NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Hold Back
Just as Panda, Tricky, Candy, Nitro, and Kiwy ran back into the fight, they spotted Indie and Freak’s duel. At this point, Freak had run out of things to throw at her opponent, though her tactics didn’t stop as she began using her whip to fend off Indie, who was growing impatient with her games. She was seething at the dirty tricks Freak used, but the more Freak mocked her, the more she started losing focus. Indie noticed Freak wasn’t even aiming her whip; she was swinging it recklessly, which made it hard to predict. Despite this, seeing that her opponent didn’t have her mind fully in the fight, Indie began approaching her aggressively, coming straight at her and ignoring her whip.
As Freak didn’t expect Indie to confront her up close, she panicked when she noticed her getting closer, swinging her whip hectically to try to block her path. However, Indie kept pushing forward, raising her arms to protect her face and lower torso. Fully exposed to her attacks, Freak didn’t hesitate to whip her, but while she managed to land a hit on her right forearm, Indie seemed unphased. She managed to tough it out, and not only did she keep approaching her enemy, but she deliberately let Freak hook her left hand with her whip, only to be able to grab it and begin pulling it.
Freak began pulling to get ahold of her whip, however, Indie was stronger than her. The whip squeezed her wrist tight, with her hand becoming purple, yet she endured the pain, which only seemed to invigorate her, giving her the power to walk right up to a stunned Freak. Not knowing what to do, Freak tried to let go of the whip, but it was already too late. As soon as she stopped pulling back, Indie yanked her whip, slinging Freak in her direction, which she followed with a charged punch right to the face, knocking her out and sending her flying at a pile of burning debris.
Impressed by her move, Panda and the rest of Crisis tried approaching Indie. But as they passed by an unconscious Daishi, hiding under some rubble, they didn’t notice when she swiftly got up and began running to her fallen teammates. Once reunited with Indie, they don’t waste their time finishing off Freak, as the captain just brushed away her hair, and despite her right hand being injured, she picked up her rifle and turned to the nearest saviors. With the saviors having cleared off most of the village, though without major losses, they all followed Indie as she began leading her troops once again.
Seeing the last few warriors struggling to stay alive, Indie ordered all the saviors to provide cover. Without hesitation, they opened fire at the omens near the wall with the wounded, trying to surround them to not let them escape, while also giving the warriors a chance to run to safety. Some warriors started to retreat, but others didn’t seem like they wanted to stop fighting. Despite getting the opportunity to leave, they appeared to prefer dying over giving up, so Crisis was forced to get in the action and separate the persistent warriors from the omens.
Without being able to engage without putting everyone at risk, Nitro helped Tricky, and some saviors reached the wall to protect the wounded. Panda acted as a tank, drawing most of the omens to him just by showing up, but he immediately scared them away as he started firing. Limiting himself to a few bursts of bullets to not risk hitting any allies, Panda cleared the way for his teammates, and with Indie providing cover for the two, they allowed Candy and Kiwy to get in the large brawl taking place next to the wall.
Trying to talk sense into the warriors, Candy urged the villagers to stop fighting and run away, as they would be caught in the crossfire if they didn’t. Still, nobody seemed to hear her, mostly from the loudness of the carnage, though she did manage to communicate with a couple of warriors individually, who reluctantly left their friends to return to their families at the wall. Despite this, the warriors were stubborn, and even when they kept dying, they couldn’t drop their weapons and give in, including the same teen Candy helped save earlier.
She saw him screaming at the top of his lungs as he swung his sword in a frenzy. He wasn’t really hitting anyone since he was behind some other warriors and couldn’t reach the enemy, and also due to his eyes being closed in fear, yet he showed no sign of ever backing out, which seemed to concern Candy so much that she immediately ran over to him and tried to pull him away. The saviors and Crisis quickly began taking out the last remaining omens swarming the warriors, letting Candy get dangerously close to the conflict, but also letting the villagers know they had fought enough, and they could stop trying to throw their lives away.
–Hey, stop! You have to retreat, or you will die! You don’t need to keep fighting!– Candy shouted, almost begging at the frantic teen, barely getting his attention as he kept screaming, sounding more fearful than courageous. However, after Candy insisted a bit more, prompting the other warriors to begin backing out to let the saviors take care of the situation, the teen reacted.
