April 28th, 2026.
In the present day, Azazel firmly questioned his daughter. Her arms crossed, back against the wall, Katie listened with closed eyes as her father recalled the entirety of their trip three years prior.
"From that point on, you left your friends behind and spent three years undercover inside of Retly. Because of the plan you orchestrated with Alexander and Riot. I always wondered why they never cared when you abandoned them. I guess it was only the when. After all, no one expected you to leave immediately after we'd reached our destination. So, why? Why leave so immediately… to do what?" asked the Detective.
"I know already. I was there, remember? There's no point for me to lie anymore after everything's been exposed and August has been killed. So, what is it you want to know?" Katie glared at him while speaking.
Azazel didn't let it show, but he was taken aback. Instead of instantly retorting back at her, his hand rubbed the back of his head. Following that motion, his closed lips parted, thus relinquishing a sigh. The Detective's hand shoved into his trench coat, revealing a pen and pad. He went to sit down at the last chair at the edge of the table.
"I'm sorry I have to do this but as a member of the Evolutionary brass that governs the Evolutionary Capital, I demand you tell me everything you did in Retly for the past three years."
…
Three years ago: Retly.
She watched from a rooftop as her friends' carriage exited the city's vicinity. Moon's torn outfit swayed with the miniature winds slipping through the cracks ingrained into Retly's see-through circle.
Ten minutes later, their vehicle was finally outside Retly's sphere.
'Now that they managed to clear out, I can actually get some real work done. The question remains, though…'
She stepped closer to the roof's verge, bending her knee and analyzing the streets below. The moon's rise was accompanied by the sky's shift to darkness. Standing near the moon portrayed directly behind her, she placed her hand to her hip and began yanking. The Blackened Blade immediately incarnated, ivory handle manifesting around her fingers.
'Before anything, I should infiltrate the Castle. After I discover the layout, I'll send the plans to the Capital.'
She spun toward the ominous Castle levitating overhead. The moon's glint reflected from the lengthened steel, her sword idle beside her. Twirling it around her fingers before reaching the attached sheathe, she easily slid the Blade into the cover once more. Half of her face irradiated by the moonlight, she walked off the edge, temporarily falling before morphing into a smear as she dashed down the street.
As she speedily zipped from building to build above the bush street and littered sidewalk, someone sat at the edge in front of their window. Someone not on the same level as the City's houses, but someone with a higher power. Someone superior.
Icarus Chrollo gazed out the window while his structure stood afloat in the clouds. Until he turned his head, hearing the sounds of someone creeping towards him ever so slowly—ready to attack once the time to ambush arrived. The Jester smirked. His room's insides were entirely engorged by cheeky sniggering, fragments of laughter leaking out the minuscule crack his door was angled by.
His maniacal chuckling eventually climaxed with his exposed hand grabbing onto his face, nails transmogrifying into demonic claws that automatically sunk into his flesh; drawing dark-red gore.
"Ahahahaaaah…"
He started hyperventilating, his chest rapidly rising and then falling before he was finally accustomed. His head raised, staring out the window at the bottomless stars the night produced. Throughout his damaging laughter, that tainted smirk never left his face.
Now, bearing fangs where the sharpest teeth would've been, the red in his blackened retinas revealed itself instantly as he ecstatically turned around to his chamber's cracked-open entrance.
"Eheh~"
Meanwhile, Katie had just taken one big leap. Jumping from a stationary rooftop, her breaths calmly continued as she soared throughout the air. She landed on the castle's surface. Rising from the crouched pose she was put into upon her descent, she gazed upon the intimidating castle. Out of all the sights she'd previously seen, this was the one that elicited the most reaction from her. To think that she was standing atop the same castle hovering over the city. In the past, this would've been a mere fantasy and now it was her reality.
She shook herself free from the trance she was estranged by. She attempted walking forward but she was abruptly halted by the familiar sound of ulterior rifles clicking; already aimed at her skull. Her blue eyes scanned the perimeter: she was surrounded. Just about to unsheathe her sword, another familiarity entered her ears. This time—it was a voice.
