Durandal took us outside. Toriyama was right. Schicksal's base with the 2nd Divine Key was in an abandoned city in North Africa. "What... is this place?" Asked Kiana. "Nothing but ruins." Answered Durandal. "Who did this?" Asked Kiana. "...What else can raze a city overnight other than Honkai?" Durandal did not answer Kiana and asked her own question. "Why you, Otto, and Schicksal did this." I said. "Still putting the blame on Schicksal I see. But it was also the Herrscher of the Void that did this." Said Durandal.

Following Durandal's lead, Kiana and I walked, scanning the surroundings and trying to find a topic. 'She's not giving me anything useful...' Said Kiana in her mind. Although sure of Durandal's intent, Kiana felt the outing was a perfect opportunity for escape. Kiana sharpened her senses to feel the environment, where only she could see the fissures in the invisible dimensions. After Fu Hua's vigorous training, she could now easily identify safe passages hidden beneath the fissures. But a teleportation required a tremendous amount of energy, so there's no second chance for her.

'Fu Hua...' Kiana thought of Fu Hua again, but the voice that once guided her and me was no more. 'If I end up in the hands of Schicksal, what will happen to Fu Hua's consciousness in my mind?' She had no time to think. She knew she had to get out, the sooner the better.

We then stopped on a ruined building overlooking more of the abandoned city. "What do you think?" Asked Durandal. "Feels like the Sea of Rust from "Transformers: Fall of Cybertron." It also feels like something from "Fist of the North Star," "Mad Max Fury Road," "Power Rangers: RPM," "Future Trunks' Future from "Dragon Ball Z," The abandoned city and desert where Kirito and Sinon battled against Death Gun in Gun Gale Online from "Sword Art Online," and "Wall-E," I answered. "Still with making pop-culture references, I see. Yes. This does feel like the Sea of Rust from "Transformers: Fall of Cybertron" and like something from "Fist of the North Star." I read the manga and saw most of it's Anime adaptions." "People have been making memes on Kenshiro's killing move, his one-liner before the kill, and the victim saying "Nani" before getting killed. Now with what you and Schicksal have done, there have been gangs and organizations killing people and stealing supplies to survive the Honkai. I've seen it first hand before ending up in Arc City."

"This also feels like "Wall-E" like you've said before. Wall-E lived in an abandoned city like this with his pet cockroach before meeting Eve. He's had to survive sandstorms in his home. And so have we. There's been occasional sandstorms here. As for resemblance to the Sea of Rust, We've had to defend from the Honkai like defending against the Insecticons and we've also been doing experiments in the labs like Shockwave."

While I was speaking to Durandal, Kiana felt one fissure close to her. She had to find a way to distract Durandal so she can pull me in through a portal and escape. 'Patrick-kun seems to be keeping Durandal occupied with talking about pop-culture references related to abandoned cities in deserts. If I escape through a portal with out him, I'll have to try and ope a portal underneath him so he can escape too. But the question is... how?...'

Phew... A timely wind stirred up the sand and separated them momentarily. Kiana knew the time had come. 'Now!' Energy gathered in invisible dimensions and tore the space apart like a paper. 'I need to get out!' Kiana grabbed me and attempted to pull me in with her. "Don't even think about it." "What?!" The lance pierced the air and dove into the sand beneath Kiana. The fissures closed and the passage was gone. Durandal was fast. She held her weapon, Hler's Serenity. "If you mean to leave here, don't run like a rat. Beat me like a soldier and walk away with your head high." Said Durandal.

"Don't bother Kiana. It's no use anymore. With Durandal here, we can't escape. It's useless now. We stand no chance." I said. "We have to try! You were able to temporarily push her back. Maybe with the two of us we can." Said Kiana. "Alright, I'll fight. My escape in Arc City was just a fluke/a stroke of luck Toriyama gave to me." "Now that's more like it. You may try to beat me for real this time." As she finished her words, the two pairs of handcuffs were disabled and felt upon the sand.

