The chaos being kept attacking Lucas, unaware of anything else - or of how Lucas was now quite more defensive and struggling. It just kept lashing, in ever different ways.
Okay... - Thought Lucas - Focus... I'm scared as fuck, but the ninja doesn't seem to notice... Fuck I almost destroyed the universe...
"GAH!" - This time, Lucas actually got a cut on her cheek. A flesh wound, but it did wake her up.
Focus, dammit. One good blow is all it could take for him to finish me off. FOCUS! What to do... I can't kill him, so what CAN I do...
Lucas looked at the other two chaos beings. They were still fighting. Yet they couldn't seem to hurt one another.
Interesting...
Kotaro kept going. Lucas by now could tell he hadn't changed his methods.
Unthinking. Good, unthinking opponents are easier...
The fight raged on.
Unthinking. - Thought Lucas - Also tireless. Dammit.
Lucas was getting tired by now. Mentally and physically. These five minutes felt like an hour for her.
Wait. Unthinking means...
She managed to surprise the ninja again with a kick to the shin.
CLANG!
Good, no pattern recognition.
"AH! FILHO DA PUTA!" (1)
She somehow managed to be surprised again by the pain of the impact on his armor.
Looks like MY pattern recognition could use some work. Screw it. Now to do the follow-up...
This time, when Lucas stepped back, Kotaro could run at her unimpeded by any sand.
Lucas's sword, this time, had become some sort of a hook. She stepped aside and grabbed him, using the force of his impulse to throw him at the other chaos beings while at the same time reforming the "hook" so it would be turned over to the other side so as to allow for her to throw him at them.
Her arm felt like a thousand needles were in it from the weight and the forces at work, but it worked. The three chaos beings were once again focused on their ever-lasting struggle.
"Let's get out of here. Now." - Said Lucas.
Cass didn't need to be told twice. The duo ran/flew back the path they came from, only stopping to rest when they were sure the chaos beings were nowhere to be found.
Again, they were staring at the nothingness full of stars. Cass sat by the "wall" of the ledge, far from its edge. Lucas sat by her side, spreading her wings to cover Cass and herself.
Cass looked at her girlfriend's face.
Hidden eyes. - Thought Cass as she looked at Lucas. Her hair covered her eyes and overshadowed them to the point where they could not be seen. Anime for "grief". - Cass thought.
Lucas was pale. Well, paler. One movement. One movement was all it would have taken for her to make the worst genocidal criminals in the world look like utter amateurs.
She sat with Cass, who hugged her gently.
"I... I nearly destroyed... EVERYTHING... Cass... We have to go home..." - She said, softly - "I can't be trusted..."
Cass cuddled Lucas.
"Calm down. You didn't destroy it in the end, and this is actually a great reason for us to press on..."
"What, you'd leave reality in my hands after seeing what I almost did to it? You saved the entire universe from me..." - Said Lucas, tearing up.
Cass looked at Lucas. Clearly she needed help... It was the sort of thing psychologists would take years to solve.
Or... - Thought Cass as she smiled to herself. Ah. Yes. I got it.
"Lucas. We are pioneers. But do you think we'll be the only ones with the idea of coming here and resources to do it? What if the next guy that comes here actually DOES kill one of those archetypes? We need to know more so we can prevent this kind of incident. You wanna redeem yourself from nearly destroying the universe, well, let's see to it that it is preserved."
Lucas sighed.
"I'm still... Ugh... I mean... What if I actually DO destroy it the next time?"
"What if you don't? What if you find out something magnificent? What if you see that which you wish to see? What if you obtain here something that will help all of mankind?" - Cass smiled - "Lucas, you have this thing about you. You don't care about restrictions or laws beyond a few 'don't be an asshole gratuitously' ones and the civil ones, and you manage to impose this in your life. You shouldn't let a mistake you didn't commit rob you from that. Do not let this rob you of your freedom. You are too much of a free spirit to be hung up with fear and self-loathing over a mistake you didn't make."
"Anime pep talk therapy? Really?" - Lucas smiled lightly. - "And you are actually managing to make me feel better about this. By all rights, I should have been traumatized beyond repair..."
"We're in an anime, in case you forgot. The worse and most deep-seated mental issues can be solved in a five-minute conversation. Don't worry, the effects of the 'therapy' won't go away when you leave my radius. Now listen to me, and stop lampshading it, it may weaken the effect. Let's rest a bit. We will find out more and you will redeem yourself by getting more information and maybe by getting something here that will benefit EVERYONE. Or at least majorly benefit us." - Cass smirked at that last part, knowing Lucas would at least kinda like it.
Lucas nodded. Indeed, she was feeling much better.
"Okay..." - She wiped away her tears.
"By the way? Before you ask, the date is going well. You see, defending your date from a ninja-slash-Batman villain kinda helps. And the places you took me to are quite interesting. Also, you'll like to know something."
"What's that?"
"Even though you were in the middle of a fight with a deadly opponent and had just found out you almost obliterated reality, you still managed to answer me in English by sheer instinct. You are that fluent."
Lucas got up and helped Cass up. She then pulled her into a long kiss.
"Let's keep going, then." - Lucas said, then smiled - "For fun and profit!"
"A catch phrase. Good, it should come in handy." - smirked Cass - "You're learning to deal with an anime. The next class will be on never tempting fate."
(1) - "OW! SON OF A BITCH!"
