February 10th, 2023.
Alexander Amara. The only Incarnated Requiem Artifact in the New World, unaware of his teacher's reappearance, chained by the whims of the Jester King. That heavenly light emanating out his chest seemed to blind his tormentor, leaving said torturer to groan. While his days streamed through past thoughts and unethical hypotheticals, just this single event gave him hope.
"I'm glad you're laughing. Mind if I join you, Mr. Amara?" Teased Icarus with an engrossing smirk dirtying his face.
"Kill yourself," Alex replied.
"Hah! Well, that's not nice, is it? Speaking so impudently to one such as me, the dominant one in this situation. I should punish you for it," Chrollo's tongue slithered like a devilish scheming snake as it licked his upper lip.
Silence. The Jester scratched his chin, puzzled in his expressions. To think such a disgusting action wouldn't garner an irritated reaction. Even at this age, he continued to learn about the human species.
"I guess that means you're--"
"Shut up."
"Huhhhh? I think you're forgetting who the one with the kill switch is," Icarus reminded, popping a vein out his temples.
"I'm tired of this. Enough."
Suddenly, the ground started to rumble, the room began to shake. But this wasn't enough to cause Chrollo to perspire, no. Rather, it was the violent seizing the device endured as sparks flew out the sides, the constraints loosening, a sigh vented from his dry lips. Tongue slicking over his mouth, his teeth crushed right down on the organ, drawing a tiny splatter of blood. Those miniature droplets expanded into a crimson scythe that ceaselessly freed him, leaving Alex to fall to his knees. The gory weapon splashed into a red puddle beside his leg. While crouched, he rubbed his wrists, scratching away the irritating numbness.
"H-Huh?"
Icarus was propelled out the door with his back slamming the two-sided entrance against the ground. Soldiers came pouring in without even asking questions, wielding spears and close-range weaponry in their hands. Once the spearheads dared to touch against his barrier, Alex retaliated with an immediate decapitation. Following that, two swords slashed his front and back, but the kinetic energy sent them tumbling rearward.
A wall softening their fall, the concrete started to act on its own, growing hands and sucking in its victims, leaving but only one spear-wielder. But he was alone, completely and utterly alone with this monster of a person who'd stripped away three lives like they were nothing more than animals for the hunt. His arms trembled, his eyes teary, his breathing hitched. Even under the reign of the mighty Jester King, to Alex, it was apparent that his life was more important than whatever kingdom this location was. And so, he went running past the rifleman, aiming for the exit after dropping his lance.
The bullets went flying inside the torture chamber where only one beast lay. The trigger held down until there was only clicking heard and they had to search through their straps for more magazines. But… they slipped. One of their fingers felt the ammo slip through the cracks, and, forced to pick it up, he could peer through that shallow smoke to see that menacing grimace.
Those white eyes were surrounded by that darkened cloak of incarnated anger. Glaring back from the abyss to stare into his eyes and without even a sign of human life. No pupils, no irises, not even an eyeball. Just a pure white space that served as an 'eye' attached to where his face should be.
A bestial cry unleashed from the smoke, sending numbness to their throats' backs, a dry gulp reverberating through their beings. Their shock from the fear quickly faded, replaced by an instinct to flee, tails tucked between their legs.
"Damn cowards…" Uttered the Jester, watching them retreat.
His hand extended to their running bodies, and before they could move any closer to the exit, his palm started to glow. At the tips of all five fingers there hovered emerald-colored balls, and just before they could abruptly vanish, they were thrown into his throat. A simple gulp healed the blood dripping out his cracked temples.
Spinning around a scythe of darkness, he swung the sharpness in a horizontal line. Not only did there splash nobody into a bloody puddle, but the room spliced in two. Spawning a hole in the wall, Alex glared with unfeeling eyes and swaying hair made messy from the slice.
"Not even that can slice you, huh?" The Jester asked.
Alex didn't respond, he only raised his hand, and an invisible force discharged out his palm. Decimating the air before him, Icarus's pupil shrunk, an interrupted gasp barely escaping his lips before it hit his defenses. Softening the impact with his weapon, Chrollo fell back onto his rear, grunting. Clenched teeth and a messy smirk painting his lips, he stared ahead, dissipating it to a darkened mush.
'Just one attack sends me flying, huh? You're powerful but you're not invincible. Even you can't keep up that barrier forever—you're just as human as the rest of these devolved species. And I know just the way to tire you out.'
