"Gladly!" the woman decrees.
Dirge idles in cold confidence with his gunblade after the woman declares war; he's decided to kill her.
Thou shalt not kill is discretionary like God's favor.
And God's judgment is as perspective-based as His mercy.
His golden eyes flick a glance toward the approaching shadows, a look similar to that of the unspoken Deity.
Unworthy...
This energy wave of tangible, aetherial darkness slams with the weight of a truck into Dirge's rising gunblade, and he effortlessly cleaves through the incoming blast. His sword blazes in golden black flames with a single trigger pull that sears away the shadows. And, as the burning cinders fade, the Demigod stands tall and unbothered amidst it all. He looks blatantly unimpressed.
Weak.
Danger close...
His Hunter's Instinct tingles in the direction of any threat...
Behind him!
The man sidesteps his adversary's ambushing lunge from his waning shadow with the fluency of water; a Perfect Dodge, spinning off his leg while swiveling his sword reversed and scything it at her vulnerable backside in an instant: a Perfect Attack. It's the same instant she dodges by vanishing into thin air again like a ghost, and Dirge's black steel carves air. He sucks his teeth and keeps a calm, intense look across his features while those golden eyes scan his surroundings. It's broad daylight, and this woman's vanishing into shadows that shouldn't exist. Is she making darkness? It's too soon to tell.
Dirge needs to figure her out before she figures him out.
"Haha, how are you dodging me!?" the woman's voice echoes before she reappears in front of Dirge with two strange-looking swords, one in each hand, and already going for his heart. It catches her adversary off guard, and he only dodges her cross-slashing debut intended for his throat through his Instinct automatically forcing him to dodge; it can accommodate minor speed differences. She nearly cut him this time, and that ominously alluring grin of hers creases her features: she pursues with a wicked onslaught of slashes and thrusts woven into an elegantly deadly, nonstop offense.
"I'm going to figure you out!" she slyly declares, a voice laced with intent to kill him once she does.
"You'll die trying," Dirge coldly replies.
It's survival of the fittest, after all.
Right?
Her attacks are as vicious and relentless as a beast's while clashing with Dirge's powerful defense, and vivid displays of sparks sing a requiem amidst clashing steel between these two superhuman individuals, Demigods of different paths. It's a battle beyond any human's sense to comprehend: a display of speed and agility so quick that the two turn into mirages through sheer movement. Dirge's martial prowess holds strong against the brutal lethality of this vagrant woman, his eyes emanating a cold intensity unlike anything before. He's focused and fighting for his life. One wrong move or misstep is death. This woman's going for the kill with every single attack; she's an experienced killer.
Noah is not.
Their blows intensify by the second, her rising tempo singing with the steel ringing amidst their grunts and growls; they're tearing everything up around them as a byproduct of being unable to draw blood on each other.
It's a perfect stalemate.
One of them is going to make a mistake first, though...
"We all suffer if you die..."
It won't be Dirge.
Their rising intensity reaches its breaking point; reality can't handle it anymore. Something's got to give!
She parries a slash, breaking his poise.
"Got you!" the mystery assailant boldly decrees while slashing her left sword at Dirge's neck.
So the thought...
Dirge sways his head away and counters with an overhead slash: another Perfect Dodge, and his second counterattack since her assault started; he's played defense the entire time. It comes out of nowhere, almost like the man allowed her into a groove before destroying it in one moment. It comes with an intensity the woman didn't expect from this God-fearing man; he's going for the kill.
The gunblade slices through the air, accompanied by a trigger pull filled with malicious intent.
Dirge isn't Noah.
He's God's Executioner.
An explosion of flames accompanies a whistle of severed winds, and a shockwave of energy tears a jagged scar across the ground for several meters. There are a few seconds of follow-up silence as the black-haired Demigod relaxes into an idling stance with his weapon in his left hand, and then huffs like he's disappointed. He barely missed her...
