Win In Any Way

Call of the Beast
Eva walked along the corridors of the Magic Council, pulling a carriage with the two tubes, each with Lily and Mikki inside and unconscious. The two girls were naked, but several machinery attached to their body within the tube hid their private areas, blocking them from sight, along with wires that scanned the amount of energy within their body, while also having a mask with a tube attached to it on their mouths, keeping them from drowning.

Eva chimed happily to herself, as Diana was walking next to her right, along with Mozou who was on the left "I found Asterion. He's alive, but apparantly has no objective. Shall I call him now?" Diana asked Eva who simply gestured an "okayt" to her, while continuing to hum her tune. Diana sighed, and began pressing buttons on her Archive keyboards.

Meanwhile, Asterion's eyes suddenly glew red, as Alyssa arrived, carrying two bags with her "Alright, I got you the stuff you asked for. But, why the hell would you need a corkscrew?" Alyssa asked Asterion, as he remained silent "....Hello? Asterion?" Alyssa walked over to him, lightly kicking him, as he turned his sights to her "Something the matter?".

"I apologize. A new objective has been installed into my mainframe. I have fully downloaded it now." Asterion replied, his robotic monotone unhinged.

"Oh? Well, what is it?" Alyssa asked, leaning on Asterion's large hands, curious.

"The Magic Council is anticipated to being attacked soon. Any and all neccesary firepower is required. Objective: Return to the Magic Council instantly and eliminate any threats without question" Alyssa was horrified upon hearing this. Someone was attacking the Magic Council itself? Who? Who would be willing or even capable of doing that?.

Asterion stood up, and began walking away "W-...wait! Asterion, where are you going?!" Alyssa shouted towards Asterion, as he stopped and turned around.

"To the Objective Area" Asterion replied.

"Take me with you!" Alyssa told Asterion, sounding worried.

"No. It is far too dangerous to bring you alo-..."

"My dad is there! I have to see if he's alright! I can't stay here and just wait! I have to see him for myself! Please! You'll keep me safe, right?! So, there's no problem!" Alyssa pleaded towards Asterion, as he walked towards her, grabbing her from behind and placing her on her shoulder, where she can firmly hang onto him. Luckily, the spike on that shoulder broke, meaning there was no danger for her being there.

"Let us go then" Asterion replied, as he began running towards his destination, with Alyssa clinging to dear life on his shoulder.

Punch Out
"Manipulate energy as you wish, you say...?" Amon stared at the energy being exerted from John's armor, and the Eternano going into his armor from the atmosphere.

"Exactly. Due to my inability to use magic, I was given this armor. And it was modified several times to suit my needs, and to become even more powerful than its original design" John explained, as he gathered an orb of magic energy at the palm of his right hand "And...." John swiped his right arm to the left, as the orb at his palm extended into a long slash of raw energy, with a crescent shape towards Amon, as he teleport, appearing behind John.

Amon turned towards John, preparing to attack him, as he stopped, suddenly feeling a rush of pain, and looking down, saw he had a slash on his chest, going from his left shoulder to his right abdomen "How...?" Amon was confused. How could he be hit after teleporting?.

"I suppose it was too fast for your teleportation" John said, delivering a punch towards Amon, with magical energy imbued into it, as Amon blocked it with his right arm, much to John's surprise, he succeeded, however, he quickly created a blade of raw energy in his right free hand, attempting to jab it into Amon's stomach, as Amon quickly created a broadsword on his side to protect him, however, the blade cut straight through the broadsword, like knife through butter, stabbing Amon in the stomach, as he teleported a distance away, clutching his stomach wound.

"Ugh...!" Luckily, it wasn't too deep, he will survive this, for now. Amon teleported away from the area, hiding inside a building, and beginning to take off his jacket, and raising his shirt up, seeing the wound. He took off the bandages off of his right arm, bandaging his stomach using it, and making sure it was tied strong enough. The injury on his chest was less serious, so he didn't believe it required much attention, a simple thing for Lamia to take care of.

"This is bad...I can't beat him. He really did become stronger..." Amon thought to himself, looking at his right Lacrima hand "But...If I'm correct, this might be my key for success..." Amon quickly took off the bandages from his left arm and tied it around his right arm, hiding the Lacrima arm from sight.

"Be careful, Amon, he attacks are more dangerous now" Beast said to Amon, as he slightly peeked outside, as John wasa already waiting for him, swinging a sword of raw energy towards Amon, as Amon quickly attempted to block with his right arm, causing the blade to vanish once it got in contact with him, cutting through his sleeve only.

"What?!" John was shocked, his sword suddenly vanishing, but for what reason? Before he could think of a possible answer, Amon immediately counter attacked, delivering a powerful punch with his left fist to John's side, his abdomen, as John got a hold of Amon's left arm, imbueding his fist with magic energy and delivering a punch towards Amon, who caught John's fist with his right hand, stopping it.

"How?! How are you able of doing this?! My fist should be tearing through you! You shouldn't capable of blocking, at all!" John shouted, irritated by the situation he couldn't understand.

Amon did not reply, simply pulling John towards him, and kneeing him in the stomach, then releasing his fist and punching John in the face, cracking his helmet, and sending him a fair distance away.

