Guilty Crown: ROB's Wheel c72

“We should get up; it's already late morning,” Julis softly said to Alex as she was checking his right-hand fingers, which were full of scars from drawing the bow string. Even if the bowstring is made from pure energy, the pulling force is quite considerable.

Eventually, it started to cut his fingers.

After constant pulling, his fingers got scarred.

“Hmm, I suppose.” He replied halfheartedly. He wanted to continue hugging his princess!

“We can cuddle after we eat!” She slightly huffed at his attitude.

“Oh, I know. Let’s get a shower!” He jumped out of the bed and pulled her into his hands. Then he dragged her into the bathroom.

“I-I can walk by myself!” The girl complained about his abrupt behaviour.

“You can do that later~~~” He teased her after hearing her cute actions.

~~~

Inori was confused by their strange behaviour. She knows they are a couple, and they are close, but they are closer today than they were yesterday.

What is going on? Did something happen? She is certain nothing strange happened last night. The girl is certain that she could have woken up if noise or something was happening in the flat, so what is going on?

“Mornin~~ Inori~,” Alex ‘glided’ to her side and hugged his Death Angel. The girl in question looked confused for a second. She didn’t complain about the hug as he could hug her more often.

“...Good morning.” She replied in her ‘iconic’ monotonous voice.

As he pulled back from the hug, she noticed something weird on his hands. 

‘...I am certain those were not on his fingers before.’ 

The girl took his hands and inspected his fingers.

“Oh, don’t worry about these.” 

He was reassured about his fingers as he slowly removed his hands from her hold.

Inori slowly nodded, but her eyes remained on his hands.

“Don’t worry, I have the means to heal such a thing.”

“...Yes… I understand, but I want to know how you got these… I don’t remember any conflict last night.” She said with an uncertain tone. The girl was conflicted as her memories were not solid; there were gaps, so she was worried that she was losing her memories when sleeping or something like that.

“That’s because I went to train.”

“...Train?” Her eyes widened slightly.

“I wish to train with you.” She took a step forward, looking serious. The pinkette wants to help them, and if she is strong, she can help them in fights— that’s simple logic.

“We will train today after eating, okay?” He deflected her request and offered a different solution.

Inori slowly nodded. It was a good alternative.

“Good, then let’s start with breakfast.” He nodded as well before looking towards the kitchen.

~~~

After food and a short rest, the trio walked towards their training spot. Alex’s eyebrow perked up as he saw a bigger security squad deployed at the same checkpoint.

“Well, look at that.” The White Dragon Emperor commented on what he saw before him.

“It appears they think a bigger group would make a difference.” Julis sighed in annoyance, but at the same time, she was itching to fight something else and not wolves.

Alex took a step forward and summoned his bow in his right hand. In his left hand, between his fingers, short swords appeared.

Inori looked at the White Dragon Emperor curiously. She had not seen this fighting style before. Since when did he use a bow…

‘Are those knives?’ The pinkette wondered as Alex aimed and then shot in rapid succession. The sword arrows took out four guarding GHQ soldiers. The projectiles slammed into their heads and shattered like glass upon impact, but there was enough force upon impact to knock them out.

Once the outside security was out, the alarm blared loudly.

“Well, it appears they improved their security,” Julis said with a slightly raised eyebrow. It appears last time the ones who protected this area were lazy bums.

“It appears so.” Alex casually nodded as he created another thin arrow-like sword and shot at the cables below the rooftop. The arrow was supercharged with enough electricity to fry the system. He already fried it yesterday, so whatever alternative they have should be knocked out, too.

“...”

“...”

“...It would seem like they have a mobile version, maybe a backup generator or some batteries?” He lowered the bow as they could still hear the alarm.

“Why did you assume they changed something over a single night?” Julis asked as she sighed. They might be in future, but stuff is not THAT advanced.

“We are in future.”

“Yeah, but not that far. Cables and power circuits don’t just get replaced in a flash.” 

To her remark, he simply shrugged and then noticed a rushing white armoured SUV at their location…

They were quick this time around.

“Here we go, morning exercises.” Alex slightly grinned as his body glowed white, and he armoured himself in Scale Mail.

“Oh, man, I missed this feeling!” 

Like a missile, the White Dragon Emperor rammed his foot into the first SUV, which caused the vehicle to flip over and land upside down.

The other two drove around and stopped several metres away. The doors opened, and the soldiers poured out and opened fire at Alex.

“Yeah, how about no?” 

Julis threw a large fireball into the group, causing several to catch on fire while others turned around and faced her. This was a huge mistake, as Alex delivered electrifying punches to the ones who changed their targets into the girl. The ones who tried to shoot him missed their targets because he was just too fast…

“W-What the fuck!? I can’t even follow you!” The GHQ Anti-body soldier complained as he could not catch the white armoured being in sight!

“I get that a lot. Let me help you with that~~~” Alex appeared in front of the guy as his clawed gauntlet ended up on the rifle and then grabbed it and threw it away.

