"Hey, how are you feeling?" Kiara mocks. "Need a juice box?"
[Kiara Meitner. Rank: High C]
The Elusive slowly gets down on its knees, placing its palm flat on the floor. Its sword arm extended forward, ready for combat. It growls at Kiara's comment, jaw twitching and salivating on the floor.
"I think you made it angry," Evander comments, deadpan.
"Hmph. I didn't make it angry," Kiara sneers, pointing her daggers at Evander's face. "You want a cliche bad guys theme blaring up in our ears or something."
The Elusive's throat quakes, rising off the floor as if building up energy. A concentrated laser fires out of its mouth, aimed directly towards the two.
Evander spins his khopesh, twisting his body as he slices the beam in two. The two concentrated beams crash into the pond, causing a massive water explosion, raining down on the two.
"Are you sure he wasn't angry?" he asks.
"Doesn't count, he's just being dramatic," Kiara ignores, rushing towards the Elusive. "We've faced tougher enemies."
"I've fought tougher enemies," Evander screams, dodging a flying tree. "Not you."
Kiara skids off the ground with her heelys, sparks flying off the asphalt and biting just enough to hold her line. The Elusive twists its head, bringing down its arm. Extending her foot, Kiara spins into a chain of twists and turns.
Flicking her wrists, she throws her katana in the air, mildly confusing Merrick. The Elusive, reacting to the attack, parries it off course before charging straight forward. Sliding back on her feet, Kiara sees a fist appear directly in front of her.
Sparks crackle.
In an instant, she teleports into the air, grabbing her katana. Rotating its foot, the Elusive arcs its sword arm up close to Kiara's side. Tucking her arms close, she blocks the strike as she is sent crashing onto the ground.
Her spiritual energy bubbles over her shoulder, protecting her like a safety cushion. It bends under her weight before propelling her forward to the grass instead of hard concrete.
She crashes unceremoniously into Evander.
Merrick and Azrael jot down everything they find interesting about the cursed spirit. Merrick, however, was more half-interested, and Trajan is just mildly annoyed that he isn't allowed to fight yet.
Evander and Kiara stand up from the ground, looking directly at their opponent, who is just walking around, confused and picking up dirt off the ground. Kiara raises her brow, mildly confused, while Evander is all straight-faced.
"Sword," Evander says, swiping his arms down. A bright electric glow shoots out from his hands as a huge steel blade is clasped in between.
He rushes forward, steps striding past the other. He visualizes the Elusive's core, yet nothing shows up between its spiritual systems.
Neurons of spiritual energy flow over its body, yet where is its core?
Twisting the sword, Evander nimbly spins on his feet before arcing the broad steel. The Elusive's sword arm and Evander's blade clash against each other as the collision pushes both fighters back.
A high-pitched hum resonates in the air as sparks dance off the metal. Pushing Evander off balance, the Elusive raises its sword arm up in the air, ready to draw it like a gavel. The fleshy sword gleams in the sun's rays.
"Ugh, no thank you," Evander chuckles, before stepping off his feet.
The Elusive slams its arm onto the ground, splitting the pavement into multiple cubes. Dust explodes outward, shooting out like shrapnel. Piercing through the cloud, Evander appeared like a distorted afterimage, grabbing the creature's face.
With a maniacal grin, he slams the Elusive straight into concrete.
"That's not good," Merrick comments. "He's too strong for the Elusive. We need to distract the Ascendant."
Trajan smirks.
"I'll give the signal," Merrick assures.
Evander slams his foot on the Elusive's throat, trying to crush its esophagus. The cursed spirit squirms as the Ascendant didn't even give it a fleeting glance. Stepping off the cursed spirit, Evander grabs one of its sharp armor edges and pulls him up forward.
Winding up his punch, Evander leaves a nasty side punch to the face. Then another. And another. A complete onslaught of strikes against the cursed spirit's entire body. The Elusive crashes back in its crater as Evander keeps stomping and crashing his foot on the creature.
