Volume Fourteen - Changing of the Guard

== Chapter 157 - Victor ==
Lynx had been regenerating for a while, thinking it felt slower than normal, and it hurt to move. Yet he did move, up through the castle, as he came into the throne room. There, was Rosenstock, the ground turned into cuffs to hold him in place, his swords destroyed. "It appears I missed a lot." Lynx remarks, as Copernicus walks into the throne room, seemingly in new robes, though they looked near-identical to what he normally wore. "Now, we watch, as the battles unfold." Copernicus says.
== Chapter 158 - Unburied Secrets (Pt. 1) ==
Dione leaped into the air to swing a kick at Qian, who leaped back to avoid it and swung her staff at her opponent, Dione blocking with her arm as she flips into the air and throws a punch at Qian, who ducks to avoid it as she attempts stabbing Dione with the spear end of her staff, Dione backflipping over it and landing on the ground perfectly. "You've gotten a lot better with that thing." Dione says. "Do not lecture me on our ways that you left." Qian retorts, as she sends a few War Fans flying at Dione, who dodges all of them with a smirk on her face. "You don't throw those things!" She shouts.
Qian sighs and rushes at Dione to slash at her with the Dao end of the staff, Dione running beneath it to sweep Qian off her feet with her leg, Qian lifting her legs up at different times to avoid this, and attempts stomping on Dione's leg, however Dione had already pulled it back, and sent a kick at Qian's stomach, Qian catching Dione's leg as she twirls around and throws Dione into the air, raising her spear in an attempt to impale her. Dione grabs the spear by the sides of the blade with a hand to avoid falling on it, as she lets gravity pull her down and lets go of it, before swinging another kick at Qian.
Qian leaps back from this kick, as well as the next, before swinging her staff to slash at Dione, Dione flipping and twirling over it at the same time. Qian then attempts stabbing her with the spear end immediately after, Dione kicking the staff to send that end into the ground, and rushing up to swing another kick at Qian, who dissipates the staff, reforms it in her other hand, and uses it to block Dione's kick, before swinging the staff to send Dione flying away, Dione landing on her hands before backflipping to land on her feet and wiping blood off her mouth. "Heh..." She exclaims, rushing at Qian.
== Chapter 159 - Itchy Trigger Finger (Pt. 1) ==
Acrux watched Grimwald stand up, and point what looked like a regular revolver at him. "Huh?" Acrux demands. "Let's get this over with." Grimwald says solemnly as he pulls the trigger. Acrux barely dodges the bullet, as he looks at it in shock. "What the Hell?! How did that almost hit me?!" Acrux demands, as immediately after he finished that sentence, a cut appeared on his cheek, not from another bullet, but the same one, he had not managed to fully dodge it. "Dammit!" Acrux roars, as he sends multiple blasts of what was clearly fire at Grimwald, who sidestepped all the blasts, and fired again.
Acrux kept firing blasts of flame at Grimwald while dodging the bullets to the best of his ability, which was to say still barely. Grimwald continued to sidestep and weave around the fire, as it never hit him, but did ignite the area behind him, making him appear almost as a silhouette, as he aims his revolver at Acrux and fires again. Acrux feels it almost hit his forehead, as he barely ducked so that it only grazed his hair, leaving another cut right in the vertical middle of his head. "How the fuck is this working?! YOU HAVE A REVOLVER!" Acrux roars, as Grimwald's eyelids drooped sadly.
"Do you have to be this loud and angry?" Grimwald demands. "I'm not in the mood to argue. I'm just good with a revolver." He keeps firing, as Acrux keeps barely dodging and sending his fire blasts at Grimwald, who continues dodging without much effort. He still looked rather tired, not even fully awake. "I'LL WAKE YOU UP, BASTARD!" Acrux screams angrily, as he sends a beam of fire at Grimwald, who once again sidesteps it. However, Acrux continues firing the beam, and moves his hands to also move the beam. Grimwald notices this, and begins to move in the same direction as the beam.
"Gh..." Grimwald's reaction was.
== Chapter 160 - Unburied Secrets (Pt. 2) ==
Dione had been cut along the shoulder and cheek, and was bleeding, but was still relentless, as she swung a kick at Qian, who tilted her head to dodge. Dione immediately throws a punch, which Qian catches with her own hand. Qian then turns and lets go of Dione, continuing her momentum in the direction of the ground. "Gh!" Dione grunts, as she slides along the ground and exhales a bit violently. She then rushes at Qian again, kicking the ground forcefully to unleash a storm of dust and debris. Qian spins her staff like a fan to cut the debris and blow the dust away, as she barely dodges a kick.
