There was a moment during Ray's freefall where the entire planet seemed to freeze in time. Below him, the citizens of Mars were enjoying this day like any other. Little did they know of the carnage that was about to take place.
The four people he once held closest to him were a mere feet away; his goal was within reach. All four of them were facing him now. He wondered for a split second if they were prepared at all for the that was about to happen. Sloane had already jumped towards him ahead of the others; who hadn't even drawn their weapons. Gabriel was turning to Jayzmyne, who was reaching for her swords. She looked very surprised. Ray would have never guessed the expression etched across Julius' face, he looked absolutely terrified.
Sloane attacked immediately with her clawed hands. When Ray blocked her hand with his shining, white blade sparks rained down below. He parried that blow, and two more before pushing his way past her; he wanted Julius. The moment he passed her Ray was met by "Fire and Ice", Jayzmyne's famed short swords. He narrowly dodged the ice, sent the fire in another direction. When he regained his focus, Julius hadn't moved an inch. The other two were gone. Perfect.
"JULIUS!!!!"
Ray brought his sword down with all his momentum from the fall. Claire was sure the sound of the steel clashing could be heard on the other side of the city. Ray's white blade was stuck in the teeth of Julius' famous sword, Dents de Requins, Shark Teeth. He could literally feel the hatred in Ray's eyes as he stared into his between their katanas.
"Where is she Julius?!" Ray screamed.
Julius smiled. "Hmph. Over two years and you start with questions. No respect!"
With a swift movement he released Ray only to knee him in his chest, and vanished. Ray picked his head up in time to barely dodge Gabriel's trident; not without grazing his cheek. Gabriel jumped into the air and before Ray could even turn his head Jayzmyne appeared with her elements in hand. He ducked under a slice and blocked a few more before they came to a clash.
"I'm glad your making the first time I'm seeing you the last Hikari. Your making this too easy for us."
"That's funny. I was just thinking the same thing."
"Then you really are as stupid as I thought."
Jayzmyne parried and jumped backward, throwing Ice at Ray in the process. Behind her, fired five shots that rang off like grenades. Ray once more knocked away the swirling, blue sword only to be hit by three of Sloane's bullets. He could feel two of his ribs break as one passed through his abdomen. She also got him in his shoulder and thigh. The pain was tremendous. Ray dropped down to one knee and glaring at Sloane; who returned with an ice cold stare.
This was the same strategy they used the first time. It was a plan of attacking their Master had taught them, and Julius perfected. And it was simple enough, attacking separately and together simultaneously. When Julius decided to use to while he was in charge, he made it so only the one attacking was visible to the target at all times instead of one all out attack. This way, the combinations were nearly endless, it terribly scared the opponent, and with the right assassins was nearly indefensible. Unless, you're an assassin of their skill level.
Ray began to notice how quiet it was around him. He could only hear the water from the fountain and the far off city noises apart from his own breathing, and wondered if it was from blood loss. Sloane stood motionlessly; watching.
"This isn't going to work you know. I knew what you were doing the first time, I was just in too much shock to react properly. I nearly stopped you all last time. The same strategy won't work twice, you have to know that. You know if this keeps up, I will kill you all right here." Ray grinned as he staggered back to his feet.
"Those are strong words for someone getting up from their knees."
"There she is! Are you ready to talk to me now?" Ray exclaimed genuinely shocked.
"There's nothing to say. Spare me your sorry ass apologies."
"I never said I wanted to apologize Sloane. I want to talk."
"There's nothing to talk about Ray! You just need to disappear!" She screamed.
"What if I told you I still loved you?"
Her eyes widened from his words, and at that very moment, Julius silently appeared behind Ray; his sword poised for attack. Ray spun around in an instant and blocked his attack, dodged his next one, and followed up with his own. Julius jumped back and Ice landed between them. Jayzmyne landed atop her short sword and jumped towards him; Fire in hand. She swung and Ray dodged effortlessly and grabbed her arm. Jayzmyne let out a terrible scream as Ray pierced her stomach with his blade. She grabbed his coat with her free hand and pulled her face next to his. Jayzmyne whispered is her most sinister voice:
"I fucking hate you...So much..."
Ray smiled as he slowly removed his blade, she spit blood on his face. He slammed her body as hard as he could. Her body was light and her bones snapped on impact, she could hear them. Jayzmyne coughed up blood on the ground next to her head as Ray walked over to his quarry; listening carefully her his other prey. They were due for an appearance. He stood over her and spun is sword around and held in over her heart.
