The world shuddered. Concrete sheared and buildings crumbled. Abandoned cars lifted and fell sideways, sweeping gales of air beating Erina down as they howled past. Erina's katana flashed into her grip and stabbed down through an accelerator, cracking asphalt to embed itself in the road and anchor her with a loud crunch.

  Akira's boot struck the ground even harder, fissures spreading in an instant. The street ruptured and tore apart, dislodging Erina and dragging her into the air with them as they flew towards the gravity well. She clambered to the top of her flying chunk of asphalt—

  She barely blocked in time. A piece of wall shattered on her hexagram barrier, individual bricks scattering past her in their fall. Erina leapt away from her chunk of land as the better part of a building crashed through it, leaping from one huge piece of city rubble to the next as fast as the black hole devoured everything.

  Erina's butterflies took flight, their lasers lagging Akira by less than a second as she vaulted from one hunk of debris to the next. In moments, she was upon her, and Erina was sent flying to crumple against the inner part of a half-broken floor as it circled the drain.

  Erina shook her head clear and stood to meet Akira's next dive with a quick draw of her blade. Her back impacted the wall a second time while Akira kicked off the blade, ready to come in to finish this with one more blow.

  A shower of beams formed a near-solid wall of energy between them, pushing Akira to flip away to another rock on its spiral into the black hole. Erina got up to the sight of Akira crackling with static, figure distorting and splitting.

  One Akira smashed apart the chunk of building as Erina leapt away to another flying perch. Butterflies shot down the next barrage, and then Akira gestured in a burst of static.

  Erina fell to her knees as her piece of street changed direction, rushing up from under her towards a much larger half of a building. She rolled off the side, falling to safety as the two flying meteors smashed each other to pieces. Erina touched down on a veritable asteroid belt of debris, orbiting the black hole that better resembled a miniature sun. Blazing accretion rendered it blinding to look at, its harsh yellow glow throwing all their surroundings into stark contrast of light and shadow.

  The searing accretion disk pivoted from edge-on to presenting its top to Erina. An invisible pulse came first, her last warning to throw herself through an accelerator—

  A jet like an ejected nebula vaporized that portion of the asteroid belt and everything in its path, beautiful wisps and strands like the northern lights spraying out from either end of the black hole. Another pulse and Erina blindly changed direction as the twin jets swept around like the blades of gods, ripping everything in half and carving swathes of destruction through the crumbling streets, through the fabric of the world itself.

  A sound like shattering glass rang out deafening over even the roar of the black hole and the collapsing city. There was no soil or stone under the streets, but rather a black empty void—a seam in the delicate illusion of existence, quickly fracturing and unraveling.

  Erina cried out as she struck a large piece of concrete, tumbling through the air before slamming to a stop on a fragment of an immense beam. Sweeping gales rushed by as she got up, ether staining her front, a small magic seal pulsing the palm of her hand as the scan spell activated.

  Akira's diving kick deflected off Erina's barrier and bent their platform. Erina's slash met the hidden knife of Akira's boot with a high-pitched ring. One spell circle after another appeared and disappeared under Erina. Twofold spatial distortion, speed enhancement, technique recall—every advantage she could leverage. Her katana cut bright white-green trails through the air, clashing and weaving with inky black-green venom. Ethereal butterflies took flight, following them on their orbit around the howling black hole as the world fell apart.

  Fissures tore through the streets, larger and larger chunks breaking away and falling into the blinding glow of annihilation. Buildings, towers, skyscrapers, and all their rubble collided with each other as they circled the black hole like newborn star systems and asteroid belts. The ground ripped asunder, exposing the empty void—and then even that gave way, cracking and peeling from reality like a thin sheet of ice. A distorted, swirling mess of colors that couldn't be named revealed itself behind the veneer of nothing.

  The chaos of shattering concrete, the blazing roar of the black hole, the yells of exertion and the clash of steel—all of it was overpowered by a deafening crack. The air itself fractured in every direction from the black hole, and then everything shattered.

  Akira tackled Erina with a shout, both of them tumbling off the edge and down through space. Fragments of an empty world fell with them, through the void and into the dizzying true form of this other world.

  Erina's palm struck Akira in the gut as they fell. The spear formed by force, pushing her away until Akira grabbed the other end of the spear and yanked Erina in to meet the kick that spiked her down into an even faster freefall.

  Her vision was a blur of color. Erina tumbled and spun until she flattened herself out, limbs spread to catch the wind and slow herself enough to tell which way was down. A burst of steady black and white static in the slurry of unnatural chroma, Akira magnifying her own gravity to crash down like a meteor—

  Erina's barrier caught the dive meant for her stomach, spinning like a saw blade as hundreds of layers were forced to form to withstand the blow. Erina let it break and struck back with a crescent slash before a hand seized her by the collar, blood splattering her face as Akira dragged her down in a dizzying spin.

