Free Heart

Ch 84 - I am Showing No Mercy

"Don't touch me, Emmy! Don't even try to heal me," Zoro growled as he laid sprawled facedown with his blood pooling out from under him and dripping slowly down stone steps, "Just...get out of the way."

Emmy bit her lip and jerked back her hand. The priest, Ohm, had attacked her and Zoro while they were still in shock over the snake's latest meal. The flexible cloud blade seemed to come from every angle and both of them were cut all over with the swordsman taking the brunt of it in order to keep the reindeer unharmed.

"We're in the middle of a battle for survival. You think I'd let any of you get away to safety that easily?" Ohm chided from down the street with blood dripping down the blade leaning behind his head.

"Chopper...Chopper's not part of the game anymore," Emmy said, "At least let him-"

"No. Now that you've healed him, he is still a contender," Ohm replied tersely, "You're all idiots who can't even protect themselves. Do you even have time to worry about others?"

"Mehhh. That's our Ohm-sama," the goat priests jeered.

"The survivors in the Upper Ruins currently are four Divine Soldiers, four Shandians, and two Blue Sea people. One giant snake...and Holy...Twelve people and two animals...And then, as God has prophesied, there will only be five left standing. So...let's continue to battle, shall we?" Ohm calculated and then raised a hand into the air, "Holy! It's time for that! Dash, Holy!"

The large dog sprinted around the ruins and with every step, they could hear clicking underneath his paws. Suddenly, barbed Iron Cloud wires shot out into the sky, interlocking with each other and created a sharp and lethal dome, trapping everyone inside of it.

"Behold, the Iron Ordeal's true form. The white barbed death match!" the goat priests cackled.

"How annoying..." Zoro grunted as he got to his feet, "Fence or no fence, I wasn't planning on running away anyways...Just needed to get Chopper out safely. But if we're not doing that anymore...well...The problem right now is where would we get out when we're done with you all?"

Ohm adjusted his sunglasses. "Hmph. You can figure that out if you get there."

"If I take care of that guy, Emmy, can you handle that giant snake?" Zoro asked as he raised two swords.

"Ah," Emmy said with a nod, "I can give it a try but what about Chopper?"

"Put him in one of the buildings. Whichever one that still has four standing walls," Zoro instructed.

"But what if something happens to the building while we're gone?" Emmy asked with a pointed look at the snake, which was still thrashing around violently.

Zoro smirked. "We'll leave it up to luck."

"Don't you mean God?" Ohm chided.

"Sorry. I don't believe in god. I'd rather rely on what I can do with my own two hands than on some fairy tale," Zoro said and he drew his swords, "Emmy! Lesson #27."

Immediately, Emmy straightened up her back.

"Ah...I'll protect," she said as she turned on her heels and ran down the street with Chopper in her arms. As she did so, Ohm's white blade came shooting towards her but it was immediately blocked by the swordsman.

Shing.

"And I'll win," Zoro growled with his eyes glued to the priest, "Oy. I'm telling you now. I'm too strong of an opponent for you to pay attention to anyone else."

"Don't forget about me!" Wyper shouted, leaping into view and raising his bazooka towards the edge of the dome.

"WYPER!"