Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The hollow echoes of their footsteps were marred only by Elysia’s sing-song monologuing. Kalpas was hearing without truly listening, although neither did he interrupt. Her chatter filled the drab space as they trudged through the dark hallway, and he allowed it without complaint—for, while some might’ve mistaken her attitude as callous given the circumstances, he (and the other 11—no, 10 now) knew better.

He’d rather be out tearing through something instead of going to entertain Elysia’s glorified dollhouse, though—perhaps find whatever dark pit Aponia had undoubtedly sentenced herself to and drag her out by the hair, feel her very scalp stretch and protest down to the follicle. Find an army of beasts and men both to decimate and destroy, smell the scent of burned flesh and hear the ringing din of screams of pain and suffering.

Find some dark corner—disappear. Go so deep that shadows had shadows and forward was back. So deep that he could not tell from up and down. So deep that senses were senseless, that silence was deafening, that touch was numbing, that darkness was blinding. Then go deeper. Perhaps, there, she would appear as always. Perhaps, there, this bitter loathing and sour disgust he held for himself that burned like acid in his gut would sink away.

But, despite those wants, those aches, Kalpas still found himself walking this same path into the Realm as he had done so many times before.

Well, not quite as he had done. As they come closer, he felt anticipation beginning to creep up his spine. But it was not the same type of primal anticipation before battle. No, this was something else—something indescribable. After all, how can you describe the anticipation of seeing a perfect breathing copy of someone who’s dead?

It struck him that the vast majority of people would kill without question for even the briefest glimpse of the dead. And here he was, strolling in to not only see this apparition, but speak to it—touch it, if he wished, although he seldom ever touched the real version anyway. Kalpas, despite everything, chuckled to himself. How many would turn their backs on humanity for the same opportunity?

“What is it?” Elysia asked when she heard him laugh.

“Nothing.”

Elysia hummed, but she knew better than to press.

When they crossed the threshold, Elysia’s sim, who always was in the lobby it seemed, beamed and skipped forward to greet them.

“Hi-ii-ii!” she cheered in the same melodic way Elysia did. “Back to see me so soon? Oh, and Kalpas is here this time!”

“You know I can never stay away from cute girls,” Elysia cooed back in the same carefree way. “And we’re the cutest, aren’t we?” Still, there was a slight droop in her shoulders and faraway look in her eyes that did not match the energy of her copy.

“Oh no, did something happen?” Elysia’s sim frowned. “I hate seeing you like this, Elysia! Girls like you should be smiling all the time…”

“I know,” Elysia smiled wanly and took her sim’s outreached hands in her own. “It’s just been…especially hard lately.”

Elysia’s sim made a sad sound. “Well, you can tell me all about it, can’t you?”

“Where are the other ones?” Kalpas asked sharply.

“Oh, let’s see,” sim-Elysia’s ears twitched a little as she tilted her head to think. “Well, your other self is somewhere in the Realm burning things”—sim-Elysia waved her hand around vaguely—“as usual, I think. I’m not sure when he’ll be back. But it shouldn’t be too much trouble for you to get him yourself, right?”

Kalpas made a derisive noise—half out of impatience and half out of frustration. That was not quite what he had meant. But he did not have it in him to request who he wanted to see aloud—who he was still half-denying he wanted to see at all. The real version was dead. Only a weaker man would seek out her ghost.

But fate was not going to allow him a choice, it seemed. The entrance to the Realm suddenly hummed to life, and moments later, someone’s footsteps came through. Kalpas, whose back was to the door, already knew who it was simply by the sound of her measured gait.

“Miss Elysia,” her slow, deliberate voice sounded through the room, “Kalpas. Welcome back.”

Kalpas demonstrated, for a fraction of a second, a moment of uncharacteristic uncertainty—even hesitance. Did he want to turn around?

His body acted before his mind. He was already turning as he thought to himself, Of course, idiot. It’s a glorified hologram. Still, that hairsbreadth of a moment, while imperceptible by most, would not have been missed by her—so, of course, it was not missed by her sim either. She met his glare coolly when he faced her, although she could not, of course, see his face.

“Does something trouble you?” Sakura asked, gaze steady and careful as she looked him over. “How unusual for you. Well, I would not presume to pry—not in the place of the true Sakura, at least.”

She was there. It was perfect. Almost too perfect. She stood with an uncanny stillness, meticulously balanced, with her only movement being her breaths—and knowing her, even those were carefully measured. It was as if—

Behind Kalpas, Elysia let out an aborted, choked sound. Kalpas looked back to see her quickly cover her mouth with her hand, but the damage was done. Tears, which she hadn’t let slip for their entire trip here, now flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks and dripped onto her clothes. Her shoulders shook as she took Sakura’s sim in.

“I’m sorry!” she let out as she turned away and took a seat. Her sim scampered after her with worried exclamations. “I’m sorry! Just—just one second, please!”

“Something has happened?” She said it as a question, but Sakura’s sim meant it as a statement. Her eyes slid back to meet Kalpas’. Based on Elysia’s reaction, she would’ve already figured it out. But she wanted to hear someone say it.

For a moment, he didn’t reply. Then, he surged forward, snapping a hand at her neck. Immediately, she drew a blade and blocked him. The entire moment lasted less than half a second. At his speed, almost anyone else would have died.

“Hmph,” Kalpas grunted as he considered her from behind her sword. Her expression had not changed, but her eyes had a dangerous color to them. Around them, the air had grown two degrees colder. “Guess you’re her sim after all.”

He withdrew his fist and made to enter the deeper parts of the Realm. He could not stand to look at her any longer. And, while clearly confused but sensing the threat had passed, Sakura’s sim sheathed her sword.

“You died,” Kalpas said flatly as the portal hummed to life. He stepped inside without looking back. With luck, he’d be met with considerable resistance before he found his other self.

He was silent for some time, but he was seething—Kalpas knew it because he was too. More than usual, at least. His rage always smoldered somewhere in the pit of his gut, but lately it blazed white hot constantly. It was to the point where it seemed to half-possess him. There was no target that could satisfy this unadulterated anger, this hate. His hands ached to scorch, tear, snap, rend, break, shatter, crush—but everything was too brittle, too soft, too weak. It was like taking out manic frustrations on tissue paper. It wasn’t satisfying. Did nothing to quench his need for destruction, for indiscriminate violence, for pure and utter brutality! Nothing he did could quell this searing rage!

Then, he spoke. “You didn’t kill her?” he asked quietly.

Kalpas knew who he was talking about. “No.” Not for lack of trying.

The air rose in temperature. “Why not? ”

“Don’t you have my memories?” Kalpas said impatiently. “You should know as well as I do.”

“Seems like you were just too weak,” his sim hissed and stepped forward, heat seeping from him.

“And you think you’re stronger?” Kalpas barked derisively. “Know your place—you’re a poor man’s copy, nothing more.”

“Oh? Are you challenging me?” his sim said and took a step forward. “Because if it was me out there, then Aponia would be cinders right now. Perhaps the frontlines has made you timid. You’re always complaining about wanting an even match. What could be better than yourself?”

“I’m not interested in fighting a projection,” Kalpas sneered. “What’s the point in fighting something that isn’t even real?”

“Hmph,” his sim snorted. Now he leaned back and crossed his arms. He was wearing his mask, like Kalpas was, but Kalpas knew he was smirking from the other side. “Her projection in the lobby seemed real enough for you.”

Kalpas threw a punch before he even registered it. His sim laughed, dark and condescending, as he dodged and retaliated with a kick to Kalpas’ side. Kalpas took the hit so he could get a grip on his copy’s leg and throw him down. Instead of twisting out of the way, his copy allowed it, laughing uncontrollably from the ground as he looked up at Kalpas.

“Pathetic!” he spat at him as the temperature rose rapidly, at twice the rate as usual. “Embarrassment! Weakling! Useless!”

“Quiet!” Kalpas shouted, gripping his sim’s head in his hand, lifting, then crashing his head back into the ground. There was an audible crack, and the very earth splintered underneath them, but his sim only continued to howl, mocking him.

“For all your talk, you fail when it matters most!” his copy cried out, flames crackling to life at his shoulders. Kalpas’ shoulders did the same. “And then you didn’t even have the decency or stomach to avenge her! Perhaps she wasn’t so important to you after all!”

“I said quiet!” Kalpas shouted again and punched him in the face, aiming to break his mask and his face underneath. Meanwhile, the temperature became sweltering, with the very air shimmering from the heat. With a high-pitched whine, fire blazed around Kalpas’ back and arms, and fire began wrapping around his sim’s arms as well.

Now, his copy stopped laughing. He caught Kalpas’ fist mid-air and gripped it with punishing strength. Their two fires twisted and pushed against one another, wrapping around their wrists and moving to suffocate the other. “It certainly seems like you weren’t so important to her,” he sneered. “But you already know why, don’t you?”

“Shut up!” Kalpas roared now. The very air around the pair of them popped and sparked as his copy gave another low, dark laugh.

“She didn’t even tell you,” he laughed like it was all a hilarious joke. “She didn’t bother to let you know what she was doing! You were the last to find out.” Now his tone shifted to that of absolute disgust. “Just looking at you makes me sick. If this is the useless hero I’m supposed to be immortalizing for the rest of eternity, I’d rather die and save myself the shame!”

“Then I’ll grant your wish!” Kalpas spat as flames now fully erupted from his body. At almost the same time, his sim did the same.

“Come then!” his sim challenged him. “We’ll see who the stronger one is!”

The area was set ablaze almost instantaneously, what with both of them unleashing their full power. What terrain could alight was set aflame and burned to ashes almost immediately. The cracks in the earth broke open and brought forth lava. Kalpas’ sim kicked the original off of him and gave chase to seize him out of the air. Kalpas twisted to meet him, crashing his body against his copy’s to plummet them back down. They grappled with each other, each trying to get the other to hit the ground first—not that it mattered. Something like that would not trouble either of them. Fire surrounded the two of them like a deluge, swirling and thick. They both landed at the same time, and the platform shattered into pieces as their flames shredded through stone. They paid it no mind; they both erupted out from the rubble and simply crashed into the next platform.

“You’re the one out there,” his copy scoffed at him while their fires burned and they wrestled for grips on each other, “while I’m the one stuck in here! If the situations were reversed…”

“Don’t think you’d do any differently,” Kalpas snapped as he aimed for his sim’s heart. “Don’t be so arrogant. You’re just a simulation. Everything you are is just a derivative of me!”

Suddenly, a pink, crystalline pillar erupted between the two of them, snapping them apart. Immediately, both of them knew who it was. They looked down to the entryway of this area to find Elysia waving at them cheerily. While normal humans would have already burned to death just from the heat in the room, Elysia seemed untroubled, even comfortable.

No, Kalpas thought to himself as he considered her. It was Elysia’s sim. Yet even the fact that he could not tell for a moment heralded the sheer feat the Realm represented.

“Hey, you two! That’s enough!” she shouted at them from the ground. “You’ll destroy the Realm at this rate! And all my hard work! I think we can all agree I’m not the type of girl that deserves that, right?”

“You’ve returned,” Sakura’s sim commented lightly as sim-Elysia, sim-Kalpas, and Kalpas himself returned. She was seated next to Elysia, holding her close and allowing her to cry into her shoulder. At their entrance, Elysia looked up, sniffed, and wiped her tears.

“Oh,” she said as she saw them, “welcome back.” Even distraught, her tone was still melodic.

