Chapter 28: The End
"AHHHHHHHHH!" With a wail of pain, Izanami clutched his left eye that was struck by the Black Reaper's knife and crouched down to reform his specter into a dome shape that completely shielded him from any outside attack.
For someone referred to with the term 'weapon', it appeared that Izanami didn't have a very high tolerance for pain. But when he finally tore himself back to the situation at hand to glare at the Black Reaper, he only saw the backs of him, Yin, and Irene Baltar as they turned a corner farther away to begin hiding.
And when he lost sight of them, he turned to see that Misaki Kirihara doing the same. "Stop right there!" He shouted and attempted to fire the bullet caught in his Specter at her, but with only one eye, his aim was off and missed her as she got out of range.
Angrier than ever, Izanami looked between the two directions his enemies had run off to, trying to quickly think of how to handle this development. But the throbbing pain from his damaged eye was hurting his focus and blurring his thoughts, and continued to crouch there, trying to get the pain to subside.
Once Hei and Yin had gotten a little distance from Izanami, they took Irene from their shoulders a laid her down on her back. Her breathing was steady, but she was still in very obvious pain. "Izanami won't wait long." Yin stated the obvious fact that they couldn't relax just yet.
"I know, but we can't keep moving Irene around like this." Hei noted.
But Irene grinned and looked up at him. "Hey now, I'm just exhausted. Nothing to get fussy about." She lied.
The truth was that having fought that agent's Gravity Manipulation ability had taken a heavy toll on her body. While she'd used her ability, she had been able to sense every bit of damage done to her and knew that there were nearly fifty hairline fractures now lining her skeletal system, most of them in her legs and arms that she'd used to push herself up, but also about a dozen in her ribcage. Worse still, she had a couple torn tendons near her joints. Assuming she got out of this alive, she'd be wheelchair-bound for at least two months in order to recover.
But she couldn't let her injuries slow the rest of them down and risk putting them in any extra danger. She knew Li was probably aware of her lie, but hoped that if she put up the front, he would respect her decision and ignore it. Thankfully, he seemed to understand and nodded to her before pulling out a tiny water bottle from his pocket and removing the cap.
Hei poured some of the water onto the ground next to Irene and then handed the bottle to Yin. "Find a place to hide nearby and keep watch over Irene. I'll go find Kirihara so we can regroup."
Hei stood up and started moving, but Yin stopped him when she dipped her finger in the water bottle and checked on Izanami. "He's going after Kirihara first."
"What, why?" Irene questioned.
As long as Izanami could kill Yin, the rest of them wouldn't even pose a threat, so it didn't make any sense that Izanami would choose to go after Kirihara instead. But it was also true that without the Specter lenses, Kirihara wouldn't stand a chance if Izanami found her.
So changing his plan, Hei took the water bottle back from Yin and took off to find Kirihara. "Be ready to move."
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Second Earth's Suou let out a scream at the top of her lungs and moved to pulled the trigger of her anti-tank rifle after completely losing her rational thought.
But as she did, Mao rushed the Second Earth's Suou and tackled her to push her rifle's aim off while First Earth's Suou dove in the opposite direction. Second Earth's Suou's rifle fired the bullet hit the asphalt near First Earth's Suou, still sending a shockwave and rubble into her back. Both Suou's lost hold of their weapons as they hit the ground, and the rifles disappeared shortly after.
The first one to do something after all that was Second Earth's Suou, who after realizing who had knocked her over, flailed at the black panther she still saw as an enemy. "No! Get away from me!" She yelled and pushed herself away from Mao, half dragging herself away from him, but didn't try to summon back her gun, only able to hold her head and shake beside herself from all the thoughts still swirling in her head.
Mao backed away from her, but didn't take his eyes off her just because of her current mental state. Meanwhile, it took a moment longer for First Earth's Suou to get her bearings, but when she did she pushed herself up quickly and looked at Second Earth's Suou with empathy.
She wasn't quite sure where to go from here. Her goal when she started was to save Second Earth's Suou from the hatred and despair that gripped her, but it was clear that all she had accomplished was cutting the only path she had. The salvation she wanted was for her life to be returned to what it was. If she couldn't get that, that despair was all she had left.
But there might still be a way. She wasn't sure if she could do it, but if she could at least show Second Earth's Suou some small ray of hope that her life would get better, maybe she could still go forward.
Clinging to that hope herself, First Earth's Suou stood up and slowly walked closer to Second Earth's Suou. The broken girl was so shaken up that she didn't even notice what her counterpart was doing until she tried to touch her. But the way she was now, even that was an attack, and Second Earth's Suou swatted First Earth's Suou's arms away with a scream that sounded utterly pathetic even to her own ears and crawled away again.
She couldn't form a single coherent thought anymore. All she could feel was pain and tears running down her face, and all she wanted was for it to end. Second Earth's Suou shut her eyes tight from all the pain, and First Earth's Suou came close again to sit in front of her, not trying to hold her again. And in the middle of Second Earth's Suou turmoil, two words broke through that made her mind go blank.
"I'm sorry." She heard them, but with how boggled she was, Second Earth's Suou questioned for a moment which one of them had actually said it. But as the words continued, her mind began to clear and focus. "I came here ready to do whatever it took to save you." First Earth's Suou explained. "But I'm sorry; I can't give you your life on the Second Earth back."
Second Earth Suou didn't know how to react to what she was being told. She was still angry that her life had been taken away from her, but that kindhearted part of her that she'd buried in order to come this far was starting to fight its way back to the surface, begging her to let go of that rage.
"No!" Second Earth's Suou's voice cracked as she shook her head in turmoil.
She couldn't bear to give up, to turn her back on revenge. It was all she had left, and if she let go of that, she would completely fall apart. She tore at her hair and tried to beat down those kindhearted sentiments, but they refused to go down a second time and the internal conflict scratched away at what little was left of her sanity.
"No, I can't, I can't, I can't..." She started muttering to herself, desperate to hold on to something.
But First Earth's Suou cut through her ramblings to make herself heard one more time. "I can't give you your old life back… but I won't give up on you."
All of a sudden, Second Earth's Suou's head jumped back up, her tear-filled eyes looking directly into her counterparts' that were filled with determination. What did she mean that she wouldn't give up on her? What did she intend to do? Those were now the only questions on her mind as First Earth Suou continued.
"I can't replace what you've lost; but if you let me, I promise that I will spend my whole life trying to make you as happy as you can be." She took that oath, and then placed a hand on Second Earth's Suou arm, practically breaking into tears herself now.
