The only thing granted to all is an unfair reality. For despite who you might be, whether the pigmentation of the skin, the gender of your being, privilege or not- riches or not, there's a truth everyone, when they reach the ripe age of understanding, must acknowledge. The life everyone leads is different, but despite the heartaches everyone endures, no matter the age, the sex, or the circumstances, they all continue onward. Humans are sociable creatures, for they're bred to be around others, whether it be laughing at school or just smoking in a park on a weekend, those miniature moments spent with the people you name your 'friends' are as precious as the ones you spend with your family. For the flow of time was ever-moving, the sight of the clouds moving overhead, the coloration shifting, the density of precipitation expanding as the droplets widened upon touching the concrete below. As the head turned, the laughter had all but disappeared, just as the sun was destined to hide behind the horizon of the planet, that person was resigned to a fate, heading toward a destination with feet as heavy as the burden they carried. The undeniable truth, to all granted unfairly, was but one feeling that could never be described with a lengthy description, but with one word, it said it all.
The hollow nature of the soul, begging for communication, perception, the embracing arms of a mother, the affection of a lover as they guide your head to their chest. More than anything, there was but one thing the human heart carved, and that was… love.
"Natalia, June, take point- he'll knock you away, but that's okay."
And now, back in the present day, Azazel commanded the two of his female subordinates to his side with ease, for turning to one another, their eyes met and their heads nodded. Nat's hands, hidden by the metallic gauntlets spread over her fingers to give the illusion of claws, clasped against each other, for an electrical ping unleashed as an indication of the ability's activation. But, unfortunately for her, that was all that occurred, as the activation of the technique never came to fruition, and the truth was stolen away from this world with but a simple swipe originating from the tip of Ashton's claw-sharp nails. Once again, she was without hands, and while the pain was excruciating, she could easily repair this with just a singular thought. Slapping at her face, an eye between extremities, a kick entered her chest, sending her flying back, but just as she was about to against a tree, another fist entered her side, sending her flying into another, but this time, to the right.
Without even a second to spare on the ground after being kicked, Nat took a bath in her blood, vision turned blurry from such rapid attacks and no way to defend, the only thing she could return to was the loneliness of her brain's fantastical nature.
"You MONSTER!!" Cried June emotionally, punching at his face, a chunk of skin flying off, but she didn't stop at just one- why would she?
Pummeling at his features, more blood flying off, more sparks of green emanating off her knuckles, for each passing second she kept up the cycle of these repetitive moves- more sweat continued to draw from within the invisible pores attached to her person. How could he blame her though- for she was enveloped by blind rage, as humans often are. Kicking at his face, he easily ducked, grabbing the leg as it soared, stabbing his elbow to the center, snapping it with ease, he grabbed at her chin and slammed her onto the grassy floor. Just barely able to crouch with one leg intact, moans of pain seeped out from between her glossed lips, fingers hovering over that agonizing source, her chin suffered a knee to the face, more droplets of blood polluting the air, she fell back into a slumber, but weakly moaning, now with a broken jaw.
"What weak…-"
He must've been hallucinating, right? Either that or losing his sanity's remnants, for that tremble he experienced, even as shielded as it was, he held no hesitation in the depths of his mind. As the fire raged on within the confines of that warehouse, where he was sure that all life that resided there had been erased, there was but a sole signature. One made, not of the flesh, but malice, not human's potential for hatred, but a demon, as those blood-red eyes peering in from the clearing smoke stabbed at what remained of his heart. Stepping out with one hand on the Blade and the other gripping the handle with veins appearing out her skin, the blood-lusting aura begging to be toyed with had oozed off the Crow's Daughter.
The way blood could be revealed from inside a human's inner anatomy so easily, Katie spun around her sword, for the movements her feet produced were as elegant as a ballerina's on a wooden stage. For every movement was calculated, the way she spun the Blade around her back with one hand, throwing it into the air momentarily, allowing her fists to do the talking. Just a simple right hook, infected with enough Vita to obliterate the insides of any foe, corrupted to the very essence of the soul. A cut appeared over his cheek, a grit exiting charred lips, the slice exploded out blood from within to form a bloody puddle spewing to the fronts of his toes.