"The sentiment is the same. And this is where it ends." Ray uttered the words in his coldest voice.
Jayzmyne watched, her body paralyzed from Ray's blow, helpless to move or defend herself. She could see the fury in his eyes as he stared down at her. He brought his blade down and it met with the shaft of Gabriel's trident. Ray flipped back away from them. Midway he saw Sloane rushing towards him with her claws bared. She attacked before he could land on the ground. Ray guarded and she retaliated swinging a clawed hand at his head. He vanished, she missed, and the car behind them with cut to pieces and exploded from her attack. Ray landed atop a food truck parked across from where she was standing. He looked to where Jayzmyne and Gabriel were and they were gone. However, there was twice as much blood on the ground than before. Ray turned back to Sloane. Gone. With no warning Julius fell from above with another silent assault, Ray barely dodged this time; watching his blade past inches away from his face. They exchanged a vicious exchange of attacks. Flashes of steel and bodies appearing and disappearing again was all that could be seen to an untrained eye. A strike couldn't be landed between them. Suddenly, Sloane appeared behind Ray and Julius guided him in her path. She went for his head and he dodged as if he had eyes behind him. In one fluid motion he dodged her next attack and shot at an escaping Julius, grazing his face twice and hitting his dominant shoulder. Sloane continued her assault. Ray swung his sword at her and she grabbed it with one hand.
"NOW I'LL TAKE YOUR HEART!" She roared.
Sloane thrusted her other clawed hand and went straight into Ray's chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bruno stared expressionlessly out the window of his airship as it passed silently through space. They were about to enter the atmosphere of his destination, Pluto, when his PPC started to vibrate next to him. He lifted up his sunglasses and looked at it. The caller was unknown. Bruno's first thought was to ignore it, then he suddenly realized who it probably was. So he put it on the screen in front of him.
It wasn't who he expected. Instead of the leader of all assassins, instead he was met by a blonde haired woman with electric yellow eyes. Her wavy hair was covered at the top by at jet black bandana tied around her head. It matched perfectly with her blouse of the same color and her coat the same; trimmed in the same electric yellow as her eyes.
Having caught his attention he sat up in his chair. He was grinning and didn't realize it.
"Bruno Krona. You are en route to meet with the King of Stars correct?" She spoke in a very professional voice.
"And who would like to know that?" He replied through a smile.
"I'm calling you on his behalf."
"The King has painfully beautiful women like you making his calls for him?"
"I'm not his fucking secretary if that's what your implying." Her elegant tone disappeared.
"Unless you tell me who you are …" Bruno teased.
"I had heard you were an asshole."
"Really? From who?" Bruno was notorious for flirting with most of the women he met.
"My partner. We are...emissary's, of sorts, for the King."
His brows came together above his sunglasses. He had never heard of a duo working for the King directly. This worried him.
"Right. So are you coming to kill me? I might like that."
She let out a dry laugh. Bruno's flirting was starting to annoy her.
"Your appointment with the King has been canceled. A matter has come up the requires his immediate attention."
"He went through all this trouble to get me here to cancel? I'm about to enter Pluto's airspace."
"Sorry? I'm relaying a message. If it make's you feel any better, it's more-or-less your fault."
"And how is this my fault sweetheart?"
She rolled her eyes before replying. "Ray Hikari is currently engaged with his former team on Mars."
"His former- He's taking on all four of them alone?!"
"Yes. And according to my intel, you were the one who set this chain of events into motion by telling Sloane Solera that Ray Hikari was on Earth in Starlight City. Correct?"
Bruno grinned. He needed to know if that information had gotten out. Now he needed to find out how.
"I had no own intentions, I had no idea I was playing into the King's hand."
"Hmph. Don't be so smug. This has actually become quite the nuisance for us. The King will contact you when this situation is back under control. So we'll be in touch. In the meantime he says, "Keep the sails steady. There's a storm coming." Goodbye Bruno Krona."
The screen vanished from in front of him and Bruno sat back in his chair. He sighed and looked out the window. Now he was in Pluto's atmosphere over the city of Phrost. It was nighttime. The city lights shown brightly off of Pluto's snow-covered landscape. He reached into his coat and pulled out a vial of orange and neon-red Gaia. He pulled the cap off with his teeth and drank the whole thing down in one shot.
