A/N: It’s been too long!! I know! But work has been really swamping me,

And with the semester break here, I can finally update faster.

I really do apologize to y’all for not updating for months.

Chapter 14: Triggering the Outcome

“Love is never wanting to lose faith, never wanting to give up, and never truly moving on.

Love is knowing and praying in the deepest part of what's left of your heart

that they feel the same way.”

-Courtney Jo Wright-

--------------------------------------------------------------

“And he just swiped his hair backwards like he was all cool and such, and said ‘I’d like to take a nap’. And he fell face-first like that!”

The raucous laughter that followed was enough to drown out Terry’s vulgar inner thoughts as he slapped his face.

“Is this really necessary?”

“Oh yes,” Leon said, sitting back down as he and Terry continued to have lunch together with their group from the Graphic Design department of college.

Aside from the group involving Ken, Chris, Peter, Jason and Eric, Leon and Terry had another regular group of their own.

“Goodness, Terry. That seriously happened to you?” Dorcas Lok, the tallest –and only- girl in the group asked.

“Yeah, regrettably,” he scoffed, drinking his iced Milo, but stopping when he gulped it in.

“This one’s kao! Too sweet!” he gagged, the rest laughing appreciatively at him. Kao is the Cantonese slang for one thing being too strong or concentrated, like the iced Milo that the coffee shop near campus made.

It had a reputation of giving students unneeded sugar rushes, although it did help them when it came to classes that were more potent than sleeping pills *cough!* Malaysian Studies! *cough!*

“I told you…” Shaz, the tallest amongst them (6 ft. 4!!) said, crossing his arms as he cocked an eyebrow. “Still, you never listen, don’t you?”

“No he doesn’t,” GC Loo (debatably the one with the longest short-hair ever) said as he chuckled.

“Agreed,” Leon said, eating a half-melted piece of ice from his cup.

“Hey, isn’t it Leon the one we usually poke fun at? What happened to that?” Ken Liew (a plumper, more hip-hop-inclined variant compared to Ken Hoh) asked, sparking a thought in the rest.

“Oh yeah hoh,” Vincent Fang, the plumpest –and most lovable one to poke around- said in what seemed to be genuine realization, generating another round of laughter from the rest.

He was known as the most ‘blur’ one amongst them, so a comment like that had a lot of mileage on it. Seriously.

“Oh this never gets old,” Terry muttered, wiping a stray tear from his face.

“Amen to that,” Shaz agreed, clinking glasses with Terry.

Free time was a given, as far as any of them were concerned. Assignments became the very bane of their existence, yet it was a necessary evil by Leon’s books. What good would it do if there were no assignments to work their talents to?

“Hmph, if you ask me, we could use a tone-down on the workload,” Ken scoffed. Did Leon just say that last bit out loud, then?

“I heard that,” Leon agreed, raising his own glass. It was funny how teh ping could be a great substitute for the usual toasting whisky.

He stirred the quickly-diluting contents of his cup, staring at the circling dredges of ice with renewed interest.

“What’s with you, Leon?” Shaz asked, nudging Leon on the shoulder. The bespectacled boy only blinked a few times before looking up, his eyes glassy.

“Hmm? Nah, just thinking,” he said, shaking his head. The rest paid no attention to whatever was happening to him, instead watching the faintly interesting game show that the suspended TV was airing.

“I’m not being emo or anything, guys,” Leon said, giving a flat expression that the others couldn’t help but chuckle at. Seriousness was a rare commodity in this group.

More often than not, Dorcas had to –uncharacteristically- scold or reprimand them for being just a tad bit too crazy sometimes. She was practically the big sister of the group, so yes; her words do have an impact on all of them.

“Really? You don’t look like it though,” Terry said, Leon narrowing his gaze at him.

“Very funny, Terry. By the way, did you get the dent fixed yet?”

Terry only sighed before downing the rest of his drink.

“Nope. I got an earful from my parents for the crash, even if it wasn’t my fault.”

“Really? Even after we -err…persuaded that guy with the Camry to pay you back in full?” Leon asked, cracking his knuckles as the others chuckled.

“I have the money, just not the time, though. Maybe I’ll do it this Saturday after class,” Terry shrugged. Yes, these Graphic Design guys do have classes on Saturdays.

“And you always wondered why I never gave you a Vortege’,” Leon chuckled, Terry clicking his teeth, the rest going into another fit of laughter.

