[Arc] Shadows of the Past Part 2: A Shocking Haunting

[NOTE: As of this part, the difficulty of this arc has been reduced to +2, and as such the bosses shall reflect this.]

Part 1 here

Despite dragging two revolutionary extremists behind them, Lune was humming a small, jaunty tune to herself as she and Melanie were taking their prisoners back towards the ship. Walking beside her, Melanie cast her a curious look. "Well, you're certainly in a chipper mood," she said, almost casually. The frosty young woman looked to the kuja navigator and smiled. "Well, yeah! We just beat these guys no problem! I tell you, we've got this mission in the bag!"

Melanie couldn't help but chuckle at Lune's confidence. "I wouldn't be too sure just yet. This mission isn't over yet." Lune's smile widened. "Oh come on. You say how Anty handled himself back there. We absolutely clobbered those guys! Demon's Revolt doesn't stand a chance!" Melanie's smile faded somewhat. "I appreciate the confidence you have in our captain, but that doesn't mean we should allow ourselves to become overconfident. Things can suddenly change at the drop of a hat. Even the more certain of situations can suddenly turn into utter disasters." A certain incident on Amazong Lily came to mind. She had never expected things to get as hectic as they had gotten. "We'd best get these prisoners to the ship, and then head back to assist Anton as soon as we can."

Though Lune had the upmost confidence in Anton's abilities, almost to a naieve degree, she had to admit that Melanie was making a lot of sense. There would be plenty of time to celebrate after all of this was done. "You got it!" she said, tugging the rope she had been pulling along. "Besides, this prisoner thing is a lot easier than I thought it would be." It had been a bit of a struggle to pull their unconscious bodies along, but now it just felt so easy. It was like they weren't even there. "Guess I didn't know my own strength, huh?" she chuckled to herself, looking over her shoulder.

Then she froze, her eyes growing wide as her jaw went slack. Melanie noticed Lune's pause and stopped. "Lune?" Her eyes followed Lune's to where she was looking, the ice girl's look of shock perfectly mirrored on Melanie's own face. The ropes that were supposed to be tied around Cagnozza and Barbariccia were now laying on the ground, completely slack and empty.

Lune let out a surprised scream. "WHERE DID THEY GO!?"


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Overhead, dark clouds started to form. The once bright, sunny day was now giving away a darkened overcast. Celia couldn't help but notice how quickly the weather had changed. There didn't seem to be a cloud in the sky earlier, and now, the sun was barely getting through at all. She glanced over at Anton. If her captain had noticed the sudden change in weather, he wasn't showing it, his eyes instead scanning the surrounding city. Celia couldn't really blame him either. They hadn't even been on the island for an hour before they had suddenly been attacked by members of the thought dead Demon's Revolt. Granted, their arrival on the island wasn't exactly covert, but the fact that their enemy had been able to mobilize so quickly was very disturbing. Even though they had managed to bring down the attackers with little damages, there was always the possibility there would be more, and no doubt stronger now that this initial assault failed.

"Keep your eyes open," Anton murmured, almost as if sensing his second in commands brief distraction by the weather, "No telling who or what can be coming after us next." That was for sure. Celia remembered back to the incident involving the assassins. They ended up sending in some sort of earthquake machine thing after him by the end. Who knew what Demon's Revolt had up its sleeve. Her hands hidden beneath her cape, Celia gripped the two derringers she held tightly. She was going to be ready when something popped up. Her eyes scanned the crowds of people around them. Could their enemies be hiding amongst them? What would they do if they attacked, with all these people in the area?

Suddenly, she could almost feel it. A sharp sensation in the back of her mind. Every sense in her body screamed. "Look out!" Anton had already begun to turn, seeming to sense the same thing Celia was, but the short woman was the first to react. Without thinking, she spun, just as she heard the sound of something rushing towards them, drawing her two guns and firing. There was a pair of loud metalic clangs as her bullets hit something metal, something attached to a chain that now flew past the two of them, knocked off course before crashing into a nearby wall. Celia was already panting heavily. It had all happened so fast. She didn't even have time to think about what she just did.

