The scarlet armored figure and the plated captain left the rest of the group behind, moving with purpose, the silence of the streets closing in around them as they ran, the ominous aura of hostile territory having no effect on the two seasoned fighters. After a time, the scarlet clad warrior chuckled, "I'm surprised. Not only was your sister's form spot on, but you didn't try to kill me for putting her down like that."
As the carapace like plates shifted, she said coldly, "Don't act like my friend. You don't know me. You don't care about me. All we share is a purpose." Her movements were precise, no effort wasted and not pushing her body in a way that would exhaust it. Speed was important but they were in hostile territory and now wasn't the time for idle chit chat or anything that would stop her from responding to a threat.
He turned to face her, matching her speed effortlessly while running backwards, his visor impenetrable and inscrutable. He said with a hint of hesitation, "I can see how it would look that way from your perspective. All I can say is that I'm more than a little familiar."
"I heard about your little group. I'm not interested in joining."
He was silent for a time, as if stunned by her abrupt and dismissive response. When he opened his mouth, his words caused her to freeze mid-stride. "You aren't a destroyer." Anisa glared the man down through her helm, her gaze an impossible to conceal beam of pure malice and outrage. Despite this, he continued down the road he knew he shouldn't, "You are a soldier, marching to war so-" She closed the distance quickly, her claws thrusting without hesitation into where his throat would have been, had he not done the same odd trick he had when he fought her and Sai, seemingly disappearing in flames before reappearing elsewhere. Still he persisted, "...so the rest of us can enjoy a cozy peace."
She growled, "How did you know about that conversation?" She didn't wait for an answer, charging him again, trying to see how much of this was a defense versus a reflex, her strike coming up short intentionally, only to see him staying right where he was. When she tried to catch him off guard with a kick he vanished again. She sneered, "Let me guess, you were watching like the sleezeball you are. An advance scout for the Falos before they killed him!" She could feel her anger flowing once more. Her grief and regrets, a shadowy blade forming in her hand as she continued her assault on the endlessly retreating man.
Before she could continue, he connected a hard punch to her gut that forced her to stagger, his tone cold and sad, "You are wasting your energy. Save it for the enemy." When she tried weakly to kick him, he vanished again. She took his distance to catch her breath. "As for Magnifico, you cannot possibly understand how much respect I have for such a man and his sacrifice. His death saved hundreds of millions if not billions." He paused briefly before he said, "It is the way a true hero dies."
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Anisa said with a lethal edge, hating that this man was even daring to use his name, "You are right... I'm wasting my energy. You are a coward. You won't fight for anything. Not for him. Not for your friends. Even at the tournament, you refused to fight us with everything you had. All you do is run away." She began to walk away but stopped when he entered what seemed to be a proper battle stance. She asked skeptically, and with a hint of bloodlust, "Oh? You think you can take me on?" She twirled the shadowy blade, swinging its eradicating shockwave at him, expecting him to run away once more.
When the shockwave made contact, it dissipated around him like it was made of smoke, a red and gold layer of flames around his right hand. She stared in disbelief when he said, "You aren't wrong. I have always hated conflict. I am afraid of it more than anyone else. But I have good reasons to be. The first is I know exactly what dangers lurk in the corners of the universe. The second is that I know that I can kill any of them." His tone became more harsh, "You are afraid of your killer instinct. I'm afraid because-" Her approach was swift but calculated, his reactive left hook just as fast.
The dance was as fluid as it was instinctual, her weave under his fist turning into a flip onto her back as he followed it with a powerful kick. Rolling to her feet she leapt up to lock a triangle choke on him, locking around his left arm, aiming her blade for his elbow. Where most would try to flex or pull her in a way that ruined her aim, he instead smashed her into the ground with immense force. As she felt her armor rattle from the hit and her new blade fell free of her grip, she felt a sensation upon it she wasn't familiar with at first. It was only as his arm was violently wrenched from her grip that she realized there was a chain of golden energy wrapped around her, holding her to the ground. It vanished as he walked away a short distance, before a seemingly absentminded flick of his wrist caused the same phantom gold chain to form between her chest and her fallen blade. As it sailed towards her chest, point first, she effortlessly flipped around it only to see it begin to curve towards her once more. Realizing it's new predictable trajectory, she moved quickly to catch it from the air. Flipping out of the way of a wave of fire, she responded with more waves of shadow.
He wove through her attacks, as easily as she wove through his, the damage to the surrounding city beginning to spread, despite the obvious damage, there was no aggression nor hesitation. Even now, her instincts were telling her this wasn't all he could do. It was only as she saw a gold armored form pulled to the ground by golden chains before it was burned to ashes by scarlet flame that she began to realize what he had been doing. She shouted, "Am I a joke to you?!? Even now-" in a burst of scarlet flames, his fist was in her gut once more, sending her multiple blocks down their original road.
He sighed, "You are the whole damned point..."