Chapter 61 - A decision

Realizing Alita wouldn't be stopped, the Rustborn leader cursed and prepared to engage her again. Fist and sword collided as a fight broke out that wasn't often seen within the Expanse. 

The man proved a tough opponent for her. His skill in close combat and in using myst far outclassed Alita. Although the young woman had trained in close combat with her sister, it'd mainly been with knives, not with swords. 

She mainly focused on firearms because the only way to safely engage in melee combat in this world was through either myst or cybernetics. Even if the former was hard to come by, the latter option had its own consequences and issues. 

Thus, the way she fought this man was mainly through pure, exhaustive power. Through his skill, the Rustborn leader got many hits in on her body that all healed almost instantly, causing heavy exhaustion to build up in Alita's body… not that she noticed, consumed by bloodlust as she was. 

At the same time, Alita's powerful swings and instinctive usage of the crimson lightning sparking around her found it hard to break through the leader's defences, yet… the marks on this man's cybernetically enhanced hands continued deepening and worsening. 

Grooves and indents appeared everywhere in the alley's walls as trash and dead bodies were tossed around, burned, and otherwise destroyed. Their power wasn't great enough to easily destroy the walls that surrounded them, at least not with Damian's shadow walls locking the place down. 

 The narrow, dead-end alley had turned into their personal arena, and they used every inch of it as they raged from end to end. The battle was fast-paced, and it took only a few minutes for the fighting to start skewing in favour of one of them. The man roared and fought desperately, but the writing was on the wall: his end was coming. 

"Haaaah!" Alita screamed, whirling around as she sent Nox Aeternum flying in a wide arc that the man could only barely block in time. Only this time, the blade wasn't stopped by his cybernetics… They had become too damaged already, and Alita's attack sliced straight through the metal to cut into his flesh. 

"Aaah! Fuck!" the man screamed. His fist had been sliced in half, and pain blinded him. Half in shock, he grabbed the wrist of his wounded fist with his other hand and sank to his knees, trembling wildly. 

Panting heavily, Alita felt the most recent of her wounds close and recover. Her grin widened as she looked at her defeated opponent. "Hahaha!" she laughed wildly. "Now, who's on their knees, huh?! You Rustborn thought you could get me?! Suffer for your actions, old man!" 

The man looked up at her, parting his lips to say something, but Alita silenced him with a heavy, twirling kick to his face. Roaring, the man flew against the wall and sank back down, his mind swimming and unfocused. 

But his focus quickly returned to him when a sharp pain radiated from his shoulder. "Ah! Bitch!" he barked when he saw a grinning Alita slowly pushing Nox Aeternum into his flesh. 

Alita had one of her boots planted firmly on his chest as she looked down gleefully. She pulled the sword free and pushed it against his throat instead. "Good," she purred mischievously. "I wanted you to feel this moment properly." 

Slowly, she pushed the blade forward as it disappeared into his throat. "Feel the fate that awaits all the other Rustborn, you inhuman piece of shit!" 

The man's eyes widened. Strangely, his thoughts at that moment were indignation at being called inhuman by this monster… but that didn't last long. As pain burned and blood filled his throat, the end soon came. 

Alita watched the life drain from his eyes with curiosity more than anything. This wasn't the first time she'd killed, but it was the first time she allowed herself to feel good from it. Her sister had always told her that killing should never be done casually or for pleasure, and she'd done her best to listen, despite the desires she felt. 

But this time, she failed… 

'He's so helpless in front of me,' she thought curiously. 'Unable to defend himself… Weak… The power to decide his life or death is literally in my hands…' Slowly, a grin spread on her lips. "And my judgement is death!" she muttered before plunging the sword down in its entirety. 

But just as the man died came Alita's mountain-high crash. From one moment to the other, Nox Aeternum stopped facilitating her myst usage and exhaustion set in. "Ah!" she yelped, sinking to her hands and knees as her legs could no longer carry her. 

At the same time, Nox Aeternum slipped out of her weak grip, entangled in a thread of darkness as it floated upwards, back into the hands of its rightful owner. 

Immediately desperate for that rush of energy, her mind raced a mere moment before she lunged for her dead opponent's hand… just in time to see the catalyst he'd been using floating away from her as well, engulfed by shadows. 

Panting, her mind swam as she fell down on her back, glaring up at an amused Damian. Her limbs turned to liquid. Her heartbeat slammed against her ribs. The world tilted, and for the first time since she had awakened, she felt truly, utterly powerless. 

"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you…?" She could see his lips moving up there, but his playful voice sounded like it was right next to her. "Well, now you have a choice to make, Alita. Come to me, or stumble back to your sister." 

Resolutely, Damian stood up, closed the window, and walked back into the apartment, leaving Alita to her thoughts. 

Speaking of which, Alita's thoughts were finally starting to clear up a little. Exhausted as she was, her mind was at least no longer affected by the rush of energy that obliterated all her hesitations before. 

She was sprawled out on the alley floor, spread-eagled, looking up at the morning sky. Blinking slowly, she was trying desperately to stay awake as the full weight of her actions slowly came to her. 

'I— I can't believe I really did all that…' she thought to herself, full of disbelief. 'I played with them… tortured them… for my own amusement. Big sister would be so disappointed…' 

Suddenly, a dangerous thought entered her mind as she glanced at Damian's window. 'He… He said he wouldn't judge me…' she gulped softly. For a few more moments, she was lying there, drowning in conflicting feelings. 

She'd enjoyed herself immensely, and if she was honest with herself, she wanted everything this man offered. 'Do I even care about giving up my independence, or was that something I imitated from big sister…?' she suddenly thought. 

It was a thought that scared her as much as it excited her, but she still hesitated. No matter what, she truly loved and cared for her big sister, and she didn't want to disappoint her. And yet… with the power this man offered, she could help Nova and relieve some of the stress from her shoulders. 

"P— Perhaps it's time for me to do my part…" she suddenly muttered, having made her decision already. Slowly, she scrambled to her feet, forced to lean against the wall lest she keel over again. 

With a tired yet determined gaze, she hobbled her way out of the alley on spaghetti legs. Unbeknownst to her, this decision had already caused the progenitor-scion bond to take deeper root within her soul…