It was almost 6 p.m. The junkyard is usually quiet, but now, the silence has been disturbed by Luke"s heavy breathing. He was observing Loopy as he bent down beside Ruster"s head. No one was around. No one could help. Luke was lost in total despair.Loopy stared at Ruster"s face for a while, and then slightly slapped him multiple times to wake him up. Ruster slowly opened his eyes, he couldn"t move at all. "I am going to kill you, but I still need you to stay alive a little bit longer!" Loopy said with an evil tone.
Ruster was in a lot of pain, he felt heavy and he lost a lot of blood so he was unable to talk.
Loopy sp.a.w.ned a medical syringe, It was filled with a water-like solution. He pressed on it a bit, to remove air from the tip, and then injected it into Ruster"s remaining arm. "This is morphine and some pain killers, it will make you feel better." Loopy said. He stood up, disposed of the syringe, and sp.a.w.ned his sword. "But don"t try anything fishy!" He said as he put his sword right on Ruster"s neck.
Ruster was feeling better after the morphine injection, he was able to move his arm and legs. But Loopy stepped on his stomach restraining his movement. "Give me the stone Ruster, now!" Loopy said.
Ruster hesitated for a bit then he asked." Why didn"t you kill me?"
"Don"t play the fool on me, I know everything about your ability, a.r.s.enal!" Loopy answered aggressively. "Although it is possible to extract items from a dead body, in your case, it would be impossible. You must be a fool if you think I"ll fall for that!" Loopy explained.
The wardoks had the ability to turn nonliving things into energy and store them within their bodies. This ability helps them carry their weapons and belongings easily, and let them sp.a.w.n them whenever they want to. It was a basic Ki technique. However, it comes with a drawback, the storage capacity is limited, and it takes endurance to keep the inventory in check.
Except for Ruster, for some reason, he had a unique trait since birth, his storing capacity was limitless, and it didn"t require any effort from him to maintain his storage. That"s why he has an a.r.s.enal of swords stored in him, each one of them with a unique feature. For any particular situation, he would sp.a.w.n the most suitable sword to use. That was his ability, a.r.s.enal!
This was his trump card, if he dies the stone will be lost forever. They can still extract items from dead bodies, but for Ruster, with his full a.r.s.enal, it will take years before they could do it, only if they got lucky and sp.a.w.n the stone before his body starts decaying.
"Give me the stone now!" Loopy shouted.
Ruster made a scary look, he was angry because Loopy just crushed his last hopes. " Even if I wanted to give you the stone, I can"t!" Ruster answered. Loopy strangely gazed at him, waiting for him to explain. "My a.r.s.enal has a flaw as well, I can"t select what to sp.a.w.n without my armor! My armor does the selection for me... Otherwise, I just sp.a.w.n random stuff." Ruster explained.
At first, it seemed to Loopy that this was a desperate attempt from Ruster to gear up and flee, but after second thoughts, he believed him. After all, he knew very well that the wardoks can"t manipulate their Ki efficiently without their armors.
Loopy glanced at Ghost which was thrown away, it wasn"t making any move, as if it was dysfunctional. He turned his head towards Luke who was on his knees terrified. Loopy was restraining Ruster"s movement, he couldn"t let him go so he shouted to Luke. "Human! make yourself useful and bring me that armor!"
"What!? He didn"t run away! Stupid kid!" Ruster said inside his mind.
Luke noticed Ghost on the ground, it was about 30 steps away from him. "He wants Ghost... but why?" Luke asked himself. He glanced at Ruster who made a head nod of encouragement. "Does Ruster have a plan?" He asked himself again. Luke shook his panic, and slowly stood up. "I hope Ghost can help us..." He said and slowly walked towards the armor.
"I hope you are not planning something Ruster" Loopy warned him. "I"ll slice you up with no hesitation!"
Ruster made some worried expression as he watched Luke walking towards Ghost.
"Luke..."
"Luke..."
"Luke... Luke..."
It"s that voice again, it was calling Luke. "What? That voice again?" Luke said worryingly. He looked around him, but no one was there. "Can they hear it too?" He asked himself. He looked at Ruster and Loopy, they didn"t make any strange reactions, they obviously weren"t hearing anything.
When Luke reached Ghost, the voice suddenly stopped. So he just bent over and grabbed it. "Ghost!" He said. But Ghost wasn"t giving any response, it was completely shut down. Luke shook him a bit, still nothing. So he just carried him and walked towards Loopy and Ruster.
