Ikora Rey checks out the footage in the debriefing room on the computer on Ace's hand as it seers with some kind of strange darkness to it on her data-pad almost resembling the wounds Eris Morn inflicted on herself when she was escaping the Hellmouth. She's seen burns before like arc, void, solar but this is different, this was...pure darkness. Zavala looks on in worry and suspicion that there could be a third party organization in the middle of this that is against the guardians. He wishes Eris would see this and get to the bottom of it but she isn't here at all making him wonder where she is at the moment.
"What's Ace's status?" He asks him knowing who Ace belongs to and also the fact that said person knows Ace wasn't ready to become the leader of the hunters. The fact Ace reminds him of...him makes the loss even worse that he didn't have enough courage to say he was his father after all despite everything he's done with him. It was a tragic loss and the only thing left of his legacy is Ace as a guardian.
"He's doing better since the wound has healed because of his light. But..." Ikora looks in worry for a moment at the footage.
"This element is nothing like we've never seen before at all. The only thing closer to it is the poisoned effect from the thorn which was wielded by Dredgen Yor years ago. Perhaps our intruder was a guardian who's gone to the darkness rather than the light." She continued catching Zavala off guard assuming the group responsible for this attack.
"You don't think this is the Shadows Of Yor's doing?" Zavala questioned knowing that they were determined to control the darkness by not letting it take over them at all. They were never mentioned nor had a resurgence whatsoever after the Red War making him wonder if they were either killed or made a come back. Although the Shadows never harmed any guardian whatsoever at all, none in fact, and Ace stated that he opened a black portal then went off somewhere which is something that the Shadows can't do.
"Unlikely. The Shadows only wield a small portion of the darkness yet this one is purely based on it alone. This is sorcery that is beyond that of a wielder of light and dark, this is from another world beyond ours similar to that of Calus and the Hive's ability only scaled to eleven." Ikora explained while looking at the burns on Ace's hand. The medical records state that Ace's light managed to heal the wound showing that there is a remedy to whatever was inflicted upon him. Zavala hangs his eyes lost in his thoughts right now...
"Zavala." Ikora called making him snap out of it causing him to look up at the warlock vanguard.
"Oh sorry, I was lost in thought. Here I thought we'd have a new Golden Age and that all our troubles were gone...but all it did was bring new ones. From Cayde's death and the curse of Riven and this...new faction, I feel the worst has yet to come right now and this is only the beginning of our troubles." Zavala sighed while Ikora nods in agreement.
"It doesn't make it better that you didn't tell Ace about him either neither did the Guardian. He said he couldn't do it at all and Amanda has been egging for one of us to tell him while she keeps threatening to tell yet doesn't." Ikora said sadly knowing Cayde told Amanda about his son due to the fact she's one of his closest friends alongside Shiro-4. She often wonders if Shiro knows about Ace as well though...
"Ace isn't ready yet. He maybe a full fledged guardian like all of us but this...a guardian's goal is look forward into the future but never in the past. If Ace finds out that Cayde-6 is his father then who knows what he'll do next because he'll have the first taste of his past, it'll be a downward slope from there and I don't want him to be the next Anastasia Bray." Zavala sadly replied seeing this as a complex situation. He has respect and admiration for Ana but he doesn't want Ace to fall out of line among the guardians.
"Perhaps. But Cayde wouldn't want this, he would want us to tell Ace on who was his father and we're only delaying the inevitable." Ikora implored to the titan who gets up from his seat to go back to his past looking at the awakened Traveler. She knows what he's going through and it's a greater pain than before.
Ace has Ana's ghost, Jinju, analyze his forearm if there's any side effects of that attack he had while Layla is out in the Crucible doing her usual things like killing guardians as he looks outside of the Bray-Tech facility of the snowy environment of Mars lost in his thoughts for a moment. The place has been empty with guardians simply arriving in the place clearing out Hive stragglers that are decreasing in numbers due to constant attacks with Red Legion moving out of the facility. Ana and Ace were always friends all this time, even covered her during her escape from the City while she was in the library.