This kick happened to be from below, and from Dione, who had used the dust as a makeshift smokescreen. Qian uses her staff to land safely, and sends multiple arrows at Dione, Dione dodging most and catching one, before throwing it back at Qian, who swings her staff to deflect it. Their eyes lock, as Dione swings another kick, not at Qian, but at the staff, Qian noticing and dissipating the staff, before twirling around again, swinging Dione around again, and throwing Dione again, Dione being sent flying into one of the castle walls, leaving a crater as she 'peels' off, but lands mostly unharmed.
Well, apart from a few broken bones, but she was ignoring those.
"Dione, why would you leave us?" Qian demands. "I just felt like it, people around here are must less strict." Dione answers, as she stands back up, groaning a bit from the pain but refusing to collapse. Qian gives her a small glare, as they run at each other. Qian swings a kick at Dione, Dione blocking with her own kick, but Qian uses this to whack Dione away with her staff, Dione grabbing the staff to not be sent flying as she then manages to slam Qian into the ground, causing a rather small but noticeable earthquake. "Gh!" Qian grunts, as they both notice the fire on the other side of the castle.
"What the...?" Dione wonders, as Qian groans. "It's Acrux..." She answers bitterly.
== Chapter 161 - Itchy Trigger Finger (Pt. 2) ==
Acrux and Grimwald both looked on at the raging fire burning down any foliage and wooden structures they could find, although there wasn't too much of it. However, it still covered a lot of this side of the castle. "You're destroying this place..." Grimwald remarks, exhausted and a bit...despaired. "Yeah, I tend to do that." Acrux replies casually, as he begins spamming fireballs at Grimwald, who dodged all of them so fast that he was barely a blur in Acrux' perception. "Dammit! Where is--" Acrux is unable to even finish his sentence, as Grimwald is aiming his gun at the side of Acrux' head, and fires.
"Gah!" Acrux shouts, as he just barely managed to duck just enough to avoid the bullet piercing his brain. However, it still left a deep, agonizing gash in his head. Acrux, infuriated, creates a massive wall of flames at Grimwald, who leaps up to avoid them and leaps behind Acrux, kicking him in the back to send him flying into his own fire. Acrux rights himself on his footholds, and sends another beam of fire at Grimwald, who weaves around it as he fires more bullets at Acrux, this time with two revolvers. Acrux tries to keep dodging, but is unable, as he feels bullets pierce multiple parts of his body.
"Just die already!" Acrux roars. "Or kill me with all you've got!" "...I'm not feeling like it." Grimwald replies, as he begins to reload his revolvers. In this time, he continues dodging Acrux' flames, and aims his gun back at Acrux. "I haven't felt like it since I lost my last family." He finishes, as he fires again, incredibly quickly. Acrux forms a wall of flames again to burn the bullets, as he sends it rushing at Grimwald, who attempts to dodge, but sees the flames turning into a sphere around him, before exploding. Acrux laughs at this, as Grimwald is momentarily shocked. The flames then dissipate...
== Chapter 162 - Unburied Secrets (Pt. 3) ==
Dione was struggling a bit to pull a Sai out of her shoulder, as she looked on at Qian, who was currently healing with her staff, and had another Sai in her hand. "You certainly have plenty of tools you love to use." Dione says, as Qian finishes healing, and walks out of the healing circle, forming another Sai in her other hand. Dione smirks and rips the Sai out of her shoulder, throwing it aside and rushing at Qian to throw one punch after another at her. Dione blocks with the Sai, and thrusts them forwards at Dione, who keeps dodging them as she kicks at Qian, Qian leaping up and kicking Dione in the face.
"You betrayed us for a more 'convenient' life?! Where is your loyalty to our King, your honor?!" Qian demands, as Dione raises an eyebrow at this. "Ran out of those a long time ago." Dione replies, as she rushes at Qian to swing a kick at her. "And It's sad you keep letting that soulless freak dictate your life!" Qian Blocks the kick with her arm, which seems to break, but Qian stabs the Sai into her arm to heal it, stabbing the other one into Dione's leg, narrowly missing the Femoral Artery. "Gh!" Dione growls, as she punches Qian in the face, Qian kicking the punch away from her and punching Dione.
However, Qian had formed a Katar right when she threw the punch, as Dione barely dodged being stabbed in the face. She leaps back, and picks up a broken piece of a jet, before throwing it at Qian. Qian dodges this and throws the other Sai at Dione, who uses the Sai she had grabbed out of her own leg to deflect it, catching it and rushing at Qian to thrust the Sai at her, but Qian forms two more Sai to catch Dione's, and quickly disarms her as the Sai vanish while still flying through the air. Before Dione can react, Qian stabs her in the hands with the Sai, and kicks her down to the ground, leaping off.
