Of the three groups the Kismet Fate users broke into, Alora and Ava was the only one having success. Without so much as breaking a sweat, they infiltrated the city, located a proper base of operations, and using the extra free time they had, went to go get some food.
The two women walked down the street beside one another. Quietly. Adhering to Uriel's warnings, they wore hoods over their heads to hide their faces, until reaching the restaurant that is. After entering through the front, Alora threw back her hood and approached the front desk, flashing a smile at the man behind as he handed her their bag of food.
"Hey," Lora held up the bag. "Let's eat here."
"I'd rather not. I wanna sit down and smoke, we've been walking too much," Ava said, turning around to face the door.
"Have it your way."
As Alora followed Ava out of the restaurant, holding the bag between her fingers, she scanned the girl's face. Then, she averted her gaze and parted both lips.
"Thinking about Archer?"
Ava looked at the sound of her brother's name. But that was it. Only a sound. So, she looked down and sighed.
"How can't I?" Her head shook. "That's all I think about. We were too weak to get Dad back from Atlas. But it was alright. We could still do more to stop Monstrum. The mistake we made was thinking ourselves strong enough to fight demons capable of taking everything from us. And we paid the ultimate price. It's just… too much."
With her teeth clenched and voice cracking, Lora inched closer, locking together their arms while walking down the street. Ava's eyes widened at her sister's comforting touch before she gradually calmed. Looking down, Amit sighed.
"Sorry, I just—"
"No," Lora's head shook. "It's alright, you have nothing to apologize for. He was your brother. I can't begin to imagine how I'd feel if Talen died too… nor can I begin to imagine how he feels either."
"Don't even," Ava sighed. "I can't even think about that right now."
"Right. Sorry. Let's just get back safe, alright?" Lora beamed at her sister, closing her eyes with a grin.
For some reason, the sight of Alora's smile was enough to make Ava do the same, and as she did, the girl unconsciously nodded in unison.
"Mhm."
But their venture back from the restaurant would be interrupted when they walked past a multitude of TVs locked behind a storefront's glass window.
"We have breaking news! An explosion has detonated in the City! Nobody knows how this happened, but recent firsthand reports indicate a sort of supernatural fight occurring before the recent implosion. We don't know why they were fighting or who they are, but we do have footage from those at the scene when the battle began. Please take a look and see for yourselves."
Reflected across their eyes was the past battle between her other two halves. Talen and Uriel, each fighting their respective opponents. Alora groaned.
"Oh, those utter idiots!"
Alora started stomping away. Blinded by anger, the former Enforcer's Blessed aura blazed all around her body. Ava's brown eyes followed her.
"H-hey! Where are you going!" yelled Amit.
"To go beat their asses. Who told them to fight when we weren't supposed to..?"
Ava pulled Lora back by her arm, skidding on her soles that sank into the ground. The strength Ava invoked to withhold Alora was able to halt her briefly—using the short time they had to glance at the screen plastered with the countless familiar faces of each member of their group.
"We've just received word from Atlas Amit in the City's center. If anyone has seen or sees these seven individuals, please take caution and alert the proper authorities."
With that, the newscaster vanished, taking the report across the screen with her.
Alora scowled under her breath. 'Shit…'
Normally, any bystanders wouldn't even notice her and Ava, but courtesy of the finished news report. It's only natural after its end for the non-Fate user civilians to gradually turn to both Alora and Ava, revealing disturbing expressions unnatural for normal humans. Ava flinched, abruptly venting a yelp.
"How fast can you run?"
Ava stuttered. Rolling her eyes, Illustrious swept Amit off her feet, turning around and extending her leg to kick an imminent civilian across the face. Raising her right hand--Alora conjured a blade, releasing its shine throughout the crowd.
"Listen, assholes, move or die! I don't care if you're innocent. You come at me, striving to capture me, or Ava, I'll tear you apart. Are we all clear on that?"
The Enforcer heard the surrounding people murmur under their breaths at the sound of her threat. Regardless, they were mere ordinary humans. Even their combined strength was utterly meaningless in the face of a Fate Master. And so, the crowd split apart, reluctantly opening a path outside the masses to the rooftop behind them. Alora glanced at them all, lowered her sword, and then nodded.
"Thank you."
Instantly, the Blessed vanished from the street; warping to the upper platform the hesitant citizens directed her to. Alora didn't hesitate in starting to jump and sprint across them; watching the surroundings blurring past her face. Ava's arm was locked around her sister's neck. She looked up at Alora, then straight ahead another time. The woman inhaled sharply.
Lora looked down at Ava. "What're you doing?"
"Well, uh, hate to say it, but I doubt those guys were nice enough to let us go scot-free. That's why--"
"You're summoning your Power to help scan for enemies while I run. Pretty smart."