"He"s not responding!" Luke said as he came closer to Ruster and leaned Ghost near him.
Ruster kept calling his armor, but it didn"t respond to him either. "What"s happening here?" Ruster asked himself.
Ruster"s plan was to wear his armor and randomly teleport himself with Captain Loopy to the wardoks world. That would give him a better chance to flee than the current situation. But if Ghost isn"t responding he can"t use the stone. "That"s a problem! My armor has shut down!" Ruster said to Loopy.
Loopy seemed to be losing his patience. "What"s wrong with it?!" He shouted.
"I don"t know..." Ruster answered worryingly.
Captain Loopy felt that he was being played and that they were making a fool out of him. He clenched his fist and gave Luke a strong punch that threw him 20 feet back. Luckily for him, he was grabbing Ghost and it somehow absorbed the punch damage. Luke only got hurt from the fall.
"No! Luke!" Ruster shouted as he tried to stand up while Loopy threatened him with his sword.
Luke remained laid down on the ground for a moment while holding tight on Ghost. Then he unexpectedly sat down like if nothing had just happened, and asked. "Ghost?"
Ruster felt a bit relaxed when he saw that Luke was okay and he immediately started thinking of a way to save him from the Captain.
"You know what Ruster... I"m just going to take you home... and torture you until you empty all your inventory, then I"ll both get the stone and kill you!" Loopy said. His face became pale and terrifying. Ruster was not afraid of death, but Loopy"s face right now made him feel immense fear and weakness. He felt that what he would do to him was beyond insanity.
After a short period, Ruster swallowed his saliva and regained his courage. He made an evil smile and shouted. "Let"s make a deal!"
Loopy sensed a lot of vibes of trickery from Ruster so he denied his request. "You are in no positions to make deals, you are a traitor and you are going to die! That"s just it." Loopy answered.
"What If I did this?" Ruster said as he sp.a.w.ned something right into his hand, it was the Cl.u.s.ter stone!
Loopy looked surprised."The stone! You were lying about your ability." He asked aggressively.
Ruster explained to him That he wasn"t 100% lying, but the stone is just a special item that emits strong energy, and that let him sp.a.w.n it without his armor.
"I don"t care! Give me the stone now!" Loopy ordered.
Ruster clenched on the stone and said. "Only if you let the kid live!"
This was Ruster"s deal, at the very end, he chose his friend over himself. He wanted Luke to survive, he had nothing to do with all of this, Ruster didn"t want to be the cause of his death.
This strange condition made Captain Loopy furious, he didn"t understand this inconceivable friendship between a human and a wardok.
"Are you kidding me? That is impossible, I"m going to kill that kid no matter what!" Loopy answered as he was trying to suppress his wrath.
"Then I"ll never give you the stone!" Ruster replied.
Ruster was about to absorb the stone again, but before he could do it, he got stunned by an electrical shock that originated from Loopy"s leg that was stepping on him. Ruster knew all about Loopy"s abilities, but he didn"t know about this one. "He can use his stuns from his legs too now!" Ruster said as he was paralyzed. He dropped the stone due to the shock, he can"t absorb it without touching it.
Ruster didn"t have the time to grab the stone again, Loopy quickly kicked it away and rose his sword up, he was going to finish Ruster. "Die!" Loopy shouted as he swung his sword.
There was nothing he could do... Deep in his mind, Ruster knew that this was it, there is no escaping this attack. The sword was inches away from his chest, it was going to be a clean death.
At his last moments, Ruster felt regret about all the humans he had killed in the past, and he felt immense regret because he wasn"t able to tone for his grandfather"s sin. Also, he felt sorry for Luke who was going to be killed soon. That"s it he surrendered to his faith and closed his eyes. "I"ve lost!" He said.
Seconds have pa.s.sed and nothing happened... "Did I die?" Ruster asked himself. But he was brought back to reality with a loud scream from Loopy. He slowly opened his eyes and checked his chest, he didn"t get injured. To his surprise, he looked up and saw Loopy screaming from agony, his arm was chopped!
"What?" Ruster shouted.
Just behind Loopy stood a figure, it was wearing a black leather-like armor. That armor was Ghost! Ruster immediately recognized his companion. But who was wearing it?
After a few moments, Ruster finally realized exactly what happened, he felt extreme shock and excitement, this was unheard of in his world, he quickly sat and shouted.
"Luke!"