City of the Gate. Midnight.
"This is the place you smelt?"
As drool spilled from Lily's hung open jaw, Lora looked up at the bright neon sign illuminating her dark-skinned face shadowed by the night. The luminous indication above the entrance they were in front of read, 'Mel's DEEELICIOUS Chicken!' with an occasionally flashing drumstick in the corner.
Lora shrugged. "Doesn't look too bad all things considered—"
By barely glancing at her peripheral vision, Alora's face fell. She looked through the front door and spotted Lily conversing with the woman behind the front desk.
"Jeez. How can she move so fast?"
She walked through the entrance and rejoined her comrade. The duo was guided by the waitress upstairs—to the restaurant's rooftop, where their seats overlooking the city building's many flashing lights were placed. Lily sat on the right and Alora sat on the left. Turning her head, the Blessed Illustrious looked out at the scenery, marveling at the countless lights glistening before her pupils.
She'd seen such a view often in Barronia. Being in the center of an island meant everything felt dry. Then again, she didn't remember a time when she ever went anywhere beyond the Capital Kingdom: her home.
Maybe the reason everything felt dry over there was that it was so entrapping. She shook her head at the thought of it. After all, her home was the most important place of all. If not for it, she never would've met Talen, Uriel, the Amit Family, and of course, Anthony. Of course, the mention of her home returns the mournful thoughts of her dead lover.
Sighing, Lora dug into her purse, revealing a dab pen from within. She put it to her lips and sucked in from the tip, releasing the smoke from her throat into the chilly nighttime air.
"Yo," Lily called. "Gimme some."
"Hah! For the girl who ignored me as I tried to console her? Not a chance!"
She sighed. "I'm sorry… it's just—"
Alora chuckled. "Just kidding. Here." She leaned over the table and handed it to her. "I know. Something with Talen, right?" She shrugged. "Not surprised. The idiot's always been good at making people hate him for no specific reason."
"I know that already though. I thought I got accustomed to how cold he is, too. But…"
Illustrious invoked her azure-colored aura and conjured a dagger of Fate between her fingers. "Talen has it rough, but that's not an excuse to treat you like shit. We all have different circumstances. I think the real reason he went off on you is cus it has something to do with his and nothing to do with yours. Does that make sense?" She spun the knife on the tip of her middle finger.
Lily nodded. She looked down. "Yeah. I know that he has a hard time letting go. More than anyone I know, he'll dwell on the past and beat himself up over it. That he should've done better. That he should've been stronger. In the end, there's nothing we can do. But focus on the future, that is."
"I mean, of course!" Alora smiled. "That's all any of us can do anyway. Ya know?"
The Celestial returned the human smile her friend shot at her. It felt warm. Familiar. "Yeah." A violet blush engulfed her freckled cheeks—making Lily look down. "You're right."
'I'm too shy to say it right now. But thank you. Thank you so much, Alora. Just having you be here with me even though I tried to ignore you... makes me happy.' The woman closed her eyes. 'Please don't let this be a one-time thing. Please.'
The Warrior's lips spoke into the phone's speaker. "Now."
Lily's hand lifted a piece of oil-slicked meat into her mouth while Alora bit into a fry as she scrolled on her phone.
The restaurant rooftop's spontaneous implosion threw the food from their hands and sent the girls rolling down the platform. The duo quickly managed to think on their feet for a quick recovery. Invoking their auras, Lily unintentionally summoned Warlord beside her—who peeked over her shoulder, leaking drool from its fangs. She stroked the top of its head with her palm.
'Predestined Power: Celestial Epitome Embodiment.'
By using the technique connecting her Celestial half to her human one, she sent a psychic message to the Starry Beast hovering beside her.
'Search.'
A transparent bubble of Fate unleashed from the bestial familiar's chest. The range of Warlord's expanding perimeter stretched far enough to ensnare the rooftop of the building opposite the restaurant they were atop. Xenos flinched back, scanning the circular domain with his sword drawn from the center of the other platform. Reminded of the barrier's 50-meter radius, Lily sucked her teeth.
"LILY, LOOK OUT!"
