638. A Bullet Forged By Our Infinite Hatred

638. A Bullet Forged By Our Infinite Hatred

Her grip around her False Price of Paradise tightened as the Red Avenger swiftly moved as she fired a barrage of bullets. Each explosion caused the forest to shake, and the trees in her immediate vicinity to topple over, revealing a stand underneath.

Micheala swung her heavy blade like it was weightless. Her back that was shown to those behind convinced them that they were not in harm’s way.

Anna wanted to run. Nav could barely comprehend what she was witnessing, her eyes darting everywhere like her mind was being overloaded with zeroes and ones.

Galia, however, simply folded her arms and watched them like a keen fox.

“We may be unable to coexist.”

A sudden bead of light emerged from the Arbiter’s bleeding hand. She scraped the bleeding scabbard across the length of her blade. Even though the bullets rained in her direction, not a single one was able to break through.

What ultimately appeared was what looked like a piece of a broken halo, or to others, the hand of a five-armed star that children would draw.

“But is it not ironic that we could not exist without each other?”

A sphere of warping slashes encompassed her. They came and disappeared from reality as the white dust speckled all over the forest suctioned into her like she possessed a gravitational field.

The bullets were slashed out of existence, as if erased by the very decree of the Arbiter herself.

“Conditions are an agony. May there be a day where we will never worry about such arbitrary things.”

The Arbiter did not break eye contact with her. Even as the Red Avenger twisted and turned, using her dual pistols as a means of traversing faster.

The Red Avenger forfeited her weapon unexpectedly, drawing her blade as she carved the air, following the one perfect path to the Arbiter’s heart. She clashed blades with her. Red and white fireworks went off with each strike. The Arbiter stood there unmoving like a statue, simply swinging her arm whereas the Red Avenger was thrown around like rabid animal.

The sniper rifle and her blunderbuss pistols appeared in her hands and disappeared at will. She combined a rain of bullets and physical strikes, but none managed to penetrate the Arbiter’s defenses.

There were strikes that Micheala allowed to go through, resulting in miniscule damage. The frustration felt from the Red Avenger was palpable and caused waves to ripple through the entire forest.

Before long, the Red Avenger scraped at the ground with her hands like they were paws, using her entire body to get one – just one more strike in.

With one last blow, the Arbiter stood above the Red Avenger.

Vengeful Red-Hooded Avenger | HP: 2,000,000

She raised her weapon above her head and swung it downwards without another word, pulverizing its head like a crushed melon. Blood redder than hers bleed from the Corrupted’s body; a reminder that it was grounded in reality beyond just its fairytale.

A hand gripped the sharp edge of her pale blade, surprising the Arbiter.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“You really can’t die.”

Her voice was accompanied by the weeping of her daughter.

Both hands then, to Micheala’s shock, lifted the blade from the Red Avenger’s head.

It formed as quickly as it disappeared as she sprung up, clutching a hatchet from her back. She pounced on the Arbiter’s chest, mounting her as she threw her onto the ground and held the axe high. It glistened in the moonlight, drawing the blood of the Arbiter as it twisted and turned between her fingers elegantly.

The Arbiter was pinned by an unknown force.

The hatchet fell and, to Michaela's shock –

“… It penetrated…?”

– It pierced through her flesh, hacking away at her chest until her ribs internally snapped.

Micheala could not believe her eyes. Yet for some odd reason, she could not help but grin eerily, like she was enjoying the pain.

Finally, when a hole just large enough for her fist to fit through was formed, the Red Avenger released the hatchet. She stood over the Arbiter who was now pinned and stuffed by the barrel of the Red Avenger’s colossal sniper rifle.

The bullet punctured the Arbiter’s chest, embedding itself deeply as it twisted everything around her like a whirlpool. The emotional heights of the Red Avenger ceased for a moment as she stared down at the bloody mess she had made.

Somehow, in those vengeful eyes, just for a split second, the Arbiter saw immense sadness.

“… Unleash it… More… Show me more of that wrath.” The Arbiter reached out to clasp her cheeks. “Only then can this tale be shelved for good. Because I…”

A delayed fireball consumed them both. For the first time since becoming an Archetype, the Arbiter had taken considerable damage, and it was from a Woe of the Fallen Star of all things.

But her pride did not get the best of her. She did not complain.

In that fireball rose a silhouette that smiled.

And when it finally disappeared, the Red Avenger clasped her cheeks with trembling hands as she backed off, her form distorting as if sifting through a wardrobe of alternate identities.

In her hand was also the Piece of Paradise.

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