"Yeah!" Ava grinned. Though her smile was short-lived. Eyes widening, the woman pointed ahead. "LOOK OUT!"
Alora squinted.
At their path's end stood a fair-skinned man with bright green eyes and curly brown hair flowing with the dry summer winds, smirking from the distant buildings at the Blessed Illustrious.
"APOLLO...!"
Extending his arm, Moloch's palm opened, releasing the endless bundles of hatred dormant within his soul from the verdant aura encompassing him. Alora simultaneously jumped and released Ava, forming two swords, each carved from her soul's blue Fate. The Displacement applied his technique to the natural aura oozing from his palm. He could only watch as the rooftop platform previously below her spontaneously imploded following the Enforcer's swift leap.
Finally, she fell, cutting through Apollo's shoulder and kicking him in the chest with the leg she quickly threw. Once Moloch flew back, Lora followed in mid-air—combining the dual swords to form an unrivaled edge of Fate. The claymore she made spliced her foe's skin and burst open his chest with a dirty splash of blood. Looking down behind the gore, Apollo smiled.
Though that expression didn't belong on his face. So much so that it effectively shrunk Lora's pupils once his palm entered her view. She shivered from the feeling of the Displacement's fingertips sticking onto her face.
"Your technique, Blessed Freedom, encircles the soul. You infuse your spiritual aura into the blades you form from Fate--instantly killing whoever's cut in one fell swoop. It's a formidable ability. But a flawed one."
Apollo imploded the aura around his fingertips stuck to Alora's face. Steam leaking off her cheeks, the Enforcer flew past, shutting her eyes only briefly before looking back at the Displacement chasing her. One thing was certain--she couldn't waste any more time in mid-air. So, she fell; landing carefully on her knees atop another roof, conjuring another azure sword.
Smirking down at her, Apollo's eyes gleamed, feeling the aura burst all around him until the pivotal moment arrived to close the distance; warping before Alora. The instant his reinforced fist pierced the air, she jumped into a spin, kicking at the side of his skull.
Moloch sighed with his left arm extending to block the kick. He looked up at Lora, curving his fist from the ground, guiding it into the air to uppercut into Alora's chin. She effortlessly blitzed past and slashed the sword, digging and etching a bloody smear into Apollo's cheek.
The duo simultaneously twirled around and threw their weapons. Their furies' occasional clash echoed through the building they fought atop, leading to the platform suddenly crumbling below them.
Nevertheless, Apollo's fists and Alora's sword surpassed their limits--spawning such power it was capable of devastating an entire city block, lighting the air ablaze. The fighters' speed abruptly enhanced. The dance between both foes led to a blurry brawl amid the City's unrecognizable streets and buildings.
Ava watched the ongoing fight from afar. The haze of Apollo and Alora's figures zipped past her eyes. Both lips parted and eyes widened, Amit couldn't believe the scenery.
'I can't follow their movements! But what's even more insane than that... I think Apollo's stronger! How is she keeping up with that monstrous thing?'
Apollo and Alora's speedy exchange released energy destructive enough that it reduced everything around them to cinders. Seemingly pacing around one another, Illustrious charged at Moloch, dragging the sky-blue blade behind until reaching her foe and slicing up at his chin.
Moloch quickly punched down the tip and grabbed her face, moving to strike Alora in the gut with enough force the impact spawned a shockwave. But Lora's technique was counterproductive. Because of the received additional damage, the Blessed's old wounds magically healed; the veins in her muscles throbbing harder than ever.
The strength coursing through her was unlike any she'd felt before. Alora could only chuckle in mid-air. That was enough of a warning for Apollo to be worried. And so, he did; a lone drop of sweat slipping down his cheek.
Illustrious dove through the air like a fiery meteor and intercepted Apollo--kicking him in the gut with one foot. She smirked.
"Heh. How's that for flawed?"
Moloch hacked up blood into the air and relented. Unable to move, the Displacement felt a tight grip snatch his ankle before the winds of the earth started flying past his face the instant Alora launched him from her hand. She appeared behind him--idly floating in mid-air. Her hand hovered over the sword she sheathed in the cover hanging from her hip.
'Anthony. Dad. Umbra. I can't do much for you, but hopefully, this sinner's death is enough...' Alora Illustrious burst from her motionless posture. The woman flew through the vast blue sky, momentarily feeling the winds' odd chill once she soared past, until finally zipping past Apollo. Now, floating before him, Alora's sword unsheathed--her head facing the ground while blood leaked from the tip. '...to make you proud!'
The bypassing cleave Alora initiated cut Apollo in half. Once she finished turning, his two bloody halves already finished falling to the city. Unfortunately, the fighters weren't granted the luxury of privacy, for the destructive Displacement splatted flat on the ground in the middle of the road.
