Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

"Shit… the flower's going to fuckin' explode," Ragnar muttered, panting heavily from a short distance away as his Pyromaniac form wore off and his HP was left dangerously low. "My sword's still in there… and that damned assassin too."

"Cyanide…" Luna whispered under her breath, but there was nothing she could do now. Even Dianna's confidence earlier was nowhere to be seen, and she too was holding her breath as she focused her gaze intently on the closed flower, pulsating glowing as condensed, explosive energy ran through its veins.

Of course, Cyanide, inside the plant, realized this as well. Unfortunately, his «Anaconda's Fang», being a light, one-handed weapon, lacked the raw brute strength to break out of this hellhole that was the flower's abdomen. On the surface, he was essentially stuck here, with no way out.

Luckily, however, that was not truly the case.

When making the decision to jump in here, Cyanide already planned ahead. He expected something like this to happen, and factored the possibility into his calculations. As such, naturally, he had an escape plan as well.

After looking around for a bit, he found what he was searching for a few meters away, coated in thick stomach acid and horrible stench. Still, Cyanide didn't care about either of those things, and took up the greatsword—«Fury's Edge»—in his gloved hands. It damaged him and stung like hell since the sword was coated with acid, but he didn't care. He had one goal, and one goal only: to break out of here.

And since Fury's Edge's special trait was the lower the user's HP, the more damage the weapon would deal… it was perfect if Cyanide took some HP. In fact, he purposely got hit by a couple more drops of acid, just to ensure his HP was as low as possible while still being able to handle the heavy weapon.

Heaving the greatsword in his two hands while his primary weapon hung on his waist, he readied himself for one single attack. It was the only chance he was going to get, and he needed to put all his strength into it if he wanted to make this work. If he failed, he dies. As simple as that.

Gripping the rock greatsword's hilt tightly, Cyanide's eyes flashed with a moment of determination, and after casting [Vampiric Blade] (it worked on all blade-type weapons

), he swung the sword at the flesh of the flower. An immense shockwave was unleashed as he channeled all of his muscular strength into the swing, and the interior organs of the flower shook violently from the force of the strike.

Slowly, a crack appeared in the flower's flesh, and it seemed like the attack was going to work. However, the strike also served to speed up the self-destruct mechanism of the flower, and the entire chamber they were in began violently shaking as if an earthquake was happening.

Bit by bit, the crack grew bigger and bigger, and the shaking intensified. Chunks of rocks began falling from the ceiling, preventing the others outside from helping out. At this rate, Cyanide wasn't going to make it. The flower was growing brighter and brighter, nearly turning into a silhouette of complete whiteness, at which point it would explode. And Cyanide… still was not yet out.

But then, just as all hope seemed lost… a chunk of rock that fell from the chamber ceiling revealed a gleam of sunlight that dawned upon the cave, which was illuminated only by glow-in-the-dark plants before. Then, another chunk fell after the first, giving way to even more of the sun's rays. Like dominoes, the rocks fell one after another, and very soon, there was a massive hole in the chamber of nature's ceiling. The sunlight from outside converged and struck the plant as one, single ray, and to everyone's surprise, the entire flower…

… Turned into stone.

"… Woah," Kirika breathed, mouth agape. "This is…"

"Goddamn…" Ragnar muttered, gazing at the massive flower, now turned into nothing but a statue.

But…

Both Dianna and Luna were still intently gazing at the flower, for a different reason. And to their relief, soon came the sound of stone being smashed open, and from the base of the massive botanical statue, a man emerged.

"Cyanide…" Luna immediately rushed to his side and embraced him, completely not caring about the horrid stench all over his body. "Seriously… you do the most risky things…"

Cyanide snorted. "It worked though, didn't it? Also, get off me. The smell will rub onto you as well."

"I don't care," Luna said, pouting slightly. "It doesn't bother me at all. So for now… just let me do this."

Meanwhile, Dianna's reaction was far more subtle. She only closed her eyes and smiled, leaning against a thin stone pillar nearby.

"… That's the student of my father," she whispered quietly to herself with a smug grin.

From beside her, Kirika approached, and gave a pat on her shoulder.

"Hey, y'know… you don't have to act all cool and generous, standing up here," Kirika said with a wink. "If you want him, you'll have to fight for him. Just because those two have been together for years, doesn't mean you can't be as close to him as she is. Time isn't the deciding factor of love, after all. Confidence, remember?"

Dianna blinked her beautiful red eyes in surprise at the other girl for a moment, then ultimately gave a smile followed by a sigh.

"To think I would be lectured by the same girl I lectured just a few hours ago… oh, how far I've fallen." She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again with a new determination in her eyes. "But… you're right about that. Cyanide and Luna may have been together for far longer than I've known him for, but… there's one thing Luna can't beat me at."

"Oh? What is it?" Kirika asked with a wry grin, and Dianna winked at her playfully.

"The art of charming a man~"