"[FACELIFT]"
As soon as Freak spoke, something caught his eye.
The spinning steel ball Gasper had thrown toward the mutated cat… was covered in blue ethereal energy.
The ball stopped in mid-air.
The moment the ball stopped, it was as if the object itself had escaped the rules of this world altogether, if only just for a moment.
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"[LAG—TRAIN]"
SNAP!
Within the time it took for Freak's brain to even begin to process the information his eyes were sending him…
BANGGG!
The steel ball dug itself deep into the cat's fur, its muscles twisting under the rotational power!
Buried deep within the cat's flesh, the steel ball suddenly curved away, dragging the creature with it!
Saji swiped his left arm to the side as four blue Absorption lines wrapped around the cat.
Saji gripped his lines with both hands and twisted his body to face Freak; the glowing blue lines trailed behind him as they hardened.
With one swift motion, Saji swung his hands as if wielding an oversized hammer.
The cat was pulled away at incredible speed!
The cat—IT WAS HEADING RIGHT BACK TOWARDS FREAK!!!
Freak opened his mouth slightly in surprise and leaned back, his pink sweater parted open with the movement.
A green aura enveloped him as two ghostly green-clawed hands escaped his chest with green sparkles surrounding them.
Both hands parted…
And from his chest it came; its head was covered with tiny eyes from scalp to the end of its nose, it had hooks pulling on its ears, chains were connected to those hooks, and at the end of the chains were even smaller hooks connected to the gums of its perpetually gritting teeth.
[FACELIFT] thrust its hands into the sky as the cat was about to hit them.
Its claws went right through the middle of the cat, splitting it right down the middle.
Drops of blood landed on Freak's bandages as the cat split open, completely missing him, as both halves of the cat hit the cinema beside him.
The absorption lines holding the cat together split the building as if it were nothing but butter.
Dust exploded into the area, obscuring all of their visions.
Saji recalled his lines and swatted away the dust in front of him.
His gaze landed on Millicas… Saji mouthed one word.
"Run"
Millicas gulped as he dropped his hand, the ball of destruction in it dissipating.
Millicas slowly nodded and turned his gaze to Gengo.
Gengo's eyes were wide as he stared at his older brother.
Millicas wrapped his hands around the waist of the shocked Gengo.
Black wings spread out on Millicas's back completely blowing away the dust around him, and he took flight.
Gengo screamed as he saw the ground get further and further away.
But Millicas paid him no mind; his eyes were as sharp as a blade as he moved as fast as he could.
Only one thought ran through his mind…
'Mother… I have to find Mother!'
Saji, seeing them fly away, gained a dumbfounded look.
He sighed, 'Arizona, huh?'
He turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
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Freak's eyes trembled as he stared, not at the retreating figure of his target… but as he stared at Gasper.
[FACELIFT] floated right beside Freak as it ground its teeth at what it was seeing.
Gasper stood there, his side facing Freak as he was covered in a blue aura.
Slowly, he turned his head dramatically to look at Freak, his crimson eyes outlined with a blue glow.
And directly on his back was [LAGTRAIN], hunched over with one of its arms wrapped around Gasper's neck.
Saji walked up behind Gasper.
"Gasper…" Saji said in a whisper.
Gasper kept his gaze locked onto Freak, not daring to say a word.
"That wasn't magic, right? This guy, is he… is he a Sacred Gear user too?" Saji asked.
Gasper did not respond; he just clenched his eyes shut.
"Saji… do you remember what I told you about [LAGTRAIN]?"
"Your Guardian Spirit thing? What does that have anything to do with this?"
Gasper opened his eyes back up, his gaze dark, "...I haven't been entirely honest with you and Crowley about it, about [LAGTRAIN]."
Saji narrowed his eyes in confusion, "What?"
Gasper exhaled.
His chest felt heavy.
He truly never thought that he would ever have to utter these words.
"It is no Guardian Spirit; it is a being brought forth by my Life Energy… My Fighting Spirit."
Saji listened, trying to see where this was going.
"It is a being that no matter what will always STAND beside you… that is why they are called…"
Gasper clenched his fists.
"[STANDS]!" Gasper screamed out as a drop of sweat rolled down his brow.
"he…hehe…HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Freak tossed his head back and began laughing like a maniac!
"This guy! SAJI, there's no doubt about it!" Gasper furiously pointed at Freak.
Saji's eyes glowed a deep purple as Mana made its way up to his eyes, an outline of a being next to Freak becoming slowly visible.
"HE'S AN ENEMY STAND USER!" Gasper screamed out as if confirming his fears!
"AN ENEMY STAND USER?!?!?" Saji screamed, his eyes wide as he stared right at Gasper.
Saji placed his hands on Gasper's shoulder and started shaking him violently! "Why are you saying that like it explains anything?!"
Gasper:"...."
Gasper sighed. "Because it does; every Stand gets one ability unless it doesn't."
Saji looked at him as if he just spouted blasphemy. "That… literally makes no sense."
Freak's laughter only got louder as Gasper started to lecture Saji.
Freak, staring at the drifting clouds, let out a satisfied sigh. "Today really is my lucky day," he muttered.
The picture with the redhead youth in it fell from his hand, and [FACELIFT] tore it to shreds with a simple swipe of its hand!
"Screw the Job from those old Satan bastards," he muttered to himself as his sickly green eyes gazed at Gasper.
"Boss...…"
He pulled on his hair.
"If I were to bring you a chosen one already awakened…"
"Oh, Boss, you truly are the best~, the most merciful and beautiful Boss~" A blush broke out on Freak's face.
An image flashed before Freak's mind, one of a person covered in shadows…
With glowing Purple eyes.
"You would, wouldn't you…?"
RIP!
The bandages around his neck gave way, and soon enough so did his skin, exposing his neck muscles!
But… there was no blood escaping the wound.
"You would let me stand beside you."
At the sound of tearing, Gasper and Saji turned their full attention towards Freak… only for both to be utterly baffled at what they were witnessing.
Freak tore his own head off!!!
And somehow his headless body threw it right at them!
Gasper's jaw dropped.
Gasper and Saji jumped out of the way as the head hit the floor.
His headless body also fell to the ground, neither head nor body moving.
Gasper blinked in confusion, 'Did he... just kill himself?'
Gasper's eyes widened as he stared at the corpse.
IT WAS SHRINKING!
Slowly, the head and body dissolved, and even the clothes Freak was wearing weren't spared.
Gasper looked around frantically, searching for something, anything that might give him a clue of what was going on.
Saji blinked furiously at the bricks that Freak's body had just dissolved over as if trying to blink it back into existence.
Saji took a step forward.
SQUELCH!
Only for his foot to step on something sticky.
Saji lifted his foot, struggling to take his foot off the ground, but as he struggled free, he saw it…
A pink, almost red-like slime pulling at his shoe.
The slime went back into the ground…
"Gasper…" Saji said, looking at the ground… no, not the ground.
But the bricks that the ground was made of.
In between the cracks of these bricks, there was something resembling bright pink goo!
"GASPER HE'S IN THE FLOOR!" Saji screamed out.
As soon as he said that, eight hands shot up from the ground, all surrounding Saji.
All of them pointing a magic circle at him.
But they did not fire.
"Gasper, was that your name?" a voice called out.
Gasper turned to it and saw a light post with a mouth and an eye slowly forming on it.
Gasper did not respond…
A bubble floated into the air behind him.
Freak chuckled at his silence. "Oh my, no need to be so serious."
"I won't hurt him, trust me~, in fact, I'll even let your friend go, but only if you do something for me."
"Oh, yeah, and what's that?" Gasper said, not trusting a single word coming out of his mouth.
"Well, it's simple really, all you have to do is lie on the ground, and you and I will be on our merry way, doesn't that sound nice?"
"I see, and if I say no?"
"Then I'll kill him," Freak said in a joyful tone.
"I see." Gasper put a hand on his chin. "An enticing offer…"
"But I refuse."
BANG!!!!
Eight gunshots rang out almost simultaneously, all from Saji's direction.
Freak turned his gaze towards his hands, only to see Saji holding two smoking guns.
His hands slowly turned to dust as they smoked.
Saji smirked as he watched how Freak's hands reacted. 'A devil.'
