“Empress?! Empress, you suddenly went quiet! Did you encounter the Alt already—?!”


    “Ugh…” S-Sorry, sweetheart. Leona took a trembling hand to turn off her comms. As much as she adored Chie’s encouragement, she couldn’t afford any distractions. Not now. Not when she was facing a threat just as problematic as the Alternates.


    She peeled off the steel wall, head ringing. Dinner was boiling inside her stomach, threatening to spew all over the pavement and asphalt. Her internal qi was out of whack. It was like ants were swimming up and down her bloodstreams, getting jammed and causing a long line of traffic. Her whole body was numb. She could barely move her arms and legs.


    What…? Leo violently coughed, hot spit dripping down her lips. What did he do to me…?


    It’d happened so fast. His hand had been pressed against her sternum then… No, that hadn’t been a bluff? Back then, when they’d first met, he had threatened her with a pressure-point technique. That had to be a bluff—because pressure-point techniques weren’t as universal as seen in movies or comics—but to think he actually had a technique up his sleeve…


    It was already established that Shen wasn’t a normal person, but to be in possession of a technique like that was absurd.


    “D-Dammit, what the hell is going on…?” Leo coughed again, crawling to a nearby bench to hoist herself up. Slowly, painfully. Her legs were jelly, and her arms couldn’t lift a feather without shaking.


    In front of her, Shen was standing up—when did he collapse?—and immediately, alarms banged inside her head. She sensed something from him. Killing intent, anger; those things were there, obviously, but this was tangible like a familiar flavor on your tongue. Mana. There was a presence of mana inside him.


    He had [Temporary Registered].


    This psycho is actually trying to kill me?! “Shen—!”


    Shen turned his shoulder and stared at her cold. His eyes were dim and black.


    [Skill Activation]


    Something unimaginable happened.


    [Memento Recollection - Yuzhou, Chain Gauntlets]


    Armor formed around his body like a second skin. Sleek but thick, covering every single inch and leaving nothing exposed. It was black and silver from head-to-toe, designed for combat performance: smooth surfaces, sharp ridges, fitted and articulate. It resembled a personnel mecha that Hinode (日出) would manufacture or the Counterforce’s Degenbrechers, but this was merely a shell. An elegant, fearsome shell that had a roguish and arguably more fearsome pilot. And around his forearms were thick industrial-gray gauntlets resembling tightly wrapped chains.


    Leo looked on, unsure if the feeling in her heart was awe, shock, fear, or simply dread. This couldn’t be his [Loadout]—Temporary Slayers didn’t have access to that feature—so this was… This was a [Skill]? What kind of [Skill] allowed him to—?!


    His [Gauntlets] unfurled, and the tightly-wrapped chains loosened and dropped to the ground in a pile.


    In one mighty heft, the chains came down on Leo.


    The attack was a shot of adrenaline to her blood, bringing meager clarity to her limbs. She rolled away a moment before the chains whalloped, crunched through the bench she’d been leaning on, bent the metal and shattered the wood, and gored the concrete underneath.


    “What the fuck are you doing?!” Leo found herself yelling. “We’re on the same side!”


    “As fucking if!” He whipped again. The chains were blocked by a conveniently-placed streetlamp and got wrapped around the pole. The fucking psycho hissed through the narrow slits of his helmet, and through sheer strength alone, yanked the streetlamp off its base. The bulb crashed and died on impact, bringing a little bit of darkness to this area.


    Dammit, I can’t reason with this psychopath! I have to incap him the hard way! Then, Leo looked down at her wobbling legs and her trembling arms. She wanted to cry. Never mind, I can’t incap him right now!


    Leo scrambled and ran as fast as her crappy legs could take her. Every step was agony as though fleeing with pins-and-needles. [Heavenly Cloud Step], her qinggong, was ineffective because movement-type [Skills] needed legs and she didn’t have any at the moment. Trying to engage in close combat was out of the question, as her arms couldn’t hold [Twin Heavens] properly. She needed to recover but that required time, time that was running scarce—


    [Skill Activation: Mana Impact]


    Something exploded behind her. A black-and-silver blur entered her right peripheral. Shen bounced off a nearby wall, fast and deadly like a leopard, and pounced.


