The Jester entered the Castle. Stepping through these halls lacking illumination, his hand raised, and another door opened after minutes of walking. Soldiers clad in grey-shaded armor saluted their leader while positioned against rooms he passed.
He reached his destination, altering his course and turning at a corner. Opening a door to reveal the interior, he looked at everyone and waved.
"Oh, it's you," said Heidi while standing.
"You seem disappointed," Icarus replied with a smile.
Hands in his pockets, he walked toward her.
"We were just going over possible relocations," Azrael informed his superior.
"Really? And so early, too. Whatcha got?" The Jester asked, leaning over the table to spot the map sprawled over it.
"Well, we don't wanna be too far away from our enemy so we should probably position ourselves closer. But if we get too close, the Reaper or Judge might sense us so we should be cautious of that," explained the Captain.
"So we decided to find some common ground. How about instead of moving Retly's Capital somewhere else, why don't we move the castle and overtake a Hybrid or Evolutionary town instead?" Heidi suggested.
"That could work. Do you have any candidates for a town we could pillage?" Icarus asked, removing his hand from his chin.
"We got the one Callum walked through. He witnessed some Hybrid prejudice. I'm thinking if we can eradicate the Evolutionaries and empower the Hybrids, we can manage to manipulate the conflict to our favor. The town's name is—"
Heidi was interrupted by Icarus.
"Doesn't matter. Do we have any other candidates besides that one?" The Jester asked.
"Uh, well, we did send out some scouts to the area around and away from there. So, by tomorrow morning, we should know whether we do or not," Azrael replied.
"I see. Good work, you two. Now, all we need to do is meet with Callum and Satoru to talk about a plan to capture the remaining Requiems," the Jester said.
"Speaking of those two, where are they—"
Just before Heidi could finish her question, the doors were slammed open. A soldier stood in the doorway with an exasperated expression covering their face, leaving the officials within to only curiously stare. What they said next shocked them all to the depths of their souls' cores, for when their lips parted and those words were brought into existence, Icarus realized the undeniable truth.
"SIRE JESTER CHROLLO, FOUNDER RIVERS HAS ENGAGED COMBAT WITH AN UNKNOWN ASSAILANT NEAR LUCI'S BOXING GYM! WE BELIEVE THIS TO BE THE BEGINNING OF A COUNTERATTACK FROM THE REQUIEMS OF 'RIOT'!"
The Jester pushed away Azrael and Heidi, grabbing the soldier by their armored arms. Despite how scared they were or the direness of the possible threat, it was meaningless to him--all that mattered in the here and now was the answer to his question.
"What did the attacker look like!? WERE THEY ANY WITNESSES?!" Icarus yelled with a sweaty face.
"U-uh... yes. She had a feminine build, black hair, and a... black katana with a white handle."
Everyone's faces fell at the Source's description. Azrael shook himself from the trance quickly, raising his hand, pointing to the messenger soldier.
"Mobilize all troops into a search party! Recover Death's Source and allocate Founder Rivers from around the designated area. Sire Jester, what are your orders for us?" Azrael asked, grabbing Icarus's shoulder from behind.
Unexpectedly, Chrollo remained motionless. Clicking his tongue, he pushed the soldier away and assumed the position before the Jester.
"SIRE, WHAT'RE YOUR ORDERS—?"
None of the many horrors from the unforgettable bloody battlefield rivaled the Jester's unrivaled supremacy. No matter how vast Time's Seas truly were, they were irrelevant, for what he sought was under his nose. And what more could he do, even when faced with Retly's destruction, but grin?
At ground level, the military finally arrived. The Jester crashed into the sidewalk, sending the firefighters falling to their bottoms, effectively dropping their hoses. Staring up at the legendary Chrollo from the concrete—the firefighter wondered how someone so beautiful and heartless could exist simultaneously.
Just before they could stand upright, Icarus raised his foot and crushed their skull beneath his sole. After committing the merciless slaughter, his uncaring eyes rapidly searched the surrounding area, or more accurately, the surface level.
"Do you see anything?" Azrael asked as he landed beside his superior.
"Yes and no. There was a brawl here but neither won or lost. It's most likely someone was captured and I'd like to bet Katie's the latter category," Icarus commented, stepping over the gym debris to enter the middle.
Embedded into the center ground was a hole, for someone had burrowed into the Earth and made their escape. The only question remaining to be answered was the victorious party.
'Both Katie and Callum are evenly matched, but he should be able to overpower her. Then again, for the past three years we've been dormant, she could've mastered the Source. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I wanna believe Cal kidnapped her and is recovering before handing her over to us.'
Regardless of whoever was the assured ending, someone had snuck away through the Earth's depths. Azrael stepped back, preparing to unsheathe his blade with Heidi following suit. The Jester presently lacked strategic reasoning so they'd have to be ready at any moment to follow his lead and reach whatever outcome he sought.
For example, just now, neither of the surrounding military officers could guess that what Icarus would do next was jump down that hole with extended arms.
What laid below the city was wider than expected, for what he entered was a simple sewer. Tumbling into a long corridor after crashing through a wall, the Jester slowly stood, raising his hand to alight it with a faux flame. The light guided him forward, searching with darting eyes and reliable instincts for the tiniest semblance of that uniqueness.
That was when he glimpsed it. At this eternal tunnel's end, he saw a light. It was faint yet enticing. At first, Icarus was ignorant of whether or not he was hallucinating. Half of him was convinced he was yet he continued onward even if it meant his demise. How much time had passed since he'd jumped down? How long had he been walking? Maybe he'd asked that while he was walking, but when he reached the light's source, he'd realized how meaningless those queries were.
At the tunnel's end laid no salvation, for it was the embodiment of everything he was born to loathe. The hate in his heart was uncontainable once it leaked out for Icarus had instinctively expanded his arm so his hand could graze that face. The face of the man who sat beside the light source… the face of the Judge.
The nonchalant way his white eyes examined his books' rows of text from the hair sprawled over his shoulders and even the wavering flame seated atop a rock beside him—all variables only further enhanced the bottomless hatred within his heart.
As the Jester initiated his attack, he noticed Alex's hand. Shifting his snowy retinas from the book to glare right into Icarus's emotionless pupils, Amara's arm raised to reveal a bloody slit across his hand. Once the tiniest sparks of white unleashed from his blood, it all connected. The only thing Icarus do was widen his eyes before he was blasted away from Alex's detonation.
Now, it was clear. The Emperor's fiery legacy had resurfaced. Everything around the epicenter was dust, for what lay there was the unavoidable Giant. As far as the eye could see, there he stood. Within that Goliath form, Alex sighed.
Momentarily absorbing the unforgettable sight before him of moaning victims, crushed children croaking violent cries to display their torture. Upon witnessing this, the Judge was frozen, and the bigger vessel decomposed its face, revealing the entrapped Alexander. Yanking himself free from the light strings imprisoning him, Amara felt the embers breeze past him. Reflected in his white eyes was this sight and knowing he'd remember this forever, he smiled.
When faced with the world's unrelenting cruelty, they rebelled—so was the legacy of the Requiem bloodline.
To Be Continued.