"Klyson, don't distinguish yourself from the rest of us just because you're Fractless. You deserve to choose the people around you instead of sticking to someone just because they're similar. You shouldn't be forcing yourself to put-up with Enzo just because you're alike."
My mind.
"If there's a similar goal and similar interests, those people will be grouped together no matter their differences. That's what the Upper Four is, it's a diversity!"
My body.
"There's no such thing as a weak person, Klyson. Everyone is strong in their own way."
In my fall of grace back into the deep-end of a pool of twisted morals, the hands of someone important reached out for me and caught my entirety. They made sure I would never return there again.
"I'll protect you."
Even while no longer on this planet, Kyra had kept her promise, no matter what.
A life surrounded by others. To be together, is to be in power.
For the longest time I'd been forcefully keeping Kyra's mindset away, until I re-encountered it in my recent choice to keep Soho by my side. Now, once again, I was reconciling with that choice. In this battle with Enzo that I'd been fighting alone since the very start, I'd forgotten that I had at least one person by my side who was willing to join hands with me.
Soho.
I'd been deluded by Enzo's condescending pressure all this time. This was never a fight where I was meant to prove myself to him. I never had to be fighting alone. I already knew he was stronger than me, no matter the circumstance. By now, I'd learned that the hard way.
There's no use left in continuing this fight alone. It'll only result in my downfall.
During the Invidan War, it wasn't my efforts alone that won us the battle. It was the capabilities of my colleagues surrounding me that'd kept us afloat in a drowning fight. And right now, I was drowning. Enzo's overwhelming strength was pushing me deep beneath the surface. But, while Kyra's hands had pulled me out mentally, I had a pair that could do the same physically.
"I'm done listening to you."
I ended my call with Enzo, and rang-up Soho. She picked-up immediately.
"Klyson? Are you doing okay? I hear a lot of ruckus up there."
"I need your help, Soho."
Her response was bright and immediate. "Of course! What can I do?"
I realized in that moment that my past was holding me back. All of those formations I'd accumulated in my mind during the practice simulations back at A.X.A. were weighing me down. I had to erase it all, grab a clean slate, and start compiling new ideas that could incorporate the advantage of Soho's Coefficient of Friction.
"Static and Kinetic, how large is your range on them?"
I was done being burdensome like I was in the Tenfold, but I was also ready to give up my impassive methods garnered while in Heathen. I had to retain the cooperative system I'd reserved from my time with Kyra, while also preserving the strength and experience I'd amassed during my time with Soho. Rather than keeping myself stuck in the era of one versus the other, I chose to combine my best traits from both.
I wanted to be reborn as a person, again, but for the better.
No more chains. No more shackles.
All throughout my time serving under a higher power, whether it was at A.X.A. or at Heathen, I'd only ever clung to the cards I'd been dealt. First it was General Michael's rule, with an influential joker card presented by the twisted Fractless, Enzo. Then, in my spiral downwards, Ian had dealt me his own card to act as a life saver out in the unknown sea. Both periods of time were moments where I was easily manipulated, because I didn't know any better. I took those cards and ran with them because I thought it was all I had.
But I was wrong.
Their over-possessiveness of my traits had kept me blinded from the fact that in this entire time, I could have always drawn my own card. Rather than repeatedly taking what I'd been given, I had a deck of my own to make the move I wanted.
Fuck all of you.
I shredded all the cards I considered a bad influence, keeping only one and storing it in my own deck.
Kyra, you were right all along.
I was going to make a choice of my own for the first time, ever.
I'm going to take down Enzo, not alone, and not for the sake of Heathen or Melysia. This won't be a clash for pride, or for safety from A.X.A.'s barrage. None of that matters right now, because in this very moment, right here and right now, the conclusion to this battle will be from the efforts of both Soho and I.
We're going to kill Enzo for our own personal sake.
I solely zoned-in to the personal feuds attached to this fight—the discord between Enzo and I as Fractless alike, and the trauma garnered by Soho from Enzo in their past. As if a domain had wrapped around the three of us alone, no factors outside would influence the result of this match. I wasn't fighting for Ian's security, or for Heathen's safety, like originally intended. Now, this was a fight for Soho and I alone.
"Let's do this," she said.
The plan had been established, and now, it was time to deploy a Fractal into the field of proxies and Angels.