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"Hey Sis."
For a while, she held on tightly; seeing him in such a state emotionally constricted her too much to speak. She was sure she'd caught him just seconds before he was going to die; too much of an idiot; too late to help in time. As usual.
But as he gave out such a nonchalant reply, the NOAH couldn't help but give a quiet laugh as tears of relief dripped from under her motorcycle helmet.
"D-damn it, Rubel… we thought you were…" she began, but cut off as a jarring impact shook the whole building, the battle roars and taunts of King audible in the background. Taking a moment to analyse him behind her visor, he had some pretty bad injuries; she was unsure whether most would be able to stand in his situation.
"That wound on your head… you… you can still walk and hear me okay?"
How? How was he so… 'stable'? It was a question Tia didn't even remotely care about. All she cared was that Brother was here and okay. She wasn't sure how well the Seraphim could walk, but just in case, she helped him move across the room. No time to administer first aid, but… his breathing seemed to be okay, despite his wounds looking serious.
"Either way… there's not much time. We're banking on María's Elegance now. I was gonna drive her in range… and direct her, but… now that you're here…" Tia sniffled, her voice clear but still holding a somewhat delirious tone of pain within.
"Damn it, we can get you out of here, Rubel. There's still time, a-and… guh... you need a medic bad..."
Tia paused for a moment, figuring there was enough room to fit both Rubel and María. Neither were exactly huge figures. But... could he fight? Was he conscious enough? He seemed okay, but a skull injury never led to anything good. With the building crumbling more and more with the clashing of battle in the background, they needed to plan and act fast.
"...María… do you…" Tia began as she struggled back to the motorcycle, Rubel close by.
"Think there's room for one more back there? Rubel's okay. Shaken and banged up, but… if we end this quick…"
Ending her sentence with a wheeze, Tia noticed she was struggling to breathe. Not due to emotion, but the toll of relentless, roaring flames.
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María's finger clenched, tightly holding onto Tia's beloved Mixuki. Being spared a lot of suffering in contrast to her fellows, her weak frame struggled against the burst of momentum, as Tia's joyous scream directed her own gaze; and truly, there he stood, the first friendly face María had seen in months, on tonight's chilly evening, now a cool night, but now felt like it existed in decades past. Waves of heat, and the streamed air pulsated into her face, as Tia's daring driving turned the almost blind's NOAH's vision into a swirl of searing whites and oranges, ever changing, but always gnawing at her own composure.
Finally, Mixuki's path steadied, and Tia's voice rang clear in María's ears once more. Chains of solid stone seemed to crumble, sliding off her insides, and dragging down indescribable feelings of sorrow and guilt with them. As Tia steered her machine towards the silhouette, closing in on the outline of a certain Seraphim flickering against the bright flames of the palace, María squinted in anticipation, her mind conjuring a familiar strand of blonde hair before she could make it out, inches away.
"Rubel."
Her vision blurred beyond the usual haze, as tears welled up, and ran down her cheeks, evaporating as soon as they hit the heated ground. Monad leaped forwards, slinging her arms around Rubel's frame.
"I'm so sorry, Rubel, I'm so, so sorry!" she cried out, hiding her own eyes from the battered returnee.
"It's all my fault! I'll never leave my partner alone again, I promise. I promise!" Her reedy apology was almost swallowed by the roaring of the inferno that surrounding them all, as she snuffled emphatically, before balling her hands to fists, and looking straight into Rubel's eyes.
"I promise you are getting out of here, okay?"
Despite her gulping, her sobbing, her volume remained loud, as a surge of vengeful courage coursed through her. She had looked on long enough, remained in the back long enough. The image of Rubel opening the door to the AFTERLIFE popped up before her mind's eye, followed by Tia's voice promising her…
Snapping back into the here and now, María nodded towards Tia, mustering a smile; a treasure Tia had gifted her even in the most dire of situations, and a treasure who it was time for María to reciprocate.