“We thought your two’s sync may be…contentious this time,” Sakura explained, mild. Her hooded eyes slid between the two Kalpases. Kalpas crossed his arms, and his sim snorted. “It appears we were right.”

“Luckily, Elysia was able to get there in time!” sim-Elysia cheered for herself.

“Lucky for him, maybe,” sim-Kalpas scoffed. Woodenly, Kalpas turned his head to bore a hole in his copy’s temple.

“Enough,” sim-Sakura said. “Argument does not change the outcome.” She threw a pointed look at sim-Kalpas, who made a disgruntled noise but did not argue further.

“So?” Kalpas prompted her after some silence. “Any questions?”

“Miss Elysia has appraised me.”

Kalpas blinked behind his mask. “She did?” he asked, nonplussed. If she was told, then Kalpas could not understand how she had not flown into a rage by now. Sakura was never an impulsive person, but when it came to Rin, there was little that could stop her—and, by extension, her sim.

“Kalpas,” Elysia sniffed and straightened a little. “We’re not telling Sakura about the details.”

Now, Kalpas turned to glare at Elysia. Beside him, his sim did the same. “We’re what?” his sim hissed.

“Learning about the details about your death—it isn’t pleasant, right?” Elysia gave a soft smile. “And, well, if we tell Sakura about it…” She trailed off.

“Miss Elysia is concerned about the integrity of the Realm if I were to learn about it,” sim-Sakura finished bluntly. “There may be consequences to my programming, to the Realm, and all of our memories as a whole as a result. This poses a risk for future successors and the initiative overall. So I agree with her. This is what I want.” Her eyes slid between Kalpas and his sim and back again to make sure they understood.

Kalpas felt his jaw tighten, but he did not say anything. Perhaps, he reflected with distaste, it was because of relief. He would not need to stare her in the face and tell her how he had failed. However, next to him, his sim’s hands balled into fists. “Elysia,” he growled out, “are you trying to take the easy way out? Too scared to talk about your role in it?”

Elysia seemed to shrink a little in shame, but before she could reply, sim-Sakura cut in.

“Kalpas," sim-Sakura emphasized, “it is my decision.”

Sim-Kalpas snarled. “You think they’d treat the real Sakura like this?”

Kalpas felt a rush of fury at his sim’s tone, and he seized the front of his shirt to drag them face-to-face. “You do not talk about her like that,” Kalpas said to him, tone low and dangerous. It sounded like advice, but was meant as an order.

“Or what?” sim-Kalpas challenged him, voice equally quiet. “We both know you won’t do anything. You haven’t done anything.”

"Enough." Sakura’s tone turned sharp. “Will you disrespect my choice, Kalpas?” It was not clear which one she was speaking to, but after a few beats, Kalpas loosened his grip on his sim’s shirt, and his sim clicked his tongue, but backed away a few paces.

Kalpas was struck by how uncanny it was—how familiar her voice was, how precise the look in her eyes were, how similar the way she spoke to him was. No, not similar—the same. More precise than his memory could generate. He folded his arms and gripped them tight. Would Sakura have forgiven him if he did not tell her about this?

Well, she was dead and couldn’t give her opinion, he reminded himself harshly. And what were the feelings of a glorified databank? He might’ve respected Sakura, but that was because she stood toe to toe with him, fought battles alongside him, wandered the darkness with him. The image in front of him did not do those things, even if she recalled them—so what was she to him, then?

“Then, if that’s it, I’m leaving,” Kalpas said suddenly. “Are you staying?”

Elysia took sim-Sakura’s hand and thought for a moment. “No,” she said, “I’ll come too.”

“It was good to see you again Miss Elysia, Kalpas,” sim-Sakura rose as Elysia did, “despite the circumstances.”

“It was good to see you too!” Elysia said. “Can I come visit you?”

“Of course. I would be happy to see you.”

“Hooray!” Elysia exclaimed, although still in a more subdued way than she might have normally. Then, she turned to her sim to exchange cheerful goodbyes. Meanwhile, the two Kalpases did not even bother acknowledging one another. Sim-Kalpas stalked over to sim-Sakura and muttered something in her fox ear. They twitched—out of irritation, Kalpas recognized it—and sim-Sakura tilted her head up to say something in return. Sim-Kalpas audibly clicked his tongue again and crossed his arms, but leaned away and moodily settled slightly behind sim-Sakura.

“Okay! Ready?” Elysia finally asked him.

“We were all waiting for you,” Kalpas said waspishly. Elysia only laughed.

“You can’t rush a cute girl, Kalpas!” she chastised him. Kalpas only snorted and led the way to the exit. Elysia, demure, joined his side as the doors began to groan open.

“Come back soon!” sim-Elysia cried out. Elysia turned around and waved. “Bye bye!” she called back. Despite himself, Kalpas turned back as well.

“Be safe,” sim-Sakura raised a hand. “And…please keep Rin safe for me.”

Behind her, sim-Kalpas’ demeanor visibly darkened. Kalpas could not face her. He looked away. “You’re all that’s left of her memory now,” he grunted. “Don’t disappoint me.”

He stepped out. Elysia was close behind. Then, the doors swung shut with a clang.

“That was mean,” Elysia sighed a little as they started their trek back to the real world. “Couldn’t you give her a bit of a break?”

“For what?” Kalpas snapped.

“Well, like you said, she’s all that’s left of Sakura now. She’ll take what you said very seriously, right?” Elysia gave a wan smile. “That’s just like how Sakura was, right?”

Kalpas made an irritated sound. Elysia lapsed into silence for a while.

“Kalpas,” she started again. He did not acknowledge her, but she continued regardless, “you and Sakura were friends, right?”

This time, Kalpas snorted. “Friends” seemed both overly gracious and irritatingly shallow. But, for most peoples’ purposes, perhaps they could be called that.

“Well, you and she were close, at least. Closer to each other than mostly anyone else was with either of you.”

Kalpas remained silent.

“Then I think you should know that…before she did it, I found her. And…I asked her if she wanted to sync with her sim so she’d know. She said no. She said that…she hoped that this version of her could, at least, be happy. By not knowing.”

Still, Kalpas did not say anything.

“That’s why I kept it from her. I mean, the stuff about the Realm being affected is true too, but…I want to honor her last wish. A girl is cuter when she’s happy, right?”

Yet still, he did not say anything.

They finished the rest of the trip in silence.

Chapter Text

With a mighty crack, the concrete wall of the building was split in two. Sakura flickered through the hole in a ceiling above her and settled on the floor above, although this spot’s integrity was quickly failing. The building was rapidly coming apart. Even as she was thinking it, the floor beneath her began to crack as well, and she preemptively retreated further into the hall.

Then, suddenly, the floor erupted in rubble and fire. Sakura barely had time to react before a hand came out to crush her ankle. She flashed out of sight and reappeared on a flight of steps, which she rapidly ascended as the man howled his frustration below and began to carve his way through the stone towards her.

“CM-004, report!” a voice buzzed in her ear.

“Engaged with a civilian! Permission to use force!”

“A civilian?”

“Yes, but fearsomely strong!” Sakura said grimly as the man shouted from below, “Do you only know how to run? Too afraid to fight someone who’s not a child?”

“Signs of honkai infection?”

“No!” Sakura grit her teeth as rubble rained down on her. She reached the top of the stairs and began bolting down the hallway. “But he has comparable speed and strength! And flame-based abilities!” The rumbles of the man’s pursuit were getting stronger. He was catching up again. She couldn’t believe it was even possible for a human.

But then again, she reflected as she remembered the flames around him, perhaps he was not human at all. But she was honest when she said there had been no signs of honkai infection on him. She turned a corner as she heard the metal of the stairs’ handrails screech and tear apart.

For a moment, the line was silent. Then, the voice said, “We’ve reviewed the footage. Bring him in alive. We will study him.”

Bring him in? Sakura repeated to herself in disbelief as the ceiling began to collapse on her. This man was coming at her with full killing intent, and HQ was going to ask she hold back?

“CM-004, do you copy? Restrain, do not kill! Do you copy?”

“Yes, I copy!” Sakura spat out. She spun on her heel and gripped the hilt of her sword. She slid into ready position and stared down the hallway, focusing on measuring her breaths. Then, through the roaring of her own blood and adrenaline, she realized something—the rumbling had stopped.

Suddenly, a resounding crash sounded from behind her, and an intense heat burned at her back. On pure instinct, she disappeared in a blink once more just as his hand grasped where her neck had been. The man in the mask snarled his distaste as fire erupted from his shoulders and arm.

“Running again?” he roared at the empty air.

Not quite. In less than a second, ten narrow but deep cuts appeared across his limbs and his chest. Sakura had taken care to aim for arteries, and the man began pouring blood. Around the cuts were fine signs of frostbite.

“We said restrain, not kill!” HQ snapped in her ear as they observed the live feed.

“This is restraint,” Sakura said flatly as she reappeared before the man, sheathing her sword. If crashing through a concrete building did not faze him, then Sakura had no choice than to take more drastic measures. Meanwhile, the man was looking over the cuts that appeared on him—in surprise, Sakura noted, but not in panic. She felt a sense of dread.

And no sooner had she felt it when the man began laughing. He laughed and laughed, mask and face in his hand as if told the most entertaining joke.

“Haha! So you do know how to fight!” he exclaimed. “Good, good! That’ll make it more satisfying!” Then, to Sakura’s grotesque fascination, the man summoned flames in his hands and began drawing the flames over his cuts. He was cauterizing himself. The sheer pain of doing so on one of such wounds would make a regular man faint, but he did all ten without so much as a flinch.

A demon, Sakura thought to herself as she wordlessly slid back into her fighting stance, hand on her blade. She felt her hairs begin to stand on end, and a nameless chill spread through her veins.

“Well,” he said once he’d finished, “shall we start?”

Then, faster than she expected, he rushed at her. He was matching her average speed. Quickly, she drew her sword and caught his blow, then rushed to parry his next strike. Its force reverberated through her entire body and made her bones rattle. But he gave her no time to recover. She dodged his next one, which crashed into the wall behind her and left a deep mark inside it. Above them, the ceiling groaned and began to give. In the half second that it took for the ceiling to begin to fall, Sakura was already moving to strike the exposed skin on his shoulder. Her blade grazed him briefly before he made to physically grasp it in his bare hand, and Sakura was forced to withdraw it—she was certain that despite the chill imbued in the blade, he would have no problems holding it and seizing control. But it also proved something: she was faster—barely. If he had, indeed, shown his true speed already, Sakura noted grimly.

Then he moved to strike again, and she evaded to the side. She drew her blade for another cut, faster than any human eye could possibly see, but he jumped out of the way, instead making her sword cut clean through the stone wall. It fell out towards the ground outside in three seconds. In those seconds: the man lunged at her and she dodged, making a crater in the floor; she pushed off what intact footing there was and leapt forward, aiming a slice at his side; he jumped away just as deadly icicles erupted from the concrete and narrowly missed puncturing him; he lit ablaze and burned through the ice towards her at the end of the hall; she cut a hole in the wall and leapt out; his flames erupted through the rest of the floor and burst apart the walls and windows.

At the end of the three seconds, Sakura was in the air as the building began to collapse. It broke in on itself, its walls folding and its floors crumpling. It looked little more than a cardboard house falling apart. She could not watch for much longer, however, because she felt the tell-tale feeling of broiling heat appear at her back. She turned and swung her sword. In half a second, thousands of thin, frostbitten cuts appeared on the man’s body before she flickered from view again. She landed on the roof of a building nearby—and somehow, he saw where she did, because he appeared almost as soon as she did.

