A choir sang from the Heavens. Crying a requiem for their fallen brethren, the throne of the Angel Emperor now usurped. That infinite power in the hands of the infamous rabid cur so easily stepping over boneless bodies. Crows' caws intruded as their beaks uplifted the dry entrails, snapping their heads at the sound of footsteps. And there he was, hair flowing with beautiful darkness entrenching his being as he so carelessly strutted with pocketed hands. The only thing he was missing with the wings, yet even without them, he held that potential—to soar above that confining sky.
And the key to it all? None other than that boundless malice boiling in his heart. The Requiem Reaper had incarnated yet again, but he held the power of the Blessed Emperor in his hand. However arrogant he was, surely, that alone couldn't topple the strongest of kingdoms; more than anyone, he knew that to be true. And now, all he could do was stare ahead at that screen reflecting his handsome face.
Lines of text layered constantly, colored lime green, cuticles perpetuated the lone clicking to fill the silent room. 'Download complete,' the screen read. With a simple rip of the drive, what he held in his hand was the truth. Unsurpassed by Rivera's Requiem potential and unparalleled by Karlo's infinite darkness.
Knowledge.
But while Icarus was sowing the seeds of disaster for the future, Riverton's former Founder lifelessly gazed into the eyes of its destroyer. Death's Source looming to her rear with a menacing skull replacing its face, the levitating mist steaming from her weapon's steel whispered incomprehensibly. The true moonlight replaced the sun's false light of hope. Within the night, Rivers kept that same expression tainting his face like a sickness.
The gall he had to stand there without falling to his knees and begging for mercy, to look so apathetic and stand so proud. The lives he'd ruined, the people he tormented; to think he could still be breathing while she had to suffer so blatantly... the urge to behead him was so overwhelming. Stronger than her grip on the handle for her fair-skinned palm dared to color an apple red.
"If you're going to kill me, then do it."
Those words were equivalent to a syringe's stabbing into dried skin, for even she stood shocked as she unknowingly stared into the Founder's eyes.
"When I first set out for my ambition, I wanted to do it. My family was taken and I wanted vengeance, but I also made a promise to myself. To be a better leader than any old geezer could be. But, I lost myself. For once in my life, I felt powerful; not crushed under a giant's heel or tied down by a metal chain wrapped around my throat. Because of that power, I grew careless. Your mother and father should've never gotten released from jail. With a criminal record, neither of them should've been allowed to adopt a child. But because of my carelessness, my enforcers, the Frontier, grew arrogant. I was blind and selfish. If you wish to kill me, I understand your reasoning, but there is no solace waiting for you after my demise. Revenge is futile. That's why I promised myself to be better, to ensure the people under my rule were granted fair lives. Instead, what I gaze upon is my failure. Because I turned the other way, so did everyone else, and now, you're broken," Callum vented a shaky sigh from his deformed mouth, gazing upon the moon's light in all its lunar glory, "If only my past self were more aware."
He turned his back to his would-be killer and started to walk.
"HEY! Where the hell're you going...?" She questioned with a scowl and burning eyes.
"I set aside my pride and now I bear the weight of my guilt. If you wish hell unto me, you need not worry. The life I lead now is more tortuous than any divine retribution God could give me. But, this is the path I chose. All I can do now is give it all I've got. If you want to kill me, then kill me. If that's your justice, this is mine. And at least I'd have died... without regrets."
He set off into the night to be absorbed into the darkness, forever vanishing from her sight in what seemed like an instant. Little did she know, she'd been standing there idly for so long that the clouds hiding the moon had all but dissipated. The spotlight now shined on no one but her. A darkened patch amid a realm of light. The source of her trauma had formed a new path for himself. One to forgiveness—atonement. A being like him who committed unforgivable sins was walking toward the light, toward hope, not sinking in despair for the waves of regret to wash over him.
'Because you're a horrible human being.'
If a man undeserving of the title 'human' was ready for forgiveness, no matter how grave the sin, then what did that mean for her? Why did she swing the Blade she weld? Only after asking herself this obvious question did she arrive at a clear conclusion, one she'd already realized. The way she saved lives, the smile it brought to her face, the pride it caused to appear. She knew where she would end up, and so, she went there. Fully expecting nothing but her recuperated allies, when she'd arrive, she'd be met with a surprise, nothing more, nothing less.
Minutes later, deeper into the night, her feet grazed a rooftop barely overlooking the Hawk's Nest. The turbulent essence of the hotel didn't yell for her attention. Instead, it was the City's few hundred survivors scattered about the building wielding firearms and yelling at broken walls, shattered windows.
'They must've found Ace is hiding out here. I don't blame them.' Katie thought.
Her crouched posture morphed into a deathly spirit, oozing mist. Slipping through the surrounding crowd, her intangible body phased through the barded entrance. Replacing the angered cries were muffled curious murmurs. The outside didn't seem too far off at this point, the situation on the exterior mimicked the one indoors. Just glimpsing at their faces, only one could notice her for who she truly was.
"Katie..." Ace's words were accompanied by an alleviated puff layered atop his voice.
