Chapter 9: Path to Darkness, Amaterasu Vs Unity
While the rest of team VAST continued to battle it out against VRTU, The Leader Verde headed towards his father Azure's workplace for guidance. After arriving shortly to the room he discovered his father working on two weapons as he suddenly stopped and turned around staring at Verde as he spoke " Hello son i have been expecting you to come here for quite some time". Verde took a deep breath and responded to him " My friends are out there fighting right now…but I don’t think I have the strength to be of any use to them, I hate to admit it but…I really need your help right now.
Azure looked at Verde for a moment then closed his eyes as he sighed, he then opened them and spoke in a soft tone " I figured you would show up here…after all this is really the only way I can repent for not being able to take care of you as a father I- " Verde interrupted his fathers words replying back with a response of his own " you don’t have to apologize I have taken care of myself quite well…I'm not a kid anymore so I wont stay mat at you over something you had no control over, besides I believe if I was with you at the time the same thing would have happened to you that happened to mom as well ".
Azure sat in silence for a moment but he smiled and shook his head slowly beginning to realize that his son had grown up and that he failed to realize this at first glance. " Well it seems like I cant treat you like a kid…well enough of the small talk luckily for you I was just working on two new weapons for you since your last one broke. The first sword that has a green and white color scheme and the left sword is called Emerald Sunrise which utilizes green wind dust, and finally the right sword with a red and white color scheme this one is called bloody midnight which uses red fire dust. "
" i-I'm speechless…how did you know exactly what I wanted? " Verde asked. Azure responded to his question with a smile " Because you are my son I know you better than you know yourself you have your mothers left eye, my hair and personality, and finally your mothers fighting style and skill with a sword I also know that girl named Runa Taught you how to dual wield ". " Have you been watching me this whole time? " Azure kept his smile as he continued to answer his many questions " A father has to look after his son right? Of course I couldn’t get too close to you because my presence would put you in immediate danger and would make you a target as well that is something I could absolutely not afford, these people called the black zodiacs they're a dangerous bunch so I didn’t want to get you involved but since you became a huntsman my plans backfired and I had to come see you as soon as possible ".
"…..I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders I thought you had abandoned me and wanted nothing to do with me but now I understand you were always there looking out for me. Thank you…now I think I need to hurry out of here my team needs me! " Verde grabs his two swords and attempts to exit but Azure stops him by calling out his name and speaking to him " Listen nobody blames you for Mornings death it was something we never thought would happen…I know you have been carrying this burden on your shoulders for a long time but what you are trying to do ain't the way, I can tell you want revenge on the black zodiac now that you know who they are but if you continue on this path a life of bloodshed is the only thing you will find at the end your mother nor I would want that. " Verde stood there motionless as tears begin to fall down from his eyes a surge of emotions flowing through his body as a spark lit deep within his body.
" I promise you I will find my own path but right now my team needs me…I may have not been able to do anything back then but this time I will make sure the people close to me live to see tomorrow! " Verde then wipes the tears from his face steeling himself for combat as he rushed out of the room heading to the battlefield. Azure sat quietly clinching his fist as he speaks to himself " our son really is growing up but I fear he's growing up way to fast…I'm sure he saw your adorable face he wouldn’t be caught up in our battle Morning. "
Meanwhile back at the arena the next stage was about to start as the two fighters for this match Amaterasu and Unity prepared themselves for battle " Is she really going to be okay? " Amaterasu asked saffron as she responded " She will be fine she's a tough girl…she just didn’t think she would be up against a first year of that level, its pretty clear to me these people definitely have battle experience you need to keep up your guard out there." Amaterasu prepped her gun smirking as she stepped up " Yeah Yeah you worry way too much I will be fine. " Saffron stared at her with a blank expression on her face as she responded " No I just don’t think you are really that skilled. " Amaterasu gritted her teeth angrily and shouted at saffron " YOU'RE A REAL ASS YOU KNOW THAT!? " saffron calmly responded with yet another blank expression " That’s Ms. Ass to you."
