> “Justice of a hero is the way of making all shadows monochrome to become a pure light.”

“Let’s make a cloak, something cool that hides my face. Cotton is fine and a basic design that covers my face with a hood is good enough. Black dye should be added since your royal purple will stand out quite a bit.”

You visualize it, I’ll supply the energy. Same as always.

I reach out a hand and let Perenia’s energy flow through me, creating the cloak I envisioned. It is course and rough in my palm, but it will serve its purpose to hide who I am. I slide it onto my shoulders.

To my side, Blowout shifts with her arms crossed behind her back. Her brows are furrowed, and her lips pulled back, making her seem uncomfortable.

“I don’t like this. I know that you aren’t the enemy that others assume you are, but they don’t know that yet. I don’t like the idea of being around unrelated people that could get hurt.”

I ignore her, “Do you think other people will recognize you?”

“No probably not, I’ve never been in Breccia. It’s just that this feels wrong.”

Standing before us is a stone wall protecting Breccia behind it. Unlike the walls of Corundum, these are far less imposing. They seem to be made of stone instead of marble. There are a few guard posts that are currently empty. The wall is around 10 meters tall or about 33 feet. Why did I just do conversions in my head? I don’t need to be practicing math everywhere I go, not anymore.

An afternoon sun shades us from trees behind and makes looking at the white stone difficult from glare.

What do you plan?

“I want to try something new. I need to find out the limits of what we can do. So far, we’ve been testing practical methods similar to what both of us are familiar with. So how about we try something original?”

What do you have in mind?

“How about we try bypassing the wall completely by becoming intangible. It can’t be too much harder than flying right? It’s also one of the more discrete ways of overcoming this obstacle.”

How do you think we could do it? We need to visualize a way for me to fuel it, you know that.

“Quantum tunneling comes to mind… but no there is no way at this scale. I really have no idea. You make your sword sharp by ‘simply forcing what it touches apart’. Can’t you ‘simply make me be able to walk through a solid object’.

If I could do whatever I want by ‘simply doing it’ I would. I still need to visualize it, and even then it is much easier for concepts directly related to power—for obvious reasons. Even working out the construct I used for the sword took several years for me.

I scratch my chin, “alright then how about teleportation. We already somewhat do that with our ‘remove’ if that’s what we call it. We would just need to target say 10 feet in front of us instead of another dimension.”

We could only remove because you could visualize it and I have experience with dimensions. It took us almost a week to put together something that works. For new things we should consider it the exception—not the norm. Unless you suddenly have a stroke of genius.

“I’m not sure I can accept that as it is.” I kneel and pick up a rough, bumpy rock, “How about I visualize this disappearing then reappearing on the ground.”

I close my eyes, focusing on an image of the rock disappearing then reappearing. Deep Breath. Disappear, reappear. There is something in my hand now, make it so that it is on the ground. Perenia’s energy trickles into my body like a mountain stream. And in an instant, there is nothing in my hand. I grasp air to make sure. Opening my eyes, the rock is at my feet.

“There is it. That wasn’t too hard.”

While it is impressive that you were able to visualize it so clearly, it took quite a bit of energy to do it. If we made a solid construct, then maybe we can cut that down to something manageable. As it sits now, teleporting both you and the red girl will deplete almost all of my energy. We just got back to near full. I won’t let us be vulnerable if we get attacked, which is pretty likely all things considered.

“Hmm, that is a problem. I agree that we shouldn’t.”

Blowout shyly starts, “Umm, I can only hear one part of your conversation. Why doesn’t the teleportation work?”

I barely register her. “I’ve been watching the guard posts for a while, there doesn’t seem to be anyone stationed there. Realistically, we could probably just fly over.”

“Yeah, most walls are for decoration since the war ended. Any guards are probably inside the city. Fine, ignore me.”

I sigh, “Then let’s just fly. I’d like to experiment with new things, but the quicker we get into the city, the quicker we can blend in. I would also like something to eat aside from fruit, but that matters less.”

I put an arm around Blowout’s waist, “Do you want to fly?”

She gently shrugs off my arm, “Yeah I do, but that’s not the point. I can get up myself, thank you for offering.

“Alright, suit yourself.”