Meanwhile, the people around them suddenly broke into a panic, screaming and running. Yet as the people ran around them in their terror, Anton's eyes looked upward. "Celia! Watch out!" He acted fast, suddenly grabbing Celia's cape and pulling the short woman back just in time as a figure descended from the skies, crashing down on the ground hard where they had been just standing. The cobblestones cracked and split from the impact. At the same time, the chained weapon pulled itself out of the wall, quickly pulling back as a second figure suddenly darted from the shadows. The weapon returned to its owners hand right as they closed in, swinging at down at Anton, before the rear admiral managed to bring his own blade up to block it.

Only now Anton could see that the weapon in question was actually a hand. A mechanical, clawed hand. He followed it up to the arm that it was attached to, its skin so pale it looked almost blue, before looking into the thin, cruel face the arm belonged to. With a smirk, the man jumped back, landing beside the first figure as their pulled their bident out of the stone.

It was at this point Anton could get a clear look at their two attackers as the people around them seemed to disappear in every direction. The first was an unsightly, ugly man, made short by the large hump on his back and seemingly swollen face. The second was tall and almost gaunt, with that sickly blue complexion, and what appeared to be a menacing mechanical prosthetic on his left arm. Curiously, both men were dressed in something that reminded Anton of Yumiko's attire. The attire one would find in Wano, with the hunchback favoring tans and browns, while the second wore a dark, almost black, blue.

Scarmiglione:

Rubicante:

Anton's eyes narrowed. "Seems Demon's Revolt's starting to live up to its name." With members like that, it made sense that this group of violent maniacs would compare themselves to demons. Despite their surprise attack failing, the two of them didn't seem bothered, with the smirks they had on their faces.

At that moment, the sound of clapping echoed around the area. Anton and Celia looked up towards the roofline, seeing a man in what can only be described as an academic's garb stepped out of the shadows, an amused smile on his face as his eyes looked down at Anton through his glasses. "Not bad, not bad at all. I had wondered what would happen if the others had simply tried to sneak attack you, instead of that frontal assault earlier, but I can see it wouldn't have made much difference. Very perceptive of you. Then again," his smirk widened slightly, "You always did seem like the sort of man constantly looking over your shoulder."

Anton's eyes narrowed, clearly picking up the jab at Anton's past of cowardice. He wasn't proud of who he had been in the past, and the last thing he needed to was to be reminded of it. "And who exactly are you?" The man smirked, adjusting his glasses in a confident manner. "I am Mephisto, and you can consider my the architect of your demise."


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Melanie's eyes scanned the streets as she and Lune ran along them, trying to find any evidence of Barbariccia and Cagnozza. Her mind was still trying to figure out just what had happened. And it wasn't helping that Lune was running alongside her, quite loudly vocalizing what her mind was trying to comprehend. "H-How!? I don't get it! Those ropes were done up tight! How did they slip away? I mean, I didn't even feel them moving! Did you? Just, I don't get it! I-It was like they just disappeared!" "Just be quiet!" Melanie snapped, trying to hear herself think, "They have to be around here somewhere. I don't know how they slipped away, but it's not like they can just teleport or anything." If they could, they would have shown that during the previous battle. So how did they escape?

Lune looked to the tall kuja as a thought crashed into her mind. "Do you think they're going back to attack Anty again?" he asked, "I mean, they were pretty gung-ho about killing him earlier!" The certainly made the most sense. After all, Anton was now deep in enemy territory, with an enemy that was firmly aware of where she was. It stood to reason that their escaped prisoners would possibly try to take another shot at their captain. The sooner they found Anton, the sooner they could ensure his safety. "Right. Let's go find him." Lune nodded as the pair of them continued to run down the street. Now they just had to find Anton before anything happened.


Unfortunately for them, something had indeed happened to Anton. He was now staring down the supposed leader of Demon's Revolt, with two more of their number before them, armed and ready for combat. Celia had her guns ready, eying the two men in front of them, and flinching as the hunchbacked man gave her a rather disturbing leer. Meanwhile, Anton's eyes were firmly locked on the smirking Mephisto. "Now, I'm sure you have plenty of questions Mr. La'croix," he said with the typical air of arrogance of a man who believed he had the upper hand. "Actually, just one," Anton spoke up. Mephisto's smirk faltered somewhat in mild confusion, "And that is?" Anton's eyes narrowed, "Why me?"

