The lady and 6E12 faced each other, statuesque in the darkness. The falling snow around them slowed to a halt, as if even the elements held their breath. The lady spoke, her voice soft but laden with undeniable weight.
「Would you like to go home?」
6E12's eyes burned with furious crimson as he glared at the lady. His outstretched hand shook as he clenched it into a claw, as though he longed to tear out her throat.
「You can return now. It's what your mother would have wanted for you,」 the lady said, her voice solemn.
"Shut your mouth!" 6E12 spat. "You let her die. You let everyone die. I thought you'd come. I waited for you, every day, inside that cage. You didn't care then. Why do you care now?!"
I could feel my legs shaking beneath me, my body trembling with exhaustion and fear. The lady looked back to me and waved for me to step away. I did my best to move.
I knew her voice. She had given me my magic. She was the announcer. She was the one who had guided us through our journey.
"You only came because your game is threatened," 6E12 hissed. "You don't care about who lives or dies. Hypocrite. Utterly disgusting."
「You know that's not true.」
"You will die here. Today. Know that you deserve a thousand times worse."
6E12 thrusted his palm at her, launching a wave of shadow.
「It doesn't reach me,」she said in a calm, composed voice.
As the blast of shadow threatened to swallow her up, it turned a sharp bend and veered off into the far horizons.
The lady raised the sword in her hand, and pointed it toward the sky.
The snow stopped. The clouds fled.
Beyond the clouds, there was no sky to be found. No moons or stars. Just an empty, pitch-dark void.
「Cosmos, howl,」 she spoke in a barely-audible whisper. 「Galaxies, burn. Matter and dark matter, quake, decay, and shatter. I compel thee, strange worlds that never were, into existence. I command thee, potentiality and boundaries, to burst.」
Her sword shined bright, glistening with white-hot starfire. Its light flowed into the cutting edge, coalescing into a thin, blinding line.
6E12 fired blast after blast at her. She dispelled each one with a single swing.
「You are in front of me.」
With a barely audible pop, 6E12 was teleported before the lady.
She cut across his torso, in an upward diagonal swing. A crescent of white flames erupted from the edge of the sword, sailing forth, and raged into the darkness overhead.
Blood splattered from 6E12's chest and vaporized into steam. Behind him, a thin band of stars had reappeared upon the dome of the sky – following the shape of the cut's arc.
She made another swing. 6E12 ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. Once again, starfire shot out of the blade, razed the sky, and restored starry dots in its wake. As though the sword had taken the celestial might of the heavens, and released their power back with each stroke.
I fled.
My feet pounded the earth as I ran for my life. And when my steps faltered, I stooped to a frantic crawl. Light and shadows raged behind me as the two of them clashed again and again. I thought my eyes would go blind from the flashes. The earth shook like a boat in the storm. Tempests blew and toppled trees. Bursts of flames momentarily lit the night back into day. And after every attack I thought that surely one of them must've died. But the battle raged on, a neverending exchange of annihilation.
I had endless questions about what was going on, and who these two really were. But answers were a luxury right now, and curiosity could well kill me. I had no part in this battle. A gnat, a mortal, had no place in the crossfire of their cosmic struggle.
But fate had its own plans.
A loud explosion sounded behind me. The tattered body of the lady came careening out of the sky, and it crash-landed in front of me. The impact cratered the ground and sprayed debris into the air.
She no longer had her sword. Blood soaked her clothes, her lips, and the ground beneath.
6E12 descended from the sky, hovering down. He bled horribly from one eye, and still from the massive gash across his chest.
He pointed a finger at the lady's head. A white, trembling mote of light formed at his fingertip.
「No,」 the lady said. 「Don't do it. Stop.」
There was something in her voice I hadn't expected.
Fear.
But 6E12 paid her no heed. The mote of light grew more brilliant.
He launched it into her.
"Synapse, break."
The lady and 6E12 faced each other, statuesque in the darkness. The falling snow around them slowed to a halt, as if even the elements held their breath. The lady spoke, her voice soft but laden with undeniable weight.
「Would you like to go home?」
6E12's eyes burned with furious crimson as he glared at the lady. His outstretched hand shook as he clenched it into a claw, as though he longed to tear out her throat.
「You can return now. It's what your mother would have wanted for you,」 the lady said, her voice solemn.
"Shut your mouth!" 6E12 spat. "You let her die. You let everyone die. I thought you'd come. I waited for you, every day, inside that cage. You didn't care then. Why do you care now?!"
I could feel my legs shaking beneath me, my body trembling with exhaustion and fear. The lady looked back to me and waved for me to step away. I did my best to move.
I knew her voice. She had given me my magic. She was the announcer. She was the one who had guided us through our journey.
"You only came because your game is threatened," 6E12 hissed. "You don't care about who lives or dies. Hypocrite. Utterly disgusting."
「You know that's not true.」
"You will die here. Today. Know that you deserve a thousand times worse."
6E12 thrusted his palm at her, launching a wave of shadow.
「It doesn't reach me,」she said in a calm, composed voice.
As the blast of shadow threatened to swallow her up, it turned a sharp bend and veered off into the far horizons.
The lady raised the sword in her hand, and pointed it toward the sky.
The snow stopped. The clouds fled.
Beyond the clouds, there was no sky to be found. No moons or stars. Just an empty, pitch-dark void.
「Cosmos, howl,」 she spoke in a barely-audible whisper. 「Galaxies, burn. Matter and dark matter, quake, decay, and shatter. I compel thee, strange worlds that never were, into existence. I command thee, potentiality and boundaries, to burst.」
Her sword shined bright, glistening with white-hot starfire. Its light flowed into the cutting edge, coalescing into a thin, blinding line.
6E12 fired blast after blast at her. She dispelled each one with a single swing.
「You are in front of me.」
With a barely audible pop, 6E12 was teleported before the lady.
She cut across his torso, in an upward diagonal swing. A crescent of white flames erupted from the edge of the sword, sailing forth, and raged into the darkness overhead.
Blood splattered from 6E12's chest and vaporized into steam. Behind him, a thin band of stars had reappeared upon the dome of the sky – following the shape of the cut's arc.
She made another swing. 6E12 ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. Once again, starfire shot out of the blade, razed the sky, and restored starry dots in its wake. As though the sword had taken the celestial might of the heavens, and released their power back with each stroke.
I fled.
My feet pounded the earth as I ran for my life. And when my steps faltered, I stooped to a frantic crawl. Light and shadows raged behind me as the two of them clashed again and again. I thought my eyes would go blind from the flashes. The earth shook like a boat in the storm. Tempests blew and toppled trees. Bursts of flames momentarily lit the night back into day. And after every attack I thought that surely one of them must've died. But the battle raged on, a neverending exchange of annihilation.
I had endless questions about what was going on, and who these two really were. But answers were a luxury right now, and curiosity could well kill me. I had no part in this battle. A gnat, a mortal, had no place in the crossfire of their cosmic struggle.
But fate had its own plans.
A loud explosion sounded behind me. The tattered body of the lady came careening out of the sky, and it crash-landed in front of me. The impact cratered the ground and sprayed debris into the air.
She no longer had her sword. Blood soaked her clothes, her lips, and the ground beneath.
6E12 descended from the sky, hovering down. He bled horribly from one eye, and still from the massive gash across his chest.
He pointed a finger at the lady's head. A white, trembling mote of light formed at his fingertip.
「No,」 the lady said. 「Don't do it. Stop.」
There was something in her voice I hadn't expected.
Fear.
But 6E12 paid her no heed. The mote of light grew more brilliant.
He launched it into her.
"Synapse, break."