“I know lah, I know,” Terry growled, swatting his hand in the air. “Aw, c’mon, it was just a joke,” Ken said, nudging him in the shoulder. Bodily contact was another norm around them.

“Yeah yeah,” Terry said, feigning a moody expression. The boys knew he was faking it, and maybe so did Dorcas too. Still, it never stopped her from pulling a fast one on him.

“Aww…cheer up, Terry. Ang-gu-gu~” she muttered, making a rather silly baby-face at him, the rest exploding into another series of loud laughs. Even Terry couldn’t help but choke, trying his best not to laugh.

“Hey, guys, we gotta keep it down. Others are looking here,” Leon said, pointing discreetly around the café’. True to his word, some people were beginning to stare at them, curious or just plain annoyed.

“Well, how else are they supposed to know who we are?” Ken asked, smirking.

“Dude, Leon and I have been in 3 fights this week alone. I think we’ve got enough of a reputation as it is,” Terry said, Leon agreeing. “…It’s not something I’m proud of, exactly.”

“Well I’m not either, but who’s counting?”

They all turned around to see Koharu standing behind Leon, hands to her hips as she smirked that little smirk of hers.

“Well? Don’t I get a hug, nii-san?” she asked, coming closer to Leon as opening her arms to him.

Blushing slightly, Leon ignored the stifled laughter from the rest with gang and hugged his sister one-armed. “Why the sudden need to hug me, Koharu? Don’t I do it every day already?” he asked casually, Shaz almost choking on his Milo ping.

“What?” Leon asked, most of the rest still quite taken aback by Leon’s comment. “Wah…” was all Vincent could say.

“Goodness, Leon, your amount of self-control must be amazing,” Ken said, earning a hit to the shoulder from Shaz.

“Not really. I just know what’s right and what’s wrong,” Leon said, high-fiving Terry as he stood up.

“Going home already?” Dorcas asked.

“Yeah,” Leon said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “I haven’t finished my Finished Art work yet. Ironic statement, eh?”

“Too right, mate,” Shaz said, raising his glass one more time as Leon bade farewell to the rest.

He walked in silence with his sister, who only had her hands behind her back, looking at him every now and then.

“Y’know, there’s no real need to rush. You could’ve spent more time with them,” she finally said as the approached the car park.

“I know, but the sooner we get home, the sooner we start on our work,” Leon said, rummaging for his keys. Again.

“You forgot that Ben and Gwen could just like, open the door for us all on their own, right?” she asked, walking over to their Vortege’, which was a faint shade of grey today. Leon sort of adopted the habit of changing the colors every now and then too.

“Sorry,” Leon said, the door on the driver’s side opening even before he touched it. “It’s a force of habit, then.”

“Too right,” Ben said from inside the car, chuckling.

Leon placed his bag at the back seats, Koharu following suit as both doors swiveled to a close, the car’s engine haughtily roaring to life.

“Goodness, Leon, you looked bushed,” Gwen said from the screen, examining him with interest.

“It’s been a tiring day, Gwen. Do you both mind driving this time?” Leon asked, Koharu, Ben and Gwen raising their real and virtual eyebrows alike.

Leon hardly ever asked them to drive, unlike the rest. He enjoyed driving his car. A lot.

*

“I wonder what would’ve happened if we took a different path altogether.”

“Not sure. Maybe it would’ve lead to the same route?”

“You dummy…”

With that, Trisha hit Leon on the arm, the bespectacled boy chuckling. Both of them were watching the gentle sunset from the main building’s roof. It was a rare opportunity, as far as they were both concerned.

“I mean, if all that drama never happened, would we be any different?” Leon asked, not looking at her.

“I’m not sure,” Trisha said, looking deep into the orange sky.

“But what?” Leon asked, edging closer to her.

She did not move away, but only continued to stare straight ahead.

Leon smirked.

“Okay then. I won’t ask,” he said with a playfully offended voice.

“Okay then,” she said, acting nonchalant.

They both knew these games wouldn’t last long, but hey, there wasn’t a better way to pass the time, now was there?

Then the door slammed open.

Trisha only turned around fast to see who it was, but Leon almost fell off the chair altogether.

“Found ya!” he heard someone said gleefully. He also –vey audibly, heard Trisha groan.

“I told youto stay away from me!”

