Chapter 85: Countdown to the Apocalypse
The heroes' forces were scrambling around the world in search of the nukes. Taking one sector of the sky each to themselves, they went as fast as possible to catch up, but not so fast that they risked ramming into it.
All of them shared the same fear that Prometheus had set things up so the nukes would go off prematurely if disrupted. Beyond that, they also wanted to try and get this problem solved before the greater world saw what they were doing.
Because while history claims that all nuclear weaponry was dismantled, who was to say that some unsavory forces hadn't tried rebuilding their supply in secret?
All it'd take is any excuse to ignite World War 3.
Riku in particular held this fear the strongest, but he was able to keep focused by thinking about the family he left behind, and the pride he felt towards his daughter for giving them a fighting chance against this threat.
Otherwise, he would have woken up today to a nuclear sky, where under such intense waves of fire, even beings like him would burn.
For attempting to curse the world to such a morbid fate, he hoped that his brother would crush that man to paste in lieu of his absence.
And with these thoughts fully circulated through his head, Riku looked forward and was relieved to see the first nuke in his sights.
Indeed, it was reforged with Catherine's metal, carrying a sleek silver-purple sheen, and approaching ground zero rapidly.
He recognized that he did not know just how many nukes they were dealing with, until he remembered the devices his daughter doled out just before Prometheus arrived.
While approaching the nuke he pulled out said device and saw many coordinates flooding the South America continent. He took a moment to think about their locations and what may be off about them.
It was only then that he realized there were very precise gaps between the coordinates, where if you determined the center point of them, is likely where the nukes would be landing.
"Six here…"
He tensed up at the thought, for the nukes being this far down left all of them…maybe ten minutes each to disarm them.
He then noticed this device also functioned as a communicator. What a clever girl…
He smiled and stuck close to the first nuke while getting in contact with the others, simultaneously using his senses to maybe determine how this bomb ticked.
"Can anyone hear me?"
"Loud and clear, honey." His wife answered, "I just came across the first nuke in my area."
"F-First nuke…?!" Kairi blurted on the line.
"Yes, triangulate the center points of each group of crates to find out how many nukes are in your sector, Kairi." Riku said, finishing his examination of the machine's inner workings.
"So how do we stop these things? Should I just bust them open? I can take the heat if they blow up!" Solaris proclaimed.
"Don't do that!" Kairi shouted in desperation.
Riku hummed, "No, he's not far off. Despite a different exterior, these wield the same functions as a regular nuke."
Solaris wondered, "Meaning…?"
Lunis answered, "They're set up with an internal clock that makes them go off roughly a 1000 feet before hitting the ground."
"Because there's a process involved that separates a nuke from a bomb. A nuke does not actually set off a nuclear payload until-"
Riku chuckled but had to hasten this conversation, "What my wife is trying to say is that should we quickly destroy the nuke, the worst that'll happen is a regular explosion."
"Perfect! I love it when a plan comes together!" Solaris declared.
Kairi groaned, "You still should be careful, your flames absolutely could set them off!"
Auris then interjected, "On the other hand, we Aurians are perfectly prepared to contain the explosions…should your estimate be off, Riku, Lunis."
Riku closed his eyes and hummed, "You're right. Please be the first to dismantle the nukes, Auris."
"My my, trying to get rid of me again? And here I thought our grudge was past…" Auris teased him, but then put her communicator away and drew her sword and shield, calling upon her warrior's instincts once again.
"To think, I would come to curse the lack of foresight…" She then flew at the nuke and delivered a swift and precise cut through the entire thing, using her aura to ensure she hit the clock in the first stroke.
She then froze in place and slid her sword along her shield, as hundreds of cuts sliced the nuke apart, along with withering the ensuing explosion to nothingness.
She then coolly brushed her hair and put out the device, "One down…Let's ensure the rest go down just as smoothly."
"Right." Everyone else declared before signing off.
Meanwhile, back at the White House…
Erin and Serra are squaring off inside of the Oval Office. Joe Dark continues to sit in his prison, while Catherine remains unconscious.
