1:3:10 Blue (Part 4)

Lore looked to Char, she looked back. Without talking they managed to devise a strategy that worked for the both of them. A quick nod was seemingly all they needed as Char took two steps back while Lore began their attack. Despite there being two of them versus Crait alone, they weren’t at much of an advantage; Char had no way to attack up close and, with her body still bristling with its newfound energy, her accuracy wasn’t as tight as it needed to be. She could only really watch for now as Lore attempted to land a damaging hit on Crait. Crait still had no weapon in their hand. They kept their hands open, palming away and redirecting Lore’s strikes while avoiding the ones they couldn’t. It seemed less like combat and more like two old friends reciting a childish handshake to which they both miraculously remembered all of the steps. Crait and Lore appeared to be on perfectly equal footing. The stalemate that seemed as though it wouldn’t end. Reid watched with delight as Char became increasingly unsure of herself. The possibilities and chances for her to join the fight were almost limitless but she could only see openings once they had closed. Crait’s face had remained in its half sneer, half smirk for the entire duration of their exchange until something forced that to change; Lore attempted to bring their staff down on Crait’s head, they sidestepped but Lore kept it going. The staff collided with the floor and bit in. Claws appeared from the golden cap at the tip and a flash of light blinded them both. Staggering about, Crait drew their sword from their belt. Similar to Reid’s, the sword’s scabbard was integrated into their belt but unlike Reid’s, Crait’s sword came out whole, as if the scabbard itself was invisible yet ran the blade’s full length. The unexpected attack had affected Lore too but not in the way they had expected. Their vision was painted an orangey red after the sudden exposure to such a bright light source but they could still see the shadows Crait cast. They watched as two of the three shadows they now saw flailed about in the background waving their sword in a variety of ways yet never attacking. The third shadow inched towards them. Lore tried to focus and, to an extent, it worked. One shadow vanished leaving them with only two possible Crait’s to deal with. Lore manoeuvred themselves between them, keeping them both at a safe distance and giving them a good view of the two of them. Crait still refused to attack however, their parries were nearly as lethal. Lore to move to defend themselves as one of the Craits blocks came dangerously close to their face. It was supposed to have made contact with the top portion of their staff yet they didn’t feel anything. The other shadow staggered backwards in pain from an unknown assailant then began a charge; burning a deep golden, almost bright enough to reverse the healing time had brought, Char reset her aim and fired again. Each shot was less effective than the last and by the time Crait had closed the gap, her pistol was useless.
“Adaptive armour.” Crait scowled. “Thanks for the field test.” Crait wasn’t pulling their punches with Char. Every attack a brutal assault with all of their might and anger behind it. Crait raised their sword up high then brought it crashing down. Instinctively, Char held up their arm as if to block it. It managed to just begin to cut into her skin when it reversed its course. Crait took a step back and held there for a moment. The blood was beginning to trickle from the wound not yet created. Char flicked her wrist and with it, her cannon shifted from its resting position around her elbow to ready itself for firing. Crait raised their sword up high then brought it crashing down. Her arm was beginning to hurt from the first time but still, she raised it up. Instead of causing further damage, the blade bounced off the cannon’s hull, angering Crait. They tried over and over again, but to little or no effect. Lore’s eyes and the number of Craits had returned to normal and so they re-entered the fray. Crait continued fighting as they had with Lore, lessening the severity of their attacks but trying to do so while maintaining the lethality of their strikes against Char was beginning to confuse their tactics. Crait’s sword’s fuller impacted Char’s throat but before they could realise their mistake, they had aligned the blade with the middle of Lore’s nose. It froze millimetres from Lore’s face and suddenly reconfigured itself; the Roman gladius inspired sword melted through its pommel and reformed on the opposite side, as if Crait simply reversed their grip. Redirecting the kinetic energy, Crait thrust forwards. Instead of the blade, Lore’s glasses bore the full force of Crait’s fist. Lore heard the polymer frames shatter as time returned to its normal pace. Struggling for breath, Lore flew across the room, blinded, joining the fragments of their glasses on the floor. Char followed them. Lore didn’t even open their eyes but they knew that Char would be there to help them; they extended their arm. As soon as her hand came close to Lore, they began to glow. Golden light from Char’s fingertips mingled with white light from Lore’s. As she helped them up, they entered her; Lore’s fingertips dissolved into Char’s hand and the rest of them followed suit. The fire they had once tapped into on Illia returned to them. The Paragon loomed over Crait. Crait just stood there; their blade still locked in a reverse grip, pinned against their forearm as if hiding it from whatever had formed before them.
