hua darted out of the way, rolling to the side as Ishtar let out another merry ugh and whipped the person-turned on at her. Was it a whip or a staff? It seemed to behave like both at times. One moment she would be twirling it to block blows from hua’s sword and the she would be shing out to strike with it at a distance. She slid back a few feet across the ground of the lobby and held her on up horizontally, the ribbon of lightning ing it around it, flying in the face of all logid physical sense. She grit her teeth and pulled back, bringing her on down in a sharp stroke before dashing forward.
e on! Wake up!
She sped along the ground, zipping to the left and right and trag a path of destru across the tiles behind her as she accelerated. Ishtar twirled in her bck suit a out a ugh as hua swung, a ripple of pink light sweeping across the spa front of her, cutting through everything in its path. The moment Ishtar was in the air, palm resting on one end of the lightning bolt while the other pressed down into the ground. hua felt the resistance as her bde dug into the on before a jolt tried to strike her in the chest. She darted bad swung at the jolt, defleg it towards the ground.
The exge took less than a sed, She’s so damn agile. hua growled as Ishtar’s hand slipped down around the end of the pole. She grabbed hold as she bent in her handstand, turning it into a dest towards hua as she whipped the bolt forward with a ugh. The hero huffed, stepping to the side with a near saunter, her head tilted left as little sparks sent her hairs on end. She gred down at Ishtar who looked up at her from her desding strike. hua snapped her foot out and kicked her in the side, sending her skipping across the ground and into a wall.
She turo face the small crater that flickered with the white light of Ishtar’s hard-light barriers. The woman y in the hole as if it were a throne, her arms up and her head tilted to the right as she stared out at hua. hua stalked forward with her on at the ready, “Satisfied yet?” hua demanded.
Rubble tumbled out of the hole as Ishtar got to her feet, still wearing the get up to look like Masque. hua heard her buzz and frowned a little, Ig. She thought as the woman got to her feet and brushed herself off. She held out her hand and her ‘on’ jumped bato it.
“Hardly,” Ishtar said before tilting her head, “That was a good kick though. You aren’t holding back today.”
hua scowled, “More where that came from.”
Ishtar paused and tilted her head, “You figured something out.”
“I figured out that she needs a good pun the face as much as I do,” hua growled.
Ishtar tilted her head bad looked down at her, “Really now? Well don’t think I’ll let you hurt her easily!” Ishtar snarled and kicked off the ground ughing wildly, the whip of lightning snapping out in an arc around hua. hua pivoted and spun, kig it up a notch as she swept attacks around her in a spiral pattern.
Cye of Rose Blooms! She ground out, each strike crag against an attempted sh of the electricity that tried to e at her from every angle. She spun, faster, I have to go faster! Faster! She pushed herself, grittieeth as the world turned into a blur. Her body moved almost on instinct, practiced motions that would have takebeats happening in a tenth of the time. Her muscles burned as she opened her mouth in a silent scream of defiance. More! I need more strength!
“Does she even need you anymore?” Ishtar asked as she struck from all angles, “After what you did? Do you even deserve it to be her frie alone anything else? To have her fidence? Are you that arrogant? I promised to protect her! I promised to back her up! I promised to support her! What more does she need?” Ishtar demanded over the howling crackles and cshes between them.
hua clicked her tongue and twisted around, snapping a kick out again and catg Ishtar in the chest as she darted around her again. The Supervili flying and nded on the ground, using her lightning bolt to stab into the ground and slow herself. “If you have time to talk, you could be fighting harder.”
Ishtar stood up straight and whipped the false-dark hair back, “Caught me.”
hua stalked forward, “Thank you,” She said.
Ishtar tilted her head, “For what?”
“For watg over her, for supp her, for putting on this act for her,” She said, “I am arrogant., I am selfish, extremely selfish,” She and got bato a fighting posture, bde raised at the side of her head, “Because I refuse to let her destroy herself in the end.”
Ishtar stood up straighter and looked down at her, “I’m not going anywhere, you know. She has a long road ahead of her before I finally disappear. I’m looking forward to it, yes, but until that happens,” She tilted her head forward and gred through the holes in the mask, “I will be watg.”
hua pursed her lips together, “I wouldn’t expey less from you.” She bit out, “e, Vilin.”
