My Brother’s Keeper Part 02

Location: Cairo, Egypt

Raizo held his head in pain for a moment.

"If I knew I'd have these memories stuck in my head, then maybe I would have refused her power back then," he thought to himself.

"She did explain that her phantom was a phenomenon generated by the memories left behind in the Arcana Crystal. I guess this is the resulting effect of using that as a temporary power source…"

Raizo could not stand the sudden daydreams and memories that flashed deep in the confines of his subconscious. He justified it as a side-effect of parts of Legion being sealed in him, but it was an annoyance nonetheless. Even after the help she had given him, it still felt wrong to rely on someone who once stood against his family.

"As long as it's only memories, it should be fine," he reckoned.

The battle against Bellona was a nightmare already. In a few moments she had made short work of Raizo and Satsuki, and now the Crusader was left to wonder if he could really beat her. Nonetheless he readied himself for more.

Death brought upon by the Abyss Order was indiscriminate. People with the potential to change the world were taken from this life not with a bang, but with a meek whimper. Their beasts did not see men as sentient entities but instead as mere cockroaches to be crushed under the weight of the whim of their dark god. Seeing all of this destruction, Raizo's mind could not help but venture to the dark future he saw.

"I won't let that come pass…" he thought, now more resolute than ever. The words of Sakinah's phantom then fell over him like a waterfall.

"You want power so you can feel in control, so that you do not lose yourself to your emotions or to whomever you have to borrow power from. You want strength so that you never have to rely on anyone to save the world. I know what you are feeling right now. When I lost my mother, my anger set the world ablaze and I hurt more people than you could ever know. I then did whatever it took to not feel vulnerable, to never have to rely on anyone so that one day nothing would be able to faze me. However, that bloodstained philosophy only led to my destruction. And in the end, it was a little child of light who trusted in his comrades, his family, and in their way of life that awakened to a power far greater than my own."

The contrast between the Sakinah of the Age of Gods and the humbled phantom who chose to see her enemy's philosophy through to the end was quite stark.

"Sakinah Vashti…" Raizo murmured her name in his mind. There was no denying that she was a nightmarish foe that he could never have overcome without the aid of everyone who helped him back then.

It was then that Acedia's words also slipped back into his psyche like an infectious disease.

"Silly little children. Though powerful you may be, your strength means nothing to my authority. I can overwrite, freely manipulate, and reject any type of phenomena as I please. Sakinah Vashti's power could not even compare to mine. I can even remove my own death from the narrative. Do you see now how futile it is to resist your fate?"

A threat greater than Legion had arrived soon after her onslaught. All that Acedia needed was a glance to turn Raizo into a mindless puppet not all too different from what he saw in that lost future.

"How are we supposed to defeat someone who can mess with us as if we were just characters in her book?" he questioned, but there was no time to ponder any deeper for answers.

Raizo quickly gazed at the battles going on around him. He caught a glimpse of Akaro and Ryuko dashing across the desert in their pursuit of Vili. It was not very long before they found themselves deep in the ruins of Cairo. What once was an exotic and vast urban jungle now transformed into a gray collection of rubble, ashes, and collapsed structures. At the same time, the group composed of Arcueid, Reina, and Musashi darted straight at Vainglory.

The Ultimate One swung her claws from left to right and back wildly. Reina meanwhile channeled her excess speed to draw out her Kanemitsu. The blade itself appeared invisible, an effect created by her Resolute Blade Arts.

"Boundless… Storm of One-Thousand Blades!" the master of the sword enunciated with intensity. The raw skill of the legend who had perfected her art over the course of a billion moons was conveyed through the mythical blade that escaped all ideations allotted to mankind and Primordial Gods alike to become a hidden hand of justice sustained in the void beyond creation.

Musashi would not falter either when facing a challenge alongside her best friend. The female's eyes brightened with the luster of their heavenly nature. The infinite outcomes of this battle were reduced to one within the samurai's psyche. Musashi then focused every facet of her being on cutting down Vainglory where she stood without fail. To be specific, she strived to take away the witch's arms by utilizing her dual blades while Reina hacked away her legs. This combined onslaught would leave room for Arcueid to hack away at the remainder of her corpse. Yet Vainglory merely grinned.

"As expected of old hags. The three of you are barely able to entertain me," she eloquently proclaimed only for an insidious royal purple miasma to instantaneously arise around her like a swirling poison that made it hard to breathe.

The Ultimate One and the swordswomen were immediately restrained mid-motion by the miasma which spread onto their bodies like thick, ethereal tendrils that rapidly encircled their limbs, sealing them in place like helpless dolls.

"Bastar—"

"How are you doing th—"

Reina and Musashi had their words stolen from them before they could finish their sentences. The two felt drained of all will to continue fighting. Their muscles soon relaxed causing their blades to fall from their hands and onto the sands of Egypt. The Authority of Vainglory reigned over those present like an insidious venom that enforced the views of its master.

The Witch smiled meekly, "Authority of Vainglory…the gifts of Lord Perdition are beyond what mere ants can fathom. As long as I see myself as the undisputed one atop all, there is nothing you three can do but resign yourselves to utter defeat."

Through it all, her boredom was palpable. Vainglory's immutable disinterest was never quite as prominent as it was now. Perhaps it was this uncaring persona that prevented her from noticing that one of her enemies had yet to falter.

Arcueid unexpectedly proved herself able to move even when contested by the Authority of Vainglory. The vampire broke through the miasma with a mighty shout and soon thereafter those sharp claws of hers descended upon the witch's flesh, tearing into her skin and cloth.

"You wench!" Vainglory winced in pain as she was forced to float back a few meters. The area around her heart now displayed a series of five deep gashes created by the intensity of Arcueid's nails.

Both Reina and Musashi were freed from the tendril-like miasma the moment Vainglory retreated. The two fell to their knees, unable to fully comprehend what happened. Both samurai's bodies were covered in sweat, their heartbeat spiked significantly. By the time Reina was able to set her gaze on Vainglory again she noticed that her expression grew grim. Like a child that experienced pain for the first time the witch quickly adopted a mixture of hatred and sadness upon her gaze.

At first, it was almost as if she was holding back tears, and yet in no time at all she replaced that weakened visage with a fierce gaze deadset on the True Ancestor.

"Your authority allows you to be the undisputed one atop all things as long as you see it that way, but mine lets me always be one step ahead of the opponent. It seems I'm quite a bad matchup for you huh?" the True Ancestor spoke with a grin before reaching to the skies with one of her hands. Not an instant later, the likeness of the moon could be discerned entering the Earth's atmosphere. The flaming object moved with such ferocity that all present seemed to be statues as the colossal moon prepared to collide with Vainglory.

"Don't make me laugh, wench!" the witch remarked with disdain for the True Ancestor. Her great hatred seemed to reach out like a myriad of dark tendrils that infinitely stretched outward and around the celestial object, enrapturing it in a ball of black fleshy tentacles that instantly crushed the moon into dust. These same tendrils would then rain down upon the desert arena targeting Arcueid in particular.

"Not good enough!" the Princess shouted all the while she swiped her claws through the air, creating razor-sharp vacuums that sliced apart Vainglory's endless offense.

The two seemed to be deadlocked. Vainglory's authority continued to release an infinite amount of dark tendrils, each more powerful and faster than the last. However, Arcueid continued to infinitely develop stronger and faster with the backup of the planet. If there was an upper limit to either authority then that limit would become the determining factor of this battle. Fortunately, Arcueid had no need to find out about such a limit as she was not alone in this battle.

"Hail the Tenmandaijizaitenjin, Nioh Kulika!" Musashi appeared on Vainglory's left flank and summoned the power of her Noble Phantasm in order to exploit an opening. The giant four-armed, divine spirit appeared behind the samurai wielding four swords in hand. With a firm stance, the master swordsmith took a deep breath. She opened her eyes, seizing the moment to command the spirit to swing down upon the vain witch.

The servant of Perdition responded by reaching out with one hand and grabbing the giant sword. The massive object stopped dead in its tracks, showing the immense physical strength of the enemy. Yet the samurai would not waver. Musashi focused her gaze solely on Vainglory alone. A streak of red washed across the center of her blue pupils, activating the prowess of her Heavenly Eye to achieve the desired end with the next blow–one that would reach the ever illusive realm Zero.

"Ishana Daitenshou!" she shouted aloud, swinging her blade down as a gleaming beam of light cut through the heavens and down on the witch's location. This time, she was unable to block and was seemingly consumed in a funneling blast of light.

"That was an unfair battle, but there is no place for honor here," Reina reckoned as she forced herself back up on her feet. There were no signs of life as the great light faded away, only a deep hole left in the sands. Vainglory had seemingly been reduced to ash.

