**Days after Greed and the others' departure**
**Desert jurisdiction**
The Desert heat was unbearable.
Two men in dark attire had entered a cave from outside the raging sandstorm. They took their time catching their breaths as the one with dirty blond hair rested his arms on his knees and the other, who looked covered in black metal from head to toe, shook himself in an attempt to remove the sand stuck between his plates.
"Just great…" he said, "If I get any more sand in my joints, I won't be able to move as properly as I should."
The other dirty blond one looked at him with his only good eye. "Don't you have a blowing system that can air you out?"
Before the metal one could answer, he burst out in laughter. "Aw man, where is Star when I spit bars like that?" the dirty blond haired one said. "Blowing system… HA! She would have insinuated!"
The metal one clenched his fist in the air, looking as if he was thinking of that vile woman's face teasing him through the ethers somehow… "Havoc! Don't make me think of that fucking bitch again!"
Havoc chuckled. "Man… you just make it so easy to pick on you, though, Brand."
Brand postured himself once more and looked as if he turned on a button on his chest. The moment he did, a calm hum sounded and cool air began to steam out from his joints.
"So you do have a blowing system! I was half expecting you get on your knees and start making gagging noises!"
"It's called cooling hydraulics! Not a 'blowing system'! And stop going on about that! I'm not g—"
A sound entered their ears, and they both reacted toward it. For a moment, they had almost forgotten they had entered an unknown cave way out in the Desert.
"Shit, I almost forgot…" Havoc said.
"Aye… I'm surprised they let us go on this mission without an Ace, Exec, or Vice Captain."
"Well, Nash is in his room recuperating. Jo is on a solo. Code just came back from his mission. Alice is with Belle. And Ophelia, Raeyn, and Star are on their own mission. And let's face it—that chick needs a babysitter."
"THANK YOU! For once I agree with you there. Isn't she just repulsive?" Brand replied, breaking his stance to face him.
"Repulsive? What does that have to do with incompetence? And speaking of, I'm due for a promotion soon, so that's probably why they have me babysitting you." Havoc effortlessly jabbed.
"I AM NOT A CHILD THAT NEEDS BABYSITTING!"
"Is there a way to program you to where you stop speaking in full-ass-sentences as reply? Like just say 'okay' or 'aye-aye sir'… I don't need a recap of what I just said."
"That's it! I challenge you to Dual Monsters when we get back! My commander deck will wipe the floors with you later!"
"You're on! You're no match for my meta Spongedude deck—"
A boulder shot at them both and Havoc semi-transformed his arm to deflect it, but the minute he did, the boulder shattered in pieces.
"Holy shit!"
"Where did—"
"Get down, you imbeciles!" another man said. He sounded familiar to them, but they couldn't quite put a finger on it—nor could they see where he was.
Another boulder shot at them, and then another, and another…
At last, the man appeared as if from the shadows and threw his arms forward, palms facing toward the large stones.
The shadows morphed into what looked like armor and turned into spikes that shattered the stones to pieces.
When Brand and Havoc saw him, they were surprised to see who it was.
His blonde hair was long and slicked back, his armor was gold and immaculate, and his cape fluttered like sparkling sheer as they beheld the logo on his back.
"Honestly… You Black Wolves are all the same. So uncaring. So unfocused. What would you have done had I not been here!?" he said, almost shouting.
"Deflect it? I don't know…" Havoc carelessly replied.
"That's not the point!" the golden male shouted this time.
When Brand scanned the man through his digital eyes, he confirmed his presence with the mission they partook from a downloaded copy of the scroll they had.
"I see," he added. "So our joint leading captain for this mission was you, Lance of the Golden Roses?"
Lance stood up straight and didn't bother to turn around to speak to them. He kept his focus ahead as he said, "Regrettably."
They all heard a roar, right then. And it came from the shadows ahead.
"I specifically requested aid from nearby Guild members in the area, but there was a typo in the request… instead of 'in the area' it said 'in the areola'…"
Havoc and Brand were silent for a moment. Almost too silent as they processed what Lance had just said. Did he really say—
Then, like the storm after a quiet calm, they erupted in hideous laughter from behind.
"Keeper…"
"Wait, wait, wait! Let me see! Let me see!" Havoc pulled out the digital scroll and searched for the typo—as did Brand through his screen copy.
When they saw it, they burst into laughter once again, quite literally rolling on the ground.
"You Black Wolves are absolute children!" Lance shouted, at last turning around.
But it had been at the wrong moment.
Inches away from him now was the silhouette of a towering monster with a humanoid form. It seemed to take advantage of his shift in focus.
Fuck!
It swung a large arm down with what looked like a busted claymore, too quick to dodge or react.
But from Lance's side, he felt a gust of wind blaze past him.
When he looked back, he saw Brand having thrown an uppercut at the claymore before it dropped down.
So fast! I didn't even see him… he thought.
Then from behind, he felt an increasing aura from where Havoc had once been. By the time he looked back, he witnessed a Behemoth there, also inches away from him now.
This isn't good… another beast? And a Behemoth? How did it get here without me noticing!?
The Behemoth looked at him and snarled, but instead of going for him, it went for the humanoid beast in front of them, aiding Brand after his parry.
It threw a claw at the beast, but it managed to block and leap away.
Huh? Wait… is he—
"Whoa!" the Behemoth said, a deep and ethereal sounding voice.
"Aye," Brand said, scanning the beast through his digital screen of a face. "That's the target… a Grade 1 Berserker."
Through the faint pockets of light from the cave ceiling, the beast shone and revealed itself to them. When it rose, it was a staggering height of ten-foot-five, and it had red skin with scars all over its body. It was incredibly muscular as it wielded that damaged claymore in its hands like it was a smaller blade. Its nails were like talons as it stood barefoot, and its hair was long and a mangy gray that bristled instead of fluttered. A heavily worn crown rested, tilted on its head like this had been some king in its past life.
