Chapter 87: Hunter
[ Artoria pov ]
Watching the two women say their goodbyes was... boring.
So much unnecessary drama, but even then, I couldn't bring myself to interrupt them just yet.
Looking to my side, where Giorno stood, I found him staring at them as well. I guess he didn't particularly want to interrupt them either.
Of course the only reason we were even letting them talk to each other was because we weren't in any particular rush. We still needed to wait for my dear to come and I am sure both of them will die when he arrives, so giving them one last happy memory won't hurt us in any way.
Looking at the mother and child, I couldn't help but pity them a bit. If it was 3 years ago, my husband would surely let them live for a couple of years until the child became an adult before killing her, but now...
Well, it's the worlds fault for pushing him to kill 'them', not my husbands fault, so it doesn't particularly matter.
'Sigh, I don't know why but I alway end up thinking about the idiots of that train.' I thought, distracting myself from what was happening. 'Honestly, they were a perfect combination of everything I hate in people, not only did they lie to my husband, but they also dared to make him break a rule of his own...'
"Artoria!" said Giorno loudly, pulling me out of my thoughts.
Looking around, I saw the child running away while the mother stood up and pulled a curved golden dagger, standing between us and her daughter.
"Go after her." said Giorno. "I will deal with this woman."
"I wont let yo-" said the woman loudly with a determined expression on her face, however she was interrupted by fire, which engulfed her.
Ignoring her screams as she burned alive, I turned to my side and stared at Giorno, who closed his glowing left eye and shrugged his shoulders.
"What?" he said, dismissing his actions. "We already gave them time to say their goodbyes, besides, she has no use for the young master, so I might as well practise the use of my Mystic Eye on her."
"Well, you have a point..." I muttered before turning to the side, looking in the direction where the girl ran off to.
After seeing where she was, I immediately jumped in her direction.
As I came closer, I noticed tears falling down her cheeks, however I didn't let that stop me.
Summoning my Excalibur Morgan, I thrusted myself forward and swinged it in her direction, intending to knock her out by hitting her with the fuller of my sword.
*Swish!*
As my blade got closer to the side of her head, the girl's crying expression changed.
My eyes widened for an instant as, out of nowhere, a shield appeared on her hands, blocking my attack.
Jumping back, I narrowed my eyes while staring at the weapon.
"I won't die..." muttered the girl, making me raise an eyebrow.
"I refuse to die yet!" she screamed, her shield turning into a scythe as her expression grew more determined. "Not like this! Not at your hands!"
The girl took a stance, reading herself to fight, and all I could think of was how annoying this got. "Sigh, your fate has already been decided, little girl." I said, shaking my head before taking a stance as well. "Now, stop making this complicated. My husband will arrive at any moment and I can't be wasting time playing around with you."
Jumping at her once again, I began attacking her, however she efficiently blocked most of my hits with her scythe.
It was annoying not being able to hurt her badly, after all I didn't know when exactly my husband was planning on getting here and I couldn't have this girl die before that.
"Tsch." I muttered before charging again.
It was evident she had my body, she was fast and her small size gave her an annoying advantage when it came to dodging. Then again, because of that same small size, I had to be overly careful with not cutting somewhere that would kill her.
Her expression grew more serious as the fight went on, and her technique slowly but surely improved throughout the fight. However, this was not enough to put her on my level.
Moving my sword, I deflected a strike from her scythe and kicked her in the chest, making her fly away and hit a tree.
"Stay down." I said with a cold tone.
The scythe on her hand changed shape, turning into a halberd, and she thrusted it forward in my direction.
"I refuse!" she said loudly as the weapon came closer to my neck.
Shaking my head, I simply blocked her attack before kicking her in the side of her body, which made her fly and, once again, hit a tree.
Walking in her direction, I saw her trying to stand up, her hood slightly broken as she revealed her face for the first time.
"You really are my body..." I said with slightly wide eyes, momentarily stunned by the resemblance.
That momentary admiration however quickly turned into annoyance. "You people think you can just go and copy me?" I asked with slight anger. "You would dare desecrate my resting place, just to get me to bring some glory to you?"
My dear was right... people truly never cared about me, not when I was alive, and not when I was dead.
The girl stared at me, her green eyes showing nothing more than anger and despair.
Suddenly, her weapon turned into a grappling hook which she pointed away.
"Wai-" I tried to say, however she fired her gun and was pulled along the forest for several meters.
I felt a vein pop on my forehead as I prepared to jump after her, however I was surprised to see her not running away. Instead, she stood in her place, her eyes closed as golden light began surrounding her.
The grappling hook changed shape, turning into a cube with a weird pattern on it, however that was not what caught my attention.
"Why do you have it..." I muttered with wide eyes. "Why do you have my lance!"
Opening her eyes, she stared at me with golden-coloured pupils. The golden light shone brightly and her entire aura changed.
"Grave for you..." she muttered, low enough to come as a whisper but loud enough for me to hear. "Old Mystics, exterminate sweet mysteries! All will return to the void!"
Black and red light began coming out of my sword as I prepared myself for what was coming. Now wasn't the time to think about how my lance ended up in her possession, what I needed was to avoid the incoming attack, or in this case... match it with something equally strong.
"Sacred lance, removing restrains!" she said loudly as golden light completely surrounded her, creating a cone-shaped dome of pure golden magical energy around her.
Raising my sword above my head, I prepared myself to bring it down. A red aura surrounded me, matching the golden aura that formed around her.
For a mere instant, we both stared at each other and time seemed to stop. The world itself divided as the black light of my sword clashed with the gold light of my lance.
"EX..." I screamed, black and red plasma forming above me and painting the sky in a dark tone.
"Rhongomyniad!"
"CALIBUR!!!!"
A pilar of golden light clashed with a ray of black and red light, and the forest was ravaged because of it.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone