Back on earth, on another part of the mountain where the Temple lay resting quietly, Azazel clashed with another sword, leading sparks to fly into the air. Glancing his eyes down; he watched as they switched their hands from holding the edge of the blade with two pairs of ten fingers, to having only five fingers.
Noticing the left fist aiming for the side of his head, Karlo unleashed his wing from outside of his back cutting through his rope and flying back into the air, allowing the air to guide him. Who followed, soaring right over his head, was none other than his new female partner, Kristina slamming her palms right down to the feet of the enemy, he jumped back as the surrounding ground in front of her was engulfed by a wave of flames.
His design shrouded in mystery and shadows, he sheathed his sword and leaped in the blazing heat, taking out his second sword on his back aiming it at her chest as she stood there in that position with her hands on the ground. Without skipping a beat, there the Fool Detective reappeared right in front of her descending from the heavens, then blocking his attack so their katanas would collide briefly. The glare from his eyes lighting ablaze their soul, covered and hidden pupils responding with a star-like shape, Azazel tilted his head in curiosity as their opponent flipped over their heads from the collision of weapons. Kristie and Azzy turning their backs so their fronts could be facing them, they rose, brandishing their duo swords.
The katana had engravings carved upper near the grip, the same as the Ketsueki and Azazel's dagger found by his father. This time, the kanji read, '愛と戦争' meaning 'Love and War' in Japanese. For the tanto, the metal itself had a complete purple shade on it reflecting off of the sun without any engravings for Japanese characters. Sliding the side of the blade against his sleeve to clean the sharpened area he didn't attend to, Azazel's eyelids hid the azure coloration of his pupils,
"This should be fun… right?" Asked Kristina as she rubbed her fingers, feeling them crack after she pushed more pressure against the knuckles. A satisfying feeling, without a doubt.
"Maybe, depends. If they're weak then it should be but they managed to dodge us. Stay here, I'll go on ahead… cover me," Instructed the older Detective, throwing his katana right into the air so it could spin around for some time than pushing out his hands.
Watches on both wrists mechanically peeling over his hands, he felt the metal wrap around his skin, the tips of his fingers replaced by metallic claws that were as sharp as the tip of his signature black blade. Trench coat trailing behind him as he charged right ahead at the opponent, Azazel felt his sanity disintegrate piece by piece with each new passing foot, he closed the distance, launching into the air so the sun would darken his features from behind.
Widening their eyes, they reached their katana over their head to block the incoming attack, but it seemed that this was something that not even they were ready for. The Fool Detective smashed through their blade so it'd automatically shatter into a multitude of metal pieces, hovering in mid-air as Karlo reached closer with that sinister smirk of his sending chills down their spine.
Grabbing at the frontal collar of their attire while they were still paralyzed by surprise, he threw them over their shoulder so they could be Kristina's problem now. And just as they slid across the ground now getting to their feet, all she had to do was simply touch their face with her hand so the rest of their body would be encased in an ice block.
Before she snapped her fingers after it was formed so it would change its structure to become some magma rock, Kristie and Azzy were victorious. Fist bumping one another, the ginger winced jokingly, the red tint that came with the crazed mode he was in fading away so his eyes would get back the regular blueness inherited by his mother,
"Sorry," Apologized the man gently, taking off the watches he wore on each of his wrists, pocketing them, and then kneeling beside their enemy. Taking off their hood along with the cover that hid their face, Kristie stepped closer, standing over him from behind with her arms crossed as he knelt, revealing their features.
To her surprise, it had not been a man like they had expected it was the opposite. She was Japanese with a dark skin coloration, with long flowing black hair, the same as his own, but- of course, lengthier. Her eyes were a light purple with the shape of a star visible in them, and as the magma crumbled, she unzipped the rest of her hidden clothing to reveal her tire outfit's design.
