HARD TO KILL

That can't be possible. 

There couldn't be an illborn that the government wasn't aware of, and who knows there could be more of them.

It just wasn't adding up. There was a hundred percent assurance, that every illborn in existence was now in government custody.

He knew very well that no illborn had been able to even store both Calamitous and Celestial Will. The government had experimented on that and the results were classified as catastrophic.

'Hey kid help me make sense of this.'

Faux transmitted to his lieutenant. Surprisingly he got no reply.

The woman still had a lasso wrapped around Faux. With a single thought, she used more force threatening to crack his rips and rupture his organs but she hadn't done that yet. 

He couldn't teleport while she still had her lasso on him as well. So for now he was stuck… or at least he led her to believe so.

"…What do you want?"

Faux let out weakly, feigning defeat. The blonde lady meanwhile stared at him for a bit, her cold gaze refusing to waver till she asked;

"Do you believe in equality?"

Certainly an odd question but Faux was compelled to answer;

"No."

"Good neither do I, nor my companions. You see, you humans are like blunt axes expected to perform on the level of chainsaws. It's only a matter of time before you lot crumble, buried beneath what you built. That's why we exist, to relieve you all."

"Relieve? by blowing up an orphanage?!"

"…Orphanage? If you say so."

The woman said with a chuckle.

"All we are a cruelly efficient chain saws, built better for the seats you occupy. You mistake us for terrorists. No, we are liberators. We liberate."

"You call this liberation?"

Faux said with a questioning look. 

Before she could speak a piercing shriek tore through the air. Above them, the Calamity was letting out gut-wrenching inhuman screams. 

His eyes were rolled back leaving just the white of his eyes as he convulsed mid-air. 

"Time to wrap this up."

The woman said with a smirk whilst Faux continued to try reaching out to his lieutenant. 

The kid might have been recuperating but that wasn't enough reason for him to not respond to transmissions.

Just then the woman turned to Faux and said;

"Don't bother he is already dead."

She turned away right after that, raising her head to peer at the Calamity. 

"What did you say?"

She suddenly heard from behind. When she turned Faux was already on his feet, staring at her with a furrowed brows.

"That's new, are you actually angry?"

She asked with a smirk. The next moment she pulled on her lasso… but it wouldn't budge. She pulled with all her might but Faux still remained where he was unmoving. 

Soon it was like the darkness had grown deeper, before she could even notice Faux was before her and with a single punch sent her crashing into the stone platform.

Before she could get on her feet Faux was already gone, appearing beside his shirt sword the next second. 

Before he could feel the effects of gravity– from wherever it was coming from, he had grabbed onto his blade again, then with all the strength he could muster sent it flying. 

The sky was now rumbling, sending out arcs of white lightning. The pulling force of the gap in the heavens had increased pulling them with even greater speed.

Moments later Faux had vanished again, landing on concrete steps moments later. 

"Shit!"

He cursed. Faux lay before the steps a pool of blood beneath him. 

He was still breathing though… somehow.

He grabbed onto him and then summoned what seemed to be a bandage. As he wrapped it around his lieutenant's chest the boy suddenly opened his eyes albeit partially.

"What about the Calamity?"

He asked barely finishing his question before losing consciousness again. 

"Tell him not to bother about the Calamity, he's in good hands."

Faux heard from behind him. With his teeth gritted he turned to face the woman from before. 

She looked completely untouched, he he had never used her skull to form a crater in the earth. 

They watched each other for a bit, the platform they stood on rushing upwards with hastened speed. 

He had no intention of rushing things again, this woman was dangerous. He had fought her with no Will relying on his martial prowess but unfortunately, she had bested him with relative ease. 

Although he had been slowly replenishing his Will as they fought, he could hardly use that as an excuse. The truth was that if he wasn't careful he would pay dearly. He had already used up a lot of his Will in coming to Sebastian's aid and even wrapping him with that bandage– something he had saved for himself. 

It wasn't long before they clashed again. Faux sent his short sword flying at her but she was quick to knock it away with her lasso. 

When she brought her lasso down Faux was now somehow before her with his great sword drawn. Unfortunately, it met nothing but air. 

But at least he had drawn close to her and her reach advantage had been surmounted. 

Now locked in melee the two fighters went in with everything they had afraid to pull punches at least Faux did. He wasn't nearly at full strength, but a part of him felt like even then dealing with her would be troublesome. He wasn't sure he'd be able to kill her even then.

She was too slippery, even with the way she evaded his attacks. Her lasso was a nightmare as well. One wrong move and he would be locked in its embrace again. 

