14. "WHO IS SHE?...EXPERIENCES DEATH LIKE SLUMBER."

Ragnar's eyes roamed Akasha's pale and lifeless body. Her death was so swift and insignificant—just like her. Ragnar was struck with a feeling of perplexity.

This girl held her own against this Scar and stood...only to be killed by poison? Ragnar thought as she held Akasha's hand.

"Well... There goes the opportunity of knowing what exactly you are," Ragnar sighed. "It's a shame you had to die, kid... And it's partly my fault too."

It was partly her fault. Not fully.

She had no idea why the Scar would ignore her to attack Akasha instead. It was a norm for Scars to attack the strongest person they find in the vicinity. Although, this was the case for 8★ Scars and below. A 9★ and above would be a different case since they acted differently from others.

They're thinking was more advanced and were rumoured to have the ability to even speak.

"Ragnar...." The Scar said as it walked towards her.

"What...?" Ragnar stood up leaving her blade beside Akasha's body. She was now far from understanding.

Her lips stretched into an awkward smile. "What are you?" She chuckled. "I've never encountered a Scar who could speak before... Unless, you're not a Scar?"

The Figure stopped moving few feet before Ragnar. A whole in its face was bored and moved till it was placed where its mouth should have been.

"How honoured I am to meet such a legend as yourself," the Scar spoke. Its voice was now fluent and unlike before, it spoke with less effort.

"You intrigue me," Ragnar folded her arms. "In all my years of killing Scars, I've never encountered a Scar who could speak."

"What about Gilgamesh?"

Ragnar's smile immediately changed to a frown. She opened her palm and her sword flew into her hand.

She pointed it right to the Scar's face. There was no trace of happiness in her expression. "Who the fuck are you?" She demanded.

"Isn't that what you named that blade after? Why though, I'm not sure. Did you need a constant reminder—"

The Scar paused. It couldn't feel the rest of its body.

It fell to the ground.

At least only its head did.

Ragnar stood in the same position where she did less than a second ago. But it was sure that she moved.

"You must know so much about me..." Ragnar walked to its head.

She had moved so fast that she took off its head and its body still stood upright without the knowledge that it was detached.

"...you must also know that the rumours of me are true," Ragnar earthed her sword next to its head. "I and only I, am the fastest Legionnaire known."

"Of course..." It replied.

She looked at it as her upper lip twitched in anger.

Someone's messing around here... She thought.

Her eyes sighted the threads attached to its head. Her gaze followed them and it led to its neck.

"How can I forget such an important detail about you," the figure's head attached back to its body like Ragnar never cut it off before. The neck was without a scar nor any injury. It was without a scratch.

Ragnar smelt foul play. Lots of it. She remained silent to assess the situation she was in.

If this Scar gained speech, doesn't that make it a 9★ or more? She thought. But the magnitude they reported was a 5★.

"The look on your face is priceless," the Scar said.

"You're a 9★. So why did you hide your magnitude? And how?" Ragnar asked.

"Ragnar of Gilgamesh," it took to the air again. A sudden surge of light swirled round its body. That was when Ragnar noticed something even more odd.

"Aether...?" She muttered. She sat on the tarred ground and folded her legs in. She was now thinking. After a few minutes, she got up.

"Why are you hiding?" Ragnar smirked again.

It smiled at her. "Of course, how could I have thought that this was enough to fool you of all people," it said.

"So, who are you?" Ragnar asked again. But this time she had a human in mind. Not a Scar.

All Scars had aether. Just like Nexuses, they had cores too that gave them their supernatural abilities. Within these cores was the original energetic force known as aether. Without aether, the core wouldn't work, hence the Nexus would have a core but no abilities.

This "Scar" however, had no aether, at least up until now. That means all its other abilities weren't coming from it. But from something or someone else.

That would explain why it could speak in the first place.

Someone was controlling this Scar.

And whomever it was just gave it aether.

"You gonna keep feeding this miniature Scar more and more abilities or are you going to come out here yourself?" Ragnar taunted.

I can't sense anyone else close by... Could he be controlling it from afar? She wondered.

"This would be enough for now," it replied. "Show me why you're feared by him... Ragnar."

Ragnar exhaled. She was getting frustrated at the whole scene given that she had just come back from a mission of her own only to be sent here.

