This was bad news. Very bad news. Diego clutched Misa tighter and took a step back as the abomination took a step forward in response. The two brothers looked at each other for a split second and nodded. "Run." They retreated and tried to escape the monster behind them.
"Get her to safety! I'll try to hold it off!" Diego yelled and tossed Misa to Romeo. The boy caught her and kept moving. Diego was tough, but was he tough enough to fight an S-rank? Romeo looked back at Diego from the corner of his eye but that's when he heard the sickening sound. THWACK!!! The abomination closed the gap between itself and Diego in an instant and slammed two of its four massive arms straight into Diego's chest in a brutal lariat attack. Diego's body shot forward and right past Romeo before he could process what just happened. The abomination ignored both Romeo and Misa which gave him the opportunity to move her to safety.
Diego crashed through dozens of buildings and large trees until he finally came to a painful stop in an uncompleted construction site multiple metres tall in the arena. He almost passed out and could barely feel any part of his body. He strained his neck far enough to see the damage the attack did and honestly, he wished he hadn't. His chest had caved in and his skin had been split wide open in bloodied flaps of flesh. Most of his ribs were either shattered completely or poking out of his opened chest. Dark blood poured out of the gaping wound, exposing destroyed lung tissue and rib fragments. The entire centre of his chest was a ruined, sunken crater of mangled flesh, shattered bones and damaged organs. Diego gasped for breath but his lungs burned with unimaginable pain. The structure above him gave out from the damage of his impact and collapsed on him with a loud crash that was loud enough to be heard throughout the arena.
The abomination's steps shook the earth as it got closer and closer. It saw the debris Diego was buried in and groaned in frustration.
"Hopefully he isn't dead," it said to itself. It lifted all four of its arms and slammed them together. The shock wave from the impact blew all the dust and debris forward and Diego as well. It spotted him and lunged forward, grabbing him before he could disappear in the debris. It landed on the ground and observed its prey. Diego had passed out either from the hellish pain or the blood loss and his chest could barely be recognised. It grimaced in disgust and slung him over its shoulder as more blood gushed out of the wound.
"Mercer," a voice suddenly yelled from behind it. The abomination turned and a scowl covered its face. Standing on the rubble behind it were Frost, Paige and King.
"You're an abomination hundreds of years old. What is a monster like you doing here?" Paige questioned. Frost noticed Diego on Mercer's shoulder and his eyes grew cold with shock and then murderous intent.
"You're dead..." he whispered and stretched his katana out, ready to strike but out of nowhere, dark barriers grew and trapped all three of them. Frost growled loudly but schooled his expression back to cold when he finally saw the person who was behind both the veil around the arena and the one currently surrounding them.
"I should have known it was you, Mora," Frost said as he lowered his katana. King's gaze followed Frost's and he saw Mora walking up to the abomination known as Mercer. He had lost his right arm and eye to Diego but still kept his large axe on his back. He had used his Matrix Barrier to seal them all in and now it made more sense.
"I've trapped most of the other students. I'll take care of the rest soon enough. Where's the bastard we were supposed to grab?" Mora asked, completely ignoring the three people he just trapped in his barrier.
"Are you blind or something?" Mercer asked in confusion. He pointed to his shoulder and said "He's right... here..." Diego was nowhere to be found.
Diego had regained consciousness and managed to slip away before Mercer could realise. He dragged himself far from the abomination until he was in another dense forest in the arena. He crumbled to the ground and leaned on a tree as his breathing weakened.
He heard a low rustle a few feet away and from behind a tree emerged a girl. She wore glasses and had a small backpack strapped to her back. She took steady steps towards Diego and crouched beside him. He tried to speak but his throat burned and blood spurted out of the large wound.
"Shh... don't try to speak. I'm here to help," she whispered and opened her bag. From it, she pulled out a massive first aid kit and prepared to tend to Diego. "I'm Ayame by the way," she said and at that same moment, Diego passed out again, his head landing on her shoulder. Ayame gasped in surprise and out of nowhere, Zany teleported and appeared behind her with Romeo by her side.
"You found him, good," Zany said but then she noticed the intimate position they were in and her body heated up with jealousy. Her witch form sprung to life and her aura turned purple. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH HIM!" Zany yelled and Ayame lifted her hands up in fear. Diego's head slipped off her shoulder and fell to the ground which made him whimper in pain. Zany turned even more furious but Romeo ignored them both. He looked down at Diego and scowled deeply.
"Zany. My brother... he's dying," Romeo said and both girls turned to him. Romeo looked... sad... but angry at the same time.
"Ayame can patch him up. Don't worry yourself too much," Zany reassured and held the boy's hand. A moment later, she teleported all four of them out of the forest and into a small building where Misa was. She was sitting cross-legged and clearly lost in thought. There were a few bandages on her body but other than that, she was fine. When Zany and the others arrived, her eyes lit up in relief but when she saw Diego, they dimmed.
"What happened to him?" she asked frantically and rushed to his side as soon as they laid him down on the ground.
"The abomination that attacked you did this to him... take care of my brother," Romeo said and left the room without another word.
"Should we stop him? If he tries taking that thing on, he'll die for sure," Ayame asked as she watched him leave.
"It's best you leave him to do what he wants," Zany shrugged and looked at Misa from the corner of her eye. Unlike Diego, she wasn't injured after her encounter with Mercer and that was odd but then again, she was a Homura. Zany watched as Misa brushed off a strand of red hair off his face affectionately and she got irritated once again as her fangs came on display and she shifted closer.
When Mercer had realised Diego had escaped, he went out in search for him. He followed the trail of blood he had left until he reached the tree where Diego had been with Ayame and Zany. The trail abruptly ended and the abomination scratched its head in confusion. In the distance, Mercer saw a small figure moving closer and closer until he recognised it as Romeo.
"You're the angel from before," Mercer said. To him, Romeo was just another nuisance that would try to get in its way and nothing more. Romeo's composure didn't falter as he kept walking towards the large abomination. His eyes looked hollow but there was anger beneath them. Mercer leaned down and brought his face to Romeo's level. "You're close to the red head. Tell me where he is and I'll spare you," Mercer negotiated but Romeo stared into his eyes instead.
Romeo lifted one small arm and slowly stretched it back. Mercer's eyes followed the arm as it slowly turned into a fist. THWACK!!! Romeo crushed his fist straight into the abomination's jaw and the force sent it tumbling back a few steps. Mercer stared at Romeo in shock. The boy was strong. Not strong enough to pose a threat but strong. His shocked expression slowly morphed into a deep grin.
"Not bad for an angel," Mercer praised. Romeo held his dead gaze and snapped his fingers. In an instant, an intense surge of pain shot through Mercer's face and he gasped in pain. He held his face and gasped loudly. A trickle of blood oozed out of his face and he knew in an instant... this boy was dangerous. "What did you do to me!" Mercer yelled.
"You made one mistake. You touched my brother," Romeo whispered coldly and took a step forward. The earth underneath him got frozen in ice and so did all the trees surrounding him. "I don't care who or what you are... You don't get to hurt him and leave breathing. Congratulations... you just became my problem."
END OF CHAPTER 15