Twenty-six years. In the grand span of a human life, it was already over a third of the years they had left. But to fight the monstrosities of yesterday, tomorrow, and everyday, for twenty-six years…

I could see it in those eyes that wouldn’t stop glowing— burning, like a furnace.

Combat consumed his every action.

“Correct.” he said, pulling his fist out of the shattered glass. “It’s good to run, when one can’t fight.” To say I scarcely managed to dodge his fist would be an understatement— I could feel a thin line of blood run down my cheek, and what frightened me was that it didn’t come from the shrapnel.

It came from the wind that followed his fist.

“But. You won’t always be able to.”

I ran backwards, trying to get some distance between us as he stopped removing the glass stuck to his untorn skin.

“Hmm. Improvisation.” he said, madingley putting some of the shrapnel back. “A wise method to fight.”

I raised my arms in horror of what was next but was too slow.

I blinked.

I blinked, and those crimson eyes caught up to my own, inches away. Swinging his fist with all his might, only my left arm was able to absorb a fraction of the blow— I felt the glass sink through my skin, the force plowing through my forearm and directly into my jaw.

I didn’t feel the impact; just the burning sensation of glass buried into the fibers of my muscle.

“hgA!h-gaH-ag-ahg!”

My own silence surprised me, everytime I wanted to scream the shrapnel would twist around the muscles of my jaw. Maybe it was a miracle the punch sent me flying to the other end of the dome, the collision forcing every ounce of air out of my lungs— I couldn’t scream even if I wanted to.

I felt my eyes were wide open but the shapes…they were all blurry.

I couldn't make out where anything was.

“No. Outsiders won’t let you recover.”

I felt skin wrap around my jugular— my adam’s apple pushed into the recesses of my throat by his palm.

Am I suffocating?

“You survived. So survive again.”

I could feel his thumb squish into my neck, pushing the glass inward so far it started grazing my teeth. My nostrils tasted wet copper.

“Senpai please, you’re killing him! The nanobots can’t fix brain death! SENPAI!”

“Is that…Lea? Oh. How you’ve grown.” he said with a warm smile. “How’s the girl that arrived with you?……or…was she with Hanna?”

“…n…on!”

I don’t know why, but for some reason I latched onto Senpai’s forearm. I couldn't move my pupils and my sense of hearing diminished as Lia’s thrashing against the reinforced dome became faint. Whips of charged particles like thunder discharged, but I couldn't hear them— couldn’t see their light past the blinding white of the dome.

But in that bolt of light a surge of feeling traveled up my spine, into every cell of my body. It burned, like searing iron, throwing its weight into every nerve of my body until forcing my lungs to clear.

“Fight back! You have to……I—!”

“ANON!!”

The daydream shattered as my eyes flew open; instinct overwhelmed every blood vessel in my right arm, flaring it with strength. Every ounce of might, every morsel of power drawn from the pain became a tunnel-visioned swing at the person holding me in the air with a simple hand; my fingers wrapped into a deformed fist, turning purple as the nails dug into my own skin.

I saw it, felt it, the moment I could fight back! All the vigor in my body— aiming for what I saw as blurry skin of the opponent in front of me— aiming for Senpai!

“GRUAAAAHHhH—huAAHggHG!—!”

And before I could so much as move, as easily as he picked me up, he catapulted me down.

“Witnessing. Is not survival.”

“BAHGH-AHGhHHHH!!”

I felt my body rebound off the floor, unable to absorb the inertia— glass, the glass in my forearm and shoulder milled against the bone. I felt them shatter, breaking even smaller, moving into my chest. I couldn’t think straight, the pain was too severe. It was only some seconds later, with the blurry figure so far away, that instinct told me it wasn’t the glass; Senpai had knocked me to the other side of the dome with a single punt to the chest.

There were too many things running through my mind seeing him walk towards me, but my thoughts moved like molasses. The only thing I could truly, instinctually feel, was my pain.

Why was I put in this situation? Maybe…it was punishment?

I just wanted it to stop.

“Aaa—h. That’s not survival.” he said, crouching down to see my blood red eyes. Patting the top of my hair, he stood back up, taking on a stance that didn’t look unlike a kick. “One more chance, okay? And—!”

