805 Chapter 805: Paige vs. Riley...?
"...Maybe you should cancel your dad's illusions."
"Why? It is an effective counter against the Dianas you summoned, Paige."
"...Why?"
Paige's lips started to twitch as Bernard started making moves on Diana; some of it, not something that should be shown to the universe, or to anyone, for that matter.
"I don't think Diana and Bernard would appreciate it too much if… we continue this," Paige could really only scratch her head, "I'll remove mine if you remove yours."
"Agreed," Riley nodded. And as soon as he did so, Paige instantly canceled her illusions — all of it, even the glade and lake that surrounded them. And now, with even the Bernards gone, the battlefield was back to its original, shattered state.
"How are you feeling, Riley?" Paige then asked as the two of them very slowly descended back to the deepest parts of the crater, "How long can you use my abilities without your mind slowly being corrupted by it?"
"I was thinking of just letting it corrupt me, Paige," Riley shrugged as he summoned a small star above his head. Before it could do any damage to Paige, however, some sort of translucent dome covered her completely. And then, with a small sigh, a black hole popped out next to the miniature sun and swallowed it whole,
"You said it yourself, you have been using it your entire life — and yet you are still a beautiful human, Paige."
"T… thanks?" Paige once again giggled awkwardly as she heard Riley's words. But after a few breaths, she sighed and shook her head, "But my ability affects you quite… aggressively since you already have other mental problems. W–wait, I'm not saying you're crazy…. Well, you are; but in a controlled way, you know?"
"Hm," Riley blinked.
"You will lose against me," Paige once again sighed, "It's just a matter of time until you won't be able to control what comes out of your mind if we continue to fight — even I'm not confident that the Other Paige won't come out."
"..." Riley looked away for a few seconds; not saying a word as he seemed to be thinking of something.
"..."
"..."
Perhaps it may have been more than a few seconds, as Paige started to look at the direction Riley was looking to see if… he was actually watching something. Before she could get near, however, Riley suddenly looked at her.
"What!? What's going on!?" Paige started waving her hands as Riley started running toward her; not at a speed that she couldn't really follow, but fast enough that she slightly panicked. She quickly summoned a booster so that she could avoid Riley. The booster, however, ran out of juice even though she did not really specify it to run needing it.
"!!!" Paige quickly focused on Riley as she realized it was his doing. And so, she just opted to summon a pair of wings—but Riley made it so that it had no air whatsoever to flap on.
"It is true that I will not be able to defeat you using your abilities, Paige," Riley abruptly stopped running as he stood a meter away from Paige, "But I could at least also do the same, and counter and cancel some of your visions, enough to do this."
Riley raised both his fists in a guard. And with his legs also in a fighting stance, he stepped forward and started punching.
"Eek!" Paige instantly summoned some sort of armor that covered her entire body from head to toe. Riley, however, did not bother trying to cancel the armor and instead just materialized a pair of caestus to cover his fists. And without even any hesitation or mercy, he started hammering Paige with a barrage of straights and jabs.
"W… wait!" Paige covered herself with her arms as she started being pushed back. If it wasn't for the magical springs she made with the armor, then she would probably be feeling all sorts of pain right now.
"It is true that I will not be able to defeat you using your abilities, Paige," Riley repeated his words,
"But it is also true that you are not capable of defeating me either way."
"S… stop it!" Paige raised both her arms in the air as she suddenly jumped; materializing a hammer the size of a car. And with a deep breath, several rockets exploded from the back of the hammer—
violently and forcefully slamming it straight down toward Riley. Riley, however, just calmly stepped forward outside the reach of the hammer, before grabbing Paige by the ankles and pulling her away.
Riley somersaulted in the air and landed directly on Paige's back — and with a small smile on his face, he pushed his legs down. And with the added force of the momentum of the hammer, Paige… fell flat on the ground, hard enough for her to bounce back several times in the air.
"...Are you okay, Paige?" Riley then asked after smacking Paige without any hesitation, "I have already tested the durability of the armor you created, that should not be enough to kill or even damage you."