"Say Ana, what made you find out who you once were?" Ace asks her thus grabbing Ana's attention from out of the blue yet she knows Ace is a lot like her, feeling out of place in the world which is fine but to Zavala and other guardians, it was an aberration. Yet here she is working with Rasputin under orders of the Vanguard and finding out who she once was as a renowned scientist.
"Well...I kinda felt out of place in the city despite everything. I may have had valor but something in me just didn't click at all and felt this itch inside me for some reason. It was a nagging feeling really and I answered the call to find out who I was and what my place is." Ana explained remembering her arguments with Zavala as she wanted to find out who she once was and a higher calling to it. But there was no feeling, not to Ace, it's just...a feeling to emptiness or feeling incomplete right now.
"Telling by the fact you asked me that question: You have the same feeling?" Ana asked curiously with Ace shaking his head. She knew Ace for a long time as she was the Cayde before Cayde and taught him the basics of being a hunter while the latter simply enhanced it further to the point Ace became one of the Vanguard's scouts later. Yet Ana sees herself in Ace as the rookie guardian who feels out of place with a purpose than just being one.
"Sort of...I feel like there's more out there than just being a guardian you know. I like who I am don't get me wrong, but I feel like there's something out there pulling me into something and I don't know it yet." Ace explained while Ana walks near him and places her hand on his shoulder then looks at the window.
"Maybe one day the time will come when it's time to find out who you are. Perhaps today or tomorrow." Ana assured. Ace's ghost, Weiss, spawns beside him causing the hunter to turn to her.
"Got a call from Zavala."
The same helmeted boy appears from a portal on top of a long pole-like rock formation as he looks at his surroundings to be a barren brown wasteland of some kind. A land where many died all for one weapon, a war with no victors, and a war that's about to start again once more yet he doesn't get the reasoning why the hunter is that of importance at all neither why is his boss so interested. Another cloaked figure appears next to another rock formation with his arms crossed before removing his hood revealing to be a man with silver hair and tan skin alongside yellow eyes.
"So how was your reconnaissance? What do you think of the Last City, Vanitas?" The man asks him causing Vanitas to sigh. To him, it looked like your typical world like he's been through every time only with a white ball. Yet he's intrigued by guardians who are people brought back from the dead with no memories of who they once were and using the light to destroy others, it reminds him of a pathetic old man.
"Well Xemnas, it's kind of stupid that they think a white magic ball with debris floating around it is going to protect them alongside zombies with guns. I'm impressed with their world though compared to the ones I have been in, it's more like a universe. Why's the boss so intrigued by the hunter though? He's a dimwit like all other guardians." Vanitas replied while turning his head to him.
"That white ball is a conduit of light and powers them. It is a god so don't underestimate its power. And that hunter is a walking paradox." He warned.
"A god in the form of a white ball. Hmph. What a bunch of idiots. So whens the rep from the B team arriving? They running errands like the guardians?" The helmeted boy irritably asks his superior before another dark portal appears with another hooded figure walking out of it. Her figure is a athletic with a hint of short red hair underneath her hood.
"Loxderj. We were just discussing about your group, it appears everything is in motion. Have you made the wish with that dragon?" Xemnas asks her causing her to nod. Loxderj nods in response with a small smile as more hooded figures appear on the rock formations with one of them is large and floating. Among them is a figure with the same outfit as them except glowing blue eyes shine in its dark hood.
"Very well. All we have to do...is wait."
Leona Bryl aims her binoculars at the temple on top of a mountain overlooking the Bay Of Drowned Wishes and moves the tool around to see if there's anything out there. She blinks for a moment but sees a pack of Scorn running thus prompting her to pull out her sniper rifle but notices that Taken are running beside them as they open a portal from whence they came much to her curiosity as the Scorn scatter but are shot dead by guardians. The guardians which consist of two hunters and a titan look at the cave for a moment as a pair of yellow eyes. The paladin lowers her binoculars with her eyes widen and activates her comms.
"Petra, contact the vanguard! We have a situation!" Leona yelled before taking aim while giving the guardians supporting fire.