“Defend yourself, Hero!” Ishtar howled and threw herself fripping onto her bolt of lightning like a quarterstaff. She brought it up and blocked hua’s first blow. Then the sed that came from below. Up, down, down, right, uppercut, swipe upper right to left, throat cut, leg shot, cck! Cck! Cck! Bzzzrraaapp! She kept moving, faster and faster as the st of petals bloomed around her, as a glow rose off her skin, as light bloomed in her eyes. She bore her teeth as their movements became too fast to see, a ripple of pials smashing against purple lightning. Ishtar got a lucky hit in on hua’s wrist and hua’s on fell out of her hand. She drove a blow up into hua’s and the hero just threw her head back forward with a snarl.
hua hardened her hands with mana, blog the bolt with her bare skin. She ighe singe and tihat went up her arm as she sent elbow shots into Ishtar’s shoulder and arm, she hit again and again, nding pinpoint blows on joints. She noticed Ishtar’s grip slip on the bolt of lightning and the vilin threw her hand back, casting the bolt aside that turned bato the gray-haired woman and nded against the wall, dazed. Ishtar behind the masque roared and drew her fist back, bringing it forward to crash against hua’s good shoulder. hua threw her knee up to catch the woman in the but she spped both hands doushed into a handspring, tossing herself into the air.
hua wasn’t going to be fooled this time. She snatched her hand up and grabbed Ishtar by the wrist, bringing her back down to the ground with force. Ishtar nded like a cat, legs parted and pnting on the ground to absorb the force. She twisted her arm in hua’s grip and grabbed onto her as well, bdes of light f around her free hand. She gestured ahem hurtling towards hua who frowned and pnted her feet before pulling back with all her might, yanking Ishtar into the trajectory of her own attack.
Ishtar let go and raised one arm to block, a barrier appeariween herself and the barrage of hard-light bdes. She corkscrewed in the air before snapping out and ing her leg around hua’s neck, ughing and throwing herself backwards as hua reached up to dislodge her. hua felt herself hurtle through the air before she saw the ground ing for her again. The hero frowned and gnced up quickly at the grinning Ishtar before reag and pushihumb into a spot on the vilin’s thigh a hand's length from her pelvis.
Ishtar let out a gasp and quickly released her. hua rolled forward and hopped to her feet as Ishtar nded a distance away from her, flexing her leg and rubbing it, “That was naughty,” Ishtar quipped.
“I know all of her weaknesses,” hua bit out, “And I’ll use them if I have to.”
“Pervert,” Ishtar ughed, “I like it! Good!”
The two squared off for their round as sirens approached. hua ght, breathing hard, “Surprised it took so long.”
Ishtar flipped her hair back, “They’ve been a little busy, the Darksiders made quite the mess,” She said with a sigh, “Idiots unworthy of the name Vilin,” She looked in hua’s dire, “One more round then.”
“That your call to make?” hua asked defiantly.
Ishtar ughed, “I am the queen here.”
hua scowled a herself into her stance before darting forward, she put everything she had into the bination. A flush of petal blossoms dang off her fiips as she threw herself forward, “ISHTAR!” She bellowed.
“BLACK LOTUS!” Ishtar cried out, her fist pulled babsp;
They neared one another in an instant and without warning the Masque e faded away, the white mask bursting into shards and scattering into the air. Ishtar smiled softly, “I guess that’s it for now, do what you o do, little Hero. I’m ting on you,” She said as her eyes dimmed a little, her fist already moving forward. hua felt her instinctive hesitation ki as Sonya smiled at her. Resolve came and she frowned.
“SONYA! YOU BETTER CH THOSE TEETH!” She bellowed as Sonya’s fist dug into her jaw, her own fist colliding with Sonya’s nose. Sonya fully came to, her eyes widening as a fist dug into her fad sent her rocketing back towards the wall of the lobby.
Sonya hit the wall with a crash and slumped down to the ground. Her body twitched for a moment and she tilted her head up, wide eyed as hua nded on her feet, rubbing her jaw with her hand. “You… followed through?” She asked, bewildered.
hua stormed forward and grabbed her by her shirt, “Only ‘cause you deserved it! Idiot!” She snarled and pulled the to look her in the eyes, “I am not going to kill you, never! I wouldn’t have do before you gave me those memories and I certainly won’t now. I don’t know what kind of idea you have in your head, but I am a Hero! I will do it the right way if I am going to put a stop to Ishtar!” She bellowed and eased her grip a little.
Sonya’s eyes widened as hua tinued her tirade, “I’m not that hua! I am me! You are you! Not the Sonya before, you’re a new person and god fug damn it you’re allowed to live!” She swore, shaking Sonya softly, “Damn it, you stupid, stupid, fug stupid, god damn it,” She rambled and gred at Sonya, “How dare you expect that of me? How dare you put me in that position? What if I found out ter? What if you left me behind to live with that?” She shouted. “How could you do that to me and everyone else you’ve helped and saved? Of all the things you’ve dohat has to be the most cruel, Sonya ovna.”
