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Gunsou groaned. Coughing and gasping for breath as he rolled to his feet, the searing heat of the molten road besides him could be felt even though his armour. He glanced up at the offender responsible - a dark purple duel avatar, gloating in the sky with what appeared to be tattered bat wings holding him up, even if they weren't flapping.
"Does it hurt?" Dusk Taker gloated. "You pricks never had a chance! I let you have a few hits out of the kindness of my heart."
Grimacing in pain, Gunsou clutched the shoulder pauldron of his avatar, Turquoise Duro from where he had been burnt by cannon fire. A distance away, Cul Seeker zipped around the pillar of a a still-standing building of the arena, caught air in free-fall, and skidded to a stop besides him. His childhood friend was slightly battered, but definitely in better shape than Gunsou. "I couldn't stop her," she muttered, "Lime Bell's got no weapons or skills besides Citron Call, but she's too tanky. Her Armament is heavy. It's really heavy."
"Are we stuck, then?" Gunsou sighed, "It's a broken combo. I tried keeping him down when he ran out of gauge, but even a small hit will give him enough gauge to kite me. He doesn't even have to aim, he just--" Gunsou angrily shook his fist. "He just shoots the ground and then I have to play 'The Floor Is Lava'. Literally."
"Timer's running low," Cul Seeker interrupted. "We have to try something else. Let's switch it up," she pointed at herself and Gunsou. "You go after the healer. I'll do what I can to bring Dusk Taker down."
"He's got at least three Armaments, Misawa," Gunsou warned, "The lava cannon, the tentacle arm, and don't forget the bolt cutter thingamajig he had at the beginning of the match. You sure about this, Mis?"
Misawa nodded. She locked gazes with Gunsou, round green eyes staring into concerned yellow slits. "I'll be fine. Just catch me!"
Misawa extended her cherry-red gauntlet to grasp the blue-green armour around Turquoise Duro's fist. "Alright," he relented, "C'mon, I'll give you a throw. His gauge is running low, so he should be nearby."
"Go high anyway," Cul Seeker said. She cracked her knuckles and readied a wire hook beneath each of her wrists. "Lime Bell will come out in the open when Dusk Taker is close to the ground. I think he's ordering her around--"
FWOOSHH! A fiery splash of heat suffused the air and detonated the pillars of the ruined building just above their heads. Ducking and tucking his knees to his chest, Gunsou rolled away instinctively and hopped to his feet, just in time to avoid a second and a third volley by Dusk Taker, who had strafed their cover hovering three metres above the ground.
"Had enough chit-chat?" the young boy called out haughtily, "Come out here and die like the dogs you are-- Hey, running away already?"
Not knowing where Misawa had ran off to, Gunsou had no choice but to let her find her own ride up. He galloped away to avoid two more volleys from Dusk Taker, feeling shrapnel and molten dust pepper the back of his legs, but he eventually put enough distance between them that the slow-moving bolts of fire were no longer able to hit him.
Lime Bell was easy to find - she stood out like a neon light amid the ruined landscape of the Century's End arena. In fact, given by how she was just standing in the middle of the street, it was almost too easy to find her - so much so that Gunsou thudded to a stop ten metres away from her. He knew Misawa had already had a tussle with her, but there was no telling if Lime Bell was concealing some sort of Armament up her sleeve to even the odds. Gunsou had fallen for that trap too many times already.
The other explanation was--
"Stay away!" Lime Bell spotted him and shrieked, "I don't want to fight! I'm just here to farm points!"
"I was afraid you'd say that," Gunsou said carefully. He circled Lime Bell, keeping an eye out for the flying bat of doom in the sky, hoping that Misawa was keeping Dusk Taker busy. "We're all here for the same thing, aren't we? Some of us want to win. Some of us want to become stronger. It all works out to the same goal in the end."
Gunsou scrutinised the petite green duel avatar. A pointy hat, green goggles, and a conspicuously large conical Armament that took up almost all of her right arm. The only skill he had ever seen her used was the healing skill that had brought Dusk Taker from half health to full. And according to Misawa, she was too tanky to beat directly.
Was there anything he had missed? "Tell me something," he tried for conversation, "Is there something you're fighting for? Or someone?"
Lime Bell stiffened as she held her Armament out to ward him off. "You won't understand," she said dismissively, "And I don't need to tell you. Everything I'm doing is for someone precious to me."
"Pick your boyfriends better," Gunsou shot back. "He's not doing so well, is he?"
Lime Bell blinked. Her eyes flicked up and to the left to check the health gauges. At the same time, a pained yell echoed down the street, to her right, where Dusk Taker and Misawa were fighting. Her gaze flicked the other way--
And Gunsou charged!
A single leap bridged the gap, and he was in Lime Bell's face before she could react! Gunsou lashed out with a right hook, then crouched low and swept her legs out from under her with his own. Knocked to the ground, a dazed Lime Bell swung her bell about clumsily - Gunsou caught it with one hand, seized Lime Bell's ear with the other, and whacked her in the face with her own Armament.
Clang! Clang Clang! Large chunks of Lime Bell's health gauge were swallowed up with every hit. Screams filled Gunsou's ears, but he gritted his teeth and carried on until Lime Bell's health gauge turned yellow to match his. He pinned the dimunitive avatar to the ground with ease - but just in case she had some power-up skill or something, Gunsou called for his armour to shift to his arms and lock down Lime Bell's wrists to the ground.
