EPT
A Blog Novel Series by Seeker
Graphics by shiroiusagi
Table of Contents
Other
The Delay (read after Ch. 11)The Comeback (read after The Delay)
Special New Year Chapter
Chapter 18
Plexa vs Nazgul
It was a never-ending battle. By now, almost 100 bullets had been shot altogether from both sides. Both Plexa and Nazgul were sweating like crazy as they were constantly moving around the room to ensure they didn’t get hit. They were both clearly even in terms of skill, and neither one was willing to give up anytime soon.
PLEXA: (to himself) Son of a bitch… I knew Nazgul was good but I had no idea he was this good… I can’t hit him at all!
NAZGUL: ( to himself) Damn it… He’s on equal footing with me. If it was anyone else, I would have won this by now…
PLEXA: (to himself) This isn’t working… We’re just going around in circles… I need a change of plan… Wait, is it possible that I can-
The split second hesitation was costly for Plexa. Nazgul ducked out of his hiding area, fired three times, and ducked behind another desk. In that moment, although Plexa’s swift movements were able to keep him from getting hit by the first two bullets, the third one went straight into his left knee.
PLEXA: AHHHH! FUCK!
Plexa felt the pain shoot through his leg right away. He staggered behind a shelf and firmly embraced his injured leg. He quickly looked left and right to make sure Nazgul wasn’t trying to get him from the sides. Then he quickly ripped off a part of his shirt and wrapped it as tightly as he could around the wound.
NAZGUL: (to himself) Now’s my chance! He’s injured so he can’t move as easily anymore.
Realizing that he shouldn’t waste this opportunity, Nazgul dashed as quickly as he could towards Plexa’s location. He did not stop until he was right behind the shelf in which Plexa was hiding behind.
NAZGUL: (to himself) I just need two quick shots. One shot on his other leg so he can’t move anymore and one on his right wrist so he’ll drop his gun. I don’t want to kill him. I just want to make sure I cripple him enough so that he can’t retaliate anymore. Then, we’ll finally be able to have the talk in a peaceful manner.
After taking a deep breath, with one quick swift motion, Nazgul jumped in front of the shelf and fired two shots towards where he thought Plexa would be. In an instant, Nazgul could tell that this was a miscalculation on his part because Plexa was not there.
NAZGUL: (to himself) Shit! Where’d he go?! Fuck! I just gave away my location! Damn it! Alright… Calm down… He’s injured, remember? He’s got be near here somewhere. Okay… Well he’s not in front of me… He’s not behind me either… Which means he has to be… (looks up) Shit!
From the top of the shelf Plexa let go of his grip and fell down full force upon Nazgul. He came down in a swinging motion with his elbow first and smashed right into Nazgul’s face. The impact was so strong that they both staggered afterwards and fell down hard. Instantly, Nazgul felt the blood just rushing out of his broken nose. Nazgul tried desperately to get up and regain his composure, but Plexa was already one step ahead of him. Using his other good leg, Plexa sprang off the ground and dove straight into Nazgul. He gave a quick uppercut with his right arm and then proceeded to grab Nazgul’s neck and knee him three times into the stomach. But alas, Nazgul was no pushover himself. Nazgul crossed his arms to block the third kick, then jumped up and did a roundhouse kick straight into the back of Plexa’s skull with right leg as hard as he could. Once again the impact sent both men tumbling downwards on to the ground.
PLEXA: (struggling to regain his composure) Ugh… So, we’re getting physical now huh?
NAZGUL: (clutching his stomach) Looks like it. Fuck the guns. We’ll fight till one of us drops.
PLEXA: Heh… Well, if we’re going to do that then… (pulls out a small knife from his pocket) One sec…
Plexa knelt down on the ground and unwrapped his shirt bandage. After taking three deep breaths, Plexa forcefully plunged the knife into his leg to try to dig the bullet out.
PLEXA: MMMMRRGGGHHHMMPPHHHH!!!! GET-OUT-YOU-SON-OF-A- (bullet pops out)
NAZGUL: (jumps back) Whoa, what the shit?!
Once the bloody bullet hit the ground, Plexa fell down to the floor and began to breathe heavily in relief. He then slowly got back up, and firmly rewrapped his leg to prevent any further bleeding.
PLEXA: (grunting as he gets up) Okay… So… Ready for round two?
NAZGUL: What the hell… At least warn me next time before you do something like that…
PLEXA: My bad. I’ve got so much adrenaline pumping through me right now that I can’t think straight. Most of my moves have been impulsive.
