Footsteps of heavy steel prelude the ing war; they echo unevenly across the pitch-bck alleyways, apanied only by ragged breaths of their exhausted victim.

  And with that, Three begins her war again.

  “Two! Work once fod’s fug sake!!” came her adolest voice as it cracked uhe weight of her encroag death. Even now, her broken shoulders trembled at every touch of the stray wind as she desperately straddled the malfuning magical radio in her hands.

  “Fuck!” She didn’t have time for equipment failures - damned whatever reassurances given by Two. She didn’t have the capacity to deal with her inpetenot now. Not when it was about to get her killed. Limping along the cold wet pavement of the alleyways, she was both keenly aware and fearful that every wasted sed could spell a death sente the hands of the pursuing Outnder.

  Above the alleyway was a series of rusty pontoons bridging the gap between the rooftops. From the gaps through these makeshift bridges, light weaved in and out of the alleyway like a messy thread, stantly blinding Three before throwing her bato impermeable darkness. It was disorienting. She wanted nothing more than to colpse a sleep take her pain away.

  If only she could.

  Not too far behind was a raging sea of thermonuclear fmes. Its indest shockwaves were obliterating everything in a hundred-meter radius - she had seen it with her own unfortunate eyes. An irrational part of her wished she hadn’t, but then again she’d be too dead tle her own throat at that point. “Two! Two! Do you hear me?” A throat parched from all of her incessant wails and pleas, driven by an irradiated mixture of utter fear and sheer bitterness.

  Three’s prehension failed her as much as her equipment. How could she have seen it ing? How could she have known Thirteen would betray her so easily? How could she have known that the girl would so readily turn her against hers the moment she hesitated to join her and that Outhat cold-blooded fuck.

  She was both ready and eager to put a magical bullet through Thirteen’s head the moment she so much as caught a whiff of the girl. But as long as that Outood bluntly in her way, Three khat the only speck of salvation she had was to somehow outrun that monster; a hope that the rational part of her dismissed as insanity. The prospects of a limping, feeble sixteen-year old on the doorsteps to death outrunning what was essentially a living star was not just slim - it was absolute zero. But still, she had to run, run away. Even if it meant dragging her lifeless left leg another mile across the cold crete.

  If only she could.

  Slowly but surely, she could feel the grouh her feet beginning to tremble. Three’s eyes widened in horror as the damning realisation dawned oime had run out, and that Outnder - quest - had finally found her. All around her was chaos in its approag presehe bst of buildings colpsing into one another and the solid crete quivering in fear. It was as if the whole world was shiverih its - how could one monster and such a presence?

  And how could she have ever hoped to kill it? She gnced fearfully behind her. As clouds of dust began to settle, they were pierced brilliantly by seven rays of light. “quest,” she muttered.

  T above her was a monstrous form hiddeh light and dust. She couldn’t make out its exact appearance – only its voice as it bellowed. “It is a shame, little one. You fail to see reason.”

  Three snarled under her teeth as she gred daggers against the Outnder. “If only Thirteen hadn’t gone over!” She looked around for any signs of that girl or her . “Where the fuck is that traitor, anyway?”

  If only her radio hadn’t malfuned – no, her fate had been sealed even before that. If only Thirteen hadn’t betrayed her in the midst of battle, if only He hadn’t forced her into these ridiissions, if only she had never awakened her that day and caught His eye.

  Regret, hesitation. They were nothio Three. Even so, she couldn’t help but nguish in those emotions ead every time she was forced onto the battlefield.

  She grit her bloodied teeth – or rather what remained of them. quest knew none of it. That monster knew nothing of her life, yet it still spoke as if it did. “He uses you like a tool. Wields your for His own personal gain. You should know this, a why do you still insist on following His dominion? Why not join me like your rade a Him?”

