Vikram's laughter long since dragged him back to that day.
The day he impaled his mother through the stomach. And captured his brothers to be sold as Gimen slaves.
Hollering manically while he did it.
Vicram was the heart of it all. The Gimen suffered under his boot. They were made to dance to his tune.
Sune's hands twitched to strike.
But he made no move.
All oppressors had wished to keep him trapped. If they could not trap him in chains of fear, they would instead trap him in chains of rage. Blind, flailing, predictable.
But Sune had long broken such chains.
'My enemy is in the present... why should I look to the past?'
He relished in the power that thought gave him.
*****
"So... what will you do, boy? I should hope you don't plan on killing me! We both know how that'll end!" Vicram teased, circling around the throne room entrance.
"Do we?" Sune replied, beginning to match his pacing.
Vicram spluttered out a laugh.
"Well of course! I don't recognise your clothing, you're not acting along with any of the other four kingdoms. Besides, none of them would dare think to betray me!" he was talking to himself more than Sune, putting the pieces together in his mind.
"Is that right? So what?" Sune asked, mockingly.
"So you don't have Assurance! That power can only be gifted by one of the five reigning monarchs! You talk a big game, but you're little more than an ant! I could expel you from this world, even without casing my gaze upon you! And all the slaves you've freed will simply be recaptured and beaten into submission as punishment! What did you ever hope to accomplish by coming here?" Vicram stared at him, actually desperate for an answer.
"That's right, Vic. Keep trying to figure it out. Rack your brain. I'll be here. I'll strike you down." Sune said, unsheathing his Cinquedea.
Vicram paused. Sune had set up camp.
Deep within his mind.
"...You don't have what it takes. You hear me boy? You're an insect! You have no means of--"
CHROOM!
Sune's Assurance erupted to life. A deep orange burst of energy fulminated from Sune's eyes and roared around his body. Like a flame, made not out of fire, but of raw power. Dancing to it's own opera of violence, flame fanned by Sune's resolve. Vic leapt back, shielding his face with both arms.
Sune simply stood there, letting the power engulf him. Letting the realisation settle in.
The powers that were once so tightly controlled across the world, so closely monitored. They were now in the hands of an unknown entity.
And not to Vicram's knowledge...
That entity was a Gimen.
But, absolutely worst of all...
That Gimen was Elias Sune.
"Sorry... what was that... King Vicram?" Sune's voice held the weight of a mountain. "I have no means of... what?"
Vicram froze.
"Who-- who the hell are you? This...this isn't possible!"
"You deny what's right in front of you? Might that be fear, or rage?
"Don't get cocky!" Vicram barked. "Just because you have Assurance, doesn't mean it is strong enough to stand against mine!"
Sune steeled himself. Assuming a battle stance the likes Vic had never seen in any of the five kingdoms. His Assurance slowly morphed. Evolving from a chaotic flame. Focusing. Honing itself into a radiant orange silhouette, a calm glow emanating from just beyond Sune's body.
"...Let's see."
Sune dashed forward at deadly speed. Vic was barely fast enough.
The thunderous clang of their blades sang throughout the throne room.
The two were close enough to mist each other's sword with their breaths.
Close enough to see into each other's eyes.
For a split second, Vicram dared to look. Sune looked away before he could see anything.
He had no interest in taking the trade. He already knew the contents of Vicram's soul.
'Nothing at all.'
"Very well! Perhaps I shall entertain this after all." Vicram's Storm Assurance surged, crackling alive. A bolt of lightning coiled around his eye like a serpent.
Sune leapt, driving a front kick straight to the chest. Vicram stumbled back.
Minatare thunder-clouds formed now around his left arm. Lighting coursing through it like liquid wire. A thunderstorm in the palm of his hand.
He grinned like the madman he was.
Sune's eyes narrowed.
'That's nowhere near his full power. He's testing me.'
"Come on boy! Let us see what kind of Assurance you bear!"
Vicram pounced— a blur. Storm Assurance surging through his hands like lightning in a bottle.
Sune sprang back. Unsheathing his blade while slicing the air in front in one motion.
Vicram lunged again. Sune, ready for him, dashed to the right and darted up—blade pointed to Vic's neck.
Vic scarcely turned his head from death. Snarling from outrage.
Sune pushed up.
Dash. Slash. Swing. Roundhouse. Axe Kick.
Slicing and spearing.
Ramping up in speed. Orange eyes glowing brighter. Honing on their pray.
Each strike sent Vic stumbling, his back crashing against the roundtable as the onslaught drove him back.
The sharp sting of the blade inches from cutting his flesh.
Sune aimed one final strike between his eyes.
"ENOUGH!" Vicram flicked the air in front with both hands. A gust of violent wind exploded from his fingertips. Sending Sune's body flying into the corridor like a ragdoll in a hurricane.
Sune held out both hands to his sides mid-air, steading himself.
'Shit!'
Vic burst forward, wind howling around him like a wrathful god.
'His Assurance got stronger. He's ready to kill me.'
Vic threw out a knee as he flew.
