VR WARS Volume II - Coalition Army

CLASH OF WILLS

Finally recovering from the sudden shock, Vlad changed gears in response to my declaration of war, “So he’s got it too…AWP!”

Surrounded by a menacing aura, the man consumed my beautiful red flames with darkness, and a pitch-black circle grew around him, a black hole made out of fire as well—an awakening ability. His black flames against mine went all out without us touching a hair on each other's heads. As our struggle intensified, so too did the collateral damage, with people scrambling to find cover to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. In contrast, others took an interest in our match of will and simply watched from nearby. Little did I realize the ones who were watching had flames of their own. A spectrum of colors from at least a dozen people lit up the place, shielding their masters from our onslaught. Among them, Schneider with emerald-colored flames, the likes of which had long been lost to the world, formed a protective wall between Vlad and me, alongside those of Erika’s.

So beautiful was the fire coming out of her color; it reminisced a lavender field. That was how vivid and rare her purple color truly was. So Germania has two holders of AWP…Erika and Schneider, brother and sister.

“And who are you supposed to be, shrimp?!” The man opposing me in a contest of wits asked me from afar, all the while smiling at the fact that his darkness was prevailing over my bright light. His peculiar sharp teeth sticking out from his mouth like those of a vampire gave justice to his identity.

“The one who will beat you all,” Vera answered in quick succession, to my surprise. “…he’s the Angel of Death.”

Although it was her first time witnessing me in that state, Vera didn’t budge one bit. Her confidence that I would break through that pit of darkness was enough to give me goosebumps and fuel to drive my ambition to new heights, boosting my energy to the next level, and my threatening aura grew exponentially. It consumed me entirely in its warmth; fusing a physical body in its spiritual essence, it gave the impression that I had attained what Von Kluge desired all along—the next stage of human evolution. Vlad could only shield his face with his arms as he was steadily pushed back. Yet, it didn’t last long; my AWP canceled out in mere seconds, draining me dry of all energy.

And as the flaming show slowly extinguished itself and everyone that had hidden found the courage to come out of their hiding, my exhausted body ached with numbness. Drips of sweat fell onto the floor with no end in sight, and my vision blurred so much that I felt like I was going blind. Holly s**t, I think my consciousness is fading; the thought occurred to me as my body began its forced descent propelled by gravity only to be caught at the last minute by Vera, who had raced to my aid.

“Th-thanks.”

“You i***t,” she frowned with a smile on her face. “You weren’t supposed to use your trump card this early on, ha-ha.”

“…I bet neither did they want to use theirs.”

“Yeah, you are right,” she retorted with a giggle and helped me back to my feet while I used her shoulder as support.

“C’mon, let’s go. You’ve done enough as it is!”

Supreme Commander Pedro, who had been lying low all night, came out of hiding to drag me out of the hall with the help of his minion, Rui. They put their hands on me because I didn’t have the strength to oppose them anymore. Vera tried her best to calm the UC and UL leaders down, but their scornful state was resolute.

“For goodness sake, you can’t even follow the simplest directions!”

“You always have to be the center of attention, don’t you, mongrel!”

We passed along the empty frames, then the nurendai hall, and before I even noticed, we were at the lobby of the palace. They sat me down on one of the sofas there to let me cool off. At that point, I began to feel the extremities of my body, starting with a tingling sensation in my fingers; the paralysis from unleashing everything I had was leaving my body at last.

Next, as if driven by the need to know, Vlad and the German siblings came out from the shadows without anyone noticing it; their sudden appearance frightened Pedro and Rui so much that they looked like they had seen ghosts. “Who are you?” Schneider's solemn voice did little to ease the atmosphere while Erika simply stood by his side, contemplating my pathetic state.

“UAT…Commander, Angelo,” straining myself even further, I managed to get a shorter presentation out of my throat.

Both Vlad, Schneider, and Erika looked at each other in doubt, with no reaction, which left me unease. I would’ve given anything to speak to them, but as I was, all I wanted to do was log out and go to bed.

“Never heard of ya, shrimp.”

“…”

“Brother?”

Vlad’s mundane comment, although not entirely unexpected, still managed to cut deep. But it was the silence and lack of reaction in Schneider that really hurt the most. Do these f*****g idiots think they can fool me?! Anyone who holds AWP is a threat, and there are only a few dozen of us at most. They have heard of me because, like them, I am one of those selected few! My teeth grinned as my thoughts went astray, but that was all I could do.

“Let’s go, Erika. It’s time.”

“I am sorry to have bothered you, Angelo,” she apologetically stated, gracefully bowing much like one of the maids who had greeted us when we first arrived at the palace. “…Farewell.”

Erika’s departure, along with Vlad and Schneider's dismissal of my existence, left me at a breaking point. Until rays of light broke through the blockade of grief to warm me in their comfort, the light in the dark that was Vera put her hands on my face and smiled. She repeatedly proved that she could be a pillar to which I could hold on and weather the storm. How far we’ve come…

“How about one last dance?” She asked, helping me to my feet and slightly pushing me towards the hall. I hesitated at first since I hadn’t exactly left a great impression back there where I had almost ruined the party, but the eagerness and forgiveness for my reckless actions in her face begged otherwise. “You’ve read my mind.”

We returned together, much to Pedro and Rui’s disdain; their nerve-recking squabbling infuriated even their partners, mainly Mariam, who, to their surprise, favored a return with us instead of logging out like they wanted to. In her good words, “what’s done is done” and “enough is enough,” so the three of us left them in awe and made our comeback. All the while, unlike her colleague, Silvia faithfully kept Pedro company. But the moment we were about to cross the corner of the room, I vaguely recall seeing her smirk, which triggered my internal sensor to watch out for her and do another investigation on her, a more thorough one this time. She hides it well, but I feel that woman is somehow not entirely right in the head.

Putting that aside, as it was already well past midnight, most of the participants had already logged out, leaving behind an unequal number of people, men mostly. Seeing how gorgeously available Mariam was, finding a new company and dancing partners proved to be a relatively easy task for her. In the event created especially for us and that had culminated in my egotistic dispute with the representative of the Romanian Coalition, we resumed our affair revigorated in a soother atmosphere and danced under a veil of stardust.

Although my lust for Vera reached an all-time high, my thoughts wandered back and forth between Erika and her. I was aware of the contradiction occurring within me, but the way our encounter had played out, how could I not dismiss associating it with destiny itself? I couldn’t, not when she had come to me in that dark street, outside the UAT’s campus grounds, granted the words I spoke to her were crude, they were also sincere.

“Don’t dwell on it,” she warned me while teaching me the proper steps for the next dance, and I assumed she was referring to the incident with Vlad and not the one with Schneider’s sister.

“I won’t.”

“…”

Her silence begged me to ask what had been on our minds since it happened, so instead of complying with her wishes, I decided to act on impulse and trust my gut.

“…!”

I kissed her, losing myself in her arms full of gentle warmth and sweet scent, and when it was done, she smiled and kissed me back. After that long, long final kiss, we extricated our faces and looked closely at each other like nothing else mattered anymore.

And with that, we bade farewell to a magnificent night.