I didn’t hear what came afterward— seems like my hearing was finally the first to go. But through the blurs and shapes of the blinding light a woman suddenly emerged swinging a thin line at Senpai— he dodged it with a fantastical level of grace. She stood in front of me, lips moving, but I couldn't hear what she told the man with crimson eyes. After a certain amount of time he turned around, still smiling, stepping outside of the dome.

Stepping? What about the door? I must’ve missed it— my vision beginning to meld everything together.

I didn’t get a good look at the woman as she knelt down next to me, besides the fact she had black hair. But familiar purple eyes soon knelt beside her. The unknown woman swiftly took out something dark and red— it had bubbles in it. Or was it a bubble?

Could bubbles be held like that?

Lia grabbed my face, she said something to me, but I couldn’t answer; I didn’t know where the glass was anymore. I was scared it was in my throat. If I tried speaking, it'll hurt even more.

Eventually she grabbed my shoulders as the woman raised the red substance, stabbing it hard into my calf as weight swam up my nerves, around my kneecaps, up my waist, groin, stomach, and heart, until finally reaching my head.

I saw Lia’s purple eyes begin to turn red before the blinding white light overcame my senses, and familiar darkness was all I could see.

* * * * *

I don’t know when I closed my eyes, but I opened them to see myself standing in the middle of the ocean, the light having disappeared. No. Rather it would be more accurate to say the light was replaced by the bright full moon floating amidst an empty darkened sky. I looked around me, serene waves spread across the water in gentle ripples but…there was something out of place.

Someone.

I couldn’t speak to the girl in the distance; a girl with long, straight, flowing black hair. Her face was covered in shadow, but her body was covered in familiarity. It took me a moment to realize it was the bracelet, standard to all Resonators. It was individualized of course, each one was, but no doubt it was the same metallic triangle.

I could speak only to my innermost thoughts.

When I grabbed onto Senpai I……what is this?

Movement brought me back to the present, the girl pointed to me first, then to the water beneath us. Terror couldn't escape my throat as piles of corpses floated to the surface, surrounding me like an island, staining the black water red. Hundreds of mauled corpses began to claw at me, grabbing at my legs, pulling me beneath the surface; the previously serene waters were nothing but desperate splashes for survival now. I tried to scream but whether from the pain of the real world, or the restrictions of this one, I couldn’t. I could only watch as the girl saw me descend further and further into the water.

I tried pushing them back, ripping my legs and arms away but there were too many— water was filling my lungs now. It felt warm.

The girl walked closer, until standing right above me. Whether his vision or mine, even amidst the water surging into my ears, I could hear a voice escape the black haired figure.

“You too…will bear witness.”

Maybe this was punishment after all.

* * * * *

“…u……uuuh”

My eyes fluttered open— I hated migraines. My body automatically tried standing only to give out beneath my own weight.

“Don’t move,” hushed Lia, supporting my neck with her arms. “The nanobots are still healing you, it’ll take some time.”

I felt groggy, pain flared inside my head. I just wanted to close my eyes, but my vision was as clear as the girl standing beneath the moon now.

“Where…was I?”

Lia blinked with worry. “Do you mean…right now? You’re in the training facility, remember? You were……well, I suppose they wanted it to be a spar but…”

I nearly died. It was unspoken, but well understood.

“Why was he trying to kill me?”

“He wasn’t.” answered a tougher yet still feminine voice. “If he wanted to kill you he’d have done so before you could look him in the eye.”

“…Chelsea?”

“She’s the one who stopped you two.” Lia said, answering my unspoken question. I looked to the left— the glass dome was completely shattered in the middle; jagged edges of reinforced glass lined the sides of the missing section like teeth. I thought they were meant to withstand Resonator abilities.

I pulled myself up from Lia’s arms— she stretched out her hands in preparation to catch me in a moment of dizziness, but I caught myself along the wall. Given how much my legs were shaking, I shouldn’t be able to stand at all.

“Is there any reason then I got sent to nearly die for the third time?”

Chelsea crossed her arms with closed eyes.

“Third time huh? Seems you took my advice about giving this world everything you’ve got.”

“I appreciate you helping me, Chelsea, but I’m not in the mood for sarcasm or games. I just got sent here just to get beaten to an inch of my life, for no reason at all.”

A twinge of pain struck me at seeing Lia’s arm raise to her chest. She probably felt at least a little guilty, having brought me here and not intervening fisthand. Not to mention how wounded my own pride was at her seeing me get battered after having managed to make a good first impression. I made a mental note to talk to her about it— I saw her struggling. She at least tried to help.