"...You're not giving us a choice. As you wish then." Said Kiana as she whipped out her pistols. "I'll fight you again. But to ensure That I push you back again, I'm going to fight at full power holding nothing back." I said as I pulled out the Dragon Lance and the Dragon Shield. Then I powered up as energy burst out of me. "Neko-Charm!" Kiana activated her burst mode, Neko-Charm and energy burst out of her too, powering up like I was. "So you both choose to go all out against me. Very well then." Said Durandal as she glowed with energy bursting out of her too.

"Durandal wields the Divine Key that used to belong to your mother. With what we've seen your mother do in the fake data space created by Sirin, we better take what we've seen and counter any lance moves she does." I said. "Right!" Said Kiana. At the same time we both charged in on Durandal while she did the same.

Kiana made an energy cat paw appear next to Durandal to strike her but she destroyed it with her lance. Then I attempted to strike her with the Dragon Lance but she blocked my attack with her lance. Then she tried to piece my body with her Hler's Serenity. But with the Dragon Shield I blocked it. Then I jumped back and let Kiana keep using her energy cat paws on Durandal.

She threw her lance at me but I threw mine at the same time. When they met, they created a shock wave and bounced back. Kiana attempted to do a kick with an energy paw but then Durandal blocked it with an energy shield she created. Then she punched Kiana away and picked up her lance. 'She can create energy shields too?!... She really is an overpowered Valkyrie. But Kevin is more overpowered than her.' I told myself before reaching out and the Dragon Lance came back to me. 'I'm an overpowered fighter too. But there are rules about being an overpowered character. You're not supposed to win every battle you fight in, you're not supposed to be stronger than any of the stronger overpowered characters, you never show off, you don't get strong so fast, you're not supposed to be so great, and you can't let your imagination go wild with making an overpowered character unstoppable.'

Durandal charged at me with her lance at great speed. But then I blocked her attack with the Dragon Shield. Then I used the Dragon Lance and pushed her back. "Aren't you going to rage out like you did to me and to the Herrscher of the Void?" "Do you really think I'd rage out early right now in this state? I don't work like that. The only reason why Drago's power reawakened was because of remembering Kiana's words, my friends' words and Otto's words that caused me to get angry and to rage out. And it only works when I'm cornered with no escape and refusing to fall to someone like you. I can't rage out or create another Honkai Energy Spike to transform into my Herrscher battlesuit right now." I explained.

"Then I guess I should not provoke you or else I will underestimate you. I've seen you rage out every time someone makes you angry. You even tried to kill my second in command of Immortal Blades, Rita. All because you raged out at her. But then your friend here decided to prevent you from killing her." Said Durandal. Kiana came to my side. "She is unbeatable. Even stronger than a Herrscher." Said Kiana. "I know. Only she's never fought against a Herrscher before. Well she fought against me in Arc City but I only managed to slow her down to give us enough time to escape from Arc City." I said. "Why not just use Zeroth Power right now to push her back?" "Because it's too early in a fight to use a last resort. There is still a gap between me and Durandal." "What about time fractures?" "I'll try doing that. I'll use another Dio Brando move." I rushed in then Durandal attempted to slash at me but then I jumped over Durandal and it triggered evasion.

"Now take this! Time Fracture!" I triggered a time fracture/evasion and time slowed down. I landed back down. "With time fracture, I can attack faster." I said putting the Dragon Lance in the surface then taking out my "Halo" assassination knife. "This should kill you." Then I began to say Muda like Dio Brando.

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"Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda! Muda!" I threw the knife. But then, Durandal caught it with her bare fingers. "WHAT?! How?!" "Did you really think you could try to assassinate me with a time fracture? Well I hate to break to you Patrick-kun, but time fractures don't work on me. With my speed, I can move normal while in time fractures." Said Durandal before time went back to normal then she tossed my assassination knife back at me. A shadow covered my eyes as I picked it up and sheathed it. "You tried to do what Dio did to Joseph. Attempted to throw a knife at my throat while in a time fracture. Others have tried assassinating me before but I'm not easy to kill." Explained Durandal.

'Dam***! Now she's trying to taunt me! Looks like Time Fractures are useless now. Whatever training Durandal had, made her able to counter against Time Fractures. I'm gonna have to try to keep attacking with every move I have.' I told myself while lightning manifested on the lance. 'I'll try using my Herrscher powers with the Dragon Divine Keys!' I jumped up then I charged in with the Dragon Lance with lightning.

