A Chilly Night

"Nowhere to run, boy." A frigid blast of air bashed Alan into a wall. Arthur stood before his son with his blade covered in ice. Alan used his sword to help him stand up. He stared straight into his father's eyes. Arthur dashed forward, grabbed Alan's neck, and slammed him into the wall. Alan struggled in vain as black markings appeared on his own body.

"Heh heh heh," Arthur gave a dry laugh. "This was quite the goose chase, but you shall die now." Fear had now overcome Alan's mind. He stopped struggling as Arthur's icy blade was pressed against his chest. Arthur slowly forced the broken blade into his chest. As blood stained his hoodie, black markings overtook his left hand. Alan uncontrollably raised his left hand, and a small ball of fire appeared from it. With that same hand, he punched Arthur in the face. Arthur's face sizzled as he jumped back. A thick layer of ice melted off his face as he stared at Alan. With a crazed smile painted on his face, he spoke. "Well, to think you had a trump card." Alan held his neck with his right as he gasped for air. The black marks diminished a little, allowing Alan to regain control of his left hand.

"Don't hesitate," Alice said firmly. "Controlling your corruption isn't easy."

Alan nodded and leaped at Arthur. Arther tried to slash at his incoming attacker. However, Alan used his left hand to blast himself past the range of his blade. Alan spun behind Arthur and punched the man's back with a fist covered in flames. The air hissed as Arthur disappeared into an aqua mist. Alan failed to land his attack and threw his arm into the air at full force. A sharp pain traveled down his arm. With his mind focused on his arm, Arthur appeared behind him and thrust his dragger at Alan. The blade easily pierced through the skin, and Arthur heard a satisfying cough of blood. However, when Arthur looked back at Alan, he noticed his sword wasn't in him. Blood flew across Alan's face as he flew towards a nearby wall after being shoved. The one stabbed by the blade gave Arthur a bloodthirsty stare as he gripped the sword that punctured his stomach.

"A-Apollo?" Before Alan slammed into the wall, he used a small explosion to cushion the impact. Exhausted, Alan fell to his knees, looking at the man who saved his life.

"This is why I hate greenhorns. You guys have no combat awareness." Apollo kept his hand on the blade, ignoring the blood dripping from it. "Just sitting there like a deer in headlights whenever something goes wrong." Arthur tried to yank the sword out of Apollo's death grip. "Alan, you have a job to complete. Don't just sit there and wait after I die to die." Apollo stared Arthur in the eyes as a sharp smile grew. "You have a long day before you. Get some rest and tackle it better than you tried to handle your father. The government is setting you up." A red mist appeared around Alan's hand. A small blooded implant dropped into his hands. "Here is my implant drive. Seeing that you don't have one, consider this a gift." Apollo released Arthur's blade, sending him staggering backward from the force he pulled with. Before Arthur could recover, Apollo zipped behind him and slammed him into a wall with a powerful kick. A blast of cold air hit Apollo, damping his vision. "The data on that implant is related to Ouroboros and Project Alpha. Use that as you see fit."

As the icy mist swathed Apollo, Arthur recovered from being knocked down and dashed into the mist. The silver moonlight reflected off his blade, enabling Apollo to parry Arthur's attack with a kick to the face. However, he failed to see the giant icicle behind Arthur. Arthur smiled and ducked as the icicle flew and impaled Apollo's throat. With a confused look, Apollo coughed up blood before turning towards Alan. With his dying breath, he faced Alan.

"Go…"

"Alan," Alice said, "let's go now."

Watching someone die for his sake, Alan bit his upper lip and froze time. "Prohibere tempus!" Alan ran past the two men, frozen in time, "Thank you…." As time resumed, Alan sprinted to the NaviCafe, which happened to be nearby and went inside to rest. Alan always carried a spare key to the place in case he had to maintain the furniture whenever the cafe was closed. Overloaded with the emotions from the fight and exhausted from recovering from the last battle, Alan carried himself to one of the changing rooms and collapsed.

~~C~~

"..." Isabelle put her recorder away after seeing Alan vanish from the area.

"Not gonna continue?" Chronos asked after seeing she put her recorder away.

"This is enough. I'm more concerned about the public's view of this fight." Chronos tilted his head. Isabelle opened her holographic display and read the comments from the fight she broadcasted. With an annoyed look, she scratched her head. "These people are unbelievable! This fight is happening right in their city, yet they all believe it's fake."

