Erina found him posted up behind a series of bushes, and then further hidden in a small outcropping of rocks and boulders. From her angle, Erina could only see his upper half lying prone; the rest lay out of sight behind a large rock.

  Peering out from behind her tree, she took aim. Green light sparked at her fingertips… and then faded. This wouldn't work. She reasoned it was some sort of time control. Bullets would never make it in time. Erina, however, seemed to be unaffected by it. Conversely, Julian could only speed himself up in short bursts—any more than that, and Erina would've been toast by now.

  So naturally, the approach was obvious.

  Erina rocketed into him, announcing her arrival with a huge slash of her blade. The sniper rifle was ripped from his hands, flying several yards away before slowing to a near crawl mid-air in the distorted time. Leaves and dirt flew into the air alongside it. This time, she got the drop on him!

  She found another clean strike as he flipped back, and then her next follow-up found only the black knife. Backing into a small clearing amidst the boulders, pale mist cloaked Julian's figure—

  Gone. She saw footsteps in the soft earth, rounding to her back—

  A half-power accelerator launched Erina aside in a short but powerful dash as gunshots split the air. An assault rifle drawn from thin air, Julian adjusted his sights and opened fire as Erina dived behind a thick old tree. Bullets peeled splinters from the wood in an earsplitting ruckus, chewing into it until the magazine was empty.

  Julian threw it aside, the gun vanishing into mist as he pulled out a handgun and advanced. A steady trickle of cover fire in tune with his steps discouraged Erina from so much as peeking. She tried to calm her breathing and slow her racing heart in the few seconds she had.

  Now she really understood why they were called the Equalizers. His presence alone stifled her signature iteration spells and almost all of the utility that came with them. All she had were her basic constructs and attacking spells, except those were as good as useless within his distorted time. That meant all Erina had left to work with was little more than the most basic tools in her kit. Why did he get to have real firearms shooting real bullets that moved at real speed?!

  She blinked. "Real… speed?"

  Erina's eyes roved her surroundings as she rounded the tree, mirroring Julian as he circled the other side with the thick tree between them. She spotted the sniper rifle a distance away, abandoned in the bushes. She perked up as a thought occurred to her.

  A glowing green butterfly fluttered out from behind the tree. Julian shot it down without hesitation, only for the orb floating out after it to fire back with a laser. Another orb forced the window of opportunity further open, and Erina burst out, hot on its heels with another powerful slash to the gut. The sight of pale white-green ether gave her a thrill.

  She was right. Those were real guns, not imitations made from mana, and her butterfly confirmed her theory. If Julian could open fire, that meant the flow of time returned to normal!

  A brutal strike to the face sent her stumbling back with a cry. Julian smacked her head down harder with the butt of the pistol, advancing to finish the job.

  Erina took a blind swing. The green katana's uppercut forced him back as Erina threw a fistful of glowing orbs after him. They ruptured as she advanced with beams of light screaming in from every angle—

  They stopped. Julian drew his kris and became a whirlwind of black slashes, warding Erina away. The fissure-like marks on his back glowed as he rose to his full height and turned, cold red eyes locked onto hers as spears of white-green light sparked and crackled all around him in slow motion.

  He twisted on the spot. The lasers sped up and shot off around him, clearing the way. Pale green mist rose from his figure as the pistol vanished. A compact submachine gun appeared, and Erina dived behind a large tree, away from his first burst of fire. With seconds of breathing room, she touched her fingers to the butterfly clip, throwing copies into the air one at a time as fast as she could.

  Julian was right at her side the next instant! The gun snapped around—

  Erina struck his arm with her own, stepping into point blank range as gunshots pounded her eardrums. The black knife found her gut and stopped in its tracks, ether staining its blade as Erina sheathed her blade and then struck back with a quick draw.

  The katana leapt forth in a burst of light. Julian swayed back and aside, Erina's blade hacking all the way through the tree trunk in a diagonal emerald arc.

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  He made to back off further and this time she had to approach. An accelerator launched her past him, skidding across the dirt as the sword flashed at his back to force him towards the tree. She chased him every step of the way as he fought back, gun in one hand and black kris in the other.

  A near miss, a blow to the head, an elbow in the gut for her trouble. A slash to the arm and accelerated shoulder bash in return. Leaves rustled like wind passing through countless branches overhead as they fought. The gun waved again and again, trying to line up a proper shot on the girl that hovered right on the threshold between too close for the gun and too far for the knife.

