Henry nodded at Roma gratefully, hoping that Bastion would taker her Vassal's words to heart. He did however note what Roma had called her. Kiara. A name unfamiliar to him, as well as the new development of Bastion regaining her memories. It was easy to put the pieces together of course, Kiara was her original name from before memory loss while Bastion was the new name. It would be awkward getting used to that switch, but he would. Assuming she didn't try to kill him of course, which was still a very real possibility if this new aggressive Kiara decided to disregard Roma.
"I'm going to guess you have your memories of me, but I'll reintroduce myself just in case. Fresh start and all that. I'm Henry Pearl Avaritia, former Prince of Greed. You can call me Henry." He topped off his intro with a small wave and a smile. Probably the best first introduction he's ever made.
Henry would have his suspicions, as accurate as they may have been, placed on hold a little longer. Bastion, or rather as Roma had said, Kiara ignored him completely to look at Roma and Eos. What's this then? A demon working under Roma?
"I see my Vassal is taking on apprentices. This is a change from before," she said, glare never settling away. Whether she remembered Eos or not was impossible to gauge as her focus was solely on the Eel defending this demon.
"I suppose that's fine. But any student of yours clearly has to pass my requirements. Yes, that sounds about right....if he can't keep himself alive than he's not worth teaching. Now move out of my way Roma."The Eel saw there was nothing to be done when Kiara was acting of relatively sound mind in this matter. It would be one thing if she were bereft of sense and rampaging like a beast, but she couldn't rightly refuse Kiara in this. Clicking her tongue in disapproval of the fight that she no doubt knew Kiara would dump upon Bastion and Roma to clean up after once she had her fill of fun, she stepped past Kiara and into the apartment, intent on watching the fight while sampling the fruit basket Henry had offered.
Henry's smile faded to a fairly neutral expression as he thought about this. Fighting Bastion- Kiara. Fighting Kiara to prove himself. A small sigh escaped his lips as he threw the basket of fruit into the air, it landed neatly on a closed can of garbage as he cracked his neck and his knuckles.
"Well that's fair enough I suppose. We've been overdue for a rematch anyhow," Henry's usual smile settled back onto his face as he drew his sword, pointing at Kiara's throat and chuckling.
"Don't get mad if I take off a limb though." His muscles tensed, his gaze sharpened, a battle would be a good way to cap off the day. Maybe he could blow off some steam that this shitty day had built.
Eos observed the confrontation in silence. She felt something different about Bastion, no Kiara, that was at the same time familiar and alien to her. This wasn't the low self-esteem girl that Eos was used to most of the time but also wasn't the sisterly figure she admired from the days of yore either. In the Supreme Queen's mind, the best outcome would be to observe and learn, while shooting a pretty vicious glare towards Henry as soon as he made that limb chopping joke.
Even if Eos knew that it was impossible for Henry to hurt a serious Bastion, Eos wasn't entertained at all by the notion that he contemplated it.
"......" WIth Roma and Eos out of the way, there was nothing to stand between the two combatants, of which one was reveled in bloodlust. Kiara said nothing as the demon's sword was held precariously over her neck though she didn't miss Roma's slight jerk of a motion. No, instead she let her actions speak for themselves, something crackling in one of her palms. A spark that began small enough soon extended into a shape reminiscent of a sword, though there was something off about it. As it burned into life, Kiara never broke her gaze from Henry, mismatched eyes boring into his as the sword that could erase even his nightmares made itself manifest in her grip.
"You still want to fight me, Avaritia? Think very carefully now."A chill ran down Henry's spine as that ever familiar sword burnt into existence, flashes of erased reality coming to the forefront of his mind as a sliver of fear crept into his gaze.
"When you bring that out, not really." He admitted honestly as he refocused on Kiara.
"But I would be a piss poor soldier if I let something like the fear of death get in the way of a fight. Lady Eos, you might wanna evacuate the neighborhood. This is gonna get messy." With that said Henry leapt backwards, slicing into the ground beneath them and sending forth a shower of small debris into Kiara's mismatched visage to kick off the fight. If he was fighting someone who was supposedly superior to even Roma, he was gonna have to fight dirty. He held back from using any Gates or his Silver Eyes, those would be his trump cards this battle. She knew nothing about how he fought from what he could tell, but that didn't mean he knew how this new Kiara fought. 'Play it safe Henry, you don't want to find out what that sword does to you.'
Be it by bravery or stupidity, Henry chose the path of the warrior. To some degree, that was pleasing to see; prey that struggled was better caught anyway. And this one seemed likened to using dirty manuevers, making known that he would make the first move. Kiara stood still and in place with the ground erupting beneath them, only glancing down to see shrapnel headed her way. Henry would see it plainly, in fact everyone who still bothered to stick around this hunt would. So then, if that was the case....how had she appeared behind him then.