  Three found herself ughing at his response. A pitiful ughter choked with blood and her own flesh caught ihroat. “You think it’s that simple? Thirteen is a loser, she doesn’t have anything to lose at His hands.” She waved wildly in the air, “But I have my family, friends and school and a whole fug life ahead of me; a life that He won’t hesitate to burn to the ground.” Three stared bnkly at quest, feeling her rage cool as she finished, “Or what, are you saying you kill Him?”

  quest didn’t respond. Three took that as his answer. Her vision slowly began to fail as her adrenaline finally began to leave her. Even as she sank to her knees, she brought that bsted radio to her lips o time.

  Her final words, “Two, I just want you to know that you’re a son of a bi – ” promptly cut short by a sudden impact to her back. The ter of her spine ruptured in an instant and her whole body was thrown forwards with the force of a speeding bullet. Careening into the air with her was every single piece of crete, steel, bricks and wiring in a hundred-meter radius.

  Three’s world went dark.

  —

  ‘In the end, He remaiernal in both splendour and arrogance, as He was in the very beginning.’

  Excerpts about the ‘Visionary’—

  Limp on a pile of crete rubble, Three awoke blindly to p rain. There was a terrible ringing in her left ear whilst she felt nothing on her right. Without thinking, she reached out with her right hand to touch it, only to realise she felt nothing on her right shoulder either. She tried to move something - anything - but couldn’t. Her entire body felt cold - or rather, numb. After several hairsplitting seds, she finally tried opening her eyes. Only one of her eyelids obeyed the ently prying itself open for whatever faint light to seep in. A stray raindrop stole that ding a perfect hit on her one remaining eye.

  “ — ” came the words of excmation from her mouth, or at least she thought; she couldn’t catch them over the terrible ringing. In fact, she couldn’t tell whether she had even spoken. Whether her throat had actually vibrated to produce her voice; whether her tongue had actually moved to pronouhe correct sylbles; whether her lips had actually opeo let the words out.

  To Three, a simple act of speech had suddenly seemed so daunting. She had never felt so helpless - so trapped in the prison that her own body had bee, so isoted from the rest of the world.

  The thought was dht terrifying, yet it didn’t st long. Over the sounds ing and rainpour, Three’s faithful ear picked up something else. Footsteps.

  “Three – ” She heard her number being called by a familiar voice she couldn’t quite put a face to. The rest of the sentence slipped past her - like sand p through her fingers; she just didn’t have the strength to keep them closed any longer.

  That familiar voice spoke again, “Nine, I found – here?” Slowly but surely, more and more words were beginning to be caught in Three’s grasp, until she had gathered enough to put a face to the voice.

  Three pronounced raspily, “Five?” She opened her eyes, and was met with somebody whom she absolutely detested. The face of the most disagreeable girl in the world, alongside her most fgrantly fancy dress.

  “You’ll do for now,” Three mumbled. She felt her fears slowly melting away uhe familial gaze. Hate was still better than fear, she reasoned.

  As she slowly sat back up, she saw Five’s unscrupulous hand stretched above her lower body. Looking back down, she saw her own flesh and bones being stitched bad woven together; it was as if a dozen invisible surgeons were by her side. And at the same time, Five wore a Silver which hovered and spun above her head like an angelic halo. Her was glowing unusually bright – the girl was clearly pushing herself.

  “That’s fug gross,” Three muttered as she saw her legs snap back to pce. If her words provoked a rea from Five, she didn’t show it; it was a rea Five was used to.

  After Three had recovered enough to stand, Five finally asked her, “What in the world happehree? Where’s Thirteen?”

  Three didn’t immediately respond. Her hands silently shook in trauma. Tears spilled onto her cheeks as the memories of being hunted by quest maed; that cold dark alleyway - the st of certaih, pounded by the bitterness of betrayal. But that was all in the past. She was safe, she was alive.

  Three wiped off her tears with her newly-regrown hands. “We lost to quest,” she replied spitefully.

  “That’s obvious,” Five said, “what I’m asking for is how this happened.” She motioo their surroundings, which had been reduced to heaps of rubble. Colpsed buildings, missing streetlights and crete streets all cracked and overturned. It was as if the city had suffered through a nuclear explosion. It might as well have.

  Looking around, Three spotted several people in hazmat suits around them sing the ground with strange traptions. Those must be Nine’s people.

  Meanwhile, Five tio nag her from the side, “You know, it’s a miracle you’re still kig with how badly you failed. When we found you, your front torso and all your limbs were blown off.” She then poio a piece of rubble at the side, which ainted red by guts and iirewn all over.

  “Do you, have any idea how hard it is to restore, ans?” Five was beginning to pant iween her words. “My powers don’t e cheap, you know. You owe me big time.”

  Staring at her owrails, Three found herself bng. For a moment, she felt her bravado e crader pressure as she nodded weakly to Five’s words.

  “I’d have died without my ’s immortality feature,” she said.

  Five snapped. “Which I may add, is not limitless.” Her Silver glowed ever-so-slightly in respoer, but there was a sliver of sprinkled iween her words.

  “Yoing to get yourself killed one of these days.”

  Three retorted, “I know that, stupid,” She felt a brooding mencholy b despair and mania as she tinued, “But we both also know that He isn’t going to just let me go. Not while I still wear this .” Despite her turbuleions, her words were articute and flowed smoothly. How many times do we have to repeat this painful versation, Five?

  Five, in turn, was unresponsive. Seeing the irl’s silehree ged the subject. “Where’s quest?”

  The girl shrugged. “Long gowo’s currently trag it through her satellites, but I doubt she’d find it,” she briefly paused, eyeing Three with suspi, “not to be rude, but why didn’t the beast finish you off? I doubt it’d be unaware of your immortality.”

  Three shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe it just didn’t see me as a threat.”

  Five gave her a wary look, but soon turned away. Out of disi? Or sympathy? Three didn’t know, her did she particurly care. She was just gd that the girl didn’t dig any further than needed.

  “Nine’s still searg for Thirteen,” said Five. Her face was crestfallen as she spoke, “Her doesn’t make her resilient like you, so – ” before trailing off. It was clear she didn’t expect Thirteen to have also survived.

  Boy, do I have news for you. Three didn’t feel like inf Five about Thirteen’s betrayal, not with how close the two girls had been. At least, not yet anyways. Five would eventually learn of it, since He would no doubt demand answers from her once she returned.

  As Three and Five walked away from the se of ruin, they soon spotted a pale-skinned girl in a boratory coat. Her head was devoid of a , but Three and Five reised her appearance well-enough. Five greeted their colleague from afar, “Hello Nine.”

  Nine was in the midst of a versation with some of the hazmat suits when she heard Five’s greeting. She zily looked over her shoulder, then widened her eyes as she realised Three was standing behind Five. “Ma chère, so gd to see you doing well!” Nine rushed up and shook Three’s hand, “It seems Mademoiselle Five has done an excellent job yet again, which is something I wish I could say for myself.”

  She sighed whilst gng at the surrounding hazmat suits wandering about. “Still no sign of our fellow Thirteen,” she muttered.

  Three cut her off. “Knowing her, she should be fine.” Five raised a brow at her words, but she ignored her whilst tinuing, “More importantly, how’s your woing?”

  Nine sighed, looking around them for a sed time. “Frankly speaking, even with my this will still be tough to cover up. ‘Tis the first time an urban area has been so thhly devastated through one of hts,” Nine parsed through the file in her hands as she spoke. At the same time, a slowly materialised atop her head. “Still, for you to be so mortally wounded, just how strong was that Outnder quest?”

  Three muttered weakly. “Absurdly strong. It’s like a walking nuke – it destroys everything by simply existing.”

  I wouldn’t want to fight it again. She left that se unsaid.

  Nine closed the files and remarked, “That certainly sounds like a hassle. I suppose He was right to be worried about this new Outnder,” she then took Three’s hand again, before pnting a small kiss. “I pray for victory in your rematch then, young miss,” her glowed ever-so-slightly along with her voice, “may Goddess ch over you.”

