when Ella's wave makes contact with the spike, they shatter into stoney bits. "Yes!" Ella cries. But then, a wave of pain shoots through Ella's body. "Where's…that coming from?" Ella weakly asks as bloody hole materials in her stomach, squirting blood.
"ELLA!" Austin cries.
The next thing that materializes is a large, jagged stoney spike, piercing Ella in the stomach, straight through.
Clover and Diamond cackle menacingly as the rocky spike slowly retracts itself out of Ella's stomach wound, which squirts out even more blood.
"Shit, Ella!" Austin cries as he kneels down behind the girl.
"What…was that?" Ella weakly asks again, even more blood trickling out of her wound.
"Don't talk, just heal yourself!" Austin orders as he grabs Ella's hands and places them on top of her wound, blood seeping through Ella's fingers. "Sorry about using you like this," Austin then adds as he pulls off his handkerchief, tying it around Ella's wound to stop the bleeding.
"Huh…wha…?" Ella slowly asks, but Austin says nothing as he stands up then turns back around to face Clover and Diamond.
"How'd you like that, Slayer?! Our powerful sister-brother duo already killed one of your friends, and you're next!" Diamond laughs.
Austin says nothing for a moment. And then…a huge, wicked grin spreads across his face. And then…Austin begins hysterically laughing, doubling over from laughter.
"You're laughing?!" Diamond cries. "I just killed your friend, and you're laughing?!"
"Oh, I get it, Diamond, he's laughing from fear!" Clover chuckles.
"Hah hah…" Austin grunts, as he laughing fit slowly subsides. Austin then stands back up to face Clover and Diamond again, a creepily wide grin still plastered on Austin's face as he does the anime glasses guy thing again. "Unfortunately, I had to use my ally as a test dummy, but it's safe to say I've fully deduced the nature of your Cursed Abilities," he says.
"What?!" Clover cries. "That's impossible!"
"Calm down, Clover!" Diamond snaps. "He's just bluffing!"
"You, the man, you can manipulate the land within your caution tape barrier, but only within. You can't "create" or erase more land, so when you create your spikes or pitfalls, the land has to rise or sink accordingly," Austin explains, before turning to Diamond. "And you create illusions. Specifically, you create illusions that mimic the man's attacks in order to confuse your opponents. Unfortunately for you, your opponent is me. And I never get confused."" Clover and Diamond are silent. "And judging by how your bodies tensed up, I'm correct," he smirks.
"What?! Just what is this boy?!" Diamond desperately cries.
"My name is Slayer Takanome," Austin smirks. "But some call me the 'Mad Scientist'."
Austin then takes off his glasses, hanging them on the collar of his shirt, before sliding on his goggles and tapping a button on the side. "Heat Sensor Mode!" Austin shouts. "With this, your illusions will never work on me!"
"Austin!" Austin then hears Ella cry, and turns around to see Austin fire a blue wave Austin's way, which sinks into Austin's body, strengthening his Cursed Power.
"Thank you, but save your strength," Austin apathetically orders.
"Don't worry, I used Cursed Power Barrier when I was attacked, I'll be alright," Ella replies.
"I…I'm sorry about using you like that," Austin sadly apologies, looking truly concerned for Ella's wellbeing.
"Don't worry! As long as we win!" Ella says as she flashes Austin a weak smile. Austin nods sadly before turning back around to face Clover and Diamond.
"You may be able to notice our illusions, but you can't dodge our attacks!" Clover shouts as he touches his palm to the ground again. "Arena of Caution: Earth Spikes!" Clover sends a wave of spikes flying towards Austin, but Austin doesn't flinch. And when Clover's spikes make contact with Austin, they just pass straight through his body.
"You think that Diamond not moving or saying anything was going to trick me?!" He roars, causing Clover and Diamond to flinch.
"You won't be able to dodge if we hit you with too many attacks at once!" Clover shouts as he touches his palm to the ground again. "Arena of Caution: Mega Pitfall!" The ground around Austin begins to sink even further into the ground, meanwhile, the ground under Clover and Diamond rises into platforms. A multitude of Earth Spikes then begin flying towards Austin out of the rocky, dirt wall before Austin, so much so that Austin doesn't have a chance to dodge.
"With your help, Ella, this'll be a piece of cake!" Austin smirks. "Gunsmith: Gadgets and Gizmos, Remote Operating Turrets!" Austin holds his palm up and begins emitting Cursed Power out of it. Austin's Cursed Power rises into the air a bit, before modeling itself into glowing orange turrets, which stations themselves on the ground. "Fire!" Austin shouts as he swipes his arm outwards. Austin's turrets then begin firing round after round of Cursed Power bullets at Clover's spikes, shattering the ones that they make contact with. But Clover created too many spikes, and Austin's turrets just aren't able to keep up. Clover's spikes manage to bypass Austin's defenses, puncturing Austin's body. "Luckily I have my Barrier up…" Austin grunts.
"Why do I always fight these rapid-firing Cursed Ability types?" Austin grumbles to himself. "Even with Ella boosting up the strength of my Cursed Power, they're still too many spikes to deal with!"
"Austin, here!" Ella cries as she sends a pink wave flying towards Austin. This time, when the wave sinks into Austin's body, Austin feels his Cursed Power replenish a bit. "I transferred some of my Cursed Power into you, get them!" Ella shouts
"Right!" Austin replies. "Gunsmith: Assault Rifle!" Austin constructs a glowing orange Assault Rifle out of his Cursed Power then aims it at Clover's spikes as well, which are still flying towards Austin. Austin begins firing his Assault Rifle and Turrets towards Clover's spikes at an even faster rate than before, slowly overwhelming Clover. "It looks like four turrets is my limit, with an extra gun…and remorse operating turrets are certainly out of the question!" Austin grunts. "But still…I can do this!"
With a roar, Clover sends more spikes flying towards Austin. Austin roars back, keeping up his fire power, smashing through Clover's spikes. Slowly, as Clover sends more spikes flying towards Austin, the platforms underneath Clover and Diamond begin to lower. Blood explodes out of Austin's nose, from the overuse of Cursed Power. Even more of Clover's spikes skewer Austin's body. One spike manages to smack Austin in the face, shattering his goggles and his glasses.
"I'm tired of buying new glasses every fight," Austin grunts.
"Here!" Ella says as she sends her remaining bit of Cursed Power Austin's way.
"Clover, careful!" Diamond cries. "You're running out of land!
"I…know!" Clover grunts back, the platforms around him and Diamond eventually fully lowering to Austin's level.
Both Clover and Clover Austin up their attacks, until eventually, the amount of bullets Austin spits out slows, then eventually halts.
"This is my chance!" Clover roars as he showers Austin with one more round of spikes. Austin before falling to the ground.
Clover then hops over to Austin, who has blood pooling out of his nose, his body littered with hotels, and his goggles and glasses shattered. Clover then stops before. "You've lost," Austin grunts. "A kid like you…can never understand King's ambitions."
"I don't want to understand, Austin sneers."
Clover taps the ground one more time, and a spike rises out of it, animed directly at Austins' throat. "You're loss."