However, Durandal blocked me with her energy shield while blocking Kiana's energy cat paw with her lance. Then she strikes her lance into the ground with energy. Then columns of energy appeared underneath Kiana and I, and we got engulfed in energy blasts from below causing a lot of damage to us to make us scream in pain.

Now we were down trying to get back up. "Is that all you got? Or is there something else you have up your sleeves?" Asked Durandal. "Shut up!" I screamed getting up. "We're not finished yet!" Kiana screamed getting up too. "You haven't seen everything we can do yet." Now fire appeared on the Dragon Lance. Then I screamed and sent a fire slash at Durandal, but she sent an energy slash from her Hler's Serenity and it broke through my Dragon Lance's Fire Slash. I blocked the energy slash with my Dragon Shield and the energy slash exploded. Now Kiana attempted to sent an energy paw from below Durandal only she dodged out of the way, then Kiana did flipped and did a kick that sent an energy cat paw at Durandal but she destroyed it with her lance.

Now she blew us back with her power then she flew up in the sky. "That trick again? It won't get past my Dragon Shield." I said. "I'm not going to attempt to get through your Dragon Shield." Said Durandal as she went around in circles a few times then charged at me. Like before I blocked the attack with the Dragon Shield. But then from behind her appeared two Phantoms that pushed me back. Kiana came to my side as we saw her two robots behind her.

"I know what you're thinking. What I have are similar to the Stands in "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders." But I'm sure that you are aware what they are." Said Durandal. "Phantoms. Similer to the ones Rita has and similar to Project Bunny that Bronya has." I answered. "Correct. I am able to summon two phantoms because of how strong I am. The one on my right with the sword is named King. And the one on my left with the shield is Queen. Now it's 3 against 2." Said Durandal.

I put the lance and shield away then I switched to the Dragon Sword. "I'll take the King and you take the Queen." I said. "Why do I have to take on the Queen?" Asked Kiana. "Because I need you to hammer the Queen phantom down with your Neko-Charm to try to push her back. While I use my sword against the King's sword." "Alright! Whatever! Let's go!" I ran at King while Kiana ran at Queen. "Go ahead. Have your fun with my Phantoms or my Stands if you prefer to refer to them by or whatever you wanna call them. It's your time to shine now King and Queen. Go!" Said Durandal as the Phantoms charged at us.

My sword clashed with King's sword while Kiana's Neko-Charm and guns faced against Queen's shield. "Now this feels like Jean Pierre Polnareff and Silver Chariot fighting against Chaka and Anubis. Only Durandal is using her stand with a sword against me and my sword with no stand inside." I said. "I bet Jotaro with Star Platinum and Polnareff with Silver Chariot could beat her two stands." Said Kiana. "Maybe. But I've fought against other phantom users and none of them were able to defeat me or my phantoms. Rita and I didn't even have to use the tarot cards to name our phantoms. I've seen individuals name their phantoms from the tarot cards because every fan of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" always love to make references to the stands. I'll show you how they are unbeatable." Explained Durandal as she did a hand gesture giving a command to her phantoms.

King pierced its sword into me then it raised me up high then he slashed me away. Queen hit Kiana with its shield then shot a laser from its shield and blasted her away. Then the two phantoms attacked at the same time. King fired energy slashes from its sword then Queen fired another laser from its shield. They made a direct hit on us. Durandal mover closer and brought back out her lance. Then she raised it high as a column of energy appeared underneath all of us then energy blasted up and Kiana and I screamed in agony from the ultimate Durandal just used.

Now we were down once again with our weapons dropped. "We're not finished!" Kiana refused to give up. Durandal finally made her two phantoms disappear. "Seems like with out phantoms of your own and with out your friend Bronya Zaychik and her Project Bunny, you cannot defeat my phantoms." Said Durandal. "Never say anything about Bronya or her Project Bunny!" I screamed struggling to get back up. "Bronya only prefers to make references to her favorite franchise, HOMU. A lot of people compare Fu Hua's fighting to Jotaro and Star Platinum's Ora Ora Oras. If Jotaro was here, he would beat you and your phantoms into a pulp and 7 page Ora you into a garbage truck like Giorno and his Gold Experience Requiem the same way with their 7 page Muda." I used my sword to help me up to my feat.

