Chains Of Pride

While the entire audience, including the fighters, were all stunned into silence. Lanzo inspected his body or more accurately, his Armis with a newfound calm.

Clenching his fists and opening them again, it was an intriguing sensation as if he occupied a new body, curious about the differences it begot.

A short distance away stood Captain Magenai, a scorching heat and an ever-expanding steam cloud now cloaked the Crimson Armis.

"D-Damn! I planned to finish this as fast as I c-could, but here I am n-nearing my limit, while it seems he's just beginning to tap into his."

Lanzo stopped inspecting his Armis when he heard the Captain's voice, and the gaze of his helmet turned to Captain Magenai who, who was showing a brief shudder every now and again.

"You're in a lot of pain, aren't you?"

When Lanzo's calm voice, a stark contrast to his usual fierce self came out, Tamashi couldn't help but blink in surprise, not that anyone could see it behind the helmet.

"Wh-What are you t-talking about? What's it t-to you? Urk! I-If you think whatever it is that's happened to you is g-gonna make me give up, you've got another thing coming! Sh*t I can't drag this out any longer!"

"To fight me, is this the reason you suffer? To go as far as to even burn the skin from your body and scorch the flesh beneath? Is it merely to answer the call of battle?"

Lanzo, for some reason, felt highly attuned right now, and he could see the current state of the Captain that stood against him.

"Wh-What kind of question is tha-" The Captain suddenly swayed to the side, the pain was maddening, nearly crippling in its nature, but Tamashi banished the pain as far as could be done and then said through gritted teeth.

"Ngh! Damn this pain! Why do you even care?! We always raised our fists against each other! Why do you want to know now?!"

"I don't need to know the reason why you raise your fists, that reason is simple, we are rivals. I simply want to know, why go through so much pain to raise them?"

Lanzo answered, though he knew the Captain suffered for every second passed, this was something he yearned to know.

'Inhale …Exhale'

"Tell you what, if you can beat me, I'll give you the reason. Now get ready, all this talking's got my engine dying down. Hopefully, that bright new form of yours can get it revving again! Oh yeah, one last thing, what's the name of this Armis of yours? Captain Magenai queried.

Lanzo's head c.o.c.ked to the side as he thought of this, "Hm, I didn't think of a name, but I think a fitting one would be …"

The waiting room for Team Proelius …

"He wouldn't .." The phrase escaped both men as Gero and Kia's eyes widened in indignation, before Kia sighed in subdued anger, "He would, he definitely would."

"Where does he get off naming the Armis?! 'The World's greatest mistake' down there shouldn't be naming anything! What happened to Deus Armis?!" Gero practically seethed when he said this.

Deus Armis was the name they came up with after quite some time and were planning to announce it as such. They only needed to inform Lanzo, but the whole rush put this matter to the back of their minds.

"We never told him the name we came up and uh ….why does it hurt you more than it hurts me?" Kia asked, his gaze landing in Gero's direction.

Gero shrugged at this as if the answer was obvious, "I worked on it somewhat the last few days, plus it has my Temporal Gate in it, making it what it is now. The real question here is when it's your Armis, how are you not affected by this?"

"Though I wanted to be the one to brand it a name, we can only hope he does the thing justice, I mean, it can't be that bad...Right?" Kia finally replied.

"Hmph, if he does that masterpiece any bit of justice with the name, I'll eat my own arm." Gero finished at this.

They were understandably angry because the naming of an Armis held a lot of significance, as that is how it would come to be known, by everyone during the reveal and going forward.

As such, the name was something agreed upon by both the engineers and the fighter after careful deliberation. Yet, Lanzo was thinking of one off the top of his head, and in the heat of battle no less!

Back in the arena …

"I got it, I think I'll call it …God's Code, I think it wants to be called that." Lanzo lazily answered.

"What an imperious name, let's get it battle baptised then so we can see if it deserves it." Captain Magenai replied.

The waiting room for Team Proelius …

Kia shot a glance to the side with a brow perked up, "Sooo …that arm of yours?"

"Uuuggghh …" Gero was gripping in indignation for the incoming line.

"You got any ketchup to go with it?" Kia asked.

"And there it is!" Gero roared while he continued "Why don't you just shove it up your own a-"

"No thanks, I'm not you on a Friday night. In any case, let's see what 'God's Code' can do, I'm starting to get goosebumps" Kia answered with a smirk on his face.

