"Here." Kuro, the taller of the two, handed Lillian and Sledge two pairs of worn, yet not gunk-covered shoes, while Thomas, the shorter, was tapping on the thin glass of his phone. Considering the entire device was no more than a millimeter thick with no visible battery it was likely of the advanced technology the rest of the world had achieved while Arentas has sat stagnant in another time. And Kinuon powered wonders were viewed as almost myth in this city. They had never been seen by any of the unfortunate residents who viewed the rest of the world in envy.

They were in a small grey clothing store on the outskirts of the city that smelled of dust and old fabric. It was managed by an elderly little man who more than showed his age. Making them feel a tad uncomfortable was the large scuffed rifle in the old man's arms. "We left bikes just over there," explained Thomas as he pointed out at a sand dune only a short jaunt out of the city which was visible through the cracked glass of the window behind the manager. "We'll repurpose them into a gate."

"Gate?" asked Lillian as she carefully took off her reeking shoes and slipped into the new pair.

"You'll see, don't overthink it when you do. We have to hurry though if we want to get out in one piece," Thomas paid the old store manager and walked out the open storefront as he took in the immediate surroundings. Sledge pulled Lillian to the side with an odd expression.

"Uh, sorry again about earlier," he said not realizing it would be better to leave it be.

"Seriously, it's fine," another drawn-out moment of awkward silence passed before she let out a pent up breath as a look of relieved disbelief crossed her face. "I sort of can't believe we might be getting out of here," she said to shift topic.

"Yea, I still don't if I'm dreaming or not," Lillian looked over at the Kiyene duo.

"I'm not sure if I trust them though. A family doesn't just take in people like us." Sledge shrugged.

"Maybe their family just sucks, it's definitely still better than here," he argued. "Or maybe we are weapons..."

"Mm," was all she said in response. She night terrors was one thing but, she didn't want to relive what had caused her so much trauma.

"Fuck," Thomas exclaimed as he walked back inside. "That man was most definitely Kysor, what the hell are they doing?"

"What's going on?" Lillian inquired apprehensively.

"Before finding you two, we confronted an individual from a less than friendly family earlier, there's no chance he was out here alone. They absolutely know you two are candidates so they aren't going to let us just walk you out."

"The fact that we haven't seen any signs of them puts us in the dark," Kuro stretched and yawned, far too casual about the situation. "In any case, it's a quarter-mile to the bikes."

"It's open desert with clear sight from the city; in other words, suicide," observed Thomas. "I can reverse any Ki-tech but bullets are a different matter entirely."

"That's assuming they're watching the outskirts. There's a transportation convoy that brings people in and out of Arentas; it's also the only one, making it completely unsafe as well. Unless you want to have some fun," Kuro said with a devilish grin.

"Eh, it's probably too risky, but," he grinned back. "It's also probably going to be the most straightforward option." Lillian didn't really understand but she got the gist of it.

"Aren't we walking into trouble then?" she asked, adequately concerned. "What about the gate thing?"

"Oh, we still intend to use the bikes for a gate," Thomas pointed to the general direction where the convoy that so many desperately tried to get a ride with arrived. The convoy meant freedom. Its name was accurate, being no more than a cluster of vehicles whose owners charged money for people to get a ride in. Basically public transportation, but shitty and overpriced, is what Thomas had concluded. "We're just going to draw any and every Kysor there so we can take care of them with certainty."

"Isn't fighting them all the opposite of what we want?"

"What do you mean?" responded Thomas with a devilish grin growing bigger still. "That's the only way we get to have some fun." So they're insane concluded Lillian and Sledge.

__________

It was getting late into the evening when Emilia Kysor looked out at the forsaken city from atop an abandoned tower. A trio of men in sand-covered velvet robes stood behind her at attention with white batons and a handheld firearm at each of their belts. She doubted the structural integrity of the old tower; cracked and crumbling, its walls had been slowly smoothed and eroded by the blowing sand. It was a perfect representation of the city: old, failing, and neglected. Emilia's curling crimson hair blew in the wind. Her white uniform, highly akin to the old military uniforms, had trapped the airborne sand in the worst of places. Her neck and overly large breasts itched and sand had managed to make its way between her legs. She was trying her best not to kill her dignity by scratching her crotch in front of her men. Unannounced to her, they faced the same issue, cursed by the blazing sand.

