User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater:Universitas, chapter 41: Between One and Zero, part 6

At Sigma’s words, two things happened almost simultaneously.

First, as the portal opened, Idenn’s body disappeared at the instant Idenn herself leapt down, landing on the surface of the helipad. She placed her right hand on her chest and immediately vanished, leaving a small crater where she used to be and appearing instantly in front of Feldman’s barrier. She placed her hand on Feldman’s barrier this time—and it instantly dissolved, as though it had never existed.

Second, Nanako reached out with her variant scythe towards Feldman, extending the blade and stabbing it into the ground before performing a Cleave Fang, retracting the blade and pulling herself forward, sending herself rocketing towards Feldman with her buster blade prepared to strike.

Frantically, Feldman threw up another barrier, but Idenn dissipated it in much the same way, lightly placing her hand on it and shattering it in a single instant.

“What the…” Feldman began, his mind racing. “What’s… what’s going on?! Nanako, what are you—?!”

“Sorry, Feldman,” Nanako replied as her buster blade found its home in Feldman’s torso, erupting out the other side of his body like a knife piercing a sheet of paper, “but I decided to throw my lot in with the side of justice. You see, I care too much about this world to see it go to waste under your tyrannical rule and the destruction you’d cause… so, after discussing our little chat last night with Sigma, we decided on this course of action. I’d pretend to kill C and Idenn, taking extra care to miss their vital organs. After that, Kaitlin would turn against me, and I’d ‘kill’ her as well.”

“Then…”  Feldman was panicking. “C and Kaitlin, they’re still…!!”

“—Dead?” interjected Nanako. “Hardly. You see, they might be on death’s door right now…”

Nanako pulled her buster blade out of Feldman’s body, Horizon energy beginning to heal Feldman’s wound.

“…but we were counting on them reaching the Horizon themselves in what their minds told them would their last moments. Their determination to fulfill their goals before they died would give them the resolve necessary to reach the Horizon and gain power for themselves… and you played right into our trap. Game over.”

“N-Nonsense!” came Feldman’s frantic reply. “You think you have me beaten? LIKE HELL!! I’m not done yet…”

With those words, Feldman raised his Boundary God Arc on high…

“COME TO ME! BOUNDARY GAWAIN!!!”

A massive portal opened up above them, its edges wreathed in flames that were a pale shade of blue instead of the usual green. From within the portal, four massive arms gripped the edges and forced them apart, allowing the Boundary Aragami inside to pass through and land on the ground.

It was a truly menacing beast—it had the appearance of a Chrome Gawain, yet it possessed four arms instead of the usual two, along with massive horns jutting out of its head. It roared to the heavens, brandishing blades from the openings on its arms.

“The Boundary Gawain is my masterpiece!” Feldman excitedly exclaimed. “It possesses the full brunt of my Horizon powers, so it should have no issue making short work of all of you!”

Even before he finished speaking those words, the Boundary Gawain took action, instantly dashing towards Lyrr, Blake, and Jack and impaling them all simultaneously. Blue flames wreathed their bodies, and before long, all that was left was ash that scattered to the wind.

“Go, Boundary Gawain!” shouted Feldman. “Kill them all!”

At those words, the Boundary Gawain moved once more, cutting down Idenn and Nanako before they could act. It then turned towards Sigma, charging up all four arm blades for a simultaneous strike to end his life—

—before Feldman blinked, and the scenery changed.

The Boundary Gawain was on the ground, its life having escaped it, and Nanako, Blake, Jack, Idenn, and Lyrr were standing there, very much alive…

…and there was Sigma’s God Arc, impaled through his heart with his blood draining before him.

“Wh…at… jus…t…” sputtered Feldman, before he noticed something off.

C’s body was gone—

—and at the instant he noticed that, he felt a tap on his shoulder, turning his head to see C standing right there, a mischievous smile on her face.

“What have you… do…ne……” gasped Feldman.

“It’s just like Nanako explained,” came C’s reply. All of us reached the Horizon at the moment Nanako ‘killed’ us, and as you can see, we all obtained powers of our own. And, well, with this many of us here… sorry, chump, but you’re gonna die.”

“Like… like HELL!”  Feldman roared to the heavens, producing a portal on the ground directly below him. “I won’t die here. Not here, and not ever!”

With that, he sank into the portal—but not before a blur passed in front of him, his arm detaching itself from the rest of his body as Feldman fell the rest of the way in, the portal blinking out of existence.

“Whew…” Nanako exclaimed, slumping down on the ground. “We… we did it…?”

“No,” came Sigma’s reply. “He has the Horizon’s full powers now. Something like a destroyed heart and a missing arm won’t be nearly enough to stop him. For now, let’s regroup and prepare immediately to pursue him.”

As everyone moved towards the elevator, however, Sigma called out to Nanako.

“Nanako,” he began, “did everything go as planned on your end?”

“Yeah,” Nanako answered. “I made it there and back with no problem. The only thing is—”

“—You don’t need to explain,” interjected Sigma. “I think I have a pretty good idea of it myself. Anyway, let’s go.”

And with that, everyone present entered the elevator, its twin metal doors closing as it shuttled its passengers downward towards the lounge.

They would end Feldman once and for all… but first—

-

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