"Ah, ah, ah! Let's not get hasty now," the Jester warned, hovering above her.
Like an angel blessing humans with its grace, Icarus brushed his bare soles against the castle and now stood in front of the invader. Her black strands remained draped over her shoulders as she stared through the blinds of the prohibiting torn cowl.
"My name is Icarus Chrollo. I'm the Jester King of Retly. I take it you're some sort of assassin from another nation?" He smugly asked.
The invader remained silent. Icarus's smile fell. He stepped closer. Pushing his fingers against her head, he angrily goaded her.
"Oi, little brat bitch! I know you can hear me so lemme ask you something—"
Despite being poked, Katie was still idle. Icarus slithered upward, his lips uncomfortably close to her right ear.
"Do you have any last words before I mercilessly torture you and put it on display for the whole City to see?"
The Jester's menacing threat sent chills all across the invader's body, goosebumps now spread throughout her limbs. Her pupil abruptly shrunk, her skin turning pale. There was no turning back for her—she couldn't see past this moment. And so, with the anger boiling within her ready to exit the vessel, she spontaneously escaped the Jester's grip.
She worked at speeds akin to light, easily mutilating every rifle-bearing guard with one clean stroke originating from her Blade's length.
Without any time seemingly passing whatsoever, Katie returned, now standing behind Chrollo with the tip of her katana aimed at the back of his long-haired head.
"So… you aren't JUST an assassin," enunciated Icarus, glancing behind at her.
The hood still covered her face, but it was inescapable. She'd displayed her speed, not to mention her weapon.
"I can tell at just a glance. You've refined your skills to the hilt of perfection, yet something is amiss. That Blade shouldn't belong to you… and there can't be copies of Artifacts. Are you, by any chance, Katie Moon: the Source of Death?" Icarus curiously queried.
She'd already anticipated he'd discover her identity. Thanks to his discovery, though, she could finally throw her hood aside. Her pretty features now revealed, Icarus giggled.
"I never thought one of Riot would be so stupid as to infiltrate my home and think they'd have the advantage. Don't you KNOW WHO I AM?!"
Icarus's demonic claws swiped at her. Almost instantly, Katie jumped back. Lowering her sword behind her with it tightened around her left fingers, she glared down at him. She noticed his finger aim directly at her. Raising her sword, she cleaved right through the incoming light arrow intended for her.
After splitting the projectile in two and sending both beams to explode into the air behind her, she jumped down. Any more projectiles shot toward her were dispelled instantly. She slashed right through one ball of pure plasma intending to burn her and then cut apart another soaring past her head. Needless to say, despite however many plasma spheres he threw into the air, the outcome was always the same. The barrage was instantaneously obliterated, courtesy of Katie's unprecedented speed and superior swordsmanship.
Her foot engraved into where he stood. Only barely did he manage to dodge, jumping out of the way with his trench coat swaying. His arm raised, wrist absorbing the slice her Blade made upon moving her sword and leaving the impact's crater. It easily flicked from his flesh, only for more blows of the same variety to sink further into his body. Katie, realizing her slashes were dulling, threw more of her strength into the katana. The steel seemingly lit aflame with the blackened mist it so ominously oozed. Only after this ability's appearance did Icarus start enacting actual dodges.
Katie swung her sword at his head after noticing an opening, angling the blade sideways. Before the guided katana could cut away his head, Icarus ducked. Clenching his fist, he envisioned smashing her face from below. Just before he could, his entire arm was mutilated off his body. Chrollo's eyes were wide, shock having turned his whole face pale. Momentarily noticing his body was devoid of a left arm, he turned around after having heard the resounding audio of metal originate from behind. Pinned to the castle by her Blackened Blade was his lost limb.
Having barely turned around, he glared at her, veins protruding from every corner of his face to aim inward at his angered features. Katie had already shuffled into another stance, her arms raised and her feet apart. Black strands moving before her face from side to side, her careful breaths were only further proof of who was in control here.