Meanwhile, in the ruins of Cairo, Ryuko stood on the remnants of a highway as Vili rushed her down with surgical precision. The Dark Knight stopped mere inches away from the girl whilst her blade flowed down upon Ryuko like a waterfall. Her metal came down with enough force to splinter Ryuko like a tree had she not blocked the armament by positioning her scissor-blade in a horizontal guarding stance right above her head.

"Sloppy!" The armored attacker screamed with intensity before she proceeded to violently repeat her motion over and over, bashing Ryuko with enough strength to make the world beneath their feet quake every time Vili's metal met with Ryuko's hot red scissor. Like an indestructible shield—the recreation of the weapon imparted onto Ryuko by her deceased father safeguarded her from the strength of an unstoppable blade. Nevertheless, Vili's brutal fighting style ultimately brought Ryuko to her knees.

"Die!" she wailed with utter hatred. However, before she could get a chance to smash through Ryuko's guard, Akaro stepped in. The Envoy appeared behind the Dark Knight with his Svarog in hand and wasted no time in stabbing his crimson odachi through her heart, penetrating her thick armor like it wasn't even there.

"Ugh!" Vili grunted. Blood splattered from within her mouth, yet she still stood in spite of the injury.

"This is NOTHING!" Vili relinquished a mighty shout. At that moment, a dark miasma ignited around her, coating her armor and weaponry in the same black flames that Erebus once used to battle the God Hunter.

Aware of the danger these flames represented, Akaro quickly yanked his blade out of Vili's body before that aura of swelling evil flames wholly consumed her metalworks.

"Gonna have to borrow your power for a moment, Zephy," Akaro remarked before his eyes flashed green for a brief moment. Thereafter the wind surrounding Ryuko shaped itself into an invisible "hand" that grabbed onto her hips only to drag her back a couple of feet away from the knight in flaming black armor.

Vili promptly turned on her heel to face Akaro. She had effectively given Ryuko a huge opening to strike her back, but she did not care in the slightest. Matoi was not a valid threat in her eyes.

"Come, dragon!" she yelled with conviction.

The Berserking Woman sprinted toward Akaro with mad gusto before she swung her blade in a crescent motion going from left to right. Normally, Akaro would seek to meet this with a countering motion going from the opposite direction. Perhaps after a deadlock, he'd use the opportunity to slide his weapon in such a way that'd allow him to cut off her fingers. However, the presence of those black flames made things troublesome.

"A miasma that destroys everything originating from 'creation'. My best chance here is to…" Akaro could seldom waste time strategizing. Vili's basic strikes were already fearsome, but now any physical interaction could result in certain destruction be it his own or Ryuko's.

"No time to waste about it…I'll face you head-on!" he declared openly. Vili then burst into maniacal laughter.

"Suicide it is then!" the Flaming Viking redirected her blade to the heavens whilst gripping it with both hands. The miasma around her erupted into a blazing funnel of darkness that seemed to lance through the heavens themselves.

The dark warrior brought her blade down in Akaro's direction in a way not all too dissimilar to a tsunami hitting the shores of an unsuspecting beach. The ground shook as that violent tidal wave consumed everything in sight. The wind around the all-destroying energy seemed to burn as everything and everyone was eroded. Still, the hero would prevail.

The Envoy grabbed onto the violent wave of blackened miasma with the Hallowed Gear of the Dragon God. The toxic energy of the void then began to flow into his gauntlet, effortlessly condensing the onslaught into a harmless ball of black energy which he promptly crushed by closing his fist.

A golden outline seemed to encircle Akaro's whole body after that. Before Vili could realize, he reappeared in front of the dark warrior. He then slammed his divine gear into her chin, delivering an uppercut so potent that the ground beneath his feet ruptured.

"Shoryuken!" he jokingly remarked right as Vili was sent barrelling into the depths of space, passing through the clear skies of Egypt like they were never there.

Vili's body did not lose momentum after leaving Earth. After passing through the sun, she shook her head a few times and ultimately managed to force herself to stop after reaching the Andromeda galaxy. To her surprise, Akaro had arrived ahead of her only to deliver a devastating crescent slash to her chest.

"Crimson Dragon Flash!" the indomitable legend proclaimed right as his blade coursed through Vili's armor. The iconic crimson light in the shape of a chinese dragon burst through the rageful Vili, causing the upper portion of her stunning black armor to erupt into a billion pieces and leaving her ample bosom and toned torso exposed. The black blade she once carried was also erased by Akaro's technique, reducing it to naught but a distant memory. However, even against the power of this technique which could erase the very Identity of a target… Vili's rage gave her a second wind.

"...I can still fight!" she spoke with a hand over her chest.

"Now would ya look at those tits. Y'know if we weren't enemies I'd definitely be fucking the shit outta ya," the Red-Eyed Hero joked whilst floating alongside the woman in the depths of space.

"In your dreams, mongrel!" the proud warrior smirked. Despite losing her armor, the strength she oozed only appeared to escalate further and further as her adrenaline continued to build up. In her hands, a new weapon materialized amidst a burst of dark electricity and violet sparks. This weapon took the guise of an exotic, large double-sided ax with a golden length and an emerald jewel in its pommel.

The brutal knight shed a broken smile. "Let us start our bout once more, dragon. I am Vili! The Executioner of the Abyss Order and Daughter of Lord Perdition! Your head will be the greatest trophy in my long history of battles!"

Upon hearing her ferocious words, Akaro did not need to think twice to realize that she was a Mad Warrior.

"Looks like you're in a good mood," he jested. The golden outline around Akaro seemed to ripen. The sharp yet subtle coloring seemed to flow around him like a river.

"That gauntlet of yours… so you were chosen to become the next God-King of the Ryu-jin. No matter, Regicide is a specialty of mine!"

Vili's advance came like a wild storm. The Dark Knight reappeared behind Akaro faster than the hero could initially react. She swung with the intent to cut Akaro below the waist. The motion used both hands to add as much power as possible behind her ax, proving once more that Vili was a wild warrior that cared not for appearances. Instead, she concentrated exclusively on the act of murdering the opponent as brutally as possible.

With Svarog in hand, Akaro brought himself into a guarding stance to prepare for the oncoming violent blows. Yet just as he sought to protect himself from the wild ax swings, the Abyssal armament's special ability became known to the hero as it appeared to faze right through his red blade and bury itself into his shoulder. Without pause, Vili then yanks the weapon out the hero's shoulder. In immediate response, black veins spread out from the open wound freshly engraved into Akaro's flesh.

The Crimson Envoy felt his vision lapse into a blur as he stumbled around clumsily to dodge the subsequent attacks. Something about the black flames imbued in that weapon was different.

"If I had to take a gander at it… those black flames corrode away everything that originates from creation. Which means, big tits nee-san over here has a war ax that can't be stopped by anything originating from the Omniverse. So she managed to get her hands on something that carries similar properties to the Void itself eh? What a fine mess I got myself into," Akaro analyzed as his Eyes of Truth shined once more regaining their golden luster.

Echoes of a rapidly beating heart crescendoed in the air as the power of the Hallowed Gear of the Dragon prepared for its chance in the spotlight. As Vili continued her relentless assault against the man, she noted that his sudden staggering tapered off. Instead, he proceeded to get stronger and faster with every thump of the audible heartbeat that was resonating into her ears. The draconian engine of power proved to be way too formidable for the warrior to handle as trickles of blood seeped out of her ears temporarily robbing her of the ability to hear.

"Tch… your kind just doesn't know when to stay down like the filthy dogs you are! VERY WELL, HAVE IT YOUR WAY!" Vili screamed in disdain as her mighty aura responded by wildly emanating out from her body.

The black flames of the Void burned voraciously, consuming the space surrounding her in such a way that it culminated into a giant funnel that snaked out into the emptiness of space. The winding tornado of terror then transformed into the shape of a colossal serpent whose form solidified from the conflagrated inferno into an infamous beast of mythology. Its maw opened up revealing sharp fangs with saliva dripping with venom complimented by scarlet eyes filled with hatred and sinister intent. The beast was known as the World Eater due to its size alone and was at one point in recorded history called…

"JÖRMUNGANDRR!!!" Vili invoked as the serpent's roar shook the fabric of space surrounding it. Its pressure caused the distant stars to quiver by its arrival. The poison emitted by its maws created clouds of cosmic dust to scatter about and blanket the surrounding area. In the warrior maiden's mindset, she figured that a beast crafted from the black fire would put a stop to his advent and devour him whole. Knowing that victory was within her grasp, she allotted herself to be absorbed by the Great Serpent to prepare for a one-sided battle. However…she made a critical mistake.

"Heh… didn't you know? Slaying giant monsters is just an everyday thing for people like me," Akaro cracked a confident smile.

"Haha boast all you like. You know you have nothing capable of standing against the might of this inferno!"

