Re: Incarnation Death Match 5 Replica

"Fiora, wait!"

Fiora dashed out of the room and through the front door, her blue chain lying on the floor. Bewildered and confused, Claire stared at the direction her companion went for an agonizing second before deciding to run out as well. It was a stroke of luck that she has the rationale to not knock over everything on her path.

Outside, all the other doors in the hall were closed, everyone seemingly enjoying their own little world behind closed doors. The halls, as expected, were empty, causing the place to have an eerie, quiet feel to it.

"There!"

Fiora extended one of her chains, the tip shooting towards what seems to be a random spot on the wall. In a split second, the spot Fiora aimed at rippled and distorted, turning into the form of a man in a tattered grey cloak. The hood of his loose cloak was wide and the inside was black, preventing anyone from discerning anything except a pierced lip.

"Impressive, I didn't expect you to be able to find me." He seemed calm, far too calm, even as the wound on his stomach started dripping blood onto the carpeted hall.

"You!" Claire gasped, her eyes wide as she took a step back into her room. "What does he want this time?! It's about time Oscar finds another interest!" She whispered to herself.

"I have no idea, and no desire to know. All he wanted was your location." Deci replied, seemingly capable of hearing Claire's fervent whisper. "And I swear by the name he gave to me, I will carry out his orders, no matter how abs-"

Not even the dignity of finis.h.i.+ng his words are given.

Fiora directed one of her chains to strike, the glowing, red-hot tip das.h.i.+ng towards the enemy.

Claire grasped Fiora's hand and shook her head, causing the chain to stop short from her intended target.

"Don't. If others know..."

Clang!

On the last split second, Fiora protected her face with her left hand, the gauntlet causing the silver knife to bounce and land soundlessly on the carpeted floor.

"If they know, they might evict you from this place, Fiora." Claire shook her head. "It's best we keep a low profile."

"It'll be fine, I can sleep outside."

"That's not the point here, Fiora." Claire pressed on. "Don't do this, for my sake. Please. I can deal with him later."

"How sweet." Deci hummed, the corners of his mouth tugged into a sincere smile. "So this is why he wants you so much."

"If you take another step..."

"Not going to, hot stuff. Not reporting you, either." The wound on his stomach finally stopped bleeding, and he sighed in relief. "Besides-"
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Everything went red.

Blood splashed throughout the hall, staining the place with blood and what seemed to be pieces of an once beating heart. As the cloaked man slumped onto the floor and melted like wax statue, his splashed blood and meat also turned into black puddle and disappeared into white smoke, making the identical figure that appeared behind him even more terrifying.

He waved his b.l.o.o.d.y hand, spraying droplets of blood that turned into black wax and disappeared.

"Heh, finally the traitor showed himself." The man, identical in every way from the previous one, laughed. "All nine of us serve Deci, and his will is our will. Any detractors shall be replaced."

Seeing that scene, Claire winced, trying to hold back the bile rising behind her throat.

"Fiora… Please. I beg you to get rid of him, but don't make too much of a trace, if possible?"

"Understood." Fiora nodded.

It was the only cue they need.

Within moments, a hail of knives, each of the tips glinting from the presence of some kind of liquid, dashed towards Fiora, while three of her chains moved in such a way so they looked like a drill going through an endless onslaught of knives.

The sound of metal-on-metal echoed throughout the hall, while the dropped knives fell without a sound on the carpeted floor.

All of a sudden, the noise stopped.

One chain, separate from the three forming Fiora's makes.h.i.+ft drill, stabbed the heart of the hooded man, causing all his movements to stop. The knives he threw, as if weighed by something, fell and melted into black puddle, along with his body, and disappeared into white mist within the span of seconds.

"Deci... What he desired, shall be our desire..."

Ghastly and airy, like a silent, dying scream, the whisper pa.s.sed before disappearing along with the white mist.

**

"You were attacked?!"