He had only managed to escape its deathly grip before by sacrificing a large part of the Will he had regained. But it was worth it.

"You surprise me truly. To choose your comrades over the mission, I must commend you. But again, it just goes to show how dull your blade is."

"Whoever said a thing about giving up on the Calamity."

Faux said with a smirk right before vanishing.

The short sword she had knocked away wasn't too close to the Calamity but it was close enough. 

He could already see him convulsing in the air, but standing right next to him was a dashing young woman with blonde air, she had a tattered nurse's outfit soaked with blood that didn't look to be hers.

***

Vlad and his men had chased the abominations all the way to the age of the floating scape where they made a dreadful discovery.

"So what now?"

One of the knights asked.

"I don't know damn it. Oh, she's so going to kill me."

Vlad replied with his hands over his helmet. The men next to him exchanged worried glances at his words. It was only reasonable after all they had just found out that the edges of the floating scape had a sort of electromagnetic field that didn't look like it would willingly let anything out.

Everything that hovered in the air was about to get consumed by the gap.

Suddenly an inhuman shriek pierced through the air.

The only way out of here was to seal the gap.

***

The woman Sebas had held prisoner was now free. She stood by the Calamity peering into the sea of rubble below. The gap was right above them just a couple meters away.

She stood guard with two guards Faux could recognize.

'So that's what they're after…'

Faux stood out from the rubble. He already knew that he had been spotted. But he wasn't really trying to hide.

"I don't know why you keep struggling honestly."

Faux turned to find the other blonde lady with her blood lasso wrapped around her forearm.

Accompanying her were abominations with stark white eyes.

'Dreamers thralls.'

No matter how he saw it he was outnumbered.

He could escape… but where was the fun in that?

With a grin, Faux raised his great sword and placed it on his shoulders.

"Come at me then!"

Then like an inaudible 'start' was yelled the thralls leaped into action first. They had barely gotten within reach of Faux's great sword before turning to minced meat.

The woman with the lasso cane at him too assisting the thralls with her lasso reach. Fortunately Faux could hold his own.

It was when the two knights beside the Calamity engaged him as well that things became much harder to deal with.

As dashed around using the debris that littered the scale as cover. His short blade was also invaluable, letting him hop from one point to another the only problem was the Will it took out of him.

He was mostly on the defensive, he had foes he couldn't harm too much– his knights, foes that even killing couldn't change much– dreamers thralls, and a foe he couldn't kill– that nightmarish woman.

At this rate, he was bound to use up all his Will.

He kept on fighting though, using up every last bit of strength he muster.

But it wasn't enough, they had been landing blows on him and slowly they piled up into something he couldn't ignore.

He was on his last legs, literally. His right leg was barely hanging on, deep gashes caused by the abominations had torn it apart. It would heal, but needed time and Medi attention.

"Again I must commend you. Your blade might be dull but much less so than your peers."

The lady said with a smirk. Just when they were about to launch one more dreadful attack.

Something fast and red flashed past him, tearing a Disaster in half. Faux didn't need to turn to know who it was.

Vlad and his knights were here.

They weren't much but their numbers were enough to shift the tides of the battle drastically.

Not gaining enough room Faux threw his great sword right at the lady standing beside the Calamity. She dodged it… as expected.

Instantly Faux was behind her sending his fist right at her face. The blow stamped her to the concrete ground. The platform he was on also had Julian and another woman he couldn't recognize left unconscious.

Before he could aid them the woman was already back on her feet. I'm one fluid motion she snapped her neck to the side and then stretched her fingernails.

The next moment she was trading blows with Faux.

The way she fought was far more aggressive than her… sister.

Her claws were her main weapons but she also held a vast arsenal of spells, she was far more versatile, using anything from flames to darkness. Her sister meanwhile used something akin to sound– most likely a derivative of wind and another Celestial Nature.

Faux could still keep up though, in fact, he was winning. He soon had her pinned to the flooring with his blade over her neck at the edge of the platform they stood on.

He had won. But why was she still smiling?

"Like she said, your blades are too dull."

The next moment the air trembled what followed after was a strange sound followed by shock waves. Shock waves powerful enough to push him aside.

When he peered out of the platform to spot where the attack had come, he saw the lady with the blood lasso smiling as she stared right at him with her hands clasped together.

The spell seemed a lot like hers, but she missed… right?

Just then it dawned on Faux, he turned just in time to catch sight of the Calamity getting pushed by what seemed to be condensed air.

Faux's eyes widened in shock.

It was already too late.

Calamity Cass had gone through the gap and immediately after, everything went dark.