To avoid drawing attention, Uriel led his sister and companion across the Gate City's rooftops, where none of the civilians wandering the streets seemed to look up. Marie and Aella lagging behind the King glanced at each other. Stepping forward, the princess spoke first.
"Hey, where are you taking us?"
Uriel kept moving. "Somewhere safe. Why? In a rush?"
"No. Just wondering… how are you even leading us if we've never even been here?"
The King glanced at her. Only after continuing to walk down the platform did he answer her question.
"From the way a signature forms around someone, you can tell whether they can use Fate or not. The area I'm heading toward is less populated—just follow and shut up," he said.
"No," a woman said.
Uriel turned back, facing the Rank-0 Fate user with an axe in her hand and the spiritual familiar beside her. Lily glared through her braided snowy hair at the King's white face. He glared at her.
'Lily Barlowe…'
She smirked. "If you're trying to use Uri's body to spy on us, you coulda did a better job hidin' it, Atlas."
"I'm not trying to. It's just you insolent women were too slow to realize and do anything before today—"
Aella and Lily moved instantly and attacked the false King. Uriel flawlessly blocked their attacks without so much as raising a finger, glancing at them both before flashing a smug grin.
"Pincer, huh? Smart. But I'm not surprised. Of the rare few designated Rank-0, you're the one I opted to finish on my own. Why? It's simple."
Uriel unraveled a heavenly portal that shot an Angel at Raven. She quickly jumped out of the way and squinted, focusing Fate specifically on her eyes to scan the creature's erratic movements.
'It's gone—?'
Her arms raised as prohibiting mist enveloped the whole rooftop. Emerging from the smoke, Uriel watched her react with a punch and caught it, striking the Displacement in the gut with his punch. The accumulated force threw Raven from the smokescreen and onto the opposite rooftop.
As she landed, the woman held her gut and keeled over, relenting to hack up blood on the platform. Uriel was about to follow her before Lily's hatchet exited the vapor—cutting up at the fake King's head. The Progenitor's signature controlling King Barron cocked back his hand, configuring a staff heavenly emboldened. In the nick of
time, his lance raised; using it to block Lily's slash imbued with maximum Fate.
While their clash dispersed the fog from within, the fighters' faces stood inches away from each other over their weapons' length.
"Did you notice? I moved ahead without waking you up because I thought you'd be a nuisance to me! I just didn't think you noticed…" the False King said.
Lily scoffed. Jumping back, the axe twirled between her fingers, continually spinning it around while the King advanced and attacked. But for some reason, the stroke of Uriel's spear was unusual. It stuck out to her. More than anything.
As she ducked under another swipe, her axe raised, blocking a strike from the lance's length. Barlowe looked up, glaring at the residual of Amit's signature turbulent around Uriel's soul. At the sight of that, Lily dropped her axe, enhancing the strength deep within her arm for veins to pop all over her skin.
The King jumped back and crouched at the rooftop edge, flashing the back of his hand at the formidable fighter.
'Untimely End.'
Divine Barron's Predestined Power can manipulate other shapes of matter. By genetically altering the properties of a cloud, the residual raindrops are awakened and can be manipulated to produce an electrical charge resembling that of a purebred lightning bolt.
The mark engraved into the back of Uriel's palm glistened under the sunlight. He stood up, smirking.
"I never once thought about my brother being useful. All that time, nothing but a shadow behind him, silently stringing along everyone through a puppet ruler. The only thing ever worthwhile about him was how superior his son was in every single way."
As thunder roared across the skies, Lily didn't even have time to blink before her sight was infiltrated by blistering heat and blinding light. But as the rooftop imploded and Uriel turned away, the moment he turned back, the ground started rumbling. The cars zooming down the streets stopped from the sheer pressure of Fate crashing down on their vehicles' rooftops.
Lily's braids swayed as her head fell back into the surrounding winds. "You know nothing. Something like this is meaningless to me."
