Alora's fingers interlocked, forming a hand sign. Glaring up at Aella and Apollo on the rooftop overlooking her, a barrier started forming, entrapping the siblings in its eternally-darkened interior. But that technique was fruitless against her. By simply grazing the wall with her palm, the domain imploded from within into multiple black shards, revealing the outside world from the enclosed shell.
In the split-second it took their eyes to adjust, Alora vanished, shrinking Moloch's pupils as he kicked his sister from beside him and swiftly spun around. The perfect sharpness at the end of Lora's Fated sword cut the bottom of the Displacement's chin as he leaned back—weaving under the precise stroke of her edged blade. He looked up at her face.
Teeth clenched and sight clouded, Alora raised her left arm, throwing it down to slice at the Displacement idle below her, screaming angrily. Apollo touched the road with his palms and flipped, kicking the blade from her hand, landing further down the road ahead of Illustrious. Then, Aella flew past him, closing the distance between herself and Lora with pink flames replacing her tranquil aura.
Grabbing Lora's collar, Aella lingered above her, cocking back her left fist and punching the Enforcer in the crown of the skull. Illustrious reacted quickly. Raising her leg to kick up at Raven's chin, Alora formed a claymore, guiding the edge into her ally's chest–before Apollo caught the sword. Alora looked up at him and hitched her breath. As he punched her in the face before she could react, Apollo remained still–brown curly strands flowing in front of his lime-green eyes and the moles dotted beneath them.
Aella reappeared crouched beside him. "Is she still alive?"
"Mhm." Apollo looked down at her. "H-hey, listen, I, uh…"
"Save it for later." She squinted at Alora emerging from the hole in the building. "I have a plan. Hold him off for me."
He nodded. While Raven disappeared, all of his fingers interlocked and Apollo closed his eyes, reopening them after to release a green glow from the pupils. Focusing his Fate around both hands, the Displacement split his footing, glaring at Alora gradually approaching closer. Rested on her shoulder was a two-handed longsword with an edge wide enough to cut down three men in a single slash.
Playtime was over; Apollo could infer that much as he glimpsed at the darkness engulfing her eyes from the back of her pupils. She rushed forth and once she did, he swiftly followed. Abandoning a trail of debris made of destroyed buildings torn from their foundations, the flames on the bottom of their soles ignited the street, leaving a blazing streak down both ends until the enemies collided.
Slamming his palm into the road after finishing his dash, the street crumbled down the path he stood ahead of. While everything before his eyes started disintegrating, Alora leaped, raising both of her arms wielding the sword, and slashing down at Apollo behind the wave of destruction. Blocking the slash with his raised forearm, he threw his other palm, intending to strike the Enforcer between the bust.
Instead, the blade in her hands dissipated, and she charged at him. Catching his palm, her own invaded the air before his face, eventually finishing its thrust to finally crash into Moloch's exposed skull and the features attached to it. Stumbling with a crimson bruise blossoming on his cheek, Apollo disappeared; only to rematerialize behind her. He kicked at the back of her head.
Blocking the leg with the side of her hand, she punched his face. Backflipping away three times, the Displacement spun in mid-air, hovering in the sky and aiming his palm at the Enforcer.
'Twin-Flame!'
A cloud of green fire invaded the space above her. But he underestimated her speed. Conjuring two more swords in her hands, she entered the air with a leap, letting the burns she sustained by leaping through the blaze fade away as they were healed by her innate technique and she cut down at his head.
Stopping the downward slice from both blades, Apollo punched her in the bust, sending her down into the street below them. Riding on what seemed a wave of concrete, Illustrious flipped around, digging the end of another conjured sword into the street before growling. She blitzed down the road, slicing at Apollo who landed on the street.
He weaved to the side, watching her turn around and cut at his head again. Stepping back perpetually while dodging the unpredictable flow of her swords, Moloch fell to his knees, swiping her feet and holding back his fist, striving to smash his knuckles into her midsection in the brief time she spend falling. Then, his heart dropped. Alora was smiling in mid-air while gradually descending, despite her life being mere moments away from ending.