Wordlessly, she raised her sword and prepared for the next bout. Did not flinch or wince or give any indication of pain, even though her right shoulder was screaming. It felt as if the skin itself was boiling. Deftly, she covered the area in a thin layer of ice. It would have to do.

“Ha! Not bad!” the man laughed. Despite his wounds, he strode forward, his fire still blazing.

“Permission to use deadly force,” Sakura panted as he approached.

“Denied,” HQ replied. “Bring him in alive.”

“The time spent doing that will level this street,” Sakura said just as the man flew at her again.

“You have your orders,” HQ said. In the two seconds it took for them to say that, the pair of them were in the air again, exchanging blows, fire roaring, ice freezing out of the very air, and Sakura dancing out of the way and the man, who was not nearly as subtle, crashing into the asphalt below.

Not that Sakura expected that to stop him. She landed on another roof as she received HQ’s reply, looking grimly down at the smoldering crater he had made. Smoke rose, obscuring her vision—but he had not come out yet. She was certain. But he surely would. She was certain of that too.

Luckily, he had not managed to get another blow on her yet. But she had to push herself to her top speed. She had not had to do that in some time. Her heart was pounding. Adrenaline was roaring in her limbs. Her senses were alive and humming. Every nerve was vibrating. When was the last time she had been in combat of this caliber? Distantly, she was aware of her ICHOR instincts straining against her self-control, buzzing in the high of combat, baring its teeth. She stamped the beast down.

Then, he erupted out of the ground again. He raced towards her in a rush of fire, and they resumed their back and forth. Their movements were a blur as they clashed, moving between rooftops and the streets faster than eyes could see. Buildings and structures cracked under their pressure wherever they went, and Sakura could hear peoples’ screams.

I cannot let this go on, she thought to herself as she evaded another blow. She swung again, hoping to restrain him in ice, but he melted through it easily, and the pain of the spikes piercing his skin did not even slow him. She swore to herself. At this point, it seemed impossible to restrain him without outright killing him!

They fought for another three minutes—which, for Sakura, was akin to hours on the battlefield. The edges of her hair and clothes were both singed and frozen. The air was thick with mist as her ice was instantly melted by his heat. Meanwhile, flames billowed out around the man, and while he bled, he did not do so heavily. In fact, she was sure his blood was evaporating as soon as it seeped out of his skin. And she had not been able to land any meaningful blows since the first ten cuts.

“Tired already?” he laughed as they reached another break in their exchange. She was panting, but on the contrary, Sakura felt more alive and aware than she had in some time. But the man had a point: her endurance was wavering, and quickly. She had never been meant for extended fights, and further, her ICHOR was gnashing its teeth, salivating at a true melee. She could not risk unleashing it here.

End it now, Sakura thought to herself, eyes alight. She tightened her grip on her sword.

“Then I’ll finish it for you,” the man said. This time, when he rushed towards her, she did not move. This time, she focused to the edges of her ability, stretched out the moment into a lifetime, slowed time as well as her heartbeat.

Faster than a blink, she struck her blow, and it hit true.

At this proximity, his heat was sweltering, even through the thin veil of ice around her. She swore her very clothes caught flame just by being this close. But it quickly died down as she felt the life drain from his body. He grunted—more out of surprise than anything—as he looked down at the blade that stuck out of his chest.

“A shallow abrasion on your heart,” Sakura said in assurance—to him as much as her keepers on the line. “You’ll live.” A slight emphasis on you. She would never attempt this maneuver on a regular man—but something told her this was hardly the worst this man had suffered. She removed her blade and stepped aside as he dropped to his knee.

“Haha,” he laughed, entertained, as he put a hand to his chest to find the deluge of blood there. “It’s not done until a death. You hear me? This is a draw, woman. We’ll finish this…”

He trailed off as he collapsed. With finality, Sakura flicked the blood off her sword and sheathed it.

“Target is down,” Sakura reported, “but alive. He needs a medical team as soon as possible.”

“Acknowledged. Well done, 004. Now, there should be a second individual there—a woman…”

“Hey, you.”

Sakura stopped in her tracks and blinked at the abrasive greeting, but said nothing of it. Instead, she turned around obligingly as she said, “Yes?”

“The fuck are those on your head?”

“Kalpas,” she greeted him, having learned his name. Mask aside, his demeanor was instantly recognizable. “I see you have been released.” This surprised her mildly. Miss Elysia had asked her for help in this regard, but Sakura did not think she would actually convince the higher-ups to let him out of The Deep—or, now that Sakura thought about it, convince this man to fight for their cause. He’d seem sooner to kill them all for the fun of it. What had they promised him? Out of habit, she looked him over.

Overall, he looked in good health. The wounds from their battle, Sakura noted, seemed to have faded almost entirely. She could still see where he cauterized himself on his arms, but even those marks were faint. Would they even scar? Burns of that degree usually would, but this man was clearly inhuman.

Kalpas ignored her greeting and closed the gap between them by a few paces. “I asked what those things on your head were.”

“They are ears.” She assumed it was obvious.

“Of fucking what? A rabbit?”

Sakura thought about it for a moment before saying, “They are more like…a fox.” It was close enough.

Kalpas snorted. “Not like any fox I’ve seen.”

Sakura only blinked, expression blank.

“Alright, fine. Where’d you get them?”

Sakura hesitated half a millisecond before deciding that, if Fire Moth did not want him to know, he would not be wandering these halls so freely. “A surgery,” she replied.

“You got a surgery to put some ears on your head?”

Now, Sakura frowned mildly. It was incredibly subtle—a minute and almost imperceptible shift in her face—but Kalpas tilted his head as she did so. She could feel him smirking. Well, she should not be surprised. She already knew his eyes were sharp. He could keep up with her strikes in battle.

Sakura appraised him critically. “I believe you already know what the answer is.” And you are just trying to provoke me.

Kalpas did not react for a moment—although it was difficult to truly tell with his mask, admittedly—but then he barked out a laugh and straightened. “Fine, fine. So, where do I get it?”

Now, Sakura was surprised. She blinked. “Get what?”

Kalpas made an impatient sound and took another step forward. “The surgery.” Sakura swore she felt the temperature pick up a few degrees.

Sakura stared at him. “It is not a casual surgery,” she said slowly. “It has many risks. I was fortunate to only get away with these ears that you see. Most do not even survive.” Although this may be a non-issue in his case, she thought to herself even as she said it aloud.

“But it made you stronger, didn’t it?” Kalpas pressed. “That’s what gave you your powers?” He tilted his head again, and this time, Sakura had the distinct impression he was smiling. “It seems like a useful surgery. And I’ve heard you held back in our fight. You owe me a rematch, fox. Maybe this will make you break the monster loose, eh?”

Sakura frowned, nonplussed. Was he already familiar with the nature of ICHOR? “You are plenty strong enough.” She could not even begin to imagine his strength if he was augmented with ICHOR. Perhaps he’d be on par with Kevin Kaslana. It was almost unthinkable.

“‘Enough’?” he repeated derisively. “As if I could settle for ‘enough’. If there is more strength, then it’s mine to take. Understand?”

Sakura hesitated. Kalpas was not exactly a friendly individual, and he had flown at her with intent to kill not so long ago, but she still felt remiss to submit anyone to the surgery. “Dr. Mobius is always looking for willing patients,” she spoke of the doctor as judiciously as she could, “so I am sure she would be happy to accommodate you. But I must once again emphasize that this is no simple surgery. It has permanent effects on the body and mind. It should not be undertaken lightly. In fact, I would emphatically encourage you against it.”

“Hmph,” Kalpas crossed his arms. “You complain, but you got it, didn’t you?”

At this, she inclined her head. “Well,” she relented, “that is true.” She paused briefly while she considered this. When it was clear to her that she was not going to convince him otherwise, she lowered her gaze and gave a short bow. “Then I see your mind is made up, so I can only wish you luck. If you’ll excuse me.”

She turned away and went back to walking. Instead of letting her leave, to her surprise, Kalpas joined her at her side pace for pace.

“So? Why did you get the operation?”

She glanced at him. Why did he care? “The same as you, I suppose. For strength.”

"Hah," Kalpas chuckled. "And you needed all that strength to kill a bunch of children, huh?"

She looked away. "I am sorry about that." It was no question that those children had been important to him. Her apology was genuine. If someone had done the same to Rin...

"I did not enjoy it," she continued. "But we all do what we must."

"'Must'?" he repeated, disgusted. "You had no choice but to kill kids?"

Sakura was silent. What could she say that would convince him? To guarantee Rin's safety, there was nothing she wouldn't do. Not in this world, unforgiving and cruel as it was. She was willing to wager he felt the same way about those children, but no amount of logic would assuage him, she was sure. It wouldn't placate her, certainly, in his position.

"Hmph," he said when she did not reply. "You'd better hope the operation kills me, fox."

"Oh?" she prompted, placid.

"Yeah," he said, tone dangerous, "because if I live, you're the first person I'm finding."

"So you'll be home soon?" Rin pressed her face close to the camera, wide-eyed and a frown on her face.

"Yes, Rin. Soon," Sakura said. "My assignment is finished here. My transport is scheduled for this evening."

"Okay, good!" Rin grinned, pout instantly gone. "I'll stay up for you!"

"I may be very late," Sakura warned. "You should not stay up."

"Come on, onee-san; I'm not a kid anymore!"

Sakura felt her lip prick up into a smile. She suppressed it valiantly. She should be more strict with her.

"Alright," Sakura said helplessly. "Just this once."

"Hooray!" Rin cheered. "Okay, then I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Yes. Soon. I love you."

"I love you, too!" Rin happily waved as Sakura shut off the live feed.

As soon as Rin's video vanished, Sakura's faint smile dropped instantly. Her arms fell to her sides, with one of her hands hovering close to her sword. "I know you're there," she said over her shoulder.

For a moment, the shadows were still. Then, he emerged—with far more stealth and silence than Sakura would've expected of him. Slowly, she turned to face him.

"We should take this outside," Sakura said coolly. "There is no need to bring the entire base down." Idly, she glanced over him. He looked the same as before—perfectly healthy. It had not been long since their last conversation, but she was certain he would not show himself if he had not gotten Dr. Mobius' surgery. If that were so, then he must have had one of the fastest recoveries of all the MANTISes so far. Sakura supposed she should not have been surprised.

Meanwhile, Kalpas had not said a word nor moved a muscle. Some might've taken this as threatening, but Sakura sensed he did not want to kill her—not at this very moment, at least. Still, she kept her hand close to her hip. The silence stretched on as she and Kalpas appraised each other.

"My sister," she said at last. He had not said anything, but she surmised the question. "Rin."

He remained silent for a while longer, but eventually, he said, "I see." He tilted his head. "'We do what we must', huh?"

Sakura only blinked, impassive. She did not necessarily consider that an excuse.

Kalpas watched for a few more seconds, then straightened and beckoned her closer. "Fox," he said to her, "come here."

Sakura's eyes flickered to his hand, then back to his mask. Her expression was unreadable, but her demeanor was unmistakably guarded. Still, she did not sense lethal danger. Slowly, she paced towards him.

"Ha!" he laughed a little as she did so, sounding pleased. "So your first instinct isn't to run after all, eh, fox?"

Sakura did not reply.

"Here," he pointed to his chest when she was closer, "what do you hear?"