"Look at you being clever," said Kiara, clasping a hand onto his shoulder. Her voice dripped sarcasm while her hand gripped Volunta, that blade of sacred usage, tightly.
"If you're going to use clever tricks, you need to remember where I am clever boy." She snapped her wrist onto his arm to keep it in place; in the same movement, her other hand came down with intent to cut it clean off. Would it sting? Would being mutilated by such a weapon even leave a mark, be it pain or flesh? Nobody could know, only those who had held its handle in their own hands. And no one would know even now.
The moment Volunta made contact with the demon's limb, it shattered where it was held. Or rather, the blade did, giving Kiara nothing but a battered handle to use.
"Hmm?" The same arm holding Henry's arm down lurched forward, this time on its owner. It grabbed at its counterpart, Kiara herself holding her weapon arm in place with a tight grip.
"This is....get off," she said in a vicious manner seemingly to herself, glare burning hotter than before.
"You're not allowed here anymore so stay out of it!"'Holy shit she's fast!' She had appeared behind him in milliseconds, grabbing him by the arm and holding him in place for what just might be a finishing blow. Henry got ready to cut his arm off to avoid the blow, but he was too slow. He could see it in slow motion practically, her blade touched his skin and then... nothing. But not the nothing he had been expecting, her blade had just shattered on his arm. He pulled away from her as she let go, replacing her grip on him with a grip on herself. Nonsense words dropped from her lips as her scowl grew intense, but Henry kinda understood what just happened. Maybe.
"Heh, thanks Bastion." He muttered just loudly enough for Kiara to hear before he dashed forward, a small flash of Silver in his eyes as he pumped himself full of raw kinetic energy. He was going faster than he could possibly move himself with his own muscles, his blade swung towards Kiara's waist to cleanly bifurcate her.
"I said stay out of this!" With a snarl, Kiara forcibly ripped her hand away from her arm, only for Henry to be within cutting distance of her. At once her hand shrouded itself in pure electricity and she caught the blade by its length without harm.
"Try that again and I'll break your arm," said Kiara, her gaze directly at her chest. The message seemed to be clear because no more intrusion was felt; if her limbs being free had any indication.
"If you're so eager to join this fight, then maybe I'll use your weapon instead." Clenching down on Henry's sword to make sure the demon had nowhere to go, Kiara moved her free hand down to pocket a familiar cylinder. A harsh hiss burnt the air as the beam saber was activated in her hands, this time intent on running Henry through.
Henry eyes widened a little in surprise, that was new.
"Huh. I feel like I should start getting used to this." Kiara threatened to break her own arm, which seemed to cow it into submission, meanwhile Henry was just trying to tug his sword out of her grasp so he could make some space once again. Her response seemed to be to grip it even tighter, while her free hand drew a very familiar beam saber. Henry didn't even flinch as it ran through his chest, piercing his right lung and filling his lungs with blood as the saber emerged from the other side of his body. Blood gurgled from his throat as he looked Kiara in the eyes with fear, but it was quickly replaced with a smile as he spat blood directly into her eyes, followed by a punch to the throat with his free hand. If she let go Henry would pull back from the sword, basically demolishing his right lung as he gripped his chest with his free hand.
"That it? Just one measly stab to the chest? I was actually worried about this fight for a second.""To where are you spitting at, Avaritia." Kiara's voice came from further beside him now. Blood lay spilt on the ground, an indication that he had definitely not missed in his mark. But the force carried through with his punch fell on nothing but air. "I'm over here. Or is it that you're starting to lose your memory." This time she held Bastion's gun in her hand, firing off a spray of bullets composed of electricity. By the sporadic nature of her fire, she was either a poor shot or not taking any of this seriously.
"Well, you're right in that regard. This isn't a fight Avaritia. This is a hunt."'God damnit, she's so out of my class it isn't even funny.' Something was definitely wrong here, he should've seen her move if she was that close to him. He nearly stumbled after his punch had hit nothing, but he caught himself in time to deflect several bullets made from electricity. She then proclaimed what he had suspected, this wasn't a fight. This was her toying with him, something that was admittedly hot as fuck. Was that a weird thought? He was new to the whole sex thing, he probably fucked up by having his first experience with sex being impaled by a cross. He shook his head and smacked it with his free hand, blood dripping from his mouth as he hit himself repeatedly.
