Following the abrupt transportation following Alex's widespread transmission, Icarus was thrown into a darkened corridor with Azazel's arm over his neck. The Jester's null eyes searched the blank walls, inexplicably dropping the Detective and hearing his body thud against the ground. A groan was heard slipping from his lips upon collapsing, now flat on his back atop the concrete ground. Chrollo smirked, leaning ever so closer downward to sadistically gaze into Karlo's dark-blue eyes.
"W-what're you doing?" he weakly asked.
"Your daughter is here. I can sense her because I stole your Vita supply when I was healing you. Now, stay quiet. She'll be here shortly… hehe~"
Katie, some distance away, smiled! She knew that scent like the back of her hand! So, she started sprinting, drawing her katana while jogging down these halls.
'Dad! Please be okay… please be okay! Things seem so horrible right now, but as long as I have you, as long as I have everyone, I know I'll be okay! So, please, PLEASE! Don't be dead when I turn this corner. If you are, then—'
She turned the corner and spotted the Jester standing over her dad's defeated body. Jerking him upright, he knelt right behind the beaten Detective, throwing him into a chokehold. Smirking at Katie from over Azazel's shoulder, he tightened the grip his arms held around Karlo's throat.
"Long time no see," mocked the Jester.
"Dad!"
'I'm so sorry. I wish I could say it should've never come to this yet we both know the truth. This was always… my fate. Dying at the hand of despicable evil; honestly, what more can I do? There's nothing more but this end. But, if that's true then, why is this taking so goddamn long? August, I… I don't know what the point of all of this was. If everything ends here, everything is meaningless from the beginning. If I die here then—'
But something called out to the Detective from beyond the grave. He took one blink, and suddenly, he was standing tall, devoid of injuries. Stood before him was none other than the apparition of his deceased partner, snowy strands swaying in the artificial winds of this false reality. There was but one thing left for him. August moved aside, allowing Azazel's vision to clear.
Right before him, with tears in her eyes, was his daughter. Stepping forward while taking heavy breaths, Katie shakily inhaled, tightening her hold over the Blade's whitened handle. In his final moments, Azazel smiled. Staring intently at his beautiful daughter with one tear coursing down his cheek, he uttered his last words.
"I love you."
His neck was snapped. Without wasting any time, his body fell over and his soul was snatched by Icarus's hand. The spirit darkened, shifting into the same blackened sphere he'd consumed when stealing Naraku from the Founder. Lunging it down his throat, the Jester swallowed with one gulp and sighed. Rubbing his belly with closed eyes, he delightfully moaned, wiping the tears from his eyes with one finger.
"Ahhh… what a good meal!" Upon opening his eyes, he noticed Katie's stationary body. "Don't tell me you're dead already! We haven't even gotten to the good part yet!" he yelled.
Everything had been leading up to this moment. After a lifetime of pain and suffering at the hands of others, she had finally met someone who loved her for her. She always wished to stay beside him—the man she could rightfully call 'father'. Perhaps everyone hated her, as Jeff had said. If that were true, then… What more did she have left?
Revealing her hateful eye, she slammed her hand toward the ground, a blood-red aura enveloping her arm. Her vocals rasped to the maximum, she called to the depths of her void and summoned that ghastly power.
"COME, REAPER!!!!"
July 22nd, 2026: Final manifestation of Death's Source's ultimate power at the hands of Katie Moon.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!"
"You're going to die."
Ace roamed the halls of the Tower with pocketed hands; Eternal Sight's markings ingrained into his pupils. It seemed nothing was amiss, so far. He sighed, removing his hands from his jacket's pouches and putting them behind his head. Closing his eyes, the ginger carelessly roamed the structure's abandoned halls for what seemed like eternity… until something called out to him. Not a voice. Moans. Holding her bloody shoulder as she exited the shadows, Wilder's eyes widened, jumping ahead so he could catch Kima's wounded body in his arms. Retreating from the darkness, he held her close to his chest. Upon checking her pulse, he vented a sigh of relief and rapidly prayed under his breath.
"Oh, thank god. I'm never leaving you again, never, never…!" He whispered into her neck, tears endlessly dripping from his eyes.
"Ace…" she moaned, extending her bloody hand to graze his bruised cheek. "I'm… sorry…"
Unfortunately for the Scarlet King, he was already too late. By the time he'd applied Rejuvenation to her body, the outline of her soul had already faded courtesy of the Jester's endless cruelty. Spinning her purple-colored soul around his fingers, Icarus emerged from the darkness and smirked at his redheaded foil.
"She was really… so weak."
This couldn't be real! For someone as strong as Kima to die so unceremoniously—surely, the world around him was but a dream. His shaky eyes drawing tears at the corners reflected Kim's dead face; finger rising to brush down her pale-skinned cheek. The past came flooding back. Everything from the moment they first met to their final conversation. She was dead, and all he could do was stare in disbelief at the sight that was her lifeless body.