Sakura's brow furrowed as he lowered his arms and held them behind his back—a wordless assurance of nonviolence. What was he doing? She glanced at where he pointed. It was where she had pierced his heart. With a frown, she obligingly turned her head so one of her fox ears hovered over the spot.

What she heard was the sound of a healthy, unmarred heart—but, more than that, its beats were almost thunderous, with more strength than that of a regular man's heart. Each thump rang low and true in her ear like a wide and deep drum, resonating all the way down to her skull. She could practically feel the unnatural vigor emanating off of it with every thud.

And, she noted with an involuntary twitch in her ear, heat was rolling off of him. More than what she recalled last time they had fought, when he had been at rest—for lack of better word. He was like a kiln. It was simply the sheer measure of his power, Sakura realized, that produced this level of heat without any effort from his part. What was his true strength now?

She drew away. Her face was composed. "It sounds healthy," she said blandly. "Congratulations."

"Haha," he chuckled at her expression—or, rather, lack of one. "I should thank you, fox. I don't think I've ever felt this good."

That usually meant the side effects would also be some of the worst, Sakura knew, although she wondered how much Kalpas would really care about something like that.

"I am glad it was successful." Was he trying to intimidate her before their fight?

"Ha! Get that look off of your face. Don't worry, fox—I'm not killing you. Not today, anyway."

Sakura's look grew incredulous. "Why?"

"Like I said: I'm in a good mood. You're lucky."

"So it seems." Sakura stepped away. Was Kalpas the type to forgive her slaughtering those children simply in exchange for greater power? He might be, she reflected. He seemed to care only for strength. But he'd shown interest in Rin as well. She was sure he could surmise it was for Rin that she had undergone the surgery—but would that knowledge be enough to temper his rage? If she was in his position, no matter how noble his reasons, she would cut him down where he stood.

Perhaps, she thought to herself, he is a better person than you are. The thought almost made her laugh.

"You're in Cocoon, aren't you?"

"Yes." It was known amongst all MOTHs—and if he was now a MANTIS, Kalpas was surely one of them now.

"Heh. Then I'll be seeing you, squad mate," he raised his hand in mock salute.

"You have joined Cocoon?" Sakura blinked, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah. Problem?"

"No. It just seems..." Sakura's eyes slid to the side as she tried to find the right words. "I would not think you'd prefer covert missions."

"Ha! I don't. I just told those guys that men or beasts—it doesn't make a difference to me. I just wanted the war that was promised to me. It seems they already had enough heroes fighting the beasts." He laughed to himself as he left.

They might have been squad mates, but the reality was they rarely came across each other. This was true for any members of Cocoon, and Sakura was not troubled by it. In fact, aside from the occasional glance over her shoulder, she mostly disregarded Kalpas' existence after a while. She heard rumors, of course, of his exploits in the field—it was hard not to, frankly, with the level of decimation he left—but otherwise, she had little reason to think of him.

They did not cross paths again for a long while after their last conversation. When they did, it was by chance. Her assignment had been abruptly canceled, and she found herself in a base in China with an unusual amount of free time. She made her way into the dining hall in the dead of night, when everyone else was asleep, to fix herself her own meal and sit in silence—as was her unequivocal preference. She sat at her own table and made to enjoy her food.

But tonight her solitude was interrupted by an unmistakable heat and the faint smell of singed hair. She half turned her head to acknowledge him before he even said a word.

"Kalpas," she greeted. He was standing right behind her, heat radiating off him. 

"Did you hear me?" He sounded irritated at the prospect.

"No," Sakura replied, which was true—and impressive, given her enhanced hearing. "I am sensitive to temperature." And her nose picked him up as well, although she saw no reason to give Kalpas another excuse to refer to her as a fox.

That seemed to lighten his mood. "Ha!" he barked out a laugh before joining her table. It was a four-person arrangement, and he took the seat at her right. He pulled out the chair, leaned his side against the table, and faced towards her. She looked him over once.

"Were you on assignment?" she asked.

"Finished early."

There were no marks of a struggle on him. Sakura probably should not expect any less. He was also not eating, which one would expect after a mission. Well, that would require he take off his mask, and she had not heard of anyone seeing him take that off yet. But if he was hungry, would he waste his time having a conversation?

Does he even need to eat? Sakura wondered to herself dryly. At this point, anything was possible with him. If it was true, she envied him. The need for food was more of an inconvenience these days.

"You will excuse me if I eat?" she asked, even though it was he that seated himself without invitation.

"As if I give a fuck," Kalpas snorted.

Sakura tucked in, helping herself to her bowl of noodles. She ate quickly and practically. It was hard to tell if she was really enjoying the flavor. For her, food was simply fuel for the body—something necessary to keep her functioning. Eating for pleasure was a luxury she and the people of her era could not afford.

"And you?" he asked after giving her a moment. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?"

"Canceled."

"Hah. Disappointed?"

"I do not enjoy killing."

"Don't look so happy with a night off, though."

Sakura sipped on her broth in lieu of a reply. She had been enjoying the quiet well enough until Kalpas had come along.

"Hey," Kalpas lightly kicked the leg of her chair to get her attention. She glanced around the edge of her bowl and put it back on the table. "Aren't you the Doctor's favorite? Tell her to put us on something together."

Sakura blinked, surprised. "What?"

"What do you mean 'what'?" he snorted. "The things they've been giving me have all been boring. If it's something for the two of us, they'd have to find something interesting."

"They are boring because you are unreasonably strong," Sakura said blandly. She had heard enough reports. Her prediction was correct—it seemed Kalpas’ prowess was comparable to that of Kevin Kaslana.

"Please. Don't tell me any of your jobs are hard for you," he snorted and leaned his head against his hand.

They weren’t, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. Instead, Sakura considered him before saying, "I do not understand you."

"Yeah?"

"First, you are bent on killing me. Now, you wish to partner with me."

"Maybe I’m just trying to stab you in the back."

"I do not think you would do that." That seemed far from his style.

"Ha! Well, you're right about that."

The conversation lapsed there. Sakura stared at his mask, and he lazily stared back. It seemed he would not be articulating his reasons. Well, Sakura did not really think he would.

"Even if I wanted to," Sakura said after some time, "I am not so influential that I can ask Dr. Mei for such favors."

"Well, they aren't very receptive to me." He sounded almost amused to say so. "So you have the best chance out of the two of us."

"If I wanted to," she reiterated. "I am not sure if I want to."

"Why not?" He sounded displeased.

"I have heard of what's happened to your previous partners."

Kalpas clicked his tongue, now clearly irritated. "Didn't we just talk about how I'm not going to kill you?" He didn't even sound remotely remorseful at the mention of killing his comrades.

"It is not meant to imply that you want to. Rather, I have heard you become...overeager in the heat of battle." Sakura read that once he was in the throes of combat, all living beings were decimated in his wake. Friend or foe did not matter to him—and Sakura did not dare label herself a friend.

Kalpas gave an impatient snort. "Well, they were just too slow. You'd be fine."

"I am not so sure." She could no longer assume she could match his speed anymore.

Kalpas made an annoyed sound and kicked the leg of her chair again. "Don't tell me you're not bored of this place."

“I think we would all pray for boredom these days.”

“Hmph. You say that, but I remember your look that day. You hadn’t felt more alive until then.”

Sakura immediately knew what he was referring to. On that day, in that moment, that space in time seemed to stretch as long and thin as her blade. All her focus, all her energy, honed on a single point.

“Setsuna,” she supplied as explanation. “An instant. I have rarely been pushed to such limits.”

Kalpas made a pleased sound, as if proud to have been the catalyst of this. “Then all the more reason to join me. You can practice while we’re out there—during one of my ‘overeager’ moments.”

She shook her head. "You are insistent. Perhaps you mean to kill me after all."

Kalpas barked out a laugh. "Ha!" he said. "So you know what a joke is!"

Sakura gave a small sigh. "Well, in these times, there is little to joke of."

Now, Kalpas' head tilted towards the ceiling. Sakura could tell he was rolling his eyes. "I liked you better when you were trying to kill me."

"I was not trying to kill you."

"Ha. Are you bragging?"

Sakura inclined her head. "That is not what I meant."

"Hmph. You give up too easily, fox."

They fell into silence once again. Sakura idly eyed her empty bowl. She wondered how long she should sit here. When should she leave? Usually, she reflected, she would get up and go without a second thought regardless of the company. But perhaps it was simply because of Kalpas' certain presence—she felt a strange obligation to stay.

"Hey," Kalpas prompted, pulling her out of her reverie.

"Yes?" She looked up. Kalpas was still lazily leaning against his head on his hand, elbow propped up on the table and his legs stretched out.

"I have a joke for you."

Sakura stared at him. Was he serious? When he did not say anything more, she reluctantly indulged him. "What is it?"

"You heard of Aponia?"

"Yes." She was the woman she picked up at Sundown Alley in addition to Kalpas.

"You know about her Disciplines?"

"I have heard of them." The very thought of them was unnerving.

"She gave me one while I was in that place."

"...I see." Was she meant to find that funny?

"Know what it is?" Now, Kalpas shifted and leaned forward, until his mask was closer to Sakura's face. He stayed there for a few moments, and although she could not see them, she was sure Kalpas was watching her eyes. After a beat, Sakura gave a single shake of her head.

"'Do not harm innocents'," he told her at last. She blinked. He gave a dark laugh, then leaned back again and began to laugh harder, holding his mask in his hand in lieu of his face. "Isn't that hilarious?" he asked as he began to howl like a hyena, falling back in his chair and throwing his head back.

"Yes," Sakura said quietly as the din of his mirth filled the hall, eyes downcast, "it is."

“Do you understand the assignment?”

Sakura was impassive, even though it felt as if the very walls were closing in on her. “Yes,” she said, tone even.

“Good. I will upload the list to you.” Dr. Mei turned back to her computer and typed in some commands. Presently, Sakura’s wristband beeped. She lifted her arm and opened the file to glance over the contents.

“This is the vast majority of Cocoon,” Sakura noted aloud, although she did not sound upset or surprised.

“That’s right. Now that we can mass produce MANTIS soldiers, any ineligible candidates are obsolete. And I’m sure you’re aware of the infighting that’s broken out. They are no longer worth the resources to keep. And, besides—these individuals still have their sentences to answer for.”

“As do we all,” Sakura replied placidly, pointedly reminding Dr. Mei of their own crimes. They simply were allowed to live because they, as Dr. Mei aptly put it, warranted the resources. Still, she said nothing more as she scrolled through the list, mentally matching each name to a face. It seemed the prerogative was to keep MANTIS candidates and soldiers, so it was doubtful he was listed, but she had to be sure. He had been on a terrible rampage recently—worse than usual.

“How long will it take you?”

“You gathered them all here for testing, correct? For the Keys of Domination?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then two hours should suffice.” As long as Kalpas wasn’t on here. She would likely need many hours to whittle him down—if she would even live that long.

“There are hundreds of names on that list.”

“If they are all in one place, then it is no problem.” She reached the bottom of the list. No Kalpas. It seemed Fire Moth still had patience for him despite his raging. Well, she could not find it in herself to blame him. From what she understood, his adjutant was dear to him. Why, if it were Rin…

“Then are you prepared to do it soon?”

“Yes.” She lowered her arm. “I can do it tonight.”

“Then I’ll call for a mandatory testing session. I will get them together for you.”

“I doubt all of them will come,” Sakura mused aloud, “but it will not take me longer than the week to prune the stragglers.”

Dr. Mei nodded. “Good. That’s all, then. Dismissed.”

Briskly, Sakura gave a short bow before exiting.

For a brief moment, Sakura was able to find a quiet corner away from the party. Between the balloons, streamers, food, champagne, music, and lights, she found an empty seating area in the far back of the room where she could sit and retreat from the people for a moment. She perched herself at the end of a couch and idly sipped at a random drink she'd picked up from the buffet table.

Presently, Kalpas found her—likely because he was also desperate to escape the pleasantries for at least a little while. He put his arms on the top of the couch and leaned over its back, to the left of her head. She looked up as he did so. Predictably, he did not bother changing for the festivities. He was still in full combat attire.

"Even I had the sense to dress of the occasion," Sakura commented mildly. She waved over her dress—about the only one she owned.

"Hmph," Kalpas snorted, but said nothing more. For a few precious minutes, the pair of them remained in silence while the upbeat hum of the party buzzed around them.

"So?" Kalpas prompted her eventually. "What do you think of them?"

Sakura considered her drink. "They are, by and large, heroes, are they not?" They were all champions of humanity in some way or another. They believed in the world. Could Sakura say the same? Some days, she wished everything would go to Hell and that she and Rin could run away together. She tapped a finger against her glass. "I am beginning to wonder what I am doing here." Dr. Mei seemed to think this effort was a good idea, but Sakura wasn't so sure.

Kalpas clicked his tongue. "If you don't know, then I should leave now."

Sakura let out a light chuckle at that. "You would not."

"No?"

No, Sakura thought to herself. Even if Kalpas did not want to be here, she could not think of someone more suited. Most of humanity seemed to think his destructive rages made him more beast than man, but in Sakura’s opinion, he was perhaps the most human out of all of them. She understood his endless anger, his bottomless hate, his infinite loathing against honkai, against people, against fate itself. Understood those more than she did the so-called civilized leaders of Fire Moth, at least.

But perhaps that only meant she was more beast as well, and simply had not given up pretending like Kalpas had.

"You will never have a better chance to fight Kevin Kaslana" is what she said aloud.

"Hah! Well, that's true."

They lapsed into silence again. Sakura fidgeted with her wristband. She should call Rin soon.

"And you?" Kalpas prompted. "Are you sticking with this?"

"I already agreed," Sakura shrugged and looked up at him and his mask again. "I may not be much of a soldier, but these are desperate times."

Then again, the agreement was not binding. Perhaps she could go back to solitary work. She certainly was not much help during the Tragedy of Binding, she acknowledged bitterly, and even just an hour of this extended socialization bordered on uncomfortable. And some of the most outspoken were not even here. Eden, for example, was away on mission, as was Pardofelis. Miss Elysia, the most energetic of them all, was also away tracking honkai energy.

Will we all ever be in the same room together at once anyway? Sakura thought to herself idly. They were the last of MANTIS. It would be a grave strategical error to have them all in one place at a time, barring a great threat.

Still, she had told Dr. Mei that she would consider it. She leaned back into the couch a little. "It may be a good change of pace to cut down beasts instead of men," she said aloud—an attempt to convince herself as much as Kalpas. Perhaps she could do some actual good instead of cleaning up after Fire Moth.

Kalpas only shrugged. What's the difference? it said. She was reminded of one of their first conversations.

"So it seems we are both staying." She did not think she deserved to be recognized with some title and name recognition simply because her only achievement was she did not happen to die during the Tragedy of Binding. That she so badly wished she did. She would have preferred to have died then than witness that horror with her own eyes.

Then Rin would not have you, she reminded herself sharply.

Miss Elysia was right. With only 13 MANTIS soldiers left, the world needed hope. Sakura needed hope. Hope for Rin. And maybe hope for herself, if fate could spare it. She wasn't sure anymore. Her swords were getting heavier by the day.

"Hey," Kalpas called to her. She blinked and refocused on him. She could hear him frowning behind his mask. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," she lied smoothly. "Pay me no mind."

Kalpas tilted his head at her, clearly disbelieving. Eventually, he made a frustrated noise and said, "They were all criminals anyway. The same as all the other targets you've had."

Sakura hummed noncommittally. Kalpas clicked his tongue. "She should've asked me."

"She did not ask you because you would've enjoyed it," Sakura rebuked him. “And you were detained at the time, as I recall.” Instantly, she found herself regretting her thoughtlessness. Her eyes slid back to look at him apologetically. “Excuse me. I...forgot. That was out of turn,” she said. With hesitation, she added, “I…was sorry to hear of your adjutant.”

Kalpas was eerily still, like stone, as he stared at her. Finally, he turned away and only said softly, “I would’ve done it faster.”

And likely leveled the entire base in the process. Dr. Mei clearly wanted some level of finesse. And that was Sakura’s role. She understood what had to be done. In times of hardship, it was better to prune the limbs rather than allow the body to succumb to infection. Such cuts needed to be surgical. Precise.

Still, Kalpas was right. No one in Cocoon was innocent. All those she killed were some of the worst in society. She had not even spoken to most of them.

But were any of them truly innocent anyway? Sakura certainly wasn't. And she was willing to bet no one in this party wasn't. What place in Hell was there for someone who turned against her own squad mates at nothing but a word?

“It is expected. Dr. Mei recruited me.”

"She still should've asked me," Kalpas muttered as he took in her look. Sakura wordlessly swirled her drink around.

Eventually, she sat up. “I am meeting with Dr. Mobius in the morning,” she explained to Kalpas. “And I must call Rin. Good night, Kalpas.” She bowed, then took her leave.

Chapter Text

Sakura waved back at Miss Elysia as the portal into the deeper parts of the Realm opened. Kalpas, of course, did not acknowledge her at all. Regardless, Miss Elysia cheerily said goodbye to both of them. Sakura murmured a goodbye in return before following Kalpas into the Realm.

As soon as the portal closed, Sakura’s hand dropped to her side. Suddenly, she felt inexplicably drained. She let out a small, imperceptible sigh.

Kalpas grunted. “You’re really not going to ask?”

“No,” Sakura’s look hardened. “And you will not tell me, Kalpas.”

Kalpas gave a frustrated snarl. “But if you knew, you’d know why—”

“Kalpas,” Sakura cut him off, “I am losing patience.”

He crossed his arms and glared. His look burned a hole in her head, but she did not relent. She stared with uncharacteristic displeasure. Kalpas’ grips on his arms tightened, and she knew he was frowning, but eventually, he clicked his tongue and looked away.

“Thank you.”

Kalpas swatted his hand in the air impatiently before making to stalk off into his part of the Realm. But before he did, he paused and looked over his shoulder.

“You can ask me whenever you want,” he said, tone level now. “I’ll tell you.”

Sakura’s eyes dropped to the ground. “Thank you,” she said softly.

Kalpas had not been visiting the Realm as often to sync. He rarely bothered to come in the first place, but even then, his frequency had become sporadic at best. Miss Elysia told her it was because the honkai threat was increasing exponentially, and humanity’s flame was rapidly dwindling. They needed him on the frontlines more than ever. And that made sense to Sakura.

“But, to be honest,” Miss Elysia smiled wanly one day when she came to sync, “I think it’s just hard for him to see you, you know?”

Sakura’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you two were close, right?”

That seemed gracious. But, for their standards, perhaps accurate. “As close as could be expected, I suppose.”

“There, see? He’s just sad to see you. Kalpas is always burying his feelings, right? I tried to tell him it’s not healthy, but he didn’t listen, of course.”

She was surprised that her original’s death would affect Kalpas so greatly—almost doubted it, in fact, except that Miss Elysia was rarely wrong about such things. It was true that they had a certain bond, but she did not think that she had meant so much that seeing the sight of the real Sakura’s simulation would trouble him in some way.

Well, she thought, there is no reason he has to see me. He had told her not to disappoint her original’s memory, and she had felt obligated to show herself to him in some ways because of it—perhaps to show that she intended to uphold his decree—but if doing so upset him, then seeing him was not explicitly necessary.

And so she avoided the Hall when she could, and steered clear of his path whenever he traversed the Realm searching for his sim. But this seemed to have another unintended effect.

“He’s been wondering where you are,” sim-Kalpas said to her one day while he was visiting her domain. His haphazard armor and harsh demeanor seemed out of place amongst the cherry blossoms.

“He said that?” Sakura blinked, surprised. It did not sound like something Kalpas would confide in anyone—especially his copy.

“No,” his sim snorted, “but he can’t hide anything from me.” He tapped his temple. He had recently synced, Sakura remembered.

“Oh. Of course.” It had not been that long, but Sakura was already forgetting some of the givens of being someone else’s sim now that her original no longer came. “So? How goes the front?”

“Badly,” Kalpas said flatly. “Not that it matters.” He waved his hand around vaguely. They were in the Realm. Why care about the outside world?

“Of course it matters,” Sakura frowned. “What about Rin? How is she?”

Kalpas did not say anything for a moment. Then, he replied, “Fine. She’s been moved to the same base I’m stationed at.”

“I see. That is good news.” And she meant it. There could be no safer place than under Kalpas’ protection. So why could she not rid herself of this persistent nagging feeling?

“So? Are you avoiding him?”

“Yes. Miss Elysia said seeing me was upsetting to him, which I understand. I do not wish to trouble him more than I already have.”

“Hmph. But you walk and talk around me so confidently.”

Sakura hesitated, uncertain. “I did not think you were troubled,” she said slowly. “Since it was not you who experienced her death.”

“Haven’t I?” he scoffed. “He’s lucky he’s human. He’s probably already forgetting the details. Meanwhile, I recall it all in full every day.” He crossed his arms and glared at her. “Unless you think I enjoy remembering every fine detail of your corpse each time I look at you?”

Sakura suddenly felt a wave of sorrow. “Kalpas, I did not—”

“Forget it,” he cut her off, irritation suddenly drained from him. He uncrossed his arms. “There’s nothing you can do about it anyway.”

Sakura frowned as she assessed the damage. Steam billowed off of him as chunks of ice sizzled and popped on his shoulders and back. His skin was red with frostbite, and his limbs were stiff, but otherwise, he seemed fine. In good health, even. Still, Kalpas was practically pouting, sitting on a stone with his elbows on his knees and glaring at some point behind Sakura.

“You and he will be in the Realm for millennia,” Sakura pointed out mildly as she paced from one of his sides to the other. “There will be plenty of opportunity to fight. You need not provoke him in this way.”

Kalpas made no indication that he had heard. Meanwhile, the last bits of ice covering him melted and evaporated into the air.

Suddenly, the door to Kalpas’ domain cracked open, and in stepped the real version. If he was surprised to see Sakura, he did not show it. Sakura straightened at his approach. Sim-Kalpas did not bother to turn around. Over his shoulder, through the doorway, Sakura could see the flames and burning remains of the monsters that were in his way. Then, in a blink, the door sealed closed and disappeared.

“Kalpas,” Sakura greeted him. “Welcome back.”

He grunted by way of acknowledgement, then nodded towards his sim. “What’s wrong with him?”

Sakura hesitated and glanced at sim-Kalpas, who was still sitting and resolutely ignoring the conversation. “A small argument,” Sakura supplied when she looked back at Kalpas, whose arms were now crossed impatiently. “He is not harmed.”

“Hmph. He better not be, if he’s my copy. Hey, you. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Sakura awkwardly stood between the pair of them as sim-Kalpas did not react. Presently, Kalpas tilted his head at her, and she could feel him frowning.

“Kalpas,” Sakura turned back and returned to her spot in front of sim-Kalpas. She put a hand on his shoulder and shook him a little. “Come.”