== Chapter 163 - Itchy Trigger Finger (Pt. 3) ==
Acrux looked on at the flames, as they subsided. Grimwald emerged from them, somewhat burned on his suit but otherwise okay. "Wh-what?! That's impossible! Acrux roars. "Suit's bulletproof, fireproof, stabproof and blastproof." Grimwald replies, as he begins to open fire on Acrux again, Acrux just flies away, trying not to be hit by any of the bullets but feeling painfully that he was being hit. Then, he threw flames back at Grimwald, a massive amount of them, which destroyed the other revolver. "Gh..." Grimwald exclaims, as, suddenly, he grabs Acrux by the shoulder, and whisks him to a ship.
"Wh-what--" Acrux demands, as the hatch to the ship closes. He turns around to see Grimwald buckling up, as he slowly, confused, decided to buckle up as well. The ship then went into Warp Space, making Acrux initially feel uneasy.
"Wha...? What are you doing?" Acrux demands. "We can't fight back on New Earth anymore." Grimwald answers. "Ugh, why are you so sad, anyways?" Acrux demands, as Grimwald looks down. "Ten years before I met Rosenstock, I met a woman named Sophie Stevens. It wasn't too long before we fell in love, and five years before I met Rosenstock, Rachel was born. A week before I met Rosenstock, my wife died, and about half a year ago, my daughter...also died." Grimwald explains, as Acrux looks on. "...You humans are drama-seekers..." He replies, as the ship abruptly stops. The hatch opens.
As they walked out, they saw a pure white star, small but bigger than the surrounding stars, in the dark sky. Around them, wind blew, but no living thing made a sound, apart from them. "Where are we...?" Acrux asks. "Procyon." Grimwald answers. "This is the only planet orbiting it that has a breathable atmosphere, but it never had water, so it never had life." He then aims at Acrux with his left gun, and fires a glowing red beam. Acrux, surprised, dodges, barely, and sees another one rushing at him. He blocks with fire, as a massive explosion ensues. "Wh...what...?" Acrux demands. "Antimatter." Grimwald answers.
"I told you I didn't want to keep fighting back on New Earth."
== Chapter 164 - Unburied Secrets (Pt. 4) ==
Dione glared up at Qian, who once again held her staff, holding the spear end inches from Dione's heart. "There is still time, Dione. You can return to us, and aid against the humans." Qian says. "There's still time for you too, Qian. You can come over to our side, and help save the human race." Dione replies, as she thrusts her arms upwards, her hands tearing the Sai out of the ground as she swings a kick at Qian, managing to hit her in the chin as she dodges. "Gh!" Qian grunts, as Dione plucks the Sais out of her healing hands, and rushes at Qian to thrust them at her, Qian blocking them with her staff.
Dione ducks beneath the next staff swing and weaves to be behind Qian, as she thrusts the Sai towards her opponent's back. Qian notices just in time, and leaps forwards as she turns around mid-air to swing her staff at Dione, who avoids the Dao end as she throws a Sai at Qian, the Sai going through her shoulder. Qian grunts in pain, as she deflects the next Sai, and prepares to heal again, but Dione runs to kick the staff away, as it vanishes. "You're not gonna' heal again like that!" Dione roars, as she kicks Qian in the stomach, Qian stumbling back and catching Dione's next kick, twisting her leg.
"GAAAAAAH!" Dione roars in agony, as she flips to send Qian slamming into the ground. Qian takes the Sai out of her shoulder and stabs it into Dione's side, as Dione punches Qian in the face, cracking sounds being heard as dust was sent up. Qian dodges the next punch, catches the next, gets a karate chop in, but is slowly but surely overwhelmed by Dione's barrage of punches. Dione then finishes with a kick, sending Qian flying through the air. However, an arrow with what looked like fireworks on it stabbed into Dione's shoulder. "Wha--" Dione is unable to finish her sentence, as the arrow explodes!
== Chapter 165 - Itchy Trigger Finger (Pt. 4) ==
Acrux had kept dodging the Antimatter blasts, although barely, as he mostly used his flames to block. Lucky that they weren't made of normal matter. He tried sending fire blasts at Grimwald, but the latter blasted the fire out of the air with his Antimatter blasts. Acrux growls in anger, and...in fear. "WHAT HAPPENED TO NOT WANTING TO FIGHT?!" Acrux roars, as Grimwald looks on, and sighs. "I don't, I'm trying to end this quickly." He replies in between blasts, before noticing fire hit his left gun, partially melting it. "Gh!" Grimwald grunts. "No...I can't...use it..." He thinks to himself, scared.
