Luluwa trudged through the slums slowly, gripping her bag straps and having a miserable look. She left out at 5 AM, to avoid any interaction with her father and escape the place she hated so much. Knowing well that her school didn’t start till 8:00, she didn’t care.

  As long as she was away.

  The obsidian walls that surrounded the city were evident at the slums, as the slums were closest to them. No one with money would want to live near the walls, since ‘strange occurrences’ always happen there. The poor are forced to take shelter there. Run-down or abandon buildings, addicts scattered around, garbage littering the ground and other sad sights of the slums. Yet, it seemed so devoid of life.

  Why?

  “It’s not like I am afraid of him or anything…” Luluwa shrugged and tried to declare confidently. Just to be reminded of her severe trauma.

  “I can free me and mom anytime,” She once again tried to reassure herself. Taking on a bolder pose as she imagined beating Jason. Then, images of the monsters he created came to her mind. Like Yvette or his Mourning Stars.

  “None of these thoughts are helpful…” She muttered and gave up on mustering hope. Her reality is sad, she sighed at that. Should she wallow in that and accept it?

  Her mind reflected back to Able and Kayne. Her frown worsened deeper, the three of them haven’t hangout for awhile now. She wondered if the two tried to hang out without her there. It stung her deeply. Reminding herself soon she would have to choose.

  “Why did that bastard even give me this,” She clutched her pockets. In the morning, her father found her and gave her something strange. For some reason he wouldn’t tell her.

  A fragment of the Potentia Historie.

  Luluwa froze in her tracks. She had been on her slow stroll to school but, she sensed something. Something that was trying hard to hide itself and a slight slip-up led to her sensing them, thanks to pheromones.

  Luluwa wasn’t stupid, she knew she couldn’t make it obvious. Rather than looking around, she stayed still for a moment. Waiting for her stalker to slip-up again, she sensed the pheromones! After which, she sprinted off.

  “Fuck off, won’t you!?” Luluwa yelled at the person. She couldn’t risk confrontation.

  “There’s no point in running,” A sudden movement caused rubble to block the path around her. The stalker wasn’t trying to chase her.

  Luluwa turned to the stalker with a sharp glare and slowly shifted to her grotesque, recognizing that it was another monster, “What you want? An autograph?”

  “If that was enough for me to get out of this mission, then sure,” The man laughed and played with his strange fingers. They were elongated blades of black-edged steel, with more than meet the eye. “I am here for your life.”

  “I am Detective Clawer,” He sneered at her and pointed his claws, “At your service.”

  “I know damn well who you are,” Luluwa recognized the man from when she attended Diane’s Excellency. The monster before him was nothing to underestimate. A man who is said to rival the Great Detective Davilla in the future.

  Gisseupe Curry, a.k.a Detective Clawer.

  “They sent you out here for little ol’ me?” Luluwa teased him. Her extra pair of arms were generated, protruding from her shoulder joints. Rubies appeared in her palms and feet bottoms. Her muscles mass grew. Dark blue lines spanned from her neck along her limbs and ending at her finger/toe tips. All her joints gained full rotation.

  “It’s pleasure for me, actually,” Detective Clawer was glad to entertain the small talk. He couldn’t bear with it being all work and no play. “It’s not every day I get to kill a Mauter descendant.”

  “Oh you think I am proud to be his kid?” She rolled her eyes and took a battle stance. Her dance was already preplanned. “How about we not do this? We already know you can beat me easily.”

  “No can do,” The man sighed and played with his bladed fingers. “I have a family on the way.”

  “I rather sacrifice you than them…” His pressure was released for a second, which intimidated Luluwa for a bit. He smiled, “So make this easy for me.”

  In a few moments, he was before her and dragging his claws towards her. A trained killing intent clear in his pheromones, as if it was near animalistic. This is a real detective.

  Luluwa blocked it in time and laughed at the man, “The only dominating hand I will submit to is Ryan Gosling’s!”

  With an amazing strength, Detective Clawer sent her hurdling, “I am glad to hear it! Make this fight interesting then!”

  “Perfect Cut!” He slashed around his fingers in a sequence. Luluwa sensed something strange and dodged, seeing a column behind her crumble into symmetric cubes.

  “Fuck! That’s unfair!” Luluwa said, as she did underestimate the wave of that attack. She gathered a strange radiance and sent it as a pixelated, flaming-eyed skull at him, “Mahavidya!”

