Return of the Fallen Volume 3 Chapter 54
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Author: Blue_Rat
ch54
The plan was simple. Sam and Kazuki raced forward. While Retsu grappled with the now blinded Zetsu, Kazuki and Sam leapt upon Zetsu’s thrashing back. At this time, Nunully launched a large ice spike toward Sam and Kazuki. The ice itself was nearly 10 feet in length and with her condensing its properties and making colder and colder the ice became as hard as metal. Sam and Kazuki nearly fell off half a dozen times already but gripped where the segments of Zetsu’s shell connected.
The spike of ice flew over and Kazuki caught it with his good hand, his other still broken. Kazuki turned the sharp end over and placed it above Zetsu’s back and roared out.
“ASUNA!”
Asuna’s eyes flashed with a purple light and she willed her power forth.
(Lock!)
The ice spike froze in place above Zetsu. Retsu saw what the others were planning and drug out every bit of his strength to hold Zetsu in place.
At the same time, Sam and Kazuki jumped up above the spike. Sam jumped almost 30 feet up and Kazuki jumped even higher. As Sam came falling down, he swung his hammer with all his might. Just as the head of his hammer came into contact with Nunully’s ice, Asuna’s eyes dimmed and she released the spike.
*Bang!*
The 10-foot spike sunk in a few inches into Zetsu’s back. Zetsu didn’t know what was happening on his back but he knew it could be nothing good. Once more he flexed his armored segments and snapped the built-up tension, slamming into Retsu. The force was great and shook Retsu to the core but Retsu wasn’t letting up. More than a thousand legs wrapped around Zetsu and held his legs down.
Sam fell off the side of Zetsu and rolled onto his feet before launching himself back to Zetsu. With the spike embedded a few inches, given its total length, the balance of it should have been top-heavy and should have fallen out of Zetsu’s back but Asuna was already prepared and locked it into place once more until Kazuki came down upon it.
Kazuki couldn’t use a sword for this and opted to use his small shield instead. Swinging his shield down from above his head, plus the force of his fall and the impact became larger than Sam’s.
*Bang!*
With Kazuki’s powerful strike and Sam’s previous attack already opening a hole for him, the nearly 10-foot spike burrowed deep into Zetsu’s back. Putting his all into that shield bash, Kazuki lost his balance and fell off as well. Rolling several feet away, Kazuki felt waves of pain shooting through his broken hand. Taking a look at it, disgust filled his face. Two bones were poking through the skin. One from his pinky and the other was a bone from the back of his fist. Blood spilled out from his hand and it was starting to turn purple but Kazuki grit his teeth.
(Not done yet.)
“SAM GO!”
Kazuki shouted out and Sam like a trained soldier didn’t hesitate. The spike had sunk almost 7 feet into Zetsu’s back. Underneath him, you could see a clear bulge where the spike was on the verge of puncturing through completely. It only needed one more strike.
Even though Retsu was using all of his strength, Zetsu was like a train that couldn’t be stopped. Zetsu’s legs dug into the ground like spiked cleats and dragged both he and Retsu forward and his speed seemed to be picking up. Retsu knew it would be this way and didn’t fear that. What he did fear however was the direction Zetsu was dragging him. They were slowly but surely headed back toward the cave. Once Zetsu got in there, his control would rival Retsu’s if not even better and the battle would become almost impossible.
Retsu’s voice filled with urgency.
“Hurry, he’s headed back to the cave. We must stop him here and now!”
Sam raced to catch up. His breathing had become difficult and every step brought him agony as his broken ribs rubbed against each other and scraped at his insides. His chest was filled with fire but his movement never stopped. With another leap, he arrived above the spike.
With only 3 feet sticking up, Sam was relieved that he didn’t have to jump for this one. Squaring his feet, he raised his Warhammer with both hands, the muscles in his back tensed and his abs contracted hard. The head flew in a semicircle and crashed down as though he were Thor, God of Thunder.