Second Earth's Suou didn't move, didn't strike the hand away this time. Instead she stared at First Earth's Suou with pure bewilderment for what she'd just said. Was she still trying to find a way to save her after all of this? That kindhearted nature inside of Second Earth's Suou had all but taken over now, so instead of trying to turn away from First Earth's Suou's new words and promise, she wanted to ask if she even deserved happiness like that after everything she'd done in her selfish attempt at revenge.
But she already knew the answer. The fact was that First Earth's Suou's promise had nothing to do with 'deservedness' or her belief that she needed to make amends for ruining Second Earth's Suou's life. She was making this promise to her because that was just who she was. First Earth's Suou empathized with Second Earth's Suou and had decided to do this because she believed it was the right thing to do.
What was more, Second Earth's Suou couldn't believe that she was actually starting to consider it – to want it. But after having come this far, could she really turn around and take the hand of the girl she had been trying to kill just minutes earlier?
She wasn't sure she could believe it, so instead she tried to reject it. One last time, she turned her back on those kind words and kept that glimmer of hope from reaching her. Shaking, Second Earth's Suou raised her hands to put them around First Earth's Suou's throat.
"Suou!" Mao reacted and closed in.
"No, don't!" First Earth Suou stopped him.
Second Earth's Suou's hands were tense, but they weren't tightening to choke her yet. "I can't stop now…" she told herself. "I can still have my life back. If I kill you, Izanami will give it back to me. He can make me forget any of this ever happened.
"If I kill you, everything will go back to the way it was."
Second Earth Suou was looking at the ground now, trying to convince herself to go through with it. But First Earth's Suou gently took hold of Second Earth's Suou's arms and tried to reach her one last time. "It's okay."
"What?" Second Earth's Suou looked at her counterpart again, not understanding what she'd just heard.
"It's okay to stop. You don't have to go through with this; you can still have a happy life, I promise. So it's okay to stop."
Second Earth's Suou's face was contorted in agony at trying to make a choice as she began to wheeze, but didn't move her hands from around her counterpart's throat. "But… BUT!"
"Please," And in the end, First Earth's Suou pleaded with her. "Please don't do this… I don't want to fight you anymore."
Second Earth's Suou didn't know how to react to that. Even knowing what she was like, she just couldn't comprehend how First Earth's Suou was so willing to forgive and forget anymore. But that was the final straw, because when Second Earth's Suou opened her mouth to speak again, no words came out.
She tried to force herself to say something, anything at all, but in the end, her mind just went blank, and all that escaped her lips was a piercing, wailing cry as Second Earth's Suou crumpled into a sobbing mess, dropping her hands from her counterpart's throat and burying her face in First Earth's Suou's lap, who was also crying at this point.
She couldn't do it. She had come this far for the sake of getting her old life back, but at the very, very end, she couldn't do it. She felt First Earth's Suou's hands placed on her back for comfort, and Mao watched on silently from beside them, knowing that this fight was over.
"So tell me… do you remember Genma Shizume?" Hazuki's question hung in the air while Goro, Kouno, and Saito closed in around the remaining Stone Manipulators to finish them off.
John's shades had fallen off from Hazuki's attack, but his eyes betrayed no more surprise or dismay than they would have with them on, ever the calm and collected man. His grin however, widened slightly as though the question amused him. "Now what possible reason could you have for asking about someone like him?" He replied, but Hazuki stuck her energized weapon closer to his throat for ducking the question.
"You ordered him to kill Yoko Sawasaki." She said. It wasn't a question.
"You're lucky; if I hadn't lost half a year thanks to Izanami, I would have forgotten that name by now." John replied, and Hazuki grit her teeth. "So, what of it?"
"'What of it?'" Hazuki repeated his question indignantly.
"Miss… Hazuki, correct?" John confirmed. "I remember some of what Shizume said about you in his reports. What, are you really telling me you actually loved that Sawasaki woman?"
"What's it to you?"
"Nothing, I just don't understand why a Contractor such as yourself is so bothered by the fact I had some old teammate of yours killed."
"You're stalling." Hazuki deduced.
"That's right, I am." John admitted. "The question is, how long are you going to let me? You clearly knew before you asked that I was the one that gave Shizume the order to kill Sawasaki, so why didn't you just kill me the second you got your hands on me? Why even bother with the formality of confirming it?"
For a moment, Hazuki didn't respond, just glared down at John as he smirked up at her. By this point, Goro and the others had already finished dispatching the Stone Manipulators, and everyone was just waiting on her.
When she did speak again, her voice had lost the edge it had held previously. "Good point, I don't know." She admitted to John. "It was just something December told me to say when I found you, but I don't know why I actually went along with it.
"Goodbye, John Smith." She concluded and lifted her energized blade to finish him off.
But at the moment her arms were at their highest, John smiled villainously and pulled up his legs behind Hazuki. Looping his feet between the Contractor's arms and head, John pulled down and sent her tumbling backwards.
Hazuki dropped her wooden sword but rolled back to her feet and reached for the closest thing to her, one of the knives John dropped when she attacked him. And John likewise got back to his feet and grabbed the other knife on the ground near him.
John continued to smile, but when he noticed the other Section 3 members lining up their machine guns at him, he used his Contractor ability to run back and around to put Hazuki between him and their guns, forcing them to stop firing as he stopped in front of the Contractor and swung his knife.
Hazuki grabbed his wrist and stabbed her knife at John's chest, but then he grabbed her wrist as well, locking them together. Goro, Saito, and Kouno still had their guns ready and waiting for a chance to shot if they got it, but then Hazuki turned her head and addressed them. "Don't interfere." She ordered them.
The others were surprised, but lowered their arms as Hazuki and John pushed away from each other, and then John spoke up as well. "Yes, all of you stay right where you are." He said, almost tauntingly. "I'm sure this is what your December would have wanted. She has to take her 'revenge' on her own after all."
John and Hazuki charged and attacked each other again, a proper knife fight ensuing as they grappled for their opponent's weapon and tried to open them up for a strike from their own. Hazuki threw a jab with her free and hand and connected her fist with John's face, but he bore through it to stop her following knife strike aimed at his neck lifted a leg to kick her side.
Hazuki took a step back and John one forward as he struck with his knife, but got his wrist caught again and was pulled down so Hazuki could thrust her knee into his gut and send him staggering back.
Hazuki went after him again, but he still recovered and kept the fight going. While watching, Kouno pointed out the obvious detail. "She's not using her ability? Or is she not able to?" He asked, turning to Goro for an answer.
