When The Light Burns Low

 “After that, Blitz and Lupus went on to found this unit here. As for me, I wasn’t satisfied sitting around and doing nothing, so I was transferred to Remiel’s sniper unit at Lupus’ recommendation.” Cora finished her story, looking up at her audience. “I might not have been with them long, but they gave me a family over here as I continued my search for Elio in Remiel’s unit. But, this isn’t about me.” Her eyes focused on Slater specifically. “Can you save a man knowing full well it was his poorly-thought plan that made your life hell?”

Slater was hit with Cora’s words, recoiling for a moment as he brought himself back from picturing each word Cora had said during her story. He breathed in, taking in the view of those around him, and stood up, His eyes cast downward at Cora, who looked up at him expectantly.

“Me and him can talk about that face-to-face once we bring him back with us.”

The sniper’s face turned to a proud smirk as she turned to her former boss.

“You heard him, what’s the plan, Director?” She said his title with a tinge of sarcasm, poking at the man’s ego.

In response, the man simply sighed and stood up himself, beginning his explanation of their upcoming assault to take back their friend:

“From what you told me of your first encounter during Cora’s story, and what I saw myself before we fled, they have experience working with one another in battle. You each have none of that. If we’re to win, we need them split up.” He crossed his arms, adopting a pensive expression. “I would like you all to be able to reach their level, but this is certainly no time to test tactics like that when a life hangs in the balance…”

“But how will we do that, and who will deal with who?” Charlotte raised her hand slightly, chiming in.

Lupus cleared his throat, preparing for a lengthy answer to the question. “We have four opponents to worry about: The man with the blood sword, the man with the lightning core in his legs, the woman with light daggers, and the woman with twin rapiers. Judging by the info you have shared with me, Charlotte, I think our best bet would be—“

 His eyes opened. He had no idea how long they had been closed. He tried to rub his eyes, but his hands were tied to the chair he now found himself in. He squirmed for a minute, but learned his own helplessness quickly and dropped his attempts at freeing himself. Feeling what had him bound, he noticed the distinct chill of metal wrapped around his body. It was masked by the general cold of the room itself, but once he realized, the rusty chains which kept him in place were as clear as day. He couldn’t figure out how they were tied, but from his squirming he assumed there had to be a lock around where his hands were clasped.

“You always slept in so late, I never liked that about you.”

A voice penetrated his eardrums, breaking the illusion that he was alone in this room. A face appeared from the shadows as his snide remarks continued.

“It is disappointing that a callous killer gets to sleep so peacefully, don’t you think?”

His face dropped as if moping, but Blitz could tell better than anyone its insincerity.

“What do you want with me, Droite?” Blitz struck back, tired of the former butler’s quips already.

“I want you dead. For killing my brother.” His voice shifted to a serious tone, one lacking the joking nature Blitz was accustomed to.

“You killed your brother, bastard.” He let out halfheartedly. Blitz knew Droite’s game. He always would poke and prod until he got you to say what he wanted you to. Every conversation with the man turned into crawling through a minefield.

“I never pulled a trigger, that was you. I was only tormented by the final moments of my dear brother as I saw you trying to get away.” He put his hand to his heart, bringing back his unserious tone. “You caused me just so many years of pain!” Droite couldn’t even keep a straight face.

“Almost every day I dream of the world where I shot you instead.” Blitz didn’t mince words. He said it cleanly and concisely. As punishment, Droite swung his leg and hit Blitz in the face with the metal limb, knocking over the chair as Blitz connected with the concrete floor.

“That’s not a very nice thing to say to people, Blitz. If your father failed to teach you that, I guess it falls to me to beat it into you!” He raised his leg and began stomping on the fallen body over and over, laughing with each step. His laughs continued to echo throughout the building as Blitz withstood it. There was nothing he could do after all. With each press further into his side, he felt his own body giving out.

“You know, in a way this is like your father beating you! This handy lightning core was made personally by his hands!” He paused shortly to point to and show off the purple orb on his legs. “What a great coincidence!”

Blitz braced himself for another wave of pressure on his side, but breathed a sigh of relief as a door swung open and Axel arrived through it.

“That’s enough, Droite.” He commanded. While his words were imposing, though, the man himself stayed in the doorframe until Droite attention diverted to him. Once the Werewolf’s head had turned, Axel moved forward to confront Blitz himself, pushing off Droite as he got close. He crouched down next to the boy on the floor, not picking him up and settling for meeting him where he was.

“I apologize about my coworker’s behavior. I understand you two have a past of some sorts, but that is hardly an excuse for how he’s behaved. I hope you’ll forgive us.”

The prisoner opened his mouth to answer, but Axel had already stood up before anything could come out. He made his way to his next stop, the window of the room, where he beckoned Droite over to join him.

