"Cott!" Serena screamed into the empty night. "Kill you! Kill you!"

Cottian del Sed -- or at least this aspect of him -- seemed to have had the same idea. Before Serena could so much as take a single step, she felt a distinct tug from her injured, mangled foot: directly from the spot the sniper bullet had lodged in. Like a doll being grabbed by a child, she was swept off her feet as the bullet was pulled back towards the source, dragging her along with it.

In some ways, that was good. If she was close to Cott, that meant she had a chance of tearing him apart. If she was fighting the aspect of him she thought she was, however, it also meant she'd be dead the moment she came into direct view.

She'd have to take action.

As she was pulled across the concrete, Serena reached out and dragged her fingers along the ground, quickly forming a grey scimitar in each hand. Then, with only an instant to steel herself for the incoming pain, she slashed them both downwards…

...and cut off her own foot.

Indescribable agony. The scream that escaped her throat was muffled by the hand she stuffed into her mouth to smother it. The severed foot continued to fly away, now at much greater speed, turning the corner and vanishing out of sight -- leaving a substantial trail of blood as it did, neatly matching the puddle spilling out from Serena's new stump.

She had to kill Cott. That was the objective. That was the only way to make sure Bruno was safe.

She'd be unable to kill Cott if she bled out here, so that had to be dealt with first. Gritting her teeth, Serena tore away a strip of her camouflaged shirt, infusing it with Aether to strengthen it and binding it around the wound to form a makeshift tourniquet. That, at least, would reduce the bleeding.

There was only one aspect of Cott she knew that used a sniper rifle in combat. If she wanted to win, she couldn't allow there to be any possible route by which a bullet could reach her.

Steeling herself for yet more pain, Serena began to drag herself across the floor in a three-limbed crawl, forcing open the door of the nearest apartment with an Aether-infused punch and pulling herself inside. Then, in what was definitely not the most efficient way of going about things, she half-formed a number of swords from the ground below -- hilt-first, pressing against the door to force it closed and keep it barricaded.

The room was bare of furniture, without even the plumbing yet finished, so Serena had nowhere to go save the back wall to adjust her tourniquet. Even with the steps she'd taken, she'd pass out from blood loss in time.

That wouldn't do. If she was unconscious, she couldn't kill Cott, and Bruno wouldn't be safe.

What could she do, then? The foot she'd lost would have left a blood trail leading right to the shooter, but she was in no state to follow that trail. If she wanted to kill this Cott, she'd have to get into melee range somehow.

Should she lie in wait, then, for her attacker to come here to check if she was dead? Her eyes flicked around the room. There weren't any windows here, so she should be safe enough, but --

-- but her gaze settled on the empty maw of a small air vent, up near the corner of the ceiling.

Bang.

The second shot thudded into the wall next to Serena, mere inches from her skull.

"The thing about sniping," whispered the shooter, tossing the severed foot up and down in one hand while he aimed with the other. "Is that it is a game of anticipation. You must analyse the situation, take into account both coincidental and conscious factors, and take your shot at the optimal moment. Doubt and hesitation make this impossible. In order to be a successful sniper, you must believe you are correct in every instance, and endeavour to make this belief accurate."

There was a whistling sound as the bullet returned once again to the shooter's hand -- and as it did, he tossed the foot away like trash. The bullet slotted back into the black sniper rifle with a satisfying ka-chunk.

An intake of breath, psychosomatic, to steady his aim. He had no need for the scope, so he simply stared straight ahead, carefully moving his long ginger hair out of the way with his free hand.

He continued to speak, like a professor giving a lecture. "The reason I missed that last shot is because of conscious factors. Do you understand? The body of Yakob del Sed moved after I had already expended my 0.3 seconds of control over the Bronze Bullet. As such, they were able to evade me. My next shot will take this into account."

Next to this person's sniper perch -- up atop a water tower -- the script he'd placed flat down shivered as his spotter spoke through it.

"What if you miss again?" they asked, worried. "What if they figure out where you are? What if they figure out where I am? They'll kill me! I can't fight them!"

Funnily enough, the voice speaking over the script was the same as the one aiming the rifle. If not for the tones they spoke with being so completely different, they could be mistaken for the same person.

This was because they were the same person.

Cottian del Sed's Aether ability, Monophobia, was singularly useful. It allowed him to partition off parts of his own consciousness -- emotions or aspects of himself -- and house them in puppet bodies, allowing them to operate as individual entities. He went without those aspects as long as they were out, of course, but he could continue to operate as a human being without issue.

Cottian del Sed's Ruthlessness adjusted his grip on the rifle -- more of an oversized pistol in appearance -- as he made aim at the opening into the apartment building's ventilation system.

"Have they moved?" he asked, voice dull.

"Nuh-uh," Caution breathed over the communicator. "But don't get careless, don't get careless, Ruthlessness!"

His eyes flicked over to the script one last time, parsing the string of coordinates Caution had sent, before returning to the vent. His finger mechanically curled around the trigger, as calmly as if he were using a stapler.

Bang.

