The Twins Weakness

--Rin's Perspective--

Illya and I grouped up, moving over to Austin and Amy, from the position I just moved away from.

I didn't trust Illya, knowing she was capable of great evil... but the fact I've made it this far, I decided to let it go for the time being.

A cloud of smoke was billowing in the air as the destroyed building by our arena was finally settling into the ground as rocks.

"You'd be stupid if you think I'd let you be alone with Rin," I heard from nearby.

I turned my head, watching Carl pant in exhaustion with his weird weapon in his hand.

"You're here? Huh... we might make a really good team," Illya said. She looked over into the smoke, trying to see where Austin and Amy were.

"Surprise!" I heard from my right side.

I blocked with my sword at the last possible second, and I felt a weird tentacle wrap around my stomach, pulling me back as a glacier of ice came between Austin and me.

Illya was shot back from the pressure of the attack that followed, and before I knew it, the glacier went city-wide as we were thrown into the town center where most of the markets were.

Illya was bleeding from her nose as she set Carl and me down. She had those tendrils on her back again...

"Shit... from the smoke, they aren't stupid," Illya said, wiping her nose.

"Thank you... Illya," Carl said, looking through the scope of his gun to see Austin and Amy from far away.

"So, do you have any good tips? These guys are too powerful for somebody like me... and, how did you use those abilities? I thought they belonged to Shike and the others," I asked next, preparing for another attack.

"Running on reserves, it's extremely dangerous, so I can't do it a lot, try not to kill yourselves," Illya said. She summoned two golden sabers and they tightened around her body to prepare.

"Illya! It's so nice to see you here, after all this time! You know, Strand Girl and Gun Guy, Illya was apart of Quake before she betrayed us. You don't think she'd do the same to you?" Austin asked Carl and me, looking back and forth with his arms crossed.

The blades... I wondered what he was doing with them...

"Nope, we have Sky on our side, that's the only reason she would betray us. You should know how much of a mistake you're making, fighting us," Carl said. He pulled a level back on his gun and it sounded like brass tapping the ground and loud metal clanging together as he kept his eyes forward and focused.

"I'm not particularly scared of you, just so you know. I know what your weapon does, and I know that one of you is very easy to kill. All that's left is a rematch that you need to finally win, Illya. You could never win against me when we trained anyway, how do you plan to beat me this time around?" Austin said. Blades shot out into the floor from his shoulder blades, lifting him up into the air.

It was like every strand individually had a blade on it... was that the solution? What would Mandi think about here...

"How do I plan on beating you? Well, that's easy... I'm not. It's not my fight to beat you, that belongs to Gun Guy and Strand Girl. Who, you should know, is named Carl and Rin," Illya said.

She was speaking like our childhood friend at this point... it was interesting to see how much she changed.

"I'm going to be honest, I don't really care about names. What I do care about is making you suffer. I'm thinking... I'll kill you first, then I'll move to Strand Girl, and then Gun Guy. Do you remember how my Incarnation works? Oh, wait! You never learned! Then... I've already won this battle!" Austin said. He clenched his fists as the blades entered the ground, and to my surprise, he was dead-set on actually killing Illya first, rather than just talking to distract Carl and me.

Blades shot up straight out of the ground, piercing Illya's arm, which was extended for some reason, and then severing her opposite arm. It cut up through her face and left a ton of blood scattered around the field.

"HAHA! Look at you! You dumbass! You didn't even move!" Austin shouted out.

It only took a second, but Austin quickly turned around, morphing into Amy, and barely stopping a golden saber from decapitating them. Amy held it back with a blade, repeatedly colliding with the saber as it scraped and created sparks.

Illya regenerated her face, nodded at both Carl and I, and then ran at Austin.

"Look at you, dumbass, you didn't even move," Illya said. Her eyes were fixated, shifting into a red color, her hair following into white, and her fist cracking Austin's ribcage, exploding with strands, as a small crater was put into the ground from the punch.

Austin was launched into a large water pipe that ran through the city, meaning that water was now pouring out at a fast rate.

"How did... where did you get that strength from?" Amy asked Illya, brushing her injuries off and healing them.

"Not from behind you," Illya said next when I cut through Amy's chest with my katana.

She profusely bled as her organs fell out of her chest, and from the left-hand side, I saw a glint from scope, and a bullet whizzed passed my face as Carl pulled the trigger to the gun.

It went so fast and so powerfully that it cleared a hole in the steady stream of water passing through onto Amy, and launched her into the ground.

She violently bounced, right underneath Illya's legs. She smiled down at Amy with a golden saber plunged into her almost-regenerated body.

"I might've been the very bottom of Quake, but Carl and Rin here? They'll make quick work of you," Illya said.