"I guess I should try and make this trip productive." He muttered; annoyed. "She didn't even tell me her name."
A moment later he got a message on his PPC from an unknown number. It simply read, "You can call me The Messenger".
He grinned and stood up to get ready to disembark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Claire was one of the last bystanders at the fountain almost 30 minutes into the fray aside from a few people recording the events on their PPC's. She had done almost three laps around the statue to gain a better vantage point while staying out of harms way like she promised. With things looking how they were, she didn't want to distract Ray and subsequently get him hurt.
She made it to her new vantage point just in time to Sloane suddenly appear and dig her claw into Ray's chest. His clutch on her wrist was the only thing stopping her from tearing his heart from his chest. Sloane could feel every panicked beat of his heart inches away from the palm of her hand. Julius watched closely from the arm of the war god.
Ray could see tears welling up in Sloane's eyes. He could feel the muscles in her wrist struggle to close her hand around one of his most vital organs. Ironic almost, he couldn't help but think. Ray felt he deserved to die this way, and this was the second time she attempted this same thing; etched into his skin still were the scars from the last assault. He knew he was solely responsible his eyes witnessed once more one of his most hated sights, tears rolling down Sloane's face.
"Let me go! I promise I'll take it as slow as I can." She growled through her tears.
"If I feel even a twitch, I'll snap your arm in two." He warned.
Sloane smirked and Ray reflected her expression.
"Your bluffing. If you were going to hurt me you would have killed me on Earth. You can't kill me? Can you?" Her voice was almost seductive.
"I could see why you would think that sweetheart, and you might be right. I don't think I could bring myself to end your life. But I will definitely hurt you."
Ray closed his fist, crushing Sloane's forearm in the process. Before she could react to the horrific pain in her arm he pulled her bloody claw from his body. Sloane released his sword, and Ray went to strike, and was stopped by Gabriel's trident falling from the sky. Sloane dropped to her knees clutching the shoulder of her crushed arm; blood dripping from her fingertips. Gabriel appeared next to his trident and picked it up as he kneeled down next to her.
"That looks like it hurts." He jested.
"Shut up!" She screamed in agony. It was the most pain she had felt in years. Opponents seldomly landed attacks; let alone one of this magnitude.
"Well at least he didn't ruin your tattoos."
Sloane couldn't help but grin and glace down at her forearm. Hidden amongst all the artwork, up and down, Ray Hikari; thirteen times.
"No...He would never do that to me..."
Gabriel cold hear Ray coughing up blood a few feet away. He was clutching the wound on his chest. Blood ran down his hand, his arm, and his mouth. Sloane's attack had done more damage than he thought. Ray noticed he couldn't hear the rushing water from the fountain anymore. He looked up and he could see Gabriel stand up and start making his way toward him through blurry eyes. Ray was losing too much blood. Claire watched from the other side of the fountain in horror; her skin was as white as snow. It was all she could to do to not call out to him.
Julius pulled his PPC from his coat pocket. Unknown number. He answered. A woman's voice rang in his ear. She spoke very eloquently; like a secretary.
"Julius Silver?"
"Yes. To whom do I owe the pleasure?" Julius watched Gabriel slowly make his way over to a severely injured Ray.
"I'm calling you on behalf of the King of Stars. He says, and I quote, "Ray will accomplish his mission is you don't retreat immediately.""
Julius was silent for a moment. He almost didn't know how to respond.
"And what make's him so sure of that? One of ours is about to deliver the killing blow now."
She sighed; frustrated. This couldn't be simple like she'd hoped. Julius didn't seem as reasonable as she was told.
"Yes. We know." The Messenger said trying to keep her patience. "Listen I'll cut the bullshit. He told me about on your last Contract on Titan. 127 dead in 13 minutes. And he almost killed all of you in the process. Speaking of, Gabriel is probably the most familiar of all of you of Ray's...let's say abilities. That's what about to happen to you. Make your choice."
Julius' eyes widened as the Messenger disconnected. Gabriel was already standing in front of Ray.
"You look like shit." Gabriel said looking down on his old friend. He almost pitied him at this moment.
"Where's Jayzmyne? Did I kill her? I was trying to." Ray taunted.
"You do realize that your pretty much dead now, don't you? This is over. You tried. But you would have been far better of taking us out individually. Then, you may have actually pulled it off."
