Translator
A few minutes had passed, and Blade spent it adjusting to her new skill, getting the process down to a few seconds, better than before, but it needed work. The striker soon heard a familiar pair of footsteps approaching the study; deciding to remain in her armor, she leaned against the wall, waiting for them to enter.
With the twist of a door handle, iX plodded into the study, spotting his other only ally for the duration of this war. "Look alive; we got activity." Blade straightened out, standing upright as iX glanced out a nearby window, the moonlight illuminating his pupils, the crimson light exposing the circuitry beneath the surface, "More 'rebels'?" iX hummed in confirmation, pulling out his phone before tossing it at the samurai who caught it between two fingers.
Glancing down at the screen, Blade could see two figures fighting, a man and a woman, with another standing in the background. "I sent Lola to check out a spike in septimal activity and caught people fighting at the docks; what's the plan here?"
Blade continued to watch the footage; the blurry camera really couldn't catch much, a man with black hair facing a green haired woman; squinting, she might have seen a spear but the pixelated footage made that difficult to tell. She hummed in thought; this could be an opportunity to gauge how strong they were, observe from a distance and see their standings among their enemies.
She'd have to stick to the shadows; this was a type of conflict she had no experience in; she'd have to do things iX's way. How ironic that her targets were rebels as well. Nodding in agreement with herself, Blade walked towards the door, tossing iX his phone along the way. "I'll head there myself and record what I can; you stay here and go over the data; try to figure out who these people are and what I can do about them."
As the striker reached the doorway, the avenger put a hand on her shoulder, "Just remember the stakes, Kohaku..." Blade nodded, "I made her a promise, didn't I? I won't let this job ruin me…"
iX lowered his arm, "Yeah...make sure you keep it." Turning away, Blade strode out the door and towards the exit; she brought despair to so many people; she wouldn't let anymore innocents suffer; the samurai made a promise not just to them but to herself that she'd help create a world in which adepts and minos could live in peace even if it meant cutting down all those opposed to it.
Making her way out of the house, Blade took in the night sky of the Slum District; broken street lights barely illuminated the darkened sky, a light rain pouring off the black clouds overhead. The past had one thing she never got to see, cities that felt safe; the oppression had hit hard, municipalities all across the developed world seemed more soviet than ever.
All for the sake of greater control. Slow down progress for the sake of a tighter grasp.
Plain concrete cubes lining the streets never painted a lovely picture; they reflected the destitute state the world fell into after the global war economy came to a crashing halt after Demerzel's takeover…a fact that only remains in the very rare history books before his time that weren't disposed off. Now with him gone, progress and information about the past are steadily returning.
The other leaders attempted to keep their power in spite of it, moving to declare Blade a traitor which would have shut down any authority she could have... If she hadn't swiftly gathered the troops loyal to her for a coup d'etat and had iX leak information about Sumeragi's many misdeeds with them as the scapegoats. If some were hunted down for being responsible of the butterfly effect project, Blade looked the other way as the facility where they gathered ended up turned to dust.
The adept public, now free of said effect's forced apathy lionized her efforts, her soldiers were said to worship the ground at her very feet. Even the higher society (of those who were left) grudgingly respected her strength...that and her willingness to kill anyone who stood in her way.
She saw no difference between adept and minos, speaking with an honesty that many found refreshing. But others considered her blunt, cold and even bullheaded to the concerns of anyone who thought different from her. Calling her no better than the once AI dictator.
Blade was certainly a divisive figure but there was no doubt that she was building a new legend among the people. There was even talk among the more 'religiously' inclined that she was the rightful king all along, here to smite the evildoer that dared to harm and usurp her land.
It was something she considered an utterly ridiculous notion. What enraged her more was the ingratitude the adept part of society showed towards the Luminous Avenger.
While minos respected the man and his muse with even more fervor than her, to the adepts he was still a boogie-man, a long-lived legend that springs fear in the heart of the superstitious and so a monster some wished she would take care off. She vividly refused to amuse that notion, atoning the man for any crimes he might have committed and personally knighting him as a Falcon of honor.
Giving him the same authority as one in times of emergency and also his own territory of choice. To nobody's surprise, he chose the slums where Kohaku, the kids and other minos live. Warm tents and fountains with drinkable water showed that slowly but surely their quality of life was improving.
"If only it could be done faster," she muttered, jumping from a platform that collapses after.
With Sumeragi's spyware still relatively intact, the systems in Blade's mask managed to easily hack the city's government websites, downloading all sorts of schematics and maps of the metropolis. While she wouldn't deny the matter, Blade certainly wouldn't begrudge iX if he hacked into a few bank accounts along the way; he didn't need her monitoring his purchases; besides, a few corrupt politicians wouldn't miss a few grand, right? Better if he were to do actual good with it.
Back to the matter at hand, the same systems had easily incorporated the data into her hud, providing directions towards the docks. Blade cracked her neck in anticipation. Her suit armor lightly billowed in the night wind as droplets of water dissolved off her body on impact as electricity flowed across her form.
She could only smirk as the familiar energy build up crossed her core and into her legs before taking off at speeds faster than most humans could comprehend out of the property and into the city.
As Blade crossed the metropolis, her form only appearing as an arc of blue electricity, the samurai marked locations of interest along the way; she didn't plan to fight just yet, preferring to observe and plan accordingly. After settling on a skyscraper a mile away from the port, Blade scaled the vertical structure, defying gravity as her magnetic anchors kept her attached to the surface as her momentum carried her upwards.
As the samurai rounded the roof's edge, she kicked off into a flip, flying upwards before landing in a crouch atop a helicopter pad. While most couldn't make decent observations, if any, from this distance, Blade's augmentations made those issues null and void; enhanced audio and visual bio implants had their many benefits. It's the only advantage she'd admit in being warped for war.
As the samurai turned and faced the direction of the dockyard, she activated her mask's IR lenses, the tool enhancing her senses as she crouched just in front of the rooftop edge.
As Blade's sensors locked onto the docks, she saw the typical trade hub, shipping containers, and warehouses lining the area with few ships present. Her scans picked up multiple people present, several along the rooftops, and construction equipment scattered about the site. The clashing of blades caught her attention, focusing on the streets below, spotting three figures.
Two warriors faced off, a man with black hair wielding two silver spears against a woman with green hair and almost skimpy armor, clearly wielding something, but it was masked by a strange swirling wind. The samurai glanced in confusion before switching between different lenses, settling on infrared; she saw through the illusion, spotting an intricate emerald sword in her hands.
Hiding it with her septima so he can't see how long the blade is? Clever. Blade stared as the pair clashed once more, the swordsman going for an underhand strike as the spearman patiently waited for another opportunity to strike.
As the pair continued their dance, Blade snapped photos with her mask, sending them back to iX with mere thoughts, one of the perks of having computer chips in your brain, she supposed. Hearing a grunt of pain, she glanced back from her communications; the spearman had pierced the woman's armor straight into the heart from an impossible angle…with no damage to her at all? She flickered into multiple after-images, each one in a green light. Oh she has evasion or some form of it.
She needed to remember that for later; knowing what each can do would be a major advantage once she has to face them herself. Silver Spears? His septima must allow him to control metals; the other uses an invisible sword and knockback ...so Wind? The swordsman reoriented herself, discarding the armor before lunging in while aflight, trying to negate his ability with sheer speed, falling right into a trap, the second spear cutting along her arm then wrapping it in a silver coat.
Despite the pair moving at rates far beyond what humans could sense outside of blurs, to Blade, it acted in slow motion, processors embedded in her brain, allowing her to perceive time at far better rates than even most combat drones. Severed tendon, rendering the arm useless and poisoned?...these people were dangerous; every move had the intent to cripple or kill; she'd have no time to screw around when they came to blows.
As Blade watched, she heard another voice reciting an incantation, sounding like one of those SP skills she heard before, spotting a woman behind Saber, with silver hair and blood-red eyes, anally? Her enhanced hearing picked up their conversation in detail; the skill (whatever it was) was supposed to heal but didn't work, but why? She pondered the question; In all her years, every combatant she'd ever faced had their own MO, weapon of choice, and fighting style.
Two spears, one bigger to shred through armor...the other smallerto cut through flesh, basic yet clever logic. So that's his play, trick them into discarding their armor, wound them, then wait out the clock as his septima poisons them; Bladechuckled at that, guess she isn't the only one that didn't give a damn about honor. So, the second spear made wounds that couldn't heal, a non-threat to her considering she was covered in armor, and even if it hit, the pendant iX gave her allowed her access to evasion as well, but every piece of information helped; snapping pictures of the man and his dual weapons of choice for later use.
The pair stood off, intent on seeing their duel through to the end, the spearman holding a significant advantage as the swordsman is struggling to lift her sword, her arm shaking as she defiantly held on. As the duo launched into another clash of blades, a roar of light boomed in the sky as an equally boisterous laugh rang across the city.
A figure shot across the sky; Blade almost couldn't believe what she saw, a flying chariot with actual fucking angels. Holy lightsurged across the sky, arching across the battlefield as his chariot slammed into the ground between the two fighters. The man stood tall, easily seven feet at the minimum, with white skin and hair as yellow as gold. The figure wore an elaborate white cape of some unknown fur, his forearms covered in golden bracers as his wings spread out in triumph.
"Both of you sheathe your blades. You are in the presence of a king!" The giant glanced from side to side, sheer excitement radiating across his wide grin. "I am Aleph, King of the sky! I am the one who will defeat the usurper and turn Sumeragi into the Golden Kingdom! Kneel before me!"
Silence reigned across the dockyard; almost no party present or distant could comprehend what just happened. An adept openly declaring his identity for the world to know seemed moronic at a surface level; Blade knew better. The man radiated sheer confidence, landing in the midst of a battlefield to declare his presence; even in modern war, revealing your hand like that only meant one thing; he didn't care.
The only people who played a hand like that knew they were the strongest party present; giving away that information wouldn't turn the tide of battle. The samurai would file that information away for later; Aleph was a threat.
As said man gave a recruitment speech of some sort, Blade weighed her options. Three...no fourhigh level adepts so far, each seemingly a threat in their own right; their septimas were varied as expected, a flying chariot with a chorus of angels was a bit much, but she'd make do.
She glanced back towards the commotion, but something caught her attention on the infrared scanner. A figure stood at a distance, crouched atop a light pole, hiding in the darkness, but they weren't facing the group; they were observing her. Pale blue eyes stared down the hollow white sockets beneath a skull-shaped mask.
The figure, a man she presumed, wore flaming blackened robes with a belt of skulls atop an equally darkened skin, blending in with the cover of night; if it weren't for her enhanced scanners, even Blade might have missed it. Time seemed to come to a stop, the voices below drowning out as the two adepts faced off, a mile apart yet feeling as if they were mere feet from one another. The samurai gripped Raiden's sheathe as the figure continued to stare her down before leaping back into the shadows, disappearing from sight.
Blade waited a few moments, checking her radar; nothing...like the man was there one moment and gone the next. She felt herself exhale a withheld breath. Blade hadn't even noticed it, but that figure brought out a feeling she only experienced in her minos days, being hunted down by other adepts, never knowing where the enemy could strike next; that man was a predator, stalking her like prey.
That has to be anassassin-type; the figure radiated an essence she only felt from men like iX, the kind of threat that could slice your throat if you even looked away for a second. One of the adepts noticed her presence, that wasn't great, but she'd find a way to manage. Blade grimaced; what would have happened if she didn't pick up on thisassassin watching her?
The azure striker shook the thought from her mind but decided to keep a closer eye on her sensors, refocusing her gaze on the noise below as the trio argued back and forth. As the group continued to bicker, BEEP-BEEP-BEEP
Glancing down at her radar Blade saw a blip approaching the base of the skyscraper atop which she stood. The dot seemingly grew larger and larger. Her mind rapidly ran through the problem, formulating plans within nanoseconds; unknown individual scaling the tower would approach from directly behind; likely intent on combat. Her systems could detect the slightest vibration, the quietest of sounds, and whether they masked their presence didn't matter.
The samurai needed to reveal as little as possible; she needed to assassinate an assassin then; Blade's frustration grew to elation; she lived and breathed unorthodox methods; they wouldn't know what hit them.
Springing into action, Blade turned as her left hand squeezed the trigger along Raiden's sheathe; the blade shot into the night sky in an explosive quickdraw. The samurai funneled power into her enhanced limbs, cybernetic gloves flaring in electric blue fury as Blade leaped into a backflip high above the clouds.
Her radar pinged once more; the figure had made the climb just as she leapt out of sight. With its blinding light and breathtaking views, the city below spun into nonexistence as she faced the dark void above, blips of starlight peaking out away from the haze of light pollution. As the samurai finished her arch just above her weapon of choice, Raiden finished its own trajectory, gravity beginning to pull the whip blade first towards the building below.
Blade's eyes burned in a hellish blue as her talons latched onto the hilt, forcing herself into a crouch as several tons of SOL made steel plummeted down towards the roof with the force of gravity towards her target.
