Chaos Center, Part Twelve.

Ace's corporeal physicality converted to shimmering afterimages, every few moments, a glimpse at his scarlet eyes appeared, sparkling in the center. Though his speed was akin to lightspeed, the Chariot's eyes followed his movements, even as a streak without a form to register him as human. Muscular frame reappearing, pieces of lightning reforming his being, just barely able to weave his head to the side, Henry's eye-shape expanded in shock. Flaming hair waving following such swift movements, the Chariot was left on the defensive, Ace's shocking fists punching through his enemy's facial afterimages.

That was until Henry regained his composure, reaching for the face to throw Ace off his balance, the King swatted his arm away with the right hand, aiming the left hand at his face. Thrusting his fingers' tips forward so he could aim to destroy his brain with one stab, but Colon just barely dodged it, yet again, feeling it scrape his cheek. A cut outpoured steaming blood, but that didn't stop him, as the heat in his eyes started to increase, what Henry fired at was nothing more than another byproduct of the King's speed.

As expected, the Ginger reappeared behind him, throwing a large head-aimed kick to boot, leading for the Chariot to duck and grab his leg. Punching at his crotch so Ace could squeak, as he painfully held that spot between his legs, Colon clasped both hands together, pushing him away with open palms. A fiery shockwave shaking the foundation of the apartment they were perched upon, Ace felt his bones crack, and without balance or the ability to cohesively think, he accidentally stumbled off the rooftop's verge.

He didn't even get the chance to turn around fully, instinctually sidestepping as the Blade swiped upward, sheathed in a deathly mist that whispered for salvation, her stroke as quick as light's movement. Grip around handle compressing, veins displaying out fingers' backs, Katie realized the temperature change, for, below her feet, there was a dramatic increase in the heat with distorting waves ascending to cover her vision. Flipping backward as rocks erupted upward with blasts of fire accompanying the debris, she completed this athletic feat once with hands on the ground, the other naturally as she landed onto her feet.

As she rose the Blade's length to cover her lips, the spirit of darkness lingered to the back of her soul, the tip of her katana momentarily enveloped by blue fire, then, just like that, she vanished. No sound or flashy ability activation to indicate her sudden disappearance, leaving the Chariot baffled, for this was something he'd never witnessed before, or... had he?

His flaming knuckles contacted the defending sword as he spun his waist, sparks flying outward at the punch, Katie clenched her teeth, she vanished a second time. At this moment, a cut formed at his stomach, a skilled incision, however, not fatal, for he was too slow to react to how rapidly she moved through this world of stopped time. A kick to his back sent him to where Ace resided, on the street they were overlooking, sending cracks through the ground along with a smoky residue cloud to prohibit overseeing, Katie's azure eyes analyzed every nook and cranny as she perched upon the summit's verge.

Just getting back onto his feet, she wasted no time ambushing him, as she sprinted from his side, she cut at his chest's side, drawing steaming gore yet again, as she zipped to his front, leaving a trail of light from dark irises, she attempted to behead him with a sideways slash. The Blade's sharper end clashed with armor, bubbling like lava running downstream from a magma-birthing volcano, Henry smirked and upraised a brow, feeding more into her hunger for blood. But that got the best of her, as she stumbled back from a blast that burnt her fingers, she stared ahead, wincing and inhaling through clenched teeth as he bent his knees.

Kicking at the side of her head from a crouch, then spinning for another as he ascended to his feet, he went for the swipe as a finishing touch, Katie just barely ducking and jumping over some of these moves. Luckily enough, raising her leg so she could kick the Chariot's face as he stood locked into a crouch following his failed sweep. Sending him flying onto his back, flames discharged out his soles, burning footwear to ashes, fire ever burning as it aimed out his feet, Katie naturally stepped back. Hands-on the ground, body right-side-up, he spun around rapidly with flames, legs facing the air, he kicked at her face so she could be warded away by the flames. Gritting her teeth, she ran ahead, either way, slashing at his feet, chopping away toes, the blood that exited his body reverted to steam the mere millisecond it escaped his insides.

Snowy handle bouncing from both legs aimed at her head's right and left, she aimed to cut him right down from the crotch, destined to crash her sword into his flesh. Just before this occurred, she looked down, and what lay before her was none other than the gaping mouth of a skull, the fire flaring at the back of their hollow throat, she was swatted away by a red lightning streak throwing her to the side.

Hearing the Blade clink its metallic material against the concrete as she fell to her side, the veins in her face continued to expand as if they were about to pop, but just before she could turn on Ace for swatting her away, the tiniest glimpse of his right eye could be formed. What she witnessed next, there was no doubt about it- he winked. With just that minuscule movement, the seeds of an orchestration quietly grew so the embers of hope would light ablaze in her the center of her heart. For the time being, however, he returned to battle the Chariot, running right ahead, and kicking at his head's side, not once, but twice at the same area.

Blocking it with the same raised arm, wavering fire covering his fingers, he swiped the leg away, going for his face with a free hand, leading Ace to grit his teeth and slap his hand away. Little did the Scarlet King know was that the hand had momentarily covered his face from Wilder's perspective, and when turning it aside, revealing the Chariot's face again, what laid there was not skin, but a charred skeleton, mouth agape and already blasting fire at his face.

