In the partially moonlit room of East Power, painted by the white light, mixed with the crimson stain of dozens, stood Vincent. He had a void gently floating above his pointer finger, resonating at the same wavelength as his mind. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he was the one who was resonating. His mind had never felt more empty. His head had never felt more hollow. His thoughts had never seemed so barren.

And yet…he had never felt so free.

He glanced at Siegella, gave her a nod, and focused his attention back on his target—Iro. Without hesitation, he threw his void at him. It glided through the air with a fine enough speed. As it did, Iro lashed his chain out towards it. But the void did not stop.

With a quick look of worry on his face, Iro reached his hands in front of him to catch the oncoming void, but even he could not slow it down. He was pushed further and further back by the void until he collided with the metal wall behind him.

Vincent continued to press his void further in, hoping to crush Iro right then and there. But it was hard. The further the void was from him, the harder it was to control. He now understood that his mental waves were an extension of him, and if he could control them and make them resonate a certain way, he could extend the reach of his powers, but that was easier said than done. His waves were like that of dropping a rock in a pond. The ripples are strongest at the source, and they get weaker and less structured the further away they stray.

Glancing at Siegella, Vincent yelled, “NOW!”

Siegella instantly brought her pistol up and pointed at the pinned man. Vincent could feel her boiling intent to fire, and just as that passion was about to be released, Vincent felt another sensation.

Coming directly from Iro was a blasting tsunami of mental energy. Powerful, prideful, destructive waves forcefully emanated from him. The sheer magnitude of them caused Vincent to stumble for a second as his mind was wracked with pain…but only for a second.

Unlike before, these waves were muted the moment they went into his head. It was like there was something in his mind that wasn’t there before. Or maybe…it was just the opposite. Perhaps the reason it didn't hurt was because there was nothing in his mind—nothing for those waves to break. Or maybe, it was because his own waves took the brunt of the blow. Regardless, this brief pause in concentration caused the void that was trapping Iro to disappear.

“Vincent!” Siegella yelled. “You can’t lose focus! Don’t let his waves disrupt your mindset!”

Just as she finished saying this, Vincent looked over towards the man and saw him lumbering towards them.

“Well, well, well,” Iro with a bit of bite to his voice. “I didn’t know Libra had another Resonator of this caliber.” He then cracked his neck and looked over at Siegella. “I thought you was the only one left, especially after what happened to Orlova.”

Siegella’s face instantly grew haunted and stone-cold. There was a darkness behind her eyes that was unlike anything Vincent had seen from her before.

“Hehehe,” Iro laughed, “how cruel.” He then snapped his chain to the ground and said, “Well, it looks like I’m going to have to take this fight a bit more seriously.”

An even stronger amount of mental energy poured out of the giant, enveloping the space. It caused some of the metal objects in the room to slightly reverberate and for Vincent to lose his sense of direction for a moment. He could stay conscious, but it was hard for his mind to focus. The power difference between them was just too great. A rain gutter is nothing compared to a waterfall.

But then the nauseating waves eased up—or at least that’s what he thought. Looking up at the waves, he saw that they weren’t the only ones there. There was another, albeit smaller, set of mental waves that were clashing with them, causing a massive stir of chaos in the air. Following the waves back to their source, he saw Seigella with the most sullen face he had ever seen from her. Tears with falling like rain from her eyes.

“Vincent,” she said, not even looking at him, “I can hold off some of his waves, but that’s all I can do—It’s taking me everything I have. I do not like these memories.”

“What do you want me to do?” Vincent asked.

You’re going to have to fight him. You have to beat him!”

Vincent looked back at the still-smiling Iro and resolved himself to a colder state. He created a void in his hand and launched it at the towering threat. As the void glided its way towards Iro, it began to lose its perfectly spherical shape the moment it entered the cacophony of mental waves that were the result of Siegella and Iro’s clash. Within a fraction of a second, it was evaporated.

Distance ain’t gonna work, huh? Vincent thought to himself. That’s fine, I’m better at punching, anyway.

He touched his body with his left hand and said, “Godspeed.”

He launched himself toward the man and prepared to unleash a starbreaker. Just as he got into range, he was met with an awfully familiar sight. The looming face of Iro was above him and he knew exactly what was going to happen next.

Iro unleashed a torrent of mental waves toward Vincent. However, unlike last time, Vincent was now resonating. He was able to put forth his own burst of mental energy in order to counter what was coming his way. It was nowhere near as powerful nor structured as Iro’s, but it was just enough for Vincent to maintain concentration through it all.

Vincent unleashed a starbreaker right at Iro, causing him to go flying backward.

“Not too bad,” Iro said, still skidding along the floor. The entire time he was moving back, he never once lost eye contact with Vincent. The moment he came to a stop, he said, “But I ain’t gonna let it happen again.”

As he said that, he reached his empty hand out to the side, towards one of the walls. Vincent watched as a flow of mental waves exited the hand and collided with the wall, much like a river would. As they did, the metal wall began to liquefy and consolidate. Its form began to shift into something resembling another iron chain. As the newly formed chain began to snake its way toward Iro’s open hand, Vincent felt an overwhelming sense of pride coming from it.