"We… You don't have to stop, Tia. Once I'm up there, just get him to saftey. Get yourself out of here. Just… Just be safe, and it will be fine. I know it."
—————————————————————————————————————————-
"Like church bells."
Knocking on the visor bit of Tia's helmet, Rubel gave a light chuckle to hopefully ease the girl's concern. But by her reaction and appearance it seemed both of them were worse for wear, more so him if Tia was this worried. Though, that was just like her. To worry about her friends and those nearby instead of herself. Looking at her now covered in burns and struggling to breath from what looked like an exhaustive battle before him, if anyone needed to leave it was her.
Thinking of what to say in order to convince her otherwise, Rubel was stopped dead in his thought as Maria had him staggered with her unexpected leap. Hiding the pain of his shoulder from her, he couldn't help but let a low audible exhale escape from his throat. Though playing it off in his surprise, he was thankful she didn't seem to notice. But the notion quickly faded as she opened up to him.
Looking into her tear soaked eyes as she made a promise to see him out of the fight, it was harder to shake off than any wounds he'd sustained thus far. Simply nodding his head he couldn't find the words nor will to refuse her. Not after that. But he realized just how pitiful he must look to them. Here was Maria risking her life for a man she hardly knew, yet was willing to shed tears over. She was too good to deserve things like this. A lot of them were really.
While it wasn't his place to fight, and nor was it his battle. They still had made room for him in FEARLESS and took him in. Sure he was useful, daring, but there were plenty of Ronin and Seraphim alike like that. People like him and the others were a dime a dozen, and yet here he was a priority of the battlefield. It was laughable, foolish even.
Processing all of this in the time it took to be ferried over to Mixuki, Rubel's body soon began to resist and he ceased to move altogether as Tia guided him. When she turned to him in question and Maria soon followed he had reaffirmed his mind. He would fight. Had to fight. It was hard to deny them, but he couldn't well let them take him away either. Not when the battle had gotten so heated.
And he would not see these two die. Not today. He already had to deal with someone dying in his arms once before. The only way forward was to defeat King here and now. He was fast sure, able to keep up with even Arata and Naomi combined. But there were things in this world even faster, and something Rubel could conjure on his own. With a little help. Every man had his vices, faults, and eventually made mistakes. Hell, even Gods could fuck up. All it required was the right approach.
With the cogs of his mind spinning a hundred times per second Rubel began to answer Tia and Maria's confusion while thinking of a battle tactic.
"I'm going to stay… I'm… fine really. I'd like to help out."
"--Rubel…" Tia began in protest, her grip on him tightening along with Maríá's as she turned her head. Although she seemed stubborn that she was getting him to safety, as a tactician, she'd always respected the Seraphim greatly.
"...I… I'm not gonna watch you die, okay? If you lose consciousness, then…" her voice trailed off, and although her grip remained tight, she seemed conflicted.
He had expected this. And she was right, if he lost consciousness on the field there would be no saving him. With no telling what injuries he had sustained nor whether he'd be as able as he was now forever. It was just all the more reason to stay, while he could.
"Tia."
Rubel's voice was terse the next time he spoke. After a short lapse it soon adopted a more confident air. One backed by determination instead of his usual cocky and nonchalant one. It was a rare part of him that was new, but also old.
"This isn't a battle we can run from. Even for me... Remember why we're here. And those who aren't. It's because of them we have this chance. ... ... even now, Arata and Naomi are fighting with everything they have."
Looking to the battle not far from them, Rubel's eyes briefly reflected the scene of raging flames and darting figures who clashed and then separated in the blink of a lash.
"It's okay to worry about me, but just don't be going all soft on me all right? ...Heh."
"And I have a plan. A really big one; one King won't see coming..."
Her grip faltered for a moment, before she looked down at the ground with a mixture of sadness and frustration. He was right. Of course he was right. And as confident as she was in María's newfound confidence and ability… what if it
didn't work? Giving assistance to Naomi and Arata with a plan even deeper would be nothing but a benefit. Trusting that 'plan' could be their only hope.