The figure could only glance up as a shadow loomed overhead before Raiden impaled straight through their spine. Several tons of weight slammed through bone as internal organs literally liquified from the force, pitch-black blood splattering across the roof as Blade crashed into the landing pad. Normally a strike of thunder would accompany the blow, but that'd be too loud.
Standing upright atop a pile of gore and viscera, Blade gave an appreciative nod at her brilliance before latching her sword between her talons and kicking it into the air, letting the electric blade slide back into its sheathe by itself.
Glancing down at what remained of her failed assailant, she saw the same figure from earlier. Black skin, a crushed mask, presumably a skull, but it was almost nothing but crumbled remains. Her eyes narrowed as she stared down at the corpse, black steam coming off the body as it began to evaporate before her very eyes; that seemed...almost too- DING DING DING DING DING DING.
Time seemed to dilate as Blade looked up, taking a dodging leap backward as a hail of knives and kunai sailed through the night sky, embedding themselves into the roof alongside the body, blackened ooze turning to flame as they impacted. Without a thought, the samurai instinctively drew her inherited weapon once more as the rain continued to pour, lightning illuminating the night sky as six figures landed around her in a circular pattern.
Between the flashes of light, Blade could see… the assassin?! Each looked slightly different, yet all had the same general appearance, blackened skin, white skull masks; the split seconds of light made it difficult, but she swore he saw men, women, some short and others tall. Some elegant and others bestial. Another flash of light confirmed her concerns as time slowed once more; each was nearly identical yet slightly different; were they clones or something else?
She didn't know nearly enough for this. She couldn't flee; that put unnecessary risk on iX and theothers if they somehow followed her back. She didn't know enough about them yet, but a septima fit for hiding and tracking alongside everything she saw before? That didn't seem impossible, given what she'd witnessed. No, the mission changed; they always do; the samurai's vision burned a bright blue in determination; she'd kill this adept here and now.
Blade tightened her hold over the grip in her right hand defensively as the figures slowly closed in, none saying a word as their whitened irises stared her down. Azure currents crackled off Raiden's edge as she menacingly gazed back in defiance; they were dead fucking wrong if they thought this would scare her.
The figures slowly withdrew blades from their cloaks, some wielding knives, others shortswords as they circled her like vultures. The samurai no longer heard any distant conversation, just the tattering of rain across the paved roof alongside the crackle of electricity from her sword. Blade knew this feeling all too well, the calm before battle, where combatants only experienced the enemy ahead, the world drowning away as if it never existed.
Worries, anxieties, fears, hatred, it all bled away as your blades clashed; your class, your religion, none of it mattered on the battlefield. She darkly chuckled, "No big speech about how you're gonna change the world?" The samurai received no response; the figures lowered into various stances, ready to strike.
Without a word, Blade issued a mental command and soon felt the familiar calm of her IR sensors clamping around her eyes like a visor, a glowing blue pattern flaring across as they hummed to life. The samurai lowered her pommel, the blade ominously glowing as its point faced its newest foes, letting out an excited breath; she snarled, "Fine...let's dance!"
Refusing to stay idle, Blade launched forward at incredible speeds, heading right for the figure ahead. A woman with cascading white hair, much like the others, most of her form was concealed, but his enhancements could catch even minor details. Brandishing a flaming knife in each hand, her right lower than the left, poised to strike.
Indescribably bright blue arcs of electricity crackled off her form as she reached her within nanoseconds, her eyes only just beginning to react to her sheer momentum. Using her speed, Blade launched into a spin to her left, her sword swinging along with her shift in direction. Her form spun, appearing as little more than a blur to even highly trained eyes; she dropped her grip as her left foot slammed into the paved rooftop, splintering rocks as it embedded itself.
Her metallic talons caught her sword with a vicious right kick as her leg swung diagonally to the left, completely bisecting the assassin in two clean slices. Before her corpse could even fall to the forces of gravity, her sword-bearing appendage rocketed backward as she forced power into her left, kicking off into a vicious front flip.
Raiden appeared as little more than a azure-blue blur as it swayed upright before slamming down straight through her skull, only stopping as it cleaved her apart.
Chunks of dark flesh slapped against man-made concrete; faster than anything a human could hope to achieve, Blade turned to block a downward slash from another clone. Her right talons shot straight into the sky as High-Electricity tech met septimal enhanced steel.
The male assassin's eyes remained static, unable to even perceive the rates Blade maneuvered in, black hair flowing in slow motion as an unstoppable force cleaved straight through his short sword. Blade sneered as blackened ooze splattered across the rain-coated rooftop as she sliced the man perfectly down the middle, her eyes glowing a furious blue as she smiled in elation. Her internal radar pinging the remaining Assassins as they backed off in caution, they underestimated her, and they wouldn't live to speak of it.
Thunder roared as lightning overhead illuminated her form, a demon from hell coated in blackened blood, her eyes glowing in untold fury as she maliciously grinned. The remaining four assassins hesitated a brief moment, a few even taking a step back before regaining their composure, staring her down in defiance as they took off towards her as a unit.
Their steps echoed across the rooftop as droplets of water splattered on impact as they charged, all too slow. The samurai watched as another flash in the night sky exposed his remaining prey, three men, one woman. Two of the men, running to her left, wielding shortswords; one in her left, the other loosely in her right, a feint? The remaining male on the right brandished a pair of knives in his hand as the woman threw a hail of kunai toward the weak points of her armored form.
Another flash of light illuminated Blade's form before the samurai vanished from sight; the thrown blades sailing by where she once stood, embedding themselves in various electrical units atop the platform, sparks flying into the sky. The male duo could only gawk in surprise as their assailant seemed to re-materialize directly in front of them. From woman to lightning to woman again.
Blade sprung into action as the pair raised their arms to strike her down. The samurai out of hell launched into an aerial spin; her grip tightened as Raiden sliced clean through a rainguard, bisecting the offender's sword in two before dropping her own.
Blade lurched downward as she reoriented mid-air, her right talons catching her crackling blade in a horizontal kick. Flesh met HE steel as the samurai sliced both figures' heads clean off, their bodies dropping like rocks as blackened ooze mixed with the falling rain, swirling across the rooftop as their former weapons clanged against the cold platform.
Spinning a clean 180 with ease, Blade kicked her sword into the air, catching Raiden's grip in her right as she raised the tool of war over her shoulder. The cyborg steadied her aim as both hands gripped the sword, electricity exploding off her form.
Blade lurched her shoulders back like an archer drawing their bow as her luminous form contrasted with the azure streaks of lightning overhead. Thunder boomed overhead as the samurai launched forward at explosive speeds, her feet unmoving as electric currents carried her across the ramshackle battlefield.