Opening its gaping mouth, it charges up another energy beam. Evander shifts his head, the beam grazing the side of his ear. Turning his gaze, Evander is met face-first with a mean head butt.
Momentarily stunned, the Elusive grabs Evander and flings him back to the unforgiving floor. Digging his fingers into the dirt, he slowly halts his momentum to a stop.
"Wow, this is much harder than I expected," Evander mutters, stretching his hand. "If only I were—"
"Yeah. Yeah, you wish you were full power and you could defeat the Elusive," Kiara imitates, raising her katana overhead. They rush towards the Elusive, each taking the opposite side.
Suddenly.
"Help…me," its broad, elongated head shoots forward, appearing right in front of Kiara.
She freezes, not expecting what she just heard. "Did you just... talk?"
The Elusive ram its sword arm upward, but Kiara parries it with her katana. She skids off the floor with her sneakers, coming to a direct halt.
The cursed spirit twists its neck, looking at Kiara as if she's prey.
"Kiara, what's wrong with you?" Evander asks, throwing Kiara back to reality. He charges back towards her, smacking her in the back of the head.
"It just talked," Kiara mutters, staring with disbelief. "It said, 'Help me."
It's a cursed spirit, but why did it talk like a person? She wonders, eyes widen.
"What?" Evander's eyes widen. "Cursed spirits can talk…since when?"
Merrick watches from a distance, amazed by this turn of events. He leans forward, analyzing his next turn of events.
The Elusive shoots out in a violent frenzy, destroying trees, benches, and tearing down anything in its path. Kiara and Evander rush into two separate directions, dodging the cursed spirit's attacks.
"You have to worry about that later," Evander orders, summoning his blade. He slices the cursed spirit's arm, swiping the cursed spirit's acidic blood off the crescent steel. In a flash, the appendage bursts into 4 clean slices.
"Alright," Kiara nods.
Regenerating its arm, the Elusive swipes a tree out of the way, the flying projectile on track to hit a girl hiding behind a bench. Kiara rushes, grabbing the scared child as the tree destroys the metal bench.
The girl's small body clings to her chest
Steel shards and tree bark fly in the air, hitting the floor below.
She passes her off to her mother, ordering them to seek safety.
"Fascinating. Is that what's called the indomitable human spirit?" Azrael questions, draping his leg over the other. "It's strange she risked her life to save a child despite it being the mother's role to do that."
Kiara turns her body to immediately be hit by the Elusive's crashing fist. The slam sends shockwaves across Evander's body.
"That's called being a cockroach," Merrick's gaze sharpens, leaning on his arm. He wraps his arm over the metal park bench, looking over the chaos of what's happening. Leaning forward, his eyes sharpened yet he was not interested.
Reaching Kiara, Evander pulls her up from the dirt floor. "Are you going to teleport or are you going to stand here?"
"Give me a break," Kiara snaps, yanking free.
"You're going to show me the stuff, brat?" Evander encourages, placing his hand on her head.
"Hmm?" Kiara tilts her head, mildly annoyed. "What, you call me again? I'm not a brat."
"Consistency," Evander shrugs, slashing a chunk of flying debris. "Get moving or we're buried in dirt."
Kiara turns her head, seeing the Elusive squirming and crawling onto the floor like a predator, yet the words help me ring out instead of fear. Its body flickers before leaping forward, smoke blasting behind the cursed spirit.
Its outstretched palm explodes out, ready to grab her, yet Kiara does not react.
Suddenly, grey slashes flow in and out of her view.
"Don't think, Kiara," Evander barks, slicing the Elusive's arm off. Its voice shifts from that of a cursed spirit to that of a human. "It talked so what? Act now!"
Kiara hesitates, taking a deep breath. She throws her dagger in the air, as five seconds pass in an instant, as she teleports above the Elusive. Grabbing her dagger, she spins in the air before ramming her blade into the Elusive's shoulder.
"What do you think the reason it talks, Azrael?" Merrick asks, almost as if quizzing his subordinate.
"Probably muscle memories and a fractured state of mind," Azrael suggests. "It's likely he is already dead due to the forced mutation of his body."
