Chapter 81: The Dust of Battle

"Graaaaaah,"

The crusher let out a deafening and truly ear-piercing roar. The soldiers looked pale and trembled; even Selma and Mary took a step back upon hearing it, their faces growing tense. But suddenly, they turned to see Clyde, Celes, Craig, Casca, and Corie stepping forward. One of their feet stepped up onto the wall as they stared straight ahead, directly at the monster.

"Hey... what do you guys think you’re doing?" Selma asked, worried.

"Don’t tell me you’re planning to jump down and beat up that monster," Mary added.

Without answering, Clyde, Celes, Craig, Casca, and Corie turned back to look at the two worried and pale women with smiles on their faces. When the two women locked eyes with the five of them, they stepped back and fell silent instantly. Then Clyde, Celes, Craig, Casca, and Corie turned back to the front.

"Let’s head down," Clyde invited.

"Yeah," Celes, Craig, Casca, and Corie replied in unison.

The five of them leaped down straight away. Selma and Mary rushed anxiously to the edge, looking down. Seeing figures dropping from the fortification wall,

"Graaaaah,"

The crusher began marching toward the city fortress. Meanwhile, Clyde, Celes, Craig, Casca, and Corie walked forward with smiles gracing their lips.

[Combat mode activated.]

As they walked, a dark reddish aura began swirling around the feet of the five of them, and a bright light enveloped their forms. When the light faded, the eyes of the soldiers, Selma, and Mary went wide. Before the city stood five figures clad in powerful biological armor with joints emitting steam, their helmets and masks glowing with burning red eyes. Clap. Clyde unfurled his massive wings, Casca whipped her tail, Craig smashed his palm with his fist, Corie lifted her leg and spun it in a circle, and Celes hovered with open hands just above the ground.

The five of them stepped forward, looking mighty, while the Crusher marched, picked up its pace, and finally broke into a sprint toward them.

"Celes," Clyde shouted in his mind.

"Got it," Celes replied.

Celes extended her arms, and all the surrounding building rubble, trees, and wrecked vehicles floated up into the air. She then thrust both palms forward, sending the entire mass of debris, trees, and iron wrecks hurtling like bullets toward the Crusher.

"Boom... boom,"

"Grahh,"

The massive Crusher stood its ground, deflecting all incoming rubble, trees, and iron vehicle wrecks by crossing its arms over its face. Once the barrage ended,

"Graaaaaaaaah,"

The Crusher roared again. Then it spotted Craig right in front of it. It lashed out with a massive clawed strike toward Craig, who casually blocked the attack with his bare body without budging an inch. The Crusher then lunged forward, its jaws gaping wide to snap at Craig with the razor-sharp teeth lining its muzzle. Blam, Craig caught the Crusher’s jaws with both hands. His feet slid backward against the ground from the monster’s immense strength, but he managed to halt his retreat entirely.

Right as Craig stopped sliding, Casca and Corie leaped off Craig’s shoulders, propelling themselves high into the air. The two of them executed simultaneous midair backflips and delivered spinning sidekicks. Blam, their feet slammed into the Crusher’s head from the left and right at the exact same time. The Crusher staggered backward, clutching its head with both hands in agony. But suddenly, syuuut... blam, Clyde plunged straight down vertically like a comet, landing both feet squarely on top of the monster’s head.

The Crusher was slammed face-first straight into the ground, its massive body lifting off the earth before crashing down completely prone with a thunderous boom. Clyde performed a midair backflip and landed squarely between Casca and Corie, with Craig standing at his front and Celes hovering overhead.

Selma and Mary, watching from a distance, stood gaping in absolute disbelief at what was unfolding before them. The soldiers were completely speechless; though not yet dead, the five of them had effortlessly brought down a 59-foot-tall monster.

Next, Celes turned her gaze toward the ruins of a tall building standing right beside them. She raised both hands toward the structure and swiped them aggressively toward the monster. The massive, towering building debris tipped over and crashed down with a deafening crash, burying the monster underneath. A thick cloud of dust billowed up, obscuring their vision.

"D’ya think it’s dead yet?" Corie asked via telepathy.

"Not yet... its life force is still lingering," Casca answered.

"Watch out... it’s getting up," Craig warned.

"Graaaaaaa,"

A loud roar echoed once more as the monster slowly rose from beneath the building rubble, its face twisted in pure rage despite being covered in blood and injuries. Standing tall once again, crack... crack, its chest split open to reveal a crackling ball of lightning spinning violently within its ribcage, rapidly gathering energy for a blast.