Sim-Kalpas only made some unintelligible noise and shook off her hand. Sakura felt a flash of irritation. She never had patience for temper tantrums. Meanwhile, Kalpas barked, “I don’t have all day!”

Sim-Kalpas still did not react initially. Then, in reply, he leaned forward until his head rested against Sakura’s abdomen. He made a show of making himself comfortable. Sakura’s eyes widened minutely when he did this, and she self-consciously glanced up at Kalpas to gauge his reaction. He did not say anything, but his grip on his arms had visibly tightened.

“Kalpas,” Sakura hissed and looked back down, now thoroughly irritated, “I will not be a part of this childishness.” She put her hand back on his shoulder and shook him more forcefully this time.

For a moment, he did not move, and Sakura was considering throwing him off. But, eventually, he slowly shifted and rose to his feet.

“Finally,” Kalpas said waspishly. “The fuck happened to you?”

“Fuck off,” sim-Kalpas said back, voice low and dangerous, as he approached Kalpas and stood face-to-face with him. “I’m not in the mood.”

“I should be the one saying that,” Kalpas snapped, but the pair of them digressed as they looked at each other in the eye and stood still. Sakura watched silently as they began syncing. Seeing them do so was almost comical. They were both standing with their arms crossed and in that standoffish way of theirs—perfect mirrors to each other, which she was sure they loathed.

Not a minute later, sim-Kalpas took a step back. “There. Done.” He turned away. “You can go.”

“Rin?” Sakura asked him as he joined her.

“Alive,” he grunted. “I told you: she’s at the base I’m stationed at.”

Still, Sakura felt awash with relief. “That is good.” She hesitated, then looked Kalpas’ way. “Thank you for keeping her safe.” She felt sim-Kalpas glower at her irritably.

Meanwhile, the real Kalpas only shrugged. Then, he beckoned to her. “Come here for a second.”

Sakura blinked, but did as she was asked. She approached and stood a little ways away from Kalpas. Kalpas made a noise and impatiently closed the remaining space until they were almost touching. Then, he simply looked at her. Sakura stood still and waited for Kalpas to make the first move. Meanwhile, she could sense his sim simmering in the background.

Time passed, and Sakura felt herself growing uncertain under Kalpas’ relentless stare. Did he want her to do something? She was not unaccustomed to silence, but she was certainly unaccustomed to silence of this length from Kalpas. Unbidden, one of her fox ears twitched.

This seemed to be enough of a cue for Kalpas’ sim, who stepped forward and asked, “What happened to not having all day?”

Kalpas did not say anything for a moment, just took Sakura in for some time more. But, after a few more seconds, he finally shifted. He uncrossed his arms and looked around Sakura’s ears at his sim.

“She’s in your hands,” he said simply, without venom or condescension, before turning to leave. “I’ll greet your original for you,” he told Sakura over his shoulder, “if there’s an afterlife, at least.”

“What?” Sakura said, but Kalpas was already leaving. Before she could stop him, he opened the exit and stepped out of the Realm. Sakura stared at the empty space that he once occupied before looking back at sim-Kalpas. “What was that about?”

He folded his arms and considered her, evidently thinking of what to say. Finally, he told her, “They’re making a final stand.”

“‘Final stand’?” Sakura repeated, feeling a chill run down her spine.

“Yeah. Another Herrscher.”

“But why are you talking about a final stand?” Sakura demanded, voice taut, as she paced towards him.

For once, Kalpas seemed to hesitate as Sakura approached him. Her shoulders were tense, her eyes were wide, and her breaths were shallow. “Kalpas,” Sakura said, tone slow and careful, “is it lost? There is no hope?” What about Rin?

Kalpas shifted his weight from one leg to the other. His jaw jumped before he grunted, “The doctor doesn’t seem to think so.”

Sakura let out a feeble, choked sound before quickly covering her mouth with a hand and gripping the hilt of her sword with the other—just for some semblance of stability. Her body moved without her thinking. Her legs took her to the door that Kalpas had just walked through. Beyond it was the Hall, and beyond that was the real world—so close, so near, just within reach. If she could just—

“Where are you going?” Kalpas demanded, voice sharp. Sakura jolted just before she opened the door.

“I…” Sakura began, but she trailed off almost immediately. She stared at the empty, pristine, simulated landscape in front of her. It waited patiently for her command. Abruptly, her shoulders drooped, her head hung, and her grip on her sword loosened.

“Nowhere,” she now mumbled. Nowhere at all. There was nothing she could do. For all her efforts, her pain, her sins, in the end she could not keep her sister safe. She was naught but a ghost, a shade, an apparition, cursed to observe and never interfere!

Her legs failed her. She felt herself crumple to the floor as she held her face in her hands. She curled in on herself and wailed.

Uncertainly, Kalpas walked towards her. He stood at her side for a heartbeat as she cried into her hands uncontrollably. She had never shown such manner of emotion around him. Perhaps she had even forgotten that he was there as she grieved.

Eventually, with great care, he crouched and put a hand on her shoulder. He stayed with her there for a time.

His domain was nothing short of walking into Hell. Just by opening the portal there, Sakura was assaulted by a hot gust of air. It warmed her cheeks and already made her sweat, but she stepped through anyway.

The landscape had long since been carved out and ruined by Kalpas’ rampages. Stone was split and overturned, and any vegetation that might’ve been there had been burned to nothing. The earth was cracked and bleeding lava, and even the very air was devoid of moisture. It was dry and harsh against her throat as she breathed. 

She found him lounging casually, despite the broiling heat, in his makeshift throne. It was warped rock that had been melted and molded into a seat, and Kalpas sat in it with an air of arrogance that only he could carry. He was leaning his head on his hand and hardly acknowledged Sakura when she approached.

“Kalpas,” she said the first word.

“Come to tell me to go easy on them?”

“No.”

“No?” Kalpas sounded surprised at this. Perhaps that was to be expected. They were meant to test the successors, not brutally kill them. That had not stopped Kalpas, however, with the past handful that had come through—and with that had come much scolding from many of the other Flame Chasers. Evidently, he had expected Sakura to do the same.

“No,” Sakura repeated.

“Then tell me about them,” Kalpas said as he rose from his chair and joined her.

Of course he would not have bothered to show himself to them to make his own assessment. He rarely did. Sakura tilted her head as she thought about them.

“They are earnest,” she said at last, “and hopeful. I have noticed this about these successors. Always a certain amount of hope. So unlike us in our time. Perhaps it is simply a product of their youth.”

Kalpas snorted. “You know I don’t care about that.” He crossed his arms. “But I guess they’re not much if all you can talk about is their personality.”

Sakura blinked and only said, “They had some trouble bearing my Setsuna.”

Kalpas barked out a laugh. “Ha!” he exclaimed. “Then they’ll kill themselves before they can even get to me in this place.”

Sakura inclined her head. That was likely true. If they could not handle the weight of Sakura’s signet, then they would not get far in the Realm. Frankly, in terms of strength, she had yet to be impressed by anyone.

“And you came all the way here to tell me something like that?”

“No,” Sakura looked back up to meet his eyes—or, at least, where his eyes would be through his mask. “I came to ask you something else.”

“And?”

Sakura opened her mouth, but found no sound came out. She closed it again and swallowed. Balled a fist and ran her thumb over her fingers. She had resolved herself before coming here. He said she could ask him whenever she wanted. But now, in the moment, facing him, she found she had lost her nerve. Could she stand mourning a second time?

Meanwhile, Kalpas waited for her question. As the silence stretched on, he seemed to catch on to what she wanted to ask. His head twitched a little, and he folded his arms expectantly. But he waited for her to say it first.

“No,” Sakura said at last. “No, it is nothing. I’m sorry for troubling you.”

She walked away. He stared after her in silence.

Sakura wasn’t sure what changed that day. She thought Kalpas may also not have been sure himself. It might have simply been a product of time; in the Realm, they were not threatened by death or war or extinction. In the real world, with the fight for survival constantly hanging over them, such pursuits did not enter their mind. They were simply impractical. Why carry an additional distraction, foist another inconvenience, heft another vulnerability when a future was never guaranteed in the first place?

But, in the Realm, they had nothing but time. They had more time than they could fathom. Perhaps, in combination with that, it was a natural development of their extended proximity.

And what “it” was remained slightly out of Sakura’s grasp. It wasn’t love, she knew—that was far too juvenile, far too shallow, far too frivolous. They did not know how to love. She and Kalpas had seen, done, and lived through too much. Their personalities simply did not have the same predilection towards such feelings as some others did. Those such as Kevin and Dr. Mei might’ve been able to do it even during wartime, but Sakura and Kalpas always walked on the edge of death, deep in the shadows, buried in sin, faced with humanity’s greatest depravities every day. For them, love was naught but something out of childish fantasies.

What they did have was understanding. In many ways, Sakura considered that far deeper than love. But she felt it did not quite capture the weight of the feeling she felt. Plenty of individuals had such understanding with each other, but they did not have this gravity between them that she and Kalpas seemed to have.

Perhaps this notion was simply beyond her description.

He came to her first, in her domain. His demeanor was different—she could immediately tell. She had been meditating underneath a cherry tree. Usually, she did not like interruptions, but his air concerned her. She rose and said, “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he grunted. He sounded standoffish, but that was not entirely out of character for him, even if the two of them got along better than he did with almost anyone else.

“Then?” Sakura prompted when he did not say anything else.

Kalpas was like stone for a moment, unmoving and silent, before he apparently gathered his nerve and moved to put a hand on Sakura’s shoulder. Sakura gave a swift glance at it there, but did not say anything or throw it off. She looked back at Kalpas.

After a few heartbeats, when he was sure she was not going to shake him off, he slid his hand in to rest at the junction of her neck and shoulder. Two of his fingers drifted up to brush along her neck and beneath her jaw. His touch was light, even delicate—unexpected from him. What was no surprise was the heat from his hand. It was like having a flame’s pleasant warmth against her skin.

Still, she did not move, neither affirming or rejecting his advance. He waited, giving her an opportunity to stop him, before making his boldest move yet. He shifted his hand to her face, raised his second hand and cupped her other cheek, and stepped forward until they were nearly chest to chest. Gently, he tilted her head to expose the side of her neck, then leaned forward so his mask hovered close to her skin. She did not resist.

“Sakura,” he said into her ear when she still did not react, “you should tell me if you want me to stop.”

For a moment, Sakura did not say or do anything. Perhaps she was still, in fact, deciding what she wanted. Then, she finally moved to action. Her eyes slid to look towards Kalpas, and she raised her hands to knit her fingers behind the nape of his neck. He almost felt feverish underneath her touch. She tugged at him firmly, encouraging him closer.

Kalpas obliged, fitting his mask into the crook of her neck. Its material was hard and cool compared to his body, and its bumps and ridges dug uncomfortably into her skin, although she did not complain. He kept one hand on her cheek to keep her in place so he could press his face closer, but his other hand slid down her body, over her breast and waist, before setting at the small of her back and yanking her close. Sakura’s spine ached as he leaned over her and crushed her body to fit against his, but she didn’t mind.

She heard him breathe her in and felt him move the hand on her back underneath the hem of her shirt to run against her bare skin. Sakura felt herself sigh and moved her hands from his neck to his chest. She idly ran her fingers against his shirt and felt the planes of his muscles shift against her touch. He took both hands now and slid them under her shirt to feel the curves of her stomach and waist before coming to an abrupt stop at the metal armor covering her chest. He huffed impatiently into her neck and pulled back to look down at her expectantly.

