The more Valendor replayed the Emperor's expression as he flew at light speed towards the source, the grimmer he became.
His jaw clenched as his thoughts rolled out.
'He wasn't pleased.'
The Emperor was anything, if not thorough, so for something to make him cross, then Valendor could narrow it to a single conclusion.
'Whoever this assassin is, they must be skilled enough to surprise even the Emperor.'
Soon, the source came into view.
On top of one of the many tall glass buildings, he spotted a masked female quickly standing to her feet.
Along the skyline– tall buildings lined with reinforced glass– a testament to futuristic advancement.
Even with the dark clouds, neon lights and floating advertisement boards made the State brighter than ever.
The streets were empty.
Parked vehicles– Fibrecars and Kineticbikes hung at the side of the asphalt roads.
A kind of stillness settled in the world and above this, on one of the tallest buildings was a girl with purple hair and venomous, violet eyes.
A lilac armoured helmet with cat ears shielded her face.
She had been resting belly flat on the roof in a tight body suit and in her grasp was a horror of advancement.
A sniper that glowed with malice.
Its body was lean, deliberate and built for distance. Its surface was a startling mix of iron and another kind of ore, one that gave it a sleekened, rugged appearance without losing functionality. Its length would easily be that of, if not more than the girl who wielded it.
A purple light ran through its barrel like ichor– a liquid that hinted at something deeper.
And the girl behind such a weapon was no different.
Her gaze swept through the air. Her purple eyes glinted softly as she caught sight of the red lightning.
'As expected.'
She rose to her feet and kicked her sniper upwards just as the figure smashed into the roof like a battering ram.
The roof remained untouched, but the rest of the glass walls and further buildings weren't.
A domino effect spread like wildfire in a large circumference as glass walls shattered like ice. The sound was a supersonic clap that echoed, while crimson lightning rumbled in the night sky.
Valendor landed with one knee down, but slowly, he rose back to his feet.
His angered crimson gaze met shimmering violet, and the two were locked in a stance of sizing up.
[EGOIST– 4TH STAGE, INVOKER]
'An Invoker?' Valendor's shoulders squared down in a stance. Now that he confirmed his enemy, he knew he needed to move forward carefully.
Valendor was an integrator himself, a 3rd Stage, even, but he knew how dangerous an Assassin type Egoist could be.
Even with the disparity in strength, these cunning fighters can work around it with poisons and hidden weapons.
They weren't that far in strength, when he thought about it.
"Who sent you?" he asked with a low tone, but even his lowest voice sounded like an electric charge.
The girl said nothing. Instead, she tilted her head and lifted her sniper upwards as if it weighed nothing.
Immediately, the liquid purple began to vibrate violently as a bullet charged from the tip of its bonnet.
'Of course.' Valendor lunged forward, and an eruption of sound and air caused the world to surge with his every step.
In a flash, he covered the distance with his body crackling with lightning.
His fist came bawling down as time seemed to slow in a snail's pace.
In front of him was the petite assassin and in front of her was his fist charging through the air.
'It is over.'
Just as his fist came an inch closer, the girl's pupils constricted and darted to his face. Faster than his fist could move.
Valendor's eyes bulged as he suddenly jumped back, just as the girl's sniper changed direction and shot out its bullets.
The air where he once stood tore with a sonic screech as the bullet whistled into the sky and erupted in a storm of flames.
'What?' Valendor thought as he landed a few feet away from her. His frown deepened and he shot forward once again.
The assassin jumped to the left as he landed with a bolt of lightning. The roof hummed with an explosion as glass shattered on impact.
Her body surged with lilac Ego waves as she did so.
Valendor shot after her. Charge after charge led to wasteful manoeuvres that she evaded at a hair's breadth.
'How?!' the question thundered in his skull as she dodged yet another attack.
In the skies, bright crimson lightning streaks and a hollow purple danced a deadly tango.
She jumped into the air, her sniper pointing at him as it began to charge yet again.
'I shouldn't underestimate her speed.'
His body suddenly blasted into a black haze.
Ego energy surged out of him in waves. A smirk grew across his face as a mad glint appeared in his crimson eyes.
He dashed forward. The air warped and crimson lightning trailed in his wake.
The assassin's eyes flared as a fist came next.
Valendor smashed into her helmet with a wet crack.
The sky imploded on itself as she was sent flying down the Skyscraper.
A bone-shattering quake erupted and she smashed into vehicles and buildings, flying through layers of the city before coming to a halt on a fibre car.
The collision sprawled her form on it, denting its metal sheet like clay.
She looked up to find Valendor already upon her, his fist rattling with lightning that surged in a tidal fury.
He punched into the vehicle and the ground, causing a violent earthquake as cracks spread like jagged serpents. It reached a Scrapper and ran through its foundations.
Valendor stood straight as the building caved and began to collapse.
He turned to his left with narrowed eyes as the assassin seemed to reappear from a purple mist.
"Is that your form?" he asked, but it was more of a statement. "The void form."
The assassin stared in silence, her lips sealed by whatever invisible threads she wished to apply.
Her mask was no longer as sleek as it was.
The reinforced steel and ore couldn't handle the brunt of an integrator's attack; it had begun to crumble. Falling piece by piece to the ground.
Instead, she pulled her arms together and a sudden absolute stillness took over her form.
Valendor grunted, lifting his right hand in the air as a surge of lightning ran through it– slowly, a red great sword materialised into life.
"If you wish to carry this all the way, then I shall honour your resolve with my blade."
Just as it formed, he spun it in the air with relative ease before stabbing it into the ground.
The heavy weapon, at least six feet large, hummed with a violent surge of its element before the man seated his palms on its hilt.
'I've been holding back this whole time… but if we go all out, then there would be no point in it.'
You see, when Invokers fight, buildings don't just get pierced through, they get decapitated. In fact, Invokers' fighting could create chaos as large as a nuclear bomb.
But such a battle wouldn't just flatten the majority of the State, it might affect the very ecosystem.
Going all out meant turning the tides– they will no longer be fighting on Earth Supreme, but a zone cut off from the Zone of the living.
It was the reason why Invokers were one of the most respected ranks, and why Invokers– upwards were champions.
Valendor had his reasons for why he had chosen to restrain his power, and though the assassin seemed to do the same, he couldn't help but wonder why.
'Perhaps she doesn't want us to be able to identify her easily… especially since her face is hidden behind another mask.'
Indeed, even after the helmet broke, another mask stood in place. Black and made of silk. It was obviously created as a last resort and not a functional tool.
The air around the girl began to compress. It was like the atmosphere was warping with lilac shades taking root. The ground beneath her turned to butter– melting as if the heat spiked to unnatural degrees.
This was the power that marked the first stage beyond what was considered beyond man's reasoning.
"So be it."
The sky thundered as black clouds formed with ravaging crimson lightning. It became a canvas of destructive force and crumbling weights that rattled with the anger of the gods.
Valendor stood beneath it, a heavy weight settled between them.
Silence lingered for a few seconds, then—
"Insurgence: Hollow Lightning Prison"
"Insurgence: Zero Form of the Void."
They chorused.
A purple and black ball materialised in the middle of the distance between the two fighters– collapsing against themselves, before swelling with ravaging hunger.
Their forms melted and solidified. They stretched erratically like living cells, coiling on top of each other with a horrid hunger.
The sound was like matter collapsing– the sound of planetary bodies dying in the vast cosmos.
A white light shimmered from the ball, then it birthed a horrid explosion that began to unravel the very molecules of existence.