"Ohhh!" the dark-haired woman cooes like she's impressed while stepping out of a rift of darkness that vanishes as quickly as it comes. Dirge's eyes twitch with realization; he's finally figured out her technique. This woman isn't teleporting like him; she's dimension diving. That's impossible!? He turns and faces her, raising his sword and pointing it her way while she smiles and idles her twinblades behind her back; she's an innocent little girl. Dirge interrogates her; something doesn't make sense. Does it have something to do with her eye?
What's that strange energy emanating from it?
"How do you have the powers of a Replicant while lacking the obvious signs of being one?" he questions, and the woman's coy expression melts into a look of... confusion? Eyes? Wait, she finally catches on to what he means, and rather fast. Her expression slowly molds into a mocking one, her response ending in laughter.
"Wait, you think all Replicants still have Golden Eyes?"
"The mark of Divinity?"
She bursts out laughing like a maniac. This man's a fucking idiot!
Then, she tosses a sword high into the air above her in a beautiful spiral before brushing away the hair covering her right eye to reveal a vertical scar; Dirge ignores the sword.
What is she...?
"We're in a new age, God's Chosen..."
She opens her eye moments before her sword plummets down into her hand, grinning like the Demon the world molded her to be.
Eve flashes in Dirge's head when he sees it, and his adversary takes advantage of what she knew would happen.
He's dropped his guard; a fatal mistake.
It's a good thing this man was dumb enough to let her eavesdrop.
"The Age of Sinners!" she beams in delight when she catches her sword and vanishes that same instant.
That move again...
She's behind Dirge and already slashing for his nape by the time he starts reacting.
Too fast for Hunter's Instinct...
Her sword cuts a deep wound across Dirge's face along the same side her scar was, permanently marking him and marring his features. Her attack carries enough forceit knocks her opponent airborne, assisted by the pressure of her aether. Dirge hits the ground in a tumbling roll, his gunblade flying free from his grasp. The man quickly recovers to a kneel and faces her while clutching his bloody face in pure agony. He doesn't know if she took out his eye yet. Everything hurts. His enemy whistles in victory, casually locking the bases of her swords together to form a bladed staff next, which she prepares to hurl at him.
"And this sinner's irredeemable, so she has no qualms killing God's favorite child," a nonchalant admission she's about to murder this man, and he won't revive without his gunblade in his possession. Ra's power resurrects him. The woman raises her conjoined blades and readies a throwing stance like it's another day in the park for her. She's already realized his weakness. She's fast enough to take advantage.
"I'll give you a bit of mercy, though, and kill you quickly by aiming right for your head. It should skewer you like a knife through fish unless you move and fuck it up, so don't move. Kay?" she pauses to wink at him. "And make sure you forgive me before you die, for God forgives all!" a mocking chuckle, and she cocks the weapon and hurls it with enough force that it breaks the sound barrier; a guaranteed killshot.
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Dirge vanishes like a ghost in a flash of black and gold.
Gone without a trace, just like the Second Saviour from his Tomb...
He can do it, too...
"WHAT!?" the woman screams in pure disbelief. Dirge reappears by his gunblade and scoops it up before vanishing again to reappear behind the woman, imitating her earlier ambush with far more aggression. She turns to see him swinging his sword just in time to catch sight of those exploding golden black flames, and the vertical scar running over Dirge's golden right eye; Ra saves Dirge's divinity, but not his flesh this time.
Do not fear the wicked; terrify them into righteousness...
God's message rings in Dirge's ear, and he instinctively restrains his killing flames right before contact...
They disappear as quickly as they came, but his sword still carves into her raised arms, the best defense she manages.
"GYAAAAH!" she screams in pain while hitting the ground in a wicked tumble, her forearms deeply cut from the blade; aether enforcement's the only reason she didn't lose them. She rolls to her side, growling in sheer agitation before glaring at Dirge like an injured animal; the Demigod stares at her with a cold indifference when he raises his blade to give enlightenment.
"God asked me to spare you. This is your second chance."
"There won't be a third."
The woman's visible blue eye twitches with a sea of different emotions that surge through her body.
One thing was for sure, though.
She knows this man isn't lying.
A terrifying realization...
So why is she smiling like a demon?