But...he had to.
Acrux lands, and grins. "How's that for a rowdy punk?!" He shouts. "...When did I call you that?" Grimwald asks, sweating a little, as he aims his right gun at Acrux. "Huh? Why's it so different from the other one?" He asks. "You'll see." Grimwald answers. "Piece of advice. Shield yourself completely." Then, the gun began to glow, brighter and brighter, and Acrux realized, it was creating multiple Antimatter clumps! Without any further hesitation, Acrux shields himself in flame as quickly as possible, right when Grimwald fires the gun. What must have been hundreds, no, THOUSANDS of blasts flew through the air!
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS TECH?!" Acrux screams, as he rushes forwards, still using his flames as a shield. Grimwald moves the blasts towards Acrux, away from...what was left of the planet. No matter what direction Acrux went in, the storm Antimatter blasts followed, obliterating everything in its path, literally. Acrux then notices it, an opening! He rushes closer and closer to Grimwald, who notices and points the Antimatter...machine gun pistol at him. Acrux fully shields himself just in time and, without thinking, rams Grimwald as hard as possible, the resulting explosion eclipsing the area.
== Chapter 166 - Unburied Secrets (Pt. 5) ==
Dione and Qian both lay on the ground, bones broken, burned, bruised, bleeding, breathing heavily. It seemed neither could get up. They both felt as if...they were on the verge of death. "Qian...please...leave...Copernicus..." Dione struggles to say. "He's cruel...heartless...those qualities didn't exist in Rosenstock...that's...that's why I...came here...to the side of humans..." "...It should not...agh...matter...what a leader is like..." Qian retorts coldly, and still in agony. "You must...always...be completely...fully...perfectly...loyal...to your...leader...that...is...honor..." "...I disagree...strongly..." Dione responds angrily.
Both Dione and Qian began to very slowly, painfully, get back up. Their injuries made their heads swim, as they glared at each other in rage and sorrow. "I am so...sorry...that I cannot save you..." Dione says. "I...feel the very same...way...cousin..." Qian replies, as they stumble towards each other, throwing sluggish punches that they could do little to dodge. The same with kicks, bites, scratches. Dione whacked Qian in the face with her arm, as Qian jabbed Dione in the gut with her hand. It was only moments later that they had to stop and take a breather, before they rushed at each other again, punching.
Their fists flew through the air fast enough to ignite it, which hurt like Hell for both of them, but they ignored. Then, they collided, creating a shockwave that left a crater below them, and send both of them flying back, slamming into the pillars of their respective castles. Both were knocked unconscious, as their wounds seemed to not be healing, at least not to a noticeable degree. The very last things that crossed through both of their minds were their kings...and each other.
== Chapter 167 - Itchy Trigger Finger (Pt. 5) ==
Acrux' eyes opened slowly, as he noticed that it was night. No...it was day. It just looked and felt like night. He began to weakly get up, as he looked at his broken fingernails. Well, all broken but one. He then turns towards Grimwald, who was standing there, aiming what looked like the burned revolver at him. "There's only one bullet left, and your 'horn' is cracking." Grimwald says. "We have to both make our shots count." "What do you mean by that...? Do you mean kill each other?!" Acrux roars, as a tear rolled down Grimwald's face, yet he kept his completely stoic composure. "...Yes, or you live." He answers.
"What kind of shitty answer is that?!" Acrux screams. "What answer do you want? I have...nothing to live for." Grimwald asks, as Acrux could tell, he was shaking.
"IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?!" Acrux bellows. "AS LONG AS THERE IS ONE, ONE PERSON WHO VALUES YOU, AS LONG AS THERE IS ONE, ONE THING THAT YOU VALUE, THEN YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR!" Acrux too was shaking now, glaring at Grimwald with a white hot rage, perfectly opposite to the utter despair that was on Grimwald's face. And the one who entered Grimwald's mind when Acrux said this...was Rosenstock. The man who, above all others, he respected the most. The man who took him in as a friend, not an enemy, despite what he had done prior. "...You're right." Grimwald replies.
BANG!
No more needed to be said.
== Chapter 168 - Rest not Permitted ==
Demetrius sat on a broken beach chair, watching everything happen via binoculars. "Damn...I kinda' wish I could be out there, but I mostly am glad I'm not." He remarks, as he then takes a sip of coffee. "Then again, I guess you don't need to be out there to get a fight." Demetrius finishes, turning around to see the Socqreath he knew was named Caelum standing there, multiple soldiers appearing like actual ribbon around him, just in the colors of dead soldiers. "Great, I get the demonic child." Demetrius groans, as he sighs and gets up out of the beach chair. "Bring it on." He says.