The two cousins are free to pace themselves around the room and measure each other up. Serra lets a little flicker of blue fire out of her body while Erin's darkness continues to fill the room, devouring anything that wasn't human in pitch black colors.
Erin leaned her head back in a cocksure fashion and smirked, "What's the matter, cuz? Afraid I'll lay you out flat the moment you strike?"
Serra smiled back, "Actually, I was gonna let you have the first strike, Eri!"
Erin grit her teeth and quickly muttered, "Quit calling me that…!"
But then she settled down a little, her voice dripping with venom as her eyes oozed with red light, "You know what? I INSIST. The first punch is all yours."
Serra raised her head and tightened her fists, "You SURE about that? No take-backs."
Erin grinned with delight, "I am far beyond your strength now. Your punches will feel like pebbles in the wind…! For I have-"
The next thing she knew she was punched clean in the gut and sent crashing through one of the few intact windows, where she skipped along the ground like a stone for a few hundred feet.
Serra raised her head with her fist still outstretched, blinking a few times in confusion, "...Uhhh, Eri?"
The darkness left the room through the window and sped after where Erin had gone.
"Heh, leave it to Mew to train his kids up strong…"
Serra turned to Joe Dark in his cage and waved at him, "Hey Prez! How you doing?"
Joe Dark closed his eyes and sighed, "Confused…mostly. But let me give you a word of advice…"
He opened his eyes with a deadly serious look, "Please be careful with Erin. You don't know what's taken hold of her."
Serra punched her fists together, "Relax, Uncle Prez! I'm gonna give Eri my 100% all!"
A sharp object sped by and cut her along the bridge of her nose. After a brief flinch she turned to the left and swung a few punches at more incoming objects.
She shattered a few, but others disappeared into a dark mist. The confusion this brought on let others cut into her coat and skin.
As Serra hunched down and started pulling her fist back, one blink was all it took for Erin to lunge back into the Oval Office surrounded by deep red lances, and with one quick spiral she returned the full force of Serra's punch straight into her jaw.
Serra locked up with a grin as she went flying out of the last undamaged window and tumbled onto the grass.
A flurry of lances pursued her and tore up more of her coat and skin.
Erin then jumped out of the Oval Office with a dark induced splash, recalling the lances to her side while levitating off the ground.
"How could you still have that much power in reserve?!" She shouted in frustration.
Serra locked into place and paid no mind towards the numerous cuts on her arms, "Ah, it ain't that complicated, Eri! I just didn't wanna beat you too badly before!"
She then grinned and said sincerely, "But now that you're stepping up this much, I can stop holding back!"
She then pulled off her jacket and swung it away before declaring, "Though I ain't about to let you ruin my favorite jacket!"
Erin grit a scowl and muttered, "You've been…holding back on me?"
Serra gave her signature blank stare, "Uhhh, yeah!"
"H-How dare you…?!" Erin lashed her hands out and declared, "Even after all these years apart, I continued to improve myself because I wanted to surpass you! But you, but you…! I was never even on your radar to begin with!"
She threw her hand up and sent the lances miles into the sky, "All I was to you…!"
She slammed her hand downwards and declared, "Was another easy win to gloat about!"
"What, no. I-" Serra felt a tingle on the back of her neck and looked up to see those lances come crashing down like spears from heaven, albeit bathed in the crimson light of Hell.
Serra ran forward, daring the lances to hit her with her every step. And even as the ground became broken up at her feet she jumped and leaped after her cousin ready to sock her across the jaw again.
"Here I come, Eri!"
When Serra threw her punch however, she shattered through glass and tumbled onto the ground, finding herself where her sprint started.
"Eh?" She noted how weird this felt, like she had gone through this before.
No time to think it over, as if that was her forte anyways, as she looked up just in time for all of Erin's lances to bombard her deep into the ground, ending off with a wailing pillar of black and red energy erupting from the hole.
Erin alternated between panting with joy and widening her grin, recalling her lances with a swing of the hand out, "Do you acknowledge me now, Serra?! Am I finally strong now, Serra?!"
"Whew…!" Serra's exhale echoed out of the deep crater as she bounced off the sides of it and climbed her way back up to barely solid ground looking a little roughed up, but otherwise carrying her usual bouncy energy.
