Sukuna grabbed Mahoraga by the head, slamming the shikigami through a series of buildings as he sent wave after wave of Cleaves into its head. It parted into chunks, yet it had some form of high speed regeneration that allowed it to heal itself. With barely a pause, the shikigami swung at Sukuna, the blade attached at its forearm arcing down to his neck. A blade of exorcism - that was a pretty unique find, as it was a cursed tool designed to kill cursed spirits. A single cut would be enough to kill most, himself included had he been a cursed spirit.

With his arms on one side, he caught the blow, severing the offending arm at the wrist, before he planted a palm against the midriff of the creature to reduce its side into chunks. Grabbing hold of the shikigami by the collarbone, he heaved its body forward and it smashed through a row of buildings.

All around them, people were in a blind panic as they tried to flee, but by the time the thought had even entered their head, their fight had already moved on. So, they simply ran as they tried to get away from the devastation, blindly hoping that they were going the right way. Their fear and pain fueled him, and it was something of an annoyance - In his more ignorant days, he would have slaughtered them for the fun of it, delighting in the carnage.

But now he actually got something from them. The useless and worthless civilians weren't so useless or worthless when they fed him power. Their cursed energy was hardly worth being called as such, but quantity had a quality of its own.

And that left him in a bit of a conundrum. He was hardly going to slaughter the fodder that made him stronger, so he had to take care that he didn't cause too much collateral damage. Some was fine, and it'd help intensify the fear the Undercity felt, and he didn't care enough to avoid the deaths of every single piece of trash that couldn't even run away. But it did tie his hands when it came to his wide area attacks.

It was an irritating handicap, Sukuna decided as he landed on some broken statue that was covered in rubble. Mahoraga extracted itself from more rubble down the block, once more whole. The Dharma above its head turned and whatever damage that lingered vanished.

"Perfect adaptation, is it?" Sukuna noted, tilting his head as he pretended to be ignorant of what transpired above him. At first he thought it was healing, but once it adapted to his Dismantles, and now his Cleaves, it was clear that it was a case of adaptation. Mahoraga, once exposed to something, would become immune to it upon the Dharma turning.

Then, with a lazy flick of a hand, Sukuna sent a Dismantle at Mahoraga. The attack didn't even break the skin. "Hm. So, I can't introduce counterintuitive adaptations?" He noted, narrowing his eyes as he crossed his arms. "That natural or a product of binding vows?" He asked out loud, but he was answered by Megumi launching an attack.

Birds from above shifted their position in the air and launched themselves right at him. There were an easy hundred of them, and they gave the trick away as they raced for their target - the birds punched through buildings and bridges like they didn't exist. All the while electricity cackled at their feathertips, feeding each other amps until a massive charge of lightning raced down towards him.

At the very same moment, Mahoraga pounced in a blur of speed. Yet, they weren't the danger. That was the other hundred odd birds that were emerging from the shadows, including Sukuna's own, to utterly surround him. It wasn't a bad trap. It was almost halfway decent even. The boy just made the mistake of not understanding the gulf of ability and experience between them - something he swiftly proved as he launched into action.

Without twitching a muscle, the birds parted as they were cut in half with a motionless Dismantle. The electric charge was still coming, however, which made Mahoraga a convenient shield. The lightning struck, obliterating everything around them. The stone was scorched or destroyed, with the point of impact being a bubbling magma - every plane of glass shattered into pieces, and odds were everyone in the area was deaf from the noise.

"This is no good, brat. How about you cheat a little and explain your technique? You'll only manage to bore me at this rate," Sukuna remarked, silently debating with himself what he wanted to do about Mahoraga. It wasn't worth closing his Domain - Law alone had earned that privilege, and Mahoraga wasn't anywhere near as impressive. Fun to fight, sure, but the only thing that stopped Sukuna from killing it instantly were the fools that he collected a Tithe from and his pride.

The electric charge did some hefty damage to Mahoraga, but it was already putting itself together.

"The Ten Shadows Technique," the brats voice echoed out from the shadows and Sukuna rolled his eyes - typical shikigami sorcerers. Always hanging back while they let their summons do the fighting for them. Smart, certainly. Still boring though. "Imbues the user with ten shikigami, each with unique abilities. They can be further refined through Totality, which is when one shikigami is destroyed - its ability, speed, strength, and other assets can be applied to the remaining shikigami."