The Crimson Envoy merely shrugged then shook his head knowing she wouldn't get it. It was then that he fixed his gaze on the golden gauntlet of his hallowed gear that was already resonating with strength. He concentrated his center into the sacred treasure on his right arm. In kind, he felt the presence of the Dragon in his blood boil with raw, unadulterated strength as if the Lifeblood of the Ryu-jin was reinforcing him to defeat his foe.

"This hand of mine glows with awesome power; its brilliant, burning roar yearns for your defeat! Arise, Image of the Dragon God - DRACONIS INVICTUS!"

The Hallowed Gear unleashed its full potential with a blinding radiance that blanketed the darkness of space in golden light that overwrote the shining glow of the countless stars. It was then that the figure of a being consumed in armor with the visage of a dragon appeared. This entity was the image of an almighty Dragon God consolidated with Akaro's origin to conceptually forge the form of an Ultimate Draconic Champion; Draconis Invictus.

The figure of a knight with the guise of a dragon whose exoskeletal regalia was dyed in crimson and black with golden plates of armor forging its scales; 48 blades spread out of its back creating four distinct clusters of wing formations as a golden tail sprawled from the lowest point of its spine. A red cape seemingly reminiscent of Akaro's signature scarf was coiled around the neck of the divine entity as the storied legacy of the king was embroidered on its surface. Two glowing crimson eyes glowed like pure rubies from its helmet as it sprang to life filled with the hopes and aspirations of the Ryu-jin Lifeblood combined with the Legacy of Akaro.

Now floating in space, two planet-sized entities stared each other down: the Great Serpent of Black Flames, Jörmungandrr and the Image of the Dragon God, Draconis Invictus. Two beings of opposing pressures were set to duel on a scale that was unlike any that came before. Without any warning, the skirmish between the two serpentine beings began.

Vili pushed forward with a headlong charge at Akaro intent on ripping him to shreds by the use of Jörmungandrr's venom and destructive force culminated by the nature of its black flames. As she pressed, the jaws of the monster were open as she attempted to take a colossal bite out of Akaro's new form; however, her jaws were stopped.

Akaro's grip was firmly fixed on keeping the great serpent's mouth open thereby stopping the attack and denying it a chance to land. However, Vili elected to push for an eruption of venom and flames belched from the belly of the beast. Akaro's position was bathed in the torrential hell of the existential erosion yet something happened that defied her expectations.

Jörmungandr took a direct shot to its abdomen as Akaro's Dragon God form kicked it directly before tossing his opponent aside like a rag doll. The attack brought about by Vili dissipated instantaneously thereby nullifying the effects of the burst.

"How is that possible?" questioned the warrior from within the beast's form as she observed.

"It's quite simple really…your attack is unworthy…" Akaro responded as if reading Vili's mind.

The armor of the Dragon God existed as a boundary that denied all attacks and abilities deemed unworthy. Therefore, attacks carrying the property of erasure as granted by the flames of the True Void were unworthy of touching the Dragon God; hence why it was merely nullified to the touch.

"Fine then… you got some new tricks, but that doesn't mean you match up with my strength!" Vili declared as Jörmungandr hissed with malice.

She slithered towards Akaro's presence throwing all caution and tactics to the wind. The Serpent spawned a pair of arms with sharp talons from its elongated body to claw at Akaro's position to which the Dragon God Armor merely side stepped through space to avoid the onslaught. As she lashed her tail, scratched with her claws and snapped her head back and forth to bite at the draconian deity's position, nothing was getting through. It was like watching a child throwing a temper tantrum trying to attack her stronger, older sibling.

Akaro merely evaded the sloppy, uncoordinated assault from his opponent as his consciousness succumbed to being more in tune with his newest form. His movements felt natural, like this entity was just an extension of himself. It was like an outer body experience where one felt truly in control of their lives, their destiny. It was almost euphoric, as if it was fated to be this way. As he witnessed his opponents strikes, it was as if he was in the midst of a ballroom dance where everything was degraded into a slow waltz. And as he effortlessly carousel away from his opponent, he knew that he did not have to be afraid of what was to come.

"Playtime is over, sweetheart," the voice of the Draconian Knight beckoned with authority as Akaro held up the palm of his armored suit's hand and grabbed Vili's body by its neck.

"You had your fun, now it's time someone put your cocky ass in your place."

As soon as he uttered those words, Akaro delivered a strike that was so abrupt and deliberate that it shook the orbit of several different moons light years away from their current location. The impact sent the massive serpent hurdling the opposite direction through several clusters of planet-sized asteroids traversing along a path that may have eventually met with the Earth thereby reducing the blue planet to space dust. As she was listing helplessly, the Draconian suit almost instantaneously caught up before knocking her aside once again into the opposite end of the galaxy.

Just when she was sent through several gas giants that mirrored the size of Jupiter, she felt something grab hold of her tail. It was none other than Akaro once again as he proceeded to lift her over his shoulder and slam her into a blue star causing it to instantly go supernova. He slammed the snake into the decaying star's husk once again and created a small singularity which he clogged using her body. From there, the stuffed vortex was kicked across the universe into another parallel domain separate from the universe affected by the Abyss Order.

Akaro was unrelenting with his counteroffensive. Using the domain of the cosmos spread throughout the Omniverse as his canvas, he unleashed the very concept of Hell on Vili's Jörmungandr with merciless intent. His beatdown of the berserker was nothing short of someone ruthlessly beating a pinata to ribbons even after it busted open.

The 48 blades that floated around his person were launched at her from all sides to which the deity merely controlled their trajectory with his thoughts. Each one slashed at her flaming body placing the concept of presence in the physical realm in effect as the honed edges tore through flaming flesh. Every single cut was felt by Vili's real body contained in the manifestation of True Void flames. Her screams of agony trickled throughout the domain of reality, but no one was coming to her aide.

The Crimson Envoy made such a mess on a grand display of this complete slaughter that the stars quivered in his wake as celestial bodies crumbled into ruin by the impulse of his prowess alone. As much as he could continue humiliating his opponent on a grand scale for her foolishness, there was still a battle to be fought back on Earth in Cairo so he knew it was time to put an end to this.

"Octagon formation…" beckoned the voice of the future king of the Ryu-jin as 8 of his blades proceeded to take up the shape of an octagon around Jörmungandr's position. As the blades locked into place, a crimson and gold fence of divine energy stunned the serpent in place.

"Synchronize into one…"

The 40 remaining blades came to Akaro's hand and created a massive, two-handed, crimson-bladed, greatsword with a golden crossguard, hilt and pommel pulsing with the lifeblood of the Draconian legacy.

"Let all fallacies fall away in the eye of the Beholder. The Dragon Becomes Me!"

The Mystic Eyes of Truth shone through the eyes of Draconis Invictus harmonizing with the colossal blade. In one clean swing, Akaro cleaved victory into the flaming flesh of the serpent as the resulting impact caused Vili to be launched all the way through the extensive domain of the omniverse back to Earth and into the sands of Egypt. Her flaming body degraded just as it flattened the Great Sphinx. Vili was truly left bloody and unconscious. What she did not realize was that her battle with Akaro was projected like a movie across the vast cosmos. If she did, then she would have felt the shame of humiliation across every definable spectrum in her ruined state. Victorious, Akaro traversed the stars back to Earth whilst powering down from his Draconis Invictus state. It was naught but a second after Vili's fall that he was seen standing over her whilst using Svarog as an anchor to lean on.

In the distance across the widespread battlefield was a plume of smoke gradually dissipating from sight where the trio of Musashi, Arcueid, and Reina unleashed hell upon their opponent - Vainglory. Confident that they managed to collectively inflict significant, perhaps fatal, damage to the peculiar witch, they felt the need to take a breath to acknowledge the current happenings around them such as the grand battle that took place in the cosmos, but that was when a frightening pressure washed over them.

"How utterly impertinent of you worthless maggots…" the voice of the witch wafted out as she seemingly batted aside the dust surrounding her position with the flick of her wrist. There she was, her violet hair dancing in the wind as her black dress draped over her lavender kneesocks; her reddish pink eyes shimmered with animosity as she glared down at her foes. The intensity of her gaze would be enough to instantaneously turn any individual to stone in fear.

"Playtime is over ladies, you get what you give," Vainglory remarked cynically. A rosemary aura emanated from her body before she snapped her fingers. It was then that a cloud of energy gathered into three distinctive orbs that were launched at the trio faster than any of them could react.

Little did the women realize, this phenomenon was another aspect of Vainglory's powers that allowed her to take all of the damage she received and turn it back on the source with just as much if not greater potency that was initially dealt. Immediately, Arcueid and Musashi collapsed under the weight of their own strength as their bodies showcased a myriad of cuts and bruises all over their skin and their clothing shredded across various areas before being rendered unconscious. The same occurrence was dealt to Reina as well, except the Sovereign of Purgatory dropped to her knees, narrowly holding onto her consciousness whilst turning a pained glare of frustration towards the witch.

