F3 swap with G4.
Wanderer's attack was no longer an issue.
A deafening slam echoed behind Warden, cratering the Cube floor.
That's undesirable.
Wanderer's eyebrows raised in confusion.
Warden wasted no time.
He swung his two-handed sledgehammer, named Absolute Authority, down onto the empty area right in front of him.
The curved peen snapped into place atop the hammerhead mid-swing, amplifying power.
F3 to G4.
Wanderer appeared in front of him, still wearing a look of confusion.
The full force of Authority slammed into the ground.
The Cube shook from the impact.
The newly formed crater in the Cube quickly repaired itself.
Warden frowned.
The feedback told him he’d missed.
Wanderer lay a few metres away, alive, struggling to his feet.
His thrusters glowed faintly.
I see.
Warden's shoulder felt the full weight of Authority as it rested on his shoulder again.
His grip tightened.
Wanderer scrambled to his feet just as Warden brought Authority down again.
F4 to G4.
A loud boom, the Cube shook again.
Tsk.
Wanderer already boosted up into the sky.
He's fast.
Fast enough to escape after I teleported him.
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Laughter echoed in the Cube. Like a child who was just told a funny joke.
"That was fun! What an interesting ability you have there!" Wanderer called out from above.
"Why are you here?" Warden scowled.
Wanderer chuckled.
"Just helping my new buddies out. You see, I signed a contract with this organisation, the... World Manners? I can't remember haha. Something about helping them in fights, blah blah blah."
World Mafia?
That confirmed Devil's suspicions.
Wanderer disappeared.
Warden turned, looking for him.
Where—
Swinging meteor hammers were inches from Warden's face.
G4—
Wanderer's swinging meteor hammer felt like a cannon ball shot point blank into Warden's jaw.
The impact sent Warden flying backwards, Authority flung from his grasp.
He stared at the ground, a shaky hand reaching to check his jaw.
A deep impression was carved onto his mask, cracks spidering around it.
He tried moving his jaw.
It wasn't broken, but the armour that absorbed the impact wasn't going to absorb it twice.
Wanderer's cheering pierced his ears.
For the first time in a long time, Warden felt fear. Not of dying, but of losing.
Never again.
Warden pushed himself of the ground with more force than necessary.
Authority to hand.
The next second he was gripping it, its weight strangely comforting to him.
Wanderer walked with his arms swinging loose, unhurried.
The twin-headed meteor hammer dangled from one hand, its chain whispering as it dragged behind him—handled with the same carelessness as his stride.
Warden gestured.
4 plain white square-shaped pillars shot out diagonally from each side of Wanderer.
Wanderer shot upwards, dodging them and gaining altitude rapidly.
More pillars emerged from the ceiling, attempting to punch him out of the sky.
Wanderer easily evaded them all.
Too fast.
Wanderer dived down again, twin meteors swinging violently and elegantly in an arc, generating significant momentum.
Warden turned—Authority already moving. The peen snapped into place mid-swing.
G4 to G6.
Warden felt a satisfying crunch as Authority landed a clean hit on Wanderer's ribs, sending him flying into the side of the Cube.
He felt the shockwave of the impact and watched as Wanderer slammed into the wall of the Cube, leaving a crater before dropping to the ground.
The peen on Authority flicked back, resetting.
Warden brought Authority up and swung it down hard.
H6 to G6.
Authority smashed down onto Wanderer again.
Wanderer's thrusters roared to life as he spun in place, swinging his twin meteor hammers at Authority.
The shockwave of the impact pushed them apart.
Warden skidded backwards, planting Authority in the ground to stop himself.
Wanderer used the momentum and shot into the air like a bullet, smashing through the ceiling of the Cube.
He hovered just outside the Cube, then dived down into the Cube.
Warden readied himself to counter, but Wanderer suddenly changed directions and flew into the wall of the Cube, smashing through it.
Warden's eyes widened.
He figured it out.
Destroying the Cube wins him the fight.
The Cube shuddered as Wanderer continued to smash through its walls, its self repair function working too slowly. Stress fractures spread across the Cube.
B2 to G6.
Nothing.
A8 to G6.
Wanderer's rampage continued.
He was too moving faster than Warden could track his coordinates.
His eyes lost track of Wanderer.
Where is he—
2 spherical objects slammed into his abdomen, the force of the blow plowing through his armour and crushing air from his lungs.
Wind roared in his ears as he tumbled across the floor into the far side of the Cube.
Warden lay on the floor, leaning against the side of the Cube, gasping.
His breath refused to come back. His chest burned—wrong, uneven. Broken ribs. At least two.
Wanderer continued to destroy the Cube, smashing through walls too easily.
This damn monster.
Warden coughed.
He tried to get up, but his body didn't listen.
He observed helplessly as Raguel and Dusk battled in the distance, the black mist obscuring his vision.
He caught glimpses of them now and then, but it was mostly covered.
His focus drifted to Wanderer, flying around the Cube. Massive gaping holes in the Cube followed in his wake.
Monsters.
The Cube glitched, shrinking back into Warden's hand.
Warden fell backwards, the Cube no longer supporting him.
His eyes were fixed on the ceiling of the IDCG Main, the sounds of battle distant.
The Cube sat lifeless in his palm.
Dead.
Warden closed his fingers around it anyway.
It felt like holding a lie.
Authority lay a few feet away, just out of his reach.
Warden didn’t reach for it.
I can't win.
The battle raged on around him.
And he stayed where he was.
