The boat ride returning to D'Avuzel was one of utter silence; as the Figment vessel returned to shore, Arisz had to lift Claire on the back of her shoulders. Her reluctance and acceptance of the grueling situation had left her completely broken. Not even the muscles on her arms and legs could balance herself off of Arisz's shoulders, prompting him to hold her legs down to keep her on.
The blackened night commenced as rain continued to fall among the two lone wanderers. It would be a while until they would reach D'Avuzel with the current weather conditions. That, and both of their spirits were shattered into pieces.
Instead of pushing forward to trek through the journey to D'Avuzel, Arisz stumbled through a large sewage hole nestled by the shore. Claire was completely numb to the pungent smell of rotting sewage inside, tampered by the Rot spreading throughout the aether inside. Many mushroom-like fungal growths spurted in bushels, wriggling as the blistering stormy winds channeled inside.
As soon as the two entered, a large ventilation shaft from above spun rapidly above them to air out the toxic fumes from multiple split holes. They found themselves across an expansive clearing without any sewage on the ground to serve as a resting point. However, knowing Claire, Arisz knew that rest was the last thing she wanted.
Arisz kneeled down and placed Claire on a low pedestal, only for her to retaliate by lunging at him from behind. She pinned him down with her knees and threatened to blast off his entire head with her glimmering gold hand, aiming it directly towards his eye sockets.
"Tell me why he killed Lyn," Claire seethed through her mouth, unable to fathom her own temper. "And tell me why you did NOTHING ABOUT IT!"
Arisz coughed. "It was not my prerogative to interfere," He briefly said. "It was his choice."
"SHUT UP!" Claire spat. "No more bullshit, Arisz, I want answers. Ardine and Lyn are fucking dead, and you don't give a shit about any of it! He lured us into all of this, didn't he?! He's still loyal to his family and this was all just a trick!"
"Little one, please-"
"Was that the plan!? For the future version of me? ME!? ME TO DO THIS!? And you... you knew all along, didn't you? The way you were acting back there, so nonchalant and everything. You wanted them to die so that you could fulfill some stupid request for that bastard. You're as equally as guilty, and you deserve whatever's coming for you next."
"His death was not planned-"
Claire pinned Arisz's neck down with her right arm, scowling as her eyes trembled in utter spite. Before she could choke him out, footsteps echoed in the distant shadows, stopping her from proceeding any further. She stood up as the light through the ventilation shaft revealed Alfaic, who followed the both of them. He held a bloodied dripping Déraciné, tainted by Lyn's death from mere minutes ago.
"Claire..." Alfaic began in a hushed tone. "Listen to me. What I did-"
"I don't want to hear whatever you have to say anymore, you fucking bastard." Claire spat. You don't get a say in any of this."
"Claire, step back. Please. Listen to me," Alfaic said, dropping Déraciné on the ground to ensure that he was utterly unarmed. "Ardine's death wasn't planned. All of that was by mistake. But Lyn-"
"Don't you DARE spout that nonsense bullshit. How did that look for you and your father when you told him that yourself?! You know, the one who killed my entire fucking family when I was a kid?"
"You knew?"
"Oh, I knew since the start of this," Claire continued, letting everything out. "But guess who talked me out of not trusting you. And now that person, who was quite literally a sister to me, is now dead because of you. And another person, who was a father to me, is GONE! All because of YOU! Isn't that just poetic, Alfaic, how history seems to repeat itself with you? And now I realize I should have killed you long ago."
"Look, I know how you feel. But deep down, I know you want an explanation-"
"No," Claire intervened, sheathing her saber and imbuing it with tainted golden energy from her left hand. The angelic golden power that she once wielded during her battle in Qliphos bled through her entire left palm, shifting its hue from gold to jet black. "I just want to kill you."
Alfaic shook his head with a disappointed gaze into Claire's bloodthirsty eyes. "Don't do this." He said.
"I bet that's what Lyn would have said to you if she knew what you were about to do before you murdered her, you sick fuck," Claire continued, pacing around him in a circle. "I'm going to kill you, Alfaic."
"You're going to push all of this on me without even listening to explanation?" Alfaic laughed, extending both of his arms outward in astonishment. "You think I wanted to kill her?!"
"Well, she's dead, isn't she?! You did this!"
"Fine. If you want to play that way, then who's fault was it that both of their parents are dead and gone?"
"ENOUGH!" Arisz tried to intervene, but failed.
Claire scoffed. "Excuse me?!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're going to bring that up when NONE of that has ANYTHING to do with what you've done?!"