"I'm not sure it would be much use in a fight like this anyways, but she may need to make Obeisance now, given how much she used it until now."
Kouno looked worried and turned back to the fight, unable to anything but watch and wait to see who won as Hazuki traded blows with John, trying to wear down at one another's stamina until they could get a decisive strike with their knife.
They weren't sure how much time passed, a minute felt like an hour just watching the two of them fight, but as time went on, both John and Hazuki accumulated quite a bit of damage from punches, kicks, and minor cuts from the knives. But still they went at it, grappling at each other and trying to gain the upper hand.
But finally, Hazuki took a chance as John stabbed his knife forward and looped her arm around his, and then moved around to get behind him and put John in a choke hold with his knife arm held up over his head, unable to attack with it. John grabbed at her arm with his spare hand, but Hazuki had too strong a grip, and he couldn't budge her.
His teeth clenched and his eyes darted around, looking for anything he could do to get out of Hazuki's grip. He felt the choke hold start to do its job as his mind began going blank, but as he looked up at the knife in his raised hand, he had one more idea and released his grip on the blade.
The knife fell out of his hand, but as it reached his waist level, John reached out with his spare hand and grabbed hold of it again, quickly turning it around and thrusting the blade into Hazuki's left calf.
The sudden, shooting pain caused Hazuki to scream and drop to a knee, simultaneously releasing John from her choke hold, and he gasped for breath, but left his knife behind in Hazuki's leg. John crawled away and turned to look at Hazuki as she bit through the pain tightened her grip on the knife in her hand, preparing to lurch forward at him. But before she could John used his super speed, turned around, and jumped at her instead.
The short distance didn't give much room for acceleration, but getting tackled at John's speed still knocked the air out of Hazuki and the knife out of her hand. Her back skid across the asphalt when she hit the ground again, and as they came to a stop, John reached for the knife in Hazuki's leg and pulled it back out. Hazuki clenched her jaw shut to keep from biting her tongue, and when John brought the knife up and stabbed down at her chest, she brought up her hands and grabbed his arms, holding him back as he pushed down.
John pushed as hard as he could, still grinning away like he always did, showing little care for the outcome of this fight, he just did what Izanami ordered him to. "You're still stalling." Hazuki said, disgusted to realize he wasn't even really trying to kill her right now.
And John Smith didn't even try to hide it. "Of course I am. Because the second I kill you, the others are going to pump me full of lead. I won't be able to avoid it at this point, so my only option is to keep you occupied for as long as possible."
"Your plan would be ruined if I just told them to shot anyways, though." Hazuki pointed out.
"Go right ahead," John prompted. "I'm very interested to see if you can do it though; set aside the pride you've demonstrated by taking me on solo for the sake of finishing this."
Hazuki scowled. All of this – the fighting, the death, the potential end of the world at Izanami's hand – he truly didn't care about any of it. He acted like a child playing a game, taking joy in the morbid twists and turns it took while he just went along for the ride.
But because she realized that, she figured the best way to get back at him would be to subvert his expectations. He wanted to know if she could set aside her pride to end this right now, to see whether she would tell the others to shot or try to kill him on her own. Those were the two options he could see her taking in this situation.
So she did neither.
Without warning, Hazuki stopped fighting. She dropped arms from holding John back, and the force from his pushing down against her took over, taking him and his knife down towards Hazuki's chest. For just a second, Hazuki finally got to see John's smile turn down as genuine shock registered on his face, but wasn't able to stop his downward progress, and his knife pierced Hazuki.
The others weren't sure what happened, but when they saw John go down and knew he'd stabbed Hazuki, they let loose. "Fire!" Goro shouted, and he, Kouno, and Saito raised their guns and pulled their triggers.
They each only shot a short burst from their machine guns, but that was plenty, and John's back was riddled with over a dozen bullet wounds as his body slumped forward over Hazuki's.
Once that was done, the four government agents dropped their weapons and ran to Hazuki's aid. Oreille reached her first and pulled John off of her as the others kneeled down around her and called her name.
"Damn it all." Goro cursed.
"Come on now," Kouno pleaded.
"Hazuki, can you-" Saito started to ask if she could hear him, but before he even finished his sentence, Hazuki's arm suddenly shot up at him, grabbed his collar, and pulled herself up to slam her lips into his, fulfilling her Obeisance.
Saito became stone still as he was kissed, and the others froze as well in surprise until Hazuki released the kiss and lowered herself back to the ground. "Don't make so much noise." She said. "I'm not going to die from a wound like this."
Kouno looked at the knife, but found that it wasn't driven into her chest like he'd expected when they ran up. Instead, the blade was driven into her shoulder – non-fatal.
"He missed the artery." Hazuki added, proving she would fine as long as she got proper treatment.
Although 'missed' might not be the correct word. When she let go of John's arms and he fell down at her, he intentionally redirected the blade so it wouldn't be a fatal cut. Maybe he thought if his attack wasn't fatal he could avoid getting shot at, or maybe he just didn't like that he got one-upped by Hazuki, and didn't kill her because he thought that would be letting her have her way.
But whatever the reason was, Hazuki beat him. Managing to wipe that ridiculous grin off his face in his last moments was more satisfying than any revenge she could have possibly extracted from him. She beat him, and she survived.
Hazuki basked in her victory for a short moment, but then looked back to the others around her. "Well, what are you all waiting for. You still need to go take down Izanami."
"But, what about-"
"I'll get her to a hospital." Oreille interrupted Kouno. "I don't have my anti-Contractor gun, so you three will be the most useful. Just be sure to give Izanami one for me."
The Section 3 members nodded, grabbed their guns again, and headed out. As they ran, Goro pulled out a phone and put in a call to May. "May, I need you to find out where Izanami is now."
The last one of Izanami's pawns was backed into a corner, and Amara dealt him the final blow with an energized pebble thrown at their head. The body hit the floor, and the makeshift group of Contractors that fought them were able to relax. It was amazing how much they could accomplish by giving up on the idea of victory and focusing solely on buying time. Izanami's pawns had managed to keep them fighting a lot longer and a lot harder than they had expected once they gained the advantage in numbers.
But the fight was finally over, and the six Contractors all took a moment to catch their breath from the effort. As they did, August, Amara, and Harvey all took time to fulfill their Obeisances while Trishna, Cyril and Lucas took a seat on the floor. After another minute, August turned to address the group. "I'd say we pulled that off rather well."
"Yeah well, that might just be because we didn't have any of the big fish to deal with." Amara pointed out sarcastically.
