Aetheral Space

Dragan Hadrien flew through the skies of Serendipity.

That little lobby had not been nearly big enough to host the fight that had come for him. Even the Arena of the Absolute wouldn't be enough for two opponents of that level. In a situation like this, the best recourse was the endless empty air.

Not that it afforded him that much protection, all things considered.

Dragan zipped through the air as a ricocheting trail of light, narrowly avoiding the thrust of a flying spear each time he reappeared for a moment. Technically, he probably could have recorded the spear into Gemini Railgun and fired it back -- but he didn't want to risk it. Unlike Gemini Dominion, Gemini Railgun didn't have nearly the same amount of protection against interference by what he recorded. It was entirely possible that Victory could continue controlling the spear as information inside Dragan's Aether, and there was no happy ending there.

So, for the time being, he darted and he dodged.

If he had a saving grace, it was that the two titans here to kill him were here to kill each other as well. This was not a two-on-one, but a one-on-one-on-one. Each stab of Victory's spear was accompanied by an attack from Victory's body upon Nebula One. Each blast from Nebula One's Chassis was accompanied by a block of Victory's latest barbarism.

In a fight like this, it was possible to slip through the cracks of notice. There were openings to be found for those with the eyes to see them…

…and the Prince had the most experienced eyes in the galaxy.

Dragan disappeared again as Victory lunged in, trying to tear his face away -- and then reappeared high in the sky, above even the tallest skyscraper of the city. His gaze set and his face flush with tension, he raised a hand and beckoned a starry sky of blue Aether concentrations above him.

"Gemini Railgun!"

It rained fire, blasts of force rushing past his enemies so fast they were nearly impossible to avoid. Nearly was the key word, though. Even though both opponents took hits as they flew upwards -- breaking armour and breaking skin -- they both avoided lethal blows as they closed the distance.

Gemini Railgun is forcing them to move in certain patterns to avoid the bombardment. If I just target the paths those patterns necessitate…

Gemini Coilgun.

The sky shone an even brighter blue as Dragan filled it with his fury, great roots of annihilation spreading over the aerial battlefield in an instant. To tell the truth, Dragan Hadrien had become quite fond of his Gemini Coilgun very quickly. It hadn't failed him once so far, and part of him expected it to bring a swift end to this battle too.

But these were the big leagues.

Dragonsbreath!

It was the work of an instant. Fei Long withdrew the infusion from his gauntlet and then infused it again, turning it into a brand-new Armament in the process -- one specialized for the situation at hand.

Hm. At hand. Very good.

With a flash of green light, the gauntlet projected a massive barrier in the shape of a spread-out handprint, blocking the oblivion light of Gemini Coilgun before it could reach Fei Long. It spilt over the edges instead, blasting wildly in every other direction as its targeting was thrown off, like rain crashing against an umbrella. It was quite the big umbrella, too -- Fei Long hadn't intended it, but there was enough room that Victory had darted in to take cover too, just a meter or so away.

"Hey, Number One," Victory grinned, his eyes wide. "How about it? This guy's a threat to us both, right? How about we call trucies until he's dealt with?"

Fei Long's blood boiled.

How many people had Victory killed today? Most likely, the number was already beyond counting. Even ignoring the total, the first of them had been Jamilu Aguta, a comrade, a warrior. Did the demon really think Fei Long would forgive that, just for some temporary strategic benefit? Did he think this was all just some kind of game?!

Fei Long's fury rushed up to his mouth.

"I --"

"Compass!" Victory giggled. "Fei Long's eyes!"

The fact that Fei Long was maintaining the barrier meant that he couldn't block as quickly. The spear slammed into his visor, shattering his helmet, Fei Long's long dark hair billowing in every direction. As the spear went in for the kill, though, Fei Long twisted his head and caught it between his teeth, holding it in place with his divinely infused jaw even as it struggled to continue its deadly flight.

"Ha!" Victory laughed, ignoring the fact that he'd nearly killed the only thing keeping him safe from the Supreme's attack. "Good dog! You like fetch, huh?!"

The Coilgun finally abated -- and Victory took his chance, rushing at Fei Long and slamming his shoulder into the first among Nebulae. As Fei Long was spiked through a skyscraper below, nearly bisecting it, Victory slapped his hands together in satisfaction -- and then caught his spear out of the air again. Smiling easily, he looked up at the distant and radiant figure of the Supreme.

"He's a pain, huh?" Victory nodded towards the distant plume of smoke Fei Long had left at his destination. "Believe me, he'll basically toss out a counter to whatever you throw at him. It sucks. How about we team up until he's dealt with?"

Far above, the Supreme narrowed his eyes.

"What do you have in --"

"Compass," said Victory. "Dragan Hadrien's weak point."

As the spear tormented the Supreme like a godspeed wasp, Victory swung his head back towards the collapsing building with relish. Saliva dripped from his lips. His easy smile had already malfunctioned into another feral grin.

"Don't think I'll let you rest, NUMBER ONE!"

He kicked off thin air, catapulting himself towards his target like a human missile -- and, far below, Fei Long did the same. He launched himself out of the rubble, an explosion of pressure created by his kick alone, his form becoming a streak of green light to match the pink rushing towards him. For a moment, the battle was just the two of them again, two opponents of equal ferocity and wit coming to kill each other.

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That was their error.

After all, they were coming for each other… in a straight line.

-

Gemini World.

Aether could move much faster than any human body, especially when guided by the wisdom of the Prince. Given the advantages Dragan Hadrien had stacked atop his soul, he had no problem evading the spear's pursuit for just a moment… so he could intercept the flow of battle.

