Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Hal chuckled at her words, 

"Very well then, shall we?" He asked her with their backs pressed against each other as they eyed their opponents who frowned at the new arrival that had so easily cut off the arm of their companion.

"We shall" Melinda said with a smile and she positioned her sword vertically before swinging it and sending an arch of golden flames at her opponents.

She was going serious right from the start with the implementation of her Bloodline flames.

While a number of Dystopians moved out of the way just in time, an unfortunate Dystopian was caught by the flames and blasted back. While the flames burned vindictively, it was nothing compared to how it was sure to burn Hal or any Devil or Demon.

The Dystopian managed to quench the flames with an imbuement of cosmic energy but by then, Melinda was closing in and beheading him.

Hal had made moves himself as he summoned his Cosmic Armament and Dual wield along with his Broadsword Artifact to first cut down the one-armed Dystopian before moving on to the other whole-bodied ones.

Soon, the Dystopians began to rally and divided into two groups to focus their attention on subduing these two..

At that point, there were only ten of them left, and five focused on Hal while the other five focused on Melinda. The ones focussing on Melinda were weary because of the actions of her golden flames that told of being from a being that detested their existence.

Seeing how much attention they placed on her, while Melinda was not surprised, she did chuckle.

Then one Dystopian dashed closer to her. Clearly, she was not like Hal. who liked to get up close and personal, instead, she was just like the average Human who preferred to keep a distance from their Dystopian opponent.

A fact that they felt had been proven by how the first thing she chose to fight with, being her flames. Apart from cutting the arm of one of their companions and then beheading the victim of her flames, that is.

Anyway, the Dystopian felt that if he got closer, he could take advantage of his superior physical prowess.

And he would have been correct had Melinda been an average human... But she was not.

The Dystopian's fingers became tipped with dangerous claws that boasted of a strong impressive mixture of Cosmic energy and Beastly force but Melinda smirked and caught his claw strike with the blade of her sword.

The eyes of the Dystopian widened as he felt her stop his blade in place and not even look like she was straining herself.

But how could Melinda strain herself?

Even against humans, her strikes had always been backed with such forcefulness that close combat was as much her strong suit as long-distance attacks.

She was versatile that way.

The Dystopian's beastly instincts instantly informed him that this was not an opponent to face in close combat and leaped back... Or at least tried to but found he was unable to.

Melinda had grabbed the hand she held in place with her sword and now pulled him closer to stab her sword into his midsection but he moved away and she missed. 

After that, the Dystopian attempted to wrench his hand from her grip but his outstretched hand presented a perfect t opportunity for the golden-eyed lady to take revenge for him causing her strike to miss.

She cut off his arm.

Right at the point where it connected to his shoulder.

"Ahhhhhh" The Dystopian yelled as he wondered if this lady had a thing for cutting off arms.

Melinda made to pursue but an earthen spike shot of the ground at her feet and right at her chest.

The earthen spike was imbued with Cosmic energy and it was sure to penetrate her skin.

She swung her sword with ease and shattered the spike in mid-air.

"So this is what your replacement of Cosmic Armament looks like. Interesting" she said as the one who had attacked her created an earthen shield and an Earthen sword.

All imbued with Cosmic energy.

Capable of injuring her but far from sturdy enough that she wouldn't be able to shatter.

Even the shield that probably boasted more sturdiness could never handle two strikes of her sword.

However, the advantage Dystopians have is that while their creations can be destroyed easily, they have a large supply.

All around her, apart from the one whose hand she had cut off, the Dystopians all began creating weapons with their Attuned Element which as it turns out was earth for two and wind for the other two.

Hal was facing a similar situation himself, 

The difference was that he was facing it right from the get-go.

Knowing how physical he could get, the Dystopians facing him had armed themselves with their attuned element but as they soon realized when Hal began cutting through them, that did not really make a difference.

Once he dodged any attacks tossed at him, he would close in with physicality and strike them down.

Soon, he had cut their numbers down to two and they began to consider retreating but that turned out not to be an option.

When one attempted Retreat, Hal tossed his Broadsword comic Armament to strike him down while he pursued the second with his Cosmic Armament and made short work of him.

When he was done, he turned to see how Melinda was faring and saw her advancing towards a one-armed Dystopian who was whimpering and pleading for mercy as he attempted to get away from his assailant.