I picture Perenia’s flight construct, and soon enough my feet lose the pressure from my weight and I glide up to the edge of the wall. I put a hand on the edge to stabilize my position and to not have my head poke above the ledge.

Blowout crouches with one leg aggressively forward. She waits, not moving. I assume she’s gathering her energy from prior knowledge of her ability. If I didn’t though, it would look like she’s intensely staring at the top of the wall like it’s her mortal enemy while not moving the slightest. Finally, she bolts forward, kicking the ground before meeting the wall, scaling six times her height and making it look easy. She precisely jumps the right height and lands smoothly one foot after another.

Joining her, I crest the edge and briskly walk to the other side to be visible for the shortest amount of time. I step off the thirty-foot drop without hesitation. I trust Perenia. I offer Blowout a hand to descend, she might not have a way of getting down. She takes it and I hold her waist as I smooth our decent. There isn’t anyone looking at us as far as I can tell. I can’t be sure though; this is a big city.

In the brief seconds we fall, I get a good look at the town. Compared to Corundum, there is clearly less attention paid to making it look nice. Buildings have rust red roofs and white walls. Each one is three-stories tall and seemingly copy-pasted from every other one. The city is planned in a circle, with buildings being spokes from the center. The only building with any notable difference is what is probably a church in the middle.

We land on cobble road in an empty alleyway between the wall and a building. Blowout dusts herself off and nods to me in thanks. I slide my black hood on since it fell.

One step completed, now for the next.

“Do you have money, or do we need to find… alternative ways to get some? I don’t enjoy it, but pressing situations call for drastic measures. One way or another, we won’t be outlaws for long, I’ll make sure of that. But in the meaning time we need to stay undetected so we can make our way to the Goddess of Justice with as few people in the way as possible. You understand that right.”

“I have money.” She raises her pitch in smugness and pads one of her pockets, making a faint clink, “For emergencies.”

Oh, I assumed I would have heard coins jingling if she had them. The justifications for crime I just said is a bit awkward now. It makes since that she firmly secures them with all her moving now that I think about it.

“Then the first thing we should do is find a place to stay the night. From there we can find something to eat and resupply. Is that fine?”

She nods, “I don’t know where any inns are, but we can ask for directions.”

We trot around the inside of wall till we run into a main street. I Check once more that that the hood is over my face. All that is needed is to reduce the visibility of my profile of gray eyes and white hair from anyone searching. If someone where a few feet away, the hood would be near useless with the amount of light at this time of day. The biggest issue is that the concept of hiding your face is in itself suspicious. If guards/police try and check, I will either run away or remove them before they can alert others.

When we enter a populated street, I’m reminded of the absurdity of attire that people have in this world. People go about minding their business while equipped in colorful clothing probably related to their ability. Worrying about looking out of place is pointless. In fact, there are two other people in dark cloaks across the street.

As I mill about, Blowout is asking directions from a lady in a white blouse that has a semi-transparent pink ribbon from her shoulders to her hands. They finish their conversation sharing a laugh between them, and Blowout pulls my hand assumingly in the direction of an inn. A faint smile graces her lips as we walk through partially shaded clean streets. It’s a bit disturbing how willing she is to help me. My purpose is clearly against the country she’s lived in her entire life. Even if she actually trusts me, she should be far more hesitant to betray it. She isn’t a deceptive person, and she doesn’t seem to ulterior motives. There must be another reason.

Actually—why am I not just asking her. I don’t have to keep to myself like I used to. Wasn’t me restraining myself the thing I decided to stop doing after I lost control of myself?

“You are very possibly going to be branded as a traitor. Are you really fine with that, Blowout?

She stops in her tracks and doesn’t face me.

“Misunderstandings are always cleared in the end. If something goes wrong, I have no doubt that everyone can understand each other if we sit down and have a discussion.” She balls her hands into fists and keeps her voice level, “I’m helping people not get hurt, and I’m helping avoid a major conflict from spiraling out of control. If that means that I need to put myself out and be vulnerable, maybe even having some hate me. Then I’ll do exactly that. What else would a hero do?”

“Ideals are nice in stories, but they happen to consistently fall to practicality when reality gets in the way. I wonder, what would a hero do?” Perenia’s tone is mocking but I can tell that she takes her seriously—is she acknowledging Blowout for once?