“No nonsense or formalities. Good.” she said, setting aside her colossal sword and sheath. “To start, how long do you think it takes a Resonator to use their abilities in combat?”

“Does this have anything to do with—”

“It does.”

I stayed silent for a few moments, letting the breathing get easier.

“A few days, I’d guess. I’m not sure.”

“It takes the average Resonator twenty-four to forty-eight hours after training to begin using their abilities, both in and out of their Slayer. To use them to the point of seeing real combat, takes seventy-two.”

Her glare, the way she studied me, it felt hard but oddly enough…not cold. Sharp, but not dangerous, at least not towards me. I didn’t know what to make of it.

“Fine. So it takes around three days to see combat. What about it?”

“How long were you in the Redoubt before you went off to rescue Lia?”

“A few hours, maybe more.”

“Yet after that time span, you managed not only to fend off an Outsider, but proficiently use your Slayer, its abilities, and your own.” She walked closer to me, that same piercing stare becoming narrower; I couldn't help but notice the same glowing eyes as Senpai. but hers were more of a gentle glow than a burning light. It didn’t match her gaze. “You are not dull, child, you heard it from Senpai. The ESDF finds those feats extremely appealing. How do you think they’d test such a Resonator?”

Everything clicked into place.

“……by pitting me against Senpai. To find out what else I could do.” It made sense. The only problem was the major flaw in their logic. “Except I’m not the one that killed the Outsider, nor am I the one who rescued Lia. In fact, I’m not even the one that came up with the plan to kill it; it’s thanks to Lia we were able to burn the thing to the ground.”

“But that doesn't mean you didn’t play a role.” Lia said, standing with a soft smile.

“Either way, you should know what it is you and your Slayer are capable of.” Chelsea continued, laying beside her weapon. “However your little scuffle has likely done little to dissuade ESDF’s interests— for them to see if you are the same kind of Resonator as Senpai.”

“The same kind of Resonator..?”

“Train,” said the woman, picking up her unusually long sword in its sheath, “and you will become your own.”

As she began to leave the shattered dome I looked to Lia, giving her a puzzling look. I’m glad she managed to understand my meaning, since she responded almost immediately.

“She’s one of the best, Hanna and I both learned from her.”

I looked back— she was at the other end of the dome now. I gave a deep sigh, the vexation leaving through my healed lungs but the wounded pride staying in place. If I was going to survive here, albeit against my will, I would need to get used to being beaten.

Preferably by someone who wouldn’t kill me.

“Can I take you up on your offer, Chelsea?”

She stopped walking, as if expecting me to have called out.

“Just because I won’t kill you doesn't mean it’s going to be easy, child.”

“I know.”

“Good.” She slammed the butt of her sheath onto the metal floor, causing more loose glass to shatter as they fell against the floor. Sparks flew out of the sheath as she removed the blade, tossing it to me which I only barely managed to catch. “Your training begins now.”

———————————————————————————

———————————————————————————

I spat as Chelsea kicked me away— the sword spinning out of my hands and landing against the floor with a sharp metallic *CLANG*.

“I must say, I’m quite surprised you lived through your first bout.” she mocked, holding the sheath over her shoulder. Her attention turned to the redheaded girl standing by the still-shattered glass. “And he fought against a Rogue, you said?”

“Well…the serum does affect performance..” Lia said, offering a smile, but the mentor simply shook her head. She watched me crawl towards the weapon, using its colossal length to pick myself up while my muscles scream in protest.

“That……serum…what did it do?”

“Saved you two months in the medical bay.” Chelsea said with a relaxed stride. I could feel my muscles flare as I gripped the handle and took a swing directly for her body only to see her duck, thrusting the metal right into my sternum. The force shoved me away, and I could already feel my chest starting to bruise.

“Simply put,” intervened Lia when it became clear Chelsea wouldn’t answer, “it’s a high grade painkiller infused with synthetic cells— the nanobots spread it through the body so it can help repair lethal injuries before they become life-threatening.”

She explained it with absolute calm as I stumbled about like a toddler learning how to walk; granted her tone was likely because the person I was fighting this time wouldn’t accidentally kill me.

But it wasn’t like she was going easy on me either.

“However, as a consequence the body’s autonomic nervous system is affected, so sensory and motor functions of Resonators who use it instead of healing naturally—”

“—become impaired.” Chelsea finished.

