บท 81: Skirmish
Guess? Endorsi raised a brow at the woman's words.
"So... are you Charlotte or not?"
Charlotte smiled and chuckled.
"I am. How are you? Endorsi Jahad." She said.
Endorsi rolled her eyes as she scanned her up and down. Then, she clicked her tongue.
"What are you doing here. This is a restricted area. Didn't the robots stop you?"
"Oh, you mean the scraps of metal?" Charlotte shrugged her shoulders.
"They aren't too difficult to take care of. Especially for someone like me. Though they might give someone like you trouble."
A vein grew on Endorsi's forehead as she stared at Charlotte.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She commented in a low and dangerous tone.
"Oh nothing. A simple clue is sufficient for the intelligent ones. It doesn't seem like you're one of them though." Charlotte chuckled.
Whoosh!
Just then, a kick came flying at her face.
Charlotte ducked at a strange angle, her back bending to an impossible degree.
Crash!
Endorsi crashed behind her into the wall and bounced right out.
"That wasn't very nice."
"Your remarks remind me of someone. As a matter of fact, that someone happens to be one of your old teammates." She said, popping her knuckles with a glare on her face.
"Oh. Haven't you had a good history with Winston? He's a pretty great guy. Chill dude." Charlotte said, shamelessly praising her original body.
"Yeah right." Endorsi scowled. "He's a buffoon. He might be a good leader and a fighter, but he works us to the bone!"
Suddenly, Charlotte broke out with a mischievous grin.
"He wouldn't have done that if your abilities were up to par. That was the case for me at least." She chuckled.
And so, Endorsi started attacking.
"What the hell did you say?! You're talking to a Princess of Jahad!"
Charlotte's grin couldn't help but widen as she jumped away from a punch that soon slammed right into the ground where she stood at.
A crater formed in it's place, spreading out like cracks in a spider web.
Endorsi exhaled, suffusing a short burst of mist from her mouth.
"You have a weak punch." Charlotte looked down at the ground and glanced back at Endorsi.
"I'm surprised Winston was even travelling with you." It was unknown why Winston was trying to piss her off like this, but one thing was certain. He was enjoying it a lot.
And that broke the last straw.
Endorsi dashed out, cracks spreading in the ground behind her and a thin veil of blue around her body.
The shinsu around her roared and dashed at her body, coalescing more and more into the veil and strengthening her physical abilities beyond the limits of shinsu control.
Shaaaaa!
Boom!
Charlotte blocked a kick with her arms, one that send her flying into the wall behind her.
Bam!
Without a second of delay, Endorsi was atop her again, on her face a vicious grin.
"Let me teach you some manners!" A barrage of attacks began. Hundreds of punches were thrown in the blink of an eye, each breaking the sound barrier and creating shockwaves throughout the structure.
It was plenty clear that Endorsi wasn't one to hold back during a grudge.
Boom!
Concrete and debris flew around in the air, carving a pit in the area where each attack had landed.
"Hmph!" Endorsi snorted as she looked at the pit. "What a dumb woman. Challenging a princess like that." She shook her head.
Just then, a familiar voice graced her ears.
"Wow. So you've learned that as well?"
Endorsi's eyes widened. She threw her gaze at the pit again, seeing a faint blue light glowing at the bottom.
"Diffusion.. Boundary?" She muttered.
Whiiiiirl!
Charlotte jumped out of the pit in a single leap, landing just before Endorsi. All around her body was a layer of shinsu.
"I was also his teammate for 4 years you know." She gave her a toothy grin.
Endorsi also smirked with a murderous glare.
"It seems I went too easy on you. It won't happen again."
Charlotte laughed at her remark.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." She said.
Endorsi snorted and pulled out a hair pin from her hair. Magically, the small pin transformed into a needle!
"Let's dance." Charlotte commented.
Boom!
Endorsi instantly broke the sound barrier, heading right towards Charlotte who only put out her arm to block.
Endorsi ducked down at the last moment, using her leg to sweep Charlotte off the ground.
Crack!
Wham!
Charlotte, as well as the ground she stood on were thrown into the air by the force of Endorsi's leg sweep.
Then, without any time of relaxation, Endorsi stabilized herself and stabbed at Charlotte with her needle.
Shaaaa!
A bright light flashed in the area, throwing Endorsi back and caused the roof of the building they were in to crumble.
Boom!
A low and melodious chuckle rang in the area.
"Shouldn't you be trying to secure a ticket for yourself?" Charlotte said, stepping out of the rubble with a bright ball of light floating behind her.
