Tempered metal clasped a blade blazing with colour, a furious crimson flame embroiling their chest.

Kranon clapped his hands together; over three dozen amethyst seals dripping with a sickly pale glow infected the courtyard. From their runes spawned more Infected, many corrupted Reunion soldiers armed with blades ready to rend the Lord of Cinder to rashes. He barely flinched at the army charging toward him, lowering his sword near his right shin, pointing it backwards.

The second the Infected drew close, his arm sliced up in a slant to dispel the shades in embers, charging headfirst into the group, slicing through the feral Infected that riddled his armour with their attacks and scratches. An orange arc erupted from the blade, with a flick, the blaze carved through the shades with ease. Cinder's fist connected to the next, his foot creased against the neck of another, performed a roundhouse through two more. The vex watched bitterly from afar.

He lunged down, only for Kranon to shift halfway into a shadow, grabbing Cinder's breastplate and throwing him over his head and back into a large gathering of Infected. They proceeded to topple onto him like corpses, kicking and punching the downed fighter for a moment before a snap and crackle of flames rippled through the tarmac, dispersing or incinerating them; the Lord's blade skewering two more through the crowd.

He kicking the blade through the chest of another, caving its skull; Then delivered a right hook while snapping the neck of another with his left arm. Bracing with his longsword, he shoved his body up against one, flipping over its shoulder and kicking it into the group, tearing a sizable path through the crowd with a flurry of swings attached to the point a chain of flames.

Clutching one by the face, he barreled through the masses; using it as a shield, Cinder threw the beast into Kranon, who vanished. The Hollow blocked a kick to the abdomen, followed by a flash as he tossed an Infected aside. With a sudden plunge to the earth, flames erupted from the epicentre, expunging any other Infected from interfering, his sword drawn wide to sever what remained in two, barreling toward Kranon.

The Hollow moved like lightning, shadowing Kranon in a single beat, sword rising through the earth to shower the Vex in flames and dirt, the beast evaded with a flash of blue light, appearing behind the Lord a fair distance away with his left-hand raise, a glow appearing on his palm. "Repulsors-" A solid beam of energy scorched across the courtyard, refracted by Cinder's sword as he evaded the second beam, casting a bolt of lightning toward Kranon, who easily circumvented. "-Iron Man."

Upon Kranon in seconds, slicing right; the monster evaded while diving over the returning swing followed by a downward thrust to expel flames, the force shoved the Vex backward. Cinder's eyes sharpened, holding the face of his sword to block a beam from Kranon's chest, the funnel of energy driving the Lord back several meters. A leg materialised to snap-kick the man's neck, a hand grasping the back of his helmet to propel the Hollow across the courtyard. "Temporal Displacement - Noximillion, the Clockmaker."

Never once speaking, Kaid landed with a heavy impact into the brickwork, lunging under another beam that followed by a swirling seal of fire under his foot, the force of a column of flames flinging the knight from the earth and into a waiting axe-kick. He swivelled his head and grasped Kranon by the ankle, spinning to toss the monster down onto his heels only to be impaled by a sudden barrage of homing lightning rods.

He rolled and quickly warped to evade their strikes, missing the sight of a blade as it tore across his right arm, burning the Vex's forearm as he vanished, stumbling in place. "Hmph-" He flicked his fingers upright, producing several seals across the ground around CInder. "Fire Manipulation - Talulah."

From the next eruption, the Soul of CInder's arm unleashed a massive volley of lightning spears, their forms streaking across the sky to intercept several crescents of solid ice, the contrasting elements evaporating on contact in a series of explosions, masking the Hollow, who brought his sword down atop that same broadsword attached to the Vex's hip. Flames ushered out around in a halo of hellfire. "Ice-Make Magic - Gray Fullbuster." With a twist of his free wrist, another light blue seal emerged around his wrist. "Ice-Make; Snow Dragon!"

The enormous serpent slammed into Kaid's chest, breathing a plume of frost in his face as the jaw sunk around his midsection, burying him into the earth. At the same time, several searing slashes melted the beast in time for him to catch the flash of teleportation, bringing a lightning bolt down at his and Kranon's feet. The latter was flung back by the electrifying burst, leaving him exposed to Cinder's follow-up wave of molten rock as it tore through the earth, consuming Kranon, or at least shreds of his clothing.

