Talen ran through the streets of the City with Ava and Valentina speeding behind him. Barely glancing at his surroundings while sprinting past everything, the Unconquerable's head turned, watching a large black aura peak over the rooftops over them.
Ava huffed. "That was--"
"Atlas," Tal said. "He's fighting someone. But Uri hasn't even got there yet; I can tell. Is it..?" He squinted. "Lily?"
"I'VE FOUND YOU! AMITTT!!!"
Talen's eyes widened. The Disastrous dove from the skies to grab his Unconquerable rival by the throat and smash him into the road, sliding him down the street. Clenching his teeth, Talen headbutted Monstrum and vanished, reappearing beside Malum's reeling build to kick him in the face.
"TALEN!" Valentina yelled.
Monstrum's eight eyes opened. Numerous tendrils emerged from his back to shoot through the air at Ava and Valentina behind the Disastrous. Watching Malum advance toward him, Talen groaned, watching his sister and mother deal with his opponent's extensions.
"This is between you and me. Don't bring my family into this again. I'm warning you."
Monstrum smirked. "Hoo? Am I supposed to be scared? I won't ever stop. Not until you make me." He licked his lips.
Talen detonated the aura on his soles and entered the air, cocking back his fist for it to smash into Monstrum's raised arms. As he slid back on the road, he watched the Unconquerable rush at him, starting with a follow-up uppercut imbued with the lawyer's maximum output. Catching the fist with one hand, Monstrum cackled and pulled Talen closer to headbutt Amit in the skull. Warping following the attack, Talen's cracked temples leaked blood as he reappeared behind Malum and swept at his feet.
Before Malum collapsed to the road, Talen manifested on his flank and snatched the Disastrous by the ankle, throwing him down the road past his sister and mother. The Unconquerable glided down the street with his head and fist leaning back, abandoning a gust of wind that sent his relatives' hair astray.
Talen's Fate was strengthened by the unbridled urge to avenge his fallen brother, and so, the second his first pierced the air, the Unconquerable technique's Harmony ability automatically initiated. Numerous copies of his tan-skinned fist appeared in the space behind Talen's head and reflected in the Disastrous Monstrum's eightfold eyes as he stood embedded in the building at the end of the road. The countless knuckles destroyed the structure Monstrum was thrown into and sent him through it, into two more skyscrapers.
Talen wasted no time flying after his opponent with unparalleled speed. Appearing from a blurry afterimage above Monstrum, the Unconquerable grabbed the Disastrous by the throat and sunk his knuckles into his gut. The punch distorted space and sent Monstrum through the road so he could fall into the underground train station below the surface.
Talen stood over the hole in the street Malum's body made and jumped in, landing in front of the crater in the train tracks the Disastrous laid in.
"You've gotten strong."
The Disastrous sat up and smirked, glaring over his knee at the Unconquerable glaring down at him. Smirking, he averted his gaze, looking down at the floor. Malum instantly finished growing two arms from his back and interlocking his fingers.
"Area Empowerment."
Before Talen could be cut apart by Malum Monstrum's domain and the deadly blades within it, another signature entered the fray. One weaker than both Talen and Monstrum combined. Yet that weakness worked to the invader's advantage because the trap had already sprung the second they realized who was in between them.
"Area Empowerment."
Malum's Area was instantly dismantled and overpowered by a familiar-looking slot-machine interior. Samael stood in front, aiming his sword at Talen and Monstrum standing beside each other, equally confused.
"Skill & Luck."
"Sam. How'd you even--?"
Andras wasted no time closing the distance and appearing in front of Talen, intending to behead him in one fell swoop. Monstrum then warped before the Unconquerable, catching the stroke of Samael's sword. He kicked the Agent, but Sam was quick enough to duck under the blow and jump away, landing back where he previously stood.
"I won't repeat myself. Leave. This is between me and the Unconquerable. If you so much as try to attack him again--" Monstrum pointed at Samael, releasing the widest and most hideous grin known to man. "I'll slaughter you in the worst possible way."