"W-...what is this...?" John noticed Amon's right arm was glowing, as the bandages fell off "Your...arm...".

Amon looked at his right arm, but then took a stance, similar to a boxer "This is my gift from Lamia. This is also a gift from my mother" Amon said, charging at John, as John did the same.

"You!" John snapped, imbueding his right fist with magic energy, preparing to deliver a punch with all his might "I will end this noooooow!" John declared, and as he and Amon got close, John delivered the punch towards him. Suddenly, Amon stomped his foot on the ground, stopping dead in his tracks, much to John's shock.

"...He...He stopped?! Wh-...?!" John thought to himself, as he noticed his fist was still going, continuing to move to the left, completely missing Amon but his body still continuing forward, being unable to stop his momentum, especially with such a heavy armor on "Don't...don't tell me! He...!".

Amon eyes gleamed for a moment, seeing hte oppurtunity to attack and taking it, as he picked up all of his strength into his right arm, delivering a powerful punch towards John's face, while John was unable to change his momentum by this point, being wide open, as Amon's fist connected to John's face, the immense power from his punch, causing a small shockwave, and breaking John's helmet to pieces.

"Win in any way possible!" Amon declared "Even if it means playing dirty! Because why give a fuck about a fair fight, when you've killed hundreds?!" The strength from Amon's punch sent John into a nearby house, causing the house to crumble down as John crashed through the wall "That is what my mother taught me...and her gift to me".

John stood up, emerging from the rubble of the house, his helmet now broken to pieces, and his face revealed. He had short messy black hair, and blue eyes, and was bleeding from his forehead. John fell on one knee, trying to recover from the blow. His vision was blurry, he couldn't see properly. Could he be suffering from a concussion? No, his helmet should've been strong enough to protect him, but it broke.

This was the same thing that happened when he punched Joan, she limped, and couldn't move forward, as if suffering from a concussion. What was this technique? Did it even have a name? John's head hurt from thinking about it too much, maybe it was just a head injury?.

"Here" Amon extended his hand towards John, offering him help "As much as I hate you, I'm not intending on killing you" Amon said to John, who forced himself to stand up.

"Don't...don't fuck with me!" John snapped at Amon "Why...why would I...even remotely trust you...?" John couldn't keep his balance, beginning to fall down, as Amon grabbed him, and helped him stay standing.

"Didn't you question why I wasn't active for months now? Why I didn't kill anyone? Well...that's because I promised not to. To quit being an assassin and stop killing for the sake of my daughter" Amon explained to John, whose eyes widened in surprise "And I intend on keeping that. So, I'm not going to kill you, or anyone else. I just want my daughter back, that's all" Amon said to John, releasing John, who could manage to stand fine again, and turning around and walking away.

"....Wait!" John shouted to Amon, stopping him "...How much...how much do you care for her....?".

"...What the fuck are you asking me now? Is what I'm doing not enough proof to you?!" Amon shouted at John, not pleased with his question.

"...I myself...have a daughter...as well" John said, with his hand on his forehead "She's...probably 17 today...I haven't seen her though...in almost three years...".

"....Why then...?" Amon turned back towards John, walking towards him and grabbing him by the collar "Why the fuck did you kidnap my daughter?! Don't I deserve to raise her?! Is it because of my status as a criminal?! Is that your excuse?! Huh?!" Amon snapped at John.

"I...I know...what we did wasn't exactly...well..." John didn't know how to explain this without giving the wrong idea "....I had to...if I lose this...job...My wife died, four years ago, within the Dragon's Attack..." John's tone became mounrful, as Amon released him from his grip on his collar "I...had to support my daughter on my own...So I began to work extra...I followed orders strictly, I never questioned them, never halted, always continued no matter what. All so I can support my daughter....my dear Alyssa. But in the end, I barely saw her...even her birthday...I missed...all I could do was put her gift on the table when she wasn't home."

"...." Amon sighed, patting John's shoulder "I'm not...really the best advisor for this kind of stuff, since I'm still learning but...You did your best, even if you failed to spend time with her, I don't blame you" Amon said to John, scratching the back of his head "I guess that's not something you'd wanna hear from someone who cut off your hand and you tried to kill 5 seconds ago" Amon had an awkward smile under his bandages.

"Truly...it is..." John clenched his hand into a fist, appearing to be frustrated "....Go to the main Hall".

"What?"

"You will find your daughter there...she is going to be presented towards the Head Chairman and the other members of the Council. Eva, the woman who created the Automaton, the woman who planned the kidnapping and weaponization of your daughter and Mikki, will explain everything to them." John explained, sighing "And now...I helped a criminal...promise me...You will not kill anyone".

"I told you already, I won't. I promise Lily before you..." Amon said, but extended his hand to John "But thank you".

John looked at Amon's hand, hesitant about shaking it, slowly moving his arm closer to his hand. Suddenly, a building was thrown at them, as Amon quickly grabbed John, moving him away from the building, dodging it.

"What the he-...?!" Amon was cut off after the dust cloud cleared, showing a large black horse, being ridden by what appeared to be a skeleton wearing an armor, wielding a large white blade "What...is that thing...?" Amon was speechless to what this thing could possibly be.