  “Perfect Cut!” Detective Clawer managed to slash through it without detonating it. The halves went past him and exploded on the ground. “Not bad!”

  “Save your compliments for your report later,” Luluwa knew she had to close the distance. She is an infighter; she can’t let him keep any distance.

  Leaping at him quickly, she began to pummel what she thought was him. The figure crumbled into a form of metal.

  “Artificial.” Detective Clawer slashed her shallow into her back. She leaped backwards to avoid any more damage.

  “War Dance Elixir…” She gathered the strange radiance in a pink form and concentrated it on her new wound. It healed quickly. Luluwa smirked at Detective Clawer, “I thought an old dog couldn’t learn new tricks.”

  “Well, I made sure to become a Jack-of-all-Trades before I got out of my prime,” He responded in a snarky fashion. Moving to end her heartlessly, she managed to move faster.

  “Deva!” One of the arms grew massive and went to collide with Detective Clawer. A strange symbol appeared on her massive arm and it crashed into her instead.

  She healed herself with the pink radiance and made distance again, “What the hell was that!?”

  “That was Jim,” For some reason, Detective Clawer kept up the distance and took stance.

  “Why are you being so fucking vague?” She screamed in annoyance. Taking up her defensive stance again.

  Suddenly, a symbol appeared on her and she was being dragged to him by an incredible force, “How the hell is this happening.”

  “Now, this is Kim!” He happily explained. Having his claws ready for her when she got close, “Perfect Cu-!”

  “Nuh uh! Close combat is my kingdom!” A strange, purple radiance enveloped her fists and feet. Boosting her speed and strength, she rapidly began to combo him. From high punches to, low drop kicks, balancing herself with her extra arms as she used the other limbs to attack again. “Wild Rose Combo!”

  Detective Clawer was blocking the attacks with his claws in time fashioned, he is an experienced fighter. He smirked, “You certainly exceptional in this area but…. Experience is what takes the case.”

  “Artificial,” Humanoids made of metal appeared and slashed down at Luluwa.

  “Upheaval!” She quickly destroyed the humanoids and tried to continue her combo.

  He grabbed her by the face and slammed her into the ground. Plunging his claws into her quickly before she can escape, he missed her heart!

  “Mahavidy-!” She tried to counter but, he expected that. Slashing her deep into her chest, suddenly an incredible force repelled her. Sending Luluwa hurdling.

  “Perfect… Cut!” Detective Clawer charged it up. The diced ground surged on as he got closer to the incapacitated Luluwa.

  “Shava!” She rose one of her feet up and dropped it down wide, while tensing her many arm muscles. It caused the strange radiance to swell up around her, ruining Detective Clawer’s Perfect Cut at the cost of many shallow cuts on her. Luluwa tried to quickly heal them with War Dance Elixir.

  She smirked at him, “I am guessing that was Jim…”

  “Bingo…” Detective Clawer sighed and carefully rubbed his eyebrows. If she chose to be a Detective, her potential wouldn’t have to be wasted. Now, he had to kill her. “You know… I am immortal?”

  “Oh, like those fancy things they call Gods?” Luluwa wanted to heal so, she played along.

  “Not like that, a fatal wound will kill me but,” He continued on with the thought. “I will never age. I will never become sick. And if I am healed, the healed area will never age too.”

  “And am just 25,” Detective Clawer clapped in some strange hysteria. “I will probably watch all the persons important to me die.”

  “Or they watch me die.”

  “Why are you trauma-dumping me?” She rose a brow at him. Everyone in the Confederation was weird.

  “We all have advantages and disadvantages due to our [Geniuses],” He responded to her. “What’s your [Genius]?”

  “Aren’t you a Detective? You should know already,” Luluwa responded harshly. From what she learnt when training to become one, they never go into a case without knowing details about their target.

  “I never do that, it ruins the surprise,” Detective Clawer said genuinely. “Here’s what I will tell you my [Genius]… It’s Edward Scissorhands.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “What the hell is that?” Luluwa was taught a fair amount of history, popular media and mythology back when she was training. She never heard about it before.

  “Some movie from before the [Grand Approach],” Detective Clawer said, he could hear the whispers of the [Legend] berating him for undermining him. “What’s yours?”