"Just this morning we intercepted a call from Petra Venj to use our scouts to investigate a disturbance in the Dreaming City. Therefore, we need you and Layla to scout in one of the Dreaming City's lost sector." Zavala spoke on the communications inside Ace's ship known as the Alpha Umi colored blue with the hunter eating a burger inside it. He always loved that burger joint in the City where they would sell those double stacked bacon cheese burgers with onion rings in them alongside Layla who is in the same ship but its colored red instead due to the fact she saw a giant robot movie and based it off the villainess. The two ships hover over Earth's orbit.
"This is something else. Maybe a development in the curse after these months?" Layla asks. Months to a guardian is the equivalent to weeks but the curse on the Dreaming City is different because this wasn't a guardian victory at all, it made things worse and was a complete catastrophe compared to other guardian operations which have been successes in recent years. That and Layla is a sucker for happy endings because of all the things they went through like the death of Cayde-6 which leaves the hunters without a leader.
"Perhaps. The curse is cyclical but this was never seen at all. Maybe it can be the key to stopping it. I will need you two's expertise in scouting and find whatever is having the Queen's Wrath spooked and eliminate it if you have to then report in as usual." Zavala notified as Ace nods before looking at windshield of his ship while getting ready to jump which he does alongside Layla. He looks at Ace for a moment trying to compose himself to tell him about his father but all he sees is him, especially with that hood.
"And Ace..." The hunter looks at Zavala for a moment who is hesitant right now. Thoughts race through his mind alongside with his heart too how would he react to this, that the closest thing you had to a father was standing right next to you and treated you like his son and you didn't even know it at all. Cayde's death was recent and he's left an impact on him so he doesn't want to apply lemon juice to an already bad wound. Zavala sighs knowing that it's still not time yet.
"Good luck out there." Zavala logs off as Ace raises an eyebrow before they come out of hyper-space to the Dreaming City which they fly over to the destination Petra is at right now. The ship breaks through the atmosphere of the flat disk and spot Petra Venj overlooking the Strand where Scorn would attack the rift generator although there's barely any Scorn around with some eyeing them on high grounds as they descend upon the Awoken commander who spots them. Their respective ships fly past Petra with the two trans-matting outside as Ace has the almost finished burger sticking out of his mouth to which he uses his lips to make it move into his mouth and finishes his meal then burps.
"Ew..." Weiss grimaced.
"Oh come on. You need to let some air out!" Ace replied as his ghost rolls her eye. Of all the guardians, she wonders why did she choose him from the start but she remembers why though, it was because she wanted to stick out of the crowd and choose a fun guardian opposite of how much of an uptight ghost she is. Despite it all, Weiss still likes Ace a whole lot due to his attitude and skill. Petra spots them as Ace gives her a brief salute alongside Layla with Petra jumping off the platform and lands in front of them.
"Petra Venj, say can you do the knife trick first before going down to business?" The hunter asks with Layla turning to him then nodding. Petra levitates her knife on her hand much to Layla's awe and Ace's as well. The knife lands back to her hand causing Ace to pull his head back a little.
"Still sends chills down my spine. Cayde told me about that but since I'm rarely in the Reef, I assumed he must've been exaggerating about it. So, what's going on? Scorn seemed spooked and they don't get spooked cause they're more undead than Hive." Ace asks her with Petra smiling reminding her of Cayde a little even that hood of his which is the Vanguard Dare one although there appears to be a resemblance to his speech pattern alongside his behavior.
"Recently, one of our paladins reported a sighting of strange creatures coming out of the Bay Of Drowned Wishes, one of our lost sectors where guardians would find treasure. Their description matches Taken but instead are less unidentifiable and more erratic than them as well yet they are susceptible to light based weaponry and attacks." Petra explained to Ace as he looks at Layla for a moment then turns to Petra.
"Huh...maybe it's another Taken species? Who knows how big Oryx's army is." Ace replied.
"I don't think Taken are pure black and have yellow eyes. I need you two to deal with it as soon as possible, perhaps this new race can lead us to breaking the curse of the Dreaming City." Petra responded as the two hunters sigh and summon their respective sparrows which are a red Azure Azazyel that belongs to Ace while Layla's is the Warrior's Steed and colored blue. The two speed off while Layla leads him as she pulls out her sidearm, Havoc Pigeon, in case there's any Scorn or Taken blocking their way. Ace knows what Layla wants to do and he's not letting her beat him, especially when he's ranked number three on the SRL races, he presses thrust button his sparrow and speeds near her.