And all of a sudden, the tension seemed to vanish as Anton threw his arms out, "Seriously, why me? I mean, I was barely even a captain when you sent those assassins after me, and here you are sending assassins and cyborgs after me! There are so many more prominent marines than me, and instead you chose to go after me. How did you guys even hear about me anyway? I wasn't anybody of any importance. So why go through all this trouble just to try and kill me?" Mephisto blinked, a little bit put out by how blunt the question had been, before he tried to recover, "Well, let's just say certain individuals within our number have a distinct interest you in, Mr. La'croix." "Do you have any idea how little that answers my question?" "ENOUGH!"

Mephisto took a breath to try and regain his composure. He had thought about how this meeting would go, had a speech prepared and everything. He didn't expect to get interrupted like this and naturally was a bit irritated. "Regardless, it wont matter. You wont be around long enough to care," "So why did you even bring it up?" "STOP!" Mephisto sighed in frustration, "Scarmiglione, Rubicante, take care of them, now!"

The hunchback, Scarmiglione, gave a cruel chuckle, "As you wish sir! Lehehe, I'm going to have some fun with you little lady!" Celia blanched as the taller Rubicante's face twisted in distate. "As disgusting as ever," he muttered, before turning his attention to Anton, flexing the claws of his mechanical hand, "Well, no matter. Have at you!"

Anton brought up his sword, ready to fight.


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No sooner had Anton brought up his blade, had the metal claws of Rubicante's mechanical hand crashed into the steel, pushing Anton back slightly. Anton had barely managed to see the man even move as he pushed back on him, trying to keep his footing. Rubicante's face split into a wicked smile as something flashed in the man's other hand, before he suddenly swung at Anton. Fortunately, Anton's keen senses when it came to danger (a result of constant paranoia), managed to pick up the sight of the blade, giving him time to suddenly leap back and avoid the swing. It seemed though that Rubicante expected this, pushing forward to keep up the pressure, swinging over and over again as Anton's blade swung to block and deflect.

Meanwhile, Scarmiglione had leapt at Celia, grinning as he held up his bident to try and strike down at her. However, his movements were a lot more telegraphed compared to his partner, allowing Celia to jump out of the way as he came down again. Guns in hand, she quickly raised them and opened fire, only for her eyes to widen in surprise when the hunchback quickly brought up his weapon to block the incoming shots. For a malformed looking thing, he was surprisingly fast. During that brief moment of shock, Scarmiglione lunged forward, aiming to spear Celia with his bident. A sharp hiss came from her as she jumped to the side, the blades of the bident slicing through her cape, coming dangerously close.

"Celia!" Anton called out in worry. As Rubicante's blades clashed with his sword, Anton's body began to shift, changing to his insectoid hybrid form. With the power of his stronger legs, he shoved back at Rubicante hard, causing the man to stumble back. However, rather than attack him, Anton twisted and lashed a foot out towards Scarmiglione, sending a burst of compressed air straight at him. The hunchback barely got a chance to see the attack coming before it crashed into his side, sending him sprawling. Celia breathed a small sigh of relief, before she looked towards Anton. "Anton, look out!"

There was a rattling of chain and suddenly pain shot through Anton's side. During that brief distraction, Rubicante had fired off his mechanical hand, which had embedded itself into Anton's side. Anton hissed in pain as the claws managed to dig into his exoskeleton, drawing some blood, drawing a satisfied smirk from the assailant. However, as he tried to draw his hand back, two of Anton's now four hands reached out and grabbed hold of the prosthetic, stopping him dead as the chain went tight. "Oh no you don't!" Anton growled before yanking him towards him. Rubicante stumbled forward, pulling off balance as Anton lept towards him at high speed, twisting in the air and delivering a powerful drop kick straight to his face. As the terrorist went flying back, Anton flinched as the claw was pulled painfully from his side.