"..." And even as Riley started nudging Paige by gently pushing him with his feet, Paige remained completely still and lifeless.
"..." Riley blinked a couple of times as he quickly summoned some sort of 2-meter-long stethoscope to check on Paige's heartbeat. And as soon as he heard her heart beating, he let out a small and deep sigh before backing away.
[Ahor Zai, send us—]
"Well, well…"
And all of a sudden, as Riley turned his head away from Paige, the sound of an engine started to drown his ears; metal, hitting and scratching each other without pause — a noise so guttural that it made Riley smile again as he looked back.
"...Look at this fucking albino retard. I suppose you just don't die, do you?"
The tone of Paige's voice slightly turned robust, almost husky even — her accent, now almost Victorian as she very slowly and clumsily stood up from the ground… using a pair of chainsaws to lift herself up.
The armor she was wearing also started to fall off one by one, and as she looked at Riley; her eyes were now completely red. The smile on her face, although not as wide as Riley's, was still disturbing enough as one could almost see all of her teeth and gums.
"And now you're bullying our dear cute little annoying orange," Paige let her head tilt to the side as she clumsily stepped forward while just letting the two chainsaws swing from her hands,
"That's not nice, is it?"
"I suppose not, Other Paige."
"Oh…?" Paige—no. Other Paige looked Riley in the eyes as she let out an amused hum, "So you still remember dear old me, do you?"
"You left quite an impression the last time we met, Other Paige," Riley bowed his head.
"Kinky," Other Paige raised an eyebrow, "Typical of one crazy as you to prefer… me, the Other Paige. Anyway, I canceled the cage thingy that made you unable to use your other supervirus abilities — you can do your worst."
"That would not be fa—"
"Just kidding!" And almost instantly, Paige suddenly appeared right in front of Riley; her chainsaws, already only inches away from sawing Riley in half.
"..." Riley immediately leaped back. But as soon as he did so, Paige's two chainsaws merged into one and turned into a bigger, and longer saw. She quickly swung it again toward Riley, creating an inch-deep gash on Riley's chest.
"Heh… heh…" Other Paige's chainsaw locked and stopped moving as she licked off Riley's blood from her blades, "...This taste is suffocating. No wonder the little one likes you so much — makes me want to snatch you from her, and from the other women that want a taste of you."
"..." Riley blinked a couple of times as he touched the gash on his chest, which was not healing as he expected it to.
"It's a nice feeling, isn't it?" Other Paige cackled as she once again turned on her chainsaw. And with a small bounce of her feet, the saw suddenly turned into the shape of… a scythe, "Let's add more of my touch on that beautiful white body of yours!"
And as Other Paige started swinging her scythe wildly, Riley started taking a few steps back — moving his body as softly as a dust underwater; smoothly avoiding each of Other Paige's strikes.
"You have been told why people are weirdly attracted to you, right?" Other Paige continued to laugh ominously. She did not even seem to mind that she wasn't hitting Riley at all. Instead, she just looked him in the eyes,
"They don't really like you, Riley. They are attracted to you because they can't help it. You are a creature beyond their reach, an abominable god; but a god nonetheless. And gods will always attract those of which they set their eyes upon."
"..."
"They don't love you, not at all. They just feel an eerie sort of admiration toward you," Other Paige smirked as her chainscythe parted in half; once again turning into a pair of chainsaws, before suddenly shifting into what looked like… a pair of miniguns,
"No one really loves you, Riley."
And with a breath, Other Paige let out a barrage of bullets that hit Riley directly in the chest several times.
"There is only one that could actually love you…" And as Riley very slowly fell back down to the ground, Other Paige blew the smoke coming out of her miniguns,
"...and that is me."
"...Hm," Riley blinked a couple of times as the bullets started sliding from his chest; which was actually protected by a bulletproof vest.
"The cute one has already told you that she accepts you for what you are, Riley…" Other Paige stood in front of Riley, before also letting herself fall beside him, "...The reason for that is because deep down, she knows what you are because of me. Me…
…The original one."
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