"Kimmy…"
"Oh, please! Your relationship with that bitch was the most toxic thing I've ever seen! No matter how many times either of you said I love you to one another, it was all useless in the end. She died… without even getting the chance to make up with the one person who actually might've loved her in this godforsaken world! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAGHHH!"
Icarus held his gut while maniacally cackling, entirely oblivious to Ace setting aside Kima's corpse until his head jolted upright. Wiping away the tears with one finger, Chrollo chuckled one last time, his eyes closed.
"Ah… isn't that just pathetic?"
Ace's fist smashed into Chrollo's face, sending him flying back into a flip through the air, the Jester landing carefully. Licking away the blood dripping from his nostrils, he grinned, now crouched on the ground across from the ginger.
"Time for the final round. Don't you think so, too, ACE WILDER?!"
Drowning in despair, Ace's surroundings darkened, for only the scenery before he existed. Crimson eyes violently pulsating while glaring ahead, the Scarlet King unleashed heavy pants every couple of seconds. Veined fists clenching harder than ever before, Wilder sharply inhaled, allowing the rage to take over just momentarily; spewing out the words he'd been wishing to say from the bottom of his heart, ever since he met this monster of a man.
"I'll tear you apart. Limb from limb. You… YOU DAMNED DEMONNNN!!!!"
But while Ace and Katie were being tormented by Icarus, June made the first move.
Flicking her finger forward, Orderly Thunder erupted from her extremity—effectively destroying where the Judge once stood. Instantly, he vanished, reappearing behind the Wilder sister and grabbing her hair. Lunging her over his shoulder, he launched her into the wall in front of him.
After she flung from his grip, Alex noticed an incoming kick from his peripheral, ducking right under it. Natalia grabbed the Judge's fist and aimed for her gut, immediately infecting him with Chimera Virus and watching his limb generate a shower of gore. Alex vanished once again, just barely dodging the thrust Jefferson aimed at his enemy's back with a faux Blackened Blade.
Inexplicably, Darrell felt something sink into his spine, leading to him getting launched across the throne room ground and once again into Alex's fingers. Grabbing the man by his dreads, Alexander smashed his face into the ground, flipping away from his build after Natalia's fist smashed into where he once stood.
Throwing the Judge whip ahead, it snapped all around the environment, singing the walls while leaving white lightning streaks in its wake. Natalia clenched her teeth, raising her right arm to shield her defenseless face. Then, she was punched in the stomach, sending her to abruptly puke and collapsed onto her knees–holding her gut. Before she could finish hurling, she was kneed right in the nose, throwing her head back first; her whole body following soon after.
In less than a minute, Alex had knocked out each of the trio without even breaking so much as a sweat. Closing then reopening his steaming fist, the Judge sighed, puffing away any prohibiting strands covering his face.
"That's just how I expected it to play out." He snickered, wiping away the blood from the corner of his mouth with a smirk. "I didn't even have Unlimited activated," he said.
"You'll probably need it for this round," Jason's vocals announced from behind him.
Looking over his shoulder, Alex's snowy pupils reflected the Hunter's murderous posture, wielding none other than his katana: the Ketsueki blade. Pointing the weapon ahead, Jason smirked, red pupils shining against the Judge's tan-skinned features.
"If only Hana were here. Then, it'd be the best fight ever. Don't you think so, too... Jason-?"
Before he could even finish that sentence, someone's bare fist connected with his right cheek! Knuckles sinking into his skull shattering the fragility of his bones, Alex was knocked through the wall behind the plastered throne--forming a hole in his shape. Jason's widened eyes signifying surprise gradually shrunk upon recognizing the shape of the puncher. None other than June Wilder, having shed her hoodie and revealed her muscular undertones, was the perpetrator. Relinquishing her heavy breaths, she glimpsed over her shoulder, messy strands before her eyes while she looked at Jason.
"GIVE IT TO ME!" She yelled.
Jason obeyed, throwing her the injection he'd stolen from her person earlier. Almost instantly did she push it into her skin--feeling it slam into her blood and swim through her veins, she threw her head back; screaming in agony. Jason dared to step forward, attempting to reach his hand to her shoulder; noticing a woman step else step past him. A woman with short black hair.
The woman's hand sunk into June's shoulder. The misery plaguing her dissipated, replaced by nothing but affection for she who stood beside her. Once the prohibition around her optics finally faded, she fully recognized her friend's beautiful face. Of course, who stood beside her but Kima Myers? June suppressed the urge to hug her and smiled, spotting an identical grin spread over her friend's perfect lips.
"You ready, June?" she asked.
"Yeah..." She cleaned the blood over her mouth with one swipe. "Let's go!"
To Be Continued.