She was right. I could feel myself breathing easier, but the breaths themselves were erratic— my muscles twitched and I could feel my eyes struggle to focus on her. But I didn’t need coordinated movement. I focused what attention I could to her eyes, gripping the sword and taking careful aim for her faint lilac glow.

Evidently she noticed, because she took on a stance with her legs low to the floor and the sheath pointed straight at me. I gripped the handle once more— the one thing I have noted about her was that she almost always waited until I struck first. I swung the blade behind me like a baseball bat— I was painfully aware it wasn’t meant to be used in such a way, but I only needed a single, direct strike.

The glow in her eyes became just a bit deeper until suddenly going wide as she bolted straight for me. I didn’t— couldn't— swing the blade accurately, but her stance was low to the floor, and that was all I needed! Sparks ignited against the ivory floor as my blade cut right into her trajectory— but her momentum was too much. She jumped, inertia carrying her forward and just above the low-swinging blade as her body spun, and a giant sheath crashed against my jaw, knocking me to the floor.

“Hmph. I suppose you’re right Lia; there’s little point in training him if the serum affected him this much.” she touted, yanking out the sword that jutted out of the white marble floor and sheathing it with expertise.

“I…don’t think I lost because of any serum.”

I managed to crawl towards the glass, resting my back against it as Lia entered and Chelsea moved towards me.

“Truth be told I expected you to complain more. Well done.”

“I can’t tell whether or not you’re praising me.”

“Are you alright?” asked Lia, examining my face. I could feel my cheeks start to flush, but whether or not from embarrassment I didn’t know; this was the second time she’d seen me metaphorically, and almost literally, get my teeth kicked in. I was just thankful the blush could be passed off as my body recovering.

“I’ll be fine…but in all honesty, I have a hard time seeing this as ‘training’.”

“We needed somewhere to start, as your fight with Senpai could hardly be called an assessment.”

“Is this really the best way to go about it?”

“Would you know of another method?”

“Starting with the fight I already had.”

I didn’t think Chelsea’s face could lend itself to such a confused expression. But when she didn’t look outright opposed to the idea I decided to continue.

“When you want to know someone, you’d normally start by talking with them. If the point is to train me, why not review the fight I already had?”

She crossed her arms, the bright glow from earlier replaced with a low, subtle shine. But my attention quickly turned to the girl on my left.

“You sound…a lot like she did.” Lia confessed. “She said something along the same lines when she first started here. Granted, most of those situations were about getting the others to open up but…”

Her voice trailed off.

“Very well.” said Chelsea with a nod. Kneeling down alongside her weapon, she sat cross-legged in front of me and rested her chin against the back of her hand. “Anon, as the first Resonator to have gone to battle with no training whatsoever, what did you notice about your abilities in combat?”

“I was stronger than I should’ve been.” I said, not missing a beat. It was a good thing the pain-killer was at least somewhat still present in my system, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to move my jaw from the pain. “I remember picking the thing up on my shield. Even with my Slayer, I’m nowhere near strong enough to do something like that. It’d be like trying to carry someone three weight classes above me.”

“Resonators are enhanced by both the nanomachines in our bodies and the resonance itself, primarily the latter, as it’s what permits us to pilot our Slayer in the first place.” she said with an unsurprised glare. “However I refer to your actual fighting; what did you notice? From the many rumors upon your return, it seems you arrived on site with remarkable speed.”

“Hana mentioned it was because of the Flight ability.”

“That…might be true, but the way you tackled it……”

“Ahh, right. I remember speeding up a little before hitting it.”

“Normal flight isn’t able to go that fast— and the force after you tackled that thing nearly flipped me over.” she recalled with a laugh.

“Ahaha, sorry. It was probably the adrenaline.”

“Ghost Step.” Interrupted Chelsea. “A common ability, but one of the most useful for any Slayer to wield. This marks two of your abilities; anything else?”

“Aaah, aside from—”

“You did great work fighting against its head! Fighting an opponent that small with a sword as large as a Slayer’s isn’t easy!”

“Hmm, indeed.” agreed Chelsea. “You also demonstrated a proficient, if horribly untrained, stance during our duel.”

“But I never trained with a sword, I don’t feel I have the Blademaster ability Hana mentioned. If I do, shouldn't I have some link to it from my time back home?”