Interesting. From the sounds of it, the brat had refined some of his shikigami to make a powerful combo. Also, it meant that those birds likely could be applied to something else now. However, it was a trade off - the more you refined, the less options you had. While any sorcerer could create a shikigami, there was no promise that any created shinigami would be acknowledged by the innate technique.

"Mahoraga, however, has been refined to defeat you," the brat continued, a certain grimness in his voice that Sukuna recognized - the brat realized that such a thing was far easier said than done. "This will be the first and only time I will summon him, in exchange, all of his abilities are enhanced against you and you alone." Foolish bargain that was, but if Megumi didn't give a damn about his future beyond this fight then Sukuna could see such a binding vow offering a substantial boost.

It just wouldn't be enough. Not even close.

Not because Mahoraga wasn't powerful - it was. Outside of Law, the shikigami offered the greatest challenge he had faced in centuries. The problem lay with Megumi, as the very core of all Jujutsu Sorcery was imagination. That was where Megumi failed.

He couldn't even imagine how strong Sukuna was. Sukuna wasn't sure where the brat had been hiding back in his old world, but he was probably a peer of that Gojo fool who thought he was the strongest only because everyone around him was pathetic trash. Now, Sukuna was several times stronger than when he had defeated that disappointment calling himself the Strongest. Maybe the shikigami would have been an issue for him at five fingers worth of strength, especially when it was tailor made to fight him.

But at fifteen fingers?

"You really thought sacrificing your future would be enough to defeat me?" Sukuna remarked, his tone bored. That sorcerer that was attacking Law's soul, and thus Sukuna, had accomplished more. "How arrogant." There was a telling silence on the other end and a thought occurred to Sukuna, causing a cruel smile to tug at his lips. "No- that's a stop gap measure, isn't it? You weren't meant to be fighting me alone, were you?"

He had found it a bit puzzling that Gojo hadn't joined the fight. It was possible that Gojo had simply lost his nerve after his defeat at Sukuna's hands at a fraction of his true strength. Or he hadn't, and he simply wasn't here for whatever reason. Perhaps he had been killed by his other incarnation? Perhaps Kenjaku had done something? He didn't know, but it didn't matter.

"I am alone," Megumi admitted, eking out every last drop of strength from every binding vow he could think of. Mahoraga had restored itself by that point, though the Dharma hadn't spun despite the allotted time passing. Meaning that Megumi had either sacrificed Mahoraga's ability to adapt to things not inflicted by Sukuna, or the binding vow he made was to reduce the allotted time to mere thirty seconds against him with the true time being much longer.

With that, the battle resumed. Mahoraga launched itself at Sukuna, who wore a lazy grin. They clashed through the city and Sukuna's grin only grew when he felt a presence sweep over them - similar to what Oden had done during their clash, but on a completely different scale. Across the Undercity, people simply dropped midstep with their eyes rolling into the backs of their heads and frothing at the mouth.

That was Law, Sukuna knew, and he was only a little annoyed with the development. It meant that the gap between them had grown once more, likely undoing any progress that Sukuna had made to bridge it.

Yet, he found that he didn't entirely mind. Something like this was the least Law should be capable of if he was going to call himself Sukuna's friend.

Unfortunately for Megumi, whatever Law was pulling off made him curious. Curious enough that he wanted to cut the fun short just to see what Law was doing. With a savage grin on his face, Sukuna bisected the ground, carving a bridge into chunks that started to free fall down to the Sump. Mahoraga fell alongside him, standing on one of the chunks for only a split second before it shattered underfoot in an explosion of speed.

"I was saving this for Law, but you'll make for decent practice," Sukuna decided, keeping his feet planted on the cube he stood on.

He had thought a lot on his defeat at Law's hands - his Rooms were effectively a barrier with a wide range of abilities. Given that Law hadn't been able to escape once Sukuna locked his Domain, it had proven that his range could be contained, which robbed Law of his greatest strength. Yet, Law was still able to utilize his Room within Sukuna's own Domain. Which had turned his attention to barrier techniques in general.

Tengen, the old bat, was a master of them, one of the few that ever existed. A Domain Expansion was considered the pinnacle of Jujutsu Sorcery and the ultimate barrier technique, with few ever achieving one and fewer ever managing to fully utilize the techniques in general. They were tedious, difficult to learn, and harder to master, so most never went beyond learning how to create a Curtain. If that.

And he would never admit it, but that manga Law gave him had points of inspiration in them. Ideas that he never considered and was able to apply the fundamental idea with cursed energy rather than chakra, ki, and so on.