"Interesting," Merrick whispers, watching the duel in front of him. He slightly shifts his foot, opening a small black rift underneath.
One arm appeared….then a leg…then dozens of pitch white eyes peered through the darkness. It hisses and bubbles as it spreads all over the pavement.
Elusives start emerging from the rift, pulling their arms and legs out of the black goo.
"Let's make it more fun for them," he smiles, eyes joyfully squinting. "Aim only for the girl."
The Elusives start rushing towards Kiara, sparking Merrick's genius.
"Isn't this being proactive against being secretive?" Azrael asks.
"Relax, you're like a six-foot plague doctor. That's the least of our worries," Merrick mutters, calming the situation down. "These creatures won't trigger the Warden sensors–not the way I created them. By the time they notice the situation, we'll be gone like nothing happened."
"That's why we love the shade, it's cozier. And Safer," he continues, playfully. "It's way too hot outside."
He snaps his finger, friction burning his fingers.
Kiara turns her head, seeing a swarm of Elusives charging in their direction. Squinting her eyes, she sees a man in all black sitting suspiciously calm on a bench. She notices the way his eyes are tracking the swarm, his arms resting loosely on the armrests…it's too composed.
A cold knot forms in her stomach.
Why is he just sitting there? Her mind races with thoughts. Does he know about the swarm?
Flickering her wrists, she throws her daggers in the man's direction.
"Kiara! Where are you going?" Evander asks, slicing through the horde with little difficulty.
"Looks like I have had enough fun today," Merrick stretches, patting down his clothes. "Trajan, follow up on their strength and escape when you get a basis."
Trajan nods, a grin drawing on his face, as he walks towards where Evander is.
An Elusive shows up, kneeling towards its master. Its serene, crystal white eyes stare directly into Merrick, awaiting his command.
"Fall," Merrick commands.
As Kiara teleports closer, her eyes widen as the Elusive squirms, contorting and trembling from an unknown power. Its body bursts into a mess of spiritual energy and minced meat. The rotten smell of the carcass lingers in the air, not letting go.
Merrick's eyes glance up above, seeing a dagger flying through the air. Kiara teleports to the dagger in a pink streak. Azrael, Merrick, and Trajan dart to the Warden teleporting in the air.
Merrick's expression doesn't move.
Looking at her shadow, Merrick raises his hand. His shadow moves off the ground almost as if it were alive, grabbing Kiara's shadow. Flicking his finger, he crashes Kiara back to the ground with a powerful thud.
Azrael steps into the swirly portal, consuming him whole.
"Stop!" Kiara warns, watching Merrick entering a shadowy, wispy portal from an Elusive's carcass. "Who are you?"
Merrick looks back, almost amazed by seeing the girl soul-bound to an Ascendant up close. He turns his head, slowly entering the portal.
"Call me the 'Covenant.' Honor to meet you."
The portal closes in on itself, silencing the world around. For just a second, a visage of a shadowed winged entity flashed in Kiara's eyes, all of its ancient, sketchy eyes staring right back at her.
Wings that blink like constellations, arranging with ash and soil floating around it as if it carried the world's beginning.
A shadow stretching where there is no light.
What is that? Her heart thundered.
No matter how hard Kiara tried to move, something didn't allow her.
She just stared at nothing, yet at everything.
She hadn't even realized that she was standing all stiff, the light of the portal already dissipating into the air, leaving behind a blank shadow over her eyes.
She blinked, and the image was gone.
Suddenly, Trajan rams his shoulder into Kiara like a national football player playing in the finals. Her body flings and crashes into the unforgiving floor.
"This is going to be fun," Trajan mocks.
Evander swipes his arm, his blade slicing through ten clean indents out of the Elusive's body. Sharpening his eyes, he sees the Elusive's core quickly regenerating an outershield.
"There you are," Evander says, spinning the blade in his outstretched hand. Clasping the hilt, he twists his body as he rushes forward. As Evander's arm arcs, he jumps in the air, body pirouetting as he jams the blade into its shield.
