"Here we go." Diva spoke while cutting her hand for the last time.
Saya did likewise.
They stood still for a moment; not even them knowing if they were just letting the blood run down their blades or if it was giving a second for each of them to prepare for this.
But when the moment ended they ran forward and stabbed at each other all the same…
Neither of them was afraid to die now.
Saya's whole mission in life was to exterminate every last Chiropteran so that they could never hurt humans again. And she herself was a chiropteran.
Diva, who had until recently only cared about herself, now only cared about her babies. And if she killed Saya with her blood she knew that Nathan could take care of them for her.
Neither of them was afraid to die, and were perfectly willing to let the other kill them, so long as both of them died.
But the seemingly inevitable finish to this age-old battle suddenly ground to a screeching halt when they saw a man walking down the middle aisle of the opera theatre.
But this alone wouldn't have made them miss a blink.
In fact, they probably wouldn't have even been able to see him, with all the Chiropterans that were running around down there.
The thing that did make them stop and look on was the fact that the chiropterans down in the seats had lined up along the row and were actually bowing on the side as he gracefully walked down the aisle.
He was obviously a chiropteran himself, as he would otherwise have been torn to shreds the moment he entered the huge room, but neither of the twins recognized him.
The man was easily a few heads taller than both of them and his posture seemed like that of a statue; his back was perfectly upright and his shoulders were spread wide as if he was some kind of royalty walking into a grand ball.
His clothes consisted of expensive-looking black pants, an open white shirt with the collar standing straight up, a black ascot that seemed out of place in this century, and a silky-smooth black coat that would have looked like a trench coat if it hadn't seemed as if it were made by every single famous designer in history to be an entirely different kind of garment in its own right.
His shoes seemed to be almost boot-like in their endurable look but, like everything else, were expensive-looking.
Of course, neither of them cared about any of this right now.
What they did care about was the fact that the chiropterans were making way for him as if he were their king or something.
Diva already didn't like him.
He had a kind of shifty grin that looked like it was just a way to hide his smirking personality, and she didn't like it when people looked down on her.
"Hmph."
That was the first thing the man let out, as if he were disappointed in them.
"You two look so inane, quarreling like that." He spoke while making his way to the stage.
"Who are you?" Saya asked, being the less furious and more cautious of the two.
"Me? My name is not really that vital actually."
His shoes made hollow-like sounds as he made it the base of the stage, looking at its elevated height as if it were an insult to him.
The man looked at a nearby chiropteran and it instantly lurched over to him, lying down in front of the mysterious stranger.
He stepped on the ten-foot tall killing-machine as if it were actual stairs and then stepped onto the stage.
"Then what do you want?" Saya continued, not letting her guard down.
"So inquisitive. And you haven't even introduced yourself yet. Where have children's manners gone these days?"
Saya was starting to get more irritated than she was cautious.
"You haven't told us your name yet and you're already commenting on us. Isn't that kind of rude?"
He gave a kind of short mocking laugh before shrugging slightly and opening his eyes which the twins just noticed he'd held close until now.
Instead of an iris, he simply seemed to have large pupils in his eyes, though whether that was because he did or because he actually had black irises they couldn't really tell.
"True enough. Very well then, my name is Alessandro Noirroi. What, may I ask, are your names?" He spoke with a formality befitting his apparently arrogant attitude.
Saya narrowed her eyes a bit, but answered.
"Saya Otonashi."
His eyes opened a bit widely after hearing that and Saya was genuinely surprised.
For someone whose name she'd only known for a few seconds, he didn't seem like the kind of person who would be easily surprised.
"I see…'Saya' hm? And you?" He asked Diva, now looking at her.
She'd been observing him like a cat does a guest whom they don't want in "their" house.
Her sword's blade aimed horizontally.
"I'm killing you." She spoke while dashing forward and stabbing out at his heart.
His grin became more smirk-like and he grabbed the tip of the blade before it could pierce his clothes, stopping Diva's attack instantly, and knocking the normally childish and unshakable girl into a momentary stupor.
Even if he had been a chevalier, he wouldn't have been able to stop her; Chevaliers weren't as strong as Queens.
"Heh. I should've guessed you'd be the impulsive one." He spoke with a kind of dark humor before turning away from her, still holding the blade, and hurled her all the way across the opera hall to crash into a wall.
Alessandro looked down in seemingly amused surprise as he realized that though he'd only been holding the blade with three fingers, it had slipped from Diva's grasp as opposed to his.
"Ah well. Men naturally have more upper-body strength than women." He mused before turning back towards Saya and tossing the sword over his shoulder.
"I hope that you're a hint more patient than your dear sister."
With Diva no longer next to her with a sword Saya could now completely focus on Alessandro and brought her sword up, though that's all she did.
"What are you?! No Chevalier could or would throw a Queen like that."
His grin rose even more into a smirk.
"Isn't it obvious?"
She simply looked at him, not letting her body lose its focus.
"Come on. Doesn't anyone play chess anymore? Chevalier is French for knight. They're below the Queens. What's the most important piece in the entire game?"
He looked up in the air as if he were a teacher asking a question everyone in the class would know.
