“You can’t have him,” Deceit screamed.

Mary Sue knew that she had two options to win this battle. She could get close to death and finally, her dominant ability would kick in, or she could use the sword. The first was risky, but if it worked it was a guaranteed win.

The second option was probably even riskier, as she was afraid the sword was just tricking her, but the temptation of power was too strong to pass up.

In a split second, she changed her mind and left herself wide open. Deceit punched her in the stomach, and Mary Sue’s armor was the only thing keeping her alive. She was punched so hard that she stumbled, and accidentally bit down on her tongue.

Blood dripped out of her mouth and she screamed, mentally preparing herself for the pain. Deceit wanted to take her time as she killed Mary Sue. She wanted to defeat the woman that everyone believed was possibly the strongest person in the 7th realm.

“Who’s the strongest now, bitch,” Deceit screamed.

She punched Mary Sue square in the lower jaw with an uppercut, and she grunted. She stayed on her feet and prayed that her ability would soon kick in. Her luck, of course, made sure that it did. Deceit grabbed her by her hair and pushed her to the ground.

“You can never have him,” she screeched. She punched Mary Sue repeatedly in the face, and Mary Sue shuddered. Deceit stopped, intrigued by the reaction. “You one of those freaks that likes pain,” she sneered. “Is that why you’re just taking this shit?”

Mary Sue’s eyes now glowed silver.

“No,” she whispered. “It just turns me on every time I know I’m going to win.”

She was now as strong as her opponent thanks to her Combat Adaptation. A few hits to her body and it had finally registered the amount of pain she could inflict onto others. By itself, she would have to learn the enemy's style of fighting to properly use their skills, but with her luck, it just came naturally to her.

Mary Sue grabbed Deceit’s wrist hard, and Deceit cried out in pain. She dropped the sword to the ground. She didn’t want it anymore. She wanted her own power, not given to her by anyone, man or god.

“You killed my friends,” Mary Sue bellowed.

With one hand she crushed Deceit’s wrist and she cried out in agony.

“You destroyed my home .”

Her anger was replaced with anguish and despair as she punched Deceit in the stomach. The bone armor on her abdomen shattered, and she went flying. She landed next to a stop sign, and her black tarry blood seeped out of her hand, now limp and only hanging on to her arm by detached tendons.

The screaming only intensified as Deceit pushed her host to its very limits. The ground shook and the worms burst out, grinding and spinning.

“You stupid alien mutts,” she screamed. “You’re all abominations !”

They whizzed across the pavement and streets and Mary Sue ran right for them, no longer holding back. She grabbed onto one of the monsters, its bones piercing her flesh, and gritted through the pain, knowing her wound would heal in three days.

She swung it around and the bones exploded in the air as it crashed into the other two that aimed for her. Deceit went running towards her, her heels made of calcified bone clacking against the asphalt, and jumped into the air.

The bones around her pierced her open skin, but the pain only heightened her anticipation for her greatest kill. Conquering the woman who was a symbol of justice and equality would break their spirits, and she would have an unstoppable soldier.

One of the worms caught Deceit as she descended and she rode it, faster toward Mary Sue. Mary Sue ran towards them and slid under it as it got close, the rush of danger only making her excited, truly making her aroused.

She never feared death, and she never feared pain. She only feared irrelevancy and loss of power, and she knew with Deceit’s defeat she would never worry about either.

As she slid under it she grabbed onto the underside of the beast, screaming in excitement instead of pain. Mary Sue planted her feet on the ground and swung her upper body upwards. Deceit was in shock as her undead beast was pushed up into the air, by the force of Mary Sue’s speed, and her unbridled strength.

It came crashing back down on its back into the pavement, and its bones exploded into pieces, dust, and scattered across the road. Pieces of it flew so fast it got stuck into the sides of buildings and cars. The car alarms went off and the road split.

Mary Sue let go, her legs shaking, hands bleeding with holes inside of them. She ran around in the piles of bone, still wanting to fight. Deceit wouldn’t die that easily, and even if she was dead, Mary Sue wanted her body as a trophy.

Deceit was knocked out, and buried under a pile of bones. Her neck was snapped, and it would be a very long time until she came back. Mary Sue looked around nervously, and then her head started to ache.

Her time was up.

Her suit disappeared, and she looked around for Ace. He had long awoken during their fight and was hiding inside a nearby shop. He heard the fighting end and decided that either one of them must have won, so he decided to try and leave.

Reluctantly he got out from under the cashier’s booth and walked past the mannequins and scattered clothes. He slowly opened the door and looked outside.

He didn’t see anybody and decided now was a good time as any to leave. Ace didn’t want to leave without the sword, and there was a faint voice in his head.

Hold out your free hand, it whispered.

Ace did as he was told, and the Sword of Vengeance clattered and dragged on the ground. Unas grumbled and complained, and Ace’s toes curled as the talking sword talked about manners and decency.

After he reluctantly picked it up, suddenly the grounder burst into flames, and Ace screamed. The fire didn’t hurt and Ace was confused. It disintegrated around him, and he was now free.

“Thank you,” he sighed.

Mary Sue heard him scream and came running over. Ace had never been so happy to see her.