“You should consider profession changes, maybe an electrician or a bricklayer?” The white Dragon Emperor suggested before delivering a knockout punch with his other hand.

The guy dropped to the ground with a thud, and the lightning user looked around for more enemies. He saw a couple still inside the checkpoint.

Inori, who observed the whole exchange, noticed where Alex was looking, so she swiftly charged into the small guard post.

“H-H-Hold it girlie! We will shoot!” 

But that was too slow. She delivered several kicks, and then a pink crystal hand blade appeared around her hand. She sliced through their weapons like a hot knife through butter.

“It appears she doesn’t mind to act.” Julis looked at the whole thing with crossed arms as she took out the guys from the upside-down SUV.

Seconds later, Alex landed next to her with a burst of white. His armour was dismissed.

“Well, she wants to prove she has what it takes to be part of our group, " he commented with a small smile. The girl was like a cute little pet. Most Kuudere girls are like that. 

“...I guess, very human-like behaviour.”

“Indeed, even if she is ‘Patient Zero’ and can control the Apocalypse Virus, she is still human.” 

The pair walked over and saw Inori simply standing next to two drooling guards who were on the ground. Their rifles were in pieces around them.

“Nicely done, Inori.” Alex patted her head, making her blush slightly, and she slowly nodded at his praise.

After praising the pinkette, he sliced new tech in the room before leaving the checkpost and walking into the derelict districts of old Tokyo.

~~~

“We should start with your movements.” The White Dragon Emperor said to Inori as they were in the middle of an abandoned warehouse with quite a bit of space.

“Movement is one of the most important things in a fight. It allows you to dodge fatal strikes and deliver swift blows to enemies, dealing with them before they can hit you back. Speed is vital for someone who is built lightly like you.” Alex explained to her as he took a stance.

Inori knew what he was talking about; it was the stance to become as small a target as possible, something she had already used against the GHQ antibodies. Those guys missed their shots and got confused for a fraction of a second when she positioned her body sideways. It was enough for her to dismantle them.

“Well, we will start with sparring, so come at me, Inori.”

“...yes.”

Her hair got slightly wilder as her eyes turned red, and the girl activated her abilities without hesitation.

‘She got into this quick. Is it sheer battle talent, or is it because she is a ‘broken’ person?’ 

Julis considers this because the girl lacks the fundamental character development that most people get when they are children, but this girl was created in a lab and has memories of a different person.

Regardless, she quickly picked up how to fight and eventually began to develop her own fighting style.

As the pair predicted, she loved dancing, which was incorporated into how she moved. 

‘Well, they can continue with this play. I will go back to reading.’

Julis stopped watching them and instead pulled out one of the magic books she had and continued reading on chain spell casting.

After a while, Alex could finally work on his training, as Inori rested and instead listened to music and did some ‘imaginary’ training. 

‘Partner, do you know that when you got your Sword Blacksmith, it automatically reached Balance Breaker?’

‘Hmm? Why did you never mention it before?’

The host of Vanishing Dragon asked in a slightly annoyed tone if he knew that he could have utilised in the fight against Anarok or the snake or the pig!

‘That’s your own fault for not trying, and I was outside your body? Remember? I can’t believe I need to remind you about stuff like that…’ Alex could feel a mental eye roll from the dragon.

‘Ugh… You know that I don’t just act upon emotions all the time? I am a human. Remember, if I follow all of my urges, stuff would be different.’

‘Dragon-human hybrid, but yes, I see your point. Regardless, you beat that pig, snake and pup anyway, so there is no need to smack yourself.’ 

The lightning user rolled his eyes and activated the Balance Breaker for his Sword Blacksmith.

At that moment, swords rose from the ground and appeared all over him. It reminded him of Emiya’s Reality Marble in some way.

However, for Alex, it was underwhelming…

He recalled Jeanne summoning a dragon from swords or Kiba summoning knights… well, whatever he can use, area of effect attacks…

But then he motioned with hand, and all the swords followed his motions, like a snake or puppet!

“Oh… now that is cool!”

All of a sudden, his interest in this Balance Breaker grew! If he could manipulate Holy Dragon Thunder swords like that, he could do something about it in the future! Like merge into something or morph into arrows or javelins! 

As Alex was practising, Inori stopped with her imaginary training, which was simply imagining dancing according to music, and instead looked at what the White Dragon Emperor was doing.

The girl noticed something odd, like him behaving like he had not been around for a while or that he was happy to see her as if he had not been around for a while. While she doesn’t know much about certain things, she studied him the whole day before, and such a shift in behaviour is not normal to what she understands about characters.

And then there is this… He has a bow and can summon weapons now…, but not energy weapons like before. Another thing she noticed is that he was much better at fighting than yesterday.

Something strange is happening, something she is missing…

The pinkette ended up placing her hands on her cheeks and lying forward. Her eyes were digging into him, trying to understand what was happening.

As this was happening, Julis found her behaviour amusing. It reminded her of a cat being confused about the human she lived with.