She reached her target within nanoseconds; hellish-blue energy burst off Raiden's edge as Blade thrust her hand-crafted blade forward, stabbing the woman through the heart as she gasped in momentary agony. Her knives clattered to the rooftop, and her eyes briefly widened and burst as thousands of volts of raw electricity crashed through her nervous system.
Adept or not, human bodies had limits, raw voltage completely frying the assassin as Blade kicked the charred body off her blade, the corpse slumping to the roof.
The remaining foe took a hesitant step back as their enemy has blue lightning arched across her blade, dancing across her form as equally demonic eyes met his white irises. He gulped in angst as the azure striker stepped over the bodies of his former allies, slowly but steadily crossing the roof towards his position.
This mission had gone entirely wrong; they were meant to probe and report their findings; this was a massacre... Droplets of rain splashed across his cloak as the assassin turned and took off as fast as possible. He needed to flee, to report his findings, warn his master of the monster that wiped them out like nothing. The clone broke into an all-out sprint, magically enhanced limbs flinging him towards the edge before taking a running leap.
He had hardly cleared the edge before his momentum fell short, feeling an iron grip on his legs. Gravity soon caught up with the unknown assassin as his form lurched downwards, his legs remaining in place as his assailant maintained her hold over a fully grown man as if he weighed nothing. "Going somewhere?" Glancing back up to see that same maniacal grin.
Blade maintained his hold on the Assassin's leg, watching the man dangle helplessly over the edge; who better to get intel from than the enemy themselves? After all, Bladewas trained in making people talk; if anyone knew what made a man crack, it was him.
Her grin grew wider in anticipation; killing was an act of evil; she'd never deny that, but the samurai would never deny loving it anyways to herself. The samurai had her body wired so that killing Sumeragi's enemies felt good, really good...Blade couldn't reject that part as if it didn't exist; whether or not she wanted to admit it, her other half was made for the blade; she might as well let this other half do what she did best, right? As long as she punished those that are evil in the process. When she wears the mask, she is justice and without it, a normal person.
Blade's intense grip tightened, the man crying in agony as his left tibia shattered into dust as the figure above slowly dragged him back towards the roof, towards death itself. "We're gonna have a long talk, you and me; maybe tell some secrets? What do you say?"
As the adept's form nearly reached the roof's edge, the clone threw caution to the wind, gripping his knife and plunging it into his own throat; pitch-black flesh gave way as the assailant caused his own demise. Black liquid dripped off his form as the life slowly faded from his sunken white eyes before going limp entirely. Blade stared in disappointment as her entertainment expired before getting to have her fun.
Huffing in annoyance at having her pleasure ruined, the samurai let go, the corpse plummeting to the ground below, splattering into jelly on impact, nothing remaining besides blackened ooze and bone fragments.
The sound and clutter of the metropolis's nightlife came roaring back as Blade reoriented back into reality; the samurai took in her surroundings, bodies lining the roof in various stages of decomposition, interesting.
Her eyes shifted back to their neutral - duller- blue as she glanced at her first target, making her way across the platform. Her body was almost gone at this point, as if it had rotted away in mere seconds; the killer stared in intrigue; that had to be septima, right? She hummed in thought as the body burned away into ash before even that disappeared in a gust of purple flames as if they never existed at all.
None of those was the real Adept; it felt too easy; her warrior mind rand through possible scenarios. The assassins were testing the waters, just like her; that attack was likely a probe gone wrong; they didn't expect her to wipe their entire unit out within less than a minute. The last one running indicated two possibilities; this adept had to verbally communicate with their drones to relay information, or he/she had a finite number of them; maybe both?
Blade shrugged it off, rain evaporating as it cleansed her stained armor; the samurai returned to her original position, intent on resuming her survey. As she approached the roof's edge, the samurai crouched, zooming in with her artificial eyes, seeing nothing.
Blade's lens switched to infrared; her results stayed the same; the others must have either changed location or retreated, likely the latter. The docks didn't have nearly enough damage to indicate a prolonged fight; a few wrecked shipping containers summed up tonight's activities. She grimaced, that fight cost her essential information, but she'd have to make due.
Four out of how many identified. Or to be identified. Three septimas she saw in action.
Her armored legs clenched as the samurai stood upright; tonight gave her a lot to go over, but she'd leave that for later. Once more, Blade left nothing but a blur of roaring blue electricity as she launched across the roof, running vertically down the skyscraper, using gravity as propellent before launching off into the metropolis, heading back to base.
Copen glanced up from his computer, still in the study, the grandfather clock dinging as the arms reached midnight. The tired man extended his free arm into the air, stretching his exhaustion out of his system.
Moonlight glazed through the windows, illuminating the ornate wooden decor of the library, droplets of rain pattered against the glass as he contemplated his circumstances. Blade had sent far more footage than he'd expected, although he wouldn't complain.
Lowering his free arm back down, he rested his elbow on his desk, his chin in his hand as he rewatched tonight's footage once again. The avenger opened a few new note tabs, writing names, appearances, weapons, anything of value for later use.
The footage switched over to Blade's encounter with the assassin; Copen could only frown as his companion butchered them like rats. A worrying manic smile on her face as she slaughtered them.
The man broke into a sigh, soon turning into yawn as he wondered if that was his fault, if he should have said something else when she confided her problem to him…
Blade begins: "When I was caught…" and Copen was certain it would go a little bit like this. He lets the woman talk. "Before he transformed, Demerzel claimed that he gave people like me a reason to live. That once we've tasted the gift of septima, we'd never want to be minos again. He said: 'It doesn't matter if you one day regain your freedom. Mycause will continue. The strongest adept will prove themselveson the battlefield, and the survivors will live out the rest of their days as theirpawns. I will always have a King to rule over this world, perhaps it'll be you.' Those were his last words."
"Just because the circumstances are similar. That doesn't mean that it's true."
"But he was right. I did become king. Even when I vowed to destroy his dreams."
"Listen: if you hold those words in your heart, they will eat you alive. Man like him have a charisma. The type that make anything sound like the truth when they speak to you. Remember that - what you heard was only the sound of the regard and or fear you had for him."
Blade mulls over those words. Her fingers clench and unclench around the base of the juice can. The subtle wrinkling of aluminum fills the room.
"You... sound like you know something about this."
"I do. I used to be enthralled by someone like him."
"An adept supremacist?"
"No, quite the opposite. A… a long time before all this. When I was your age, just a bit younger. In fact, during an age where adepts were the minority. My father spoke about them ending the world."