  “Kali…” She responded lowly. Also being taught to never reveal her [Genius], but did so because he did. By your Genius, people can guess your abilities.

  “I should have guessed it… The extra arms,” He rubbed his chin and examined her, “Which version?”

  Luluwa took a low position and smirked at him, “That’s for you to figure out.”

  “You’re making it that much exciting to kill you!” He clashed his claws together and shards in the shape of snowflakes scattered. A strange hair piece appeared in his head, having the symbol of a gun and lipstick. “Perfect Cut!”

  The surging slices created statues of crying angels into the ground. The range was incredible, over 5 kilometers long and wide! She managed to barely maneuver it. Suddenly, Detective Claw was chasing after her. Then she realized it.

  Luluwa laughed, “I know your trick now!”

  “Show me what a Mauter descendant can do!” Detective Clawer happily responded.

  “I am more than his bastard child!” She responded in frustration.

  That hairpiece in his head is an organic weapon, named Kim & Jim. She assumed that Jim repels at a certain interval and Kim attracts at a certain interval after Jim. She was counting the seconds since he summoned it.

  18…

  19…

  20!

  An incredible force propelled her back. She smirked, as Detective Clawer closed in, she did a kick-flip with the purple radiance, “Upheaval!”

  “Don’t take me lightly, I am a detective,” He easily maneuvered it, stamping his feet into her face. She was sent hurdling!

  4…

  5…

  6…

  An incredible force pulled her back to him, Detective Clawer waited for her. She stamped her free foot wide and tensed her muscles as she got close. Luluwa felt proud of herself. A purple radiance soared around her, “Shava!”

  Detective Clawer easily blocked it, sending slices at her. With her strange joints, she avoided it and watched as the slashes tore down an entire 5 story building, “Perfect Cut.”

  He had a deadly smile on his face. That he wasn’t even trying, keeping his poor to the minimum to avoid mass destruction.

  She had 15 seconds till Jim occurred, so she moved quickly. Increasing her feet size and attempted to crash them on him, “Deva!”

  He stepped out of the way slyly and slashed at her, she avoided it in time by collapsing her body thanks to her joints. Using her sturdy extra arms and their full rotation elbow joints, she spun around and attempted to knock him off his feet.

  “Perfect Cut.” He easily dodged it again and sliced at her. A massive crevice formed at his wake, crumbling down with precision. Her eyes widened, how was she supposed to take this on?

  She can’t die yet, Luluwa reminded herself that she had to save her mother and her brother.

  “Wild Rose Combo!” She had 9 seconds until Jim occurs so, she wanted to make the most of it. Using the strange radiance and her incredible nimbleness, she delivered sequence hit after hit that Detective Clawer defended again.

  “Artificial.” A metallic humanoid appeared and slashed at her. Forcing her combo to come to an end with 2 seconds left till Jim.

  “Perfect Cut!” Jim sent her flying and the perfect cut was faster than the repulsion. She tried to save herself from it.

  “Shava!” The radiance only did little, multiple lacerations appeared in her skin and being deep.

  “Mahavidya!” She used the green, flaming eyed skulls to propel herself in the air. Also healing herself with War Dance Elixir. Luluwa noticed Detective Clawer about to close in on her and kick-flipped with the radiance while in air, “Upheaval!”

  He defended against it easily and countered, “Perfect Cut!”

  His precision and style were so flawless that he managed to create a vacuum by slicing the very air. She was severely harmed and not to mention, air particles colliding into her to make it fatal! Luluwa knew that in the first place she was nowhere his level.

  The man literally sliced air apart after all. Her bloodied and mangled corpse fell to the ground. Bleeding out rapidly as he also precisely slashed her tendons. He cancelled Kim & Jim.

  “What a shame, if only you decided to be a Detective,” Detective Clawer came over here and frowned. Stooping down as he viewed her dying body. She couldn’t talk due to the blood clouding her throat. “Your life wouldn’t have to be so short.”

  “I will send my apologies to Chairwoman Jessica,” he said as he got up to leave. Detectives are trained not to feel any emotion when they are on a case. That’s why he felt no remorse for her, he was desensitized. “I have my family waiting on me.”

  “I am not done yet…” Luluwa used the little of War Dance Elixir that she could produce and healed her tendons a bit. She was still at the doors of death, spitting out the blood that muted her on the ground. “I have one more trick up my sleeve.”