Kranon appeared once more, dusting off the soot and embers from his shoulders, eyes trumpeting with rage.

"I have stolen the gifts of countless Displaced, some of which still reside within this ghastly body!" Kranon growled, an ice formation lifting him a few feet off the ground, conjuring many flaming seals to his left and right with arms outstretched. "I have not come this far to be denied by some lowly human filth I have no purpose for any longer!!"

"Then clearly... you show that you never learned from your failure." That snapped the last of Kranon's patience, triggering dozens of bolts formed of concentrated fire to rain down on the human, who moved at lightning speeds. Flames rippled through the earth, stripping away what remained of the roads while failing to catch the swift actions of the Lord who carved his way forward, blazing through the weaker embers that scorched his armour. With one, horizontal swipe a wave of flames cleared away the dust, revealing the exposed Vex meters away. "Ever heard the phrase, 'Flashbang through the door'?"

"What - GRRRAAAAAH!!" Kranon couldn't register it before his eyes were seared from their sockets, blinding the monster to a flash of divine light that left him wailing in agony, blemishes of black smoke hissing across his skin. Kranon poised his left arm in the direction of the light, firing a series of plasma bolts to intercept what he couldn't see.

Astra slipped out from the building, using the rubble to sneak her way across the courtyard to safety, hiding her tracks by tossing several firebombs Cinder had given her; the small explosions keep him distracted, forgetting of the knight that stormed into his perimeter. Raising his longsword in both hands, flames of many colours gathered at the edge, rushing toward the tip before Kaid swiped Kranon by the feet, juggling the Vex in the air with three more consecutive strikes as his body crumpled to the ground, sword inverted to plunge through the monster's core, a rush of adrenaline evaporating inside the knight's inferno of a body.

A clash of metal and arcs of flames flew past himself and the distant Astra, the dust settling from the final stroke only to grunt in pain once a dark purple claw sunk into his stomach, sapping Cinder of his energy while his sword's edge buckled against a long scorpion tail, a dark purple aura fizzling out after having blocked the fatal blow off to the side and utilising the ability to carve away the Lordr's embers. "Hahaha, Scorpion Faunus and Aura Disruption - Tyrian Callows."

Tearing his arms away, Kranon flicked his wrist, a large arc of ice and snow rupturing between them to bury Cinder on the tarmac while he warped to the middle of the courtyard. "I know you're here, girl, a mistake I intend to correct," His arms gathered with varying amounts of energy until many red and blue glyphs appeared in a halo across his body. "Hyrrrah!!" Fire and ice burst and impaled the world, shattering windows and flattening cover, one such slab peeled away to reveal Astra, frozen in place by an ice shard that froze the ground under one of her hooves.

Kranon spared no expense in blowing a fraction of the Displaced's armour off his right shoulder, exposing the peachy skin under a burnt cloth. At the same time, another solid glacier of ice erupted under his legs, trapping him temporarily until his sword carves through the geyser. With a tremendous amount of strength behind his leg, he used the momentum of plunging his sword forward to intercept several blades of ice, allowing his body to soak up the stakes of ice for Astra.

"Cinder," He turned to look at Astra. Her eyes were glimmering, and she gives him a subtle shake of the head. He gives her a determined and reassuring smile, denying her wordless plea.

"You will be fine," From behind his back, he procured a compact black bundle of ash still burning. Crushing the Ember, his body's flames increased once more, and his wounds faded away. With a swish of his longsword, the fire rekindled before the might of Kranon, his seals aligned to face the pair that defied him.

"So you've decided to risk your life for a weak warrior such as her?" Kranon spoke with bemusement, yet Cinder only stepped forward; sword rose in his right, briefly placing his left across his bicep.

