77 To Live, One Must Know Death

Flip.

Flip.

Flip.

Shuffle.

Despite the mediative effect solitaire generally has on me, it fails utterly in slowing the thumping of my heart.

I was hired to do a job here in Denver, and quite frankly I intend to go above and beyond what is expected of me.

My actions here will be the final act to have my Clowns truly accepted as a legitimate group that those in the underworld can no longer write off as just another band of nobodies destined to disappear with time.

So with this being our supposed 'first impression', at least the first impression that truly matters, I want to ensure it is a powerful and long lasting one.

That's why my plan for destabilising the area is so all encompassing and by the time it's done the Elite will have an easier time setting up shop than they ever have before.

However.

My grand plan has very little risks and I fully expect everything to work out as I have envisioned. The only, single problem, is today.

This part of the plan? This part is honestly pretty stupid and really isn't all about doing with the job itself.

I just couldn't help myself. I want to have a little bit of extra fun.

However there is a very real chance that I will die today.

That's to be expected though.

After all, a game is no fun if there isn't even a chance that you will lose.

My thoughts are interrupted by a solid thud, quickly followed by another and when I raise my head to look back at the entrance to the bank I see a pair of heroes standing valiantly in the face of evil.

Though, only one of them holds my interest.

I hear this banks security guards sigh in relief at their arrival but I ignore them and start getting to my feet.

"Surrender yourself Tear! Put your hands behind your back and lie on the ground, no one needs to get hurt." The other guy says, but my blood is pumping in my ears and I fail to pay him any mind.

I barely even remember the plan I came up with to at least make sure that my fun actually helps with the greater plot at play here.

Both of my hands find themselves in front of me as I offer them together to the heroes, ready to be cuffed.

"Yikes!~ seems like you got me.~ Well there's nothing for it then~ I guess I surrender.~ I'd hate to have to fight you guys~ I know when I am outmatched so don't worry, I won't fight ba-"

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮.

The sound of the fist hitting me is only outmatched by the sound of me crashing into the wall behind me and cratering it.

Heh. That hurt.

My smile starts to grow enough that it feels like my cheeks are going to rip as I, as well as everyone else, turn to stare at Extinction.

His face is stone cold, not showing a hint of emotion as he lowers his steaming fist down from it's striking position.

Before he can do anything else, his partner quickly wraps his arms around him, locking him in place as he screams straight into his ear.

"What the hell are you doing!?! She already surrendered!!"

But I know exactly what he is doing.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦."

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵.

"𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴?" 𝘏𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳.

𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺.

"𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧?"

𝘈𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳.

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘋𝘰. 𝘠𝘰𝘶. 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘵." 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳.

"𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦! 𝘛𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘰𝘣 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘣 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭." 𝘐 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰?" 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘢𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘴, 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴.

"𝘖𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦." 𝘐 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳, 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳. 𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 90 𝘥𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦." 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦, 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵.

I shake of the memory and pull myself out of the wall.

It's a stupid thing of me to do, to get him to actually try and kill me but that's exactly what makes it fun!

It's helpful for my plans too, because the media love nothing more than shitting on heroes so they will be swarming to write some scathing article about a hero going bonkers.

Especially one with a past such as his.

It's practically perfect media bait.

Even funnier is the fact that he could totally call my bluff. I don't have any bombs set up anywhere.

Still, I can think about all of that later if I even survive today. For now I need to put my all into this fight if I want to come out on top and I couldn't be happier about it.

I don't bother with holding anything back like I did with Butcher. Twin bursts of flowing energy erupt from my back forming my wings, quickly followed by my lovely ribbons, all six of them making themselves known behind me, waving around passively.

Following that, deep, dark chitinous armour starts to grow out of my body, covering my torso and legs while an even thicker layer grows out over my shoulders to cover my arms in slick muscles.

The arms are nothing like when I first awoke them. They are much more compact, less like a gorilla's with the excess mass turning into wicked claws and a razor sharp sword like protrusion coming out from each of the elbows, long enough to reach my head when my arms are hanging limp.

As they are finishing surrounding me, a thick fleshy tail sprouts from my lower back, swinging out and crushing a desk into splinters as it stretches itself.

Finally, the solid blood rises to cover my face and for a moment the world turns dark. That quickly changes as I force eyes to grow on the mask.

Except the mask is different as well.

Instead of seven eyes, I have one singular eye taking up the upper half of my face but inside of that eye there are ten separate pupils, each moving independently.

I designed it to be as creepy as possible and am pretty happy with how it turned out. Another plus is that I can focus on ten separate things at once. At least visually.

My eyesight doesn't really change my multitasking capabilities.

With my power finally being given a chance to fully stretch its legs I can't help but taunt Extinction, too excited by the prospect of a fight I might lose to really care about anything else anymore.

"My oh my~ you're going to have to try harder than that, 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘰~" My distorted voice brings their attention back on me and a series of gasps ring out at my monstrous form.

For extinction though, his eyes only widen slightly before his face returns to that of solemn determination.

Dismissively he pushes the other meat to the side and in a blur of movement he is in front of me faster than I was expecting with a trail of blue energy following behind him.

His right palm lashes out to my chest, impacting and denting it inwards. At the same time, that same blue energy shines at the point of impact and the next thing I know the world is a blur.

I feel myself crash through multiple walls before I am able to stop myself by digging my ribbons into the ground, leaving six long grooves in the road where I now stand.

Bringing a clawed hand to my chest I find not a single blemish, as expected.