Raising his arms to prepare a defense, knuckles charged against his limbs, unleashing a grating sound as her fist dug his very bones, bending the arm inward; bruises emerging from the touch. Like cheese carved to shreds of the former food littering a kitchen counter, replacing the injuries with speeds beyond that known to humans was just like child play. Seconds before regenerating, as the blood reformed and the arm inverted to its healthier self, there it was again, the Blackened Blade caught in her grasp, Katie's eyes darkened by the shadows of her hate, for as the Beast emerged outside its hide, no matter how temporarily, there would be no stopping. Each new slash cleaved away at resurges of flesh reappearing how abruptly, would have the sharpness of the Blade sink into the flesh of the body to as deep as the bone, leaving nothing but a bloodied stump in its wake.
Flipping away from her monstrous slashes, Ashton spun around in mid-air, fading upside-down between that miniature splice he stood descending in time. Raising the tips of his dual fingers to glisten with purple radiation unable to be resisted, another attack was readied for the obliteration of the target ahead was imminent. But just then, his head was slashed with a sideways direction driving the Blade to aim at his surprised face. Just as the tip was mere centimeters away from cleaving his skull apart to leave chunks of flesh against the katana, he'd vanished once again, but this nose of hers was sharp.
Instantly, her head snapped to the side, eyes attached to his idle figure, for tendrils sharpened at the edges aimed at her body… this wasn't the tint o waste any of it, she had to focus all of her strength all into her consciousness and surely unleash it at the center to rid this threat of his power and ensure her victory.
Unfortunately, there was a technique that existed in her inventory that could enhance the power accumulated in her strokes, for the only Artifact she held imbued her with only one extra capability, could it help her in this battle? The power to halt time, inherited by her grandfather, was handed down by her beloved father. Whether it could or couldn't didn't matter at this point, as long as she tried and went down striking, she would've lived an honorable life!
And as her legs flailed back, over and over in a perpetual motion, she couldn't escape that thought, almost as if it were a plague; sickness infesting the mind like a virus.
While all this was ongoing, while she was slashing around, while Natalia was being punched from side to side so carelessly in mid-air and June had her head smashed into the ground, where… was her father? The tendrils splashed away the second they touched against her aura, for they'd regressed to cut ribbons the second her hand even dared to rise high. Weapon splattered in the innards of the living projectiles he'd thrown so recklessly, she raised it over her head, aiming the tip of the Blade right ahead, gleaming in the shine of the overhead sun.
Clenching his teeth for more tendrils to extend outward from between his toes, his head upturned to spot at her incoming figure, Katie's descent as quick as the flapping of wings attached to a bee's back. The tendrils continued to leak out inside liquids, falling limp to the ground, the sharpness of the Blade slashed at his head, attempting to just cut him in half. Limb raised to block the attack with his wrist, an impact radiated throughout his body and to the feet' bottoms, a crater formed beneath him- somehow, he'd managed to halt her. Fist covered with darkened armor of his specialized ability, knuckles aimed at her skull's side, in this position, she had no choice but to unleash her grip over her Blade's snowy handle.
Landing into a crouch, she swiped at the feet of her male enemy, but his descent wasn't surprising, for as she prepared to slam her fist into his features, his hand had raised, and just before she could crunch his face into a bloody pulp, her eyes widened. The world slowed around her being, as everything was considered, the past, the present, the future, all given at once… as she turned to look at her surroundings, it was entirely pale.
There was a gap of information that could never be filled, for it lingered as endlessly as the many theories humanity held for its billion-year lifetime, pondering about origins, not only of the race they belonged to but the intricacies of the vastness of the universe. What laid beyond the Milky Way's signature spiral, and why did it exist? Furthermore, there are other questions ordinary people encounter, for even within the Evolutionary Capital, normal lives played out.
'I wish I'd done this. I wonder what would've happened. That future is gone.'
The promise to live out your life with someone else, would you continue the journey of your life without them, or meet them again at another time when you were better people. The phenomenon she experienced wasn't what she'd initially predicted, for as time slowed and her surroundings turned to snow, their bodies halted, and their eyes rolled to the back of their heads. Katie could feel it within her, pouring into the confines of the brain, containing only so much information, absorbing words, events, sensations. That butterfly-like feeling you get in your chest when you endure your first kiss, or that dreadful reminiscence you feel as a fist connects to your face, not at different times, but at once, for what emerged at the center of her mind.