August laughed, but then added, "If you're disappointed, then shall we make haste to where the biggest fish is?"
"First, I'm a little curious about something."
"Oh?"
"How come you didn't go to fight January with March and Happy Ending? Seems like that fight would have been more your style." Amara asked, since August had always said his actions were solely in the pursuit of personal enjoyment.
But August smiled, amused by her question. "You're assuming that I find being in the spotlight more enjoyable than working in the background." He told her. "The things I enjoy are not so easily defined; they are rarely the things someone else would expect me to enjoy.
"In this case however, I did not pursue January with March and December because a three-on-one battle would have been a rather boring way for him to be defeated. Izanami is one thing, but all three of us against January would have been a bit overkill in my opinion. December wouldn't want it to end that way either.
"But also," He continued, "I chose to stay here and fight alongside you and Mister Baxter because though this story, I've grown rather fond of you both. So, fighting beside you has yielded me much more satisfaction than I could have gotten out of January."
Amara and Harvey looked almost embarrassed when August said he'd grown fond of them. But afterwards, Amara snickered at him. "You are one crazy bastard, you know that?"
"I do, actually." August replied without hesitation. "Now if that's all, shall we be on our way to the Grand Finale?"
"Yeah, it's time to put an end to this." Amara agreed.
"What about you three; you coming?" Harvey asked the other three Contractors huddled on the floor.
Lucas was the one that answered. "Nah, our Obeisances are kind of tedious, it's going to take us some time to be battle ready again." He explained.
"Alright, just make sure you don't go anywhere then." August told them, and then took out a cell phone to put in his call to May. "Let's be on our way."
Kirihara continued to move away from Izanami, but the wound at her side - while not severe - was starting to slow her down. Believing that Izanami would want to chase after Yin first however, she took a break and tried to patch herself up, ripping up her shirt for a makeshift bandage.
Meanwhile Izanami also moved slowly while keeping one hand over his injured eye and the other in the water canister his pawn had used so that he would be able to call on his Specter at any moment. He hadn't gone after Yin, but it hadn't been for any strategic purpose. Rather, in his rage, he had gone after Kirihara only because she had been the last person he saw.
Soon enough, Izanami looked around a corner and saw the police woman at the other end of the ally. At the same time, she spotted him and caught her breath in the middle of wrapping strips of cloth around her waist as they froze for a moment before moving almost simultaneously. Izanami called out his Specter, and Kirihara ran back, uncertain when his next attack would come.
Izanami shot his Specter at Kirihara, but she was so far away that she had plenty of time to get around the next corner and start running. "Why is he after me?" Misaki wondered aloud as she started moving as quickly as she could, hoping she could reach Li and the others before Izanami caught up to her.
But Izanami had another trick up his sleeve and grabbed onto his Surveillance Specter, using it to physically throw himself across the alley in a second. And when he came to a stop, he yelled out at Kirihara. "Die, human!"
Kirihara snapped her head back, surprised by how quickly Izanami caught up. She couldn't see the Specter, but when Izanami lifted his hand holding the water canister, she could guess the attack was coming and took a dive.
Izanami's Specter had been aimed at her head, but her dive allowed her to avoid and he clicked his tongue in annoyance of the police officer's luck and persistence. Kirihara hit the ground and rolled back to her feet, but only took one more step before feeling an unsettling crunch in her right leg that made her collapse with a shout.
Kirihara propped herself up on an elbow and felt the back of her thigh where she was hit. She wasn't bleeding, but she found a stone next to her leg with the same shape as what she felt hit her, and realized Izanami must have grabbed it and thrown it with his Specter.
She tried to get up again, but the stone had done real damage to her calf muscle, and she fell back down. Izanami came to stand over Kirihara and glared down at her as she looked up, afraid but still determined.
"You all sicken me." Izanami growled as his Specter held out its hand toward Kirihara to kill her.
But just at that moment, Izanami was distracted as something appeared in his peripheral vision and turned to see another Surveillance Specter on the glass window next to him. He reflexively broke the window with his own Specter, but froze afterwards because he realized that if July was looking for him, then at least one of the other groups had finished off his forces and would now be on their way here.
And he had just wasted valuable time chasing down an insignificant enemy.
Kirihara wasn't sure what happened, but she noticed that Izanami was distracted and took a chance. Quickly, she used her good leg to sweep Izanami off his feet, and the living weapon dropped the water canister in his hand and his back hit the ground.
Then Kirihara scurried back to her feet and fought against the pain in her calf as she limped away, trying to get around the next corner and behind cover. Behind her, Izanami's one eye shot open and he grabbed for the water canister, felt inside for the water, and summoned his Specter again.
Kirihara was going as fast as she could, but when she reached the corner she intended to duck behind, Hei appeared from around it and nearly ran into her. "Li!" Kirihara said his name, both glad and worried at the same time as she knew Izanami could only be seconds away from another attack.
But Hei looked behind Kirihara and saw Izanami smiled on the ground at his appearance, and then stretched his Specter out in an attack, aiming to skewer both of them in one shot.
So he quickly took the water bottle in his hand and tossed it up behind Kirihara, and Yin's Surveillance Specter spread out from the water inside and caught Izanami's attack. "Hurry," Li order Kirihara and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back the way he'd come. "July's Surveillance Specter showed up, we just need to hold out a litt-"
He started explaining the situation, but Kirihara fell out of his grasp and he stopped to look at her on her hands and knees, only realizing now that her leg was injured. "I can't run…" She said, rubbing her leg where it hurt. "Li, I-"
Kirihara began to say something, but Hei cut her off by pulling her back up, putting her arm around his shoulders, and lifting her up in his arms before continuing to run.
"What are you-"
"We're not losing anyone today." Hei said while looking forward. "So if you were about to tell me to leave you behind, don't."
Kirihara was surprised, but she smiled and whispered to herself. "That's not what I was going to say."
Just then, Hei saw July Surveillance Specter appear on a window, seeming to be leading him in a different direction than Yin and Irene were. "We're taking a detour." He told Kirihara and made the turn down another street.
"Detour?"
"It looks like July is leading us to our backup." He explained, then looked at the next window July's Specter appeared on. "Let Yin know where we're going." He told July and kept running.
Izanami struggle for a short time with Yin's Specter, but it disappeared soon enough, knowing she wouldn't be able to best him one-on-one. In a hurry, Izanami checked around the corner just in time to see which direction Hei and Kirihara were going, and prepared to chase after them.