Sakura blinked before turning around and stepping back to the base of the cherry tree. She felt Kalpas trailing close behind. Deftly, she shrugged off her jacket and folded it before laying it on the ground. Then, she took off her shirt and unfastened her chest armor. Her shirt was also neatly folded and laid on her jacket, and her armor was placed carefully on her clothes. Next, she reached for her belt and unfastened both of her swords. For these, she knelt down and reverently placed them in the grass in front of her clothes.

By the time she rose, Kalpas had lost his patience. As soon as she straightened, he reached out and gripped her hips to drag her in again. He held her back against his chest, and she felt his mask run along the length of her shoulder. At the same time, his hands roamed from her hips to up her torso. One cupped and squeezed her breasts, and the other snaked over to the front of her neck and wrapped around it—not painfully, but more, perhaps, to feel the slenderness of it. Sakura shut her eyes and leaned back, letting her head rest on Kalpas’ shoulder. Kalpas took the opportunity to press the side of his head against hers.

Eventually, when the hand on her breasts slid down to thumb the waistline of her lower armor, Sakura shrugged to push him off. He paused for a hairsbreadth, then pulled away and stepped back half a pace. Sakura turned to face him and glanced at his face. She found him staring, but beyond that, she could not gauge his demeanor. He seemed more serious than one might expect of the situation—but then again, she wasn’t exactly expressive either. She looked away, stepped forward, and reached for the buckles for his shoulder guard. Kalpas was perfectly still as she did so, watching her intently.

She meant to catch his shoulder guard as she undid it and place it down carefully, as she did her own clothes, but Kalpas shrugged it off and let it crash onto the ground as soon as he felt it give. He took half a step closer until they were almost touching, but did not put a hand on her. She could feel his mask tickling her fox ears.

Sakura moved on to the fastenings holding his canisters. Her thin fingers swiftly moved along the leather until she found the buckles. She nimbly undid them and pushed them over his shoulders. Kalpas, again, shrugged and let them fall around his arms onto the ground. It was the same with his armguard and glove, his armband, and his jacket—they all were left to drop unceremoniously at his feet.

Once she lifted his shirt over his head and let that fall as well, Sakura found herself hesitating. She took in his bare chest for a moment: hard muscle, as expected, but riddled with more scarring than she had first assumed. Some of them implied that he had been carved into at some point—multiple times—all over his chest and stomach, and old burn scars stood out like patchwork on his skin. Sakura felt herself frown somewhat and put a hand on one underneath his clavicle. Her touch was delicate as she ran her fingers along it. As she traced a line to his heart, her fingers stopped. There was a thin scar there, similar to his burn scars, but to her trained eye, she knew what it was really from. She placed two of her fingers on it and considered it contemplatively.

“I thanked you, didn’t I?” Kalpas spoke at last.

“Yes,” Sakura replied, “it just brings back memories.”

Kalpas put a hand on her shoulder. She gave a small sigh before looking away from the spot and putting both of her hands on his chest. She went down, moving with the lines of his muscles, until she reached the next round of belts and fastenings around his waist and hips. Deftly, she undid these too, moving from one to the next without a word. As per Kalpas’ apparent preference, she let them drop as soon as they were loose. Meanwhile, as Sakura busied herself, Kalpas idly used his other hand to curiously thumb along one of her fox ears. This made them twitch furiously, but Sakura did not stop him as he continued to rub a tip between his thumb and forefinger.

Once those were off, Sakura instinctively moved to the button on his pants, then glanced at his boots, which reached up to his knees. Kalpas, taking the cue, knelt and began unfastening them. Sakura paused briefly before reaching out and putting a hand on the top of Kalpas’ hair. He froze as she ran her fingers through. The ends were singed, but the rest was soft.

When she took her hand away, Kalpas looked up, as if wondering where she was going. But she was only drawing back to take off her own shoes. He watched her for a moment, taking her in as she was, before returning to his own task.

Kalpas’ shoes were more complicated than hers, so she was finished first. As he was busying himself with his second one, she rose and stepped forward to wrap her arms around his head and hold his forehead against her abdomen. She stroked his hair slowly, and he leaned forward the slightest amount while he finished.

Once Kalpas was done, he stood, took off his boots, and practically threw them out of the way. Then, he reached for Sakura and seized her by her back to reel her in once more. He pressed their torsos together and rested his mask on the top of her head, and his hands roamed along the lines of her back and neck. Meanwhile, Sakura’s hands snaked to the waistband of his pants. She undid that too, and tugged at both it and the band of his undergarments. Kalpas leaned back just enough to let her drag these down past his hips, and as they fell around his ankles, he stepped out of them. A cursory glance told Sakura what she already assumed: his legs, also made of taut muscle, were a myriad of cuts and scars that told stories of the pain he’d endured. Many of them were not from battle, Sakura observed, but torture.

Kalpas did not give any indication that he noticed her looks. He was focused on her remaining clothes now. His hands ran along the curve of her ass before moving to her hips. His thumbs traced along the edge of her armor until he found the latch and undid it. With a click, it fell to the ground, and he pushed her back to make her step out of it. Then, firmly but carefully, he coaxed her to crouch. She did so, and he did the same until they were sitting in the grass. Sakura wordlessly leaned back onto her elbows and extended her right leg, which still had her legging. Kalpas stared at her there, naked and expectant, before bringing her leg onto his shoulder and, starting from her thigh, carefully slid her last article of clothing from her.

When he was finished, he kept her leg on his shoulder with a hand and ran the edge of his mask along her skin. Then, he leaned forward until he was hovering over her. At this proximity, Kalpas’ body felt almost unbearably hot, but Sakura did not complain as he laid some of his weight on her. She wrapped her legs around his hips and felt his erection against the inside of her thigh. Then, she absentmindedly lifted a hand to trace along the front of his mask. He seemed to pause at this, and she felt him shift against her.

“You do not have to,” Sakura told him as she moved her hand from his mask to the side of his head and down his neck. Kalpas was still as her hands roamed along his shoulders and arms, against his chest and back. She waited patiently for him to dictate the next move.

Kalpas was still for a while, but eventually, he raised a hand. This surprised Sakura, but she kept her expression even. Meanwhile, Kalpas seemed to hesitate even as he placed his hand over his mask. He paused, as if losing his nerve. Then, in one smooth motion, he lifted it off.

One half was still human—handsome, Sakura observed idly, although such things did not truly matter to her—with his eye active and critical as he assessed Sakura’s reaction. The other half was…difficult to tell if it was still human or if it was a result of unleashed ICHOR. The skin there was red and burned, heavily scarred, and terribly mutilated. He did not seem to have an eye on that side either. And there was something bestial haunting the edges of that side of his face, ready to bare its fangs, snarling beneath the surface.

Sakura cupped both sides of his face in his hands and coaxed him in. Emboldened by her willingness, Kalpas obliged, nuzzling her neck and pressing a bruising kiss into her shoulder. In fact, it was more akin to a bite, and Sakura felt her skin burn, but she held him there and leaned against him regardless.

Then, Kalpas moved to her face and kissed her as if meaning to devour her. He caught her wrists in one hand and pinned them above her head mercilessly, and with the other hand, he gripped her face to keep her in place—although, in reality, Sakura was not planning on shying away, anyway. His kisses were open-mouthed and full of teeth, but so were hers. Their teeth clicked against each other as they angled their faces for better access. For every bite Kalpas gave, Sakura returned in kind, each of them intending to leave some sort of lasting mark for the other to remember them by.

Eventually, Kalpas shifted away from Sakura’s face and moved down her neck and chest. He released her wrists, and she idly felt her mouth. Her lips were unmistakably bruised, but she did not mind. She quickly moved her hands from her face to Kalpas’ hair as he lapped at and sucked one of her breasts, and his hand teased and squeezed her other one. Sakura sighed and closed her eyes, arching her back to encourage Kalpas to take more of them into his mouth and hand. She felt his tongue run along her nipple, then his teeth sink into her breast’s sensitive skin. She let out a pleased sound and gripped Kalpas’ hair tighter to keep him there. He obliged, pinching her nipple between his teeth before soothing the sensation with tongue. Then, he moved to the other breast and did the same.

After he sated himself there, he slid down the length of Sakura’s abdomen, running his teeth along her skin. When he reached her hips, he paused to leave a mark on the inside of her thigh. His pressure was bruising and hot, and Sakura squirmed a little underneath it. She propped herself up onto her elbows to get a better look at him. Now that he had moved away, the air above her chest felt unnaturally cool.

Next, without ceremony, he moved his face from her thigh to her cunt. Before Sakura could catch her mind up to what he was doing, he dragged her closer by the hips and pressed his mouth against her. She gasped and fell back as she felt his tongue press and drag against her sensitive parts, wet and hot and relentless. He took all of her in his mouth and sucked and pushed with his tongue, and she let out a high-pitched sound and felt her back arch off the ground. Without thinking, her legs flew around his head and squeezed with pleasure as he continued, although despite her trembling and wriggling, he kept her hips punishingly still. She bucked against him, but he only had to hold her down with one arm across her body to quell this. She was left to grasp helplessly for purchase in the grass.

Then Kalpas slid his fingers inside her as well, and she let out another moan. Her fingers dug into the dirt as he slipped in and out of her, rubbing the insides of her cunt while still working his tongue against the outside. Sakura’s sounds were growing wanton, and she felt a pleasurable heat begin to seep into every inch of her under Kalpas’ attention.

Eventually, Kalpas reached a rhythm and pressure with his tongue on the right spot. It made Sakura let out a fresh gasp, and her body practically seized as she felt it. Her legs squeezed even harder around him, but that only seemed to encourage Kalpas; his grip around her hips became almost painful, and he pressed his face even more into her as he kept up his steady, patient pace on that spot.

Sakura, meanwhile, was moaning helplessly now, her upper body writhing and her back arching. She could feel the mounting heat and pleasure rising quickly between her legs and radiating out through her entire body. It made her tremble as she felt that heat permeate through her and Kalpas’ mouth still wet and persistent against her. Her nerves were practically on fire, and she felt lightheaded.

At last, she felt her climax wash over her. She cried out as she felt that pent up heat and pressure release. It washed over her in waves, warm and tingling from her toes to the top of her head, and she felt her body twitch and tremble with each satisfying current. Her fingers and toes curled, her back arched, and her eyes squeezed shut as it took her. She shook with pleasure, and Kalpas kept his pace while she rode it out.

When her shaking stopped and her back returned to the ground, Kalpas pulled away. Sakura had one hand on her face as she gasped for breath, a thin film of sweat on her brow. Meanwhile, she felt Kalpas grip her thighs possessively and open up her legs. She allowed him to do so willingly, and once she opened one of her eyes, hooked one of her legs on his shoulder. He watched her as she did so, his single eye alight with hunger, and he turned his head to bite a mark into her soft skin underneath her knee.

Then, he shifted forward. Obligingly, Sakura slid down to meet him and raised her hips, offering herself. The sight made Kalpas’ jaw tighten, and his grip on her legs became painful. She welcomed it, even widening her legs further. Kalpas’ nostrils flared before he angled himself into position. She felt the tip of his dick catch against her, and she pressed against it. Kalpas let out a low sound at that, which pleased her. She gave a small smile that only his eye could possibly catch. On seeing it, his expression darkened into something unreadable. It occurred to Sakura that, now, despite seeing his face, she still could not completely understand what he was thinking.