Roka lightly coughs and taps her foot impatiently as she speaks up " As amusing as this conversation is I think everyone just wants to see the fight now." Unity quickly stepped into the arena getting into battle position " lets hurry and get this over with…I want to make it so that lady Tyrian doesn’t have to dirty her hands here." Amaterasu stepped on to the arena as she smirked and grinned " Well aren't we a little impatient…but that’s fine with me this would be boring if you weren't actually into it so go ahead and show me a good time!. " Roka glanced at both fighters in their positions and raised her hand in her air to give the signal " Amaterasu Vs Unity match begin! "
Unity quickly rushes in forward for the first strike, Amaterasu quickly responds as she shoots out an ice wire that lashes on to a nearby wall and launches on to it. Amaterasu fires 3 electric dust rounds in the area of unity, Unity manages to avoid the first two hits but is caught by the last round and becomes temporarily paralyzed in place. " Heh you are wide open now! " Amaterasu rushes in and swings the bayonet portion of her launcher to make a direct physical attack, however a green honeycomb like shield appears around unity and reflects the attack back as Amaterasu's eyes widen in shock with unity taking the chance to knock her back with a direct attack. " Sorry but it wont be as easy as you think " unity says pressing his glasses up.
" Heh looks like I cant get in too close in that case…I'll attack from afar! " she uses her ice grapple wire to Propel herself on to a wall to charge up another shot. Unity aims his lance in Amaterasu's direction as his lance transformed the claws spreading out making an electrical charge as he fires a blast of energy in her direction. Amaterasu shocked by the sudden transformation leaps out of range of the blast as she is knocked down to the ground, she gets up dusting herself off a bit " That thing isn't just a normal lance is it? " unity responded to her question " Correct it's also a cannon."
Saffron watched on as she spoke to herself " This guy is no pushover he's greatly balanced in both offense and defense and can pretty much counter ammy's moves with that barrier or his weapon transformation, he's tough her head on fighting style isn't going to help her much in this battle what is this idiot going to do in this situation? " Amaterasu smiled as she began charging her next shot as she aimed at Unity, he got into defense position as Amaterasu fired her shot of fire dust in a red orb of fire. The orb makes a direct hit with Unity's barrier while Amaterasu uses her ice zip line to swing in from the right side where his body is exposed and fired another charged shot as it made a direct hit damaging and knocking him back while managing to hold his ground.
" Oh so the little fox can use her head in battle " Saffron said as she smiled, Amaterasu grew upset as she responded " I heard that you asshole can you not today! " Unity took the opportunity to charge up wind dust around his lance as he joust forward aiming at Amaterasu, she quickly clashed blades with him protecting herself from a direct hit but the sheer force of the attack knocked her into the air. Unity then transforms his lance once again as he charges an orb of energy and shoots it in Amaterasu's direction making a direct hit and knocking her out of the sky and downward to the ground.
" Give it up you cant reach me you are at a clear disadvantage here and you have taken heavy damage….it's not very classy of me to injure women like this so I suggest you quietly surrender now if you don’t want to get hurt." Amaterasu slowly got up and smirked even though she was badly damaged " heh I'd worry more about you than me we're just getting started since I know how to beat you now….so prepare yourself! " Amaterasu slowly set down her weapon and closed her eyes as she breathed slowly, unity confused at her movements spoke up " it seems you have completely lost it there's no way you are going to be able to beat me without your weapon its pointless! " Amaterasu smiles as she responds with a cocky attitude " so you think…but you will soon find out how terribly wrong you are."
Amaterasu's eyes began to turn grey and part of the front of her hair turns brown as an aura of fire soon surrounds her entire body " I'll show you what I'm capable of! " she charges straight ahead at unity charging a round house kick in his direction. Unity surprised by the sudden attack holds out his hand projecting a honey comb shape shield as the kick makes direct impact spreading sparks of flames outward in the sky, Unity was slightly being pushed back by the sheer power yet still holding his ground as he spoke " give it up you cant break my defense! "
Amaterasu responded to his comment " don’t underestimate me! " the shield soon starts to get a crack in the center slowly falling apart until the kick breaks through and shatters the shield surprising unity " what!? " after finishing her roundhouse she then spins once more charging up another kick as she ready's her attack " my mom could fight people with her legs alone…I inherited some of that skill as well! " she releases her leg and gives a full round house kick up to Unity's chest with a fiery impact knocking him down to the ground leaving scorch marks.
Amaterasu breathed heavily staring down and at the unconscious unity on the ground as she spoke " heh you relied a little bit too much on your defense if you had attacked more maybe you would have got me. " Roka smiles as she happily states " Second round goes to Amaterasu! " Amaterasu heads back to the area where saffron is slightly holding her body a bit as saffron examined her and asked if she was alright as Amaterasu responded " Yeah I'm fine its just using the offensive version of Fire Fox causes slight recoil damage but nothing serious….more importantly your match up is glancing at you and I get this type of weird vibe almost like there is something dangerous about her be careful." Saffron glanced over at tyrian as they stared each other down with serious expressions on their faces ready to get at each other at any moment.
The final match between the six hunters is about to come to a close between saffron and the unknown girl Tyrian how will this heated battle turn out?