'He wants to capture me and experiment to see what the Source of Death is. However, that's also the reason he's not attacking so much and deciding to take a defensive stance for most of this battle. Because of that, I doubt he'd want to expend too much energy, and instead of regrowing another arm, he'll just call the one I tore off back to him. I can use that to my advantage but he'll also be on the lookout for more of my tricks now that I revealed my strategic self. I should stay on the defense for this and just simply--'
Then, her eyes widened. For the longest split-second ever, the disturbing image of his face mere millimeters away from her eyes smeared itself across her mind. She punched him. But her hopes of hitting him were for naught; the second her knuckles shot forward, she'd graced an identical afterimage. Reaching behind her, she ripped the katana from the imbedded arm and blocked her nape just in time so the claws could slash the steel; sending sparks flying. Turning behind her, she glimpsed at the uneasy display of his fangs born toward her.
Instead of defending like planned, she thrust the katana forward. Just then, the force was stopped and the thrust abruptly halted. Her blue eyes widened after analyzing the movement. Icarus had caught the Blade with his mouth and held it there tightly between both rows of teeth. Turning toward her while visibly smirking, he muffledly giggled once she realized what he'd done. She withdrew her weapon, but not without consequence as before she knew it, Icarus's palm was attached to her face and had already slammed her into the castle below.
Covering her mouth with his hand, she loudly struggled, indistinct yelling escaping her gagged lips. Sending the prohibiting strands falling over his eyes away with one puff, he looked down at her; the hatred in her eyes as she glared up at him knew no bounds. And because of that-
"I can say, without a doubt, that the one person in this world I wouldn't want to wield that power... is you. Goodnight, Katie Moon. Let us meet again in the next world."
Her heart abruptly pulsated. It was inexplicable. It felt like everything she'd ever known had come to an end--perhaps that was her will to life gradually draining with every new second that speedily passed. Her vision started blurring. How did it all go so wrong so fast? She'd just come to infiltrate, so they could get to know their enemies better! So why, God, why?
'Why does it have to end like this..?'
She remembered everything leading up to this point. The people who loved her. The people who hated her. The people she killed. The people she saved. Everyone had something to do with her in some way. But what about herself? For so long, she'd come to understand everyone else. They were the only ones who had any agency in this world--she was always lower than those superior.
'But I... I... broke free, didn't I? I decided for myself... what to do and how to do it...'
Her life was fading in tandem with her vision. Before long, she'd already be dead. But something was ablaze. Something unnatural. Something... innately human. Icarus, still stealing her power, noticed this 'something' with raised eyebrows. He smirked and hummed.
"Oooh?"
Something swatted him away. Momentarily, it threw him into a slumber. It was dreamless--black. Then, he slowly woke up. Moaning while raising from the laid-back position, he looked through hazy orbs and noticed he was missing two arms. It was almost like instinct, the way he magically regenerated the absent limbs. Looking to the right then turning to the left, his legs forced him upward, moaning while rising. After fully regenerating the lost skin covering his face did he start recognizing his surroundings and remember what he was doing. Before he was none other than Katie Moon: Death's Source but... why was she moving like that?
The smoke promptly dissipated, revealing her new form. Enveloped solely in black, her Blade now ten times longer and wider, she held the weapon over her shoulder while gazing through her shroud. She bent her knees. He mentally noted that her eyes were squinted--before she vanished, that is. To anyone watching from above, she reappeared behind the awakened Jester. Her stance was awkward. The sword aimed ahead, almost like she'd just finished a slash despite her harmless teleportation.
Then, it hit. Icarus felt everything slide asunder, now cut to rectangular bloody pieces squelching against the ground following Katie's lightspeed attack. Moments before he was cut to shreds, his soul still intact, these thoughts coursed throughout Chrollo's mind:
'What just happened?! I've just awakened and remembered mostly everything... how did she move so fast?! And so deadly, too! She knew just the right places to cut so I would end up this way. What the hell... is she...?!'
Inside the darkness enveloping her build, Katie slept. Only now did Death take control, stringing along with its host by threads. Needless to say, while the Jester took his time slowly regenerating, he had to live with the fact that when he was finally recovered--he'd be battling that beast.
Death's Source.