Fourteen Days Before Avaman’s Attack…

Hollow, panting breaths through a black bag. Blood dripped off of the scalpel Hans twiddled between his fingers. He licked his lips, but he did not smile.

This was getting boring.

Breaking into the broadcast relay had been child's play, as expected, as had eliminating the guards. One of the others must have made a mistake, though -- because by the time they'd gotten to the relay itself, the technician had already locked it down. Sealed it away with a password he refused to divulge.

The technician was tied to the chair before Hans, right in the middle of the control center itself. The massive screen behind him still displayed the text demanding the password, each time the display blinked frustrating Hans more and more. Anger spurring him to action, he moved forward and whipped the bag off his captive’s head.

"Ready to talk, brother?" he asked softly.

The technician had not had a good day, even with Hans tending to him. One of his ears had been all but sawed off, the gristle hanging by a strip of skin, and the eyes had been taken from their sockets, leaving an empty red stare. Bruises of every kind painted his face. His hands were tied behind his back, but there was really no meaning to it: all of his fingers had already been broken, as had his wrists.

Hans understood it well: the only thing he could not take from this man was his tongue.

When he did not get an immediate reply, he shook the man by the hair. "Wake up!" he snarled. "What's the password?!"

It was humiliating that this was even an obstacle. Why had his sponsor chosen to break out Victor, for pete's sake, and not some kind of hacker?! Had they not foreseen that this could be a problem?! Did anyone around here think?!

The technician muttered something, and Hans' eyes widened. "What?" he said, leaning in, heart dancing. "What'd you say, man?"

That unfortunate mouth moved again, and the voice that came out was a deathly rasp.

"Dead…" the technician hissed.

"Dead?" Hans asked excitedly. "That's the password? That's the password, yeah?"

The man glared without eyes. "All of you are dead," he insisted. "Ascendant-General Toll will find you… kill you… kill your families… tear you to bits… fucking eat you…"

Hans' smile just as quickly turned to a frown. "Don't be an asshole, guy. Now I gotta fuck with you more."

The most infuriating thing about this was that his ability wouldn't give him the password. He didn't know why. It could tell him the guy's name, how many siblings he had, where he grew up, his goddamn birthday -- but not the password. There was no way it was impossible to deduce, so what was going on?!

He was just about to make some more adjustments with his scalpel when the communicator in his ear clicked into life.

"What is it?" he asked, scalpel trembling between his fingers. "I told you guys I didn't wanna be disturbed until we're done here."

"Incoming," said Nin, almost casually.

Shit. Shit! Special Officers, already?! There was no way. He was absolutely certain that none of the guards had time to send out any kind of distress signal -- Victor had been efficient as hell when it came to massacring them. These kinds of bases went weeks without contact, so there was no way anyone had come to investigate the silence. The only way there could be such a quick response was if… was if…

His ability did not take long to give him the information he needed.

They'd been sold out.

Hans snapped the scalpel in his hand.

IONIR YGDRASSIL resumed.

Immediately, it tasted the area around it. It was still inside the metal shell. It was in the same part of the metal shell it had stopped in. A significant amount of time had passed, enormous for it to resume naturally. The area outside the metal vessel had changed. The world was singing.

They had arrived, then. IONIR YGDRASSIL began shifting out of sleep-shape, its body growing and stretching as it assumed traitor-shape. Two arms, two legs, and a head. The inefficient form of the enemy, but one that IONIR YGDRASSIL had to wear to continue. NIGEN RUSH had explained that to it long ago, and so it was true.

MorganNacht and AtoyMuzazi were still in the metal vessel as well. They were grabbing bags and slinging them over their shoulders, no doubt full of supplies that might be required. Traitors were frail organisms, and could not gain sustenance from the world.

The change in form completed, and IONIR YGDRASSIL took a step forward. MorganNacht looked up at him. Such a tiny, but cute thing. It liked him.

"We're here, big guy," he said. "You ready?"

It never understood why they packed so little information into their speech. IONIR YGDRASSIL encrypted a lengthy rundown of its current status and spoke it aloud, but MorganNacht showed no signs of understanding it. Frustrating.

"Gonna guess that means yes," he chuckled.

The other traitor, AtoyMuzazi, turned to look at IONIR YGDRASSIL as he completed his preparations. "Mr. Yggdrasil," he said. "I'd like for you to watch over us from behind as we approach the broadcast relay."

MorganNacht raised one of his eyebrows. "You concerned?"

"I tried sending a message to the relay while we were landing," AtoyMuzazi explained. "But no response. There's a good chance the Kingmakers have already begun their attack."

The metal shell began to open itself, a ramp lowering to allow them to leave. IONIR YGDRASSIL tasted warm air, and the singing intensified. As ordered, it followed right behind AtoyMuzazi and MorganNacht as they descended the ramp.

It was vexing to be bound to a traitor he did not know, but IONIR YGDRASSIL did not hate it. It had never hated anything, save for lusifer westmore, and he was not here. It was bound by promises, and it would live by them. NIGEN RUSH had once told it to listen to BaltayKojirough, and now BaltayKojirough had told it to listen to AtoyMuzazi. There was no room for confusion.