Ray started to laugh but was interrupted by a haggard cough and more blood as he pulled himself to his feet.
"Looks like Sloane got your lung. I'm amazed your still coherent let alone standing. Your truly a monster, Ray Hikari."
"Right. And like monsters do I'm going to destroy everything." He was smiling with blood dripping from his chin.
"Your in no position to say that. And no condition to fight anymore. I have more respect for you than to kill you now. However..." Gabriel started to spin his trident at his side.
"Do your worst Gabriel. You deserve revenge." He conceded.
"As much as you do Ray..."
"No...I deserve it way more than you. I think you all know that..."
Ray looked up, his right pupil had totally morphed into a five point star, and glowed a bright white.
"And that's exactly why I'm going to kill you!"
Julius jumped off the statue towards them, sword in hand.
"GABRIEL GET OUT OF THERE!!!"
It was already too late. Before Gabriel could move from his position, Ray slashed his chest wide open. Blood sprayed high into the air. Ray went to deliver to final strike to his former ally and Julius appeared blocking Ray's attack. A vicious onslaught ensued by Ray and Julius was held on the defensive. Gabriel collapsed in a heap on the ground. The pool in the fountain was stained by the spray of blood. Sloane looked on in horror. She had seen Ray like this a few times. And every time he left a pile of corpses in his wake. A familiar chill ran deep through her body.
Ray swung his sword and an arc of what looked like pure white light hurled toward Julius, who had returned to his perch on the bicep of Apollo. The light sliced through the stone like a scalpel to flesh and fell with a huge splash into the fountain. The resulting sound snapped Sloane out of her daze and she gathered Gabriel from where he lay bleeding while Julius continued to fend off Ray.
"Julius! Gabriel will die if I don't get him out of here right now! He's bleeding way too much!"
Sloane had managed to get Gabriel onto her back with her good arm; Now blood flowed from his body all over her.
He appeared in front of her a moment later. He seemed to had gotten away from Ray's relentless attack.
"Then do it! I'll join up with you once I take care of this!" Sloane had never seen Julius more frantic.
"If you try to beat him now he will kill you Julius! You HAVE to know that!! Come with me this is over!" She pleaded.
"Just go Sloane! I'll handle this."
Ray appeared in the pool of the fountain. He was walking slowly towards them leaving a trail of his blood in the water. Even though he was fueled entirely by rage at this point, his body was beginning to quit on him. His sword glowed like a blade of light in his hand. The star that was now his eye shone even brighter.
"Your fucking stupid! Your going to die trying to settle a stupid vendetta over that fucking bitch!" She screamed.
He suddenly stopped his advance and faded from sight again.
"SLOANE JUST LEAVE NOW!!!" He bellowed
She snarled, cursing his name, and finally obeyed his order. The moment she did Ray appeared in front of him, sword raised for an attack. Julius barely raised his weapon in time to parry. When the tip of the sword touched the ground, and explosion comparable to a land mine went off. Julius jumped high into the air out of the dust cloud to get a better vantage point. He was the smoke part Ray's vicinity. Julius was high enough that he couldn't see his face, just his glowing eye shining below him like a star. As he raised his sword to position himself for an attack Ray appeared directly in front in mid-air once again ready to attack.
"This speed! How is it even possible?!?"
In one swift thrust Ray ran his sword through Julius' abdomen and they both plummeted back to the planet. Julius slammed into the ground with the blade of light still piercing his body. Ray landed on top of him, pinning Julius to the ground with his sword; his hand never left it's hilt. Julius spewed blood on the ground next to him. One of his organs was cut; he could still feel Ray's blade on it. Too dangerous to move. Even if he could, Ray had one of his feet firmly planted on his sword. Defenseless, Julius watched his rival kneel down close to him. He couldn't look away from his shining star.
"Where..is Maria?" Ray's voice was artic.
Julius' eyes widened in shock then he managed a laugh..
"So your not the mindless monster I've always thought. Your coherent...Interesting..."
Ray twisted his sword and Julius howled in pain only to be stopped by his mouth filling with more blood. He opened his eyes to the barrel of Ray's pistol only a few inches from his face. Ray slowly pulled the hammer back as he spoke.
"Last chance..."
Julius was still able to flash his smug grin with blood running from the corner of his mouth.
"Do it."
End Chapter 6