"I would like to see them try to beat King and Queen if they were real." Said Durandal. As I stood up, I decided to switch to the Dragon Gauntlets. "So now you choose to fight with your Dragon Gauntlets. I guess I'll fight with my fists too." Said Durandal sticking her lance to the surface while cracking her knuckles.

'I've got to find a way to get the advantage over her. She moves so fast, delivers a blow instantly, and whacks something away like it's nothing. Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks had to face against Zamasu and Goku Black in Trunks' Future in a destroyed city like this abandoned city, Saitama always defeated his enemies in an instant, and Kenshiro always killed his enemies instantly with his hands. How would any of them favor against Durandal?... ... Kenshiro... Wait a minute... Maybe If I try mimicking his killing move with the Dragon Gauntlets at Zeroth Power... Maybe I can weaken her and get the advantage over her... I'm gonna give it a try.'

I breathed then got a determined serious face on. "Zeroth Power." The Dragon Gauntlets glowed then changed to expand a tiny bit as steam came out of them as they changed. "Now you decide to use Zeroth Power again now? What could you possibly do with the Dragon Gauntlets at Zeroth Power?" Asked Durandal. "What Kenshiro does when he faces a strong enemy like you." I said before rushing in with more speed thanks to Zeroth Power and went "AH TATATATATATATATATA!" Delivering tons of punches around her before jumping back.

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"Did you really think you could try to kill me with Kenshiro's techniques? What a joke." Said Durandal. "You're already dead." I said quoting Kenshiro. "What?..." Then Durandal blew up. But there was no blood. Only Durandal still alive and blown back from the impact. She had a ton of damage on her. I stood there like Jotaro and Kenshiro acting cool and calm while Durandal got up. "How did you do that? How could you mimic Kenshiro's move?" Asked Durandal. "With Zeroth Power my speed was increased. I aimed for your vital points but held back. I knew that Kiana would prevent me from killing you and she would shun me away if it was a real killing move. But it was just a mimic, so it's not a real killing technique." I explained.

Durandal smirked then spoke. "So you decided to learn from after attempting to kill my partner Rita to take Kiana-san's words and to not attempt to kill me." Said Durandal. "I realize that it is impossible to kill you and Rita. The only one I'm going to kill now is your Overseer Otto Apocalypse. I still hate you and Rita for helping him reawaken the Herrscher of the Void, for helping him murder half of humanity, and for almost letting my friends get killed by Sirin. I hate Schicksal more than World Serpent. I keep fighting to prevent Otto's experiments from succeeding so that no more people get killed by his hands." From the gauntlet's hands I fired blue fire from the palms. But Durandal blocked it with her energy shield. "Very well then. I'll fight you with my fists." Said Durandal getting into a fighting stance before I did too.

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The wind blew hard then we disappeared and there were blows coming from the air. Kiana managed to sit up and couldn't see the fighting because it was too fast for her to see. "Now they're fighting like in "Dragon Ball Z." Patrick-kun is finally fighting at Zeroth Power with the Dragon Gauntlets against Durandal. But Durandal is still holding back and won't use more of her power yet." Said Kiana.

I blasted Honkai energy from my hands like Vegeta but Durandal kept whacking them away. I decided to stop then disappeared like Goku using his instant Transmission. I picked up a huge chunk of building and threw it at Durandal. However, she punched it and it was shattered into pieces. I used my earth power and threw chunks of rubble at Durandal at 20 meter radius. "Now you will witness my Time Fracture." Said Durandal before she triggered her Time Fracture. She moved out of the way and appeared in front of me in an instant. "Now you tried to do what Kakyoin tried to do to Dio." Then she punched me in the gut. "And now time will move normal again." The Time Fracture wore off then I coughed out blood as I was sent crashing through a tall building and stopped at another one.

"Not only is super fast and super strong, but she can also fly too." I said before she appeared in front of me to punch me again but I disappeared and reappeared above her then I delivered a powerful kick from both of my feet to the back and sent her flying down  which she managed to quickly recover from. "Looks like you do have some fight in you at Zeroth Power. I may not have my Divine Key with me but I am still strong even without it." Said Durandal. Fire and ice manifested on the Dragon Gauntlets. "I don't need your reminders. I only use Zeroth Power in emergency use only. But now you forced me to use Zeroth Power." I said before we charged in and got back into fisticuffs.

