The street lamps overheard flickered, bugs swarming around it. A chill breeze passed through the street as litter and dust cascaded around everyone. Once silence enveloped the area, a blaring pull of the trigger signalled the start of the fight. A plume of dust was left in Archie's wake, his body disappearing from everyone's sight.

Rina threw herself forward, dashing toward the giant. Her sprint was monstrous, her upper body hunched forward as she flailed her arms around. The giant kept a strong stance, its feet deeply planted down. It raised its axe high into the air, the moon reflecting off the blade before it came crashing down. The asphalt shattered as Rina sprouted her wings and leapt upwards, the wind from the swing causing her wings to readjust to the change in airflow.

Crux's breathing was heavy, the burns still digging at his flesh. With blurry vision he plucked a strand of his hair out and pressed it to his lips, lightly kissing the hair, causing it to transform into a metallic staff. He twirled it in his hands, messing up the twirl as his hands began to sting because of the cold hard metal coming into contact with the sore burns. He winced but held a solid grip on his staff, with the giant in the distance swinging his axe around in an attempt to swat Rina out of the sky, Crux made his way toward it to assist her.

Archie made his appearance once more, with a deathly gaze, he teleported to Crux and dropkicked him. Crux swiftly blocked the attack with his staff, leaping back to escape Archie's range. It was clear this wasn't going to work as Archie pulled the trigger on his gun once more, teleporting him back toward Crux. His body tensing, Crux kept his guard up and blocked another kick, the shockwave vaporising the hold he had on his staff as he stumbled back, dropping his staff. Archie took the opening and aimed his gun at Crux, they made eye contact, Archie glaring at him with nothing but hatred. For a second, Archie's eyes twitched, hesitation allowing Crux to live one more second. The empathy Archie had quickly washed away and he pulled the trigger, a physical bullet erupting from the barrel.

A sleek silver bullet, etched with the date of its creation, flew through the air. It was dead set on hitting Crux's heart. With zero chance of dodging a bullet, Crux sought to lessen the impact but placing his hands over his heart. He was prepared to take the bullet but in the last second something stopped it. The bullet hovered in the air, losing all speed before dropping to the floor. Archie's eyes remained fixed on Crux, any irritation briskly escaping from him through a soft, breathy scoff. Crux's tense face lightened upon seeing a miracle come his way.

Eliowen stepped forward, his eyes still emitting an odd glow.

"A-Are you okay?"

Eliowen turned to Crux, scanning his body to make sure he wasn't hit.

Crux blinked rapidly, trying to understand what happened.

"I think so? Was that you, kid?"

Eliowen weakly grinned.

"Yeah... haha... glad I could-"

Before Eliowen could finish, Archie walked over and struck Eliowen in the face, knocking him back. Archie's attacks didn't cease, again he struck Eliowen, this time pounding his gut. Eliowen gagged and groaned in pain, although they were mild blows, to him they felt like trucks ramming into him. Archie grabbed onto the collar of Eliowen's shirt and started to deliver a flurry of punches into his stomach. Eliowen cried out in pain prompting Crux to take out another strand of hair and kiss it, a metal staff materializing in his palms.

Archie smirked as Crux jumped up and raised the staff above his head. Archie held up Eliowen to act as a shield. Crux's mind was too set on his attack so redirecting it or stopping it entirely wasn't possible. The staff struck Eliowen as he spat out blood.

Archie tossed him aside.

"You all there, bud? That was your teammate y'know."

Crux stumbled back, guilt chaining his mind.

"Eliowen!"

Archie teleported close to Crux and swatted him away with a fierce kick. Crux's staff took most of the force but he was sent flying across the asphalt. Archie shook his head in disappointment and turned to Eliowen, who was struggling to get up.

"Fancy powers aren't anything if you can't use them."

Archie kicked Eliowen.

"Don't think I can't smell it... you're a believer in that... time or whatever."

Archie kicked Eliowen.

"Is this what faith amounts to? How did Yuro fall for this junk!? You're pathetic! You and all of those inbreeding covenant junkies."