"That far back? Strange – I can't visualize you or Lola as someone who earnestly believes that.."
Copen grimaces. "Well, a lot can change in many years. Back then, though, his beliefs were inseparable from mine. You know… one day he said to me: 'If I die, I entrust the fate of humanity to you'. Can you imagine someone saying such a thing to a child? The words got rooted deep in my heart. It made me feel like more than the sum of my parts. I would have followed his will to the grave. I almost did. And even then it still took a while for me to get out of that obsession."
"You really admired him, huh?"
"Yeah…" Copen stares out the window. His voice softens when he realizes that it doesn't hurt to admit anymore. "Yeah, I did."
"So what happened?" Blade asks, then continues. "What made you give up?"
"He betrayed me...when he said adepts would end humanity, he was referring to research that showed that with their increasing growth spurt among the populace, they'd eventually become the majority in a decade or so. Perhaps in his view, that was the same as an invasive species outgrowing the local populace. He never told that detail to anyone though, leaving me to think of the worst. So when I finally found out that this was his big secret, it...it made all my efforts seem like a joke."
"It must have taken a lot to realize you were wrong, and even more to actually stop."
"I used to believe in his ideology. I also thought that I belonged on an endless battlefield, that I could never be content living quietly, I always had something to prove. I didn't think that I could be happy in peacetime. Believe it or not, but I was wild when I was young. I felt like a different species than civilians. I thought that I was his kind – the hard man making hard decisions."
"But you got out?"
"Yup."
"And you're… content."
"Yeah."
"You don't miss it?"
"What part? The shitty food? Sleeping in a small ship? Complete lack of privacy, living on nothing but water and adrenaline for three days straight? The hostility, when even people who were like family started to genuinely piss you off? Definitely, I get nostalgic sometimes. But -" He sweeps his arm out, gestures to the horizon, towards the city and the people below. "- this is good too."
"I meant… the killing."
"…" a silence that doesn't last more than a second. "I suppose part of it had its...charms. The battle high and the idea that if you died, you at least would die for something did cross my mind and I did feel a sense of relief once or twice after a difficult opponent, but ending a life? It was a necessity."
"In some legend, something...I forgot the exact word but it means 'with it, he goes on all fours' - it is the name they give to Skinwalkers, a monster that used to be a man."
"I've heard this legend too. The Skinwalkers are healers who choose to use to use their powers to harm."
"They gain their power through breaking sacred taboo and take the form of animals."
Copen doesn't have to think very hard to get the parallel Blade is trying to draw here. Members of FALCON cast off their civilian titles to live in the skins of the winged predator. Soldiers are healers, in a way, who heal with death.
Blade continues: "For Skinwalkers, there are few way to the highest level of priesthood. The surest way to attain it is to kill your own blood - brother, sister, mother. Father."
Copen sets a steady hand on Blade's shoulder. "Don't worry about it so much," he says. "Monsters aren't real. The worst the world has is just us human beings."
Blade nods, but Copen can tell that it's probably going to be a while until she's alright.
"Look, there's nothing wrong with enjoying something that could be considered 'wrong'. For a while, the thought of being a monster gave me far more relief than my identity as a slayer, still I focused my wrath and those who truly deserved it. And if you find some catharsis in chopping in half some crazed freak, then all the better that they're out of this world. Pay evil onto Evil."
...No, he doesn't regret it. As worrying as the actual footage is, as long as she holds onto her morals, who is he to judge her as someone who used to be far worse. Another yawn forces his throat open and from the higher angle, he is exposed to his tired reflection. Better to call it for the night then.
Blade swiftly crossed the city as people and buildings; it all passed in a blur; something was wrong. Her head throbbed, vision shifting to and fro as the samurai tried to find her way home. Her blue eyes widened as her ears began to ring, "why did you spare them?" The samurai spun around, scanning for the source of the voice, seeing no one, just the desolate streets accompanying her. Not a soul in sight as the samurai stumbled down the abandoned sidewalk, holding a hand to her head, trying to orient herself.
The veteran quickened her pace, mind racing, trying to find what had happened to her. It all started after she lost track of the wind adept and found a cerulean wisp? It went past her hand and flowed into her skin, nestling somewhere unknown inside her, remnants of warmth and a feeling of being slightly stronger its only remains; but for what price?Her thoughts clouded as the samurai walked further and further in her own direction.
Blade gulped as her heart rate began to rise, violet eyes widening in realization in the reflection of some broken glass before leaning against an old brick wall as she dropped her belongings to the trash-coated ground; something was trying to reach out to her.
The warrior had never fully recovered from her memories as a falcon, a cold life knee-deep in bodies, slaughtering anyone that crossed her master's path. "That is who you are" her eyes shot open, seeing nothing, not even hearing a single sound, completely lost to the world. She slid down the wall, leaning on her knees, rocking back and forth, waiting for her pain to end.
"You're just another killer...why deny it?" She struggled to breathe, chest rising and falling rapidly, "you're not real..." The unknown voice laughed, "All I want is to be a part of you, to be remembered. By other people, by history...as their king."
Blade's mind clicked in realization; that voice, "You're dead… iX killed you..." The samurai heard a sigh; the voice persisted with no one present, reverberating in her head, forcing her to endure the echoes of a fractured soul.
"Unless you accept your role, Blade, you will never escape... You'll stay in the same endless loop...your own double helix." That voice...The man who tormented her entire life, turning a young girl into his slave, a monster with no soul, sanity or remorse, Demerzel, no, Asimov!
...
Blade's eyes snapped open, life returning to her form as the woman gasped for air, her hands violently shaking as she squeezed them open and shut, trying to make sure this was real. The samurai floundered as she tried to right herself, struggling to breathe as he leaned against the dirty wall and stared at the sky, partially blocked off by buildings overhead. How long had she been here? The striker glanced at her hud; only a few minutes...Christ...
Turning out of the house and onto the abandoned yard, Blade huffed in frustration, staring across the old designs coating the unused space as orange lights illuminated her form. She could never understand men like that, anyone who held themselves above others, why they needed things they didn't even use.
The wealthy, the powerful, people who stood at the top always had to justify it to themselves somehow. 'No, I'm not rich because I threw everyone else under the bus; I'm just a hard worker.' She scoffed at her own hypothetical as if they ever worked a day in their lives. At a certain point, you can only go up by stepping on top of others.
Blade did laps around the property, her evening patrol, both a means of security and to be alone with her thoughts. The woman wasn't one for talking if she didn't need to, but she needed to get away; the way the other adepts acted disgusted her; she'd seen their type so much in recent years, parasites sensing weakness and seeking blood; it was getting to her.