But then he realized something and looked back at the spilled water Yin's Specter had come from. If she had used her Surveillance Specter, it meant that she was near another source of water right now. Thinking he could finish this now, Izanami sent out his Specter to the next closest water source, but found that Yin had already vacated the area. Since she was likely aiming to regroup with Hei, Izanami returned his attention to the alley in front of him and threw himself forward with his Specter again.
He reached the turn Hei took in just a few seconds and saw him carrying Kirihara in the distance, but realized he was going in the wrong direction from where Yin had just been and became worried where they were trying to lead him. He was about to follow them back to Yin, but seeing their current actions, decided he needed to kill them both as fast as possible.
Once again, Izanami used his Specter to launch himself forward to get in range of his targets, but as he flew forward, was distracted when July's Surveillance Specter showed up on another window just ahead of him. Izanami reflexively turned his head towards it as he passed, but doing so kept him from noticing the person running in from the alley directly in front of that window.
Charging in at almost 30 miles per hour, Mao jumped at Izanami while he was distracted and tackled him into the wall. Then he backed away and came to a stop next to Hei who had stopped when he heard the crash.
They waited for a moment as Izanami stumbled around and fell to his knees, rattled from the attack. But once he recollected himself, he looked up with dismay at the panther. "No… why? Why is it you!?" He questioned with dread.
Mao was supposed to be the one that had gone with First Earth's Suou to fight her Second Earth counterpart. As far as he knew, that was what happened, so if he were here now, what had he done with the Second Earth's Suou?
"What did you do to her?" Izanami begged an answer.
"Mao, where is Suou?" Hei asked as well, wondering if she was hidden nearby.
"She's fine." Mao answered Hei, and then looked to Izanami as well. "They both are."
Izanami paused. "What… was that?"
He didn't understand. He couldn't process it. What did Mao mean when he said that both Suous were fine? If Second Earth's Suou was alive, that was all well and good, but Mao was implying that the battle was still over. He was suggesting that the fight had been ended with the two Suous coming to some kind of understanding.
But Izanami's Suou shouldn't have been in any kind of mental state to agree to a compromise with her counterpart. There shouldn't have been a way to reach a peaceful resolution with her, so Izanami asked again, "What did you do to her?"
"I didn't do much of anything, really. Suou did all the talking." Mao tried to explain, but Izanami still didn't understand.
But at the very least, his Suou seemed to still be alive. So, as long as he could finish things here, there was nothing to worry about. As Izanami converted his confusion into anger, Hei placed Misaki onto Mao's back, making it easier for him to act.
Izanami focused her thoughts and saw a corner just behind the trio and decided he needed to cut off that escape route first. He prepared to use his Specter to throw himself over his targets, but when Hei moved, it was to pull out one of his knives and throw it directly at him.
Caught by surprised, Izanami stopped what he was doing to catch the knife with his Specter, even though doing so gave Hei and Mao time to start running towards the corner. "Damn you!" Izanami moved forward to chase after them, but before he even took two steps, a bunch of small, energized projectiles shot out of the building to his left.
The projectiles flew out right in front of him, and Izanami instinctively lurched away only for the next window back to shatter out from a concussive blast that smashed him once again into the wall. The anti-Contractor weapon fell onto his back, and when he looked into the sky, saw August 7 dropping down on top of him.
Quickly, Izanami rolled to avoid the sword he pointed at him and rose to a knee as the MI-6 Contractor hit the ground and grinned at him. Izanami cringed and threw the Black Reaper's knife at him with his Specter.
August effortlessly avoided the knife with a tilt of his head and struck out with his sword. Without his left eye, Izanami was late reacting to the attack, and so didn't have time to use his Specter, but kicked off the ground to get out of range and then lashed out with the Specter directly.
But August just grinned away as he span out of the way and towards the previously shattered window, put a hand on his top hat as Lancelnopt radiation covered his body, and dropped backwards into the room. Izanami threw out multiple spikes with his Specter and pierced the wall below the window, but he had already disappeared with his ability.
Izanami clicked his tongue, but then turned at the crash of a window to see Amara jump out covered in Lancelnopt radiation as she threw a handful of energized projectiles at him. He stopped them with his Specter, but when the light faded away, it showed they were just eraser bits. Even with his Specter's strength, they were useless as weapons to Izanami.
Then Harvey showed up on the other side of Izanami and fired a Concussive Blast. Izanami defended against that as well, but he couldn't hold onto a force. With their specific powers, these two could be a real nuisance if he let them continue attacking, so Izanami used his Specter and threw himself down at Amara.
Amara however grinned at the incoming anti-Contractor weapon and ducked down the same alleyway BK-201 fled down, and at the same time, a gun was fired three times. Misaki fired before Izanami was visible, but that was because the purpose of the attack was solely to make Izanami hesitate for a second.
It worked perfectly, and Izanami stopped just short of the turn, looked back to see Harvey chasing after him, and then took the final step to look down the next alleyway. But when he did, Izanami became filled with a sense of dread at who he saw. The Black Reaper, Misaki Kirihara, and Mao were gone, and standing there in wait with Amara was another new arrival, Goro Kobayashi, who was in front holding his machine gun at the ready
After all their running away, Izanami could think of only one reason for any of them to be standing in wait for him like this. And that was that they were ready to finish him off. "Fire!" Goro confirmed it with a shout.
He pulled back the trigger on his machine gun, and Izanami pulled up his Specter to surround himself as he crouched down to make sure there were no gaps. The storm of bullets began, but they weren't only coming from in front of him. They were also raining down on him from overhead, and he looked up to see Yutaka Kouno and Yusuke Saito firing machine guns from the second-floor windows of buildings on either side of the alleyway.
It was a lot to keep up with, but Izanami could handle it. While the bullets pelted his Specter from the front, the Anti-Contractor Weapon prepared to launch attacks from the open sides, but as soon as those in front of him noticed the fluctuations, Amara jumped out to Izanami's right, took out huge handfuls of her makeshift projectiles, energized them, and began throwing them bit by bit, swinging her arms one after the other to keep up a steady chain that forced Izanami to stay defensive on that side.
And almost immediately after, Harvey approached him from the left and did the same thing with his Concussive Blasts, firing one after another from both hands. With that, the group had successfully sealed off Izanami's ability to attack, forcing him to focus solely on defending himself.
But there was one direction they weren't covering him from. Using the part of his Specter at his back, Izanami broke through the wall directly behind him and threw himself inside to get away. The shooters all ceased fire when he moved, but the Anti-Contractor weapon didn't get even a second to relax from that, because another gunshot rang out immediately after, and Izanami felt his spine crunch under the impact of a shotgun shell pressing against his Specter while he was still moving towards it.