“You won,” he shouted.

“I think? It felt too easy.”

“Thank you!"

.He ran up to her and hugged her, and she was surprised.

“You saved my life again. You’re wonderful.”

Mary Sue’s heart sank as she started to regret ever considering sacrificing him. She hugged him back and tried not to cry.

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I’m not the good person you think I am.”

Ace was sure that she was simply being too humble and denied it.

“You’re a good person,” he insisted. “You saved me even though you could have just let her kill me and she would leave.”

“I didn’t stop her because I wanted to save you,” Mary Sue admitted. “I just wanted to win. ”

Ace’s hero had told him that she did not care if he lived or died, and had taken away the last thing in his life that made sense. Training for his future job gave me strength and a sense of purpose. He didn’t feel different and foreign at the academy, because everyone was different and foreign there.

“I-I got this job because I wanted to be like you,” he screamed.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want you to be like me.”

“I based my life off yours! I even wear the same colors you do!”

It was true. Ace wore black, red, and white often in his wardrobe. Mary Sue’s guilt only grew as she never considered that what a normal day of work to her, 8 years ago what the most defining moment in his short life, and she barely thought of it anymore.

“I hate this place,” he screamed. “You’re a liar!”

“I never told you to do all that!”

“I’m never coming back here! You took my wife!”

Mary Sue was confused by what he meant and was sure that he was simply hysterical.

“You need to sleep Acheus. You’re eighteen. You don’t have a wife.”

“I do! I’m twenty-one, and I have a son! You took his mother!”

Mary Sue then realized that he looked very different than the last time she had seen him around campus. At first, she thought it was the blood and dirt, but then she realized that he was taller, his hair was down to his waist, and he had stubble all over his chin.

She wanted to know more, but after a few hours of insanity, she was fine with asking later. Nothing made sense anymore.

“Let’s just get you on the train with the others,” Mary Sue said. “I’ll look for Tyreceus.”

“He’s... gone..."

Mary Sue was surprised at the news.

He was stronger than me sometimes, she thought. How could he have died?

“I have his sword. I’m going to make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone else ever again.”

That is impossible. That is my only purpose. Revenge.

“Everything I’ve known was a lie,” he said. “The girl I loved was fake, you’re fake, even my dad wasn’t who he said he was. ”

Mary Sue didn’t like Tyreceus, but as a parent, she realized that Ace was going through the same thing she did when she was becoming an adult: realizing that her parents were human, and not perfect.

“He was a good man,” Mary Sue said. “But like everyone else, he has his secrets. Don’t let that make you believe that he never cared for you.”

“I don’t know anymore. Everything is a lie. ”

Mary Sue decided at that moment that she could again do something good for him. She wanted to change his life, to again lead him on the right path, since he looked up to her.

“Acheus I know I’ve hurt you. I’ll try my hardest to make it right.”

Ace snubbed her, and she was truly hurt. He turned around, back facing her and Unas whispered that maybe you could kill her, let’s see if it works.

“He did a lot for you,” Mary Sue pleaded. “The only reason he joined the Defense Program was for your citizenship.”

Ace turned back to look at her, and he was in shock.

“I had no idea,” he replied.

“He used to be a teacher! Before he joined he couldn’t even stand the sight of blood. Why would someone like that join us?”

“I never knew him, did I?”

“Yes, you did. He loved you. You were all he could talk about.”

Mary Sue extended her hand.

“Let me take you home,” she offered. “I want to be the person you think I am.”

He didn’t want to take her hand, afraid of human touch. Every person that had laid a hand on him in the past three days had hurt him either emotionally or physically.

“I don’t trust you, I can’t. You’re just going to hurt me like everyone else.”

Mary Sue squeezed her hands tight and grit her teeth.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “It’s just that kids think adults are invincible, and we’re not. No one is. ”

Mary Sue had told the truth to herself and hoped that Ace would no longer believe her public facade. She wasn’t invincible, even though it seemed like she was. Mary Sue knew one day, her abilities would fade, and the day was coming quickly since she was already 46.

Ace no longer felt like a child, and he wasn’t. In many aspects, he still was, especially in his own concepts of good and evil. For so long he had believed that helping others is the only thing that made someone good, and the Defense Program drilled us versus them mentality into his head.

He could not see past his binary thinking and he couldn’t comprehend her words. He assumed that she was just simply saying whatever she could to make him like her again, and it just irritated his already traumatized mind.

“I’ll go with you,” he conceded. “But I am never coming back here.”

He meant it, and he was resolute in the promises he had made to himself, as a part of him still wanted everything to matter. Mary Sue led him past the bones and back towards the Training Center so he could board the train.

“I think I should just teleport home,” Ace said.

“You shouldn’t. Apparently, that shield weakened everyone’s abilities and the effects haven’t worn off. You probably would end up someplace strange.”

A loud continuous scream could be heard and Deceit was running for them. When they left she arose and ate the corpse of the dead soldier she had deboned.

Her body was fully healed and she was now going to kill Mary Sue.

The witch has returned! Let’s roast her!

“Get her! Let’s win,” Invictus shouted.

Ace didn’t want to lose his wife again. He dropped the sword.