The Red Hand

Chapter 53 – A Learning Experience.

A few weeks later.

Superbia was sent to Osaka on her own ahead of Mixu, who was busy dealing with an attack in Fukuoka. The Rapid Response Team had gotten some intel that stated that Osaka University was likely the next target for a Libra attack, and Superbia didn't want to take any chances with the lives of the students. Standing atop one of the many skyscrapers, she scanned the city hoping to find any signs of the attacker before they managed to strike.

"Where the hell are you?" Superbia was looking through binoculars. She was originally from Osaka, so she knew the city like the back of her hand. Her position allowed her to see the school and all the main entryways, but she couldn't be everywhere at once. "I'm not going to let you bastards destroy my city."

"Never thought I would see the day you played superhero, Superbia." A voice called out to her from behind. Startled, Superbia drew her blade and spun around stopping only inches from Akagi's throat.

"Akagi?!?" Superbia hadn't expected to see her here. "What do you think you're doing sneaking up on me?" she wasn't exactly pleased that Akagi could get so close without her knowing.

"What? Osaka is in my neighborhood." Akagi shrugged. "I live near Kyoto, so is it really that strange to see me here?"

"I suppose not." She retracted her blade and sheathed it. "I don't have time for you right now. I'm in the middle of an important mission." Superbia turned back around and continued to watch the school.

"Yeah, a little birdy told me that Armalthy is planning on attacking Osaka University."

"How could you possibly know that?!?" Superbia exclaimed. "We only just got that intel, and we only knew the location, not who it was going to be!"

"What can I say? My people are pretty good." Akagi laughed. "Are you going to be enough to handle this?" Akagi asked. "Armalthy is no joke, and while you're pretty good, I suspect he might be a bit much for just you." Armalthy was far more than just a psychopathic killer. He was powerful, smart, and skilled. His powers as an electromancer were excellent, and he was one of the few players to focus on and master one single magical element; to devastating effects. While Superbia was quite fast and powerful with her Oni powers, Akagi figured that she would lose in a battle of raw firepower, especially if she had to divert her focus between Armalthy and saving people.

"I think you underestimate me, Akagi." Superbia scoffed at her statement. "I'm no pushover, and while Armalthy might be strong, I just need to deal with him before he gets off any big attacks."

"True, but let me give you a word of advice," Akagi said. "This isn't FWO. The abilities and powers we have are no longer bound by the game and its constraints. Don't assume that you can use an ability the way you always did, or that he can't use his own in some unique way.” Akagi shared some of her knowledge with Superbia.

"I'll keep that in mind." She continued to scan for Armalthy, until.

*BOOM*

Suddenly a large explosion came from the Osaka Campus.

"Shit." Superbia put down the binoculars and rocketed forward, hoping to catch her target before he could do any significant damage. Akagi was left on the rooftop alone.

"I wasn't planning on staying in Osaka for very long, but perhaps I'll watch these two fight." she chuckled. "Might make for some decent entertainment." She took a seat on the edge of the roof and looked off into the distance, ready to watch the two players clash.

_____________________________________________________________________________

"Ahahahaahaha." Armalthy laughed as he electrocuted the students that were sitting in the courtyard of the school. "Come on now, at least make this interesting." He used his powers to pick up a metal bench and used it as a blunt force instrument to squish people.

*BANG**BANG**BANG**BANG*

"It's like smashing cockroaches! Ahahahahhaha." He was thoroughly enjoying himself while people screamed in all directions.

"ARMALTHY!!!!!" Superbia screamed as she crashed her blade into him, which he blocked with an energy shield.

"Oh look, it's our little Oni. How's it going, princess?" He chuckled at his little joke.

"Don't even talk to me, you disgusting fuck!" Superbia charged in again with a flurry of blows, only to have them deflected by his energy-enhanced gloves.

"Nice to see you too." After shrugging off her hits, he sent a punch back, stopping her next swing in its tracks, causing a shockwave to erupt around them.

Not wanting to be caught in a stalemate, Superbia hopped backward, putting a bit of distance between them.

"Running away?" Armalthy laughed and sent an electric blast toward her, which she sliced in half.

"Not on your life!" She swung her blade, causing a Kanji that read "Flower" to appear in front of her. This ability boosted her stats temporarily and caused her body and blade to be surrounded by pink oni-fire.

Once complete, she swung her blade, causing a blast of pink fire to fly toward him. He responded in kind, and a battle of blasts occurred. For nearly a full minute they exchanged blows, each not wanting to end the attack first, lest they give their opponent the opening to attack. Annoyed at the stalemate, Armalthy sent a blast toward some nearby students.

{What are they still doing here?} Superbia couldn't risk them getting hurt, so she ended her attack, taking one of Armalthy's blasts in the shoulder before moving to intercept the attack aimed at the students. She put herself between the students and the blast cutting it in two, but just as she did Armalthy appeared in front of her below her blade.

"A little distracted, aren't we?" He charged energy in his fist and struck Superbia square in the gut. "Gack!" She spit up blood as she was flung backward, crashing into the brick wall behind her. His hit left her woozy, and she was stunned. Her defensive stats weren't very good and, like Akagi, if one could land a proper hit on her, the damage would be significant.

Superbia struggled to her feet, using her Nodachi as a crutch.