    Leo leapt forward—impact! Concrete flew and pelted her legs in a spew of pebbles. She climbed to her feet. She’d seen her fair share of terrifying Slayers over her short career, but watching an armored dick yank his arm from a small crater he made, that was a kick to morale—


    She faced five ugly knuckles. By sheer instinct, Leo bent backwards far enough that his arm flew over her. Thank goodness for her flexibility. She stumbled, off-balanced, and a leg smacked her behind the thigh. This time, she was on the ground for real.


    Shen eclipsed her, and without hesitation, drove a fist downward onto her soft skull.


    Leo pulled her head away in time and avoided painting Primordial Plaza pink and red with her brain-matter. Her tiny arms latched onto Shen’s, holding his fist in-place. This would be a good time to wrestle and try to gain the upper-hand, if her legs worked.


    Back-up plan!


    [Skill Activation: First Azure - Swordless Ethercross]


    With a free hand, she swiped across Shen’s hideous helmet to reveal his snarling face underneath. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead of cracking his helmet open like a walnut, there was only the smallest scratch on the surface.


    He huffed.


    Leo nervously laughed. I can’t believe I’m gonna die to this prick.


    A second later, her limp body was kicked into an information booth. She bounced off the metal wall and fell face-first onto the cold floor, groaning, her entire body aching like a long day after Auntie’s training. Her hand reached up and patted for the counter—


    [Memento Arsenal - Nightingale Rifle]


    Until a fucking spell-bullet nearly tore her fingers off. Leo let out an uncharacteristically frightened yelp and pulled back. Spells riddled the booth with foul, acidic-smelling holes. If the builders hadn’t used mana-resistant materials during construction, Leo might actually be dead.


    She sat against the counter as spells whizzed over her head. First, [Armor]; next, [Gauntlets]; now, a [Magick Rifle]?! Where is he pulling these weapons from?!


    Questioning a mystery was a futile effort. She clasped her hands and brought them to her belly. She concentrated, pushing extraneous sensations aside. The gunfire, the smell of acid, the torn air—all removed. The panic blaring inside her head was pacified into a gentle wave. Her mind was taken from the external world and was brought into the internal realm.


    Shen really had done a number on her qi. She’d never seen a pressure-point technique produce these effects before, but they were recoverable. Because the strike had completely shifted her system, it caused partial blockages and uneven flow throughout her body. Temporary problems, yes, but fatal in battle. To begin, she had to solve the issue step-by-step.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    First, she manually took over her qi flow—a hard impact thumped against her back, ignore it—and mapped her pathways. She rebalanced her body, pushing and pulling qi out as necessary—a spell ricocheted off the counter, don’t worry about it. Her body, although still numb, felt better already. The blockages were next. She undid them, one-by-one, while forcing her qi to flow correctly—


    The gunfire stopped.


    Leo exhaled and released her hands, and she listened for life.


    [Signature Trigger: Twin Heaven - Father]


    Shen reached over the counter. A gorgeous, masterfully-crafted blade fanned free and kissed his helmet in a satisfying clang of metal; if he wasn’t wearing protection, half his face would be hanging off. Instead, he was unharmed. Cursing and backing away, mind you, but unharmed.


    Leo flipped over the counter and powerfully drove a kick into his hard chest, yet he caught her leg and tossed her like a shot-put. She recovered in the air, spinning like a beautiful ballerina, and landed solidly on two balanced feet. Her system wasn’t completely repaired, but hopefully it could figure itself out.


    “Shen, that’s enough playing around! I don’t want to hurt you!” she commanded, whipping her signature around. A single sword had to do, for his safety and her own. No doubt he could capitalize on—


    He blasted off his feet.