"Asking for Mercy on a battlefield, how weak can you possibly be?" She asked with a shake of her head.

"I just want to survive" the Dystopian spat as he held his bleeding stump.

"And those you killed? Did they want to die? Just shut up and die with a little dignity" Melinda said before slashing his neck and putting an end to his whimpers.

Then her senses tingled and she looked back at Hal who had an expression that showed he had sensed it as well.

In a flash, she was by his side and they both watched In as a fifty-something someone seemed to shimmer out of darkness and did so while clapping, 

"Well put human girl. However, I can't help but disagree a tad bit: there is no dignity in death.

Especially for a Dystopian fighting in the Dystopian Army. You lose to a human in your own class then you should die with shame and regrets."

Melinda chuckled, 

"What are you? A Lieutenant?" She asked not just because of how he carried himself and how he dressed but also because of the late-stage Aurora beast realm cultivation he possessed.

The arrival nodded with a smile, 

"I indeed am a Lieutenant. Not of this pathetic bunch of course. I command a B-class platoon but the commotion drew me here on our way to dealing with another group of mischievous intruders. Or at least deal with whatever they came here for."

"And your name?" Hal asked with a nonchalant expression.

The Lieutenant shook his head, 

"That... is only for strong people to know. It's not for weaklings such as yourselves"

Hal raised a brow, 

"Really?" He asked and gestured to the bodies of Dystopians he and Melinda had laid waste to.

The Lieutenant nodded, 

"This feat is truly impressive but it is not enough to prove you are worthy to know my name. Only fighting me will determine it."

Melinda gripped her sword, 

"Okay then. I wanted to beat the hell out of you anyway. Hal and I have been apart for two months and I was planning a steamy reunion once we dealt with these imbeciles.

Now, because of you, I have to push it back. I'd say that deserves the death penalty, don't you, Hal?"

Hal nodded, 

"Absolutely" he said and gripped his Cosmic Armament and Broadsword Artifact as he and Melinda dashed forward towards their opponent who was suddenly wearing an armor that was clearly a manifestation of his Physique.

The Lieutenant grinned and the moment Melinda's blade was about to touch him, he vanished and was sinking a knee into Hal's midsection.

"Ack" Hal groaned but that was far from being the end.

Since he had doubled over, he presented his head in a position that the Lieutenant was happy to hit with his elbow and send him facefirst into the ground.

*Bam*

The Lieutenant sought to follow up with a crunching kick to end his life but Hal was suddenly no longer there.

"What?"

He moved at a speed the Dystopian lieutenant could not hope to follow and once his leg hit the ground, Melinda was there to stab at his chest.

Suddenly, Fire blazed and formed into a large hammer imbued with Cosmic energy that struck at Melinda at a speed she could not possibly dodge but a dark figure whisked her away.

The dark figure was of course Hal who spun Melinda and sent her right back to the Dystopian but at a different angle and on a different side.

The Lieutenant's eyes widened and he only barely managed to evade her strike that sought an exposed part of his armor.

However, evading only put him in a position where Hal, whose eyes were now dark as a sign of the Shadow demon bloodline could swing and cut a gash in his side.

The Lieutenant groaned and leaped away from the two. They had managed to injure him.

And they were both C-class experts!

Then he said,

"You two are strong. But I'm stronger. Before I kill you, I'll tell you my name"

Melinda grinned, 

"We actually don't give a fuck."

"What?" The lieutenant was a little taken aback.

Hal nodded, 

"Yeah. Who cares about some washed-up B-class Lieutenant who gets his jollies proving superiority against 'weak' C-class experts such as us. That's just sad. Talk about going through a crisis" he said with a pitying expression and the shake of his head.

"Crisis? I'll show you CRISIS!" The Lieutenant said and summoned intense blazing fire around himself which he imbued with cosmic energy.

Suddenly, Melinda dashed towards him.

The Lieutenant felt she must have a death wish but his eyes widened when the flames parted as she wrestled control from him.

"This... An ordinance? Impossible" the Lieutenant took a strep back as his flames went from bright orange to white and now turned against him.

*Boom!!!*

The explosive sound was so loud and impactful that it charred off the whole of his armor. 

Burning away all the manifestation of his physique and tossing him right into the blade of Hal's cosmic Armament through which Hal paralyzed him with Devil energy before siphoning all his Blood essence.