Celia flinched. Anton wouldn't have taken that hit if it hadn't been for her. With righteous fury bubbling within her, she drew two more derringers and turned to fire at Scarmiglione, who was climbing to his feet, somewhat dazed by the blow. The hunchback let out a sharp cry as one of the bullets caught him in the shoulder. He scrambled to his feet, leaping up high into the air right as Celia let out another volley of shots and landing on a nearby rooftop.

Meanwhile, Mephisto watched the fighting from on high, seemingly almost too calm at how things were going.


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Scarmiglione leapt from rooftop to rooftop, trying to avoid the rapid firing shots from Celia, who was now determined to keep the hunchbacked terrorist on the back foot. Scarmligione's face twisted in frustration. This was supposed to be an easy fight. After all, she's was just some lacky! In an attempt to get her to stop, he launched his bident at her, only to growl in frustration as she simply side stepped the attack. His bident stabbed harmlessly into the ground and Celia put a foot upon it, pinning it in place with a small smirk.

Meanwhile, Rubicante had recovered and was once again engaging Anton, though now it was a more even struggle, thanks to Anton being able to draw the two halves of conjoined. With Anton's three blades going against Rubicante's two, the extremist was finding himself being increasingly pushed further and further on the backfoot, a scowl starting to grow on his bluish face. Despite the light wound on Anton's side, the Rear Admiral was starting to push him back, Rubicante's actions becoming more and more desperate. With a loud 'clang', Rubicante's knife was knocked out of his head, while his bladed prosthetic was batted aside. With one free blade, Anton was about to bring his great sword down onto him.

And then something moved out of the corner of his eye. Anton leapt back just in time to avoid a knife that came dangerously close to his head.

Barbariccia smirked as she stood up straight, looking straight at Anton. "Miss me bug boy?" Celia's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, what? How did you-" she stopped when she felt something coming towards her. She tried to dive out of the way, but the shockwave that came from Cagnozza's impact still sent her rolling across the ground. With her now away from his bident, Scarmiglione smirked as he jumped down to reclaim his weapon, as Cagnozza rose to his feet.

This fight had certainly taken a turn. What had begun as a two on two battle, now left them outnumbered two to one. But it wasn't the fact that they were outnumbered that bothered Anton. "What did you do to Lune and Melanie?" he spoke sharply, his eyes narrowing. Barbariccia gave a cruel chuckle. "Those two? Oh, it wasn't too hard at all to get away from them. Oh, you should have heard them scream!" She laughed before diving towards Anton with her knives ready.

"Did it sound anything like this you bitch?"

Barbariccia looked over in surprise right before something struck her in the side. Sheer, painful cold ran up her side, causing her to scream out in shock as she stumbled. Anton lashed out with a foot, kicking her right in the face and causing her to roll back, her attack foiled. Meanwhile, Scarmiglione and Cagnozza looked on in surprise, before the larger man sensed something coming from behind him. He spun around to bring his spear up, managing to stop the blade of Melanie's naginata. Still keeping on the momentum, the kuja warrior flipped over the large man's weapon, springing off of his head as she leapt up and over to Anton's side. At the same time, Lune sprang up from the other side, coming to Anton's other side.

"I'm so sorry Anty!" Lune blurted out, "We don't know how they got away from us! We were trying to get them back an-" "It's ok," Anton interjected with a small smile, "I'm just glad you're alright." A light blush crossed Luna's cheeks, before the four of them looked towards the four members of Demon's Revolt, who were now gathering in front of him. Meanwhile, on high, Mephisto gave an amused chuckle. "Well, isn't this an interesting turn of events. Well, you know what they say, more the merrier!" Anton glared at the man before turning his attention back to the combatants in front of him.

"Ok, let's finish this, then we go after him!"


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The two groups charged at eachother. Rubicante lashed out with his claw, the chain wrapping around one of Anton's blades, while Babariccia charged in, only to be blocked by Melanie. Cognozza lumbered forward, bringing up his massive spear, only for one of his legs to be frozen in place by Lune. The large man paused, looking down at his leg briefly before tearing it free from the ice, turning his attention towards the frost sprite of a woman. Meanwhile, Celia fired off two more of her derringers, aiming for Scarmiglione. However, the ugly hunchback simply leapt into the air, his bident held tightly in his hands as he aimed to come down onto Anton.

