From the corners of Gerald's eyes approached two eyepatched pirates - one with frisky, blue hair, and one with straight, long red hair. Their arms swing downward, drawing a cutlass from the leather cases strapped to their belts. Another pirate clenching a shining, golden-orange flintlock monitored the quick approach from the ship's afterdeck. The sword-wielding pirates captured Gerald's attention, and, in a ruthless motion, approached his curly hair with a downward swing. Illuminating his legs with orange embers, he intercepted the wind-slicing blades with an instantaneous handstand. "There's no power signature coming from these guys… who the hell are they!?"
Their hair blew alongside the recurring wind with their approach's reinstation. Surrounded once again, Gerald's gaze climbs the vertical boards up to the ship's stern. He shot through the air with a bold leap despite the gunman's merciless gaze, the accuracy of his shifting arm plaguing Gerald with uneasiness. "His finger wraps around the trigger," Songnote's narration reenters the scene, "releasing a bullet right towards the airborne inferno!"
"I'm not here to fight your pawns!" The soaring bullet grazed his right leg with a linear wound, forming a system of narrow, lake-like blood towards his flame. With a silent yelp, his determination persisted, forcing the flintlock out the pirate's grasp with a satisfying kick. "I'll create a way through your performances if it's the last thing I D-"
A deep, booming note sounds through the domain. That same moment, a sonic boom rippled through the cloud-splattered skies. Gerald's eyes flew towards the sound's origin - "That noise… what the hell was it?"
"Titanic Thunderstorm Slash."
The wind stopped, entrapping Gerald in a pool of ominous silence - too ominous. The firearm-wielding pirate drops his arm, chipping the flintlock's golden metal against the wooden balustrade. For a few more moments persisted the lingering silence, concluding with the rise of gradual overhead rumble. A light-blue slash of air plummeted from above, aimed perfectly at the ship's center - a coordinated attack.
"The scene's sound returns, but not as anyone could possibly expect! A large slash of force slices through the ship like a piece of paper, raining cracks of falling wood from its jagged edges!" The growing incline forced Gerald to slip, exposing him to the quiet ocean below. "That voice… I KNEW IT WAS YOU, SAUL!" Grabbing a loose rope tied to the ship's mast, Gerald noticed the rogue wooden boards between the ship's remnants - then, with a determined frown, embraced the pair of chilling eyes watching from above.
"Saul of the Skies, his expression unbothered, spectates the struggling boy from above."
Gerald clenched the rope, approaching the ship's mast with tireless grunts. "You… won't… get…"
Dense flares of power circulated the sinking ship, averting his gaze beyond Saul. Tracking the invisible flares with his bulging eyes, the cold air's immediate chill pushed Gerald's glance away and onto the winged figures approaching from above. Each one held a metal spear that glowed in the artificial sunlight, accompanying the thick, metal helmets masking their heads. "Inspired from the New World, I present my artificial Winged Soldiers!" Songnote announces proudly. "In my world, however, they're Saul's personal servants!"
Loosening his grip over the swaying rope, Gerald plunged into the skies above. "It's either Saul, the Winged Soldiers, or the anchor. If I don't deal with one, the other two are eventually going to take me out…" His legs illuminated with a blue flame, bursting through the skies with a growing surge of fire. The Winged Soldiers' shouts strengthen as Gerald's approach grows closer and closer, determined to fend off the growing aroma of power.
"Wait a minute, there's another anchor in the clouds! Alongside the sea, the ship… they're everywhere!"
He entered the storm of obedience, slowly advancing towards the cluster of appalling power. The sunflower-like scent of Gerald's flame merged with the molded metal, creating a faint, vibrant scent within the metal's hellish burning like a ray of light in a world of darkness. Piercing the final soldier's chest with a darting kick, Gerald escapes the storm's eye, moving closer and closer towards the pulsing cluster. "This dimension has multiple anchors - nothing I can't han-"
A line of glowing, light-blue power erects from the ship's jagged center, its windy presence booming through the raging storm like a fighter jet, like thunder followed by lightning. At the last second, Gerald had figured out what was going on - Saul had blasted through the Winged Soldiers, approaching him with a merciless punch. "Technique of the Skies - Wind Slice."
Crystal City's Outskirts, 2 years ago
"If you're going to take down someone as strong as that, then you'll need some serious training."
Le's fists shot outward, colliding with a bulky, wooden tree erecting into the sky. Paths of scattered cracks emerge from the impact's epicenter, climbing the trees in a messy yet remarkable fashion.
Then, a few seconds later, the bushy tree fell onto the ground, followed by its jagged remnants.
"Serious training?" Gerald, consolidating his amazement from Le's strength, replied with a curious glance.
"While I was coming up as a kid, I heard stories of Saul from every corner - despite not being the best pro of his time, he still left a huge mark on the world's view of entity hunting… Say, have you heard of the Skywater Incident?"
Le's question illuminated Gerald's eyes with remembrance. "Many years ago, the water-type entity MMNAU broke out into the streets of Skywater, a country in the Anatan Union. Over two hundred deaths were reported over the span of two days, with tens of thousands reported missing - that was, until Saul arrived on the scene."
"Mhm," Le mumbled, a smirk of satisfaction invading his face. "Keep going."
"Following a twelve-hour long battle that determined the fate of Skywater, the then top 431 hunter stood victorious over the menacing beast - not only did his victory save Skywater from a destructive future, but also granted him a new alias - Saul of the Skies."