There were now two iron chains at Iro’s disposal.

Without giving Vincent a moment to breathe, Iro whipped the chains directly at him. Only because of his newfound power of resonance was he able to sense to attack coming, just barely was Vincent able to duck out of the way of one of the chains and move to the right of the other one.

But he knew that that luck wouldn't last long. He could feel the prideful energy pouring out of Iro, even despite the interference of Siegella’s waves. Although, Vincent didn’t need to read Iro’s waves to know that he was being toyed with.

Rapidly, more and more slashing strikes were made by the iron chains. It was like a frenzy of blurred motion. If Vincent even stopped for even a second to think about what he was seeing, he would be hit by an attack. And he knew that one hit was all it was going to take to finally knock him out…especially with Iro’s heightened power.

He bounced back and forth, relying on his instincts alone to guide him through the maze of cobra-like strikes that were launched in his direction. No matter how hard he tried—no matter how hard he concentrated—he couldn’t make any progress toward Iro. He was stuck in place, dodging all of his attacks. He was dancing to Iro’s will like a marionette.

This charade lasted for what seemed like both an eternity and a few seconds for Vincent. He knew that he couldn’t keep it up forever. He could feel his brain starting to throb and pulse with pain from overexerting itself using this new power. There wasn’t a lot of time left for him and he knew it. He had to finish this soon.

I have to stop thinking, he thought to himself

I have to stop thinking.

I have to st…

I have….

I…

And then he went absolutely cold. Vincent allowed himself to feel nothing. He lowered himself back into the abyss and time itself started to slow down. Despite the carnage around him, he heard nothing but the resonating sound of emptiness within him. He allowed the full extent of his mind’s nothingness to consume him and leave his body—it was all or nothing.

He felt his mind evaporate and all sensations leave his body. Time was at a near standstill and reality itself moved frame by frame. He felt nothing, thought nothing, and was nothing. He maneuvered his way around the now slower-moving attacks, with his body moving all on its own. There was a complete lack of reflection behind his eyes. In fact, his mind wouldn’t even recall that this section of the fight ever happened.

Closer and closer he got to his target. As the frigid breath escaped his mouth, it hung there, nearly motionless with the rest of the world. He was almost there.

Finally, he managed to get right next to Iro, who was beginning to look down in his direction. Unfortunately for Iro, he never got the chance to look at the hollowed face of his enemy, because without a second’s delay, Vincent put his hand on Iro’s body and uttered a single word…

“Devoid.”

A massive void consumed all of Iro. Within a moment, like a loaded spring, Iro was flung back with an intensity and speed only rivaled by a rocket. He blew past and through countless chairs and tables, ultimately colliding with the metal wall behind him, causing a piercing, ringing noise to echo off of every other wall in the plant.

To the naked eye, everything seemed calm, but the ripples in the air remained. As beaten and bruised as he was, even partially jammed into the dented, metal wall, Iro was conscious. However, Vincent was at his limit.

Suddenly, everything came rushing back to him like a damn was suddenly broken in him. Feelings, memories, thoughts, sensations, pain—it all flooded Vincent’s mind in an instant. If it wasn’t for the shoulder of Siegella, who moved right next to Vincent, he would’ve surely fallen over from the whiplash. Blood started to pour down his nose and ears, and his head would not stop pounding.

Through the haze of painful confusion, Vincent heard Siegella say, “That’s mental whiplash for you. But Vincent, it’s not over yet.”

Vincent looked up at her and saw her raise her pistol toward the unmoving but obviously alive Iro. She fired three bullets in rapid succession, but all of them were met by the sudden appearance of an iron wall that emerged from the ground. The wall then lowered and melted back into the ground, revealing the bloodshot, horrid eyes of Iro.

Iro pressed his hands against the wall and pulled himself out of the indentation. His waves were monstrous now. Not necessarily in raw power, but by what kind of primal emotion they carried. The tune that was played by these waves was nothing short of pride rivaled only to that of Lucifer’s.

Siegella shot at him three more times, but none reached the behemoth. Each bullet was intercepted by a spike of iron that shot up out of the ground before receding back into it. Even in his swirling state, Vincent could see how connected those spikes were to Iro’s waves. In fact, Vincent saw that Iro’s waves were now spread out over the entirety of the room.

Iro scowled at the two of them. “All of you in Libra…you’re lower than trash,” he said.

His waves began to ripple more and more, vibrating with enormous intensity.

“You look at us and think that we’re so bad, but you never once look in the mirror.”

Every single piece of iron that was in the room began to subtly vibrate. And then they furiously shook. And then they began to violently tremble.

“Hypocrites. Weaklings. Cowards. That’s all you are.”

Every wall of iron, every metallic piece of machinery, and every grain of iron slowly turned to liquid and began to change shape. There were now dozens and dozens of iron chains in the room, slithering around every square inch. It was like a metallic snake pit.

Iro raised his chin and yelled, and as he did, his voice echoed off of each of the metal chains, sounding as if they all were repeating his message.

“I am Silverback Iro, Aries’ second in command. KNOW. YOUR. PLACE.”