  "Yah!" Erina's palm struck again, creating and activating the spear before it even formed. This time, several bodies' worth of viscera splattered into the air as the branches of lightning erupted, throwing them apart. A shift in hues, everything fading to deep red—

  Erina's landing platform arrested her fall just shy of the ground as Akira slammed to the floor. Leaving her broken body where it lay, Akira pulled free of it and rolled backwards onto her feet while Erina dismounted her spell circle. Shards of Akira's memories rained down around them in the dark hallway, joining the shattered fragments of glass already resting on the carpet.

  Akira lifted her hand, fingers curling into claws as static crackled at her fingertips. Erina braced herself… and Akira lowered it with a sharp breath, chest rising and falling. Beads of sweat hung at the ends of her hair.

  Erina dipped her head for just one moment as they came to a silent understanding. Heart burning in her chest, she gripped her blade in both hands.

  A tiny hexagram barrier flashed for a split second as she parried Akira's kick away and struck back. An arc of blood staining the wall and another body fading on the floor, Akira trampling over it in the process. Inky black-green venom trailed her strikes, whirling and spinning. When she wasn't crouched low to the ground, she was clean off it, flipping and twisting through the air to launch another powerful kick. She hammered into the instantaneous barriers again and again, every huge strike ringing out.

  Erina could see them. She could see the attacks coming in time to fight back. Whether she was speeding up or Akira slowing down, she didn't know. What she knew was that there was no more gravity magic, no point in the butterflies spreading their wings. That kind of fight wasn't enough to convey their feelings.

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  Akira's heel snapped around and over, snapping Erina's head down and nearly folding her double. The next side kick blew her away, sliding down the hall to lay sprawled out amidst the shards of lost memories.

  "You're not… holding back," panted Erina. Using the wall for support, she hauled herself upright and readied her katana again. "But you don't mean it either. We don't want to be here, either of us!"

  Akira's expression darkened. The next blow tore down the wall, opening the corridor on the other side of the empty mirrors as Erina rolled away.

  "I know you want to be understood!" Erina's blade flashed, a body dropping in time for her to advance over it on her own offensive. "You wouldn't have told me so much if you didn't. So talk to me—not with battle, but with words!"

  A spell circle flashed at her feet as she ducked Akira's high roundhouse, stepping into point blank range. Erina's face was set with a calm, fierce will as the katana snapped back into its scabbard.

  The blade erupted in a flurry of emerald arcs, raging squalls sweeping away the glass shards as deep gashes tore into every surface around them. Now it was Akira's turn to tumble, Erina accelerating after her without a moment's rest to clash with knife against sword.

  "It's all the same to you? Don't lie to me!" Erina spoke even as they fought. Breathless and struggling with every word, she carried on regardless. "Why did you help me then? If I was just another face that day? Tell me the truth! Akira!"

  "ENOUGH!"

  A total whiff on Erina's side, and Akira inverted completely with a brutal heel crashing home against her chin and blasting her skyward. A pillar of black-green venom erupted, following the motion in an instant as Erina slammed against the arched roof and rebounded with equal force, ragdolling across the floor. One ugly splatter of ether after another stained each surface she hit.

  Akira righted herself, angrily flicking her fingers across the cuts Erina left in her. She shed the injured body and threw it down, one vicious stomp pulping its skull before it faded away.

  The tip of Erina's katana struck the ground for support as she shakily rose to one knee, the back of her hand at her mouth.

  "You just… reminded me of someone I knew," muttered Akira. "Another lost girl in over her head who didn't know what she was getting herself into. Someone whose life went off the rails in the back alleys of a rainy city and ended up little better than street vermin. Some damn idiot who threw herself away without any idea what that really meant."

  Erina's legs buckled, sending her back to the floor. She steadied her grip on her katana and found her strength, rising to meet that amber gaze.

  "Nobody was there for her on that day," said Akira. "I don't need to see that happen again. Don't make me lose you too!"

  "Akira—"

  "Stay as you are!" Akira burst out, shouting from the bottom of her heart. "Okay?! That's how you should be! I like you that way! An Erina that's innocent, a little clumsy even if she's smart, with nothing to do with and no reason to learn about the cruelties of a reality that doesn't care about you or me or anybody! You don't need to do this. I'm begging you over here—stay out of the hell I walked into." She shook her head slowly, with nothing but grief on her face. "You can't come back from the way you're going."

  "…Akira," whispered Erina. Finally, a moment's pause. She closed her eyes and searched for the words to follow and found herself coming up short. Try as she might, nothing came to mind. A lump in her throat blocked what meager little she could think to say.

  Those pained green eyes reopened, flicked about the ground, and settled on Akira once more. She nodded back. Where words failed, action spoke.

  Erina sheathed her katana, one hand resting at its handle. They approached each other, shoes pacing over the red carpet. Muted starlight bled in through the high windows, their distant glimmer reflected in the shards of glass littering the floor.