  “I don’t want to see it.” He stated coldly, tired of entertaining this. He could have finished her with one move a long time ago, “Perfect C-!”

  Pink and purple radiances surged powerfully around her. In a matter of moments before the lacerations could reach her, a third eye appeared on her forehead with no pupil. Fueled by her remaining power,

  “War God’s Inertia.”

  Everything seemed to come to a stop. All noise ceased; all movements subsided. Everything froze in its place. But it wasn’t truly. Luluwa slowed down time so much that it seemed frozen. She learnt this trick while training to be a Detective cause, she didn’t want to feel second to Kayne. Yet, it required so much of her. After the slowed time ends, she will be unable to use her stimulus for some time.

  Luluwa sighed, knowing she can only keep up the slowed time for 1 minute. She spent 20 seconds healing herself enough to operate her combos.

  And with the remaining 40, she attacked!

  Releasing multiple Mahavidyas and incredible number of attacks using Wild Rose Combo, it was about 45 attacks in total. Feeling her body wasted away again as her tendons snapped, she was back at death’s door.

  As time begun to resume.

  “Ut-!” His attack was interrupted by the multiple attacks suddenly crashing on him. He wasn’t able defend them and so, he was damaged to a great degree. Yet, he was still standing and functioning.

  “Bravo! I was wrong to underestimate a Mauter descendant,” Detective Clawer clapped in glee. For some reason, he was starting to regenerate. She wanted to bawl upon seeing this. He held her chin with his claw, “Do you know how valuable an ability to manipulate time is?”

  “You could even become a Dynadaunt,” He slyly slit her throat and frowned, “What a shame.”

  She was desperate. Wondering frantically what to do, she felt her pocket and was reminded of the item her dad gave her. Taking out the strange sand capsule, she stuck her finger into the pink liquid and pressed the green part on him.

  “What is that! What are you doing!?” Detective Clawer screamed in terror as his body started to mutate horribly. His flesh stretching and expanding, losing a proper form to exist in.

  Luluwa then used the powerful item to heal herself back to perfect state. And looked at the Detective in disgusted horror.

  “Perfect Cut! Why do you have that!?” Detective Clawer used his abilities to cut himself back into shape and glared at her. “Who gave you the Potentia Historie!?”

  “Just die!” Luluwa was terrified of killing someone but, she didn’t want to die. She closed her eyes and pressed it on the man again.

  “Noo! Perfect Cut!” As his body began to mutate and grow hideously again, he made multiple claws and slashed at her. But, due to the Potentia Historie she could have manipulate his body to not aiming at her. Light raged around them as desperately disfigured his body and multiplied his mass. Trying to render him completely immobile.

  “I can’t die here! I have a family waiting on me!” Suddenly, a strange formation appeared around them. Growing more complex and trapping intricate matter in the space with them. Shavings in snowflakes began to rain down in the gothic architecture, “Timeless Mansion!”

  It was Detective Clawer’s strongest ability! In this space, he could manipulate the bonds of atoms to the point he trapped them in a subspace where time didn’t move, and he could create by manipulating bonds. All by his precise slashes!

  Powerful atomic attacks clashed upon Luluwa as she desperately tried to turn him into a boundless blob. She couldn’t speak but tried so hard not to die. Splitting the Potentia Historie into two so she could heal herself and disfigure him at the same time! Multiple hideous face appeared on the blob that Detective Clawer became, as he tried to fix himself and kill her.

  In that moment, Detective Clawer was becoming a Dynadaunt! Forced in a situation where he had to utilize all his power or render himself to death, he unlocked a power he never knew he had. Which was Timeless Mansion!

  As a few seconds passed on in the actual dimensional plane, decades passed in the subspace created by Detective Clawer. They felt the years go by but, each fought to be the survivor. Pain tolerance to these atomic and biological attacks developed as they endlessly attempted to kill each other.

  Finally, Luluwa snapped out of the rush to be the survivor and acted. Strange radiance gathered on her forehead and formed a third eye with no pupil, “War God’s Inertia!”

  “Timeless Mans-!”

  Detective Clawer attempted to apply another layer to his subspace before she could use the ability but, she was faster.

