Fight For Control

The brightness of the sun penetrates through the tent. Hino wakes up finally at the sound of his inner alarm. He wakes up a bit hazy from the hotness entering the tent, almost suffocating him from inside. K4, on the other hand, has that same grim expression within her like she had all the other nights, not the good kind.

"Wake up, we have half an hour." He starts by nudging K4 gently without getting a response.

Another nudge towards her but no response.

"How is a robot oversleeping the end of the world!" He shakes her harder finally with some response. K4 starts activating her systems with that frantic expression; this time, however, it seemed different, a bit happier.

"Hi Hino, how much time do we have?" Her voice was monotone but apparent; the final minutes were counting down, after all.

"We have thirty minutes until death." Hino stands up from his tent, going outside as the sun showers down upon him. The warmth he would know later was going to be thousands of times hotter, though. After setting up two seats near the burnt campfire, Hino waits for K4 to come.

. . .

"Huh, why am I in my mindspace?" K4 looks around, noticing Pandemonium sitting upon a cushioned chair, staring at her.

"You got summoned by me, of course." Her glare looks towards K4, and with a wave of a hand, multiple cube objects get created above Pandemonium; they don't have volume, just a mere outline, quite abstract.

Within the next moment, pandemonium stands up, stretching herself and looking towards K4; the cubes start to spin up for a couple seconds.

"What are you doing?" K4, looking at the cubes, doesn't understand the purpose of this arrangement.

The cubes begin a fast descent towards K4 at an alarming rate. K4, seeing the cubes hurtling towards her, immediately dashes herself to the side, avoiding the damage. The cubes evaporate upon hitting the mindspace floor.

Pandemonium gives a smirk, teleporting in front of K4, swinging her fist straight at her face, sending K4 flying back a couple of metres. "Claiming what should've been mine to begin with!" K4 stands up from the punch, understanding it now.

K4 constructs a katana just like the one she got from Ox, its smooth blade, the dark grey infused with an eternal energy within her. "Is this your idea of getting me to rewind once more?" Pandeoium laughs loudly, echoing in the mindspace.

"Beating some sense into you, I suppose." The next moment, from the dark mind space, an arena erupts, a simple square platform raised above it in that same white outline; it gave a surreal feeling.

"I see now." K4 looks around, noticing the arena was in a circle shape with a fake audience of everyone they met cheering them on.

"Whoever falls off this 10-metre square will lose and gain control, while the other will be locked here." Pandeoium gives a grin, a ragged grin full of intent.

"Sure." Without giving Pandeoium a chance to rest, K4 gets close within her range, giving a forceful slash through Pandeoium, who recoils back before evaporating. Pandeoium gives a slight whisper.

"It won't be that easy." Delivering a powerful side kick into K4's head sends her flying towards the edge of the ring before she recovers, stabbing her katana into the arena's surface, slowing her velocity.

Turning her head up, K4 watches as Pandemonium makes two copies of herself, turning his quickly into a three-versus-one situation; it was the type of odds K4 likes.

"You're playing rough, it seems." The two clones run towards K4 from both sides, preparing strikes. K4, anticipating this, makes two cubes grow out of the arena, blocking the assault. With retaliation, she punches the cubes from both sides, causing them to push both clones out of the arena.

Pandemonium puts her small hand onto her chin. "Seems you're more resistant than I thought." With a flick of her wrist, she starts summoning multiple mathematical objects, triangles, cubes and cylinders, all in the hopes of defeating K4.

She starts by making two pillars next to her, immediately cutting the base of them and sending both hurtling towards K4, who begins her rush for Pandemonium's head. She weaves past the first cylinder, slashing the other one in half, causing it to break apart.

The next attack causes the triangles to lock her within an even more confined space, like a cage, with cubes starting to get launched from all angles. With a mix of swift agility and awareness, K4 starts to dodge and reflect them back at Pandemonium, who in turn starts floating around, trying to evade them.

'This is tough; I'm not in the right mind to think about such complex attacks.' K4 slashes the triangle, letting herself free; she gives a smirk, causing an array of portals above her head to peek out, a simple barrelled weapon in mass production.

"Railguns, you never were creative, it seems." Pandemonium starts firing cubes at the portals, managing to break most of them apart as the others fire back at Pandemonium, trying to hit her suspended in the air. She dodges and tries, but the vigilant speed and force of the railgun cause her to get hit and crash down towards the arena.

K4, not letting this opportunity slide by, rushes towards the laying Pandemonium, who seems to sit up on the ground. K4, being within slashing range, starts her katana, creating a forceful strike aiming for her head. Pandemonium looks in fear, suggesting her unexpected results to go like this.

"I win." K4 slashes at Padneoium, causing a white tear to form across her head. The tear, however, didn't cause the head to fall off; instead, it was almost absorbed into it, causing a defensive barrier. K4 watches that smug-looking yellow-eyed beast behind the tear look at her with an ecstatic expression.

The next moment the tear regenerates, and from all sides the cube closes itself on itself, causing pandemonium to have successfully enclosed k4 in a space where she controls everything.

K4 tries slashing her way out of the tearing of the cubes regenerates over and over again, causing it to almost seem like an inescapable trap planned just for her; the mix of fear and subtle chance seemed too perfect to pass up on, especially for a logical strategist like K4.

Pandemonium lets out a sigh. "That was too close for my comfort, especially with all the creative stuff I made; it was quite underwhelming having to rely on such a bait-and-lure trap." Her style wasn't very appreciative of her dirty play; it wasn't in her character to do such things.

Having trapped K4 in a cube, Pandeoium looks out, noticing the time being diminished soon; she immediately changes the cube into an array of chains that reach towards the ends of the infinite mindspace. They were rigid and secure, making sure K4 couldn't move at all.

"You did better than anyone ever could; be proud, K4." Pandemonium takes the control panel, clicking various parts, trying to take control of K4's body; it takes around 10 minutes to finally integrate herself fully into the system, like her own.

She gives one final look back at K4, "looking forward to our next rewind together." With her words said, she vanishes into the darkness of the mind space, leaving K4 chained within her own mind; a screen appears, letting her view what is happening out of her lens.

Seems like around fifteen minutes; Hino must think it was the shock from the dream. As K4 approaches him to join the seating plan, she sits there with Hino by her side, watching the silo counting down the last fifteen minutes.