Sune ducked and rolled under it. Tearing off around the corridor corner.
"Oh no! Don't run now!" Vicram yelled, launching after him in a torrent of fury.
Sune sprinted. Buying space. Calculating. He focused his mental energy on the urge to survive, as well as his own pride, which would not allow him to run without a fight. If he allowed himself to slip into fear of death, his powers would be weakened.
But Vicram could keep up. Even despite his Assurance ability.
In a flash, Sune reversed.
His orange aura warbled instantly into a bright green. WHOOSH!
He launched himself backwards in a fly kick. Vic twisted to the side. It barely missed as Sune zipped past him to the ground.
Vic charged at the opening. Aiming an open palm strike into his back. Sune exploded into motion. Vic's lightning strike detonating behind him.
Sune sprinted at the wall, springing off--
And landed a back kick square on Vicram's face.
The Gale King stumbled, stunned.
Sune turned and pressed the issue. His strikes unpredictable. Mixing angles. Blade dancing his hands-- erratic.
Vicram narrowly weaved the onslaught. Ducking low as he swung a wind-charged sweep kick at Sune's legs. WSSH! It threw him off balance.
With a roar, he channelled the wind once more. Vertically. WHOOSH, BOOM!
Sune was sent flying through the ceiling. The boards shattered, plaster cracked.
Sune crashed onto the upper floor, gasping in pain. Still airborne, he twisted mid-air. Dodging the residual wind still blasting through the hole. His Assurance was loosening.
'Focus!'
Vic was still giving chase.
Sune turned to run, still hurt by that strike. But Vicram had already made it through.
"Stop running!" Vicram growled at Sune's back.
Then, Sune heard it.
The crisp crackle of lightning being summoned behind him. Louder, sharper. Charged to kill.
Pouring pace into his legs, he bolted round the next corner--
BOOM!
An enormous bolt of lighting obliterated the wall beside him. Stone and fire launched into the city.
'He's just gonna set that off in his own castle??'
Sune stumbled at the turn, scrambling back into a mad dash to the end of the corridor.
Vic letting off a battle cry as he chased after him.
But as Sune reached close to the end, he realised.
'It's a dead-end... nowhere else to go.'
Vicram already caught up.
"Well, whatever will you do now?"
His footsteps thundered closer. Vicram turned the corner, grinning ear to ear.
He crept closer to Sune. Just as Sune had done to him, he wanted to make reality sting.
Storm Assurance coiled around him, alive with hunger.
"I just want you to know... once we torture you until you confess where you came from, I'll be sure to make you repeat every overzealous sentence you ever spat out to me. Then, and only then, will you taste the sweet release of death."
Sune breathed for air. Not panting. Only gathering himself.
"...That's right... just keep talking, you imbecile." His Assurance surged. His eyes glowed brighter.
Vicram snarled. The wind billowed at his back as he charged toward Sune. His feet remained low. Skidding against the carpet.
The electric bolts transferred from his soles to his palm, as he lunged forward. Aiming to end this escapade with one blow.
CHROOM!
A blinding flash of light exploded, nearly blinding them both.
As the light dimmed down... Vicram shuddered.
Sune hadn't moved. And he was certainly not wounded.
Instead, his hands shone a clear white. Pure and ethereal, glowing. And being expelled from his fingertips, was a crystal-like shell. A shield made of light, or perhaps of air itself. A forcefield.
It perfectly blocked the strike, as if it did not even exist on the same plane.
Vic grinned.
"Ha! I knew it! Your Assurance Ability! At first I thought it was simply speed! But then you reversed yourself, and now you've stopped the time in front of you!" Vic looked genuinely pleased, like a man assembling a God's puzzle. The thunder pounding his body grew louder.
"That's it isn't it?" Vic inquired. "Your Assurance Ability... it's Time!"
"Someone should give you a trophy." Sune sneered.
"I've never heard of such an ability before! It's a such shame we'll have to beat you until your soul is crushed and you can no longer use it! But at least we'll know where it came from." Vicram poked.
Sune smirked under his scarf.
"You want to know where it comes from? I'll tell you right now."
"...Begging already? This ought to be good! Let's hear it!"
Sune paused, finding the perfect words.
"My power comes from knowing you're now getting what's coming to you. Exactly what you deserve. For every sin and horror you have inflicted on this world."
"Oh...? As far as begging goes, you're not off to a great start. But do tell, what exactly do I deserve?"
Sune's eyes met Gale King Vic's for the first time that day.
"...A fate worse than death."
Sune's Assurance exploded. A flash of green pulsed within his iris. He ducked to the side, shield still raised--
Vicram's grin faded.
The same lightning strike he had aimed at Sune before, that had since dissipated, was reforming, being flung back the exact same way which it had came.
Then, Sune dropped the spell.
BOOM!
The lightning flashed once again. Another flashbang blinded Vic momentarily, long enough for Sune to make his escape.
Sune turned and sprinted toward the stained-glass window--
And dived straight through.
Glass shattered around him as he free-fell through the open air--
Down. Straight down into the heart of the capital.
His next step? Escape. By any means necessary.