He appeared between Fei Long and Victory, one palm pointing towards each of them, his makeshift white cloak billowing in the breeze like a divine mantle.

There was something about being so fast, Dragan reflected. If an obstacle suddenly appeared in your path, you had no time to avoid it -- you had robbed yourself of that opportunity. They really shouldn't have taken their eyes off of him, not for a moment. Even though these two doubtlessly knew not to approach Dragan Hadrien in a straight line for two meters…

…they had gone ahead and approached each other in that fatal fashion.

All he had to do was pop up in the middle -- and given how fast they were, a simultaneous capture was no problem at all.

Dragan Hadrien smiled.

"Gemini Dominion."

The white light began to clear.

"It's bright," chuckled Forgiveness Irons. "But we don't have the same kind of eyes. Baby… baby… baby."

Atoy Muzazi stared in shock.

Forgiveness Irons hadn't escaped the mini-Almighty unscathed. Far from it: the attack had flayed him from neck to toe, leaving only the black cloth over his head intact. Even for an Aether user, being stripped of your skin like that should surely mean a miserable death shortly after. But Forgiveness Irons was standing there, blood dripping from his form like he'd just gotten out of a crimson shower, and talking.

Perhaps that had something to do with what was underneath his skin.

Eyes stared at Muzazi, eyes in places they shouldn't be, bundled together like grapes. A grinning diagonal mouth bared its flat teeth at him from Forgiveness Irons' chest like a sash. Writhing tendrils dribbled pus from underneath his fingernails. Twitching micro-limbs peppered the surface of his body, unfinished fetal first drafts.

Muzazi felt like he was going to be sick.

His first thought dragged him back to that terrible day on Panacea, the day that everything had truly started to go wrong.

Gene Tyrant, he thought. Forgiveness Irons is a Gene Tyrant.

But no… this was different. Clarity returned to Muzazi a moment later as he pointed a Radiant at the monstrosity. This wasn't ascendance… this was disease.

"What are you?" he demanded, voice low.

Forgiveness Irons slowly cocked his head beneath that hood.

"You didn't hear? You were here. I saw you, though. I saw you, right there, all fury all boiling. I said it out loud. 'Honest Contagion'. I said it. It's my little surprise… now you can see the world the way it truly is, and now the truth can spread. Why wouldn't I use it on myself? Now you can see it, too. The Great Pig that rules the world. Vision like the common cold, a cha-cha-cha."

Muzazi's eyes flicked back over to the elevator, to where Forgiveness Irons had first dropped that severed head. It was just as the madman said: the lump of flesh was spreading out, having lost its shape entirely, infecting the floor around it and transforming it into something fleshy and wrong.

So this was Forgiveness Irons' ability: Honest Contagion. It forced the world around him to reflect his delusion of a mad flesh-god. It even warped his own body, too.

Muzazi took a single step back -- and almost stumbled as the floor subtly shifted beneath his feet, a low creaking noise running throughout the entire building.

"There we go," Irons sighed. "That's the way. I'm drooling on the inside."

"What have you done?!" Muzazi barked.

"I opened eyes on my way up here, little baby boy, I've got a way about me," Irons moaned. "It's a sad kind of history… but architecture has its limits. Flesh can only hold up metal for so long. Eventually, you've got to choose one or the other."

You basically had to translate whatever this brute was saying. By the time Forgiveness Irons had opened that elevator, it was already too late. He'd already used his Honest Contagion further down in the Seat of Man, on the supporting structure -- and now those supports of flesh were failing under the weight of the building above.

This whole place could come down.

"Why?" Muzazi muttered. "You're in the building, you fool. You'll die too."

"I'll dance," Irons sighed. "And I'll dance… but oh, I'll never die. I don't mean to be lewd, but when you hit me with that last one… I sort of arrived. You'll miss next time. A-cha-cha-cha."

Words were useless.

Only blades had a place here.

Atoy Muzazi took a deep breath…

…and darted forwards.

The world was white.

The world was empty.

The world was blank.

Victory whistled to himself as he floated through the void, hands clasped together, legs crossed -- somehow even more unmoored from gravity than usual. This was Gemini Dominion, right? Victory remembered seeing it from behind Jamilu's cowardly eyes. More impressive on the inside.

Ah, well, he thought, closing his eyes as if he were beginning to meditate. If it's got rules, I can break 'em. Conquest, roll out the answer.

Nothing.

Victory opened one eye a crack.

Conquest?

Still nothing.

Ah, Victory thought, looking down at his hands. I see.

His hands, clasped together, not holding his spear. It had been left behind, left outside in the real world. He could even feel it, in the back of his head, sending him a signal from outside this nonexistent space. He could control it still, but it couldn't reach him here. Compass and Conquest were out of his reach.

Well, no biggie. He'd killed nastier foes with just his flames.

Victory opened both his eyes and spread his lips into a confident grin -- and then that grin froze.

Dragan Hadrien was looking down at him…

…but not as he'd been outside. Now, inside the palace of his mind, his form was as big as the sky. His long cloak took up the stretching horizon. His cold eyes replaced the burning stars. When he raised a hand, ready to bring it down on Victory far below, it looked for all the world like he was doing nothing but swatting a fly.

Casually, Victory glanced off to the side, where Fei Long had just arrived. He'd flown to this part of the Archive on wings of fire, clearly intending a sneak attack on Victory -- but the sight of the massive Supreme had obviously caught him off-guard too. Slowly, his wide gaze returned to Victory's cocky smirk.

Victory shrugged cheekily. "Truce?"