And when they beheld its face, it looked as if it was torn off with only the face of the skull showing.
"Creepy." Brand said.
"Finally, a one worded sentence from you! Glad you installed the update!" Havoc teased.
Lance walked between them with what looked like an irritated expression on his face. He shook his head when he made it to the front and said, "I should have known I'd be fighting with Black Wolves… had I only not made that damn typo…"
They each wore focused looks on their faces now as they readied themselves for the Berserker's attack.
It stepped once ahead of itself and the ground shook. It gripped tightly onto the claymore hilt and swung, emitting a blade beam that surged toward them.
As it arrived, Lance intertwined his hands and chanted,
"Bastion Magic: Ironwind Zephyr!"
Instantly, the air around them became armor and shielded them from the blade beam, however…
Crack…
He clicked his tongue and shouted, "Spread out!"
His Ironwind Zephyr cracked again, and he sank into the ground like he became one with it. Brand dashed to the side and Havoc leaped the opposite way.
When Brand ran, he sped up each time his boots met with the ground. With his Haste magic, he could control the speed of anything he touches—including himself. However, there was only a certain threshold he could achieve by speeding himself up once. In order to gain higher speeds, he either had to use a spell, or simply make contact with something else—acting as a boost with each contact made. This included the beast's claymore he had uppercut earlier…
When the beast tried to swing another blade beam, it staggered. Like the blade was heavier for some reason.
"Not heavy. Slow." Brand said as he collected a bunch of fairly large rocks and threw them toward the beast.
Each one slowed down in the air until it came to a halt as Brand began to step on them like stairs.
He leaped off the last one and spun as he chanted,
"Haste Magic: Tri Shift Impact!"
His shin made contact with the beast's head, and it slowed almost instantly upon impact. He then twirled again and went for an axe kick.
But before he did, the air cracked and the beast was back to normal speed, having spun with a direct swing onto him who as now vulnerable midair.
What? Adaptation? No… it's something else… he thought as he witnessed the large claymore coursing toward him.
Then from its side…
"Primal Magic: Ecliptic Star Shatter!"
The beast was engulfed in a large beam that blasted past it and shattered the wall and part of the ceiling of this desert cave. Only smoke remained after.
As the stones crumbled, Brand was still in the air as he let gravity carry him down.
The smoke cleared instantly and the beast was there again as if it was not affected by Havoc's spell.
"Brand, watch out!" he roared as the claymore continued its course.
Then from below…
"Bastion Magic—" Lance shouted from the ethers.
"Stone Alter. Blazing Rampart. Hollow Vine!"
Brand and Havoc watched in amazement as they had witnessed Lance cast the same multicasts he conducted on Greed during their tournament fight.
It was by doing so in quick succession that he was able to create his own Combination spell. A spell that normally would have taken three mages to cast—and he did it on his own.
Without warning, a large tree had formed over the Berserker. It was like a machine as it grew endlessly from the ground, emitting steam and clicking like infinite gears.
The monarch grew until it reached the ceiling, where it combined with the stone and began morphing, twisting everything into some unnatural armor. And it beat like it was alive…
Then one last spell that connected the rest—
"Bastion Magic: Heavenly Monarch!"
With that spell alone, the tree ignited and a violent eruption engulfed the place. Brand and Havoc were within its range, but then the air hardened around them—becoming armor again—and protected them from the devastating attack.
The cave could not hold, and crumbled all around them as they were again exposed to the scraping winds from the sandstorm.
Protected in their own air fortresses, Brand and Havoc stood feet away from each other as Lance emerged from below—activating his own armored air.
"Holy Keeper!" Havoc said. "Did we do it!?"
Lance didn't speak for a moment. And Brand observed quietly.
"Unfortunately… no."
Through the screaming winds, an outline appeared from where the Berserker had received that insane spell.
Its breath could be seen even amid all this roaring sand, standing there before them again like it had not received any damage.
"What the hell?" Havoc uttered.
"I can normally handle Grade 1 beasts on my own, but Berserkers are a bit different…" Lance said.
"How come?"
"Because unlike other beasts, their magic abilities vary. And this one just so happens to have Reverse Spell magic…" Lance breathed out heavily. "This means whatever spell is cast onto it becomes undone like it never happened."
"I see… so that's what that crack in the air was after I hit it with my attack," Brand replied.
"Yeah… and how it was able to survive Ecliptic Star Shatter… This fucking blows…"
"Do not make that joke!" Brand barked.
"I wasn't gonna… See this is why you get bullied—"
"Enough! Must you Black Wolves always banter during every event? This is serious!" Lance sighed as the Berserker had begun to saunter toward them. "Anyway… don't let it strike you with that claymore… Of all the worst match ups for my magic… it just has to be carrying a Nullifying magic weapon.
Brand and Havoc's eyes flashed. And Lance had begun to feel a strange aura from them at his sides.
When he glanced at them, they both looked like the news had ignited something from within—it was like that had excited them more than discouraged.
How are they smiling right now?
"Well, that's just perfect!" Havoc roared.
"Aye! We couldn't have asked for a better match up!" Brand added.
"What do you mean? That thing is basically impervious to any and all magic! We have to find out how to bypass its Reverse Spell and disable it—" Lance stopped himself. He had at last realized…
So that's why…
"You really need to lighten up, man," Havoc said. "Sure, this is gonna be tough. Grade 1 or whatever… with that combo it has…"
His and Brand's eyes blazed as the Berserker roared. And they both said,
"He's just like the Cap!"