"Because you've always been a ticking time bomb, Claire," Alfaic continued. "You know, you never listen to reason, anyway. You always use your emotions to dictate your actions. Ha, and what I even say in one ear will probably go out the other, anyway. Is there even a point to reason with someone who took their mother and father's lives because you were upset?! Is that any reason to murder?"
"You don't know SHIT," Claire yelled, pointing her saber toward Alfaic. "Don't make assumptions about things you don't know, you bastard. They tortured me for weeks on end. What was I supposed to do, LET THEM!?"
"ANYTHING but what you did!" Alfaic yelled.
Enraged with a battle cry, Claire's heart pulsated with adrenaline as she charged toward Alfaic with her darkened imbued saber. Her tremendous speed made it near impossible for Alfaic to react in time to her overhead slash. However, he kicked up Déraciné from the ground with the top of his right foot and clashed blades in time. The overwhelming strength and force from Claire made both of them topple backward.
As Arisz recovered from being pinned down, a tap on his shoulder from behind caught him off-guard. Joy, who had been secretly tailing him and Claire, reared back and sent a mighty blow with his fist toward his abdomen, sending him soaring across the walls. Arisz slammed back through a wall that had been weakened from toxic decay. Cackling like a hyena, Joy leaped from wall to wall to ambush Arisz from beyond.
Alfaic caught a quick glimpse of his twin brother after he recovered with Déraciné in his clutches. As Claire stood up with her saber in hand, she gave Alfaic the most menacing gaze she had ever given anyone. The piercing stare had the intent to mangle to death. Her eyes were glowing bright red as the corrupted aether in her left hand began to infect her like a parasite with unbridled rage.
"Enough of this," Alfaic yelled, worried about his ally's condition. "Arisz!"
Claire lifted her left hand and charged an array of black bolts of fire, charging it as she yelled in defiance to Alfaic's request. She rapidly blasted the bolts toward Alfaic with a swipe of her hand, pelting him continuously with skin slicing power.
From his quick thinking, Alfaic transformed into his sword form to dull the damage dealt to him. Ash and smoke from the bolt's flame arose from beneath Alfaic, obscuring Claire's presence. As he transformed back into human form, he sliced through the smoke, revealing Claire's utter disappearance.
He scanned the surrounding area quickly, only to be assaulted from above. Claire pummeled Alfaic's cheek with a direct punch from her left hand, imbued with her corrupted aether. Alfaic's cheek caved in as saliva and blood escaped his mouth. The corner of his eyes received a closer look at Claire's eyes. Her shrunken irises and feral expression indicated that it was too late for second chances.
The blow sent Alfaic soaring through the walls, crashing toward more of its weakened foundation. He landed on his back as Claire approached the entrance of the holes immediately, walking toward him as a zombie would to eliminate its prey. Light rays revealed Claire's shadow-like presence, haunting him with a red scowl over her shrunken eyes. She charged forward once more, rearing her saber overhead.
Meanwhile, Arisz and Joy clashed palms with one another, sending a shockwave against the toxic fumes around their surroundings. He watched as Joy's disfigured face cackled at their battle, believing it to be menial play for his prey. Arisz headbutted Joy's forehead, caving it in with brute impact from his silver hardened skin. He then delivered an uppercut toward Joy's jaw, sending him flying upward. Summoning his spear, he activated a deceptive portal and reappeared beside Joy to slice him down.
Yet Joy was one step ahead of him. With a rapid spin, Joy clutched Arisz's head with his palm, continuing to cackle like a hyena over the pleasure of battle. He pushed down with his palm and sent the two of them flying down on the sewage floors, sending a stronger shockwave that blasted both Claire and Alfaic aside from its mere force.
Claire snatched her saber as Alfaic swiftly gathered Déraciné, clashing blades until their foreheads nearly touched from their attack. Claire shoved him off, delivering a flurry of brutal blows as she screamed at the top of her lungs. All of her frenzied swings lacked the grace she had practiced her entirely lifetime from her Qliphosian heritage. They were purely barbaric with the intent to cut down Alfaic in revenge for all that he had done.
Yet such lack of grace made her more vulnerable to attacks. Alfaic clenched his teeth and stared down at her feet. He kicked her left shin, prompting her to lose her balance. He then elbowed her mouth, shucking a single tooth out of her mouth before roundhouse kicking her toward the walls. Her back struck the exterior of a fungal Rot nest, releasing toxic spores into the battlefield.
Covering his mouth, Alfaic tried to escape the area, but the Rot only seemed to enrage Claire even further. She dispersed its entirety with her left hand in an instant and leaped into the area, pummeling the ground beneath Alfaic as she collided with the ground.