Salvation.

As IONIR YGDRASSIL stepped out of the metal vessel, it devoured the sunlight that blazed down upon it. Parts of it deep inside that had begun to weaken regained themselves, reforming to their proper strength. The responsiveness of its body improved, as well as the speed of its thoughts. It came back to life.

They were in a dry jungle of simpletons, units without the capacity for advanced thought, gathered together in thin clumps, their clumsy roots fixing them to the earth. IONIR YGDRASSIL sang to the simpletons for a moment, but as expected there was no response. Even so, it had to try. It was bound by promises.

At the very least, the simpletons' dull verses gave it intelligence regarding their destination. Some of them had been disturbed in the recent past. Some of them had been destroyed. An organism had come through, then, and not carefully.

IONIR YGDRASSIL said this, but was once again -- save for a quizzical glance -- ignored.

The building lay in front of them, a cold box of metal, utterly silent. Even though their metal vessel had landed right in front of the building, they had received no welcome. Something was wrong. At the very least, there should have been guards.

IONIR YGDRASSIL said this too.

MorganNacht leaned in to mutter to AtoyMuzazi. "Seems quiet, huh? Think they're already here?"

AtoyMuzazi took a few steps forward and slowly knelt down, dragging his finger along the ground. When he raised it again, it was covered in crystalized red traitor-sap. "It appears so," he said, voice grim. His hand went to his sheath, and he pulled his metal free. "I would think that the soldiers assigned to this posting are already dead."

MorganNacht clicked his tongue. "Bastards."

This was a thing that IONIR YGDRASSIL did not understand about traitors. Why did they get so aggravated when it came to completion? All things that began must eventually complete. Surely they must have already been aware of this. Why, then, did they become sullen when the expected outcome came?

"All living things wish to achieve their desires," said NIGEN RUSH. "Once we're dead, those desires are lost to us. That's where the fear of death comes from."

This was not the real NIGEN RUSH speaking, of course. He had already completed. This was IONIR YGDRASSIL's memory of NIGEN RUSH, sculpted into the shape of a personality and allowed to speak. Having a remembered figure give testimony was much easier than searching through all of IONIR YGDRASSIL's memories for the appropriate information.

"BUT," IONIR YGDRASSIL replied. "ONCE YOU ARE COMPLETE, FAILURE CANNOT UPSET YOU. TO FEAR A STATE OF NOT EXPERIENCING FEAR IS FOOLISHNESS."

NIGEN RUSH chuckled ruefully. "Ah, Ionir…" he said. "Perhaps one day you'll understand."

IONIR YGDRASSIL deposited the recollection of NIGEN RUSH into the back of its mind, but did not crush it to save storage space. It could not. NIGEN RUSH was the one who had saved it, who had given it a purpose after the end of the rising. It had promised itself it would not let him go, and it was bound by promises.

MorganNacht mirrored AtoyMuzazi, drawing his metal as well. IONIR YGDRASSIL supposed it must be terribly despair-inducing, having to use implements like that instead of your own body. It had used metal on occasion at the insistence of GretchenHail, but there had been little benefit. Here, away from her insistence, it had no reason to pretend.

"One entrance," said AtoyMuzazi. "We'll move at full speed and kill any hostiles before they can use their abilities. Understand?"

As AtoyMuzazi spoke, IONIR YGDRASSIL's roots slithered across the floor and drank the traitor sap he had found. Soft, green Wisdom surreptitiously sparked across the wooden tendrils. The memories clinging to the biology drifted into its mind, quickly crushed to a minimal size and saved away. The owner of the sap may be dead, but his recollections would be preserved for posterity.

This was IONIR YGDRASSIL's reason for being -- the promise that was him.

They moved, AtoyMuzazi at the head, charging for the sealed doors. Silver Wisdom sparked across AtoyMuzazi's hand as he grabbed a nearby simpleton, the being tearing itself out of the ground as thrusters blazed across its wooden surface. It blasted towards the doors with such speed that it got there first -- smashing into them and shattering them with ease. AtoyMuzazi and MorganNacht, without so much as breaking their stride, leapt right into the darkness.

IONIR YGDRASSIL went to follow AtoyMuzazi --

"No."

-- and then, very suddenly, it went flying backwards.

Atoy Muzazi went flying forwards, instantly launched into the darkness of the relay station. Even with the disorientation of the sudden force, he kept enough of his wherewithal to get a look at his surroundings.

Metal shelves, filled with spare ammunition. Consoles to scan incoming ships, unused. Corpses, still laying in chairs, brutalized. A guard station. Muzazi took all this in as he flipped through the air, propelled by that mysterious force.

This first attack was just to catch him off guard. The second --

Clang!

-- would be to kill.

Muzazi deflected the punch aimed at his skull with a slash of Luminescence, sparks flying as blade struck fist. Finally landing, he planted his feet against the wall and launched himself with a kick, zooming right towards the enemy that had presented itself. Luminescence was ready to kill.