"Alright," Ragnar sighed. "Enough horsing around—"

A bright white strand of hair with a gold tip flew past Ragnar's eyes. She slowly followed it as everything seemed to move in slow motion.

That hair...! Ragnar's pupils quickly moved in the direction where the hair fell off from.

Ragnar eyes widened at what she saw.

Running towards the Scar...

In the flesh...

Akasha.

In a flash, Akasha took the Scar out of the sky and forced it down to the bridge, scraping its back on the ground. She pulled off one of the car doors and repeatedly pounded the Scar.

Ragnar stood there in shock at the sight of blood splash from its body.

Akasha picked up its body with one arm and flung it away. She let out a scream that sounded more like a roar from a wild animal. Even before the Scar could touch the ground, she followed up the attack.

Her arm moved downwards as she got in range and struck it in the hip breaking it on impact.

It was like the scale had tipped. Drastically.

Akasha wasn't just standing her own against this Scar. She was mutilating it—beating it up so badly that it couldn't find the space to retaliate. It was like bullying. Her senses—speed, reflex, strength, stamina—it was like everything had doubled.

But Ragnar could swear that she was dead.

Everything was happening too fast.

Akasha hopped on it to continue her massacre when it reached for her neck and dug its fingers deep into it, poisoning her like before.

But Akasha was unharmed. It was like the poison did absolutely nothing to her. The seconds that passed that required the poison to kill her came and went.

But carnage was still fuming in her eyes. So to say, the poison had no effect on her anymore.

With each thump her hand made, the Scar's head lost form. Blood dripped from her knuckles onto the dead Scar. Her white hair stained with red, she looked down at the Scar as she stood up.

Ragnar stared from across the bridge.

"Who is she?" Ragnar soliquised.

The human in Akasha's silhouette seemed to twitch on and off like a faulty light bulb. She was looking more like a monster herself. Ragnar couldn't help but stand her ground just in case she lounged at her.

"Akasha...?" Ragnar said with doubt in her voice.

Without replying, Akasha ran off in a burst of adrenaline.

"Kid, you can't outrun me! You're making this hard for yourself!" Ragnar sighed. She leaned on her sword a bit. "I'd give you a headstart even." She paused. "I could swear she was dead... Akasha, what the fuck are you?"

Akasha didn't slow down for a minute and kept taking several turns to confuse Ragnar. She stopped at a large clock tower. Her eyes remained fixed on huge the pendulum that swung back and forth.

"What the fuck just happened? I... I just... died?" Akasha touched her shoulder. She ripped her sleeve off. The skin was smooth, untouched, like never before.

"Akasha!"

She looked up on recognising the voice. Ragna sat at the peak of the tower before her.

She was here before I was?! Akasha panicked.

"Why won't you leave me alone?!" Akasha revolted. She was aware that there was no way she was escaping Ragnar. Whatever she was doing was making her incredibly fast.

Ragnar jumped down to the ground.

"No can't do, kid," the ground shook as she landed behind Akasha. She walked round her as her eyes roamed her wretched looking body. "Personally, I'm just intrigued about what the fuck you are to begin with. Asides from that, that Scar you just mutilated wasn't behaving normally like every other. Exhibition of traits similar to an 11★ threat perhaps."

Ragnar stopped circling her and stood at her side. "Then there's you," she whispered in Akasha's ear. "A Nexus who has never trained her ability to perfection, daring to throw hands with a monster. Not to talk about standing her own too... If I wasn't there, you would've killed that thing and walked away... You would've won..."

She raised Akasha's head up to face hers and looked her in the eye. "...normally. But death in such a battle is almost inevitable for you. I would've let you go, you are but a homeless girl. But no Nexus or homeless girl experiences death like slumber."

Akasha squinted her eyes at Ragnar.

"If you want to do this the hard way, then run. You'll just lose a limb or two. Compared to your life that you just lost, they seem trivial. Or you could sit tight here and wait for that sweet chopper to come pick us up. That way you'd get the food your body desperately needs."

Ragnar smiled forcefully. "What'd you say 'zombie walker'?"

Akasha sat on the ground and laid back, lying flat on the floor face-up.

"Wise choice, kid," Ragnar chuckled.