People always look for someone to save them but look at those below them with contempt when they do the same; that attitude got men like Asimovon top, leave your problems to someone else...Let the strong dictate the weak...
Her brow furrowed, eyes narrowing, that madman brought out the worst in her; no matter the time, past, present, future, if you let the powerful control the world...who will stop them when they go too far?
'The weak will be purged, and the strongest will thrive - free to live as they see fit; it's the basic rule of evolution!' Blade sneered, kicking a patch of dirt as the mound exploded, scattering mud across the yard, "says fucking who?"
All that talk about the strong getting to decide...you forget you need the weak as well; No man could build a society alone; what about the workers, men, women, old, young?... Everyone had a purpose, a reason to live...no one gets to deny them that.
The warrior shoved the thoughts from her mind; getting stuck in her memories wouldn't do her or the victims any good. She needed to think, to plan; before that video, she and iX had a breakthrough in their research on the assassin.
The mysterious man poised the most significant threat so far, an enigma that took an interest in her for an unknown reason. The masked figure knew far more about her than any of the other adepts; she'd have to hunt him down and end things.
Blade was never one to leave loose ends; if she left him to his own devices, who's to say he or those clones wouldn't stab her or iX in the back?
Ding
Blade's eyes flashed open; her radar caught someone standing down the road, unmoving. The samurai stomped into the street, "what awful timing..."
Adorned in a black cloak with equally midnight-colored skin, the adept watched them, unmoving from his position beneath a street light; this was the one Blade had seen the night before, sitting on that pole. This one seemed different from the rest.
The streets are empty, there are no witnesses. Good, she could use some stress relief.
Her eyes studied the adept ahead, taking in every detail of the mysterious killer.
The man stood tall, his form almost entirely concealed by a darkened cloak, the loose cloth flowing in the cool breeze, showing virtually no skin, unlike the others. His gaze was firm despite seeing nothing more than black holes beneath a skull-shaped mask; the veteran could sense utter calm behind it. Things clicked within the samurai's mind; this one is the original.
Blade's brow furrowed as she stomped forward, concrete splintering on impact, "This ends here."
Silence reigned as the assassin slowly raised a hand, waving behind himself; the message was clear; not here. Blade had seen this behavior before; He wanted to fight her, no tricks, no espionage, no backstabbing.
Men of his standing never revealed themselves unless they wanted you to know they were there;The man had a purpose coming to her; she couldn't tell what.
The cloaked figure slowly turned, meandering into the darkened side streets without a word; Blade understood what he wanted from her all too well; she grinned in anticipation, taking off down the road after the adept.
Metallic heels clicked along old cobblestone roads as the futuristic samurai followed her nemesis, watching the man's cloak flutter in the wind as the sun had already set, the sky now a blackened abyss. The pair turned corner after corner, finally entering a depopulated section of the neighborhood still under construction. The skeletal structures of buildings lined the streets, some concrete cubes, others just red metal beams without a finishing.
Blade's sensors roared to life as dozens of figures lept, landing across the rooftops, standing atop equipment, buildings, even a nearby crane. So, he brought his entire army? Her grin grew menacing, good.
The assassin turned, his cloak flowing and ebbing around his form, disguising the arsenal of weapons hidden beneath. The man's voice was deep, the sort of tone only a honed killer could achieve; no emotion, just utter calm, like a stagnant puddle, unmoving as life continued around it.
"My name is lost to time...our mind splintered beyond repair..."
The figure swayed a hand across the air, his fingertips gesturing toward clones scattered across the rooftops, "Each body, an echo, a fragment of what once was."
The nameless assassin clenched his fist, staring at the appendage as his blackened leather gloves tightened, "I am here of my own volition; my-our Master has rendered us pawns in his game... no more."
The figure lowered his gaze, settling on the samurai ahead, studying her form, "When our...my blades clashed with yours...we knew you were the same, yet...
His head lowered, the veteran seeing the hollow white irises beneath the blackened abyss, "You...are healing...your fractured mind...not whole but stable."
His tie swayed in the breeze as Blade's gaze narrowed, "I embrace the man...and the falcon, we're both one, and the same" her grip tightened, feeling her blade humming for action beneath its sheathe.
The adept reached within his cloak, pulling out a pair of ornately carved, blackened knives, the handles made from human bone, burning with a black flame with no heat or light behind them. These blades have taken countless lives, used in innumerable hands across his homeland; although he couldn't remember, he simply knew it as fact; he was but one of many. He twirled his tools as he strode forward, "Then show me, show us how your voices sing in unison."
Dozens of clones lept from the rooftops, landing around the samurai in all directions. She saw men, women, short, tall, just like before, similar yet unique all their own, fragments of the same mind brought to life. Each brandishing different weapons of war, Blade chuckled at the sight. Warfare perpetually moved forward; time waited for no man; she'd show them just how war has changed.
Blade maliciously grinned as her mask slowly closed around her eyes, a blue glint flashing within just before the sensors clamped shut. Her hand squeezed the trigger, energy coursing through her blade as it hummed to life, emanating a deep glow as it charged up; "Okay...let's dance!"
…
Major Bossfight: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance OST – A Stranger I Remain Extended
With a click, Raiden shot out of its sheathe like a rocket as Blade vanished from sight, leaving little more than a crater torn into the earth itself, sprinting across the battlescape at untold speeds. The blade soared past an assassin, this one unarmed, shirtless, his eyes barely able to follow the weapon as the samurai rematerialized behind him.
Blade gripped her tool of war with both hands as it crackled in azure electric fury; she raised the elongated blade over her left shoulder before she swung, her instrument of war sliced through bone and flesh as if it were nothing. Cleaving a blue line as the clone's head sailed into the night sky, unseen slashes ripped the body into little more than raining chunks of flesh as more lines blurred around its form, slumping to the ground.
Without giving the veteran a moment of respite, a group of clones dispersed and rematerialized above her in a cloud of black smoke, intent on skewering the berserk striker alive as they readied their knives. Kunai rained from across the site in all directions as more made their way toward her.
Blade clicked her tongue in annoyance before throwing her sword into the air and dropping down, catching herself on her claws as the rotors in her wrists spun to life. The latches along her boot gripped her blade as she began to spin in circles, creating an electric tornado of death as she crashed through men, knives, and anything that dared get within reach.
Raiden spun in rapid rotation as electricity blew off like a roaring wind, skewering and tearing the men and women apart like a hot knife through butter again and again as the woman ripped through them like a machine. Their bodies fell as perfectly sliced piles of flesh before dissipating into blackened smoke.
Sparks flew as she lunged off the ground, her handstand turning into a spinning flip as she caught her sword from above before landing upright. The samurai sighed in elation as she popped her neck; Her opponent was up to something; the samurai couldn't tell what, but cloak and dagger seemed to be the only thing the adept had; why throw your men away like this?
She unshackled Raiden's sheathe from her hip with a vicious smile, magnetic locks releasing with an audible click; if they wanted to die, then she'd happily deliver. She raised the mechanism overhead as one hand held its grip in anticipation, the other deadlocked on its trigger. The weapon exploded into a burning blue aura surrounding her form as its systems overcharged before its form illuminated in a blinding white light.
Raiden Galient
The sword roared to life as Blade let go, swinging Raiden long before her enemies had gotten close. As the high-electricity blade superheated the air it cleaved through, it made azure hot wind blades. The artificial storm tore through the night, illuminating the darkened street before reaching its targets.
The blast ripped through their ranks as clones flew into the night sky, getting shredded apart limb from limb from a sword still meters away, their bodies falling as little more than splatters of darkened blood and ash.
Raiden Slash
She took off, crashing through hordes as they fruitlessly threw themselves at her repeatedly, bodies dropping left and right as static crackled off her form. Blade launched into the air, flipping over and over as Raiden blurred into a red wheel of death.
Crash Break
She smiled as bloodlust flowed through her, slicing men apart as she arched over their forms before landing in a blast of dust. One tried to sweep her legs, only to have their own bones crack on impact with solid steel. Blade paid it no mind, only slamming a boot down on their head as they fell, gore splattering across her armor.
I can't get enough of moments like this, animals to the slaughter. You always have to hold back your anger, but now? No need for a berserk trigger to show your true self.
Shut up.
A clone with a purple military buzz slashed from her left; she sidestepped the strike without even looking, impaling her sword through the assassin's stomach from behind, tearing it straight up. Raiden came out of his skull as brain matter flooded out along with his still steaming insides. This was HER moment to let loose.
Assassins dispersed and rematerialized out of existence, trying to confuse her as they dotted the landscape alongside their dead. It was pointless; her systems could pick up anything, any vibration; they couldn't sneak upon her.
Electricity flared as Blade spun on her heel, her left leg soaring through the air as she cleared a 180 with the skill of a dancer, her metallic heel slamming into an assassin's side as they emerged behind her.
Bone shattered as internal organs ruptured. The clone's ribcage dented inwards as her momentum refused to stop as she spun. The body flew off, crashing against a concrete support pole, her head splattering as the body twitched before going limp, blood leaking out of where her skull once was across the hardened earth; the only sign of her head was a splatter of black ooze and purple hair along the beam.
Sighing in raw excitement as gore dripped from her mask, Blade chuckled at the destruction she'd wrought. The remaining clones dropped ahead of her, about to go for an all-or-nothing charge. She grinned in ecstasy, his visor glowing violet, and there was so much to go around.
"Enough..."
Blade glanced up, spotting the true assassin atop a half-constructed building, metal beams keeping the skeletal structure upright. Her grin grew, finally.
Electricity flared as she launched into the night sky, landing with a thud atop the metal girders above, landing across assassin as her boot's magnetic locks stuck to the surface.
A cold winter breeze howled in the night as a full moon shone overhead, illuminating their forms as they stood off. The assassin spun his blades in anticipation as more of his duplicates landed around them, weapons loosely hanging at their sides, dozens of them on each level of the structure.
The azure striker watched as she held her sword defensively, "Why are you really here? Why throw yourself into a meatgrinder you know you can't win?"
The assassin remained unmoving; he loosely held his blades as he looked down at the ground far below in contemplation before reaching up, gently removing his mask.
Darkened skin overlayed a withered old visage; Assassin had a look across his face that Blade had only seen on old veterans towards the end, beyond battle-hardened...something else.
The man was tired; Blade could tell just peering into his hollow white irises, exhausted from years of having a shattered mind. The samurai knew just how hellish a divided soul was. Thoughts, not your own; beliefs and ideas, shoved in as if they'd always been there, but you knew they weren't.
The assassin's patchy white hair flowed in the breeze as he looked at Blade. He seemed almost desperate as he spoke, his voice no longer cold but strained.
"You know why...the voices...they never stop..."
The FALCON nodded in agreement, staring back at her foe, "and they never will..."
The shrouded figure took a silent breath, "My wish...our dream is to be whole once more..."
"Then you're doing it the wrong way."
Blade lowered Raiden, the blade lightly burning the girder she stood atop of, digging into the steel plate as gravity dragged the tool downward, "You just want to stand above the rest, barking orders...that's not harmony...if you live like that" Her blonde hair swayed in the breeze as her blade tore into steel, "You'll never be free."
The assassin's cloak billowed as he grit his teeth in frustration; the man was shaking as he raised his knives in defiance, "Then tell me...how...how do I right myself, how do I stop this madness?"
Blade unclasped her mask, her blue eyes shining beneath the moonlight; she exhaled a cloud of air into the cold winter night, "You're here because you want to be here; that's step one...step two...you'll need to find that on the battlefield, find who you really are, and embrace it!"
The shrouded adept watched on as his duplicates leaped across the construction site, dotting the metal structure they stood off on, examining each one slowly. They faced their overlord, awaiting orders. Was this the way? Could he find peace?
His soft gaze studied the soldier in front of him, his mind divided in two yet acting like one, as though they finally came to terms. How could he find such rest? Each fragment wished to dominate, to control...the adept gripped his fists, knuckles turning white as he held his tools of war; he had to try to fight for his sanity.
The Nameless Shade wasn't a slave for his Master to abuse and throw away like trash. He broke his chains, refusing to die to test the other adepts; no, the woman ahead had the answers he desired.
He had never feared death, but now? His wish...his goal was ahead, within reach. He took a calming breath, gazing out across the world, starlight illuminating a modern city. The man didn't know if his true self would enjoy the sight or something else, but he'd soon find out.
His gaze grew firm, his eyes hardening into cold steel; he lowered his form, left arm raised, right arm lowered. The runes along his blades began to hum an ethereal purple glow. "Then come, show me who you truly are, King of Sumeragi..."
Blade stood in silence as the masked man went on before breaking out into a dark chuckle. Several Assassins materialized in shadows surrounding her form, blades aimed across her body, an inescapable death chamber.
"You know, for all that talk..." Their knives were mere inches from her skin as she spoke without fear; her eyes flashed a bright blue, a predator about to strike. She raised her free hand as sparks of electricity crackled between her fingertips. She glanced below at the metal, highly conductive structure beneath her feet; "You're out of your league."