"Alright yeah, time to stop dicking around." Henry's eyes glowed a bright Silver as his usual armor began to form around him, everyone in the area but him would instantly recognize it as a Gestalt. His lung was already healing as he knitted the organ together with his Silver Eyes, the area began to feel colder as he drained the energy from his surroundings and converted it into magical power for himself.
"Hunt is probably an accurate term here, but this dog isn't going down without a fight." Henry began to run towards Kiara, deflecting any bullets she shot at him, but at the last second he took off into the air and released his wings. He floated in midair for a moment and then flapped hard, a rain of Silver feathers raining down on Kiara's position to riddle her with holes.
'This won't hit her obviously, but I need to make this a fight on my own terms. Take over the battlefield, limit her movements.' The rain of feathers stopped, leaving a handful of them floating in place around him. But there was a secret to his feathers, contact with anyone of them would create a chain reaction of explosions.
Kiara raised an eye as this was all happening. Her bullets were obviously being bounced off his armor or reflected by his sword swings.
"That's right. You have Silver Eyes, don't you," she mused he leaped into the air in front of her with his armor gleaming. Tracing his flight pattern up, and up until great wings had manifested behind him. As a hailstorm of feathers rained down upon her, Kiara swung her blade to deflect. Nearly immediately the force of the explosion triggered her to leap back before bursting into a full on sprint.
"Has Bastion ever once made mention of me," she said, as if the question wasn't out of place on the battlefield.
"Of course she didn't. She's forgotten, hasn't she." Blade held to her side, Kiara's pocketed her gun away before shooting forth a thin beam of electricity from her palm right at the armored Henry. But it never stopped, shooting straight for the skies of Hyperion and moving with every flick of her wrist. With a blade that answered her range problem, she swung to cut apart Henry's wings and even his armor, still on the move from the those feathers.
"Did she ever tell you I was an assassin, Avaritia," she said with a deathly look in her gaze that could freeze even Roma in place.
"An assassin for the Court."Henry's wings folded right back into him as he dropped a few feet, only to reemerge a second later as he began dodging her sword swings in midair. She asked if Bastion had ever told him about her, he responded with a small shrug in the moment he got to stay still. color=steelblue]"Kinda hard to tell someone,"[/color] He dodged a swipe that scraped his left side, it nicked his wing as she spun away and sent more feathers at her, some of them littering the ground to act as landmines in her path.
"Stuff that you've forgotten." Henry attempted to parry Kiara's blade for a moment, quickly disengaging as her strength overwhelmed him.
"As for being an assassin," Henry dropped once more, this time letting himself hit the ground as he ripped off feathers from his wings and threw them in the air, they stayed motionless around him as he tried to keep his gaze on Kiara.
"I wouldn't think that's anything special, but I'm sensing a capital C in the Court."His snark was answered by more nicks of the electric stream, Kiara's blade dispering and emerging as quick as lightning. By motion of her swings she was going for killing blows, mainly Henry's head or stabbing through his heart. It was all meant to pin him in one place, even as she continued to leap about with feathers planted as bombs in her path.
"Assassins don't care about the method, Avaritia," she said, her red eye heating into a familiar tint of gold.
"They choose whatever way insures their target stays dead....did Bastion ever tell you about her Eyes?" The feathers Henry was so fond of surrounding himself in detonated without his command. It only took one look from Kiara's gold pupil to light them up.
Smoke surrounded Henry as all the feathers exploded, he had no chance to react as Kiara showed off her Golden Eyes. He did recall her having those in Ruthria admittedly, but he got the feeling there was more to them than just destruction. Things were never that simple when someone wanted to kill him and had the power to do so. As the smoke cleared it would show Henry rooted in place, quivering slightly as he healed the damage he took from the blast. If he had taken that without his armor he would be layed out on the ground bleeding out, damn this thing was useful.
"I'm going to guess that your eyes do more than just blow things up." Henry knew better than to leap backwards this time, no need to repeat his mistakes. This time he ran towards Kiara, pumping himself with kinetic energy once again as he attempted to bifurcate her.
It was a shame then, to have all motion robbed of him completely. Not many could halt a charging Henry but the sheer pain of destroying one's Eyes was enough to put down the spare few. Kiara's stream of energy shot directly into his silver helmet, cutting away armor like it was cloth. She moved her wrist horizontally, the stream cutting both eyes and the middle of Henry's nose before disengaging as it reached his ears. It was a shame he would be unable to see, for Kiara's own pupils glowed a color that was neither gold or silver.
"Relying on those gets you nothing but pain. They'll grow back, of course. But trust me, it will hurt like nothing you've felt before," Kiara said coldly.