    Fireworks of steel against steel crackled across the plaza. Shen rabidly wailed onto Leo. There was no sense of rhythm or strategy in his attacks. He fought purely from his angry, miserable heart. It was a far-cry to the man she’d first met: a surprisingly cunning corpo whose confidence was borderline magical. His life was seemingly in order. He knew what he wanted, why he wanted it, and how to get it.


    Now, look at the silver-eyed demon. He was an animal. A monster. Instead of finding his sister, he lashed out at the one person who was trying to help him. Why? What set him off? Was it his endless paranoia? His grudge against castles? No, it couldn’t be right. As much as Leo thought it’d be easier to cross Shen off as yet another psychopathic punk, it didn’t feel right.


    Not with a man like him. There had to be more to the story.


    Leo braced as Shen forced his armored forearm against [Father]; he growled and panted and snarled through gritted teeth. Through the silts of his helmet, his silver eyes seemingly vibrated, wide and desperate.


    “Shen!” she yelled. “Let me help you—!”


    “‘Help’?!” He pushed and ignored the sharp edge eating into his [Armor]. “Help?! I don’t want your fucking help! What I want…! What I want is for you to leave us the fuck alone!”


    Shen mightily struck with his other hand and clanged against steel again, forcing Leo a few meters back.


    Dammit, just help me understand—! Leo’s breath hitched.


    He created a new weapon: a [Magick Pistol].


    Spell-bullets flew, but this time she was ready. Effortlessly, they bounced off her blade and cracked against the ground, the walls, and even a few lights.


    Out of frustration, he threw his [Pistol]. She clattered it away—


    Ugly five knuckles were staring at her again. They kissed her blade. The vibrations rattled her sensitive arms, but she kept strong and pushed against the armored asshole. “Shen, listen to me, we want the best for you—!”


    “Bullshit!” he roared and pulled away.


    Leo raised her guard, believing another punch was coming, but what flashed across her vision wasn’t knuckles. It was the glimmering edge of a silver [Dagger] that had nearly cut her cheek open. His hands moved fast—too fast for an ordinary corpo—and brought Leo on the backfoot, forcing her to block and deflect and parry.


    The [Dagger] peeled down but got caught by [Father’s] edge. Leo reinforced the clinch, and they were locked together once more. Shen slammed his other hand into the back of the dagger, to force the edge down, but the hold refused to break. He did it again, failed, and again, failed, and frustration roared out of his mouth in a steaming breath.


    “We never…! We never asked for this! Why us?! Why is it always FUCKING us?! Why do you fucking people keep targeting and dragging us into your endless bullshit—?!”


    Momentarily, his strength slacked.


    Leo pushed him off and a deep, azure gash was slapped across his helmet.


    It cracked down the middle, wide enough to reveal a single silver eye.


    Shen gasped and stumbled back. He dropped the [Dagger] and clawed at his helmet as though searching for a wound. “Haha, fuck…” He found the crack, and after some amount of struggle, ripped his helmet open. The two halves fell to the ground and exposed his ugliness to the open air. “FUCK!”


    His armored fingers ran through his sweaty hair, then they rubbed all over his face as if trying to remove a mask.


    Leo lowered [Father] slightly. “Shen…?”


    “Why…?” He looked at her, and the anger in his eyes had vanished. “Why won’t you leave us alone? Why does it always have to be us?”


    As horrible as this sounds, hearing his despondency was a great feeling. It took one good hit for him to wake up from his trance, but seeing Shen like this was hardly any better. First, there was the confident corpo; next, she met the psychopath who had better weapon skills than most swords; and finally, there was the worn, tired, and scared man.


    Leo wasn’t ignorant about the Shens’ lives before Ordo. Their family history was an open secret amongst the Big Four at this point. Only now, when recalling their past, everything began clicking together. It explained Shen’s cynicism as Lyressa had described, his annoyingly sharp tongue, and most of all, the reason behind his outburst.


    Shen was raging against the world itself.


    To him, the world was the reason why tragedies kept happening to him and his sister.