Archie put his gun to Eliowen's head.

"Go on. Show me where faith leads to cause I'll show you my answer, it leads you to the pit you crawled from."

Without warning, a loud explosion rang through the street. Archie and Eliowen were knocked back from the mysterious source, the rupture sending shockwaves down the street.

"What the..."

Archie got to one knee and looked up. Sitting atop an amalgamation of baby bats was Petra, smirking.

"So that's why the others would call them bombs."

The baby bats opened their mouths, the sound of an explosion erupting along with the force of a small nuke.

"HAHAHA! THESE BABIES ARE GREAT! Keep up the great work and I'll let you all share my food. Not like I can eat anyway..."

Archie teleported forward, his gun aimed at Petra. Before he could even get close another explosion threw him through the air into a streetlamp.

Eliowen slowly got up, his head ringing.

"Thanks... I can barely stand straight... my stomach aches."

Petra scoffed.

"There's no time for games idiot! You got powers SO USE 'EM!"

Eliowen mustered his strength.

"I'll try. I don't exactly have a guide on how to use these powers."

Eliowen looked down at his hands, he tried to remember how he even caught the bullet before. All he did was reach his hand out and the bullet stopped. Perhaps it was the fact he could see again, allowing him to control objects.

"WATCH OUT!"

Petra shouted to Eliowen.

Archie came back instantaneously, swinging his leg into Eliowens head and knocking him back down. Petra commanded the bats to shout another explosion but Archie narrowly dodged the attack by teleporting away, reappearing behind Petra and smashing the collection of huddled bats. The bats all spread out, flailing their wings to escape and regroup. Archie aimed his gun at the bats, preparing to fire with zero hesitation this time. Once the shot was lined up with one of the bats, his finger slowly pulled down on the trigger. Eliowen shouted and rammed into Archie, the bullet firing in a random direction.

Archie groaned as Eliowen clung to him pathetically.

"You brat! Get off me!"

Archie began to smack the back of Eliowen's head with the gun.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Eliowen kept clinging to Archie, taking the brunt of the assault.

"Please powers... do something!"

The Haab' began to glow and Archie's eyes widened.

"Please! What am I supposed to do?"

Archie grabbed Eliowen by his throat and slammed him to the ground.

"You're... a Haab'. Ha... haha... I only heard the legends. I never thought these stupid rocks would still be around."

Eliowen struggled beneath Archie.

"No! Let go!"

Eliowen tried anything, from imagining Archie getting punted into a wall to imagining a protective bubble shielding him from any harm.

"Damnit... why don't these things come with manuals... Please... what am I supposed to do."

Eliowen began to tear up.

"Mom... what do I do..."

Eliowen's nails dug into the arm Archie was holding him down with.

"What... do... I... do."

Eliowen closed his eyes—a void enshrouding him. Despite bathing in darkness, he could still see his hands. They had an ethereal glow, transparent yet the glow allowed an outline to be seen. He looked at his hands, they were free from any restriction. He reached out, grasping the neck of Archie.

"I-I can see."

Archie felt something wrap around his neck.

"The hell..."

Eliowen was still, his eyes closed and unmoving yet the feeling something sinister was going on enveloped Archie. Before he could process this he was picked up and flung across the road, skidding along the concrete as he crashed into a building.

Eliowen got up and opened his eyes, the mysterious glowing hands fading once his vision returned.

Petra flew over, the bats now intertwined to form a helicopter of sorts.

"That's the kicker! Don't know how you just did that but I won't question it."

Eliowen caressed his beaten face.

"Thanks. I think I've figured out the basics."

Petra looked toward the building Archie had been tossed into, wings spread out and a monstrous claw scraped along metal. When the beast stepped into the light, its red skin dripped with blood. Standing almost double the height of Eliowen, with deep maroon fur and black eyes, the fully transformed Archie crawled his way forward.

"To think some kid and a head would give me trouble. I'm wasting my time..."

Archie began to laugh.