'What is this? Where am I right now… did I manage to punch him?' Katie's thought resounded, like a sonic boom breaking someone's eardrums.
'I killed 'er, didn't I?! I burnt that stupid whore's fucking face off and rendered her a mutilated corpse…' As did Ashton's.
A hand drew to a head, patting not his parted light-brown hair, but, rather, the multitude of black strands that hid his cousin's azure dark-blue eyes.
"This is the inner world of the human consciousness, formed together by the New Allfather's remnants from when he perished- even Azazel doesn't know about this realm. But, my father? Alex? They do. Perception, communication, love, indifference. Each action involved in living is carried out infinite times. Searching through my memories doesn't give me the most accurate reference, but I believe you've experienced this before.
'It's funny, isn't it, Dabrowski? Humans will try so hard to find the power they seek in the knowledge they consume. And yet, when even a God is given everything, you can't do anything.' But we have a use for you, don't we? So I'll leave you off the hook with just this."
The precision needed to cut off a skull was unparalleled, requiring months- even years' worth of skill engraved into the study of the blade. However, with the hand, with enough accumulated force, garnering enough strength into the tips of his fingers to sink into his hair, tearing it off from the attached posture it was locked into over the shoulders as nothing but child's play. Bloody moisture painting his face, scarlet eyes peering through with a red shine, that murderous stare with an open mouth, revealing pearly whites, the edge of that grin knew no bounds. Once again, rearing out its ugly head, the chimera of a devil accompanied his side, as if familiar to a being's side… as he ripped the head clean off, with a tongue sticking out a gaping mouth, the moisture dripped like rain onto his white face.
A timer sounded ding as the food was ready, and while the door opened to reveal the steamy contents, the veil of knowledge fell, for now there only remained Ace with Katie by his side. Holding Ashton's decapitated skull between his fingers, feeling the blood drip onto the extremities, a seething exhale sucked in through the gritted teeth.
"That's a useful technique," Commented the ginger, throwing the head in the air, then catching it again.
"You should save it for the 22nd."
Kima's voice as a musical as the familiar sound of a guitar being tuned, Ace turned his head, witnessing her step toward from the doused warehouse that served as their burnt and run-down base of operations.
"As always, baby, you're right… I should help out Katie," Ace whispered to himself, sheepishly laughing.
Throwing the head to Kim so she could fumble with the skin-covered skull, Ace bent down, cracking his knuckles. Allowing bis fingers to linger over his cousin's forehead, a simple wipe at her temples had rid her of that infection of knowledge, reverting her pupils from their rolled-back nature. Gasping at her red-headed cousin, her arms drawn to his neck, Ace patted at her back, for but a second passed, and it hit her.
"We won't be back until the 22nd, so the next time we meet… will be back in the belly of the beast: Riverton itself."
The Scarlet King's words, but a distant memory, rang like a deafening cry amid her mind, for as she pulled back, her lips prepared to part. Pushing his finger against her mouth, her speech discontinued, for he spoke in her stead:
"I know I said I'd be back on the 22nd, but clearly, shit changed. Enter the warehouse… we got an old friend waiting for you inside."
There was no doubt about that unique presence, that utter tranquility entering her heart like a snake slithering through leaves sneakily, almost like the golden light from heaven shone onto her face as she turned her head to see the woman she named her Master standing in the charred door frame of the warehouse.
"You… I… I can't say I'm not surprised, Master Saiai. Of all the people to come and aid us, I can't help but feel like this is beyond you."
Hana chuckled at her first student's whim, shaking her head, a single step extending that minuscule moment into infinity. The distance closed, standing before the child, bending the knee, their height seemed almost identical, for Hana's hand was drawn to her shoulder; almost like gravity.
"I must ensure the future generation is preserved to the end: that's all there is to it, and that's all you need to know. Before the official climax of our missions, we need to explain the new variables we learned about the coming war."
To Be Continued.