Sonya trembled, she tried to look away but she couldn’t tear her eyes off of hua’s face. A red streak ran down her cheek as a little went down from her nose from the punch, “It’s not fair, why are you both so mean?” She croaked.
hua frowned, Ishtar said the same thing, didn’t she? That’s what she meant by she was ting on me. hua released her grip on the woman, “Yeah, you belong here. So quit fug around and save the world already, you dumbass.”
The sirens were getting louder now, hua gowards the doors, fortuhe crowd that had gathered was so far out that they couldn’t see anything from this angle. She looked down at Sonya a a ha against her chest. Sonya looked up at her with a smile, “hua,” She whispered, “I won’t let you or this world down, I promise.”
hua opened her mouth but Sonya was already ag. She g the one called Kerauna, “Kera dear, cause a bit more trouble then flee, cim that you were w for the darksiders and that you got bored of them. You are esg Bck Lotus, uood?”
Kera nodded, “Yes ma’am,” She said quickly.
Sonya looked up at hua, “I need a few more bruises, then knock me out,” hua recoiled a little but Sonya gave her a firm look, “Do it. Hero. You have a role to py now.”
hua sighed and raised her fist, shaking her head, “You asked for it.”
–
A bolt of lightning ripped out of the building before nding amidst the crowd outside of the hotel, the civilians scattered as the gray haired wild woman slid across the ground with a sneer on her face. She stood up with a mad slouch to her shoulders, ting her head crazily to the right, “Fu’ Darksiders, bunch of limp-dicks and chauvies,” She spat on the ground and wiped her lip, “Then you fu’ show up and ruin more of my fun. Sword bitch,” She growled and raised the fio Bck Lotus as she strode out, a white garbed woman in her arms.
“Kerauna, if you keep fighting here you could trigger a dungeon break,” Bck Lotus shouted with that dignified voice of hers, “Isn’t killing Masque enough for you?”
Kera threw her head back with a ugh, “Not nearly enough! I’ll carbonize all those bitches in the darksiders for crossing me. Just you wait,” She said with a few steps back. The security team that had arrived on the se watched gobsmacked as Bck Lotus strode forward with the CEO of ASTA cradled in her arms and a gre in her eyes. Meanwhile, the number four most wanted Vilin, now finally identified as Kerauna, retreated slowly, gng at the security teams and the approag heroes.
She clicked her toch, whatever, this was getting b anyway,” She spat and with a ugh turned into a bolt of lightning and unched into the sky, joining the clouds with a cp of thunder before rag away faster than the eye could follow.
Bck Lotus stumbled as the security team raced over to her, “Ma’am are you alright? Why are you-”
“I’ll take responsibility,” She said, gently l the unscious Sonya ovna to the ground, “She needs medical attention. The building is the base of the Darksiders. Kerauna already killed all of them including their leader, I was too te to stop her. They may have left something behind, though,” She said hurriedly, “Move! Before any further evidence is lost!”
They quickly snapped a salute and raced inside as a healer hero raced up to assist Bck Lotus and the woman on the ground. Shortly afterwards, Handmaiden arrived on the se. She and Bck Lotus exged brief looks before the brown-haired maid bowed to the martial artist, “Thank you,” She said.
“Just pying my role,” Bck Lotus said with a smile and pat Sonya on the shoulder as the chaos of emergency, pandora ittee, and w enfort personnel swarmed around them in a cacophony of noise.
Ihe building, the security team found every single camera burned out and shattered by intense surges of electricity, the horrifying sight of the well over a hundred darksider thugs left crisp on the ground, the nearly vaporized corpse of Masque, and a single cell phohat still funed enough to get access to the forums that the Darksiders used to unicate.
By the end of the day, the suddeermination of the Darksiders, Bck Lotus’ daring rescue of the ASTA CEO, and Kerauna’s flight from Bck Lotus’ gre was all that was on the news, Liberty’s tantrum slowly being overshadowed
–
He stomped through the bushes, cheg his pass again. It had to be around here somewhere. There weren’t many opportunities like this. The troublesome instructors were gone, including that Bck Lotus thing that kept her eyes on him all the time she was around. Which was annoyingly a lot. He frowo himself as he listeo the radio. Liberty, that idiot, my guide said she was supposed to be a good ally. Why is everything going wrong? He clicked his to’s that Ishtar’s fault somehow, I know it. He shifted his jaw left and right, Hm… maybe I use this. What if I kill the Liberty bitch myself? He thought as he stumbled into the clearing he was looking for.
“Aha,” He ughed, “Found it.”
Ahead of him, two totem-like pylons rose into the air, a portal rippliween them. His smile turned cold, his eyes glowed, and he rubbed his hands together.
“Now, let's see what adjustments I make,” He hissed and stalked over.