"Barrier Technique: Rotation," Sukuna said, forming a multi-layered barrier around himself. The idea of applying rotating forces as a means of deflection was a workable idea, but one that could be further improved as Naruto had proven in the Chunin Exams. With sufficient force, the barrier could be breached and the technique defeated.

Mahoraga was attempting exactly that, slamming a fist onto the spinning barrier that wore his hand away even as it delivered the blow.

Which is why Sukuna placed a second layer to the barrier, inspired by Law. The outer barrier began to bend inward towards Sukuna while flames began to burn at his hands. He stoked the Divine Flames, the barrier folding over him as it bent inward around Mahoraga until he was fully enveloped. The violet rotations tore his body apart, but kept his body still as a bow made of fire scorched the area around them with ambient heat.

The rubble that followed them in free fall was reduced to magma while the ground under his feet was only spared because of a binding vow. A few of them, since he still irritatingly had to be concerned with collateral damage.

With a lazy grin, he let loose the arrow and it struck the barrier that contained Mahoraga. The barrier became filled with fire and devastating heat that the two barriers struggled to contain. Yet, by the time the rubble reached the bottom of the Sump, the barriers faded and there was nothing left of the shikigami except for a scorched Dharma that too quickly faded away.

It was then that Megumi did something surprising.

"Domain Expansion," Megumi began as a barrier leapt up from Sukuna's shadow even as he was plunged into its depths, making escape impossible. "Chimera Shadow Garden!"

"Falling Blossom Emotion," Sukuna intoned, clasping his lower hands together in the hand sign that protected him from the Domain Expansion's sure hit effect. It also allowed him to inspect the Domain Expansion - he had to admit, he hadn't thought the brat was capable of it. It was fairly refined too. Not perfected, but it was clear that it wasn't some hasty last second effort to defeat him.

Everything was marked with negative space - a pitch black void stretched on around him, but the ground was marked with rippling white as the shadows moved like water. Before him was Megumi, flanked by his shikigami. A cold sweat dripped down his face and the brats expression was one of resolve tinged with desperation.

"That moron," Sukuna remarked with a laugh. "How dare he call himself the Strongest when someone like you was born in his generation?" He could all too easily see how he would use the Ten Shadow Technique to bypass Infinity. Mahoraga just had to adapt to it, and that fool would be helpless.

"Gojo-sensei is the strongest," Megumi said, his hands clasped together. "If he were here, then you wouldn't even be a speed bump. Luckily for you, you're just dealing with me."

Sukuna tilted his head, "Sensei, hm?" This brat hadn't been at either of the Jujutsu Sorcery schools. Possibly because he had been out on a mission… or he hadn't been attending yet. He could be an incarnated sorcerer like himself, or Megumi could be further up the timeline. Far enough that Gojo became a teacher and this brat became his student.

Interesting.

"My Domain Expansion allows me to temporarily restore my shikigami and freely alter their properties within the Domain," Megumi began to Reveal His Hand for another power boost. "Additionally, anyone defeated within my Domain, I can take their innate technique to create a shikigami to replace one of my destroyed ones."

Oh? "Not bad," Sukuna acknowledged, watching as Dharma's appeared over every single one of his shikigami. "I think I'll take it," he decided, clasping his upper hands together while a flicker of confusion passed over Megumi's expression.

"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine," Sukuna intoned as his own Domain formed. He could practically feel all of Megumi's layered Binding Vows in the hope that he could match him - some of which Sukuna even recognized. Sacrificing his Domain to match Sukuna's. And even further beyond it - Megumi was sacrificing his innate technique for a single boost of pure raw power. A measure that reeked of desperation and fear.

For good reason, as it so happened.

Because in a clash of Domains, there was no contest and Sukuna was the victor.

…

Words failed her, Cinder realized as she stood across from her pet. They simply wouldn't come to mind - not because she couldn't think of them, but simply because she was that furious. Her body felt like it was burning as a raw unrestrained rage coursed through her veins like fire. The ground beneath her feet began to steam as her Semblance activated of its own will, aching to burn away the humiliation that faced her.

"Annie. What exactly do you think you're doing?" Cinder hissed slowly, her hands curling into fists. Annie stood before her alongside a dark green haired teenager wearing glasses, but she was of no concern to Cinder. What was a concern was that they were here - down below the factory floor where the Dias was, both carrying a set of explosives.