Claire sat cross-legged on the living room floor, while Ivanna stared at her friend in complete bewilderment. Fiora stood at the edge of the room, leaning on the wall to relax while paying attention to what is going on outside. Her blue chain was tied on her left wrist, inside the hoodie she wore during the compet.i.tion earlier in the day. Due to the events, she didn't have enough time to change it.

"Somehow, you slept through all the metallic clanging outside." Claire shrugged and sighed. "But honestly, everyone seems to be, considering the fact that we haven't heard any reports about a fight breaking out."

"Now that I think about it, that is rather odd..."

"Why don't you believe me?! I've seen the fight here! I swear!" A deep, exasperated voice can be heard from outside, the scream loud enough to be heard from their room.

"Fiora, go in the bedroom." Claire whispered, not wanting to attract attention to their place.

"Sir, please calm down. We will investigate the presence of an Incarnation here. However, if a fight as big as you described truly happened here, there's bound to be a trace, and people around will hear the huge racket caused by such an event." Someone else replied with a deep voice, his tone considerably calmer.

"I don't care! Dammit, no place is safe, not even here! I swear, the end is near! Demons are coming to walk among us and drag us all to the fire!"

"Sir, please. You are botheringng the other tenants. We will look into this issue, in the meantime, please calm down." The voice continued, retaining his calm in spite of the screams.

"Should we come out?"

"Don't. Let someone else file a noise complaint or something, we have an even more pressing matter to deal with." Claire replied, while trying to see the scene as best as she could through the peephole. "Besides, we aren't a particularly social tenant. Better let the more known ones in the spotlight."

"Fair point." Ivanna concluded. "Your Incarnation's little brawl aside…"

Claire stopped looking at the hole and sat down.

"… there's the fact that Oscar may or may not know where you live - and if that guy is really h.e.l.lbent on tracking you, he might." Ivanna said. "On one hand, you do have that Fiora, and as of now, she's completely devoted to you. But, there's the fact that outside matches, it's hard to use her power freely.…"

"I'll deal with him, as always." Claire replied. "He was relentless even before this, but at least he held back before. Now, as we both have powers on our side, he'll employ any measure he has on his sleeve. On the other hand..."

"What?" Ivanna raised her eyebrows.

"There's a huge chance he doesn't know yet." Claire said. "If their behavior were any indication, whatever those melting people Deci, and Oscar for that matter, used to track me was semi-independent… and they have to manually exchange information."

"How are you so sure?"

"All of this is nothing but speculation." Claire replied. "There's no 'sure', but there's no choice except to roll with it. I'd say, considering his past records, he'll come here without hesitation the moment he knew."

"If you say so, Claire. For the sake of our safety, I hope you're right..."

**

"Hey, Claire?"

"Van, you haven't slept yet?" Claire asked.

"Well, if someone who has the bed can't sleep, how can you a.s.sume I can?" Ivanna laughed from the side below Claire's single bed, careful to keep her voice low lest the other occupant woke up.

"Well, someone seems to get some sleep here." Claire chuckled, keeping her voice low as well. "Thanks for sleeping here with me."

"You're welcome. We stick together, don't we?"

"The offer for the bed is still out, you know." Claire added.

"Pfft! Knowing you, I'll end up on the floor the next day from your fighting skills on the bed." Ivanna shrugged, seemingly struggling to not laugh out loud in there. "I swear, if you have a boyfriend, you'd make it in a joke website because both of you broke up from sleeping habits."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"Tell that to the bolsters and pillows you kicked down in your sleep. You build rather elaborate pillow forts just to tear them down the next morning, I'm truly amazed."

"They're pretty comfortable…"

"I mean, you're the stiff one, with a room probably as clean as a lab... and you build pillow forts." Ivanna replied. "You sleep, we've spent a lot of time, and considering how she acts, I wouldn't be surprised if she actually woke up." She glanced at Fiora. Oddly, she looked comfortable, even with only a thin mattress separating her from the cold floor.

Minutes tick by, the peaceful silence lulled the two into a peaceful sleep.