Even the prohibiting black smoke and crackling flames around them couldn't dissuade the girl from advancing. Having jumped in front of her, Alora blocked their female attacker's advance with her newly-conjured sword of Fate. The green-bluish aura erratically ablaze around Hail's build hid the shape of her expression. Breaking Alora's defense by simply grabbing her sword, Hail laughed maniacally, stabbing the air with her fist for it to punch her in the throat. Sent soaring down the platform, Illustrious stopped herself from falling off the edge with the edge of her sword.
Hail punched Lily's face. Ducking under the blow, Warlord advanced from its master and clawed the Zol girl in the cheek. Reeling from the scratch with blood streaming down her face, Hail's eyes widened. Magically conjuring a hatchet in her palm, Lily threw herself into the air—letting her hair and limbs sway back as she flew. The stroke of the Celestial's axe was perfectly clean but much too predictable. Hail easily slid under the slice and spun around after ending up behind her opponent, swiping her foe at the feet. Briefly falling to the ground, Lily flipped back to her feet, still tightly holding the axe in her hands.
Pushed to the defense, the Celestial woman moved her body. Hail's barrage of physical attacks was much too predictable for Lily to succumb to. Instead, she scanned her enemies' cards. However, to do that, she required at least an idea of the blonde Swordsman's technique.
"ALORA!!"
The bleeding Blessed woman unconscious on the rooftop's edge felt her eyes widen at the sound of her name. Hail kicked at the side of Lily's head. Easily, the Celestial ducked under the attacks, still holding the axe now infused with Fate. Hail's aura faltered the instant Barlowe's weapon drew blood.
Hail's cyan pupils reflected the cut as she looked down at her bloody ankle. "S-shit..!"
Warlord flew from inside Lily and uppercut the girl into the air. Appearing behind her in mid-air, Lily snatched a handful of her foe's hair. She launched Hail from her grip into the building opposite to the left of the scorched restaurant rooftop. Illustrious stopped beside Barlowe after the Celestial woman fell from the sky.
"What happened…?"
Lil shrugged. "How'm I supposed to know?" Shifting her stance, she pointed at the blonde Fated Warrior with his legs crossed on the distant rooftop. "Deal with him. I'll take care of the girl," she said.
"Roger that."
The two didn't waste any more time. Alora leaped from beside Lily with her sword already drawn in the air her. Rolling out of the way, Xenos slashed the air—barely connecting the twos' blades at the last send while retreating. He looked up at Lora as she changed the way she held her weapons and pointed the tip of his sword at her throat.
"Are you with Atlas Amit or The Disastrous?" he asked.
Lora's eyebrow perked. 'Atlas? Monstrum? What would these two want with them?' She shook her head.
"No, we're not with them! Far from it, actually. Also, who the hell are you? What did he do to you? Depending on your answer, I won't fight you."
Xenos scoffed. "You say that like you have a CHOICE!"
The Fated Warrior sprinted across the platform—sliding his soles across the ground below him. Reaching Illustrious, Xenos jumped into the air, holding the sword behind his head. The fall from his blade was easy enough to step aside for Alora. The descending slice cut apart the building they were atop. Illustrious paced back, still holding one cyan-colored Fate sword in her hand.
The structure below her disconnected; separating Xenos and Illustrious on different sides of the space. Zol closed the distance and invoked his technique, using the Fate-imbued stroke of his sword to thrust at her face. Easily, she caught the tip between her fingers, bringing the Warrior closer to headbutt him in the skull. She followed up with another kick to the chest that sent Xenos falling to the road.
Stumbling to his feet, Xenos looked up as she fell, moving her sword the instant she got close enough to attack him. Rolling out of the way, he watched the continuous sway of her blade move. The Warrior jumped back and hit the air with his sword, bursting a projectile from the sharpness.
'Predestined Power: Unwavering Malevolence.'
A sphere of Fate flew after the Blessed girl. She blitzed past it and cut down at his head the moment she closed the distance. Xenos blocked the overhead cut with his katana. Breaking their clash with an additional swipe of her sword, Illustrious and Zolstein spun around each other–infecting the deserted street with countless attacks surpassing the human limit.
Meanwhile, Hail ran across the City's rooftops—leaping from platform to platform while dragging her arms in the air behind her. She glanced back at Lily following her at speeds matching her own. Aura perpetually blazing like an eternal inferno, Hail turned around and kicked, sinking her foot into the Celestial's caramel-skinned cheek.
Warlord emerged from her bust while Lily went flying. Grabbing Hail's face, the Celestial applied pressure, cracking the poor girl's skull piece by piece. Then, its vessel telepathically spoke in its head.
'Don't kill her!' commanded Lily.
The starry Beast refrained from crushing the poor girl's head after receiving its master's order. However, Hail Zolstein displayed abnormal potential, both in aura manipulation, output, and the controlled chaos of her instinctual Predestined Power. Determining her to still be a threat, Warlord's left fist cocked back—ablaze with ethereal Fate.
Warlord's knuckles smashed into Hail's face. The accumulated force threw her from the monster's grip and into the rooftop center they were standing on. Unfortunately, because of the power used in the strike Warlord used, the entire building collapsed.
As the smoke cleared and debris fell, Warlord looked over its victim. Bleeding from her head, nose, and mouth, the girl tried speaking, but all that came out was a weak moan following her foe's thunderous attack. Warlord's monstrous appearance produced a white light from its purple-starry eyes, allowing Lily to emerge from inside the Beast and stand over Hail's beaten body.
She sighed. Rubbing her temples with two fingers, she shook her head. "It's a shame. If you didn't try to kill me, maybe you would've been a good ally to us." Lil shrugged. "Then again, I could always take you back and see if Talen wants you. You're not exactly dead yet."
Ducking under one of Alora's clean strokes from her blade, the Warrior advanced—slashing up at her face in the brief moment she was exposed. Instead of dodging, she took the slice upside her face and bled from the clean-cut leaking red from her face. Landing a lethal wound on Illustrious was enough for Xenos to lower his sword and watch Lora step back, preventing the spilling of blood with a hand on her head.
"Had enough?" The Warrior asked.
Lora looked back at Xenos with a glare. "Not even close…"
The confined pores hidden on the Blessed woman's dark skin awakened. For the split-second the purity of her Fate entered the atmosphere, Xenos succumbed to his reflexes and opted to step back. Covering his face with one arm, he peered over the limb, staring at Alora being consumed by her aura.
'What the hell? What's this feeling? Why do I feel so scared?'
The hundreds upon thousands of possibilities after death all became equally meaningless when faced with the Grim Reaper. By not even staring directly at it, only glimpsing over his arm, he could feel it. His active technique etched into the aura around him shielded him only momentarily as the image of a skull emerged from her bust and hovered over her head. Alora walked through the smoke of dark life serving as her Fate with a sinister grin akin to the Displacement Apollo's.
Images of the past a month ago ran through his head. A simple flair of familiarity between that wretched foe who bested him and the woman engulfed by demonic aura before him was enough for Xenos to forget his training. He pounced at the Blessed woman with his sword consumed by bundles of orange aura. But the Fate unwavering around him was mere child's play.
She intended to behead the Warrior the instant he got too close to her, but she stopped. A hand on her shoulder halted all offensive movement revolving around her Blessed Freedom. Xenos couldn't believe his eyes.
"H-hey!" Alora said. "What're you—?"
Having abruptly warped behind her stood her brother Talen. The Unconquerable's spiky black hair swayed with the wind produced by the Warrior's pounce, his right arm extended and his palm opened.
"These two aren't our enemies."
Xenos fell from mid-air with a broken nose and ruffled hair. Standing over him, Talen rubbed his arm, quickly deactivating the Unconquerable technique.
Lora peeked over his shoulder. "I-is… is he okay?"
"Yeah. Just knocked out." He turned to her. "You left without hearing the briefing. So did Lily."
"Sorry?"
Talen sighed. "I was going to tell you that Eightfold plans to recruit the remaining survivors of the Zol Clan Massacre last month. They're powerful Fate users that possess untapped potential."
"OOH!" Alora's eyes widened. Sparkles replacing her pupils, she leaned closer. "That sounds fun, that sounds fun! What do they look like?!"
He stepped to the side and extended his hand, using it to display the unconscious Fated Warrior sunk into the ground and profusely bleeding from his nose. "Him. And his sister."
The happiness visualized in the form of a smile across Alora's face instantly fell. Frowning, her hand slapped her forehead. "Shit!"
To Be Cont.