We kept exchanging more blows and blasts as we fought. But Durandal decided to bring this fight to an end. "This fight has now gone long enough Patrick-kun. It's time to stop." Said Durandal before she disappeared then she kicked me in the back sending me flying back to where Kiana was. And then I crashed into the rubble of the wrecked building. "Patrick-kun!" Kiana stood up then kneeled down where I was and lifted me. "Deactivate Zeroth Power." I commanded as Zeroth Power was turned off on the Gauntlets as they shifted back to normal then I sat up. "Even with Zeroth Power. I'm no match for her." I said. "That's right." Durandal reappeared back taking hold of her lance. I decided to switch to the Dragon Guns as I stood up with Kiana while she was holding her guns.

We attempted to shoot her but she dodged out of the way and whacked us away with her lance. "Ugh!" Kiana grunted. "You both have great gifts, but not nearly enough training." Said Durandal. 'Dam***! Can't believe she's giving us a lecture. But she is really strong! Stronger than anyone I ever know!' Said Kiana in her mind. 'She's an unstoppable force like Beatrix Kiddo, John Wick, Saitama/One Punch Man, Superman, Neo, and lots of other unstoppable characters from pop-culture! No Valkyrie or Knight stands a chance against her! Dam***!' I told myself in my mind. "Crush your opponent with attacks and time your fate blow for the exact moment when they show weakness." Said Durandal. "I don't need more of your stupid lecturing!" Kiana screamed. "That's right! You don't deserve to teach or to give lectures after what you've done to us, to Mei, and to all of humanity!"

With the sound of air explosion, Kiana launched herself at Durandal like a cannon ball with a massive kick. I followed her as I launched myself into the air but instead I flew somewhere else to get something. But a sharp pain shot her in the waist a split second later, freezing her on the spot. Durandal dodged her attack with ease and returned the same kick that sent her flying.  "Ugh..." Kiana groaned. "Now where did he go?" Asked Durandal. "Right here!" She heard me scream.

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Finally she noticed a shadow covering her. Then she looked up. "ROAD ROLLER DA!" I was using Dio's move once again with the steam roller. But instead Durandal caught it with her bare hand. "Oh please. That Anime trick again? I saw you use Dio Brando's move on Rita while I watched the recordings she gave me. And now you try to act like Dio again? Good grief. Even Jotaro managed to escape from getting crushed by a steam roller." "I did not just bring a steam roller." I jumped away before Durandal threw it away. From the sky, more construction vehicles came falling down from the sky at Durandal. "Now you bring in more construction vehicles? Tsk. Please... You think a trick like that could work on me? Think again." With her two phantoms she whacked away an excavator, then a backhoe, a dump truck, a bulldozer, a front loader, a cement mixer, and lastly a crane.

"I'm going to roll all over you!" I came from above with another steam roller but then Durandal caught my attack again. "You thought you could distract me and distract me by throwing more construction vehicles at me so you can use Dio's move again? You are nothing like Dio." Then she used a Time Fracture and appeared next to me then punched me in the gut making me cough out blood and sent me flying to where Kiana was.

"How... how can it be? Why... why can you use the gun kata of House of Kaslana?" Asked Kiana. "It's a fascinating martial art, and I learned it from the Schicksal library. But your moves have only the form instead of the essence." Answered Durandal.

'That's because the stupid old man only taught me these..." "Some of your moves come from Valkyrie fighting techniques. Integrating different techniques is essential to a good fighter, but you simply willed everything together recklessly. You have neither the depth nor the breadth to realize your true potential." Then Durandal turned to me. "And you. Some of your moves come from Knight fighting techniques. Integrating different techniques from fiction to mimic them, but the flaw of that is that you keep mimicking other fictional characters' moves and techniques without using your own moves and techniques."

"What are you getting at?!" "You're hopelessly inadequate in the fundamentals. You're far from ready. You cannot control you power like the boy can with his power, HoV. And you. Even with the Dragon Divine Keys. You are still not strong enough against enemies stronger than you. Including me."