He ran forward in an attempt to catch her, but swatting away his hand as she regained physicality, she flexed her muscles and stood tall. Her shoulders broad, her eyes bright, she stepped to her cousin with a determined voice, riddled with a rasp.
"You hear them, don't you? Demanding you, so the others can live," Katie stood her ground, concealing her eyes from his all-seeing view.
"Of course I do. What makes you think I-?" Before Ace could finish, Katie interrupted what she assumed to be an impudent reply to her reasonable point.
"It's not a matter of dos or don'ts anymore, Ace! You have to realize the wrong we did here, whether it was your justice or not. Ignoring the hurt we've caused makes us the same as the Jester who tortured you or Naraku! We have to do better if we want to uphold Alex's will... what he taught us when he had the chance."
The mention of their deceased teacher sent frowns to the watching girls, June earning a sympathetic shoulder touch from Jefferson behind and Kima, a head pat from Azazel. But Ace, solemn as he was about his mentor's passing, walked past her. His hands removed the plentiful furniture guarding the entrance, and finally, he could face his judgment at the hands of the remnants of a fallen society. There they were, the betrayed Evolutionaries of the Evolutionary Capital, awaiting long-needed answers with trained guns pointed at the unarmed ginger's body.
Out of the crowd of exorbitant avengers, there stepped out one, donning a Jester mask. Extending a pistol with the barrel aimed ahead, Ace apathetically stared at his face, hearing the gun click as the end trained at his forehead. A shiny target made ripe for a righteous bullet. Or so he thought. Closing his eyes, awaiting his deserved punishment for an enormous sin. But what he assumed to be a bullet to be penetrating his skin and decimating his brain to mere mush turned out to be an offering, for peace.
"Please, we need your help!"
The man who held the bravado of a dominant leader now weakly cowered, bending the knee to the Scarlet King as if he were a Riot subordinate. Not only he, however, for his hundreds of followers mimicked this same motion as if bound by some invisible entity.
"The shambles of the Capital have been ravaged by the Jester for months now! Riot said they'd protect us and ensure a new world order would come underway with their revolution, but it never came. We were abandoned... but we still held out hope. The Hawk's Nest was founded by that man, Hanniel Griffth, a Hybrid himself who made a place other hybrids could call home. And when word got out a regular Evolutionary slaughtered him, we started losing hope. That was when we learned who he left it down to. You, an Artifact-wielder from Riverton Island. There must be some reason he chose you! And then it all became clear when you announced yourself as the Scarlet King, leader of Riot. You would be the one to free us from oppression. But..."
The man shed the mask he wore and revealed his human face; normal. But standing upright, slipping down his shirt to reveal his scaled skin, it became clear from the bullet wounds engraved into his weakened state.
"When we overthrew the Head and the New World Order, that gave way to racist Evolutionaries that plummeted the Capital into chaos. And the one who lead them was none other than-"
"The Jester." The Hybrid leader finished for the Scarlet King, "You left for a reason. Others who dared to venture to the Remnant World we border on saw explosions across the sea on Riverton. That was you all, wasn't it?"
Reluctantly, Ace nodded with a turned head, "Yes. But we failed. The Founder escaped our hand and so did his partner--"
"No," Disturbed Katie of her male cousin, stepping out from the Hotel's darkness to reveal herself to the crowded Hybrids, "We don't have to worry about the Founder or Naraku anymore. Naraku no longer uses Callum as a vessel and the Founder... no longer plans on attacking us. The best we can expect is him appearing at our door one to ask for Kelly Summers back, but that's it."
Not only was Ace visibly baffled by this discovery, but the crowd in front contemplated the authenticity of her statement. Their murmurs infiltrated her ears like a wriggling maggot slithering to infect her brain, earning them a forceful turn as she desperately yelled,
"I'm telling the truth!"
"Calm down for a sec, Kate," Ace's hand slid over her shoulder, ragged breaths momentarily cycling, "Before she found the Founder, I fought Naraku. That was when a unit of archers appeared outta nowhere, gave me this scar," The ginger pointed to a mark on his left cheek.
"Are those the Evolutionaries that want you guys dead?" The King finished, the Hybrid leader affirming his suspicion with a confirming nod.
"We're not alone here..."
As if hearing Azazel's coincidental cue, they appeared like turrets, automatically targeting their exposed targets. None of them awaited a signal; it was like the middle of a war. Arrows baselessly flying, blood randomly squirting, the next thing Ace saw was an incoming tip aimed right for his head. Easily catching the projectile, he stared ahead, at that center rooftop housing the only-hooded archer.
"Katie..." Ace began to his shorter cousin.
"Yeah, yeah!" Katie replied to her taller relative.
Katie brandished her inherited sword with the moon's glimmer gleaming against the Blackened Blade's darkened steel. Ace revealed those all-seeing eyes, pushing away those prohibiting strands, his hand raised... for lightning to spark.
The Offensive Red of Eternal Sight: Divergence.
The Source of Death's Menacing Manifestation.
The path ahead proved tough, but with each other by their side and their wills keeping their lives ablaze, they could face it. And with that-
To Be Continued.