Which was just the same robe that Hana wore but instead of the butterfly symbol on the right side of the zipper pattern down the middle, it was a star on the left. The same white shade around all of it, the pattern down the middle being pink now, the same as the star, as she stood up, breathing out through her nostrils, she tied up her hair to put it in a ponytail. Kristina biting the tip of her nail with a lustful look in her eyes at the sight of this woman, leading to an elbow in the gut originating from the edge of Azazel's arm, coughing as she held her stomach, the Samurai to their front tilted her head in confusion,
"Sorry about that. I assume we didn't harm you too much, Abara-san?" Using an honorific at the end of her name, Karlo addressed the woman in front of him with a respectful and honorable tone.
"No, no, I'm perfectly fine, no need to worry! You and Kristina there did excellent work using your strengths to take me down, you even shocked me there for a second and utilized that to your advantage. I believe I don't have much left to teach you, Azazel. So, you get an A+ and you shall move on to the next teacher. However, Kristina, you and I will be training more, we do share the most similarities in fighting, after all—" Suggested Abara with a loving smile over her pink lips, hands together and sorting her tanto into the back sheath over the rear of her waist.
"Uh, not to be rude, exactly, but what exactly are your abilities? I get the star motif but like- what does that mean?" Shortly after raising her hand into the air and getting pointed at by the Samurai, Kristina inquired this of their teacher and former opponent.
"It means that I draw power from the sun, but not only that, from every other star in a considerable and close enough distance from Earth. Times like this though, when most of the stars are destroyed, and none of them are close enough to the planet for me to draw energy from it, summers are when I'm best considering this is when the sun is at its strongest on this side of the Earth. Also, I guess we never really introduced ourselves, did we? I'm the Star Blade of Taiyo, Natsuki Abara. Nice to meet you, Kristina," Bowing her head and tilting her body forward after she introduced herself just then, Abara waited for Kristie to do the same.
After being hit on the back of the head by the Detective, she held the rear of her skull momentarily then bowing to the Star Blade to her front. The words, "Nice to meet you," blurted out from her lips sheepishly, as if embarrassed. Seeing as how the two of them would be dealing with one another on their own, Azazel looked to the ground, having not realized that his katana had fallen out from the air to the tips of his shoes.
Bending down, he remembered the sight of a time he'd rather have faded away from his memory entirely, the way it should have been. The Day of Fates in January of 2037, when August was presumed dead, and he had to carry that body himself to his family. The very reason he had to live was that kid, Augustus Rivera, someone who barely cared for his own life and wanted only to ensure that Celine's soul was avenged.
Back then, he was just some ignorant child who wanted to destroy everything out of envy and jealousy, just because someone had it better than him, for once in his life, he wanted to go along with the tainted orchestration of framing and locating August. Just to use his body, his cells, everything about him, for the sake of some useless intention that Kuno had in mind for Its Allfather. After that, he didn't want to believe that someone like his sister was alive, that he was drawn to her that day when he went to recruit her from her adopted parents' Mansion. Because he wanted August to be there, that was the place he believed he deserved to be, besides that man, forever and always, because… he was grateful to him.
The world seemed to darken all around him, extremities entangling around the edge of the katana, gradually standing from his bent-over position… the thoughts raced through his head,
~After everything, with August, Rose, Natalia… I was just trying to right the wrongs of the past, holding onto something that should've been gone already.
'I should be happy instead of you.
I should be HIS family instead of you.
I should've saved you so I'll try now.'
It's only recently I started doing things for others instead of myself. Even that old man, I hadn't even considered his circumstances or how Rose might feel, I just thought for myself and what he did to me. He was the same as me, abused and used for the sake of someone else's goals. Rosey is our light to become something better than me or him, she helped Alex and didn't judge him despite everything he'd done in the past she didn't know. I know I've evolved, but maybe he feels the same way. People teaching one another, learning from their instructors, and having students, I don't doubt that I miss it… maybe I can…~
"Abara-san!" Cried out Azazel, intruding on his thought process to interrupt the conversation the ginger and the Blade were having so the latter could turn her head to him. Still, with that gentle smile over her lips, she tilted her head with an imaginary question mark appearing over her head,
"Send a crow to Rosalyn and Ryder Karlo. I'd like to teach them both- the truth of our power."