Planting his feet on the Elusive's body, he maintains his grip on the blade's hilt. As the Elusive tries to shake off Evander, the Ascendant doesn't falter. Letting go of his hilt, he drives his foot into the tip of his blade, jamming it through the outer shield, piercing the core.
Using the momentum, Evander jumps off the cursed spirit's body as he slides onto the asphalt. A loud, high-pitched screech rings out as the Elusive claws onto the sidewalk, as it clutches its core. Its leg buckled under its weight as it collapsed onto the floor; however, its body didn't dissipate into the air.
Evander's face didn't move, yet he knew something was off.
The cursed spirit twitches for just a second before lying completely lifeless.
A faint bruise radiates off his ribs as he turns his head towards where Kiara is.
Trajan backhand slaps Kiara, snapping her head back. Evander stumbles on his feet, feeling the connection. Grabbing Kiara by the collar, Trajan grits his teeth, pulling her up from the ground before slamming her into the concrete.
Thankfully, Kiara reinforced her body with spiritual energy before that happened. Kicking her legs up, she slams the bottom of her sneakers into her opponent's face. Clasping his hands together, he summons a double-bladed battle axe from his hands, shards of spiritual energy cascading between them.
Clasping the rod, he extends his foot forward, twisting into an overhead strike. It draws over her like a collapsing drawbridge as it slices Kiara's katana in half, the blade shattering back into spiritual energy.
It nearly hacks her as she dodges whisps of death.
Come on! Resummon! Kiara stumbles back, extending her hand forward. The shards of spiritual energy flow back into her hand, trying to reform her katana in time. Tilting her head forward, she sees the axe swinging right towards her, but she slides on her knees off the concrete, the metal narrowly missing her.
Trajan smirks, impressed.
Kiara's body twists in a chain of turns before rolling back up straight.
Building up momentum, Trajan swings his axe, the arc carving indents on the trees around.
Steel clashes against the other.
Pressing hard on the hilt, Trajan crashes Kiara towards the floor. As she stabilizes her stance, she sees Trajan overhead, axe sharp and ready as ever.
How can he do that with that much armor? Kiara's mouth drops, pupils cracking under the pressure. That's too fast!
Suddenly, a blur appears right between her and Trajan, as a bright light cascades over them.
Evander's blade parries Trajan's battle axe, swiping his arm, and he splits the axe into two separate pieces. Grabbing a piece of the axe before it turns into spiritual energy, Evander consumes it in an instant.
Trajan stares in disbelief.
"Guess I really did get a new weapon," Evander jokes, eyes gazing down at Kiara. He swings his arms to the right, almost holding an invisible weapon. "Battle axe."
He clasps his fingers tightly as the weapon forms in his palm.
Kiara rises off the floor, patting the dirt off her floor. "You know, I thought you were joking when you said you eat weapons." She cracks her back as she steadies herself forward. "It's great to have a solo-carry buddy with me."
"Let's end this quickly," Evander says, cracking his knuckles. He sharpens his eyes, but he senses something almost inhuman about the opponent's physiology. Almost a cursed spirit and a human.
Trajan glances at the horde of Elusives sent by Merrick now dissolving into pure spiritual energy. His eyes track the dark energy transferring into Evander's blade.
What a monster! He analyzes, eyes sharpening. All that in just a couple of seconds. Well, if that is what he's capable of, then maybe I should try this out?
His spiritual energy spirals over his hand, forming a spiritual chain. Extending his arm forward, the chain phases and impales Evander in the chest.
Evander glared down, confused. "Huh?"
"Evander, are you—" Kiara's voice cracks, her path shifting in between from a concrete path to a stone platform.
Evander kneels a few paces away, one hand pressed against his chest.
"I commence a Requiem duel," Trajan commands, the spiritual chain glows a blindingly white light. Both Evander and Kiara are instantly consumed by the light.
Waking up, Kiara sees that her normal city setting is replaced by an empty, black void on a floating stone platform.
Stars didn't exist. Darkness stretched in every direction.
Where are they?