The very moment Cinder realized that they were under attack, she went to the Dias. Partly to secure it to make sure she had an exit if one was needed, but also to stay out of the fighting itself while presenting the fact she had been useful. The ground hadn't stopped shaking as Sukuna tore through the Undercity, and now dark clouds swirled overhead while Law and Yoruichi tore through Piltover. However, she hadn't been prepared for who would stand across from her.

"Starlight," Her pet hissed back, the lights flickering around them. "My name is Starlight. And I'm here to kill you," she continued with a familiar rage.

It was almost funny - Cinder wondered if this was how her step-mother felt when Cinder finally stood against her and her daughters. That same rage and bubbling disbelief that a toy- a couple of holes that existed for nothing but her amusement dared to dream of being anything more than that.

"I was too gentle with you, it seems," Cinder said, her dress burning away as two swords formed in her grip. "I'm going to bring you to Fallout, Annie. And when I do, I'm going to sell your ass for two caps a go for any person or animal that passes you by. There are going to be rivers of cum flowing out of you and that hell of your own making is going to make your time as my pet feel like a dream," Cinder swore, her lips peeling back into a snarl.

"Well, you two have some history," the green haired girl remarked, shouldering a katana.

"She's mine, Maki," Annie stressed, her eyes shining with light while the lights around them flickered. "You just focus on destroying the Dias. Leave her to me."

"There's a reason why you submitted to me," Cinder sneered. "Let me remind you why." The humiliation of this. She was certain that Annie had broken, reduced to an obedient fuck puppet. Thankfully, Law wasn't here to see this… failure. She could salvage this. Though, it did mean that it was best if Annie died here so there was no contradicting the story… but a quick death was far more than what Annie deserved for this betrayal.

Annie snarled, light gathering at her hands and Cinder hated that she had to protect the Dias because it meant she couldn't go on the offensive like she so dearly wished. At the very same moment, Maki sprung into action, launching herself forward in a blur of speed in the hopes of passing Cinder. Only for their blades to clash in a shower of sparks as Cinder cut her off halfway. Their eyes met, both glaring at the other, before Cinder lashed out with her other blade, only to use it to block a light blast when Maki backed off.

"Pathetic," Cinder snarled. "The only thing you're good for is being a cocksleeve, and you're so damn loose now you're barely good for that anymore."

"Shut! Up!" Annie shouted, sending a series of blasts at Cinder, uncaring of whether she hit or not. To avoid letting Maki slip by, Cinder used her Semblance on the ground, forming sharp spikes that raced to clash against the hardened light, all of which exploded in a shower of colors. With the same gesture, she sent some at Maki, who deflected or dodged them with surprising grace.

"Or perhaps I was going about this the wrong way?" Cinder questioned, trading a series of blows with Maki - the girl was fast and strong, but well below her in terms of physical abilities. The biggest danger was that Annie provided adequate enough cover that Maki could slip by to damage the Dias. "Perhaps I should have leaned into your utterly inept and misguided attempts at heroism? It's a shame your mother's dead. I would have liked to see if being a slut ran in the family."

"Shut up! Shut! Up! ShutupshutupSHUTUP!" Annie screamed, the blasts of bolts getting faster and stronger, but also sloppier. Maki found that she had to keep an eye on them, otherwise she'd get struck in the back, and it was the opening that Cinder needed to press the attack. "How can anyone be this evil?! Law destroyed an entire fucking planet, and he's basically a saint compared to you!"

Cinder kicked Maki in the stomach, sending her skidding back before following it up by fusing her blades to send an arrow after her - Cinder found she missed Dust most keenly, but it was still enough to get the reaction that she wanted. Maki blocked the arrow with a swipe of her sword, sending out shards of the arrow that Cinder superheated with her Semblance with a gesture. The shards exploded into Maki's back and without Aura to protect her, the fragments tore into her flesh like a hand grenade.

"That fuckin' hurt!" Maki snarled, pressing on despite the pain to clash again, her katana meeting Cinder's bow. Cinder narrowed her eyes at the edge bit into her weapon, but she took the opportunity to use her Semblance on Maki's weapon, focusing on superheating a single spot so the blade broke. Cinder parted her bow, using them as blades, but found that Maki grabbed the superheated blade with a hand and tried to plunge it into her heart.

Her Aura flared, absorbing the blow and when she went to counter, she was forced to narrowly block a concussion blast of light. Maki seized the opportunity to kick Cinder in the stomach, repaying the blow, and sent her skidding back a good dozen feet.