    It took their parents away from them in Hangzhou.


    It took their faith in humanity during Oasisgate.


    Leo lowered her sword and approached him. “I’ve… I’ve asked myself the same thing a thousand times over, Shen. I—“


    “God…” Shen fell to his knees and covered his face. “I-I didn’t mean to…”


    “Easy, easy, it’s alright…” A few years ago, I was just like him. “Look at me, Shen. I promise you, we won’t—”


    [Skill Activation]


    Another presence appeared beside her.


    [Technique Sovereign - Memento Echo]


    And Leo had a sword to her neck—no, that was an exact replica of [Father].


    “Get the fuck away from my brother, bitch, or I’ll chop your head off with your own sig,” said Althea Shen, drenched in sweat and breathing like a balloon. Despite her state, she had the same cold, ruthless look in her eyes as her brother did moments earlier. She wouldn’t hesitate slitting a throat for her own survival.


    The team had spent so much time and resources on researching Alexander Shen, but they overlooked one major thing: this girl right here. Now it made sense why Firebrand had so much trouble trying to catch her. If Alexander was able to hold his own against Leo, then the same could be said for his little sister given by how she managed to perfectly copy a signature.


    If Leo had fought the Shens at the same time… She wasn’t sure if she could come out unscathed.


    “Thea?” Alexander sounded relieved hearing his lost sister, until he saw what she was doing. “Thea, back off—!”


    “Dammit, wait, don’t you fuckin’—!” another voice came barreling onto the scene: a bumbling, hot-headed doofus. That was Firebrand, who had been in-charge of protecting the girl. Instead, he was covered in dirt, grass, water, and other liquids. “Look, Shen, we don’t wanna—!”


    Althea pointed at Firebrand. “Take another step and I’m lobbing her head outta the Plaza.” (“Listen to your brother—!”) “Shut up, Empress! Another word, and I’m gonna do it!”


    “Put the sword down!” yelled Alexander.


    “Why the hell should I?! You should be on my side!” Althea pressed the edge against Leo’s skin, drawing a small cut. “That creep over there—!” (Firebrand scowled.) “—chased me across the fuckin’ city, and then, I saw Miss Demonic Cult over here bringing you to your knees!”


    “It was a misunderstanding!” Alexander said.


    Leo nodded as best as she could. “We don’t want to kidnap you!”


    Althea snarled, “Then please tell me, wonderful Angels, about why you’re doing this—?”


    Around them—no, across the entire Plaza—every light began flickering but not in unison. It was as if each light had come alive and acted on its own eccentricities. They slowly yawned and quickly blinked. The flashes ran together and the pauses in-between took seconds. Some spoke in morse code and others spoke a language known to only them.


    Althea lowered her mimicry and joined everyone in gawking at the paranormal sight.


    They searched the shadows, the rooftops, until Firebrand gasped and turned pale. He brought a shaky finger to the top of Leventis.


    There was a breacher standing on the very tip of the spearhead, malformed and twisted like a stretched, bastardized image of a human. The legs were too skinny, the torso was too long, the shoulders too wide, the arms were too thin, and the head was too small. Yet, it stood perfectly balanced on the small point. Its hands were—not held—two long curved blades in the shape of the crescent moon. Then, the monster changed. It became fuzzy as if captured in a low-quality image. Color was haphazardly splashed onto its body like someone was mindlessly spinning RGB dials. Sharp red transformed into hideous brown into grotesque lemon—nothing consistent or aesthetically-pleasing to the eyes.


    It was a monster that didn’t belong to reality.


    A bug in real life.


    “What the fuck is that…?” Alexander asked through the flashing lights.


    “That’s…” Leo gulped. “That’s the reason why we were chasing after you. You’re being hunted by that thing, an Alternate.”


    The Alternate raised one of its swords, its limbs groaning like an old engine, and swiped across the air.


    The lights went up in puffs of smoke and dust.


    Primordial Plaza was dropped into darkness.