After Amadi left, Kismet had a meeting.
"What did you guys take from talking with Sinvula?"
Belinha asked with a tired voice.
"He's a lot more human than I thought."
Mira answered first.
"Before, he seemed like a natural disaster in human form, but now, with knowing his true identity and hearing him talk, he feels...like a person?"
Kira nodded in agreement beside her.
"I think we can get along."
Everyone looked at Impactor, who wore a huge smile.
"I mean, I can't agree with everything he said nor do I understand everything, but I feel we see things in a similar way. Especially when it comes to family."
He pointed at himself.
"The main reason I'm a Hero is to support my family and the only reason why he hasn't been rampaging as much as he likes is because of his family. Also, it seems like we both practice choosing who we call family."
His smile grew wider.
"Also, I think he's overall a fun guy. I think we would have a lot of fun messing around together. Oh, but I guess we already do when we fight."
He burst out laughing. Belinha flicked his forehead with her fingers coated in fire. He held his forehead, which had a burn on it.
"Only you'd get along with a terrorist."
"I think Celso should've been a villain. He has the mindset for it."
Batu laughed.
"That's not funny, Batu."
Belinha pointed at Impactor.
"This guy is only a Hero because his family wouldn't allow him to be a Villain. He even threatened the Board of Heroes in accepting him."
"Really?"
Batu looked at Impactor, who wore a proud grin for some reason.
"Anything really goes for you huh?"
"Leaving this pseudo-criminal aside, I called this meeting because I wanted to know if anyone had a change of heart after talking with Sinvula."
Belinha's eyes narrowed.
"Are you guys seeing him as a human instead of a target we need to eliminate? There's nothing wrong with that, because at the end of the day, we're different from the comic book heroes of old. We're trained soldiers who kill more than we save, and those we kill are humans just like us. We, Heroes, tend to forget that and freeze up when we're reminded that we're killing someone's child, parent, friend, and sometimes idol."
She looked at all her teammates.
"So, I'll ask again. Will you be able to carry out your mission of killing Sinvula without issue?"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
Everyone answered in unison. Belinha smiled and nodded.
"Then we'll change things up the next time we fight them."
She looked at Impactor.
"No more restraints. You're free to do as you want."
Impactor started grinning.
"Finally!"
Days had passed and the time had come again, time for another 10 minutes tango with death.
"Oh, shit."
Mira mumbled after seeing who their dance partner would be.
"Nagano."
Alala muttered while looking down on them from the sky. She said nothing more before flying away.
"...We're fucked."
Everyone nodded in agreement with Impactor's words.
After making preparations, Kismet made their way to Nagano, even though they weren't given any precise location like always.
"She's definitely going to try and kill us for real."
Belinha spoke while they travelled the barren lands in an automated truck.
"Although we promised to keep her secret, I doubt an empty promise will satisfy Alala. The natural course of action will be eliminating us."
"So, she's going to come at us hard?"
Belinha nodded at Impactor.
"Expect at least the same intensity as when we fought her for the first time."
Impactor cracked his knuckles.
"Great, then I can show off how much I've grown since then."
After driving for over an hour into Nagano, Kismet's truck stopped after it spotted Alala. She was sitting on the busted roof of a building that was on the ground.
"Welcome to the famous Zenko-ji Temple...Or what's left of it anyway."
She jumped off the roof and looked at it.
"I wish I could've seen it before it was destroyed. I'm sure it was beautiful in person."
She spoke with a calm and gentle tone.
"Accident or not, Mishma destroying this place is a crime to humanity."
She turned and faced them.
"At the end of the day, I guess we Calamities only exist to destroy all that is beautiful in this world."
Her eyes and tone sharpened.
"Wouldn't you agree?"
"Nah, you're all just clumsy people."
Impactor said as he stepped forward.
"After meeting and talking with Sinvula, my team realised that you guys are human just like them."
He pointed at himself.
"But not me, I've always known. That's why I challenged you two."
A wild grin covered his face.
"I mean, you bleed just like the rest of us, right?"
Alala silently observed him as he walked towards her.
"However, I did learn something from our meetings and all of our fights."
"And what's that?"
Impactor stopped in front of her.
"You guys make mistakes just like everybody else."
Alala frowned.
"You make mistakes, have regrets, have people you care about, you're human by every definition."
Impactor's grin widened as his teeth seemly resemble the fangs of a beast that has locked onto his prey.
"And since you're human, you can be beaten."
Alala locked eyes with him through her mask.
"Picking a fight with me when you're already dancing on the edge of a knife...."
She looked past him and at Belinha in the back before looking back at him.
"I pity the one who's supposed to be holding your leash."
"That's just the way I am. Also, I've been told this personality of mine has its benefits."
"Impactor!"
Belinha called out to him from a distance.
"Yeah."
Even so, he didn't break eye contact with Alala. However, this was what Belinha wanted. A smile crept on her face as she shouted—
"Run wild!"
*BAM*
An explosion erupted between Impactor and Alala. The two flew out of the smoke, firing attacks at each other.
"Roger!"
Impactor roared as he fired an overwhelming force at Alala. She swung her hand down and the invisible force was cut in two. She kicked off the ground, swinging her leg. Impactor flew into the air to avoid her kick. A storm of flames swallowed up everything in the direction she kicked. Impactor kicked the air and dove down. She jumped in the air, pulling her sword. Impactor punched down while she swung up. The air shook as an explosive noise erupted between them.
"Let's crank this up a notch, Alala!"
Impactor clapped his hands in front of him. Alala's eyes widened. She kicked the air and a cutting noise reached her ears. A large cut appeared in the earth underneath her.
"He compressed the force and fired it like a slash?"
Alala couldn't help but smile.
"Cutting Applause!"
Impactor rapidly clapped his hands and a storm of invisible slashes flew at Alala.
"He still needs to stop shouting out his attacks though."
She thrust her sword in front of her and red lines appeared. She twisted the sword like a key and a melody of explosions erupted before her. The slashes and explosions clashed in the air. Alala weaved through the air to avoid the invisible slashes.
"So, my explosions lost, huh?"
Impactor flew through the flames, spinning like a drill. Alala swung and thrust her sabre at him. The sabre shattered and she was forced out of the sky and to the ground. She landed and burst open the earth while stopping herself.
"Turning yourself into a human drill..."
She grabbed Impactor's head and slammed her knee in his chest. His chest was hit by an explosion.
"Only a madman would think of that."
Impactor's hand grabbed Alala's arm.
"I got new clothes, so I had to test them out."
He slammed his fist in her face.
"From the fact I don't have a single burn, I guess they're perfect!"
"Really?"
Impactor's eyes widened. His fist didn't affect Alala in the least.
"Let's test to theory!"
She slammed her hand over his chest.
"Bazooka!"
A deafening noise reverberated. Impactor's eyes rolled to the back of his head.
"Oh? You absorbed the impact of that."
She grabbed his collar.
"But it looks like the pain was quite a lot."
A chill ran up her spine. She blinked and found herself facing a thousand blades thrusting at her. She released Impactor and moved back. Sparks flew as she created distance. Kira appeared, holding Impactor while his other hand took the form of a katana.
"I hope you didn't forget this was a team battle."
A heavy pressure fell on top of Alala and cracked the ground underneath her. A light flashed and flames and lasers came at her from every direction. She was swallowed up in an explosion.
"The chance of that severely damaging her?"
Mikel asked Belinha.
"Zero."
"Correct."
Alala walked out of the explosions with only her clothes damaged. She glanced at Impactor, who was already up.
"I haven't forgotten you. I was merely enjoying the fight brought to me, but I guess you're right. I need to start showing the rest of you some respect."
Alala took a fighting pose. This action sent shockwaves through Kismet.
(I've never seen her take a pose before. She normally just blasts us with Detonation, but for some reason I can't see her doing that anymore.)
Belinha thought while cold sweat flowed down her face.
"I knew it!"
Impactor shouted and pointed at Alala.
"Everyone said your power was Detonation, but it didn't make sense to me! After all, I've seen you use some special defence, cut things with your bare hands, and fire beams!"
He grinned.
"You've been holding back your true ability all this time, haven't you?!"
"I never stated what my ability was; you people created a narrative on your own and even gave it a name and rules."
Everyone else's eyes widened. The world believed Alala's power was to cause whatever she wanted to explode, while using red lines to better control it and be more precise. This was why they called her ability Detonation. It was by doing this, she became the Third Calamity; her ability was just that powerful.
"If that's only a small part of her ability, then just how powerful is her true power?"
Belinha shuddered at the thought while Alala smiled behind her mask.
"Let's switch things up a bit."