"I am doing what Lily would have done!" He yelled as magic bolts of fire and ice smothered the sky surrounding Kranon in short bursts. Using his rejuvenated energy, as brief as it was, the Displaced swung his blade up and across, the sword tore the elemental arrows apart, and Astra could only observe in awe as she was narrowly saved by the close shave of a coiled sword, each swing and flip deflected or shattered the hail of attacks that flew between her and the Vex. It was a shell-shocking sight.

"Tch!" Kranon gathered his magic, warping in various locations to confuse Cinder until he was on top of the Lord, bringing down a torrent of energy from his chest. He instantly evaded the barrage, using a burst of fire from his soles while tossing up a lightning spear to blot out Kranon's view of him until all the monster could see was the burning reflection of various flames as the hot metal carved a massive line through the left side of his face, the arc of fire burning continuously for several meters, dividing a building in half with the Vex inside.

However, before his burial, Kranon snuck one last Ice-Make spell, a large, Super-Freeze Arrow heading straight toward Astra at an alarming rate. Kaid saw this all move in a crawl, gravel displaced under every step he took moving forward—a voice reverberating in his mind, a constant reminder of what this meant.

"You are mistaken," That silenced Gambit's short laugh. "For I do have something you've never had your hands on before."

Gambit chuckled, twirling his finger toward Cinder's chest. "Your soul is impressive for a human, but we both know they are the equivalent to pocket change to me, nor is that sword of yours worth much in value, I could print them." He waved dismissively.

"No, not just my soul, rather, something you do not have," Cinder worded slowly, ensuring that Gambit did not misread his words. "My Dark Soul."

Shielding herself with her forehooves, she braced with her aura as something ice-cold struck her cheeks and not her body. Peering up sharply, she saw an arm frozen in ice, amputated once the Hollow broke free from the sub-zero frost, saving her weak aura from the burden. He gazed down upon her with a slow nod, one she smiled up at. It was relieving to see her unharmed; her silver eyes had done what he needed, Kranon's core no longer shielded behind a veil, the one instrument that could wither that wound in his armour had worked. Cinder and Astra had-

Gambit was still, fingers together before his face, eyes slit with an almost unusually solemn tone. "You realise that without your Dark Soul, you will-"

"I know-"

A blade skewered itself through Kaid's chest, not a drop of blood, say for a few, dried stains of black across the old sword's edge as it pried itself free. "-I will take my last breath for the sake of my friends."

"You're so weak," Kranon muttered, vanishing once the deed was done, returning to the site of his ritual not far from the courtyard. Once gone, Astra's face was a sight of horror as CInder collapsed onto his back beside her, a large gash through his chest unable to close while his embers drifted away or died against his armour.

"No... no," She murmured, kneeling beside him with tears filling her eyes. Even with her hooves, she couldn't pull the wound close; there wasn't anything to stop from leaking out; he was more of a Hollow than his name gave him credit for.

"Someone... had to take the fall in this..." He murmured as his finger stroked away a stray fear on her face. In his hand was a small, lingering flame, one that enraptured Astra while she bowed her head, anger seeping its way onto her grieving face.

"Kranon... will take the fall, I promise... I promise..." She wept gently, feeling her hoof fall to the flame in his hand, and her body became invigorated by its touch, feeling a warmth kindling in the sword beside her as it shorted and adjusted its length to match someone slightly more extensive than she was.

She couldn't see it, but he was smiling, but she didn't need to see his face to know that as his soul was fading away. Then, a light caught their eyes, through the Catastrophe's dark hue, the sun hadn't set, its form lingered on the horizon, bathing them both in its heat, wrapping them both in light. With the last of his strength, Cinder procured from his neck a silver necklace that he gently tucked over Astra's teary face. On the end of the chain was a fusion of amethyst and jade, the two halves connected within a cage of silver as it caught the light.

"Hmph, let this flame... guide thee, lass... good luck..." "I'll be there soon, Lily."

When she lifted her head, the man's body soon crumbled to ash and faded embers carried by the wind, leaving her with only a sword and necklace as her body began to change, but not before she embraced the coiled sword against her chest, silver eyes jammed shut with fresh tears.

Had anyone been nearby, they would have heard her sobbing wails pierce for miles.

Renegade

by Slendy

2-9 A Fatal Move