What was unnatural about it was that she was angry. Yes, angry, glaring daggers at the boy who just came in. He was foreign, as far as Leon could know. A white boy that was easily half-a-head taller than Trisha.

“Oh c’mon, Trish. I know you don’t mean that,” the boy said, shrugging. Trisha was still scowling at him, her eyes burning with such an intensity that even Leon could feel from behind her.

“I’m not gonna tell you this again. Leave me al-”

“Trisha, need any help?” Leon asked, getting up. His shooting arm was ready to summon his M4 at a moment’s notice, but he knew Trisha could hold her own. Her twin pistols were no toy guns….

“No thank you. I can handle this one,” Trisha said, full of confidence as always.

“Trisha, please, listen to me,” the boy said. He almost sounded like he was pleading.

“No, you listen, you bloody stalker freak. You’ve tailed me everywhere and I’ve told you to beat it so many times before, yet you still don’t wanna go. I’m telling you that I’m not interested in you!” she roared, making Leon flinch.

“Hey, if you’ll get to know me better, you’ll see I’m not such a bad guy!” he said, shrugging.

“Oh I know you enough, Virgil. And I don’t want the displeasure of knowing you more,” she scoffed, shooing him away.

He looked taken aback, but didn’t seem to falter in his conquest.

“Aw c’mon, you gotta give me a chance, Trish,” he pleaded some more. Leon figured he had enough of him. Obviously, Trisha did too.

He motioned himself to her side, rummaging into his pockets for something. “Trish, if you had a choice of disappearing away from him right now, would you take it?”

She looked at Leon for a good long second before leering at Virgil again.

“Sure. Got anything on your mind?” she asked, barely whispering.

“I’ve got a trick or 2 on my sleeves…”

Virgil was only looking at both of them warily, leering more at Leon.

“Who are you, anyway?” he asked, all ice, if compared to the cooing he did for Trisha.

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” Leon replied, still rummaging, until he found it.

“What?” Virgil asked, apparently just losing his momentum for that brief moment or two.

Once he found what he wanted, Leon then grabbed Trisha –by the waist.

“What are you-?!”

“Sorry for the surprise, Trish, but I hardly get to use these anymore,” Leon said, thrusting his left fist upwards.

With that, he threw it down, a loud bang emitting from the ground. In a fraction of a second, a cloud of thick white smoke enveloped Trisha and Leon, veiling them from Virgil’s sight.

He could do nothing but just stand there, unsure of any tactics. Then the smokescreen ebbed into nothing as fast as it began in the first place.

And there was nothing there. No Trisha, no Leon.

They were gone.

Virgil hung his mouth dry for a good few seconds before storming off in a fit of rage.

In anger, he punched the door open, sending in flying down the stairs.

No one, no one, can just get in the way of him and his angel like that. Whoever this guy was, he’s dead. Virgil would make sure of that.

*

“So….basically…I just pull the trigger?”

“Squeeze. You squeeze the trigger. Never just pull it.”

“…..Oh…”

Blam! Blam! Blam!

“…..Ouch…”

“Yeah, it really does a number on your eardrums the first time around. But you’ll get used to it.”

Jason looked at Leon once more before shaking his head.

“Nah, I don’t think I’m cut out to be a gunslinger,” he continued, handing Leon back his M4 while massaging his shoulders. “The recoil hurts too.”

“Nah, a naked M4 is worse. Mine’s customized with shock absorbers,” Leon said, grinning as his rifle disappeared.

“I still remember the time you let me shoot that RPG-7. I almost fell backwards,” Peter quipped, Jason and Chris guffawing.

The semester break was coming soon, so the boys had a lot of free time on their hands as classes were cut short or even cancelled.

“I’m surprised they opened the field to an open Training Session,” Peter said, polishing his katana. It was already gleaming –almost painfully- against the sunlight, and Ken was clicking his teeth in annoyance.

“Dude, it’s shiny enough. Give it a rest,” he said, playfully hitting Peter on the shoulder.

The teen laughed, and kept his katana in one fell swoop.

It was a lazy afternoon in all accords, and they felt like spending it doing the one thing they haven’t been able to do in quite awhile. They decided to do nothing.

Leon stifled a yawn, laying back on the grass as Jason and Eric decided to go for a round of sparring, Peter, Ken and Chris just watching.

He would’ve been able to doze off for awhile, but the constant gunfire from Trisha’s twin handguns kept Leon very awake. Very awake.