"Don't act like I know what you think you're doing!" Ace taunted his partner causing Layla to laugh briefly.
"Oh trust me dude, I'm so gonna beat you! Whoever's first to the objective is gonna buy me some spicy ramen!" Layla roared as the two speed towards the cave leading to the Divalean Mist where the lost sector is. They swerve both of their sparrows around the rock in between their paths as Ace moves up ahead with Layla behind him causing Ace to laugh briefly while turning around but she points her finger at something revealing to be a Scorn Abomination causing Ace to move to the left while Layla shoots it with her grenade launcher thus causing the mutated Fallen which kills it immediately. Ace squints his eye in the mist trying to see...he spots a black cloaked figure yet he doesn't have the time to react causing him to swerve his sparrow again and fall off of it. The hunter gets up knowing that it's the same black cloak that other guy was wearing in the tower as he pulls out his hand-cannon then looks around for a moment panicked. Layla arrives while reloading her grenade launcher and sees the commotion causing her to get off.
"What's going on? You seem a bit spooked." Layla asks him as he looks for a moment. He makes a guess that either his eyes are tricking him or something else is going making him think that there is something more to the curse than it seems rather than doing the same thing as always. The hunter aims his gun around his surroundings for a moment in a panic but lowers his gun then sighs while adjusting his eyes for a moment then opens them again.
"It's nothing. Swore I saw our little intruder in the tower. Anyway, that lost sector is near..." Ace replied but sees the same figure standing on top of the mountain before he vanishes into some kind of dark void. It's stuff like this makes him wonder if the Traveler has guardians, then what kind of antithesis the Darkness has? He shakes off these thoughts before leading Layla to the lost sector which is right behind where guardians would land. They spot the cave with the lost sector symbol on the side.
"You ever wonder who leaves these?" Ace asks trying to get his mind off what he just saw.
"Beats me, Petra said no one has ever stepped foot into the Dreaming City. But whoever is doing these has waay too much time on their hands." Layla agreed while walking into the cave with her ghost, Dokkaebi, shining the way. Ace aims his gun with the radar on his HUD checking for any signs of hostiles which lost sectors tend to have mostly with one ultra waiting in the other side.
"I know right? First minutes in then we get lost sector locations like hot cakes on our map. It's like someone is watching every guardians's move. Or maybe they know what we want and it's loot. Cause let's be serious, standard issued weapons aren't exactly what you call effective. I'm talking about the whites and greens, maybe the blues should be grouped in that category." Ace adds to Layla's statement.
"Well I have my theories: It's probably guardians who discover stuff or maybe its Vanguard drones scouting the area." Weiss theorized causing Ace to tilt his head side to side making a bit of a meh assumption. They head out into the open with mist surrounding them with the sunlight shining on parts like the rock with the tree on it but there's no Scorn running around since the report stated that whatever is in there was enough to scare them off. Ace spots something...a black figure crawling on the ground causing him to raise an eyebrow the raises his exotic weapon to prepare for an incoming fight causing him to motion Layla to follow to which she does switching to an Origin Story auto rifle while aiming her gun behind Ace as he leads the way. He hears faint whispering or lashing noises stemming from the other side of the lost sector where the treasure is located at.
The hunter spots a black yellow eyed creature of some kind that has humanoid features with spherical head and long twisted antennae making it look like something straight out of a child's drawing. Ace has seen Taken before but this is no Taken at all, it was something else and new at the same time. Weiss appears besides Ace and records the footage to stream it to the Vanguard then activates Ace's helmet cam then heads back inside his backpack. He shoots the creature causing it to explode due to the precision hit on its head.
"What the hell are these things?" Layla asks him as more begin to surround the two.
