All Paul could hear at this very moment was his heartbeat. The surrounding sounds drowned out as sweat trickled down his head, awaiting what was to come in the next minute. Flashbacks occurred suddenly before his mind, playing back to his time as the backup guide to Limbus Company. How much simpler it used to be. As quick as these flashes were, Paul was snapped back into reality by a familiar voice. It was Roland who stood over the young lad. “Kid, ya good? You just phased out for a second.” He nodded and got up, stretching before looking down at the gas mask that hung from his waist. With an unusual level of confidence and pride, his face rested and settled into a neutral expression before boldly stating,
“This ordeal won't be long.”
Shortly after making such a claim, he walked off to face his very own hero. The figure he had always looked up to. Gebura.
“Paul, you ready?” She asked, wielding her signature Mimicry greatsword. The very item that the young Color of his time had dreamt of wielding. But alas, he was now potentially meeting the sharp end of it. With a simple nod, he signified his confirmation of the match before drawing his longsword. Due to logistical reasons, however, actual death was disallowed on both sides, though the chances of that are slim. After a second, Gebura made the first move and closed the distance between the two. Following up was Paul, who had also closed the gap and clashed his blade against hers. Realizing he could easily be overpowered by her brute strength, he opted to move out of the way and deflect the momentum elsewhere to deal a significant blow to her. Tilting his blade down, all the force she had behind the lock was now pushed towards the floor. Using just this millisecond of time was sufficient for him, slashing across her back before almost immediately being deflected away by a backwards slash from her. Too slow and her clothes are tough against cuts, he thought of the longsword, so he quickly discarded it into his pockets before drawing a mace that could be two-handed or one-handed.
Using his marginal advantage of speed over her, he had woven and dodged every slash she threw at him, countering with quick swings at her ribs and pokes at her jaw. Only the body shots landed efficiently, as the stabs were simply blocked. Immediately realizing that Paul could now take the punishment, she simply decided not to pull any shots any longer. A rush of strikes and stabs was launched immediately at him, pushing his speed close to its limits. Quickly discarding the mace in his pocket due to its weight, Paul quickly drew a knife and handgun out of his pockets. Attempting to find even the smallest window possible, he pushed himself into Gebura and stabbed into her gut twice before attempting a throat slash. This failed, however, as his arm was pushed away and his whole body was launched across the hall by a kick she threw. A sudden flash of red sparked from across the hall as layers of armor wrapped around her. Following it was a cloud of blood-red that surrounded her. Seeing this, his heart had skipped a beat; she had finally acknowledged the strength he possessed. Paul grabbed the gas mask from his waist, simply placing it on his face before the straps wrapped around his head like tendrils. What came, however, is a contrast to Gebura. Smoke had risen around him instead, with a long gray trench coat that enveloped his body. Both of them had decided enough was enough, and with their E.G.O.s now active, the fight had truly gotten to its peak. The knife and handgun Paul had been holding a few seconds prior transformed into a bayoneted bolt rifle. Something that would look like it belonged to the Thumb, yet it was entirely foreign to this world.
Once his rifle had been assembled in a matter of seconds, both warriors raced at each other. Closing the gap almost immediately with a loud clash of weapons that had rung across the entire Library. Deflecting her blows with his bayonet, he swung the rifle around at her in a smooth yet practical fashion. One blunt swing of the rifle's buttstock to push her sword out of the way was added with a stab and slash to cut whatever opening she had. Despite only having wielded such a weapon for a few hours at most, Paul looked as if he had mastered it years prior. Suddenly, a powerful stab came his way. Despite barely managing to block it with the forestock of his rifle, the impact pushes him back a few meters, kicking up large puffs of dust from the floors. Once he had been set still by the stab, Gebura unleashed one of her stronger attacks on him. Behind her layer of armor, she gritted her teeth and launched an overhead downward cleave, hoping it would overpower him. Unexpectedly, however, Paul held up his rifle with both of his hands and blocked it with tremendous strength behind his body. The rifle's forestock was cut into by the blade, and with him feeling all of his back muscles about to rip apart, he garnered every bit of strength he possibly had. His eyes came alive and burned oddly gray, the color he's ran since he became a Color. It was like a fire had been ignited deep within. Using his entire might, Paul kicked her knee in, the force of it causing her to collapse and fall into a crouched position from the sheer pain and damage it had done. It felt like a hydraulic press crushing down at unimaginable speeds. Quickly, he ripped the rifle off the blade, circling to the side of her and preparing to take a shot. Gebura, seeing this, flicked to her side and tossed his rifle away with a blitzing upward swing. Having lost his weapon, he had decided to go on the full offensive, even if damage came his way. She had gotten up as quick as she could, preparing to stab him straight in the center; however, he swerved to the side and avoided the attack. Before she could do anything, he quickly thought of his time on the bus and the unfortunate separation with the crew he had to go through to get here. All the joy and heartbreak. Ups and downs culminated in this one moment. His fist, enveloped by rings of light, launched itself at speeds unprecedented into her rib cage.