“Aw c’mon Trish, can’t you use a silencer?” he asked, the girl only flipping her ponytail backwards, her eyes narrowing at him. Not a good sign.

“Then go somewhere else to sleep, ‘cause I’m not silencing my guns for you, boy,” she said, just a hint of playfulness in her almost icy tone.

Anyone who didn’t know her well would’ve thought that was a hostile tone, but the boys knew better. Leon only stuck his tongue out at her before winking, lying back down.

Instead of sleeping, Leon decided to watch the clear blue skies, the soft white clouds almost enough to make him sleepy again. College meant a lot of loss of sleep for the poor boy. He felt sleepy almost all of the time.

Then another female-related obstacle got in the way of his sleep.

“Onii-chan!”

“Oh boy…”

Koharu stood directly in front of Leon’s head, the fox-girl looking down at her brother, blocking his view of the clouds.

“Onii-chan! Are we gonna go home soon?” she asked. Her fox ears flipped with anticipation, a small smile curling up Leon’s lips.

“Not yet, Koharu. I’ve got some plans with the boys. Don’t you have any with your friends?”

She only shook her head, the boy getting up to dust off his clothes.

“They all went back early. Mind if I tag along?” she asked, looking at the rest.

Leon nodded, rubbing his sister’s head. “You guys mind?” he asked.

“Not at all. She’s welcome anytime,” Peter asked, looking at Jason as he backflipped to avoid a swipe from Eric.

Ken and Chris nodded as well, smiling radiantly.

Koharu stood there, her hand by her sides as she observed Jason and Eric’s spar.

“Say, Leon,” she asked, looking at him. “Why aren’t they using any magic during training?”

Leon never averted his attention from the spar, but answered her.

“Well we hardly use much magic to begin with, unless it’s like, a real fight or something. We don’t have a lot of mana, if compared to more frequent magic users like Rose.”

“Ah,” she said, rubbing her chin as her tail swished gently with the wind.

Leon broke his attention as the tail brushed against him, and sighed.

“I wish I had a pet cat,” he said with a dry laugh.

Koharu only leered at him before hitting him on the shoulder.

“Don’t compare me to a cat, you baka. I’m a kitsune,” she said, biting her lower lip.

Leon only laughed a little more before kissing his sister’s forehead. “It was just a statement, imouto. I’d never compare you,” he said with a grin.

The fox-girl only blushed.

Then just as he was about to take a quick nap again, Leon spotted Trisha walking towards their area.

“Here,” she said once she was within earshot, tossing a bottle towards Leon, who caught it.

“And this is?” he asked, examining the bottle. It was a bottle of his favorite drink. Coke.

“A token of my appreciation,” she said with a rare warm smile.

Leon returned that smile with one of his own, opening the bottle. “Cheers,” he said, tipping it to her before taking a nice long swig from it.

“Trisha!” someone shouted, and Leon almost choked on that gulp of ice-cold soda.

“Oh no, not you again…” he heard Trisha seethe as he tried his best to swallow it all down.

He barely remembered the guy well, but Leon knew it was Virgil again.

Doesn’t that guy give up??

As he stood up, Leon heard some bickering from Trisha and some more pleas from Virgil.

“Wasn’t yesterday a clear point, Virgil? I don’t want you around!” she said, or rather, roared. The others flinched at Trisha’s clear rage.

“I know that. And I know why, in fact,” he said, suddenly sullen. That was enough to get Trisha to stop, and for Leon to look up.

“It’s because of him, isn’t it? He’s you boyfriend, isn’t he?”

It took the others a good long second to register what Virgil said, and who he could possibly mean.

The burning look on his face and the accusing finger helped a lot.

Leon never liked being pointed at much, so this was no exception. It was the awkward and surprised stares from the rest that made him rather uncomfortable with this.

It was when he realized he was labeled as Trisha’s boyfriend by Virgil that his heart skipped a beat so painfully that Leon had to clutch his chest. Even Trisha raised her eyebrows.

The boy couldn’t even speak for a good solid moment or 2 before Jason made the first move.

“You’re goin’ out with Trisha?”

“Nice job, Leon,” Shaz, who was standing behind him, said, patting him on the back, some of the rest laughing. “Finally it happened,” Ken said, much to Trisha’s chagrin.

Leon smiled ruefully before shaking his head. “I’m not Trisha’s boyfriend.”

The boys all murmured their “Oh,”-s and looked away from Leon, Chris actually patting Leon’s back. “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”

Shaz only blinked. “What’s up with that?”

Peter decided to clue him in. “When Leon says he’s not dating Trisha, you know he’s telling the truth,” he said ruefully.

It took Shaz a few seconds before he realized the bitter reality of it, and patted Leon’s back in a different manner entirely.

“You hear that, Virgil? Leon’s not my boyfriend. Not even close,” Trisha said, her face then remaining blank a second later as she realized her error.

She turned behind to see Leon looking down, suddenly finding the grass very amusing. She could’ve sworn he looked very lifeless there and then.

“Sorry,” she almost whispered, the boy only waving his hand in acknowledgement, still looking down.

“If he’s not your boyfriend, why’d he whisk you away yesterday then?” Virgil asked, crossing his arms.

There were not many people at the area at that time besides the boys, so they once again diverted their attention to Leon, who shook his head as he finally looked up, determination etched on his face. Or was it annoyance?

“Because I’m her friend. And as her friend, I’m obliged to help her out. Simple as that,” he said, crossing his arms too.

“Who asked you for your help then?” Virgil countered. “It’s my business with her. You didn’t need to butt in.”

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew this wasn’t going to end on a low note. He just wished that for once, it would.

“Listen, I more or less know how this is going to turn out, Virgil. Trust me, the last thing I want is yet another fight,” he said, raising his arms halfway.

Virgil proceeded to crack his knuckles before putting on a pair of gloves. “Oh don’t worry about that, Leon. With me mopping the campus ground with your face, it won’t be much of a fight, now would it?”

That took them aback.

“Virgil, listen, this isn’t necessary,” Trisha said, already drawing out both her twin pistols. She gathered that if the worst was to happen, she’d have to intervene before Leon mopped the floor with Virgil instead.

“I’m sorry, Trisha. But clearly the only way for me to actually mean something to you is to eliminate the competition,” Virgil said, small subtle sparks flickering from the seemingly bare white gloves.

“Competition? Virgil, Leon isn’t competition!” Trisha almost yelled. She was really fed up of this nonsense. Why couldn’t she just deal with regular boys instead of freaks like these?

“Nevertheless, he’s in my way. And like all the others, I’ll take him out just the same,” Virgil said, then rushing at Leon.

But before he could even make it halfway there, Peter, Ken, Chris, Eric and Jason were already blocking his way, their weapons drawn.

“I advise you to back off, Virgil. A fight is not necessary, and we’re here to make sure it doesn’t happen, understand?” Peter said, revealing the lethal rear edge of his Sakabatou.

The other boys were all wearing the same dark, grim faces that clearly said they meant business too.

Vigil counted his odds, and they didn’t stack up well. Leon was a few meters behind, with Trisha in the middle, and the seemingly impenetrable barrier of boys in front of him only getting more dangerous by the second.

He only had one option, and it directly led him to Leon. He crouched, touching the floor as he smirked. The others were rather taken aback of his strange gesture, and then it happened.

The ground around Vigil rose until it became a makeshift arch, lunging himself over the boys and Trisha and directly at Leon.

His hand still on the arch he created, sparks flew from his glove and surrounded the very patch of land he was on, morphing it into having a rather dangerous sharp edge, directing it at Leon.

“Get out of there!” Trisha yelled, Leon and Shaz disappearing just mere seconds before the patch of land crashed on where there were.

Leon reappeared some distance from Trisha, Shaz backflipping to a halt somewhere near the other boys.

“How the hell did he do that?” Jason asked, holding his sword at the ready. Already, the arch disappeared, or rather, undone itself, reverting the land back to how it originally was.

Virgil came out from the billowing smoke that almost managed to scathe Leon and Shaz, massaging his fists. It was only then did Peter spot the emblems on his gloves.

“He’s trained in Alchemy Arts,” Peter said, clutching his sword tighter.

“What?”

“Alchemy, Eric. Unlike our other forms of magic, Alchemy is much more powerful, but rare, as it is quite hard to master,” Jason said.

“That’s how he morphed the ground earlier. Alchemists have the ability to transmorph objects. And they don’t use mana like we do, so that’s why it takes them so long to master Alchemy.” Chris said.

And Virgil then touched the ground again, the same type of electricity flowing from his gloves and onto the soil.