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“I—I don’t know.” She looks down, “A hero wouldn’t let anything tempt them from doing the right thing. It doesn’t matter how bad something gets; one would somehow find a way to have everyone be happy. One would know that everyone—even the bad guys—no matter how terrible they seem, they are never beyond redemption.”

She lets out a sad laugh and looks me in the eye, “A proper one would probably find a much better way than what I’m doing, but I really don’t know what to do. If the goddesses fight, then a lot of people will be hurt. I should find a way to stop them, but I don’t know how. When I’m not looking, you seem so lonely, it’s hard for me to think that you really want to hurt anyone. So, I’ll trust you that your way is best.”

Naivety at its peak, but there is quite a bit a logic to it. If she alerted others to my presence, then I would have to fight them to get out. By helping me stay undetected, she is helping protect bystanders. The obvious answer would be to assassinate me. But I doubt the thought crossed her mind though, not that she could. Wait—when was I looking lonely?

She resumes walking and I check around that we aren’t attracting attention. None detected.

“You are correct that I would rather not hurt others, but that’s mostly cause I don’t want to face the consequences—physical and emotional. Right now, I want to want to enjoy myself and help Perenia defeat her sister. Through fighting, those goals can be united. I also don’t want to restrain myself like I’ve been doing the rest of my life. Aside from that though, I’ll do whatever I feel like doing. If you want to stick around and help others not get hurt, then that’s fine with me as long as you don’t get in the way.”

“I’ve already agreed to something like that, and I don’t plan on breaking promises. But if you start hurting others for real, I will have to try and stop you even if I can’t win.”

A smile curls my lips in amusement at the last part of her declaration. When I do, I’m reminded of the dried crusted dirt on my cheeks. I really need a shower.

Blowout stops, “We’re here.”

The building is near identical to every other on the route. There are a few characters on a wooden sign beside it which I think mean ‘hotel’ from what I remember. I follow Blowout in after glancing around to check for stalkers. None.

Blowout addresses a middle-aged guy in a uniform who lazily leans back in a chair with crossed legs as he reads a book. She asks if two rooms are available, and the employee tosses two keys at her, wordlessly pointing down a hall. I raise an eyebrow at Blowout as we head in the pointed direction.

“Inns are free because they are government supplemented. I’m not too sure why, but it had to do with encouraging tourism or something. Buildings are pretty cheap.”

She looks at numbers on the keys, and after two flights of stairs and a few turns, we arrive at our rooms. At the end of hallway there is a sign on a door saying something along the lines of ‘shower’ or ‘hot water’. Perfect.

I call to Blowout as I walk to it, “I’m going to wash myself, after that let’s get some food.”

~

Laying on back in a bed in my temporary room, I allow myself to simply take in my surroundings. Slivers of pale moonlight beam through the window in place of a sun that was there hours previously. There is a basic nightstand and a square window on the wall. The goal of this place seems to meet a bare minimum for furnishings. For the first time in days, I’m comfortable, have a full stomach and reasonably safe (not completely, keep that in mind, always).

I should be sleeping. Tomorrow, we are going to purchase supplies with whatever money Blowout has left before heading out to practice more. Eventually, once I’m ready, I will probably set up traps and an escape route inside an area. Then I bait out a few angels, removing at least one or two before escaping then repeating. All that to get eventually fight the Goddess of Justice in one-on-one combat. Gods fighting. I wonder what that’s like.

Without intention, Perenia’s memories flash into my eyes.

Lacing of white-hot iron spirals around me to make a cage. All while a lady with white hair that falls below her waist and crisp blue eye that lock onto mine is in the center. I pour massive amounts of energy into my wings to meet her before she can launch her next attack. Mid-movement I reach behind me making a barrage of deep purple bundles of explosives that fire independently of each other one.

She cancels her attack and makes a transparent shield that covers her many times over to block vivid explosions.

I make my signature sword, and she drops the shield to make her signature duel swords in pure white.

Striking, I pour my energy into the swords, and she is impacted to the earth with a boom.

As she falls, I form snaking chains that speed even faster and spread once they hit the earth to raise in jagged spikes, hitting her from behind.