With sharp intake of breath, Izanami took all the projectiles that had collected in his Specter and blasted them off in every direction. But the only other person in the room was August 7, and he easily absorbed whatever hit his body and shot it back out at Izanami again as he turned to look at him. Izanami caught the buckshot pellets in his Specter once again, but didn't re-fire them this time, instead lashing out with his Specter directly, whipping it out at August from his left.
The Magician bent back under the attack and flipped away from Izanami. He may have been able to see Izanami's Specter, but he wasn't about to chance taking a hit from an attack designed to kill Contractors. August hit his feet and fired another buckshot at Izanami to no effect, just trying to slow him down while he continued to back into position.
"What's wrong, Izanami? I thought this would be more of a challenge."
August baited the Anti-Contractor weapon, and Izanami moved towards him. He stretched out his Specter in the form of arms and attempted to directly grab hold of August, but as he moved forward, a wire suddenly dropped down through the overhead opening of Izanami's Specter and wrapped around his neck.
The wire pulled Izanami to a stop and he grabbed at the wire with one hand while looking up to see the Black Reaper pulling on the other end and glaring down at him. Quickly, before he could try to electrocute him, Izanami used his Specter to break the wire and dropped to his hands and knees, doming his Specter over him to keep them from attacking again.
Izanami coughed for air and removed the wire from his neck, but when he put his right hand back on the ground, was shocked to feel a sharp sensation slice through his palm, and looked to see a sword blade standing up from the back of his hands with Lancelnopt radiation. With a scream, Izanami stood up and pulled his hand away from the blade, which only caused him more pain.
The blade retracted into the ground and Izanami glared up at August as his Lancelnopt radiation died out and held the bloody sword in one hand and the shotgun in the other. He'd used his ability to attack from the one place Izanami hadn't been defending from – underneath him.
Enraged, Izanami shot out multiple spikes from his Specter and had them converge on August from every direction, cutting off all methods of retreat. So, since August could run away from the attack, he instead charged directly at Izanami, slipped through the enclosing spikes, and fired another shotgun shell to keep Izanami from summoning another spike in front of him. Then he dropped his sword and reached up to grab on to another of the Black Reaper's wires. He jumped up, and the wire helped pull him up to the next floor.
Izanami glared up after him, but he'd learned his lesson about chasing after his opponents when they ran away like this. So instead of trying to follow August to the next floor, Izanami turned back towards the hole he'd entered the building through and found Harvey standing there with his arm raised, probably waiting for him to use his Specter to jump and attack while his back was open.
But when Izanami looked at him, he dove to the side, avoiding the buckshot pellets that Izanami hurled towards him just a second later. Immediately after, Izanami turned his head again and used his Specter to grab the sword August left behind and throw it up into the hole leading to the second floor, deterring the Black Reaper from trying to throw one of his knives down at him while his back was turned.
It had taken a while, but Izanami finally felt like he had his bearings again. From the moment the Black Reaper had taken out his eye, Izanami had been physically and mentally unbalanced, and the fight had been on his enemies' terms. They'd forced him to chase after them and that had given them the advantage of knowing exactly where he was coming from. At this point, hoping to finish the fight quick and easy was impossible unless he got a clear shot at Yin; and she wouldn't be foolish enough to show herself at this point. So, his only way left to win was to put the fight back on his terms and make his targets come to him, instead of the other way around.
Coming to that conclusion, Izanami did not try to go after either the group outside or on the second floor. Instead, he pushed himself toward the opposite wall with his Specter and crashed through it. But, as soon as he got outside, looked to his right and found Misaki Kirihara, sitting on Mao's back with her handgun at the ready.
She fired three shots at Izanami's head, but he caught the bullets in his Specter as usual and quickly made to reverse their trajectory as his feet hit the ground. At the same time however, Mao sprinted away from Izanami in a zig-zag maneuver, and when he threw out the bullets, couldn't aim properly and missed.
Still, Izanami wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of chasing after them again, and turned in the opposite direction. He threw himself down the alley and thought for sure he was in the clear this time; but was once again taken by surprise as the edge of a sword appeared from around the next corner as Irene stepped out swinging, Lancelnopt radiation covering her body. Izanami was flying directly at her sword, so to avoid crashing into it, he pushed himself down with his Specter and slid hard across the rough asphalt.
Izanami looked up to see Irene retreat while keeping her ability active. Despite all the fatigue she had accumulated from fighting against his Gravity Manipulator, clearly the girl still wanted to contribute to the fight, so she was using her ability to once again surpass her physical limits even though her body surely just wanted to collapse.
He thought about attacking her while her back was turned, but then noticed August come out ahead of her and lift an RPG-7 onto his shoulder, aimed directly at him. "Are you shitting me!?" Izanami exclaimed at the sight of the warzone weapon as he rushed to put his Specter up around him before August pulled the trigger, launching the warhead straight past Irene and into his Specter.
The RPG still couldn't penetrate Izanami's defenses, but the warhead detonated upon impact and completely blinded Izanami with the resulting smoke. With no visual at all, Izanami couldn't tell what his enemies were doing. Would they retreat, or take the opportunity to surround him again? If he moved, would someone be there waiting to take advantage of the opening? Fearful of all these possibilities, Izanami moved in the one direction he didn't think they would be waiting for him.
Crouching down, Izanami collected his Specter under his feet and used it to boost himself straight up into the air. As he had hoped, there was no new surprise waiting for him directly overhead, and when he looked down, he found that his enemies had in fact made a retreat. Most were already out of view somewhere, but he saw that Irene had yet to find cover, slowed down by her fatigue. Thinking this an opportunity to take one of them out, Izanami quickly threw himself towards her.
Landing in front of Irene, Izanami lifted his Specter to attack, and she in reaction used her active ability to heighten her kinetic vision to its limits, time literally slowing down for her as she strained herself to find every point on Izanami's Specter that a spike would come from, and it what directions.
In a fraction of a second, Irene calculated every attack angle, where the resulting gaps would be, and pushed her body into the correct position with the narrowest margin of error so that when Izanami's attack finally stabbed out, she was completely unscathed.
This put her in an awkward position with one leg in the air and a hand on the ground, but even then, she kept track of everything she could see and feel as Izanami worked to reposition his spikes to converge on her, and she once again planned out everything in an instant, taking the only means of escape by pushing against the ground with her hand and foot together to throw herself up and over Izanami's head.