However, Anton had expected this sort of thing. After all, it was clear he was the target in all of this, not the others. As the hunchback came down, Anton jumped back, pulling the chair wrapped around his blade along with him, positioning it so that Scarmiglione would come down onto it. He moved quickly, causing the chain to get tangled around the man's legs. "Get them all in close! Quickly!"

Melanie looked back over her shoulder as she was pushing back against Barbariccia, nodding before suddenly drawing back. As the blonde demon stumbled forward in surprise, Melanie suddenly slipped around behind her, delivering a sharp kick to her side and sending her flying back towards Anton. At the same time, Lune threw some balls of cold right at Cagnozza's feet, causing him to lose his balance. She quickly dove between the larger man's legs before throwing her body against his back, causing him to stumble towards Anton. As the two of them flew towards Anton, the Rear Admiral pulled back on the chain around his sword, yanking Rubicante towards him.

As the four of them closed in on Anton, Barbariccia's eyes widened. "Not agai-!"

She didn't get to finish, as the sound of Anton's scream drowned out everything else. Fortunately, Celia, Melanie and Lune had jumped back just in time to avoid the shock wave that was now hitting the four demons hard. Pain shot threw their bodies as they were all thrown back like ragdolls. Yet Anton wasn't finished yet. Without missing a beat, Anton leapt into the air, sword in hand. He kicked off of the air above and flew towards Mephisto like a bullet, sword at the ready to strike. And yet, as he got in close, Mephisto didn't seem at all bothered by the incoming attack.

The reason for that came in a blur of black, as something collided with Anton's blade, knocked him back and sending him crashing back into the ground. Anton bounced along the stone before he sprang back to his feet, shaking his head to try and regain his senses. He looked up, just in time to see a figure in a black cloak land before him, a large broad sword in hand. Up on the roof, Mephisto laughed. "I was wondering when you would join us!" Anton's eyes narrowed. "Oh great. Another one?" But there was something about this figure. Something different. Anton couldn't put his finger on it, but the figure seemed to carry themselves different to the other four demons.

Meanwhile, said demons were starting to recover from Anton's attack, pulling themselves to the side, as if to give the two combatants room. A cruel smirk spread across Barbariccia's lips. "Oh, now this is going to be good." Anton didn't even look to acknowledge her, but still couldn't help but wonder what she meant by that.

Without a word, the cloaked figure charged.


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Swords clashed as Anton and the cloaked figure fought, their swords flashing as they collided. Though Anton had three blades, compared to his opponent's one, the figure was holding his own quite well, pushing Anton back onto the defensive. No matter what Anton did, the man seemed able to counter whatever move he threw at him.

And that wasn't all. There was just...something about this man. Something about him that seemed off. No, familiar. Something that was causing Anton to misstep as he tried to fight back against him. Something that caused his nerves to fray as anxiety started to overtake him. He had felt somewhat in control earlier, and he had been fighting multiple foes at once. So just what was it with this man? It was starting to get to be too much. "Who are you!?" Anton yelled out, thrusting out with a blade. The figure tilted his head to the side, causing Anton's weapon to catch on his hood and pull it back.

What Anton saw caused his blood to freeze in his veins.

It was a face he instantly recognized. Short red hair framed a handsome face, a pair of brown eyes, normally warm, now looked utterly cold in the dark. It was a face that always held a place in Anton's mind.

"Basil?"

Basil La'croix:

Basil swung out his blade, catching Anton's greatsword and knocking it from his hands, before quickly recovering and lunging forward. Anton was too stunned to react in time. A sharp gasp came from Anton as the blade pierced his chest, bursting out of his back in a spray of blood.

"ANTY!" Lune screamed out in horror, as Melanie gasped in shock. Celia, meanwhile, stood there, frozen in shock. It couldn't be. It simply couldn't be! Basil La'croix had died several years ago. And yet, there was no mistaking that face. But how was he alive? And why? Why was he doing this to his own brother!?

Anton didn't even look at the blade imbedded in his chest. His eyes were wide in shock as blood oozed from the corner of his mouth as he raised a trembling hand towards the man in front of him. This didn't feel real. It couldn't be real. "B-Basil...?"