"... Aha... ahahaha...." she starts with a small chuckle, then it turns into hysterical laughter that overpowers the pain she feels in her bleeding forearms, which are slowly closing their wounds and healing. What is this? "AHAHAHAHAHA!" she keeps laughing, then stands up looking none the worse. It's like Dirge never cut her to begin with. There's a moment of intense and tantalizing silence between the two while they size each other up in preparation for round two, and then the woman speaks.
"God should have told you to kill me."
"He never said I couldn't," Dirge replies.
They attack each other like dogs in the street again.
Dirge won't show mercy a second time.
Across the Apocryphal city...
Staff Sergeant Lorenzo investigates an ancient burial ground with his squad.
They're slowly maneuvering into the danger zone...
"Stay sharp, team. We're thick in the bullshit," the Staff Sergeant alerts his masked and covertly dressed men; they nod, and he leads.
They step out into the warm, windy expanse of an ancient and depressing site, a burial ground for people that supposedly never existed. Not that they knew that. Uniformly lined graves stretch far into the horizon, throwing into perspective how massive this Apocryphal city truly is to the team. It's a grand burial site as if the dead are forbidden to be buried anywhere else. Why? The Sergeant's raised hand halts his team. He squints, then turns to question his team to make sure he's not crazy.
"... Does this place feel endless to y'all?"
Before they can answer, a woman's voice echoes ever so sweetly into their ears.
She's not there, though...
Is She?
"Because it is..." she hums, chilling their souls cold.
"Welcome to my Garden of Eden."
"I have the perfect place to plant your corpses..."
The ground rumbles with a thunderous energy, but it only affects the immediate area.
What in God's name...
"Fuck this! RUN!" the Staff Sergeant SCREAMS for his men, who have already turned tail and fled the scene. But as he flees, the Sergeant's curiosity earns him one more glance over his shoulder, where he very briefly sees a lapse in reality, courtesy of Her. He witnesses from the safety of the Waking World something horrific, only shown to him through Her favor. It disappears before the terror scares his heart into stillness, and he collapses in a piss puddle, abandoned by his men and left to die in the backstreets of this accursed city.
Until they all come back, the moment they realize he's not with them.
Soldiers never leave a comrade behind.
"SERGEANT!" one screams, gun raised and ready to fight, while the others rush in for aid.
The woman watches from her veil, unseen by the humans she can end in an instant, even from her Nightmare...
What is this foolish show of bravery?
It disgusts her.
She should kill them for such blind faith.
... ... ...
Her presence vanishes, leaving the soldiers unaware.
She doesn't kill Humans.
They will face Judgement soon enough.
Clashing steel rings...
The air whistles...
A Saint and a Sinner fight to the Death...
Only one's walking out of this alive.
"GRYAAAAH!" The woman's ferocity roars through her voice like the most primal beast as she and Dirge cross blades. She's not talking anymore, or joking, nothing like that; this is pure intent to KILL this man for sparing her. The audacity to play God over her life. Those damned eyes. THOSE DAMNED FUCKING EYES!!
I AM NOT BENEATH YOU!
YOU BLEED JUST LIKE I DO!
YOU DON'T GET TO DECIDE WHEN I DIE! I DO!
Wrath and Pride...
Fatal sins...
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
She can't take it anymore. He needs to die.
HE NEEDS TO DIE! HE NEEDS TO DIE!
"JUST DIE ALREADY!"
Abyssal Fractures fester in the hearts of every mortal...
Even the Divine...
Those who succumb are forever forsaken by God, losing their right to free will.
How easy it is to become a Demon for one's emotions...
What a God-given flaw.
A rush of red and black discharges from her blades and catches Dirge off guard, blowing him backward. He hits a building so hard it crumbles atop him, and his assailant falls to a knee, viciously clawing at her face as lashing whips of aether flair. She's a ticking time bomb, and there's not much time left.
"Grahh...."
She's crying. She doesn't want to become a Demon.
She doesn't want to die like this. Not like some wicked abomination...
She wanted better for herself...
Someone save me...
Please save me...
The screech of a Phoenix snaps a moment of lucidness into her corrupted, red-eyed gaze.
