Silver Moonlight (Renne)

A cold silver moon overlooked the City of New Providence as a citywide lockdown order was issued to limit the number of civilians caught in the crossfire. On top of a large building located in the Southern District, stood an aqua spirit with a disconcerting look on his face. He overlooked a well-lit factory roof that housed twin female martial artists punching small silver dolls. As their punches soared through the air, flames wrapped themselves around their fists as they made contact with the mechanical dolls. The heads of the dolls were blown off by the impact of the punches, leaving just the body on the dolls to just drop dead on the ground.

"..." Chronos overlooked the fight. "So the snakes got involved."

"That's what it looks like," Loki said using Chronos's mouth. "Though I do have to wonder; where did they find that artifact?"

"The twin dragons." Chronos carefully examined the two women who now walked up to a figure wearing a silver mask. One of the twins rammed her fist into the figure's chest and blood poured all over the rooftop. She then dropped the corpse and used the figure's shirt as a cloth to clean her hand. "During the war, that artifact was destroyed. Though if the snakes have their hands on it, they probably have the means to recreate the weapons lost during the war."

"Even if they can recreate the weapons, how did they find the remains of them?"

"They don't need to find them-" A large mechanical sound echoed throughout the area as the masked figure fell lifelessly to the ground. Black markings wrapped themselves around the masked figure and a pained scream followed. "Just like us and the Crimson Princess, though we weren't broken. The souls of the weapons wandered the world as they waited for mankind to resume the end. The end we created." The masked figure's body morphed into a large mechanical doll that towered all the nearby factory buildings. The roof and the factory that the twins and the large doll stood on collapsed due to the weight of the large doll.

"I guess you have a point, Mr. 'creator of the anti-god weapons.'" Loki said with a mocking tone.

"Says the traitor." The two then sat quietly as the large mechanical doll suddenly stopped moving. The twins fighting the doll backed off cautiously as black markings began to grow on the large silver doll.

"The witching hour has begun." Loki grew a devilish smile. "Let's see if that boy can overcome this trail.

"You say that but you are just like me, you want Alice's soul." Chronos turned towards the moon that overlooked the city of sinners.

"Yeah, but unlike you, I want to extract her from that boy's corpse. I don't want that failure of a sinner to house her. Alice is too precious to be housed in such a wishy-washy excuse of a man. But, if that boy went on a killing spree and abused his powers, then maybe I would side with him." Loki's tone shifted that of an old creep trying to strike a deal with his newest victim.

"Well, good luck with that plan, Loki." Chronos rolled his eyes as he turned back to the fight. "Tch, I only looked away for a second." As he turned back to look at the twins, he spotted a large silver doll that was slouched against a destroyed factory, riddled with small holes that destroyed the gears within the doll. Next to the twins was a man dressed in black carrying two oddly shaped guns in both of his hands, casually talking to twins.

"To think that her silver giant was so quickly destroyed by those snakes," Loki said with a demeaning tone of disappointment.