He looked confused, almost in disbelief, but ultimately gave in when he opened his eyes and saw not only Candy coming in to rescue him, but all of Crisis wiping out the omens effortlessly. He stopped for a moment to look at Candy, though his stare drifted a bit towards the smokey sky, and as he began to calm down, Candy guided him and the other warriors to safety. With the villagers away from the omens, the saviors dominated the battlefield, clearing the entire village. But despite them being very effective against the omen troops, it looked like they wouldn’t be satisfied until they knew for sure they had won, which is why Indie began calling back at the base through radio.
–Backup is coming soon! Start evacuating the villagers!– Indie ordered, prompting half of the remaining saviors to move the villagers from the wall over to the hill they came from, being cautious to avoid the Spook members, which had all seemingly disappeared. The other saviors stayed with Crisis to return the favor to the omens and slaughter them without remorse. But while Panda and Nitro enjoyed ripping omens to shred, Candy, Indie, and Tricky preferred helping out the villagers evacuate. Though, on their way to the extraction site, they noticed one last ongoing fight in the distance.
On top of the roof of the ruined village church, two fighters were still going at it. During the entire battle, Frost was kept busy dealing with Reaper, preventing him from helping out his teammates, though in return, he was unable to help his own. They didn’t seem to care about what was going on around them; they were solely focused on each other, fighting relentlessly regardless of what happened. It seemed like they had taken their battle to the next level as well, since they had now climbed up the church, turning the destroyed roof into an unusual stage for their violent battle.
Jumping and running in all directions to avoid each other’s attacks, while also closing in to get a few hits on one another, their movements looked impossible to comprehend to anyone who was watching. Frost’s teammates were left in awe as they stared at what looked like two blurs trying to collide. And while it did look like they were coming into contact with each other, they really couldn’t tell who was winning, or even if they had hit each other. The only thing they could tell was that Reaper had removed his hoodie, uncovering dark, short, and spiky hair.
Both of them seemed to have more energy than any of the fighters in the battle combined, especially Frost, who stayed close to the surface of the roof, staying low enough to dodge all of his enemy’s scythe strikes. He only jumped when trying to block an incoming attack or land a mid-air blow, though his opponent was equally as fast and didn’t give him any chance to even touch him. Frost seemed to have more precision than Reaper, however, the latter possessed an impressive reaction speed, blocking all of his attacks with his scythe, either parrying it with the blade or shielding himself with the handle.
Reaper didn’t seem to move much as well. Even though he was quick on his feet, Frost had a slithery style of combat, weaving and dashing excessively, trying to flank his opponent, and running circles around him without dazing himself. But as unpredictable as his movement looked, Reaper somehow managed to predict it at all times, keeping his eyes on him continuously without error, as one blink would probably mean death. He had the advantage on the defensive side, but it did look like Frost could find that one opportunity to strike, and it would all be over. But as they kept performing flawlessly, and were showing no signs of exhaustion, their fight continued to be a cat-and-mouse game, except much more savage, with clear murderous intentions from both parties.
–I don’t get how they do that…– Candy muttered in confusion and mild concern as she watched Frost swiftly dash on the roof to get in a better offensive position. He had dodged two back-to-back scythe attacks from Reaper, returning a kick to his chest after using his opponent’s weapon to impulse himself, though the hit only seemed to knock him back a little. Despite clearly not understanding what was going on, Candy looked quite amused, in contrast to Tricky, who didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in the pair fighting and was busier helping the wounded.
–Yea, nothing new. I bet they’ll go for days like that if we let them. We gotta go though, backup is here…– Tricky responded dismissively before running back to the battlefield to retrieve her sentry guns and other gadgets to use them in another battle, leaving Candy to guide the villagers and warriors to the large unit saviors coming to the rescue from the hill opposite of the wall, where Panda and Indie were just finishing off the last omens.
Evacuating all of the villagers, Candy’s curiosity sparked as she noticed the same teen warrior refusing to follow the others, staying behind to look back at his destroyed home. For a moment, Candy tried approaching him to reunite with the rest of the group but then saw that he was watching Frost’s fight at the top of the church. He was astonished by his movements, just like every other villager, who turned back to see how the battle would conclude. Candy smiled at the sight of the villagers adoring Frost, seeing him as a hero, but it looked like her teammates didn’t seem pleased by the fact he was still fighting when everyone else had stopped.
