Eine raised her palm to the ceiling, bits of metal dislodging from her boots and arm. Molding together in the air to form a longsword in her grasp.

  Diaz's eyes widened. "So that's your power? Your Oddity?", he said as he visually inspected the metal that covered her body.

  Eine's mind went fast, thinking of every possible expnation she could think of. All she knew was that he could send out two spectral hands out which he could control remotely. The question is... Could he send out more than two hands? How did he read her mind? Is he doing it right now?

  "Just to test something out...", she said. Catching Diaz's attention.

  She immediately threw her new sword at him as fast as she could; his eyes widened in fear.

  Immediately both of his swords crossed together to block her sword, deflecting it. The impact still caused him to get pushed back a couple of steps. Seeing him get back on his feet, Eine bolted towards him.

  Throwing jabs and punches, which Diaz dodged and deflected with his sword. "That's all you can do?" he taunted her, smirking.

  "Just give up and walk away; get a different token!" he said. Immediately retaliating, using both swords to deflect her fists. Seeing an opening, he lunged forward and punched her as hard as he could. Causing her to smash against a pilr, crumbling it into dust.

  As she stood back up, she smudged off blood from her busted lip. Staring at Diaz, she smirked.

  "Give up," he repeated before he could say anything else. Her longsword flew into his peripheral vision, reacting almost immediately. He dodged and took a few steps back. However, he wasn't fast enough. His cheek was sshed, and she drew blood.

  Eine opened the box and swallowed an apple slice. "You didn't take the sword to use it against me like my other one... nor did you expect that I could control it," she said as her longsword floated next to her.

  Diaz's eyes widened; she figured him out.

  "That could only mean that you can't send out more than two hands at a time... or you can't control two at least. However, that also means you need to be grasping my head to read my mind. Right?" she asked, as she was clearly proud of herself.

  "Fuck, I underestimated her," he mumbled as he ate a slice.

  "You're still outmatched!" he screamed. Immediately sending both swords to attack her.

  Eine, much like him, controlled her longsword as it cshed with his silver sword. She then blocked her old sword with her metal arm. The metals cshed in a high-pitched whistle, echoing throughout the room. While her new sword could easily keep the other sword occupied, she had to improvise against her old sword.

  The metal was hot; she couldn't afford to let it touch her. It would singe her skin. As she blocked and deflected the sword with her right arm, she maneuvered around it and tried to grasp the hilt of her old sword with her left hand. Trying to recim it but—

  "Oh, come on!" she compined as she felt a hand clutching onto it tightly. She was knocked away by the ft of the sword, falling on her back. The metal felt like a hot iron against her skin.

  She looked to her side to see Diaz standing away, just watching her. A smirk spread across her face again; she had an idea. She raised her right hand towards her foe and aimed three of her fingers towards him.

  Her metal fingers unched off at Diaz; before he could react, the metal spikes stopped midair. Being held by a translucent, floating hand. Her sword immediately dropped by him.

  He instinctively grabbed the metal spikes with her spectral hand, letting go of the other sword.

  The metal spikes immediately flew back to her arm, and she grabbed her sword and immediately ran towards him to finally take him down. However, before she could hit him,. Diaz was able to grab a metal rod from off the floor and use it to deflect her sword.

  Eine jumped back, expecting a sword, but...

  "A metal rod?" she asked.

  "You're getting desperate, aren't you?" She said, making fun of him. She still had to keep his hand occupied; it's troublesome to keep track of. She thought about it, unsure of what to do.

  Her eyes widened. "I owe you one, Diaz."

  He looked confused. "What do you mean?" he said as he saw Eine's long sword, which was occupied with his own break off its tip. Flying towards Eine. She grabbed it and molded it around the hilt of her red sword.

  "No...", he said as he realized what she picked up on. As the red sword started to float next to her, she sent it against the metal rod and dashed towards Diaz one more time.

  ***

  Cnk, tink, thud, whack, and screech

  These were the sounds surrounding them as they fought hand-to-hand. Diaz was taller and faster, but Eine was stronger. Diaz kept dodging her attack, matching her footwork. Syncing it with his, stepping in between her punches to nd hits on her. Disoriented, Eine stood tall again to see him missing.

  She looked up to see a white cloak flying in the wind; Diaz jumped to kick her down. She dodged it and was able to get a firm grip on the cloak and throw him against a wall. As he stood back up, both of them were gasping for air. Diaz tried to eat an apple slice to gain the upper hand but—

  Eine kicked debris off the ground; sand got into his eyes, and he dropped the slice. She took this chance to lunge at him with her right fist and punch him with all her might, twisting her body as she hit him. Her footwork grounded her to the floor, reinforcing her impact.

  Diaz's head got knocked onto the wall next to them; he lost consciousness and immediately went limp. Dropping the vender cigarette from his mouth.

  She was breathless and tired. "Fucking finally," she said as she walked over to pick up her swords, the metal longsword fusing into her armor as well. She looked back at Diaz.

  "..."

  ***

  Before she left, she picked out an apple slice from his box and fed it to his unconscious body, and she obviously stole his pack of vender cigarettes because why not.

  She walked down the stairs of the pyramid, expecting the harsh, blistering sun to scorch her skin, but instead she was met with a cold... almost freezing wind, as it was dark.

  She shivered slightly as she looked up at the stars. "This must be why they gave us these cloaks...", she muttered as she embraced the wind and the stars that shined far above her.

  She took a deep breath and exhaled.

  She needed to find a pce to sleep, she thought to herself.

  She looked down at her left hand; she was holding the token. Engraved onto it was '26Γ'. A soft smile spread across her face as she put it away and opened her canteen to drink water.

  She gulped almost all of it down; she was tired. A thought crossed her mind.

  "Wonder how Ax is handling it; hopefully he's having it easier than I am...", she mumbled to herself.