Alex's ears started to ring, for the time had slowed. Turning his head to register what soared his way, uncaring to the incoming projectile, suddenly, it exploded against his barrier. Resounding a wave of fire against the shield, he examined the shooter and squinted his eyes.
'Cannons. He has a military, huh? Wonder how far it expands—how much I can destroy.' Alex turned back to the Jester after analyzing his enemies.
"What's wrong? Scared? Don't blame ya! After all, I—"
A hand covered his mouth, black eyes shifting to the right, watching as Alex's hair went awry with glowing white pupils.
"Shut up already," The Judge smashed Icarus's face into the ground, now standing over his beaten body, "You talk too much."
Before he could stomp his skull in any further, Icarus rolled back, cracking his neck. Sliding his feet apart and readying a stance, he aimed his fists ahead… awaiting just the right moment. But Alex was idle, instead of focusing on the fight, his eyes wandered at this location's architecture.
"Where am I? I know this must be Retly but since when did you have a castle?" Asked Alex with a side-eye.
Icarus tilted his head confusedly.
"I think you're focusing on the wrong thing here," He replied.
"No, no, not at all. I mean, I remember my Dad told me something about how your predecessors had a castle, too. The Kingdom, I think they were called. What is it with this legacy that we always have to fight demons? So unoriginal," Alex stated with his hand to his head, stifling a chuckle.
Following that, he started to inhale, the air hissing as it slid into his unhinged mouth. His pupils starting to shrink and his aura beginning to contort, Icarus felt his eyes widen, for what he'd witnessed next was the embodiment of awakened Requiem potential. Clenched teeth and lengthened hair sparking at the tips with an electric crackle, a light trail following his pupils as he soared ahead, leaving only a blur.
Their attacks exchanged at light speeds, punches soaring past the face, hits attacking the unseen barrier, only to sacrifice defense for a useless offensive. Icarus inevitably had his weight slam back onto his arm as his knuckles slipped against the surrounding Unlimited. Taking advantage of this, Alex chopped at his neck, but, instead of releasing it for a simple launching attack—he let his fingers sink into Chrollo's neck and crack his bones.
Gasping blood, the Jester was slapped to the side and emerged out a wall, flailing about as he descended to the crowded city down below.
'Jesus… even with all my powers, I doubt I can find an opening alone.'
Gritting his teeth, he just barely dodged an incoming white lightning bolt, singing his attire mostly on the left side. There was his enemy, peeking out the hole he'd made with the Jester's body, aiming his hand like a rifle ready to fire.
"Tch. This guy..!"
Back above, Alex retracted his hand from aiming at his descending tormentor. Instead, he kicked the remnants of the wall, widening the hole so he could survey the situation while kneeling at the edge.
'I can only keep up the Unlimited technique against hostile attacks, not random grabs or touches. They're planning on wearing me out. This is gonna be much harder than I thought, but I'm deactivating the barrier. After all, they're not the only ones who have many moves to play.'
Alex dove through the air like a knife intending to stab its target, penetrating the air, destroying space. But while Icarus helplessly gazed above at the enemy crashing toward him, he realized his diving posture. Seconds away from pounding Icarus amid the air, Alex's teeth drew blood, crunching on the bone within his arm's skin. A single bite wound unleashed bits of white lightning bolting erratically. Streaking through the air, Chrollo's widened black eyes reflected that superheated light on its way downward. Formulating a titanic body around his human mass, shining with heavenly luminescence, he raised his ginormous fist and guided it down its path.
The knuckles smashed the Jester into a crater on the street. Paralyzed however momentarily with contorted limbs bent outward, Icarus watched as the Giant crashed onto the street with a battle-ready stance. Crouched while cannon barrels aimed at his angelic anatomy, Alex glared ahead with determination's fiery ball blazing inside his galactic eyeballs.
"That power still exists... huh?" Weakly queried the Jester, barely breathing with crushed ribs.
Incarnated into this Requiem Embodiment where the chaotic tendrils of his soul stood ready to pierce anything, Alex stood behind the Giant's face, connected by threads of light attaching him to the titan's brain. Just one wrong move without the Unlimited Barrier and it would all be over. But putting him down, the infamous Requiem Judge, student of the Reaper and son of the Emperor, would be much easier said than done at all.
Retly faces its first threat in the form of Alexander Amara, the Requiem Judge, yearning for blood.
Blind Judgment Arc - Start!
To Be Continued.