Careful Not To Break Reality

As Rydel got closer and closer, there is still not a sign of movement coming from Dolon. Instead, she simply remained in the exact same position as before like a statue as her grey armor was burned quite severely and turned black. The storm of lightning at this time is undoubtedly more severe and dangerous than the one before due to the fact that Dolon is likely stronger than before, and the surge of electricity is more powerful, as it comprises of dozens of jolts of electricity from Dolon's previous attacks.

'Dolon! Wake up!' Stepping around yet another disabled camera drone, Rydel slid down the face mask and yelled.

There was still not a single hint of movement. Was she really knocked out and are just standing because of her exoskeleton supporting her? Or did he accidentally kill...

Rydel shook his head harshly and expelled that thought from his mind. As he finally got near Dolon, he saw a flicker from one of her arms, and then all four of her blades suddenly appeared in her palms and they came from four different angles and slid through Rydel! He was only able to react in time to raise the clubs overhead and created a pair of shields in his obliques. The electrically charged blades dug deep into his skin and pierced through the very first layer of shielding. However, the mobilized nanotechnology drones on both sides of the cut flesh was able to prevent the blades from advancing further into his body and towards his vital organs.

Rydel screamed out in pain as the nanosized drones immediately went over to overload the pain sensors along his body, stopping the sensation from preventing him to fight. His thumbs found the trigger for the coiling mechanisms within his clubs and fired away, the head of the club expanded rapidly as the electromagnets were engaged, knocking Dolon and Rydel back away from each other.

Rydel quickly looked down to his sides to see the severity of the w.o.m.bs, and it seemed like the nanotechnology drones have already begun to heal it's wounds, though he could feel the movement impairing effects already starting to spread from his sides. At least Dolon was still alive, though she masterfully manipulated Rydel and landed a devastating blow. These sort of tactics really reminds Rydel of how he fights. Dolon never needed such tactics, for her own mastery in the art of combat is often sufficient.

'You...the enemy! I will kill you!' Then, he heard her crackling voice escaping from face mask. As she edged slowly towards Rydel step by step and shedding the burnt armor with each stride like a snake shedding skin, Rydel once again saw the slim body shape of the female Aquarian who taught him so much. However, there are as many scars and damaged body parts as there are on Valerie's body, at some places, her flesh is fully fused and grown into her exoskeleton, where for Aquarians the exoskeletons are designed to functions like clothes!

What the hell has Dolon been through...Rydel can't help but wonder what has been happening to his mentor when he was grinding away at the Academy. Her voice sounded like she has been dehydrated for days, and the only means of conversation between her and any other being in existence is through a relentless type of shouting.

Then, she started running towards Rydel, the blades spinning in her hands as she prepared for yet another deadly attack. Without the hindrance of burnt armor, she was moving even quicker than before.

Rydel sprinted backwards away from Dolon as quickly as he can and threw away the now useless battery suit. Then, Dolon pointed Lightning Rod down onto the ground and attempted to use the ever shifting arena floor tiles to hop into the air once again, however there was no response except from dirt and rocks being splattered underneath her feet. It seems like the storm of electricity really has disabled everything from within the arena.

His plan was a success, and now nobody will be able to know what's happening here. Not the streamers, not the annoying commentator, and not the higher echelon's of Absolute Being.

This is really just between Dolon and Rydel.

As she marches in and lets out a string of precise attacks to Rydel's body, he also expertedly moved back and out of the way of those attacks and occasionally parried it with a strike of his own. He continually tried to find a chance for a counter attack, but there is not a single opening in Dolon's movement that he could replicate.

Rydel tried to move faster, but Dolon was matching him stride for stride. Initially, they were all moving at baseline elite human and Aquarian combat speed, then as Rydel sped up and punched the ground hard to step way from an impending attack to his right leg, Dolon also dialed up her own speed.

Soon, they have surpassed the range of movement speed as granted by the physiological enhancement and then that of nanotechnology enhancements. Their each and every move, change in position and direction are now too difficult for eye to catch, and when Rydel has finally exhausted all of his potential speed increases, he was terrified to see that Dolon is still moving faster and faster.

No, she wasn't matching him stride for stride, move for move. She was toying with him.

Then, a single blade slipped past his defense, and another knocked him hard in the t.h.i.g.hs, though Rydel was quick enough to shield up and absorbed the worst of it.

Despite all of his practice, Rydel simply can't even keep up with the Aquarian's movement. This is unsustainable, and he have to break out of this as soon as he can!

Releasing a flash grenade from Rydel's hip, he used this opportunity to get as far back away from Dolon as possible and reached out with his left hand and activated his artifact in order to grab her blades from her hand. He felt the blades sliding from his fingers when Dolon appeared right in front of him and pinned the Lightning Rod in the middle of the c.h.e.s.t.

Every single cell and nanosized drone within Rydel's body is screaming for him to move out of the way, but there is nothing he can do. Dolon was moving too fast even for his activation of his glove!

'Die, enemy, and stop coming back!'

'I am not your...'

Before Rydel could finish, a jolt of lightning sent him flying away once again, and this time Rydel fell hard on the ground. His head hurting, his ears ringing and his vision blurry.