  Erina's heart wound tighter with every step. Her fingers twitched at the handle of her sword. She understood that this was the kind of person Akira was. Everything would be decided in the next move. Each foot in front of the other was an invitation to rush.

  A shard cracked under Akira's boot.

  She closed several yards with a single step in a surge of wind. A physical wall of air exploded beside Erina as she twisted a mere inch aside from the kick, venom ink staining the air and streaking through her hair like an unseen hand's calligraphy brush.

  It was already over. It happened so fast. In the final moment, whether she meant to or not, Akira wavered for the tiniest instant.

  She hesitated.

  And Erina didn't.

  Akira's amber eyes watched Erina move, all the world moving at a crawl. Her grip tightened on the katana.

  And then it vanished, and a soft, light impact threw itself onto Akira.

  "Wha…?" Akira found her balance. Erina clung tight, arms wrapped around her, and refused to let go. "Hands off."

  Erina's only response was to hold on tighter.

  "What do you think you're doing? That last kick rock you too hard? I could rip you in half right now. I should rip you in half."

  "Maybe," said Erina. "But you won't."

  Akira was silent. Erina could feel her heart beating as hard as her own. She was sure Akira could tell too.

  "Thank you, Akira." She closed her eyes, no longer looking out over Akira's shoulder. She focused on the feeling of the smaller girl in her arms. "For everything you've done for me. It means more than I can put into words."

  No response. Erina pushed on, and allowed her heart to take her voice.

  "I'll be okay from now on," she said. "You don't need to look after me anymore."

  "You don't know what you're talking about," mumbled Akira.

  "Then I'll learn." Erina pulled back just enough to look into her eyes, inches away from each other. "It will be different this time. I want to find my way in this world, no matter what that might be. And I promise you…" Her arms unlinked around her back, hands moving to her shoulders. "I won't lose myself."

  "How are you so sure?"

  "I'm not," she said frankly.

  Akira stirred.

  "But isn't that okay?" Erina offered her a small smile. "Can you trust me, Akira? Like you said you would?"

  For once, Akira was speechless. The words she spoke on that day came back to her.

  It was the first time Erina saw Akira's face scrunch up before averting her eyes in such a childlike way. Behind it all—past all the posturing and the attitude and the trappings of the lifestyle she buried herself in—Akira wasn't an invincible monolith with a heart of stone. Maybe she wasn't even cut out for the role she forced herself into.

  She was just a girl who went lost in the cruelty of reality, and hated to see someone else start down that same bloodied path.

  "…You really know how to get to me." Akira's head was down with her hair obscuring her face. "That's a cheap shot. Where'd you learn to fight dirty like that?"

  "From you," said Erina simply.

  An exhale resembling a laugh left Akira. She leaned into Erina, shoulders loosening. Then, she lifted her arms and returned Erina's hug.

  "Damn it all," said Akira. "I keep telling myself, this is the last time. No more attachments. But I just can't help it, no matter how hard I try."

  "I'm glad," said Erina. "This is the side of you I like the most."

  "Keep talking that way and I really am gonna mess you up."

  The words were half-hearted and tired. Erina smiled and held her tighter.

  "I get it." Akira gently disconnected and pulled away. "You've gotten stronger, Erina. Not just in battle, but in here." She thumped her own chest. A dry smile crossed her face. "Yeah… you're a bigger person than I was. Just don't forget who you are, okay?"

  Erina nodded. "Yes, sir."

  "And no more of that." Akira's expression became a touch more genuine. "You're more like my sister after all."

  She smiled. "…Yes. Akira."

  "Go on." Akira motioned her head down the hallway. "The past. The truth. The future that follows. They're up to you to see now."

  "Won't you come with me?"

  "I can't even if I tried. What lies ahead belongs only to you—not me or anyone else." Akira tilted her head, a familiar spark glinting in her gold eyes. "And weren't you ready enough to come here alone in the first place?"

  She was right. Erina picked herself up and took a few paces back, away from her friend.

  "I'll be back soon," said Erina.

  Akira nodded slowly. "Don't make me wait forever. I will if I have to."

  Erina left, and then it was Akira standing alone in the halls of her memories. She knelt down, fingers running over the broken shards. Her own reflection stared back dozens of times over. Places she couldn't recall and moments she wished she couldn't recall. She was a timeless, infinite existence, but her mind was still that of a flawed, single being.

  Akira brushed away some of the fragments, sharp edges cutting into her skin. Blood dripped from her fingers as she scooped up the one shard she was looking for. She saw Erina trying a mint chocolate ice cream for the first time. She was a girl of muted expressions and understated words, assuming she was willing to speak up in the first place. But Akira didn't miss the way those green eyes lit up so vividly as she tasted the treat.

  What a stupid, mundane, pointless thing to remember.

  But those were exactly the moments Akira wished to never forget.

  Clutching the shard tighter, she got to her feet and began the long walk back.