Meanwhile, Joy seized control of Arisz's head from behind, rushing through the sewage walls while dragging his head across. He laughed maniacally while doing so, leaving streaks of red aether through his wake. Yet his complete enjoyment of the battle left him vulnerable; Arisz reared his left elbow back, jabbing Joy through the eye to stun him. Lifting him with one hand off the ground, he sent a colossal kick of force toward his stomach, launching him toward ash. Arisz summoned his spear again and dove into his deceptive portals, intending to end the battle.
Now pinned on the ground from Claire's brute force, Alfaic failed to seize the opportunity to strike her with Déraciné. Blood leaked from Claire's missing tooth, dripping down onto Alfaic's cheek as she choked him like a deranged maniac. As Alfaic shouted to gather strength, he slammed his fist down against her right forearm, weakening her.
Yet Claire continued to keep the pressure with her left hand, intending to disintegrate his head off with a mere touch. She slipped her right hand into her thigh pocket, retrieving Ardine's personal dagger that he had gifted her the night before he died. Spinning it to grasp it firmly, she shrieked at the top of her lungs as she sent it directly down at Alfaic's eye. Red aether electrified her eyes as her fury continued to rise.
Alfaic caught Ardine's dagger straight through his left palm, puncturing through as the sound of flesh and bone shredded through like butter. Alfaic shouted in pain as blood spilled against his shoulder. Yet with Claire's fist in his grasp, he clenched his injured fist down in an attempt to use it as leverage to shove her off.
"DIE...!" Claire begged as her eyes sparked once more, imbuing power into her fist. She twisted the dagger to open Alfaic's wound even further to weaken his resolve. "JUST DIE ALREADY!"
Alfaic hollered until his lungs could no longer carry momentum. He shoved Claire off toward his left and kicked her back against a weakened pillar. Watching it tremble at the sight of falling, Alfaic snatched Claire's arm in time and dragged her backward. The pillar slammed against the ground, sending the both of them toppling downward once more.
After swaying the ash and smoke from the toppling debris, Alfaic watched as Claire instantly recovered, continuing to pierce his mind with her menacing red flickered gaze.
"You really shouldn't have done that." Her voice croaked, leaping into the air with her left hand lifted above her head. She gathered the energy from the Rot and her environment, summoning a orb of pure red aether. It amalgamated in diameter, nearly swallowing the walls and the debris around her. The sheer power of it forced Alfaic to slide back, controlling himself by changing his stance.
Meanwhile, Arisz reappeared beside Joy as his face remained stunned. From behind, he plunged his spear through the back of his chest, sending cascades of blood spilling out from his exit wound. Joy clenched his teeth and reared himself back, putting weight down upon Arisz until the both of them landed on their backs.
After snapping the half end of the spear from behind Joy's back, Arisz wrapped both of his massive legs underneath Joy's arms. He rearranged his spear horizontally, brought it in front of Joy, and pulled back against his neck, violently choking the life out of him with unbridled pressure that had the power to snap.
As his eyes trailed toward the suction of Claire's aether orb, he loosened his left arm by mistake, leaving Joy the opportunity to counterattack. He slammed his elbow back, but Arisz caught his arm in a lock, throttling his neck with increased force.
The aether orb increased dramatically in size after Claire held it up with enough time, yet something was wrong. The skin of her imbued left hand was crackling with heat, making the orb unstable to hold. She tried her best attempt to hurl it down, but her strength was gradually waning with the searing pain of her left palm. The orb vanished through mere shrinking, leaving Claire suspended in midair.
But that didn't leave her without the complete loss of strength. Alfaic dashed forward with Déraciné in hand as she toppled down on top of him with her saber. The two of them wrestled to pin each other down, but Alfaic received the upper hand with exploiting Claire's weakened left hand.
He punched her left forearm to stun her before shouting in strength, slicing her saber entirely in half. The blow sent Déraciné out of his grasp as well, leaving both of them unarmed. Claire bawled in agony and despair, remembering how the saber was one of her most sacred treasures gifted from Szene and her family. She pressed down upon Alfaic's face and began brutally clawing his cheeks with her sharp fingernails, leaving bloodied marks upon his skin.
Alfaic extended his right hand and found Ardine's dagger beside him. Grabbing it by the handle, he stabbed directly through the back of Claire's right palm before slicing upward above her nose. Howling in pain over the newly formed scar, she slapped Ardine's dagger out of his palm. Alfaic kicked her back with the end of his foot, shoving her off.