"You're seriously a pain in the ass," Maki noted before she reached into a pouch at her hip. She took out an injector filled with some fluid and Cinder narrowed her eyes at it. In a single smooth action, Maki made to inject herself with whatever it was, but Cinder wasn't keen on allowing her enemy to have any kind of advantage. With a gesture, she used Scorching Caress on the injector, making the plastic melt while the fluid boiled with such intensity that the glass vials shattered.

Maki wince as the injector blew up in her hand, taking a step back to prepare herself for a sudden assault by Cinder to take advantage in the moment of weakness. Cinder slashed at the girls neck before reversing her grip to attempt a stab at her gut with the backswing. Her blade cut flesh, but it was only skin deep at Maki narrowly dodged a fatal wound.

That was one thing she particularly enjoyed about this world, and others - there was no Aura that she had to get through. It was almost worth the trade off of no Dust, which gave her Semblance far more versatility and power, especially Fire Dust. Though, she hardly needed the extra advantage to beat some teenage girl who deluded herself into thinking that they were equals.

Maki tried to defend herself with the half blade of her katana, but when Cinder nearly took her fingers by sliding her blade along its length, she fought far more conservatively. All the while hints that her injuries were starting to catch up with her showed in drops of blood that fell with every movement.

And it was then that Cinder realized her mistake.

A bright flash of light caught her eye as Annie had stopped trying to bombard her dozens of light blasts, and instead focused on delivering one big one. The issue was… Annie wasn't aiming for her.

She was aiming at the Dias.

Cinder moved the exact moment that Annie let the light blast free. It wasn't any kind of altruism that motivated her to place herself between it and the Dias - it was simple reasoning. The Dias was her exit if things beyond here went the wrong way and Asami won this spat of hers. She still had the Dias blueprints with her. She could leave, rebuild, and then build her own empire that stretched across the Multiverse.

The blast of pure light struck her fully and Cinder concentrated her Aura to protect herself. It still felt like she was hit by a truck, her body slamming into the edge of the Dias from the momentum, but her Aura held out. Her ribs ached and she was pretty sure she tasted blood on her tongue.

"Bitch!" Cinder snarled, getting to her feet. Pain was just pain, but the fact that it was her pet that dared to cause it had Cinder's blood boiling.

"Just fucking die!" Annie screamed at her while Maki pressed the attack. Fury fueled her Semblance, making it stronger and burn hotter. Cinder met Maki in the middle and decided that she had enough of the games. She had entertained thoughts of turning Maki into a toy before Annie to make both girls suffer for their arrogance, but they had lost that privilege.

Maki attacked, and Cinder allowed the blow to slip by, catching the blade with her Aura as Maki tried to stab her neck. In return, Cinder placed a hand to Maki's stomach and she felt unyielding abs under her palm. What a waste, Cinder thought to herself as she whispered a single word filled with hate and spite. "Burn."

Maki ignited in flames, her body and clothing catching fire but it was Annie who screamed rather than Maki. The girl collapsed, falling face first as Cinder simply passed her by to face her wayward pet.

"I…!" Annie started, her eyes glowing with power even as tears gathered. "I-I! Fucking! Hate! You!" Annie roared as Cinder plastered on a confident smirk.

"Blame yourself," Cinder retorted, ignoring the familiar stench of burnt hair and flesh. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't gotten ideas about your place, whore."

"Shut up. Just shut your fucking mouth!" Annie screamed, her eyes glowing as the lights around them exploded. She leveled her hands at her, and Cinder sprung into action - she could take another blow, then she was going to take Annie's arms. And her legs. She'd put Annie on a wall somewhere in Fallout to live out her days as a toilet. She would make Annie suffer in ways that she hadn't thought possible.

Annie screamed wordlessly as the blast of light raced forth, and Cinder realized something was different. But she only had time to note that the blast was faster and larger as it crossed the space between them instantly.

Cinder felt herself be struck and was distantly aware of her Aura shattering.

After that, she found herself laying on her back feeling a distant ache on her left side. She tried to move, only to find the ache wasn't so distant as pain flooded her body, making a ragged gasp escape her.

'What… just happened?' Cinder thought, still trying to move as she opened her eyes, but one was completely pitch black while the other was filled with a bright spot that consumed her vision. There was the sound of something falling - rubble? It was hard to tell over the ringing in her ears. However, there were footsteps that approached. Annie.

Cinder tried to stand, but she felt something connect to her face, sending her tumbling. A foot. Annie had just kicked her. Indignation flood Cinder, and it left her not a second later when Cinder felt herself be kicked again in the side. Old instincts came back to Cinder as she curled up to protect herself from the blows that soon followed.