“What I’m really here for, is that.”

Axel held out his hand, pointing at a speck in the distance. His other hand was held out to the side, where a small pole of blood was erected and formed into a cone. The blood thinned into a lens as it took the rough shape of a telescope. Axel put it up to his own eye, then handed it to Droite. A vicious cackle both Blitz and Axel had become accustomed to reverberated through the room as Droite peered into the bloody cone.

“Really!? They’re coming back to play?! I didn’t expect this!” The Werewolf turned theatrically to his prisoner. “We can have some fun playmates join us, Blitz!” His expression emanated a sadistic pleasure.

“Unfortunately, that won’t be the case. For one of them, at least.” Axel kicked the window, shattering it, while he began to perch where it once stood. “Maya, we have a rematch to attend to.” He called behind him, where the blonde girl emerged into the room and made herself known.

“Roger that!” She cried in response, leaping forward and wrapping her arms around Axel’s waist.

The swordsman generated his blade, raising it above his head, then whipping it forward to latch onto a building in the distance. The two departed, swinging closer and closer to the returning transport. The decrepit skyline passed them by as the two swung through the air, until their sojourn was ended by a clang as they landed on top of the vehicle. Maya released her grip on her partner, stepping aside to let him work.

“I challenge you once again, Swordsman of The East!” He yelled out, heaving his sword above his head, then cleaving the vehicle in two. “Show yourself!” He yelled with a smile on his face. A smile which only lasted until he noticed the empty interior a few moments before the vehicle itself blew up and engulfed him and Maya in flames.

As the bright flash subsided into smoke, the ashes cleared to reveal a crimson sphere. It opened, like a hatching egg, to reveal Axel and Maya inside packed close together so Axel could observe the surrounding area. Without a job to herself at the moment, Maya found herself occupied by her own blushing as she was pressed into her partner.

The silence lasted only slightly longer, before the high pitched whirring of a bullet speeding by and into the ground caused Blitz to grab his colleague by the arm and jump. He barely got them both out of the bullet’s path, and with the glint of a scope visible from a nearby building, Axel threw his sword-turned-lasso once again and latched onto the building, pulling the two of them up and through one of the glass windows on the floor, immediately scanning for enemies. Before his eyes could settle, however, Axel found a beaming blue blade at his chin.

“This is just between us, Axel. Leave anyone else out of this.” Slater had snuck up from Axel’s left during the commotion of his entry, and now that Axel saw him, noticed his clear pointing with the direction of his head at Maya.

Complying, the blood swordsman released her arm, letting her retreat back against the wall on the derelict floor of what seemed to be an old office building. Nothing stood on the floor, giving a full circular view of the city skyline from the floor, albeit from a much lower viewpoint.

“Now, just to ensure things stay this way…” Slater stepped to the side, revealing Cora from behind him with her rifle pointed at the wall Maya had wound up against. “I know what you want, and I intend to give it to you.” He lowered his head but kept his eyesight on his opponent. “I’ll be going all-out from the beginning this time. I hope you find it to your liking.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but allow me to make some adjustments.” A red border sprung up around the floor, cutting the floor just perfectly so that the entire floor besides the edges fell straight into the floor below. Cora, realizing what was happening, quickly threw herself backwards onto the thin ledge of floor remaining, now standing across from Maya, who found herself in the same position. The two shared an awkward gaze, before turning their attention back to the swordfighters below.

Floor after floor was being cut and lowered in an attempt to distance the two from any interference. After the fourth fall, Axel took notice that his method wasn’t exactly efficient.

“You know what, we should take advantage of where we are.” He said out loud, at a seemingly random interval.

“What?” Was all Slater could get out as Axel leapt forward, grabbing Slater by the collar of his mangled jacket and tackled the both of them through the window on the other side of the building.

“Are you insane?!” The boy was taken completely offguard by Axel’s apparent self-destructive nature, but was reassured, at least, when he saw him swing his blade at a target in the distance.

The breeze blew by for a moment as Slater closed his eyes, and when he felt solid ground again, as his face hit a cold surface, he took it as a sign to open them. He regretted it as soon as he did.

The entire city was sprawled beneath the two, with nothing but a thin-yet-wide stretch of curved surface for Axel and Slater to duel upon. Overgrowth attempted to reclaim the landmark, but any claim nature had to it became null and void once the two swordsmen required to claim a battlefield. Slater himself felt him lose his balance at the sheer height and the fury of the wind, but balanced himself once he heard Axel’s voice drawing him back into the fight at hand.

“This arch will be our final battlefield.” Axel muttered. “May the best student win.”

With his final declaration in preparation for the battle, both blue and red ignited in the hands of the duelists, as a storm of purple began flashing once more.