"Yeah…during the war, it took like a whole squadron to challenge one" Chronos then turned away from the three and jumped off the building, vanishing into an aqua blue mist.

~~~R~~~

Meanwhile in another part of the Southern District, just before the giant silver doll was killed, Renne and Sawyer sat in hiding as a large metal doll patrolled the area. The large mechanical doll had a large scar that revealed the main gear system on its back. As the doll moved, it moved in a way that it would be able to easily turn around in case something tried to attack from behind.

"Tch, no good opening." Renne carefully watched the doll as it moved. She stood close to the wall with her weapon by her side. A purple mist surrounded the weapon's tip and transformed the empty head into a black halberd.

"That's a pretty neat ability you got there," Sawyer said while standing behind Renne with a rusted pipe in hand.

"I suppose it is, but all the weapons that this can transform into are all pole-like weapons that are the same size as me." Her expression relaxed and she moved deeper into the hiding area. "All I want is my scythe, but I can't seem to recreate that."

"Hey, cheer up," Sawyer tried to raise her morale, "At least you can repair and transform your weapon."

"Yeah, I guess." She then held her weapon out in front of her and looked at the black halberd head. "Though, I wonder why I can do this. Usually, wielder weapons are irreparable without entering the dream."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it. Just wielder things." Renne noticed Sawyer's confused demeanor and tried to end the conversation there. As the two finished, a loud screaming noise echoed through the air and the large silver doll that was searching for Renne and Sawyer, bolted out of the area. Renne gave chase to the doll via rooftop but lost where it went as it seemed to just vanish. She then went back towards Sawyer who was out of breath trying to catch up to her from the ground.

"Please….slow down…." Sawyer looked at Renne with a begging look.

"Sorry, curiosity got the best of me. But I lost where the giant doll went."

"How do you lose a LARGE DOLL?" Sawyer gave Renne a look of disappointment.

"Look, it's dark and the Southern District isn't known for its nightlife."

"Hmmm…" Sawyer continued his condescending stare as Renne looked away.

"Look, if it is so easy to track down a large doll, then why didn't you give chase?"

"Cuz I'm old."

"I hate you." Renne then summoned a purple mist and placed her weapon inside. She then faced towards the heart of the Southern District and then began to walk near the shadows cast by the buildings. "The doll went this way. And judging by the echoing scream that the doll responded to, we should be able to investigate the area within a few minutes. Sawyer nodded and followed Renne through the shadows while avoiding robots and cameras that scan the area.

After walking for a while, Renne swung out her arm, stopping Sawyer from moving. She then turned towards him and placed a finger on her mouth as she crouched down. As they moved closer, the ground began to shake as the sound of clashing metal and the muffled gunfire grew louder. The area they found themselves in was a metallic battlefield that was littered with the corpses of silver dolls and destroyed buildings. Renne looked around the area and noticed something very off-putting.

"These bullet holes are too big." Renne examined a silver doll and noticed a large hole in its chest. She moved closer to the doll and then a large echoing scream was heard coming from in front of them. After the scream, a loud crash followed. Renne and Sawyer both hid in a destroyed building after they heard the crash and three figures approached the building. The small group consisted of two women and a man. The two women were twins that wore a very revealing red silk top with their breasts being covered by a tight breast wrap instead of a bra. They wore small, tight, reflective black shorts and they had red hair fixed in a ponytail fixed on opposite ends of the other. Due to this, it was easy to tell the twins apart. The twins also had a dragon scale bracelet on the same arm that their ponytail was on. As the twins walked closer to the building, Sawyer began to grip his pipe fearing the worst as he spotted an Ouroboros Execution branch emblem on their girls' shoulder opposite of their ponytail. Then all three of them stopped and the man pulled out two guns and shot them at both Renne and Sawyer's feet.

"The little princess and an old man. What a surprise to meet you here." Onyx said while keeping his guns locked on the two.

"Tch," Renne walked out of the cover she was hiding behind and Sawyer followed closely behind. She then called her mist and pulled out her metal pole.

"Whoa there little princess, the kill order was put on hold. I'm not here to fight."

