Ludwig heard rapid footsteps too precise, too rapid to be a common soldier. Eventually he saw a long haired man rush through the shadows of the hall, grabbing the suspended spear, spinning around and a loud clashing noise followed.
Satoya who was falling asleep shook himself awake, panickingly looking for the source of the clashing of steel. He saw Ludwig slide backwards, his posture remained composed. The cut on his cheek bled ever so slightly, enough to be noticeable.
Wait, is that a scratch on him?
Satoya felt tension lingering in the air, mainly panicking from the sheer fact that Ludwig now has a minor injury on himself. Did the unstoppable force that massacred an entire TCT squad finally meet someone that could match him?
However Ludwig himself felt no different. When the long haired man he assumed to be who Zykar referred to as Lauris prepared to charge, Ludwig did too. With the two charging in speeds that Satoya can't perceive aside from the faint streak that resembled Ludwig and the unfamiliar individual across him.
A Regulator of the TCT, likely one from the North Division of the TCT. Judging by the way he's using the spear, in terms of raw skills with a weapon, this man is superior.
Within the Compass Treaty, Regulators are only permitted to operate in the North Division, which is, unsurprisingly, led by the North of the Compass Rose. The four divisions of the TCT fall under the Compass Rose: the North Division handles direct combat and security; the West Division focuses on health and the well-being of the other branches; the East Division manages finance, property, and economic matters; and the South Division is dedicated to research and intelligence. Naturally, each division maintains its own combat personnel, but the North Division is solely responsible for the main taskforce. Personnel from the other divisions can request a personal guard if needed.
Back to the matter of fact, Ludwig himself is quite familiar with how the Compass Treaty worked, primarily because he is acquainted with a former South Researcher. And currently, he is fighting on the defensive, calculating and analyzing how Lauris attacked.
Each time the two Regulator's clashed their weapons, a considerably loud clanging noise kept erupting. Satoya couldn't tell exactly what was happening, except the blur of movement and the sparks illuminating the hallway.
Although I only knew him for a total of 30 minutes, I never saw him this serious—wait no he always is, but something about this tells me he is waiting for a precise moment.
Satoya saw Ludwig backstepping back, his shoes sliding through the ground as if the floor was made of ice. Across him, Lauris spun his spear, smashing the handle of it onto the ground, and a large vortex of blinding flame spun around him.
Ludwig used his thumb to wipe the sweat and blood on his cheek. He spoke lastly, "a Merit? Must be a newer design.."
"Did he just summon a flame cyclone from the ground..?" Satoya asked, his question was left unanswered, until Shizune turned to see the spinning fire, making a short nod, then turning back to continue arguing with Isaac about the still unconscious soldier.
Merits are a type of ability that mimics that of Truth Seeker's Verity. However merits require a technology called Merit Revelators, this technology extracts the consciousness of an individual and converts it into a physical form, however, using merit revelators are extremely expensive, and the product of these merit revelators often just give the person using it a simple elemental ability, but I guess it isn't nothing. Of course, using a person's consciousness as fuel is pretty dangerous considering how if you burn your entire "fuel," your mind will literally shut down.
The rising vortex of flame subsided, with Lauris's spear being engulfed with roaring flames. The warm light radiating from the spear acted as a light source with the now approached night.
A mist of stars began to pulsate from Ludwig's hand, and in an annoyed tone, he
mumbled, "would have preferred to not use my Verity in this.." After this remark he took a short glance at Satoya, ordering him: "Zykar's retreating, apprehend him." As Ludwig ordered, Satoya saw Zykar run the other way, almost as desperate as the way he ran when Ludwig was creeping up upon him.
Satoya can easily tell this was an order, and judging by the deadpan expression riddled on his face, he couldn't help but nod in compliance. Satoya himself grew up being used to complying to people's requests, mainly due to the fact that if he follows directions he won't get caught up into a lot of trouble.
So Satoya got up, grabbed his sheathed katana, then sprinted with an unsure expression. Behind him Shizune and Isaac stopped their bickering to run after Satoya—They didn't pay attention to why he was running but decided to go with him anyway.
The chase went on for nearly 5 minutes, Satoya was exhausted, panting his heart out. "God I'm too unathletic for this.." He groaned before running after Zykar in chase.
After another 2 minutes, Zykar in a panicking tone shouted "stay away from me!" Turning around, facing his prosthetic palm toward Satoya. He felt the heat coming out of the palm, a glowing light soon blinded him.
Behind them, Isaac and Shizune finally caught up, in a desperate attempt to prevent a possible death, Isaac yanked the crowbar out of Shizune's hands and threw the crowbar toward the glowing light that came from Zykar's prosthetic.
Shizune quickly grabbed Isaac by the collar, scolding him about the fact he threw her crowbar without her permission. However as she scolded, a large explosion of heat erupted next to them. Both of their hair were blown back from the shockwave, Isaac was covering his face with his arm, while Shizune stared back at the explosion with widened eyes in shock.
"SHIT! Satoya!"