A small compartment opened in the steel goliath's frame, sending out an object through the sky. Seven locked onto it, jumping up as he caught what was sent his way.
The Fulminare attempted to move over to intercept him, only for a high-powered shot to zoom by. It arrived with a shock wave that blew through the sand, forcing Alta back.
A railgun extended from the towering weapon's arm, exuding steam.
'Nice,' Seven thought.
In his hand, he found an earpiece, quickly putting it in and tapping it, "Haoyu?—"
"//Good, you got it! This baby is up and running—it's amazing!//" Haoyu's voice relayed with unprecedented emotion.
"//We'll provide support now!//" May assured.
Seven took the news like a breath of fresh air, though glanced back towards the frozen comrade, relaying the news. "Alexander, he's…frozen. I don't know if he's going to make it—"
"//His vitals aren't depleted…They're faint, but it's something. We'll be able to provide recovery for him, but first comes surviving this encounter,//" Haoyu informed.
That was the truth of it that he knew well, watching the kicked-up sand disperse as a wave of frost roared outward.
Alta stood there with a disgruntled look on his golden face, forging an icy spear into his hand, "Come then—let us dance until death begs us otherwise."
He immediately dashed to the right, making the Fulminare chase after him.
"Running?!" Alta shouted.
While he couldn't deny it, he looked back, making sure there was distance between them and his frozen friend. As he moved, he slapped his hands against his chest, repeating the action a few times before emerald sparks hissed.
'Good—I've got a charge,' he thought.
Running down the frozen road between mountainous plateaus, he immediately pivoted, spinning around to confront the pursuer.
The spear of ice was already being thrust, closing in on the right side of his face. Milliseconds were all that were afforded, holding his hand out as the sharp-green sparks formed into a condensed point and fired.
It released by piercing the sound barrier, colliding directly with the spear as it shattered its form upon contact. The destruction of the weapon gave him a clear opening to close the distance, stepping forward and leading with a sharp knee that he aimed for the golden figure's chest.
"Hff," Alta exhaled with a focused look as he slid back on the sleet.
As the distance was placed between them, the earpiece relayed the words of the man operating the Erebus, "//This mech is outfitted with everything…If you can get clear of the Fulminare for just a few seconds, I'll provide an orbital strike. It should work to repel the cold, too.//"
"Got it," Seven responded, keeping his eyes on the swift enemy before him.
It was easier said than done to maintain distance on the Fulminare, even as he sprinted with his legs at full strength, surpassing even a bullet train, Alta was right on his heels.
'I need to be faster,' he urged himself.
[Enhancing leg strength; expanding respiratory functions.]
[EXP: +50] [903/1000]
By the gift of his System, he found a shift in the power with his legs, able to draw deeper breaths in tandem as he sprinted with a greater intensity. As he ran, he slapped his chest, repeating the action as he glanced back, trying to gauge where the Fulminare was behind him–
A massive pillar of ice was all he found, quickly soaring towards his position. He raised his boot, slamming it down firmly as the thin layer of frost on the road shattered. The force ignited the sparks within his body, fueling the electricity as the emerald glow reignited.
In the same instant, he pushed his fist forward, expelling the bolt born of kinetic energy directly against the front of the glacial giant. Right behind the broken ice, the golden figure leapt in, forcing him to slip back.
Alta befell the road with a hammer of frost, slamming it down as the impact crushed the asphalt into pieces. There was no need to counter; Seven instead bolted in the opposite direction, feeling the cold chasing right behind him.
"Alright, I've got some distance!" Seven relayed into the earpiece.
Even as he said that, he found those words not protecting him as from the Fulminare's position, creations of absolute winter were born. What resembled serpents large enough to coil around skyscrapers slithered into the sky, lunging towards him as they moved in different directions.
'Gotta build energy!' He urgently thought.
Running backwards, he pumped his fists against his chest, not holding back at all as his heart thumped wildly. The sparks built, though he didn't stop, continuing to hit himself while the ice-born snakes closed in from above.
[Kinetic energy stored, reaching higher output of discharge.]
Along the edges of the neighboring cliffs, the foremost serpent dragged across the jagged rocks with its glacial form, baring its hollow jaws. From all angles, the frozen familiars closed on his position as he slapped himself once more.
With the echoing impact, the verdant electricity hissed with a greater intensity, summoning the unstable element through his hands.
"Come on."
All at once, the giant, serpentine heads surrounded him, only leaving him to flex his arms. The built-up energy releases with shining bolts.
Like cannons firing off, shock waves released, followed by the shattering of the snake heads. A hail of ice befell the road, raining down as mist quickly settled in. It was only then that he noticed the object hanging in the sky, exactly above the position of the Fulminare; a rotating disk of steel humming with intense energy.
"//The strike is coming–keep your distance, Seven!//" May's voice came through.
Into a set of three rings, the hovering disk descended from widest to smallest, staying connected by the bright-blue force that rapidly built up from above. Seven watched before sprinting further just as the rings fired, guiding a pillar of pure, unfiltered energy right down onto the unprepared invader.
All at once, the air contracted then expanded, infused with an unnatural heat that ignited the oxygen in the immediate area of impact.
"Holy shit…!" Seven watched, having to hold his arm in front of his face as the winds roared past him.
The light was blinding; the sheer radiance of the judgment that descended the heavens themselves made it impossible not to squint. From the sky to the earth, the ray shook it all, leaving an ear-rending hum screaming through the valley before—it dispersed.
"Haaaah…" He slowly exhaled, lowering his arm as he viewed the scenery left by the orbital punishment.
A crater was left in the road, charred to a blackened husk of what once was. It smelled like a toasty campfire, so strongly that the smokeyness invaded his nose. Ash fluttered in the air like corrupted snowflakes, yet triumphantant in their presence.
"We did it–we got him," Seven muttered, catching his breath.
As the relief came, the earpiece buzzed in, "//Seven, the Fulminare–we're still picking up detections of life!//"
"What?--" Seven responded, grabbing his ear as if somehow he could touch the engineer.
"//That blast used most of the energy Erebus had stored…It's not responding to any commands right now!//" Haoyu informed.
At the very apex of his confusion, the air whistled by his ear, quickly succeeded by a sharp sensation that ran across his shoulder. Looking forward, he witnessed multiple projectiles following the first, ducking his head and rolling to the side.
The blades of ice passed, leaving him catching his breath as he set his sight on the center of the ashen crater. There it stood; the golden-skinned Fulminare remained on his feet with a torn uniform, bearing a body covered in cuts and bruises.
"Hfff…Nngh…" Alta breathed and winced, looking right back at him.
While he was well aware of just how study the Fulminare could be, seeing the figure still breathing after being subject to the entirety of the land-shaking strike left him speechless.
Within the main cockpit of the colossal robot that served as an entire chamber of operations, the others watched from a distance, carrying the same disbelief.
May stood by the console, looking at the screen, "...Even after that, it's still standing?"
"They didn't push humanity into a corner by being easy to kill," Haoyu responded, though seemed to carry the same disbelief.
Shin huffed, ruffling his hair as he sat against one of seats within the black-steel room, "I should be out there right now–"
"You'd be dead-dead, Shin, super dead," Lily responded, kicking her legs from the chair she sat in.
"Hey–well, you're probably not wrong," Shin couldn't deny.