Ch 16: The Ultimate Partnership

The battle against Rhast intensifies, but it seems as though no amount of damage can stop him. Can Fox claim vengeance for his self-proclaimed partner?

            Rocketing at Rhast from out of nowhere, his searing fists held up before him as fire swirled around him, Fox rammed into the villain and carried him crashing into the wall with a mighty explosion upon impact. Pushing off from the wall and forming another flameboard as Rhast hung there in the man shaped dent he’d made in the wall, Fox pulled his fist back and launched a punch, but holding up his free hand and stopping his attack barehanded, Rhast actually grabbed hold of the red hot metal of Fox’s gauntlet and raised his head to look at him with bloodthirsty eyes as he exclaimed, “I’m getting mad!” Firing around Fox with pinpoint accuracy from his crystal wall, Richter hit Rhast with several rounds of his Blast Fragment, forcing him to relinquish hold of Fox, who quickly backed off and gathered EDE. Switching to his Crystallizing Shot before Rhast could pull himself together, Richter fired accurate shots that hit the wall around him, creating crystal material that spread over the impacted area, binding Rhast to the wall as the material formed over his extremities. Switching his pistols to their full power mode, Richter took aim and charged up energy for an upgraded version of his Cannon of Heaven as he said, “Safety deactivation complete. Begin charge.”

            Struggling against his bonds as he watched power glow within the barrels of Richter’s pistols, Rhast generated ethereal chemicals within his body’s system, gaining even more strength and becoming enraged. Cracking bit by bit, the crystal material holding him finally gave way, and flying through the air at Richter, Rhast’s whip glowed as he prepared to strike. With no other option than to stop his charge, Richter backed off and reverted his pistols to normal as Rhast came at him and swung his whip, roaring angrily, “Vorpal Venom!” Lashing out with a vertical swing before Richter could take aim, as Rhast’s whip came down, Richter tried to use the barrel of one of his pistols to block it. To his shock though, the whip cleaved straight through the weapon, destroying it and also opening a painful gash in his chest. Blood spurted out, and although he was lucky that the range of the whip had not been any longer, Richter certainly did not feel too fortunate as he struggled to remain standing upon his crystal wall. Having been gathering EDE for an attack to compliment Richter’s new attack, Fox quickly rushed to his comrade’s aid on his flameboard as he shouted, “Richter!”

            Dodging as Fox launched a blazing punch at him, Rhast slammed his knee powerfully into Fox’s gut and then slammed his fist into his face. Reeling from Rhast’s strength, Fox formed gigantic fiery arms to shield himself just in time as Rhast started lashing at him with his whip, embers flying as the vorpal whip carved gashes into their fiery material. Letting up, Rhast flew backwards out of range and spread his single dark wing, a sinister look on his face as he held his arms out at his sides and said, “Wing of Kushiel!” Flapping his wing, Rhast unleashed a cloud of feathers that spread out in the air and then shot at Fox and Richter like projectiles, so many of them that they were impossible to avoid. Striking over and over, the feathers cut through their clothes and sliced into their skin, making only shallow cuts as they impacted, although their true purpose was far more damaging. Both able to tell immediately, Fox and Richter could feel their strength draining as the feathers’ poison entered their bloodstream and began to spread. His crystal wall losing altitude, Richter swayed on it, able to tell he was at his limit. Teetering over, he weakly called out to Fox, “I’ve let you show off enough… hurry up…” Watching Richter fall from his crystal wall and drop to the floor below, Fox grit his teeth and thought, “Damn, hang in there bud!”