Her assisted suicide has been denied.
"God has saved you..."
Dirge's voice rings amid a blazing wreath of golden black heat coming her way.
A strike to kill her before she succumbs...
Eve won't win this time.
He pulls the trigger of that Legendary weapon, his Final Judgement.
"AND RA REBIRTHS YOU!"
BANG!
A brilliantly beautiful explosion of Phoenix fire engulfs the battlefield in its entirety before flying high into the air.
The Legendary Phoenix steals away all sins and burns them in its fiery Destruction...
So that those saved by the Saviour can begin their life anew.
You are God's Gift to Humanity, Noah...
It makes sense now.
The magnificent Phoenix draws eyes from all in the city, be they vagrant, soldier, or Demigod. All witness and gape in awe at the massive, flaming son of God, who flies high into the atmosphere before exploding like fireworks. A miracle realized.
The man glances at the woman lying on her back, staring at the sky in weary defeat.
"... Why?" she asks a pivotal question, one that'll decide what she does with her new life when she looks at Noah, both of her eyes in plain sight now, and both a ghastly blue. "You said I wouldn't get another chance at salvation, yet... I live..." a soft sigh like she's upset about it. A strange phenomenon to Noah, but he ignores it to answer her with heartfelt sincerity and an assuring look in his eyes; he's not her enemy anymore.
"Everyone deserves a Second Chance. Our definitions of what that meant just differed," he gives a smile, and the woman suddenly...
She deadpans.
"Are... you... fucking... SERIOUS!?" she screams in pure disbelief. This bastard just implied she had a comprehension deficiency. Noah flicks his gunblade into a necklace again with the flick of the wrist, something the woman notices atop other things. Noah dusts off his overcoat and brushes some fingers over his new battle scar; hopefully, it's not too ugly. He sighs before looking at her and shrugging, talking to her like she's a long-time friend.
"I told you from the start that I was stronger than you; You should've fucking listened," a snort like he's disappointed in her, and she jumps to her feet, instantly jabbing a finger into his chest before outright shoving him.
"Listen here, you fucking smartass! You only won because you fucking cheated!" a growl as she gestures in his general direction with disgust. "That fucking auto-dodge bullshit you got going on saved you! And, atop that, you can HEAL and TELEPORT!? What the fuck!?" a scowl and a shake of her head. God basically cheat coded Noah, who fully knows this and is perfectly fine with it, shown through his response.
"I'm made in His image, after all," a smug grin warrants the woman attacking him again.
"Whoa!" Noah chuckles while dodging the weary woman's telegraphed punch. "You're reborn, but your stamina isn't. In fact, I'm surprised you're still conscious," he huffs in mild surprise, and the woman sucks her teeth, backing off. She dismisses this entire exchange in favor of another question she expects a good answer for.
"So, Savior..."
They lock eyes when she speaks in a soft voice free of malice; she's not his enemy anymore.
"What happens n-"
"You try again for a better life," he answers, turning to leave, but not before giving a warning.
"And remember that you don't get a third chance."
... ... ...
She understands.
"Right, right..." a soft sigh, and she's about to bid farewell and depart before a loud bang echoes in the distance. That sounded too large to come from a rifle. Noah's eyes widen in realization; Bravo found contact.
"Shit, I've got to g-" Noah's words get interrupted by a beep from his communicator as he's running toward the noise; it's Lieutenant Ether with Alpha at base.
"Noah! NOAH! YOU NEED TO GET HERE NOW! THE TURRETS CAN-"
The communication cuts, and Noah's chest seizes.
No. Not again.
Don't let everyone di-
"I'll go check out the noise. You go save them," the woman's voice carves a knife through the panic swelling in Noah's chest; the Sinner's become his Savior. He turns and looks into that one visible blue eye, eerie as it is, and finds peaceful assurance in her confident expression; she's a changed woman. Her last words settle any doubts in his heart about saving her.
"I'm a Hero reborn. Heh."
They both chuckle and vanish in flares of golden black, and blackish blue in an instant.
They won't let everyone die.
Next Chapter: The Apocryphal City...
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