Talen's knuckles crashed into Monstrum's cheek, sending him flying across the domain and outside the barrier through a hole in the wall. Samael, having ignored the Disastrous, instantly flew ahead. In a mere second, Andras cut Malum in mid-air and jumped, landing flat before the Unconquerable. Amit's arms kept perpetually raising to block the imminent slashes from the assassin's blade.
Talen eventually caught the sword's edge and pulled Samael closer, letting their faces linger before each other.
"Why are you fighting me? Monstrum's the villain!"
Sam's nostrils flared. "BULLSHIT!" He kicked his target in the gut, launching him down the floor. The Agent aimed his blade's edged tip at Talen as he slowly stood up. "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO LET HIM LIVE!"
Samael's aura burst like an explosive volcano popping its cap. "BONUS!"
Samael infused his sword with the explosive signature encompassing his Fate. Using the blade to slash the air, projectiles flew from the steel into the air. The nigh-infinite aura encompassing the soaring enhanced their speed to curve down the domain seemingly instantaneously. As it hovered a mere centimeter before Talen's face, his eyes slowly widened before he vanished from the ground.
Andras could barely see the Unconquerable's blurry figure rushing across the domain floor; using Fate to enhance his sight. Because he thought ahead, Samael was able to see through Talen's superior Untouchable and slash at his face the instant his target got close enough. Unfortunately, Amit's speed is fast enough to produce afterimages, so what Samael cut was none other than a transparent visage.
Before he knew it, Talen's arms forced Sam into a headlock. The Unconquerable kicked the back of his leg, sending the Agent to his knees on the ground.
"F-fuck..." groaned Samael.
Talen loosened his grip, looking down at the back of his head. "I don't want to hurt you. If something were to happen to you because of me, Ava would never be able to forgive me," he said.
"Ava?" Sam repeated. He looked back at the Unconquerable. "What's she gotta do with this?"
"Seriously?" Talen asked. "You don't know?"
"K-know what? Can you let go of me already?"
"Well, you're going to attack me. I can't do that. But Ava has a crush on you. She has for like... a few years already? Honestly, I thought it was obvious, but I guess you're just overwhelmingly oblivious." Talen snickered. "If you stop trying to kill me, I'll tell you where she is so you can see her."
Sam shook his head. "Why..? Why would you do that when I'm trying to kill you?"
"Do you even have to ask?" Talen released his hold over Sam's throat. "I changed my mind. You can kill me if you want to. But before that, I just wanted to say you're right. I did save Tony, allowing Monstrum to live. If I'd let him die right then and there, none of those people would have had to die. The Disastrous is the one who wreaked the havoc, but I'm the one responsible for it. I should have been the one to die there instead of your family. So..."
Amit's Unconquerable aura dissipated entirely. Shadows hiding his eyes, Talen looked down at the floor, waiting. It wouldn't take even a second for Samael to behead the Unconquerable without his defensive technique. They both knew that.
The Agent's sword moved at that moment. But while Sam relented to blink at his lightning-fast motion, Talen's head raised--staring at his executioner's pale face with dull green eyes.
"What are you waiting for?" Talen asked. "My punch only knocked Monstrum outside the barrier. He'll come back in any second now. The only reason he hasn't invaded again is that I put another barrier over your own. No offense, but my barrier techniques are stronger than yours. It'll only be a matter of time before the Disastrous breaks it. Then again, I'm sure you know all that already. Yet, even still, you haven't cut me down. Why is that?"
"SHUT UP!"
Monstrum's insane cackling echoed through the exterior train station as the Disastrous finished tearing apart Talen's barrier. The Unconquerable sighed and looked down at his arms, watching his aura burst from the chest to start flowing across the rest of his body. Samael, having realized he hesitated, reacted with a delayed swing at Talen's neck.