Looking up, I see Extinction making his way to me and I feel the lower half of my mask crack open to allow my ecstatic smile to be seen by the world.

No more words are spoken and none are needed. Whatever happens, one of us is going to die today.

He moves first once again, rushing at me with speed few could even see.

Fortunately I have rather good eyesight.

Before he can get close a pair of bone spikes launch out of my wings at him yet they only leave craters in the earth as he easily dodges.

But as he does so my ribbons each lash out at him, intending to dice him to pieces.

His arms move so fast as to blur as they parry each blow, the blue coating of energy surrounding him causing my ribbons to be burnt on contact.

Moving even faster than before, he rushes past my extended ribbons and rears back another hit, only to have to quicky twist and raise both arms in front of his chest to block as my powerful tail smashes into him.

A sonic boom spreads from the impact and Extinction's body is flung away, crashing into and through a car before I start chasing after him with my full speed, hoping to capitalise on my hit.

I reach him as he is halfway through a building and reach out to grab his leg, intending to use his momentum to rip it off.

However right as my hand is over his ankle hie entire body suddenly spins until he is facing me from above.

His energy, surrounding him like a borealis starts to change from blue to a more pinkish hue, gathers around his arm and I barely manage to bring my arms up in time to form a cross as his fist comes raining down on my like a meteor.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!

The earth shakes and the building around us starts crumbling from the force of the blow.

Both of my arms have been blown to smithereens down to the bicep but he didn't get off easy either.

While he was attacking me, instead of bringing them to defend me I poised my ribbons to pierce above me right at him and while most of them did miss, he is now sporting a rather nasty gash in his side and a hole in his left leg.

Heh. gotcha.

Ignoring my arms as they heal, I use a ribbon to push myself up from the ground all the while I launch another pair of bone projectiles at him, this time shaped as crescent moons rather than spikes.

He still manages to dodge them with ease by simply flying higher but I use the opportunity to launch myself at him.

My tail splits into hundreds of smaller versions that each rush forward and cocoon around him.

Yet before they can do anything else, an explosion of pink energy washes over me as my tail is reduced to atoms and my body is flung into another building and out the other side.

Without even giving me time to gather my bearings from that, Extinction appears in front of me, the heat of his aura melting a hole straight through the concrete before he even touches it, allowing easy passage for him to grab my face and keep moving.

I feel the heat from his hand start to fry my skull and his grip threaten to crush it as the wall behind me is melted in an instant with half of the building being immediately reduced to nothing as we pass through it.

Then another, then another. Only once I am starting to feel my mask starting to liquidate and roll off of me does he change things up, dropping us lower and digging a long trench in the ground with the back of my skull.

Incapable of conscious thought I allow my instincts to take over and the next moment my tail rapidly regenerates, pushing straight into the ground and causing us to flip over.

He loses his grip from the unexpected movement and I don't miss out on the opportunity to bring both of my clawed hands down on him, piercing both of them deep into his gut, causing him to cry out in pain even as we keep flying forward, digging an even deeper hole in the ground.

But that's not enough so I use the first weapon I can think of and reach down with my mouth open wide, biting a chunk out of his right shoulder.

Before I can do anything more than swallow, the ground beneath us instantly transitions from grey to yellow as an intense blast of heat slams into my chest, launching me straight up at a speed faster than I have ever moved before.

For a moment, not a thought passes through my head and all that exists for me is the whistling of wind.

Then I open my eye and am greeted with a sight of destruction only matched by the Endbringers.

Starting from directly below me and extending at least a full city block in every direction is an expanse of molten yellow liquid.

The only thing moving inside of the massive pit of death is what looks like a small ball of purple light from my position up in the sky, so far above the tallest building that I feel like I might hit a plane.

However that ball of light rapidly starts growing in size until it blurs past me, coming to a stop right as I reach the apex of my flight and in that single instant of weightless that proceeds a fall, I get a good look at the being beside me.

His suit has been long reduced to dust, just the same as my own likely has under my armour. It allows me a clear sight of the cracks spreading throughout his body like veins, each pulsing with unfathomable energy.

His eyes spark and glow red with rage and he raises both of his arms above me, clasped and ready to deliver a hammer blow on my back.

For some reason, my mind flashes back to a doctors appointment I had when I was a kid.

Heh. My smile grows much more plaid at the amusing thought.

This will only hurt a little.

𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙈!!!

The skies scream out in agony and the clouds flee in fear as the thunderous sound rings out across the entire city and every single person below looks up in awe at the supernova that decorates the skies, shining in a myriad of colours like the descent of a God.

From the star in the sky a blur launches towards the ground, trailing smoke behind them. However another figure, one made of pure energy shining pink follows after it.

Extinction positions himself below Tear right as they reach the hight of the cities tallest buildings and he lashes out with his good leg in a vicious knee strike, a second smaller supernova exploding into existence as if to adorn the first.

However, even as her body is torn in half by the blow Tear manages to let out one last attack before what is left of her body impacts the ground, shortly followed by Extinction himself who coughs out a globule of blood and struggles to look down at the spike of bone sticking out from his chest before he too collapses to the ground beside her.

For the people of Denver, this day will forever be known as 'the day the sun bloomed twice'.

=================

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

hmmm, so, what did you think of the fight?

Honestly I thought it'd be longer and I hoped it would be better. Granted, I don't have the same icky kind of feeling as the chap with yumiko getting converted. this time it's more just the feeling of things not living up to my expectations. :(

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash or check the description)

Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses