Amidst silence and smoke.
Ivy's frame rustled in the sand, unsure of the calamity that had befallen her. Without an Ambience, her prospects were grim at best. She hardly imagined survival was on the table.
"Lila?" Her eyes widened.
She could feel Earthling's frame go cold. Using what strength she had left to lift her head, the heiress found Lila draped on top of her, covered in shards of glass as she lay unconscious. Ivy could only imagine what kind of pain her partner was in. For it was only through Lila's split-second reaction that the heiress had been saved from destruction.
"You-."
Ivy turned to her left, finding Lunae in an equally precarious position. That went for the rest of the girls. The only sign of life Ivy could detect then was a lone Psion, flickering with light.
"Sonera." Ivy shook her head, realizing she was covered in obsidian.
The sheer heat of Yrix's arrow had turned most of the arena to glass. Not even the superheated plasma of the Consortium's inferno cannons could quite compare. And yet there she lay, unwilling to compromise.
"Sonera," Yrix monologued in turn, allowing Ivy to receive her voice. "There you are."
The Consortium had them surrounded, training their weapons on the fallen figures with fragile discipline. Ivy couldn't even crawl a few inches before several red dots appeared on her forehead, locking the heiress in place. One false move, and she was done for. The situation was more dire than ever.
"Just stay down," she whispered to Sonera. "Please."
The assassin didn't respond. Her mind was yet again a barren desert. Yet still, something stirred within her. Ivy could feel it.
Yrix watched with contempt as Sonera clawed at the sand like a desperate animal. She was fighting for her life, if only to stand on two feet. Not even the swarm of red lights that covered her frame could deter her effort.
"No," Yrix barked at every living being in her vicinity. "Let the girl stand."
Not a moment too soon, for just as Yrix released her decree, at least a dozen or so claw-like fingers loosened their grip on the trigger.
"I'll deal with her." Yrix reached for another arrow. "Once and for all."
Sonera exhaled, coughing up a small amount of blood before glaring at the Arch-Flayer with unbridled rage. Her prosthesis was completely blackened, quaking with anticipation. But it could not last.
The assassin lowered her gaze. She stared down at her hands in shame. Something had to change.
"Do you see it then?"
She thought back to Lunae's words, from what felt like an eternity ago.
"I don't really know what we are."
"A wise man would call this power a cacophony, a real mess. Something to be shaped."
"But I don't see that at all. Not in you."
"It's not a storm, Sonera."
"Perhaps," her beautiful voice began to dissipate as she sang. "It's a Euphony."
The world around Sonera seemed to slow. She could see it then. Not just the arrow that flew towards her from Yrix's bow, but the individual flicker in every soul of those who stood around her.
Lila. Ivy. Lunae. Rena. Mina. Yrix.
Even the members of the Consortium had one.
It was a Euphony. And in it, Sonera had begun to learn. She felt a peace unrivaled by even Lunae, even if she were the one to herald its arrival.
Sonera struck a steady pose, raising her open palms with complete serenity. And with complete acceptance, she closed her eyes. Her fate was sealed.
The arrow from Yrix flew true, its power just as monumental as the last. Sonera could not withstand enough impact, not as she was. Only true understanding could provoke Yrix.
"Finally," the Arch-Flayer gasped.
Ivy had borne witness. She'd never seen her teacher so amazed. For after a brief flash of light, the arrow and all its destructive potential had disappeared.
Burnt away in a flash.
Sonera opened her eyes, staring at her palms as they shot above her shoulders. She nearly hesitated as a fragment of strange metal fell to the sand near her feet. The attack had been deflected.
Yrix stared in silence.
"Everything," she finally growled. "Everything you have."
Premus hesitated to reply through the intercom. "Arch-Flayer?"
"Fire everything. At her. Right now."
"Yes, Arch-Flayer."
"Now!"
The clouds burst as a roar of cannon fire rained down on Sonera. Ivy braced herself, expecting oblivion once more. Yet the cannonade, mighty as it was, only proved to heat the sand beneath her.
"What?" Ivy coughed.
She looked back at Sonera, watching in total disbelief as the girl maintained her stance, using nothing but the motion of her hands to disburse the assault. A brilliant aura had formed around her tiny frame, shaped like a radiant halo. It was the most beautiful thing Ivy had witnessed since the day she met Lila.
"Holy shit!" The Earthling next to her peeped, causing Ivy to jump. "She's cooking!"
The sheer volume of fire was difficult to comprehend. Such a display was more than enough to glass the surface of the Aerie like it never existed at all. And yet, it proved ultimately harmless.
"But how?" Ivy looked skyward.
A typical Consortium vessel had at least three gun-decks at its keel, with more fire coming from above through its missile hatches. Not counting the supporting ships in the area, Executor Premus alone commanded at least a hundred guns. But it was not enough.
"More," Yrix barked. "More!"
The Daregen surrounding the girls pushed through each other, nearly crushing Lila under their weight as they fired their small arms at Sonera.
Nothing.
The commanding officers fired their chain-guns along with lances of plasma from the Canere.
Useless.
Even the ships above began to unleash their largest ordnance: a mile-long coil gun that could hurl a rod of alien metal at a quarter the speed of light.
Futile.
Sonera had cracked the code. Regardless of the power that flew towards her, she could simply negate it, at worst throwing a shell or two off course. Frustration set in as the Consortium attempted to break through.
"Shit!" Lila rolled onto Ivy, narrowly avoiding a chunk of shrapnel.
The Daregen looming over her tiny figure had been incinerated by a ricochet. Chaos soon broke out among the ranks. What was once an effort to dominate had become a fight for their own survival.
"When are they gonna quit?!"
Yrix aimed her bow at Sonera, letting loose a volley of arrows.
No.
Spite and admiration twitched through the Arch-Flayer's features as Sonera danced through the smoke and flame with a ballerina's grace. Unbeknownst to the small girl, her clothes had long since burned away, permanently replaced by a tight-fitting leotard and skirt sparkling with starlight. She was beautiful.
"Just die already!" Yrix rolled her eye.
She called upon a much larger arrow, distorting the air around her before unleashing a blinding bolt of light towards Sonera. It all happened in the blink of an eye. But to Sonera, who remained collected, she had more than enough time to consider her position.
"This is for you Three," the assassin breathed slowly. "For all of you."
Sonera remained still as the arrow careened towards her, accepting the ebb and flow of its calamitous energy. Upon impact, she rode it like a wave, skidding across the glassy surface with all her might. A brief flash revealed an explosion, or at least the potential of one. Only then did her life flash before her eyes.
The transition of color was not a smooth one. Yrix held the influence of an iron gauntlet, even through her most distant machinations. Yet it was through her tutelage alone that Sonera managed to turn the arrow and convert its energy.
Return to sender.
Her family had just enough time to brace themselves before the top of the arena lit up like the sun.