The Unconquerable warped away and reappeared behind Andras. "Does your technique even have a point? It's a good concept, but you haven't managed to beat anyone with it--"
While Talen's feet moved on their own, Samael continued slashing at him; hoping to cut Amit with a stray slice from the sword. Then, the Unconquerable stopped after jumping back. Slowly rising to an upright position flat on his soles, he looked to the right, then to the left.
"Wait a second. Where's Monst--"
Like a missile detonating into an explosion after falling from the sky, Monstrum's body crashed through the top of Samael's barrier and instantly destroyed it. As the underground station imploded into considerable pieces of debris, Talen raised both arms, covering his face from the descending remains. Looking up after lowering his limbs, the Unconquerable's eyes widened.
While Monstrum was advancing in mid-air by jumping on the debris-littered space above Talen, the Unconquerable's palm aimed at his foe and released an impromptu burst of explosive Fate. Monstrum jumped off a piece of rectangular rubble, pointing down at Talen's blast.
"Veil."
Monstrum's black and spiritual familiar emerged from his chest to dive through the air at the Unconquerable below them. Blitzing past the wide beam consuming the air, Veil reached its target, pressing its hand into Talen's gut before Samael's sword came slashing at its chin.
As the Disastrous slowly levitated to them from the air, he landed on the ground and clenched four of his knuckles. At the end of each fist was a long and shaded edge; sharp enough to cut through flesh like paper. Talen glanced at Samael beside him, whose fingers traced along the sword, imbuing it with his Fated signature.
Amit's emerald eyes reflected the maddened form Monstrum's twisted soul inhabited. Scoffing, he looked away, causing the Disastrous to raise a brow.
"What's wrong? Is something bothering you? Don't tell me it's because... I remind you of someone," He smirked.
At that moment, Talen's demeanor utterly changed. Empowered by the rage and vengeance for his fallen relative, the Unconquerable's aura burst like a collapsing star around his build. The subsequent explosion Sam thought from beside Amit was another invader had simply been Talen Amit's way of propulsion.
The space between the three fighters wasn't immense. Regardless, Talen invoked the Untouchable technique, hoping to close the distance between him and Monstrum while also accumulating the necessary charge for a devastating attack. The following strike slammed into Monstrum's cheek and launched him and Talen from the broken underground arena they were fighting in, into something utterly new.
The next thing Sam knew, both the Disastrous and the Unconquerable were gone, leaving only the confused Agent alone amid the destruction. He could only say one thing.
"What the hell...?"
Talen and Monstrum spat out above the clouds. The Disastrous was sent flying across the sky the instant they arrived in this newfound location, while Amit found his balance and started hovering. He scanned his surroundings, starting with the sky, then looking down at the ground. Except there wasn't any. It was just the sea below him for miles and miles, as far as the eye could see.
"Did that punch displace space..? Or did we get displaced?"
When Talen struck Monstrum with his fist, the explosive aura detonated the same way it does when the Unconquerable warps with someone. Because he rarely uses teleportation for anything besides fighting, the aura is prone to detonate at random. The odd thing was, though, that Talen trained to prevent this from happening. Despite that, he punched the Disastrous so hard that he detonated his aura and warped them both simultaneously. Perhaps on instinct?
Talen shook his head. 'Doesn't matter,' he thought. 'Focus on the fight. Warp as many times as possible. I don't care. I just need to kill Monstrum. Avenge my brothers...'
In the ocean, Monstrum sunk to the depths, his limp body adrift in the sea's unpredictable flow. Just before the water could drown him, the Disastrous opened his eyes and grinned. Widely. Talen, some miles away from how far he hit Malum, lowered his head at the source of a rumbling tidal wave. Flying along the ocean leaving a trail and making a tide from his feet was The Disastrous, Monstrum.
The wind on his face, flowing through his skin and cheeks, to the immeasurable heat encompassing his form as he shot through the air like a rocket was addictive. And at the end of such a dash, there was more of the battle. A battle with the most worthy opponent of all!