"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" Vainglory mocked manically at the folly of the fallen trio, but Reina was hardly amused over the current situation.

Meanwhile a similarly challenging encounter occurred. "Come on…you guys can't be this goddamn boring, can ya?" the patronizing voice of the eyepatch-wearing woman echoed out as she stood on top of a small pile of rubble thereby looming over her opponents.

"Quite the confidence you have there," Satsuki remarked as she tightly gripped Bakuzan while becoming more in tune with Junketsu.

"This Bellona chick is like a worse version of someone I know back home," Raizo shook his head as his mind briefly brought up the visage of a certain fiery redhead that occasionally showed bouts of confidence.

"Come on guys, don't be lagging on me now," Ryuko voiced as she joined the fray alongside her sister and the Stormbringer. Feeling more in tune with Senketsu, she held the crimson scissor blades tightly in both hands ready to do battle with the unknown warrior.

"Guess we can't spare a single moment then. You girls feel confident enough in those Kamuis by now?" Raizo asked with a raised brow as he took a moment to catch his breath.

"Heh, come on now Raizo…you and Akaro may have made these just for us, but I feel like I've been reunited with a longtime friend all over again," Ryuko smirked.

"She is right, I've never felt so in control of my own strength before. Matoi, let's say you and I push our uniforms to the limit. We finally share an opponent worth going all out on," Satsuki proposed.

"Yeah Sister, I'm right there with ya."

"LIFE FIBER SYNCHRONIZE!"

Pillars of Red, Blue, Gold, and Violet energies surrounded the two females as their Kamuis evolved in form and color. For Ryuko, Senketsu evolved into a uniform where all of the fabric that was previously black in color was dyed in red with a tone of gold infused in the finer linings of the fabric. The eyes of the cloth escalated in size. The irises were dyed in blood red with swirls of orange along the inner lens of the iris while the corneas were dyed yellow. Floating petals of gold formed what could be perceived as eyelashes and teeth around the girl's body. Her hair stood up as well like a widespread maple leaf dyed with the warm colors of red, orange and yellow as her head was adorned by an armored band of ruby red armor.

"Senketsu Kisaragi!" Ryuko yelled aloud, holding her scissor blades ready to strike.

With Satsuki, Junketsu evolved into a similar uniform that mimicked Senketsu Kisaragi. The white fabric of the armored uniform was dyed in a deep midnight blue. The armored flaps that appeared like eyes were washed in two tones of red for the irises and pupils of Junketsu's eyes while its corneas turned black. Stripes of white were lined along Satsuki's knee-high boots as pale, luminescent aqua leaves draped down from the eyes of the Kamui appeared as teeth. The same shade was reciprocated within the fearsome swordswoman's long hair. Lastly, the color was carried in Bakuzan as the weapon transformed into a long-handled odachi blade which could double as a naginata. The crown of the armor matched the rest of the plating in that midnight schema completing this new form.

"Junketsu Shinzui!" Satsuki shouted in response as her armor evolution finished whilst standing beside her younger sister ready for battle.

"Nice to see those uniforms are doing justice for you," Raizo observed as he felt the power radiating from their bodies.

"Yeah well…you and your brother did a damn fine job on the work. Mind if we lead this dance?" Ryuko smirked with confidence.

"Careful Matoi, this enemy isn't someone we can take lightly. However, I do feel that us taking the lead may provide an opening for you to strike, Raizo…" Satsuki warned.

"Right, I can agree to that tactic. Just be careful…she has the high ground after all."

"Hah, to hell with that opinion. Come on Satsuki, you better keep up!" Ryuko said as she charged towards her foe first.

"Jumping the gun as always I see…good grief. Well Raizo, I suppose I'll have to ask your opinion about my look later," the woman said with a serious tone yet showed a slight smirk towards Raizo's direction before taking off after her younger sister.

"R-Really? Tch…we're in the middle of a battle…fuck's sake…" Raizo sighed, "Well…guess I'll handle the defense then…"

In the meantime, the women began to attack Bellona in unison. The sisters proceeded to mix a blend of their fighting styles to catch the warrior off-guard. Ryuko's brash, unrefined, and street brawling approach mixed with Satsuki's disciplined, calculating and precise approach to create a dance of blades that only few pairs could hope to mimic or counter. The girl clad in red and gold unleashed a flurry of sweeping strikes and heavy slashing motions with both halves of her scissor blades that made it appear as if she was cutting the air around her and the space therein.

Satsuki was a lot more versatile in her approach. Due to the change in orientation of Bakuzan, she could use the weapon as a two-handed blade or a polearm to which she mixed her style accordingly. As Ryuko leaped at Bellona head-on, Satsuki timed her assaults to fill the gaps in-between her little sister's motions. When an opening was discovered, she thrust Bakuzan forward with lethal intent trying to impale her target. In the small fractions of a second that Ryuko took to adjust and continue her assault, Satsuki would follow-up with her own burst of attacks that made perfect use of her training over the years. She exercised her skilled sword drawing technique that would cleave the wind in front of herself in a wide crescent arc that would be followed by a quick foray of slashes that cut the air in a set pattern as if she was painting calligraphy on canvas.

The fearsome pair was in complete control of their assault and perfectly coordinated with one another. Nevertheless, the gladiator was just amused by the apparent attempt that the duo made to wound her.

"I like the half-naked dancing ya got going on there, but…" Bellona sighed before she waited to jab her blade forward at the perfect time to parry both women simultaneously.

"Surely you both can do better than th–..."

Just as she went to taunt them both, Raizo re-engaged the enemy by rushing in clad in his Eternity armor with the Eclipse Blades out like fangs. He pressed forward crossing his blades like a cross and proceeded to tackle Bellona. The sudden onset of momentum forced the woman to be pushed back significantly; yet her guard still held on strong. Knowing that, Raizo then infused Crimson and Indigo variants of thunder into the Sol and Luna blades respectively in hopes of breaking through her massive claymore.

"Sorry boy, but my weapon isn't weak enough to succumb to your cheap light show!" Bellona declared boldly.

Pushing back against the Stormbringer's assault, she somehow managed to completely negate the effects of lightning enhancement in his blades. From there, they exchanged a small clash between their blades as steel bashed profusely against steel. From the outsider's untrained point of view, the two warriors were evenly matched. However, anyone with a keen eye could tell that Bellona was merely toying with her prey just to keep herself entertained for a brief moment in time. With a sharp twist in stance, she angled her next strike in such a way that it knocked the Sol blade out of Raizo's hand causing the Nirvana sword to instantaneously dematerialize from his possession. This left Raizo only with the Luna Blade form of Morana.

"Heh…and with that, you are wide open!" Bellona called out.

"NOT SO FAST!"

Ryuko and Satsuki charged in once again thereby stopping the War Maiden from dealing a significant blow against the Crusader. This forced Bellona to go back on the defensive as the two girls kept the pressure going once again.

"Perfect timing," Raizo remarked as he readjusted his position once again. Satsuki doubled back for a spell to check on the boy.

"We're in this as a team. Don't feel like you have to take her on by yourself," she advised.

"Yeah, I got a little too carried away for a bit. Listen, you and your sister keep her distracted and try to break her guard, I got a little surprise for her."

"Easy enough, are you switching your equipment or something?"

"Something like that. It just takes a second or so…can I count on you two?"

Ryuko was then knocked back towards their position when she overheard the remnants of what was being discussed at that very moment.

"Don't know what you have cookin' in that head of yours, but it better be damn good!" Ryuko commented while wiping away the blood on her cheek.

"Don't worry, it'll be worth it. Just keep her busy while I do my thing okay?" Raizo requested of the two females to which the sisters nodded in unison.

They took off once more thereby attacking from the left and right flanks of Bellona's position in harmony to try and keep her off balance while Raizo was left to his own strategy meeting at the moment. The male took a moment to gather himself and steel his thoughts. He allowed Reina's teachings to influence his mindset while he steadied his breathing. It was at this moment that he held out the Luna blade and focused solely on it.

"I hope this will still work even after you have taken back that part of you…"

"Morana…Awaken!"

A cloud of amethyst miasma billowed out from the blade in combination with an arctic blast of wind and snow as the weapon became infused with the energy that was indicative of the Sovereign of Purgatory. The frozen tundra atmosphere of Cocytus billowed out with the fearsome presence of the Goddess of Death as a high pitched shriek emanated from the blade. The cruel cold and hellish hiss of death blanketed the blade causing it to transform in Raizo's hand. Unlike before, the weapon did not become like a scythe. After training with Kimiko long ago, the Stormbringer never really took up the usage of the scythe form of either weapon in battle again unless a situation called for it. Instead, a new form was given birth.