'Dolon! Listen, it's me, Rydel.....' Rydel tried to talk some sense into Dolon, but she was already sprinting back towards him and aimed on dealing a killing blow. This time, with her own power, she stepped onto the ground and jumped high up in the air, aiming to kill Rydel with all of her remaining strength.

'Stop!' Rydel yelled out, and grabbed her from mid air with his artifact. The Aquarian is now trapped within the space as created by his glove. He pressed himself up with his right hand and tried not to accidentally squash Dolon from within his hand, and he tossed her far away. She reappeared in mid air and landed to the ground meters underneath her feet, but just far away. Rydel clearly saw the exoskeleton crumbling underneath her feet during her last take off, and he wasn't sure if she will survive falling from high in the air without her armor protecting her from kinetic-type impacts like falls, take offs and bullets.

Dolon seemed to have noticed that too, as she bent down to examine the shapes of her exoskeleton after she got back up on the other side of the arena. Taking this time, Rydel mustered enough energy and concentration to stand back onto his feet and headed back to the container to stock up on supplies and taking out the second battery pack jacket, but he didn't put it on, and instead kept it in it's most compact form and tied it from his belt.

Before long, Dolon started approaching Rydel again, though the speed of her movement was slightly less than before, now that she is being mindful of her movement. When humans undergo physiological enhancements, their muscle force output is increased alongside with the increase in bone strength, so that one's physical durability is never far exceeded by their physical capabilities, leading to injuries. For Aquarians, things doesn't necessarily work this way as they do not possess internal bodily skeletons, and have to rely on exoskeleton to move in any non-aquatic environments. As their power increases more and more, they also needed to make sure that their exoskeleton is at least some what close to their capabilities, though due to the small number of Aquarians getting to this stage, not much process has been made in this field.

And it didn't seem like Dolon made such a change, or even if she did, the improvement in the exoskeleton's strength still isn't keeping up with her own power.

As Dolon started accelerating towards Rydel, he can see her charging up Lightning Rod as electricity webs around her with every movement. Responding to such attacks, Rydel met it with his very own artifact, reaching out with his left hand and summoning a piece of rock from underneath the ground and launching it towards Dolon.

The pile of rubble flew towards her at a blistering speed, and she has no other option than to step rapidly to the side and avoid it. But the instant she moved out of the way from the first rock, Dolon found herself standing in the trajectory of yet another rocking flying towards her. She moved rapidly once again, avoiding the side of the exoskeleton that was already bent before and rolled to the side this time. But Rydel did not give her a single moment to breath, as he continually takes out chunks of material from underneath them and launching it towards Dolon.

Knowing that Dolon would avoid the side of her exoskeleton suit that collapsed under her before, Rydel has predicted exactly which way she is going to evade to with a strong side step going in the opposite direction. The current tactic is merely just to overload the other side and cause that one to collapse as well and hinder Dolon's mobility. If she isn't dashing around the battlefield looking for a way to cut Rydel's head off, then things would get a lot easier.

Dolon seemed to have realized what Rydel has intended to do and how unsustainable to current state is. She could already feel her leg wobbling under the weight as her exoskeleton is slowly giving out. Looking at the rubble about to crash into him, she prepared herself.

'Hmmm?' Rydel was expecting to see Dolon evading to the same side again, but she didn't appear. Was she trying to throw off his timing? Keeping the pile of rubble in his left hand, he scanned the battle field for her. That's when previous rubble still in flight exploded and Dolon emerged from the center accompanied by a crack of lightning. She landed and immediately charged towards Rydel, completely ignoring the state of her exoskeleton underneath her feet. Backing off accordingly to judge her speed and distance, Rydel turned his body and launched the pile of rubble in his left hand.

The lightning hits it once again, and the rock exploded. This sort of attack takes a lot more energy and effort than to evade it, but it is a counter to Rydel nonetheless. As she held her blades up high and split the rocks after the lightning rod cracked it wide open, she saw Rydel jumping towards her instead.

Instead of being reactive like he did for all the fight before, Rydel has taken a proactive stance and charged towards Dolon first. She wasn't expecting this, though she still reacted accordingly. Rydel was holding onto the maces, the coiling mechanism within it wound up and ready. He swung it from his left to his right and aimed to overpower whatever defense Dolon is going to put up.

In response, she lined up all four of her blades and tanked the impact of the maces, but she wasn't ready for the coiling mechanism and was thrown to the side as Rydel pressed down the trigger. However, she was still holding onto the blade, and it seemed like the coiling mechanism within the maces just aren't enough to knock the blades out of enhacned Aquarians this easy like before.

With that knowledge, Rydel knew that the tactics he has used against Gold in their encounter isn't going to work this time.

After taking the hit, Dolon seemed like she was out of it for a good while as she lied motionless in the pile of shattered rocks, her grey suit dirtied by the dust and dirt. Instead of approaching, Rydel reached out with his hand and warped away the blades from within Dolon's hands one by one and throwing it outside of the arena and into the empty viewing stands.