"You say that but even if a kill order is on hold, you are still allowed to kill the target for the bounty." Renne stared at Onyx with killing intent as the twins took a fighting stance in front of Onyx.

"As I told you before, unless I receive a personal order from the director to kill you, I have no interest in hunting you." He then placed his guns back into the holders on his sides and placed his hands on the twins' shoulders and smiled at them.

"Hmm…" The right twin gave an audible sound of concern.

"Whatever you say." The left twin reluctantly agreed.

Renne followed by putting her weapon away while Sawyer kept his by his side. Onyx then tried to walk forwards to get closer to Renne, however, Renne walked backward, maintaining the original distance between the two. Onyx gave a deep sigh of disappointment as he sat down on a large stack of bricks.

"Anyway, I'm sure you are wondering what the hell is going on, no?" He stared at the overly cautious duo as he began to explain the situation. "...So in other words, the city found a being of the past and decided to let her run an experiment, aka catching the sinners, on the city. Or so our intel says at least"

"So all of us sinners are targets?" Renne asked after processing the intel given to her.

"Yup." Onyx then stood up to stretch, "But to make matters worse, the whole city is under lockdown. Not just to stay at home, but everyone is forbidden to enter or exit the city's borders-"

"Sir?" The right ponytailed twin interrupted him with a soft tone.

"Why are you telling Blacken Scythe all of this?" The left ponytailed twin continued with an aggressive tone.

"Pffff-" Sawyer gave a muffled laugh behind Renne, completely forgetting his worries about being near three dangerous criminals. "Blacken Scythe? What type of edgy teenager name is that? Not even Alan thinks of things like this and he's just edgy by nature."

"It's a long story." Renne's face showed a slight hint of embarrassment as she tried to explain herself. "The name comes from my usage of the scythe. Though I don't really remember where the 'Blacken' came from."

"Heh." Onyx chucked a little. "Just for your ears old man, since the little princess seems to trust you," Onyx gave the two a cheerful smile as he pulled out a small lute seemingly out of nowhere and began to play it:

"Most not all, go by code names,

Even still, it highlights our pains.

We are not good, nor are we bad,

But we fight to expose those dirty rags."

"That short little song should give you a small hint at our troubles." After he finished, he gave a deep bow and lifted his head, only to meet the disappointing stares of his audience. His lute then disappeared into a black mist and then smiled cheerfully at his audience. "You guys just don't understand the beauty in the arts." He dramatically fell to the ground.

"..."

"Why…?"

"Dumbass."

"He's a terrorist?"

The twins, Renne, and Sawyer all express their view of disappointment towards Onyx as he stood up, brushing off the disappointing stares of the people around him.

"Just you wait you bastards, I'll make it big one day. And when that day comes, you all will be begging for the VIP passes to my shows."

Sawyer then turned towards Renne and leaned over to whisper into her ear. "Umm… are you guys really terrorists?"

Renne gave a depressed sigh as she turned back towards Sawyer and spoke out loud. "Whether you believe it or not, this is how Ouroboros members are. From egotistical, to edgy, to resentful, to horny, or to being depressed, this is how we are. Rather they, since I'm no longer affiliated with the group. But you also fell for his trap. He's known for causing his victims to lower their guard by performing stupid acts."

"Huh?"

"I wouldn't say it was a trap." Onyx waved his hand in disagreement. "I just didn't like the tense air around us. Sooo~ I made it more joyful."

"More like annoying."

"Hmm…"

The twins gave Onyx their share of demoralization as he tried to defend his actions. Onyx soon realized that no matter what he said, he would lose this fight. So he ultimately admitted defeat and then he suddenly faced towards the entrance of the destroyed building. He summoned his black mist and pulled out his twin guns from the holsters at his sides. The twins followed by distancing themselves from Onyx and took a fighting stance. Renne and Sawyer quietly watched as a familiar man to Renne walked out in front of the group. The man wore a small, silver masquerade mask with a silver tuxedo. Despite such a fancy getup, the man had messy hair that made it seem like he didn't want to put in all the effort needed to pull off his job. As the man walked towards the group, Onyx flashed a devilish small as he took aim for the man's head.

"So the dog finally shows himself," Onyx said in a serious tone. The man quietly looked at Onyx then shook his head in pity.

"When will you grow up brother?" The man then looked to Renne. "I'm not here to fight. I'm just here to do my job."

"So, what does the government want with her then, Xeno?"