"BUT I LOVE IT! IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE HAD A BRAWL THIS EXHILERATING! I spent so long tearing through lowly soldiers armed with muskets and swords, to see people with skill that rivals my own brings joy to me. In all fairness, I was toying with you. I was so used to people dying in one hit that I had to entertain myself during those 400 years. You've shown me I have to take this seriously."

Archie hunched down and spread his tattered wings.

"Let's not waste any more time."

Meanwhile...

Rina ducked between the legs of the giant, its axe grazing the hairs on her bat form. Flying upwards she dove back down, holding her claw out as she scraped along the armour of the giant, the speed of her rapid descent aiding in giving the attack a stronger force. The giant swung its axe around, not to hit Rina but to deny her movement. The giant would aim its attacks at where Rina would be so that she was forced to slow all momentum, giving a longer opening for the giant to hit her.

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Rina dodged out of the way, her claws colliding with the giant's armour. All attempts to scratch away at the armour were pointless as even Rina's most striking assaults made no dent. She continued to evade the giant, the slit in its helmet following her through the sky.

"RINA!"

Crux ran toward the giant with his staff. He implanted it into the ground and vaulted up onto the giant. He slowly climbed up with the help of his staff. By the time the giant had noticed, Crux put the barrel of his staff in the slit of the helmet.

"Harder they fall!"

Crux fired from his staff, every single pellet was ejected into the giant's head. Crux grinned, expecting a sea of blood to propel from the slit but all he heard were the pellets ricocheting around the inside of the helmet.

"Hahaha... ha... wait... what?"

The giant grabbed Crux, its hand big enough to grasp him by the stomach. The giant tossed Crux into the air, keeping eye contact with Rina. It raised its axe, once Crux came down it winded up its axe like a bat and swung the blunt side into Crux. Crux was brutally hurled through the air, straight towards Rina. They crashed into each other and dropped to the ground.

Rina slowly got up, unwrapping her wings from around Crux as he rubbed his stomach.

"Eurh!"

Crux held his hands up defensively.

"Sorry! I thought I for sure had it. I don't know what happened through."

Rina stood up, brushing herself off. She looked around to find they had smashed into a warehouse of sorts. Tall aisles of crates surrounded them. On the floor was a smashed crate of pillows, seems their fall was broken by this.

"Cruhmn. Nurp."

Rina began to rummage around the crates. She then pulled out a crate full of lightbulbs. Grabbing one, she began to eat it.

The crunching of glass sends shivers down Crux's back.

"Will those actually give you energy? I thought they had to be turned on."

Rina swallowed the last few pieces of glass, a little red returning to her hair.

"Nurh, Deruhn lurp. Jermn enourh."

"If they still give you enough energy then it'll be fine. All we need is enough to get out of here."

Crux gave a thumbs-up as Rina rolled her eyes.

"Oh and while we're here do you reckon you could fix me up? I'm still, kinda, in a LOT of pain."

Rina shook her head.

"Seriously?! Are you still doing that I won't bite into men thing?"

Rina nodded.

"But this is serious! I promise I won't go crazy but I'll need to be at full strength to help you."

Rina couldn't stare at Crux. She thought for a second before turning to him and forcing him to his knees. She dug her fangs into his neck and slowly began to heal him. The burns covering his body slowly faded along with the pain of getting hit like a baseball.

Crux felt a lot more alive, a surge of dopamine entering his system.

"WOOHOO! Nice job Rina."

Crux took his staff and twirled it effortlessly.

"Now where's that giant? I'm looking to show it a home run."

The warehouse's ceiling crashed open as the giant fell from the sky. It swung its axe around, slicing through the tall metal pillars that kept the warehouse up. Crates collapsed around Crux and Rina. Rina made a mad dash toward an exit but Crux charged toward the giant. Using his staff to whack incoming crates and vault over obstacles, he closed in on the giant's position. The giant attempted to bring its axe down on Crux but he parried the attack with his staff. The collisionc caused the axe to lose all power but also shattered Crux's staff.