Raizo's weapon became that of a colossal greatsword whose width was at least half of his body size. It was a wide, amethyst blade with frost-colored teeth along its edge like a chainsaw whose length equated to about four and a half feet long. The crown of the blade had the head of a hammer except it had the sharpest point fixated forward with the blunt side on the back. Its spine was held together by layered metalworking of gold all the way down to the exaggerated crossguard that was about four inches thick. The grip was about a foot and a half long dyed in black with a matching gold pommel. Just under the crossguard fixed against the grip was a gold trigger that seemingly led to a strange mechanism. As the blade shimmered with violet energy and icy blue mist, the youth felt himself surprised at the presence.

"Well this is new…and fancy…but I guess I'll just let instinct guide me," Raizo said aloud.

Sensing the foreign pressure disturbing the area, a split second pause between Bellona, Satsuki and Ryuko was all it took to allow the Stormbringer to get the first initiative in the battle at hand. He closed the gap between himself and the females in question with the newly awakened and retooled Morana in hand.

"Get back you two!" he shouted out, unsure of how this new version of his longtime partner would act.

The girls dashed out of the way for a moment as Raizo unleashed a mighty swing from the two handed blade. Just as the edge of the sword came into contact with Bellona's weapon, a huge onslaught of ice wafted out as well splitting the area apart as the harsh cold washed over the area.

"Oh? A change in elements eh? Fine, let's see what your new toy is made of!"

Once more, the duo had a duel of the fates play out except this time, the Crusader and the War Maiden were skating across slabs of ice as their clashing energies crushed the sudden glacier formations as fast as they spawned. Raizo was taking care with his footing however as he was unfamiliar with a weapon of this size and magnitude compared to the weaponry he was used to in the past. It wasn't that he was unskilled in handling such a device, it was more so getting used to the sudden adjustment in weight and how he had to coordinate that with his body movements in tandem with his speed while fighting a vastly superior opponent.

"That's okay…I'll just take her energy and turn it against her…maybe that'll slow her down. But…with this version of Morana, how would I…" he thought to himself when he heard something call out to him from the back of his mind…

"Pull the trigger…"

Just as he was forced back, he took note of that golden mechanism just under the guard and placed a finger over it.

"Well…here goes nothing!"

Just as he tripped it, he felt the blade shudder and rev up like an engine. The frost teeth of the blade appeared to vibrate as a violet and aqua blend of energy spiraled around it. The mechanism was different, but he recognized the feeling nevertheless.

"Siphoning Fate!"

Just when Bellona went to strike him down, the innate pressure of the weighted sword activated causing her energy to be consumed as she made contact.

"Ho? Well then…aren't you being a little greedy? Trying to steal my energy eh? If that's how you wanna play it…then why don't I give you a real taste of what I'm made of?!"

Suddenly, the mad warrior elected to take a few steps back. She held onto her blade with one hand as a wicked smile was painted across her face. In that moment, her one eye widened as dark crimson energy burned around her body. Within that cloud of pressure, a bright, reddish-pink flame burned behind her eyepatch as the density of her energy shook the ground they stood on and proceeded to create a massive sandstorm on the current battlefield. Feeling her pressure equate to something greater than he anticipated, Raizo felt his right arm go numb and his knees twitch in response. A nervous drop of sweat billowed down his face as well.

"Shit…this is going to be bad. Girls, get ready."

Satsuki and Ryuko took up guarded stances beside Raizo as they prepared themselves for what was to come. Just then, Raizo noticed that Bellona was going to generate a colossal amount of aura towards her sword. By instinct, his nameless mystic eyes activated and watched as the overwhelming surge of energy was being drawn from that covered eye and flowing directly to her sword-bearing hand. Unable to keep up with siphoning her strength, Raizo's blade inadvertently malfunctioned before it dematerialized from his possession.

"What the hell? That's…never happened to me before?! Dammit…even with an upgrade, I'm still not proficient enough to deal with this chick?" he thought to himself. Noticing his empty hands, Satsuki felt a bead of sweat go down her brow.

"Did you do that willingly or…" Satsuki was hesitant to ask.

"We are in deep shit right now," Ryuko remarked.

Raizo didn't even want to address the issue at hand and just went with what felt natural to him at that very moment: Taking the defensive position.

"Janus Armor…Engage Armor Reconfiguration…"

A stretched circle emanated out from under the youth dyed in amethyst light as the armor covering his body changed. At that moment, his entire body was engulfed in full-scale mail armor from head to toe. He wore a fully enclosed helmet that mimicked the original helmet of the first version of his armor except there were two, thin slits where his eyes were perceived to be while the rest was a blank mask with sharp edges and curves that adhered to the shape of his skull. He had a curve going over the shape of his skull down the middle like a fin that was dyed in gold. Black fur lined the color before leading into a dark amethyst chestplate that fully wrapped around his torso from his collarbone down to his lower abdomen. A golden image of two wolf heads going opposite directions was plastered over the sheen surface. Two giant, round pauldrons decorated his shoulders that led down into soft leather and chainmail attached to his biceps before leading into matching gauntlets over his forearms and metal and leather gloves. His legs were fully wrapped in steel covering his pelvis down to his feet in dark, amethyst plating with golden highlights amidst the top portion of the legs and along the edges of the calves. A black and purple kama was wrapped around his waist with the image of a wolf howling at the moon designed as its graphic in matching gold attached by a golden belt around his waist. This was the heaviest armor set he ever wore, one that weighed him down significantly, but could take a reasonable amount of punishment.

"Holy Sentinel!"

As Raizo was clad in his defensive armor, he crossed his arms together anticipating that they would not be given the chance to move from this spot. Much to his dismay, that feeling would prove to be correct.

"Reign over the Scorched Earth, Jigokumaru!" Bellona screamed out as she thrust her blade forward and slammed it into the dunes underneath her feet. In response, a pyroclastic flow of her calamitous energy consumed the area and devoured the path towards the trio ahead of her.

Raizo enacted a barrier of lightning in response to hold the attack at bay, but that only delayed the onslaught by a few seconds at most. As the shield shattered, he along with Satsuki and Ryuko were feasted upon like an appeasing dish long awaited by the destructive maneuver. Under the full gravity of the attack, the heroes were rendered powerless. As a result, the girls were forcefully knocked out of their Kamuis and Raizo's defensive armor was completely shattered to pieces.

"Heh…and I didn't even go all out just yet," Bellona said as she cracked her neck from side to side before flinging her weapon over her shoulder with pride.

Meanwhile…

Deep, ambrosia purple, black and silver; a mixture of tones unsuited to the face that donned the mysterious, unnamed Symphogear standing before the seven heroines of S.O.N.G. Clad from head to toe in the plated attire layered over a deep black bodysuit was the meticulous and sinister design of the plating in question. Legs with intricate cuts and grooves painted in silver and ambrosia with rosemary jewels dotted atop of the boots and shimmering at the heels. Gauntlets of silver with plated gloves and small pauldrons reciprocating a similar pattern covered her arms. A wholly streamlined chest plate that noticeably took the shape of a heart where the subtle window where her breasts were shown symbolized the emptiness therein. On her back was an all in one configuration that appeared like a diamond shaped harness connected to translucent violet robes that hung downward under the weight of her despair. Adorned with a deep ambrosia, a five-pointed crown of pink stalagmites rounded out the unknown armor configuration belonging to another Hibiki Tachibana.

Unlike the upbeat, fierce, and vibrant counterpart that used Gungnir, this silent, cold and calculating version of Hibiki felt nothing as she summoned a pair of short swords. Each blade was about three and a half feet long complete with hilts that measured just over half a foot. The glistening steel ignited with purple lightning tones giving off a sense of familiarity with Raizo's application of Indigo Rain; however, these 'voidsabers' were much more ominous by presence alone.

"It doesn't matter if she looks like Hibiki-san or not, we have to stop her desu!" Kirika shouted out moving into action with her soul-cutting scythe at the ready.

"I'll hold her down, Kirika-chan!" Shirabe called out whilst moving in to provide the support.

Two metallic, pink yo-yos were tossed towards the dark Hibiki's position. Generated by the suit of Shul-Shagana, the massive disks spun and honed in on their target dragging a series of wires behind them. In the following moment, they sought to bind the unknown entity as they rotated around the target and anchored themselves into the ground using sharp spikes protruding from the sides to clamp into the ground. As soon as she felt like the dark variant of the Invincible Fist was secured, Shirabe pulled tightly on the bindings while her partner rushed in to close the job.

"HAAAAAA!!!" the Igalima user exclaimed, bringing her scythe to bear as she rapidly closed the distance between herself and this evil Hibiki; but the individual in question was completely unfazed by the obstacle.