Illustrious landed beside him. "Scum like you doesn't deserve an honorable death." Her shadow leaked over him; she scoffed, tracing her fingers along the sword's bloody steel. "You toyed with Tony, slaughtered hundreds of innocents, and betrayed the one closest to you by abandoning Aella for Atlas. What do you have to say for yourself?"
But Apollo chuckled. Lowly. And weakly.
"Look… above you…" uttered the Displacement.
Alora's white hair threw back as she turned to the skies. What her blue eyes reflected was impossible. An identical copy to herself, hovering high above the city and wielding the same claymore she did, awaited her master's orders with swirling black eyes resembling the void.
"What the hell—?"
Apollo smirked up at Lora. "My technique's improved since we last met. When I punched you into the air earlier, I stole some of your aurae. It was enough for me to reshape it into a copy of you. Because you see, the stolen parts of others' signatures I possess, are directly part of my soul." Sitting up slowly, Moloch's Restoration technique activated, healing the bloody parts of him exposed through small wounds.
"So? What will you do now? Continue laying waste to the numerous innocents laid about this area by fighting me? Or…?"
Alora's foot slammed into the ground. The sounds slipping from her throat made the Displacement's eyes widen. Instead of instantly appearing before him, she shook her head and interlocked her fingers.
"No, no. You see, I'm not stupid enough to overlook such an obvious opening. Our Powers are a mismatch for directly fighting each other; the only reason you haven't deployed a domain is that you're confident in your ability to win without using one. But if you're backed into a corner by a stronger domain refined by the imbued technique…"
Without any other choice, Apollo relented, interlocking his fingers as well.
The fighters spoke simultaneously.
"Area Empowerment!"
Regardless of how different their techniques were, it was clear where they were now. Whoever won the battle between domains would leave the fight's victor. That was until an ulterior piece invaded the game board.
Ava's fist, exiting the heavens, demolished their still-forming domains, releasing an implosion that sent the two fighters away. Amit watched Lora tumble to the road and roll onto her side, averting her gaze to gradually advance toward Apollo's floored body some feet away from hers.
Nappy hair flowing, she looked down at Moloch. "It isn't a coincidence you appeared to fight Lora. Especially directly after the news report. I guess I'm the only one who noticed. Heh…" she rubbed her neck. "I feel kinda smart now."
As Apollo unhinged his jaw, Ava's leg smashed across the face, splitting apart his skull until the lower half fell off. After that, the woman simply turned away, beginning to walk back toward Alora.
"Atlas will keep sending pawn after pawn after us and continue racking up the destruction we make to the city during the fights he wants us to have. But I won't let that happen. We're not your scapegoats," she said.
"Well said."
Ava looked up at the sound of his voice. Appearing beside her without so much as a warning was none other than her older brother, Talen Amit. To her eyes, the only thing visible was the Unconquerable's short and spiky black hair, flowing with the humid winds of the summer season. He smiled at Ava and patted her shoulder, turning around to lift Alora.
"Mom and the others are already at the place you found. After we get there, Uri and I will raise a barrier to hide our signatures. Of course, you should feel smart, Ava. You're strong. Act like it. Okay?" Talen asked.
At her brother's praise, the sister's eyes closed and she softly smiled, thinking back to their brother who received the same encouragement.
"Thank you…"
The Unconquerable nodded. Turning away while holding Lora, he beckoned her to follow. "C'mon! We don't wanna leave the others waiting, do we?"
Ava ran after her brother. Just when they were about to vanish from the road, Apollo's raspy tone invaded their ears.
"W.. wait…" moaned Moloch.
The siblings turned back. The beaten and bloodied Displacement peered through the gore prohibiting his vision. Something as simple as the way Talen carried his sister seemed to sway his tainted heart.
But Apollo rejected that. After all, so long ago, he cast aside everything. Being envious of it now was nothing more than hypocritical—he knew that much. Even so… though his mind tried to dissuade him, Apollo's human heart longed forevermore. For what though?
Moloch's vision cleared, revealing Talen and Ava's silent disappearance. Yet despite the failure to keep them at bay, Apollo fell back, landing flat on the concrete while contemplating his feelings.
'How odd…' Extending his arm, his hand covered the sun, watching the clouds hide it regardless as his eyes slowly shut. 'I thought I set aside such pitiful sensations. Yet, even now, my heart throbs at the memory of her. And not just her but—'
Before he could finish the thought, Apollo fell asleep. Time continued to pass. The bright-white clouds overlooking the city were replaced by a darker gray shade that enveloped the sky after night finally fell. Even under the endless black sky, Apollo's unconscious body remained, idle on the street.
That was until a spiky-haired silhouette appeared over him. Moloch closed his eyes after opening them briefly—catching but a glimpse at the perpetrator's face.
"Brother…?"