Upon seeing the broken pieces of the staff, he instantly grew angrier.

"My staff..."

Crux's mind began to blur, his thoughts being consumed with strange visions. Memories swarmed him. Fears dragged him toward danger and bloodlust fuelled his desire.

"You really do want to die, huh?"

Mimi walked beside Crux, her plain white dress flowing in the giant's destruction.

"You gonna get him big bro?"

Crux took out another staff.

"Course! I gotta protect you."

Mimi dusted off her overalls and took off her gardening gloves.

"Once you're done, tell Aunty I finished putting fertilizer."

Crux nodded.

"Will do. Stand back a little would ya? Don't want you getting hurt."

Mimi giggled as she tied a blue ribbon in her hair, it matched the colour of the school uniform she was wearing.

"Don't be too long. I don't wanna miss the bus again."

Crux dashed toward the giant.

"Just watch and learn sis!"

Mimi watched him run off. Blood staining her hands and the hospital gown she wore.

"Go get 'em... Ed."

Crux evaded past the giant's attacks. The axe split the ground apart but Crux kept running forward. Strangely, the ground beneath him seemed to slowly rise, creating a bewildering staircase straight up the giant's head. Crux didn't waste the opportunity and climbed up to the giant.

"GOT YOU NOW!"

Crux raised his staff and aimed it at the giant. With no hesitation or worry he pulled the trigger, not once nor twice but as many times as he could. He continuously shot hundreds of pellets into the giant's armour. It made no dent. Every single pellet ricocheted back toward Crux and before he could move, a barrage of pellets pelted him. His body was torn apart from his own attack.

"Huh...?"

His eyes widened. The fury he had faded and the giant grabbed Crux.

"Wait... I didn't-"

The giant's hold on Crux's stomach tightened and with one swift movement, Crux's lower body was crushed like an empty soda can. Blood erupted from his mouth as the giant tossed him aside.

Rina's body tensed, she watched Crux be discarded like a deflated balloon.

"CRUHN!"

Rina screeched. Her voicebox straining and filling her throat with a strange black goo. She spat the goo out and dashed to Crux.

The giant attempted to hit Rina. She dodged and kept clawing her way to him. She knew healing him was a horrible idea, the side effects were something she hated to witness. The giant kept up the brutal bombardments, the warehouse breaking apart from its swings. Rina managed to reach Crux who was still alive, his pelvis, legs, spine and organs were all crushed.

She dug her fangs into him but his body rejected any more of her Vampire healing goo. She took him into her arms and flew up through the opening in the ceiling that was made by the giant's entrance. She desperately flapped her wings, trying as hard as she could to get him help. The giant reached up and grabbed onto her leg. With horror filling her eyes, she was dragged down forcefully. The giant threw her and Crux through the wall of the warehouse. The force caused them to burst through the wall and tumble across the street.

Rina opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground, beaten. Crux lay in front of her, blood still oozing out of him. She reached her hand out. It couldn't be the end. Not now. Their journey had only begun, was this seriously how it was going it end? At the starting line...

"Don't fret."

Walking forward was her. Her entire body was wrapped in bandages, and all but her mouth was visible. She knelt, gently picking up Crux and laying him in her lap.

"Hold on a little longer my child..."

She gently caressed his forehead, soothing Crux. Once he had relaxed she softly bit his neck. At first, his body rejected the Vampire goo as he had an excess amount still in his system but she slowly coaxed his body into accepting more by injecting small doses. Crux's bones snapped back in place and his organs rearranged into the correct places.

"All better."

Crux looked up at her.

"You... why did..."

"I apologise for my other children's actions. It is not what I wanted. Please. Find the loose thread in this world and pull on it until everything unwinds."

She stood up.

"I hope we can meet again my children. This world is so beautiful, everyone should experience it. I don't want death to be a barrier."

She slowly walked away.

"Until we find each other again. I hope... I can help you more. Goodbye."

She vanished, not a single trace of her was there anymore.

Crux got up, helping Rina to her feet as well.