"I don't know but I think they're not Taken nor seem friendly." Ace replied while drawing his weapon while Layla aims her auto-rifle at all of them. The first one lunges towards him causing the hunter to fire his gun at the strange being's head causing it to burst while another dashes towards him but Layla shoots it down immediately while Ace moves up ahead with another jumping from behind him but he turns and shoots it while turning again to throw a knife at an incoming one. Another creature jumps towards his back but Ace ducks down and shoots it before turning around with Layla to shoot at more of them. He reloads his weapon but a creature grabs a hold on him causing Layla to to throw a knife at its back thus freeing Ace from its restraint as he nods back to Layla as a thank you. The last remaining creatures run towards the three with Layla pulling out her Black Talon sword then throws a long range energy shot at all of them in a row thus destroying the creatures.
"Okay when there are ads there's a source that can end it." He sighed as Layla walks to him.
"And I think that sources could be somewhere else. My guess is that it's where the treasure is." Layla replied causing Ace to nod in response. They move to the right spotting more of the creatures with Ace and Layla ready their weapons as Weiss notices more humanoid looking variations but still retain that antenna except longer and have claw-like hands. The pack runs towards them with Layla shooting first and Ace second one handed as their shells of their bullets drop on the ground as yet another jumps towards him as Ace throws a skip grenade at it causing the grenade to burst into tracker rounds to swarm the creature thus killing it. More head out of the cave with Layla activating her spectral blades then dashes towards the monsters then swings her blade and tears through its body with the remains vaporized by the void energy then slices more around her as another pack heads towards the huntress but Ace jumps from behind and unleashes his blade barrage at them with each knife going into their chests as they explode into solar embers from their remains. Layla turns invisible next while Ace sighs and throws a trip mine at one causing the thing to explode next to its allies while more head out of the cave with the huntress cutting past through them with Ace moving ahead but another jumps from the ground but he aims his gun backwards and shoots it next with Layla's super deactivating as the two clear the entire horde then venture into the cave.
"So any people to consult to deal with these things? My number one pick is Eris Morn." Ace asks his ghost who appears beside him. He's known Eris for a long time after all, sure he didn't learn much about Hive magic but she's actually a decent person underneath that darkness infected look on her. Layla heard about Eris before and she met her once though she creeped her out and it was only for a mission.
"Definitely! Eris probably knows about these things and where they came from." Weiss agreed and spots the center of the lost sector but with something standing there...another black cloaked figure. Ace's eyes widen alongside Layla's who aims her rifle at it assuming that it's the same one from the tower they saw earlier.
"Alright spooky, stand down cause last time I was caught off guard by your little show now I'm not gonna show some mercy a second time." Ace aims his hand-cannon at the figure who turns around while it turns to Layla aims carefully but notices a face underneath the hood...it's tan and has yellow eyes with a hint of silver hair. He summons a similar sword that the other wielded but different in design having a dark black handle with a raised spiral curve around it with the pommel and guard resembling black wings and the base has the symbol of a goat giving it a demonic design with the teeth of the blade resembling demonic wings.
"Foolish to think you can attack me with such a primitive weapon." The figure spoke looking at Ace's gun.
"Guns like this took down gods ya'know." Ace replied with a smirk underneath his helmet.
"But not ones like me..." The figure runs towards Ace with the weapon raised causing the hunter to start firing at him but he blocks the shots before suddenly vanishing then reappearing behind the hunter causing him to turn around quickly to pull out his knife then takes a brief swing to block him with sparks flying. Layla shoots another void blast from her sword but the figure blocks it again as Ace pulls out a trip mine and plants it on his back causing an explosion that knocks Ace against the wall but staggers the dark impetus leading Layla to run towards him and swing her sword left and right but he dodges and ducks before she raises it again to hit his head leading to him blocking the attack.
"So this is what you've become...a primitive" Layla roars in rage and attempts to push herself to make him fall while Ace gets up with his shield regenerating from the impact he got.