  Now, she was capable of keeping up War God’s Inertia for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Due to the pain tolerance developed by healing continuously from endlessly healing from cosmic level attacks, her mind could handle it now,

  “If I wasn’t depending on the Potentia Historie and actually using my stimulus, I would have been so powerful,” She skipped over to the disgusting blob that Detective Clawer became. He had multiple faces bow. Luluwa sighed, “Maybe I could have been a Dynadaunt.”

  “After all this time in here I still think like an 18 year old though,” Luluwa sighed. She was so focused on not dying that she didn’t mature. Luckily for her, she was also ageless. Luluwa fused back together the pieces of Potentia Historie, “Fuck it, we ball.”

  Although Detective Clawer had actually tapped into his potential and grew so powerful that he was moments from becoming a Dynadaunt, he still lost. Why? Because the Potentia Historie is the power of an actual Dynadaunt.

  Having the title and being a candidate for the title is too different things. It’s the difference in power that Luluwa luckily borrowed lead to her victory. Without it and Detective Clawer’s playful attitude, she would have died from one attack.

  “I guess I am more important to the story,” Luluwa smirked at the frozen blob of a person.

  “Maha.. Kali…” Detective Clawer muttered from his central face, despite being slowed down by time. He had grown too powerful, he was using his subspace to speed up his time. It was slightly working.

  “Bingo,” Luluwa sneered at him. Pressing the Potentia Historie on him before he could counter. Detective Clawer swelled up due to incredible pressure and the simultaneous death of all his cells. And he exploded! Blood and flesh flew around the gothic architecture.

  What left unscratched was his actual body. He was certainly becoming too powerful, to the point he could have resisted the Potentia Historie to a certain extent and preserve his body.

  Suddenly, the gothic subspace imploded and shot them out. A miniature cosmic eruption occurred and Luluwa used the Potentia Historie to recover from it. For some reason, the cosmic eruption was contained to a small degree. Yet, the light gave off by lit the whole slums

  As if it was intentionally done by Detective Clawer, as he didn’t want to destroy. He just wanted to complete his mission and go back to work.

  “I am sorry… Gisseupe Curry,” Luluwa stood up, completely healed by the Potentia Historie and walking away. She had to get away before the Confederation came,

  “It is better for you to die than me.”

  ~//~

  Luluwa waltzed back into the mansion in cold sweat. That was the first she had ever taken a life. The brutalization she committed to preserve her own life was disgusting to her. To take the life of a father, a friend, a teacher.

  She wanted to vomit.

  As she went to the opposite wing of the mansion as to avoid her father, she was unfortunately met by him. And seeing the destruction that was behind of him.

  “What happened here?” Luluwa’s mood worsened as she viewed what she once called home. No matter how much she hated it, it was still her home.

  And her father was destroying it.

  “Looks like we had some friends over,” Jason responded to her. Leaning on a cracking column, his monsters scanned through the rubble and planned to fix it. Yvette and Oliver weren’t there but, his Mourning Stars stood not far away. Pearl, of course, staring at her.

  “Are my brother and mother alright?” Luluwa asked in a terrified manner. No matter how many decades her mind existed, her fear for him was unchanged. He is the truest monster she knew.

  “They are peachy, in fact,” Jason responded with a grin. “There was a firework show in the slums today.”

  “Should I pin the blame on you?” Jason asked her. Luluwa knew it was his twisted way of demanding to know what happened. And for her own safety, she had to talk.

  “I was ambushed by a Detective,” Luluwa responded lowly. Quivering slightly before him.

  “Oh I know, I just wanted you to say it,” Jason laughed. He thought she would be more beat up, “Give me back the Potentia Historie.”

  Luluwa hesitated. She wanted to just take the item and run. She knew she wouldn’t get too far. Handing back the item, she asked, “You planned this, didn’t you?”

  “Yup, aren’t I a genius?” He laughed, twirling around as he held the powerful item. “I knew you couldn’t beat him, that’s why I gave you this.”

  “Why would you do this to your own daughter?” Luluwa almost bawled, facing her sad reality again.

  “You like to ask the same question again?” Jason denoted her. Releasing a menacing presence that seem to overshadow anything else in her vision. “I have hundreds of kids, why do you think you matter to me?”

  “Now that you killed a Detective, you’re wanted by the Confederation,” Jason explained to her as he stood above her. She dropped to her knees and stared at him in cold fright. “You’re a fugitive, just like those annoying brats.”

  “I need you to join their team now… Be a double-agent for me.”