She spreads her energy in two complete circles around her and have them explode in blinding rays, severing my links.

I spread my arms making dozens of pillars made of solid weight to rain on her. Each one a hundred feet long.

Clouds of dust obscure her. I feel my aspect drain portions of her energy.

A spear of glittering white bursts up and creates a trail of similarly colored flame that curls up trying to engulf me.

I grab the space in front of me and force it apart, literally splitting the air and making a wave that likewise halves both the spear and the fire.

The formerly grassy field we inhabit now lies barren and lifeless from our fighting. Fires are alight from the heat of our impacts. Deep gouges litter torn up ground from our missed attacks. Smoking craters lay from the ones that hit.

It will all be over soon I just need to land one good attack.

My sister makes energy in the form of enormous arrowheads around her and bolts to me with them following her.

To defend and counter, I make—

That’s enough. I’ve seen what I’ve wanted. I know how it ends.

I shake the vision from my sight.

That’s exactly the type of combat I want. Perenia wasn’t exaggerating when she said I wasn’t using her power to most it’s capable of. Now that I’ve felt it from her perspective, my body feels as if those movements are completely natural, as if it were truly me experiencing the fight. I have no doubt that Perenia’s memories will help improve ­my fighting capabilities.

“Hey Perenia, do you sometimes drift into my memories? I’m curious.”

She nonchalantly replies. Occasionally. When you’re doing something boring or are emotional it can be hard not to.

Rare embarrassment heats my cheeks, “Well, what do you think of them then. Most of them are pretty pathetic, honestly. Especially compared to what you’ve done.”

I wouldn’t say that, and I don’t think the you of the past would say that either. It doesn’t matter if thousands of lives are at stake or not, suffering is suffering. And you definitely suffered, even if it was at your own hand. I don’t understand why you went to such lengths to improve yourself, but that’s mostly because I don’t think you did either. She puts her hands on her chest. What do I think? I don’t ever give judgment, but you are certainly unique.

I silently stare out the window. How does one respond to that?

She puts on a devious smile. You’ve probably seen plenty of me, so I’ll turn the question around; what do you think of my memories?

“I haven’t seen too much, more like a few visions. That probably has something to do with how much I’ve been active. I don’t know about what to think about you really. Your mistakes lie in having a one-track mind, and not paying enough attention to people close to you. But I can’t blame you for any of those after experiencing what you have. The fact that you’ve persevered after everything that happened is incredible. More than anything though, you’ve been alive hundreds of years more than I have. In every memory I’ve seen, you’ve made more notable achievements in a few seconds then I have in my entire life.”

You’re hard on yourself. That’s one thing that’s stayed consistent with you. Compared to everyone else on your world, you’re far above them. Maybe even more so than I am in mine. You’ve assassinated a world leader, mastered nearly every field of study and won hundreds of world competitions all by the age of twenty-two. If you were born in this world at the same time I was, I wouldn’t be surprised if you would have conquered it by now.

Bittersweet emotions of self-pity twist within my stomach. There has never been anyone to tell me what I’m hearing now, despite how much I wished otherwise. Do I really have to deny it to be cool, or is it fine showing my pride and insecurities? My gaze shifts around the room, I don’t know what to focus on.

“Thank you.” My voice comes out more timid then I should ever allow.

I can say the same. I you hadn’t accepted my offer I would still be bound with what Yin decreed on my heart.

“No really, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up when you did. I had nowhere left to go mentally, and I was falling apart. I hate to think about it, but I might’ve done something impulsive that I would really regret.”

Silence falls onto us. A welcome cool permeates weak insulation of the inn, finally relieving the heat that accumulated through the day. Instead of drawing my limbs closer to warm myself, I stretch, allowing every bit of me to feel it. Air scented with foreign wood wafts into my nose, and I breathe it in to fill my lungs.

You’re welcome.

I lie back the bed and allow my thoughts to wander. Neither of us make any comment before I drift to sleep.

~

My thoughts the next morning are scattered as I make plans and contingencies for upcoming fights with renewed vigor. After breakfast, me and Blowout separate as I go to the market district with her coins. She goes toward a point near the wall that we agreed upon, which I will rendezvous to after I finish.