But just before his flesh could melt, his masculine form had vanished, replaced with his cousin's, slicing through that blazing energy, and as the length of the Blade inched closer, the Chariot could just make out the sight of her, emerging from the flames. As if a Devil resurging from a damned sentence, chained to the depths of Hell, riding on the coattails of vengeance, Henry must've been distracted, for as she was mere centimeters away from cutting him right down the middle from the skull's summit, he quickly raised his arm. But, this time, she sliced right through the wrist as if it were paper, hearing the thud of his bodily chunk thud against the platform below, the Chariot clenched his teeth as his skull reformed the flesh it was missing.

'These two are formidable foes. Despite the differences in their attacks, they can match up and synchronize them well. It seems I've underestimated them, if this continues any longer, I might perish. Time to end this.'

What Katie cut was not corporeal, a mere flame, composed in the form of a male body, as she tumbled through his fiery figure with wide eyes, she felt an abnormal heat grasp her hair, in the form of fingers, no less. Throwing her from behind him, Henry tossed her into the air, knowing she was powerless to counter, as he was about to warp and intercept her landing, more impacts shocked his being. Vibrant distortions disconnecting his smoldering structure as Ace's punches moved at such rapid speeds, Henry caught one of these punches, realizing his palm to harden, like flesh.

Wilder received a knee to the stomach, holding his gut and groaning in response, he was then kicked in the face's side, tumbling to the ground, spitting out blood, but just before he could get his skull stomped, he'd vanished, yet again. A new grip formed over his ablaze ankles, the Chariot turning with a gasp, for the tendrils that yanked back had sent Henry to tumble onto his front. Turning his head so he could spot the falling Katie impending on him to thrust the tip into his flesh, the orange flame that catalyzed his intact soul had developed.

A ball of fire erupted at the center of his heart, intending to set them away, in the core of the disaster, there he was, on his knees, recomposing with pieces of flesh reattaching to his skeletonized figure. Not only had it burned away half the block in the process, but it had also sent the nearby buildings to ashes, rendering a viable sight from the other streets mere inches away. The thickness of the aerosol had clouded her initial sight, but not for long, for the clumps of flesh reorganized just enough to compose his face, blocking his left eye with his usual hairstyle now returned.

"You're Henry Colon, the Smoldering Chariot. I have memories of you from my father... you're technically older than him, aren't you? Why do you look so old?" Katie inquired this with her Blade's end pointed to his chin, nerves forcing him to chuckle, shaking his head.

"All we wanted... was a normal life. If I told you that, you wouldn't laugh, would you?"

She could see it, even as her pupils dilated, it became clear the second his Vita retracted to the innards of his spirit. The flame of life that burnt at everything, seeking out a final desire to accomplish, with but one breath, it was extinguished, like a candle in the dead of night. But as it dwindled, and as the shell cracked, leaving behind nothing but burning bones in its wake, Katie could tell that, if only for a moment, that young man returned to consciousness. A cycle of torture with no end for the pain, they worked their time, they had their chance, and though they tried to succeed, in the end, reality struck them in the face with the truth. Maybe this was useless, maybe this whole event was for the sake of baseless chaos, but even so, she couldn't help but feel that sensation at the core of her being. An undeniable experience that panged through herself.

'Naraku.'

That was the name of the person responsible for this, for all this harm, for all this hurt. Even as the Old World stood demolished, he reared his ugly head to agonize everything and everyone with tormenting schemes. There it was again, a single flame destined to envelop everything in its path, the Devil's shadow looming over her, the claws and fangs of the Demon surrounding her, that innate darkness would herald an age of black. And it began, not with her, but with that hole in the ceiling of the Opera House.

It seemed the explosion did have some effect, for not only did it rip some of his attire, but it'd launched him through the inner veil, with such force to form a hole in the widespread curtain, what Ace was met with upon opening his eyes? Pain, assuredly, but not only that. With Divergence suppressed and the battle had surely ended, Eternal Sight captured the sight of something in his surroundings, something... familiar. A presence he became familiar with a year prior, the man that'd uplifted him to become comfortable with himself, contained in a glass pod, there he was.

Hair unkempt, beard erratic in the way it covered his face, eyes closed, Alex observed the sight of his frozen mentor, Alexander Amara. Another pawn just waiting to be put onto the chessboard in this domain of reigning chaos that ruled from the clouds in the sky to the depths of the Earth, but for what? A captured soul with infinite power coursing through his veins, the type of potential that could increase if this asset were exploited, there was no telling what darkness that demon would herald if that were to occur. Chaos would be the new Emperor for all and stringing it around on a single thread would be none other than the Founder, foretold by the stars to organize all.

To prevent that end from occurring, before Katie could witness this horrendous sight, the border collapsed to glass shards littering the floor in front of his shoes' tips. What awakened newly, laying in wait, it was none other than the Judge's snowy-crackling lightning bouncing off his broad shoulders. The new variable silently awaiting his manipulation at the hands of the Allfather's doppelganger had been unleashed, and without a conscience to fall back on, as he stared at Ace through the darkness of the lab, there was only one action he could form...

'Slaughter.'

To Be Continued.