“Magnificent.” Crait managed to force out.
The Paragon had taken Char’s form on Illia but this time, they took the form of Lore; that wasn’t the only difference. They could see perfectly, almost too so but not in colour. Their vision was entirely in black and white with every object being outlined in a corona of white energy. They could see everything on Simplicity. Every person in every compartment, every ship in every hangar. There was a certainty to what they saw, as if everything had already been decided and they knew exactly where everyone and everything needed to be to get there. They just stood there. No weapons, they unclenched their fists and stood there. They levitated a centimetre off of the floor, equalising the height difference between them and Crait before floating slowly toward them. Crait circled them, hand across their eyes, scanning every millimetre of The Paragon through shielded eyes. Unbeknownst to Crait but within view of The Paragon, Reid scrambled to her feet and began tapping at a console. A silent alarm blared through the ship alerting all personnel to an evacuation order. The Paragon watched them flee; as the ships left Simplicity, they faded from their sight. Reid too joined them in vanishing.
“You stand alone.” The Paragon spoke with two voices neither being exactly Lore’s or Char’s but not entirely dissimilar. They watched as Crait walked over to the nearest console and realised what they meant. “We shall meet again.” The Paragon turned to leave through the front of Simplicity, the pale golden light of Lore’s form burnt deeper in their right arm as it became Char’s. The Paragon’s arm appeared to stretch as her cannon appeared. Before they could use it, Crait attempted to ambush them. They moved to one side as Crait’s sword, now sporting a machete style blade split the air where they were. They reconfigured the blade once more to that of a rapier hoping for all of the speed and accuracy the sword could bring. Crait once again jabbed the air where The Paragon had been but still, to no avail. Their roles had reversed. The Paragon’s light faltered as they charged Char’s cannon. They closed the gap between them and Crait in an instant. The Paragon grabbed Crait’s wrist; shocked, they didn’t even protest. The Paragon programmed Crait’s Breacher then waited; all the while Crait flailed their blade at Them.  A ball of golden light grew at the end of their right wrist and was now a similar size to Lore’s torso. They took a step back and fired it at the bridge’s front viewscreen. It ate away at the ship but also at The Paragon’s energy. As it’s golden light slowly returned everything it came into contact with to its unrefined form, they prepared for a speedy exit. Crait just watched knowing their death was likely imminent. Silence. They had expected a bang or a pop as the ball ate through the last of Simplicity’s hull but it didn’t come. The vacuum cleaned away any noise while also claiming The Paragon. Crait was automatically Breached away onto their ship, sparing them a death feared by most space farers. The Paragon’s light was almost gone, the corona receded into their skin and became tighter the longer they spent in space. Littered around them, ships once filled with numbered recruits, nameless soldiers and their Inquisitors now remained forever cracked open with all on equal footing, unknown bodies floating in space. Char’s cannon sank into their skin as her arm returned to Lore’s. Their left arm flickered as they tried to change it but they lacked the energy. The Paragon made do by changing just the important part. Their right wrist became a spitting image of that of Char, adorned with her portable transportation. The Paragon tapped at their own wrist and once again, the two that were once one became two once again. Both Lore and Char hit The Vengeance’s floor at the same time and at the same speed.