"Simple, this is a test of sorts. But a simpler way of putting it is an experiment with two outcomes that benefits us. So no matter which outcome plays out; we will deem this experiment as a success." Xeno then opens his air console to display a large virtual analog clock. The clock displayed the time as 12:43. "Ahem." Xeno cleared his throat. "What was it again?" He said out loud as he scratched his head, seemingly lost in thought. "Oh yeah, Ahem." He cleared his throat again, "Welcome to the Silver moonlight Masquerade. This is a special party only opened to those blessed by the mark of the past. Your objective is to enjoy yourself in a carefully crafted event that will test the limits of the sinners. But the sinners have two choices: either enjoy tonight's events and fight to the death with the other guests, or give up peacefully and come with us. Though, I would personally recommend the latter. I don't want to watch Linda's daughter get killed by that delusional witch."

"So," Onyx rested his guns. "What's the main reason? Apart from collecting the keys."

"Heh, sharp as always brother." Xeno then opened a picture of Alan on his air console display. "This whole experiment is to test our guest of honor: Alan Macemon, aka the 'Time Traveler'." Xeno did air quotations as he said that in a bored tone. "But I won't tell you anymore. I did my job so now I'm leaving."

"..." The group said nothing as Xeno closed his air console. Just before he walked away, Sawyer stood up and walked in front of the twins.

"What do you mean that boy is a Time Traveler?" Though he didn't turn around, Sawyer and the others sensed that he rolled his eyes. But he resumed walking and disappeared from the vision of the group. Sawyer then turned to look at the others who all shared the same look of regret. "Huh?"

Onyx holstered his guns then placed his hand on Onyx's shoulder. "Basically to turn a long story into a short story; we fucked up and lost a very important artifact of the past."

"Thanks to that," Renne continued, "Alan found said artifact and managed to soul bind with it. Now said artifact has been targeted by the city for its 'Time Traveling abilities' or something dumb."

"The other person who knew the truth about that artifact was Arthur, Alan's father. But with him dead, we have no way to prove that item's ability of being able to manipulate time." Onyx finished.

"But a 'witch' has appeared within the government's ranks." One of the twins said.

"Hmm…" The other twin made a soft noise, then closed her eyes for a second. She then reopened them, "A person from the past." She said softly.

"Did your weapon confirm that?" Onyx asked.

"Hmm…" She nodded her head.

"Ummm… What does all of this mean though?" Sawyer was having trouble processing all of this information.

"It means that our loose intel was correct and we have no choice but to believe that Alan has the ability to transverse time. After all, these artifacts were created at the same time as that 'witch' was alive. They were made using human souls of the past meaning that she knows a lot about these nanomasses."

"Nano-"

"Anyway, this is where we split, the government wants you guys, not us. So we will not be interfering in your fight. But we snakes still have a job to complete." Onyx interrupted Sawyer and then he and the twins summoned their mists. "Renne, stay alive. I want to fight you later." They then disappeared into their mists.

"I'm so confused." Sawyer watched dumbfoundedly as they disappeared in their mists.

"..." Renne said nothing as she summoned her mist and pulled her weapon. She looked at it with empty eyes, as if she was lost in thought. She then walked towards the entrance of the building.

"H-hey, wait for me!" Sawyer picked up his pipe and followed Renne.

Off in the distance sat Chronos watching over the whole meeting with the small group. He shifted his gaze up after the group left and spotted a small stealth drone hovering overhead with the EDPD symbol on it. The drone had a small camera that aimed downwards with a barrier underneath and above it that dispersed light that bounced through it. This allowed for the drone to appear invisible.

"Close allies are not allies after all," Chronos said.

"Must be her influence," Loki said with a pissed-off tone. "Anyway," his tone lightened, "You might have a choice but tell him."

"Oh, have a change of heart?" Chronos mockingly said.

"No, I want him dead, but his corruption is getting worse. Alice won't be able to save him by herself. And if he falls to corruption, we do too."

"I know, but now is not the time. If he knew, then he wouldn't use the power. He's too optimistic about wanting to save everyone." Chronos then looked towards the sky with a depressed look on his face. His eyes only showed pain and emptiness. "Pupagenti, just what is your goal? Why are you trying to resume what we started years ago?" He then slowly faded away into the night sky.