A celestial hand from behind her emerged to grab the lightning out of the air, crushing the plasma in its flat hand. Warlord's fangs bore at the King, releasing another thunderous signature from the simple scream bursting from its throat.
"I see. I don't know how you stopped the lightning before it hit, but I at least now know it won't work against you. It's alright though." Smirking, Uriel's fingertips traced along the air, releasing golden strands from his extremities. "Tell me, Lily Barlowe, do you know what it means to be designated 'Rank-0'?"
The tendrils produced by Barron's aura split open space to another realm that leaked the Angels from their divine domain into reality. As they flew at the woman, Lily raised her axe and Warlord clenched its fists.
"Predestined Powers usually have embedded conditions into the manifested techniques that don't allow for maximum destruction. However, rare cases, such as the Unconquerable, are the opposite. Some techniques… are made for destruction."
The Angels' weapons clashed with Lily's hatchet. She quickly stepped back and raised her weapon, imbuing it with Fate to decimate the target in a single cleave. Warlord, on the other hand, was a master of chaos. The Celestial charged ahead and caught Uriel's Displacement from mid-air, slamming its bulk into the platform below them.
As the rooftop crumbled, Uriel grew wings on his back and flew back, lunging a spear he drew from a portal. Lowering her axe, Lily caught the projectile, allowing Warlord to close the distance and slam its fist into Uriel's skull. The following impact broke the False King's arms and sent him shooting through the sky; like a falling star.
Lily appeared above the soaring enemy with her leg raised, kicking at the top of Uriel's head. The King flapped his wings but once for a gust of wind to burst from his feathers and throw her away. Once she flew back, Warlord spawned from her bosom, punching him in the chest—sending him a building on the ground.
Sitting up slowly, Uriel's Fate glistened, invoking a Restoration technique to heal the internal damage. He smirked and looked up as Lily hovered over him.
'Each of her physical attacks held enough power to knock me back at least five miles. That's with her just using Fate to enhance her attacks. Her real technique is that starry beast. I know from Uriel's fight with Talen that she can store weapons in it. That's probably not all to it. If she can enhance her aura to provide extra power capable of damaging me this thoroughly… maybe she can steal others' signatures. Could she be capable of taking techniques like Apollo?' As Atlas's thoughts flowed through his head, Uriel stood up, licking the blood from his lip.
Lily looked down at him. 'Celestial Epitome Embodiment allows me to conjure a beast from my aura. Warlord has a different soul that is self-sustaining and can take souls after fulfilling certain conditions. I can also use it to store weapons that vanish when it does. But something like that isn't enough to beat you. I've spent months honing my aura to the hilt. Each one of my strikes will be imbued with maximum aura output. Before he knows it, Amit's soul will be overwhelmed and Marie or Aella can intrude to bring back Uri. That is… if everything goes well, of course.'
Warlord dashed from behind Lily, punching the ground where Uriel stood. Jumping away, the King's technique activated, summoning countless golden gateways that spiraled all around him. The two combatants paced around each other—the Celestial's hand inching toward the portals before a spear's edge pointed out. Warlord snarled as Lily landed in front of it.
Uriel smirked. "I've coveted my nephew's technique for years now. You might ask yourself why I'd never tried taking it from him. Well, that's simple. Predestined Powers can only be used to maximum efficiency through the original user. Their signature and techniques are one. Though, I suppose you already knew that, hm?"
"You talk too much…"
Lily jumped with her axe raised, slamming it into Uriel's arm as another Angel exited the portal. Warlord charged into the Displacement with its mouth open, biting into its neck while Lily slipped free, running at the King. She quickly ran past and cut the sword the Puppet King revealed, glancing back at her foe smirking widely.
Sparks polluting the air, Lily spun around, kicking once at his face before pulling back her axe. Uriel leaned back with a cackle from his lips after swinging his sword, stepping forward to release a trail of light from the iris. The additional speed the Progenitor's signature added made for a deadly combo of numerous slashes, each perfectly infused with devastating Fate powerful enough to push her back.
Lily's teeth clenched. "Barrier Deploy—"
Unraveling another portal, Uri's white hair flew back; the shadow of Atlas's malice reflected on her face as a smirk while another Angel slammed into her gut. Luckily, Aella managed to appear in time to block the block, lowering the shield she carved from Fate.
Atlas squinted at Raven through Uriel's eyes. He sneered. "So the perfect enemy comes to challenge her father, yes? How fun! Charge at me with all you have!"
Aella and Lily simultaneously dashed at the Progenitor. The stomp from their runs ruptured the very ground they sped down—leaving fiery trails while moving. Once appearing around Uriel, their legs raised, kicking at their foe with maximum output.
The King ducked under their attack and went for Aella, grabbing her face from below to smash it into the wall behind her. He stepped back, aiming a hand behind him at Lily—still staring at Raven.
"Area Empowerment."
The barrier instantly entrapped them all. Uriel's extended arm spawned another gateway that allowed a copy of himself to exit. Lily, briefly puzzled, was struck across the face by the clone's fist and grabbed by the hair to be guided into his knee. On the other hand, Uriel smirked and stepped back, gradually advancing to Lily who was being showered with blows from his identical self.
'He left me to be? But why—?' Raven's thoughts were intruded on by a thunderous roar across the clouds outside the domain.
But the quickest thing to enter the barrier from the top wasn't the lightning. In the same instant, it invaded the Area, a yellow flash flew past, and then, without explanation, the entire space imploded from within.
As Lily and Aella opened their eyes, they saw their other comrade, having pushed the King into a corner. Both of Marie's palms stuck onto her brother's face—her gritted teeth barely stifling a scream. Once the girls shot up, Raven squinted, examining the abnormalities around the princess's Fate.
'She copied my technique..? Or is this something natural?'
Lily's hand slid onto Marie's shoulder. She looked over at Raven.
"What're you doing, get over here!"
Aella flinched. Shaking her head, she went to Marie's right side, sliding her hand onto the girl's same shoulder.
"Listen, you two! I'm using a bit of Raven's technique and my connection to Uri to halt Atlas. That asshole's controlling my brother from where Uri's soul would be with a strong piece of his signature. I'll use my connection to him to boost the strength of Uri's soul. Lily, you use Warlord to draw out Atlas. Aella… destroy it. Roger?"
"Roger!" The other two said.
Each woman used one of their techniques to drive differing spiritual energies into Uriel's body. The product of such differing interactions occurring simultaneously instantly collapsed Amit's signature and with it, the malice controlling King Barron.
But at the cost of regaining one powerful ally was the city they were fighting in. The techniques inside Uriel combined to create a signature akin to a collapsing star and detonated above the King after Atlas's signature was destroyed. The women were fast enough to take his body and protect themself in a barrier. The same couldn't be said for everyone else.
'Celestial Epitome Embodiment' awakens a Celestial soul dormant within Lily Barlowe beside her human one. It possesses a sort of ancient power that goes unrivaled among Fate users, including ones from the past. That 'special energy' connecting with Raven's abnormal aura through her technique and the signature around Marie created a paradox.
The collapsing star brought forth by Lily's technique was abruptly shrunken to decrease the range, yet the damage was done. As it released its energy, the destructive Fate incinerated the surroundings, expanding to a radius about 400 meters in diameter—instantly disintegrating anyone in range of the disastrous attack.
While Atlas may have lost a pawn in Uriel's body, the damage done to his City would serve as a helpful scapegoat in recruiting the public to demolish the Empire. And so, he could only laugh.
The damage was done. Now the killers must live with their sins.
To Be Cont.
"Hidden within me dwells hate.
It endlessly watches me every passing day.
I silence its thirst by tearing me apart."