I want to have at least at least two weeks’ worth of food and survival supplies. I doubt that her emergency cash will be enough for that and I think she would rather not be involved in ‘alternative ways of getting a bit more’. Pickpocketing is easy if you know how to control attention.

As I move between stalls, an odd movement of a certain cloaked figure catches my attention. They coincidentally happen to move in the direction I go and happen find something interesting to the side when I turn. I’m not too surprised, with the amount of abilities in this world I’m more surprised that we weren’t found days ago. For the sake of Blowout’s efforts, I lead my stalker away from the crowded markets. To not raise suspicion, I keep my back to them while being on my absolute highest guard. If I’m reading the situation correctly, they probably aren’t connected to the Goddess of Justice, or there would be angels flying overhead. Alternatively, they might be looking for the credit or fame of taking me down. Different entirely, they might be an ally, but that’s being too optimistic.

I figure looks male with a medium build. From his hood peaks a strand of silver hair.

Controlled excitement bounds around in my chest, contained by the need of discreteness. My body itches for the flying that I’ve practiced be used in competition.

As I walk intentionally not looking at him, I hear their particular footsteps gradually closing the distance. Probably an assassin then. My sniper rifle is clear front and center in my mind. Perenia’s energy loops around in my palm. A few more blocks till we are out of the market.

Before I get there, walking footsteps transition into a full sprint.

Holding back will get me killed.

My purple sniper forms into my hand and instantly fires as I turn.

He dodges the bullet, before I make the gun.

His hood falls back to reveal intricate rectangular glasses and swept back messy silver hair. Certain Future. His face is opposite of the composure I saw on him usually. He squints in anger and curls his mouth in hatred.

My flight construct flows into full force, accelerating me away from him to give me room.

He keeps running at me in a recklessly bold straight line.

I make an SMG and fire it. Any would be bystanders behind him already get out of the way.

It shouldn’t matter the reaction time, 1,000 rounds a minute at point blank is unavoidable.

Yet somehow, he does.

He moves to the side at the perfect time to avoid the projectiles. When I overcorrect, he dodges into the stream of bullets making precise micromovements, not getting hit.

He is pursuing me into a T section, so I am forced to slow before turning.

Still with no obvious weapon, he enters melee range.

A sword appears in my hand as I swing it.

He ducks.

One appears in my other hand as I trust it.

He pinches the flat of the blade and directs it away from him.

Shock hits me. I’m losing in a game of predictions.

I have no choice but to dispel the swords and go for an action while touching him.

He reaches two fingers to my head. I respond with an omnidirectional shockwave of raw force to his core.

This hits. He is blown back, hitting the ground twice.

From my hands that touched him, foreign energy ripples through my body. My vision distorts as if my entire peripheral vision is filled with mirrors and I can’t focus.

I apply the flight construct in what I think is the same direction I was going before but end up colliding into a wall.

Panic surges through my awareness, this isn’t good, I was caught too unprepared. I need to get distance between us. My eyes dart back and forth. He vanished. No, he is messing with my vision.

I close my now useless eyes only to hear him jump at me. I raise my hands for another shockwave, but it’s too late. I feel two fingers spike the side of my head, and his energy crushes into my consciousness like a hurricane.

A voice filled with negative emotions sounds above me as I collapse, “That’s what you get for killing my sister. I hope you suffer till you’re executed.”

Colors of every variety flash in front of me and time seems to slow down. Every bit of it is trying to overwhelm me I can feel it. My mind is clawing itself from the inside out. It feels as if there is another person inside my head flooding my mind with sheer information. Wait—there already is another person in my head.

Feeling is if drowning in flashes of incoherent information, I reach inwards for Perenia. She understands. We link together. Whatever is inflicted on me is effecting my consciousness. If she lets it into her as well, she will be harmed as well but maybe it can help me.

The moment she shares the burden is like lightning. Every random flash infecting delusion upon me slows to form coherent thought. Time near freezes till every frame of reality is distinct from the last. The strands of the construct within me unravel making every bit of its code play like a tape recorder running within my mind. The scrambled static assembles itself into clear information. It is memories, feelings, sensation, anything that adds to the overload.

In attempt to process the incoming information, me and Perenia’s consciousness witness hundreds of flashbacks from the user that were certainly not meant to be decoded.