            Taking advantage of Fox’s concern for his friend, Rhast closed in while he was distracted and slammed his fist into his gut. As Fox buckled over and gasped, Rhast grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head up to look him in the face as he grinned wickedly at him and said, “That wassss a nice ssssound! It musssst be my lucky day, getting to messss up ssssuch a handssssome face!” Glaring at him, Fox put on a wicked grin of his own and said, “You think I’m hot now?” Flames suddenly erupting around Fox, as Rhast saw his hand getting badly burned, he quickly let go, and the flames only intensified as Fox exclaimed, “Watch this! Blazing Glory!” Holding his arms up in defense as a blast of fire radiated from Fox’s entire body, Rhast was blown back through the air away from him. Steadying himself in the air, Rhast lowered his arms to look at the severe burns upon them momentarily, his black armwraps having been completely burned away. Yet feeling hardly any pain, he returned his attention to Fox, who still had not emerged from the torrent of fire.

            Suddenly rocketing out of the flames at him, a figure wearing an entire suit of bulky armor made of firey material called out in Fox’s voice, “Am I still your type?!” Fox speeding at him propelled like a rocket by the powerful flames he was emitting from his armor, Rhast could not move out of his way fast enough as he swung a fist in a powerful punch that combined all his momentum into the strike, sending him hurtling through the air. Screeching to a halt, Fox gathered a large amount of EDE and channeled it into both of his flame hands, forming a pair of large flaming orbs. Hurling them both into the air at his sides, Fox cried out, “Suck on this! Grand Repeater!” Bursting into a number of smaller fireballs in the air in a fashion similar to fireworks, the show didn’t stop there as each of those fireballs exploded into more in the same fashion, the entire landing bay lighting up with Fox’s special fireworks show. Having just brought himself to a halt in the air, as Rhast recovered and saw all the fireballs that had burst into life in the air before him, his eyes went wide as they began to shoot out at him in designated intervals, and he could only raise his arms and fold his single wing over himself as he was pummeled with exploding fireballs again and again. It wasn’t long before Rhast wasn’t even visible anymore, clouds of billowing smoke filling the skies where the fireballs continued to race out and explode at.

            Panting heavily, the poison taking a serious toll on his body, exhausting him, Fox watched the last blasts from his Grand Repeater as he muttered to himself, “Take that you b*****d!” Smoke billowing in the air as Fox touched down on the ground and waited for a tense moment, his fiery armor quickly beginning to disperse as his strength faded, Rhast finally fell out of the aftermath to hit the floor with a sickening thud. Twitching there on the ground for a moment, Rhast coughed a few times as he laid there covered in injuries. Then, slowly but surely, he lifted his broken body back to its feet. Unable to believe it, Fox stared at the burns all over him, the ragged state of his clothes, and he wondered aloud, “What’s it take to stop this guy?!” Taking a step towards Fox and laughing weakly, Rhast said, “Losssst consciousnessss for a ssssecond there… Gotta admit, I can’t take much more…” Then brandishing his whip, he added, “Fortunately, you’re in the ssssame boat!”

            Gritting his teeth angrily, Fox mustered his strength and rushed at Rhast, readying his fist as he said, “Yeah?! Well only one of us is going down with the ship pal!” Drawing nearer though, Fox suddenly felt his strength leaving him and slowed to a stop, becoming disoriented as he thought, “What the…?” Flashing a triumphant grin, Rhast said, “Too bad for you pretty boy! In your condition, your body can’t handle the huge amount of pheromonessss I’m emitting.” His mind fogging up, Fox clutched his head repeated, “Pheromones…?” Taking another step toward Fox, Rhast said, “Yeah, pretty nifty sssstuff. Don’t matter what gender or speciessss, my pheromonessss affect everyone. Being able to manipulate my body chemisssstry hassss ssssome real cool benefitssss, I tell ya. But sssstill, I can only control one asssspect of my body chemisssstry at a time, sssso pheromonessss are ussssually a trump card in battle.” Raising his whip to strike as Fox simply stood there in a daze, Rhast said, “Now then, let’ssss get intimate…”