He knew the energy from those magic circles seemed familiar.
But before they could fully crumble away, they exploded into blood.
'Was that Light Energy?!' Freak thought, annoyed at the tingling sensation pricking at his very being.
The eye and mouth from the light pole began to dissipate into blood. "I see, so you have chosen the hard way… What a pity."
The ground beneath them began to shake as cracks formed in the bricks beneath them.
The goo beneath them came to life as it raced upwards, destroying the ground they were standing on!
Gasper opened his wings and took flight as the pink mass followed him into the sky!
Saji thrusted both his hands towards light poles as he jumped into the air, blue lines escaping his hands and warping around them.
He stepped on his line, regaining his footing.
Saji brought one of his guns up, aiming right at the goo in the sky…
A hand suddenly burst from the center of Saji's chest, knocking his arm toward the sky!
BANG!
His gun fired directly into the air!
Saji… felt the back of his hand ripple.
"YOU FOOL! Did you really believe I forgot about you!"
That voice… it came from him!
There was a mouth on the back of his hand!
"BUT HOW?!" Saji screamed out.
Another hand erupted from his side, wrapping around him, then another hand, and then another, wrapping Saji in a cocoon of hands!
Saji tried to wiggle himself out, but a hand clamped down on his mouth and nose.
And the hand turned into pink slime, entering his mouth as another hand covered his eyes.
Gasper, hearing Saji's scream, turned his gaze towards him as he dodged a tentacle strike from the pink mass following behind him.
His eyes widened when he saw the cocoon.
'Just what is his range?!'
Freak was chasing him through the sky and somehow incapacitated Saji on the ground at the same time.
Gasper shot past three birds.
He stared back at the goo following him…
And the goo engulfed the birds he just passed, turning them into amalgamations of flesh and bone that launched themselves right towards him!
Gasper swiped his hand toward them as the clouds around him dissolved into water droplets, rushing into his hand.
A gigantic hand made out of pure water slapped all three birds, sending them racing right to the ground, their new grotesque bodies exploding into blood…
And as soon as that blood was going to hit the ground, something broke through…
It was those same three birds, completely unscathed, taking flight.
Gasper stopped midair, floating in place as he stared right at the birds flying away.
He turned back toward the approaching pulsating mass. 'He can control the form of others…'
The living goo surged toward him.
'But why? Why did he return those birds back to normal? Or better yet, why did he wait until he swallowed them whole to change them?'
Gasper opened his right hand, and from the rubble of the cinema something shot out into the sky…
It was a steel ball.
It landed in his hand, and Gasper…
Let it go.
His wings retracted as gravity took hold of his body.
The goo opened up and engulfed him.
To gamble with someone's life is foolish even if it's your own... and those that do are nothing more than idiots.
that was something he had told Saji long ago...
And yet.
Gasper stared at the cocoon Saji was wrapped inside for a split second.
And felt a strong magical pulse.
His heart was held no doubts... and his eyes held not even a shred of fear.
The pulsating mass... ate Gasper alive.
For a second, the mass stopped wigging in the air, and something came out of it.
A pink pulsating box.
Before the box could fall to the ground, a hand reached out from the goo, grabbing it. The goo slowly took the shape of Freak once more.
He had black bat-like wings on his back.
Freak stared at it with a satisfied smile on his face.
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"AH!" Freak's face twisted in pain.
He whipped his head around to look at the cocoon he trapped Saji in.
BANG!
Freak's eyes narrowed. "What the hell was that?"
BANG!
Freak winced in pain as he felt his whole body shiver. "A gunshot?" he muttered.
BANG!
BANG!
Brilliant white light burst through the gaps between the writhing arms.
Chunks of pink flesh exploded outward as bullets tore through the cocoon from the inside.
Freak brought a hand up to block the light as it only intensified!
The arms around Saji… crumbled away.
Saji bit down hard. Every crunch echoed through his mouth like fireworks.
"Ptui!" Saji spat out a pink goo that turned into nothing but dust in the wind.
Freak clicked his tongue as he slowly descended onto the broken ground.
"How are you still alive?" Freak said as he stuffed the pink box into his pocket.
He could've sworn he'd suffocated him.
