Jagger [English version]

Chapter 40: The death of an Ultimate

Garret jumped hard and fired two powerful cannon blasts that made the room rumble. Ribal dodged the first, which shattered the wall into a thousand pieces, and covered his face with one of his wings, which received the impact of the second shot, but he did not flinch in the least. Ribal threw a sword at the hunter, at the same time moving quickly towards him. Garret fired at the weapon, which disintegrated in midair, but he had less luck avoiding his opponent's charge. With blistering speed, Ribal swung his other sword, slashing it across Garret's chest.

The hunter didn't lose focus and took aim at his friend at point-blank range, the powerful shot sending his opponent flying and crashing to the ground in a shocking impact.

He took advantage of those seconds to catch his breath. Just a few moments ago, a strange white light had appeared on his arm and, inside of him, he knew that it meant that the treaty with the Lords of the Underworld had been broken; however, he did not feel any weaker. That made him think that the Council had lost half its power in an instant. This pleased him a little: he wouldn't have to worry about Jagger.

However, he had no idea how long he had been fighting Ribal, though he felt as if he had been for days. The speed of his movements was inhuman; the force of his attacks, enormous; and to top it off, those damn wings and that armor of his seemed capable of deflecting any shot he fired.

As if he knew what he was thinking, Ribal stood up and spread his wings, completely unharmed.

"It's pretty annoying, that ability you have," Garret said with a smile as he felt the hot blood trickling down his chest.

"Not as much as yours," Ribal answered. "Being able to shoot anything from your pistols is definitely annoying. Although, it will not be effective."

Garret parried a sudden slash with one of his pistols and fired the other into his opponent's face. Ribal jerked his head to the right and dodged the attack, at the same time unleashing a heavy kick to the hunter's side. Garret dropped the weapon he held in his right hand and caught the traitor's leg. Ribal tried to hit him with his free hand, but the hunter fired in the direction of his wrist and had no choice but to try to deflect the shot with the edge of his sword. Garret hit him in the face with the butt of the gun and shot him in the chest, without letting go of his foot. Ribal blocked the shot with a wing while the hunter grabbed his leg and threw him with all his might against the wall behind them.

Ribal settled into the air and reached out to slam his feet into the wall, ready to use the momentum and lunge at Garret again. But, as soon as he looked up, he was met by the barrel of the gun, which earlier had been on the ground, just inches from his face. The hunter started to fire, but in a split second he was being thrown across the room by a well-aimed blow from one of Ribal's wings.

The hunter's body bounced, but he managed to resist long enough to fall to his right knee and avoid going face-first to the ground.

"I'm glad to see you're not holding back," Ribal said, "but you make me doubt the strength you're so praised for."

"You should pay more attention to what you're doing," Garret replied, scrambling to his feet.

Ribal frowned somewhat confused, and just at that moment, a mysterious wound appeared on his head and a line of blood fell on his face. His body swayed in a daze and his gaze blurred for a few seconds.

"What the hell...?" Ribal said, trying to remember when he had been hit on the head.

"Let me remind you, once more, that my power allows me to shoot anything with my weapons," Garret said, trying to get to his feet, but failing. "Yet your wings have blocked my shots endlessly, a prodigious feat I might add, though prodigious enough to doubt."