Rydel may not be able to use his artifact to fight directly, but that doesn't mean he can't use it as a weapon.

'NO!' She screamed as the blades she hold so dear to her heart disappeared from within her grasp, 'You! Why are you doing this!'

'Me?' Rydel asked as he tossed away the last of her four blades, 'knock yourself out of it, Dolon! I am Rydel!' Then Rydel walked closer and closer towards her, trying to figure out exactly what's happening.

Dolon shook her head violently as he approaches and screamed out in pain. Then, she rolled to her side and brought the arm bearing Lightning Rod out and pointed it towards Rydel. He immediately brought out the battery pack tied to his side and got ready to take in her power. However, she didn't fire.

Instead, her artifact arm are shaking as the other arms reached out for her head as she screamed in pain even more. Then, she yanked back the artifact arm and pinned it against her own head, and fired. A jolt of lightning traveled from her shoulder up her arm and entered through the gaps in her helmet. A brilliant light flashed in front of him as Rydel covered his eyes and then, it's over.

Dolon laid on the rubble motionless, and Rydel can tell that this isn't a fake like before. He walked towards her and knelt down beside her to look at her mentor up close. The face mask of the exoskeleton suit is heavy burnt, and a thick black fluid flowed out of the breathing gaps. Rydel reached forward and pressed the release for the mask before gently sliding it off.

There was no smooth Aquarian skin underneath her face, but instead it's a dry and wrinkled Dolon. The thick black fluids are rushing out from underneath her skin, and there seemed to be no stopping it.

'Scan.' Rydel pulled out his personal interface and tried to understand what exactly that is, 'identify substance.'

There was no response, and it seemd like his personal interface was fried during the storm of electricity.

'It's...it's my blood.....' Dolon's weak and cracked voice came, and Rydel looked down to see her reaching out one of her arms. There was no more urge to fight, no more aggression. She just wanted something to hold onto, and Rydel reached out to take her hand.

'Don't say silly things, Dolon. I know what Aquarian bloods look like.' Rydel shook his head, 'what is it?'

'Figuratively, dummy Rydel...' Dolon replied with a weak voice, 'just so you know, you didn't beat me, I beat myself...'

'You are not making any sense, Dolon.' Rydel smiled as he shook his head and wiped away a tear in his eye, 'come on, we need to get out of here. Let's go home.'

'No, it's not that easy... They are coming.....' Dolon dragged Rydel down as he was about to get up, 'they knew. They can see through me, they controlled me...no, I let them.....'

'Don't be silly. We lost you because they captured you.' Rydel tried to move her along, but she refused to budge, 'I don't know what they did to you, but I will not forgive them!'

'What I did to myself was much worse than what they did to me...' Dolon continued on, 'I fought hard in the beginning against them, I cannot defeat Lady Lily, but I can sure as well do a lot of damage. Then...then they tricked me and performed enhancements on my body, and something else.'

'What's is it?'

'Somehow, there is a higher level to the nanotechnology enhancements, and it seemed like they could also cloud your judgement and make you see things differently. For me, I saw endless glorious combat against worthy opponents.'

Rydel didn't reply as he processed what Dolon has said. Is she saying that by offering recruits nanotechnology enhancements, Absolute Being is also using that mechanism to mind control them?

'How long would it take for the results to set in?' Rydel asked, 'Am I being controlled right now?'

'It's subtle, and you have to let it come, as I have. You can fight it, you can definitely fight it, but I didn't. All those lives...I am....I am so sorry...; Now realising what has been happening over the past many months, as she thought everything was merely a glorious and endless combat, she slaughtered forty nine other challengers. And the worst of it was that she enjoyed every minute of it. The drones floating in her visual cortex and her brain is telling her that she is fighting the enemy, that she is fighting the good fight. That's why she was so ruthless and aggressive.

Rydel decided not to tell her about her fights being streamed across the region.

He held her hand tightly and sighed, 'My hands aren't clean either. For me to get to this stage, I had to do what was necessary.'

'All that just for me? Is it worth it?'

'You are my friend, Dolon. And I have come to the edge of the known galaxy for you.' Rydel smiled at her, though he doubt she could still see him.

'Ah.....that's really nice to hear.' Dolon relaxed her body and releases Rydel's hand, 'Thank you for coming here for me, and now I think I can finally rest...You have become strong, Rydel. Take it and go out there and save the galaxy...take it...'

'WHAT?' Rydel turned sharply and looked at Dolon, and saw that her troubled soul has already left her body. He wasn't expecting this at all, but his mentor, the one person he came all this way to save and bring home, has just past away in his arms with a smile on her face. Rydel shook her arm, and reached out to her heart, his whole body shaking out of shock and fear. There was no pulse, no movement.

Nothing.

Dolon is really gone.

Rydel sat there and looked at her body, his mind blank and his body numb. He doesn't know what to do anymore.

Suddenly, he felt a tingling sensation, and a sense of danger welled up from within him. Someone was coming in from the tunnels, and he could clearly hear two distinct footsteps. One sounded like a giant military boot, and the other sounded like a high heel.

Rydel turned and looked towards the entrance, and his heart sank.