Chapter 21: Power and Twins

Alex once again faces his sister in combat, only this he's prepared. He runs towards her with his scythe in one hand.

Rena smiles as she sees her brother's first move is a reckless one, however she became shocked when she saw dark red mist form in his other hand.

He fired off an eldritch mist shot which Rena had to block with her sword then before she knew, Alex was already in front of her and brought up her sword to parry to the incoming strike, she dashed to the right but he's on to her.

Rena gained her footing and attacks Alex, which he blocks her strike before covering his right fist with his magic and punched her down. He was about to slam down his scythe but she rolled out of the way to dodge before the attack hits.

She recovered and rushed him for an attack but Alex dodges and blocks them before he lands a counterattack. He used his scythe with his dark magic engulfed on his blade and struck her sword like a baseball bat which stuns her, then the second swing grazed her leg which caused her to grit.

In her anger, she swung sideways at Alex, who blocked her strikes. But her last attack disarmed Alex which his scythe flew out of his hands, however he's not done yet. He formed dark red magic in his hand and struck Rena, pushing back.

Rena was about to attack with her sword but Alex shoot it out of her hands with his magic, he swings his open palm sideways then three more sanguine orbs of eldritch mist formed behind him before locking on to her like a homing missile, she had blocked it but she staggered, he then grabbed her face and slammed her down to the floor.

He opened his hand and recalled his weapon to him. He used the scythe blade by her neck and stared down at her with cold eyes.

She then grinned.

"Do it...you know you want to." she said to him.

Alex seethes in rage and his eyes glow red, trying to decide if he should kill her or not. The Governor-General enter the room and frowned at the sight.

"Such a disappointment, I expected better."

The fact the Governor-General rants doesn't help. Alex raised his blade but his mind is conflicted, he started this path seeking vengeance no matter what. But at the same time, he thought about Lily's words. Could his sister really exist deep down.

After a minute, he finally swings with his might and blood splattered. However Rena did not feel the pain or a blade, what she saw surprised her.

Alex's blade dug deep into Caine's shoulder, his teeth gritted in pain and crouch down. Caine's face turned from a disappointed frown into an anger not from pain, but from his ego being threatened.

"H-How...Dare...You." Caine growl before slowly standing up while Alex tries to push him down.

"HOW DARE YOU STRIKE ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!!" Caine roared then punched Alex square in the face, knocking him down.

Caine removed the scythe and walked to his desk while bleeding to his steps.

"You...will...regret...this....All of you....will... regret this."

He came to his desk and grabbed the glass cylinder with flame inside it. He turned around and held both ends while he boiled in anger.

"The Flames of Chaos. With this...I SHALL BECOME A GOD!!!!"

He squeezed the glass cylinder with his hands causing it to break. The flame floated before it went to Caine's body, he didn't to be fazed by the burns, rather he smiled through it as the flames are absorbed to him. After all the flames have all been absorbed, a burst of light filled the room forcing Alex and Rena to close their eyes.

When Alex opened his eyes, he became shocked at what he saw.

Caine stood there with fire burning around him, his upper clothing torn left him shirtless. He has markings that glowed with fire all over his body, his eyes glowed with flames and the marking on his face looks like a crescent moon turned downwards centered on his forehead, with a straight line in the middle from it's forehead to almost reaching the nose.

"I WILL YOU SHOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU CROSS ME!!!" Caine roared with his godly power rising within him.

Alex was going to prepare an attack but Caine was already on to him.

"You're up first, you emo shit."

Caine grabbed him by the neck and lift him up. Alex struggles all he can but Caine threw through the wall which he crashed through the next room. He tries to recover but Caine conjures a huge fireball and sends it to Alex, blasting him through multiple walls.

This leaves Rena using her strength to get up while in Caine's office, Alden was nowhere to be seen, only his blood trail.

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Sara is seen dodging through magical projectiles and dive rolled underneath the table.

'This will take forever, I wonder how Alex is doing.' she thinks.

But her moment of rest was taken when the girl, who can control the debris, levitated the table she was hiding in. She ran before the table could fall on her and shoots a couple at the girl only to be blocked by debris.

The other two threw their magic projectile at her which she somersaults left then ducked to avoid, she shoot at them which some bullets grazed and wounded them. But she failed to dodge the incoming debris and she falls flat on her stomach.

She looks up to the artificial magic users with defiance. The girl used the sharp end of the debris and launches to the gunslinger to finish her off, but in the last second, ice erupted from the floor in front of Sara and caught the debris that would kill her.

She looks back and saw Nathan with his palm extended.

"Sorry I'm late, my men are taking care of the rest. Shall we finish this?" Nate asked while extending his hand to her.

Sara took his hand and he helped her up.

"Fine by me, I'm getting sick and tired of these three anyway." Sara replied in gratitude.