Just as Kirika went to strike, the wires that wrapped up the assailant were inexplicably severed into countless pieces. The dual wielding minister of demise welcomed the blonde girl's attack calmly and just as the punk rocker went in to deliver her attack, the evil twin just slashed her weapons into nothingness with her sabers. Vulnerable and stunned, Kirika followed through her motion empty-handed and just paused while her hands trembled with uncertainty. Even Shirabe was blatantly astonished by the swiftness of the events unfolding before her eyes. Then in a flash, both girls were caught up in a seamless motion where the saber-wielding Hibiki severed their willpower in a wild sweeping fashion that shattered both of the young girls' gears and rendered them unconscious. She did so by seemingly speed-blitzing the both of them and slashing away their crystals which in turn deactivated the gears. Unfeeling over that, the dark warrior pressed forward, eyeing the other gear users as targets.

"Hibiki or not, no one hurts my precious juniors dammit!" Chris angrily expressed as she configured her weapons into giant gatling guns that unleashed a torrent of bullets onto the girl's location. As the force and velocity poured in on the assassin's location, Chris activated a mechanism to drop a few dozen missiles that were discharged by her armor on the girl's location as well.

The ruthless woman merely felt her eyebrow twitch as she effortlessly deflected all of the projectiles coming her way from the hailstorm of bullets to a few of the missiles as well. Then, by angling her blades at just the prime moment, she deflected the missiles and sent them hurdling back at the origin point of their discharge. About 10 of the torpedoes struck Chris directly one after the other thereby stunning her for a small second, the resulting cloud of dust left her open for a sudden speed blitz attack. The sinister dual wielder closed the gap and proceeded to slash apart Yukine's armor before kicking her in the back and sending her flying a few feet away into a small sand dune nearby.

"Yukine!" Tsubasa called out in dismay as she watched her friend get cut down in such a cruel fashion.

"You won't get away with this!" the Sword of the Kazanari clan declared as she sent out a barrage of small projectiles that seemed to purposefully miss the enemy. The Abyss Order version of Hibiki scoffed at this but soon found that one of the small projectiles had landed on her shadow and now the effects of Tsubasa's Shadow Weave held her prisoner. Stun locked from the waist down, 'Hibiki' was open for a counterattack.

"TAKE THIS!" Maria screamed out as she transformed her Airgetlam dagger and small shield into a large rifle that emitted a tremendous beam of divine energy set to consume the would-be killer's position. This was her Horizon Cannon.

Just as the beam went to collide, the girl merely held up one of her void sabers and cut the concentrated mass of energy in half as the divided beam was redirected into the crumbling city causing distant skyscrapers to collapse under the weight of the attack. As the buildings collapsed in the distance, the reverberations of their fall could be felt in the ground underneath the ladies' feet even from that far away.

"I…don't understand. How could someone who looks like Tachibana ever join the likes of the Abyss Order?!" Tsubasa stammered in disbelief. She could only imagine the horror that the innocent civilians were suffering through in downtown Cairo almost as if the shrieks of terror were ringing in her ears like a melody.

"Don't assume anything… who do you think you're talking to?!" the ominous lookalike called out as she channeled the energy from her body and forced it towards her feet and into the ground. From the loving embrace of her shadow emerged a translucent silhouette of her carrying a mix of black and violet energy. It was an exact doppelganger of the captive now given flesh which allowed this antagonist Hibiki to break free from Tsubasa's shadow weave.

The assassin and her phantom rushed at the Zwei Wings duo before the girls could even set themselves up to defend. Just as Maria and Tsubasa went to raise their weapons, they found themselves rendered vulnerable when the assassins broke their armaments with their sabers. When Maria and Tsubasa stumbled back, the synchronized pair of dark Tachibanas followed up with equally powerful sweeping kicks. Upended and left completely helpless, the assailants proceeded to unleash a flurry of rapid kicks that was something seen in martial arts movies before being dunked on top of each other and sent flying into the pile of defeated gear users in the distance. After the ruthless assault, the assassin's phantom faded away leaving the dark warrior to face the last two Symphogears: Miku and the righteous fist that was the perceived good version of this warrior, Hibiki.

"I can't believe this…" spoke Miku as her heart ached from the sight of the dark spawn advancing towards her.

"This…can't be who you are, Bikky…there's just no way! This is not you! I refuse to acknowledge that. Don't you remember? We were going to see the meteor shower together, right? Just us…and finally be honest with one another. You were always my shining star…the heart and soul of our entire friend group! So tell me… is this facade really you? Because…every time I ever looked at you, all I could see was a bright smile brimming with optimism and compassion!"

Those sorrowful words pierced through the Abyssal Valkyrie stabbing through what remained of her cold heart. This caused the assassin to halt for a brief moment as her eyes observed Miku's position. A singular tear streamed down the girl's face as she looked into young Kohinata's eyes; but it was too late for such sentiment. The dark warrior did not utter a singular word as her helm closed over her face thus showcasing the visage of a fearsome, armored killer.

"So that's your response then? Very well…if you can't listen to my words, then I'll use everything in my power to stop you!" Miku resolved herself as she stretched her arms out. The Shenshoujing armor responded in kind as tiny portals brimming with violet light unleashed a barrage of lasers at the mysterious enemy.

"Miku…even you resolved yourself to this…" the Gungnir wielding Hibiki thought to herself whilst holding herself back from jumping into the fray.

"You're using your gear to try and disarm her; you still believe that a part of this version of me…has some good left in her. Is that it?"

The Dark Hibiki began to dash around the immediate area. She flipped around and slid across the ground while evading all of the lasers sent her way. Every round of light fired her way was dead set on getting rid of her gear. Miku poured the pressure on relentlessly trying to bestow some form of mercy against the foreign visitor.

"Whatever happened to you, Hibiki-san, everyone here is willing to help you! No matter what it takes. We'll be here for you through it all. So please, just trust in us…in me!" Miku pleaded as tears started to fall down her face displaying her heartfelt sincerity.

"Tch…" the Abyssal Hibiki grunted as she felt herself hesitant for the slightest infraction. At that point, one of the lasers managed to graze her helmet and shoulder thereby shattering the armor in those regions.

"This is…all for her sake," the dark assailant murmured to herself as she instantaneously closed the gap between herself and Miku with both sabers in hand. From there, she went in for the decisive blow on the vulnerable Miku.

"NO!" Hibiki cried out desperately.

She closed the distance between herself and Miku in the nick of time as her opened hand sought to grab onto the violet blades. The Gungnir relic resonated within the God Slaying Fist causing the palm of her hand to become imbued with the energy of the "Metanoia" that once defeated Shem-ha. The hand that broke ancient curses and united all of mankind against a corrupt God pierced through the power of the void sabers. This resulted in the weapons of the dark warrior breaking apart in an explosion of light that consumed the dark and light versions of Hibiki.

In that blurry moment, the Gungnir user began to see a new vision unfold before her eyes. A familiar setting of the city she called home opened up; however, unlike a lively metropolis that she knew and protected, it was an urban ground zero that was devoured by flames and ruination. Amidst this destructive environment was the lone figure that bore a striking resemblance to herself knelt down on the ground surrounded by the flames. Before her was the lifeless body of Miku Kohinata holding onto the remains of the Gungnir crystal; both her body and the relic itself were broken beyond repair.

"I can restore her to you…all you have to do is pledge yourself to the Abyss and serve my will," the voice of a man looming over Hibiki's position in white robes with slicked back, brown hair and dark eyes said aloud. In his hand, the Lord of Horrors - Perdition, held out a black, thorny bracelet that resonated with power and insidiousness.

"All you have to do…is take this."

From there—a flash of various events from the other Hibiki's life flowed into the mighty fist's consciousness as the girl's voice narrated her feelings aloud.

"I could never keep up with her. I was late that day. Miku nearly died at the Zwei concert and became Kanade's successor. I couldn't bear being left behind, impotent to fight by her side. Silently, I wished for a way to fight… only for Perdition to turn that wish into a crusade, an obsession that brought me here."

Another slideshow flashed across Hibiki's 'sight' fast enough to become like a live animation production. The images were of the other Miku clad in a purple version of Gungnir showing a fearless smile full of joy and determination that reminded the viewer much of the original Miku except bolder. Then, as cracks filled the view, the grim fate of the girl shattered into reality through a first-person perspective almost like their consciousnesses merged into one. Without a choice, she took the bracelet and put it on. In a violet burst of lightning and void energy, the girl's eyes during that transformation were filled with her anguish and hatred consumed the air around her. From there, the Abyssal Hibiki Tachibana was born.

With the transformation complete, Perdition opened a dark portal before walking through it. Hibiki took one last look at Miku's cold, lifeless corpse as those feelings of sorrow welled up in her chest once again. Channeling that feeling into rage to fuel her for the trials to come, Hibiki turned her back on her burning home and traversed into the dark threshold.