NAZGUL: Hehe, same for me. Well, since you went ahead and did that, I might as well- (reaches over to his nose and cracks it back in place) also make sure I’m in fit fighting condition.
PLEXA: Heh… Did it hurt?
NZGUL: A little. It kind of felt like taking a bullet to my left leg, only not as painful.
PLEXA: (chuckles) Let’s get this over with.
Plexa steadily hopped over to Nazgul, and the two slowly took their stances. The atmosphere had never been so intense. This next fight would determine the victor.
PLEXA: (to himself) Left leg’s done for. I won’t be able to match him speed-wise. I’ll have to stay low to prevent and further damages to my legs, and try to outplay him defensively.
NAZGUL: (to himself) His left leg’s done for. He won’t be able to match my speed. He’ll probably stay low and play defensively. So this means that I’ll have to be aggressive, but make sure not to lose control and pace of the fight.
Nazgul slowly took one step forward and embraced himself. Plexa stayed low and took a defensive position. They both looked into each other’s eyes and grinned. Despite the circumstances, they couldn’t deny that the fight was exhilarating. Nazgul took one final breath, gripped his fists, and pounced forward.
R1CH vs Heyoka
Over in R1CH’s office, the fight was entirely different from what was going on in Nazgul’s office. Plexa vs Nazgul was fast and fierce, but R1CH vs Heyoka was calculated and strategic. Only a total of 12 bullets had been shot by both of them. Neither was willing to take an unnecessary risk because they both knew how critical and precise each and every movement had to be.
R1CH: (to himself) Damn it all. My office has all the high tech gear. This is TL’s main system room for fucks sakes! I have to get him out of here or the system will be shot to hell.
HEYOKA: (to himself) Damn it all. His office has all the high tech gear. A fat lot of good it will do for me if I can’t properly hack into the systems. I have to get him out of here before the system becomes shut down for good.
Slowly and steadily, both R1CH and Heyoka began to creep out of their hiding spots. Once they were out and in the open they both bolted for the door as fast they could. They were both thinking the same thing: If he sees me, he’ll chase me. At the exact same time, they both reached the door and stood face to face to each other. They had not accounted for this scene to occur at all. Panicking, R1CH and Heyoka both fired off one bullet in the other’s direction as they fell backwards to try to avoid any further shots. Once they reached the ground, they both rolled as fast they could in opposite directions and hid themselves again.
R1CH: (to himself) FUCK! That was way too close for comfort. I can’t afford to let that happen again.
HEYOKA: (to himself) Holy shit. I just dodged a bullet… LITERALLY! That was just too close of a call. If something like that happens again, one of us is bound to get killed. Have to rethink now… What can I do from here?
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Heyoka noticed that in front of the door, where they were both previously at, R1CH had dropped his gun in the process of rolling away. Heyoka smiled to himself and began to formulate a plan.
HEYOKA: (to himself) Excellent! The moron dropped his gun. Now he’ll have to try to retrieve it. And when he does, I’ll be right there waiting for him. This is too easy!
Over on the other side of the room where R1CH was hiding, R1CH was also formulating a plan to take down Heyoka.
R1CH: (to himself) Okay. By now, he should have noticed that I dropped my gun on the ground. He’ll probably think he’s got me cornered now and that I’m unarmed. He’ll probably be waiting for me to try to retrieve it. That’s when I’ll make my move.
In the split second that the faceoff had occurred, R1CH had used his wizard-like thinking skills and decided to drop the gun down on purpose. The fight with Heyoka was going nowhere, and R1CH realized that things could only get worse the longer the fight progressed, so he decided to end it once and for all with a trap for Heyoka.
R1CH: (to himself) I only have one shot. If I lose the element of surprise, it’s over for me.
With that, R1CH slowly reached into his back pocket, and pulled out his dagger. Doing his best not to make any noises, R1CH slowly crept forward towards the front door again. On the other side, Heyoka was doing the same thing. After making sure his gun was properly cocked back and ready to be fired, Heyoka slowly progressed forward one step at a time at a steady pace. They both stopped when the gun was only inches from where they were. Both R1CH and Heyoka were still out of sight and hidden well, but one more step from each of them would reveal their positions.
R1CH: (to himself) He’s here…
HEYOKA: (to himself) I can sense him. He’s right there.
R1CH: (to himself) Here I go. It’s now or never.
HEYOKA: (to himself) Let’s go R1CH. There’s only one move you can do.