Joy was losing his grip against Arisz as he was pinned with no possible method of escape. Closing his eyes, he severed all of his tethers and channeled the influx of aether coursing through his body toward his heart. The center of his chest began to glow through his skin, making his figure entirely translucent. Joy had transformed his body into a bomb capable of incinerating all life around him with the amount of aether bunched inside him.
Arisz jabbed Joy's head to daze him for a brief moment before lifting the spear's sharp end and plunging it through the slits of his mouth. He intended to decapitate Joy before the bomb would go off in his chest, but Joy caught the blade in his mouth and clamped down upon it, buying himself enough time to release the bomb in an explosion suicide.
As their bodies both began to wane in loss of stamina, Claire and Alfaic knew that their battle was coming to a close. Without any weapon in hand, Claire leaped into the air and sent her sharpened knee toward Alfaic's forehead. As Alfaic recovered after being dazed for a brief moment, he tangled Claire's bloodied right hand with his forearm, trapping her. He delivered a jab as powerful as Claire's initial punch toward his cheek to her before sending another gut-wrenching punch to her abdomen.
The two of them exchanged a flurry of blows toward each other, bruising and pummeling each other's bodies and faces until they were nearly unrecognizable from the amount of damage inflicted. None of them were even interested in using their clever tricks with aether; they used pure brute force with what little strength they had to mutilate each other. They were completely on even ground, colliding with each other multiple times to tear each other to shreds.
Their foreheads clashed with one another with a skull-shattering headbutt. Claire's irises shrunk to its absolute limit as Alfaic clenched his teeth to drag the pain from his bloodied forehead, skinned absolutely off to reveal irreversible damage done to his face.
Time was running out as Joy laughed maniacally to finish off his suicide bombing. Arisz's eyes traced toward Claire and Alfaic brutally killing each other. His sheer defiance and protective mindset pushed through in the moment, wanting to save them both from their fates. He howled before summoning his strength to slice Joy's head straight off from his mouth, killing him on the spot.
Yet the bomb inside his core refused to let up. As mounting heat and pressure came bubbling from above Joy's body, Arisz snatched him by the shoulder and legs, hurling him toward the sewage hole they originally came from. Joy's corpse exploded, sending a small force of aether as mighty as a neutron bomb gushing in the sewer battlefield.
Arisz blasted back out of sight, disappearing in the shadows as he failed to rescue the two of them in time.
Claire and Alfaic were launched by Joy's explosive body, toppling them down once more. With Déraciné landing in front of Alfaic by a mere several inches, he reached his arm out slowly to grasp it for the final advantage. Yet his gashed and brutalized hand made it impossibly difficult.
Remnants of Claire's saber from the handle up acted as a sharpened longsword, landing the same distance in front of her as it did for Alfaic with Déraciné. The two of them raced the moment they recognized the time ticking down before their advantage would either be gained or lost.
Three.
Alfaic seized Déraciné and stood up, intending to charge toward Claire to end the battle.
Two.
Claire snatched the handle of her shattered saber and screamed one final time, hurling it toward Alfaic like a battle axe.
One.
The force of the hurl sliced Alfaic's right forearm cleanly off, sending Déraciné clashing to the ground.
The battle was over.
Claire's saber collided with a large glass panel that protected several sewage pumps. The glass shattered and trickled all over the ground behind them.
Alfaic snarled in agony as blood spurted from his open forearm wound like an endless fountain. He clutched his wound with his left hand imbued aether to heat it up, intending to cauterize it immediately. It only made the engrossing pain much worse. He landed on his back and dragged his legs front and back to fight it.
After only a few seconds passed, his wound stopped bleeding. He watched his severed forearm on the cold girders that he stood upon, still warm and bleeding with signs of life escaping it. A swift flash of light blinded him as Claire's red frenzied eyes collided directly with his. She pinned his neck down with her wounded right hand, lifting her corrupted left hand in the air.
Alfaic choked on the blood coursing through his throat. "Do it." He voiced out, turning his eyes away from her.
"Look at me." Claire's voice was completely unidentifiable from the savagery of their battle. She spat down upon him. "You look at me."
"DO IT!" Alfaic repeated, closing his eyes.
"I'm gonna do it," Claire hissed as blood seeped down from her mouth onto Alfaic's chest. "I'm gonna fucking kill you..."
"I've lost everything. So do it." Alfaic said, turning his eyes straight toward Claire's until their eyes met one another. "Do it." He kept repeating.
