User blog:Baluar/God Eater: Fall of the Heavens, chapter 16: Blackest Night

No, the title is not referencing a certain comic book crossover storyline. And I'm not being sarcastic, it really isn't.

-It seems that pretty much anything we try is useless against this bastard. - Bal calmly said, holding his Sword and making it rest in his right shoulder. His calm tone was a weird thing, Lina thought, considering that they were running away at an extremely high pace from the Shadow, after all their attacks were ineffectual.

First, despite having an experienced God Eater telling him Sword was ineffectual, Baluar tried to slash the Shadow to pieces, to no success. The Sword part moved through the Aragami as if it was made of nothing but thin air. He knew that the attack would very likely fail, but nevertheless, being someone who first and foremost fights in melee, he wanted to be certain that he wouldn't waste time fighting in a way different from his, only to realize that he could have made things easier from the beginning.

After avoiding a few of the Shadow's ranged attacks, both God Eaters changed from Blade (and Spear) mode to Gun mode and tried to shoot the Aragami to pieces. To both of the God Eaters' terror, the bullets proved ineffectual too, as even their mightiest Radial bullets didn't affect the gaseous Aragami at all.

-I-I don't understand. Normally even standard Bullets prove sufficient against them. - Lina said, sounding mildly discomforted at worst.

-Now it's not time to say "Why?". Now it's time to think? What could we possibly do that may make it vulnerable? - Baluar asked back. After thinking for a second (while avoiding the Shadow's attacks), he decided to throw a flashbang, to see if, maybe, the Aragami became vulnerable after being stunned.

-It didn't work. Shock. - Lina said, with the most unemotional tone she could.

-Hey, at least I'm trying, unlike you-know-who... - Baluar said.

After having being on the run from the Aragami for hours and finding themselves out of the city and in the dark wastes, Baluar suddenly buried his right foot in the ground and turned one hundred and eighty degrees to face their opponent. Lina stopped suddenly, but lacking the Aragami-enhanced senses and physical capabilities she stumbled before being able to turn around.

-This is it. Either I kill it here or I die trying. - Baluar said. He then turned around to look at Lina. - You're free to go away.

-I'm not leaving you alone. This is MY Branch, MY responsibility. - Lina answered.

-Very well. If that's the case, then you might want to hide behind me, because things are about to get ugly.

-You have a plan. - Lina's words were more of a statement than an actual question.

-You thought I'd ever run this far from an opponent? - He said with a confident smirk. He pulled something out of his right pocket, keeping it in a tight grasp; afterwards, he moved his thumb outwards relative to his hand, and threw something directly towards the shadow. Lina saw it was a round object.

Realizing it was a grenade just a second before the actual explosion happened, she threw herself to the ground. While the grenade itself wasn't that large, the explosion that followed was much larger than anyone would expect from an object that size. In fact, it was so large than after she got up, Lina was surprised to see Baluar still standing there, apparently not bothered one bit with the huge explosion that had taken place before him.

-And? - Lina asked.

-My coat's all charred! - Baluar answered. Lina punched him in the back of the head.

-I was talking about, you know, that large Aragami that was pursuing us?

-Do you see any Aragami nearby?

After another round of snark combat, they began our way back to base.

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