*BAM!*
The spike ate its way out of Zetsu’s stomach and pierced several feet into the ground below, cracking it.
*RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!*
Zetsu roared in pain and his body came to a sudden halt. Blood began to spill out and flood the area with a dark purple. The smell of which was foul and reminded one of rotting meat.
“Good, more, more, more. Nail him to the dirt!”
Retsu shout echoed out and everyone went into action.
Nunully made another spike and another and another. Waving her staff she fired one over. Kazuki snatched it out of the sky and placed it over Zetsu’s back before Asuna took over and locked it into that space. Sam leaped up high once more and prepared to swing his hammer.
“NOOO!”
Zetsu flexed his armored segments again but Retsu was prepared this time and held him tight, waiting for the subsequent impact. He waited and waited but it didn’t come. He wondered if something was going on when he noticed something off.
“WAIT SAM, DON’T!”
Sam swung his hammer and Asuna released her lock over the spike. As soon as Sam’s hammer made contact, Zetsu released the tension in his armor.
*BOOM!*
Zetsu’s strength slammed into the spike on his back and countered Sam’s swing. The force traveled through the ice splitting it apart before entering Sam’s hammer. The power was too much and sent him and his hammer flying away at an incredible speed.
Sam was about to slam into the ground when Asuna’s eyes flashed and she stretched out her hand.
(LOCK!)
Sam’s body froze in the air just a few feet above the ground. Asuna wheezed out and her eyes dimmed.
*Thud*
Sam fell onto the ground, he was hurt but not nearly as bad as he should have been thanks to Asuna.
Nunully ran over to his side but Retsu roared at them in desperation.
“FOCUS ON ZETSU!”
Zetsu’s body began to move. Pulling power from within his depths, he slowly took a step forward. The spike pinning him to the ground at first didn’t budge and even widened his wound. Another step forward and the ice spike began to crack.
*Crack Pop Snap*
The ice could hold together no longer and snapped apart like a tree branch. Zetsu grunted in pain and pushed himself forward, dragging himself and Retsu ever so closer to the cave.
Sam tried to stand up but his wounds from earlier and being blasted away just now had stacked up upon each other and he couldn’t get to his feet.
Retsu tightened his grip around Zetsu but nothing seemed to be working. Finally, he opened his mandibles and clasped them shut on Zetsu’s side. He dug into Zetsu’s body opening another bloody wound on Zetsu’s body. If Zetsu had eyes, at this moment they would have gone wide in fury. Zetsu cranked his head around and with his own mandibles, he bit Retsu deeply on the neck. Blood rained down from the two soaking the snow-covered ground turning it into a purple icy type of slush. Still, even with this, Zetsu dragged himself and Retsu forward.
(It’s not enough, the spikes are too slow.)
Kazuki racked his brain trying to figure something out, anything. He wished to use his blue flame again but his hand was fucked. His eyes scanned for something, any kind of weakness. He looked at the wound from Nunully’s spike and his eyes for some reason fell onto Nunully and then eventually her staff.
Kazuki appeared next to her in less than a second. Grabbing her shoulders, Kazuki almost screamed at her as an idea formed in his head.
“Nunully, how quickly can you materialize water!?”
Nunully was taken aback by this sudden question in the middle of a fight but she could see that he was serious and quickly answered.
“Al…Almost instantly but why?”
Kazuki ignored that and asked another question.
“What about freezing, how fast can you freeze water!?”
Nunully scrunched her brows.
“You’ve seen my power, not as fast as when I make water but it’s not too far off from that as well. Why are you asking all this in this situation?”
Kazuki shook his head at her question and instead looked to Asuna.
“Asuna, I need your locking ability. No matter what, I need you to prevent Nunully from falling off of Zetsu.”
Asuna didn’t understand what was going on and Kazuki yelled at her.
“Asuna did you hear me, Keep Nunully on his back no matter what. I’ll distract him at the front.”
Kazuki peered into Nunully’s eyes and spoke.
“Nunully, I need your power.”
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Comment (0)