First, the sounds of bones cracking, ringing in the ears of everybody from the silence. Then, not even a second later, a large shockwave blew everything back. Books scattered across the floor went flying like birds in the sky, and the Patrons' coats blew from the wind and floated above the ground for seconds. The amount of damage Paul had dealt was severe, from the broken ribs he had caused to internal bleeding at a severe level; not even the armor of the E.G.O. was sufficient to mitigate or even minimize the damage. As the scene slowly unfolded, however, Roland caught a glimpse of Paul's hand. It bled. Comparable to that of a river. “H-his fists…! They're bleeding!” Paul already knew. His left hand had gone entirely numb; pain stung from the trade-off, with bone nearly protruding out of his skin. “Dammit, it f*cking stings.” He spoke out in his head,
“But I still have one left!”
Gebura, noticing the amount of damage she's taken in only two hits, immediately puts her guard up with the sword. A second that felt like eons passed, then suddenly, from below, Paul charged ahead. He grabbed the greatsword and swung it aside like nothing before going for another body blow again. This time, he thought back even further. The beginning of his Fixer career with his friends. Their untimely demise. The happiness he felt from seeing his mother return from a job. To the broken and sad news of her not returning any longer. All this grief, joy, and nostalgia for simpler times amplified him to levels beyond anyone's comprehension. Multiple rings of Light envelop his right fist. Power surged through it, and with a deafening, bloodcurdling scream of rage and desperation, he planted his fist into her gut. At first, the sound it produced was the sound of meat getting pummeled. A second later, an even stronger shockwave rocked the entire Library to its foundation. Every Floor shook with intensity, books falling out of shelves, and Assistant Librarians flung off their feet. Unexpectedly, however, the quakes were felt beyond the Library itself. They traveled across the Outskirts; even the Great Lake's waves had been enlarged in response. The City was not spared from the rumbling either. The pendulum that wrote Prescripts for the Index had unexpectedly swung wildly, and the indoor furniture of any building within the South and West sections had suddenly been inches from their spots. For a second, it felt like a portion of the City had dropped everything they were doing and stopped to wonder where the sudden tremors came from. The result of his punch was deadly from the start to the end. Every organ was ruptured by the amount of force he propelled; her bones cracked and broke apart. It took another second before Gebura finally fell over, dropping the Mimicry greatsword and coughing up blood from all the damage. Paul, however, did not go unpunished either. His right fist accompanied the same fate as his left. He took off his gloves gently, wincing in pain, before finding out they had both been severely damaged. Blood was everywhere; bones were punctured and stuck out of his skin. Before she had to be booked due to the damage, she spoke out to him with a weak voice, “You done… good, Paul.” Coming back to reality, he nodded in her direction, a bloodied thumbs up raised to her words.
Hours have passed since the battle of two giants. Paul, however, lost in the long term; with his arms still in recovery, the chances of him fighting again remained slim due to the excessive damage dealt to his fist. While resting on the couch in the Floor of Language, Gebura came over and sat beside him. Looking down at his fists and back up at him, she grinned and patted his back. “You were good out there. How’d you pull a move off like that?” Paul thought about it and shrugged. “No clue. The best thing I can think of is that I just decided the trade-off was well worth it. In the long term, it doesn’t seem like so, though.” He looked down at his bandaged arms; the ability to close and open his palm remained, but lifting his fingers would hurt and pain him ever so slightly. “Still hurts, huh?” She noted and took a drag of the cigarette in her hand, looking back at his arms before receiving a nod from him. “Well, what are you gonna do now? Being this far from the City and all.” She had asked, and this notion got Paul to freeze for a moment. He looked down and scoffed at any silly fantasies before confidently replying, “I’m staying here for good. Figured if I’m gonna assimilate myself into a normal life, might as well be at the infamous Library out here.” Gebura, upon hearing such a simple path he had wanted to take, chuckled and rested her cigarette upon the ashtray. “I wonder what kind of Librarian you will be, Paul.”