ZZZZZZZZ BOOM
Years of training had prepared him for the unexpected twists of combat; the adept knew to trust instinct. As the hairs at the back of his neck began to rise, the man dove off the building the very moment he saw sparks flicking around Blade's form.
Collider Durandal
The masked adept crashed into the ground below in a roll, looking up to see metal warping, beginning to melt as untold levels of voltage swam through, looking to ground its charge. The entire structure lit up like a Christmas tree, a beacon of roaring energy in the darkness of night. The support beams crackled in blue waves as dozens of his fragments were cooked alive.
Lightning danced across his clones' charred bodies as they swayed, some dying where they stood, others surviving just long enough to lose balance, their nerves too destroyed to send any signals whatsoever. They crashed to the ground like the fall leaves, bones crunching as they landed at odd angles before going limp.
Blade stood above, observing her work impassively as the adept got back to his feet; the samurai lept off the melting platform, her hair flying upwards in an updraft as she slammed into the ground, making an impact crater as dust blew around her.
Both adepts stood off, one a divided mind wanting to become what once was; the other reconstituted, whole yet different, changed. Silence reigned as neither moved, observing their target; a girder fell from above, slamming into a generator as the device exploded in a ball of fire. Go
Blade burst across the battlefield as little more than a lightning bolt, crashing toward the assassin as both adepts charged. Her weapon flowed through solid rock as if it were water. Electricity flared as the veteran swung up with everything she had, the force cleaving the wind into a blue mist as it superheated from the pressure; the assassin leaned to the side as Raiden's blue edge missed his torso by centimeters.
The dark adept swung downwards, intent on carving into Blade's back as she passed by. The samurai grit her teeth as she used raw might to twist her body, angling into a spin, dragging her sword along with her momentum.
She swung hard to the right, rotating on her metallic heels as HE steel clashed with true magic, her sword meeting the adept's daggers.
Sparks flew as the shadowy adept's weapons held firm; his body couldn't say the same. The impact was far too much, as though he were hit by a truck; Assassin flew, crashing back-first through construction equipment, disappearing into a cloud of black smoke on impact.
Blade paused, sensors pinging across the landscape; her eyes flashed fifty degrees to the right. She slashed into the empty air, meeting the assassin's blades as he phased into existence. The adept growled in anger as he dematerialized and rematerialized, only to be met blow for blow, unable to land a single hit again and again.
The shadowy killer lept back, narrowly avoiding a sweeping kick from Blade. The man panted in exhaustion, bump-bump, he paused, this feeling... He charged head-on, planting his feet harder than before, his blades clanging against his foe's blue phantasm, each swing greater than his last. Their forms blurred as they breached the silent night as they went blow for blow.
His heart continued to beat more and more as a vicious smile grew across his face, even as a slice grazed his chest, blood flying into the air as he lept back. The assassin sailed through the air, throwing a hail of throwing knives at his attacker.
He wanted to fight Blade; it didn't matter if he lost anymore; his mind grew clearer, the voices growing distant. His opponent deflected each projectile like nothing as they clashed once more; he disappeared into a cloud of smoke as he narrowly avoided getting impaled.
Blade took a calming breath as the assassin emerged from her shadows at the end of the road ahead, the withered man standing firm despite losing his exhaled, his gaze firm; this was getting tiresome; Assassin dodged every killing blow she threw at him, just poofing out of existence and it pissed her off. An idea came to mind; her grimace turned into a grin; the samurai had just the tool to put the evasive foe down once and for all.
Blade's left hand glowed a vibrant yellow as a small knife materialized; he spun the device as the three-pronged kunai radiated a deep blue hue. One of her newly gained tricks, if she could create chains and giant swords, why not something small and sharp?
Holding Raiden in a feint, Blade took off, her weapon flowing with the wind behind her as static crackled off her form; asphalt splintered and broke as she tore down the street as the assassin met her charge.
The adept ran with everything he had, shadows leaving afterimages of his form; this was it...this was what he always wanted. Silence, only him and the foe ahead remained.
Time slowed as Blade raised the kunaiacross her chest before her augmentations burned, throwing the weapon with maximum force; the weapon blurred before slamming straight into the assassin's stomach. The adept hacked up blood as the tool dug into his intestines as Blade crashed towards him, electricity following her every step.
Unknown energy coursed from the knife lodged in his torso; magnetic power locked him in place every time he tried to disperse his form, holding his body together.
Blade pushed off the ground as Lorentz Force carried her towards her nemesis in a magenta ray. The warrior spun in explosive energy, steadying her aim as both hands latched on before slamming Raiden straight into the assassin's heart, digging through flesh and bone as it ruptured out of his back.
The man shook, eyes wide as he wavered before hacking up a stream of blood, the liquid trailing down his chin to the ground below. His arms uselessly hung at his sides as he tried to force them to move, only for his knives to clatter onto the asphalt as his body began to give out.
Blade placed a hand on his shoulder, pausing a brief moment before pushing back, ripping her sword out; blackened ooze trickled out of the man's chest, a hole going all the way through. He fell without a sound, back first onto the hard ground below.
The assassin watched the stars above, knowing fully well that these were his final moments. He never stood a chance; the man had learned that after their first encounter, but this was something he had to do. He needed to see for himself...what unity truly was. The nameless shade felt...nothing, peace in silence, at last.
His breathing slowed; he was okay with this end...a death of his own choice. His vision grew cloudy, the night sky hazing into a deep fog; he felt...free.
As gentle purple flames began to burn around his form, something clicked within his mind. The world shifted, Assassin was no longer in an urban landscape, but...an simple market...it seemed so familiar. Merchants with wares from far-off lands, people were meandering around wearing a distinctive clothing style he somehow recognized but couldn't place.
A hand he hadn't noticed let go of his; he gazed up to see the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, a gentle smile on her face as she turned to see him. How did he know her? Just seeing her brought such...joy. She gently clasped his hand in hers as her honey-colored eyes looked him over, "Did you get lost in your head again?" She giggled, her voice melodic to his withered soul.
"Don't forget my father's coming for dinner tonight; you remember what happened last time we forgot? Hm? Anushi."
The flames soon overtook the body; Blade watched as the assassin began to disappear into nothing, a gentle smile on his weary face before vanishing before the samurai's very eyes.
She sighed as she was left alone in the half-built neighborhood, purple whisks rising around her; the samurai gazed up to the moon above, "With so many voices, how can you tell who's really in charge?"
The end here cause the writer ran out of steam, is mildly embarrassed and honestly just posted this anyway because it took so long to make and just keeping it in a folder would be a shame.