She'd seen too many die already. But if this was how Rubel wanted to do things, it would be selfish of her to stop him. She wasn't sure what emotions had suddenly taken the boy over, but she could tell: if he was going to go out, he wanted to do it fighting.
Slowly, as her grip completely released, she balled up a fist, before placing it gently on the top of Rubel's head and rubbing it through his hair for a little moment. It was a noogie with little to no power, but it was clear the gesture wasn't done out of spite. It was a noogie filled with affection, that hid hints of worry and frustration as she gave in.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Inhaling sharply, María let out the air with a sigh. She felt the tightly tailored evening gown press against her skin uncomfortably as her lungs expanded, the fabric damp from the heat, sweat, and blood. The urge to protest rose inside of chest, but Rubel's demeanor had subtly yet notably changed. His words rang true in her ears; two of them were just now fighting for their lives--for all of their lives, really. With gritted teeth, she watched Tia teasing Rubel, and felt a stinging sensation torment her heart.
If it had to be that way, she'd just have to make sure they would all get out safely AFTER fighting King.
"Well… I suppose it's time I'm not the only one who doesn't see stuff coming, huh?" the NOAH mumbled. She wasn't exactly a comedian, but Tia's limitless ability to lighten up the mood was contagious.
"Hehe... g-good one. ...Well, Rubel... you'd better hope that grand plan of yours is gonna work then, huh? Nothing I could say could convince yo--" Tia's voice cut off into a fit of spluttering coughs under her helmet, the NOAH clutching her chest as she did so. For some reason, a sudden wave of nausea was coming over her, but she ignored it the best she could.
"--you anyway. A-and… *cough*, María," Tia hopped back on to her vehicle, and leant behind her before balling up her fist and noogying her in similar fashion.
"What ya said earlier... d-don't ya' dare talk like that. ...We're all getting out of this together; nobody gets left behind… and nobody's gotta think about sacrificing themselves. It'll be squeeze, but my baby's got room for three," she turned her head, making a gesture to FOX across the room that she'd be coming back for him… but with things heating up, and CLERICs falling left and right to his covering fire, he'd need to escap-
--!!
Tia's whole body jumped in surprise as the sound of a colossal impact overshadowed her words. The rumbling of concrete shattering and flames incinerating was almost deafening in the distance. The building rumbled at the impact, seemingly shaking at its ablaze supports, before a rain of concrete seemed to occur once more.
"Hold on, you two! If Rubel's gonna try something crazy, and we need to do it on the mo-" a huge piece of rubble suddenly parted from the ceiling above them, and not even the acceleration of Mixuki was enough to avoid it.
"--Above!!"
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María shot Tia a tired smile. She didn't understand how she managed to keep it up. The sounds of her tormented breathing filled María with dread, and she wished she had been there, right away. She could've changed… something. The fact her body was largely spared from the surrounding chaos only emphasized the wave of guilt washing over her. Rubel had wandered off because she let him… Fox had protected her… And Tia was hurt, in spite of María's promises.
"Sacrifice? H-hey, you promised I'd be fine, right? I don't want to be responsible for you breaking your word, silly." she teased, hoping that her safety was the last of either of her friends concern. If it had to come to that, well... she was more than ready.
She was grateful to see Tia and Rubel turn to mound the machine again, feeling her smile crumble, though they soon all looked up in unison, as the thunderous sound of the palace breaking down further overshadowed the inferno. A giant chunk of the ceiling had departed, hurling down, and María felt the pull of Mixuki being fired up with reckless abandon, its master, Tia, desperately trying to steer the trio, as well as her precious bike, away from disaster--But it was too late.