Why? Why would she smile when met with the epitome of death before her eyes? Because of what he did? As an unstoppable rush of anxious thoughts pierced through Apollo, his knuckles refrained from attacking. In other words—he hesitated. Alora took this opportunity to recover.
The Enforcer blitzed past him and jumped, simultaneously having formed the edge of a dagger from her palm. As blood burst from the slit on his throat, Apollo held his neck, gargling on the spewing gore before his hand placed on the road. Using Moloch as the center, a shockwave echoed through the streets, followed by the premises around him beginning to collapse.
Even Alora at the end of the street only wobbled while the platform wavered below her. Glancing down at the road, then up at Apollo, her pupils shrunk back into pricks and she produced an afterimage. Shooting through the air, she sliced at the back of his neck, intending to behead her enemy in one fell swoop.
Apollo fell into the pile of gray debris disintegrating all around them from his technique producing the smoke, making Alora fall forward as well. That is, once the entirety of the street collapsed from below them, opening the bottom and exposing the inactive train station buried underneath. Apollo fell through the hole in the underground station's ceiling, bounced off the platform, and finally, rolled into the train tracks—blood leaking from his temples and mouth.
Alora, on the other hand, landed perfectly opposite the Displacement. Lowering her sword only briefly, the Enforcer looked around, scanning every nook and cranny the familiar environment around them had to offer. Only after analyzing every detail did she spur forth again, holding yet another sword between both hands.
Apollo stood up, finished healing the slit on his throat, and groaned, raising both arms and aiming his palms at the swordswoman. She threw her shoulder into his chest, sending him through the tunnel they were fighting in between.
Bouncing off the tracks to recompose himself in mid-air, Apollo turned around—flying about-faced while Alora ran on the walls chasing after him. She pounced at him, smashing down so the newly-summoned claymore between her hands could fall through the air and split apart space. Apollo blocked the slash with his arm. Feeling her sword shatter into energy-shaped shards upon impact, Illustrious flipped back, throwing daggers she made from the aura blazing around her.
While she landed on the tracks, he caught the projectiles—ones programmed with the command to explode. Once they imploded, he flew back, allowing Alora to detonate the aura on her soles and fly down the tunnel. But he already recovered at the start of another station. Charging at her with his cocked back fist, he punched her face, but she ducked under it.
Running after his retreating body with her sword, she cut at the side of his head. Blocking the cut and kicking at the side of her head, she ducked under the limb, sliding between the Displacement's legs. Stomping down where she ended up with one foot, Alora jumped back, making two more swords in her hands while Moloch approached. The smirk on his face was evidence enough.
She squinted. 'He's enjoying this?' Sucking her teeth, she stepped forward, forming a crater below her foot and slashing the blade in her grip with one hand.
Widening his eyes, Apollo's hand fell off, making him stare at the stump where his palm and the fingers attached to it should be. Alora's feet sunk into the skin on his left cheek. As he launched through the top of the train station around them, Alora unleashed a sigh, taking the brief moment of peace she attained by landing a blow to dispel the technique and fall to her knees.
"Fuck…"
"It doesn't have to be this way," Raven said.
Alora's blue eyes shone with the same brightness as the Fate glowing around her. She quickly formed another sword and aimed the tip at her ally's throat. Instead of relenting to fear and breaking out in a cold sweat, Raven chuckled, grinning down at the edge on her neck.
"Seriously? We both know you're not gonna do it."
"Don't tempt me," Lora scowled. "Why are you defending him? Why are you attacking me? For the sake of defending a MURDERER?"
"That's not it and you know it," Raven said. "Think about it. What if the positions were switched? You'd do the same for the sake of protecting your brother, right? Even if he were as guilty a sinner as Apollo, you would do anything in your power to make sure he atones than see him dead. Wouldn't you?"
Alora, staring up at Aella through teary eyes, looked away once she finished speaking. "You don't get it. None of you get it..." She shook her head.