"I'm gonna fucking kill you," Claire's voice began to tremble as she stared down upon Alfaic's surrender. "I'm gonna fucking kill you. I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna -"
Before she could even decide to erase Alfaic's existence with her hand, tears began splattering from the dried crevices of her eyes. She could taste a mixture of salty tears and metallic blood in her mouth. She looked up from her aggressively knelt position and caught a glimpse of herself from the shattered glass pane from a distance.
She gasped, shocked that her entire figure had been completely unrecognizable. Her shredded and messy hair was jet black, and her eyes were scarlet red. Her leather attire had nearly been torn off, and her face was brutalized from their exchange of blows. The scar from Ardine's dagger tore above her nose toward her forehead.
She gasped for air as her lungs began to grow weak. Closing her eyes, she remembered how it was only a few days ago when she landed safely on shore from space after defeating Cain.
Her face was brimming with pure ecstasy and happiness. She watched the shores endlessly that night, immortalizing the memory of herself beside her friends. She had been the most innocent person in that moment, purely ignorant to the hidden truths of what she had experienced prior.
And standing beside her was Lyn and Ardine, both supporting her with their hearts closely aligned like clockwork.
She loved them so much. Lyn's sisterly and Ardine's fatherly faces gazing down upon her with such bright smiles without a care in the world. A common goal. A family together. Their faces flashed in Claire's mind repeatedly, weakening the grip on Alfaic's neck.
Ardine tied the make-believe sash around her, readjusting her invisible leather jacket. Pressing his palm against her shoulder, she reassured her of it all.
Because you're worth it, kid.
Buchasa faded away from her memory. All hopes of what coalesced... had vanished.
Claire's face shriveled in torment from the coalescence of everything that weighed her down. Teardrops rained like waterfalls as she thought of Lyn and Ardine, her parents, Szene, and her own physical and emotional state. She yelped in despair, pulling herself off of Alfaic and stepping backward in utter disgust at what she had become.
She knew that none of them would have wanted to see her like this.
Perhaps Lyn was right. Perhaps should did change.
And she wanted to. For it was what they wanted.
Alfaic gasped desperately for air before standing on both of his knees. He watched as Claire sobbed uncontrollably with the intent to murder completely gone. She was just a sixteen year-old little girl again, acting entirely on the influx of the trauma that scarred her. They didn't speak at all for a brief moment, panting momentously to gain back the strength to even breathe properly.
With what seemed like an entire hour passing was only a singular minute. Claire's tears dried up from her anguish. The two of them glanced up, eyeing each other's unrecognizable facial features. They remained silent as droplets of sewage pumps plip-plopped from a distance.
"Did you... want this?" Claire asked.
Alfaic nodded. His nod was barely recognizable. His movements were fatigued that not even an ant could sense movement in his head.
"I did." His bloodied throat uttered. She knew it was true. Lyn's death had pained him as well ever since then, and he couldn't control what little hope he had in the world. There was some resemblance of emotion still inside him that Claire seemed to miss entirely after his return.
Light from above the ventilation shaft revealed the copious amount of dirt and grime stained on their faces. They appeared as if they had recovered from the trenches of war and were heroes returning to hearth and home.
"Lyn... and Ardine... saved your life." Claire said, shaking her head in minor regret over her actions. "Not me. They did."
"C... Claire..." Alfaic voiced out, pained by the monster she had transformed into amidst her bloodlust. There was a small resemblance of the innocent child that she once was, but he knew that it was too late.
What he had done to Lyn, along with Ardine's death, was purely irreversible.
She had become a monster.
"Can you stand?" Claire asked, noticing Alfaic on his knees with his entire forearm missing.
"Y...Yeah." He said.
"Then you get the fuck out of here, and nevercome back." She solidified.
Alfaic's eyes dropped down, realizing that Claire chose to spare him. Realizing that she would never want to hear the truth of his explanation in why he decided to murder Lyn, he nodded one final time in understanding before turning around, departing to find Arisz in the crossfire. Once he did, he wished to vanish off the face of METIS, shunned at the blood that stained his hands.
Completely numb to his departure, Claire looked up at the shimmering light from the ventilation shaft. Her powers completely corrupted her mind, leaving nothing but the fading images of Lyn and Ardine flashing across her mind like drug-induced hallucinations. Their voices calling for her clouded her mind, as she realized that they were gone, just like the families that came before her. Realizing that she was eternally doomed for life, she finally accepted her curse as one.
She stepped back into the shadows and faded away completely from sight.
Droplets from the sewage pipe continued to splatter in the puddle below it, until there was no more.
Then, there was utter silence. Ardine's dagger still remained, cold to the touch.