Intermission.

The City of the Gate. Eightfold's base.

Marie and Ava entered the hideout from the realm-bordering doorway.

"We're back!" announced the princess.

Aella, Alora, and Lily played in the chamber's center—shifting their gaze at the sound of her voice. Raven got up while Lily squeezed her cards, making them fly out to the ground. She huffed and bowed her head.

"Yayyy..."

Lora shook her head, stifling a snicker. Standing up, she watched Ava run to her, looking down with a soft smile.

"Hey!" She stopped, now standing short below the woman. "Should you be moving? I thought you needed rest…"

"No need. Uri and Talen used their Restoration techniques to heal me completely. Thanks for the assist by the way. How're you doing?"

Ava chuckled. "Better than you!"

"Well…" Alora's eyes shut, grinning. "I'm glad to hear it."

Marie walked to the refrigerator in the corner of the room and bent over, opening it before stepping aside. The hovering bags behind her head, ablaze with her golden aura, spewed their contents into the fridge.

Aella leaned on the wall beside the princess. "Can I ask you something?"

Marie glanced up at the Displacement before returning to the fridge. She nodded.

"King Uriel. When he fought at the Palace before we came here and even before we attacked the Deserters… that wasn't him. For the sake of earning our trust, 'Uri' forfeit his pride and dreams, choosing to fight beside Talen and his family."

Marie's eyebrow quirked. "So what're you trying to say?"

Raven pushed from the wall. "I'm saying—!" Then, she sighed, falling back and slowly crossing her arms. "I'm saying, what if, when the King wakes up, he changes? What if he doesn't wanna be friends with Talen anymore and leaves him for the sake of pursuing his dream?"

Standing up tall, Marie cracked her back, doing the same to her knuckles while walking to stand beside her friend.

"I think there's a 95% chance that doesn't happen," she said.

"Hm?" Aella facing the girl tilted her head.

"It's true, Atlas was controlling my brother. But he wasn't dead. For some reason, Atlas hadn't killed Uri. Maybe it's because they're related or something else we don't know. Honestly, it doesn't matter. What matters most is how strong Uriel is. With a soul gifted with three Predestined Powers, it's no doubt his resolve would be strong. Somehow, someway, he remained within. Even after Atlas suppressed him."

Raven looked down.

"I think that to save yourself from death, you'd have to think of something important to motivate yourself. Humans are pessimistic creatures. The second we feel anything other than confidence in our ability, it's hard to find the strength to keep going after that. I… felt that same way, for a short time."

10 years ago.

Uriel Barron, the Angel Prince of Barronia, had died. For everyone in the kingdom, despair had overtaken their souls. How could this happen? Even his most trusted companions were puzzled about how such a divine man could be slaughtered so mercilessly.

In his chamber, King Divine Barron sat down, letting his blonde strands fall over his eyes while a stray tear leaked from the edge.

"Uri…"

Then, the King's head raised.

"STOP ITTTTT!!!!!"

While her father mourned the death of his son, a scream roared through the castle's halls, alerting the King to his daughter's imminent safety. Letting the Crown above him glisten, Divine Barron vanished.

At the same time, her father was crying, Marie locked the door to her room, shifting around and shuffling toward the bed. Picking up the blanket, the princess climbed onto the mattress, humming as the warm sheet fell over her figure; her eyes gently closing.

Someone knocked at the door. "Can I come in?" asked a woman's voice.

Marie grumbled, pulling the pillow over her head. "Go away…"

"Don't be like that, Mar, I want to help you."

About to open the door, the woman stopped, hearing a sniffling leak from the room.

"What's wrong?"

The princess shook her head. "Leave me alone, please."

Her palm slammed against the door, releasing a loud boom that Marie winced at the sound of.

"GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP AND DO YOUR CHORES! I don't care that your brother's dead… if he's gone, we have no reason to keep a child like you here. This is your only chance. Do the chores and I won't tell my husband to throw you out on the street."

The Queen walked away from her stance in the open doorframe. The words that woman spewed from the depth of her soul—how could someone like that be human? Someone as little as Marie, but a wee child, couldn't understand it even as she held her head and cried under the covers.

"Why, God…? Why…?"

"Huh?" The Queen looked back. "Did you say something?"

"Stop it. Please, just leave me alone!"

The Queen's eyes widened. "WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME, YOU LITTLE—?"

|

"STOP ITTTTT!!!!!"

Kismet scientists were researching ways to awaken Fate users without using markings. Marie had never shown any signs of using Fate before that day. But it wasn't a mere coincidence. Just like Sadie experienced, immense stress and trauma awakened Marie's fight or flight instinct, which burst into existence in the form of an aura around the girl's small build.

The energy released from her Fate opened the air before her and flew through space. The Queen didn't even have time to react before the light hit its target, slicing the woman apart right down the middle. Her two cut halves split apart, pouring blood from within. As the corpse finally collapsed, her innards fell with her, splatting flat on the reflective floor below.

Marie's youthful sunny gaze reflected her only sin.

Present day.

"I still remember it. Her eyes rolled back, how her body split apart, her intestines splattering on the floor—everything. I couldn't do much else but blame myself back then. It was only after my father banished me from the castle I realized the truth. That it didn't matter. My stepmother's mother wasn't an accident. She provoked me and got a reaction. It just wasn't the one she was expecting. For that, she paid the ultimate price… and deserved it."

Aella batted her eyes, staring at Marie. "What does this have to do with King Uriel?"

"Oh. Right. Nothing at all. I just wanted an excuse to tell someone what I'd been feeling. Sorry!" Marie sheepishly chuckled and rubbed the back of her head.