Something found its way upwards, inside María's body. It felt as if she was drowning, and the last bubbles of air rose from the lungs, through the water, and vanished on the surface. Pressure almost froze her frail frame, but her arms shot up in despair, without thought, as a muted scream of fear escaped her lips before her fingers formed a frame in front of her useless eyes. The billowing shape of the descending rubble approaching, time came to a halt, if only within María's mind. Unlike her blurred vision, the pictures that rained down on her face were crystal-clear, forming a time lapse of the seconds she had just witnessed; the conversation, the panicked gaze towards the ceiling, and the attempted escape. The chain of pictures finished the short sequence with the sight of a crushed Mixuki, and the three of them buried underneath the debris; a peek into the one or two seconds it would take for them to find their fate.
The fear had disappeared, even as she felt her eyes burn just as relentlessly as the palace, her breath being forcefully removed from her lungs, leaving her winded and scrambling for composure.
No matter the cost…
Her hand danced across the frames, one after the other fading away, until they all vanished.
No matter.
María briefly felt the heat of the palace flare up again, and the first note of a word, spoken by María, before she brought her fingers up once more... As time froze once again, she felt her arms shaking now, as she brought them up in front of her face once more. The last time they had shaken like this, she remembered it vaguely. It had been during her escape, and her legs had given out.
Not this time!
The taste of iron lingered on her lips, as a stream of blood ran down from her nose, and coated a crimson face upon her jaw. And that meant…
Her fingers burrowed into the fabric of Tia's suit, however meek, as the heat of the environment, and the noise of chaos ran once more. Time resumed, as María coughed uncontrollably, her body shaking, paying the price her ELEGANCE demanded. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her lungs felt as if they were riddled with holes as she sucked in the hot air. She knew she couldn't afford to use it again before they engaged King, but it would all be for naught if the three of them didn't make it there first.
"MOVE! QUICK!"
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The past few moments were a blur, a faded memory of an alternate timeline. In a past life Rubel had stumbled at the immense shock wave that had carried across the ballroom and tore apart its very walls. Being too slow in adjusting his step and mounting their means of escape it had seemed like the end.
But now, standing where he once had and coming to terms with the abrupt shift in space, Rubel needn't the words of Maria to bound toward Mixuki. Surprisingly nimble despite his battered frame, he was the first to hop on the bike, firmly placing himself near its tail. Turning to assist Maria as blood dripped through her red stained hands, Rubel picked her clear up and onto the bike by the hips in a single swift motion.
Grabbing onto the tail end for support, it was hardly a second before his weight shifted and his body was accelerated to the engines roar. Deafened to the surrounding sounds of battle, it made a theater of his ear canal as the scenery of around him began blurring to speed. Turning his head, he witnessed as seconds passed that the chunk of ceiling crumbled and fell where they had just been, and should have died.
"I HOPE YOU REMEMBER SCIENCE CLASS TIA!" he shouted over the incessant howl of the motorbike.
"I"LL NEED MY STUFF! DO YOU STILL HAVE IT!?"
The blackbird accelerating as it weaved through rubble and flames alike, Tia didn't take a moment to hesitate as María provided them that opportunity to carry on. She'd saved their
life. Even with the sounds of battle, the screeching of Mixuki's engine, and the grinding of tires against rough ground, she could still hear the slow, pained breaths of María behind her, and listening to that alone was
hurting. King had to die… fast, fast, fast as possible. She was praying Arata or Naomi would be able to pull something out of the bag and win without their assistance, but the Praetorian just fought back harder and harder, despite the two NOAH's combined efforts.
Through a haze of pain and extreme concentration, she recognized a familiar-yet-somehow-not voice.
"...Science class…" Tia squinted for a moment, trying not to break concentration as her body worked to its fullest to perform what would be otherwise impossible twists and turns if not for her ELEGANCE, to avoid rubble. What did he mean, science class?
Suddenly, however, Rubel began explaining some rushed steps to her. It was all vague, and… confusing. Something to do with her 'magnetism'... or rather, her 'energy'. She didn't understand what it all meant, but she would try her hardest to follow those steps when the not-so-distant time came. Brother seemed sure it would work, at least.
"CHECK THE SIDES!" Tia yelled in reply. Strapped to the sides of the motorcycle with various wires were still various bags, used to carry things like her wire spools, the trio of machineguns, and FOX's rifle. But the bags that weren't empty was where Rubel's requested items lied.
"IF WE'RE DOING THIS… I, I'M NOT FULLY SURE WHAT YOU MEAN: 'REDIRECT MY ENERGY TO KI-'" Tia's voice cut off, overridden by the sounds of unspeakable power, as flames inside the building suddenly began to converge in towards King's direction. The brightness was too much for her to make out, but a storm of ash that came from a freshly incinerated ceiling was starting to limit visibility. She couldn't fully make out what the conflict was, but a huge figure - comprised of flames and liquid metal - had manifested.
Time had suddenly run even shorter. Driving had somehow become even harder. But in preparation, the wire spools on the side of Tia's bike were beginning to twist and curl, remaining nails strapped to her flying down the ends of the wire. If Rubel's crackpot, rushed plan worked, combined with María's ELEGANCE, it could end the fight very soon.
"SCREW IT, NO TIME - I'LL TRY, I'LL TRY! MARÍA, IF YOU CAN HANDLE IT AGAIN… USE YOUR ELEGANCE ON MY GO ON KING, OKAY?"
—————————————————————————————————————————-
María wheezed, burying her fingers in the fabric of Rubel's clothes in an attempt to pull herself up into a seating position. Her right eye closed shut, her sight had become even more limited than usual, and it was impossible for her to tell apart the brightness of the flames from the brightness of the stars she saw whirling before her mind's eye. Tia's screams pulled her out of her exhaustion, if only temporary.
"I WILL!" she shouted back, trying desperately to catch her breath; a difficult task given the heat of the air.
"T-TELL ME WHEN!"
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"JUST REMEMBER! DOUBLE BACK AND COLLECT THE METAL!" Slinging his harness of grenades over his head and right shoulder, Rubel pulled a slim black square from his assigned bag before noticing a gleam from its bottom. Digging around until he felt the familiar but recently forgotten hard surface of his custom gas mask, he considered the warring outside the burning marble around him. He had given it to Tia as he thought he'd be the one to initially face REAPER, but with the fight before him now, he all but reconsidered. Hearing the wheezing and coughing of Maria close to him, he lightly patted her shoulder and once gaining her attention, directed the mask in covering her face.
With her holding it in place there was only one thing left to do. Jump. Grabbing a good length of copper wire from Tia's spools he pinched the end and tore it with his fingers before haphazardly hopping off the back of Mixuki and landing on his back. The impact with the help of the stone floor knocked the wind right out of him and was soon replaced by the searing smoke that was fast filling the room. Struggling for breath, but not deterred Rubel quickly got to his feet and started to run.
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María flinched as she felt the warmed edge of the gas mask on her face, before holding it on place. Her eyes widened, as she felt Rubel's frame move away from her, and ultimately jump off the machine fully.
"RUBEL!"
Her slender arm reached out, still shaky and caked with dust and blood, trying to catch Rubel's; as her hand closed around nothing but air, a suppressed sob was overshadowed by the roar of the flames, as if the palace cried out as it devoured Rubel's shape.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Tossing black smoke where needed in the already foggy battlefield, Rubel laid down the length of wired where able, and climbing over concrete and debris when needed. Straining his ear for the coming sound of Mixuki passing by, he lost sight of the raging battle merely feet away. Greeted for his misdeed by falling molten metal and flaming rock, he did his best to seek shelter but suffered burns and bruises from the hail of inferno for his troubles.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Above and invisible to the naked eye, prototypes of Rubel's drones modified with the late Katharine's designs idled and watched for their cue to act. Being updated with a short string of commands in the time it took Rubel to be pelted, they acted now upon complex AI that followed their makers movements and acted accordingly. With his figure reaching a set length of the wire they would soundlessly shoot JPOX at their designated targets through the smoke and fire. Landing with precision atop of the wire, they would act as the base for what came shortly after.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Searching the barren field for any signs of glinting gold or protrusions among the rubble, Rubel did a quick scan of his surroundings trying to cough back the flames in his lung and see through the tears in his eyes. Spotting a bent curtain rod among a mound of bodies he got to work prying it loose before returning to where his drones should have laid down the base of his would be transistors. Unlike the previous JPOX that he used in battles past, his new and specially tested batch was more malleable and easy took to the rod being thrust into it.