"Okay! Now I'm mad!" Ace yelled as the figure turns around briefly and gives a brief chuckle causing the hunter to aim his gun at him but he teleports away once more with another creature, much larger and muscular than the others with bandages on its face, spawns behind him and lifts the hunter causing Ace to turn around and start shooting its head but nothing is working despite a few damages to it. He struggles to move while Layla breaks the lock between her and the mysterious figure then pulls out her sidearm and starts shooting at him with the figure dashing left and right to dodge each shot she fires right before readying his sword at her but Layla does a quick dodge causing him to slash his blade against a rock.
Ace moves his legs around with the beast having its hand on his face but has an idea. He activates his super which is his golden gun and starts firing at the creature's chest thus burning it because of the light emitting from the power. It drops Ace causing him to divert his attention to the figure fighting Layla causing him to shoot at him again but the creature behind him and blocks the bullets but it burns it slightly. The hooded man fires a dark orb at Layla who shoots it causing the orb to burst but he makes a quick dash causing her to pull out her sword again to block the strike. What she doesn't know is that a black mass is beneath her feet which Ace notices. He knows what he must do...
The hunter runs around the creature while suppressing fire then pushes Layla off of the black mass and himself on it. Ace attempts to get up but he feels like something is dragging him under much to his confusion. The hooded figure vanishes into black smoke as Layla runs towards him.
"Ace!" Layla cried as Ace lifts his arm but he can't at all. Nothing is working, every step he's taking only leads him further and further to the point he's now at his head. There's no time left at all, his time has come and he knows it. Layla attempts to pull him but it makes the pull stronger as Ace looks at her for a moment knowing he's accepted his fate.
"Tell Zavala that being a Vanguard scout is the best...bet...I've ever..." The darkness takes over him as Layla screams while trying to shoot it off. Ace falls back for a moment with his view turning completely black and finds himself falling then closes his eyes.
"Get your brother to the machine, now!" A woman yelled at Ace who wakes up with a baby on his arms then looks around for a moment to see that he's in a lab. The woman has a name tag, Maya Sundaresh, as he puts him in some kind of Vex teleporter. It sparkles with the same flare as a normal teleporter would as someone takes the baby from behind it. It soon begins to malfunction and shut down.
"No, no! NO!" Maya yelled at the computer before Ace's vision fades away.
"Ace...Ace..." A muffled voice calls out to Ace in the darkness for a moment as his eyes begin to slowly open to see the sky colored in a darker shade of blue. His HUD is still active and that fact he's breathing means he's alive and well but something wasn't right at all. He slowly gets up with Weiss floating in front of his face.
"Get up you dolt! We're in some kind of weird place!" Weiss yelled at him causing him to rise into a sitting position. He's never had that dream before at all while he rises up. The hunter looks around for a moment seeing the strange area that looks like a grim yet beautiful picture with organic rocks with white veins on it, over the horizon he can see light which he assumes to be civilization meaning perhaps a quick use of a sparrow can help.
"Um Weiss? Where are we?" Ace asks his ghost worriedly for a moment.
"uM WeIsS? wHeRe aRe wE? We're in some weird place! It doesn't look like the ascendant realm at all." The female ghost mocked and screeched as Ace removes his helmet because it was getting harder to breath for a moment. He looks around for a moment trying to comprehend the situation at the moment seeing that this is some new alien world alongside the fact he can't contact the Vanguard. His sparrow would do the trick to get to the light but perhaps its better to stay on land for the time being for who knows whats inside the water.
"Alrighty then, Weiss can you do a scan? I need a layout of the land on my radar. Maybe there's some civilized society here." He ordered his ghost as she rolls her single eye then rises up into the air to give off a blue wave then lowers to her partner.
"As if anyone is gonna live here. I'm betting the Taken would...wait, I'm getting a signal. It's nearby. Just north." Weiss informed after the data came up with Ace nodding and walking along the shoreline overlooking the strange light over the horizon. This place is barren and devoid of light besides that one, it's like a realm of darkness or a meridian. His radar pings a blue signal nearby making him walk faster hoping its someone friend...he reaches the location. The hunter spots a back of a white haired woman standing on the water as if she's floating on it while his feet are deep. Something wasn't right at all with her and he can tell...
"Excuse me? Do you know where I am?" She doesn't answer but he can make out movement with her head indicating she heard him but he can make out her back clothing that consists of two cloths around her waist and the skin of her back exposed indicating she's wearing a corset of some kind.
