Once they reached the rooftop, Virgo unfurled the tail with ease and jumped down so she was standing across a distance from him. Nova absolutely knew fighting on the rooftop was a terrible idea. He hated being cold, but he also didn't want the others to be harmed. While he knew being up here would cause less casualties, it was a terrible idea because the scent of the salty ocean air was slowly affecting him. His motion sickness was already bad, but the seasickness made it worse.
You're going to have to numb my senses, Souhait. I can't fight if I am constantly wanting to vomit.
Sure thing.
He slowly felt his entire body feeling numb. He no longer felt the cold air tickling his skin nor could he smell or taste the salty air. He found this perfect as he didn't have to worry about his internal obstacles for now. He got into a fighting stance as his bare hands and feet turned draconic and his tail hung around in the air.
He had been expecting Virgo to do the same, but all she did was cross her arms. "We don't have to fight."
"What are you spewing?" Nova inquired.
"At the end of the day, your goal is to meet with Bellatrix, right? Why not just come with me? You can also bring that red head with you. It's easier if you just comply with my offer. I'm sure you don't want this house getting destroyed even more nor do you want any human casualties."
"I refuse."
"Why?" Her voice sounded confused.
"I'm tired of being forced upon things against my will. The final straw was Ras burning my house down. No more will I let people force me to do things. If I am going to do something, it'll be all by my doing. I'll go to Bellatrix on my own without the need for people to take me there. Who knows how long it'll take, but I want to do things at my own pace–I have all the time in the world, after all."
He was tired of being forced to be taken somewhere by someone who wanted his powers. No more will he let others decide his destination. He would take his own path at his own pace.
Virgo just scoffed. "If you aren't going to comply, then I'll just force you to come."
"I didn't expect you to be terrible at taking "no" for an answer, Virgo." Asteria jumped out from the hole and was prepared to fight her old friend with her trident in hand.
"Why are you here, Asteria? This is my fight alone."
"I got my own reasons for being here."
Constance was next to jump out of the hole and landed on the roof. She stared intensely at what her brother-bot had become. She clenched her fists. "Virgo, I want you to stop possessing my brother this instant!"
"But I don't want to!" Virgo responded in a condescending manner, making her seem childish.
"Why are you doing this? Don't you care about what your parents and Bootes think about all of this?"
"I honestly don't care what they think of me. Not anymore."
"Don't you ever think about them? Do you ever miss them?"
Virgo just growled. "Shut up! This is why Shifties having free will is so unpleasant!"
"Why do you hate us having free will so much?"
"It's because–
Virgo was interrupted by Asteria who lunged herself at her. She dodged by jumping and landing back on the roof. Nova was amazed with how she did a backflip in the air before landing.
"What the heck?" Virgo was flabbergasted.
"Enough chit-chat. I'm getting rid of you once and for all."
"Wait, that's my brother-bot she's controlling! Hurting Virgo means you're going to hurt him!"
Asteria turned to her. "And?"
"What do you mean by 'and'?"
"Your brother has no free will and is being controlled by his creator. Do you really think someone like that is worth saving? Who knows how long it would take for him to develop one and if he does, how will he deal with it?"
"I could teach him."
"I seriously doubt that."
Didn't Asteria agree to be a bit more respectful towards Shifties?
Old habits are hard to get rid of.
Well, I didn't expect her to change right away.
Nova took the opportunity to lunge forward to try and punch Virgo, but she jumped to dodge his attack. He then grabbed her by the tail and threw her into the ocean. She avoided being submerged by changing her vessel's feet into jetpacks and flying up before landing back on the roof.
She can fly. This will be difficult.
If she can fly, why is she not using that opportunity to give us a disadvantage?
I think she's either afraid of the tail or thinks we can fly. Let's just hope she won't ever know flying isn't one of our 312 abilities.
Asteria was next to make a move as she jumped and headed straight towards Virgo with her trident pointing at her, but Virgo dodged the attack and lifted a leg to knock Asteria into the ocean. Constance was about to go after her, but froze.
"Asteria!" Nova yelled. He threw his tail into the cold water; he winced at how cold the waters were. He felt her pulling his tail so he fished her out and gently placed her back on the roof. Asteria started shivering and her teeth started chattering. She was drenched from head to toe and the cold air was not helping her. Nova found it amazing how she was still able to hold onto her trident despite how cold she was.
"Constance, get Asteria back inside the house." Constance nodded as she took the drenched Asteria and jumped back into the hole.
Nova realized how much of a tight situation he was in currently. They had very limited space on where they could stand. They were too used to dodging each others' attacks. Virgo could use her vessel to fly if she was thrown off the roof, but Nova couldn't fly himself; an aerial battle was impossible because of it. Using his dragon form would be too risky as using it once caused him tremendous exhaustion.
What he needed to do was to find the Shiftie core's weakness. Destroying it by his own hands wasn't an easy feat. Throwing her into the ocean was futile due to her ability to fly and avoid getting wet.
Wait a second…
Just to test a sudden theory, Nova used his tail once more. Virgo avoided it and tried to aim for him, but Nova used his leg to knock her over. He saw her sliding down the roof and almost falling into the ocean, but managed to save herself by flying back onto the roof.
"Why do you keep insisting on throwing me into the ocean? It's not working!"
Nova smirked as he figured it out. "Your weakness–or rather, the core's–is that it's weak to water, right? Shifties aren't waterproof."
Virgo became shocked. "How do you know that?"
"Just a hunch. I did recall a memory of a Shiftie choosing to die in an exploding airship because he wanted his master to be safe–but that wasn't the case, was it? I always wondered why he didn't choose to tag along with his master, so I had an inkling of a feeling it would've been because Shifties aren't waterproof and that they sink if submerged in water. You avoided getting submerged in the cold water because of this and Constance hesitated to jump in to rescue Asteria. It all makes sense now."
Virgo clicked her tongue. "Shifties are programmed with a code to never reveal this secret to anyone, even their own masters. Only them and their creators know. If people found out about this, it would ruin their perfection." She got into a fighting stance again. "Since you know, I must get rid of you."
"You do know I can't die, right? I'm immortal."
"I wasn't talking about you." Virgo then turned a hand into a knife and dashed past Nova.
Nova quickly turned around. He lowered his arms when he realized who Virgo was talking about: Arcturus. She stabbed her knife through his chest, leaving both him and Nova shocked.
Nova could only utter out, "Arc…" as he fell onto his knees.