Story:Alto/Chapter 9

The day had finally arrived. All their fears and worries realized. The forest was burning brighter than the sun. And for a moment it was all Clyde could see. Yet deep within he heard the sounds of someone fighting. Clangs of metal, the pained howls of wolves, and cries of war.

But the militia was ready.

Clyde had spent more time than he could ever truly realize training them. From years of being simple farmers, ranchers, and miners to what might need to be a militarized force. Nobody knew how well they’d perform. Today they would find out.

There was just one problem. They trained to fight against people. And what Clyde, and everyone in Alto, saw was not human. Instead crystalline beings shaped vaguely like them. There as a moment of fear and confusion, allowing their leaders to come into view.

Two large men. One dressed in little more than shorts and sandals, his skin coated in bronze and his hand gripping an axe with weighted chain on the end. The other looking and moving like an animated suit of armor with a blade nearly as long as he was tall gently resting on his shoulder.

“Fire!” Clyde forced out, the volume of it causing some men to shoot simply from the sudden noise. The armored man stepped in front of what Clyde guessed was the leader, blocking all the crudely made projectiles. Clyde brought up his revolver as well, firing at the armored man.

“Kevor!” He shouted, with the engineer looking out from his workshop. “That electricity of yours. Think it’ll work on a hunk of metal?”

For a moment Kevor contemplated this, but decided that he might as well try. “It isn't ready yet, so sure.” With that he popped back into his workshop, preparing whatever it was he had planned.

“How is he so calm?” Ryo didn’t expect an answer as he drew his sword. He wouldn’t get in the way of gunfire just yet. It wouldn’t take long before people had to reload, and there was a good chance the enemy would take that time to charge.

Before long chambers ran dry. They would need to be reloaded by hand, and everyone knew that there wasn’t any time for that. Instead they simply held up positions. All the rifles had bayonets affixed to them, so Clyde had taught them to simply hold formation when they ran out of ammo.

It was one thing to hold position and wait for a charging horse or enemy to run at them. But when these things charged very few could remain still. Nobody wanted to be in front of these inhuman mannequins as they charged forth.

“Get down!” Kevor took this moment to thin out the herd by throwing one of his batteries. Due to its unstable nature the battery exploded upon hitting the ground, giving an opening for Clyde, Ryo, and all else as brave as them to charge in.

And then something strange happened. Almost as if something else was orchestrating the fight both sides made a ring around the two sets of commanders.

“Attack them.” The bronzed man ordered, his voice as powerful as his muscular build. But the strange beings did not respond. Instead all he met was Ryo’s wicked smile.

“Your demons cannot approach me.” He walked forward, holding his blade forth. “I have climbed the tower and gained-” He words were cut off by the weighted chain bashing away his sword. Ryo nearly dislocated his arm keeping it in his grip.

“Shut up!” The bronzed man roared as he pulled the chain back. He charged forward at Ryo, his eyes filled with bloodlust.

Clyde stepped forward and landed his fist into the unarmored gut. At this distance he noticed dried blood and open wounds, but had no time to capitalize on it before he got slapped away.

Ryo charged in, lunging forward with a thrust aimed at the head of this aggressor. A nick to the cheek as the man barely moved out of the way in time, bringing his axe down on Ryo’s shoulder. Though some force stopped it from sinking in deep, Ryo still grunted from pain.

He stomped down on the aggressor’s knee, but only managed to push himself up. Ryo took advantage of this by planting his other knee into the man’s jaw, then bringing the pommel of the sword down onto his skull.

As Clyde began to get up a blade was thrusted in his face.

“Let’s not do that.” The armored man spoke, his deep voice echoed and muffled by the helmet. Clyde pulled his revolver on the armored opponent. The man only laughed before speaking. “You fired six shots, and the impacts punched holes in my armor. That gun is sure empty.” His voice was calm despite the visible holes.

Clyde had several questions, but the main two he was thinking about were: how did this man know about his revolver, and why did those holes not have anything leaking from them? But for now all he could do was stare down the blade and watch his ally.

The bronzed man stumbled back from the two pronged attack, throwing the chain low. Ryo disengaged, only for it to wrap around his ankle. A yank of the chain and Ryo was knocked on prone and pulled towards the now much larger appearing figure.

Again Ryo retained his grip on the sword, slashing at the man’s legs. The blade penetrates the skin, slices through the meat, and grazes bone.

A howl of pain from the aggressor only fuels his rage. The axe comes swinging down with both the force of gravity and all of this man’s strength.

Ryo rolled to the side and got up onto his feet, threatening with his blade. But he was caught by surprise as the bronzed man simply lunges at him. The two hit the dirt, with Ryo stuck underneath and rocked with a flurry of punches.

His hand finally releases its grip on his sword.

“No need for heroics.” The suit of armor reminds Clyde, but he had to act. Out of desperation he kicked the blade up, knocking it off center, and leapt onto his feet.

He ran up, gripped the bronze man by short hair, and fed the aggressor his knee. His grip held and the man was stunned long enough for a haymaker across the temple. He brought his hand up for another attack, but instead got his own knee punched out. Clyde collapsed into a kneel and felt the sword rest on his shoulder.

“I said no heroics.” But before the suit or his commander could do anything cries of fear came from the forest. Clyde looked over to see Dahlia having ran into town, dodging and weaving past the fights with strange lights around her.