"Now you listen here," Gunsou growled, "You don't want to fight? This is how we do it. You can lie down here and I won't hurt you anymore - but none of that healing shit. My partner will take down Dusk Taker, and you need to find a better boyfriend."
"He's- not- my- boyfriend!" Lime Bell whined and struggled. Only paying half the attention to his opponent, Gunsou looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of either Dusk Taker or Misawa. Less than three minutes were left until the battle ended, so where were they--?
"Let go of me, you witch!"
Gunsou chuckled as Dusk Taker zoomed by above his head, with Cul Seeker hanging onto a wire wrapped around his foot. His partner swung by leisurely, stuck out her wrists, aiming at a nearby building - and a TWANG! filled the air as her wire hook found purchase and was pulled taut. Dusk Taker lurched heavily, losing his orientation for a second - and then he tried to fly away again, but Cul Seeker held firmly to both her hooks and strained mightily to keep the errant combatant in check. Despite flying nowhere, Dusk Taker's special gauge began to drain faster and his wings beat harder as he tried to pull free.
"Oi you!" Dusk Taker yelled down at Lime Bell, "Get up and help free me!"
"Give it up, Dusk Taker!" Gunsou shot back before Lime Bell could answer, "Your healer is down! Your strategy has a weakness! And given how everyone's watching us, we'll be ending your fifteen-victory streak today!"
"Oh, fuck you guys..." Dusk Taker cursed, "Swap Equipment: Bolter Cut!"
Gunsou blinked.
The flamethrower-like cannon on Dusk Taker's right arm vanished in a flash of purple light - replaced by a set of sharp steel jaw-like cutters. Gunsou opened his mouth to scream a warning - but nothing he said would have changed the outcome.
Dusk Taker reached down and snipped the wire anchoring him to the ground. As Misawa dropped to the ground, Dusk Taker flipped over, recovered, and swooped down in one smooth motion as though he had always had those wings - and he flew straight for Misawa. He stomped on her chest, pinning her down, and the slimy red tentacles of his left arm quickly wrapped around her head and neck--
"Stay away!" Gunsou screamed. He let go of Lime Bell, carving craters into the earth as he bolted for Dusk Taker. The steel cutters came up to intercept his oncoming fist. Gunsou twisted - missing the cutters by a millimetre, raising his foot to kick Dusk Taker square in the chest. His health gauge dropped with a satisfying Clang! - but the fight was far from over.
"Ugh!"
Dusk Taker caught his fist as Gunsou attempted a hammer strike. Steam hissed from the mechanism, and it began to squeeze - closing his arm in a vice grip, stopping Gunsou cold in his tracks as a sharp, overwhelming pain raced through his arm like lightning. The cutters were twisted, and Gunsou's wrists went with it - ominous cracks and squeals sounded as Turquoise Duro's armour began to give way.
"Leave..."
Dusk Taker whipped his head around. The girl he thought he had kept pinned to the floor with his Starfish Limbs, had reached up to firmly grasp each of the Limbs wrapped around her neck and head.
"...him..."
Misawa's special gauge shrank to a sliver. Electricity arced between her knuckles and shoulders.
"--alone!"
BUZZZTT! "Ahhh!"
Three voices screamed into the open sky.
It wasn't his first experience with Misawa's Electrocute. So even while Misawa was pumping thousands of volts through Dusk Taker, Gunsou regained control over his body first. Dusk Taker twitched uncontrollably as electricity surged through his arms and into the ground. Gunsou shakily raised an arm, grasped Dusk Taker's right arm, and twisted it. His teeth chattered from the surging electrical currents flowing through his body. Dusk Taker looked on helplessly as Gunsou locked his arm straight, leaned his shoulder onto Taker's elbow, and began to leverage his Armament out of his arm--
"Ahhh! Noo!"
With a sickening Pop! Gunsou broke Dusk Taker's arm, and shattered the joint entirely as he severed the Armament from its owner.
Dusk Taker's health gauge turned red as Electrocute finally wore off. Hopping back a safe distance, Misawa panted for breath as she withdrew her wires and flung them at Lime Bell as she was sprinting back - yanking her off her feet and tumbling into the dirt! Counting on Misawa to stop any attempts by Lime Bell to heal her ally, Gunsou turned to remnants of Dusk Taker. The slim purple avatar was in a sorry state - with an arm missing from the elbow down, and his tentacles charred, blackened, and smelling suspiciously like takoyaki, Dusk Taker was not only in no state to fight - he was out of time. The timer was counting down from fifteen seconds remaining.
"Stay away from Shibuya," Gunsou growled. "Farm your points somewhere else. You show up again, I'll grind your face into dust."
Ten seconds remaining. Dusk Taker cradled his broken arms in his chest. The solitary red orb that made up his duel avatar's face glared daggers at Turquoise Gunsou.
Five seconds remaining. Gunsou braced himself for the snappy comeback.
Three seconds remaining. Was Dusk Taker whispering something?
Two seconds.
"--Steal. Rob. Plunder. Take--"
One second.
"--everything from you!"
Dusk Taker's arms erupted with violet light!
Zero.
[VICTORY!]
Before Gunsou could move or react, the system message appeared and swept him away from the battlefield, and whatever Dusk Taker had in store for him.