She couldn't escape a few scratches in the second maneuver, and her movements only worsened the fractures in her limbs, but it was all worth it. This would be the last blood Izanami ever spilled.
As Irene spun over Izanami she saw Li at the end of the alley and he threw out one of his wires. She grabbed it and it wrapped around her wrist, locking in place and beginning to pull her away from Izanami. She let herself be dragged across the ground and by the time Izanami turned to see what was happening, she was halfway to Li.
Once again letting his anger get the better of him, Izanami controlled his Specter and used it to launch himself down the alley way at the two of them, but the moment he closed in on Irene, his focus was drawn towards the Black Reaper as Amara and Harvey stepped out beside him and let loose with their abilities, rapid firing them as quickly as possible again to force Izanami to stop and put up his defenses.
Irene slid passed them and Hei kneeled down to grab her and pull her aside, letting Mao take his place with Misaki on his back to add to the volley of projectiles with her handgun, and from the second story windows of buildings on either side, Saito and Kouno once more provided a rain of machine gun fire to cut off his ability to jump up or escape to the sides. Izanami scowled behind his Specter, but only found this to be a repeat of earlier as he prepared to flee backwards.
However, before he could take so much as a step back, more gunfire sounded from behind him and he turned to find August phasing into the alley through a wall with his ability, and as he came through, pulled with him two more people: Goro Kobayashi – who also began firing with a machine gun – and Yin herself.
Izanami's one eye widened with shock as he realized they now had him completely pinned. With this kind of omni-directional hailstorm, Izanami didn't have even an inch of his Specter to spare for anything other than defense, but even if they couldn't break through to him with their guns and abilities, Yin could.
"Izanami," Yin was the one to speak, as she held up a water bottle in her hand and dipped a finger into it.
"Stop…" Izanami muttered in fear.
But Yin summoned her Surveillance Specter from the water bottle, and it lunged forward without hesitation. "It's over."
"STOOOOOOOOOP!" Izanami screamed out one last time in futility, but could do nothing as Yin's Specter grabbed a hold of his own and ripped it away from him.
Goro and August ceased fire to avoid stray bullets hitting the others, and as soon as Yin removed Izanami's protection, the combined assault from Misaki, Amara, Saito and Kouno tore into his body while Harvey's concussive blasts punched the water canister from his hand and threw Izanami into the wall on his left.
The attacks stopped with his Specter gone, and Izanami slid down the wall with his blood staining it and the ground. He wheezed for breath, still alive but unable to move passed the pain anymore.
Izanami's enemies all came together to stand around him and take in their victory. Misaki slid off of Mao's back while making sure to keep her weight off her right leg, and Irene leaned against Amara for support, no longer able to use her ability.
And of course, Hei walked out to stand at the center of them all with Yin, and looked around at those they'd fought with. None of them had made it through this endeavor unscathed, but they were all still standing, and that was something to be proud of.
"Damn you all," Slumped against the wall, Izanami cursed his enemies one last time. "I'll kill you!" He growled, making one last desperate to use his powers as an anti-Contractor Weapon to sap the souls of those around him.
But of course, he was stopped immediately by Yin. "Give it up, Izanami." Hei told him coldly. "You're finished."
Izanami clenched his teeth angrily and looked between him and Yin. "I… hate you."
"I know," Was all Yin said in reply, and Hei knelt down to finish the job.
"Wait," But when he began to reach his hand out, Izanami decided he had one last thing to say, and locked eyes with his counterpart. "Give him to me."
Hei looked back to Yin, not sure what Izanami was talking about, but she must have, because something that looked like a Surveillance Specter cropped up from Yin's body and jumped to Izanami's. A second later, it had faded away again, and Izanami actually seemed to sigh with relief at having it.
"Shion," He muttered, and for most of them, that name gave context to the demand. "I'm sorry."
A final request from a defeated enemy, that's all it was. A moment later, Izanami steeled his expression and glared at Hei. It was an expression that seemed to say 'get it over with', so he lifted his hand again and held it over Izanami's face.
"Farewell, Izanami." With those final words, Hei finally activated his ability and killed Izanami, the electric shocks running through his body until they stopped his heart.
With the deed done, Hei stood back up and stepped back. Looking around, he could see his allies relax the grips on their weapons and many of them sighed with relief. "Is it over?" And surprising them, Suou suddenly walked in on the scene, her face stained by tears as she looked down at Izanami's body.
"Suou," Mao addressed her as he noticed she was alone. "Where is your- I mean, the other Suou?"
"She left." Suou answered. "Once she settled down, she said she needed time to think."
"Are you sure it's okay to leave her alone?"
"It'll be fine." She affirmed, forcing a smile onto her face. "She's not a danger anymore."
The rest of the group was a bit confused to hear that, but Mao gave the rest of them a nod to assure them that they could trust Suou's judgement and leave it be for now. And once that was accepted, August raised his voice to address the group. "Well then, if we're all done here, shall we go inform January that he no longer need fear Izanami and bring December's story to its conclusion?"
With that, everyone turned to August and gave a collective nod. Then, the magician Contractor took off his top hat and began to glow with Lancelnopt radiation. With his ability, August swiped his hat out in front of him as it visually grew several times its natural size in order to swallow up the rest of the group in one smooth motion and bringing it back around and re-shrinking it to drop it down in front of himself, disappearing along with the rest.
Together, the group appeared on a new road, just outside the warehouse that August had sent January to for his fight with December and March. However, they were all surprised to find March already standing outside with her back against the wall. Biting into a steak she had prepared earlier for her Obeisance, she looked up and paused at the sight of everyone.
"Well, that didn't take very long." She noted after swallowing, then looked down at the steak in her hand. "Thought I would have a little more time before you all showed up."
"March, what's going on?" August questioned her.
"Well, December's plan actually worked, believe it or not." March began, looking only briefly to August. "We pushed January to his limit as far as keeping his ability up without making Obeisance, and when he became a Regressor for the abuse of it, he lost February's Chronokinesis along with his Razor Touch. But…" She explained, but trailed off at the end and looked at the door to the warehouse.
Her tone didn't give anything away, but August felt an uncharacteristic chill go down his spine from March's words as he followed her gaze to the door and suddenly rushed over to push his way inside. All the lights were still on, so August only made it a few steps inside before he saw him lying against the far wall with blood smearing his clothes and a smile on his face.
December… was dead.
August didn't really react, he just stood and stared as the rest of the group hurried inside after him and similarly froze upon seeing December's body with varying degrees shock coming over their faces as they registered his death. July and May were there as well, standing closer to the body, but other than that, did nothing.
"It was his last-ditch effort." Although no one turned to look at her, March continued her explanation as she came to stand next to August. "January didn't know what would happen to him if he failed to make Obeisance, so when he felt the end of his ability closing in, he assumed he was about to die either way and stepped directly into one of December's attacks just to get at him."
Sure enough, the evidence supported March's testimony. December's sword was off to his side and slick with blood, and the irregular puncture wounds in his chest could only be identified as finger holes.
"I asked him what I could do to help, but when he checked the future, all he told me was to grab one of his books for him."
That line grabbed August's attention and he looked at March. "He asked for-"
"You're fucking kidding me…" But distracting August – as well as catching everyone else's attention – the group turned as one of them spoke up with a shaking, angry voice. "What the hell do you mean you went off and died?" Stepping forward slowly, Irene surprised the others as she made her way over towards December's body.
"Irene?" Suou spoke with concern, but Irene didn't even seem to hear her as she walked passed everyone else and crossed the distance.
And when she reached December's body, Irene dropped to her knees in front of him. "And of course, you went out with a damn smile on your face!" She growled angrily, but in spite of herself, she felt the tears starting to pour out of her eyes.
Not even she understood where these emotions were coming from; she'd hated December, so why was she suddenly so hurt by seeing him dead? Frustrated by her own conflicting feelings, Irene weakly raised a fist and punched the wall next to December's face. "Dammit all… Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" She cursed repeatedly, pulling her fist back to punch the wall again with each utterance. "I thought I made it clear that no one was supposed to die!"
The rest of the group watched Irene in silence, but after she fell silent, Amara muttered to herself with shaking fists as if she was holding herself back. "Come on, didn't you hate him the most? If you go breaking down like this, how the hell are the rest of us supposed to react?"
There was a long, collective moment of silence punctuated only by the soft sobs coming from Irene. But eventually, the reality had set in enough that August was able to redirect his attention to the final remaining problem. "March, where is January now?"
The group refocused on March to hear the answer, and she sighed as she responded. "December looked into that for me, but his clue wasn't something I could decipher." She said, looking out to the others. "One of you should understand it though – 'remember chapter one' – that was what he said. Ring any bells?"
Most of the group was silent, but Misaki Kirihara gasped as the phrase did in fact strike a cord with her. The first time she had been contacted by December, he had stopped her from asking questions by saying that he couldn't give everything away before they even reached chapter two. Thanks to that, she knew exactly what his hint was referring to. "I know where he's going."
Filled with a rage he knew was all too uncharacteristic of himself, January slammed one hand against the chain link fence that separated the city from the gate beyond while his other arm hung limply at his side, bleeding profusely. He had come here for only one purpose – to regain his Contractor ability. And after a moment of quiet growling, he began to feel it come back to him.
He did not regain February's Chronokinesis, but he at least had his status as a Contractor returned to him. That was what he really wanted, however…
Footsteps hit pavement behind him. Many, many footsteps as a number of people took up positions around him in a half circle, cutting off any escape routes unless he was willing to break through the fence. But January didn't do that, didn't make any move at all. He simply stayed where he was and stared out at Hell's Gate ahead of him. Seeing that he wasn't making any move of his own, March spoke first.
"Izanami is dead." She declared, her voice calm. "You've no more reason to fight us."
"So it seems." January concurred after a moment and finally turned around to look upon who was here.
March, August, Amara, Harvey, Hei, Mao, Yin, Misaki, Goro, Kouno, Saito. Eleven total stood around him. Irene and Suou had stayed behind as – among other reasons – both needed to deal with their own Obeisances before too much longer. The rest had arrived with the use of August's ability again to watch and make sure nothing went wrong. January may have only been acting in the interest of protecting himself, but it would still be foolish to blindly trust that he would cooperate and not come prepared.
January was once again silent for a moment as he took in who was and wasn't present, and they did nothing but wait for him to continue. "I suppose congratulations are in order: fantastic work, one and all!" He spoke with mock sincerity and applauded dramatically in spite of his punctured arm. "You saved the world; December would be so proud."
The façade didn't last long. As soon as he was done speaking, his arms dropped to his side and any amicability disappeared from his expression, leaving only disdain. "But it appears it's not that simple for me. Not anymore."
"What do you mean?" March asked curiously.
January lowered his gaze for a moment, staring at his injured hand – at himself. "I was Human." His voice held a harsh tone as he said it. "He made me Human again. Because of that, all of those pesky emotions I had capped off as a Contractor came rushing back to me. And do you know what I felt?
There was a pregnant pause, but everyone simply waited for him to continue. "I felt disgusted." January raised his eyes to glare at March, then turning it to each of the others in turn. "And even though I've taken my power back, that emotion doesn't seem to want to go back down. I hate it. I hate this feeling of anger that I can't control… And all of it directed at December!"
"You killed December." August pointed out.
"And yet that's not good enough!" January yelled, but with a bit of desperation mixed into the anger. "You see how absurd it is? How incomprehensible these emotions are?
"I may have killed him, but he still came out as the winner in this 'story' of his. And I can't accept that because of this hatred I feel."
"What do you plan to do, then?" March questioned him, preparing herself for anything.
"It's not good enough that I killed him; I have to take something away." January began, clenching and unclenching his fist. "Something that will break everything he's built up. And there's only one way I can accomplish that…" Very suddenly, January turned and charged in one direction, at one person in particular. Specifically, he aimed himself at Hei, the Black Reaper, BK-201. "I have to kill his 'Main Character'!"
Hei didn't even twitch in response. And the second after Lancelnopt radiation appeared around his body, a single gunshot rang out through the air. January's charge halted and blood started to stain his shirt from the inside out. He toppled over onto the ground, and briefly looked up at the one that had fired that fateful shot. Misaki Kirihara stood firm with her gun still cautiously pointed down at him, but there was no need for anything further.
There had been no tension, no buildup, no real payoff. This had barely qualified as an encounter, it was nothing more than a foregone conclusion. Afterall, December would have seen the future of this moment in his final moments, but he had died with a smile on his face anyways – there had never been any danger here to begin with.
"Well," And recognizing that fact, January muttered something to himself as his life slipped away into the pool of blood the formed beneath him. "That's… boring."
With those as his final words, January fell into unconsciousness and died an unceremonious death. No more words were exchanged, but everyone moved to begin what would certainly be quite a long clean-up. And as they did, August sighed to himself and looked up into the sky. This had been it; it was all over now. Someone had to say it – December certainly would have – so he decided to take the burden onto himself, and uttered two simple words.
"The End."