Saji brought up his hand and wiped his lips. "You taste disgusting."
Saji's gaze landed on Freak's pocket.
'That's… Gasper's magical signature.'
Did he get captured?
Saji flicked the gunk off his hand. 'No, knowing Gasper, could this be a plan?'
Whether it was a plan or he really did lose… matters not...
For this battle is not OVER.
Saji holstered his guns.
But as he let go of his guns... Two blue lines followed his hands.
"You ask how I'm alive; well that's simple." Saji pointed at Freak with his left hand, his gauntlet's scales glowing under the setting sun. "You took away the very thing I needed to live…"
Freak stared into Saji's eyes…
And saw nothing but a void.
"So I took it back... and your hands had nothing left. Their cells were starved of oxygen to the point of being so weak that even being close to light made them crumble."
Saji took a step forward and blurred forward.
Freak looked at Saji as if he were an idiot; he was willingly getting closer!
WHAT A FOOL!
Saji planted his feet on the uneven ground and swung his fist right at Freak's face!
BAM!
The punch snapped Freak's head to the side.
"You dumbass," Freak said, practically cackling.
Right on Saji's knuckles, an arm exploded outward and swung straight at Saji's head with no mercy!
Only for it to crumble before it ever reached its target.
Freak's eyes widened as a familiar sensation washed over him.
Saji cocked his left fist back.
Freak looked at Saji's fist; it was covered with a thin veil of white energy!
No, not just his fist but his whole body!
Saji brought his fist forward.
Freak's head split open right before the punch connected, letting Saji's fist pass right through.
Saji pivoted on his feet and dug his knee right into the freak's gut, sending him flying through the air.
Freak spat out blood.
And those droplets of blood took the shape of wasps heading straight for Saji.
Saji gripped a light pole right next to him and ripped it out of the ground.
Saji raced forward, spinning the light pole around, destroying every wasp that came his way with each swing!
Freak took a step back, but Saji swung right at him with the light pole.
Freak ducked under the swing, his fingertips slowly tracing the pole's structure.
His fingers smoked as he touched it.
Saji let go of the pole and caught it with his left hand, stabbing it forward.
A ghostly green hand escaped from Freak's shoulder and struck the light pole, cutting off its head!
Saji's gauntlet fired a line.
Freak grabbed the pole's body and tugged on it, ignoring his smoking hand.
Saji was pulled forward.
Freak extended an open hand right toward Saji's face.
PLAP!
Right as Freak's hand touched Saji's face, Saji tightened his grip on the pole.
CLICK!
The absorption line rushed back into the gauntlet!
BAM!
The head of the light pole hit the back of Freak's head!
Freak's head was forcefully pushed by the momentum, making him stare at the ground—only to see a fist bury itself right into his face.
BAM!
The sheer force of the impact lifted Freak clean off the ground.
"[FACELIFT]" Freak said calmly.
[FACELIFT] formed into existence right beside Freak and raised its leg, kicking Saji right on the side, sending him flying!
"AGH!" Saji groaned as he flipped himself while airborne; he stabbed the pole into the ground as he skidded to a stop.
Saji stood up, leaving his pole embedded in the ground.
Pink goo came to life on his face in the same shape as Freak's hand, only for it to begin steaming away.
The thin white aura around Saji died with the goo.
A crazed smile spread across Freak's face. 'So that aura… it's finite.'
Saji drew both of his guns and released their magazines, letting gravity take hold of them.
As they hit the ground, completely normal bullets fell out.
Freak licked the blood from his broken nose as it snapped back into place on its own.
Saji let out a long breath and stopped on the ground...
Two new magazines flew into the air on his sides.
With one swift motion, Saji swept both hand cannons to his sides, the two new magazines slipping in.
Freak took a step forward.
The same white aura enveloped Saji once more as he holstered one of his hand cannons.
Saji grabbed the pole with his free hand and pulled it out of the ground. 'These are my last two magazines.'
Saji took a step forward and planted his foot.
'If this fight goes on any longer…'
Freak's approaching figure reflected in Saji's eyes.
Saji gripped the pole tight.
'Then I'll lose.'
←–TO BE CONTINUED—