A spear then began constructing itself from the ground up as Vigil took it, aiming it at Leon.

“I am the master of all weapons, Leon. Not even you can defeat an Alchemist,” he said, grinning.

“We’ll see,” Leon replied, his M4 appearing as he reloaded the grenade launcher attachment.

(Okay, for this segment onwards, go to Youtube and add this to the URL: /watch?v=wY1WiuE8CnY&feature=related)

“Give me your best shot, boy,” Virgil said, lunging at Leon once more.

Leon fired one round from the grenade launcher, sending an explosive round directly at Virgil, who easily dodged it as he closed the distance between himself and Leon.

Leon then fired several bursts from his rifle, Virgil transforming his spear into a shield to deflect the rounds.

Perfect, Leon smirked before firing yet another round from the launcher, Virgil unaware of it. When it detonated on his shield, Virgil was sent flying backwards from the force of the explosion itself.

His shield seemingly took all the fatal damage as it blew straight into pieces, only the concussive force pushing him back.

“Give up while you still have the chance, Virgil,” Leon said, aiming his M4 threateningly at him. He looked dead serious this time.

“I’ve got a better idea,” Virgil said, trying to get up, but only struggling on the ground. “Why don’t you die, then, eh?”

He then touched the ground again, and 3 tendrils –one after the other- burst out from a spot in front of him, spearheading for Leon with their jagged arrow-edges.

He fired one last grenade round, destroying one of them as the other 2 came with frightening velocity.

He then discharged the empty grenade magazine, dodging one of the tendrils in the process as it sped past him.

Leon then summoned a new magazine, reloading it onto his M4 as he aimed at the source of the tendrils, and fired.

It hit the sources dead on, immediately destroying the remaining tendrils as the sped to him.

Realizing he was now vulnerable, Virgil leapt to the right, only to be almost intercepted with yet another grenade round.

Jumping away in time to avoid the explosion, Virgil leapt to the left, and onto Leon’s line of sight.

“Gotcha,” he said, firing the last round.

Knowing he would not be able to dodge this one, Virgil slammed his fist onto the ground beneath him before he fell, constructing a half-baked shield that barely protected him as the grenade round went off just mere meters from him, sending him backwards again.

As he slammed onto the ground, Eric cringed. “Ow…that’s gotta hurt,” he said, the rest only watching. Leon was handling this fine on his own, so the rest only needed to just stay back and watch.

“Give up yet, Virgil? Looks like I can beat Alchemists just fine too,” Leon said, reloading his grenade launcher yet again.

“Where do you get all that ammo from, anyway?” Shaz asked, Chris reaching up to pat Shaz’s shoulder.

“He’ll just say something vague like-“

“Classified information,” Leon said with a grin.

“See what I mean?” Chris said with pursed lips, Shaz laughing.

What happened next caught them all unaware.

Leon only sensed it mere seconds before it bit his head right off.

He smashed the M4’s butt stock on its face, sending it backwards before he unleashed a burst of rounds at its face.

He dodged the next one, firing at its belly as he crouched, and side-kicked the last one before he fired a grenade round at it, blowing it up.

Falling backwards as he shot the round too close to himself, Leon got up to examine what it was that attacked him.

It appeared to be a cross between an ancient Chinese depiction of a lion and a wolf. Before he could examine them further, they disintegrated into nothing, the same way the tendrils earlier did. He immediately knew what happened.

“Homunculus,” he said, leering at Virgil, the same way the rest were.

Virgil had both his hand on the ground, breathing heavily as he smirked at Leon.

“Very good, Leon. You know your Alchemy well,” he said, wiping his mouth.

“Homuncu-what?” Ken asked.

“Homunculus. Monsters or Dark creatures created using a more complex branch of Alchemy,” Jason said.

“Creating solid, inanimate objects is already hard enough for an Alchemist, but creating artificial living, breathing things is near impossible for someone his age.”

“And yet, here I am,” Virgil said, constructing the spear again.

Leon then drew his katana, wielding it on his right hand while the M4 was still on his left.

“Not for long,” Leon said, spraying a few rounds of hot lead at Virgil, who slammed the spear on the ground. The same flow of electricity flowed from his hands, through the spear, and onto the ground, a barrier of solid earth shielding Virgil from the shots.

“So he can use his own creations as conductors…” Peter said as Chris nodded. They still had their weapons at the ready, just in case Virgil decided they were competition too. Trisha just merely stood there, arms crossed as she observed the 2 boys fighting.