Nathan raised his sword, Sara points her guns while the three magic users stood there with their power display.

"By the way, I never properly introduce myself, my name is Nathan Wolfe."

"Sara Fisher. Mind if I call you Nate, Nathan is a mouthful."

"By all means, Sara Fisher, BEGIN!!!"

The duo charged at them as a team.

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Alex is having trouble with a monster of a foe. He was beaten, thrown like a ragdoll, and blasted with fire attacks and every time he tries to counterattack, he retaliates back. Caine is too strong to fight against.

Alex's back hits the wall and Caine immediately grabbed his neck, then he uppercuts him so hard that he went through a couple of ceilings until he's outside. His mind have yet to recover on what was happening.

When he did, he saw Caine bust through the roof just to get on his height level, he saw a giant fireball forming at his left hand, he launched it at him. He had no way of dodging this so he braced, he got hit and the explosion sent him flying to another skyscraper and crashed through the glass.

After crashing to a nearby desk, he pushes himself up quickly, his body may ignore most the pain but he can feel its lacking of strength. But Caine isn't done yet.

He busts through and grabbed Alex by his shirt and flew up while using Alex to drill through all the ceilings. After like sixteen floors they reached the rooftop then threw Alex down to the floor, almost reaching the ledge.

Alex coughed as his body feels numb from all the punishment. Caine grabbed Alex once more by the arms and begin to squeeze him, causing Alex discomfort.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS, YOU EMO PUNK!!!" Caine said as he continues to squeeze him further.

Alex grits with a pained growl as he feels the crushing and hear a crack. Caine showed an evil smile as he was enjoying this, Alex is about to lose consciousness.

But suddenly he heard Caine scream in pain and lets go of Alex. He recovers and sees a blade sticking out of his stomach then he was flipped over and he landed on the other side.

It was none other than Rena, she saved him?

Rena offered her hand to Alex.

"No one kills you but me." she simply said.

Alex took her hand and she helped him up. They faced Caine as he gets up and looks at Rena with anger.

"You betrayed me?!!!"

"No. I said I'm going kill my brother and you got in my way. And besides, you got something I want." Rena declares, pointing her sword at him.

Caine grits his teeth and roars in rage as the flames grew.

"Alex, you and I have a score to settle. So what say we put this loser to bed and finish this?" she asked her brother in anticipation.

"Fine by me." Alex replied before gripping his scythe with two hands.

Alex and Rena ran to the godly Caine with their blades ready.

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Back in the government headquarters, a trail of blood is seen through the hallways, and that blood belonged to Alden, who was critically injured, limping his way to see his beloved childhood friend one last time.

When he got there, he multiple bodies and blood everywhere. He entered the room and saw Shinonome, blood coming out of chest, and a pistol in her hand. She's still breathing, clinging on to what little life she has left.

"Yuka." Alden silently called out to her as he makes his way to her.

He sat next to her and had her cradled in his arms.

"We did it, my life's mission, our cause is at its end. But what cost...I'm sorry Yuka"

Yuka opened her eyes with serenity and spoke.

"Do you remember the first time we met, you saved me from the bullies. Then I swore that would stay by side forever, but I fell in love with you, I want to tell you that for a long time."

"I know" Alden replied with a voice filled with regret.

"I've known for a long time, all the dreams we could've had together. But I chose the cause over us, and now there was never time for us. Can you forgive me?"

Tears fell from Yuka's eyes an she smiled.

"I do. But that doesn't matter now, as long as we're together in the end, it doesn't matter what we do.....I love you....Alden Strahm."

It was Alden's turn to cry as he sees the light leaving her eyes, and he's not far behind.

"I love you too....Yuka Shinonome."

He closed his eyes and embraced her as he bleeds out.

His ambitions to stop his brother has come to end, and now, they'll make a new life together.

In the next world.

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In the fight with Caine, the twins are managing quite well together.

Alex crouched which Rena step over his back and downward slashed Caine which he blocked but took a step back, Rena spins to her left giving Alex a passage for a strike, which broke Caine's defenses. Alex and Rena never held back with their combo of attacks.

Frustrated, Caine smashes the ground and the two rolled away, but left flaming cracks on the ground.

Alex prepares another attack and rushes towards him, he empowers his blade using his magic then tries to strike him. But he swatted his scythe from his hands. Luckily Rena caught his scythe and threw her sword which pierces Caine, which threw him off.

Alex grabs the sword from Caine and slashed upwards, which Caine backed away creating distance. Alex jumps back beside Rena and the twins used their magic to empower their borrowed weapons, Alex covers Rena's sword with his sanguine magic and Rena engulfs Alex's scythe blades with her fire magic. The two dashed towards Caine and swings their blades through him.

Caine screams from the impact and fell to his knees. Alex and Rena swapped their weapons back then enters their combat stances. Alex runs to him and steps on his back, he positioned his scythe blade to his neck and pulled immediately.