It was Victor Yun who had attacked: the bank robber who had become one third of the Kingmakers.

He looked different than he had in the message. His skin had become grey steel, and what looked like the blade of an ax was protruding from the top of his head. His eyes were jet black, and when he grinned his red grin, Muzazi saw barbed wire wrapped around his teeth -- like braces.

Where had he been hiding, to execute such a sneak attack? Perhaps he'd been clinging to the ceiling. It didn't matter. When he'd seen what these people had done, he'd already promised himself that he'd kill them -- and he was bound by promises.

Thrusters gave Muzazi greater speed as he shot towards Victor, Luminescence striking at the enemy's exposed throat. For Victor's part, he made no move to dodge. He just spread his arms wide, welcoming the blow, red mouth grinning.

Muzazi swung --

Tink.

-- and Luminescence bounced off Victor's metal skin, not leaving even a scratch. Muzazi could only stare in disbelief for the briefest instant -- before a metal punch slammed into his stomach, forcing him to double over. He tasted blood in his mouth.

If he hadn't been channeling Aether to defend himself, he was certain that attack would have been fatal -- but even with his defenses, it had been devastating.

No time to lick his wounds. The attack was not over.

Victor punched, and Muzazi blocked. Those words may have accurately described the exchange, but they in no way match the spectacle of the dance. Light reflected off Luminescence's blade like a strobe, casting eerie lines of white over the room around them. Victor punched and punched and punched, his arms so fast they were blurs, the sound of each impact like a cannon going off. His own mad cackling was barely even audible over the sound of his attacks.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Victor screamed, slowly driving Muzazi back, crimson spittle flying from his mouth. "You like that? You like that, you little fucking asshole?! Fuck you! Yeah! Come on, come on, come on!"

His punches accelerated even more -- it was a wonder Muzazi was even keeping up, blocking each blow individually. All of Muzazi's silver Aether was going into the glowing weapon he held, preventing it from shattering under the sustained assault. Not again. He wouldn't lose Luminescence again. He couldn't.

"Fuck you!" Victor went on, pushing Muzazi into the corner. Boom boom boom boom boom boom, his hands said. "Fuck you! Yeah, bitch! Not so fucking special! Can't even fucking beat me! I'm gonna smash your fucking skull in! Ahaha… ahahahahahahahahahahaha! FUCK OFF! Die, die, die die die diediediediediedie just fucking die already!"

His vulgar words came out as fast and heavy as his punches -- and as the final expletive left his mouth, he slammed his fist forward towards Muzazi's skull.

It was faster than ever before. It was stronger than even Muzazi's Aether could take. Luminescence would be dust against a punch like that. His own body would be mist. He could not dodge it or block it. All he could do was realize that it was coming.

Breath caught in Muzazi's throat. He was going to die. In that moment, he fully understood that, and watched his death approach with all the slow focus of adrenaline.

Marie, help me…

Marie did not help him, but someone else did. In the moment before Muzazi's skull would have been decimated, someone stepped out of Victor Yun's shadow. Moving at lightning speed, their hand flicked out and rammed a thin object -- a needle -- right up Yun's nostril. It went in deep.

Immediately, Yun screamed, his punch going wild as he turned and swiped his hand at the unseen threat -- but his attacker had already moved. They were crouched atop the security desk, a sly smile on their lips as they looked at their good work.

"You're new to this, huh?" Morgan Nacht purred. "It's good practice to always watch your back, friend."

In all the chaos of the encounter, Muzazi had completely forgotten Nacht was here -- and, perhaps more unbelievably, he hadn't even noticed the other Blade entering the room and positioning himself behind Yun. This young man's ability to conceal his presence was truly terrifying. Would Muzazi have realized if that attack was aimed for him?

"Argh!" Yun roared, tearing the needle free from his nose, tossing it onto the floor. Blood oozed copiously from the damaged nostril. "Cunt! Cunt, cunt, cunt!" He was a raging bull, animalistic, lashing out with words as he felt pain for the first time in this encounter.

Morgan's smirk twisted into a grin. "It was those nifty braces of yours that gave me the idea, Mr. Yun. Your gums are bleeding, right? Which means the inside of your body is still just as vulnerable as ever." His eyes flicked over to Muzazi, behind Yun. "You get it, right?"

Muzazi nodded, just fractionally, regaining his composure after his near-death experience. He drew Luminescence back. He needed to strike Yun's insides, rather than his unbreakable skin. That was easily done.

As Morgan rose up on the desk, he pointed his saber towards the seething Victor Yun. "I'm going to be aiming for your eyes," he said, smugness dripping from every syllable. "I'd bet my colleague is going to aim for your mouth." He flicked his free hand again, and more throwing needles appeared clutched between his fingers. "Think you can dodge us both?"

Victor Yun grit his red teeth together, and threw his arms out, screaming: "You fucking assholes! I'm going to shit in your ass!"

Muzazi blinked -- and when his eyes opened again, they had the chill required of a killer.

"You'll do no such thing," he said. "Now -- prepare to die."

The two Blades rushed forward as one, swords dancing through the air.