As Tony's face resurfaced in the center of her mind's eye, she shook her head again, beginning to rub her temples before reopening her eyes. For some reason, everything felt much clearer now. But why? Asking that was pointless. While it was only a brief interaction, Aella's words echoed through her mind, comforting her despite the subtle seethe audible in her tone. If Lora were anyone else, she would torment herself over her ally's words.
But this was her friend. A fellow member of Eightfold. So when Raven spoke, urging her to think of Talen and herself, she couldn't turn away. No longer could she bury the truth under a flimsy blanket of anger and hatred. Though even still, digging deeper—an odd sense of anxiety plagued her heart, making it throb with an unusual pulsation.
Inexplicably, with every passing second, the beat of her heart was rapidly increasing. She couldn't determine why. Until Aella stepped aside. Towering over her with brown curly hair flowing with the wind coming in from the hole in the ceiling above them, Alora stifled laughter, turning away with a forced grin on her lips.
"I hate you." Raising her head to show her tear-stained face and the unfitting smile her mouth made, the woman shook her head, releasing another chuckle from the bowels of her throat. "I hate you so much…"
Apollo nodded. "I know. And… I'm sorry. For hurting you. I should've been strong enough. If I were myself when Atlas made me do those things, I wouldn't have done them! I know that isn't an excuse, of course, it was me who did it, but… still—"
Lora hated what she felt in her stomach. She already chose to shed the hide of anger burying her true feelings. Regardless, staring at him, talking freely about who was and wasn't in control—her stomach dropped. Focusing only on her target, Alora stood from the ground, grabbing her face while the area around her blackened entirely. She leaned forward, carefully breathing in and out from the slight crack between her clenched rows of teeth.
'Don't listen to him!' Her breaths started getting heavier. 'Avenge him! Or better yet…' She looked at Aella, watching the shadowy manifestation of her anxiety tighten her fingers around the Displacement's throat. 'Take everything from him instead, the same as he did to us. Rip her apart, tear her to shreds—whatever is necessary to bring the sinner to the depths of despair just as he did to us. Without. Remorse.'
"NO!" Alora yelled.
Apollo and Aella flinched from the abrupt loudness of her scream. Glancing at one another, then back at Illustrious, the Enforcer raised her head and stared. Stared ahead at the green-eyed Displacement standing tall before her. In an instant, she blitzed past the distance separating them, appearing in front of Moloch and pointing the tip of her sword at his throat. Apollo didn't blink when she moved instantaneously.
The rivals glared at one another. After what seemed like a staring contest, Alora lowered her blade and turned away, widening Apollo's eyes and making him step forward. He was confused. This was her moment. If she still wished to kill him, she could do it; he wouldn't stop her. So why? Why was he still alive? Then, Lora spoke.
"I… I know it wasn't you." She looked down; the gray shade of her hair fell over, covering the shape of both eyes while she faced the ground. "Apollo Moloch is a person with his agency. Or at least, now he is. If I were to trample over that and end the good person you are in the present, Anthony would never forgive me. So I'm sorry too. For blindly blaming you for crimes you were quite literally forced to commit."
Alora turned around, looking Apollo in the eyes. Raising the sword glowing with Fate in her hand, she glanced down at it, making Moloch glimpse at the blade as well. Then, staring deep into her former enemy's emerald pupils, she threw it aside.
"I won't be a scapegoat." She stepped closer. "I won't fight for the sake of shedding someone's blood without considering the consequences. Not anymore. Instead, I'll swing my sword at the right person, with the right intentions. Will you help me, Apollo?" Her hand extended.
Moloch's fingers lingered before her stretched-out hand. How couldn't he be hesitant? What happens when his hand slides into hers? Where would they go, what would they do? As he started overthinking everything, he felt a soft pressure sink into his back, courtesy of his Displacement sister Aella's palm–quite literally pushing him into the future.
Everything plaguing his mind faded. Taking Alora's hand, he nodded frantically, weakly smiling at the Enforcer before him.
"I will!" he said.
'Thank you, Alora. Thank you… for giving me a second chance.'