Without any more delay, Kalpas lined up against her. He ran his hands along her legs until he reached her hips, which he gripped in preparation. Then, he caught her eye and held it as he guided her hips and pushed inside her.

Sakura sighed as she felt a pleasant stretch and filling sensation. She closed her eyes, let her head fall back, and gripped him with her legs to encourage him as Kalpas sank all the way in. When he was there, he leaned forward until he was on top of her again, body heat sweltering, hair tickling her face. She held him as he laid his head on her shoulder.

Suddenly, Kalpas began moving at a punishing pace, making Sakura gasp, then moan. She could hear wet slapping sounds as she felt him thrust into her over and over again. Her nails dug into his shoulders, and she let out another cry as she felt him sink his teeth into her shoulder. Kalpas made low, guttural sounds into her ear that resonated into her chest and made her shake. He pressed and sank his entire body closer to her, as if intent to envelop and become a part of her, and she welcomed it, dragging him in with her legs and pressing his head into her neck with a hand. He hissed as he felt her painfully yank at his hair, then angled his face to bite hickeys into her jaw.

Then, his rhythm became more insistent, and Sakura knew he was close. She gripped him tighter with her arms, squeezed her legs, and rubbed her face against his hair as he did. He groaned against her, and she hummed into his ear. Then, his body tightened, and he grunted as he gave a few more decisive thrusts. Sakura heard grass being torn next to her ear as his hand tightened. She held him close and felt minute trembles reverberate through his body.

When he finished, he relaxed, and he gave a sigh and sank on top of her. His head was nuzzled in her neck, and she could feel his hot breaths there. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth. She ran her hands along the planes of his back, tracing some of the lines of rough scars as she found them.

Above, a lazy breeze rippled through the Realm.

Sakura stared off into the horizon, face in her hand and elbow propped up on her knee. Kalpas sat close behind her, bare chest brushing against her equally naked back, idly tracing his mouth along the curve of her exposed shoulder and neck. Night was falling, but she paid the chill no mind—with Kalpas so near, she might as well have been next to an open flame.

“Kalpas,” she prompted him. He grunted to show he had heard, but did not stop moving along her skin.

“I have something to ask of you,” she said.

He grunted again.

“But I want you to accept on your own terms. I do not want you to feel any obligation because of our…relationship,” she finished lamely. They had been together like this many times now, and she was glad to do it, and glad to continue to do it even if he did not do this for her. If he did not want to, she would respect this.

“Spit it out,” he finally spoke into the nape of her neck.

“Rin,” she started, and she immediately felt Kalpas freeze. She paused, wanting to see if Kalpas would stop her then and there, but he only stayed still and waited for her next words.

“Did she die because of the Final Herrscher?”

She could hear his measured, careful breathing. “No,” he said.

Sakura felt herself swallow. “Was she related to my death?”

“Yes.”

Sakura’s body tightened. “And? Who killed her?”

Kalpas was silent for a moment. “Fire Moth. MOTH soldiers.”

Her reaction was instantaneous. The air grew cold, her eyes widened and adopted a blank look, and her hair and fox ears bristled. The tips of her hair grew millions of fine icicles, and her hands clawed at the sides of her head and sank into her skin.

“And you?” she demanded, voice becoming shrill. “Where were you?”

Kalpas still had not moved. He said bitterly into her neck, “Deployed.”

She whipped around to glare at him, expression haunted and feral. For a moment, it seemed as if she was going to strike him, but upon seeing his face, her anger dissipated. His face was full of shame and self-loathing—he was prepared to die at her hand.

Abruptly, Sakura turned away again and held her face in her hands. “I’m sorry,” she choked out. What was she doing? Was she going to kill him? It wasn’t this Kalpas that held fault—if Kalpas held any fault at all. She didn’t know the full story yet, did not have all the details. She was being unreasonable. Impulsive. With effort, she calmed herself. The ice in her hair melted, and the air around them warmed.

After a while, Kalpas shifted close once again and pressed his face into her neck. “How did you find out?”

Sakura let out a bitter laugh. “Our friends are not as subtle as they think.” How they thought they’d be able to keep a secret such as this from a trained assassin was astounding to her. Ironically, Kalpas, the closest one to her, was the most successful in lying to her.

Kalpas snorted. “And? How much do you know?”

“For certain? Only what you have told me.”

“I can tell you more.”

“No,” Sakura said quickly. “No, I—even this much was a mistake. I should not have asked.”

“Why not?” Kalpas sounded impatient.

“Because I am afraid of what I might do,” Sakura replied, “if I were to know the truth.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “How many of our friends would I want to hurt because of this?”

Kalpas scoffed. “They deserve it.”

Even hearing such confirmation made her heart pang. She looked away.

“They did not do anything,” Sakura said stubbornly, as if convincing herself as much as Kalpas. “They only have the memories. They did not swing their swords, pull any triggers, do any of the acts that lead up to it all. The most that they have done is keep it from me, and even that I cannot be angry for, for that is nothing more than what I requested!” Her voice pitched as her frustration showed. She hugged herself and closed her eyes to center herself.

Kalpas gave a snarl. “Who cares whose hands did the actions?” he sneered into her skin. “We carry the memories, so we carry the sin.”

“No,” Sakura insisted, head in her hands. “No. That is not right.”

“Our originals are long dead,” Kalpas continued ferociously. “Meanwhile, we’re here, we’re alive, and we’ve experienced more than they have or ever will. They bestowed us their wants, their personalities, their fears, and we walk with our own wills! We are more real than they are!”

She shrank a little. “She was not even my sister,” she mumbled. “Do I even have the right?”

Kalpas abruptly stopped his tirade upon hearing this. He paused before placing his hands on her slim shoulders.

“Is the love you have for her real?”

“Yes.”

“Then so is your rage, and it is justified.”

Sakura slouched. “You sound as if you’d be happy to hear me hurt our friends.”

Kalpas snorted. “Like I said: they deserve it.” After a beat, he continued casually, “And it’d be entertaining. I hardly see you fight anymore. And you never want to fight me,” he added with a click of his tongue.

“You are far stronger than me,” she pointed out dully. “It would not be much of a fight. It would not entertain you.”

Kalpas ran his knuckles along her arm. “Then should I help you?”

At this, Sakura shifted, surprised. “Help me?”

“You can’t take them all on by yourself.”

Sakura took a moment to fully understand what he was implying. Then, she said, “I could never ask that of you.”

“You could take out a few of them easily, and maybe get Kevin to sacrifice himself in a moronic hero play, but you wouldn’t be able to get Elysia or Aponia so easily,” Kalpas continued without acknowledging her. “And Kosma would put up a fight for you, too.”

“Stop this,” Sakura commanded, turning to face him. He was staring at her, expression unreadable.

“I should deal with Kosma and Aponia,” Kalpas continued. “Aponia will let me in to The Deep. You could pick off the weaklings. And Mobius is usually isolated. You could take her out easily without anyone realizing it. Then we can work together for the others. They’ll be banding together, so we should as well.”

“I said stop,” Sakura demanded, hands flying up to grip Kalpas’ face. She stubbornly ignored the adrenaline coursing through her, the nagging itch in her fingers to pick up her sword. She shoved away the image of cutting down those guilty where they stood. She could not even risk entertaining such a notion.

“They are your friends,” Sakura reminded him. “Your friends as much as mine.”

Kalpas made a disgusted sound. “Who cares?”

“I do,” Sakura said aloud, perhaps attempting to convince herself as much as him.

“We could do it in less than a day if we planned it right.”

“Kalpas! I said enough!” Sakura practically shouted. Her voice rang out in the Realm. Kalpas did not so much as blink. But, after a while, after his single eye looked over her critically, he snorted and said, “Fine.”

Sakura sighed, relieved. “Thank you.” She lowered her hands and turned back around. Then, she leaned back into his chest. He shifted to make her more comfortable on his shoulder. He propped his chin on her shoulder, and they sat in silence for a while.

“If you ever change your mind,” he said quietly into her ear, “you can ask me.”

Sakura raised a hand and put it on his head. “I know.”

After some time, Kalpas returned to running his mouth against her shoulder.

The Hall was empty. The other sims had retired into their domains, and the Herrscher was off searching for more secrets deeper in the Realm. It was only Sakura and Kalpas in the War Room, with Kalpas perched on the table and Sakura standing with her back to him. She could feel him staring at her.

“So?” he prompted. “How much do you know?”

“Enough.”

“Hmph,” he grunted. “Yeah, I guess you would if you have Pardo finding the sword fragments for you.”

Sakura only placed a hand on the broken sword’s hilt absentmindedly.

“So?” Kalpas prodded her again. “What do you hope to achieve? You’re evoking your Discipline once it’s fixed, aren’t you?”

So he picked up on it—and quickly. She was not just seeking to put the sword back together for its blade. “I…simply want to witness it myself. Her last moments.”

Kalpas was silent for a moment before asking, “And the others?”

Sakura gave a small, bitter smile and finally turned to face him. “What about them?” she asked. “I have lived for thousands of years with this rage, Kalpas. I feared it would consume me. This thirst for vengeance, this need to kill, to inflict pain—it shook me.” She put a hand to her heart. “And, in the end, for what would it be? Taking vengeance upon any of you would only be a poor substitute for the real thing.” Her tone grew rueful.

Kalpas considered these words before saying, “You might change your mind when you actually remember it. Knowing and witnessing are different things.”

Sakura stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “Your anger always burns. I know it. I admire it—the constant way your fury rages at the hypocrisy of humanity. The cruelty of fate. The injustice of it all. While we all grow cold and nurture our apathy, for it is easier to numb ourselves than to feel.” She paused and sighed. “We have lived for 50,000 years and may very well have another 50,000 more ahead. My original, brief as her time was with all of you, considered the Flame Chasers her comrades. I have been with you all far longer, and would liken you all to friends.” Idly, she brushed a stray hair back from his face and gave a small, fond smile. “Despite the ache for vengeance, for justice, I cannot bring myself to raise my sword against any of you. This grief I feel will simply be my burden to carry. I would prefer this than to continue on in this life knowing I have cut down my friends.”

Kalpas gave a snort. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk this much.” He paused, then said, “You know, I was one of the last to find out? You didn’t even tell me what you were planning.”

Sakura hesitated. “I can’t say for certain, of course, but…I can only assume I did not tell you because I knew you would insist on accompanying me.”

“And you don’t think it wouldn’t have gone better if I was there?”

“It would have gone too well, I would think,” Sakura frowned. “Me and Rin alive, perhaps—and everyone else dead. Perhaps yourself as well. By your hand.”

“So? I thought you’d do anything for your sister.”

Sakura ducked her head. “I would. But I do those by the strength of my own sword. To loose you on our friends and comrades…it would be akin to using you like a common beast. I would not do that to you.”

“You know I wouldn’t have cared.”

“That is why I would not have asked. Why I do not ask you now.”

“And do you think,” he asked quietly, “that I preferred to arrive late and find you dead instead?”

Sakura felt regret pierce her heart. “I am sorry,” she said. What else was there to say?

When he did not say anything more, Sakura began to pull away. Then, like a vice, he reached out and seized her arm.

“If you change your mind, you will tell me this time,” Kalpas said, tone dangerous. It wasn’t a command—it was more akin to a threat.

Despite the pain of his grip, Sakura did not flinch. “Yes,” she replied, solemn, “you have my word.”

Kalpas took in her eyes, then, satisfied, let her go. She gave him one last look before leaving him there and disappearing into the Realm.