"Two more…"
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His breathing was ragged, body burning from head to toes, and sweating as if tossed into an oven. It did not want to move, it wanted more than anything to drop then and there and collapse, but Rubel somehow forced it to continue its work. Unable now to even feel the sensation as he clung to the last of the rebar, only the faint sting in his lungs which had long went numb reminded him of where he was and what he had to do.
Stumbling back toward his last makeshift transistor on the other side of the room, Tia had done her part in laying the building blocks for his plan. Hinging on his next moves in order to work, he scrambled as quickly as his body allowed, which was a feeble criss cross of a run, betrayed by the back and forth sway of his upper body. With only his goal in sight everything else ceased to matter. Singling his view onto the gray circle about the width of a small chair and half its height, their prongs screamed to his remaining consciousness. Here! Come Here!
After what seemed like minutes of running, when in actuality were mere seconds, Rubel almost couldn't stop himself as he came to a halt just shy of barreling into the rebar before him. Taking a deep but ultimately oxygen deprived and shallow breath, he raised the last of the rebar above his head and plunged it down with the remainder of his strength into the soft putty on the floor. Almost immediately taken by a rush of relief, he quickly found himself cover before he could pass out amongst his own death trap.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
With the aid of her motorcycle to carefully position herself whilst keeping María safe, Rubel's elaborate plan seemed to be ready. She'd set up the wires in the correct place, and they'd executed the plan quickly before the overwhelming heat and lack of oxygen had bought them to their knees.
Noting Rubel's dive for cover, Tia closed her eyes for a moment. That was her cue. Rubel had explained exactly everything she'd need to do a short while ago atop Mixuki, and whilst she wasn't sure what was going to happen… from this point, she'd put every fiber of her being and power into those instructions.
"L-looks like that lil' genius is finished. María… I'm not sure what's going to happen next. But if this goes wrong… I want you to know that you're an amazing person." Tia softly whispered to the NOAH behind her. With that, she began to go through Rubel's instructions, step-by-step, as quickly as she could.
"Don't say that..." María huffed back, her fingers clenching around Mixuki's chassis until they turned white.
"We're going to get out of here!" The blind NOAH reached out from behind, and put her left hand on Tia's shoulder, her touch gentle, so as to not hurt the injured driver.
"We kind of all made promises to one another, remember?" María hoped to sound light-hearted, a pained chuckle following her words.
"I believe in you."
María's smile slowly faded from her pale face; she didn't know just what the 'plan' was, but she knew that Tia, Rubel, Fox, and all the others counted on them. And she knew that there was only one chance for her to pull this off. The heated blood dripped from her mouth, and onto the back of hand, where it highlighted the cracks in María's skin, like tiny branches. The next ten seconds she'd delete would outweigh her entire lifetime.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Tia began to steadily levitate nails around a section of the wire. As the speed of the rotating increased… she could feel some sort of 'energy', pulsing through the wire. An energy that wasn't her own… and as that energy slowly increased, generated from her rotation, a fuzzy, shaky sensation was starting to take over her whole body.
What was this… feeling? Rubel had briefly explained she'd feel a sensation something like this. He'd explained it simply: 'control the magnetism in your wires. Then shoot King.' But was this really magnetism? It felt different, and her muscles were seizing up a little, her body spasming slightly as she struggled to control the energy that was slowly building up. Blood began to drip from her nose under her helmet, but she wasn't going to give up. María
believed in her.
She could feel all the energy she'd 'built up' whizzing around the copper wire, storing in the makeshift 'transistors' Rubel had built. An occasional spark and crackle that slipped past her control came from the wire, but slowly, she was subconsciously learning to control the energy that was nigh crippling to get a hold of.
Eventually, her whole body tensed up, jittering like mad when the transistors Rubel had built felt like they couldn't hold any more energy. Containing all of this was agonizing, but-
* W H O O S H . *
A blast of magical energy that wasn't hers swept across the room, a shuddering impact from Naomi felling the titan of liquid metal King had constructed. The gush of ethereal air blew the smoke from fire and smoke grenades alike aside. Too infatuated with his battle, presumably, the Praetorian had no idea what was about to hit him as he let out a roar.
His eyes said it all: it was oh so
"EXCITING!"
The target she'd release all of this energy unto was now in her sights. She had no idea what was going to happen, but she trusted Rubel's word. Naomi was in the frame, and the risk of hitting her with something unknown held Tia back - long enough for King to begin shifting into his form of flames. But… with the ELEGANCE of a new, close friend nearby, there was a chance it could be fixed.
[glow=cyan]
"N-N-NOW!! STRAIGHT AHEAD, MmM-m-MARÍA! ER-rr-ASE TIME!"[/glow]
The voice her scream held was contorted and shaky enough to almost be completely unrecognisable, but the order was clear.
The voice María had grown so fond of whirred through the palace, distorted and fragmented, and yet it demanded all of María's attention and strength, guiding it towards her, no, THEIR target. Her chest heaving and pressing against the blue dress, now stained in various shades of red and brown, she pressed her long legs against the hot metal of Mixuki with all her strength, in order to free her hands.
Immediately, the momentum Tia had created pushed against her body, almost sweeping her off the bike. The muscles in her calfs strained, as she formed a square shape with her fingers in front of her, barely able to extend her arms before her body. The praetorians may have deemed her a failure, and she may have been dead weight for the other FEARLESS fighters until this very moment, but now her imperfect ELEGANCE worked exactly as it was supposed to, and María felt the pull of the void take hold of what laid in front of her.
All air was drawn out of her lungs, and her eyes began to burn relentlessly, as, for the first time, a clear, unobstructed image of the King appeared in front of her, Naomi and Arata fighting truly fearlessly, and the crowned devil amused, confident, arguably overly so.
A scream of fear and pain echoed silently, to be heard by nobody but time itself, as pictures of the future flashed before María's eyes, showcasing King's ability, so eerily overwhelming, only to vanish. Slender fingers danced across the kaleidoscope of images, as they dissipated one after the other.
They thought we had no future, but the funny part is, none of us will have one, if only for a few seconds. Amongst the whirlwind of a future that would not come to be, that, in an odd, retroactive view, had never been, and could never be, a few hazy flashes of the past appeared before María's eyes; Valkyrie's kind voice sounded in her ears. Rubel's genuine smile. Tia's hand on top of her own. This would be for all of them, for all of FEARLESS, for the world.
The frame broke apart, and María's body had long hit the ground, somewhere along the history that didn't exist once her ELEGANCE had stopped, unable to hold onto the wild machine. The trail of her body, cold and bloody, seemed to whirr inside her head, which had grown heavy; too heavy to lift and catch a glimpse of Tia's work, of their success. Darkness engulfed María's already darkened vision, extinguishing the flames that lit up the blurry ceiling above her, and took the girl away, as the sensation of a hot liquid running down her sides, and pooling underneath her, and the smell of iron waned.
As the frames reversed, a clear shot on King was suddenly available. A crackle of electricity sparked across the room, the fork of energy arching straight for King as the roar of voltage came above the sound of flames just for a brief second: whitish blue against deadly orange. The spark went to try and paralyze the vulnerable King; long enough for the enraged Naomi and Arata to do the rest.
"Y... you... you did it... Marí... a..."
"R-Rubel... wh-what you said… w-worked… we... h-heh... di--"
The form of Mixuki faded away as the unconscious, burnt, and broken body of Tia lay slumped a short distance away from her fellow NOAH against the rubble-stained floor.