"Not a bad upgrade, Eri!" She closed her eyes and grinned, "You're hitting almost as hard as pops does during our training!"
She then pumped her fist out and declared, "As expected from my rival and friend!"
Erin's eyes bulged and she gnashed her teeth, "I…I am only your friend in your made up little world! And if that's where you want to live, I will oblige your demands!"
Erin laser focused her gaze into Serra's eyes the moment they reopened, and the next thing Serra knew she was playing in her garden at home with a younger Erin.
She could tell that because Erin wore glasses back then, and had a little bit of acne on her cheeks.
She loved pulling Erin away from her books and getting her to run around, and Erin always seemed to be happiest when she let it happen instead of resisting.
After a little bit of time running around and laughing, Serra let Erin go, causing the scared girl to murmur, "W-Where are you going, Serra? Don't leave…"
Serra paused and looked around, and then a moment later was her older self triumphantly holding her fist up and declaring, "Sorry little Eri, but I gotta get back to fighting big Eri! But it was nice playing with you for a few seconds! Your big self is really strong now!"
Serra then quickly threw a punch out that shattered the sky around her like glass, and immediately her knuckles met with a massive orb of darkness with a pulsating red core.
"Whoa!" She declared as even with her heels digging into the dirt, the orb was managing to give her a hard time.
"How is that possible, my illusions should be insurmountable, especially for a DUNCE like you!" Erin flew off the ground and squeezed her hand tightly, commanding the lances to surround her like a ring of rose petals, and then firing them all off at various arcs.
Serra's instinct to dodge them caused her to forget the orb pressuring her, and she was slammed mid-leap past the crater and into traffic with the orb continuing to wear her down with the evils of darkness.
"Well this won't do!" Serra fought tooth and nail to get back on the ground, where she smashed her feet into the concrete until her heels slammed into the sidewalk.
She then started rapid-firing punches into the orb until her fists were burning with bright blue fire.
And once the orb had been slowed down enough she hit it with a mighty backswing to send it flying thousands of feet into the sky, where it exploded into a bigger sphere before collapsing inside of a red vortex.
Serra's ferocious and triumphant smile was highlighted by the red flare on the right, and her blue flames on the left, "Heh heh heh…!"
As Erin's darkness continued to swell out of her body, she cursed her cousin's persistence, "Always with that damn smile…!"
She flashed back to their time together as children, "A-Always pulling me around wherever you please…!"
She wanted to escape the fact that she was even thinking about these damn memories to begin with, "Why…why are you so insistent on being a part of my life…?!"
As Serra ran back to the White House yard, the citizens, going about their business as usual, started to recognize movement in the air that felt…off.
Serra stepped up in front of Erin's immense pressure with a determined stride, raising her fist with a declaration of, "Now I get it, you're doing something funny with your eyes that makes me see things!"
"Heh heh, it'll take more than funny tricks to beat me, Eri!" Serra hunched over and tightened her fists to go another round.
Erin fanned her hand apart on her face to reveal the crimson hue of her eyes had practically devoured her pupils, leaving only the definite exuding of jealousy and hate present in her expression, "You want my best, Serra…?! I'll give it to you! I will not let you humiliate me anymore!"
As she let out that scream, she lashed her arms out and darkness erupted from her body for hundreds of yards out, causing the illusion she had strained to maintain to start melting away in the eyes of the city's people.
Meanwhile…
Leo is in the middle of engaging Alex in close combat.
Alex attacks with quick, precise stabs of his fingers, like his hands had been turned into blades.
All for the sake of trying to slice through Leo's aura, which bolstered the defenses of his counterattacks.
Leo landed a few solid good punches to Alex's chest but felt guilty every time.
"This shouldn't be this way, we're family."
But when he looked into his cousin's eyes and saw him getting more and more into this brawl, he thought back to all the times Alex had worried about voices in his head.
And wondered…maybe he should've paid closer attention to the signs.
He chose to believe this irrational behavior wasn't entirely his doing, and kept mounting the best mix of offense and defense he could muster.
After exchanging a few more blows, Alex lurched upright and pulled back, shaking his sore right hand.