“…Why me?”

Chris looked at Trisha, blinking. “Come again?”

“Why me? Why are they fighting over me?” Trisha asked, her face unchanged.

“Well, Virgil’s crazy over you, as you can see, and thinks Leon’s in his way, right? Well, Leon’s just trying to kill 2 birds with one stone, yeah? He’s trying to kick Virgil’s arse there and help you out at the same time,” Chris said.

Trisha took a few moments before murmuring an “Oh, I see,” to Chris.

Leon dodged another one of those creatures that Virgil created, slashing it as it passed by him. No blood ever came out from them as they disintegrated.

“This is getting you nowhere, Virgil. I’m just gonna keep killing them until I reach you,” Leon said, slashing another beast in half as he slowly approached Virgil.

“Then let me make this your grave marker,” Virgil roared, slamming both fists to the ground.

This time, a legion of those monsters burst out of the ground, all encircling Leon as he killed them.

“Hey, this is getting out of hand,” Ken said, ready to intercept.

“No, wait, we can’t intervene just yet,” Chris said, although he was already drawing an arrow out.

Leon really was starting to get pissed-off by these things. They were easy to kill, yes, but in terms of quantity, they were formidable, to say the least.

Then one of them bit his M4. No, it wasn’t enough to break it. Nothing can destroy a rifle made out of 100% pure Adamantium.

Still, it held onto the rifle, preventing Leon from firing. He positioned his sword to kill that damn thing, but it was when the sunlight around him began shrinking then did he realize his mistake. He was left open to the others.

Time seemed to slow down to mere frames, as Leon saw that a lot of those beasts –too many to count- were all lunging for him, leaving no room for him to escape. Dammit.

“Leon, no!” Chris yelled as they saw from the sidelines that the monsters all converged on Leon, breaking his line of defenses as he disappeared under a swarm of practically a hundred of them.

The rest were too stunned to say anything as Chris furiously fired arrow after arrow as Trisha began shooting them down. Koharu was just utterly speechless, her hands covering her mouth.

“We’ve gotta help him! Let’s go!” they heard Ken yell, seeing him thrust forward with his sword at the ready.

They all rushed to kill the stragglers, trying to get to the main swarm. Leon had to still be there. There’d be no way something like this could kill him. There was just no way.

“Leon! Can you hear me?!” Ken said, killing several of them with one fell swoop. He saw some form of movement from the center of the small hill of monsters, but was unsure what that could mean. Was he still struggling?

“There’s just too many of them!” Eric said, almost getting a swipe from one of the beasts. He retaliated by slashing its arms off before decapitating it.

Peter sent several of those monsters flying backwards with a burst concentrated air, and he could have sworn he distinctively heard something similar to a gun cocking itself.

What happened next blew not only the small hill of Dark creatures away, but also Eric and Jason, who were close to it.

When they regained themselves, they saw one person standing at what was once the hill of monsters, breathing heavily as he leered daggers at a rather shocked Virgil.

“Hmph, you sure know how to make a dramatic comeback, dammit,” Eric said, wiping his mouth.

Leon only brushed some dirt from his shoulder as he then turned to face the group, smiling.

“Sorry,” he said, looking apologetic as he flexed his arms. It was only then did Trisha notice something out of the ordinary.

Leon’s M4 and katana were gone. In their place, Leon was now wielding a silver sword that had what was unmistakably a revolver’s cylinder in front of the handle.

“Impossible! What happened?!” Virgil yelled, slamming his fist again onto the ground, more Dark creatures appearing.

They ran towards Leon, who slashed 2 of them cleanly in half each time and before the 3rd one even came within striking distance, he aimed the sword directly straight at it, and fired.

Yes, Trisha could clearly hear the distinct sound of gunfire as a flash came out of the sword’s tip, sending the monster backwards as it disintegrated.

Leon then held the gun at chest length as the revolver’s chamber took one turn, just like a regular gun.

“What is that weapon?” she asked, almost aghast.

“That,” Chris began as Leon began to be surrounded again, but this time, he spun once, and several red orbs of what appeared to be energy surrounded him before they erupted, killing the beasts.

“That is Cherisher.”

A/N: Okay folks, this, this is it for Chapter 14. I’ll update when I can, but I can’t promise you guys anything yet, yeah?