"Look out... it’s about to fire its beam attack and obliterate the city," Clyde warned, having foreseen it.

"Alright... leave it to me," Craig said.

He stepped forward instantly, clapping his palms together in front of him before snapping them apart. A blue magnetic shield resembling glowing pixels materialized right in front of him.

"Blaaaz,"

A crackling, yellowish-blue laser beam fired directly toward the five of them. Blam, the laser blast was successfully intercepted and held back by Craig’s shield.

"Celes, lock its movements! Casca, Corie, let’s attack it together!" Clyde shouted mentally.

"Got it," the three of them replied in unison.

Celes directed her hands toward the monster’s legs, instantly causing the surrounding debris to cluster and encase both of its lower limbs all the way up to its waist. Clyde swooped in behind its head, forcing it downward while the laser continued hammering against Craig’s barrier as Casca and Corie closed in.

"Yaaaaaah,"

The three of them successfully forced the bear’s head downward, causing the upper half of the Crusher’s muzzle to be obliterated by its own reflected laser. Then Casca drove her tail deep into its neck while Clyde slashed across it with his wings. Thud, Corie delivered a penalty-kick-style sidekick to the head, tearing it clean off its neck as the Crusher’s head went soaring deep into the forest.

"Boom,"

Once the laser ceased, the Crusher’s body grew unsteady. Because its lower half was locked in place by rubble, scrap metal, and shattered asphalt, it died standing upright. Shortly after, Clyde, Casca, and Corie leaped back toward Craig, landing in front of him while Celes descended to stand beside Clyde.

They checked their status and saw that their hunger levels had reached roughly 50% each. The five of them stared at the massive, headless corpse of the Crusher still standing before them, then glanced back toward the city to find numerous people watching them.

"Hmm... this is bad... we’re starving and can’t do anything even though there’s food right in front of us," Clyde noted.

"Right... should I hypnotize them so we can eat in peace? But with a crowd that large, I’m not sure everyone would fall under it," Celes replied.

"Yikes... that’s a hassle... but we better not, in case the hypnosis has weird side effects," Clyde answered.

"True... way too dangerous. So what should we do? Should we drag this monster behind some buildings and eat there?" Craig suggested.

"But they’re still watching us. The moment we haul the monster behind a building, they’re definitely going to come out and investigate," Casca pointed out.

"Yeah, exactly... how about we head into the ruins or the forest and hunt down some Ravagers? Lots of Ravagers ran off earlier... we can’t possibly go back into the city starving," Corie suggested.

"We might end up eating the people in the city instead. Ugh... I can’t even imagine it, even though the craving is starting to kick in," Craig admitted.

Clyde pondered for a moment, glancing back toward the city in the distance, where the onlookers were still clearly visible. Then he stared at the headless corpse of the Crusher standing right in front of them. An idea sparked in his mind. He turned to Celes and whispered something in her ear.

"Oh... okay," Celes replied, flashing a hand gesture to indicate she understood.

"I’m starting, get ready," Clyde announced.

Without wasting a second, Clyde flapped his wings violently, whipping up all the surrounding dust and swirling it into a thick dust cloud. Celes immediately took control of it, spinning it into a miniature dust tornado that completely blanketed the entire road. Selma and Mary, watching from afar, looked thoroughly baffled.

"What are they up to?" Selma asked.

"Who knows," Mary replied flatly.

Moments later, as the dust finally settled, Selma and Mary’s jaws dropped in sheer shock. The five figures were completely gone from the road in front of the city, and the massive, headless carcass of the Crusher that had been standing in the middle of the road had vanished right along with them.

"Wait... they disappeared?" Selma asked, bewildered.

"Along with the monster?" Mary echoed, equally stunned.

Meanwhile, deep behind the city ruins choked with wild vegetation and a fair distance away from the city gates, "nom... nom," the five of them ravenously devoured the Crusher’s carcass while still in their combat forms.

"Wow... eating together again, just like when we ate our teacher back then," Corie cheered.

"Please don’t remind me of that incident," Clyde said, turning to look at Corie.

"Seriously... such a foolish little sister," Casca chimed in.

"Sorry... my bad, hehehe," Corie replied.

The five of them ate voraciously, seemingly paying no attention to their surroundings. Numerous Ravagers, Skitterers, and even Swarmers were scattered about, hiding within the ruins of the shattered buildings; however, they could only watch and clearly lacked the courage to approach, knowing that if they dared show themselves, they would end up on the menu as well.