{All that damage from just one hit?} She couldn't believe just how bad she felt. {If I take one more of those, I might not be going home.}

"What's wrong?" Armalthy floated in the air. "You don't look so good, princess." He laughed at her bloodied and bruised appearance.

"You just surprised me is all." Superbia chuckled. "How bout you come down here and try that again!"

"Hmmmmm." He put his hand on his chin. "Na!" Armalthy charged up even more energy and began shooting it all around him. His attacks began to rain down everywhere. There were still a few students nearby so Superbia zoomed forward and began collecting them, taking them into the school building.

"Getting distracted again?!?" Armalthy said as he continued firing off more blasts at Superbia as she ran around. 

"I'd say its an appropriate handicap!" Superbia exclaimed as she sent a few blasts of her own at him, which he easily blocked.

The two stared at each other. The rest of the students and other civilians had fled so Superbia would have less to worry about.

{I can't land a hit on him if he floats up there.} Superbia's ranged options were limited as she was built for close quarters fighting.

"Then how about we try something different." Armalthy laughed as he slowly decended to the ground. "I've been wanting to see just how much more fun I can have with these powers, and you'd make an excellent sparring partner." After he said this, electrical energy flowed into his body, covering him in a thin veil of power.

"Come on." He gestured for her to approach.

{What's he up to?} Superbia was confused, Armalthy shouldn't want to engage in close combat like this. She wanted to think about it more, but decided to just go for it.

"As you wish!" Superbia lept forward, closing the gap in an instant. As she swung her blade down onto Armalthy, he deflected it.

{What!} She was confused, but decided to strike again with the same results.

"Nice!" Armalthy smiled as she parried her flurry of blows. "So I can actually do something like this, good to know." 

The two engaged in a close quarters duel, with Superbia blocking his incoming fists and Armalthy  easily deflecting Superbia's attacks. They moved at blistering speeds around the school, eventually finding their way onto the roof top.

"Not bad, princess." Armalthy got a punch through, slamming her face with his powered up punch. While Superbia managed to put a small scratch on his cheek with her blade. "But I think you've hit the end of your rope." He flew back up into the air and prepared to send more blasts at her.

She spit out some blood. "I've still got plenty of fight in me, you son of a bitch." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as her entire body was engulfed in a deep pink fire. This was her unique signature ability, Princess of Blood, it boosted all of her stats for a minute, but had the drawback of causing significant damage to her body at the end. She normally wouldn't use it, but with the lives of so many innocent people on the line, she needed to end Armalthy fast regardless of the cost.

"Ahh, there it is." Armalthy was getting excited. "Show me what you've got princess." He charged up several more blasts and flung them at her, only for her blade to slice them apart in seconds.

"I hope you're ready to die Armalthy!" She sent a ball of pink fire at him and jumped into the air behind it. Armalthy batted the attack aside but wasn't expecting her to leap into the air, a place he held the advantage at. Her sudden appearance caught him off guard and allowed Superbia to get a clean slice across his chest as he tried to back out of the way.

"Ack!" he cried out in pain. The wound was shallow but still hurt and quite a bit of blood leaked out of him. "You bitch!" he grabbed Superbia with his off hand and threw her back towards the ground, burning himself on her fire. Once she landed, he began hurling massive amounts of electrical shots at her. She moved at full speed, dodging each one as she maneuvered around the courtyard. Looking for a way to offset her speed, Armalthy began to target the ground itself, hoping to cause her to misstep or stumble in a crater. Superbia was fast enough to dodge his blasts and the new craters, all the while looking for an opportunity to deal a finishing blow on Armalthy.

{Dammit,} he cursed her in his head. {The Princess is just a little too dexterous for me.}

Seeing his attempt to slow her down fail, he figured his next best bet was to run out the clock on her ability, though he expected she wouldn't just let him do that. He used his right hand to pick up some metal benches and other objects and hurled them at her trying to keep her back.

However, in his haste, he made a fatal mistake. The objects he launched made perfect platforms for Superbia to jump on and reach him. Seeing this, she changed directions and jumped from bench to bench, and before he had time to react, she was already in his face.

{Shit!} He tried to move, but unlike last time he was partially stunned due to how rapidly he'd been using his abilities. He managed to twist his body slightly, meaning that when Superbia's Nodachi swung her blade it only cut his left arm off rather than slicing through his torso.

"Fuck!" He cried out in pain, but rather than being stunned by the loss of his arm as Superbia hoped, he unleashed a massive blast of electrical energy from his body. Superbia was in no position to evade, as her movement in the air was limited, so she took the full brunt of his attack causing her to fly into the upper floor of the school and crash through a window.

"Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit," Armalthy began cursing. "Herlex can fix this, right? Right?!?" In a complete panic, he used his ability to cauterize his wound to stop the gushing blood. He was so panicked that he didn't even think to finish Superbia off and instead grabbed his severed arm and flew as fast as possible back to Herlex, hoping the Angel could reattach his arm.

Superbia struggled to get to her feet as she watched him fly away. "Humpf serves you right." She chuckled as Princess of Blood timed out. Her body went limp, and she fell unconscious. Princess of Blood was an extraordinarily powerful ability. When she used it in the past it merely took her to lower health and gave her a temporary debuff. However as Akagi warned, the games rules no longer applied and its drawbacks were far, far more significant in the real world and it would take days for Superbia to regain consciousness.