"Your light...it reminds me someone." Those exact words immediately kicks Ace's knee jerk reaction making him open the holster of his gun. The fact she knows his light means she has something to do with the two cloaked figures and even sensing it like a dog sniffing a scent makes her more suspicious. A feeling of dread fills the air as the woman slowly turns around revealing her full form as that of wearing a black corset and two straps intersecting on her chest along with what appears to be black gloves with red tips reaching her sleeve while she wears shorts in between the two cloths on her waist. On her hand is a similar weapon that the other cloaked figures had albeit a little kid friendly-looking. The blade is adorned with stars with the teeth resembling key rows and the hilt being golden.
"Okay, I think that's my time to leave. Sorry if I was bothering you and your creepy...standing or whatever you were doing. I'll let you be!" Ace pleaded with an innocent smile while slowly backing away with Weiss preparing to revive Ace should a fight occur. The woman draws her sword at Ace and runs towards him causing Ace to draw his hand-cannon and starts firing away at the woman who blocks the incoming shots but Ace goes for the leg which grazes her a little causing her to briefly yelp in pain before coming closer to Ace then swings her sword at him but he pulls out his knife with the two weapons clanging against each other while giving off sparks as Ace ducks then turns to the woman.
"Can you please just look deep inside your heart and realize that I'm stuck here just like you?!" The hunter pleaded with the woman.
"There is no escape!" She roars at Ace causing him to throw a skip grenade at her as the tracker rounds begin to swarm her but she summons some kind of bubble around herself to protect herself causing all of the rounds to explodes but leaves herself unscathed by the explosion leaving Ace stunned with his eyes widen at the sight. The woman vanishes but reappears with duplicates of herself surrounding Ace while wandering around ominously making him wonder who's the real one while he aims his around him.
"You don't know what true loneliness is... No help ever came... I waited for so long..." The women spoke in unison as Ace looks behind him for an escape but a dark barrier is blocking the way giving him no choice but to fight her as they swarm around him. He has an idea as he jumps in the air and casts a blade barrage at all of them thus making all of them burst with one hitting the real woman and burns her slightly as she removes the knife from her shoulder with her wound healing from it. She disappears again but appears with more duplicates of herself to fire a stream of light at Ace who moves out of the way but is hit instead. The shots depletes his shield with Ace regaining his bearings as the woman and her copies turn into spinning tornado-like shapes shooting off sharp objects from them and begin to converge on him. Ace shoots his gun at the first one which causes her to stagger then runs to avoid being hit as all of them converge and form a strange star-like symbol. He shoots at her again but she turns around and fires a dark stream at him thus knocking the hunter away and making him drop his gun on the ground.
" All that's left in my heart is misery and despair...and I want you to feel it!" She roared at Ace who attempts to reach for his hand-cannon but the darkness burns his entire body making him wince in pain.
"Yeah I feel...every bone on my body. Maybe on my mind and my psyche..." Ace replied while looking at the woman as she closes in on him. The woman leaps towards Ace while yelling causing Ace to raise his right arm to cover himself. A flash light appears on his hand causing him to close his eyes then opens them slowly upon realizing that he's breathing. On his hand is a sword similar to hers and the other hooded figures but it's different. The blade is large resembling a slab of metal with the tip resembling a hunter knife alongside its teeth on its side. Its hilt has the hunter symbol on it and the arm guard surrounding the handle shaped like a square. The woman jerks her head back and eyes widen before Ace kicks her in the stomach then rolls over with the sword ready.
Face My Fears By Hikaru Utada and Skrillex.
"Hey Weiss, Check this out! I've never seen anything like this in the weapon records! Maybe I stepped on an exotic engram!" The hunter bragged before his ghost appears before him.