The bullet blasted forward, bright orange with heat as it was fired from the gun -- the barrel ejecting that heat as steam a moment later. It would take the bullet about half a second, from this distance, to reach the opening in the building's ventilation. Ruthlessness' timing was never off.

Bronze Bullet.

The instant arrived, and a crackle of orange Aether swam between Ruthlessness' fingers. At the same time, the bullet zooming into the vents assumed an impossible trajectory, turning corners and winding through grating as it made its way towards Apartment 2B -- where the enemy was hiding. Ruthlessness had no way of seeing the path the bullet was taking, but he trusted the directions given by Caution to be accurate. The Bronze Bullet didn't even touch the sides of the vent as it travelled fluidly, like an airborne serpent.

Ruthlessness was part of Cottian's Aether Ability, but Bronze Bullet was Ruthlessness' Aether ability. For 0.3 seconds, he could control the bullet he'd fired out as he pleased, like some kind of guided missile.

The bullet reached the exit needed just as those 0.3 seconds came to an end.

"Hit?" asked Ruthlessness, his eyes still fixed straight ahead.

Caution's panicky breathing sounded over the communicator again. "No!" he said, in a strange kind of whispered shout. "No, they blocked it, Ruthlessness!"

If the second failure bothered Ruthlessness any, he showed no signs of it on his face. He just continued to stare straight ahead, his expression disinterested.

"I see," he said emotionlessly. "What method was used to deflect the shot?"

"I think they had a weapon, like a bat or something," Caution replied nervously. "Like, for farball? Something the size of a human arm. Do you think they know where I am?"

There was a whistling sound -- and Ruthlessness caught the Bronze Bullet between two fingers as it returned.

"I couldn't say," Ruthlessness said, calmly reloading. "I don't have the ability to read minds. They likely used a sword to deflect this bullet, so we are fighting Serena del Sed. It's curious they didn't switch to Bruno del Sed for a defensive strategy. How close was the Bronze Bullet before it was deflected?"

"Real close. Like, right in their face."

"Repeated shots are likely to have the same effect, then, which is none. We have options before us: we can continue in this manner and wear down the enemy until they either bleed out or make a mistake repelling my shots. However, this would allow time for reinforcements to potentially arrive. That, I cannot allow."

"What, then? We can't just stay here forever! She'll figure it out!"

Ruthlessness lifted up the rifle-pistol again, carefully taking aim. "Concentrate on the structure of the building, Caution. This appears to be low-income housing, so it's likely the contractors have cut corners in its construction. Would I be right in saying the walls are hollow?"

There was a moment of silence, then: "Uh-huh!"

"Give me an entrance to the building's innards. I will use this new avenue of attack to have the Bronze Bullet catch them by surprise and end their life."

"But the route would be way too long…"

"My 0.3 seconds of control over the Bronze Bullet are cumulative, not consecutive," Ruthlessness explained, pulling back the safety on his weapon. Unlike most creations of Monophobia, he had a habit of speaking out loud -- like a student showing their workings at a math problem. "If I seize control of it at opportune moments to change the angle of its movement, I can have it reach the room while still having time to execute Serena del Sed with it. I will take one practice shot, then kill her. Send the coordinates now so we may begin."

The string of numbers appeared on the script, and Ruthlessness' eyes instantly focused on the tiny hole in one of the outside walls that was indicated. A tricky shot. If Ruthlessness had nerves, instincts that caused a hand to tremble even slightly, it would have been impossible.

But Monophobia made no such mistakes.

Bang.

Again, the gun fired, belching out steam as the bullet zoomed into the tiny gap in the building. On the screen of the script, the tracker attached to the projectile gave Ruthlessness a vague idea of its position -- by comparing that with the coordinates given by Caution, he could formulate the optimal route.

Bronze Bullet.

0.09 seconds. Like it was ricocheting against the air, the angle of the bullet changed in the instant Ruthlessness seized and released control.

The journey continued.

Bronze Bullet.

0.07 seconds. Again, a change in angle, giving it the perfect trajectory to weave through a forest of wiring.

Bronze Bullet.

0.12 seconds. The penultimate change in angle, sending the bullet upwards to the second floor, directly alongside Apartment 2B. Ruthlessness frowned: that change in angle had taken much longer than it should have. Something must have gotten in the way.

Bronze Bullet.

Serena didn't move as the bullet smashed through the fragile wall, zooming across the room until it struck the wall opposite -- splattering the blood that clung to it everywhere. Now that she had eyes on the air vent, Ruthlessness was using a new, more unpredictable angle of attack.

She paid it no mind. The usual Serena, right now, was a distant memory. Every action was like an automatic mechanism. She was faced with the only person she hated in the world, so anything that didn't directly involve killing them was wasted effort.

If she didn't kill them, Bruno wouldn't be able to sleep safe tonight.

With her hand flat against the floor, she just continued to wait, Aether sparking around her hand.

The bullet pulled itself back out of the wall -- tearing at the loose wallpaper -- and disappeared back through the hole it had created as an entrance.