Leo needed to catch his breath, and both of them realized the same thing…
But Alex was the one who vocalized their thoughts, "Our bodies aren't used to this. But I'll admit…you hit a lot harder than your personality would suggest, Leo."
Leo looked at his fists and knew this type of fighting was unbecoming of him.
Heck, he only had a fighting chance simply because of who his parents were.
"I'm not going to deny it," He whispered, before pointing his fist at Alex, "But regardless of whether this power is rightfully mine, I'll stop you…No, save you from whatever is happening to you, Alex."
"Oh," Alex replied with dull disappointment, then fanned his hand in front of his chest, "You think somethings wrong with me?"
"Wrong, Leo. T-T-This IS me." He quickly grabbed the side of his head and breathed heavily.
Leo felt a deep evil rooting itself further into Alex's aura. And worse, that Alex seemed mostly fine with accepting his presence.
The bloody aura around him got thicker, and Leo found himself stabbed through the soul with pure aggression off Alex's glare.
"Just a little…just a little more…!" Alex then smiled and the next thing Leo knew he was sent flying through the air towards the Washington Monument.
Leo conjured up his aura quickly around his body to shield against Alex' quick flurry of cuts from his hands.
He zipped in and out of sight for each strike, building up laughter until his final strike manifested as a misshapen spear of blood that slammed Leo into the side of the monument.
Leo pressed his hands back and Alex pulled in closer along the spear, slamming his hand against Leo's chest to hold him down.
Leo narrowed his gaze and took a deep breath, "It's not much, but I did pick up a few ideas from my parents…"
He pushed the aura out from his very soul to create a powerful burst that knocked Alex straight into the ground.
Leo then bounced off the monument and flicked a few projectiles at Alex to keep him down.
But then blood rose around Alex and protected him in a spherical cage.
By the time Leo broke through with a continuous bombardment, Alex was gone, and he felt a chill on the back of his neck.
"Behind you."
Leo turned around and crossed his arms up to block Alex's punch, and then Alex zigzagged in his pursuit to delay how soon his punches would ground Leo.
Once Leo had solid footing he was able to hold back Alex's monstrous strength just barely.
He struck him with a few aura projectiles and then fired off another burst.
But Alex sprung right back into the thick of things and toppled him off-balance with a second smash.
He then swung his arm at the ground to carry Leo into the water with a wave of blood.
"This isn't working…" He looked back at the water and after calming his nerves he pulled out his harmonica and played a calming melody on it.
The water responded to his call and lashed back against the blood to wash it away.
Leo then floated in place and kept playing to guide the water to crash down upon Alex, where it swirled around into a rapidly striking whirlpool that continued to shrink down until it burst.
Alex was launched in the aftermath, and Leo was surprised that it even worked.
It gave him breathing room to get back to solid ground, but he noticed that the people were looking at the pond funny.
He looked up at the sky and saw it gain a slight shade of red.
His heart started to feel cold, and he worried for things on Serra's end.
He then looked at Alex to see him hunched over while he stood, the water rapidly burning off his body.
"Heh…not bad, Leo." Alex said sincerely.
Leo heard foul whispers inside of his heart that mocked him, telling him to run.
And maybe he should've. But he stood by and tried to reach out for his cousin, "Alex, settle down and let's talk this out…please."
"..." With a deep, unsettling hum, Alex proceeded to raise his head slowly, "Did you know that when I was younger, I was drawn to sharp objects?"
"Kids are curious, I know. But this isn't that. I…I wanted to cut myself open, and free what was inside of me."
"All my life…I-I just wanted control. And to be happy, peacefully."
"But nobody wants you to be happy if you're not normal. I love children's cartoons even though I've outgrown them. I HATE religion and the moralistic views spun out of it. B-But most importantly…"
He raised his head up high and smiled with a glaze over his eyes, "I want to love my sister."
Leo felt a tiny bit sick to his stomach, "A-Alex, you couldn't possibly mean…"
Alex pointed his finger out, "What, are you going to join the masses who can't think for themselves? So what if I feel this way about her? She's an incredible woman!"