---
"YOU!?" Arias screamed. "TAKING DOWN THE MAN WHO SAVED SKYWATER!?"
Gerald sighed, turning his gaze towards Arias with an irritated sigh. He eyed Michelle who, unlike her best friend, continued rambling about the low possibility of Gerald's dream. "He's going to take him down, Arias - and when he does, your dreams will be achieved as well!"
"COME ON, MICHELLE!" Arias shouted, his eyes burning at the waterfall of sweat washing down his forehead. "You know how I get whenever…"
"Gerald," Michelle smiled among her partner's screams. "Despite everything that happened three years ago, I have deep faith in you."
Volume 13, Chapter 75 - Distorted Melody
"The boy's fragrant, blue flames collide with Saul's windy fists, forming a whirlwind of crackling power above the shining ocean!"
The crashing waves responded to the turmoil with an unpleasant sway. A blanket of dark clouds invade the skies, overshadowing the clash with an ear-piercing scream. Illuminating the clouds with his glowing flame, the pressure of Saul's attack pushed Gerald backward. "She's coating the anchor with a bunch of clouds…" He turned to Saul, acknowledging his ice-cold glance. "I'll break it and descend the sky with a single move." The shade of Gerald's embers faded, rebranding into a dark, belligerent flame blending in with the shrouding fog. He shot upward with a fierce burst, exposing the masked rays of sunlight to the overshadowed waves.
"Technique of the Skies - Tracking Burst!"
"Saul pursues his prey with a predatory glare, inflicting the boy's chest with a daunting blow!"
Gerald reacted to the heart-wrenching strike with short, painful wheezes. Entrapping Saul's arms in a desperate grasp, he returned the attack, pushing Saul upward like a sky-climbing rocket. "IF YOU WON'T LET ME BREAK THE ANCHOR… I'LL FORCE YOU TO BREAK IT YOURSELF!"
The roaring flames of darkness formed a weak, spinning circle around Gerald's kneecap. "Emberatalia - FLAME OF CRUSHING COMPRESSION!" Saul's body shot upward from the fierce kick, shattering the cloud-coated anchor with his muscle-armored spine. A shroud of small, glass-like particles scattered throughout the brightening cloud, falling towards the ocean with a steady descent.
That same moment, a funnel-shaped wave climbed the glittering skies, shaking Gerald with its ruthless roars. "The ocean's moving upward?!"
Through the slanted layer of water opposite to Gerald darted Saul, reinforcing Gerald's caution with a swift punch. "Technique of the Skies - Whirlwind Dart."
"Saul's punch knocks the boy towards the funnel's opposite side with a frightening gag!"
The flames across Gerald's legs sputtered in small, unpredictable intervals. Arching his back to the whirlwind's spinning ends, the water's delicate touch emitted a gentle chill across his body, accompanied by the salt's immense scent. Another compression of energy caught his attention, shifting his gaze upward near the whirlwind's end. "In a freakish arena like this, getting that anchor is going to be complicated…"
The burst of Saul's wind rips through the air with a sound similar to an erupting volcano. His hand shot outward in a predatory motion, clashing against Gerald's dark flames. "Technique of the Skies," he muttered, establishing a fierce grip on Gerald's arms. The mere seconds felt like years - Saul's emotionless expression, the persisting push of his fingernails digging into Gerald's skin, and, worst of all, the contrast of his successful past to the present. The same man who Gerald idolized for years had fallen into darkness, stripped of eternal rest's calm bliss.
"I'm going to break Songnote's dimension…" The force of Gerald's surging power expels Saul's fingernails with a hissing burn. "AND GIVE YOU THE ENDING YOU'VE LONGED FOR!"
"The boy… wait…" Songnote's exciting narration halted. Her silence was followed by a pattern of notes that echoed through the watery whirlwind. "You know Saul is capable of killing you… yet you avoid him!"
"You taught me something, Songnote." Gerald responded, racing upward towards the pulsing anchor. Taking my idol down isn't my priority anymore - it's freeing him from your control, granting him his long awaited rest!"
Recoating the waning embers of Emberatalia across his leg, he shattered the anchor with a bold kick. "All of my opponents, from Diamond City to now, were just the beginning! THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REAL!"
The shards of glass dispersed, resulting in an endless, blue sky stretching beyond Gerald's eyesight. "The domain's power signature is on its last legs… I might actually be able to pull this o-"
"You've done well, boy."
Gerald's head snapped towards the raspy, masculine voice. "Wait a minute… you can… wha…"
Wearing a pitiful smile, Saul dug his fingernails into the rough fabric of his clothes. "You've talked about freeing me long enough… My days of entity hunting are long gone, replaced by my presence as Songnote's pawn!"
Gerald met the restored glow in Saul's eyes. "Throwing away your life… the Saul of the Skies from generations ago would never talk about such thi-"
"Times have changed." In a swift motion, Saul blasted through the endless sky with white, glowing fists. Without another word, his fists merged, approaching Gerald for a finishing blow. "Consider this fight over."
Unable to adapt to Saul's limitless speed, the merciless blow ripped through Gerald's shirt, casting a bloody scar across his chest. The quality of his flames sputtered, fading alongside his consciousness as he fell deeper into the sky - further away from the final anchor.
"Show me your true strength, Gerald Romanti!"