Henry collapsed onto the ground, crying out in agony as his Eyes were annihilated like tissue paper. He actually felt himself pass out from the sheer pain for a moment, but that same pain quickly woke him right back up. He dropped his sword as he pressed his hands to his face, curling up as his muscles spasmed, tensing up so hard they nearly snapped. Her voice was distant, but Henry understood the gist of it. He'll get his Eyes back, but that didn't make him feel any better now as he lay on the ground screaming.
Said screaming actually accomplished the feat of having Kiara glare harder and she was on him in a heart beat. Three swipes of her saber was all she made before two arms and a leg had been severed away from the stump that was the demon prince. And without those Eyes of his, he'd be feeling that pain all the greater. A boot planted to his chest, Kiara kicked him to the ground and regarded his form in disdainful taste. Yet she didn't see fit to stab her weapon through his chest, nor did she even continue; not when he was in this state. The hunt was over.
"Let that be a lesson, Avaritia. Those Eyes of yours are only as strong as you keep them to be. Take them away, and what's left?" A sharp hiss would tell Henry that her saber was deactivated.
"If you've been reduced to this without your Eyes then I pale to think what'd you do if this was a real fight. And if I was a real enemy." Kiara looked down on him for a few seconds more, noting the silver fluids leaking to the ground as a result of his crushed eyes. The Gestalt would also be fading away with no more Eyes to sustain them. More moments passed before the Master sighed.
"Roma, tend to his Eyes. Eos, fix his wounds," she called out, turning away from the defeated demon.
"I'm going back to sleep." One step, two, and then she collapsed forward onto the ground. She was unconscious, no doubt to return back to the folds of lost memory.
"As you wish." Eos answered the unknown face of Kiara with the same dry voice that she used used when she was in the presence of the higher ranks of the Hierarchy. Someone who took pride in being called an Assassin of the Court, didn't deserve Eos' feelings, but couldn't be ignored either.
Henry's screams ceased as his ribs broke under the force of Kiara's kick, his breathing was labored as she lectured him on his overreliance on his Eyes. As she went on and on, a familiar sort of fury began to bubble up inside of him, he wouldn't take this. He wasn't done. He couldn't see her walk away obviously, but a Gate began to form above him as she walked away, he listened to her footsteps as he focused on what he wanted to skewer her with. A massive broadsword shot through the air, just as she collapsed and it flew right over her unconscious body, sinking into a nearby wall right over his fruit basket. That was it, that was all he had in him. The Gate collapsed on itself, as did Henry. He let the darkness take him, maybe when he woke up the world wouldn't be pain anymore.
All of this was witnessed by an unblinking Eel, the cores of several devoured apples neatly stacked upon a napkin beside her. The shifted precariously under the pressure of a sword now embedded beside her head, yet as the crystal clear reflection in the vibrating metal would tell, Roma was not phased by this last ditch effort. She raised a sleeve to shield her face from view and released a breath now that the situation had resolved itself, and somehow the apartment had not collapsed around them.
"Those two are...tiresome. I loathe to imagine that Kiara actually took a shine to him, otherwise I would be absent a pupil.""Just make sure he doesn't talk about this incident to Bastion. I'm sure that she'll not remember it when she wakes up... Actually, I was going to ask you about that but I don't think I want to know who else is inside of her along with Kusanagi," Eos said to Roma as she called an ambulance manned by non-sentient medical androids to take Henry to a classified medical center once Roma was done with the most critical of the the first aid measures.
"At least I know why she doesn't want to to remember, now," Eos mused silently wondering how she should approach her plans of helping Bastion get back to shape and free herself of the Nexus grip.
Leaving behind the decadent fruits Roma padded across the hall, noting one could hear a pin drop in the resulting silence left in the combatants wake as she knelt beside the fallen Henry with her eyes an array of dizzying colors. it was not an easy thing to mend one's soul when so horribly wounded, but her Master had ordered her and she would obey, even if only to lessen his pain till the molten silver flowing from his eyes was staunched at long lost.
"I hope he takes this lesson to heart. I fear my Mother will not hesitate to take his life when she comes to visit.""I was going to leave this, but I'll give it to Bastion personally when she wakes up. Before that I have some important matters to attend to," Eos said as she hugged the doll closer to her chest before turning towards the door. She stopped on her way out and added
"Just trust in me, I'll not let you lose anything that you cherish... I'll fight until my last breath to keep you, Rama and Bastion safe and happy" in as serious a tone as Eos was capable. Even if she had to face annihilation by the hands of the Jester himself, she wouldn't allow those she loved to suffer anymore. Compared to that, a pair of conceited serpents was nothing.