"That was... mommy, right? The one in the wheelchair."

Crux and Rina both looked at each other perplexed.

"Why did she help me... ugh this night is just making my head hurt."

Rina then punched Crux in the face.

"What!? Why did you..."

Rina was glaring at Crux.

"I... Yeah, I'm sorry. I knew the side effects but I should have used my head better."

Rina nods and pats his back.

"Don't worry. I'm all healed now! Did you think some guy dressed like a knight was gonna take me down? Ha! Just cause I haven't been on Sundial for a few years doesn't mean I've gotten rusty."

The giant then slammed down in front of them again. It stood tall, its armour still shiny. The axe was just as sharp as always.

Crux and Rina stood side-by-side.

"This thing is one mean bugger... Can barely put a scratch on it."

Crux then remembered back to when he attacked it before. A strange staircase appeared below him and helped him reach the giant's eye level. But how exactly? It was like he conjured the staircase up from thought alone. Crux's thoughts were interrupted as the giant charged forward, its footsteps shaking the ground beneath them.

"Alright big fella come... here... wait."

It all clicked in his head. Two elements of this whole battle didn't make any sense. They couldn't make sense.

"Rina. I have a hunch. We need to run."

Rina looked confused.

"There's something I need to check."

Crux turned away from the giant and began to run towards the houses in the distance. Rina trusted him and followed closely behind.

Meanwhile...

Eliowen's feet hammered the ground as he ran through the tight passageways of a large factory. Pipes shooting out hot steam and puddles of oil blocking his escape. The more he kept running the deeper he seemed to go, all directions led to the same places and the distant screeching of Archie kept him alert.

"PETRA! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Eliowen called out, his voice echoing down the tunnels. Archie caught on quickly and followed his screaming.

"What is this place... I can barely wrap my head around this. Why does this feel so off-putting?"

Archie appeared and slowly stalked toward Eliowen.

"Enough of this place. I'm sick of these pipes."

Archie picked up Eliowen and flapped his wings desperately. He managed to lift off the ground but barely kept afloat in the air.

Eliowen struggled, he tried to close his eyes but Archie kept them wide open.

"Stop!"

Archie groaned.

"How many times are we gonna do this kid? It's getting real repetitive."

Archie hovered in the air, holding Eliowen up.

"I want you to watch your death. Watch the endless suffering I had to endure."

Eliowen kept struggling.

"Why are you doing this?! You can end this by stopping!"

Archie snarled.

"You saw why! That... traitor Yuro caused this. He abandoned us for his own selfish gain. When push came to shove he ran. I'll show him what death looks like. Something he never had to experience but something I had to experience for centuries!"

Eliowen's eye widened.

"I... I did see..."

Eliowen's mind was running over this whole scenario over and over again. He stopped struggling so that he could think.

Archie sighed.

"Doesn't matter now. You're only a stepping stone. Whatever hell you end up in... save Yuro a spot."

Eliowen was let go when he realized it. He hadn't questioned it before since he hadn't fully realized he even took part in it. As he fell, time seemed to slow. One question ached at his head.

Crux and Rina ran to another street, the houses barren, some had their doors open but most were empty, the windows pitch black. There was no sign of life in this town. Crux began to question this whole ordeal. Where was everyone?

Eliowen shouted, a shout so loud everyone heard it.

"EVERYONE!"

Eliowen tensed up. It didn't make any sense. How did he and the others view Archie and Yuro's past? They directly saw it and witnessed all the events but how? Archie didn't have any powers to give people visions so how could they have seen it all?

"IT'S NOT REAL!"

Eliowen looked around, surrounding the town was a massive black wall.

"THIS WORLD! THIS TOWN! IT'S ALL FAKE!"

Archie's face contorted to pure hate.

"You..."

The lack of residents in the town compared to when they first arrived, the fact they witnessed the past, and the amount of contradictions in Archie's words. They weren't in Mildry, they never were. They had been in Archie's parade this whole time. He warped their mind and used what all Vampires use. Deception.