Endorsi who had somehow managed to avoid the blow entirely looked at her with a deadpan.
"I have my ticket right here." She said, pointing a needle at her.
"Is that so..."
[Warning! Surrender Peacefully! Or we will use suppressive firearms!]
A robotic voice rang in their ears. Endorsi turned around, only to meet two red glowing orbs, smashed atop the face of a behemoth of a metal robot.
The robot had various guns mounted on it's shoulders and arms.
Behind the robot were several other of the same kind.
"What a pain." Endorsi clicked her tongue.
Just then, Charlotte spoke.
"Sylvain."
Flames.
Boundless flames enveloped the robots, and the shinsu in the area roared as if beckoned by a greater calling.
In just a second, the robots were turned to dust and scrap metal.
Endorsi widened her eyes and looked over to Charlotte.
There was a silvery sweetfish floating around her, leaving a trail of transparent strings that burned with a red colour.
"You're... an anima?" She asked.
"That's right." Charlotte gently petted the sweetfish, "This is a divine sea fish. I call it Sylvain. As for its species, they are largely unknown."
Endorsi squeezed the needle in her hands and took a battle stance.
I need to finish this before the sweetfish can display any more power. This woman... she's dangerous. Endorsi glanced at her hip, where a silver revolver was gently resting.
One Shot and it's over.
There was no more time to waste. Nobody wanted to anyway.
Endorsi again broke into a sprint, her speed going at a frieghtening 700 meters per second!
A gigantic door suddenly appeared behind Charlotte as the silver sweetfish shone in a blinding light.
Endorsi thrusted her needle without a sliver of hesitation, yet the attack never reached Charlotte.
What is this?
Endorsi's eyes widened. Her needle was stuck. Not in Charlotte's flesh as she had aimed for, nor in any type of physical material that she could name.
It was stuck... in space.
A door had materialized around it right before it struck, stopping the needle in it's tracks.
Endorsi didn't have too long to think though. For just a second after, a fist slammed right into her face.
"Ouch! Are you crazy!" She yelled.
"Maybe."
Hundreds of punches were thrown by both parties, neither willing to back down. Shockwaves rang across the area and robots soon swarmed them. However, they were soon taken care of by the sweetfish.
Charlotte kicked at Endorsi, hitting her abdomen and pushing out the air from her lungs!
Boom!
She slammed into the building behind her, reducing it to mere rubble.
"Fuck!" She cursed. However, just before she could get up, Charlotte was over her.
Charlotte slammed her foot onto her chest, keeping her down.
"You better stay down princess." She said. The sweetfish came behind her, shining with a strange light and the embers of flames surrounding it. "I would hate to mess up your face. Not that it matters anyway. I'm obviously the more beautiful one."
"Hmph! You think this is enough to keep me down?" Endorsi said, though she made no remarks about her beauty in comparison to her.
"It should be." Charlotte chuckled. Sylvain moved immediately, its threads forming an illusory net around the Princess and keeping her in place.
"All better." Charlotte said and removed her foot.
Then, she began to walk back.
"Wait! Stop! Get back here you jerk!"
"See you again, Princess. Perhaps we'll face each other in the workshop battle. Also, that binding will free itself in a minute."
"Stop! Fight me, you bitch!"
Alas, Charlotte had already left through a door.
~~~
Well that was productive... I guess. Charlotte scratched the back of her neck, wondering why she took such pleasure in annoying Endorsi. But could anyone resist? She was riled up very easily. It was like serving oneself on a silver platter to her.
Charlotte stared at the sweetfish. She did not know what it's capabilities were in essence. It was still very much a small baby and was made to go through a metamorphosis when it gets old enough. The truly strong abilities would only manifest then.
But as it was, it could make use of a lot of abilities from the Fool and door pathway; namely, flame control and door openings.
And it seemed that although it could not make marionettes, it was able to freely bind other people with the threads. Since the threads were merely extensions of the spirit that suffuse into the spirit world, they were mostly unbreakable on the lower floors.
The Error pathway has not yet displayed it's abilities on the sweetfish. Perhaps it will be able to multiply at one point? Like a virus? Charlotte mused, pinching her chin with her hand.
But then, she decided to not worry about it.
Another task for the worms to think about. She popped her neck and headed back to Team Sweet and Sour.
Not long after, the alarm for the completion of the test rang.
~~~
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A/N: There's only 1700 words here as well, but another chapter will be uploaded along with it.
Throw some stones and leave a review. Cheers~
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