Back in the arena …

"Well Tamashi let's begin, the crowd, and everyone else is eager to see what we can do. So come at me, I know you don't have a lot of time left. After all, that Armis of yours can only protect you from itself for so long." Lanzo stated.

"Hmph, don't worry about it, the time I have left is more than enough to beat you. So don't disappoint me, Setamaru Lanzo! Perpetual Blitz!!"

In a hazy fog, the Crimson Armis disappeared once more, using the same move that ran Lanzo up a wall (figuratively and quite literally) not long ago.

"Though Tamashi said that, only the captain knew that with Ignition being in use for little more than 3 minutes, only a little less than 20 mins were left before Inferno came to true ruin!

Boom!!

The entire stadium shook as a huge dust cloud kicked up amidst the arena. It took a while for the dust to settle, but when it did, the scene that unfolded dumbfounded everyone present.

Even the aloof Shepherd that stood above everyone there raised an eyebrow in surprise at this development.

Everyone knew just how powerful the move, Perpetual Blitz was, it treated one of the most prominent fighters in Engage like a ragdoll some odd minutes ago.

Yet, here stands Lanzo in God's Code with a single hand outstretched, and in his palm, in his gently clasped palm, was the tyrannical punch that led to Perpetual Blitz, unable to move even an inch further.

"Bad-ass …" One of the fighters on the opposing side, Team Reiger couldn't help but say, after seeing the effortless block. Whose side are you on?

"Impact."

Stated Lanzo calmly, before he simply let loose a punch of his own. It was unusually normal, slow even. As far as punches go, this would appear to be the most underwhelming.

However, a feeling of dread washed over the Captain. "Danger!". That single word reverberated in Tamashi's mind and hammered the senses.

"Accel Step!" A retreat feature within the Armis was employed, allowing the fl.u.s.tered Captain to safely back away from that way too 'regular punch'. But it was at that moment Tamashi realised, the blow was still incoming.

Lanzo was somehow still right in front as if he was always there as if the Captain never retreated in the first place.

Bump.

A simple tap, that's all it was, or more, that's what it looked like, but the Captain knew it was far from it.

Whoosh!!

The Captain flew back, tearing through the air like a missile! As soon as everyone followed the airborne Inferno, Lanzo within God's Code trembled for a moment before disappearing.

Flying through the air, Tamashi's thoughts were being collected "Huh, did I just get punched? …Oh yeah, I did…Damn, that hurts!! If it weren't for the pain from Ignition dulling my senses, I'd probably wailing right now F**k!!"

Suddenly another blow came from another direction, this one sent the Captain spiralling into the ground. A low groan came from the crater created from the impact.

At this moment, the crowd was back on its feet, cheering in a heated fervour.

"F**k this! Let's brawl it out and see who comes out on top!" Tamashi thought before making another move.

The Crimson Armis dubbed Inferno, rose from the rubble, the steam that escaped still granting an illusory feel, and it also disappeared after kicking into high gear. Its top speed in full display making a beeline for the swift God's Code.

From the moment the confrontation began with the rejuvenated God's Code and Inferno to the moment the Crimson Armis rose from the debris, only a few seconds had passed at most.

Boom! Bam! Duuum!! Clang! Vhwip!!

Multiples sounds of clashes and impact sounded out in the arena. Some poor souls fighting against one another, would get caught up in the high-speed clash between the two and be maimed senseless, totally unable to continue.

"What's that idiot doing? He's putting his own teammates out of it!"

Captain Himiya was livid after seeing some of his own becoming incapacitated after suffering the fallout of the Ace and the enemy Captain's fight. Of course the same went for the enemy Ace as well, Haleo Civik.

Bwoom!!!!

One last explosion shocked the entire arena once more, and a sorry figure cut through the air, crashing into the arena wall at the far end.

Upon closer look, one could tell it was Inferno, multiple cracks evident upon the Crimson Armis.

Scorched skin could be seen within where the Armis suffered the most damage. The Armis or more accurately Tamashi simply lay there, the fate of the fighter unknown.

A gust of wind kicked up as Lanzo suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and started taking solemn steps toward the apparently unconscious Engage fighter under the fervent gaze of everyone else.