The warmth from Raven's palm sunk into Marie's shoulder, filling the girl's body with a tranquil heat she'd never felt before.

"You don't have to apologize. I swore utter devotion to the Barron Family when I met King Uriel all those years ago. His deepest wishes include loving and respecting you, Your Royal Highness."

"Please, Aella. The honorifics are unnecessary." Gasping, Marie spun, grabbing her friend by both of her hands. The sparkle in her eyes shined in tandem with her wide grin. "I know! Why don't you try calling me by my first name? I don't think you've ever done that before," she said.

Aella smiled, sliding her hands into Marie's. "Alright then. If that's what you want... Marie."

The former princess beamed, unintentionally lighting her sunny aura ablaze. But the Displacement shuffled away and grabbed her pink hair, covering her blushing cheeks using the vibrant locks.

"Nevermind. That's too embarrassing..."

Barron pointed at her. "Hey! You can't take it back, it's too late!"

Raven started shuffling away. Marie took one stomp, following her gradually.

"I'll make you say it again!"

Aella smirked. "Only if you can catch me," said the Displacement, raising one hand and invoking her aura.

"Oh. You're ON!"

The duo flew into their auras, darting around the chamber using their immense speed. Alora and Lily's eyes followed their comrades' speedy movements, unbeknownst to Ava cracking open a soda with her eyes doing the same. She automatically sat in the circle the other two women sat in.

"Got any idea who's faster?"

Alora shook her head. Lily shrugged, averting her gaze and digging through a bag.

"Who cares? What're we doing benched like this anyway? Shouldn't we be out there, searching for Atlas's base or something?" Picking Reese's from the inside, she turned back, spotting Ava and Lora glaring at her. "What?"

Lora's eyes rolled. She chuckled under her breath.

Ava sat up. "Don't you remember what my brother told us before we departed for the mainland?"

"Vaguely," Lil replied.

"I'm not surprised. You've always been like that. How'd you even get registered as Rank-0 anyway?"

"Long story. Speakin' of Tal, where is he? Wanna bother him."

"Unfortunately," Alora said, "he's not here right now. Neither is Uriel."

That's when the flashing lights spiraling around the chamber abruptly halted. Both Aella and Marie stopped in unison, standing over Alora before--asking the same question.

"Where is he then?!"

Lora frowned. "Do none of you realize the significance of Talen's orders?" She stood up. "We must not forget who we are. No longer are we simply friends or citizens of Kismet. We are Eightfold. The Head's orders are absolute. If they don't want us to know where they were, we don't know where they are. That's all there is to it. No ifs, and, or buts. Are we all clear on that?"

Aella and Marie grumbled. Lily sighed out of the side of her lip. Finally, Ava looking up at Lora shrugged, leaving the woman to groan and facepalm at the sight of such intolerable ignorance. Sliding her hand down her face, Alora revealed her dark-blue eyes.

'Talen, Uriel... you better get back safe after I tried enforcing your stupid rules. Then again, after it's been so long, I'd understand if you both came back a little roughed up.'

A reunion between Talen Amit of the Unconquerable and Supreme King Uriel Barron required the proper stage. The legendary Fate users found their stage.

The Gate awakens Fate in whoever touches it. But that's only for Predestined Powers. After touching the Gate, the awakened can hone and refine their new techniques to go in tandem with their aura. Training a special ability while simultaneously increasing the output of which you can enhance your physicality is basic training for a Kismet Fate user.

There are those, however, who possess latent potential just by living in the same City as the Gate. These rare few individuals who can simply manipulate Fate from the Gate's roots sinking through the world secretly joined together and formed a Union: "HFH".

HFH, also known as Heaven From Hell, is an an underground fighting tournament focusing on battle between amateur and professional Fate users. In a city of over 10 million, only 5% of people possess latent potential and automatically awaken.

Outsiders aren't welcome to fight at the tournament, but when Talen and Uriel arrived at their doorstep, the bouncer couldn't refuse. As the King and Unconquerable settled inside, the frightened escort brought the phone to his ear.

"You don't understand, boss. They're on a different level! Just by standing there and not even mentioning you, they give off an immense presence! Those two…"

The low hymn from a flute sung through Uriel's mind, reminding him of the past when they were merely just children. The King smiles at the sound of familiar footsteps before they even entered the ring. Unraveling the bandages spread across his arms, Talen smirked, looking at Uri.

"Yo. You look the same," he said.

Uri's eyes opened. "I could say the same for you." He uncrossed his legs and slowly stood up, smiling still. "Where's your jacket?"

"Oh, they told me to take it off. Fighting in an enclosed space with heavy clothing like that is difficult so—" Talen gestured to the spotless grey suit vest he was trapped inside. "—they took it off and let me wear what I was wearing underneath."

Uri flashed the back of his right hand. "I wish I could say the same happened to me." The King's white-striped jacket swayed back—picked by the draft flowing around the arena.

A mic lowered from the ceiling and hovered below the center of the stage.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen of the underworld! Welcome to the purest form of entertainment on this earth, Heaven From Hell, where even your grandpa can fight with the proper power. Hahaha! Today's combatants are: Talen Amit of the Unconquerable technique and his other half, Supreme King Uriel Barron! Their Predestined Powers are unknown, folks, stay alert! Also, be sure not to sit too close to the ring, unless you wish to be caught in the crossfire!" The announcer's male voice chortled. "Now listen, you two, I don't want a clean fight! Make sure to spill blood! The only rule in this fight is simple: there are no rules! Are we clear?"

Talen and Uriel nodded. "Clear," they said.

"Then, without further ado, LET THE FIGHT…. BEGIN!!"