            A loud bang resounded through the landing bay at that moment, a resonating crystal bullet burying itself in Rhast’s shoulder. Lowering his whip and clutching the place where he’d been shot, Rhast looked over at Richter sitting there on the ground, his remaining pistol raised and smoke trailing from the first barrel, having just fired his Resonating Shot. Standing next to him was Serius, who despite his temporary blindness had monitored the battle as best he could using his EDE senses and his ability to sense sonic vibrations. Having rushed to Richter’s side to heal him of his grave wounds, Serius now turned his attention to Rhast as Richter’s bullet resonated in his shoulder violently, the vibrations spreading and making it easy for him to sense most of the bones and internal organs in Rhast’s upper body. Readying one of his arm blades, Serius declared, “You’re mine Rhast…” Gritting his teeth in anger and frustration, Rhast quickly hand his hand out and began channeling EDE into it as Serius sped across the distance with an arm blade ready. Just as Serius brought his blade down on him, Rhast formed a glowing green sword of energy and blocked his strike, and grappling with Serius, he sneered, “Don’t get full of yoursssself big man! I’ve sssstill got plenty of EDE, and all my chemicalssss can sssstrengthen, reinforce, numb, and heal my body, assss well assss become ethereal energy!”

Struggling to muster the strength to join Serius in battle now that the pheromones were gone, Fox found himself too weakened to move, and he merely muttered to himself, “This guy just won’t quit! Now my partner’s out there fighting blind…” Suddenly the sound of a gunshot rang out, and Fox felt something hit him in the back, sending waves of strength rolling through him. Turning to look back at Richter questioningly, he merely lowered his pistol and shot him a smug grin as he said, “My Restorative Round will heal you moderately and boost your strength. Those rounds aren’t cheap, but normal healing won’t help against this crippling poison’s effects, so I’ll let you take the only one I have for now. Since I finally got to shoot you, I don’t mind if you handle the rest.” Returning his grin, Fox nodded and hurried into battle.

Knocking Serius’ furious blows aside with his energy sword, Rhast raised his whip and lashed out with it. Able to follow the movements of Rhast’s body through the vibrations of Richter’s Resonating Shot, Serius was barely able to also sense the vibrations of the whip itself in the air and managed to raise an arm blade to block the strike, preventing the whip’s vorpal venom from cutting through by using a shroud of sonic vibrations around it like a barrier. Yet the very force of the impact was enough to send Serius staggering backwards, Rhast’s strength enhanced to absurd levels now. Catching Serius as he staggered back, Fox said, “Easy there! You sure you don’t wanna leave this to me?” Regaining his balance and pulling away from Fox, Serius shook his head and replied, “I have a score to settle for my own sake. Now that I can tell where he is, I have no reason to stand aside.” Smirking, Fox readied a gauntlet and said, “Fair enough, but I want a piece of the action myself. Let’s show him our ultimate partnership!” Showing a reluctant smile, Serius merely replied, “If you insist.”

Raising his energy sword at both of them, Rhast charged it up and let go of it as the blade shot out towards Fox and Serius and burst into a hail of energy bolts. Glancing at Serius briefly, Fox created a pair of small fireballs in his hands as he muttered, “Follow my lead! We’re gonna even the odds!” Both broke away from each other as the energy bolts rained at them, and tossing the fireballs away as he moved aside, Fox created more flames. Striking the ground, the fireballs burst into weak explosions that spewed out enormous clouds of smoke. Billowing into the air, the smoke began filling the hangar, and losing sight of Serius and Fox in it, Rhast began looking around nervously as he held tight to his whip and said, “Fighting dirty now Seriussss?! I can resssspect that, but it ain’t like you!” Fireballs suddenly shooting through the smoke, Fox’s voice called out, “That’s why that’s my department!” Quickly Rhast deflected the fireballs with his whip, but bursting through the smoke clad in his full flame armor once more, Fox raised his enormous gauntlet of flame.

Lunging forth to counter his strike, Rhast ducked under his attack and fired a powerful punch straight into Fox’s armored gut. The force of the blow sent him sliding back on his feet, and Rhast grinned wickedly as he said, “My ssssenses are sssso elevated now, I can react the ssssecond you sssshow yoursssselves!” Leaping through the smoke over Fox and landing directly in front of him, Serius readied his armblades to strike, but reacting immediately, Rhast swung his whip and sneered, “Usssseless!” Yet passing right through Serius like he were a ghost, the whip struck against Fox’s outstretched palm, who quickly took hold of it and used all his strength to pull it from the surprised Rhast’s grip. Becoming solid once more, Serius swung his armblades at his unarmed opponent as he cried out, “Scream of Heaven!” Forming another sword of energy, Rhast barely raised it up in defense as he glared at Serius in fury, but striking upon the energy weapon, Serius’ blades unleashed their sonic shockwaves and he was blown sailing. Raising his arm, Serius called up a Roar of the Earth as Rhast landed, and he was caught in the full explosion as it erupted from beneath him.

Crawling out of the explosion’s aftermath and struggling to his knees, Rhast laughed weakly and muttered, “Musssst be nice to be one of the royal family…  Born with sssso much power, you don’t even need your wingssss…” Approaching Rhast, Serius said, “My “Wings of Raphael” have nothing more than the power to heal others at the cost of draining my own strength. You’re the one who indulges in the luxury of relying on your angelic wings, while I developed my power on my own after being forbidden from using my wings by my father. Rank and status have nothing to do with true strength.” Readying his armblade, Serius continued, “And yet out of trifling ambition and jealousy, you took Remia’s life. Don’t expect that I’ll show you mercy…” Flashing a defiant smirk, Rhast suddenly jumped to his feet and raised his energy sword for a reckless strike as he shouted, “Don’t talk like you can dominate me, big man!” Shooting through the air suddenly though, a fiery chain wrapped itself around Rhast’s arm and restrained it, and turning to look in the direction it came from in surprise, Rhast saw Fox holding the other end with a smug grin. Turning back to Serius fearfully as he prepared to strike, Rhast stammered, “C-c’mon now S-Seriussss, let’ssss talk about thissss!” Following his senses, Serius thrust his arm blade into Rhast’s chest, stabbing it all the way through him and rupturing one of his lungs. Gagging on his own blood, his eyes going wide, Rhast hissed, “Sssshit…!” Ripping his arm blade free, as Rhast collapsed dead on the floor before him, Serius shook the blood from his weapon and said, “You’ll never again harm those I care about…”

            Turning to Fox as he heard him drop to his knees, Serius let his Vox Ensis fade away and carefully made his way over, kneeling beside him as he said, “Thank you Fox. I owe this revenge to both you and Richter.” Managing a grin as he let his Excan Gloriae evaporate as well, Fox replied, “No thanks necessary partner. After what he did to you and Amanus, there’s no way I’d let him slide.” Reluctantly smiling, Serius said, “So Amanus told you, did he? Yes, when my son was born the Herald of Origin’s Will, there were many among the mautauian nobility who did not take kindly to it. Rhast acted as an assassin, attempting to kill Amanus when he was a child, but my wife Remia died defending him instead. Rhast’s family was stripped of their rank, but Rhast himself escaped execution thanks to the influence of the other families of the House of White.” Serius’ expression became pained as he continued, “I never once blamed Amanus, but… I think he blamed himself, and I could never find the right words to make him understand that it was not his fault… that I would never stop loving him over such a thing. To be unable to say such important words to my own son… I was a terrible father…”

            Raising a fist and gently rapping Serius on the chest with his knuckles, Fox said, “Knock that off, you did fine! Besides, if there’s ever anything you wanna tell him, he’ll always be right there in your heart, ready to listen.” As he watched Serius place a hand on his chest with a hesitant expression, Fox flashed a grin again as he said, “I’ve already shown you once that the bonds between people can never be severed, not even in death!” Closing his eyes even though he could not see right now anyways, Serius held his hand over his heart and whispered, “I will always love you, my son…” Feeling a wave of warmth rush over him, for a brief moment Serius consciousness was filled with the image of his son Amanus, smiling back at him while standing there together with his mother. Fox smiled to himself as he saw the tears of joy that began seeping from between his friend’s closed eyelids.