“It’s not uncommon for the untrained to have abilities unrelated to their personal lives, what matters is if the soul desires to wield it.”

Her choice of words made me want to disappear. I couldn't tell them that up until I was a late teenager, I would maintain the childish habit of picking up sticks and swinging them around like I was brandishing a giant sword. Whether I went out for a walk at night, or was returning from school, every time I had the chance to do it, I would.

It was a miracle no one ever saw me, and it’s a secret I’d rather take to the grave than be known.

“This brings us to your final abilities,” said Chelsea, interrupting my thoughts. “Your personal ones.”

“The Aegis?”

“Straightforward,” she said, sharpening her eyes, “but I refer to the rarer ability you possess. Even if Lia hadn’t mentioned the only other Resonator who had it in this Redoubt, I would’ve guessed from having heard Hanna’s report.”

Lia looked to her knees; I’m not sure how alike I am to the girl, but I knew what she was referring to.

“Empathetic Connect.”

“Alongside Forecast and a handful of other abilities, it is no doubt among the most uncommon to possess.”

Because no one wants to carry the weight of a life that’s no longer here. It was unspoken, but undoubtedly there, lingering. Hanna mentioned it— though everyone is fighting the same battle, death is an inevitability. Carrying the memories of the dead for God knows how long…especially if they died in vain.

I remembered where I was.

Fighting to the death was alien to me. But even in my previously un-resplendent life, someone like me was able to see what the loss of a friend did to someone. The loss of tens, hundreds, or thousands of people…if the war against this eldritch force didn’t end, or worse if humanity lost…those deaths would be in vain.

Our deaths— my death— would be in vain.

But even so…

“……is forgetting……really that important to everyone here?”

The two of them stayed quiet. But their silence held their answer……no…I guess I already knew it. It wasn’t that forgetting the lost was important, it was just their way— and probably the only way— of staying sane. Even that girl, who by the descriptions of Hanna and Lia was one that would carry the burdens of everyone else, broke under the strain.

I clenched my fist.

It didn’t matter if that mentality, the process of forgetting the deceased, of acting like someone never existed at all, was right or wrong. At least not right now.

What mattered were the things that brought the people to this point. Those eldritch beings— the Endbringers— the ones that would live to see everything perish. If they were killed then…maybe, once again, people would be able to have burials for the deceased.

The sound of teardrops hitting a porcelain sink echoed in my memories.

Maybe…that’s what a girl like Hanna needed.

“If those are your only two abilities, it may be that you’ve another in your Slayer.” Chelsea said, elegantly carrying her sword as she rose. “Technopathy is not an uncommon thing.”

“Ahh, that reminds me, I meant to ask earlier but would any of these allow me to talk to my Slayer?”

Both Lia and Chelsea perked their heads, like I’d just spoken a foreign language.

“How do you mean?”

“When I fought the Rogue, it was something I wanted to ask about.”

“Anon, what do you mean you spoke to your Slayer?” said Lia, coming oddly close. In any other circumstance I might be happy having a cute girl crawling close to me, but her eyes were wrought with a dangerous anticipation. “You spoke to Even?”

“Not…really. It wasn’t a conversation exactly.”

“Focus, child. Was this when you were unconscious, after defeating the Rogue?”

“I—”

An alarm blared around us, filling the dome with the sounds of distress. Looking down, I could see purple light emanating from the metallic bracelets— though only on Chelsea’s and my own. Only after striking the metal in acknowledgment did the sound quiet, though dull light was still shining from beneath the silver.

“I would not’ve expected a call this quickly.” said Chelsea, fixing her sword to her waist as I wobbled into a standing position. “But I suppose this summons will make for good continuation of your training.”

“I haven’t even eaten breakfast yet. And are you smirking?!”

“I see that you've finally complained.”

I sighed, not feeling like arguing. “Anyway what was that alarm? I thought the bracelets were our warning for Outsider attacks.”

“It’s an alarm system integrated into the Redoubt that only triggers under a single condition— that an Outsider should come straight for Skull Beach.” she said, looking towards us both. “It’s an Outsider attack directly on the Resonators.”

“And how fortunate we are to share an Outsider roster in our duty to kill them.” Chelsea said. Her sheath stretched outward, picking up the end of my chin to look straight at her. “And how fortunate I am, that I will witness your abilities…with my own two eyes.”