Without a word, Basil pulled his blade back, Anton falling back to the ground like a broken ragdoll. There was a loud scream as Lune charged towards Basil, launching balls of ice towards him in a fury. In a flurry of speed, Basil moved to avoid the attacks, quickly closing in on Lune and swinging his blade. Lune couldn't move fast enough, the blade catching her painfully in the side. She screamed out, blood splattering on the ground as she was sent rolling along the ground. "Lune!" Melanie shouted out, but made no move towards her. Not with that man there. Melanie considered herself a skilled warrior, but even she knew her limits.

Looking over apathetically towards his fallen brother before turning and starting to walk away. From the rooftops, Mephisto leapt down, smirking. "Another wonderful performance!" He glanced off to the side with a smirk, "Wouldn't you agree?"

Celia, still shocked and stunned, followed Mephisto's gaze as she watched Sylvia step out from the shadows. Everything seemed to come crashing down around her. Why was she here? What happened to Tremane? She was working for them? She watched as Basil approached her, reaching up and affectionately cupping her cheek. And all the while, Anton was laying on the ground nearby, bleeding out.

Something within her snapped. Celia let out a pained scream as she drew her derringers and opened fire. "WHY!?" Basil quickly brought up his blade, blocking the incoming bullets as Celia pulled out more of her weapons, firing over and over again in a frenzy. "How could you do this!? He trusted you! HE TRUSTED YOU!" "CELIA!" The short woman was jerked back as Melanie grabbed her by the shoulder, "We need to get Anton back to the ship! Now!" Celia was almost hyperventilating from rage as she pulled her eyes away from the enemy, seeing Anton laying on the cold stone. Lune, badly injured herself, had pulled herself to her feet and was struggling to try and lift up the unconscious rear admiral.

Yes. It was important to get Anton back to the ship. He needed medical attention right away. Quickly pulling away, the two women hefted up Anton's unconscious form, Celia also helping to support Lune's injured frame.

Basil moved to intercept, but a motion from Mephisto stopped him. "No. Let them go." He gave a cold smirk, watching the marines leaving, "He doesn't have much time left anyway." Sylvia gave Mephisto a sharp look. "He shouldn't have to suffer," she replied stoically. Mephisto simply shrugged. "Oh, don't worry. It wont be long. And then..." His smirk widened to an almost manic degree, "We'll all be one big happy family. Just like you wanted, right?"


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The race back to the ship had almost seemed like a blur, with everyone in a state of panic, hauling the unconscious and heavily wounded Anton. The entire ship exploded in worry as they saw Celia and Melanie carrying in their captain, with a wounded Lune hobbling behind them. "Get Anton to the medical bay immediately!" Celia shouted out, passing Anton over to a couple of crewmen who quickly carried him away, "Lune as well." "W-Wait."

Celia blinked as Lune, still holding her side, limped past her towards the ship. "Got...to tell...Sol..." she whimpered. "Lune, hold it!" Celia tried to grab Lune's shoulder, only for the icy woman to shake her off and dash into ship. She had to find her sister. She had to know what had happened to Anton.

Fortunately, it wasn't hard to find where Sol had holed herself up. While Lune preferred the intense cold, Sol preferred the intense heat, so all Lune had to do was find the hottest part of the ship. And while she absolutely hated the heat, right now there were more important things on her mind. So when she finally found the door, she burst in. "SOL!"

Sol, who had been sitting quietly on her bed, jerked up in surprise. "Lune? What's going on?" Lune was already panting heavily, from a combination of exertion, her injury, and now the intense heat that was already causing her to drip with sweat. "I-It's...It's Anty..." she heaved, "He's...He's been stabbed!" "What!?" Sol's eyes widened in panic as hysteria was starting to take hold of Lune. [color=#99ccff]"I-It was horrible! W-We were fighting these terrorists, and then there was this one guy and had impaled Anton and...and..!"[color=#99ccff] "And you did nothing to help him!?" Sol shouted out, panic, worry and rage tinging her voice. Lune's eyes widened in anger. "I tried! I got smacked aside by a big damn sword for my troubles!" "Really? Because you look pretty damn fine to me!" "ARE YOU BLIND!? CAN'T YOU SEE THE-" She then looked down, and froze.