–We have to go! Villagers are secured, the rescue’s done! Get down here!– Indie shouted at Frost after running over to the church with Panda and Nitro while the rest of the team gathered with the backup unit and prepared to return to base. However, Frost didn’t seem to react at all, he was focused on keeping track of his opponents’ movements and couldn’t risk getting distracted. But after seeing that the battlefield had been cleared and everyone was retreating, including Reaper, who was trying to jump off the roof.
–Just a moment, I have to kill this bastard first!– Frost replied with malice as his eyes widened at the sight of the perfect opportunity to finally kill his enemy. Reaper had distanced himself from him, going to the edge of the roof and turning his back on him, baiting him into attacking, which he certainly did. He rushed at the omen captain without a second thought, and as soon as he heard him coming, Reaper jumped off the roof, looking back one last time to tease Frost with his escape.
However, Frost was so consumed by his bloodlust at the moment that he jumped off with him, chasing him down to the floor and through the destroyed village, running between the burned houses on the north side, all the way back to the hill where the omens originally came from. Being faster on foot, he was almost able to catch up to Reaper, who actually seemed to be running for his life at the moment. However, just as his teammates worried, Frost was being lured away, prompting Indie and Panda to chase after him, only to see how the rest of Spook was waiting at the hill to regroup with their captain.
–No, we really have to go, now!– Indie ordered again, now infuriated, as she could sense Frost’s intentions from the way he stood against the entire omen squad. He was panting but not from running out of breath; he was fuming, raging like a bull, seeing all of the omens in front of him with hateful eyes, red as the blood of the enemies he sought to soil the burning grass surrounding them. But as much as his impulse was urging him to kill, he actually managed to restrain himself from attacking. Hearing Indie’s advice, he tried his hardest to hold back and stay put, though he couldn’t help but keep looking at Reaper with a loathing stare.
–You know, it was fun. Much better than last time… I hope we get another chance to resume this battle…– Reaper flouted in a cocky and condescending manner, provoking Frost further, though he just stood in silence for a second, taking big breaths to calm himself down. His attention was still solely on his enemy as if he was still waiting for that perfect opportunity to strike, even though Reaper was now in the safety of his squad, which made sure to rub it in Frost’s face.
Unfortunately, he started to realize his chance might have already passed, and after hearing his teammates beg him to leave, he reluctantly backed down, but only when he saw that another omen army was approaching behind the hill. More enemies were coming, but with nothing else to do, it was time for them to retreat, although Frost had a hard time accepting that fact. So, he kept brooding over what to do until he turned back to see all of Crisis waiting for him, with Candy giving him a particularly compassionate look that managed to convince him, but not without unleashing his anger first.
–Reaper, you coward! This won’t be the end of it!– Frost screamed with pure fury and spite but sounded disappointed and regretful, even more after Spook just laughed at him tauntingly.
–I’m sure it won’t be…– Reaper replied in an arrogant manner before turning around with his team and walking back to the army waiting behind. Frost kept his eyes on their devilish smiles until the very last second, watching them escape. He just stood there, never letting go of his blades, still holding on to the hope of getting to kill Reaper as soon as he got another chance. But instead of delivering a sneaky attack when nobody expected it, Candy ran up to him and pulled him by the arm, making him come back to his senses before the rest of the team forcefully dragged him away.
With Frost back on the team, Crisis saw no other choice but to return to the base. Even with the backup they received, they didn’t have enough power to face the omens, and since they had to take care of the wounded villagers and provide shelter for them, Indie finally called the final order to retreat. Shortly after, the saviors began marching back through the green field as the sky turned dark, leaving behind a ruined village. The omen army was now out of sight, but even as they were already leaving, Frost gave one last glance back, trying to look at the omens behind the huge cloud of smoke that had engulfed Echokinge. He wasn’t able to see anything, so he only stared for a few seconds before letting out a sigh of frustration and holstering his blades, saving them for the day he could actually land that killing blow on Reaper.