  A hard straight kick sent Erina stumbling back. Julian's expression was an unfeeling mask as he brought the submachine gun to bear—

  The butterflies activated and several lasers bombarded him as time sped up for a split second, stuffing his shot, and then Erina was onto him. They jostled for position, pale mist marking Julian's abrupt repositions and spell circles telegraphing Erina's sudden bursts of speed to escape, catch up, and close in again. Butterflies of light hung in the air, circling their fight at a distance, speeding up and slowing down in tune with the rise and fall of time's tempo.

  Erina leapt through the magic seal and charged into him, forcing him several paces back. A vicious knee to the gut left her clutching her stomach in pain, stumbling as Julian shoved her back.

  "Enough of this!" Julian leveled his gun at her.

  Click.

  Empty. Julian threw it aside, pale mist whirling around his hand as he drew his next weapon and pulled the trigger—

  The tree fell the last few feet and crushed him under its trunk. The black bullet lanced through the air with a terrible howl and glanced off the edge of her barrier, aim thrown by the unexpected fall—yet even that was enough to tear all of it apart like wet paper. Erina's heart skipped a beat as the bullet flew under her arm, slicing through her hair and deleting everything in its path as it flew off into the distance. The loud din of leaves and a blast of air swept out on its heels as the tree toppled and came to a rest.

  Julian lay pounded into the dirt, pinned under several thousand pounds of wood with a splatter of dark green ether staining the earth around him. Erina kicked the revolver from his grip before he could gather his wits. He looked up to the sight of the green katana, Erina panting for breath at the other end.

  Pale mist bled from his figure, Julian's entire body blurring as it slipped into hyperspeed. Then it returned to normal, still stuck under the huge tree. All the time in the world didn't matter when he was pinned either way. He struggled for a moment longer, defiant red eyes on her as pale green mist gathered around his hand.

  Erina's hand was steady. The katana hovered, waiting to strike the moment Julian did.

  Mist clouded the air at his hand… and then faded. Julian dropped all pretense of carrying on the fight and folded, wincing slightly as the tree's massive weight creaked over him. His body sank a bit deeper into the Julian-shaped indent he was making in the soil. The markings on his back faded. Erina's butterflies returned to the normal flow of time and fluttered to their master, merging once more with the original clip.

  "You distracted me," said Julian. "Cutting down the tree, you preoccupied me with yourself and fought to keep me in position. When I reset the flow of time to attempt using my guns, the tree would fall. Clever. The reports about you were true."

  Erina didn't respond. Her sword remained at the ready.

  "You have my apologies. Clearly, I underestimated your resourcefulness."

  "Should I take it you'll come after me again?" said Erina.

  "What difference does it make now?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "It won't be of any concern. Not to you." Julian made a fruitless attempt at squeezing free. "Do what you will."

  The green katana lifted away and returned to its sheath. Erina dispelled her weapon as her breathing steadied. While she had him, she ought to learn what she could from him. "How did you get here? Do you have power over the gate of the golden tree?"

  "The Gate answers those with authority over it," he said cryptically.

  "Was it your Affinity, then? Time distortion… do you carry your weapons with spatial distortion? An Affinity that can control both, freeing you to walk the realms?"

  No reply, but that was telling in and of itself.

  "Why is the Binding Association here?" asked Erina. "The others didn't come here expecting me."

  "That is not your concern," he said.

  "You've been to the laboratory… three times. Seven years ago in the great battle. One year ago to hunt down Lazarus, who returned."

  "To create you, no?"

  Now the telling silence was Erina's.

  She continued, "And you came here today. If it was to loot the laboratory, why not do it before?"

  "The yakuza took over Shinjuku swiftly in the wake of the battle," said Julian. "The Binding Association lost much of its power then. Even today, it is a shadow of its former glory… we Three Equalizers are its bastions. We protect human order. To that end, we do what is needed and no more." Those red eyes flicked up at her. "Unlike the ones holding your leash, we aren't slaves to greed and gluttony."

  If Akira was here, she'd take grievous offense to that, but Erina wasn't so attached to the pin on her blazer. She said, "Then, you're saying you'd rather destroy than hoard."

  "To hoard is to preserve another potential threat. And the political strain of aggravating the Kano Clan, as well as raising their awareness, were to be avoided. Seeing as our raid last year must have led to them finding it themselves, those fears were well-founded."

  "Then why start now? Why come back and raise tensions again?" Erina crouched down to better meet his eye. "Why is the Binding Association plundering the laboratory they never cared about before?"

  Green and red gazes drilled into each other. Julian neither backed down nor spoke a single word.

  Erina thought back to the aftermath of the battle of Mount Hakusan. She tried waiting.

  And waiting.

  And waiting.

  But still, no answers were forthcoming. This truth, it seemed, was not one she would find today.