Snapped back to reality as if gravity was ripped from underneath them, the two versions of Hibiki awakened in a cold sweat just a short distance from each other about ten paces away from Miku's position. The two girls looked at one another face to face for the first time. Though their resemblance was identical in every aspect, their personalities could not be further from each other.

"I can't imagine how hard it was to watch your friend become a warrior while being unable to do anything to help her when she needed it the most. It's agonizing…pain beyond all belief. It probably made you feel helpless, worthless even…but still. You and I, we're like two sides of a coin flipped by the whims of fate. In my world, Miku-chan was late for the Zwei Wings concert; so to see the result of what would happen if the opposite were true, it helps me realize the concern my Miku has had over me for the past few years. I get that it hurts to lose someone you care about more than anything… but you should not have to sacrifice yourself to bring them back. You still have a life to live. Do you really think your Miku would want this life for you?!" the iron fist warrior tried to reason with her other self in an attempt to pull her back from the darkness.

The Dark Hibiki clenched her fist tightly and punched the sand underneath her. Tears welled up in her eyes as Miku's face filled her memories. Her kindness, laughter, and gentle voice tickled her ears as she recalled the pleasant times she shared with the girl before their untimely departure. Part of her did ask whether this was the right path to traverse, but it was too late to go back now.

"Even so…" she barely spoke as the frustration welled up inside her once more. Then as she gritted her teeth with anger, she screamed out just how far gone she was at this point.

"EVEN SO, YOUR PITY MEANS NOTHING TO ME!"

In a rash display of violence and rage, she conjured up a long, void katana before charging at the Gungnir version of herself. Throwing up her right fist, the light version of Hibiki met the attack with a firm block using the back of her gauntlet. The mighty clash between opposing forces was so calamitous and immense that the emanating shockwaves caused a 360-degree plume of dust and sand that wafted across the entire battlefield like a mini-sandstorm. The pressure was so great that it forced Miku backwards towards the area where the other gear users gathered in the background after gradually recovering from the dark Hibiki's earlier onslaught.

The twins forced off of one another giving each other at least 15 paces in terms of distance. From there, the evil incarnation of Hibiki unveiled her secret technique granted to a member of the Abyss Order. Her armor glowed with a distinctive shade of violet signaling the activation of a certain mechanism which was triggered the moment she sheathed her sword. Taking up a fighting stance that mimicked that of the Gungnir counterpart, she calmed her heart rate by a series of deep breaths while channeling her focus. Unsure of what to make of her evil counterpart's intentions, the good Hibiki elected to wait her out by taking a defensive posture while searching for an opening to strike.

"Secret Technique…Flashing Dark!" the Abyssal Hibiki thought to herself after taking a moment to close her eyes before dramatically reopening them. Just as she appeared to step forward like she was ready to run with her fist drawn back for a punch, the Gungnir wielder felt a sudden blow to the left side of her face. It was such a sudden strike that if it were not for her legs being firmly rooted into the ground, she would have been sent flying the opposite direction.

"Wh…" she was about to ask as she spat out a small clot of blood in the dirt, fixing her position to stand upright once again. However…

"Guh?!"

She felt another blow come in, this time being a gut shot that made her knees buckle under the weight of the blow. After that, it was a series of shots that had the girl stumbling back on her feet as if she was dealing with a heavyweight boxing champion that was just ruthlessly taking her through the ringing with every shot. Her guard was completely shattered at that point as her head was just bounced around like a decoration on a desk figurine. The poor soul had no idea what was going on at the moment and neither did her audience from afar.

"Hibiki…is…being pushed back?" Miku gasped in dismay.

"But…how?" Tsubasa stammered whilst clutching her rib cage.

"It's like she's fighting against an invisible boxer or something," Maria proposed whilst crouched down on her knees.

"Come on…you idiot…fight back!" Chris gritted her teeth in frustration over the scene.

"You're the invincible-desu," Kirika expressed sadly, unsure of what to think of the sight.

"Hibiki-san," Shirabe said with worry.

"I don't give a damn if we do share the same face, you can't deal with my superior technique - Flashing Dark… What's the matter? Can't read my movements?" the Abyssal Symphogear user taunted.

"Dammit…this…isn't a speed blitz like Raizo-sensei. I can see that she goes to move her limb to prepare to attack, but I can't see what happens after that. It's like…I'm missing something!" Hibiki analyzed as she was continually forced back by the mysterious technique.

"Yeah…you can't even see what's going on, can you? That's the beauty of my move. It's like you're an impatient reader of a book skipping ahead to the good parts of the story instead of trying to comprehend the build up. I'm going straight for every opening that's exposed with each punch and you can't even see them being thrown your way. For you, it's like I barely moved from my spot; but in reality, I've rushed you countless times and returned to my original position while ever so carefully taking a step closer to you each time," the abyss warrior yielded a subtle smirk, feeling confidence in taking victory at this given point.

"I'm not through with you quite yet!" Dark Hibiki declared as she spawned another Doppelganger of herself from the shadows. The assailant then dug in and replicated the same formula as before, except this time being aided by her shadow clone. Now it was double the onslaught as the Gungnir user was simply juggled in the middle between the two copies of herself, beaten upon ruthlessly and spun around like a ragdoll.

Chunks of the God-Slaying Fist's armor came off bit by bit as blood, sweat and dirt was smeared all over the girl's body. Her pain was immeasurable as every strike sought to deliver maximum agony without being deadly almost as if her dark counterpart was trying to enjoy and relish in every possible second of this punishment. The pained screams echoing out from Hibiki's lips was a song that the other gear users never wanted to hear. All they could do was watch in horror as their longtime friend and sister-in-arms was soundly beaten like she was a worthless animal on the streets. Gungnir was essentially stripped away from the girl's body, leaving only the inner suit to remain which would not help her at this point.

"Time to end this…my sad, pathetic, other self," Abyss Hibiki declared, ready to deliver the final blow.

"Someone… anyone… please…SAVE MY HIBIKIIIIII!!!!!" Miku cried out as an endless stream of tears flowed down her face.

Just then, a beam of light came flying towards the assassin of the Abyss Order that seemingly raised her off of the ground as it simultaneously destroyed the doppelganger. Then, that light fixture split off and engulfed the dark maiden in a spherical planetoid of smaller beams of light that fired off one another and struck the girl. The dark Hibiki screamed in agony from the sudden pain as the armor broke into pieces much like her light counterpart before returning to bracelet relic. She collapsed on the ground covered only in a similar violet bodysuit that mimicked the underlying suit of Gungnir as she tried to search for whomever was responsible for that attack.

A few feet away appearing out of nowhere, the figure of Akaro was standing for those present to witness with an outstretched hand towards Abyssal Hibiki's position. A coating of pure radiance mixed with all hues of the color spectrum surrounded his palm as his eyes held the golden shade indicative of the Mystic Eyes of Truth.

"What to call this one…Smiting Finale? Yeah, that should do for now," he remarked as he strolled onto the scene.

"You…bastard…how the hell did you destroy my armor?" the dark avenger gritted her teeth in anger whilst dropping her inquiry.

Akaro chuckled with a subtle shrug of his shoulders, "I've been watching and studying Symphogear technology for so long that I more or less figured out how to replicate the abilities of the relics with my little thing I call 'Infinite Teigu Codes'. Your Relic compared to the usual sisterhood may be constructed differently, but given enough observation of the inner workings, I've been able to obtain a comprehensive understanding of it."

In a subtle gesture, he pointed towards his eyes with an added grin upon his handsome face, "Plus my Mystic Eyes of Truth here can make that process all the more refined now as I can just follow the true path to understand what is the right thing to do when it comes to replicating the abilities of certain weapons or even people.

All in all, to defeat that armor that ya got from ol' Whatshisface…I combined Airgetlam's power to command light or energy vectors and mixed them with the anti-curse, anti-evil, anti-relic, and anti-impurity properties of Shenshoujing's light to create a cage of radiance that can trap evil or cursed entities thereby forcefully destroying all that makes them that way or outright erase them from this world."

"You…" Abyssal Hibiki scowled in annoyance as she pulled herself to her feet. Her knees were trembling heavily as they buckled a few times trying to narrowly support her weight. Regardless of how painful it was, how every nerve in her body screamed at her to just stop, the girl was determined to stand up. Her hatred turned into a mist of purple lightning that danced around her body wildly in response to her negative emotions.

"YOU BASTARD!"

In an instant, she pushed away all feelings of agony and fatigue using her rage as the source of fuel to run forward. She put all of her strength behind her fist as she charged at Akaro with all of her might regardless of the consequences. A suicide run in the heat of battle was better than just admitting defeat because she was disrobed. Just as she was about to close the distance, someone impeded her path that she was not expecting - her other self.