  If Three was grossed out by Nine’s as, she didn’t show it on her face. Instead, Three swatted her hand away from the girl’s grasp. Out of everybody, why does He send the two people I hate the most?

  If Five was like an annoying housefly stantly buzzing around the workpce, then Nine would be a two-foot long cockroaestled right in the middle of her kit. Needless to say, she absolutely abhorred the girl. Not for her gross demeanour - though that alone would have been enough of a reason for a few - but by how detached she was to everything around her. All the death, destru and ruin that the Outnders brought – that Three had brought; everything was reflected in Nine’s eyes, yet none of it seemed to touch her heart.

  Does she even have a heart? That was Three’s hoo-god assessment of her. She bit her too keep her feelings unsaid, even as the girl iion tio prattle on.

  “We still do have good news, though,” she waved enthusiastically in the air, “For the absolute bloodbath this could have been, casualties are still retively low! A miracle indeed!”

  But not zero. Three didn’t let her emotions show, even when she spotted several hazmat suits carrying body bags from underh the rubble. I want to die so bad. Her thoughts were interrupted by Five’s words. “I thi it, Nine.” She turo Three, “We’ll talk on the way. He’s called for you ba the Citadel.”

  Is she trying to distract me? Three mused as much whilst Five led her away from Nine, who saw them off with a hearty wave. She led her towards an unreisable sports car parked by one of the few streets still left intact. The spotless vehicle looked horribly out of pce amidst the destru.

  As Three got oo the driver’s seat, she muttered softly, “Thank you, Five.”

  The girl was silent for a moment. “Yeah well I get that a lot,” she paused, “gratitude, I mean.”

  She added, “And just not from you.”

  Three sneered weakly in response as Five started the engine. her of them uttered a sound as they drove past the dozens of police cars and ambunces without a hitch. Three should have been surprised that none of the officers tried to stop or eveion them on their way out; she hated that she wasn’t.

  Five was driving from the front on a booster seat; Three was fairly surprised that the girl hadn’t brought along a chauffeur, until she remembered Five wasn’t the type of heiress to be afraid of getting her hands dirty. That alone made her ‘cool’ – or at least as cool as a filthy billionaire heiress could be. She reed that the blonde could have been surprisingly popur among their fellow colleagues; if only she weren’t so ing.

  Like hell I'd ever say that to the girl herself, though! Keepihoughts private, Three’s hands dug into a uniform kit that Five had given her. Stripping out of her broken bat dress, she traded them in for a carbon-grey sports bra that she pulled from the kit. She then slipped her arms into the sleeves of a white blouse, before asking, “So, where are we heading?”

  Five responded dispassionately. “We’re heading to Citadel Arkhao meet Him. He’s probably aoo, sidering how long it took us to find you after Two lost tact.”

  An ominous feeling writhed in Three’s gut at Five’s words, threatening to spill over. If she had to describe it, she felt like a gss vase ready to be toppled over and shattered by the slightest touch. “Five?” she croaked hoarsely, before pausing to collect herself.

  “How long has it been, Five.” Her question didn’t sound like a question. Five tapped her finger along the car’s handle as she responded, “It’s been two days since we’ve lost tact with you.”

  And suddenly, a crack. That fragile vase began silently crag uhe implications of the girl's words.

  Two whole days.

  “Three?” asked Five. “You good, girl?” She seemed to finally notiething wrong with her younger colleague.

  “Please go,” muttered Three. In distress, her hands rose to clutch at strands of hair – trying to drown out the mental agony with a more merciful disfort. “We o go, Five! They must be looking for me!”

  Five was taken aback. She knew just how terrified Three was of Him; it was unnatural to see her ignore His anger so btantly. “Who could be more important than Him?” Five asked.

  “My parents!” screamed Three in response. “It’s been two days! They must be looking for me all over by now!”

  Five froze, taking in what the girl had just said. Then, after a beat, she muttered in realisation. “Oh god.”