A fourth man arrived on the roof of the tower and approached Emilia, clad in the same velvet as the others. "The Kiyenes got to the candidates," he informed. "We also have a casualty."

"Hm, and?" she asked.

"They're uh, heading for the convoy ma'am," explained the man.

"Oh," she said with a grin, "it seems the Kiyenes want to dance."

"If we go now we can catch them there, we have plenty of time still."

" I know, is it busy?" she asked.

"Only a handful of people," Emilia chuckled, "perfect." She walked to the edge of the tower. "Notify Trem, tell him to meet me there." The man bowed.

"Understood," he turned and walked a distance away before leaping and instantly melting into the sand, vanishing without a sound.

"You three cut off the exit ways. I'm going to have a little dance," commanded Emilia as she pushed off the edge, leaping out into the air and hundreds of feet off of the ground. Her Kinuon powered boots powered to life and blazed a trail of intense crimson flames behind her as she blasted through the air. Ki-tech braces on her legs allowed her to zip in and around buildings with ease and elegance. As she flew she produced from her sleeve a long blue rod with a hilt of black. In her hand an arm of red snaked around the rod, clinging to it and shaping into a blade longer than the woman was tall.

Kuro was the first to sense Emilia's immanence in the less than cool night air, turning to face her direction with a devilish smile. Thomas grinned playfully noting Kuro's change in attention. They were standing in the middle of an open plaza-like space, few bystanders loitered around seemingly without any aim in shabby attire clothing. To the right was a fleet of old and dented gas-powered vans and trucks with peeling paint. "You probably shouldn't take this fight," warned Thomas lightly, "they still don't know your principle yet." Kuro sighed. "don't get too put out," he assured.

"We'll see, I am awfully bored you know," he yawned.

"If things get out of hand I'll take the candidates and you can let loose," Thomas offered. Kuro frowned for a moment before nodding

"Fine." Kuro pointed at a little building that was once probably a store of some sort, it's door had long since disappeared and all the windows were smashed. "We'll lay low there while my brother deals with them." Then slipped inside and hunkered down behind a counter as they heard a crash outside.

Thomas stood unflinching as a torrent of red and heat crashed down into the plaza like a meteor of blood-red fire. The force of the impact broke all the glass nearby not previously smashed by looters and people ran in confused terror. Some hopped in vehicles revving them to life and taking off in a matter of moments. A smoking dent was left in the ground as Emilia steadied herself, long blade in hand with an unhinged smile. "Good evening," Thomas greeted flatly, "You're the Kysor's bitch I assume?"

"You could say that." She raised the blade in front of her in a fashion that made it seem weightless despite its length.

"That weapon's base rod looks pretty pure, the Kinuon I mean," he narrowed his gaze. "So you're not a candidate?" Emilia glared back at him.

"And I know your trick," she shot back. "Hehe, I'm a madwoman whose only plans on destruction, I doubt you can simply reverse that." Thomas yawned to provoke her. She lunged forwards, a mass of flame-like energy, red as the blade formed around it as she reached Thomas. He simply raised his hand and waited for her to slam the weapon into him. When she did, the red mass around the blade shot back at her, sending her stumbling in the sand. She quickly regained her balance clearly annoyed as Thomas spoke again.

"True, jumping through enough mental hoops yourself can stop me from reversing your logical outcome if you really believe you only want destruction, but I can still just turn your power back around," he pointed out. "You don't seem to be hurt by it though, that's impressive physical boosting although…," he chuckled semi-maniacally, "let's see how long your clothes last." Time seemed to stop for a second as Emilia stared at him processing what he said. It's true her uniform was singed, smoking, and probably wouldn't take too much to burn away.

"What…," she started, face twisting in anger, "do you take me for?" Thomas reached into his trenchcoat and pulled out a black sword hilt and proceeded to extend his arm with it before flicking his wrist. The air almost quivered as a blade so black it seemed to draw in the light emitted by Emilia's blade formed out of unseen power. An ear-to-ear mischievous grin formed on Thomas's face.

"An impressive pair," he flatly said with an absolute blankness of expression.

"You're a fucking idiot arent you?" she seethed as she readied her weapon again and swung. For a few moments, they just crossed swords in the not quite cool night air, Emilia lashing out in anger with every swing. At the same time, Kuro and the two still sat in the store building listening to the fight outside. The floor was covered in sand and a smashed ceramic pot was strewn across the counter.