It was gone. The wound in her side, the blood, it was gone. She looked...fine. Even the pain had subsided to a dull ache. Lune had just thought the sheer panic and adrenaline had caused her to ignore it, but now... She stared at herself with wide eyes, her mind spinning. "But...it was...how...?" Sol blinked before shaking her head. "I don't have time for this!" she said, before trying to rush past her out the door. It was at that moment that Lune realized something, grabbing Sol's arms as she moved past. "Wait...you're not sneezing anymore." Sol jerked at her arm, glaring at her sister. "Well, yeah. I got myself into a nice hot place, and then I started feeling better. Now let go!" But as she tried to pull away, there was something in Lune's expression that gave her pause. Her eyes were wide as her mind was racing.

Most people, seeing Lune's bright, bubbly, and somewhat childish personality, were quick to think she was simply a ditz. However, beneath the bubbles and glee was indeed a brilliant mind, one that helped her biologically alter herself to grant her ice capabilities. And right now, that mind was running at max speed, suddenly coming to a horrifying realization. "Oh my god..." she murmured softly, before suddenly releasing Sol and bolting for the door, "We've got to stop him!" Sol was confused, "Wait, stop who?"

Lune looked back at her, her own eyes wide with fear, "Doc Black! He's going to kill Anty!"


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Behind his mask, Doc Black's expression was grim as he looked down at the unconscious form of Anton. The wound his commanding officer had taken was quite severe. A straight impalement through the chest, profuse bleeding. He had to act fast if he was going to save his life. They had removed Anton's shirt and coat and were now preparing the tools for the emergency surgery. "Ok, let's get started. We don't have much time," he murmured to his fellow doctors as he reached for his tools.

Suddenly, the door to the medical bay banged open. "STOP!"

Doc Black turned before Lune's form collided into him, grabbing hold of him. "What the hell!? Lune!" "You have to stop!" Lune cried out, grappling with the doctor, "You're going to kill him!" "Dammit Lune! Stop! If we don't do something soon, he's going to bleed out!" "No!" "Dammit! Get her off of me! Now!"

As the doctors struggled to pry Lune off of Doc Black, Sol entered into the med bay. She froze in the doorway as her eyes fell on Anton, seeing him in such a state. Being told he had been stabbed was one thing, but to see him like this, bleeding out in a bed. Her eyes were wide with horror.

As Lune struggled to hold onto Doc Black, she looked over towards her sister. "Sol! Heat up the room! Now!" Sol jumped, snapping out of her shock and looked at her sister in confusion. "W-What?" "Do it! Just like how your room was! Heat it up! Now!" "Don't do it!" Doc Black yelled back out in response, "He's in critical condition! We need to operate!" "Do it now! He's going to die if you don't!" "No!" "Yes!"

It was all so much so fast. Seeing Anton clinging onto life, seeing everything in chaos, the man's life being forced into her hands, and even now, she was starting to feel her body starting to congest and get sick all over again. It was all too much! Sol let out a scream as flames sprang up along her body, bathing the room in intense heat that washed over everyone. There was a light scent of something burning in the air, but only briefly. Suddenly, she felt herself tackled to the floor by Galen, the former doctor of the Centurian Pirates. At the same time, Lune found herself pulled off of Doc Black, now weakened by the intense burst of heat.

Doc Black rose to his feet, his mask having slipped off in the chaos. He was absolutely livid. "ENOUGH! We don't have time for this! We need to save Anton right no-" The words died in his throat as his eyes fell upon Anton. His expression went from one of desperate rage to absolute shock.

It was gone. All of it. The blood. The massive, gruesome wound on his torso. All of it. Anton just laid there, unconscious, but otherwise alright. He couldn't understand it. "What...how...?" The doctor's mind was reeling as he tried to make sense of what his eyes were telling him. And he wasn't the only one. Everyone else was staring at the now unharmed rear admiral in surprise and confusion. All but one. Lune climbed to her feet, panting heavily.

"It's not real..." she panted, as Doc Black turned his attention to her. "The wounds. Our enemies. It's all an illusion. None of it is real!"


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