After making sure he was composed and calm, R1CH took a gigantic deep breath, gripped his dagger, and pounced forward.
lichter vs salle
Unfortunately for salle, the fight in the Liquipedia Command Center was far too one-sided. salle had just barely managed to get back into his hiding spot. He had several wounds already around his body, bleeding profusely, and he was beginning to lose consciousness. lichter on the other hand had suffered very little wounds, and was strolling about out loud as he was trying to find salle.
LICHTER: Sorry sals. I know you’re hurting a lot right now. But the fact of the matter is, you severely underestimated me. There are several people I absolutely need to kill. Because of that, I trained my ass off for months. I’m not as weak and fragile as people think I am. In fact, the only reason I’m not killing you is because I’m just having too much fun right now.
SALLE: (to himself) Go fuck yourself lichter. I’m not just going to stand by and let you humiliate me like this.
However, despite salle’s determination to win at all cost, he couldn’t deny the fact that time was not on his side. If the fight continued to drag out for even five more minutes, he would be done for. Physically, salle was just not in a position to keep going. Realizing he had no other choice, salle decided once and for all that this next move would be his last.
SALLE: (to himself) I have no choice. It’s time for the Hail Mary. If this doesn’t work, then I’ll have no choice but to initiate the self-destruct sequence. I absolutely cannot hand over LP to lichter and his goons.
As he fought the pain as best as he could, salle reached into his left pocket and pulled out his Flash bombs. These bombs had been developed by the TL offense laboratory and were still only prototypes. They were very tiny in size and had Lee Young-Ho’s faces imprinted on both the front and the back. Once the bombs were in his hand, salle quickly took out a pair of earplugs and shoved them into his ears as quickly as he could. Then, after taking a deep breath, salle mustered as much strength as he possibly could, and threw the bombs into the air towards the ceiling. Upon impact, the bombs exploded and sounds of siege tanks firing, goliaths firing, vultures firing, spider mines blowing up, and EMP shockwaves exploding filled the air around the entire room.
LICHTER: WHAT THE SHIT?!
The effect was immediate. The sounds were too much to bear and lichter quickly dropped his gun and clapped his hands over his ears and fell down on to the ground. Seizing this opportunity, salle jumped out of his hiding spot, and fired all remaining six bullets towards lichter’s location. However, salle instantly realized that he had waited too long to initiate his tactic. The blood loss and the pain had become too much at that point, and salle immediately lost his balance and fell on the ground. Although he fired six times, only one bullet managed to hit lichter. The bullet whizzed by and landed right into lichter’s left shoulder. The impact on his shoulder caused lichter to fall down on the ground as the sounds continued to ring uproariously in his ears. Dazed and confused by the sounds and the pain, lichter quickly reached for his gun and fired in every direction imaginable in hopes that he would hit salle.
LICHTER: GRRRRAAAHHHHHH!!! DIE SALLE, DIE!!!
Realizing that he would be dead meat if he continued to lay there out in the open, salle rolled as quickly as he could to the nearest hiding spot. As soon as he was safe and hidden however, salle knew that he was in trouble as the sounds died out and the room became normal again. After laying on the ground for about thirty seconds, lichter regained his composure and got up as he clutched his injured shoulder.
LICHTER: Gah… Friggin… Ugh… No idea what the hell that was, but you definitely caught me by surprise! I’ll hand it to you sals, that was pretty unexpected and ingenious. (Checks his bloody hand) The same trick won’t work twice though! The second I find you, I’m going to pay you back for this pain you’ve inflicted upon me. You should have killed me right then and there, cause now I’m fucking pissed!
Over in his hiding spot, salle was struggling to breathe and remain calm. His strategy did not give him the desired results, and now he was certainly in a pinch.
SALLE: (to himself) DAMN IT! How could I have missed all those shots?! Fuck, this sucks! I can’t believe I messed that up! And now I’m in too much pain that I can’t even think clearly anymore…
Every piece of sanity left in his body screamed at him to not do what he was about to do next. But salle knew that he had no options remaining. With trembling hands, he reached into his right pocket and pulled out his Jaedong bombs.
SALLE: (to himself) Heh… They told me never to use these bombs because the results are currently uncontrollable… They told me never to use these even if I had no choices left… They told me never to use these unless I wanted to die... But you know what? FUCKING YOLO!
With the last of his remaining strength, he threw the Jaedong bombs into the air, took one final deep breath, and pounced forward in lichter’s direction.
End of Chapter
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