"Is he going to be alright?" asked Sledge vocalizing Lillian's concern as well.

"Oh, he'll be fine, I doubt he's even really fighting yet." A different worry crossed Lillian's mind about the Kiyene's.

"Are we going to have to fight like that?.." she supposed being a weapon was a fair price to pay but the prospect scared her nonetheless. Sledge shifted next to her slightly perturbed as well.

"Yes, but it's not so simple when we get to Denison you'll get a proper explanation I promise."

"Oh… ok," responded Lillian, looking down at the ground and trying to collect her thoughts.

"Denison? Is that a city?" asked Sledge.

"Yes, a town rather, in contrast to this hole I think you'll find it highly liberating," there was something in his voice that was describable in no manner other than off. He didn't quite lack sincerity, but his tone didn't hold the city as the same lights as his words. An ear-shattering bang resounded throughout the plaza, causing Lillian to flinch. Red light intensely illuminated the room from outside and a second bang followed soon after. Thomas had reversed two more assaults of crimson blaze back at Emilia and, while she herself appeared unharmed, parts of her uniform had been burnt away. The fabric smoked and left too much skin to show.

"You're still toying with me?" Emilia spat, her furry exponentially more potent than before. Thomas shrugged.

"And you're leaving little to my imagination," he pointed out. She looked down at herself and her face matched the red of her blade. Even her undergarments were blackened and burnt in places while her chest had almost escaped into the open.

"You…," a mechanical whirring sound met Thomas's ears and he tilted his head in curious anticipation.

"Oh, do you have an ace?" he asked. Red sparked in her eyes and crimson energy began circulating in the air around her.

"Have a fucking death wish, don't you?" Thomas grinned and readied his dark blade.

"So, you're finally ready to dance," his white markings had spread across most of his body and were visible just above his neckline. They let out a faint light, barely noticeable and overpowered by the light of Emilia's crimson. They clashed again, luminous red and black particulates scattered in the air like sparks. As heat and energy were thrown around scorching the surroundings while Emilia's uniform continued to pay for it. Thankful her undergarments were mostly intact but all else had been reduced to mere threats. Thomas was putting more effort into keeping a straight face at this point, he was still holding back his strength to further provoke Emilia.

She arced her sword down on Thomas once more only to be swatted away again. As she hopped back a bit and the mechanical whirring grew in volume. Her eyes glazed over, coloring like blood moons. "Little shit."He was slightly hurt by the jab at his hight and frowned.

"Come on now; that's simply rude," he threw back. Empty fist clenched and shaking the swirling energy around grew in volume as those inside the old store noticed shattered ceramic begin moving ever so slightly. Back outside the wind had been set in violent motion by Emilia's power blowing every which way around her. Thomas acknowledged her strength but also could see this was the upper limit brought out by her anger. She was no longer even paying mind to her nudity and was entirely focused on ending Thomas. She lashed out at him once more, however, each of her swings boosted by the full power of the Kinuon was still being deflected. Thomas sighed, "Well I suppose I don't have all night so." He lunged forwards with his right foot and jammed his left down beside allowing him to push off and propel himself into a lightning-fast spin. He swung his blade around timing it to Emilia's next strike. Just this once he didn't hold back, his principle flipped her red power back at her as he made contact with full force while his circuit board marking covered his whole body. It didn't simply send Emilia flying, the force expelled by the impact alone was enough to shatter nearby walls with a deafening crack and flip up the secured hoods of the few remaining cars. The whole of the front of the store in which Kuro and the two sat fell away. Emilia herself shot back like a bullet crashing straight through the concrete walls of three buildings and shattering most of her bones before he was left unable to move and miraculously not dead in the sand and rubble. Thomas launched forwards off a single stride. He was on top of a bloodied and bruised Emilia in an instant, blade pointed at her head. "I win," he said with a cruel smile.

"Fuck you," she croaked.

"You couldn't make me climax if you tried," he replied without facial expression. The whirring sound came back much louder than before. Noticing it was coming from her body, Thomas stepped back in precaution.

"That won't be necessary Emilia," called a voice to their left. Thomas looked over to see a man standing atop a three-story building colored an ugly brown. He wore a clean white suit and had a head of wild red hair like Emilia's. Furthermore, his hands let out the glow of a candidate mark of the same color. Thomas grinned in response and pointed his blade up at the man.

"You look interesting, care to take her place?"