When she still didn't answer he turned away from her again.
"I mean, sure. The Queen's the most powerful piece in the game. But you don't lose when you put the queen in check now do you?" He asked while looking over his shoulder at her.
"That doesn't make any sense. I've read Joel's diary, and it never once mentioned anything about a Chiropteran King."
He gave a silent laugh as his body moved a bit as if it wanted to lunge towards her.
"That's because Kings weren't 'superior' over Queens."
Alessandro turned back towards her and actually had a bit of a scowl.
"The kings are stronger, don't need blood, and when they mate with a Queen their children get stronger with each new generation." The increasingly furious man said as he virtually stamped towards her.
Saya held her ground for a few seconds but then retreated, still holding her sword up in front of her.
"As far as individuals go, Kings are every bit more superior to Queens as Lions are to Cats. But…as far as species as a whole go… well. You've got us beat there." He said while whipping to look away from her again.
"What do you mean?"
He looked at her with the ferocity of an animal.
"A single King can kill both Queens on his own. As we can stay awake longer than you can, even if we just waited until you fell asleep it's still impossible for you to win."
"And chevaliers," he spat, seeming even more furious at them.
", they couldn't even make us break stride."
His eyebrows moved upwards as if out of amusement.
"But the thing about Kings is that, like males in a pride of Lions, or in a pack of Wolves, we have an unfortunate tendency to try and fight the other king. And since Kings are born with the exact same strength, we also tend to kill each other in the process."
Saya felt something move, as if she'd just pushed something off of her, and yet it didn't feel like it was actually her.
"Because of that, Kings, as a result of our selfishness, almost made the entire Chiropteran species go extinct. So, as far as a part of the species goes, we're the lowest of the low. That's why we were replaced by chevaliers as mates. Queens can create their own Chevaliers, so they could be a few winks from going into their deep sleep, grab any of the multiple chevaliers the other one has, have a little tussle with them and bam. There you go."
The way he spoke the last few sentences seemed more like that of a disgruntled teenager who just broke up with their ex than that of an age-old living being.
"If you hate us all so much, why didn't you come after us earlier?"
"I couldn't. Though Kings can stay awake longer than Queens, when we sleep, we sleep for a much lengthier period of time. Add to that I don't legally exist. So this whole human system based on birth-certificates and the like doesn't bode too well with me. As a result, I don't have any money to my name and, more importantly, I don't have a way to get onto airplanes or anything. You bitches move around more than a moth on one of those big neon signs in Vegas."
His laugh following this most recent comment seemed to recede his hatred.
Alessandro shrugged and started walking towards Saya again, now at a calm, smooth pace.
As she prepared to strike out though she had that moving feeling again, but instead this time she felt as if she were jumping towards something.
So when both of them noticed Diva lunging up at him, sword again in hand, she knew what the feeling had been.
However, he simply spun around, swatting at her while in mid-spin, and then finished it and continued towards Saya as if he'd been dancing.
He'd just knocked away a girl who'd killed hundreds of innocent people just because she was bored without even paying her any heed.
This time though, she was hit into one of the walls of the stage itself and she struggled to get out of it, looking for where she'd dropped her sword this time.
Saya slashed at him herself, trying to use this as an attempt to take advantage of his hopefully-off-balance state.
It didn't work.
He kicked her sword and she could almost feel the metal crying out in protest at the force that had just hit it; one more hit would break the whole thing in half.
His attack had also knocked her back several feet, right into one of the towers.
She didn't have anywhere else to go, and he was still coming.
"Hey!" Diva yelled while running and swinging at him at the same time.
He laughed and dodged her attack, spinning around and then kicking her in the head, sending her skidding across the floor, over to the base of the stairs of the tower.
Saya again tried attacking him, but this time he hit her in the stomach, knocking her off her feet and hitting her back over to her previous position.
They looked at each other while trying to get up and their eyes locked for a second.
"Haha. You know, this I really kind of pathetic. I mean sure, Queens aren't supposed to be able to kill a King, but you two aren't even hitting me! How the Queens have fallen."
"You talk too much." Diva said impatiently while starting to get up.
He kicked a piece of the wall at her and hit her shoulder, sending a crack throughout the hall.
She didn't even give a cry of pain though; Diva just swept it away and tried to push herself up again.
Both sisters got up at the same time and looked at him with equally-determined gazes.
"Oh? Both of you?" He asked, momentarily losing his grin.
Neither of them answered him and his grin returned.
"Sounds interesting."
Their swords came down and hit the floor of the stage, the blades pointed back.
"When we're done with this, we'll finish our fight as well." Saya spoke to Diva without taking her gaze from Alessandro."
"Hmph. Fine"
Then they started walking towards him, gradually becoming faster.
His grin widened as Alessandro kept stepping back to prolong the moment.
The sisters' blades aimed at him and they crossed over to the other's side, each yelling as they attacked him in unison.
Right now I'm really just trying this story out. If anyone likes it I'll keep going. As to the other stories I'm really just waiting until I get the "spark" again, and then I'll get back into the quick updating routine again. Thanks everyone whose reading the other stories who're waiting so patiently.