Leo wanted to believe that this wasn't Alex's voice coming through even now, "Alex, please fight this."
Alex murmured softly, "I can't fight this, Leo. I don't even want to."
He gestured his arms out and his aura started to bleed on the ground, "Sometimes…the right thing to do is lose control."
Leo backed away on instinct before the blood exploded up and around Alex, who craned his head back and declared, "It's time…for us to show our true faces to the world!"
The blood enveloped him like a cocoon with a crunching sound.
Leo heard murmurs from the crowd followed by panicked screams.
The sky was growing redder like the blood was being wrung out of it.
Erin's illusion was over. It was too late to take this all back…
Leo turned around and shouted, "Everyone get out of here, now!"
Anyone who wasn't paralyzed with fear grabbed their belongings and family and ran.
But it didn't take long for the police to turn up and pull out their guns aimed at the cocoon.
"No!" Leo shouted.
The world trembled with a color disorienting pulse coming from the cocoon, which made a sound like a heartbeat.
Cracks formed on a shell and ruptured like a blood vessel, as savage wings made of puss and veins unfurled from within and spread ten feet wide each.
Throbbing and spewing with blood, the wings stitched together through sinew, and white blood cells flooded out of the blood and into the remnants of the cocoon.
Alex rose out of it with the white blood cells wreathing him in a blasphemous holy robe with long, "feathery" sleeves and deep red sash. His hair became bleached black, his smile gloriously expressing ecstasy at his release.
As the last cells ended the robe at his feet, the sky turned pure red, the clouds remaining the purest white shade.
His sole revealed eye had red sclera and a pitch white pupil, the veins throbbing down his cheek.
The police started firing upon him and the bullets pierced through his body with bloody splatters emerging from the other side.
Alex took one look to the right and scoffed, then snapped his fingers.
Leo was forced to watch in horror as the police officers started melting into the ground…
No. Their flesh and bone were being turned into pure blood.
Leo grit his teeth and fear overcame him, prompting him to look at his cousin and shout, "Alex, that's ENOUGH!"
"No…" Alex gestured his hand to the left and snapped his fingers again, "We lust for more…!"
The few stragglers in the crowd were reduced to bloody paste in seconds, screaming at the unknown sensations depriving them of life.
Not even pets or children were spared.
And throughout all this, Alex unleashed a mad howl and raised his hands to the sky, calling the blood spilled to stream above him and forge a blade as long as the span of one of his wings, with sharp fangs protruding incoherently along it.
He snatched the blade into his right hand and immediately pointed it at Leo's face.
Leo felt like he had already been cut down, but this was Alex's "mercy".
The evil sensation pulsing inside of Alex's aura had now fully enveloped his body and soul. It was so thick, that it could no longer be described as an aura, but something worse…something more primal.
By Leo's own admission, the only person he knew that exuded this sort of pressure before was his father.
"I-I can't…do anything…" And the fear paralyzed him to the bone.
"Weep, Leo. Weep for your powerlessness. T-This is…me at my…peak…!"
Even now, he found himself grabbing the side of his head and scowling.
Leo fought past his fears long enough to pay close attention to his cousin, noticing that his body was trembling and the haunting presence struggled to hold itself together.
"L-Leo…this is your last chance…to get out of here! O-Otherwise, we will…we will…!"
"What can I even do?" Leo looked at his bracelet and felt downtrodden, "Even if I used my Drive, it's not…useful for fighting."
As many retreating noises signaled the fear in human hearts taking hold, he became empathetic to this fear and wanted to fall down to his knees and accept his fate.
But one solitary noise…pushed forward, their heels clacking against the stone pavement.
He felt someone pat him on the back and lifted his head up to see none other than Alura standing between him and Alex.
"M-Mom…?" Alex fended off his pain to instead replace it with confusion.
Leo managed to find the strength to stand up, "You…"
Alura, dressed in her stage clothes, had her eyes slightly alight as she looked over her shoulder and commented, "This was pretty reckless, Leo."
She was calm, albeit the way her brows slanted suggested she was somewhat irritated by this turn of events.
She turned her head up to face her son, who smiled with pure insanity, "Hello, mother."
"Haaa…" Alura closed her eyes and shook her head, "Sorry you had to face this, Leo. This is…TOTALLY my fault."
Leo wondered, "You…know what's going on with him."
"It's a long story, and I promise to tell you afterwards. But right now I need you to focus. Alex can still be saved."
That confidently uttered declaration of success resonated with Leo's spirit and helped him to stand upright, but still left him pondering his role in all this, "Can I even be of any help?"
"Sure!" Alura cocked her head back with a smile, "Though where'd your sister…"
She lingered on that thought for a few moments before realizing, "Never mind, I can take a wild guess. We'll leave my stupid daughter to her."
"Mother!" Alex shouted, "Don't IGNORE me…!"
Alura jerked her head back and shouted, "Don't take that tone with me! Especially with my son's face!"
Alex? grinned and gestured both hand and sword out arrogantly, "But mother, we are your son! After all, you gave birth to us!"
Alura propped her hands on her hips and firmly leaned towards him with a blunt, "My SON is Alex Dark! And you will not befoul his brilliant young mind with your burden of sin, Leviathan!"
Alex? pulled his head back and laughed, "Burden? From the day we were born, we grew our own sin, and I simply fed on it when it was ripe for the taking!"
"Our relationship is symbiotic! We give each other the power to take what we want! If you want to pin the blame on anything for our birth, look no further than your own negligence, Alura Dark!"
Alura closed her eyes and groaned in disbelief, "You don't know a thing about me, or anyone in our family for that matter…"
She then let her eyes flare open as she proclaimed, "But I don't need to justify myself to you! I'm taking my son BACK from your wretched grasp!"
"Oh you poor deluded mother of ours…" Alex gripped his sword tightly, "You don't even know what the source of your son's sins truly are. And if you learned…it'd destroy your very soul!"
"Isn't that right…Leo?"
Leo flinched but Alura quickly thrust her arm out and remarked, "Leo, I don't want nor need to hear it. I have my suspicions…"
She then clenched her fist and twisted her body in a diagonal standing pose, "But nothing will stop me from fighting back against this evil. So…are you ready to put on a damn good show for this demon?"
"..." Leo remembered how he had first found his courage in this fight, wanting to make it back alive for Lyra's sake. And now, he truly understood why she looked up to Alura as much as she did.
He stepped up beside her and tapped his Drive Stone, the Conductor Drive, causing his aura to flare up with a symphony of harmonious chimes.
"Lead the way, aunt."
Alura smirked and thrust her fist down, summoning a ring of crystalline pikes around her back, "You got it!"
Alex spread his wings against the bleeding light of the sun and shook the world with but a mere raise of his hand, "Don't you get it? You have BOTH been deemed irrelevant! Spend your last moments cowering…you will face our divine judgment!"
Back at the White House…
As Erin's powers continued to swell, Joe Dark looked up at the increasingly bloodier sky and felt sick to his stomach, lamenting his part in allowing this to happen…
And as much as he'd like to start trying to fix that, he was chained to his role as President, a "disguise" that his family worked so hard to provide for him.
With his daughter's illusions being cast off from the eyes of the populace, he no longer had an opportunity to break out of this prison.
But if there's anyone he could entrust this fight to, it was his brother's kid.
As the last traces of the veil vanished into nothingness, he interrupted the two's clash of raw might to shout to his niece, "Serra! Whatever you do! Don't let this fight escape the White House area! We can't let the people get hurt."
Serra turned her head after punching one of Erin's lances and declared, "You got it, Uncle Prez!"
Erin lashed her head towards him with flared eyes, "Why are you giving HER advice?!"
She turned that glare upon Serra and thrust a couple lances out.
Serra was starting to get the hang of things and threw her punches at just the right time to break them while pressing forward.
Once she was close to Erin she wound up another punch that warped the air around her and grinned, excited to see how she would take it.
Instead, disappointment hit as Erin took to the air and aimed her lances downward, pelting Serra with a flurry of darkness blasts that made an increasingly larger explosion that grazed the White House.
"Shit…!" Joe Dark muttered as the devastation closed in on Catherine.
But Serra counterattacked by punching the ground and reflecting the energy back at Erin's lances with the ensuing shockwave.
She then performed three quickly flips back and then built up momentum in a matter of seconds to blitz Erin with a quick rising uppercut.
Erin took the hit to the jaw with a deep-rooted scowl and went hurtling further up into the sky.
After ending her attack with a twirl, Serra immediately grounded herself and did a few more flips to ready another punch.
Erin thrust more lances at her surroundings to pin her down, and as Serra wasted time punching them apart Erin threw both her hands up and collapsed her leaking darkness into a sphere the size of her body.
Then as her eyes flared more and more the sphere grew until it was four times as big as she was, howling like the storm winds.
"GHHH!" She then threw the orb down with reckless abandon.
Serra locked her feet down and pulled her fist back as far as she could twist her body, then punched the sphere dead center to send it right back.
Erin bashed the sphere with her fists, and the time engaged in a series of volleys with Serra's punches whittling it down faster than Erin could build it back up.
And all the while Serra pictured them playing volleyball on the beach, hoping that once this all blows over they can go there and have fun.
Meanwhile Erin was getting increasingly frustrated to the point that she was losing her vision over it, "Damn you…damn you…!"
Her aura erupted with a shriek and the next time she smashed the orb, it grew back to its original size and caused Serra to raise her brows in surprise.
"Heh heh…! That's the spirit!" She pushed her heels back and punched BOTH fists out at the orb, the mass warping around her knuckles before the energy popped viciously.
But she was left with a sensation in her fists that felt like she had put her knuckles on a grill for a few seconds.
"Woof…!" She shook them off and bounced right back into action, only to find that Erin was nowhere to be found.
"Eh?" She gave a blank stare and then felt her hairs on the back of her neck stand up and the wind howling from the sheer strength of Erin's speed.
By then time Serra turned around Erin had already thrust another lance into her back with both hands and launched her into the sky.
She then went and blitzed her from multiple directions, using the lances as additional attacks.
Serra was feeling pretty roughed up from this assault but leaned into the damage and licked her lips, relying a little on luck as she threw out a wild punch.
But found her mark true as she smashed Erin square in the nose and sent her plummeting into the ground, the air warping along her path like a sharp arrow had pierced the sky.
Serra realized she was really building up a good sweat now, and encouraged her cousin to keep going by shouting, "C'mon Eri! You can hit harder than that!"
"SHUT UP!" Erin's power erupted from the impact crater and if the populace hadn't been paying attention to this chaos ensuing at the White House, they certainly were now.
Serra had to dodge out of the way of the energy erupting, and watched it not only pierce the clouds above, but go all the way out into space.
Erin rose out of the center of the energy with her nose bleeding which she brushed off onto her palm and licked with fury.
She then craned her head back and as the energy faded into bloody sparkles she squeezed her fist into her bloody palm and scowled, "You condescending, hyperactive little SHIT…!"
Erin warped the sky as she sped after Serra ready to punch her.
Feeling her attack coming, Serra licked her lips and dove after her, releasing a sonic boom that could be heard from miles away.
The two met headfirst with their bangs flared back and their eyes wide with the fever of battle.
In a single blink they smashed their fists together and their collective energies, darkness and blue flames, smashed together and then blew back behind them wildly in the shape of cones.
The longer Erin forced herself to look at Serra's smiling face, the more she kept flashing back to their childhood, and how Serra would always be like this.
Never showing any weakness, always being this damn energetic. She hated it, hated it, hated it…! But didn't realize how much she was forcing herself to feel this way.
She easily started to lose the clash of raw strength, feeling her bones press back against her elbow joint and her body succumbing to the earthly might of gravity.
"Why…?" Erin scowled, "I just want what's rightfully mine…! So why…why do you always keep getting the better of me?! Why do you think…YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT?!"
Erin fought in futility to win but as soon as her arm bones cracked, she knew she was toast, and Serra committed to the rest of her punch to ground her with a mighty quake shaking the city afterwards.
Serra performed a flip before landing on her feet and punched away the dirt and dust that had blown up.
Before she was able to get to the edge of the crater and check on her cousin, she popped out of it and landed on the opposite side, her arms and head hung limp.
"It's not fair. It's not fair…."
"Itsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfairitsnotfair!"
Her mouth spread agape with saliva strewn between it. Her nose was bleeding out a lot, and once she saw that she stretched out her hand so it'd land on it.
"Hic…!" She shook.
Serra stopped what she was doing and reached out, "Hey, Eri, if you need to take a break, we-"
"SHUT UP!" Erin shrieked, throwing her frenzied face up into view, "You…you ruined everything…you're always ruining everything…!"
"And then you have the GALL to insult my pride by being so damn…nonchalant about everything! It's like you don't care about anything! You're just a…just a…walking mass of beef with no thoughts of her own!"
Serra stared blankly at her cousin and didn't know quite how to respond, "Ummm…"
Erin thrust her finger out at her and screamed, "You don't GET what it's like to have the love of your family and lose it, all because HE…"
She pointed inside of the White House, "Chose this stupid job over US!"
Joe Dark hummed to himself in guilt.
Erin slammed her hand against her chest and cried out, "I pushed my mind and body to the limit so HE would recognize me again, a-and love me…!"
"But if it wasn't you who overshadowed me, it was that BITCH Lunalei and her damn ego…! Or that punk ass Violet!"
All the darkness she spilled out of her systems began to collapse upon her like her body was a black hole, as she grabbed the sides of her head and gnashed her teeth together.
"I-I don't want to be alone…! I want all the attention I deserve…! A-And if I can't get what I want…! THEN I'LL TAKE IT…FROM THE WHOLE WORLD…BY FORCE IF I HAVE TO…!"
As she lashed her hands out and roared "DO YOU HEAR ME?!" her teeth sharpened into fangs.
And then, complete silence enveloped the atmosphere as the darkness ripped free from her body in a massive explosion that devastated the White House and the surrounding area.
Hundreds of car sirens went off as people went flying every which way, with plenty of uncertainty as to their safety.
Serra hurried into the Oval Office and used his body to shield her Uncle, grinning all the while.
It hurt like hell, but she managed to keep him from being blown away. Albeit, the Oval Office was left with barely any support and tilted towards the ground, sending the two of them and Catherine's still unconscious body sliding onto the yard.
Where Erin was nowhere to be found.
All that remained was the pure, foul stench of nocturne, and the chilling, quiet sound of bells in the air.
Serra looked around for a little bit before her uncle told her, "Look up."
Serra hopped around and tilted her head back, seeing a cursed, imposing silhouette floating against the blood red sun.
Two pairs of fang-tipped wings unfurled from their body and spread to take over the skies, with the membranes thin but pulsing with energy.
Erin was the one they were attached to, and while nothing had changed about her clothing or overall looks, beyond her hair turning velvety and smooth with rosy hues at the bottom, her presence had flipped entirely.
Now she floated with devilish majesty, as though she already claimed dominion over the night.
Her eyes glowed pure yellow, and her fangs grinned with sinister intent.
She reached out and summoned one singular lance twice as long as any she could call forth before, then swung it at the empty air, hitting Serra with enough pressure to force her to bend her knees.
Serra's sweat grew thicker, and she grinned with excitement.
Joe Dark looked up at how much her daughter had transformed and shivered, "...So I couldn't stop it after all."
He then looked over at Serra and told her, "Serra, are you sure you're up to this?"
Serra punched her fist into her open palm and declared victory, "Of course, Uncle Prez! This is what I've been waiting for!"
Joe Dark hung his head and chuckled, "Guess that was pretty stupid to ask. You are his kid after all…"
"...Alright. On my authority as her father, please…save Erin from what's overtaken her."
"You got it!" Serra then pointed her fist up at Erin, who floated there, relishing in her crushing, overwhelming power, "Do you hear that Eri?! I'm gonna give you the walloping of a lifetime, so you better not hold anything back!"
Erin grinned and her voice was melodious with its malice, "I wouldn't dare, Serra…! With this power…I am now galaxies beyond you! Now…prepare yourself! For I take my rightful place as Queen of the Night!"
Next Time: A Hell of Our Making