Mirrored Glass

Ryker turns to his side, finding both Reapers with the same deepened glares and shadowed identities under the faded moonlight of the storm. Together, they hit Ryker and beat him to the ground. Different kinds of pain spread like the thunderstorm through his body and fill his thoughts with dread. A Reaper raises his body and throws it to the closest trunk of a car, watching as it rolls over the roof and falls off the side.

Ryker coughs off some blood gathered in his throat to spatter onto the wheel in front of his face. He rises again, gripping the broken window of the vehicle, and watches as the Reapers draw their retrieved pistols and gun him down. He stays low and anxiously searches the row of neon walls for safety.

As the Reapers edge closer, his adrenaline rises higher, and his pain begins to numb. He stands again, the Reapers inches from taking him down, and realizes the only way out is through. While both make it up to either side of his body, Ryker disarms one on his left, hitting his stomach and dropping their weapon by pressing on the wound from earlier. Ryker grips the soldier's body as it squeezes out a muffled scream, and spins around it to watch the right fire two shots into the body of their comrade. Ryker raises the weapon that the Reaper had dropped, showing that he caught it while the bullets were being fired, and shoots through the neck of the soldier he had been fighting with the whole time.

He sends five bullets to penetrate the black guardian's skull, making sure the polished glass helm can only be shattered from the inside. The other watches in terror, but the black mask they wear hides any emotion.

Ryker wants them to face the void that others are forced to feel.

He drags the corpse to take cover behind a streetlamp, carefully sliding to a small semi-trailer to take cover. The Reaper on the other side extends their metal wings, reloading their weapon, and fires through the hollow walls of the trailer. Ryker turns the corpse on its stomach and reaches for the steel triangle on their back. He pulls his body back with the edges gripped in his hands to rip it off, moving to the end of the vehicle when hearing the Reaper slam their weight onto the roof of the trailer. They scan the other side to find nothing there and send a growl to flood the vacant space.

The Reaper glances out to the street again, their black wings gleaming in a purple against a green sign on the wall behind them. They scan the street and any alleyway that branches from the roots of the bricks and glass ahead. Without a trace of their target, another growl leads a soft whine as Ryker flies to meet the Reaper and kicks him into the air, sending him off the edge of the vehicle. Ryker uses the roof as a platform to jump higher and soar into the air with the metal wings clicking at his will. He spins horizontally again, this time without anything to slam into, and fires at the Reaper that rolls off the ground. The soldier dodges the bullet with the roll and immediately runs to the nearest wall. Ryker controls the wings to steady him in the air, while the Reaper climbs to the wall and flips into the air themselves, launching toward Ryker.

As the soldier grabs his body, Ryker launches them both higher into the air, spiraling toward the storm, the neon of the wings shining brighter with the speed. He lets out a curse as the Reaper continues to spiral with him, hitting at his chest. The two engage in an intense fight, both throwing their fists against metal and bone, but with only a few of their hits making an impact.

The Reaper grips the top edge of Ryker's wings and gives an attempt to rip them. The metal starts to click out of place and fall at the force of the wind, and the Reaper reaches for the blade tucked in their chest to finish slicing the metal. Ryker grips their wrist as they spiral with a lack of focus due to the harsh storm roaring around them as they rise into the clouds. Even with the resistance, the Reaper still manages to cut Ryker's wings.

Ryker panics, pulls the pistol from his belt again, and bashes it into the Reaper's helm. A sparkled handful of glass is thrown into the storm, and the Reaper's helm displays a thick crack to ruin the perfect reflection of a lightning strike in front of them. The Reaper growls, and Ryker shatters more of the polished mask after bashing again. The Reaper responds by slicing at Ryker's throat, skimming his collarbone, but doesn't manage to get deeper. Ryker shoves the pistol into their chest and fires twice, the blasts lighting up the dark fog they soar within.

As the Reaper drops the blade and lets it sink into the sea of clouds below, Ryker swings over their shoulders to take their wings off safely. He struggles to breathe as the hidden stars begin to cover the skies again, but after a heavy snap and a roll, Ryker swings the wings vertically into place and drops to let gravity be his savior.

The Reaper follows him lifelessly, their arms and legs dangling without movement forced by the wind. As he becomes the purple comet that he once saw rushing from the sky, Ryker watches the corpse as it falls toward the roof of a nearby skyscraper. Flying over the glass structure with ease, he hears the thud of the corpse as it hits the edge of the roof and crumbles down to be splattered out on the street.

It'll be a reckoning for the rise of the Ikari.

Ryker soars and swipes through the columns of streets and buildings, towering over them for the first time with a heavy sigh of relief. The Reapers had held the title as the most powerful soldiers of the Kaiyo for as long as they existed, and Ryker just ceased two of them. Only four still roam the streets in search of their target, and Ryker knows the lengths they'll reach to find him now.

The Ikari leader flies toward a street a good distance from the neon downtown gleaming behind him. Rolling onto a rooftop safely and sliding down the wall of an alleyway, Ryker reaches the ground without the fate of death. He presses a finger on the edge of the triangular object on his back, watching as the metal feathers click into one another and slide into the container, the enclosed weight making him disoriented. Wiping the trail of blood running down to soak the fabric on his chest, Ryker walks down the alley with a mission still in mind.

Azura won't get away with the crown when it melts in her ashes.