But Caine recovered quickly and stops the blade from decapitating him. Alex tries to pull as hard as he can while Caine tries to push it off, locking them in a struggle. Rena took this opportunity to rush to his front and impale him through the gut, which caused him to scream in pain and loosened his strength. But Caine refuse defeat.

"I am Caine Aurelius Strahm! I AM A GOD!!! SO JUST DIE!!!" Caine roared as he released a shockwave that sent both twins flying and crash landed.

Caine's entire body is emitting with power, he looked at Alex, who retrieved his scythe.

"I will not be made a fool out of by little goth punks!!!" Caine snarled

He sends out a beam of flames from his hands but luckily he brought his scythe and blocked it by the staff. Caine decides to increase the intensity and Alex begins to struggle, before the flames overwhelm him, Rena takes a stand decided to taunt him.

"And yet, you let two goth punks get the best of you."

Caine stops his flames and faces Rena, that got his attention real quick, so Rena decides to mock him more.

"You're a grown man, wailing like a baby. Bested by his own baby brother, he even whooped your ass with his skinny little hands." Rena mocked.

"Shut up." Caine said in a low voice.

"You beat others when they reject you, like a baby throwing a tantrum. You bribe, cheat and kill just to get your way. You became the Governor-General, yet you can't even write your own speeches."

"Shut up!!!" His voice rises into a growl.

"You're all brawn and no brains. I could laugh that someone like you could become a very powerful man when you couldn't even beat people who are beneath you!!!"

"SHUT UUUUUP!!!" Caine screamed in rage and his flames scorch wildly as he charges to her, grabbing her neck and slammed her to the ground.

Caine then punches Rena repeatedly, but each punch feels like a bulldozer at full speed, she begins coughed out blood from the impact.

"YOU ARE NOTHING BUT ANTS TO BE CRUSHED UNDER MY BOOT." Caine said in anger, then he lifts her by her jacket. Rena looked like she's about to faint, she was ready to.

"I WILL KILL YOU AND YOUR PSYCHO BROTHER AND HANG YOUR CORPSE ON PIKES SO NO ONE WILL DARE TO CHALLENGE ME"

Rena then lets out a smirk and said to him.

"Oh really? Then where is he?"

This Caine brought him to confusion, but then it clicked him. He turned around to see Alex but he was gone, he understood now that she was distracting him so Alex could disappear.

Caine lets go of Rena as he looks around to find him. When he looks up he saw him, covered in dark red mist, his tattered cloak taking shape of wings, a scythe in polearm form and glowing red eyes filled with murderous intent.

Caine laughed, thinking an attack from above is useless against him. As he descends, Caine opens his palm and fire forms, ready to blast him to smithereens when he gets close enough.

While Caine is distracted, Rena drove her sword into his heart from the back, causing him to scream and his fires to disappear.

"You lost sight of everything, and that's why you don't deserve this power." Rena said coldly as Caine looks at Alex as the last thing he saw.

A silhouette of the Grim Reaper.

Alex rears back his scythe for a swing and muttered one word in a cold yet soothing voice.

"Die."

Alex cuts his neck clean through and his head fell off his shoulders, he lands down and soon so is Caine's body. Then his glowing markings died like a flame extinguished.

Alex exhaled and put away his weapon. Then the flame that Caine absorbed seeped out of his body and rejoined to its original form.

Alex was about to collect it but he was suddenly blasted by fire, knocking him back on his stomach.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that brother." Rena said, who was responsible for the blast, but the fire was weaker compared to Caine's.

Alex grits his teeth, plants his hand on the ground and glare at her as she walks to the flame.

"For so long, fighting and killing, making people fight each other, starting wars. In all my service to him, my reward is finally mine in the end." Rena mumbled.

Alex pushes himself up as she had the flame in her hands.

"The very thing I sought for, I now have the power. THE POWER OF WAR!!!"

Rena declares as she claps the flame between her hands, which splits into tiny flames that orbits around her. She starts absorbing those flames and it seeps into her, flames began to erupt beneath her. She closes her arms and once all the flames are in her, she releases a wave of flames.

Alex is on his left knee with right foot planted, his eyes widen at what becomes of Rena.

Rena has the same flaming markings on her skin, only her clothes are intact. The same upside down forked emblem is on her forehead with the lines running down the eyes and nose, and flames burned bright in her eyes.

The flames died down a bit and she exhales then grins in victory.

"This place is a mess." Rena said happily while looking around, when she laid her eyes on her brother she smiled.

"Let's take this somewhere else."

"Agreed." Alex snarled with his usual scowl as he uses dark mist to dash to Rena as she does the same with her newly stronger flames.

The twins collided to each other and in a form of dark mist and flames, they flew off to somewhere.

A place where the battle of sibling rivalry can begin.