Monstrum pounced at the Unconquerable afloat over him, blasting four beams of ocular Fate at Talen. Extending one arm, the aura around Amit's hand deflected the rays; splitting them apart at the touch of his palm to cut the clouds above them. Talen pulled back his left hand and threw his right fist, watching it fall through the air to meet Monstrum's flying to meet Talen's cheek.
The unaccounted-for other arms on Malum's back prematurely caught the Unconquerable's knuckles. With a single clean chop, Monstrum used one of the countless hands to mutilate Talen's limb, cutting the lawyer's forearm from his body. The Disastrous withdrew his overwhelming appendages and dashed at Talen, who warped back, waving his hand to invoke the Unconquerable's Harmony.
An untold number of large fists fell from space at Monstrum below them. But this was mere child's play for the Disastrous. The second the first fist entered his view after falling from the sky, his eyes widened and he instantly vanished. Even Talen's enhanced Unconquerable sight had trouble tracking his speed.
Soaring past every falling projectile, the Disastrous cackled loudly, glancing up at the air only briefly to realize he was couldn't dodge being crushed by a spontaneous-appearing fist. Smashed into the ocean by the knuckles, Monstrum clenched his teeth, expressing steam from his mouth's edges as the fist kept pushing him deeper through the sea.
"VEIL!"
The construct sending him to the depths was cut apart. Running up the remaining arm, Monstrum's arms dragged behind him. Until his eyes widened. Like a torpedo, Talen fell from the heavens--digging his fist into Monstrum's gut to send the Disastrous back toward the ocean and through the portal opening behind him.
Talen flew after him into a volcanic setting where Monstrum ambushed the Unconquerable with a slash at the head. Ducking just in the nick of time, Amit rolled across the rocky ground and looked up, using his hands to just barely catch the downward slash from Monstrum's blade. Despite the Unconquerable's superior ability, the Disastrous remained supreme in physical strength. Inch by inch, the tip of Malum's darkened sword came closer, dangling before Talen's eye--silently threatening to pierce him through the brain.
Without any other options, Amit unhinged the jaw and caught the edge between his teeth. Monstrum, immune to emotion, felt his soul flicker as he stared at Talen's teeth catching the blade. Talen used Malum's distraction to knock him in the face with another fist. The punch warped them both for the third and final time.
After clawing his way from the hole in the street, Andras stood up and looked down, only to see Talen and Monstrum panting on their knees after appearing before him. His eyes held a certain readiness that spoke of untamable darkness. While they were weakened, Samael stepped once and materialized behind the Disastrous, slashing his sword to behead him before Monstrum could even react.
The blade instantly shattered once meeting Malum's neck. As the broken half flew off the hilt, Sam stood back, gazing at his shattered weapon with nothing but disdain. He sighed and threw it aside.
"Oh well."
Talen looked up from across them. The aura he previously threw into every punch that sent him and Monstrum warping was too much. So much so that he was reduced to sitting on his knees powerless, glaring up at Monstrum as he raised from his knees and turned around, towering over the Syndicate Agent's fragile form.
If it were anyone else, they would've been dreading the image of Monstrum's hideous form. But not Sam. Instead, as more arms spawned from Malum's back, he looked down and smiled as the sun from behind the blood-red sky shone on his face.
"At least I tried." Sam looked past the Monster and at Talen, whose eyes were widened, reflecting the tragedy about to occur. "Tell Ava... that I--"
Samael Andras fell apart into bloody cubes before he could even finish the sentence. The way his head disassembled into miniature squares replayed the same way Archer was reduced to nothing to the identical chunks of meat. Talen's world went immediately blank. His eyes, his face, even his heart, and soul had nothing to bear as he saw yet another life taken before his eyes; extinguished like a meaningless flame.
Malum Monstrum looked down at his opponent's despairing expression with hideous delight. He kneeled before the Unconquerable. "I guess I broke you." The Disastrous grinned, grabbing Talen by the collar and cocking back his fist. "But it's not over YET!"