The blade came up, and a spear of rock knocked it aside.

There stood a masked man wearing an oddly familiar outfit. One that Clyde was sure he’d recognize in any other situation.

“Delta!?” Garland roared out, charging towards the mask.

“You get to live today.” The armored man simply walked away from Clyde and Ryo, calmly marching towards this mask as well.

“Ryo!” He turned over, looking at his wounded companion. Battered, bruised, but still breathing. He lifted up his friend and walked off towards where he saw Dahlia run towards. A small house that had a glow around hit. None of those strange beasts were willing to approach it.

“Everyone, in!” Dahlia shouted. Her eyes had a faint glow, her body confident. Clint had seen this before. She was no longer acting as a member of the town, but as one of the forest.

He silently laid down Ryo and watched as more men poured into the house, using it as a defensive base. It gave him time to reload his revolver, listening to the conversation

“Clint.” She turned to him, “Take over.” He nodded as she kneeled down. A prayer was spoken in near silence. More of those crystalline beasts started to approach the house as Clint went out into the doorway. He shot them as they came, but just as he finished reloading more appeared.

Though only a few minutes passed, it felt like an hour was spent firing, dipping behind cover, reloading, and then firing again. Over and over until he was down to just six bullets. But then Dahlia finished her prayer, and the house began to glow just as she did before.

A protective prayer. Something he had seen her do before when animals tried attacking their supplies. This gave him the opportunity to rush outside and into the frey.

The bronzed man charged forth at Delta, or so the masked magician had been called. Delta brought up his leg, touched one hand to it, and stomped it down. With that the aggressor had been knocked aside.

“Barbarus, you fool.” Delta spoke, reaching behind him as the forest fire flew into his hand.

“Traitor!” The man roared, getting up again. “You die first!”

“Not on my watch!” Clyde shouted out, tackling into Barbarus. But this time he had his footing. Barbarus turned around with an elbow to Clyde’s face, reached out, and picked him up by his neck. With one swift motion the rancher, a man known for his own fitness and strength within Alto’s community, was lifted up and brought to the ground in a chokeslam.

“Clyde!” The flame around Delta’s hand was pulled close, rock surrounded the opposite arm, and the two coalesced. “Fusion Art: Metal!” With that they turned into a longsword. Long, slender, and hardened.

It had been made by magic, but crafted by someone with a clear lack of knowledge regarding blacksmithing. It had been hard to the point of being brittle and made purely from iron due to the instant formation. The blade was brought down upon Barbarus’ back and shattered, embedding shrapnel onto the exposed muscle.

A roar of pain was released from Barbarus, muting the otherwise audible confusion from Delta. Confusion that lasted long enough for him to catch a backfist that cracked his mask. As he stumbled back he caught the flat of the armored man’s sword, knocking him down.

But this was just enough time for Clyde to catch his breath. He mustered his strength into one kick to Barbarus’ ankle, sending the giant into a forward fall. Though Barbarus had caught himself, this allowed Clyde to get up.

The two stood facing each other as the armored man slowly walked up to Delta.

“Want to die?” Barbarus asked adopting a low stance during the brief standoff. Legs wide, arms held open, and crouched over to be the same height as his opponent. Clyde offered no answer, instead just spitting blood onto the ground. The rancher simply adopted a basic boxing stance, one hand up near his face and the other held forward.

Barbarus charged forward, catching a rabbit punch to the nose just before Clyde stepped back. This did little to stop the giant’s approach. A step to the side as a haymaker flew past, prompting a hook from Clyde’s strong arm.

Barbarus moved with the punch, grunted from the impact, and throw his arm out in response.

Clyde barely had time to brace for it and was sent reeling.

Barbarus stepped in and slammed his fist into Clyde’s guard. It took everything for Clyde to not show any response beyond the physical impact knocking his back into a building. His arms felt like they were on fire between his own punches and the ones he blocked.

But he refused to submit.

Barbarus came up to grab him again, only to catch a jab to the throat for his troubles. He walked back in a coughing fit. Both took the brief moment to catch their breath, locking eyes with each other and preparing for a war of attrition between each other’s stubborn mentality.

Clyde started to peel himself off the wall, but Barbarus returned the favor of the throat punch. He lifted up his leg and booted Clyde through the wall. The wind had been knocked out of the rancher as he watched the giant walk towards him. He knew that he didn’t have the time to catch his breath or the strength to crawl away. Either would be futile anyways.

But he also knew that he didn’t have to.

He drew his revolver and held at his side, his other hand on the hammer. Barbarus started to descend upon him with a hammer fist, only to learn that it was no longer empty.

One, two, three, four, five, six. Six bullets had embedded themselves into the giant. Six holes had appeared upon its chest. Though Clyde’s hands were shaking, his vision faded, and his arm silently screaming from pain he had no chance of missing from this range. A red mist showed itself on the other side of the colossus as it succumbed to gravity.

But then he found himself with a bigger problem. Barbarus had fallen on top of him, and he had no clue how to get the man off of him. Bleeding, battered, bruised, and pinned by someone much bigger than anyone he had ever imagined. His work wasn’t done, but he couldn’t get himself to stand up.

All he could do was wonder who that was he saw as his vision faded.