Only these weren't from her weak step-sisters who hadn't known a day of labor in their lives. These came from a superhuman who hated Cinder beyond what mere words could hope to convey. They rained down upon her and Cinder felt bones crack if they didn't break outright, each blow getting a grunt or cry of pain that spilled from her lips as Annie stomped on Cinder, determined to beat her to death.

Time became meaningless as Annie wordlessly beat her, the only noise coming from her lips were wordless grunt of frustration and anger.

Which made it so cutting when someone finally did speak.

"I think she's had enough, Starlight," a voice noted and a single tear fell from Cinder's eye.

Robin had arrived, and she was here to save her.

…

She had warned Law, Robin reflected as she stood underneath what had been the Vought factory. There wasn't much left of it anymore. Honestly, it was quite lucky that Annie had aimed her blast at an upward angle, else she likely would have flooded the place by breaching the river barrier.

Annie was huffing and puffing as she stood over a defeated Cinder Fall, who was barely recognizable after taking the blast head on. She was missing an arm, her left side was badly burned all the way up to her face, where she'd likely lost an eye. In turn, both of them stood before what had been the Dias. Now the only thing left if it was the walkway.

That was a dangerous loss.

"You," Annie- no, Starlight panted as she turned around, leaving Cinder be and, in her relief, Cinder had passed out. "You're too late. I've won. I beat Cinder." She stressed, and it was clear that she had no strength left. That blast, which had cut through solid stone like it was nothing, had utterly drained her.

"So I see," Robin agreed. She had been on her way back from her expedition to find Pilover and the Undercity on the cusp of destruction. Then she saw a flash of light that destroyed the factory, revealing who was fighting within. "Alas, it won't do if you kill Cinder here. Law finds her amusing, and whatever I might feel for her, I do love Law."

"How? Starlight demanded, the question heaving out of her. "How can you love someone like that? After everything he's done?"

"Because he saved me," Robin answered without hesitation. "My life has been a hell that you can't understand, Starlight. My life was nothing but suffering and betrayal until I met Law. Perhaps it would have been better for everyone if someone like you or Asami had saved me, but you didn't. He did. And I know for the rest of my life, Law will be by my side."

Then Robin smiled, "But I sense we have more pressing matters to discuss. Such as you being exhausted and you can't hope to defeat me." She said, making Starlight tense. "But I don't wish to fight you. Not really. You gave Cinder what she so richly deserved, and if you were captured once more, Cinder would make your life a hell. More so than she did before."

"So… you… are letting me go?" Starlight asked, her tone full of suspicion.

"I am," Robin agreed with a small nod, watching as Starlight clenched her hands into fists before her eyes darted to the burnt body of a girl. Who she was had become impossible to tell, but Robin didn't think she recognized her build.

"I'm not leaving without Cate," Starlight declared, ready to fight her on it. Robin found herself rather impressed with her at the moment - precious few people could have gone through what Starlight did and come out stronger at the other end. Few could muster up the will to be anything more than what their tormentors turned them into.

"By all means - if you can find her, then you're welcome to her," Robin agreed easily as she gestured to their surroundings. Her point was clear. Cate wasn't here but somewhere else. Where, not even Robin knew as she had just arrived. The news that Cate had helped Asami wasn't too surprising, but it was unwelcome. It would seem that she owed Law an apology, since Cate was only spared at Robin's behest.

Annie held her glare for a second more, as if looking for treachery. When she found none, she glanced down at Cinder. She spat on her unconscious body before she turned away. She tensed as she walked by the girls burnt body but she pressed on, leaving the area just as a torrential rain started to fall from the pitch black clouds overhead.

"Oh my," Robin said with a small shake of her head as she approached Cinder, taking out a stimpack and jabbing it into her. Cinder moaned briefly through a swollen jaw - Robin had no idea if she would make it or not, but it was worth a try at least. However, then she took out a second stimpack and approached the burnt girl. Her skin was charred and cracked, but all the same, she administered the medicine.

It was a slight change, but the effects were immediate as the girl's chest began to rise and fall with shallow breathing.

They were both still alive and it would seem she had her work cut out keeping them that way.

...

The next chapter is currently available on my Pat re on and Subscribe Star, so if you want to read it a week early, all it takes is a single dollar in the tip jar. Or, for five dollars, you can read the chapter after that two weeks before its public release! I hope you enjoyed!