Blood of the Innocent

File 35: Orbitalus

"Minny, Persona, Exodus," announced Lettuce, "Find Protector. If we kill him off, there's a chance that the walls that he created will get destroyed. Then we can possibly find Dante and Wraith to regroup. We're stronger when we're together.

Inferno and I will stay here to fend off Orbitalus."

Exodus flashed a thumbs up as they ran away to look for Protector. Lettuce then turned his attention to Inferno.

"We'll need your fire right about now," said Lettuce as he noticed Orbitalus approaching.

"But I can't control it well!" replied Inferno.

"What a bother! Do it now, damn it!"

Inferno hesitantly cast out flames from his fingers, which slowly began to spread into the inferno that it would become. With his Telekinetic Magia, Lettuce moves Inferno's flames and aimed for Orbitalus. However, he was interrupted and hit by an invisible force.

"What was that?" asked Lettuce in confusion.

Suddenly, he was hit by the invisible force again, this time coming from below. Repeatedly, Lettuce was being hit by this invisible force.

"Inferno!" yelled Lettuce, "Keep making more flames! It's my ammo to kill this guy!"

Orbitalus laughed, "Don't you see how very well this is? Very well! This orb I'm carrying stems directly from my Magia. Orb Magia allows me to do the following:"

Orbitalus hit a side of the orb, and soon Lettuce was thrown to the ground. He hit another part, and Lettuce was hit from the same direction.

"Anything that hits that orb transfers to Lettuce.." analyzed Inferno in awe.

Suddenly, flames were thrown at Orbitalus, who barely dodged them.

"Stop explaining your damn ability and fight me with your all," said Lettuce, blood dripping from his lip as he stood up, "My ability is just like yours, but I'm the better user."

Orbitalus dropped to the ground, hitting it on full impact from the telekinesis. Orbitalus retaliated by hitting the orb on the ground, sending Lettuce high up in the air. He then hit the top of the orb with a forceful smack, sending Lettuce spiraling down to the ground.

"Lettuce!" yelled Inferno, increasing the flames of his Magia.

Lettuce was all bloodied up from the impact.

"What a bother," said Lettuce, feeling his broken ribs, "I'm going to have to ask Persona to fix me up. I hate it when I have to rely on that guy. That doesn't matter. I plan on finishing you off in just a few minutes."

Flames flew through the skies, manipulated by Lettuce's Telekinetic Magia. They spiraled towards Orbitalus, who had no way of dodging the large radius that was created by Inferno's constant growth.

"Stop it!" yelled Orbitalus in a last resort, revealing the bomb placed inside his vest, "If I'm going down, I'm taking you all with me! If it's for Proiettilo, then I'm willing to kill you all!"

Lettuce can't burn Orbitalus with Inferno's flames without setting off the bomb. He had to think of something else, and his attention began to drift elsewhere. Suddenly, Orbitalus was launched towards the ocean off of Liberty Island.

"Sending me into the sea, huh?" yelled Orbitalus as he hit the orb, launching Lettuce towards him, "Then if I'm going down, you're going down as well!"

Lettuce kept going, sending him to the depths of the water in an attempt to suppress the explosion. However, while he did this, Orbitalus was hitting the orb to keep him nearer and nearer.

"Lettuce!" yelled Inferno, watching from the edge of the island.

As both bodies sunk to the bottom of the sea, a huge explosion of water blasted from the surface of the sea. The water spraying back down made it seem like it was raining.

"Lettuce.."

There was no sight of him or Orbitalus.

—

"Damn, we really got trapped!" yelled Exodus, shooting Rotation shots at the walls surrounding them.

"Protector is closing us off with these walls," said Minny, "And for good reason. Protector's Magia isn't really used for offense. It's mainly for defensive situations. He must be waiting for someone to finish us off."

"How does Protector even use his Magia?" asked Persona.

"It seems like he uses the materials within the ground, raising walls up and infusing his Magia into them," explained Minny, "This greatly increases their durability for any substance."

Persona decided to experiment with the wall, and decided to restore it to its original form using his Restoration Magia. He placed his hand on the wall, and suddenly, the wall moved back down into the ground. It was as if there wasn't a wall in the first place! On the other side of the restored wall was Protector, surprised on Persona's ability. He created a wall once again to hold them down.

That didn't stop Persona, who kept restoring the wall and denying Protector's Magia. Soon, Minny, Exodus and Persona escaped the trap that they were placed in.

"You may have broken my walls," laughed Protector scrappily, "But you'll never break—"

Protector was interrupted by an arm phasing through his mouth. It extended to a hole in the back of his head, where Wraith had shifted out of his dimension. He then used his Magia to instantly burst open Protector's head, creating a fountain of blood.

"Wraith!" yelled Minny, "What happened?"

"Come on," said Wraith, "There's still tim—"

"Guys!" interjected Inferno, "Lettuce is gone! He sacrificed his life to kill Orbitalus and save this island!"

"What.." replied the group in shock.

"There's still time to save him, right?" panicked Exodus.

"I doubt it," replied Inferno grimly, "He's down in the bottom of the seas.."

"Wait!" yelled Wraith, "We might not be able to save Lettuce, but we can still help Dante! Come on and follow me! Since Protector is dead, the walls defending the pedestal should be gone!"

—

"No way.." whispered Minny in shock.

Dante laid on the ground, his eyes closing peacefully. His neck was red from Adonis' strangling. Exodus looked at Persona.

"You can restore him back to his original form, right?" she asked in hope, "I know we couldn't help Lettuce since he was at the bottom of the sea, but we can help Dante! Right?"

"I'm sorry, Exodus," replied Persona grimly, "But just like Basilisk, I can't restore people from the dead."

Exodus began to tear up and shifted her attention to Dante.

"Come on!" she said, "You're just sleeping! Wake up Dante! Wake up!"

Wraith and Inferno turned away to hide their grief. Minny and Persona stared at Dante, their most trusted member of the gang.

"I'll give you lots of treats! A million of them! Just wake up! Please Dante!"

Minny and Inferno started tearing up as well. Wraith and Persona managed to hide their devastation.

Exodus cried loudly in sorrow. They all knew that they had to defeat the Boss quickly, or risk even more casualties to their team.