"Report, Caution," Ruthlessness said, catching the Bronze Bullet. "There was an obstacle that delayed me at the end, and so I was unable to move the Bronze Bullet into a headshot. What was the obstacle, so that I can take it into account this time?"

"Um," Caution's voice was full of concentration. "Something small, I think, with a texture like fur… a rat, maybe? Some kind of vermin at least. You must have hit it without meaning to."

Ruthlessness glanced at the Bronze Bullet in his hand, covered in red blood. That checked out -- the resistance of the meat must have slowed the bullet slightly. "Are there any more rats in that area?'

"Nuh-uh. And I'm just guessing it's a rat, anyway, so --"

Ruthlessness didn't wait for an answer. "Very well. I'll execute the killshot now."

Ka-chunk. The Bronze Bullet was once again devoured by the rifle, and Ruthlessness once again aimed at the hole in the building. He wouldn't use the same exit into Apartment 2B as he did the first time -- he'd throw Serena del Sed off by making another exit.

The phone call to trigger trauma, the first shot to prevent movement, and the slow wearing down of defence followed by a headshot. In Ruthlessness' eyes, he hadn't yet made any errors in his stratagem.

Serena bit her lip as she kept her hand flat against the ground, the floor beneath her gradually starting to creak. She was being subtle about it now, but they'd realise what was going on once the plan was underway.

Her ability allowed her to forge swords from surrounding material -- but that didn't mean that grabbing weapons was the only thing it could do. Slowly, slowly, the inside of the floor she was pressing her hand against was being transformed into countless thin and small rapiers, the sudden introduction of empty space destabilising the structure.

Ruthlessness, the part of Cott that used a sniper rifle, didn't have the ability to see things from far away. The fact he kept landing such close hits all the same meant that a second aspect must be attacking her as well -- Caution, who could make himself aware of all the vibrations within a structure using his Searchspear. To do that with such accuracy, though, he'd need to be nearby -- connected to both the building and the ground below.

How many seconds until the collapse?

One…

Two…

Bang.

Three…

Serena paid the Bronze Bullet no heed as it smashed through the wall, aiming right for her head -- and was rewarded for her patience as the ground beneath her collapsed. She went falling down with the debris, and the bullet sailed right over her skull and lodged in the far wall again.

As she and her collection of blades fell into the next apartment down, Serena reverted the rapiers back into chunks of rock and concrete -- hoping the increased size of the fragments would mean an appropriate increase in their impact. She didn't know if that was actually true, since physics were so weird and stuff, but the floor of Apartment 1B collapsed too as the contents of 2B fell onto it.

Down further, down further, into the basement of the building.

Serena's fall came to an end as the pile of broken concrete that had become her bed collapsed into the basement floor, spilling out freely. Wincing from her missing foot, she pulled herself out, using a blunt sword as a makeshift crutch -- and saw her target nearly instantly.

Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she saw that garish orange hair.

Her blood nearly boiled as she saw that familiar blue blazer.

Her hands squeezed so tight she nearly snapped the bones as she saw the panicked face of Cottian del Sed.

He had his Searchspear, thin and silver, embedded in the ground as he looked at her, clearly already on the verge of freaking out. As per usual, Cott's aspects were nearly identical to the real deal -- distinguishable only by the barely visible seams on their face and limbs, and the patches on the fingers where the paint had scratched away, revealing light brown wood.

"Oh god!" Caution screamed, struggling to pull his Searchspear out of the ground to defend himself. "No, no no no, wait!"

Serena del Sed did not wait.

Instead, with a flare of violet Aether, she kicked off the ground with her remaining foot and -- like a wild animal -- began to remind the puppet why he'd been so cautious in the first place.

Ruthlessness frowned. It appeared his killshot had missed as well.

It was easy enough to figure out what the new situation was -- Caution's screaming over the script spelled that out quite clearly. Serena must have somehow moved herself to the basement, where she was now killing his associate. That made things trickier in some ways, and easier in others.

Serena was quite clearly upset to see them, so she'd take her time killing Caution. That gave Ruthlessness time to execute a new killshot. The basement was mostly empty, so he didn't need to rely on Caution to give him coordinates.

The Bronze Bullet returned to his grip.

Ka-chunk.

He'd fire the Bronze Bullet into the basement, use his 0.3 seconds of control to circle it around, and then let it loose to hit Serena del Sed through Caution. The cover Caution's body would provide would increase the chances of a successful shot.

Ruthlessness aimed -- slowly, deliberately -- at the visible window into the basement, dark and void. His finger curled around the trigger.

It was over.

Bang.

The Bronze Bullet fired out once more -- but this time, rather than zooming away, it vanished into sparks of blue Aether. Ruthlessness blinked.

"Gemini Shotgun," said a voice from behind him.

Ruthlessness swung around, pointing his empty gun at the new enemy that had presented itself. A silver-haired Cogitant stood on the other side of the water tower, glaring intensely at him. One of his hands was clenched at his side, but the other was pointing accusingly -- or perhaps threateningly -- at Ruthlessness himself.

The Cogitant narrowed his eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"