The God-Slaying Fist, the ever-strident burning symbol of perseverance, dropped right before her engulfed in a sea of vermillion flames as she suddenly exhibited a transformation that was unfamiliar to the abyss counterpart. The light side of Hibiki readministered Gungnir to her body except this time, she was clad in a burning aura that dazzled the area she stood upon as heavenly, golden wings flowed out from her back while her armor was dyed in gold and white with the added mixture of noble flames. This was the final form of the Symphogear that was brought upon by her determination: Burning X-Drive. And as Dark Hibiki watched her good self take this form, she came to realize that this girl was holding back.

Hibiki clenched her fist as the burning aura spiraled around her right fist before hurling it forward towards her dark self. As the evil twin of Tachibana helplessly watched, all she could feel was the oncoming embrace of death behind her in a spiritual sense. This was where it would end…or so she thought. The noble Hibiki stopped just shy of her alternate self's face. In response, the resulting momentum shook the Earth behind Abyss Hibiki's position as part of the desert was then burned through by the heat and transformed into a giant funnel of glass.

Stunned by this development, the sinister assassin was then surrounded as the other gear users dropped in to cut off her escape while powered up into their respective, Burning X-Drive forms as well. This only further asserted the point that the Hibiki Tachibana of the Abyss Order severely underestimated the strength of her opponents. They used great restraint while fighting her because of the fact that her visage was one shared amongst their own. Had she been anyone else, the fight would have been decided sooner.

"I'm sorry that you have been alone for so long that hatred was all you had to survive…but this strength that we share is something born of unbreakable bonds and the will to carry on. I hope someday, you too will understand this," Hibiki said to her other self as she pulled out a pair of handcuffs to detain the assailant who was too overcome by astonishment to fight back.

"Take her back to The Last Word and put her in a containment cell. As much as I dislike the idea of locking someone up that was misused by a third part, we're in the middle of a war right now," Akaro expressed.

"Right!" The girls responded in kind as they carried off their prisoner and flew back to the fortress vessel. Meanwhile, as Akaro turned his heel, three figures came into his view: Vili–now fully restored in her armor, Bellona and Vainglory. On the ground beside them, Arcueid, Musashi, Satsuki and Ryuko were completely unconscious while Raizo was chained up and on his knees held by Bellona's energy.

"Good grief kid, talk about disappointin' as hell. I thought there was some hype behind ya with all those fancy nicknames: 'Son of Mercer', 'Child of Light', Red-Eyed Stormbringer, the Crusader, and yadda yadda…but wow. You were so fuckin' easy, it's downright shameful. Tell me, are ya only just a cute face that's good in bed or whatever? Because a performance like that in a fight damn sure ain't satisfying," Bellona chastised the young wolf as she aimed her blade at his neck.

"Well Akaro…I must admit, you had me in that first half…but looks like we come away with the victory on this front. If you'd like our haul to remain alive, I suggest you surrender quietly," boasted the dark warrior, Vili, whose tone was indicative of a conqueror's pride.

"You're out of your goddamn mind if you think it would be that simple," Raizo interjected before turning his attention to his big brother, "Don't worry about it, Aniki…this is war. I'd rather die for something than be the reason for our sides' downfall."

"Pipe it down, pipsqueak! The fuck do you get off mouthing some grandiose shit like that, eh?" Bellona shouted out as she delivered a cold jab to the youth's face.

A cold breeze wafted over Akaro's skin as Reina appeared seemingly out of thin air behind the man. Her armor and clothing was in tatters and her skin was slowly healing from the rough abrasions due to her earlier battle with Vainglory, but she was still an able-bodied fighter in this current engagement. She leaned on Kanemitsu to give herself a bit of reprieve to rest her legs and refresh herself while assessing the situation.

"This is rather an interesting development…and by that I mean it is nothing short of terrible. We may have grabbed one of theirs, but they have many more of our own," she expressed aloud.

"Tell me about it…what do you know?" Akaro asked to which Reina merely tapped on her forehead signaling to communicate telepathically.

"The Witch known as Vainglory seems to possess an Authority that imposes her belief of being the ultimate one upon reality. This allows her to be placed consistently above her opponents by a notch. In addition, any damage dealt to her–whether conventional, unconventional, or beyond natural laws–is eventually returned a hundredfold to the original attacker," Reina explained based upon her experience.

"I see…meanwhile, Vili over there has the Authority to enact ultimate control over the True Void's black flames. She can basically erase anything originating from conventional reality as we currently observe," Akaro followed with his report.

"That leaves Bellona…whom we know nothing about. If Raizo-san were free, he could give us some insight. However, using prior experience and visual analysis…I surmise that she has some authority that may or may not negate damage altogether. After all, those two college girls and Raizo both went in with their all against her. I felt my power imbued in the Primordial Armament used, but she is still standing with no visible damage to show for it."

"Yeah well…if I had to be honest, she kinda reminds me of Addy-chan with her demeanor. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled on that one. But for now, we just need to do some damage control. You ready for this?"

"Indeed. We shall do this together."

"Why are you just standing there looking so stupid? There is no plan for debate…not unless you want these hostages to be erased?" Vili mustered, her black aura flaring up around her body clearly communicating the severity of her threat.

"Hmm…what hostages?" Akaro curtly asked with a tinge of innocence in his voice which threw the Abyss Order trio for a loop. They looked to one another before turning around to see that the unconscious women as well as Raizo were nowhere to be found.

In an undisclosed corridor of the Last Word within the confines of an empty bedchamber, a small spiral of crimson light appeared overtop of a large, circular, king-sized bed covered by a dark purple set of blankets and pillows. In that instant, a small shout echoed out.

"Whoooa!!! Guh…dammit," the voice of the Stormbringer rang aloud as he landed on his back atop of the bed. Then not long after just as his vision went to adjust to the lighting of the room, three bodies were dropped on top of him belonging to Musashi, Satsuki, and Arcueid. Before he had the chance to move out of the way, the three girls were piled onto in a precarious manner.

"Hnn….ow…" Musashi said as she rubbed her head whilst coming to.

"Good grief…what happened?" Arcueid asked as she began regaining awareness.

"This…isn't the battlefield?" Satsuki raised a brow in surprise given the quiet luxury surrounding her and her companions.

The girls took note of one another and relinquished a sigh of relief but then found themselves on guard as a subtle bout of groaning leaked from underneath their position. Collectively, they peered down and started to realize that they had inadvertently pinned down Raizo. They were lying in such a way that the trio of faces were relatively close together, but collectively, their ample busts had completely smothered the boy's face. Furthermore, it was at this moment that Arcueid and Satsuki took note that Raizo's hands were grabbing their butts. Each of their faces flushed a bit as they pulled away to give the poor boy some air, but of course, it was not without some form of teasing.

"Raizo…my beloved darling, I'm not sure that this is the time to play…but if you are that hungry then…I suppose we could make a special case arrangement," Arcueid chuckled as her eyes glimmered in the slightly illuminated darkness from a thirst of desire.

"Raizo-san…I thought you would have been spent considering our night's previous escapades, but if that is what you wish then…" Satsuki also threw in as she elected to slide a hand down the youth's body.

"Oya…Raizo-boy…I'm not sure Rei-chan would appreciate this if she found out…but I can't deny you being my type with that pretty boy face. Goodness…I should be shy, but…maybe it's time I shoot for a shot with ya too if ya don't mind a tough, big sis like me," Musashi said gleefully.

"L-Ladies…c-can y'all just calm down a bit. It's not like I was trying anything. We just landed together like this, that's all!" Raizo felt his cheeks get red even though his blood was trying to rush elsewhere.

Another thud could be heard which caused the attention to turn to the side of the room where Ryuko sat. She rubbed her ass and her head at the same time from the abrupt impact that threw her off her game before she looked at the shenanigans taking place.

"HEY…ain't nobody got time for that! Get your asses together! We….we got work to do, you know?!" she stammered from the unexpected sight, but she attempted to remain firm in her convictions.

"My little sister is right. Well then Raizo-san, I suppose we shall once again have another discussion later," Satsuki remarked while pulling away and jumping off the bed.

"Damn…just when I thought I could have just a wee bit of fun for once. Then again, Rei-chan would probably be pissed at me," Musashi pouted before retreating.

"Jeez…way to ruin a meal…that's okay. Later it is…I'm gonna make sure we stay up all night. For now, I'll take a little snack if you don't mind darling~" Arcueid said before diving in to gently bite Raizo's neck and get a few sips of blood to energize herself.

"Hyaa?! H…Hey…" Raizo remarked as the pain only lasted a slight second.

"Mm…that should do nicely. Come Darling…we have work to do," Arcueid insisted whilst helping the Crusader up off the bed.