"I don't think there's a record period! But while this is all sorts of "fascinating" shouldn't you focus on something more important like, oh I don't know... SURVIVING THE ONSLAUGHT OF THIS PSYCHO YOU DOLT!" Weiss yelled at him as Ace smirks then swings his blade defiantly at the woman in front of him. He could feel his light surging with power on his hand. The woman runs towards him while Ace does the same as the two yell at each other as the hunter slams his blade against her with a mocking smile on his face looking back at her yellow eyes. He breaks the lock as she jumps back while Ace pulls out his hand-cannon again with some shots heading towards her but she blocks them all with Ace running full force at the woman feeling confident that he can beat her with it. Ace jumps in the air with the weapon raised as he is surrounded by solar energy that overtakes his body and sets the weapon on fire before slamming it on the ground giving off some solar burns on the woman as she growls in pain. He pulls out the Ace Of Spades again and starts firing at the woman who is hit numerous times by the shots inflicted on her with Ace moving while shooting at her. Ace swings the weapon to her side but she blocks it and fires off an electrical burst knocking Ace back but stops himself from staggering. The weapon begins to morph into a flaming pistol like a golden gun and shoots at her causing her to block them but a round passes by her shoulder.
A dark aura surrounds the woman causing Ace's eyes to widen for a moment before she unleashes a dark wave and knocks Ace on the ground and pulling down his hood. The weapon disappears again from his hand as he gets up noticing that its gone and looks at his gun on his hand while the woman rises up with all her injuries healed. He looks down at his gun in sadness as the woman teleports in front of him...and with a smile on his face, he closes his eyes knowing he's at peace now.
"...I'm coming home, Layla." Ace sadly said and aims the Ace Of Spades one last time defiantly at the menace who knocks him away with one fatal strike and dropping his gun again. He falls on the ground with his hunter outfit in tatters while crawls as the woman picks up the exotic weapon from the ground and observes the weapon on her hand then looks at Ace who is coughing in pain.
"Well...well this is awkward." The hunter coughed for a moment as she looms over him victorious from their fight. She observes the gun again which almost killed her, a primitive yet effective weapon...a perfect trophy.
"Hey...y-you got a gun I can barrow?" Ace asked trying to delay the inevitable.
" No. But...I do have a bullet. With your name on it." She replied to him and walks closer to the downed hunter like a predator closing in on a downed prey. Ace winces in pain while crawling back fruitlessly but the burns are too much for him.
"You're lucky that you're stuck here with me. Cause if you stepped into my world, they'd light you like a Dawning Tree...and destroy whatever this hellhole is this..." He continued to insult her. The woman puts her thumb on her lips with a small smile on her face knowing she has his most prized weapon and makes a shush sound with her mouth.
"Shh, shh, shh, shh..." She hushed him while brandishing the gun and wipes her hand on the barrel then turns to Ace.
"This is going to hurt...a lot." The woman takes aim at him.
"Any last words?" Of all the things Ace has seen, this takes the cake and he wishes that this was all a bad dream but it wasn't, he's going to die here and that's final...or not. He's just giving her a head start because she's pretty and gives her the chance to kill a handsome hunter like him.
"Y-You said my light reminds you of someone...who was it?" Ace asked her as she gets flashes of a blonde boy before snapping back to reality.
"Someone I knew...and you're not him." She responded.
"I always wanted to go out in the sunset with a pretty woman as a first date...meh, this counts." And to that comment, Ace sealed his face. The woman fires the gun at his head thus killing the hunter as she stands there observing the body. She turns around and begins to walk away while observing the weapon then holsters it on her back. What she doesn't know is that Weiss is behind Ace's head hiding and activates her revive ability causing Ace to open his mouth gasping for air and attempts to rise up but Weiss gets in front of his head and gently pushes him down then turns as the woman vanishes then looks at Ace.
"She's gone." Weiss notified while Ace rises up.
"And she's got my hero's gun...well lets be thankful that I got a spare." Ace replied before spawning a Hawkmoon hand-cannon while getting up for a moment to hunt her down for stealing his gun.
Layla stands before an Ahamkara bone with its spirit, Muninn, sensing her presence. She knows how these things work and takes a deep breath to make a wish to get her friend back.
The woman continues to walk in the sands...and spots a door out of nowhere. She tilts her head then heads towards it but something hits her in the back of the head revealing to be a sand ball.
"Hey! We're not done yet!" Ace's voice yelled at her.