The aura faded as quickly as it had come, replaced by a horrifying sight. All over the city; every building, every road, every car began to slowly disfigure. The surfaces began to peel off like fresh paint of a wall. It began to reveal a white plain surface, as smooth as a polished pearl, but at the same time as rough as the back of a crocodile.
"RUN!" Diego ordered.
This had been a grave miscalculation on his part. The clones now made sense. The entire city was the sin. That's how all those people had been killed without a trace. It made perfect sense. Why the blame would be put on the only person that happened to be there and survive. Not because it was easier, but rather it changed everything they knew about daemonkind.
That Belgrade, the White City was a sin. A Phantom Sin.
"Is that even possible?!" Kyler asked, "A Phantom sin?"
"I had no idea, Kyler!" Diego said, "Most phantoms don't even grow this big."
"How did something this big hide under the shield's nose?" Martha asked.
"You're going to have to ask them when we make it out alive!" Diego said. The four stopped immediately as a beam of vestorer shot up from the ground. More of such beams began to appear all over the city, as the earth shook beneath their feet.
"Keep moving!" Diego said. The four continued to run, avoiding all the rising energy that threatened to kill them. Martha was speechless. All this energy and it was not detected, like it had remained dormant for years. It was then that it struck Martha.
"THE CITY IS RISING!"
"Shit!" Diego cried. They began to move faster and faster, reaching the edge in a matter of seconds. Without hesitation, the four jumped off, tumbling onto the ground below.
"Good to see you again." Donna said to Diego. "Very good."
The city now looked like a floating white castle, with a giant face on it of its four corners, all having gapping holes which had black blood leaking from it. Thorns sprouted all over it, From underneath a large hole with steam was right in its center. A floating cannon, one could call it.
"So...what do we do now?" Martha asked. All eyes stopped gazing at the phantom sin and turned to Martha.
"Someone's optimistic." Kai said, "I was going to say we call for backup."
"From who?" Martha asked, Any inquisitor that sees this is going to turn tails and run."
"Other primes, duh?" Valerie said.
"Actually," Donna scratched her head, "They're preoccupied. The only prime I know who can help us won't come." She glanced at Kai with a smile. Kai rolled his eyes.
"I wouldn't have come if I saw this too."
"See?"
"Then we go all out, throw everything we have at it." Martha said.
"I say no way." Kai said. "What do you say guys?"
"I'm with her." Kyler said.
"Yeah, me too." Kanon said, "Let's go!!"
"I disagree." Valerie said, "The odds are against us."
Kai turned to look at Jhin. Jhin stood emotionless for a while before realizing that they were waiting for his answer.
"Hey, don't judge me, but I really don't see the threat. All I know is that its huge."
"Obviously, so are you in or out."
"Don't think I count. Considering my power, I could be 100 miles a way and no one would know."
Kai groaned, covering his face.
"Majority carries the vote then." Martha said, turning to Diego. "Prime Diego, we need you to put in your all."
Diego stared emotionlessly at the Phantom sin, as if reflecting on all the decisions that led him to this point. "Tch." Diego grunted as he raised his hand, a second boomerang appearing in it. "But when this is over, nobody should dare to interrupt my sleep."
"Valerie." Donna called.
Valerie sighed. "Analyzing it, I can guess the faces representing each core it has, with a fifth one being the one with the large outlet. Someone has to get up there while its distracted."
"Who do you propose?"
"Jhin, Martha and Kai. They wouldn't be able to get its attention from down here."
"You heard her." Diego said. "Off you go then."
"How do we get up there?" Martha asked. Donna smiled, sheathing one blade.
"Colada." She said softly. A black goo began to ooze out from the blade, until it was a little puddle under her feet.
"Kanon, make a distraction when I tell you to." Diego said, "Valerie, ready the buff. Kyler..."
"I know." Kyler replied.
Valerie sat down with her legs crossed, closing her eyes. Unlike Claire's buff technique, Valerie's buff was more powerful but required some specific conditions to be met. One; the person she adored the most should be present and two; the people being applied the buff should be far away. Since all those conditions had been met, that only meant one condition. She should by no means move, not even blink.
"NOW KANON!" Diego ordered. Kanon charged a big ball of energy and fired it at the city. Simultaneously, a staircase made up of black shadow trailed up to the city. Martha, and Kai, with Jhin on his back raced up the stairs to the top.
"Buff activate." Valerie said.
Immediately, three lines appeared on their wrists. The three reached the top, taking in the view of the entire whit complex.
"Damn." Kai said, "It looks more scary from here."
"Well, we should hurry up then." Martha said. "We should each take care of one of the cores."
"I can handle the fourth core." Jhin said. "I have a gut feeling that those other daemon without cores will pop up again once one core is destroyed."
"Okay." Martha said, "Then what about the fifth."
"We all can destroy it." Kai said, "Or those below can."
"Well then, let's..." Kai was interrupted by a vestorer fired at his face. Kai dodged, turning to face a hoard of white daemon.
"GO!" Martha said. The three instantly disappeared, with the hoard splitting up to chase each of them.
Martha run through the maze-like city, ducking and jumping over vestorers being fired her way. Stopping, she drew out her claymore and fired a wave of fire at them before continuing. The daemon were still hot on her tail, one of the almost catching up to her, grabbing her white coat and pulling it back. Martha used the chance to stab it right in the chest, sending a ray of fire at the rest of the daemon. She threw her claymore at one daemon ahead of her and rushed at another, grabbing its face and slamming it into the ground. Setting her own hair ablaze, she whipped it round, burning and melting the rest of the daemon.
"Great." Martha said with a sigh, shaking her hair to rid it of the smoke. Behind her, more of the daemon began to sprout out from the ground. She continued her way to the first core.
Kai was facing the same problem, but with ease. Unlike most people, Kai had licht deficiency, a situation which meant he had less licht energy than regular people. However that also meant he had more control over his than most.
As the hoard began to overwhelm him, Kai leapt into the air. With quick succession, Kai pierced each and every single daemon, killing them all. Landing gracefully, Kai ducked, avoiding more blast of vestorers from the wall. Spinning his spear above his head, Kai deflected the ones being shot from above, rolling out of the way as a daemon popped up from below, trying to grab his face. With full force, Kai pierce the daemon's face, yanking it off its body as he pierced the one in the air, defecting more vestorers and thrusting his spear into the ground. Since he wasn't special, he had asked a favor from Kael. The perks of being his cousin one could say. The blade of the spear opened up, firing a blast into the ground. A cartridge ejected from the blade, smoked and burnt out. Kai replaced it and continued on his way.
"I wonder what those to are up to?" Jhin asked himself, "Hope they're alright." He walked past the piles of dead daemon as he looked straight at the damaged cores.
"Onto the next one."