Chronos gave her a pitying look. "Looks like history only repeats." Chronos balled his fists.

"What do you mean?"

"Sorry, but I'd rather not explain things over and over, so I'm gonna wait until the loop that he succeeds to tell you."

Isabelle sighed. "Whatever. I have enough information for now. I'll see you around, or probably not. Who knows?" She walked to the building's rooftop entrance and left the area.

"Project Alpha." Chronos stared at the corpse that belonged to Apollo. "Pupagenti, I hope you and that bastard are happy down there in hell. The seeds you've planted into the minds of man have sprouted, and now another holy war will start."

"We wasted all that time and effort we put into stopping this from happening. It's a shame, but we reap what we sow." Chronos' voice shifted into a more nonchalant one. Chronos then looked down at Arthur, who gave a crazed laugh as frozen tears fell from his eyes. He then disappeared from Chronos' sight and roamed the streets.

"Alan, let us see if you can overcome the desire of mankind." Chronos faded away.

~~E~~

"Apollo…" Apollo's name echoed throughout the room that the girls resided in. While they slept, sirens blasted throughout the city, alerting the city of mandatory lockdown. Police roamed the streets, forcing people into the nearby buildings. However, despite the critical situation, none of the policers carried weapons.

"Renne…" Evangela held onto Renne. Renne was speechless after watching the man she looked up to kill a close friend.

"I'm guessing you two know who those two other men were?" Maria asked while turning off the TV that broadcasted the fight. "But why was Alan in there too?"

"Yes, we know them. But…," Renne paused for a moment, "But why did Arthur kill Apollo?" She ignored Maria's second statement.

"..." Maria knew the answer to her question, but she was hesitant. She saw the look on her face and knew she couldn't let her live without the answers. "Hey...Renne, I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I lied. I heard the most important part of their conversation and didn't tell you because Apollo asked Alan to protect you." Maria gave Renne a deep bow as she quickly told her what had happened.

"So Arthur had been corrupted, and Apollo wanted me to stay out of the situation." Renne sat down to process what Maria had told her. "So Arthur is completely lost?"

"Alan is corrupted, right?" Evangela chimed in, "So maybe-"

"No." Renne cut her off. Her face was tense as she clutched the hem of her shirt. "He's a special case. Corruption is not normally something one can recover from. And you saw it too; Alan was having difficulty controlling his emotions earlier. Which means that he is still corrupted."

The three girls sat in silence, pondering on what to do. "Well…" Evangela was the first to break the silence, "I don't think we should get involved."

"I agree," Maria chimed in.

"I guess we should let them fight it out," Renne gave in. "I just hope Alan survives." Evangela stared at Renne with pity; seeing her fragile state hurt her. Bouncing from person to person to keep herself sane was not something Evangela could agree with, but she was powerless to do anything about it.

As the girls were getting ready to return to bed, they heard loud footsteps outside the door. Renne recognized those steps and pulled out her scythe. As the steps reached the door, they heard dry laughter coming from the other side of the door.

"Heh heh heh," a burst of cold air entered the room. "Now then, who shall be the bait?" A large icicle came flying from the door and impaled Maria.

"Maria!?" Evangela rushed to her side, only to find out she had passed.

"Oops, looks like one died." Artur walked into the room. "Heh heh, so who wants to be next?" He said while an aqua mist engulfed the area, freezing the room.

"So now you can use nanomasses to their fullest," Renne said while trying to plan a way to attack Arthur. "Hey, old man, I hope you are ready to die." Renne charged at Arthur. The two clashed for a while, leaving Evangela crouched near Maria's body, fearing for her life.

"Alan, please help us." She cried out.

"Heh heh, salvation will not come for you," Arthur shook off Renne's attack and impaled Evangela, "Only death awaits a sinner such as yourself, Envy."

"EVA!!!" Renne charged at Arthur with blind rage. Arthur turned his head and raised his left arm. Renne's legs froze in place. Ignoring her situation, she still swung her scythe, hoping to land a hit.

"You're a sinner too, Wrath, but I can still use you." Arthur sliced off Renne's legs and froze her open wounds. "You have a significant role to play." Arthur then knocked Renne out. Her weapon dropped to the floor, and Arthur tried to pick it up. The blade of the scythe grew and impaled his hand. Arthur froze the weapon and walked over to Evangela, who was gasping for air. "The one who resides in you is a nuisance to our plan, so die." Arthur froze Evangela's head with lifeless eyes and smashed it to pieces.