Zephyria - Chapter 14

That 1% survival rate was fate’s choice, as Amber’s arm, along with the new weapon it held, stopped right before colliding with Xero’s face.

*Instant Replay Slo-Mo* (0.5 Seconds)

Only Hikari and Elektra could perceive time at super speed, however both were preoccupied to observe. Hikari was mid-play with his new warhammer, whilst Elektra continued to fangirl over the arsenal that stood before her.

As Amber’s arm swung to land apparent justice, white coloured orb (powered by Super-Rare sOr [Sponge]) shot out of Aloe’s box and quickly produced a medium density foam mid-air, absorbing the blow.

*End*

Xero recoiled in fear before quickly adopting a “nah I’m good” face, whilst Amber’s attention focused on the substance that stopped her strike, her minor anger replaced with genuine curiosity.

“Woa woa woa woa woa!” Ryan hurried over, siezed and caressed Amber’s new gun. “I just made it this morning! Don’t go around hitting people with it!”

Amber was half listening, as her eyes followed the Sponge Orb, which retreated back to the box. Aloe had fully woken up, though merely wore a face showing mild concern. She adjusted her glasses (aviator frames for those interested), and sighed.

“If that landed, he would’ve died.”

Amber scratched her head, semi-embarrassed that her sting posed a real threat to Xero.

“Ahh, um..sorry about that.”

Aloe approached her slowly, stopping right in front of her and staring straight into her soul. Though quite a bit shorter than her (158cm vs 172cm), she was certainly seemed more dangerous.

The room was tense and the air was thick, as everyone (including Hikari) focused their attention on this unexpectedly heated staredown.

“It’s okay, it’s my job to protect you guys.”

Aloe’s expression immediately reverted to a tired one, as she stood besides Amber and hugged her arm. She turned to Xero, who had also defaulted to his signature subtle grin, and lowered her head to glare at him, over her glasses and with her naked eyes.

“I’ll let you die next time.”

“But you just said..?!” Xero became temporarily speechless, dumbfounded at the inconsistency in her words and entire lack of emotion whilst saying them.

Amongst the commotion, Amber returned her attention to the prince, who had finished inspecting his newest creation.

“As mentioned, I only recieved word of your joining last minute, so I put this together this morning. However given that I already possessed the schematics for your sOr from the original blaster I made for you, it was rather straight forward to create. Your sOr please.”

She gladly offered it, to which he inserted into the roof socket of the weapon. As he handed the firearm to her, the [Inferno sOr] activated and lit to a neon red colour.

She observed her new gun. The weapon was a very beefy, chunky, blaster cannon with a red metallic finish. The barrel was noticeably larger than her previous weapon, much to her delight. Its main grip below the trigger was solid yet comfortable, and she played with it, switching from one arm to two arm grips and practiced shooting stances. She was very pleased.

“This is great!”

Ryan proudly put his hands on his hips. “It can now utilise 200% more of the sOr, increasing destructive capability and fire rate. Speaking of which, hold it by the top!”

Amber noticed that the blaster was fitted with both an additional trigger grip and handle at the top, absent from her previous gun. As she held the secondary trigger grip with one hand and the handle with the other, a group of thinner barrels extended out of the larger one, rotating into place.

“Machine gun mode” Ryan declared, and Amber’s elation grew to disturbing levels.

“OH. MY. GOSH. This is fantastic!” Amber gushed over this beast of a gun, before removing all joy in her heart and pointing the blaster directly at Xero in a worringly (yet, at this point, unsurprisingly) sinister manner.

“Wh. Wh.. what about my weapon?” Xero stuttered, instantly turning to Ryan and desperately offering his sOr to the prince. He could not maintain his chill demeanour with death knocking at his door yet again.

Ryan giggled at the genuine fear then summoned a thread, instantly snatching the [Glacial] sOr from his hands and syncing it up with another gun. In one slick move, Elektra and Aloe distracted Amber via cuddles of affection and interest in her blaster, whilst Ryan took this opportunity to hand Xero his new gun.

When in his hands, he felt not only safer but extremely excited at the sniper rifle in his hands. Compared to Amber and Hikari receiving beefier upgrades, this rifle was much sleeker and lighter than what he was used to. It was a long, thin firearm with a aqua blue matt coating. There were two dials on the side of the gun, controlling the scope and the ammunition respectively. He noticed that each dial had significantly more settings.

“Your Glacial sOr is incredibly versatile, so after further research I managed to create and add 5 more settings to the scope dial, and have included 10 additional filters for the ammunition dial. xD”

Xero felt really cool. Filters changed the consistency, concentration, destructive power, and unique effects of his shots, so having a boosted arsenal gave Xero a huge (and perhaps needed (lol)) confidence boost.

Just as he was about to remark how neat these filters were, his body suddenly felt extremely heavy, and he was pulled straight to the ground.

At that same moment Amber, Elektra, Aloe, Gale, and Ryan were also pulled down, groaning at the immense gravity that forced them to lie there hopelessly and confused as to the cause of it all.

Hikari was also brought to his knees by the initial pressure, but his inherent super strength enabled him to resist and just about stand up. He quickly scanned the room, looking for the source.

He traced the literal darkness which started to spread throughout the hall. Upon seeing it his eyes widened, as did the rest.

The darkness was oozing out of the hand of the one person who was seemingly unaffected by the pressure, the one who stood casually and blank faced.

Yami.